New Business Idea

Theo_Paphitis

Hi All

This is my first time to post a web page on this site so here goes.

I’ve been thinking about a new business idea for quite a while now. It’s a name changing service for new brides. I have the marketing and basic material complete. I have the web page about 80% complete. My question is do you think this will sell to the general public?

If you don’t think this will sell please state why.

thorbarry

Theo_Paphitis wrote: »

Hi All

This is my first time to post a web page on this site so here goes.

I’ve been thinking about a new business idea for quite a while now. It’s a name changing service for new brides. I have the marketing and basic material complete. I have the web page about 80% complete. My question is do you think this will sell to the general public?

If you don’t think this will sell please state why.

Well i suppose it is something that most women will need... how do they normally go about changing their name? is it such a pain and hard to do, that they would pay someone to do it for them?

Theo_Paphitis

Well they would pay €29 for a standard package or €49 for a premium package. i suppose its really a service rather than anything else.

thorbarry

Theo_Paphitis wrote: »

Well they would pay €29 for a standard package or €49 for a premium package. i suppose its really a service rather than anything else.

ok it seems pretty good.. i dont know too much about how you would usually go about changing your name? so i guess if it is easier than doing it yourself, and has a good price, i dont see why people wouldnt use it

Theo_Paphitis

Do you know where i could do some test marketing for this?

delllat

Theo_Paphitis wrote: »

Do you know where i could do some test marketing for this?

you could offer discouonts and advertise them heavily to see how it goes-buy now for 9.99 with this coupon (usual price 49.99)


its an interesting product to market as its new and nobodys done it before (to my knowledge)

Theo_Paphitis

Where would be best to advertise this?

amen

how are you going to change the names?

Bank accounts etc will require a letter signed by the person(maybe a copy of wedding cert)
Utility bills similar (more fun if in joint names)
Passport/Driving License they will have to do them selves.

From experience most ppl change to their married name (if at all) when they need to get new passport/driving license, might change bank accounts at some stage and don't bother with utility bills.

even so best of luck.

homeOwner

Can you give some more details on what you are offering to do?

If it is the legal bit of filling out the forms then I expect some people might pay instead of bothering with form filling etc....but I expect you would need to gather alot of info from someone date of birth, etc..so they may as well fill it out themselves as type it all in on your website and send it to you.

If you are proposing to take care of all other places where the name has to be changed eg. bank accounts, insurance policies, car documents, bills etc... I think people would be wary of handing those types of details over on the internet to 1 company. You would esentially hold all their personal details. You would want to have pretty good security on a site like that and a plan to deal with sensitive data. Personally I would not use a serivce for that but hey good luck to you anyway.

Theo_Paphitis

Here is how it works.
If the person chooses to buy the standard package they get access to our data base of, all government forms and 3 additional forms of their choice from our database.
If they choose a premium package they get to access everything in our database, government forms, utility companies, financial companies, mortgage companies, loyalty programs, gyms, medical, etc.

Varkov

Ok, wait.

I could understand this being a usefull service if you actually were able to go out and change all thier details for them, which you can't. They need to sign for these changes themselves.

All you are offering is access to contact details for banks and government departments , gyms etc, that would be on their homepage or in the yellow pages, or forms that would be free from the offices or online?

I'm not saying it is, but that would sound like some kind of shady scam to me. Don't see any sort of buisiness in it, sorry.

delllat

Varkov wrote: »

Ok, wait.

I could understand this being a usefull service if you actually were able to go out and change all thier details for them, which you can't. They need to sign for these changes themselves.

All you are offering is access to contact details for banks and government departments , gyms etc, that would be on their homepage or in the yellow pages, or forms that would be free from the offices or online?

I'm not saying it is, but that would sound like some kind of shady scam to me. Don't see any sort of buisiness in it, sorry.

they would have to print the documents and post them back to you ,
which they could just as easily post them where ur going to post them themselves-
u cant legally change someone elses name online (i think)
and the then signed documents would then have to be posted to their relative offices
then confirmation would have to be posted back to you or the person availing of the service
it seems like a lot of hassle for 29euro
how much of that would be profit after costs(registered post costs €5.75) and youd probably need it cause people wouldnt want their private documents getting lost in snail mail

Theo_Paphitis

Varkov wrote: »

Ok, wait.

I could understand this being a usefull service if you actually were able to go out and change all thier details for them, which you can't. They need to sign for these changes themselves.

All you are offering is access to contact details for banks and government departments , gyms etc, that would be on their homepage or in the yellow pages, or forms that would be free from the offices or online?

I'm not saying it is, but that would sound like some kind of shady scam to me. Don't see any sort of buisiness in it, sorry.

How is this a shady scam?

murphaph

I'm out! :pac:

stepbar

Theo_Paphitis wrote: »

Here is how it works.
If the person chooses to buy the standard package they get access to our data base of, all government forms and 3 additional forms of their choice from our database.
If they choose a premium package they get to access everything in our database, government forms, utility companies, financial companies, mortgage companies, loyalty programs, gyms, medical, etc.

