This week marks the completion of 8 weeks with Dorm, the online accelerator programme.
It’s hard to believe that I’ve been with Dorm for the last 8 weeks/2 months.
A lot has happened in those past couple of weeks since December 2021:
- I created an MVP for my fitness brand Reflex, drove traffic to it, and starting getting traction.
- I got to listen to some incredible entrepreneurs about their stories around starting a business.
- I even attended entrepreneurial mindset classes on dealing with uncertainty, resilience, etc.
So what’s next? Am I on my way to building a multi-million dollar online fitness brand?
Well, not quit: After much deliberation, I’ve actually decided it’s time to pivot.
What this means is that I’ve decided that I’ll be focusing on another business idea instead.
In this blog I’ll be sharing why I’ve decided to pivot.
I’ll also be sharing my experience with Dorm over the last 8 weeks.
Finally, I’ll also be talking about what my plans for the future.
Why I’ve Decided to Pivot
At the start of the Dorm programme, they give you 2 options:
You can either work on your own idea or on one of their ‘turnkey’ business ideas.
Turnkeys are validated ideas that have worked with other entrepreneurs with some success.
After much thought, I decided to go with a ‘turnkey’ business as I thought it made more sense.
They present you with a few options: Ecommerce, SaaS, Local Service, Marketing Agency, etc.
After analysing all options, I decided to go with Direct to Consumer (D2C) ecommerce.
I chose it because I have some experience in this space, having run my online store before.
I chose the niche of fitness, specifically home fitness, because of my experience in this field.
So then why in the world would I decide to pivot if I have both experience in ecom and fitness?
The reason: It all came down to money.
After working on my store for a couple of weeks, I realised I was spending a lot of money.
Not just on Google ads to bring traffic to my store, but in also maintaining my online store.
That’s all on top of the actually Dorm monthly subscription fee, which is not cheap.
I was spending all this money, and I wasn’t making any money i.e. in the form of sales.
It was actually one of the reasons I stopped my initial store years ago: it was not profitable!
After gathering enough data from the past 8 weeks, I knew it was time to change.
I had to find a business model that was a bit more sustainable than D2C ecommerce.
What I think about Dorm so far
These past 8 weeks have been a great experience:
- I was part of a structured programme that gave me a set of missions to carry out every week.
- I was in good hands, knowing that the founders were successful entrepreneurs themselves.
- I got to be part of a community of like-minded people, keeping each other accountable.
However, even with all this is mind, I would be lying if I said it’s all been perfect.
For the first 4 weeks, things were great, and everything was being delivered as promised.
However for some reason from about week 5 onwards, things started taking a bit of a dip:
- Suddenly there was no more live Monday briefing sessions, they were just being recorded.
- The mindset masterclasses started to disappear from our calendars, with no explanation why.
- I also found out that although we were in week 8, we were only on week 5 content because a lot of people were behind. This seemed unfair though to those who were actually ahead.
I think worst of all is the lack of communication; not telling about these changes beforehand.
Regardless of all this, I am still a fan of Dorm. I still believe they can still help me in launching my business off the ground.
Final Thoughts
So what now? Will I still be participating in Dorm? What business idea will I be working on?
To answer the first question: yes I will still be participating in Dorm.
Although the experience hasn’t been perfect, I have still learnt a lot over the past few weeks and I still feel that I can learn a lot from them, so I think I will still keep going with them.
Ok. So what business idea will you be working on: Another turnkey or your own idea?
After much thought, I’ve decided that this time round, I’ll be working on my own idea.
And what is this unique and original business world changing business idea? Blogging!
I’ve decided that I want to just focus on blogging and grow my website as much as I can.
I want to reach as many readers as I possibly can worldwide and begin monetising my website.
As a result, because it is a new business idea, I’ll be starting the Dorm process all over again!
However, instead the usual 8 weeks, Dorm are doing things a bit different for this next cohort.
They’ll be using a level system, making sure you complete each level before you can move on.
So with a new business idea and a new Dorm programme, I’m excited to see how it all goes!
I hope you guys have enjoyed reading this week’s blog and have gained some value from it.
If you have any questions or thoughts, please share them below. Would love to hear it!
