So You Want to Start Up Your Own Internet Business

So You Want to Start Up Your Own Internet Business . . .
by,
Kaliuna

Part 2:

Once you have decided upon a product, registered your business name (and all other legal requirements of your State), have established a working relationship with your supplier(s), its time to look at some other things you will need.

Accounting package: A key to running a successful business is having a good accounting package. My preference is Atrex, though years ago I did use Quicken (there are others available). I prefer the Atrex as it has the easiest to use package.

Whether you are carrying one product or a line of products, you will need to have an easy to use product identification numbering system. One of the easiest is to use the THOUSAND series - IE four number, with or without an accompanying letter. For example if you carry one item that has three grades of product or sizes you can use the four numbers and a single letter - IE 1111S, 1111M or 1111L for small medium and large or similar letters to indicate Standard & Deluxe of the same model. You will set up your numbering system into your INVENTORY package, along with such other information as Vendor purchased from, longer description of the item, selling price, discount price, cost (your cost) and quantity on hand. You can also add other information as needed. Some package accounting programs will ALERT you to a need to order product (when you run low on a certain item). As you expand your product line, you can easily add new product ID numbers to your Inventory.

Costing factors directly tied to inventory include not only the cost of the item, but its shipping charge TO you. Your packaging costs to send out to the customer also add to the cost of doing business. These packaging costs include boxes, bubble wrap, shipping labels and invoicing. IF you offset these by charging a S&H fee, you will need to notate this in your accounting package. IF you are a do-it-yourselfer, figuring the time you require to package and send can be included here.

Costing factors not directly tied to inventory can be obtained by getting a small business information booklet. Basically these are apportionments of such things as utilities, storage, mileage to deliver package to shipping point or pick-up fees by shipper, insurances, etc. Advertising costs are also included, as well as phone use, paper (though part of this is included with billing your customer), internet web site charges and misc fees (such as bank charges, credit card fees - etc).

Remember YOUR time and the time of any other person included in the business venture is also a cost factor. Whether you keep track of hours or use some other format, your time has value.

Advertising is up to you and it can be very expensive: While you are probably going to be using a web based business it is also good to advertise elsewhere - newspapers and magazines or as you expand - radio spots. Chose wisely when looking at magazine ad or newspaper ad. Think - do YOU read this magazine or newspaper? If so do you actually look at the ads? How well is it circulated? What is the cost of the ad and for how long a time period? It is best to run a test ad for a period of 2-3 months before you decide to make it a permanent ad. Sometimes you can receive better discounts for longer periods of time, but be sure to test before committing. (Web ads discussed later.)

Accepting payment for your product: This can take a while to set-up. If you are planning to accept credit card payments as well as check or money-orders, you will need a CC acceptance program. ICVerify is one company that offers such service. It is fairly easy to use and will allow you daily ability to take orders. Accepting checks can be difficult and costly. Some programs will allow you to verify check payments before you bank them and find out the check is no good. You need to plan for receipt of bad checks, unless you establish a policy that no goods will be shipped until the check has cleared.

Creating a catalog: When you have your inventory numbering ready, it is time to consider creating a catalog to send to customers. KEEP IT SIMPLE! The most successful small home business is the one that keeps their catalog as simple and easy to use as possible. I suggest a B&W catalog that you can create using your own printer. In the beginning you can use any printer that will allow you to print on both sides of a page - even if you have to hand load the second side of the page. You will also need a good page making program. There are several on the market for both the PC or the MAC. Two of these are Pagemaker and MSPublisher. You will also need a good photo program and either pictures you can scan and convert to grayscale or the ability to take your own pictures and convert to grayscale. 300 dpi (dots per inch) is a fairly standard printing measure, but pictures should be 600dpi or greater for the best quality look in your catalog. IF you have never done so before, take some time to practice making pages with your page making program. IF you are in a hurry and don't have the time or ability to do so, get some help with that first attempt. What does your catalog need? Pictures of product, Product identification number, description of the product and the price. It is also good to enclose or have as part of the catalog - an odering sheet. That ordering sheet should have space for customer name, address, phone number, ordering date; lines or boxes large enough to print the product id, quantity and price as well as a place for sub-total price, s&h charges and total; boxes to put in credit card information along with a line to PRINT the name as it appears on the cc as well as a place for the expiration date. If the customer is paying by check or money order that also can be noted on the ordering sheet.

You will also need ordering sheets so you can take phone orders. This should be a larger sheet with all your products by code number, with place for customer name, address, phone number and date. Another area with lines where you can put credit card approval numbers and a 16box set up to write credit card numbers with lines above the box for such things as name as on cc, type of cc and expiration date.

to be continued: part III you and your web...