Week 2

Well this week, I have spent a lot of time on Alibaba looking for a product to sell for my $100 challenge. I am trying to find something that is fairly cheap to buy wholesale, but is also popular enough that I will be able to sell a lot without much advertising. But I also don't want to buy something too cheaply made, because I do not want to be a burden to my future customers. So finding a middle ground has been hard. I've been looking a lot at headphones, a power charger (where you can store extra battery life to charge your device from on the go), fitness bands, and car battery chargers, which apparently were a hugely popular item last year! I plan on deciding tonight, and ordering them this weekend, so I can have them soon.
As far as the reading goes, I really like it all, but I disagree with something that was said in "A Visionary Business". I was in B183 2 semesters ago, which was also an entrepreneur class. We read an article, which unfortunately I don't remember the title to, and it discussed the merits of a business plan. There are pros to a business plan: it helps you have a vision, it keeps you focused, and it keeps you on the right path. But the idea that you HAVE to have a business plan in order to have a successful business in flawed. I personally am the type of person, that if I have to sit down and spend a lot of time planning and writing, I would procrastinate it for as long as possible, I would be miserable writing it, and honestly I probably wouldn't look at it often. But I have also ran several successful businesses of my own without one. Its easier for me to write as I go, when I have a conflict I will sit down and figure it out. And if I start right away on my business, I bypass the procrastination, because I'm so excited and I get things done quicker. I can see the benefits for a business plan if you are starting a larger business and need investors and loans, but for my own uses, I don't feel I need one. And in the article previously mentioned there was a surprisingly small percentage of people who used a business plan before launching their now successful businesses.