New Year, New Hope- Testing the Market

The approaching turn of the calendar year brings me relief and excitement when it relates to this business venture. While things have slowly limped along over the holiday season, I am anticipating a sense of reinvigoration and excitement that will come with a fresh 365 days to turn nothing into something.

The research and development of our first product is progressing nicely. I have personally collected and organized a database of information that should be both valuable and well-received by Internet users. While there are a few areas of concern, I see the testing phase as a welcomed next step to smoothing the wrinkles out of our idea.

Realizing that any product or service launch should be sampled in a test market builds my confidence that we'll get this concept right when we release it to the masses. Anyone that rushes past this step is foolish to believe that a good idea poorly executed won't be cast aside at the first sign of shoddy design. It's something to remember if you're in a hurry to get on the market. I worked in the healthcare industry long enough to see that even medical device companies make that mistake. If it fails, be happy your product doesn't end lives, but fear that it might end yours as an entrepreneur.

Wise Word Blurbs

Browsing the net for blogs on entrepreneurship, I came across www.cheaprevolution.com, a site focused on Internet entrepreneurship. Their latest post lists twenty quotes on the topic, a few of which I found extremely inspiring.

"Entrepreneurship is living a few years of your life like most people won't, so that you can spend the rest of your life like most people can't"
Anonymous

"Some people dream of great accomplishments, while others stay awake and do them" Anonymous

As I progress in the day-to-day development of the company and our introductory services, I am finding it easy to forget how unique of an opportunity I've been granted. These quotes are statements I plan to reference as a reminder that successful entrepreneurs are those that sacrifice early and often for their business. Extra hours, extra effort and fearlessness are aspects to commit to if you expect to achieve relevance in an established marketplace.

Checkout the Cheap Revolution blog for other posts covering a variety of Internet topics and find a few quotes out there that motivate you to push harder when the comforts of life pull.

Checks to Stay Balanced

Creating a usable, flawless and relevant service from nothing more than the power of imagination is both taxing and exhilirating. The rewarding emotions that come from such a process are second to none. Yet, no matter how exciting it is to develop something brand new, it is equally stressful realizing that the success of any fresh idea is in the hands of everyone but the creator.

Our services are slowly but surely coming along, but each time a step forward is made I must remind myself to pause and conduct checks against what we are doing to be sure that it's worthwhile. Examples of these checks include conducting online surveys, reading professional advice on blogs and studying the competitive landscape to exhaustion. No new idea is entirely original. There are variations or similarities and as soon as a new product or service is on the market, someone else will find it's flaws and do it better...potentially putting you out of business in the process.

That is why it is important to be thorough and not settle for anything but what you truly desire your product to be in the development phase. You'll waste dollars fixing it in the future if you don't, and by then it might be too late to fix. For online services, such as ours, consider developing multiple sites with similar themes and create a network of relevant sites that compliment one another. This will expand your reach, drive traffic numbers up and broaden the scope of information you can directly offer to users, while ultimately offering more to potential advertisers in the process. It's a simple formula, but not always easy to execute. This wild ride continues...

Week's Worth

It’s been a crazy week of transition for the company. Moving into the new office has put standard process and organization to the test, as we’ve been forced to stop working for phone companies, locksmiths, Internet connections and more. Luckily, things seem to be smoothing out now and I’ve been able to concentrate more on work.

Each day I continue to grow as an entrepreneur. I’m learning more about establishing my network of resources and tapping into the infinite amount of free information. Whether I am receiving advice from former colleagues, tapping into my circle of friends and family or scouring publications and websites for leads, I am seeing more and more that the business world can be understood and played to your advantage if you are willing to do the grunt work and dig-in; it’s a matter of always believing that what you seek is out there somewhere and at a price lower than the competition is paying, but only if you’re willing to work for it.

So where does the business stand today? The design and content for our website have been finalized. Our designer is busy putting together the site and our goal is to have it launched within 10-14 days (just in time for a happy holiday!). Product development continues, with site maps being sketched out and our information for our databases being compiled. We’re also in the process of screening other web developers for the more complex programming we’ll need to accomplish. Client research is also being done, as lists of potential leads has been established. We’re setting the stage so that once our site is up and our business cards are printed we’ll be ready to run. I can’t wait…