I’ve been MIA due to the collision of a number of projects in the same space of time, so apologies for the lack of a column last fortnight. These certainly are crazy times at the moment for me and hopefully I’ll be able to expand on this very soon…

For now though, I’ll finish off sharing my insights gained through investigating just how you might go about selling a digital entity.

Last time we met I wrote about how to value and quantify an online business.

I outlined the importance of making yourself redundant, documenting your performance, and spring-cleaning your business ready for presentation. And, I can report that the part about clearing out the old has rejuvenated my website and my spirits immensely.

What I thought was an exercise for others was actually the best exercise for me.

I also wrote last time about the difficulty in placing a value on a digital business, how different this process is to valuing a physical store, and the formula used to calculate ‘Good will’. Shortly after writing the column I accidentally stumbled upon something very interesting.

It's a free service that places a monetary value on your website based on visitor statistics. In doing so, it adds an important ingredient to your ‘Good will’ that is otherwise missing, ‘traffic’.

We all know how hard we work to get it, but now there is a way of comparing the statistics as a commodity and naming a price by comparison.

Now, the dollar value that this service spits out should be taken with a grain of salt, and should be taken into context as being solely one part of a web-based businesses’ value, an important and transparent one though, and one thoroughly individual to the digital arena.

The next stage of selling is actually how to sell and through what channel, either the D.I.Y sale or through a business broker.

This to me seemed to be a personal decision that would be guided by time as a factor and how keen you were to exit, what kind of buyer you wanted to attract, and how much cash you were willing to part with to sell it. If you go through a broker make sure it’s one that specialises in web-based businesses.

You will need to provide them with a Profit and Loss Statement, Balance Sheet, and Current Stock Value at Cost. A broker could prove to be faster than selling your business yourself (depending on your expectations) but it would almost certainly cost you more.

The brokers I looked into in the small business market wanted an initial fee up front of roughly $1500 - $4000, and then a success fee on completion of sale as a percentage of the sale price, or flat fee, in one case $10 000.

If that is too big a piece of your pie, you may want to consider creating listing/s yourself and marketing your business through commercial business sale websites. Most buyers start their purchase searches for small businesses here, so it may just prove successful for you.

Ultimately, it’s your businesses performance that will be the deciding factor in determining what type of buyer your business will attract.

If your figures are showing consistent profit then numbers probably drives your potential buyer. If the business you’re selling is a business model that has seen a lot of hard work to set it up but it hasn’t been successful yet in monetary terms, don’t despair. There are also buyers who are focused on a business’s potential.

As for me, I’ve already started running the gauntlet to Christmas.

My new stock has arrived, there’s marketing to be done, Youtube posts to be created… My 09/10 figures showed a 220% increase in business on the year before and there’s no way I’m letting my guard down now.

It’s ‘Business’ time.

About the Author

Janet E. Leach is an entrepreneur and owner/director of ArteryStore.com.

She has fingers in a couple of other pies, namely Health, and Property Development and is a well travelled mother of three, with a full bodied life story and a rock 'n' roll approach to business. Read more.

As I disclosed in my last column, the time has come for me to sell my business, ArteryStore.com, and I’m in the process of preparing for this fairly daunting task. I feel like I’m gearing up to stand naked on a street corner and have my best and worst features scrutinised by strangers.

Whilst I’m having some pangs of mourning for the relationship I have with my business, because I have a ball working it and it’s allowed me to express myself in so many ways, I also know that doing this feels right.

So without further ado, I need to take steps towards making this happen, and the first thing I must do is get my business ‘sale fit’.

It is incredibly important for me to stay focused on running my business at the same time however, and not take my eye off the ball. It is still my baby, and I need to make sure that I keep it running smoothly. Selling won’t happen overnight and I must prepare myself for a long haul.

When I started to analyse my business and what it was I realised, not for the first time that putting a value on an online business is very different to valuing a physical business.

The formula for calculating the value of a physical store is the sum of the stock, the ‘good will’ (a figure calculated from the profit performance of the business figures over time) and the value of any plant and equipment/shop fit out. Taking into account of course, any lease that is left on the existing business premises.

Well, in the case of my online business it’s a home business so there’s no premises to take into account.  What I do have are valuable tools that I have developed to run my business that I own, most obviously a website, and intellectual property. ‘Good will’ is calculated much the same as in the standard scenario based on figures, and your accountant will help you with this.

