It seems that there have been some questions on what type of research I did to start planning for my own online business. Thank you for those of you who responded! The first thing that you must understand about the steps to starting a business is that if you do it the right way it takes a lot of time. Research is only one step of getting your small business started. I was asked specifically about an online business so those are the steps I will give. If you plan on starting a brick and mortar business (in a shop) then there are a few more things you need to consider.

To start out, the research process is to prepare you for success in selling your products.  Your research can be from anything.  The point of it is to saturate yourself with as much information as you can about your desired items to sell.  The more you know the better decisions you can make.  For example, before starting my research I had a simple concept of starting an online women’s wear website.  Then Google key words to find information from every aspect, including the consumers view, of the women’s wear industry.  I also made sure to Google for information on starting a small business.  And last, I for sure researched about the economy seeing that it is a big thing that will influence my future business.  Other important things to look into would be technology if you are going to deal with it and manufacturers.  All of this information gives you the advantage to have ideas in your head about possible future conflicts along with also helping you mold your product to one that will fully appeal to the consumer and industry environment. 

From my finds I further developed my product by changing my simple concept of a women’s wear line to maternity because it was a very specific niche market that is always needed to affordable children’s wear that can grow with your kid.  My thoughts for this came because to start I don’t have a ton of funding to get my business started and the amount of money to go into fabric inventory will be less since the clothes are smaller, two because this is a smaller less concentrated market, and three because if everything goes as planned I can expand this into many other labels such as maternity wear or women’s wear. 

The next step in my process is to get a business plan done so that I can think through the first year of my business to see what I need to tweak so that it will thrive and be the best that it can be.  There are many free downloads for free business plans.  I will do a generic outline of what I did in my next post. 

Leave your comments and let me know if this helped or if you have any further questions.  Good Luck!