Final Post!!!!

Woah! I can’t believe how quickly the past eleven weeks (of Project #1) have flew by. It is really remarkable to see how much my entrepreneurial idea has developed. When I first began developing my idea, I really didn’t know quite what I wanted. I just knew that I wanted a thrift store. I love fashion and thrift stores have always been a personal favorite of mine. Being from Maryland, there are not many thrift store options so my idea was to create an online thrift store in order to make thrift store clothing more accessible to avid thrifters online.

The competitive analysis blog post really made me reevaluate how I planned on setting myself apart from the masses. In my competitive analysis blog post, I analyzed stores such as The Kissing Tree Vintage and ModCloth. From the Kissing Tree Vintage, I learned the importance of having a niche. For example, the Kissing Tree Vintage “niche” is thrifted items from the 80s and 90s. Modcloth, on the other hand, is vintage-inspired and has a very large demographic ranging from the college student to the working woman. What I like about ModCloth is they sell regular retail clothing, but they also include a ‘thrift’ store component to their store. What ModCloth also showed me is the importance of Internet marketing. Yup, even I got schooled in social media!

Social Media is such an important part of marketing today. It really is here to stay and to quote my favorite cartoon Bugz Bunny, “If you can’t beat em’, join ‘em!” I’ve never been big on using social media for personal use, but it is something I plan to take advantage of with my online store. Little things like creating a Facebook “like” page for your brand or a twitter can help increase connectivity between you and your consumers. I believe customer service is essential to the success of a brand. Consumers want to feel wanted. They want to feel important. It is important to address their needs and concerns in order to show that you care. The more customers you satisfy, the more likely they will share your brand with others.

Who says appearance isn’t important? The lecture on Photoshop really helped me to understand the importance of design within my idea. If my web store is well… ugly, then not only will people not buy, but they also may not even take a chance to browse. I personally do not hesitate to click out of web sites if they are untidy and disorganized.

Believe it or not, I actually do plan on making my idea a reality. This summer, I plan on taking the steps necessary to start up my own business centered around my long time interest in fashion. What I realized over the course of this project is that I still need to do more research about vintage fashion. I may not start off with thrifted clothing, but with hand made accessories instead. Depending on how well I do, I plan on expanding to clothing. One of the tips I learned from ModCloth is to start small and then grow. I already have a growing checklist of things I would need to do. For example, I would need to do create a domain, create a layout (or hire someone) for my web store, take quality pictures of the items I am selling, implement an e-commerce system, etc. The list of things to do is long, but I am excited about my potential business. I really had fun developing my idea over the course of this blog. It will be interesting to see my idea come to life.

Best of luck to my fellow entrepreneurs!

Catch you later~ 

Lecture Post: Security

My Idea: 
Hi there! My idea for the entrepreneurship project is to create an online thrift/vintage store. The store would be updated on a weekly basis and would hopefully be an effective means to shop inexpensively. I hope to target college women with my thrift store. This blog will follow my planning of the store as I learn more about technology & entrepreneurship through lecture.


On Security:
Whoa! What an interesting week of lectures, huh guys? This week we learned a lot about computer security. It honestly can be pretty terrifying knowing that someone can gain access to your computer at any time. The viruses, trojan horses, botnets, etc... yeah! Not cool. My entrepreneurial idea is to create an online web store. That means everything I do will be conducted over the web and thus I need, computers... and lots of them. Since I am using computers, I need to make sure the devices I use are secure. There are several methods I plan to use and take advantage of. Without further ado, let's talk security!


Every computer needs a firewall. A firewall will prevent unauthorized users from accessing networks. In addition, it can "restrict employees' access to sensitive data such as payroll or personnel records" (Shelly 564). I think a firewall is important for my business because it will be able to protect the sensitive information on my work computers. I will be handling a lot of personal information - email addresses, credit card numbers, etc., and it is important that I do my part as a businesswoman in ensuring that my customers information cannot be accessed by unauthorized users. In addition, I would like to build a trustworthy company culture. I definitely think a firewall is important because employees should not be able to view payrolls or other personal information about each other. Confidentiality is key in situations like this.


I plan on incorporating a written acceptable use policy (AUP) for my company. An AUP outlines "computer activities for which the computer and network may and may not be used" (565). I plan to specifically outline computer use policy for my employees. Personally, I do not think it is appropriate to check personal email accounts (or engage in any other sort of personal affairs) at work. It is called personal for a reason, and such things should be done in the privacy of one's home. 


Moreover, every employee will have a user name and password to log onto computers. I will either encourage passwords to be up to 14 characters or make use of the passphrase in order to ensure that only members of the company can get into the system. In the event that personal information must be sent over the net, I plan on using encryption. I believe this is an effective method of protecting data because encrypted documents can only be opened by decryption.  Lastly, in order to increase my consumer's trust in my company, I would like to ensure Secure HTTP. It is important that consumers feel safe especially when delivering personal information across the internet. 

