What projects I'm working on....

Feel free to give me any comments (good or bad)... all are welcome.

Thank you Dien for allowing this thread...

1. Small Business Newsletter-What I'm trying to do is start a subscription, print newsletter geared towards small retail businesses. 6 issues for $99. I currently work with many small businesses both in the startup phase and in their overall marketing. These people need marketing help more than any other business segment I know of. The difficult part of this is that small businesses are notoriously tight-fisted. Where I see myself being able to give 'value' (and remember without giving 'value' that means something in the eyes of your prospect you won't make sales) to these group of business owners and types is giving them case studies on how other successful businesses are crossing the marketing crevasse.

2. Creating a line of knock-down or ready-to-assemble antique reproduction furniture-I'm fortunate to be in an area that produces some of the finest hardwood in the world. Plus as many of you know the antiques market has exploded in popularity over the past decade and people are looking to decorate their homes with country style furniture which has put real antique furniture in tight demand and at high prices. I'm working with several hardwoods and furnture people in the area trying to create a line of reproduction ready-to-assemble furniture that can be shipped via UPS to any point in the country. My parents have been involved in antiques over the past 30-years so I'm tapping into their knowledge base. I think this project can give terrific value to the consumer.

3. Creating catalogs and joint venturing with gift shops and museums that have traffic, currently sell products but don't offer a catalog nor do any direct marketing. I would pay for the creation and printing of the catalog... they distribute the catalog to people that stop. We would then do some sort of profit split. I think you can probably see the value to the customer in something like this (and please don't think having a web site is enough!).

4. Becoming a distributor of Native American products like bottled water, foods and health related products. I think Native American products would have inherit value in the eyes of many consumers.

5. Importer of gifts and collectibles from Russia for the purpose of selling directly to the consumer or to wholesale to gift shops. The folks in Russia are creating some very unique gift and collectible items. I don't know how far I can get with this one but I've started making some contacts and I'll run with the ball until I'm tackled. Just being able to sell something different combined with it being from Russia maybe enough value to get people to buy... we'll see.

6. Maintaining my web site http://wsg.safeshopper.com Right now I'm looking to partner with a VLP (Very Leveraged Person) in order to push these cosmetics, lotions and creams out the door. The lotions and creams are terrific products that are made by a small company in western New York state. The unique thing about them is that they contain no petroleum based additives... they are about 99% natural, which is very unique compared to what is available on the market today. But I need a 'name' person that believes in the product to help market it. I've done some off-line ads with limited success.

7. My original ecommerce site www.hobbees.com just keeps rolling along squeezing out a few dollars per month. Back in 1997 it cost me $1,500 to have the database/search engine part of it created. Really I hate it... because the only Unique Selling Proposition of the site is the vast array of product (47,000 items, which I do not inventory...Thank God!) plus the promise of low prices (which is the absolute worst "USP" you can have). I don't do any offline marketing at all for the site.

For me the merit of any project is, "Is this project/product/service going to create or give value to the person using it" if not then the project isn't worth doing.

I'm also trying to stick with projects that deal with direct marketing. I'm staying away from retail and Internet only projects. If my hobby site wasn't up and running I wouldn't even consider it now a days. With SPAM doubling in volume over the last few months and sure to double again, the value in anything delivered via email is diminishing greatly. While the competition in direct mail is subsiding so that anyone that mails out in regular envelope that is hand addressed (or the address is at least printed on the envelope) with a first-class stamp is going to stand out in crowd. Rates on other off-line marketing tools like space ads, direct response radio, direct response TV have also plummeted offering marketers some real bargains. I'm using the Internet to give more information and to facilitate order taking.

Again, feel free to post any comments or ideas.

Take care,

Mike Winicki