Today I am very sick, and can't apply my brain to very little, so I haven't done any research or read today. I have, however, watched a delightful little movie called Julie and Julia. It was just like our blogrimages! It's the story of Julia Child and also the story of a young woman named Julie who takes one year to make all of the recipes in Julia Child's cookbook Mastering the Art of French Cooking, and she blogs about it everyday. It was inspiring, but also made me disappointed in my lack of dedication to this project. Well, after this 30 days, I'm definitely not going to stop blogging, and I'm definitely not going to stop making the business plan for my business.
Many times in my life, when I set out to do something, if I can't accomplish it exactly the way I plan to, I simply give up. I'm seeing now that is just an excuse to not finish, and in the end hurts me more than just finishing what I set out to do, even if I don't accomplish it the way I thought I would. Can anyone else relate with this?
Peace of Schmidt: Go see Julie and Julia.
Saturday, April 10, 2010
Friday, April 9, 2010
Quick Update
Considering the name Wiki CD. The domain is taken (www.wikicd.com), so I contacted the owner. Says he will sell it to me for $900. Considering this for the future, but will likely consider a different name. Any ideas?
Tuesday, April 6, 2010
Day 21?
Just got back from Michigan for my dads birthday and incidentally Easter as well. It was a quick visit, but SO good. I wish I was there still. Ok I'm going to go all the way and just say I wish I lived there. Katelyn and I both know that were supposed to be in CO Springs, and I know the economy is aweful in MI, but its so good to be around family and friends. Anyway, I'll be updating the blog later today, but I wanted to post something since its been so long.
Peace of Schmidt:
I knew I was back in Colorado when the people driving in the fast lane were going 5 under the speed limit. There's no joke here, Colorado drivers are just very frustrating.
Peace of Schmidt:
I knew I was back in Colorado when the people driving in the fast lane were going 5 under the speed limit. There's no joke here, Colorado drivers are just very frustrating.
Monday, March 29, 2010
Day 15: Product Chosen.
Hey guys, sorry I haven't updated in a while. Life has been SO busy! This post is going to be short.
I talked to my friend John Hutton about the website idea, and he really liked it. John works for a website design company, and knows what would go into a website like that. It encouraged me to see him get excited about the different features I was proposing. He said that it would cost some money, but that they are really good with working on whatever budget I have. He also said some companies they do websites for will add more features as the money becomes available. So I could start out basic, then get more complex as I go on. So, since the purpose of this blogrimage is to lay out the plan of a business I would create, and not to actually create it yet (since I don't have the funds) I'm going with this CD duplication/design website as my business. Exciting!
Stay tuned for more exciting developments!
Peace of Schmidt:
"You have only to believe if you wish to achieve. That rhymed, unintentional." - Hot Rod
I talked to my friend John Hutton about the website idea, and he really liked it. John works for a website design company, and knows what would go into a website like that. It encouraged me to see him get excited about the different features I was proposing. He said that it would cost some money, but that they are really good with working on whatever budget I have. He also said some companies they do websites for will add more features as the money becomes available. So I could start out basic, then get more complex as I go on. So, since the purpose of this blogrimage is to lay out the plan of a business I would create, and not to actually create it yet (since I don't have the funds) I'm going with this CD duplication/design website as my business. Exciting!
Stay tuned for more exciting developments!
Peace of Schmidt:
"You have only to believe if you wish to achieve. That rhymed, unintentional." - Hot Rod
Wednesday, March 24, 2010
Day 10: First Attempt at Finding the Niche
Today I found a website called www.shopster.com. Check out this video to see what they are all about. Basically it's a network for suppliers to meet sellers. You can use it to set up an online store, and pick the items you want to sell from searching through the suppliers. Very cool site, I may use it.
