(photo: www.goldengopher.la)
As mentioned in a previous post, Simon and I have quit our respective jobs and moved back home to Los Angeles to chase the dream. Home is a foreign concept for both of us. Since graduating a few years ago, we have been traveling nonstop and working in various cities across the US, along with stints abroad in Asia and South America.
In many ways, LA feels like a brand new city. A lot has changed since the last time we’ve called Southern California home. Now that we are back, we would really like to reconnect with old contacts, and also, meet and share stories with new people in the LA area who are chasing their own dreams.
As budding entrepreneurs with limited resources, we are always looking to build new relationships and strategic partnerships with other like-minded people. For example, I was able to connect with an old friend to help with logo and banner design on Muse Handbags, and our partner Kevin has a photographer friend who will be helping us publish our first catalog for a major trade show early next year. In turn, we will be referring both friends’ services to fellow small business owners and clients seeking creative services in graphic design and photography.
In our first effort to reach out to our network in LA, Simon, Neil, and I will be inviting all of our friends and contacts out to an open “mixer” next Saturday, December 12th, in downtown Los Angeles (8:00 PM @ Golden Gopher). In addition to meeting with old friends and new faces, we hope this event will provide an opportunity for guests to connect with each other as well. We are encouraging everyone to invite their friends and their friends’ friends to enjoy each others’ company over some drinks. Hopefully, this will be an avenue for people to meet new folks, and potentially partner up with others working on similar projects. We encourage everyone to come out and join us.
Posted by AK
(photo: tauntingpanda)
Neil works in the fashion district of downtown Los Angeles and happens to have some connections with a handbag manufacturer. A few weeks ago, Neil informed us he would be able to supply handbags at wholesale prices if we wanted to try our hand at an online retail business. Another benefit being, we wouldn’t have to hold inventory until a customer actually purchased. Great, low-risk opportunity to try our hand at something new, right?
For the past two weeks, Albert and I have been working on building an online retail space where we can sell this merchandise. The ultimate goal is to run a hands-off business and collect enough cash flow to cover our living expenses. With the added income and time, we are hoping to dabble in other projects that we are interested in. In the meantime..
In terms of a platform, we came down to two options – Shopify and Yahoo Stores. Although Yahoo has been around longer, we decided to give Shopify a shot for its ease of use and user friendly templates. The second factor was fairly significant, as neither of us has extensive web development experience. For the past couple of weeks, we have been setting up the shop, taking pictures of selected handbags, working out payment systems, and ensuring everything is secure when we finally launch.
Yesterday, we officially “launched” our site. The payment systems are up and running, functionality is in place, and we are ready to start selling handbags! Check it out: www.musehandbags.com
Only problem being..after 24 hours of being launched, the number of customers we have is: 0.
Yes, a big donut.
We have a product we believe in at a very fair price. The next step is to organize a cost effective marketing campaign to draw in as many customers as we can.
Currently, some things we are considering:
- Twitter/FB Marketing
- Affiliate Programs with friends
- Google Adwords
- Guerilla Marketing
In case you are wondering about the cost breakdown, we are spending $30/month for the Shopify site. The first month is free, so we are still in the green. A friend of ours helped us design a logo for free. In return, we promised him future business once we are making money.
Lessons learned:
Marketing will be more difficult than building the actual site
Take advantage of your networks to save on costs
Be prepared – we expected the website to be done in one week, but due to unforeseen complications, had to push back to two
Stay tuned..
Posted by Simon
(photo: Jacob Bøtter)
With only $100 in tow, Simon and I knew we had to be smart with our finances. Last week, we decided to meet up our friend, Neil, for coffee after dinner. Neil is another aspiring entrepreneur who is currently working in the fashion district in downtown LA learning the ins and outs of the business.
Drawing inspiration from a Seth Godin blog post, we decided to hold a “shotgun brainstorming” session.
Rules:
1) For the first 15 minutes, we will go around the table and take turns firing off business ideas.
2) For the second 15 minutes, we will list general “problems that need solving”
3) No filters – Meaning, no idea is a bad idea at this point. Also, we will not take time to discuss an idea in-depth until the session is over
4) Keep our $100 budget in the back of our minds while we brainstorm
Here is a snapshot of some of our “ideas”:
Business
Drop Ship a Product
Information Products e.g. ebooks, DVDs, audio
Speed Reading Seminars
Targeted Speed Dating
Bathroom Games
Party Bus
Ads on T-shirts
Magnet Buttons
Creative Hats
Bumper Sticker Ads
“Bling-Bling” Belt Buckles
Ads in Books
Ads on Napkins
Water Bottle Re-Packaging
Cool Coffee Lids
Men’s Magazine/Blog
Café with entrepreneur/study flair
Ads on Trash Cans
Yelp for Products
Advice Column
Teaching Old Generation New Technologies
Marijuana Seminar
Teaching Parents How to Engage Their Children
Internet Monitoring for Parents
Joke/Gags website
Man Bags
Grooming for guys
Idea Paint Tables/Furniture
Sell Websites to mom & pops
Website That Destroys Products to Test Durability
Online Stress Relief
Folding Out Fan Tables (Portable Tables That Fit In Your Pocket and Fold Out Like a Fan)
Problems
Airline Entertainment
Parking in Big Cities
Back Pain at the Workplace
Traffic in LA
Expensive Ink/Print Cartridges
Shaving
Clothes Smelling Like Cigarettes
Hangovers
Asian Glow
Being Tired During the Day
Sleep/Insomnia
Websites for Small Businesses
Dry Contacts
Simplify Political Issues
Girls in Heels
Winding Watches
Not Knowing What To Do: Urban Spoon for Activities
Cheap, Healthy Food
Good Tasting, Healthy Food
Recycling
Re-Packaging Hand Sanitizers
Texting While Driving
Better Condoms
Falling Asleep on the Road
Lonely business travelers
Waiting In Line At Clubs
Time Management
Kids Wanting to Pee on Long Road Trips
Finding Bathrooms When Traveling
Picking Up After Your Pets
…
Folding out fan tables!?
We’re screwed.
Posted by AK
(photo: jondoeforty1)
A snippet of an email conversation from 2008 amongst four friends:
i guess the bigger question is…what makes you happy? ultimately, we’re still slaves to the corporations we work for. every extra hour of work we do doesn’t come back to us. barring any big raises, the return on our time investment stays constant. the small raises you get here and there are carrots dangled in front of your face to make you stay a little longer. what do we really have to gain from working like this?
i don’t know if i’m alone in thinking like this, but sometimes, i feel like i’m only half alive. if you think about all the shit we wanted to accomplish coming out of college, it’s kind of pathetic. we’re slaves to our jobs, girls, responsibilities, etc. we’re only going to be in our 20’s for 5 more years. this should be the fucking prime years of our life, but i feel like its slipping away too fast. there are things we all want to pursue. i don’t think its necessary to put those off until we’re 40.
knowing that i’m losing 10 hours of my day, every day, 5 times a week doing something i don’t really enjoy doing. if money weren’t a concern, think about all the things we could do with that time! learn to cook a new cuisine, go boarding with your buddies, write, read, listen to speakers, concerts, study a new language, etc etc.
This is to new beginnings.
Two of us, AK and I, have left our old jobs to pursue dreams and write our own story. Collectively, we have $106 in cash.
This blog is a record of our journey.
Posted by Simon
