Forums: Discussions for entrepreneurs and small business.

I have an Auction website. vectorbids.com. I made it to sell my second hand electronics. I think its well designed and well made but its hard to run it alone. I am a full time student, I now have a full time job by running my own second hand electronic store that I sell on ebay. I am all by myself. Its hard to manage time for school, work and on the website. I really do not have any experience running a website and when I work on it I think I am making it worse. Yikes!

So, I am thinking, if I can get a team and share the profits, that is generated from the website.
example. If people decide to sell on it and I can charge a small final value fee or something like that and share it with my team members. Maybe if I have 5 members working on it, it very well be a good auction website in the future.

So my question really is, how do I find people who are willing to spend time on it for the promise of making some money of it one day.

I am in a position in my life, I really cant hire someone and give them a paycheck.

I was thinking once the website is good enough, I can post my items through vectorbids and give an Advertisement in the Dallas Morning News. I live in Dallas so people can buy something from there and pick it up from my store. It might just grow. Everyone is always looking for a bargain. I sell at least a few items through craigslist daily.

Any input will be great. Thanks
Dennis

If I read this correctly .... you have an Ebay store, and a second site ( this one ) for selling the same things? If that`s accurate, what is the point with competing with yourself? Frm what I`ve heard, Ebay is losing a lot of traffic and buyers, so if you can do something better, more user friendly, something that gives you some type of difference or edge, that may be helpful, but for now they are still "the" auction site to compete with. If you are going for a localized system, make that obvious to your visitors, in your marketing and in your SEO.

What is it you are doing when you work on it that makes you think you are making it worse? And if that`s the case, then obviously get some advice or do some research before making any changes.





-------------------------

M Hall
Website Critique Community
International Society of Curmudgeons

If you`re in school, then it would seem you`re fairly young? If so, then I know there are a lot of other young people who are skilled at Web technology but don`t understand business. Why not talk around, find someone who`d like to get into business, and develop a partnership?

-------------------------

Powerful, Free Marketing Tips to Help Grow Your Business!
Free-Marketing-Tips-Blog.com Follow me on Twitter @FreeMarkTips

Thanks, but actually it was inspired by another community member, also in school. As a project, he and a couple of friends built a couple of Web sites. The issue was whether they could carry that forward into an actual business. Costs were minimal, what with food and lodging taken care of, plus there was a whole lot of energy to the group. :-)

-------------------------

Powerful, Free Marketing Tips to Help Grow Your Business!
Free-Marketing-Tips-Blog.com Follow me on Twitter @FreeMarkTips

Y`know, this brings up another aspect of entrepreneurship, and that`s the advantages of being around 20, perhaps still in school.

A lot of business managers tend to point toward youth as a disadvantage. There`s the inexperience thing, impatience, lack of money, and untested credibility. And all that`s fine, even true in many cases.

But there`s also the advantage of having a very low cost of living, few major responsibilities, and the excitement of all things being new. There`s a much easier "group" organization capability, just as with this situation.

It`s like a) deciding to be a musician, and b) starting a band when you`re 18. That`s a whole lot easier than following the same process when you`re 40 and have a family, along with financial responsibilities.

I checked out your website vectorbids.com.  Not alot in inventory.  Nicely done though.

Thank you guys for all the advice and sorry for replying more than a month late. Thank you for the kind comment about the website arkitechebc. I appreciate that. One of my questions is how do I develop partnership? Where do I find them. What do I offer them for spending time working on the website? Its seems unnatural and risky to start business with a total stranger.  If you think about any established business, a person would apply for a job at "x" company by knowing he will get a pay cheque every friday or twice a month. I really do not have anything to offer them other than equity or the promise of splitting the generated profit.

Realace,
I wonder if perhaps you`re looking at "business" as having a mystique that makes it different from all other relationships? :-)

Business is just another word for trade. How often do you do a favor for a friend of yours, then later, ask that friend to do you a favor in return? Essentially, you`re doing business. Your medium of exchange is favors, not cash-money.

So too, you can develop personal relationships with like-minded people you meet in school, or just "around." You have an idea and some skills. Ask around. Talk with people. Find folks who have a passion for Web-site development.

Those people have knowledge and skills about building a site, but have no idea what purpose they`d put to that site. To you, the purpose seems obvious, but the programming and development is a mystery.

To them, the programming and development is obvious, but what to do with all that development is a mystery.

It comes down to talking with people, sharing ideas, sharing interests in business. You`re not an established business, and you`re not hiring someone for a salary. You`re a "new idea," and you`re looking for someone with an interest in starting a business with you.

Never underestimate the value of equity. :-)