Lecture Post: Operating Systems

My Idea: 
Hi there! My idea for the entrepreneurship project is to create an online thrift/vintage store. The store would be updated on a weekly basis and would hopefully be an effective means to shop inexpensively. I hope to target college women with my thrift store. This blog will follow my planning of the store as I learn more about technology & entrepreneurship through lecture.


On Operating Systems:
This week in lecture, we learned about operating systems. An operating system is essential to computers because they contain the instructions necessary to coordinate the "activities among the computer's hardware resources." Since my thrift store will be operated online, I know I will need computers in order to manage and maintain my web site. 


I would like the operating system on my computers to be the Mac OS X. I love that this operating system is a stand-alone because that tells me the Mac OS X will work on desktop, notebook, or mobile device. This means I really will be able to work on my web site anywhere at anytime. The Mac OS X also has other features that are worth noting. For example, the backup utility Time Machine will be essential to my buisness. I believe backing up your files is just as important as creating them! Computers are wonderful, but you never know what will happen so by using Time Machine, I will be able to efficiently (and easily) back my files up. 


In addition, the Mac OS X has 3-D personal video and audio conferencing. Communication will be essential amongst my employers and I. The Mac OS X will ensure that I will be able to effectively communicate with my employers through their conference call options. Lastly, I think  I would prefer using the Mac OS X operating system because everything I have is pretty much Apple. I really have grown to trust and love this brand. Like we learned in class, Apple has its flaws (I'm sure), however their products are really well made and most importantly, it's simple and fairly easy to use once you get the hang of it. 


Go Mac OS X! Catch you next week (: 

Lecture Post: Photoshop

My Idea:
Hi there! My idea for the entrepreneurship project is to create an online thrift/vintage store. The store would be updated on a weekly basis and would hopefully be an effective means to shop inexpensively. I hope to target college women with my thrift store. This blog will follow my planning of the store as I learn more about technology & entrepreneurship through lecture.


On Photoshop:
Personally, when I online shop, I like see the clothing I am interested in being modeled. It is difficult to know what a particular item looks like when online retail stores only post pictures of the clothing. How does it fit? How long/short/wide is the piece of clothing? I feel like viewing the clothing on someone else can help consumers decide on their purchases.


I would like for all my clothing displayed in my thrift store to be modeled. Pictures obviously need to be cut, cropped, edited, brightened, etc., so this is where I would like Photoshop to come into play. I am not so much looking to airbrush my models or clothing, but I do want everything on the web site to look clean, neat, and wearable. Consumers are attracted to beautiful things, so it is imperative that I make sure all the photos displayed on my web site are of high quality. 


Next, I would use Photoshop to design my web site's layout. I know that a lot of web design work is done in Photoshop, so I definitely want to take advantage of this tool. I think Photoshop would be the best platform to design my layout because of all the features it includes. I think I would also use photoshop for marketing strategies. In an earlier blog post, I mentioned that my target demographic is college women. In order to stay true to that, I would probably begin my marketing here at SU! I mean, why not? I could hand out flyers (designed in Photoshop) with striking imagery that would help ignite interest. 


I think Photoshop would be essential to my web site. If a web site has low quality pictures or generally looks unappealing, no one is going to even bother browsing your web site. Photoshop opens up a lot of doors to create high quality imagery and it is definitely a resource I know I could take advantage of. 

Blog Review Post

Macgasm is a web site dedicated to everything Mac. Macgasm neatly organizes its web site into multiple sections: Feature, Gaming News, iPad, iPhone, Legal Battles, Mac, Misc. News, Podcast, Rumors and Deals. I really like the use of sub categories because it makes the blog posts easier to navigate. While some of the sub-sections are pretty straight forward, I wanted to take some writing time to mention the ones that caught my eye. I really love the 'Features' section. From what I gathered, it seems that this section is dedicated to featuring other techies who are making strides within the industry. The sub-section titled 'Legal Battles' outlines some of the controversies Apple faces. 

The main topic of Macgasm's blog posts is (obviously) the Mac. While I love technology, I'm not super geeked out about it. I am not one to keep up with the day to day maneuvers of Apple, however I will say that Macgasm did keep me quite interested. Their writing style is short, clean, and informative. They don't only go into the technicalities of what it takes to create a Mac, but also include fun posts. For example, they frequently post about new video game apps. One thing that is pretty neat about Macgasm is that it is powered by google/google docs. We've learned a lot about Google in class, so I thought that was quite interesting. 

I like the layout of the web site. Not too boring, not too loud. It's sleek and classy - the way a technology blog should be. The only critique I had was that it was unclear who the writer was. It wasn't until I viewed the 'jobs' page when I realized Macgasm has multiple contributors. I personally always appreciate a good 'About' page that either introduces what the web site is or who writes what.  

