Tag: passive income

Coming soon…20 steps to starting a direct to consumer business

A New Year -the ideal time to start your ‘direct to consumer’ business – what you need to know in 20 blogs.

Well here we are at the end of the year and what have you done? How about getting that business idea you have up and running in 2011? Read on….

I remember years ago when I was an employee, I just couldn’t imagine how on earth anyone could start a business and get going. There was so much that I didn’t know about and when I eventually did have to get on and start a company, because I was no longer needed by my employer, I had to learn by making mistakes, how do do it.

I have been asked for years to write down how to get started in selling something direct to the consumer, so now I have done it. In January, starting from 6th, I will produce a blog each working day until I have it all down. The focus will be on how to start a business selling direct to consumers at events and then how to build a customer base. The same principles apply for an online business too.

Once the Startup blogs are published, I will then have a go at all the new ways to start a business on the Internet. I will report back on how I am progressing, what has worked and what has not and what I did about it. I am especially interested in trying out ideas that all the blurb that goes with it says they are ‘really easy to do’.

So, the objective of the forthcoming blogs is to provide you with some stepping stones, based on years of experience, in all the areas I will discuss. This is not just the same old stuff from textbooks, churned out by yet another wannabe businessman – I have created liqueurs, marketed, sold them and developed a mail order business, on and off line, so it’s all real. I will detail too, all the horrendous mistakes I made on the way, so you can avoid them, save time and money and get to your planned end point quicker and with less hassle.

For the up and coming blogs, you will be able to discover:

  • How to plan your new business
  • Routes to market
  • Building a customer base
  • Setting up a mail order system
  • Events – choosing the right ones for you
  • Setting up your stall – what goes where
  • Talking to customers – which words work best
  • Your year ahead plan and handling doubts
  • Selling or supplying – which is more profitable
  • Persuasive words and closing the sale
  • Things not do do in front of any customer
  • Deciding what to sell and why
  • Confidence boosting measures that work

That’s just some idea of what the blogs will cover and I’ll add more content as they go along too, depending on comments during the process.

So have a good New Year, write down some ideas for 2011 and look out for the first blog of the series starting on January 6th. All the best, Roy Lewis

Whisky Galore: ‘lost’ stock rediscovered.

The Whisky Galore real storyfrom the 1940’s and what happened to the whisky rediscovered years later in 1990.

Whisky Galore – brilliant Ealing comedy of the 50’s on the S.S. Politician running aground on the Outer Hebrides with over 9,000 cases of Scotch whisky on board plus thousands of banknotes. By the time the weather had calmed down for the authorities to get there, there were  and little currency was left.

All goes quiet for many years, until a company is set up 20 years ago to excavate the S. S. Politician wreck for more whisky. Money was raised, divers employed, thousands of tons of sand and steel plates moved to discover…..24 bottles! The whisky was partly used to make a blend called Atlantic Gold. These were sold round the world at the time along with another brand, Calvey Mist, which replicated 1940’s whisky. Then the company went bust and the stock disappeared into a warehouse. Luckily, the warehouse owner pointed the goods out to me recently – I was intrigued with the story and as I travel to the Outer Hebrides each year, I was familiar with the story.

I have now purchased some of the stock – the Atlantic Gold has numbered bottles and presentation boxes. there are about 60-70 left out of @ 140 ever bottled. Both the Atlantic Gold and Calvey Mist are packaged in a nineties style card box, typical of the time. The whisky used too is the equivalent taste to the 1940’s to preserve authenticity all round.

Both brands are collector’s times – I am getting pictures of these taken and will post these to this blog and to our site in due course. Just shows that it is worthwhile to look into new ideas from time to time – I wonder what other gems lie forgotten? It’s a bit like finding a Masterpiece in the attic or coming across a valuable sculpture at a craft fair.

Roy Lewis