Just Want to Get Started

[dailyherbalsguy]

Hi everyone,

My name is Devin. I have a small company called Daily Herbals which I set up last year. I want to sell Curcumin supplements to a vitamin-seeking market. The business is already registered with the state, I have my website up, and I have received 300 bottles of my product from my supplier. My products are already labeled and and ready to be sold. Essentially, I have all the basic ingredients to start selling (I even have a Facebook and Pinterest up for my company). I just need to know what I should do first, as that seems to be the major hurdle I am facing. Any help anyone could provide would be fantastic. Thank you.

-I only have one product; I am planning on branching out soon, but I really just need to start selling.

Daily Herbals: www.dailyherbals.com

-Devin

[Harold Mansfield]

So what was your plan to start getting the word out to potential customers? I'm assuming since you've mentioned all things that are online that you were hoping that ecommerce would be your driving sales avenue. Would that be a correct assumption?

[ksnazel]

The social media links on your webpage do not appear to go anywhere. Are they coming later?

[dailyherbalsguy]

Hi Harold and Ksnazel, thanks for your replies.
Harold: Yes I a planning an ecommerce route: I just set up Paypal Checkout today and I'm working on Amazon checkout (and selling directly on Amazon). I still need to get the UPC code (Universal Product Code a.k.a. barcode) for my product (which requires application to GS1, a creator of barcodes). As it stands, anyone can register on my site and order a bottle of my supplement. Amazon should be easy once I get the UPC.
Ksnazel, In regard to social media, I have set up a facebook = https://www.facebook.com/DailyHerbals
and a Pinterest = Daily Herbals (Dailyherbals) on Pinterest (http://pinterest.com/Dailyherbals)
-I want to sell my product in local CVS stores or the nearby Vitamin Shoppe location soon. What is the environment for this like for REALLY small-timers such as myself? (I only have around 300 bottles right now, but I can get more once I start selling)
Partnering with CVS/pharmacy | CVS Caremark Suppliers (http://www.cvssuppliers.com/) = Indicates that selling at CVS is not impossible, but I do not know if they would give me the time of day.
-Answers to any of these questions would be greatly appreciated. Thanks guys!

[Daniel Arbizu]

Your site looks good. I would suggest forming a solid marketing plan. List the top 5 competitors in your market. Take notice of what they are doing (ad's, customer service, target customers). See what you can offer that they don't, and if there is a part of the market they aren't marketing to that you can capitalize on. Somehow you have to set yourself apart and show the consumer the advantages of using your product. Bing Ads, Google Adwords, Facebook ads, and Youtube ads can be a great resource if you utilize the keyword and market segment targeting tools available. In my experience either CPA (cost per action) or CPM (cost per thousand impressions) are the way to go. With CPA you only pay if you make a conversion. With CPM it's more about brand exposure. PPC (pay per click) can work pretty well if you are advertising in the right places, to the right people, and use the right kewords.

[nealrm]

-I only have one product; I am planning on branching out soon, but I really just need to start selling.

From the sound of your post, it doesn't sound like you have developed a plan. My first suggestion would be to sit down and spend a half or full day developing a business plan. Once that is in place, it will help you determine what needs to be done and when. Now, before you go any further you need a business plan. I'm not say a 20+ page document, but a short couple of page that address the following items:

What are you selling, both from a product standpoint and from an emotional standpoint.
Who is your market, what are their interests, lifestyles, trigger points...
How will you reach that market? How long will it take you to reach that market (double you estimate)
Who are you competing against? What are your advantages over your competition?
What are your expenses? (now double this)
How much will you make and how long will it take before you have a steady income? (double your time estimate, cut your estimated income in half)
How will you live until you start generating an income.

[Harold Mansfield]

You are in a really competitive market, and the way you hope to make sales is extremely difficult with a large learning curve, and you haven't taken any time to learn anything about either.

First of all, let's talk about your website. You have one product, but your website is set up as if you have an entire product line, but are out of everything else. If one product is all you have, then your website should be all about that one product. Remove everything that implies you don't have any other products yet. No one will buy confidently from an empty store.

You really need to do some studying about ecommerce, writing sales copy. You also need to study SEO and internet marketing.

