What projects are you working on?

[TheBigIdea]

Calling all serial entrepreneurs!!!! I really like to collaborate and work with individuals that share the same passion as I do, and I think one of the best ways to find a common passion is to tell people what you are doing, and what your plans are.

It would be great if you guys could provide some insight on the projects that you have worked on, your current projects, and also your future ones.

And a simple mention of success/failure or some numbers (revenue/profit) should be good (nothing to be shy about) , since we're all starters in this game.


I think I'm going to start......

Local Entrepreneur Online Magazine ( 3 years ago)
Didn't really have a good business plan to generate revenue, we did manage to get a 300% profit, but it died off after 6 months due to low motivation. It was only 3 people and we couldn't sustain the article writing process. I suppose the only good plus side was that we got to meet some top entrepreneurs in the city and really spoke to them in person.

Ebay business selling used cellphones (2 yrs ago)
Brought in a few grand a month, but couldn't scale it up as I had to warehouse funding. Decided to call it quits.

Online Marketing Company (current project)
This is my baby at the moment, numbers are much better compared to the ebay biz, and best thing is that I'm having fun.


As for my future projects, I'll enroll myself in a university that has an active entrepreneur society and figure I'd start taking part in some of those projects.

I also foresee myself working with a couple of budding entrepreneurs from this forum. I'm open to all sorts of things, though my preference would be businesses that are solid, tangible and actually turn a healthy profit.

Now it's your turn!!!

[Mega B]

At the present moment we are working on 3 new sites aimed at Porn sector as this produces some big wonga revenue wise and yesterday we sourced a special hosting facility for this project.
In about a months time we will then kick start 2 of our gardening websites as this is the time people start to think about buying plants and seeds etc and for the rest of the year we will refine all of our existing sites to try and get higher PR and backlinks.
Apart from that not alot

[boeing767]

I'm working on a novel advertising service that is envisioned to be a powerful engine that achieves high click-through rates by mobilizing specific targeted demographic markets. That's the basic idea but I still have a lot of specifics to work on.

[rejoice]

I am studying photography and sell tees/prints.
I distribute energy drinks via energycans.com
Written my marketing plan to sell porn online and will implement that next week.
Researching the exporting of Australian wine to Europe.

[Moneymaka]

Damn, i just typed a whole text and it just got erased...
Listen, i'm glad i found a forum with people who have the same interest as me.
I would love to start a business.

I tried making an online website wich sold affiliate ebooks, but the guy who wrote the content lost interest and just left and i'm really not much of a writer.

I'm currently planning to start something new. I'm learning css and html so i would make it all by myself. I have no idea on what to put on the website though.

TheBigIdea, feel free to contact me if you want to work together or anything else.
I'd love to work together with you whenever i finish learning the programming language.

[fthom]

Planning towards launching a web and graphic design company in summer this year, also launching an online community based around web design (eg. Forums etc).

[TheBigIdea]

I am studying photography and sell tees/prints.
I distribute energy drinks via energycans.com
Written my marketing plan to sell porn online and will implement that next week.
Researching the exporting of Australian wine to Europe.

selling porn online? I might know a trick or two of doing that. Hit me up with a rough idea of what and when and to whom you are selling

[Phranksizzle]

I'm doing airbrush tanning at a dedicated studio in an upscale community #7 in the US for income with population over 20k people .

Once I get enough revenue from that I'm going to continue to live below my means and invest in real estate properties via Tax Liens.

[rogercbryan]

National Charity Services - Non-Profit Consulting (Mostly Vehicle Donations)
Started June 2006
2008 Revenue $1,540,000
www.charitydispatch.com

Progressive Logistics - Domestic & International Shipping (Mostly Vehicles)
Started April 2008
2008 Revenues $56,000
www.plgroupinc.com (this site is horrible!)
http://www.capitalautoauction.com/pr...hicle-shipping

Thrift It - Book Store / Thrift Store
Started Oct 2008
2008 Revenues NA
Now doing about $20,000 per month in sales (goal is $100,000 per month by this summer)
http://www.amazon.com/shops/thriftit
(or) eBay Seller ID: thriftitgoods

GoGets.com - Online Small Business Resource Site
Started Nov 2007
2008 Revenues $21,000 (service resales)
*Not fully operational yet (It's been an FN Year!)
www.gogets.com (not completed)

Capital Consulting International - Government Logistics Services
Started April 2008
Been working on contracts for almost 8 FN Months!
I'm in the final three for a major procurement account with a government agency (down from 15 vendors!)
No Site Currently

1-866 Vehicle - Vehicle Brokerage Business
Started Jan 2008
2008 Revenues $240,000 (vehicle sales on consignment)
www.1866vehicle.com

I'm in the process of opening a book store in Philadelphia, PA (already have the space); Manchester, NH (already have the space); and Cleveland, OH (already have the space). As soon as I get my store in DC up to selling 1000 books a week I'm going to open another store and then repeat the process. I sold about 750 books so far this week so I'm almost at my operational break even! (will have taken less then 90 days!)

