1) The segment I am choosing to pursue is small retail businesses in the Jacksonville Beach, Florida area. I think this segment is the most affected by government restrictions on people buying things in person, and these businesses would benefit the most from having an online presence.
The Interviews
2a) Jim Rojas, owner of Jim's Dog House and Jim's Dog House Discount Guns.
3a) When I interviewed Jim Rojas, I first asked if he had any sort of online presence. He responded by saying that he had a website, but didn't use social media at all to promote his business. I asked him if he think he would benefit from using social media and he believed that his business would. He said that he became aware of this need when a customer approached him and asked if there was a Facebook page. He said that this happened about a year or two ago, but he has never gotten around to making one. He believes sales have been positively affected by having a website, especially since the government prohibited people from entering certain stores. He says he doesn't know if a social media page would be beneficial because it would require more work on his part, to possibly do the same thing that his website does.
4a) I asked Jim how he went about trying to find information about whether it is worth it or not to have a social media page. He said that the first and main thing he did was ask customers what they would think about his business having a social media page. He said that he got mixed reviews. Some customers said that they were fine just using his website, while others said that a social media page would be a great way for them to receive deals and other things like that. Outside of talking to people, he says that he doesn't really do much research. He said that when it was brought to his attention by a customer, he looked up what the pros and cons of businesses having social media accounts were, but other than that, he did not do too much research on the internet.
2b) Bruce, one of the owners of One of Each Gift.
3b) When I interviewed Bruce, I asked him if the business had any sort of online presence. He said that they have a Facebook page, and that is it. I asked why they chose not to have a website or any other type of social media page. He responded by saying that he believes that their Facebook page does everything that he would expect a website to do and it's easier to run. I brought to his attention that a website could help improve the business' ability to reach customers. I told him that a website could help them reach people outside of Jacksonville Beach and people other than those who follow their page. He agreed that a website could help his business, but he said Facebook does the job and running it is a little bit more his "speed". I followed up by asking him when he realized that the business needed to create a website and he said that it was during our conversation. He says that he never considered doing anything else before our conversation because he didn't want to "mess with a good thing". However, he says that he sees a lot of the same people coming into the store, which he appreciates because he has been able to form relationships with many of them and they have been . He feels that One of Each Gift has so much more potential and a website could be the thing that helps it live up to its potential. His main concern is that he will not be able to run the website by himself.
4b) The last thing I asked him about was how he is going to go about searching for a solution to his problem. He said that he had no idea because this is the first time that he has ever seriously considered this, but he said that if he were to start anywhere, he would probably start in the same place that he did when he created the business' Facebook page. When he did that, he talked to the other owner, his family, and some suppliers with whom he has developed friendships. He says that they provided great feedback, and he believes they will do the same when he asks for their opinions on creating a website. He said that he really didn't use the internet to help him look for information on creating a Facebook page, he primarily relied on the relationships he had developed while working at One of Each Gift.
2c) Dana, owner of Ashe's boutique and tea room.
3c) When I interviewed Dana, I asked if Ashe's had any sort of online presence. She responded by saying that they have a website, Facebook, and an Instagram account. I asked her if she believed these helped her business in any way, and she said it definitely has. She said that her social media pages have definitely been a great help. She posts pictures of clothes that the boutique is selling, the food the tea room is serving, she uses it to reach out to customers, etc. The website on the other hand has been kind of difficult. Dana showed me what Ashe's website looked like, and it looked like it was professionally done. She says that she used GoDaddy to help create the website, but that is it. She says they offer a plan where they can help manage it for you, but she did not want to pay the additional money to have them do that. I asked if she thought this was a problem and if so, when she realized that it was one. She said it was a minor problem that occurred relatively recently. The website was created in 2020, so it is up to date as of now. However, in the future when it needs to be changed, she will have to do it herself, which she claims to have no knowledge of doing.
4c) The final thing I asked her was how she was going about finding a solution to this problem. She said that she first looked on some websites for freelance website creators, or anyone who knew how to fix websites, but as of now, she has had no luck. She also said that she had asked her daughters if they knew how to do this, but they said that they didn't. She says that she hasn't done this yet, but her next best hope is to take a class to figure out how to change the website herself.
