[JOURNAL] University Final Project - Start a Business

Hey everyone, been a lurker at the forum for around a year and have made a tiny bit of cash from various methods shared here and some others (adsense, clickbank and ebay). I have a real excitement and passion for online marketing, but have never been able to fully commit due to my pressing studies

However, I recently started my final year of my university degree (Business Management at the University of Sheffield, UK) which involves a project which is to produce a business idea and plan backed up by all the necessary market research.

To kick things off we had a lecture from a guy who founded welovesleep.co.uk. He gave me alot of great information (which I am willing to share with you guys here) about setting up an online store and driving traffic.

So, this journal will follow my own progress as I attempt to start my own, completely white-hat, online store targetting a specific niche. Think of my niche as a hobby which can include videos, articles and products on the website. The site will not just be a store, but also a "media hub" for all things related.

I am willing to answer any questions you may have about this project and I can always ask my lecturer any questions I can not answer.

Cheers, moley

Day 1

OK so today we had a talk from the welovesleep.co.uk founder and I discussed my idea with my lecturer. He said that while my idea was good, it is high risk. This doesn't bother me too much. To begin with I'm just going to set up the site and any products it sells will all be links to established sites that have affiliate schemes. Once the site is generating income I will cut out the middle man and source the products myself.

Tonight, I'm guna set up the site, twitter and facebook pages. Then I'll probably spend the weekend building initial content (may outsource content creation to desperate first year students, but will talk more about this in time)

Thanks, moley