Hey guys, I recently started a thread asking for suggestions on a first time business start-up, and appreciate the feedback greatly. As I inch closer to starting my first venture, I want to absorb all the information I can about getting this thing up and running and being successful with it, so... Anyone care to share any success stories with me? Preferably nothing to do with monetization with ads, as I am not focusing on this aspect of generating income online. Rather, anyone have any personal success in offering any type of service online? ( Not detering those who have success through ad revenue, feel free to share, I would love to read ). I am very close to launching a business that will offer a very robust service, with a few other competitors in my field, but not too many to give up hope in breaking into this field. Would love to know about your advertisements success, what you've used, hard times, the whole nine yards. Just want to absorb some info and get a very good idea of what I am getting myself into Thanks for sharing, will do my best to read all your postings.
Hi, Awesome story! Thanks for posting the important information. Keep posting in coming future as well as. We will appreciate your work!!! Best of luck.
Well here's my success story - although it may not be a success in the eyes of yourself, it was a great personal achievement. I had been looking online at ways in which to make money, not millions, just enough to get by, purchase some luxuries (being only 15 at the time meant that any money I earned, I got to buy things for myself with). I was specifically aiming at products I could purchase from a supplier and deliver digitally rather than as a tangible good. Two reasons for this: 1. Save shipping costs. 2. Quicker service. After a few weeks looking up many different products from different niches: eBooks, Web Design, Graphic Design etc. I came across the most unlikely item ever. Xbox Live Subscriptions for the Xbox 360. I was pretty confident, that if the market wasn't too saturated, it could be a good business to get into - after all, all 360 owners must purchase xbox live if they wish to go online: which is the primary use isn't it? So I researched competition, the top rankers for terms such as 'xbox live subscriptions' etc. were of course held with Microsoft and Blog's with articles on such subject. I thought what about appending 'cheap' or 'genuine' and after more weeks of researching keyword and their rankings, I decided to go for it. Now came the time, I had decided on what I was going to be doing, and had created a business plan: I would sell on eBay, Amazon & Play.com. The only piece of the jigsaw that was missing was a supplier. This took the most time, about 1 month to find a suitable supplier who could be relied upon and didnt require bulk in terms of thousands to get a good price. So, I was off - I added my listings, selling at £13 cheaper than RRP and making £7 profit per unit. In my first day alone, I made 32 sales on eBay, 12 on Amazon and 1 on Play.com. I now knew where the main source of sales was going to come from. If you do the math, thats 45 orders in total, with a profit of £7 per unit = £315 profit for my first day. As I mentioned earlier, at the age of 15, I was so excited. I had hit the nail on the head and run into a gold mine. The first week passed and profits had already run into 4 figures. My father was proud of me, and my friends somewhat jealous (don't blame them but it did become annoying). Everything was going well - that is until the dreaded PayPal decided to limit my account. I had brought in a revenue exceeding £10,000 in one week. Of course, they had every right to be suspicious but instead of trying to investigate prior to limitation, they busted my account, limited my funds. I was frozen. This had a major knock on effect, I couldn't purchase from the supplier to fulfill orders, and my eBay account was suspended, but the listing remained online - I had to request they close it, which they did...after 5 days. By then, I had accrued over 300 orders for which I could not fulfill - the hardest part was having to refund each and every one of them individually and watching my balance slowly decrease. Finally, 180 days later, PayPal transferred my funds to my bank account - £700 to be precise after all refunds etc. (I had made earlier withdrawal's). So, my success was short but extremely sweet and the experience has put me in good stead for any future venture's, now just a year on, I believe I have learned the true value of money. It's great when you're earning it, but when it's gone...it's gone. A little morale of the story - value everything you have, because you cannot predict when it will no longer be around. I wish you all the luck with your first venture, and if you need any help, you know who to ask. Also, do not bet on success overnight, my venture is one of the rare exceptions whereby consumer demand was high and competition wasn't - work hard and in time, albeit months or maybe years, you will be rewarded: not only with experience but with financial gain too.