#FAILweek – Phonetailor.com

I love personal technology and specifically cellular phones. In this day and age, phones are more than just for talking or texting but our constant connection to the rest of the world.

My friends always asked me for advice on which phone to buy, so I thought to myself why not combine my love of technology and gadgets with my experience in the cellular industry (I’m currently a manager at Sprint) into an online consulting venture where people can answer a few questions and can then be “tailored” with a phone that fits their wants, needs and budget.

Which brings us to the beginning of Phonetailor.com

Why Phonetailor.com failed?

1) I outsourced everything

Instead of learning web development and graphic design myself, I decided to outsource the research, the logo design and the web development. The only thing that was satisfactory out of the three was the logo, everything else . . . FAIL.

After 3 months of emails back and forth and $400 to a web developer in India, I finally received a finished product but it was not what I envisioned and not to my standards.

What lesson I learned . . .

I have nothing against outsourcing and nothing against India. I don’t blame the developers but blame myself. There was always a communication barrier: time difference, language barrier, and me not being able to correctly portray to them what I wanted. The logo was great, but for what I wanted to do the website was not enough.

In the future, I will learn web development myself, at least enough where I could edit and understand the actual process. If I ever choose to outsource again I need to learn how to communicate better with my service provider whether they live next door or thousands of miles away.

2) Research, Research, Research

In my opinion and of those around me, Phonetailor.com was an excellent idea. Beaming with confidence, I decided to hit the ground running and get the site up ASAP. I missed one crucial step, RESEARCH.

I created a business plan, started outsourcing the development but did not research my target market, my potential competitors, or even what an optimum price to charge people would be. I did not consider if I wanted to concentrate on Sprint phones where I had the most experience with or branch out to the other providers. I did not consider how I was going to compete with Sales Reps that are in stores, on the phone or online. Borrowing a phrase from The 4-Hour Workweek, “I didn’t test the Muse.”

What lesson I learned . . .

Before I start another venture, I must do the research and I can’t emphasize this enough. I should have invested most of my time, money and energy into research, and when I say research I mean research EVERYTHING! One cannot rush into any project with researching every aspect of every part of every atom of the project!

Hitting the ground running is great, but hitting the ground running without the right pair of shoes, right attire and a water bottle to quench your thirst is a first mile disaster in a 30 mile marathon.

3) Conflict of Interest

As I previously stated, I am still currently employed at Sprint. After starting to launch Phonetailor.com, I had to completely halt all progress because I didn’t consider the fact of conflict of interest with my current job (back to research, see #2). I couldn’t charge people to consult them for phones while doing it for free at the Sprint store and I certainly couldn’t recommend phones from Sprint’s competitors.

What lesson I learned . . .

There was probably a way around the conflict of interest if I researched it enough, but the main lesson learned was that any venture you need to analyze your current situation. I was still in school, working full-time at Sprint and again didn’t do the research enough to consider that Phonetailor.com could have been my main source of income and allowed me to quit my job.

I still think Phonetailor.com is a great idea and will probably try launching again, but I definitely won’t make the same mistakes I mentioned above, instead I will maybe make some new ones and learn from those as well.