At times, the clients are rude. At other times, they do not pay their bills. The old adage that customers are always right is not a reality all the time and this is what Ashley Bodi set out to create for business owners who handle unruly customers. The inspiration came when she was just 24 while working for the irrigation and landscaping business of her father. Here, she came across her first problem customer, an elderly man who belittled her frequently since she was young. When the man demanded that she ‘cut him break’ on the bill, Bodi told him that she did not require his business any more.
It was then that her father applauded her gesture. They discussed the problems of various businesses in handling clients. In 2008, Bodi and her dad created the website BusinessBeware.biz, without having any experience in the field. This is a website that helps businesses to warn each other about bullying customers whose business is not worth the headaches they bring. Other than charging a membership fee and selling ads for a radio program it produces, BusinessBeware.biz drives revenue by selling ‘beware letters’. The members are required to pay a tiered rate for having a letter sent to delinquent customers warning them that if they do not pay up, they will be listed as a ‘no pay’ customer at BusinessBeware.biz.
While BusinessBeware.biz is not a collecting agency technically, the warning letters of the website has prompted 96% of the paid customers to do well with their debts. There are about 20000 members of the website, according to Bodi. There are several types of challenges that you may encounter while launching a niche website without technical knowledge or expertise. Bodi shares her startup challenges and how they were overcome.
- She did not know how to build a website, but went through books of web design applications and techniques to solve the problem.
- She wanted to attract a membership community and for that she went through books which told her about networking and posting comments related to your business.
- To get target users ‘offline’, she visited local businesses and trade shows where she handed out branded T shirts. This was appreciated by the small business owners. She also visited Construction Deal, HomeTalkUSA, Contractor Associations and Diggerslist, and attracted web designers, caterers, wedding planners and freelancers who wanted to sign up as members.
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