student ventures at rider

Yourekas Business Model

2011-05-30T21:50:00.001-07:00

So why do I think Yourekas has an opportunity to outperform its competitors? I think that the current video-making websites all have their flaws, and that the best methods of creating user-generated videos in use today can be improved upon. Basically, Yourekas will compete with competitors using two types of business models. One consists of big companies that use search engine algorithms to find popular topics. Then, they project a value for the ad revenue from a video on that topic, and pay filmmakers to make a video about the topic for a sum of money less than the expected value. The payment is usually something like $50, and the filmmakers can make as many films as they like. The other business model is to get big companies to post a reward of several thousand dollars for a contest in which anyone can submit a video. The company then picks their favorite, and gives the money to the winner after the website takes a cut of it.

Like I said, both have their flaws. The first model fails to create enough incentive to make quality videos. They are often full of superficial content, lack important content and are far from entertaining. This method fails to utilize one of the Internet’s most valuable characteristics: the ability to make a video go viral. Also, Google recently announced that it is changing its search algorithm to punish so-called “content farms” that simply publish as much content as possible without much regard for quality. The second model does save companies money by getting amateurs or small studios to do what big, professional studios did before. However, they still rely on an individual or team with limited capabilities and resources. Also, some of them have all-or-nothing payouts in which a contestant can submit a remarkable video, and not receive a dime for it.

The Yourekas model is supposed to improve on these limitations. First, users will submit yourekas, which are original ideas about how to use products in ways most people are not familiar with. These will be screened by me, but only to remove submissions that don’t have enough content. Then, the person who submitted the youreka will be responsible for make contests need to create an entertaining how-to video of the youreka. These contests will be for things like music, illustrations, graphics, and acting. Users will submit works to be considered. The user running the contests will select a few favorites, and then let put them up for a vote by the public. Think of this stage like American Idol where judges pick the contestants who go to Hollywood, and then let the audience vote. The user running the contest will then have the choice to go with the crowd’s selection or pick his own. Think of this stage like the lifeline in Who Wants to be a Millionaire, in which the contestant can pick the choice the crowd thinks is the answer or go with his gut feeling. Finally, the winners of each contest collaborate to make the video and share the revenue, with Yourekas taking a cut.

I did not come up with this method out of the blue. It is the result of several iterations and makes use of a concept I learned while getting my MBA at Rider. It is a derivative of the method for coming up with solutions to problems called nominal group technique. Basically, employees are told of a problem before a meeting and asked to come up with solutions to present at the meeting. After all the potential solutions are presented, all of the employees discuss the strengths and weaknesses of each idea, and then rank them. Nominal group technique has been shown to work better than brainstorming in coming up with effective solutions. I learned about it in both of my Organizational Behavior classes, and had the chance to discuss how it relates to Yourekas with one professor, Dr. Promislo. We discussed how crowdsourcing can increase the creativity of the films, but how each project still needs a leader to guide the process.

There are a few reasons why I like the Yourekas method. One, artists can specialize in what they do best and only focus on that one task. In the other methods, an artist in a small team may have to fill gaps in the team’s abilities and work on something that their heart is not into. Two, artists don’t have to create something entirely new for each contest. They can submit something from their portfolio, and then explain how something like it can be used for that particular video. This means that they don’t have to risk putting out a lot of effort without winning anything. They only have to work on the project once they know they have won the contest. This reduces their risk compared to other methods. Three, once they have won the contest, the artists can work on the project as much or as little as they want because there is no set reward. The artists earn a share of the ad revenue, meaning that Yourekas is more of a meritocracy in which the money users make should correlate more with their effort than it does at other sites. Four, this method creates virtual teams, unlike other sites that mostly rely on one individual or studio to make the video. This should lead to more creativity and better quality videos because the talent pool is bigger and more diverse.

First post about Yourekas, Inc

2011-02-21T08:28:00.000-08:00

I had the original, basic idea of Yourekas over two years ago. I debated with my self whether it could be profitable or not so I decided to investigate. I read several books, including Wikinomics, Groundswell, E-preneur, The 4-Hour Workweek, and How to Start an E-Commerce Business in a Week, and several articles online. Some insights from these sources, and my growing frustration with my current job as a chemist lead me to take a few low cost steps to get the ball rolling. On 1/16/09 I bought the yourekas.com domain name for about $20. At first, I actually tried to buy youreka.com (without the “s”), but some blokes in England owned it. I offered them $200, and they still wouldn’t sell. This first step ended up being indicative of almost everyone other step I’ve taken since; almost every one of my first choices ultimately were not possible or had a major disadvantage, and diligence or creativity lead me to a better choice. At the time of this writing, there is no website at youreka.com.

I proceeded to start a Ning account – at the time it was free. It had all of the social networking features I needed, and an API that developers could use to create what I needed that it didn’t have. My initial search for developers was fruitless. They were either too expensive, or didn’t have the required skills. Some stopped responding to my emails after I went into more detail about what I wanted. Finally, Ning launched a website for Ning account creators to meet third party developers with Ning experience. I noticed that one company, Sympho Networks, was networking much more than any of the other developers and they seemed to know what they were doing. I told them my idea and they gave me a reasonable quote. I started to think more critically about what I needed so I could have them develop all of the basic functionality at once.

And then I got laid off.

Losing my job made it much harder to justify spending money on a high-risk project. In the summer of 2010, though, I decided to do an independent study at Rider University to determine once and for all if it was still worth it to invest in Yourekas. In writing the business plan, I found that it was. Several competitors were doing something similar things, but I felt they were still missing the mark. I found that a famous blogger and software engineer, Guy Kawasaki, had done an experiment to see how cheaply he could make a popular, profitable website (http://blog.guykawasaki.com/2007/06/by_the_numbers_.html#axzz1CYVCqERx). His start up costs were about $12,000, which is what I was willing to spend, and the site was bought by a larger company. I also read many articles about online collaboration, and felt that Yourekas was the next logical step in even though nothing quite like it had been created.

In July 2010, I paid Ning about $500 for a Ning Pro account. In August, I incorporated Yourekas, Inc. for $500, opened a bank account for the company, and told Sympho I’d be moving forward with the project. The delay gave me the opportunity to ask them more questions, which helped me gain more trust in them. This was important since they are located in the Philippines, and I will be sending the greatest portion of the project’s startup expenses to people I could never meet in person. In November, I sent them my first payment of $2600. They are currently still working on the first part of the project, and they send me updates regularly. It’s important to point out that I will be paying them much more that estimated in the business plan. I was not able to use the Box.net application for free like I thought I would, so they will be building a custom application in its place.

Recently, I have been doing what I can to get things in order for when the site is done. I read in Entrepreneur Magazine about a law firm’s promotional offer of free legal services to tech startups. They determined I was a good fit, and agreed to write my terms of service, as well as provide a few other services. They also advised me that I’d be better offer converting the S-Corp to a Delaware C-Corp to make it easier for venture capitalists to buy stock. I estimate I will save about $3000 by using their “Tech Law Project.” I do not have to use their services in the future, but I do plan to since they have helped me out so much. The law firm mentioned in the business plan will no longer be used. Also, I set up a Google Analytics account and have been creating custom reports to easily enter information into a spreadsheet of metrics I am creating. The idea is to combine data from financial worksheets, web analytics and my marketing funnel to find which media provide the highest advertising return, which parts of the site need the most improvement, and what features users like the best and lead to the most sales. I won’t be able to complete the custom reports and the metrics sheet until the website is complete.

Most recently, I received a quote from Rue Insurance, and it was much higher than the estimated insurance expense in my business plan of $200/year. The Rue quote had general liability at $500, workers compensation at $369, and NetProtect Essential, the insurance that would protect the actual site, at about $2000. Currently, I don’t think I will really need general liability because all of my equipment is my personal equipment in my home, and I don’t plan on hiring employees so I won’t pay workers compensation. I will pay the $2000 to protect the site, especially since Guy Kawasaki’s site was hacked in the first week (his site was instantly popular because of his fame and probably presented quite an entertaining challenge to hackers – a problem I don’t anticipate having immediately).