Once you get your website dialed in to promote the heck out of that one product that you have, you're going to have to start writing articles and blogging about the benefits of whatever it is that you're selling, but you're going to have to do it in a way that doesn't look like you're spamming the web.

I'd say to do some advertising, but I'd like to see you learn a little more about doing your own promotion and marketing before you spend money on ads, because you don't know what you're doing on the web yet.

I feel the need to repeat that herbal products is an EXTREMELY crowded and competitive niche online. However, suprisingly, you snagged a decent URL for your website and company name.

As far as getting into CVS and other store, you aren't ready for that yet. Unless you have a some kind of miracle cure for something, and it can be protected, no one is going to take you seriously with an inventory of 300 bottles. Which brings up my next question, Is this an original product and is it patented?

I agree with Nealrm, you should take the time to write a business plan. The operative word here being "Plan". Once you are forced to put a realistic plan on paper, it will at least point you in a direction. Without a plan, you will waste a lot of time and money jumping from one trick to the next and never fully understanding what you are doing or why.

[dailyherbalsguy]

Harold Mansfield - Yes, ecommerce is my route: I have set up google ads, my product is on Amazon, and I have PayPal checkout on my site.

ksnazel - I have set up a Facebook and Pinterest. I will link them to the site asap.

Daniel Arbizu - I already listed the top 5 competitors in my market and took notes on what they were offering. I am implementing that into my business plan.
-I will look into CPA and CPM now. My google ad is pay-per-click.

nealrm - I will come up with a solid list of answers to those questions asap. If you have any advice on what I come up with I'm game.

Harold Mansfield - Your last post was really helpful; It's good to hear solid advice, so don't shy away from telling it like it is. Unfortunately I already set up a pay-per-click ad, but otherwise I haven't spent any money on online ads yet. I will get going on the things you suggested today. I guess I do need to get a handle on the whole online scene before I tackle CVS oranything. Thanks.

------Thanks for all your responses. Sorry for the delayed reply (I tried, but the post never went through as it seems it's still "waiting for approval")

[Jim Briggs]

Congratulations on getting it out there! It's not a small accomplishment. Where you are now, what you have is good in the sense that you have something up and running that has the ability to collect money. Many people don't even get as far as you've gotten. But as I will explain in a minute, you’re at the beginning, at the first iteration, and what you do next will be critical for your success. But the game is now on!

I agree with Harold and the others about the following:

Herbal products online is an EXTREMELY crowded market (I don't know first hand but that sounds right).
Web site should likely be built around one product.
You need to learn a lot of stuff about the online arena and eventually market the hell out of your site/product.
Now here's my advice, but first some hard, cold facts:

Most businesses that do these kinds of ecommerce ventures fail
Those who succeed do so after going through several iterations of their business idea.
Customer and market risk is the greatest risk (risk that customers want and will buy your thing).
These FACTS dictate strategy. You need to be testing your risks and quickly iterating your business and your website until you get it right.

Forget about a business plan. Do not do a business plan! Create a business model--which is also a plan--that captures your key guesses in the length of a page. (different mindset, different philosophy)

The problem that you're solving: GUESS
Your value proposition: GUESS
The customer segment you're targeting: GUESS
How you'll get, keep and grow customers: GUESSES
Sales channel: GUESS
Revenue streams: GUESS
Cost structure: GUESS
Key partners: GUESS
Key resources and activities: GUESSES
The business model is the common language for thinking about a venture.

Here’s my attempt to reverse engineer your business model from what you said and what’s on your site:

Value proposition elements: live a healthy life; curcumin3 and its benefit list. (very generic)
Channel: sell on my own website inside my store (there other ways to go)
Customer segments: ?????? (not clear from website; sounds like you want to appeal to everyone; you need to choose; work needed!)
Get customers strategy: you'll want a few strategies and a lot of tactics that fall under the heading of growth hacking
Revenue streams: sales with a discounting and cost-based pricing tactics
Key costs: ecommerce platform, supplement bottles
Other key assumptions: ??
Please do not execute! What do successful businesses do? Execute. Why? Because they have already figured out their business model. They know their customer. They know what works. They don't have the same kinds of risks. Online startups are NOT in that situation. They shouldn’t be focusing on execution because they don’t know what to execute.Your startup is in a discovery phase as you try to turn your guesses into facts and replace them with other hopefully better guesses until you get it right. You should be searching for a business model, not executing and documenting one.

