It’s a support system and they’re an asset; they’re your community.

Building a network is easy in theory but hard in practice. If you’ve done something to earn the trust of another, if you’ve kept a promise, or delivered as requested, you’re networking.

Don’t confuse this with making “friendlies” – people who share your “friendship” online but have no real or tangible relationship to you.

I have a network of the most fantastic hair suppliers in the world. From the start we were in the same industry.

Not too long ago I needed some Amphigory wigs. I couldn’t get them, because Amphigory does not ship to Canada, where I am.

But Sarah, of ikickshins.net does. And I pinged her one day, out of the blue, and asked for for a huge favour – if she could buy the wigs for me and ship them out.

I told her I’d pay her a finder’s fee for the hassle. She wouldn’t take a cent more.

This is the power of a network. From afar, it may look like Sarah and I are competition – we’re in the same industry selling similar products. But competitors don’t refer work to each other, don’t link each other and certainly don’t support each other in public forums.

No – we’re allies. And that’s the power of a network.

Moreover, we’re take pride in what we’ve accomplished and as a result tend to also be somewhat control freaks.

But there’s something that are just worth paying for – at least once. Bringing in a new perspective and a new approach helps keep things fresh.

Work in trade or pay cash outright, it’s worth doing for each of these sections at least once.

1) Great Photography
I own a Canon rebel. I’ve shot a few product shots for my website. But I’ve never ever matched the quality of the pros. I’ve had product shots done by both Lithium Picnic and Lavonne Images (like the stunning image of amazing comic book artist Fiona Staples as above).

Most of us can take a good picture – but amazing product shots can turn a tide. A great photograph can sell product like mad, and sometimes it’s worth the splurge.

Moreover, I have photos I wouldn’t hesitate running in a magazine ad like Gothic Beauty or Coilhouse. It’s hard to do that on your own. Great photos are an asset.

2) Website Design
In 2005 I paid a girl by the name of malloreigh to redesign my website. I gave her carte blanche and when it was almost done she sent me an email with one simple sentence; “How do you feel about yellow?”

I now have a visual brand nobody else in my industry has.

It’s so easy to build a website on our own nowadays, but that just means the level for great design has also stepped up. Great designers aren’t hard to find and if we could do what they do, they’d be out of work. Simply put, a great looking website is definately worth the investment.

3) Accounting
I keep meticulous records. But come tax time for my business, I take all those meticulously kept records and I hand them over to a proper accountant. Why? Because I’m not one. I don’t ever want to be stuck with the short leash stating that I failed to pay my taxes properly. That’s actually a criminal offense where I am.

Moreover, it’d take me HOURS – instead, I take a break, drive over my reciepts and let them handle it. What’s it worth to you to have the time to focus on the parts of your business you can actually do well, rather than taxes?

4) Your own webspace
Yes, your ISP offers you free hosting. Sure, etsy lets you run your business on their site. But both those things detract from your brand – everything about the customer experience – from your URL to the visual design of your site needs to be about your business – that’s how long lasting brands are built.

Here’s a easy rule – when what you sell in an average week exceeds the cost of the domain and webhosting of a year (which online is about 6-10 dollars a month), you’re ready to invest in your own webspace.

5) A Paypal account
When you first start out, it’s hard to justify accepting online payments. People can send money orders and cash – and let’s face it, when you’re small potatoes, it’s fine.

But you want to start doing volume sales, you NEED a Paypal account.

When I first got a Paypal account, they were an upstart that people found sketchy and were suspicious about. Now, they’re backed by eBay and trusted as a safe, reliable way to send money online. While people who are new to the internet may not know who Paypal is and how reliable they are, the savvy online shopper as a well-used Paypal account and those are the people you want to sell to.

Sure, they charge fees, but they’re nominal and can be written off as a business expense. And the fees you pay help cover you in the case of illegitimate charge backs.

(And yes, I know I listed Paypal as a cheap/free must-have in one of my inaugural posts, but Paypal is free if you’re small potatoes or just starting out. If you’re starting to have an established customer base, or want to immediately to be recognized as a business, the business/premier account, with the fees, is the way to go.)

6) Advertising
The point of the majority of advertising isn’t to sell product, it’s to establish a brand. Targeted ads where your buyers are can really help establish you in the mind of your customer, such that if they do look for a product you make, they may look to your first or Google it and recognize you.

