Sury: Part 3

This week we started with research on customer bases and ended with a solid business plan. It’s crazy exciting to see it in print, and pretty impressive to show off. It was amazing to see the look on my parents’ faces when I presented them with a neatly typed-up document explaining financials and other things they didn’t think I knew about.

We started with focusing on who I thought my customers would be, who my ideal customer actually was (not necessarily the same thing!), and then finding out from real people if they were looking for a product like the one I planned to sell.

We used an interesting exercise to figure out who my target customer would be. I assumed that I would be selling clothing to my friends, which seemed pretty simple: They are always looking for better designs and styles, and were spending money on clothing regularly anyway. But I needed to think in broader terms. Was there anyone else to keep in mind aside from 18-year-old frum girls in New York? Who was making the spending decisions, the girls or their mothers? How often do such girls make a purchase? What’s their typical price point? Do they prefer to spend more on quality or quantity? Would it be better to use cheaper materials and labor to offer better pricing, or should I use high-quality material and excellent seamstresses to create long-lasting pieces? Are we just selling weekday clothing; is it more casual or dressy? Do we want to focus on super-fancy clothes for special events, like clothing for a simchah, or are we more of a Sunday-funday sort of shop? Lots of questions to think about.

Luckily, there is a great way to find answers to all these questions: simply asking my ideal customers what they thought!