Do you think I should stick to my business idea?

by TyMTN
6 replies
Hey Guys. My name is Ty.

I do photography and film making on nature and traveling. I also play and write music. I'm big on the minimalistic travel lifestyle. (Living out of a camper van, going hiking, mountain biking, kayaking, etc). As well as documenting the travels with photography and film making.

I love the idea of traveling on the road and running a business on a laptop. I want to attract people with the same interest.

Now, my goal is to market to people with the same needs/dreams/goals as I have. Starting an online business that revolves around traveling, passions, and making money online. People who are creative and want to fund their lifestyle by having an online business.

I guess in a way, I am wanting to run a business where I am being quite selfish. I want to make money by doing landscape photography and travel films. I realized that the most profitable way to monetize it, is to teach others how they can build a freedom business as well. All surrounding the travel, photography, creative lifestyle theme. Since I'll be creating a lot of free content (landscape photography, travel films etc), I figured the people coming to watch it will most likely be interested in living the same kind of lifestyle. So why not create info products on how they can live this lifestyle as well?

I want to create products that will help move this audience towards these goals. Starting out my products would be quite basic, as in how to build your first website, or how to get work done while traveling on the road. Eventually the products would evolve once I gain more information. But as of right now I have a lot of experience in web design, graphic design, photography, music, film making, and branding. But lack in target marketing, online sales, list building, and traffic.


I was hoping you guys could point me in the right direction. Right now I'm sitting with a domain and a WordPress ready to start creating, but I want to make sure I start right.
I have the technical know how on how to design and implement everything. But I need help on executing a business plan.

What kind of website do you recommend I create?(Squeeze page? Blog? Regular Site?)

What kind of content should I be creating to attract buyers? Videos, photos, articles, etc?

How do I get started building a list (that I can actually use?)

How narrow should I go with my target audience? Is targeting people with the same needs and desire I have a good idea?

Is my idea even worth while?

I know this is a huge question, but you guys are the first people I've went to about this. Let me know your thoughts.

If you think my idea of business is flawed, let me know. If you think I'm being irrational let me know. As well as if you think this can succeed, let me know.

I'm just so fed up with trying to create a business I have absolutely no interest in, just to try to make cash. (Like doing webdesign). But I am sick of dabbling and I want to create something that I will still be passionate about working on 5 years from now. I want to create something I can build and create an image (brand) around it. Eventually create so much content that it will basically be passive income. So I figured, if I am going to stick with this, it better be something that I would absolutely LOVE to work on. So I won't be quitting 2 months from now because I never had interest to begin with.

I have given this a long hard thought, and I would like your honest opinion on it. Let me know what is good and what is bad.

Thanks,

Ty
#business #idea #stick
  • Profile picture of the author Rob Whisonant
    First question to ask is... Does your target market have money to spend and are they willing to spend it?

    Re's
    Rob Whisonant
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    • Profile picture of the author TyMTN
      Good question. Now what is the best form of research to uncover that answer?
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  • Profile picture of the author DoubleOhDave
    I'd go with a blog - definitely.
    As for spending money - I live in Ireland, but I hear the US is a big market for living off the grid, survivalism, etc. so imho people would spend on it - but I am not part of that market so just take my opinion for what it is, based on the success I have seen of survivalist infoproducts and Kindle books...
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  • Profile picture of the author Jason Kanigan
    Ty,

    Go to Google.

    Search for "Top Amazon Photography Bestsellers"

    Look at the results.

    I already did this so I know the answer, but what if you got an empty response? Nothing there? Well, then you'd know that was either an unserved niche (unlikely but possible, I guess) or a waste of your time.

    This niche is FULL of need.

    Now you know what people are ALREADY spending money on in your niche.

    Look at the books.

    Read the reviews.

    When you find a sentence from a reviewer that goes like this:

    "I bought this book because..."

    pay close attention to what they say immediately afterwards.

    What were their exact words?

    Did they get a solution to that problem?

    How many other reviewers said something similar? If two or more did, now you really have a winner.

    They just gave you the precise copy to use to sell your own products.

    Now you know the key words, titles, subjects, pain points, products being bought, and copy of the target market you want to serve.

    The draw to your site is your unique content.

    You make passive income off commission links to these products.

    And you have your services available for sale.

    Time to get to work!
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  • Profile picture of the author Gambino
    Two issues I see:

    1. You'd need to know how big your target market is. How many people live (or want to live) off the grid, AND want to start a business?

    2. You want to create a business that helps people become your direct competition. All of your customers will eventually be creating content and marketing to the same people. And the pie could get small quickly.

    I think the idea is worthwhile if the target market exists and is large enough. You'd definitely be able to easily connect with the target market. And you seem to have the knowledge and ability to deliver. The quickest way to see how many people are interested in your idea is to check googles keyword planner and figure out how many people are searching for building a business while living off the grid. My gut feeling is that you'll probably have to expand your target market so that not everyone is competing with each other in the same niche and you're not constantly creating competition for yourself and your customers.
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    • Profile picture of the author The Niche Man
      I can't add much more than what Jason Kanigan post # 5 said. Only that should be the first thing you do even before you get your domain name or Wordpress theme in my opinion.

      But you are ahead of most people. Why? Because "seeing if people already spend money on what you're planning to sell" is usually the last steps most I.Mer's discover instead of the first.
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