Desperately seeking outsource/VA advice please!

[nataliejoy68]

Well I think I have finally found a muse and am ready to start! I was just wondering if anyone can point me in the right direction in regards to VA/outsourcing. I need to organise the following things:
[LIST]
a logo
a manufacturer of canvas covers for furniture
a graphic designer to come up with designs for the canvas covers
and someone to organise packaging of goods for ready for sale

Are there any VA's/Outsourcers that are better than others in this regard? Any advice would be much appreciated!

[kamakiri]

Natalie - Hold up there just a second. Take a deep breath and step back. You are obviously excited about the possibilities here, but you left out a few very important steps.

Throw your search for a manufacturer, graphic designer, and packager plans on hold and get a testing web site up and running first. Time outlines the mistakes you make (expensive financial ones) in his book when you dont put the steps in the proper order.

Elance is easy. Put up a proposal. A simple web site and a logo should cost $300. That is what GameBRAIN (http://gamebrain.us) cost to build. I can tell you, my manufacturing fees were $5000 for a lot of products, and the muse died during testing, and I tested it extensively. I wanted that site to work so bad I can still taste it, but I am very glad I am not sitting on 1000 bottles of neural enhancer like Tim did with his tales the first time he tried to develop a muse.

Go back and look over the phases of your muse. Develop a plan, with actual steps and goals:



Have a site and logo designed
Test
Move forward results are positive (you can make a profit)
Hire a local sewer (Craig's List) to make your first batch of covers.
Package and ship everything yourself
Sell 1-10 a week: Phase 2, negotiate bulk purchases from your sewer.
Sell 10-20 a week - Phase 3, start looking into outsourcing shipping (direct from the sewer for example).

Once you get to Phase 3 and beyond, you will have a completely different view of your muse, and you will be much better at determining the direction you need to go. With larger volumes, anything is possible, but you will never get there putting the carriage before the horse.

Canvas covers does sound like a viable muse though. The current economic times have stopped new furniture purchases. Good luck with it.

[FXFlyboy]

I have to agree with Kamakiri - test before investing. I'm building a muse myself, and I'm full of doubts, therefore all my current outsourcing is based on research, and the next step is sales (with manufacturing not started yet).

Only when I get people to say yes, I will tell the factory to go ahead (they will be ready by then).

That's my theory anyway ;)

Dan

[nataliejoy68]

Great advice thanks Kamakiri! I will go back to my copy of the 4HWW and follow the proper steps.

[nataliejoy68]

Thanks Dan, I appreciate your help. I will start with the research first.