So all you're proposing to do is charge 29 / 49eur to provide forms? A very lazy idea TBH and is probably not necessary as most forms are available on the web or by contacting the service provider in the first place.

Big Wave

Terrible idea - you can't actually do it for them, so all you're doing is providing forms they don't even need!

I got married to my wife 2 years ago: I wrote a letter asking the addressee to update their records with her new surname, because she had gotten married. I printed it 6 times, scanned & printed our marraige cert 6 times, and got my wife to sign all of the letters. I then hand wrote her relevant account number on top of the individual letters (bank, O2, credit union, employer, visa, etc), and mailed them off to any parties that needed updating.

All your details you need, like addresses & account numbers, are at the top of all the bills/statements anyway, so we didn't even need to go on the web for the mailing addresses, etc. A signed letter & a copy of the marriage cert sufficed for everything!! Nobody requires a "change of name" form! I've done it, so I know!

It took 10 minutes, and cost me 6 x 55c stamps. Why would I pay €29/€49 for forms I don't even need, and then I still need to fill them all out & mail them off!!? WTF?

flash harry

Theo

Like the others here I agree someone can just research this and do it for themselves, but Im guessing you know that.

Unlike the others here I think there is something in it BUT I think the price point is wrong, you probably would need to do this for like €10-20. You need to way up how much people are willing to pay for you to take this inconvenience away from them. I think you could send all the relevant forms back to them (after filling them in) for them to sign and post (in the addressed and stamped envelopes - or one envelope back to you???). Maybe you could have those little "sign here" post its for any authorised signatory stuff.

Wedding mags and websites, wedding fairs for advertising. Try get hotels to throw it in for people who book their wedding (10/20 euro out of the overall price in a hotel will be nothing) and give hotel discount for certain amounts booked etc.....

Cant' see you getting rich out of it but defo a decent sideline or lifestyle business.......

FH

Big Wave

flash harry wrote: »

defo a decent sideline or lifestyle business.......

I have to disagree - I think it's a sh*t idea, and will make no money. He's not solving something that's even any hassle or a problem to begin with! It's more hassle to use his suggested service than to just send off a few notification letters yourself! A newly-wed changing her name simply isn't a problem that even exists - you only need to show your marriage cert as proof! I did it 2 years ago for my wife - it took 10 mins - there was no back & forth with an unnecessary 3rd party & irrelevant forms (forms that you'd STILL need to provide him with all the details for, just so he can fill them in for you - WTF?) and you have the privilege of PAYING for this extra hassle? Why would you?? It makes no sense.

flash harry

Big Wave wrote: »

I have to disagree - I think it's a sh*t idea, and will make no money. He's not solving something that's even any hassle or a problem to begin with! It's more hassle to use his suggested service than to just send off a few notification letters yourself! A newly-wed changing her name simply isn't a problem that even exists - you only need to show your marriage cert as proof! I did it 2 years ago for my wife - it took 10 mins - there was no back & forth with an unnecessary 3rd party & irrelevant forms (forms that you'd STILL need to provide him with all the details for, just so he can fill them in for you - WTF?) and you have the privilege of PAYING for this extra hassle? Why would you?? It makes no sense.

I took the view that if someone is going to fill in the forms so i just have to sign for bank, credit card, gym, esb, ntl, gas, etc etc I'd pay €15 for someone to do it just so i wouldnt have to get their "change of details" form or whatever, fill them all in, write envelopes, get stamps etc

Each to their own but I wouldnt be arsed doing it if someone did it for me at that sort of price point......but just like you I could be wrong majority people may agree with you and that = no business. Maybe worth a try with no/very low set up costs.....

Big Wave

flash harry wrote: »

i wouldnt have to get their "change of details" form or whatever, fill them all in, write envelopes, get stamps etc

There are no "change of details" forms required for utility bills or bank accounts, etc - and if they exist, they're not even necessary. Like I said - I did it 2 years ago for all of my wife's bills/accounts, etc - I just wrote a letter & got her to sign it, and enclosed a copy of the marriage cert - everyone received the same letter, and all details were updated fine! No hassle required!

And also, if you are getting someone else to fill in all of these forms (yes, the ones you don't even need!) for you, you still have to give the OP all of your details to enable him, as well as mail back the signed forms to him: so as well as having to still deal with this admin yourself (which defeats the purpose of paying to avoid admin!!), people will also not feel comfortable handing over account numbers & personal details to a friggin' stranger.

The idea is so hugely flawed, I can't believe I need to point it out.

flash harry

Big Wave wrote: »

There are no "change of details" forms required for utility bills or bank accounts, etc - and if they exist, they're not even necessary.

well if big wave is correct and one letter does all, I agree with him, no business...never had pleasure of doing it so I'm presuming he's right......

betonit

how many people go to change their name nowadays.

Of those how many are willing just to let things expire and renew under new name and change the few things that they think need changing stright away.

Of whats left how many would do it themselves.

Of whats left how many would have a "trust" issue with details.

Of whats left how many would pay for this service.


I know a few couples in the last few years got married incl meself and dont think any bride has yet changed anything. Certainly no urgency around it.