About to launch my new business, what can potentially set me back?

[Bojangles69]

I know theres 2 biz threads but I've put A LOT of footwork into this and would
appreciate some feedback.
I can't mention the product or how I'm sourcing the product but I will keep it simple and say its something for artistic/culinary purposes.

I have spent *4 years* looking for a source for this product, and its damn near impossible. At points I gave up and just stopped looking for months. I was basically positive I would never find a wholesaler, and towards the end I treated it more as a hobby (just looking for sources) rather than something I thought I'd actually be capable of doing.

Anyway, I wound up finding a source that will allow me to sell this product for less than 1/2 of what the cheapest current seller on front page google is selling it for (while still making impressive profits). In fact, if you were to google the key words, you would NOT find ONE seller selling the product for as cheap as I can get it. So naturally I'm excited. It sells by weight, and I'll give you a brief explanation of the current market prices.

First its important to realize theres almost no quality variations from seller to seller. The product is always the same quality no matter where you get it. Its just the nature of the product.
Thus what buyers are interested in is simple, they want the most they can get for as cheap as they can possibly get it.

Using 1lb as an example, these are prices for some of the sellers on the first page of google:

1lb - $125
1lb - $180
1lb - $450

Its ALL the same, so don't be fooled by the more expensive prices, its just greed and as expensive as the last one is I happen to know they sell a lot of product. Yet the first company for $125 is dominating the competition right now.

Now what I get the same product for, is I buy it in 10 kilos, and it works out to $22 a kilo, yes I shit you not. Thats basically $10 a lb. This is HUGE for me and this is a product I buy myself often, and almost crapped my own pants when I found this source. Like I said it took 4 years of networking/searching to find this place, and I can't tell a single soul who they are.

But thats a HUGE profit margin. All that most sellers do is set up a website, do some advertising, and if their product is cheap enough they always take off.

I have a site done but its not hosted yet.
I have my first stock of 10 kilos ready to be boxed up and sent out.
I have a storage facility also to keep all the stock.
I have a partner who is willing to help if I need him.
But most importantly, I have a list I've been building of 80 potential buyers (who currently buy from other companies) who have all told me if I can get it for what I said I can get it for, they would 100% buy from me.

All I'm curious about it what I'm overlooking here that would cause this business to not "work".
My idea was, launch the site, contact the initial 80 buyers, and just wait. But I'm also curious about whether or not I need to worry at all about SEO (search engine optimization).
I was always under the impression SEO is for when there is a high level of competition. You go through all the technicalities to get your site boosted to page 1, start ad campaigns, pay google directly, or the various other things people do to get traffic.

My main question is do I need to worry about traffic?
My idea is this:
I KNOW for a fact 99% of the companies right now can't even come close to the prices I'm getting mine for. And I also know where most of these companies are getting their product (its located in the US and relatively easy to find). I had the option years ago of buying from that main distributor, but I knew if I would I'd likely waste all my effort on advertising/SEO and my site would likely still never peak its eyes out of the "google sandbox" (sites that are buried wayyy back in the search).

I'm not a business expert nor have I owned a business before. But the logic seems simple, and it seems like the product is always what matters the most. Like people will get carried away spending thousands on advertising when their products a rip off to begin, and they never quite take off.

But does this sound like I have the right idea? I'm really excited to start this because once I found that source I knew I had tapped into something 99% of US sellers didn't know about. But what else am I missing? Do I just launch it and let the site do its work? I know people hundreds of people are googling for this product everyday, and theres only about 12 main companies for it in the first 3 pages of google. But I wouldn't even be competing with any of them. I'm just worried that 80 customers won't be enough, and that even if I get 30 sales from them, and get some repeat business, is my company likely to stay in the "sandbox"?

If anyone knows anything about this I'd really appreciate the help. Thanks!

edit: I also want to mention that ebay is not an option as ebay prohibits the sale of mostly anything related to culinary, although I realize ebay is a great way to get small business's started.