I have also begun to work on the tutorial video that will be placed on every page of the website to show visitors how to use the site, and will be used as an advertisement on Youtube. This video will go through an example of a youreka, and I think my idea for the tutorial is really interesting – interesting enough that when people see the video they will share it with friends. Basically, I plan to make a video of how a motion sensor, something called Airport Express, and software can be used to turn on music from your computer when you walk in a room. I have ordered all of the parts. When they come I will see if I can get it all to work. The next step will be sending a script to Indie Frame Films so they can give me a quote and then start to make it. This project must also wait until the site is built before it can be completed because it will show how the site is used.

So far I have gotten everything that I want within my budget, but it has taken much longer than expected. I am anxiously awaiting the completion of the site so I can see if the first version that Sympho comes up with does everything I need it to do. I am also worried that my tutorial idea will not work. It is by far the best idea I’ve had for a youreka yet. It is something that knowledgeable people at Best Buy and the Apple Store couldn’t figure out how to do yet has widespread appeal, sets the standard for quality on the site, and is simple enough that people will immediately see what the site is all about and get really excited about it. I have minor concerns about the design of the site’s graphics, and the fact that the site will have to attract various kinds of artists to be truly collaborative. Sympho Networks gave me a free site design because the project is so big. I’m not sure if they are done the design, but right now it is not what I’m looking for. As far as advertising goes, if I spend a good deal of money and it doesn’t attract enough users, I could be in real trouble. I will start with as much free advertising as possible, then go to Youtube, and see where it takes me. Maybe the data from Google Analytics will show where some visitors are coming from and present new marketing opportunities.

Conclusion of MCC

2010-05-05T09:05:00.000-07:00

MCC over the past semester has seen many changes and new ideas from the original business plan. While the venture wasn't able to be officially launched due to timing of all components coming together at the end of the semester. The future of My College Cabana is a bright one, this venture will be something I will be manipulating in the summer to perfect for the fall of 2010. We will still be in the Mercer County area and the colleges/universities its home too.

"The story of the entrepreneur… is the story of forward progress, of pursuing one's dreams and goals no matter how outlandish they seem to others. The entrepreneur, like the pioneer, pushes boundaries in search of what's new, what's next. Sometimes, he brings the whole society with him, rushing forward together into a next phase of our communal human life."- Sam Wyly

Through my experience in SVE at Rider I was able to experience life as an entrepreneur dealing with barriers and breaks for growth. While in the beginning dealing with vendors was challenging before the end of semester we were able to sign 5 and create alot of interest. The timing of the end of the semester made our time line cut short.

In the future we will be looking to not only offer members discounts but also provide low cost quality college dorm furnishings and merchandise. Over the summer we will be actively looking for expanding our profile diversification. We hope to offer our customers a one-stop-shop for our customers in the future for all there dorm and college needs.

The business is growing and for updated news please visit our website at www.mycollegecabana.com, and we invite you to join our facebook, twitter, and blog pages. Look forward to doing business with you in the future.
-Jack King

MCC SVE Video Project

2010-05-05T09:02:00.000-07:00

A senior at Monclair State University produced a video regarding the venture of My College Cabana. The video highlights the features and benefits in becoming a member.

New look

2010-04-26T11:13:00.000-07:00

With the end of the semester coming to a close My College Cabana is in the planning stage for the summer and next fall. For the fall 2010 we are looking into electronic loyalty cards that can track your purchases so you can receive coupons from the places you visit. Also you will receive gear and gift certificates from our vendors. A new feature when we launch will be an online store that will be the one stop shop for college gear. No longer do you have to shop all over at 15 different stores to get all your college gear at a reasonable price. College students will be able to go online and also develop a wish list that they can email to someone if there low on funds(we know how that is). Our video for Montclair State is in the works and is looking very good. This will serve as our first ad for the website. Make sure to visit us online at www.mycollegecabana.com to find out was currently going on.

-Jack

My College Cabana Update

2010-03-29T15:24:00.000-07:00

We decided to expand our business to online businesses in an effort to give a variety of discounts to our customers. In the last week of contacting businesses we were able to obtain partnerships with 5 businesses. These companies include:

Bustedtees.com a college t shirt companie
TwinXL.com which is a college bedding website
SouthSmoke.com which offers a variety of hookah products
dormco.com has a variety of items for "dressing up your dorm"
Epicnicbasket.com selling picnic & tailgate supplies

Our online business partnerships will be the start and we will now be focusing on our local restaurants and bars in Mercer County.

My College Cabana Update

2010-03-25T10:35:00.000-07:00

My College Cabana is a discount card membership program exclusively for college students. Currently we are starting our venture out in Mercer County, New Jersey with four colleges its a great network of schools. Our program currently works were local bars and restaurants partner with us and offer a preset discount for a certain day. We than sell the cards to local college students who are looking to save some money when going out to eat or drink. The student than visits our website MyCollegeCabana.com were they can see what discounts are available that day to optimize the use of there card. When they visit the venue all they have to do is flash the card with there school id and they recieve an instant discount. The card pass for itself with only two visits to venues.
We currently are in the stage of creating an extensive venue list and hope to achieve this soon so we get a test up by the end of the semester. The website is fully functional and really is a great "home base" for the business.

Blast from the Past - SportsFanBase.com Update!

2008-06-27T11:10:00.000-07:00

Yes, that's right - Ari Bluestein is back on the SVE Blog! HA ... I wanted to give everyone a quick update on SportsFanBase.com, my interactive online community for sports fans that I started while in the SVE program at Rider.

The site actually had to get shut down temporarily because it was hacked. But we refreshed the database, switched servers, and now it is back and up and running. Advertising revenue is still a little slow right now and I am still trying to get the deal with the Philadelphia 76ers going. I provided them with a sample page as to what we can give them and they replied with ‘thank you’ – So we’ll see what they say. If I get the 76ers deal, Sports Fan Base will be exactly where I want it to be.

Also, on another note, have been doing sports analysis on the radio with the Sports Journey Radio Network – I got that gig thru Sports Fan Base. Well now I host my own show Monday thru Friday from 10AM-12PM EST. Here is the link - http://sjrn.ezstream.com/broadcasts/index.cfm?fuseaction=usrbrd&broadcasterid=54617

You can listen to it live, or you can listed to the archives. The show is called The Other Side (and of course is sponsored by SportsFanBase.com, ha!) and after the first week of doing the show, I feel pretty comfortable hosting my own show.

Also, I will be co-hosting a live remote sports talk show with Philadelphia Eagles players at a bar in Bristol, PA every other Thursday. That starts in August.

Plus, there are a couple new developments with Sports Fan Base.com. I am looking into developing an online sports magazine. So if that goes through, I will come back and write a Blog about that.

So please listen to my sports talk radio show if you can. Again, if it wasn't for Sports Fan Base (and hence, if it wasn't for Rider's SVE program), I would not have gotten the radio gig that I have now.

As I get more updated with the 76ers deal, my new radio career and the online magazine, I will post some more updates!