Over the next month I’ll be spring-cleaning and tidying my business and following these simple tips to making my online business fit for sale

1. Make yourself redundant.

Ensure that your business is able to walked away from, and that it doesn’t have you stamped all over it. Have your database, procedures, contacts and passwords documented and ready to hand over.

2. Document your performance and do your house keeping.

Ask your accountant for your figures and provide tax returns.  Make a list of your assets and accompanying performance statistics, the tools that you may have developed in-house to operate and market your business; i.e. newsletter template, database, Google Analytics, multi-channel offshoots of your store (EBay), YouTube, your store’s iPhone application, Social Media Accounts etc. Tidy up your stock and sell off slow moving or old items.

When you have done these things, and it will take a while especially as you are running a business at the same time, you will need to start thinking about the next steps.

What will be included in your business profile and how do you intend to market the sale of your business? Will you try a DIY sale, or brokered sale?

Anyway, one thing at a time. I’m off to get my feather duster.

About the Author

Janet E. Leach is an entrepreneur and owner/director of ArteryStore.com.

She has fingers in a couple of other pies, namely Health, and Property Development and is a well travelled mother of three, with a full bodied life story and a rock 'n' roll approach to business. Read more.

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Well, it’s been another massive couple of weeks.

I secured the reseller rights to Jacob Jensen recently, a Danish homewares brand synonymous with quality and enduring technology, and it’s about to launch in Australia. ArteryStore.com is a pivotal point in the retail availability of the brand due to the nature of our business being national.

I chose to muck in and roll my sleaves up to help make this brand/product launch reach the right media contacts and gain the best representation possible. I’ve had very positive responses from three glossy national interior magazines, the Sydney Morning Herald, and a local weekly magazine already, so we’ve had a win.

As a result of my hard work there are some nice perks along the way apart from the prospect of sales, like being offered discounted wholesale rates as a thank you and establishing a valued and respected partnership with my distributor.

As I struggled to cope with the demands of work and family during the last few months it also got me thinking about my own brand, what are its needs, what does it need from me?

The answer to that question has made me decide to sell ArteryStore.com, because I am unable to give my business the time it deserves and requires. As well, I have another digital idea brewing away in the background so it’s time to move on.

Now, far from being a teary thing, embarking upon your exit can be quite an exciting full circle to complete. When you start-up a business you create a business plan. It requires you to map your real expectations both financially and time wise and an important part of any business plan is also how you intend to leave your business, your exit strategy. My plan was to sell ArteryStore.com one day and the day has come for me to start getting prepared for this.

Taking time out from your day-to-day business to plan your exit strategy will ultimately deliver a higher price for your product. There’s a lot to consider and I’m feeling a little intimidated. There are legal, tax, accounting and regulatory issues all of which take time.

We hear a lot about business start-ups, but how do you sell a digital entity and what is the formula used to calculate its value?

Well, I don’t know yet, but I’d like to invite you to follow my journey as I share my discoveries with you in real time over the coming months, and close one door to open another.

About the Author

Janet E. Leach is an entrepreneur and owner/director of ArteryStore.com.

She has fingers in a couple of other pies, namely Health, and Property Development and is a well travelled mother of three, with a full bodied life story and a rock 'n' roll approach to business. Read more.

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Ahhh, stocktake; the annual event that fills many a retailer with dread.

In our case it’s on a much smaller scale than most, so it’s manageable. It’s also the time of year that my ‘Presents To Self’ from my stock range are tallied up before my eyes. 

It would seem that I’ve had a good many over the course of the last financial year…

At first when the shear scale of my retail therapy was brought to my attention I felt a little guilty. But then, as any good shopper does, I was able to put a happy spin on it, which I will share with you now.

I’m often asked in my role to give my opinion on a product. (Can you see where I’m going with this?)

When I buy a product to sell in the store sometimes I’m already familiar with it because it’s a design classic, sometimes I’m not. Many of the products I sell are simply well designed products, regardless of lineage.

As Chief Quality Controller and Personal Shopper I’d like to think it’s my responsibility, nay duty, to be familiar with my own range.

To wear it, smell it, cook with it, drink from it and live with it before I can really offer you my hand on heart product review. It’s a tough job, but someone’s got to do it.

I leave no stone unturned in my quest to be truly knowledgeable.

How else would I have known that the Magis Dish Doctor, for example, was a product that a ‘stack them high in the rack and leave them to dry’ kind of dish washer would absolutely adore?

Or that the Basics Little Black Dress wouldn’t look good over jeans, but that it hid enough sins for women of most age groups to wear just with tights?

Or that once you owned a Scandinavian Designhouse Credit Card holder you’d be tempted to go without a wallet forever?

