[coleman758]

We are a thriving furniture manufacturing company based in Bolton, UK.
we currently run two websites:

www.abodesofas.com
www.abode7.co.uk

We are looking for someone to run both sites full time. That will included keeping the sites regularly updated and looking good!

Now here comes the good bit...

We are offering an UNLIMITED wage for anyone interested, We want to pay commission on the website sale. The better the website is the more you get paid... Simple. The items we sell are all high value (£1,200 average sale) so it wont take many sales in a month to rack up a good amount of commission!

The sky is the limit here!

So put your money where your mouth is!

All CV's & Portfolios can be sent to matt@abodesofas.com
Or contact Matt on 07850740106 & 01204 - 383636

Please no time wasters, this is a serious offer with unlimited potential.

[FizixRichard]

Ok I'll bite.


This is a web development community not a sales community. Commission is earned by sales people who are on the front line actively selling your products.

In this context you're asking a designer/developer to invest in your company (in this case their time and money spent assisting you in improving your online assets, improving your brand and its reach). The designer or developer is not a front line sales person.

In return for their investment you are offering them a stake in your business (a cut of your profits) which is of course in line with the uncapped % from sales.

So now we have our terminology and exactly what your really asking for; that being a studio or freelancers to invest in your company.


With that highlighted the members here will need more information before the can valuate your opportunity and potentially offer you a deal.

We will need to know exactly what you want from the provider, you've given an insight but a fuller description will help.

We will need to know your companies background, current Market status, any debts the company has, what your profit / loss is, your turnover (a 3 year accounts summary with suffice), your projections for the next year at least and how these are backed up, yor business plan will also help. Of course how busy your website is and your visitor to sales conversion rate will be important.

We will also need to know what stake you are offering.

I look forward to reviewing this information to see whether there is a business opportunity here.

This post has been edited by Renaissance-Design: 26 August 2011 - 12:15 PM
Reason for edit: Added emphasis (hope you don't mind)

[MancunianCreative]

Fizix - I'd have +1 that post til I broke me mouse.

Awesome.

[Lev]

+1

[joshfolio]

+2

love how company's come on here and think they know what there doing

[FizixRichard]

No prob with the emphasis Renaissance-Design I don't mind and thanks for the +1's


Btw OP I am actually being serious, what your asking for is a freelancer or studio to invest in you, if you approach this scenario correctly and can demonstrate a valid business opportunity with real value you will get interest from parties who are willing to support and invest in companies (they do exist).

However just like a traditional financial investment you are going to have to demonstrate how much risk is involved for the investing party and allow for those interested to value your business to see what type of return they are likely to get.

I would like to add that you are essentially asking for a financial investment, your just bypassing the money transfer as the work the investing party undertakes will of course have a financial overhead.

This is why it's important to identify exactly what the provider will have to put into your business, what position it is in now and what position you would like it to be in. That way the investing party will know that they will need to do x, y and z; which will cost x amount of money.

This post has been edited by FizixRichard: 26 August 2011 - 01:01 PM

[pandadoodle]

I will help if you put £10,000 (deposit) in escrow which will be handed by our solicitors. And pay out a % of that if not more per month based on revenue created.

[Renaissance-Design]

FizixRichard, on 26 August 2011 - 01:00 PM, said:

No prob with the emphasis Renaissance-Design I don't mind and thanks for the +1's

We've been talking about ways to improve this board, and your response is going to age away out of prominence with the thread. Mind if I yoink some or all of what you've said to incorporate into the sticky? I'll credit you.

This post has been edited by Renaissance-Design: 26 August 2011 - 01:19 PM

[FizixRichard]

Renaissance-Design, on 26 August 2011 - 01:19 PM, said:

We've been talking about ways to improve this board, and your response is going to age away out of prominence with the thread. Mind if I yoink some or all of what you've said to incorporate into the sticky? I'll credit you.

Of course you can

[MancunianCreative]

pandadoodle, on 26 August 2011 - 01:06 PM, said:

I will help if you put £10,000 (deposit) in escrow which will be handed by our solicitors. And pay out a % of that if not more per month based on revenue created.