Final Update for Garden Artisans LLC

2008-05-04T20:41:00.000-07:00

The past three months have definitely been interesting while running my business and taking the SVE course. Since Garden Artisans was formed in April of 2007 my project was done on the expansion of my business. At first I was a little disappointed in the progress we made over the past year, but then I started to look back at what we were doing this time last year. Some of our problems this time last year were as simple as creating an invoice, getting a corp code, and business insurance. This year our problems are much larger and more complex and I can only laugh at what I thought was a problem last year. Our most current problem is having too much work, which is a good problem to have in business. Right now we are booked into July and there are no signs of an economic recession in the landscaping industry. We still cannot find a truck driver, but we do have three prospects right now to fill the position, so hopefully one will work out. We are also starting to sell more of our technical services, which is leading to the need for a skilled foreman on our job sites. We just made our biggest sale ever, which consists of a raised terrace and patio with plantings to compliment it. Early in the year, back in January we were debating on how much to invest in new equipment and how many employees to hire because of the possible recession and not wanting to overextend ourselves financially. We ended up taking a conservative step this year, but are now starting to regret it with the amount of clients and work we have. That's what keeps running your business so interesting though is the unknown. The most exciting part for me is looking back at how much our business has grown while full time students. I can't wait to see what we can do when the business is our main focus.

Final Blog Update on Push-Start

2008-04-24T10:46:00.000-07:00

This is the last post for the semester on Push-Start. This semester has been highly valuable in teaching me what is needed to start a venture and not to underestimate the amount of work and effort needed to get something off the ground. In this semester I started two blogs, Grab Your Controller and Push-Start. Between GYC and Push-Start they have developed into two different beings and mentalities. GYC represents the way too technical aspects I didn't want to get into and did anyway since I was working with a friend. Push-Start is my own controlled blog where I made all the decisions and decided to take a different stance then the one used with GYC. Unfortunately I will not be working on GYC as it is officially dead. Push-Start will be put on hold because I need to focus all my attention on my job as Marketing Manager for the comic book company, Dabel Brothers Publishing. I will be revisiting Push-Start in 6 months or more when I have a chance to really sit down and focus on getting it where I would like to be. That being having a team of people who will be working with me, being able to cover more games and be able to branch out into not only video games but comics, movies, etc. Its been a good semester and really valued one especially with this course. :)

Garden Artisans LLC

2008-04-21T08:49:00.000-07:00

It has been a while since I posted, so I will try to bring everyone up to speed with that latest on Garden Artisans. My brother and I decided to hold off on the SBA loan and take more of a conservative step this year since we are both still in school. Two out of our three employees came back from last year, which was positive so we could avoid the whole training process. Our number one priority for this year was to hire a truck driver. Since our biggest flaw last year was my brother or I having to drive the crew around and not having time to do all of the other important business activities such as estimating and selling. We hired a driver for three days, but then our insurance broker ran his driving record and found that it was not good, so our insurance company would not cover him, so the search for a driver continues. We were able to secure about 90% of our maintenance and lawn contracts from last year, so that has given us a solid start to the year. We have also been getting many new leads on potential clients and have been able to lock in a good amount of new work. Our basic advertising approach of passing out flyer's in residential neighborhoods was very effective. We are starting to feel over whelmed with the amount of estimates and work we are securing. We are also starting to land some larger more technical projects that are taking taking much more time to estimate and finalize. We have been having conflicts with obtaining permits and working with other contractors. We have sold a design and installation for a pool area, pond & waterfall, blue stone patio, and seat walls, which is exciting, but stressful. Currently we have three employees, but still no truck driver. Our biggest problem is getting these larger projects complete while keeping up with our regular maintenance contracts. Running your own business is definitely not a 9 to 5 it is more like a 7A.M. to sometimes midnight.

Push-Start Update

2008-04-13T08:17:00.000-07:00

Hey everyone, I officially launched Push-Start on April 1st. I have only been posting on there once a day at the end of the day so I can sum up the day of news. Last two weeks have been kind of hectic with graduation coming up and papers and planning for a convention with the company i work for. So its been hard to keep my site updated. I look forward to hopefully being able to do so once all the craziness dies down and I have time to breathe. :)

The New Move - Fashion At Its Best

2008-04-06T16:10:00.000-07:00

The month of March proved to be and experimental month, yielding great rewards. In addition to selling my usual litany of couture items, I ventured into selling used items that were in mint condition. These items, are items of little to no sentimental value. The idea popped into my mind after searching throughout eBay looking for any new trends in the fashion market. I noticed that there were many items that were selling for large amounts that were marked as used. This gave me an idea. I figured that if I was able to find used items that I could sell, I could use the profits from these items to put back into my business. I happened to stumble across a few items in my wifes closet that I knew would sell for a pretty penny. Since she is now an avid collector of Coach bags, I noticed that she no longer used her Dooney & Bourke handbags, allowing them to collect dust on the shelves. After searching eBay to examine what used sales for this bag looked like, I saw some pretty intriguing figures. Thus, I quickly listed two of the bags. They both sold for about $90!!! In addition, I was able to utilize a promotional sale on eBay ( $.01 listing fees) to decrease my overhead. Thanks to the success of these items, I can now use these profits to got towards purchasing more inventory. Another experiment that I embarked upon came to me after doing research and a subsequent report on eBay Powersellers (Elite eBay sellers that have reputable reputations, yield high selling amounts, and behave exemplary within the eBay community). I noticed that eBay Powersellers who were selling similar items that I was, were selling these items for a lot more. I hypothesized that because of the highly esteemed Powerseller status, buyers felt more comfortable buying from sellers within the ranks of this exclusive tier. My hypothesis proved to be right on target. I purchased a pair of jeans (Rock & Republic) and gave them to a business aquaintance of mine that attends Rowan University. He recently attained powerseller status, and has subsequently saw an increase in his selling profits. These jeans, that I usually sell on average for about $85 sold for $124, a very significant increase. Because we frequently do business together, I received the cash from this transaction, only paying for the listing fees that he incurred in reference to the jeans. This strengthened my resolve to swiftly move into the Powerseller ranks!!! In other news, I have really started to see the effects of eBay raising their final value fee prices. The jump, from taking 5% of your final selling price to a wopping 8.75% has started to, cut into my profits. However, this months promotional penny listings helped to balance this inflation out a bit.

Grab Your Controller No More

2008-03-28T07:25:00.001-07:00

Hey everyone, so I ditched the Grab Your Controller idea since my friend who i was working on it with and i decided to go seperate ways. Instead i'm starting a new blog called Push-Start: A Video Game blog. Launch date is April 1st. I will be having daily updates about 1 to 2 a day summing up the day in its entirety. I feel this is a lot easier then constantly checking on news. i will also be putting in my own tidbits and thoughts on certain things. Be sure to check out on April 1st. Also you will find reviews from time to time and deals on where to buy games for cheap.

Grab Your Controller Post #3

2008-03-08T08:15:00.000-08:00

I'm facing problems as my friend as not working on the site with me. I have to handle basically everything myself. I'm trying to work through it to find a balance. I'm also realizing going on different websites for information makes me no better than the sites with the original content. I'm giving credit on where the articles came from but it makes me question why would people come to my site when i can't get any news myself. Basically, i'm facing a lot of problems and working on getting through them.

The New Move Business Venture Update

2008-03-04T11:17:00.000-08:00

So far, business has been good. All sales that I have made have yielded no less than 100% profits. In the month of February, I sold 1 high end travel bag, 1 Chrisitian Audigier shirt, 1 Pair of limited Edition Nike Air Force One's, 5 Pair of Rock and Republic Jeans, and 1 pair of True Religion Jeans. In the month of February, I wanted to explore what the market was like on eBay with items outside of my usual selling genre. Thus, I posted an auction for a high-end London Fog Travel Bag. While I did make a profit of the sale, I sold the bag for a lot less than what I wanted. So, as you can imagine, I won't be venturing into that market anymore. However, I was relatively pleased with the other host of items that I sold. The Christian Audigier shirt yielded the highest amount of total profit, yielding almost 150%! The Rock and Republic (R & R) and True Religion jeans also did quite well. On a whole R & R jeans sold considerably better than the True Religion jeans, explaining why I made the decision to buy and sell more of them. One of the secrets to my success has been offering incentives to purchase from me. On about 3 of the jean auctions, I have offered a coupon of $25 in Macy's money ($25 off of a purchase of $50), redeemable in any Macy's around the globe (I was given $300 in Macy's coupons as a bonus and have really had no desire to use them. However, that was short lived once my wife got a hold of them!). All in all, so far I have received 4 comments of positive feedback. But, as with all transactions in eBay, you always have different problems and issues. A buyer in New York alerted me to the fact that he had not received the Christian Audigier shirt that he paid for nearly a week and a half ago. Due to the fact that I always get insurance on my packages, I was able to go to the post office immediately, and locate this item. As it turns out, the package was delivered to the persons home, but no one was home to receive it. Thus, the package has been sitting at the post office for a couple days. Thankfully this situation worked out without any serious repercussions. Another issue that I am facing is that a buyer from Texas who won an auction for a pair of R & R jeans never paid. Th person told me that they were having problems with their Paypal account, and wanted to see if they could send a money order to pay for the jeans. Needless to say, I have still received no payment. As of now, I have alerted eBay to the situation and filled out a Non-Paying Bidder Alert. I have thus re-listed the jeans, and hope that the winner of the new auction will pay promptly!