The pitfall of advertising is that nowadays we’re bombarded by it that we’ve now begun to filter and ignore it, particularly on the sites we frequent the most (like Facebook).

Advertising the the last thing on this list I’d suggest you try, but if the price is right, it can reward you many times over.
(As an aside, never, EVER buy Google Adwords. They do nothing for your brand – as a small business, there are so very many other places that are leagues better.)

Next Tuesday: How Your Network Connections can Help You (A Personal Story)

Business plans, in my opinion, are relics of times past. Back when running a business required external capital from either a loan or investors, these external sources would work their due diligence to make sure their money was safe.

Nowadays, anyone can start their own business and not require external capital. Small is the new big in business, especially online.

So full business plans seem rather pointless – asking for financial information, projections, and repetitive information.

With all that said, I also recognize that in writing my business plans, I was forced to answer questions I would have never asked myself otherwise. So instead of making you write an entire business plan to learn for yourself, here are the best parts of the business plan (with no part being the financial disclosure.)

Business description
You should be able to sum up your business in less than two sentences – what you do, how you make money and who you sell to. If you can’t nail this, you don’t have a business.

Government regulations
It didn’t occur to me until I started the business plan writing process that I ought to look into this stuff. Here in Canada regulations included what hygiene regulations I had to adhere to, as well as municipal zoning and federal and provincial taxation. All this is things that should be considered.

Competitors – Strengths and Weaknesses
I never considered what my competition was doing well and poorly until writing my first business plan. Doing so made my business better, so it’s definately worth considering. Emulate the best and leave the rest.

Competitive advantage
What do you do well that sets you apart in the marketplace? What do you offer that is unique or different? If you don’t have a competitive advantage you can list, you should re-evaluate what your doing and what unique contribution you’re offering.

Customer service policy
How can your customers get ahold of you? What are your return policies? Do you have a plan for when a customer is dissatisfied? This part seems obvious but very few businesses stop to consider it until it’s become an issue.

Normally in business plans, each of these would take no more than a sentence or two, but since you’re not writing all that other extraneous stuff, flesh these out. Be in depth and descriptive and spend the time instead pondering and researching – it’ll definately pay off in the end.

What do you think? Is there anything in terms of business planning that wasn’t covered? Leave a comment and let me know!

Next Thursday: Six things you shouldn’t DIY but instead should pay for

With that said, there’s a few things you should know about auctions.

1. Get GREAT photographs. Good photographs sell online. That’s true for all online selling, but especially true in auctions, where people may be browsing for products instead of searching out for you. So entice people with great photos – clear product shots worn by PEOPLE, not mannequins will make a difference.

2. You won’t make as much as you could selling on your own site, generally. Most folks on auction sites are browsing for a deal, so expect not to profit as much. Because of that…

3. …make sure you start the auction bids at the price of your materials first. If you’re selling online, you can underwrite the cost of your time with the cost of getting clear, publicly posted and linkable customer feedback, but you don’t want to be out the cost of the materials at the very least.

4. Because one of the biggest reasons to sell via auctions is the feedback, make sure you follow up with your customer afterwards if they haven’t immediately left feedback. That also means you should leave stellar feedback first – reciprocity and follow up sure beat the underhanded “feedback hostage” many sellers now employ. If you act in good faith, buyers will more likely give you a break if things don’t go totally perfect.

5. Broadcast your auctions – let people know that you’re selling (along with what you’re selling). Just remember to treat the channels you broadcast with online the same as the the channels you use offline (that is to say, don’t be the person everyone tunes out because they’re always self-promoting whether in real life or online – be selective in your messaging).

6. Brand your auctions. There are auction template creators everywhere and the templates they spit out can be easily personalized. If you did it to your Myspace, you can easily do it to some code. Don’t let your auction look like everyone else’s.

7. Being professional matters. From spell-checking your listing to replying promptly to all inquiries, everything matters. Because these sites are generally filled with people who are not familiar with you or your work (unlike online community sites) you need to ensure their impression of you is nothing less than stellar.

8. Communicate, communicate, communicate. Remember – customer service is also included when people are leaving feedback. Give the buyer as much information as you can – when things ship out, the tracking number, when they can expect it and when you’ve left feedback. It’s better to overcommunicate about a buyer’s purchase then to undercommunicate.