Even better.

[coleman758]

Thanks for your replies.

I appreciate your comments.

In the past we have been ripped off by SEO companies.
They promise the earth but never deliver.

We are a long standing manufacture. At the moment we are doing ok online, but there is much much more that we can do.
but as you will know if you have looked at the links i posted, the sites have loads of potential.

In reality we are offering 5% of the total website turn over. Most of the items we sell are £1,000 plus. (The sofas are the main items)

We are currently selling approximately 5-6 sofas per week online. to be honest we are playing at it.

We would like to up the sales to around 10-15 items per week, So you would be realistically looking at around £600 per week.

Now because we manufacture all our items, there is no limits to stock. So there is no cap on on the amount available to sell.
so obviously if the website can generate twice the amount of leads there is potentially twice the amount of sales.

There is a good market for the items we manufacture.

So this is a serious offer for someone who can actually do what they say they can do.
We are also happy to agree a fixed term contact ensuring clarity for both parties.

Please send all your CV's & Portfolios to the above e-mail.
more detailed company info will be given on interview.

This post has been edited by coleman758: 26 August 2011 - 02:01 PM

[FizixRichard]

coleman758, on 26 August 2011 - 02:01 PM, said:

Thanks for your replies.

I appreciate your comments.

In the past we have been ripped off by SEO companies.
They promise the earth but never deliver.

We are a long standing manufacture. At the moment we are doing ok online, but there is much much more that we can do.
but as you will know if you have looked at the links i posted, the sites have loads of potential.

In reality we are offering 5% of the total website turn over. Most of the items we sell are £1,000 plus. (The sofas are the main items)

We are currently selling approximately 5-6 sofas per week online. to be honest we are playing at it.

We would like to up the sales to around 10-15 items per week, So you would be realistically looking at around £600 per week.

Now because we manufacture all our items, there is no limits to stock. So there is no cap on on the amount available to sell.
so obviously if the website can generate twice the amount of leads there is potentially twice the amount of sales.

There is a good market for the items we manufacture.

So this is a serious offer for someone who can actually do what they say they can do.
We are also happy to agree a fixed term contact ensuring clarity for both parties.

Please send all your CV's & Portfolios to the above e-mail.
more detailed company info will be given on interview.

That's much better.

Can I just clarify however, are you looking for an SEO service specifically or do your requirements lead into new website features and improvements, updates to design and non SEO based advertising?


Now if your selling approx 5 sofas @ £1000 per week @ 10% that's 500 per week to a web developer, pushing that up to say 12 sofas per week at £1000 per sofa @ 10% is going to look like £1,200 per week.

Right from the get go, if you are giving a 10% stake in your turnover your paying someone ~£2000 per month and will hit £4,800 per month when you reach your first target.


So to clarify...


1. Your offering 10% on your turnover (not profit, which is what the % would normally be based on)
2. Your turning over around 5 sofas @ around £1000 per week (equaling around £5,000 per week turnover based on those figures)
3. Your first target is to reach 10 to 15 sofas per month
4. You want an SEO service or more (your on a development/design forum so its the advertising design, website UI design and feature development that will titillate most of the people here)?

This post has been edited by FizixRichard: 26 August 2011 - 02:20 PM

[pandadoodle]

Are you providing or happy to sign a contract?

The problem with being ripped off is anyone can claim to be SEO Expert with the line "I'll get you No.1 in google" and everyone seems to pay through the nose for it. I'm no expert but I could offer advice and guidance if the fee was right!

This post has been edited by pandadoodle: 26 August 2011 - 02:26 PM

[FizixRichard]

pandadoodle, on 26 August 2011 - 02:25 PM, said:

Are you providing or happy to sign a contract?

Well he is asking for an investment so it would have to go through solicitors due to the 10% stake in his company.

When you make an investment it has to be done through legal channels to secure the % of the company thats being offered, the actual investment itself (so the work to be completed in this case) and to mutually define the exit strategies.