Update on GYC

2008-02-24T12:05:00.000-08:00

Its that time again for an update on Grab Your Controller. Still haven't launched officially but will be tomorrow Monday the 25th. Since my last post I have interviewed an up and coming video game company called Digital Embryo. They have a few games out for Nintendo DS and a game coming out for Wii. I interviewed the president of the company about the game for Wii called Summer Sports and about the company. My friend and I have also reviewed both Turok and Devil MAy Cry 4. Those reviews will be up tomorrow for launch. Currently working on another review for a game called Lost Odyssey. We have added some news to the blog so as not to be completely bare on launch day and have some back content. Thats all for know next update in 2 weeks.

The New Move -Top Quality Fashion for Less

2008-02-12T18:56:00.000-08:00

First and foremost I would like to express my extreme gratitude to have the opportunity to express and share business ideas with the entrepreneurs of tommorow. My name is Miguel S. Bain, and I started an eBay business just about a year ago in December of 2006. As i'm sure everyone is well aware of, eBay has created its own market for millions worldwide. A big part of this market is individuals who are looking for quality items for less. This introduces you to my target market. I sell high fashion clothing merchandise for much less than what these items retail for in stores. I typically sell high-end brand jeans, but I have also ventured into selling couture t-shirts as well as trendy sneakers. Some of the brand names include True Religion, Rock & Republic, Ed Hardy, Christian Audigier, and Nike. Typically, these brands are found in retail stores such as Saks, Neimen Marcus, AND Bloomingdales. Due to the fact that I am able to procure these clothing articles at wholesale prices, I can offer these top brands for much less than retail stores via eBay auctions. Since starting about a year ago, I have met with relative success. I have been able to gain on average at least 100% profit on each sale. My goal is to continue servicing my target market and providing high end fashion for less. In the future, I would like to eventually take this venture from just a side hobby to an actual business. I look forward to sharing more information with you over the next few months!

Garden Artisans LLC: Landscape Design, Build, Maintain

2008-02-11T18:45:00.000-08:00

My name is Dan Jamet and this is the first blog posted for my company Garden Artisans LLC. My brother Peter Jamet and I formed the company in March of 2007 and are looking to expand the business in 2008. Before Garden Artisans I owned the company Blades Lawn and Landscape, which I started in 2005. Garden Artisan's primary services are landscape design, installation, maintenance, and lawn care. Our initial clients in 2007 came from my former business Blades. We were able to build upon that client base throughout the year and had a successful first year in business. Our services range anywhere from as simple as weekly lawn mowing to as complex as turning your back yard into your own personal resort with: patios, terraces, walkways, water features, fire pits, outdoor kitchens, and plantings throughout. Some of my responsibilities for the business are estimating, bookkeeping, selling, supervising, and working with the crew. My brother being a landscape architecture student and with his 10 years of experience in the industry is responsible for our landscape design and installation services. Some of our goals for 2008 and during the Student Venture Experience are to secure financing for future equipment and marketing expenses. We are in the process of beginning the development of a website to help market our services. We also are planning on attending three seminars and trade shows in February that relate to our industry. I would advise anybody that owns a business to always be on the look out for seminars and trade shows that relate to their industry because you can always learn something new.

Neil Schwartz: Grab Your Controller

2008-02-08T08:55:00.000-08:00

Hello to everyone in the Student Venture Experience. My name is Neil Schwartz and my and I will be starting our own video game related website called Grab Your Controller. Initially we will be launching as a blog and will focus on constantly updated news, deals for a number of sites and stores that can be found in the right places if you know where to look, and reviews. Unfortunately we don't have any ties in the video game industry and will have to rely on getting games when they come out in stores. Our reviews will be slightly different as they will be broken into three parts. Intial, Mid, and Final. We are hoping to change the way video game related websites run and be a new competitive alternative to all the more popular sites. We should be fully launched by Monday the 11th. Please come and check it out. The audience we hope to get are mostly video gamers as well as people who don't know much about video games and need help to figure out what games to buy kids. Basically anyone who plays video games. On the site I will be handling posting news, reviews, and doing majority of the marketing. The other owner Dom will be handling posting news, majority of the deals, and reviews.

Winter 2007 Update for SportsFanBase.com

2007-12-23T06:31:00.000-08:00

Hello everyone - It is Ari Bluestein again here to give you another update on SportsFanBase.com!

Traffic continues to be steady as I receive between 4,000-8,000 hits per day. We have some plans in 2008 to increase the traffic. One of which is to create a Member Rewards program. This would act similar to a Credit Card Rewards Program where the more activity members have, the more points they earn. And the more points a member earns, the more prizes a member can redeem. I will have Official Sponsors that will contribute prizes for this program and I already have about 2-3 companies on board. In addition to the Member Rewards Program, I intend on helping SportsFanBase.com's natural search by changing the code a bit in the site so it is more favorable for search engines to read. This way, the search engine ranking should increase slightly.

The last update I had talked about the 2008 Calendars and the merger with My World of Sports.com. Well - Both of which have not panned out the way I planned. While the calendars were successful in that most people like them, they have not been that successful in promoting the site and in making me some money to go towards development and promotion. The merger is most likely not going to happen at this point, but I am still associated with My World of Sports.com and a solid business relationship could come out of it.

But, I do have a new development that could end up being something really special - Not only for SportsFanBase.com, but for me as well. I will be appearing on ESPN Radio in the Maryland, DC and Florida areas during 2008! I am partnering with a company called Sports Journey Radio that broadcasts on ESPN radio 5 times per week. I will be going on their show as "Ari Bluestein from SportsFanBase.com" every Thursday night starting January 10th and every 3rd Saturday morning starting January 19th. I will be promoting the site as well as talking about sports topics - college basketball for the most part.

So this is very exciting and I do not have to pay to be on the radio show. If anyone wants to check it out, go to this link: http://www.sportsjourney.com/NetworkShows.html.

Click this link then go to the first show - "The Sports Journey Radio Show with Lake Lewis." Then click the 'Listen Live' link. I will be on every Thursday night from 6:40-7 PM talking about college basketball (starting on 1/10/08). I am not sure on the Saturday times, but it would most likely be somewhere between 9-10 AM.

I will post another update this Summer! HAPPY HOLIDAYS!

Summer Follow-up for SportsFanBase.com

2007-07-19T20:06:00.000-07:00

Hey everyone, I am back reporting to you about some new and exciting developments with SportsFanBase.com.

First, we will be producing a 2008 Calendar with the theme, "Girls and the Sports They Love." The calendars should be printed within the next few weeks and they will be sold on SportsFanBase.com. Also, we have already made contacts with purchasing departments from 3 well-know sporting goods retailers across the country. They have asked us to send them a sample of the calendar to potentially put them in their stores.

This effort should not only help in promoting SportsFanBase.com, but we will be making a good amount of profit to put back into the business to help promote the website.