On to some practical points. Harold mentioned that your website should be all about that one product. That’s azoom-in pivot of your business model (penalize me one buzzword please). You thought: offer a catalog of product. Invalidated by the people on this forum. Better idea suggest: be all about one product. Be prepared make these kinds of changes as you learn. Do whatever it takes to be agile: bring on a technical co-founder; outsource to a marketing guy--partner.

Just as you shouldn’t copy the execution process of successful companies, do not copy the look of successful ecommerce sites. Most successful sites start simple with a focus on one thing. After they're successful, their look changes.

Etsy.com value proposition:
Buy and sell handmade or vintage items, art and supplies on Etsy, the world's most vibrant handmade marketplace. Share stories through millions of items from around the world.

When they started out, Etsy had a simple site that spelled out their proposition to a specific segment.

Educational action items:

Take this free online course. While you’re working on your business, take Steve Blank’s online course on how to do a startup: How to Build a Startup (http:// https://www.udacity.com/course/ep245) (it doesn’t get much better than this). It can be completed in a day.

Google and learn about lean startups and growth hacking and business model canvas.

Business action items

Spell out your business model in a very short document. (Google business model to learn more about how to do this or lean about it from the above course). Among other things, this will help you get clear and specific about your value proposition and your customer segments. Your message on your website is “We help you to live a healthy life”. You’ll want to get a more specific message for a more specific audience.


Then take action to try to validate your model:


Modify your website and start marketing in some of the ways suggested in this discussion thread. Blogging can be important because it's a way to build an online relationship with customers. (How you build a relationship with customers is a key part of your strategy)


Other things you can do. You can talk to potential customers to understand them better, you can do surveys, you can put up landing pages to test value propositions. In other words, there are a lot of things you can do to quickly and cheaply test your model that don’t involve your web site. These kinds of experiments help you to figure out your value proposition and your marketing. You might see these sorts of learning experiments (http://blog.startuphacker.co/2013/05/test-your-startup-business-idea.html)as taking a step backward, but in fact, they might be the path forward.

Good Luck!

[Paul Elliott]

You really need to do some studying about ecommerce, writing sales copy. You also need to study SEO and internet marketing.

Once you get your website dialed in to promote the heck out of that one product that you have, you're going to have to start writing articles and blogging about the benefits of whatever it is that you're selling, but you're going to have to do it in a way that doesn't look like you're spamming the web.

I agree with Nealrm, you should take the time to write a business plan. The operative word here being "Plan". Once you are forced to put a realistic plan on paper, it will at least point you in a direction. Without a plan, you will waste a lot of time and money jumping from one trick to the next and never fully understanding what you are doing or why.

Devin, all the above are very important.

You have to answer the question, "So what?" about nearly everything about your business. Your site gives me no information about you or your product. You should become a source of helpful information for your customers. Google perfers pages that inform readers searching for information--Google's customers.

There are statements--actual and implied--on your site about which you should enlighten us. Among these are the following:

Why should I take curcumin?
What is C3?
Is it better than the raw material?
Why?
What is BioPerine?
Why should I care?
What should I expect to get from taking your product--be VERY careful here, since your competitors will report you to the FDA and the FTC to get you shut down.
500 mg. of what--curcumin? BioPerine? Both?
What are your manufacturing standards? Your kitchen sink? Something else?
Why should I purchase from you rather than the next purveyor down the block?

Consider joining trade groups to get their help and perspective on your industry.

Your site is "off-putting" for those wishing to get more information from you. When I tried to sign up for your e-newsletter, I was told in a bright red box, "There was a problem with the subscription: Sorry, but administrator denied subscription for guests. Please register." REALLY??? I wouldn't do anything at that point but close your site FOREVER!

You WANT ANYone who will give you ANY contact information! Why? So you can prove yourself and your product/s.

As has been noted above, double or quadruple everything that applies to costs and time, and divide by 2 or 4 everything that applies to profits.