I appreciate the atmosphere of Macgasm. It didn't strike me as a pretentious or exclusive. It is easy-to-read, clean writing that anyone whether a newbie in the techie world (like me!) or experienced tech head can get into. Macgasm definitely gets a spot in my bookmarks.

Lecture Post: Competitive Analysis

My Idea:
Hi there! My idea for the entrepreneurship project is to create an online thrift/vintage store. The store would be updated on a weekly basis and would hopefully be an effective means to shop inexpensively. I hope to target college women with my thrift store. This blog will follow my planning of the store as I learn more about technology & entrepreneurship through lecture.


On Competitive Analysis:
I've always known that there are a lot of quality online thrift stores. What I didn't know were how many there actually were! Never fear though. This weekend, I took some time to scope out the competition. It's always good to see what works, what doesn't and most importantly, what I can do differently. So! Without further ado... 


Competitor 1 URL: The Kissing Tree Vintage
Competitor 1 Overview: There's the Kissing Tree Vintage. It's a thrift store that specializes in 70s & 80s fashion. What is interesting about this store is that it is actually ran on ebay! I think this definitely has its pros and cons. Let's start with the pros. For one, I'm sure running  an online store on ebay makes things much easier than creating your own web site where you would have to keep up and maintain things like the layout, coding, setting up a place to check out... etc. If you work with ebay, they take care of these things for you. For two, The Kissing Tree Vintage has a 'bidding' system where the highest bidder wins the item. I think this system has its pros and cons. Personally, I prefer for there to just be a "set" price and that's that. No trying to "beat out" someone else... no drama.. no fuss. Luckily, most of KTV's clothing does have the "Buy It Now" option which solves this problem. I think what KTV made me realize is the importance of having a focus point. I remember I had someone comment and ask what era I would focus on for my clothing. At first, I wasn't sure, but lately, I've been thinking about 80s clothing. 80s fashion is actually really making a come back right now, so why not join in on that market? I think what would make me different from KTV is the platform on which I operate on. I'm not so sure ebay is the outlet I'd want to go with. I know on ebay there is a no-seller negative feedback rule and other restrictive rules. I think I would maybe consider starting on my own domain. Marketing on my own platform may have its difficulties, but with time, I think this could work. 


Competition URL: Modcloth
Competition 2 Overview: Then there's ModCloth. Now what's interesting about ModCloth is that they began as a thrift store, but have evolved, and now they also sell vintage-inspired clothing. They are a million-dollar company now, which I find incredibly inspiring. Every time I try explaining my vision for a thrift store to people, I seem to get the side eye. Seeing stores like ModCloth do well really inspire me to push forward. But anyway! Let's talk about what ModCloth does well. First off, I think they have really great marketing. They have a very strong review system. What's even more wonderful is that they stay involved in the discussion with their customers. For example, they respond to reviews whether it is positive or negative. In addition, they have a twitter account dedicated solely to customer service. It shows they care. In a store that isn't physical, but online, it is imperative to show that you are still involved and aware of what your customers concerns/needs are. 


Now what would I do differently? I think with my online store, the focus will always be on thrifting. ModCloth has a "section" dedicated to thrifted clothing, but it's not necessarily the focal point. In addition, I think I would have to work a bit harder to keep my thrift store stocked. Thrifted items usually go fairly quickly especially when you've gained loyal customers. Lastly, as mentioned above, I want my focus to be on 80s fashion. There are so many online stores out there that I really just feel like I need to find my own niche.

Lecture Post: Computer Forensics, Hardware

My Idea:
Hi there! My idea for the entrepreneurship project is to create an online thrift/vintage store. The store would be updated on a weekly basis and would hopefully be an effective means to shop inexpensively. I hope to target college women with my thrift store. This blog will follow my planning of the store as I learn more about technology & entrepreneurship through lecture.


On Computer Forensics, Hardware:
Recently in lecture, I learned about the dangers that come with putting private information on personal computers. Since I plan to create an online thrift store, it is very important I maintain the integrity of my store. Customers would be using their credit card numbers, addresses, and other personal information in order to make purchases. When a consumer purchases online, they trust that the person they are purchasing from will maintain confidentiality and in addition, provide the necessary security measures. This is the sort of 'trust' I hope to build and strive for with my online thrift store.  


One of my methods of safety would be making sure I properly discard old hard drives. If a computer breaks down (for whatever reason) and the hard drive is obsolete, then I would see it as my company's responsibility to properly discard of this hard drive. The reason being because private information can still be recovered from hard drives. In order to prevent this, I would probably get a hard drive shredder or hire a company to do the shredding for me. 


A lot goes into maintaining an online web site. For one, I need computers for each of my employees. I plan to have a computers dedicated solely to my business. There are several applications (e.g. Photoshop, Excel, etc) I plan on utilizing in order to ensure a successful e-commerce web site. Everyone knows it's never convenient to work on a slow computer especially when you need to get things done fast! So I know I will need a computer with sufficient memory/RAM and a working processor that will be able to carry out the functions I need.