9. Time things appropriately. Depending on your demographic, you may want to ensure your buyers can be online for when the auction ends. If you’re going for a young, office-type worker with quirky style, an afternoon end time may be better. Similarly, if you’re going for a high-school/university student buyer, early evening may be best. Moreover, if you ship only on certain days, time the ending so the shipping day is a day or two away from the auction’s end, so your buy doesn’t have to wait a week if they pay right away for your item.

What do you think? Did I leave anything out? I’d love to hear your thoughts! Leave me a comment!

Next Tuesday: Business plans – what you need (or don’t need)

If you’ve been following me for a bit, you’ll realize that I missed posting last week.

Turns out the flu doesn’t care how busy I am, and while I would be able to post sick, I didn’t exactly have as much time when tending to my flu-ridden family.

Next Thursday you’ll see my post about Auctions. I promise.

1. Post a fantastic show-off of your products with amazing photos
If you’re a part of an online community, create something remarkable and post pictures of it. The key is being remarkable – don’t invest the time in creating a product just like everyone else’s. Being remarkable will set you apart and elevate your work. If you’re just posting photos of how much your product is like everyone else’s, you’re competing with more established sellers and the only place where you can compete with them is price. That’s just a game where you lose in the end.

2. Tell a story & have a sale
My customers used to know that around September, I’d always have sale. Why? That’s when I had to pay my university tuition and I needed to raise funds. So I had a 20% off sale. It helped to give back to my existing customers base but also pulled the attention of people who would hesitate to buy from me for 2 reasons. First, the lower price would help them take the leap and second, there was a connection. They knew something about me, that I wasn’t some automaton and that by buying my products, they were actually HELPING someone. It helps to remind customers that there’s a person that is buying food, going to school or supporting a family with their dollars.

3. Reward customers who spread the word
I would give discounts to customers who would post positive reviews online about my products and service. Why? It helps push people who are happy with your products to tell people that they’re happy. An old adage reads that a happy customer tells 1 person, an unhappy customer tells ten. The happy customer will want to buy from you again, and by rewarding them with a discount in the future, you get them to spread the word about how happy they actually are. It’s not sneaky or underhanded – if these people weren’t happy, they’d tell everyone anyways and certainly not buy from you again. You’re just rewarding loyal customers. And nothing tells others to buy from you like the word of folks who are happy having bought from you. Well, that is other than photos of folks who are happy having bought from you. Which brings me to the next point…

4. Reward customers who send you photos of themselves in your product
Nothing tells the world how great your stuff is and how amazing your service is like someone who has paid their hard earned cash to wear it. It helps if the photos are nice, but that’s not the point. Photos of happy customers aren’t intended to sell the product themselves, but the idea that you too can be happy with this product. So entice customers to send you images of them wearing your product with rewards like discounts. Moreover, in my experience, customers who take pictures of themselves in your product will also post those images in other places – like their Facebook or blog. This sends images of your work to their network and help bring you customers you wouldn’t have even had access to reach.

5. Be generous with your techniques
Posting tutorials on how you make your work in communities that are relevant to your industry elevates you. You become an expert. By being generous with your knowledge, it educates your customers. Sure, people can try to recreate your work, but generally, most will see how skilled you need to be & how much work it takes and as a result simply order from you.

6. Give you product away for free in exchange
The photo at the top of this post of of the amazing Apnea and was taken by Philip Warner of Lithium Picnic Studios. I traded the product she’s wearing (plastic lacing falls) for the shot. When I posted that shot, orders went through the roof. I don’t believe in free because I feel it undermines a business, but I heartily believe in trade. Offering products to reviewers in exchange for photos, unbiased reviews, helpful critiques and so forth can be very worthwhile and draw eyes to your products and gain you customers.

7. Buy carefully selected ads and sponsorships
There’s a lot of folks selling ads in this day in age. If you’ve done all the other tricks and have some money to invest in also building your brand, this is an expense that may be worth it. I’ve bought banner ads from various Goth sites, print ads in a few publications and sponsored some local events. If they price is right,they generally pay themselves back in sales – you just have to know what the price point is for you (my price point is that the ad campaign must pay for itself in one average sized order). It also helps define your brand in the mind of the ad viewer, so they may not buy from you, but if they have some (even subconscious) recognition of your brand in the future, it may be enough to push them to purchase then.

Note: I’ve never bought ads from Google and I will never suggest you do. They end up in the funniest places, and are very poorly targeted for small businesses who sell handmade crafts.

