Finding a niche is so fucking draining.

For months I've been doing all the research as to how I'm gunna start a business etc etc & even nailed myself a bit of capital that can nest until I need it. But actually deciding the market or audience or product is melting my head.

If I finally knew & decided what to do, I could almost be ready to roll within a few days.

Looking through the Internet as to what is trending or popular or selling or whatever... it would be like taking a stab in the dark - there's plenty of things you could choose but you just wanna choose the right one.

Even if I do take a stab in the dark & take a chance on an area, if it doesn't work I'll learn some shit I'm sure. And then go again.


Ps. The admin job ain't working out for me and I told my boss that today. I said I'll give it the rest of the day and see how it goes.

I'm resigning from that shit on Monday and going back to my role in compliance.

I told my boss this morning that the admin wasn't working out for me. He told me then that it should be fine, he'll have a word with management and see what they say. And that I should go back on the phones as they are down by a lot (there's 7 off on long term "sick", and a bunch of others just left for new jobs). He said there was no longer a need for 2 staff working in compliance, so that I can go back on and earn myself a monthly bonus again.

This is not something that I expected, or wanted. I really don't think I could be fucked chatting with customers. Now, I am pretty good on the phone and can have the banter and all that, but I just feel like I've duped myself by volunteering to help admin, then being unable to return to my previous role.

Nonetheless, I'll not lose sleep over it. If nothing else it could be a few hundred extra dollas per month in my bank. I just didn't want to be taking what feels like a step backwards. Our Belfast office has literally no fucking opportunities for progression, the opportunities are all in Dublin but I ain't moving there.

So, I am moderately interested in following the long line of our former staff who have been dropping like flies to new jobs.

I'm having a little look around anyway to see if anything takes my fancy.

Pissed right off.

Came home to my payslip earlier. Opened it to find that I'd been automatically enrolled in the company pension scheme.

Well they can stick it up their fucking asses. I will be phoning the pensions department in Scotland first thing in the morning to once again opt out. I opted out when I joined and now it seems that after 2 years of service you are automatically enrolled again.

I am fuming that over 80 quid of my months salary has been, what I consider stolen. I will of course be fighting my corner and telling them this is how i see it, and that i expect to be reimbursed.

However I am sure I will probably not be reimbursed.

The whole thing has pissed me right off and i've been fuming for hours. I'm gunna have a shower and try to meditate afterwards.

I see an angry phone call in the morning. But i'll probably have to restrain myself in the interests of not getting myself sacked.

Although having said that, this has pissed me off so much that sadly I want to leave the company now.

The consolation is that I am confident i'll be my own boss hopefully sooner rather than later. And will therefore not have to face such irritating and aggravating events again.

On a brighter note I passed the second last module of my degree.

Only one more of those motherfuckers to go.

Perhaps I got a little bit overly worked up.

I called to opt out today and as long as you opt out within 30 days you're refunded.

So, not as bad as I thought.

It's still pretty annoying though that you have to opt the fuck out of something you didn't want opted into in the first place.

The staff in our department are literally dropping like flies. As bad as this sounds for the business, I think it's good for a number of reasons.

The first being that as there are a smaller number of heads, there is less competition in the pursuit of sales. Yesterday I got 7 (a personal best I believe) and the department manager today passed me a message through my TL that I was holding the team together with the 25% conversion rate I'm hitting.

I've only been back on the phones a week. Hopefully I can maintain the pace and exceed the shit out my previous sales figures a year ago.

I have been loosely considering looking for a new job myself however, after some deliberations with myself I think it's best to stay where I am for now.

This decision has nothing to do with me starting to hit sales and potentially high bonuses again - although of course this would be much welcomed - it's more to do with the hassle of starting a new job and the training & learning process involved, when I have a plan to launch a business very soon.

As well as this I'll be starting the final psychology module in October to complete my degree.