This post has been edited by FizixRichard: 26 August 2011 - 02:29 PM

[Renaissance-Design]

This sounds like something I might be interested in (subject to a good watertight contract etc, naturally).

Couple of questions though. I'll post them here in case anyone else wants to know the same thing:

• In order to make the website a success, I'd need full editorial and technical control. Is that on the table, or would there be internal politics to deal with?
  
• Do you have a staff copywriter, and are they experienced in writing for the Web? If not, would there be any budget allocated to copy, or would I have to hire at my expense?

[pandadoodle]

Well duh! But I can give you 10% on the company here and have no obligations to do anything about it, I can vote you out at any-point I like with me holding the larger share, I can argue you have done no work, id want assurances on being paid based on results and approved access to view and record those sales and not from the company its self.

To the OP you would be better off implementing someone full or part time on a fixed fee with OTE attached to it. That way you get the work done without having to pay someone 10000s per month which might not be feasible for you long term.

This post has been edited by pandadoodle: 26 August 2011 - 02:37 PM

[coleman758]

Renaissance-Design, on 26 August 2011 - 02:32 PM, said:

This sounds like something I might be interested in (subject to a good watertight contract etc, naturally).

Couple of questions though. I'll post them here in case anyone else wants to know the same thing:

• In order to make the website a success, I'd need full editorial and technical control. Is that on the table, or would there be internal politics to deal with?
  
• Do you have a staff copywriter, and are they experienced in writing for the Web? If not, would there be any budget allocated to copy, or would I have to hire at my expense?

To Clarify.

The person we choose, would have full control over the website. As for internal politics, we are family run, so there is no nonsense.
As for a copywriter, or any other things needed for the site. We would discuss this when the time comes, but yes we could budget for that.

I did notice someone mentioned 10%, I did put 5% in my post if people read it properly.

Going back to control, There is no boundaries. if you can sell 15 sofas on one site, technically you can sell 30 on two sites.
i want someone who is a forward thinker. There is no limits. I want someone who can take the web sales to the next level.
and get better rewarded the better they do the site. Its very simple.

I've had a few CV's through, thanks to those guys!

I've read over this thread a few times, i'm getting the impression there is people replying who have nothing better to do.
This is a genuine offer and can very very rewarding.

We are going to leave this for about a week, then decide so keep them coming.

[MikeChipshop]

coleman758, on 26 August 2011 - 02:01 PM, said:

Thanks for your replies.

I appreciate your comments.

In the past we have been ripped off by SEO companies.
They promise the earth but never deliver.

We are a long standing manufacture. At the moment we are doing ok online, but there is much much more that we can do.
but as you will know if you have looked at the links i posted, the sites have loads of potential.

In reality we are offering 5% of the total website turn over. Most of the items we sell are £1,000 plus. (The sofas are the main items)

We are currently selling approximately 5-6 sofas per week online. to be honest we are playing at it.

We would like to up the sales to around 10-15 items per week, So you would be realistically looking at around £600 per week.

Now because we manufacture all our items, there is no limits to stock. So there is no cap on on the amount available to sell.
so obviously if the website can generate twice the amount of leads there is potentially twice the amount of sales.

There is a good market for the items we manufacture.

So this is a serious offer for someone who can actually do what they say they can do.
We are also happy to agree a fixed term contact ensuring clarity for both parties.

Please send all your CV's & Portfolios to the above e-mail.
more detailed company info will be given on interview.

Now the reason we don't normally allow posts like this on the forum is because they are generally full of fail but you sir have come here with an open and honest request and have replied in the manner i'd expect from a business man. I'm going to leave this thread in place!

I would even be interested was i not so busy at the moment, also with having just moved house i need to continue with 'what i know' if you get my drift.

Just a tip. The reason you've been ripped off by SEO companies is that a genuine great SEO company is hard to find. Many are outsource companies trying to make quick money with fake promises.

[coleman758]

FizixRichard, on 26 August 2011 - 02:27 PM, said:

Well he is asking for an investment so it would have to go through solicitors due to the 10% stake in his company.