Second, a huge new development may be occurring with SportsFanBase.com. A bigger company called My World of Sports has taken notice of our website and we are currently in early negotiations to merge our two companies. Nothing is 100% definite yet, but they certainly seem interested as our logo has already been placed on their website.

With this merger, My World of Sports will buy SportsFanBase.com, sync up our two sites as to basically create on entity, and the company will be hiring me full-time as their Head of Promotions for the entire East Coast.

This is certainly an exciting development and I will be keeping everyone posted about this new potential merger.

Check out their website if you would like. It is currently not fully launched, but click on the link below and you'll be taken to their Beta site that is currently available to the public.

www.myworldofsports.com/beta

Final SportsFanBase.com Post

2007-04-26T13:35:00.000-07:00

Hello everyone! This will be my final post as a participant in the Student Venture Experience. Let me just first say that this has been a great experience for me and Dr. Chaganti & Dr. Cook have really helped me along the way.

OK, now for the updates ...

Well, SportsFanBase.com reached its 1,000th member! As of April 26th at 4:30 PM, SportsFanBase.com had 1,029 members. Traffic continues to be pretty high as we are getting into the thick of baseball season. For April, SportsFanBase.com should reach over the 160,000 hit mark for the 2nd consecutive month. Also, unique visitors have been pretty high and I am not sure of the numbers at this point, but April may be a new high month for unique visitors.

The promotions I am running have not shown too much benefit thus far, but it is still early in the year. On Saturday May 19th, I along with the "Jenns" (who are the spokesmodels of SportsFanBase.com) and some other volunteers will be going to a Wilmington Blue Rocks game to promote SportsFanBase.com. This promotion comes with the marketing package that I originally paid for at the beginning of the season. I have bought a banner and photos of the Jenns for them to sign as souveneirs. I will be putting together a little brochure that will be handed out to fans at the game. So hopefully that promotion goes well. I am doing something similar on June 29th at the Bakersfield Blaze stadium in Bakersfield, California.

For the near future, I will be looking into "beefing" up SportsFanBase.com a little bit more by expanding on some current features and adding some new features that should increase traffic to the site. In addition, I will be looking into starting my Internet Marketing Strategy by using Search Engine Optimization. I should be earning some extra money that I will put into the business to start my SEO campaign. This should increase traffic and new members. The SEO campaign will last about 6 months.

As far as advertisers go, All Sports Connection just signed up for 3 months for a side banner and horizontal top rotational banner. I am currently in talks with 2 other companies that seem to be interested in advertising.

But another new big development has happened - I have started a marketing internship program run through Rider University and I will have 2 summer interns that will be helping me with selling advertising space and gaining sponsors. I am highly looking forward to this program and it should help me bring in more advertisers and sponsors.

Looking at the long-term, I realized that SportsFanBase.com can really become something special. With only doing minimal promotion and really not having much time to put into SportsFanBase.com, I really feel it can go a lot further. Using SEO and the college campus tour I plan on doing (which I am probably year or two away from doing), SportsFanBase.com can reach new heights. And with the help of these interns, selling advertising space and getting sponsors will be a lot easier.

So although SportsFanBase.com is not generating a whole lot of revenue at this point, the long-run return can potentially be very favorable.

To sum up, I just want to say thank you to Rider University, Dr. Cook, and Dr. Chaganti for helping me in this effort to grow my entrepreneurial spirit and to grow SportsFanBase.com.

More2Cell Updates

2007-04-06T19:29:00.000-07:00

It has been a few weeks now since I last posted an entry on the blog, so it is past due that I update readers on the status and vision of More2Cell. Many aspects of the business have evolved of changed after being in the industry for a little over two months. These changes have resulted from both successes and failures of the original aims of the business plan for More2Cell.

More2Cell's focus has shifted the following ways:

· Offering wholesale lots of ten items or more as one sale to retailers and distributors of cell phone accessories vs. just offering individual items

· Using CRM to retain customers who bought wholesale lots in order to produce repeat sales in the future vs. Relying on high-volume retail purchases online

· Avoiding auction format listings to minimize costs vs. Relying on auction format listings to generate sales and promotion for the eBay store

· Setting up a domain name (www.more2cell.com) for easy location of the eBay store

· Utilizing personal selling to friends, family, and others on campus vs. selling only online

Still, after implementing all of these changes, More2Cell LLC is not producing as much revenue as expected, but there are definitely reasons for this. First, promotion and exposure on eBay is not as easy as it was thought to be when the business plan was created. Listing on eBay costs money and with that investment, no sale is guaranteed. Additionally, other methods of promotion include pay-per-click search engine advertisements, which also cost money.

Even with a solid marketing strategy, gaining exposure to the number of people originally expected is not possible. Promotion on eBay specifically is a bit of a “catch 22” because posting items as fixed price and auction style listings is great for getting the customers to buy the items, but the cost of posting this way outweighs the benefit of promotion.

Fees on eBay and PayPal are becoming a major cost to More2Cell. In fact, the bulk of our costs have been attributed to fees paid to eBay. Each time a purchase is made from More2Cell’s eBay store, eBay receives a final value commission (usually about 5% of the price of the item) on top of any listing fees and other fees. These fees cut into More2Cell’s profits, along with the 3% commission that PayPal takes on credit card purchases through the store.

Another reality that More2Cell did not foresee is that not every item listed will sell. In the business plan, there was no mention of what percentage of the items posted actually sell. It was assumed that 100% of the items listed would sell, based on the financials, which is completely inaccurate and caused all the numbers in the initial report to be skewed. From the six weeks of experience, More2Cell’s store seems to only convert about 12% of the items listed into actual sales. Even still, this percentage is lower that the “worst case scenario” that I would have expected, especially since that the items are priced competitively. Based on the counters on each listing, I know that people are viewing my listings, but the listings are not converting as often as I would like. I may need to focus more on the format of the listings and add some more information about the items.

More2Cell has been utilizing drop-shopping for any non-inventory wholesale orders of 12 or more items. This means More2Cell simply takes the orders, processes them, creates a purchase order for the wholesaler, notifies the wholesaler of the need for a blind drop-ship, and pays the wholesaler. No packaging or physical contact with the goods ordered occurs, taking a lot of the hard work out of More2Cell’s hands. A number of successful drop-ships have been made and More2Cell plans on continuing to use this feature.

With the idea of becoming the online wholesaler for those resellers purchasing online, More2Cell has opened up the ability to create a strong CRM model. Each time a customer purchases from More2Cell’s store, the user’s email address and name are given to More2Cell. With this information, it is More2Cell’s intention on retaining that customer, especially considering that the customer will probably re-order the same item or similar ones in the future when their inventory needs to be replenished.

This method of CRM will work much better than the CRM model proposed in the original business plan, one of which each sale is liquid and no repeat sale was expected. More2Cell has already established a business relationship with two retailers, both of whom plan on purchasing from our eBay store in the near future. Maintaining these business relationships will guarantee More2Cell future business and help the store attain its sales goals in the months to come.

Of course with a drop-ship scenario like this there are some drawbacks. One major drawback is that my wholesaler takes on average about four days to process and ship orders. When buyers want tracking numbers as soon as possible, this is a bit of a problem, but I have simply told the buyers that my “shipping department” is still processing the order, and no major discrepancies have resulted. Another drawback is that since my wholesaler requires a minimum purchase order, I can only ship wholesale lots of 12 items or more to buyers, so retailing on eBay using drop shipping is not possible. This has created a situation where More2Cell can only complete wholesale orders online using drop shipping and retail orders in person or using the inventory that the company has already purchased.

As of late, More2Cell has been listing in larger lots (50 items and 100 items), hoping to capture the reseller who is looking for bulk discounts. Although 12 items may seem like a lot to some people, serious resellers want to buy in bigger bulk in order to cut the cost per item down. Using two 100 item lots as "guinea pigs", More2Cell has taken advantage of eBay's 25% discount on what they call their "Featured Plus!" upgrade for listing. What this means is that More2Cell has listed two 100 item lots for about $20 each for 30-days, but these listings will be placed AHEAD of regular listings (this is the "Featured Plus!" upgrade).

