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Working Start > Business Startup > Realisation of a Business Idea

From the Idea to the Technical Realization


Definition, Explanation

To have an idea is only the beginning. Experienced business-starters talk of 1 % inspiration and 99 % transpiration. My own idea was to build a web site for work issues. And really – the realizing of that idea made me heavily sweat. I had been knowing what the internet was, at least I had thought I did, but how own pages are actually taken onto the web was the big blind spot. Judging from marketing campaigns of internet service providers, it seems easy as pie to buy a web package and build your magnificent website with user rates of thousands. But the longer I dug, the more puzzling technical terms appeared. Upon my trying to learn those using the web, again, 1 term was explained with 10 unknown terms. A totally new language opened up in front of me, and a growing pile of question marks.

Thinking that I needed to command that all to realize my idea, I got really dizzy and was afraid of my temerarious project. Unfortunately I knew no one quite literate in the whole matter. Parts of it yes, but even there the answers to my questions were so detailed that I did not understand them. Sure, the possibility existed to employ a professional service provider for the realization.

But is that the right approach for realizing an idea that is only sketch-like? By what criteria should I choose the provider if I can not name them? What instructions and prerequisites can I define if I do not know what is reasonably feasible and if the idea is partly unprecise? How would I judge whether the alleged costs are realistic? In my working past I had learned that the customers with the least clear ideas of the wanted product were the easiest to pull over the barrel and were the least satisfied with the result. And first of all: How would I pay such development costs as a business starter?

It appealed to me to work myself into a whole new matter. So it turned out that there were certain framework conditions for the realizing of my idea:

  • I would first do everything on my own, that is at least until a significant number of people visit my pages and the idea is clearly recognizable and one can estimate how much money it will bring
  • I avoid any expenses. The know-how I need I will get on the web and from borrowed books, if possible from free events like business plan competitions or business starters advice events
  • I work full time on realizing the idea
  • I do not use any public subvention like bridging money or the starting subvention. Neither do I take on credits or loans. The reasons are that that would force me into certain obligations, framework conditions and push me towards short-term success. Also, I wanted to keep my freedom of decision in all directions
  • I restrict my standard of living to a minimum. This includes that travelling to appointments is not done unless they are nearby, and as much as possible is done by phone and email
  • I finance my living with my savings
  • I limit the period to realize the idea to a maximum of 5 years. After that, the project must pay for itself and also remunerate my working time
  • I count expenses for PC, internet line and provider as my personal expenses
  • I make up a first business plan based on the uncertain knowledge and idea that I have so far

But where to begin? The decision was helped by coincidence: My friend Marion told me that with the help of a Canadian provider, she had built 2 web sites. She was totally enthusiastic about the programme, since it did not only help to build one’s own web site but also taught how to start one’s own business with it. And by the way, she had one free license that she would offer me. I could try it with that.

No sooner said than done. Using the free beginners-eBook of the provider, I entered the secrets of the web and built my first single pages. Soon it began to seem that my idea of a professional offer were not realizable with the pre-produced layout templates. The program however featured direct including of HTML-pages and I decided to get familiar with the matter. HTML seemed reasonable to me since I had read in several sources that search engines had the fewest problems with it, and loading times on the screen were the lowest which were important criteria to me for a professional offer.

Quickly I had to learn, though, that not all HTML is the same. So I had someone give me the HTML Kompendium by Günter Born as a birthday present. And faste than I had thought I was able to create my own pages with the simple Microsoft Editor. I had to type every character and format instruction manually, but the learning effect of what is important and what errors were caused by what was magnificent. After all, I had not had any experience, before, with any programming languages or codes.

Parallel to the success, my demands were growing. Not wanting to format each single page, because of the error-proneness and the effort, I changed over to CCS (Cascading Style Sheets). I got the knowledge on the website of SELFHTML and the book Professionelle Websites by Stefan Münz in addition.

Soon, HTML was not sufficient for the job any longer. A friend, Michael, was so kind to change the existing pages into a PHP-format. In Nov 2007 it had been made and we were ready to put the modified pages online. For the further work on my ideas, then, I looked for a good web-development service. I found that it is anything but easy to be taken serious as a client, and especially to get what you need. In the end I found it at roNet GmbH, Rosenheim.

I worked simultaneously on the layout of the pages and the content. Here, as well, I had to work into different fields of working life, first, except a few I already knew. I saw much more things that I had not known when I had been employed. If I had had my current knowledge of various issues of working life I certainly would have arranged my work much differently then, and would have had a different career. This encourages me to implement my idea. I would like to help others to avoid exactly those mistakes and act in a better way.

Tips, Checklist

  • Study the free e-Book of the Canadian provider. For the beginning, it gives you a lot of hints and suggestions how to realize your own business idea on the web and generate an income with it
  • Start playfully, best in your free time
  • Make new content pages regularly and regard the recommendations on keywords, title, description
  • Always consider the visitors of your pages and their needs. That way, the content will arise even easier
  • Bring some patience. It takes months, rather years, until an actual income generates. But where else can you realize a business idea with as little investment and besides a normal job?
  • Have fun in being one of the people designing the web and to discover the small and big secrets of the medium

Information Sources

  • Site Build It
    I can recommend this complete package in total, if you want to build more than a private website for family and friends. It helps you understand business on the web and implement your own ideas
  • Marion’s pages:
  • Michael’s pages:
  • roNet GmbH

Literature, brochures



Last update: 07/06/2010
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