Dear Elke,
Thank you for your inquiry and subscription to Power Homebiz Guides
newsletter.
Congratulations on creating your own product. There are usually two options
when you create your own product: license the product to a manufacturer and
you get royalties; or create the product and market it yourself. The
first option is easier and less costly, but less profit as well. Rewards for
the second option can be tremendous if the product proves popular, but
costs can be very high.
There are a number of questions that you need to ask yourself:
- Do you have the resources to manufacture, package and market your
products? How will you finance your project?
- Other than checking the supermarkets and comparing the quality of each
brand of salad dressing and marinade to your own formula, have you conducted
further studies about how are you going to manufacture and package your end
products?
- How are you going to package them? How much volume do you plan to
produce?
- How will you distribute it? Will you sell it in the big chain grocery
stores, orspecialty grocery stores like Trader’s Joe http://www.traderjoes.com/?
- How will you advertise? How will people know that your product is
better than the others?
I suggest that you start the project by writing a business plan that you
can use as a guide in pushing through with the business. Business plans are
not just for use when seeking investors or applying for a bank loan. Think
of it as the roadmap of your business, not only will it give you
guidance; it will keep your assumptions grounded and expectations more in
tune with reality. The business plan will help you see what you will need to
start the business from nothing to reality.
Here are some resources that can help you write your business plan:
- SBA Business Plan Basics
http://www.sba.gov/starting_business/planning/basic.html
- PowerHomeBiz.com Creating a Business Plan section
http://www.powerhomebiz.com/startup/businessplan.htm
- Entrepreneur.com Writing a Business Plan section
http://www.entrepreneur.com/bizplan/0,7253,,00.html
You may also want to review some sample business plans to see how it
actually looks like:
- Bplans.com
http://www.bplans.com/sp/businessplans.cfm
- MOOT Corp Business Plan competition winners -
http://www.businessplans.org/businessplans.html
- VFinance - View hundreds of real business plans in pdf format.
http://www.vfinance.com/home.asp?bps=1&ToolPage=bps_main.asp
- Business Owners Toolkit Sample business plans and information on how to
create a plan.
http://www.toolkit.cch.com/tools/buspln_m.asp
- PlanWare Planning software and information.
http://www.planware.org/
- Virtual Business Plan Walk through the design of a business plan.
http://www.bizplanit.com/vplan.html
- SBA Business Planning Guide
http://www.sba.gov/starting_business/planning/basic.html
- Small Business Advancement Center
http://www.sbaer.uca.edu/business_plan/businessPlan.pdf
- Canadian Business Service Center.
http://www.cbsc.org/servlet/ContentServer?
pagename=CBSC_FE/display&c=GuideFactSheet&cid
- Business Plans Index - A subject guide to sample business plans and
profiles for specific business types from Carnegie Library of Pittsburgh.
http://216.183.184.20/subject/business/bplansindex.html
Some recommended books are :
Hope that the above resources help. Good luck.
Nach M Maravilla
CEO/Publisher
Also visit our
Bookstore
for more books.
About
the PowerHomeBiz.com Guide:
Nach Maravilla is
the Publisher of Power Homebiz Guides. He has over thirty years
experience in sales and marketing of various products, which
covered as he jokingly describes, "from toothpicks to
airplanes" He also had extensive experience in
International trading and he always excelled in special promotional
ideas for retail outlets.
The opinions expressed in this column are
those of the author, not of PowerHomeBiz.com.
Users
should not treat the Guide's response as legal, accounting, or
professional advice as all answers are intended to be general in
nature. Such advice can only be properly given by qualified
professionals who are fully aware of a user's specific geographical areas or circumstances, such
as
an attorney or accountant.