I'll be spinning enough damn plates as it is without the added hassle of having to learn a new job. So I'm just content right now knowing that I'll be making an attempt soon at becoming responsible for my own financial future. And at the same time earning extra money from commission.

One other thing, if we recruit again to make up for the drastic drop in staff, there might be a few hotties in the mix.

So, we'll see what happens.

I didn't actually take the call a few weeks ago because I was too busy at the time, so we rearranged it for today.

I chatted with one of the account managers, who gave me access to a demo version of their site and showed me the ropes remotely.

The demo is still open, and it will be for the next 24 hours. I've been toying around with it for the last hour since our call ended and it's pretty straightforward to use.

They we're helpful and happy to answer my questions, and gave me advice on important aspects like finding suppliers and marketing.

There was no hard sell either, which is a huge bonus. He was happy to spend half an hour talking to me and answering questions even though I'm not opening a store right away.

It feels like step forward, and something should be happening for real by the end of the month.

There's no real purpose of this post only only to vent my frustrations.

Doing research on suppliers is difficult as there's so many scam websites out there claiming to be amazing then you see reviews of how terrible they are. Then there's the one's who charge a fee just to get access to their lists of wholesalers and dropshippers, again, scammy middlemen cunts. All of which to be avoided.

So that leaves you browsing and browsing trying to find reputable suppliers, and because there's so many cunts out there you wouldn't know who to trust. As well as this it makes deciding a market even more difficult.

I want to find UK or Ireland based suppliers to strike up communications, with the aim of forming a working relationship/partnership. The reason I want them to be close to home is because the whole dropshipping from China based sellers doesn't feel like the best way to become a decent, reliable company. I want to be delivering in a reasonable timeframe, and deliver quality goods.

Starting off by dropshipping from China is recommended as a good way to get your feet wet in eCommerce, and that may be true. But I would prefer to start as I mean to go on, by having a trustworthy store and reputation from the outset, and not worrying if my customers are going to receive a dodgy piece of crap made in a basement on the other side of the world, 2 months after they ordered it.

My ideas keep bouncing around and I know for sure I'm in analysis paralysis mode. One minute I'm looking at the supplements and nutrition market, next I'm imagining the idea of a funky gadgets store.

On the one hand I can visualise myself being successful at this venture, and the possibilities excite me. On the other hand I have been feeling doubtful, particularly over the last few days.

I guess both of the above are to be expected though.

Just poured a glass of wine and going to chill for a bit.

All I can do is proceed with the grind until I hit a sweet spot.

I think another rather large issue as to why I find it hard is that I don't want to be just another retailer doing the same fucking thing that a ton of other people are already doing. Selling the same products. Having my store filled with the same stuff. Advertising for 3p less that the rest. Basically a following the crowd kind of thing.

I'm not expecting to be James Dyson but I need to do something current in a different way, or something that serves consumers in a better way than competitors are providing. There's no point opening a store advertising digital cameras or fancy dress costumes when there's probably a million people doing the same, and likely from the same source as you.

As I said before I'll keep the thinking cap on.

On a brighter note, although this week has been full of doubt I'm still learning things and picking up important little nuggets here and there every single day.

I've decided to postpone starting a business for a little bit.

I have just started the final module of my degree and rather than overworking myself in what is already my spare time I'm gunna finish the studies and then come back to business in May when it's been completed.

I discussed this with one of the managers at the website hosting company I'm planning to use and he told me I should focus on finishing the degree first before starting a business.

It was, I believe, a further example of good customer service from these guys. He didn't attempt no hard sell or anything like that and was instead completely understanding of my situation, telling me it was in my best interests not to try and do both.

I would of course love to jump in to online business just to get my feet wet, but it's honestly not the tight time. I wouldn't be able to give it my 100% attention when I have 16-20 hours of study a week to do. And that's assuming I even had a proper business idea in the first place!

So I'm gunna do my studies, but still keep business in mind by continuing to read and do research into what my idea/market/audience will be.