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Do you Want free Business Advice to help Your Business.

Discussion in 'General Business' started by daveman, Feb 17, 2014.

  1. daveman

    daveman Active Member

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    #21
    Hi Deepa,

    The best way for me to help you is to ask some questions:
    What experience do you have?
    Why should someone use your service?
    How much will you charge?
    Do you have a website now?
    Who do you plan to sell to?

    Please answer and I will try to help you.

    Many thanks

    David
     
    daveman, Feb 25, 2014 IP
  2. Smitten

    Smitten Well-Known Member

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    #22
    David,

    Hi! Before presenting my case, let me say - I'm aware the ideal route for setting up a successful business is finding a demand in the market then catering to it. I'm going the reverse way here, fully aware it may be foolish. But I believe it's all a matter of finding the right angle. And I believe demand can be enticed. So, here's my thing...

    I'm looking to set up a service that involves a new take on drawing people; my USP could be:

    "It's not a pencil portrait. It's not a caricature. It's a vibrant statement of you.
    Introducing Graphic Portraits, a new way to show your face to the world."

    I'm willing to sell these really cheap ($10/each), as for now I'm mostly concerned about spreading word and getting many hundreds of samples in my belt, since I feel that will be instrumental to improving my skill and sparking public interest. It's not as crazy as it may sound since each drawing takes me 30-60 minutes. Here, have a look:

    https://www.facebook.com/GraphicPortraits

    Do you have any ideas to help this thing take off?
    Thanks in advance,
    Pedro

    PS - If perchance you're interested, PM a photo -- I'll be happy to draw you a free sample as appreciation for your time.
     
    Smitten, Feb 25, 2014 IP
  3. daveman

    daveman Active Member

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    #23
    Hi Pedro, thanks for your message.
    I'm glad you have an understanding of business, also glad you see how business is not just a set of rules and laws but there is room for a creative approach.
    I've had a little look at your facebook page and think I may be of help to you.

    Please answer a couple of questions and I'll give you my advice.

    - Where do you currently sell?
    - How do you currently market yourself?
    - What do you hope to do with your business?
    - Who are your current customers?
    - What's your motivation?

    Do you have your own website? if not, i think you should have one, even if it's wordpress.com or better yet tumblr, you should also have your own domain.

    If you are not already doing this, I would also recommend that you market your services on Fiverr and other places like it.

    If you are willing to move away from your idea and still use the same skills, you could also trade on places like cafepress.

    I hope this helps for now.

    Many thanks

    David

    By the way, I would be happy to take up your offer of a picture, when I find a photo of myself that's worth drawing, I don't photograph very well :)
     
    daveman, Feb 25, 2014 IP
  4. Smitten

    Smitten Well-Known Member

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    #24
    David,

    Thanks for the quick reply. Do take me up on my offer anytime you like - just PM a pic and don't worry much about photogeny, really. Do send me a photo with decent resolution and good lighting, I'll handle the rest! Now for some added perspective on what I'm envisioning:

    To begin with, let me say I absolutely want to steer away from freelance websites, even though I am running some experiments in some of those to begin with: mostly for testing, experimenting different approaches and getting a feel of a possible audience. My aim is to eventually grow a presence that draws prospects to my webs. I'm really tired of pitching and fighting at the free-lance battlefields, you know!

    Since January this year, I'm using that FB page as base of operations, aiming to gradually expand to Twitter, Pinterest, G+ and Youtube as I build up material and polish my skill. I'm still playing around with the website copy and trying to figure out who my target audience could be. I don't think I'll actually launch the main website until I've broke past the 250 portraits mark (currently around 100) and refined my understanding of which angles may work for enticing people to buy what I'm selling.

    My motivation is essentially to draw 1,000 portraits this year and set up a business while doing so. I've got savings to keep me going through the next 3-6 months while focusing this project mostly full-time, which means I can afford the luxury of giving away lots of portraits for free during this time - strategically so, of course.

    Granted -- this wouldn't be a business at all if I didn't start to ramp up some sales at the earliest, which I've just starte doing. But during these early stages I'm OK with selling really cheap ($10/piece) - then expand gradually. Up until Summer time 2014, it's all about practice, practice, practice and test, test, test. Building up my skill and throwing mud at the proverbial wall. From there on, I'm hoping things will pick up some pace as my work improves as well as its perceived value and my network.

    Remember: I'm not looking to compete with the virtuosi pencil portrait artists out there, neither with those zany caricature websites. I want to do my own thing and create a niche for myself, hopefully establishing a brand name in the process. I know it sounds a bit crazy, but I've got several years of experience in digital marketing -- that is the secret sauce, which combined with my present drive to excel at drawing people *and* willingness to work very persistently at it could make this project come together.

