Find a what?
Findwhateva.com was my first shot at starting a brand from scratch and well, running my own business. The concept was to create an online sourcing company that assisted with things such as online research for goods that are not so easy to find.
In the 3 years of running Findwhateva.com I imported things like antique pianos, home theatre voice activation systems (this is way back when it was not a norm), personalized gifts such as aprons and dogs outfits and branded wine for corporates
I was the creator of the brands content and identity. This was also the first website I ever built, using WIX. YES! I know. It is actually by far the best beginners website builder available, trumping Google website builder and Go Daddy. Great for any first-time business owner with little capital, I’m not even going to add the words “In need of a website” Every business should have a website. Its the new age business card.
Leveraging Trends
After about a year I could see that Facebook was becoming a big platform for online sourcing and groups were on the rise. I looked into how Findwhateva.com could leverage off that and how I could incorporate this into marketing the brand on Facebook. Step one was looking into how I could tap into a potential market while being relevant to whatever was trending at the time. This is something all business owners should ask themselves when setting out a marketing strategy. At this time mom groups online had just become a thing. While doing research I found that there was a place for a dedicated page on Facebook, where people could flog tickets to events they unable to attend. That is how Find a Ticket and Mom Swap came about.
Mom swap was a location-based group of Facebook pages that allows moms to swap or sell their second-hand baby goods. As this was trending the groups grew substantially fast, which offered me a free place to advertise Findwhateva.com and build customer relationships.
Find a ticket was a Facebook page where people could post if they had any event tickets they were unable to attend and had already purchased. I tried to grow this page by posting relevant upcoming events and then cross-marketing that information into my other groups as well as other bigger location-based groups on Facebook.
Trying to Sell Stuff
Loadshedding was another huge trend that allowed for me to have a space in the market. So we sold UPS systems. I then launched my first eCommerce store where I had a dabble in drop-shipping all kinds of electronics. This site had Payfast gateway payment system and it allowed clients to choose delivery time and cost. Longer cheaper, sooner price increase. You know the drill by now with online shopping. In 2015 I rebuilt the site in WordPress with the help of my trusty Website Developer Ninja friends, who have guided me every step of this journey.
In conclusion
I would have loved to focus on this brand and grow it into what I saw it becoming. There was a plan to add Find a Freelancer as well as Find a Sitter. Due to lack of time, budget and wanting to enhance my skills in business and online marketing, Findwhateva.com had to take a back seat and in 2016 I officially cut the website. This was very sad as I had spent 1000’s of hours working on the brand.
However, as Elon Musk has said “I think it’s possible for ordinary people to choose to be extraordinary” and Findwhateva.com was not all I had to give towards my ideas of extraordinary business.