I’ve also had my misses with some of the products I’ve tried.

I remember a particular body moisturiser that left me so unimpressed I took it out of stock and wrote to its creator in complaint. I’d never have discovered that unless I gave myself that little ‘Present To Self’.

Often I receive calls from customers who are buying for someone else; usually a man buying for a female loved one. A second opinion is often very reassuring in this situation and low and behold, there I am, ready to offer one based on my own trials.

Growing up locally we were bombarded by the Chandler’s ad and slogan, “We stand behind the products we sell!” It was and is an effective truism; to really be able to believe in the products you sell you must know them.

Anyway, that’s my story and I’m sticking to it. I’m sure it’s one I’ll be reminding myself of after next year’s stocktake as well…

About the Author

Janet E. Leach is an entrepreneur and owner/director of ArteryStore.com.

She has fingers in a couple of other pies, namely Health, and Property Development and is a well travelled mother of three, with a full bodied life story and a rock 'n' roll approach to business. Read more.

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… And I mean this, in the nicest possible way.

There are many different ways to improve your business, by understanding your competitors’ businesses.

For example, you can gain intimate information about your competitors, and where your own business sits in your industry, by putting aside some hours for research and simply browsing.

I like to see what other stores are up to. Every month I might spend an hour or so looking at Google listings under keywords I’m going after.

I can learn a lot from keeping an eye on what others are doing or not doing, their approach to similar problems I’m facing, where they are investing in their businesses, their marketing strategy, what their stock breakdown is, what’s in their sale category, even.

Now, don’t get me wrong, I’m not a stalker, and I’m certainly not a follower. No business owner can afford to have his or her head in the sand, so you need to make it your business to come up for air every now and again.

If you dare, go one step further than this, and become one of their customers.

That’s when you really get to know your competitors, understand their strengths and weaknesses, and at the same time, your own.

I’m not the only one who can see value in this exercise.

Recently I had an owner of a very prominent Australian online design store buy an internationally known design item from me, then ask for a refund upon its speedy arrival to her. I guess she wanted to experience my shopping cart, order turn around time, freight service, packaging, the refund process, and our customer service. Smart lady.

She didn’t want the product anymore because “it wasn’t quite what I expected”, a direct quote from my Returns Policy. She was testing us out.

I didn’t know who she was at the time, and even if I had, I would have let her play out the scenario. She received excellent customer service; as I hope do all our customers.

… Mind you, I draw the line at asking for a refund.

I shop online and support other online businesses. I get a peek into their world at the same time. I know how hard it is to forge this new techno retail frontier and be successful at it. I’m not critical of what that lady did, I just couldn’t ask for a refund in my research, because I know how happy I am when I get a sale.

Actually, being one of my competitor’s customers is one of the reasons I’m an online businessperson today.

I adored the store in question, but, when I finally purchased from them was disappointed with the store’s slow freight, the communication was non-existent bordering on negligent, and no care or ‘sparkle’ came with the packaging. There was no personality. No thought.

I decided I could do it better, and every day I try to.

Image credit: Gmanll.

About the Author

Janet E. Leach is an entrepreneur and owner/director of ArteryStore.com.

She has fingers in a couple of other pies, namely Health, and Property Development and is a well travelled mother of three, with a full bodied life story and a rock 'n' roll approach to business. Read more.

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I’ve been doing a bit of juggling since we last touched base.

We’re gearing up to begin construction of a four story building in New Farm, Brisbane, and are sorting out the finalities of the building feasibility study.

I’ve always imagined myself enjoying having my own physical store and the new building will house a little 50 square meter shop for me amongst other commercial tenants, and apartments; pretty exciting times.

I’m a Visual Merchandiser by trade, so the store window is my natural domain. Surprisingly though, it’s not too dissimilar to a computer screen. The same rules of balance, colour, visual navigation, and presentation are used so I can slip in and out of each realm fairly easily and keep these rules and principles as my guide.

I was computer illiterate up until seven years ago, one of the last to go through school or Uni without having used them. My ignorance annoyed me, so I made it my business to get amongst it.

I’ve learnt a lot along the way. I still know little.

So, why am I doing this, opening a traditional retail storefront? Don’t I have enough on my hands?

Yes, I do.

The website, our Ebay store, YouTube Channel, Twitter, Facebook, my Design Blog, this column, and our newsletter keep me busy, but, I feel it’s the next natural progression for my business.

Multi-channel retailing is a necessity in today’s competitive environment as it establishes more ways for new customers to find you, and more ways for new and existing customers to shop with you.

