I had an epiphany last night at 2am about my jewelry startup.
Let me paint a background:
1.5 years ago, I decided to take down my jewelry site, rebrand, and let a business partner of mine code the site from scratch (he wanted to code something, anything), so we decided to have a go at it.
The initial vision:
A beautiful jewelry site with flash on the landing page, as elegant as Tiffany&Co, and able to empower women and inspire them to buy with just one look at this gorgeously designed, unique site.
… prod prod prod…
During the first year, life hit. We both decided to start our own startups (his being semiconductor test software, and mine being LiveUmbrella). Distractions? That’d be an understatement. I had no more time to manage, and he had no time to code.
1.5 years later, and it’s not done yet. Ridiculous, isn’t it?
I’m sure this is a similar story that many startups go through- you want to create something *perfect*, something that differentiates you from the rest of your competition. You tell yourself you can’t release because your brand might be compromised, or people might not think your product is *professional* enough. Here’s an eye-opener: no one cares. And crossing all your T’s ain’t gonna help the cause.
1.5 years later and I am rolling my eyes because it’s taken this long for me to come to this.
Epiphany?
In the web startup world, I believe in MVPs (minimum viable products) and follow the lean startup concept, so why haven’t I been doing it with what I deem “traditional” business?
Beats the hell outta me. This year, I’ve lost so much revenue due to the lack of a website. Traditional businesses should take this lean startup concept and apply it to their own. Ignite that fire!
Action!
Back to yesterday (rather, this morning).
2am, I decide I’ve had enough. I hop out of bed, pull out my laptop, Google “Yahoo Stores” (as funny as that sounds), and find Shopify.
Shopify is kick ass! Literally had my site looking awesome and sleek in less than an hour. Voila. $25bux a month for the cheapest plan, 30 day free trial, 2% commission taken on each sale, but bada-boom-bada-bing, she’s up.
So… what did I waste 1.5 years for?
Ask yourself the same question, shake your head, then go and build that MVP. Who gives a rat’s ass about “brand”, “perfection”, and all that other stuff? If your customers love you, they will come. And if they don’t come, you’ll figure it out soon enough rather than wasting years of “what if” time.
So this is a lesson learned. A lesson learned the hard way. So go… DO IT. DO IT NOW.
Oh… and you can visit my newly found jewelry site (still being populated with product) at practicallySEXY.com (it’s practical, it’s sexy… it’s practicallySEXY!).
Writing to you with a sigh of relief,
Tracy aka @LadyLeet