So far, more traffic has been generated using this method of promotion, and I am considering adding "Featured Plus!" to some more store inventory items. On the topic of traffic, More2Cell's traffic has jumped up a lot in the past few weeks. For the first few weeks of business, More2Cell averaged about 20 to 30 hits per day; now More2Cell is averaging about 100 hits per days with a total forecasted number of hits of about 3000 as opposed to the 600 or so that we had in March.

Looking into the future of More2Cell, the company needs to minimize costs, elevate sales and resolve many other issues that have come up. To accomplish this, More2Cell’s new vision is to create a separate e-commerce website adjacent to the eBay store. Using the domain name that is currently registered (www.more2cell.com), this additional e-store will provide users with the ability to select the phone model for which the accessory being purchased is going to be used.

This method will save More2Cell time and money while also providing for more potential revenue. For example, instead of listing 1000 car chargers for 1000 different phones on eBay, I will list one car charger on eBay and have a link in the listing for the buyer to click. Upon clicking, the buyer will be sent to my non-eBay store, where they can select what kind of phone that he or she has and purchase the car charger for that phone without using eBay to purchase it. This will open up new opportunities to my store along with saving the company money on final value fees and listing fees for all the different models of phones’ accessories.

Recently, More2Cell has looked into using an eBay affiliate, namely ProStores, which allows eBay stores to customize their store fronts using hundreds of templates provided by the company. The cost of the service is $20.95 per month, on top of the $15.95 per month fee for eBay, but a free 30-day trial is offered. After using the service for about one-week, I feel that the cost outweighs the benefit and More2Cell will probably look for a more reasonably priced service that is not subscription-based.

Additionally, other methods of promotion have been tested, including using a Facebook Flyer, advertising on Shopping.com, and posting listings on Google's Base service. The Facebook Flyer got our company's name out on campus, but no sales have been generated from the flyer specifically. Advertising on Shopping.com cost More2Cell $25 for about one week, but it seems that more traffic has been generated by doing so. It is unclear whether or not any leads from Shopping.com have generated sales or not, but $25 per week is a bit too expensive for More2Cell's promotion budget. Lastly, Google Base, a free product promotion service by Google, has helped More2Cell expose itself at NO CHARGE to the entire Internet community. Considering the data that has been collected, Google Base looks very promising as becoming an effective method for promoting More2Cell's items at NO COST to the company.

Lastly, other methods of promotion will be implemented in the weeks to come. For example, I plan on posting on cell phone and cell phone accessory forums, making sure to include a link to my eBay store to generate more targeted traffic. Additionally, I plan on advertising on MySpace through bulletin postings and on Facebook by sending a link to all of my 750+ Facebook friends. My logo is still in the works, but I will be developing a flyer with some general information and pictures about some of the products I offer. Also, business cards with our web address and business phone number will be printed and handed out to everyone I know. Lastly, wholesaler directories will be sought out to find a place to list More2Cell as a cell phone accessory wholesaler in order to target those interested in purchasing in bulk.

Like Ari, I have so many ideas and my to-do list for the business keeps growing, but there are only so many hours in a day. I have realized how much time and dedication is needed to run a business, even one that I originally thought would run without so much intervention. This semester has become a great learning experience for me as a young entrepreneur, helping me learn to balance my personal life with running a business and going to college. No matter how profitable my company is at the end of the semester, I am determined to pursue the business in the future, implementing my ideas and progressively improving every aspect of More2Cell.

SportsFanBase.com Update

2007-04-05T05:57:00.000-07:00

It's been a couple of weeks but I am back for an update. SportsFanBase.com has been doing fairly well as we approach the 1,000 member mark. Traffic has still stayed fairly consistent at about 35,000-45,000 hits per week. In fact, SportsFanBase.com had 2 days of over 20,000 hits in one day! March 12th we had over 20,000 hits because of the NCAA Tournament and April 1st, the opening day of Major League Baseball, marked the 2nd day of over 20,000 hits. For March, SportsFanBase.com finished with a total of over 162,000 hits. Once again, this hits a new high and shows that traffic to the website continues to grow.

In terms of promotion, The Wilmington Blue Rocks and Bakersfield Blaze promotions look to be headed down the right path. In fact, I, along with some helpers, will be at the Saturday May 19th Blue Rocks game in our SportsFanBase gear to promote the website. Then, on Saturday June 29th I will be out in California promoting at Bakersfield. So these two promotions should really help increase customer awareness on two different sides of the country.

I have also been looking into Search Engine Optimization, which would help SportsFanBase.com by placing the website higher when Internet users search for 'sports' or 'fan' or 'sports fan.' This is a somewhat expensive operation, so I am going to wait to do this some time in the near future. I may decide to do it once the football season starts and as my baseball promotion at the ballparks ends.

Advertising revenue continues to be a little bit slow, but I still have some solid leads and I locked up my sponsor of the Predictions contest for the month of May. I am looking into recruiting Marketing majors from Rider University that would work as an intern on commission basis to sell ad space on SportsFanBase.com. This would help me since I am basically running the website myself at this point.

In terms of ways to cut expenses, I am thinking of eliminating Rommel's Rant from SportsFanBase.com, which is a section where I have a paid columnist write a new editorial every week. This part of the website doesn't seem to be that popular and because of it, I am losing money right now since ad revenue is slow.

So things are still going fairly well and my business is surviving. The members on the site love going on, so I have a decent loyal customer base. As long as I can continue to keep the site up and running and continue to develop it (I have more ideas than there are hours in a day), SportsFanBase.com could really be something special.

Traffic Increases Again

2007-03-19T07:58:00.000-07:00

Well with the help of some 'chatter' in big discussion boards and the popularity of the NCAA College Basketball Tournament, traffic has increased again on SportsFanBase.com. In fact, one day during March right before the NCAA Tournament began, we got over 20,000 hits in one day. As of March 18th, SportsFanBase.com received about a total of about 115,000 hits for the month - putting us on track for another record month, surpassing the 121,000 hits for February.

I am also currently working on acquiring a few new advertisers. It has been slow so far this quarter so I am hoping things begin to pick up.

The Nike deal I had wrote about previously has been put on hold and we can hopefully pick something back up later this year. The company I was dealing with was too busy to start a partnership with SportsFanBase.com at this time, but I will certainly keep in touch with him and continue to pursue that deal.

Baseball season is almost upon us and I am excited for the promotions I am running in Wilmington, DE and Bakersfield, CA. I've started making some payments and I have delivered the t-shirts I will be using as the giveaway prizes for the contests at the baseball games.

So all is going pretty well for SportsFanBase.com. Traffic continues to increase steadily and hopefully advertising revenue begins to increase a bit.

Keep checking back for more updates!

Ups and Downs

2007-03-08T16:58:00.000-08:00

We are going through some ups and downs right now with SportsFanBase.com.

First off - Traffic is still pretty solid with 121,776 hits in the short month of February (the most hits in a month thus far). March started off a little slow, but now has started to pick up with nearly 28,000 hits through March 7th.

Right now, the big development is with the NCAA Men's Basketball Tournament - SportsFanBase.com will be having a bracket challenge where the 1st prize will be $100 in merchandise from my sponsor, Sportsopolis.net. 2nd prize is $50 and 3rd prize is $25. So with that coming up this week, I am beginning to send out e-mails to current members to have them participate and this weekend, along with the beginning of next week, I will be going to some discussion boards to promote the contest.

In terms of advertisers, I got a new advertiser - KoolPitcher and I have invoiced them and I am awaiting their payment. I am currently working on a few other advertisers and over Spring Break I will be doing my fair share of selling to potential advertisers. Right now I am about 2/5 of the way towards my goal for the first quarter, so I have my work cut out for me in order to reach my goal.