Questions? Comments? I’d love to hear them! Just leave me a comment!

Next Thursday: Auctions – The Who, What, Where and How

But pricing is easy. Just follow this simple equation:

Cost of materials + (Number of hours worked x hourly wage)

The part people stumble on is how much to pay themselves. By this time, you’re not learning to perfect your craft (at least, not if you’re intending to sell it as a business). You already know how to do it, you’re established in skill. So it’s not an issue about how fast or slow you work.

Moreover, you deserve to pay yourself at -least- minimum wage.

Setting prices isn’t hard – it’s just difficult because we tied emotionally to what we create and we have a hard time putting a price on it.

Now if you’re working in trade for portfolio photos, other products or services, it’s obviously different, but that’s another post for another day.

Next Tuesday’s post: Attracting new customers, especially when you’re starting up

With all that said, youth isn’t taken as seriously in business.

This post is part two of an ongoing series with a focus on why being young is a real advantage to you in business. This post wlll talk about you, your network of friends online, and how that’s a huge advantage when you’re starting up your own little business.

My mom is “new to the computer”. Maybe your mom is too. With moms just getting their e-mails set up, or inaugurating their new Facebook account with a non-sarcastic “is on Facebook” status update, I’m pretty sure that they weren’t our mothers, we’d call the newbies. My mom’s friends probably don’t know how to “work the internet” let alone have an email account.

By contrast, we as a generation are heavily networked. Technology has allowed us to make contacts with more people online than we could interact with in person. It’s easy to follow 200 classmates on twitter than it is meet each one every day and give them a “what’s up?”.

Moreover, there isn’t a question about whether they’re on Facebook or have email. I don’t know anyone in my circle of peers who doesn’t log on to the ‘net daily. It’s all old hat to us.

So why is having all your friends hooked up a big deal? It means that if you have something to sell, you already have a network to sell to.

Selling to your peers has so many advantages. You know your demographic because you’re likely to be your own demographic. You know where you hang out online, how much money your friends have to spend, and what’s cool and new. Big corporations pay big money to marketers to research information you already have and to make connections you’ve already made.

Moreover, you’re there first. How many years had you been using Myspace before you started seeing big movies and music artists get their own Myspace pages? The big boys are chasing the trends you already know about.

On top of all that, you have a network of people who know you and are willing to vouch for you. If you tell your network that you’ve started selling a particular type of product, some people will buy, some people will let others know about who you are and what you’re doing. Because they know you, they’re more willing to recommend you. Personal recommendations like that are impossible to put a dollar value to.

The lesson: broadcast what you’re doing to your network. Tell people what you’re selling and ask them to spread the word. You’ll be surprised how great the results are.

What do you think? Would you tell your myspace/facebook friends that you’re starting a new venture?

Thursday’s post: How to price your products to sell (without starving yourself!)

Our society has made young people feel as though their skills aren’t developed enough and that they don’t have enough experience, thus what they offer is somehow less valuable. So, in order do to things we love, we feel compelled to do them for free – to offer our services for free.

In this post, I’m going to talk specifically about how offering free services actually hurts sales (in terms of finding takers) and in what situation free is actually a very good thing to encourage future sales.

Imagine you’re a parent of a child. You see two listings online for babysitting. Both listings have the same years of experience in babysitting, both are certified in first aid, and both are perfect strangers to you. One listing charges 20 dollars per hour for babysitting, one says they do it for free.

Which babysitter seems more credible, trustworthy and someone you’d be more willing to entrust with your child and which one seems the more likely kidnapper?

The one that charges is the one that seems easier to trust, and free one seems to be the one to raise the most questions. We’re meant to be wary of free.

Why is that? In the mind of a buyer, free raises questions about what the seller’s agenda is. By charging, it’s very clear what benefits a seller gets from offering their services. Free, on the other hand, doesn’t make clear why you’re doing what you’re doing. It also makes what you’re offering seems less valuable somehow.

Photographers and models, even when they don’t charge, never work for free. In that industry TFP/TFCD (trade for pictures/CD of pictures) is extremely common for up and comers to build their portfolio. TFP makes it clear what the benefit is to the model/photographer.

If you’re offering to do things for free, take a lesson. Maybe you’ll notice nobody is taking you up on your free offer. The solution is simple: don’t offer things for free – offer things for motive. Be clear why you’re not charging, but state how it benefits you. You’ll find people are less suspicious and more willing to take you up.