When you make an investment it has to be done through legal channels to secure the % of the company thats being offered, the actual investment itself (so the work to be completed in this case) and to mutually define the exit strategies.

I understand what your saying, But i'm not asking for investment.

I want to employ someone on a commission basis. Just as i do with my reps.
they will not own 5% of the company, they will just get a salary equal to 5% of the website turnover.

Nowhere in my offer did i say 10% either.

[skidz]

coleman758, on 26 August 2011 - 03:28 PM, said:

I've read over this thread a few times, i'm getting the impression there is people replying who have nothing better to do.
This is a genuine offer and can very very rewarding.

You get that a lot on this board. People that think they know everything and can talk on behalf of everyone!

Hope to hear back from you soon

[coleman758]

MikeChipshop, on 26 August 2011 - 03:31 PM, said:

Now the reason we don't normally allow posts like this on the forum is because they are generally full of fail but you sir have come here with an open and honest request and have replied in the manner i'd expect from a business man. I'm going to leave this thread in place!

I would even be interested was i not so busy at the moment, also with having just moved house i need to continue with 'what i know' if you get my drift.

Just a tip. The reason you've been ripped off by SEO companies is that a genuine great SEO company is hard to find. Many are outsource companies trying to make quick money with fake promises.

Thanks!

Much appreciated.
we have a good business. but we are still very old school.

I want someone who can genuinely can do what they say, I think commission is a good way to do it.
mainly because the better it works the more they get paid.

If there is any issue, i can be contacted (07850740106) if you would like to have a chat, This is a very serious and genuine offer.

[FizixRichard]

coleman758, on 26 August 2011 - 03:31 PM, said:

I understand what your saying, But i'm not asking for investment.

I want to employ someone on a commission basis. Just as i do with my reps.
they will not own 5% of the company, they will just get a salary equal to 5% of the website turnover.

Nowhere in my offer did i say 10% either.

I was skimming so my apologies for getting the % mixed up; I'm was just trying to offer some advice.


Personally, I wouldn't call this commission if this goes outside of the person you hiring being a salesman, anything further is a business partnership; which in this context would form an investment, not for the company itself but its profits (financial) which is still a stake.


Commission is something that's earned by a salesman, who is on the front lines, selling a product; they earn a % of each sale they effective create.

An investment is when either money, technology, a product or expertise is injected into a company in exchange for either a % cut of the company or its profits or in a mutual exchange of services/technology/expertise.


None the less, I was just trying to help.

This post has been edited by FizixRichard: 26 August 2011 - 03:56 PM

[coleman758]

Sorry if that came across as me having a little pop at you, It wasn't intended.

How ever its worded, you get the idea. Basically the more the website sells, the bigger cut for the designer.

[FizixRichard]

I didn't take it as a pop as such and I get what you are offering; I'm just saying I'd call it an investment rather than purely sales commission based on what I outlined in my first post.

Most of these types of threads are from jokers and I either ignore them or call them out for trying to rip people off, your definitely not of that category so I'm not trying to undermine you.

Good luck with it though!

This post has been edited by FizixRichard: 26 August 2011 - 04:16 PM

[coleman758]

FizixRichard, on 26 August 2011 - 04:15 PM, said:

I didn't take it as a pop as such and I get what you are offering; I'm just saying I'd call it an investment rather than purely sales commission based on what I outlined in my first post.

Most of these types of threads are from jokers and I either ignore them or call them out for trying to rip people off, your definitely not of that category so I'm not trying to undermine you.

Good luck with it though!

Thanks for the input.

The offer is there anyway. All we want is to run a good honest business and
it really rubs me up the wrong way when people try to rip us off.

What we are offering ( I think anyway) is a fair deal. People who apply are obviously good at what they do, or what would be the point.
and in return there is no cap on the wage. Simply sell more earn more. So the more leads that can be generated from out site the better for them.

[MancunianCreative]

It seems like a good offer. But I have to wonder who buys a sofa online. Im a proper lazy git so I order everything online. But a sofa is going to need the sit on test. Maybe see how it looks up against a wallpaper sample etc organise finance etc

I'd be pretty surprised at any website like this does a lot of web sales. best case is to entice the customer to come to the store.

