starting a business during residency

[mirajack]

...I am not an MBA, but during my internship I came up with such a great idea (i thought) that I had to market it, so I started a company with essentially no business background and now I am having some difficulties.
I created a folding clipboard that fits in a white coat pocket. I feel like it is priced well, and a useful product. But I have had my website up for 10 days, and I have only sold 3 clipboards. Clearly I am not getting my message out. Anybody have any marketing advice or different sales channels ideas?
Any advice much appreciated...

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[mshheaddoc]

First off, congrats with 3 sales in the past 10 days. That is fantastic.

Although this forum isn't really meant for "advice" on businesses I'll indulge your question.

Are you advertising at all? Have you thought about a partnership trying to sell at stores in your area? Google ads?

When starting a company, the hardest time are the first few months as you have little if any income and a ton of expenses. (Products, marketing, overhead, etc.) Especially if you don't have a network marketing scheme already in place. So right now you are depending on word of mouth advertising and whatever marketing you are going by. Also, its only 10 days. No offense, but you shouldn't expect that a new product that is on the market for 10 days is going to skyrocket and you are going to start a production plant. (notice I bolded months in the first sentence of the paragraph)

I'd think because you are selling a good that had direct and cheap competition, and you are selling from your own site, that you are going to have problems selling your product. You are selling to a specialty niche group and you have to figure out who you are trying to market and how to go after them. Its not like they can pick it up in a local staples, well at least not yet

So assuming you are going after doctors, have you thought about "testing" the product with some doctors that you know? By giving a few out for free. Get their feedback from it and use that for you "marketing" data. Just an idea.

 

[mirajack]

your advice was very helpful...sorry if I was not posting in appropriate place.

 

[periodic]

...I am not an MBA, but during my internship I came up with such a great idea (i thought) that I had to market it, so I started a company with essentially no business background and now I am having some difficulties.
I created a folding clipboard that fits in a white coat pocket. I feel like it is priced well, and a useful product. But I have had my website up for 10 days, and I have only sold 3 clipboards. Clearly I am not getting my message out. Anybody have any marketing advice or different sales channels ideas?
Any advice much appreciated...

Just a thought, but as for potential customers, maybe organizations that give out handy low-cost items to healthcare professionals, like professional societies etc, may be interested, especially if they can brand them with their logos.

 

[tronik]

I would suggest getting people who have already bought it and found it usefull to spread the word. Also tell your friends to spread the word. Use google ads. Maybe have a promo. Get feedback from people who have been using it. Contact places like pharmacies to see if they could maybe sell it for you. These are just ideas.

 

[LADoc00]

I knew of people in my day who made well into the six figures during residency. One guy in my program pulled down between 40-60K a year in additional funds through consulting with private corps. Other people I knew back from my med school days put together a group that did coverage for nursing homes, another group of residents did coverage at far flung rural hospitals during "research" rotations. All made significant enough $$ to be driving around a nice new Lexus and owning a modern home during training, not bad.

 

[disque71]

try demoing your product at tradeshows. you may find the right buyer(s) to catapult your product.