So when is free a good thing? Simple – when what’s free isn’t a service, but rather a product.
You’ll have noticed that you still find plenty of business out there giving away freebies. Free product samples are a fantastic way to start a relationship with a potential customer and maintain a relationship with an existing customer. Particularly in an age of online shopping, free samples and free gifts with purchase get people poking their head in to see what you’re products are about.

Take, for example Lush. I love Lush – the stores themselves are an experiential buffet to the senses. I try all the products and buy the ones I like. But how does Lush recreate this for their website customers? Simple: they always include a free sample of a product based on what the customer bought previously and what they’re looking to promote in the future.

This does two things.
1. Free samples create a familiarity with a product. I’m therefore more likely to buy that product now then when I was unfamiliar with it.
2. Free gifts create a psychological need for reciprocity. There’s a psychology to selling and part of it is the human need to reciprocate. That means if you give me something for nothing, I feel as though I owe you, we’re friends and we’re linked. It creates loyalty within a customer. It strengthens the relationship.

Here’s the tricky part: after multiple orders, I start EXPECTING a free sample from Lush, because they ALWAYS put one in. If I don’t have it, I feel as though I’ve been duped, looked over, or neglected. Had Lush been more random with their samples, or gave samples for special occasions (first purchase, large orders, birthdays etc.) or randomly, this wouldn’t be the case. There’s a point where the payoff for free starts declining – so be aware of this.

The psychology is tricky – but if you can master it, it’ll yield rewards.

I understand the appeal. These days, you can walk into most fast-food joints with a resume and walk out with a job. Despite what you may think, however, it’s not all that much harder to start an online business. The beauty of the internet is that it’s demolished barriers to entry. You can start a business with virtually no money, you don’t need to pay rent for a sales space, and you don’t need to have a ton (or much of any) stock.

Moreover, if you’re under 30, you’re probably built for it. As a generation, we all are. In this post I’m going to talk about why it is that those of us under 30 (born after 1980) are perfectly suited to being entrepreneurs.

They call us all sorts of things; Generation Y. Millenials. Echo Boomers. It doesn’t really matter the name. What sets us apart is how we use technology, particularly in contrast to how our parents use it. We are the first generation of digital natives. Where our parents immigrated to a world of technology, we’ve grown up with it institutionalized in our education. My parents peck at the keyboard with their index fingers; Mavis Beacon ensured I could touchtype when I was 13. They reach for a phonebook, I immediately search Google.

I’ve heard speakers at leadership forums talk about our generation as requiring special approaches to managing. Ours is the generation who makes corporate managers scratch their heads. We work fast and independently, share willingly and openly, are tech-savvy and adapt to change. But here’s the catch: apparently we’re hard to manage.

We have short attention spans, get bored easily, and are willing to make mistakes. We expect to be treated differently than generations past – we like demand flexiblity. We understand the world in terms of versions and reiterations and think of tasks with the mindset that “done is better than perfect” (like Microsoft’s Windows). Because we’re the early adopters of new technology, we’ve set the protocols for behavior in that media. We’ve been conditioned to ask for forgiveness after the fact, not permission before. That, in particular, drives managers crazy. Moreover, it’s what makes us perfect entrepreneurs. We’re trailblazers and pioneers, unafraid of the unknown or of making mistakes.

The rules don’t apply to us because they haven’t been written yet (or rather, we haven’t written them). That’s ok – we’re used to the wilderness social networks like Twitter and Facebook and we’ve tamed them. We’ve set the tone of communication in this era. We’ll let people know what the rules are as we go along. As such, we learn fast.

We’re adaptable, and so we can wear the many hats an entrepreneur has to wear; project manager, marketer, artisan and workhorse. The times are ripe; there isn’t anything we can’t learn with a library card and an internet connection these days.

Being young is not an excuse to avoid going into business for yourself – it’s the perfect reason to. As a generation, we’re suited to it.

Leave me a comment! I’d love to hear what you think of this topic and series! Do you disagree? Agree?

This post is the first part of a series – Why Being Young Makes You a Great Entrepreneur. Posts will appear every Tuesday for the next few weeks. Thursday posts will continue to be on various practical and timely topics.

Next Thursday’s post: Free – How it can be beneficial, detrimental and even costly