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Sometimes, you have to make it happen, it's not always 'So Easy'.
Saturday, 20 Dec 2014
Work
Not feeling confident

This week, I felt like I was hitting a brick wall.  This is the third business I've set up, but only the first I've done completely on my own, and it's hard. 
The biggest obstacle I seem to have at the moment is that I'm working to get everything set up, but without a deadline. I don't yet have clients because the system I'm building isn't complete yet. 

I had a little look around at some of the competitors for So Easy Commerce, and the competition is vast. Massive companies with investment, teams of people and a system that's evolved over years of hard work. How can I, on my own, compete with that?

Needing some motivation

So, feeling a little bit sorry for myself, I need a kick up the arse. 

Now, every year, in February, Birmingham NEC hosts the Spring Fair, the largest exhibition, possibly in Europe, for wholesale and any anything e-commerce. It's a 5 day event, with a footfall of over 80,000. So I decided to enquire about exhibiting. I didn't get my hopes up, as I assumed they would have sold all their stand already, but I was in luck, they had 2 stands left...  So I took the plunge and booked one.

Saying that I'm up against it is a huge understatement. Baring in mind, that we are now in the first week of December, and the Spring fair is the first week in February, and I'm planning on exhibiting for So Easy Commerce AND So Easy Fulfilment, I now have the seemingly impossible task of setting up two new businesses (that haven't even been started on yet) and getting them ready in just SIX weeks

Making the impossible, possible

So, I thought I'd just make a little list of everything I need to get done in just 6 weeks.

The exhibition

Well, I've never exhibited before so, here's the things I need to get sorted for the exhibition

  • Find and Book hotel
  • Sort out branding and marketing material for the Spring Fair Catalogue and website
  • Design and print pop up banners for the stand
  • Design and print business cards
  • Design and print leaflets
  • Book / arrange furniture for stand
  • Set up and build a tablet app for obtaining customer details

The front end

So, the most important thing is to get the front end websites up and running, so at least I have something for customers to visit and get information from, so I now need to set up and build websites for the follow:

  • TheSoEasyGroup.com
  • SoEasyFulfilment.com
  • SoEasyCommerce.com
  • SoEasyDesign.com

The main development

This is where most of the work is going to come so I'm going to break it down it sections

So Easy License

This won't really be seen by any customers but it's the core of the entire system. The system needs to manage user log in details across all of the So Easy systems. Users will be able to use the same email / password and via the license, subscribe to any of the businesses.

So, for this to work, I need to integrate with payment (direct debit) and have a fully automated system so customers can set up trials, and then subscribe to the full system.

None if this built yet.

So Easy Commerce

This is going to be the focus of the exhibition so the system needs to be solid. Customer need to be able add and manage their entire inventory via a website control panel. This includes:

  • Adding stock  / images / categories
  • Setting up suppliers
  • Managing postage zones / delivery methods
  • Setting up market place integration with Ebay / Amazon and Play
  • Managing and shipping orders
I also need to write an app that automatically syncs all their stock with the market places, pulling in orders and managing quantities across all channels.

So Easy Fulfilment

A basic control panel that allows customers to send their orders to a fulfilment warehouse.

This is the least important, as any potential customers will need to agree term / warehouse pricing etc before they get close to the control panel.

Wrap it up

I'm sure I've missed quite a bit out there, but to be honest, I need to spend less time writing my blog, and more time setting up the websites and businesses.

So, In summary, I've got 6 weeks to set up two businesses, and get them to a point where I can sell, and earn money.

All in all, the exhibition is gonna cost around £3k, which is going to eat heavily into my already diminishing savings, so this is it really, all or nothing, if I don't get it up and running and earning money, I'll be skint within 4 months.

Watch this space to see how it all pans out, but to let you into a little secret... I'm really excited, really confident, and have a good feeling that in 6 months time, So Easy Group will be making a nice chunk of cash...



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