top of page
Writer's pictureChang Liu

Entrepreneur Curated Case Digest #1: How do I go from here?

Updated: Apr 11, 2021

Here is suggestions made to first time entrepreneurs questions. In today's element, we have three questions:

  1. I planned 1000 coffee trees. How do I go from there.

  2. I made a brain-quiz app, How do I go from here

  3. I am learning digital marketing - how do I get a small start?

  4. I am a high school student wanting to build a startup. Can you give some feedback to my idea?

  5. I opened an online store ... nothing sells.

 

u/Im-A-W1zard Asks in this link


How can I build digital marketing skills on my own

I graduated in May and I've been having trouble landing a job. I just finished a photoshop course to learn some design skills, I've also taken some linkedin courses on digital marketing and social media. Ive gone through the basic and advanced google analytics courses as well. I'm getting real discouraged.


Marketing is a nick name for "scam", so you just have to loosen up. Find your focus. For example, influencer A has a dog post. You know a guy who makes dog keychains. Connect them and refer them and you will make commissions. It is not that hard. Focus. Every job is just a small job. Build some successes. All books and courses teach you the theories. You need to practice and really learn by experience. All the guys teaching are guys who did not succeed.


Courses will only take you so far. You need real world experience. Build and grow something. Even if it doesn't necessarily make money, grow something and test out different methods. Keep track of analytics, A/B test, etc.


Second this I did this started a Shopify store lost around 2k but the lessons learned put me in front of all candidates for the next job. Was almost able to double my pre tax salary.

Just build something you think is interesting and fun if it goes well that's great too


 

u/lafuenter03 asked on this reddit link :


I developed a mobile apps on my free time, HOW to promote and sell?

Do you have any idea on how to promote my apps without spending a lot of money. Can you give more tips on how to reach potentials uses. Thank you Here’s the link of my app: Test My Brain: Quiz Game


Posting links to different subreddits is one way to get views, but I think having a website and regularly posting content and building an audience of people who like puzzle games (may be using the wrong genre) would help.

In the App Store, rather than having the Developer website link go to Facebook, send visitors to your website.

Make it easy for them to see all of your apps and make feature requests or provide feedback, maybe even setup a forum they can post to. Convert casual browsers to engaged, passionate users - hungry for your next release.


First, no one "buys a game". Unless your game has monetization options, it will not make a dime of money. but you are asking for "reaching potential customers". The easiest is twitter contents in very focused and consistent matter. Keep at it for 6 months if you are short on money. Use #. The advertising fee is equivalent of 20,000 dollars. So you need to 20,000 dollar worth of work on twitter, for yourself. If you just type your moniker into google, it produced 36 million results. Since you don't have money, then you have to spend time. Since you don't know who will want you, you must make it very very very clear who you are, so that like minded people will fan you.

 

u/L_Hugo asked on this reddit link:


Answer to this simple question if you want to help a student (me) to build a great start up ! I try to build a party planning app.

For you, What is the most time consuming task in a party organization ?🤔 I’m building a mobile application to improve party organization and to bring more safety, especially for student party. Give me your idea and your experience !


sometimes the most time consuming is the most enjoyable. like picking who not to invite. the only way to make a great startup is to know who will buy for sure. Look up this list, examine everyone, look at comments people leave for each, good and bad. https://www.socialtables.com/blog/event-technology/event-planning-apps/


 

u/razoyirh posted on this reddit link:


Coffee business startup tips

So we've just started coffee plantation (arabica coffee) I'm planning to plant around 1000 trees ,if it's successful ,what would be a good business strategy. Your advice will be appreciated:)


  • Like any other plantation business, coffee farming a long-term business. So, you need to plan accordingly.

  • Coffee plantation is a labor-oriented business. You need an adequate supply of labors in the gardens.

  • If you only want to grow coffee, find buyers first. You must contact the processing unit prior. And after harvesting, you will need to shift the fresh coffee to the processing units.

  • Coffee plantation requires financial and management planning for the year. And the plan must consist the requirement of labor, agriculture inputs, and operational costs.

  • Finally, the coffee plantation is a cash-intensive business. You have the financial backup for at least for harvest seasons.

  • Disease control is key knowhow.

 

u/michellaB asked on this Reddit link:


Started a small business but it is not going anywhere


Started a business selling hand embroidered tote bags about a month ago, I’ve put money into advertisement on Instagram and Pinterest, I’ve sent free bags to people in exchange for stories and posts, I have a website that looks professional. And I’ve made a total of 1 sales and that was my friend. It’s like no one is interested. I see people on TikTok who have a small business and blow up! Yet I’m just spending money I don’t have trying to create something that people might want to buy.