After all, people have very different consumer patterns and preferences.

The wider the net, the broader the demographic segments you are able to catch.

Marketing from your database therefore, can reach customers using methods that may be different from the channel where they originally made their first purchase.

The cycle continues, hopefully one strengthens the other, and if you’re on target a little bit of ‘brand love’ may be born.

I’ll still remain loyal to my online roots though.The store will be called ArteryStore.com, so as to direct traffic back to the e-commerce mothership, and there’ll be an iPad browsing booth where the full stock range can be viewed.  

When I consider my business goals and strategy for the future, I can see that there is much work to be done.

The success of my business cannot lie within a single approach.

I also wonder how much today’s environment will change as we progress to that place in time. One thing is for sure; it’s not going to stay the same, and it’s not going to get any easier.

Image credit.

About the Author

Janet E. Leach is an entrepreneur and owner/director of ArteryStore.com.

She has fingers in a couple of other pies, namely Health, and Property Development and is a well travelled mother of three, with a full bodied life story and a rock 'n' roll approach to business. Read more.

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- Column by Janet E Leach -

When I was in business start up mode 3 years ago creating ArteryStore.com I was rather naïve.

I thought that I would work hard, use every waking minute leading up to my launch, I’d go, “Ta Dah!” and it would be a huge, instant success with people clambering to buy my stylish goodies. Mmm. The first bank in the GFC collapsed 8 days before my launch. I didn’t see that one coming.

It became obvious pretty quickly that I had to pull a rabbit out of a hat.

Now, not many people will know this, but my Mother is a music lover. I know that sounds harmless, quaint even. But my Mother really loves music.

She was a Primary music teacher, my Primary music teacher.

My three siblings and myself all learnt multiple musical instruments and sang.

We all played in local Big Bands, went to Band Camp, had school and private instrumental lessons, sang harmonies in the car as a regular game, were dragged out to sing and perform at church/parties/anything.

And, wait for it, we were ‘encouraged’ to busk. Phew, now that’s out in the open I feel better. A weight has lifted from my shoulders.

I was a child busker at the Carrara Flea Markets dressed in a gold gymnastics leotard, playing and singing ‘Let Me Entertain You” whilst breaking intermittently to do a back walkover, hand stand, and splits finale.

My brother Duncan, poor bugger, was put in a cardboard fridge box that was painted like a jukebox, with a coin slot and a playlist of requests. All in all, I consider I got off lightly.

As I grew older, for some reason, I shied away from the spotlight. Until, that is, I became a business owner.

I realised that actually, I was going to do whatever it took to make my business a success. 

I was not going to see it fail. It would prosper and I would need to create marketing campaigns that set me apart from my competitors and painted a big, red, imaginary arrow pointing at my business.

I would have to put on my gold leotard again, metaphorically speaking.

I realised that I couldn’t simply sell to customers. I needed to engage them, and I needed to do that in a way that felt natural to me.

I was going to entertain them.

I let my imagination run and before I knew it my ‘no shame spared’, marketing style paid off with YouTube sketches and Newsletter Campaigns that had people talking.

Taking a risk, going outside my comfort zone (way, way outside it), and going about things differently took people’s interest. Before long I had grown a strong following of regulars that included the media.

Accolades followed, regular editorial, and all importantly sales.

I haven’t sent out a Press Release in over a year. I’ve had no need.

Now, I’m not by any means suggesting you rush out and brush up on your tap dancing skills, but there’s a lot to be said for drawing on your strengths and working outside the box, be it writing, networking, public speaking, whatever skills you have that can be used in your business marketing campaign, do it.

Start by challenging yourself to choose the road less travelled. Ask, “What would others do?” and do the opposite.

See you at Karaoke.

About the Author

Janet E. Leach is an entrepreneur and owner/director of ArteryStore.com.

She has fingers in a couple of other pies, namely Health, and Property Development and is a well travelled mother of three, with a full bodied life story and a rock 'n' roll approach to business. Read more.

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- Column by Janet E Leach -

We all have different warning radars when we hear something that sounds like a load of nonsense.

They go off silently in our brains like little red flags.

One such little red flag that I seem to deploy with surprising regularity manifests itself as a line out of a movie.

It’s not a line out of a famous monologue, nor a noble soliloquy, yet it cuts like the hottest knife through butter and exposes the core of the matter.

That movie is The Castle, and the line is “Get your hand off it Darryl.” 