My best wishes for your business venture.

Paul

[nealrm]

nealrm - I will come up with a solid list of answers to those questions asap. If you have any advice on what I come up with I'm game.
When you are done, post them here or PM me. We can review them and offer suggestions. There are a few items that will put you completely out of the game. Those are not having money to keep a roof over your head, pay for food and utilities, pay taxes and pay your suppliers. You fail on any of those items your business is dead. A business can survive a very long time just by fulfilling those items, and as long as you are still in the game there is a possibility you will succeed. Make sure that they are covered.

There is one phrase that is commonly used and I want you to remember it, but not for the reason you might think. That phrase is Winners never quit and quitters never win. Why? It's NOT for the reason you might think, It's because that is one of the stupidest, dumbest, poorest piece of garbage statement you can make in business. Most people that succeed do so because they on quit hundreds of stupid ideas. The successful are literally standing on a mountain of failed ideas and projects they discarded. Even in sports, if something doesn't work you quit doing it and start doing something that does work. The big issues is not whether you quit a project, but why you quit and what you do afterwards to restart.

This has a great deal to do with your business plan (or if you wish business model), neither will survive the first few months. They will need to be adjusted, modified, discarded or outright scrapped as you gain more insight into your business and market. Think of the plan like a road map for taking you from New York to LA. Along the way your car will break down, roads will be closed and you may want to make some side trips. You won't know about those at the start, but you will have an idea of where you want to go and how to get there. Along the way, you will need to make changes to meet the needs of the time. So be prepared to quit portions of your plan that are not taking you where you want. Just make sure that you are quitting for the right reasons.

Jeff, is right. Much of what you will be putting in your plan will be guess. But try to make them educated guesses.

I look forward to seeing your results.

[dailyherbalsguy]

Paul - The newsletter thing shouldn't be happening. Working on it now. the newsletter feature might be down entirely for a day or so.
nealrm - still working on that list, I've been busy trying to get a new product that only one other, Japanese company has in any form. I've been trying to get a similar product made. Right off the bat, are there any major issues I should be looking into - as far as competitors' actions are concerned? (I do not plan on ripping off the Japanese company's formula). Basically, aside from the fact that my current product contains BioPerine and is vegetarian (a feature which a sector of my market values greatly), there is little that sets my business aside. I am hoping the new product will be at novel enough to warrant at least a little market distinction.
-Still working on everything. All your advice has been really helpful; thank you

[nealrm]

Basically, aside from the fact that my current product contains BioPerine and is vegetarian (a feature which a sector of my market values greatly), there is little that sets my business aside. I am hoping the new product will be at novel enough to warrant at least a little market distinction.
If that statement is true, you need to pump that your product contains BioPerin, is vegetarian and that you are the only place to get that. Otherwise, you are selling what is called as commodity. Commodities are generally sold in very high volumes at very low profit margins. Think bolts, corn, laundry soap... You would be competing on price.


Right off the bat, are there any major issues I should be looking into
Yes, how are you going to keep a roof over your head, feed yourself (and family), pay utilities and pay your suppliers until your business starts earning a profit. If you can't take care of those, nothing else matters.

[dailyherbalsguy]

"Yes, how are you going to keep a roof over your head, feed yourself (and family), pay utilities and pay your suppliers until your business starts earning a profit. If you can't take care of those, nothing else matters."
-I have no family of my own that depends on me, thankfully. I would not be pursuing this avenue if I could not support myself. I'm 24. What I lack is experience and knowledge, Although if it helps I am doing my MBA next year and my sister can probably take over for me IF I cannot commit. The stuff you mentioned IS important and I'll keep it in mind.
Thanks, nearlm.
(still working on the business model/plan, etc.)

[Harold Mansfield]

I can't help but be struck by the fact that you don't seem to know anything about the industry that you are venturing into.

Normally, most people at least have an idea of thier industry, yet understandably have questions about running a business.
But you seem to be lost about the very thing that you are doing.

I'm just curious, what made you venture into such a crowded, competitive inudustry?
Are you a chemist or nutritionist?
Do you have some ground breaking product?
Have you worked in this area before?