Forums: Discussions for entrepreneurs and small business.

G`day everyone,

I`m a business student at university funding myself through my studies which to say the least is not easy. I`ve been struggling for a while and I`m very much in the vicious cycle of working just to pay for uni and living costs whilst I slowly erode whatever small savings I have. I do work as much as possible around ym study times but the reality is with living costs in this country (Australia) its not easy being at the low end of the market.

I actually sat down and mapped out my costs of uni and living against my weekly earnings and the result was pretty astounding. Even if I was working at my max available time I would still be struggling and chewing into my meagre savings.

So I guess I really don`t have to many other options available to me but to look at starting a business where the opportunity to be rewarded is a little better. Now I know there are no guarantees and that small business works a heck of a lot more than what I would BUT at the same time there really isnt a MAX cap on your income. It really comes down to your specific industry and the energy you are wishing to expend.

Anyway, so I`ve had a look around at alot of different opporunities and because i`m rather web savvy with coding skills I would like to look at something online. After doing a little research it appears that most all of the segments that I look at are severely saturated with entrants or they are very competitive.

I have a look at a variety of industries and everytime I find something that fits my skillset and that I like that it is heavily saturated or controlled by a few big operators. As google seems to be the leader in search engine traffic, looking there is enlightening when you see the vast amounts of effort which it would take to reach a reasonable height. It makes it very difficult as a start up to compete.

I inititially looked at content rich adwords sites but i`ve since discovered that every man and his dog have set them up and yet again its extremely competitive to even make a living at it.

I seriously considered ebay australia but after a few test runs I was pretty dissapointed. There seems to have recently been an influx of large importers and chinese manufacturers that are dumping goods on Ebay Australia at prices close to or less than what I can buy them. Even when I`ve sourced product direct from china and abroad its difficult to compete. And once I factor in the Ebay Fees and postage costs my margins are paper thin if not negative.

At this stage I`m a little disheartened as after spending a LONG time looking online I`m yet to find a reasonable market to approach. I guess i`m looking for the following (arnt we all :) :

Low cost of entry

Segment not Saturated

Time to profitability in the 2-3 month period

Online based or at least sales based online

Biz opp that I can work and manage from home

 

This is probably an unrealistic wishlist but i`m just feeling kind of depleted today and would appreciate any advice that anyone. If someone has any ideas to throw out no matter what they are I would be indebted to you.

aussiefly

Aussie,

Am I right in understanding that you are looking for some sort of online business to build  with a small investment, to reach an untapped market which will become profitable almost instantly?

Sorry I can`t be more helpful than this. I think that what you speak of is hard to come by. (Not saying that it isn`t possible)

There are a lot of good people here on Startup Nation that work their businesses online and struggle just to keep their heads above water as they go through the ineveitable growing pains. You`d be wise to look around and learn from them. 

I ask of you....who wouldn`t want what it is that you seek? As you said, you`ve done a "little research".  I`d say that you have to do a LOT of research and then you`ll start to see some areas that could be worth your time and effort.

The only people I know that can turn a quick profit (not large necessarily, just quick) with a relatively low investment are your medium to high volume online resellers, but you are talking about a massive amount of work and it`s unlikely that you could do so as a part timer effectively.

How much do you hope to earn doing this? Pay for all of your housing expenses, your schooling, and have some spending money to boot?

What would it take for you to finish school and move into the full-time work sector? As far as that goes.....with your entreprenuerial demeanor, what`s stopping you from moving on to a regular job now.......yes without finishing school....sounds crazy but I have to say that what you are looking for sounds a little crazy also.....

Best of luck. Let us all know here what you end up doing.

Eric

 

 

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~Eric
JE Design Group, LLC
If all you do is what you`ve done, then all you`ll get is what you`ve got.
www.jedesigngroup.com

Hi AussieFly

I am also an Aussie and make a full-time living working online from home in Melbourne.

AussieFly you will need to do more reasearch. Online businesses take three months of advertising before you can hope to get a return.

Read all my business and related posts at http://www.writingup.com/blog/rexiedexie 

This will help you understand how to go about online business and you may find a good free opportunity as I did.

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

Regards Michael Clayton (rexiedexie)

My Affiliate Articles & Web Page Traffic

aussiefly,

I agree with Eric on most of his points except dropping out of school.  I would encourage you to continue to seek a good business opportunity but if you have to take a loan out to finish out your schooling.  This will give you more time to find this opportunity, allow you to finish school, and once complete allow you to commit fully to whatever industry/product you come up with.

hostclick,

Yeah, I figured somebody would call me out on that point ...as they should.  I only brought it up because Aussiefly was trying to think like somebody that has already been there and done that. My statement was a bit of "if you think you know everything" what`s stopping you? .......thinking hopefully that Aussiefly was ready to prioritize, start a business OR be reasonable, find a regular job, and finish school first.  