One of Darryl's neighbours uses it to put him in his place when he is being a bit of a tosser.  Now, I know it doesn’t sound like much, but you’d be amazed at how many situations it can be applied to.

Only today I went to a School Parent Meet + Greet lunch. I went up to a father of a student and said, “So I hear you play golf?” He replied, straight faced, “I am a Doctor, and a father. I also play golf.” Red flag. Get your hand off it Darryl.

The other day at my school reunion I commented to an old friend I hadn’t seen for 20 years that she looked different, and tentatively asked if she’d had any ‘work’ done? “Oh no! Well. I’ve had a nose job, a breast enlargement and I’ve been having Botox since I was a baby.” Get your hand off it Darryl. 

My silent mantra comes in handy as a businessperson as well.

There’s a stigma still attached to online stores within the Australian Retail Industry and it makes for some pretty tough going sometimes.

Recently I went down to a few trade shows in Sydney and was given a reminder of those early days during business set-up when I tried to buy stock from distributors and many didn’t want to sell it to me because I was online. When you mention .com to some wholesalers their faces change; a wall goes up.

There’s an attitude still held by a number of dinosaurs that feel online businesses are somehow not the same as other businesses.

One such example at the shows was a rather round and sweaty book distributor. One look at my lanyard and he began the Spanish Inquisition.

“Look, I don’t mean to be offensive, but before I even tell you about our products we want to know where you are from, how long have you been in business, how you market yourself? I mean we want to know everything before we bother. How can we trust you?”

And so on. The corker was, “How do I know you won’t put it on Ebay, discount it by 50% to squeeze out competition, then put outrageous postage on the item to cover your loses?”

All together now… Get your hand off it Darryl!

There is no difference between the fundamental principles of what we are all doing, but as long as people will be resistant to change and fear the unknown, I’ll be hearing my silent red flag for some time to come.

Image credit.

About the Author

Janet E. Leach is an entrepreneur and owner/director of ArteryStore.com.

She has fingers in a couple of other pies, namely Health, and Property Development and is a well travelled mother of three, with a full bodied life story and a rock 'n' roll approach to business. Read more.

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- Column by Janet E Leach -

I think it’s only fair that I admit to being an imposter, of sorts. A woman in business I am, but an institutionalised education in business I do not hold. 

Whilst I feel the need to come clean with this straight off the bat, I’m quite happy to sit in this realm of ‘organically gathered’ knowledge as the sum of the other parts adds up to an interesting, anarchic cocktail. 

There is more than one way to skin a cat, so the medieval expression goes.

The most critical element that seems to differentiate us a little further down the track in life is something that wasn’t so evident when we were all in Senior choosing our degrees and weighing up our career options. 

For me, being an entrepreneur is more a recognition that my personality type needs to ‘create’. ‘Business’, and I use the term loosely, is merely a vehicle for this.

I believe it is congenital, the drive needed to sustain the interest to create. It’s a pivotal part of who you are, and the most important part of being an entrepreneur.

We are not all going to want to be businesswomen, and we are not all going to be able to be businesswomen. And, whilst business qualifications are wonderful, they are not essential, as it will be your personality that determines whether or not you love what you do and yearn for it. The same principle can be applied to anything you do in life.

As it turns out, my BA (Hum) with Film and Media Studies and Film Production, is not wasted in the slightest as an entrepreneur. Nor my Certificate abroad in Retail Display and Presentation, nor my Visual Arts studies.

They have all been added to the melting pot of experience and give added depth and perspective to my business eye.

With that in mind, and the introductions/explanations out of the way, I must also warn you that my approach to business is atypical.

When I think of the Retail environment in Australia (my primary industry), I hear loud guitars, the blood pumps faster in my veins until my teeth clench with determination to lead a revolution of anarchy. I channel my personality into my business and give it attitude.

Your path will have been different to mine. Your goals, ambitions and perceptions, different to each other’s even.

But, we’ve at least one thing in common in this minority we fall into. It’s that seed in the pit of your stomach, that something that enables you to find the ‘want’ to get out there and make it happen, however it manifests itself, guitars or other.

We possess the ability to create, the courage to compete, and the strength to possibly fail. We stand alone outside the historically traditional home zone that females have occupied in most societies.

And to that, Sister, I tip my hat to you.

Later,
Janet.

About the Author

Janet E. Leach is an entrepreneur and owner/director of ArteryStore.com.

She has fingers in a couple of other pies, namely Health, and Property Development and is a well travelled mother of three, with a full bodied life story and a rock 'n' roll approach to business. Read more.

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