>>If you just want to get up off the ground and get some initial sales, some local PR might help. Maybe you have an interesting story behind your tote bags that people want to read about on a local newspaper. You could give some micro influencers in your area (5k followers ) free tote bags and ask them to share if they like them. Get family, friends etc to share your page on social media. Maybe there is a local shop that would stock them for you?


>>I'm a head of marketing for an SME and also responsible for marketing for a couple of small, local businesses. Here's what I look for.... Who is your competition? How are your prices in comparison to others? Do you say on your website what people are thing for? You're a niche, so you need to explore that niche and get a firm understanding of where you sit and where you differentiate. If you're expensive than others when your designs can set you apart. If you need to keep ploughing money into paid ads you're going to have a bad time, so how about looking at already established shopping distributions sites like Ebay, Amazon, aliexpress? Get your site configured for Google Shopping. I would do that to get sales going, a few adverts with 5% click through rate aren't going to launch the business. Oh, look at influencers too - anyone doing product showcases, fashion grab bags etc? Give them free stuff for a video, always better than a blog when it comes to fashion, but it totally depends on your style. Also, don't be disheartened by success stories on TikTok, for every success story, there's a hundred failures you don't hear about. It takes hard work, if it was easy, everyone would be doing it :)


>>Let's talk about advertising. I can show you a photo of a cheesecake https://laurenslatest.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/02/cheesecake-recipe-5.jpg. and imagine that's your tote bag. Nice right?


Now, imagine instead, you have someone SHOWING you what it LOOKS LIKE https://media.istockphoto.com/photos/young-woman-eating-strawberry-cheesecake-picture-id512963647?k=6&m=512963647&s=170667a&w=0&h=wy8L4K8VjdoMOZ5vKlyZdLwECU8ahRzhbBud5x9MKU0= Now, let's talk about the second photo. IN this instance, if you are a woman, you might say 'She looks happy, eating cheesecake. If I eat cheesecake, I too will be happy'. And then you equate eating the cheesecake with happiness. What's even more fascinating about this message, is that when you get the cheesecake, and you eat it, your brain will ACTUALLY make you feel happy because you have been brainwashed to feel happy. You have been 'trained' how to 'feel' from this photo of a happy person eating a delicious cheesecake. Now, on to your totes. How do you create a NEED for a tote? Do you show a petite woman coming out of a grocery store with a bag full of groceries with a big smile on her face because she has your tote? Or, maybe you show a grandma with a monogramed tote smiling because she got it from her kids? Your advertising has to tell a story, that generates BOTH a NEED and a REACTION that leads people to buy. Now, let's get back to WHAT you are selling. Is it the 'one of a kind' angle? Is it 'my tote is better' angle? If you were in an elevator, talking to me face to face, how would you position your product and sell it to me to make me want to buy?


Ever see a photo of someone on a beach looking happy? You have to somehow have a photo of a person LOOKING HAPPY with your bag in such a way to create a response. You are creating a fantasy that they buy into. https://img.rawpixel.com/s3fs-private/rawpixel_images/website_content/415-karolina-grabowska-kaboompics-0049-l.jpg?bg=transparent&con=3&cs=srgb&dpr=1&fm=jpg&ixlib=php-3.1.0&q=80&usm=15&vib=3&w=1300&s=1315d4244aee58f52292f6a3f17c2efe This makes me want to go shopping, look cute, and bring a bag with me. It tells a story. It makes me want to be her, shopping, with that bag.


>>Secret: spend money. Sales is just statistics. Impression multiplied by 1/100 is click through rate (if your bag is interesting). 2% rate of buying based on clicks. So 1 million impressions = 200 bags sold. Tiktok impressions, yes the stuff that shows on your screen, are all bought. If you are a beautiful girl and have talents, you can get some "organic fans", but 1 in 100,000 fans would buy from you. The tiktok guy spend money to buy fake fans and stuff, so he/she qualifies with tiktok to get more impressions. https://influencermarketinghub.com/how-much-do-tiktok-ads-cost/ https://www.quora.com/How-much-does-it-cost-to-run-a-TikTok-ad-campaign Do this campaign on Tweeter and tweeter tells you how much impression you got and the click rate, and you can find tune your picture, your word, your fonts, your color pallets, until someone out there likes it enough to give you 1/100 or better click through rate.

11 views0 comments

Recent Posts

See All

Comments


bottom of page