The Butler Project

Last week I was pretty jacked up about a new business idea I was working on. I need to make some more money and this seemed perfect for me: an internet based business in a field I have been involved in (off line) for the last 12 years that would probably cost less than $500 to start.

Not wanting another experience like that I had with vending machines, I checked and rechecked myself, did I really have the three things every entrepreneur needs?

• Money? Check. I can handle $500.
• Mentor? Check. Like I said, I’ve been in the business off line, and I have my brothers to turn to when I need help with the internet stuff.
• People? Check. This will be a solo operation for a while, and if it takes off, I’m confident I can hire good help. Plus I have family who will take a very active role as supporters and consultants.

Knowing I had the three essentials tied up, I started to do some more research to see if I could really make a go of this idea. Besides determining whether you have the commitment and discipline to take on the task of starting a business, it’s also important to ask yourself these questions:

Is there a market for this service?

Since I’m considering an online business, I checked online. There are a couple of services already running in my proposed field. That’s not a bad thing. In fact, I would have been really disappointed if there had been no competition; that’s a pretty good sign there’s no market either. Both of the top services I found have been around since the late 90s; another good sign–they must be making money.

Can I deliver to my customers?

To me, this question is two fold– first, can I get my customers to use my site, and second, can I give them the service I’m promising? I’m not worried about getting people to my site; there is adequate search traffic for the keywords I would target, and I know how to get listed with search engines. (Our family’s ecommerce site is ranked in the top three on Google for all of our main keywords; it can take a while, but I feel pretty confident in our system.) Additionally, since my service targets parents of school age kids, I know I could write articles for on and off line parenting publications. This would be great, positive exposure, and I know I can drive the traffic to my site.

Can I give the service I’m promising? I think there are enough people on both sides of the service looking for a way to connect, so while I’m not as confident about the answer to this question, I think I can do it.

Do I have enough money?

I know, money is one of the three essentials I already covered, but it’s important enough to look at again. Because I have experience starting a business on the web and experience in the field I’m getting into, I won’t have to hire much help. Buying a domain name and hosting for the site will cost less than $150 the first year, and I’ll do all of the content creation myself. I plan on relying on search engine rankings for the bulk of my advertising (which is free except for the work involved, which I will largely do myself). So, I don’t anticipate start up costs being over $500. In fact, I think I could do it for $250 depending on how much my brother’s technical expertise costs me.

Can I Offer Something New?

Here’s where I look again at the two sites already offering my proposed service, I’ll call them “Site A” and “Site B.” Site A is ugly. The colors are terrible; it’s poorly designed and inconvenient for the user. Additionally the fees they are charging are higher than I anticipate charging for the same services. I know I can do better on all those points. I’ve also checked into their SEO (search engine optimization–how they get noticed and ranked by Google and other search engines), and I feel confident I can match their efforts quickly, even surpass them given some time.

Site B is another story. Site B looks good. It’s well designed, easy to use, and they offer a free service in addition to two levels of paid services. Site B has a lot of users. That’s good for me; that means people have sought out this service.

Can I offer something new? I know I can improve on site A’s model. If they were the top competition, no question, I’d jump in with both feet. Site B has me thinking twice though. I’m not sure I can improve on their service. I know I can get first page rankings with the search engines pretty quickly, but with site B’s longevity, I’m not sure I could ever surpass it (rank higher in search results). If people are going there first, I don’t think they have any reason to then come to me.

I have thought of a few things I could offer my users that Site B does not. Are they strong enough to be my selling point? I don’t think so. I don’t know for sure, but I don’t think so.

So, Where Does This Leave Me?

I admit, was a little discouraged when I realized I had nothing significant to offer over Site B. I really thought this was the perfect way for me to make more money, but I’m not confident I can command the market, nor do I don’t think the market is big enough that I could share it with Site A and be profitable.

All is not lost though. In planning my business strategy, I came up with some good ideas of perks to offer my users. I still may start a smaller site, a blog perhaps, to test the demand for those items. I have signed up as a free user of Site B myself. By using their site, I may find a way into the market after all.

Finally, I am considering taking my model off line and concentrating on a smaller geographic area using more conventional advertising. I lack a mentor for that kind of business, and it may cost more money, so I’ll research it, get a better idea of what’s involved, and decide from there.

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