rustyfrets.com is a great website to measure your startup against

In my startup blog, the thing I find the most interesting is the interaction I get to have with other startup entrepreneurs. I get to meet with many other business people (both face to face and online) and discuss how things are going, what challenges they face and to share best practice and knowledge.

This week I have got in touch with an entrepreneur that is going through the startup process. He is a little further down the road than me and I was thrilled to get the chance to ask him a few questions, learn about his business and share the experience with you.

His name is Bryan and he owns and runs http://rustyfrets.com/ which is a great online guitar shop. It is essentially a small town guitar shop but taken online. The focus is on the customer rather than the equipment and the store is clearly run by someone who knows everything about the stuff they are selling. And I would say that this is the first thing that we can learn about the startup business. Start your business in something you know and something you have a passion about. That passion and knowledge will shine through in everything you do. Take a look at the http://rustyfrets.com/ website now and you will see knowledge and passion on every page.

Bryan tells me that the biggest hurdle he has faced is generating traffic for the website. Once customers are there then they will browse, enjoy and probably buy. It has been getting them there that has been the biggest hurdle. He quotes using different angles and perseverance as the two main characteristics that have helped here. Lesson number two for startup entrepreneurs. You must remain positive and keep trying. By this I don’t mean keep trying the same things, but trying different ways of making it work. Check out the headline on the website-

“Rusty Frets is an online guitar shop for the working class guitarist. Great gear without the huge price tag.”

It is simply effective. It resonates with the target audience and ensures that the connection is made.

Bryan tells me that he is proud of his success in generating other sales channels. This is another important lesson for the budding startup owner. The traditional methods of selling your product or service may not necessarily be the only way to get to market. Social media, online forums and blogging sites are often a great way to meet potential clients, woo them and make the sale.

In terms of http://rustyfrets.com/ there is definitely a market out there for the service they offer.  A guitar shop that really understands guitar players is a wonderful thing. If the seller truly understand the buyers (because they are one of them) the game changes.

This is a great website and looks like a great business, so I urge you to go through their website and look at how they connect with customers, explain what they offer and make that connection. And while you are there, you can get yourself a guitar as well!

How I'd have dealt with the changes in stamp duty this week

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I'd share a basic stamp duty calculation to spark a conversation with your customers, both buyers and vendors.

The calculation is-

Someone buying at £185,000 would have paid £1,850 under the old stamp duty rules. Under the new rules, they will now pay £1,200, which is a saving of £600.

The reason I would use this calculation is to prompt a discussion, to pick up the phone. I have stated in a blog already that I believe you should speak to every one of your clients every week-

http://eaboost.blogspot.com/2014/07/how-often-do-you-talk-to-your-customers.html

This is the perfect opportunity and perfect timing to have this conversation. For my registered buyers, then they will no doubt be registered with more than one estate agent. It's the agent that services these clients, looks after them and has the right communication with them that will more than likely win the business and the recommendations.  I'm sure some buyers will have missed the changes in stamp duty or will have heard about them but maybe not understood what it means to them. A 2 minute chat will clear this up and may change their search criteria. What a valuable conversation to have!

Depending on the part of the country you are in, you may hand to tweak the above calculation but it's just an example and it's the communication with your clients (every week, remember) that's important.

Give it a try!

Facing my fears

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Ive had a couple of nights of poor sleep and I think I know why. I'm formulating, cojitating, weighing up and thinking about setting up my own estate agency with every spare minute, and the parts I fear loss of control over are starting to get to me. I don't lie awake at night specifically thinking about these things, but I'm sure that the constant thought and planning must weigh on my mind most of the time. 

I always find looking over these issues and then talking them over quite cathartic, so I'll put them in print here, and then discuss them with my wife later today or early tomorrow, and look at how to tackle these issues. There are 2 main issues that are starting to bother me at the moment.

The Rightmove question

This one for me is the biggest question, and possibly the biggest monthly overhead. My intention at first is to either go without Rightmove from the beginning, or to offer it to customers as a pay-up-front additional extra. I do not believe that Rightmove is the be-all-and-end-all for estate agents, and I'm willing to back my judgement on that by not signing up with them.

However, I don't want to lose potential instructions by not offering it. I don't want to give the other agents in town a way to knocks service by stating that I'm missing a vital piece if the jigsaw.

Action : Speak to Rightmove and find out the cost of monthly listings. Also find out the possibility of pay-per-listing and the cost of this. From there I can see what a potential cost to my customer may be. I also need to provide a solid, reasoned argument as to why I won't be using Rightmove and have this ready to proactively address my customers concerns.

Industry resistance to online-only agents

I know that I shouldn't overly worry about what other people think of me, but it's not their thoughts, it's their potential actions. I read with interest, the following article last week-

http://www.propertyindustryeye.com/campaign-way-get-north-east-agents-quit-existing-portals-day/

And it regards estate agents in the North East of England coming together to all agree to remove themselves from Rightmove and Zoopla and all list their properties only in a new portal that specifically excludes online-only estate agents. Now this isn't my patch, but news can spread, and the ill feeling that estate agents with High Street offices have towards online-only agents is quite widespread. I don't want to end up

operating in a town with this level of animosity.

Action : To ensure that I know my own reasons and arguments for being an online-only estate agent. I will highlight my lower overheads, and explain that is why I am cheaper than the local agents with a High Street office and a team of staff they have to pay for whether bust or not. I thnk I'll push this as a selling point, rather than a weakness.