[fattymcbutterpants]

That sounds like a great deal man, if I was you get friends and family members everytime they get on google to search for it and find your link and click on it, I think this will really help move it up the list. Also ask those buyers you have lined up to write reviews for you on notable websites because I personally feel more comfortable after reading a good review of a company I dont really know.

[fattymcbutterpants]

lol ive tried googling so many things to figure out what it is your talking about but have failed

[Bojangles69]

yes and so will everybody else!! haha. no name no dice. knowing the tiny bit about computers that I do though, if a proxy can change IP addresses I wonder if you can actually bounce the site up yourself by changing IPs and just loggin on over and over? Or am I confusing people now? Cause I'm definitely confusing myself.

[stack_it]

Have you contacted schools and businesses and offered your product?

Biggest piece of advice I could give is don't get too big too fast. You wanna expand but not so fast that you can't keep up and give your customers timely and professional service.

[stack_it]

One more thing. Does your source have a large quantity available for when you do expand? I would hate to see your supplier run out and you have to go with one of the other suppliers to fill waiting orders and lose money.

Only reason I bring this up is because it happened to my brother.

[Bojangles69]

Yes I am actually importing my source which is the thing. The majority of resellers actually buy from other US based resellers, not realizing in specific "areas" or "regions" of the planet this same resource is simply much much cheaper. It takes a rather large volume up, but shipping is not as expensive as youd think either. For now they say they can handle up to 10,000kilos a week or something, its a number I would never even consider expanding to lol.
I figure its worth a good shot.

[Bojangles69]

I am also not writing kilos out anymore I am not scarface, I would kick tonys fvckn ass. I will put k.

[stack_it]

Sounds like you've got it well thought out. You're starting out small with what sounds like a simple business. I'm sure you'll learn plenty as you go along with your business. I agree with fatty's idea about having your customers write reviews. I search for reviews on any company I buy from online and will normally pay a few extra dollars to order from one with a few good reviews over one with no reviews.

I keep picturing white powder everytime you say kilos lol. I feel like all sorts of rules are being violated from source talk to rec drug talk lol.

[DSM4Life]

If you have it that cheat why not just sell it to the other business?

[LGM]

In addition to what stack said:

1. Double check your source for quality - order a k now, one in a few weeks, another in a month, etc. if possible.
2. SEO is easy; go to places like google, yahoo, bing, yelp, etc, and "claim" your business page.
3. Start a facebook page if feasible for your service/product, and link that to your website. Be "friends" with places that need your product. Everyone has a fb page.
4. Some hosts will actually help you optimize your meta tags, or for a few bucks a month you can get on google and do it there. Think keywords.
5. Hire some schlub minimum wage to click on your website repeatedly throughout the day to bring it up to the top of the various search engines.
6. Make sure you have liability insurance for your business, and get an LLC. You don't want anyone suing you for any reason, and being able to come after your personal assets.
7. Think you have enough money to start? Double it if you can. There's a shit load of stupid stuff you'll never see coming until you cross that bridge.
8. Find a good business lawyer.
9. Make sure you're compliant with all state regulations on imports/exports, and taxes. This would be a good way to find a good lawyer.
10. Find a good accountant, and keep current on your paperwork.
11. Link your website to others who use your product. Links to other highly trafficked sites will improve your visibility on search engines.

Good luck on taking the plunge homie! Best of luck!

[calgarian]

Addition to what every one said when you start the new business your website doesnt go on the top of the google search page(as you know already) look into what needed to be done and also hre someone to build your website who knows what he is doing...there are certain ways you can increase google rating and also make ur website search engine friendly.......my 2 cents

[fattymcbutterpants]

Yea I would say we could all help you out by searching for it, but that wouldnt be good I'd say since you cant come out and say it so scratch that. Just tell everyone your friends with to go to your site all the time it will move up the list. My fam. started a business involving puppies haha and we got our site moved up by putting it on some other advertisement site as well as searching for it all the time on google it really helped alot