Ted, I will agree, getting a business on its feet isnt as easy as having a good ideal. Stockpileing firewood and waiting for a sale can break the bank. Your right, I dont sell firewood, but I think this would apply with any business. You have to move inventory from day one to be able to continue to finance your operation. It sounds all good to say I am only going to sell seasoned firewood, but reality will set in when you have a great big pile of wood setting in the dry somewhere and you need to gas up the truck. the seceret to making a business work is letting people know that you are there and what you sell and keep that inventory turning over. word of outh will help move a lot of product, but until you make a name for yourself, there is no word of mouth. You need to advertise.
My first business venture was a hydroseeding company. I had to decide what I wanted for a customer base. Residentual was where the big money was and you didnt need a lot of expensive equipment to do the work. with a direction decided, I wanted to reach the largest number of potential customers as I could. I picked up every realestate brochure I could find and got the addresses to every realitor. I went to the local building department and got a list of names and addresses to all the licensed building contractors. Then all the local grading contractors. I knew a homeowner would be a one time customer, but a builder or grading contractor would always be needing seeding done. I then fixed up a trifold brochure that could be folded and addressed to mail and I sent to every one of the people on my list. I also included a business card. People tend to throw away a brochure, but they will stick a business card in their billfold or rolidex. after the mass mailing, I was soon covered up in more work than I could do. My wife and I cleared $40k our first year just working weekends. I cleared $240k in my fifth year, had three trucks, two hydroseeders,, 1-75hp tractor, My smaller ventrac tractor with several attachments, all paid for, and 4 full time employees. After that first initial advertising, I never advertised again and never went looking for work. I was at the point I had to make a decision whether to keep working my full time job and let my wife run the company. Or quit my job and run the company myself. I was to close to retirement to quit my job and my wife wasnt able to run the company by herself, so I sold the business. My point is, the right advertising to the right people will be what starts the word of mouth to rolling. What you do determines what that word of mouth says about you.[/