One new development I am working in terms of selling to potential advertisers is the angle of becoming "The Official of SportsFanBase.com." This can be something I can sell for a higher price than my regular advertising options and it will also be for longer periods of time, like 1-year or 2-year contracts. So that is something I will be pushing in the near future.

Right now, the focus is on promotion to get traffic higher and getting advertisers to maintain a decent cash flow. It will take some time and effort, but I know I can take care of business.

Some good news..and bad

2007-03-07T18:14:00.000-08:00

Since my last post a lot of good and not so good things have happened.

First the good:
- I have made almost 10 more sales (both lots and individual items) totaling about $400
- I have been emailing "clients", developing business relationships with them in hopes that I will act as their supplier on a regular basis
- I have received some more exposure on eBay by using all three methods of posting (auction, fixed-price, store inventory)
- I have a $1200 sale pending, waiting for the buyer to situate some things with his PayPal account
- I made my FIRST person-to-person contact with a sales rep. at my supplier's warehouse to sort out shipping times and drop-shipping options

Now the bad:
- I'm waiting for payment from one buyer, who I talked to on the phone. The main problem is that he has not paid and his phone is "temporarily disconnected". A bit fishy, but the unusual part is that the same buyer purchased another item from me and qualified for combined shipping. I'm thinking he is trying to "buy time" so he can sort out his financial issues.

- Another buyer, who has purchased 50 items from me and plans on purchasing another 75 or so, is having issues with his PayPal account. I have had correspondence with him, but none on the phone. I requested a phone number, but no response yet. Hopefully I'll be getting one soon.

That's all for now, but I'll keep the blog posted on the status.

Some more ideas

2007-02-25T18:27:00.000-08:00

So this past week was a bit of a test to see which format of listing would really have the highest potential of selling. The test failed in a way but brought some ideas to my head. First of all, NO listings sold. No auctions, no fixed priced and no store inventory. I thought originally that I would sell at least one of the auctions considering I posted three different versions, but it was to no avail.

After looking back on the week, I realized that it's going to be difficult to sell the number of items I thought I could originally sell per day. Instead of listing items as SINGLE items, I am going to list most of auctions at LOTS of 10 or more of the same item, targeting retailers and distributors. If this method of selling works better than single item selling (which I hope it will), I may continue to be the middle-man for the retailers.

Additionally, I feel that personal selling is going to help me a lot. I made a sale on Saturday night to my friend, selling him a case and car charger for 10 dollars at a cost of less than 3 dollars. It seems like my friends and family are more than willing to support my business and help me get started, so I will encourage them to spread the word for me also.

In my Internet Application Development class, I have been working on a survey to determine the best accessories to invest in based on the demand of those people who complete the survey. I'm looking to have the survey released in about two weeks and gather the data for about two weeks thereafter. The survey will help me launch my business into the summer and help me determine whether or not I want to pursue the venture or not.

I will be posting the LOTS of items starting tonight and continuing throughout the week. Another idea I have is drop shipping. If I take orders for LOTS, I can have my wholesaler directly ship to the buyer's location, eliminating the need for me to do any shipping at all. First I need to get rid of the items that have been sitting around and then drop shipping is something that I definitely want to look into.

Promotional materials are also becoming necessary. I will be having a logo designed this week and using it on my letterheads and eBay store. I plan on making a flyer with some of the items I currently offer on it. The flyer will be handed out to friends and put on bulletin boards with my web address on it. Remember it's http://www.more2cell.com/

Lastly and probably most importantly, I have integrated my business into the QUickBooks Pro 2006 software, which I will use to manage my "inventory", vendors, customers, and sales. The reporting on the software will automate my financial reporting needs and make things run very smoothly. I will be importing my expenses YTD into the software and I have already entered my first sale.

This week can be summed up real simply: failure brings change to BETTER tactics and strategies. Let's hope for the best.

Updates on SportsFanBase.com

2007-02-20T10:56:00.000-08:00

As I mentioned in my last post, I was beginning to look into partnering with professional sports teams to promote SportsFanBase.com.

Well I have now signed contracts with the Bakersfield (CA) Blaze, a Single A minor league baseball affiliate of the Boston Red Sox, and the Wilmington (DE) Blue Rocks, a Single A minor league baseball affiliate of the Kansas City Royals, to sponsor contests at their games this upcoming 2007 season.

I will be sponsoring an on-field Trivia contest at Bakersfield and a 'Lucky Logo' contest at Wilmington. So for those of you live around the PA, NJ and DE area, you should check out the Wilmington Blue Rocks games this season to see the SportsFanBase.com contest.

In addition, I have also reached an agreement with a new advertiser, Kool Pitcher, Inc. Check out their website at www.koolpitcher.com - Their product is pretty cool (literally - go the website to see what I mean).

I have also started to use Google AdWords, which has helped my traffic a bit so far and it should continue to help as the SportsFanBase.com ad is passed around along websites associated with the Google programs.

Lastly, I have added a new feature to SportsFanBase.com. There is now a live sports ticker courtesy of ESPN.com at the top of every page on the website. This gives you updates news, scores, stats, etc. on every sports ESPN covers.

The one down side I have to update is that traffic has gone down just slightly over the last week. But I expect that traffic to increase with the Google AdWords, the new promotions at the 2 baseball stadiums, and a new word of mouth promotion push I plan on starting this week and/or next.

But overall, everything seems to be going fairly well and I seem to be on pace to hit my traffic and revenue targets for the 1st quarter of 2007.

Making some progress

2007-02-12T16:58:00.000-08:00

Things are finally moving along for More2Cell LLC. The first order has been placed with our wholesaler of choice, and the shipment is coming in from Texas later this week. I should have the order of 500+ items by Thursday and begin selling by Sunday. Based on my research, Sunday is the best day to begin listing auction items since many users of eBay are online and browsing for products.

Last week, I decided to obtain a membership at Sam's Club for More2Cell LLC in order to purchase my office supplies at the best price. I purchased a paper shredder, 10 reams of paper, and some notepads for the business. The shredder will be used to destroy any confidential data, the paper for printing out labels, and notepads for jotting down my ideas for the business. As for the labels, I plan on using PayPal's built-in label printer, which ties right into eBay's system. This makes it very easy for the seller to print multiple labels at one sitting. The only item I still need to purchase would be clear mailing tape, which I will pick up when I make my next visit to Sam's club this week.

The link for my store is http://www.more2cell.com/

The link will take the user to my actual eBay store, which currently exists in a "beta" stage. By the end of this week, I hope to have invested some time into adding the soon-to-arrive products to my eBay store and making the page a big more appealing to the eye. Stay tuned for more updates on the store.

Lastly and maybe most importantly, as for the financial outlook on how the business will be doing, I'm a bit worried but still confident. My forecasted average cost per item was $0.90. For my first order, the average cost ended up being $1.30. This was largely due the fact that my wholesaler is charging a huge shipping fee of about $140 for a 29 lb box of products. I will be contacting the wholesaler at my earliest convenience and talking with someone about possibly trying to get a better rate for future purchases. It's worth a shot even if nothing changes for future purchases.

Also, I no longer plan on making a transfer from my business credit card to my business checking as I originally planned. I have been able to invest some of my own money into the business and have also made a few sales on half.com, depositing the money into my business checking account. I’m on track to already have investing about $500 into the business with NO sales made yet, so I don’t need to borrow anymore money before I make some first.

Promoting SportsFanBase.com

2007-02-12T09:00:00.000-08:00

I just deposited my SVE loan check into my business checking account and now I am ready to explore new options of promoting SportsFanBase.com. Today, I will be contacting the Philadelphia Soul, Philadelphia Phillies and some minor league teams about promoting SportsFanBase.com at their games.