    Is that clear? By the way, I'm 100% open to cross-promotion opportunities, if you can think of any! Other than that, I'd love to hear any ideas / suggestions / criticisms that may occur to you after reading the above.

    Thanks for the attention! Sorry about the huge wall of text though :)

    Best,
    Pedro
     
    Smitten, Feb 25, 2014 IP
  5. pooya

    pooya Active Member

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    #25
    Hi David, i have a question to ask regarding another website of mine parsinews.net
    I am stuck making a mobile page for the website itself, i used wizapp and its theme.
    My question is should i pay $50 to be able to post my google adds and to Distribute my App to the Google Play Store ? Or is there a better solution out there for doing this ? what i love is no doubt its theme.

    P.S : I will reply to your answer about my halaatupdates business.
     
    pooya, Feb 28, 2014 IP
  6. pentaxial

    pentaxial Active Member

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    #26
    Hi,

    Website -> to communicate with people world wide, so you are as Property buy/sell , Having Website is must now a days,

    Increase your sales happen by various process

    1. onpage/offpage SEO ( that brings your website on search engines like google,yahoo etc.,)
    2. PPC ( pay per click ) advertisement would help you
    3. Adwords campaign increase your sales ( PLA ) - product listing Ad

    hope may this helpful for you
     
    pentaxial, Mar 1, 2014 IP
  7. daveman

    daveman Active Member

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    #27
    Hi Pedro,
    Sorry for my late response, been rather busy with deadlines etc.

    Thank you for your open and frank response.

    I would suggest you work on your brand, have a site and domain of your own, network with a diverse range of contacts including creative and non creative people that could use your service or are in contact with your target market.

    The reason I suggest setting up your own site to work with your FB and other social media is simple. why not start building the equity and value of your site even if it's just the domain name pointing to a tumblr blog. The point is Facebook etc may change their policies or functionality at any time and if you only have them, it may risk your business strategy.

    The reason I suggest doing some work on freelance type sites is simple, it's about exposure, it can be a great way to bring more potential clients into contact with your brand, your service and your most valuable asset, Your Personality and Vision for Your Business. I know freelancing sites can be challenging but I'm suggesting doing a little bit for market research as you pointed out and also for brand exposure and finding opportunities.

    With regard to cross promotion, I would contact people that have blogs or other high volume sites where your target client would hang out. I would then offer them the opportunity to be an affiliate for you. There are a few ways this could be done but it's a win win as it offers their visitors value and makes them money, it aslo gives you exposure to your target audience.

    I hope this helps.

    Many thanks

    David
     
    daveman, Mar 3, 2014 IP
  8. daveman

    daveman Active Member

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    #28
    Hi Pooya,

    Thanks for your question. There are many different tools for turning your site or your content into an android app, I don't know all of them and all their good and bad points.

    Here is how I can help you. Ask yourself this question ... will this theme matter to my app users?
    Do my users want Content Quality or do they want Template Design Quality....
    If you have money, give them both, if you don't have money, give them Content Quality and you can always upgrade the template theme later after you have built the popularity of your app.

    This is my advice to you, hope it helps.

    Let me know if I can be of more help.

    Many thanks

    David
     
    daveman, Mar 3, 2014 IP
  9. Smitten

    Smitten Well-Known Member

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    #29
    David,

    Hi! Thanks for taking the time to comment, your feedback is much appreciated and I'm sure it will also be valuable.

    You're quite right, I need to set up a website ASAP since it'll be harder to set up a proper sales funnel without it. Social media is great for window shopping and brand awareness, but when it comes to getting people to whip out some cash -- good copy leading up to an actual order form within an actual website should work much, much better.

    By the way, the other day you accidentally made me think of an interesting angle for my promotion. "So you don't think you photograph well? What does a camera know, anyway! My drawings will make you look Good/Cool/Awesome/Powerful (pick your favored adjective)" ;-)

    Does that sound appealing? Remember to try me out anytime you like: for you it's on the house, my friend!

    Many thanks,
    and best of luck;
    Pedro
     
    Smitten, Mar 3, 2014 IP
  10. daveman

    daveman Active Member

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    #30
    Hi Just wanted to ask how the business project is going, if you have any questions, please ask, I'm happy to help.
     
    daveman, Apr 19, 2015 IP
  11. piapetersson

    piapetersson Greenhorn

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    #31
    Hi thanks for help, would know about ways of advertising and promotions of newly started business.
     
    piapetersson, May 14, 2015 IP
  12. daveman

    daveman Active Member

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    #32
    Hi sorry for the late reply, yes I know about this but it all depends on the type of business you have.

    What's your business and what do you want to do.

    Thanks


    David
     
    daveman, May 22, 2015 IP