Research
From our experience as co founders of PoleBoxx it is fundamental to your subscription business success and life-cycle to research your audience and other companies out there. To me this sounded quite tiresome and laborious but in fact we had checked a lot of the criteria already. Before investing hours in your business plan the following should be checked:
Search for similar companies through all forums – it’s important to expand your research further than google. A lot of companies now run shop on Facebook, Instagram, Etsy etc.
Search for potential wholesale suppliers – Are there any wholesalers out there for your business needs? If so where are they based? What do you need in order to become a wholesaler?
Search for your chosen business name through all forums – Just because the domain is available to purchase online doesn’t mean it’s not already in use on other platforms such as Facebook, Instagram or Twitter (remember to check hashtags too.)
Search for similar companies pricing – Have a look at companies websites and social media. If you aren’t going to be delivering a similar product cheaper than your competitors, it best be different and stand out from the crowd.
Brainstorming
3 non negotiable’s – When you sit down and look at what you want your business to achieve and what products you want to create, what are your non negotiable’s? This step is especially important if you have a business partner and should be set in stone before even thinking of a product. For PoleBoxx our 3 non negotiable’s for the scope of our company is to be eco friendly, vegan and affordable. This way when a product is thought of you already have a validation process. Does this product meet our 3 non negotiable’s? Yes – great lets look at ideas and pricing. No – we’re not going to look any further into it.
What’s your niche? – For PoleBoxx our niche isn’t pole dance wear or equipment. Anyone could go to a wholesaler and buy pole clothing. Our niche is that our clothing is eco friendly and sourced from recycled materials. Our niche is that out Body Spritz is vegan and contains no animal products. Our niche is that we provide affordable, monthly subscription boxes containing these products. What’s your products niche? What’s your companies niche?
Business Hub – When we first started PoleBoxx we had a whatsapp group full of ideas and dozens of notes on our phones. This isn’t practical. Create a spread sheet with a hub of all your different information, different tabs for ideas, prices, links to websites with usernames and passwords, to do lists and price comparisons. Yes if you wake up in the night with an idea pop it in the group chat but always remember to add these ideas to your hub. This makes it so much easier to sit down and assess the scope of your new business idea.