Most undergrads are looking for a specific field to work in- possibly hoping for a paying internship or another way to learn and work in a field that suits his independent style. I`d be curious to know what Aussie really sees himself doing in the near future.

No Aussiefly. Don`t quit school. Likewise, don`t quit planning your future.

 

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~Eric
JE Design Group, LLC
If all you do is what you`ve done, then all you`ll get is what you`ve got.
www.jedesigngroup.com

hostclick... I hope you don’t take me offensively, but I have another view. I don`t really know which view is the correct one. Although I believe staying in school is the proper path, my alternative personality would say, you don’t have to be fearful of leaving school. You can always come back to it. But a good opportunity may only come once.

It is your choice of picking the path for life you want to take. I finished school. I also encourage you to finish school, above all else. But in truth my student loan has been my biggest problem in life. That wouldn’t be so bad, if I were making a fair wage doing my college educated position. But I am not. I am doing something completely different. If I did find success after college, maybe I would support the idea of staying in school more heavily.

I say this. Figure out what you want to do. Then do it. I wish I would have done what I wanted to do 15 years ago. Maybe I would have passed this level by now. After all, I would have been doing exactly what I am doing now. Running my business.



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Vincent Wilcox (a.k.a. KRAKR)
Drummer
My band: Letters Make Words

With so many people getting into ecommerce, just as in the past people got into retail in general, it`s going to come down to a unique (or at least very unusual) offering. There are all those ads about how to make millions in using wholesale companies then selling on eBay. I doubt it`ll work for more than a very few people.

I`m reminded of how 30 years ago everyone was going to make millions in mail-order. Generally, a mail-order business is really a great idea. But it comes down to buying: what do you offer that`s different in your mail-order catalog.

If you have something really unusual in your area, consider that ecommerce is global! That means what might be totally commonplace in your neighborhood of Australia, is completely unusual in Europe, the States, or Egypt! That`s one option. The other is to create something from scratch.

Lots of people start with a hobby, then convert it to a business. Do you have something you`ve been doing regularly, that you like to do, but that involves producing some end result...a product of some kind?

Aussiefly, try PIF4P.  It`s FREE and by simply following the Success Guide you will start making money!  PIF4P works!

Ron

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Aussiefly,

While you are there at school, perhaps you could try to find some other students who have similar aspirations and want to start an online business. Perhaps you can pool your resources and complement each other`s skill sets to come up with a mutually beneficially plan and a winning product/service. It doesn`t have to be unique, you just have to be able to sell it.

Also, just because a market is saturated doesn`t necessarily mean entering it is not a potentially profitable endeavor. We started our online software business knowing full well we were extremely late to the game and would have several very large competitors with which to contend. We gambled that we could make a go of it by focusing on a particularly under-served segment (small business), by developing a competitive product with a much lower cost structure, and thereby being able to keep our price low enough to attract high volume. So far, so good.

Although we had capital to invest, it was not a lot. We are expecting to be cash flow positive in early 2007 and profitable (including re-couping personal investment) shortly thereafter. We have been at it for only 15 months full time, but were also working `real jobs` full time prior to that for about a year.

If you have good technical skills, specifically programming skills, the software business may be a good fit for you. It is by far one of the least capital intensive types of online businesses one could start. In terms of both the number of new businesses funded and the total amount of money invested, start up software companies receive more venture capital then almost any other type of business.

It doesn`t mean there is no risk or that there is any guarantee for success, and I am not proposing you seek venture capital if you decide to take this route, I`m only pointing out that the barriers to entry can be extremely low if you are programmers yourself and don`t have to hire others to do that work for you.

Again, try to find some other brilliant students who have a good idea but may lack your skills, the motivation, resources, or courage to get something started. Many of the best commercial software products come out of University projects. Marc Andreessen wrote the first version of Netscape while at University.

Good Luck,
Kregg

The more I think about it, the more uncomfortable I get with the constraint of "profitability within 2-3 months." If that`s a critical part of the mission, then I`d suggest going out and getting either a better-paying job, or working two jobs.

To put that kind of constraint on starting a business is to almost make it an unreachable goal. "Almost," not inevitable. Some people do make it to profitability that quickly, but it`s not the typical scenario.