I posted revenues to show what can be done if you give up your life for a couple of years and work your ass off! I started all this with a $6500 loan in 2006 and have grown it from there. I have taken on partners and/or set-up boards for a few of these companies. I needed to do this in order to get capital for expansion and growth.

I do not plan on starting any new companies in 2009. I only plan to expand what I have and try to survive this damn recession!

[TheBigIdea]

National Charity Services - Non-Profit Consulting (Mostly Vehicle Donations)
Started June 2006
2008 Revenue $1,540,000
Charity Dispatch

Progressive Logistics - Domestic & International Shipping (Mostly Vehicles)
Started April 2008
2008 Revenues $56,000
Progressive Logistics Group (this site is horrible!)
Domestic Vehicle Shipping Service

Thrift It - Book Store / Thrift Store
Started Oct 2008
2008 Revenues NA
Now doing about $20,000 per month in sales (goal is $100,000 per month by this summer)
Amazon.com:thriftit Storefront
(or) eBay Seller ID: thriftitgoods

GoGets.com - Online Small Business Resource Site
Started Nov 2007
2008 Revenues $21,000 (service resales)
*Not fully operational yet (It's been an FN Year!)
GoGets.com (not completed)

Capital Consulting International - Government Logistics Services
Started April 2008
Been working on contracts for almost 8 FN Months!
I'm in the final three for a major procurement account with a government agency (down from 15 vendors!)
No Site Currently

1-866 Vehicle - Vehicle Brokerage Business
Started Jan 2008
2008 Revenues $240,000 (vehicle sales on consignment)
1-866-Vehicle

I'm in the process of opening a book store in Philadelphia, PA (already have the space); Manchester, NH (already have the space); and Cleveland, OH (already have the space). As soon as I get my store in DC up to selling 1000 books a week I'm going to open another store and then repeat the process. I sold about 750 books so far this week so I'm almost at my operational break even! (will have taken less then 90 days!)

I posted revenues to show what can be done if you give up your life for a couple of years and work your ass off! I started all this with a $6500 loan in 2006 and have grown it from there. I have taken on partners and/or set-up boards for a few of these companies. I needed to do this in order to get capital for expansion and growth.

I do not plan on starting any new companies in 2009. I only plan to expand what I have and try to survive this damn recession!

i'm amazed at the number of businesses you have, have a couple of questions regarding the book biz - i assume you source those old books by the bulk?

As for breaking even, how do you achieve it? ( I'm assuming opening more and more book stores will finally make you break even and turn a profit? )

[adum]

Used book selling on Amazon is not really a great business unless you have a huge inventory, there are too many sellers which compete with each other for the lowest prices, so you end up forced to sell books at much less than they are worth just to compete. There are programs people use to price their books 1 cent lower than the lowest price, and it just makes prices slowly go lower and lower. Plus you aren't compensated enough with shipping fees by Amazon for bigger/heavier books.

You have to have a really big inventory to make any money, which it looks like you have. Still, I think books are going to slowly become less in demand as ebooks become bigger.

Also, make sure you store your books upright, I noticed some were stored lying flat and that can warp them. (I sold books on Amazon one summer so I know a bit about the business).

Just curious, where do you get your books from?

[rogercbryan]

Used book selling on Amazon is not really a great business unless you have a huge inventory, there are too many sellers which compete with each other for the lowest prices, so you end up forced to sell books at much less than they are worth just to compete. There are programs people use to price their books 1 cent lower than the lowest price, and it just makes prices slowly go lower and lower. Plus you aren't compensated enough with shipping fees by Amazon for bigger/heavier books.

You have to have a really big inventory to make any money, which it looks like you have. Still, I think books are going to slowly become less in demand as ebooks become bigger.

Also, make sure you store your books upright, I noticed some were stored lying flat and that can warp them. (I sold books on Amazon one summer so I know a bit about the business).

Just curious, where do you get your books from?

My supply of books is something I keep confidential. I don't really agree that you need to have a ton of books to make money on Amazon. It's all relative to your expenses. I have 7 employees and a huge warehouse so yes I need a ton of books to make money. I know a guy who does 80,000 books a year on his own in his basement and makes a killing.

I also do not agree that ebooks will effect the normal book business for a long time to come. People have been able to buy digital books for 5+ years and audio books for decades still the overall book market continues to grow. Things may change 10 years from now... but I'm not even thinking about it now.

[rogercbryan]

i'm amazed at the number of businesses you have, have a couple of questions regarding the book biz - i assume you source those old books by the bulk?

As for breaking even, how do you achieve it? ( I'm assuming opening more and more book stores will finally make you break even and turn a profit? )

Break even is easy... when sales are more then COGS + Operational expenses. My sales are running $20K a month while my COGS+Ops are running about $25K. I've only been doing this for two months so I'm hoping to get my sales to about the $40K range by February. That would turn a $15K a month profit... if my expenses stay the same.

I will not open a second store until the first one has an operational break even.

[adum]

Do you mean he sells 80,000 a year or has an inventory of 80,000? Either way I consider that a big inventory.

[jonstyles20]

I'm working on a website.. a lot of money is online.