In my opinion, this is the best way to get the word out since you grab the target market's attention. At this time, other methods of advertising, such as radio, TV, newspaper, magazines, billboards, etc., will not be cost efficient at this time. Promoting at sporting events is probably the best way to go.

I plan on having people at the game representing SportsFanBase.com and telling the fans what the website is all about. In addition, I am considering making a small flyer/brochure to give out at the games to have some actual tangible information about the website.

So I will keep you posted on the development with this new promotion push.

In addition, I am looking to have an article published in The Rider News talking about SVE, SportsFanBase.com and More 2 Cell. So I will keep you posted on that as well.

In the mean time - If anyone wants to check out my site, here is the link:

www.sportsfanbase.com

SportsFanBase Updates - February 2007

2007-02-12T08:58:00.001-08:00

Doug - I actually had someone else designed and I paid him for it. To maintain the site, I have a management section that my web designer created so I do everything on the website itself. I used a company called NetConnect Technologies to host the website and I purchased my domain name from GoDaddy.com. If you have any questions about web design, you can e-mail me at ari@sportsfanbase.com and I'll try to answer them and if not, I'll forward them to my webmaster.
February 1, 2007 4:44 PM
Ari Blue said...
Well, it's been my first 2 weeks participating in the SVE and a lot of developments have occurred. January 2007 turned out to be the best month for SportsFanBase.com in terms of traffic, with over 110,000 hits and 1,100 unique visitors. Also, we got one new advertisers and are currently working on getting 2 more advertisers. In addition, I currently have a deal in the works that could potentially be a partnership with a licensed wholesaler of Nike apparel.I will put up another post as some of these awesome deals occur!

Ari, move comments to proper posts

2007-02-06T17:37:00.000-08:00

Ari, for formatting sake, could you copy your comments on my posts and paste them as comments under the NEW posts that I made? If not it's ok, but I just figured out how to make and actual post instead of just a comment!

More Updates on More2Cell LLC

2007-02-06T17:33:00.000-08:00

I have received the $1500 check for my loan, and I'm ready to place my first order for accessories. I created a purchase order for about 500 items and plan on submitting it to my wholesaler tomorrow.

In order to manage my business finances, I have installed Quicken 2006 on my computer. This software will automatically update all my business and personal financial data, allowing me to click one button to see the status of my accounts.

I have also applied and been approved for a business credit card account. I plan on using a convenience check in the amount of $1500 to match the loan of $1500 that I will be receiving from Rider. The money that I will be borrowing from Chase, the bank of the credit card, is 0% APR for the first 6 billing cycles, so I will be sure to pay that money back before the summertime.

As for my eBay account, I have officially setup a store under my More2Cell username. Since I originally had a 0 feedback score, I needed to pay $5 to IDVerify in order to verify my identity. Once that was complete, I was able to open a store for a charge of $15.95 per month. I posted a “test” listing in my store inventory for 1000 Palm Treo 700 Leather Cases just to see what the listing looked like online. Although I do not currently have 1000 cases on hand and never plan on having even 20 on hand, I will use this technique to make listing items in my inventory easier; buyers may also believe that my store is that much bigger and this may even create some more credibility in my store. Additionally, the benefits of the store inventory listing is that it lists indefinitely and costs me only $0.02 to post with no final value fee of selling the items.

I purchased two e-Books and a cell phone case for my girlfriend in order to gain some feedback score. My score is now a whopping 2, but I plan on buying some more eBooks at least until I reach a score of 10, at which point I earn a blue star which notes to buyers that I am a trustworthy seller.

Lastly and most importantly, I learned a technique from one of the $0.99 e-Books that I purchased that will pay big time. The technique is a trade secret and will surely save me hundreds if not thousands of dollars over the long haul.

Update on Status - More2Cell LLC

2007-02-06T17:31:00.000-08:00

So I've been looking for wholesalers with products that I'd be interested in and I think that I've found a few. The wholesaler I originally wanted to use seems to be the one I'll be sticking with for now, but I'm concerned with the quality of the products I'll be receiving. This is because on the website, the company has generic pictures for all of their products, but after sending an email to the contact person for the wholesaler, they confirm that they have quality products and are one of the largest cell phone accessory wholesalers in the USA.

On that note, I want to possibly use foreign wholesalers/manufacturers but I want to get some inventory to work with in the interim. Although the prices seem to be cheaper for the products coming from China and Hong Kong, the shipping time is upwards of 3-4 weeks. I can't wait this long for my first order because I need to begin selling as soon as possible to start turning the profits that I was hoping to bring in when planning for this business.

I will post my success with purchasing from the wholesaler that I plan on using. By Monday I will hopefully have some money deposited into my business account and I will be purchasing about 400 pieces of cell phone accessories once that money is available. I hope to sell at least 200 of those by the end of the first month, putting me a little behind schedule for my sales but still bringing in a good amount for just starting the business.

Let's hope for the best. Ari, I hope your website is doing well. I actually was curious, did you design the site yourself or did you have someone else design it? Also, what technologies do you use for maintaining the site? I'm interested in web design so I'd appreciate your feedback.

More2Cell LLC

2007-02-06T17:30:00.003-08:00

Hello everyone! My name is Doug Beck and I'm a senior CIS and Entrepreneurial Studies double-major at Rider University. Last semester in my New Venture Planning class, Dr. Cook introduced the SVE to me and I was very interested in taking the business plan that I developed in NVP and implementing my idea in the SVE.

Like SportsFanBase.com, my business is solely online, but it is a bit different than Ari's. The primary focus of my business is selling cell phone accessories at a competitive price via eBay. I will be purchasing the accessories at a wholesale price and then reselling at an "eBay retail price" (eBay tends to sell cheaper than in stores).

My status right now can be summed up in one word: development. I have been exploring the market and trying to find the best products to invest in at this time, as the most marketable products are always changing with time. So far, I have contacted over a dozen wholesalers and plan on doing business with a handful of them. Some are domestic and some are foreign, but I will rely on my domestic wholesalers to get me started because the shipping time for the foreign wholesalers is very long.

As you can tell by my username, my business is called More2Cell LLC. I obtained my LLC online by searching on Google and being directed to the NJ State Small Business registration site. I also completed all my IRS registrations online and paid for everything with an e-check. It's truly amazing what the Internet now allows us to do!

Once I successfully registered my business, I setup a business account at Commerce Bank, which will be the account to which the loan that Rider is giving me will be deposited. With the money that Rider is loaning me, I hope to purchase products that will turn a large profit for me.

One of my biggest challenges is determining what phones are coming out soon and what phones are popular. Additionally, I need to research and determine what phones have the highest demand for accessories and invest in those accessories specifically. If anyone who reads this has any ideas on what some of the newest phones are or anything of that nature, I would greatly appreciate your input.

The next step would be to begin creating the templates that will be used for the listings that I will be posting on eBay. I have some experience with posting effective auctions on eBay, so this shouldn't be a problem.

I look forward to working with all those who read this post to maximize our success as young entrepreneurs!

SportsFanBase.com

2007-01-15T14:20:00.000-08:00

My name is Ari Bluestein and I am a graduate and MBA student of Rider University in Lawrenceville, NJ. As an undergrad, one of my two majors was Entrepreneurial Studies where I not only learned about starting your own business, but I was inspired to start my own business. So on November 14, 2005, I launched SportsFanBase.com, an interactive sports website that acts as an online community for sports fans across the country and around the world.

Now, as an MBA student, I am participating in the Student Venture Experience where I am receiving mentoring from the professors in the Entrepreneurial Studies along with a small business loan from Rider University.

With my website a little over a year old, I am now ready to take the next step and really make a push towards promoting the website. Currently, SportsFanBase.com receives about 20,000-25,000 hits per week and I want to increase that and become a highly trafficked sports website.

The SVE program is definitely going to help out my business and I look forward to participating in the program this Spring semester!