I thought of a product today. It's a site that makes CD creation and duplication easy for artists. The idea is that an artist or band would get on the site, they would then be able to choose the type of package they want their CD to be in, they could upload their cover art, and any booklet they want to create, and then they would be able to upload their tracks and have it all created and sent to them. If the band doesn't have any album art works, or doesn't know what they want, there would be templates they could work with and an easy to use customization feature so they can get the look they want. There are sites that do similar things to this, such as www.discmakers.com and www.nationwidedisc.com, but after navigating their site I noticed that they were both frustrating to use, and didn't offer a creation feature on the website. If you wanted to create designs from scratch you had to call them, or work on it offline, and then upload it again. There would be some other niche things I could put into the site to make it more user friendly and convenient. As we talked about yesterday, alleviate the pain of CD duplication.
This brings me to a point that I've been considering since my call to my sister Heidi. After telling me the downfalls of the organic baby clothing market, she did offer some wisdom on differentiation. She said that I could do the organic clothing, so long as I differentiated myself enough. She said that JC Penny was late on the scene when he first started, but he differentiated his stores and in essence "found his niche". Now I'm not returning to the organic baby clothing idea, but she does make a valid point that I need to consider. Even if other people are doing things similar, what can I do to differentiate myself and better serve my niche? This also runs me into a blurry line, because in order for me to "set it and forget it" my market can't be too saturated, or I'll be spending all my time on better marketing, and constantly having to "maintain" the business. Well, its food for thought anyway.
Some problems I foresee with this website is that it could have large upfront costs to create the website, and that I'll have to find a drop ship manufacturer that does CD duplication, prints booklets and covers, and produces sleeves and jewell cases. I'm sure such a place exists, I'm just throwing out potential pitfalls. Websites can cost a surprising amount, especially if they are information based (which this one is not) Here is an example of a website you've probably never heard of, but cost $1.9 million to make, and was much less research intensive than a website like imdb. Something like my idea won't cost but a couple thousand I imagine, but still thats a lot.
Peace of Schmidt:
What did one snowman say to the other snowman?...Smells like carrots.
I thought of a product today. It's a site that makes CD creation and duplication easy for artists. The idea is that an artist or band would get on the site, they would then be able to choose the type of package they want their CD to be in, they could upload their cover art, and any booklet they want to create, and then they would be able to upload their tracks and have it all created and sent to them. If the band doesn't have any album art works, or doesn't know what they want, there would be templates they could work with and an easy to use customization feature so they can get the look they want. There are sites that do similar things to this, such as www.discmakers.com and www.nationwidedisc.com, but after navigating their site I noticed that they were both frustrating to use, and didn't offer a creation feature on the website. If you wanted to create designs from scratch you had to call them, or work on it offline, and then upload it again. There would be some other niche things I could put into the site to make it more user friendly and convenient. As we talked about yesterday, alleviate the pain of CD duplication.
This brings me to a point that I've been considering since my call to my sister Heidi. After telling me the downfalls of the organic baby clothing market, she did offer some wisdom on differentiation. She said that I could do the organic clothing, so long as I differentiated myself enough. She said that JC Penny was late on the scene when he first started, but he differentiated his stores and in essence "found his niche". Now I'm not returning to the organic baby clothing idea, but she does make a valid point that I need to consider. Even if other people are doing things similar, what can I do to differentiate myself and better serve my niche? This also runs me into a blurry line, because in order for me to "set it and forget it" my market can't be too saturated, or I'll be spending all my time on better marketing, and constantly having to "maintain" the business. Well, its food for thought anyway.
Some problems I foresee with this website is that it could have large upfront costs to create the website, and that I'll have to find a drop ship manufacturer that does CD duplication, prints booklets and covers, and produces sleeves and jewell cases. I'm sure such a place exists, I'm just throwing out potential pitfalls. Websites can cost a surprising amount, especially if they are information based (which this one is not) Here is an example of a website you've probably never heard of, but cost $1.9 million to make, and was much less research intensive than a website like imdb. Something like my idea won't cost but a couple thousand I imagine, but still thats a lot.
Peace of Schmidt:
What did one snowman say to the other snowman?...Smells like carrots.
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