5) Pretty much all of the people I had interviewed had some form of an online presence: website social media page, etc. Although they all had one, there was an aspect of their online presence with which they were disappointed, something which many of the people I interviewed noticed right away. Even though many of them were disappointed with an aspect of their online presence, they decided not to fix it right away because they were happy with what they had. This can be seen especially in Jim's and Bruce's interviews. Once they realize that they needed to address the problem, they all decided to take different starting point. One decided to talk to customer, look on the internet, talk to family and friends. Even though they had different starting points, they all ended up going to the same places seeking advice, and ended up with the same result: disappointment in how they are seen online.
6) The biggest takeaway from all of the interviews is that many small businesses already have some sort of online presence. For instance, I talked to about six business owners/managers for this assignment. The three that I wrote about above were the only ones that I thought had a need for my service. So, that statistic that I bring up occasionally about 46% of businesses not having an online presence might not be entirely true. However, only interviewing six businesses is a small sample, so I am still holding out hope that there are enough customers for my service. Another takeaway is that even though these businesses had some form of online presence, there was some room for my service to help improve it. If I were to describe how they became aware of the need, I would say that they all subconsciously knew that they had the need. For instance, they all acknowledged that their existing online presence was helping increase sales, so on a deeper level, they realized that having another online platform would help increase sales further. Finally, many of them used people as the primary way they tried to find information. Many of them went to talk to family, friends, customers, suppliers, coworkers, etc. After they would talk to people, they usually would go to the internet. I think this just shows the importance of having a group of people who you really trust when you start a business. I think it is important because these are people who want you to succeed and will try their best to steer you in the right direction.
2c) Dana, owner of Ashe's boutique and tea room.
3c) When I interviewed Dana, I asked if Ashe's had any sort of online presence. She responded by saying that they have a website, Facebook, and an Instagram account. I asked her if she believed these helped her business in any way, and she said it definitely has. She said that her social media pages have definitely been a great help. She posts pictures of clothes that the boutique is selling, the food the tea room is serving, she uses it to reach out to customers, etc. The website on the other hand has been kind of difficult. Dana showed me what Ashe's website looked like, and it looked like it was professionally done. She says that she used GoDaddy to help create the website, but that is it. She says they offer a plan where they can help manage it for you, but she did not want to pay the additional money to have them do that. I asked if she thought this was a problem and if so, when she realized that it was one. She said it was a minor problem that occurred relatively recently. The website was created in 2020, so it is up to date as of now. However, in the future when it needs to be changed, she will have to do it herself, which she claims to have no knowledge of doing.
4c) The final thing I asked her was how she was going about finding a solution to this problem. She said that she first looked on some websites for freelance website creators, or anyone who knew how to fix websites, but as of now, she has had no luck. She also said that she had asked her daughters if they knew how to do this, but they said that they didn't. She says that she hasn't done this yet, but her next best hope is to take a class to figure out how to change the website herself.
5) Pretty much all of the people I had interviewed had some form of an online presence: website social media page, etc. Although they all had one, there was an aspect of their online presence with which they were disappointed, something which many of the people I interviewed noticed right away. Even though many of them were disappointed with an aspect of their online presence, they decided not to fix it right away because they were happy with what they had. This can be seen especially in Jim's and Bruce's interviews. Once they realize that they needed to address the problem, they all decided to take different starting point. One decided to talk to customer, look on the internet, talk to family and friends. Even though they had different starting points, they all ended up going to the same places seeking advice, and ended up with the same result: disappointment in how they are seen online.
6) The biggest takeaway from all of the interviews is that many small businesses already have some sort of online presence. For instance, I talked to about six business owners/managers for this assignment. The three that I wrote about above were the only ones that I thought had a need for my service. So, that statistic that I bring up occasionally about 46% of businesses not having an online presence might not be entirely true. However, only interviewing six businesses is a small sample, so I am still holding out hope that there are enough customers for my service. Another takeaway is that even though these businesses had some form of online presence, there was some room for my service to help improve it. If I were to describe how they became aware of the need, I would say that they all subconsciously knew that they had the need. For instance, they all acknowledged that their existing online presence was helping increase sales, so on a deeper level, they realized that having another online platform would help increase sales further. Finally, many of them used people as the primary way they tried to find information. Many of them went to talk to family, friends, customers, suppliers, coworkers, etc. After they would talk to people, they usually would go to the internet. I think this just shows the importance of having a group of people who you really trust when you start a business. I think it is important because these are people who want you to succeed and will try their best to steer you in the right direction.
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