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Business Idea: E-Commerce Entrepreneurship Seminar at a 5-Star Luxury Resort

Background
I’m a 30-year-old founder & CEO of an e-commerce business with 25 employees, operating 3 e-commerce brands, selling >$7m per year in the US, Canada and Australia. All of my employees are sitting at an office in Eastern Europe.

Before this, I was a banker at a Swiss bank for three years, and before that I studied business & finance for my bachelor's and master's degrees.

In 2020, while working at the bank, I launched my first $1m/year revenue brand from my bedroom by hiring designers/developers/marketers on Upwork with a $20k investment.

Then in 2021 I used the profits from that first business to hire 15 full-time employees and launched a $5m/year revenue beauty brand.

That brings me to my current state as the founder of those three brands.

Business Idea
I’d like to offer in-person E-Commerce Entrepreneurship Seminars where I teach entrepreneurs with access to capital exactly how to start & operate profitable e-commerce businesses as I've done for the last three years.

This would not be a course where I teach participants how to use email marketing tools, which buttons to click on Meta Ads, and how to set up a TikTok account.

This would be a course for entrepreneurs with access to $50k-$200k capital that want to invest in either hiring freelancers & agencies to start a smaller $1m/year brand, or hire a full team and launch a mid-size $5m/year brand.

It would be about product selection, manufacturing, logistics, branding, value proposition, hiring & structuring the right team, digital marketing, customer retention, e-commerce business analysis and more.

The Seminar
I want the Seminar to take place at a 5-star luxury resort over a 4-day period. The idea is to make it extremely immersive, detailed & value-rich with the exact content & tools required to start a successful e-commerce business.

There would be 12 modules, each 2.5 hours long, a total of 30 hours of content.
We would go through a case study for both the $1m/year business built from my bedroom with my laptop, as well as the $5m/year business built with 15 employees in Eastern Europe.

The Participants
I'm thinking 10-12 participants. This will allow for more of a personal experience, where I can really get to know each participant, answer individual questions, and help on a more personalized basis.

The 4-day luxury hotel stay is important. These are people that are going to invest 50k-$200k in their business. It has to be an experience, not only in terms of the content but also the environment & aura that is present.

Between the 12 modules over 4 days, there will be breakfasts, lunches, coffee breaks and dinners, all together with the participants. They will ask questions about the modules, discuss product ideas, network with like-minded individuals and genuinely have a good time, just as they would if they had gone to this resort for 4 days as a vacation rather than a Seminar.

The Price
$4,900 per participant. That's for Seminars in Eastern European countries.

I think the price makes sense. For someone to participate they must have access to $50k-$200k startup capital. $4,900 is just one of the startup costs that will save hundreds of hours of research & costly mistakes. They would have had to pay $2,000 just to go to this resort on vacation instead of a Seminar.

All hotel costs would be included in the attendance fee, including breakfasts, lunches, dinners, and the 3 nights at the hotel. It will cost me about $2,000 per participant to run this Seminar.

Your Thoughts

  1. Do you think there is a market for entrepreneurs with access to $50k-$200k attending a seminar like this? If so, in which countries?
  2. What would be the biggest objection someone would have in deciding whether to attend?
  3. Roast the 4-day luxury resort idea. Would it be better to just make it a 4-day Seminar in a regular city hotel, and make the price $2,900 instead of $4,900 as I'd be saving on the hotel costs?
  4. Does the price point sound reasonable? Is it justified by the value delivered? If not, what would be needed in addition to deliver such value?
  5. What can I do post-attendance to make sure that I’m giving them as much support as possible? It's very important to me that I deliver proper value to them that will allow them to start a successful business. I’m thinking of providing some type of after-event support, for example weekly 30 min calls for the next 3 months or maybe a FB group to answer questions

All other comments, suggestions and ideas are welcome.

on August 1, 2023