StartUpPuppy.com was established to be a community of entrepreneurs and small business owners – people with a passion for their businesses.  One of the benefits of being a part of a community is being able to share with, and learn from, people who have done what we wish to do.  Success Stories is one area where we can learn from people who have taken their dream from an idea to a successful business.  We will be sharing stories both from and about entreprenuers who have shown that with hard work and planning, you can succeed!

Our first succes story is Jan Weiss, owner of Artprints-Online.com.  Jan’s story is reprinted with permission from UploadedMagazine.com, an online magazine for artists and art lovers.  Here is Jan’s story:

Moving forward in a Fragile Economy, by Jan Weiss

I’m not sure if there is much sense in starting a business in the middle of a recession, let alone starting a business that offers a product consumers may want, but not necessarily need. In my case, I did it anyway using business skills acquired through fifteen years in the art business. For anyone going into business for themselves they should look at what they enjoy doing, what they are good at, bad at and if there is a market for what they want to do. Since I chose an ecommerce business, I needed to remember everything I did in my last job, capitalize on the skills that I acquired earlier in my career and recognize that my expertise in ecommerce was a strong asset to my new endeavor. It’s important to use your intellectual property. Having the aptitude and knowledge of the business you want to do is half the battle. In my last position I learned the ins and outs of internet marketing; how to get someone in your virtual store and how to get them to the checkout. I also learned about website navigation, navigation bars, thumbnails, zoom, opt in and conversion rates. So when I found myself unemployed, I used those skills to start my own business. As much as the idea of doing something new and totally different was fabulous and interesting, the question I was faced with was: is it a practical one now, when the economy is so fragile?

The job I was laid off of in February was most the vulnerable position in my department. I recommend taking a look at your current job, and evaluating if it is also vulnerable. If so, figure out what can you learn from it before layoffs happen again. Ask yourself, are you interested in this business and can you see doing this for yourself? Do you know enough about it? A job layoff is like a death, evoking the emotional stages of grieving, from crying to anger and finally acceptance. The last stage for you might be, “what do I do now?” It’s what I said to myself. My fifteen years of experience looked great on my resume, but when no one in the industry was hiring I had to ask myself what I wanted to do. I decided to use the resources around me and start my own company. I wanted to do this for years but was too afraid to give up the comforts I had become accustomed to such as a steady paycheck, paid vacation and health benefits. But life had other plans.

Thus, Artprints-Online.com was born. I called my vendors, received CD after CD of images, excel spreadsheets and bought a domain name and a Yahoo ecommerce site. My company went live in April and here I am, three months into the business with some sales. Not as many as I want and certainly not as many as I need, but my name is getting out there and I have great support among friends, family and colleagues. Every day I check my order page to see if anything has come in. The days without orders are disappointing, but the days that I do have orders pump me back up. I have learned about social networking, what it means to Tweet, how much work goes into properly categorizing a piece of artwork, the benefits of Facebook and LinkedIn and how to use my contacts to the best of my ability. However, I think the most important thing I have learned is to treat everyone you come in contact with respectfully because you never know when those friendships are necessary. Treat your vendors like gold and trust them and give them reasons to trust you. Don’t ignore emails, phone calls, suggestions or bits of advice they may offer. The last thing I recommend if you decide to start your own business is to choose something you know about. Don’t go into an arena without knowledge of the product or industry. A colleague of mine who has been incredibly supportive told me she started a publishing company during the last recession in 1983. She was extremely successful but it didn’t happen overnight. When I told her I wanted to have my own business selling art prints on-line she said, “You have all the pieces…now you just need to put it all together”. That’s just it. Put the puzzle together and just think of the beautiful picture you’ll have when it’s all in place.

I’m not sure if there is much sense in starting a business in the middle of a recession, let alone starting a business that offers a product consumers may want, but not necessarily need. In my case, I did it anyway using business skills acquired through fifteen years in the art business. For anyone going into business for themselves they should look at what they enjoy doing, what they are good at, bad at and if there is a market for what they want to do. Since I chose an ecommerce business, I needed to remember everything I did in my last job, capitalize on the skills that I acquired earlier in my career and recognize that my expertise in ecommerce was a strong asset to my new endeavor. It’s important to use your intellectual property. Having the aptitude and knowledge of the business you want to do is half the battle. In my last position I learned the ins and outs of internet marketing; how to get someone in your virtual store and how to get them to the checkout. I also learned about website navigation, navigation bars, thumbnails, zoom, opt in and conversion rates. So when I found myself unemployed, I used those skills to start my own business. As much as the idea of doing something new and totally different was fabulous and interesting, the question I was faced with was: is it a practical one now, when the economy is so fragile?

The job I was laid off of in February was most the vulnerable position in my department. I recommend taking a look at your current job, and evaluating if it is also vulnerable. If so, figure out what can you learn from it before layoffs happen again. Ask yourself, are you interested in this business and can you see doing this for yourself? Do you know enough about it? A job layoff is like a death, evoking the emotional stages of grieving, from crying to anger and finally acceptance. The last stage for you might be, “what do I do now?” It’s what I said to myself. My fifteen years of experience looked great on my resume, but when no one in the industry was hiring I had to ask myself what I wanted to do. I decided to use the resources around me and start my own company. I wanted to do this for years but was too afraid to give up the comforts I had become accustomed to such as a steady paycheck, paid vacation and health benefits. But life had other plans.

Thus, Artprints-Online.com was born. I called my vendors, received CD after CD of images, excel spreadsheets and bought a domain name and a Yahoo ecommerce site. My company went live in April and here I am, three months into the business with some sales. Not as many as I want and certainly not as many as I need, but my name is getting out there and I have great support among friends, family and colleagues. Every day I check my order page to see if anything has come in. The days without orders are disappointing, but the days that I do have orders pump me back up. I have learned about social networking, what it means to Tweet, how much work goes into properly categorizing a piece of artwork, the benefits of Facebook and LinkedIn and how to use my contacts to the best of my ability. However, I think the most important thing I have learned is to treat everyone you come in contact with respectfully because you never know when those friendships are necessary. Treat your vendors like gold and trust them and give them reasons to trust you. Don’t ignore emails, phone calls, suggestions or bits of advice they may offer. The last thing I recommend if you decide to start your own business is to choose something you know about. Don’t go into an arena without knowledge of the product or industry. A colleague of mine who has been incredibly supportive told me she started a publishing company during the last recession in 1983. She was extremely successful but it didn’t happen overnight. When I told her I wanted to have my own business selling art prints on-line she said, “You have all the pieces…now you just need to put it all together”. That’s just it. Put the puzzle together and just think of the beautiful picture you’ll have when it’s all in place.