[coleman758]

MancunianCreative, on 26 August 2011 - 08:05 PM, said:

It seems like a good offer. But I have to wonder who buys a sofa online. Im a proper lazy git so I order everything online. But a sofa is going to need the sit on test. Maybe see how it looks up against a wallpaper sample etc organise finance etc

I'd be pretty surprised at any website like this does a lot of web sales. best case is to entice the customer to come to the store.

You would be surprised.

We do get people coming to have a look, but that would still be classed as a website sale.
and we don't offer finance, the people who buy our sofas have the money to pay for them!

We have sofa on eBay aswell as the website and its doing fine. we just want to take it up a gear.
Ive been working with sofas for a good few years now and i know the market it there, i just need people to find it!

[motrellik]

Hi, I have just sent you an email.

Regards.

[coleman758]

motrellik, on 27 August 2011 - 03:06 AM, said:

Hi, I have just sent you an email.

Regards.

Thanks for the e-mail.

Looking good so far guys, we are going to keep
this offer open till next week.

so please keep them coming.

[coleman758]

Quick Bump.

We have a good foe applicants now, we are going to keep this open until the end of the week.

Cheers Matthew

[oakleaves]

coleman758, on 26 August 2011 - 11:13 AM, said:

We are offering an UNLIMITED wage for anyone interested, We want to pay commission on the website sale.

What rate of commission do you offer (sorry if that has been discussed already, it is a long thread and I have just come across it.)

I would normally run away from proposals like this but for some reason that I cannot fathom I am curious..

PS, why isn't THIS GUY maintaining it for you?

This post has been edited by oakleaves: 31 August 2011 - 12:28 PM

[Ste Hughes]

If you have to fake your own reviews that sort of says it all...

OP I will be sending an email shortly

Cheers

[coleman758]

In reality we are offering 5% of the total website turn over. Most of the items we sell are £1,000 plus. (The sofas are the main items)

We are currently selling approximately 5-6 sofas per week online. to be honest we are playing at it.
We would like to up the sales to around 10-15 items per week, So you would be realistically looking at around £600 per week.
thats not fixed. The more is sold the more money you make.

We are not capping the wage either.

I've had a few more CV's tonight, so keep them coming.

We will be leaving this add open until Friday, We will then go through all the applications/CV's
and get it down to 3 or 4 then look at getting people in for interviews. at the same time show you around the company
so you can get a real feel for the potential here.

[oakleaves]

coleman758, on 26 August 2011 - 02:01 PM, said:

Now because we manufacture all our items, there is no limits to stock. So there is no cap on on the amount available to sell.

I don't wish to sound rude, but that statement makes you sound a bit naive. Surely there are limits to production capabilities? How many sofas can you realistically produce in a week?

[coleman758]

Nope there is no limit.

We can expand with the demand. Our setup is very adaptable.

I'm not going into loads of detail now. As to be honest it's irrelevant. If you can generate the sales I will make the sofas.

To be honest I'm getting quite a negative feeling off some people, (this is not just aimed at you) if I was applying for a job id get the job first before even mentioning things like this.

This post has been edited by coleman758: 31 August 2011 - 11:09 PM

[j05hr]

MancunianCreative, on 26 August 2011 - 08:05 PM, said:

It seems like a good offer. But I have to wonder who buys a sofa online. Im a proper lazy git so I order everything online. But a sofa is going to need the sit on test. Maybe see how it looks up against a wallpaper sample etc organise finance etc

I'd be pretty surprised at any website like this does a lot of web sales. best case is to entice the customer to come to the store.

I think you would be surprised how many people do. My sister just moved into a new place, went into shops to look at beds and sofas found the ones she liked, went online and ordered them for much cheaper. Remember online don't have staff and shop overheads. I'm not sure if she is in the minority but I would of thought quite a lot of people do this?

[coleman758]

Exactly, The market is massive.

[Lev]

BTW, these sofas look great.

[oakleaves]

coleman758, on 31 August 2011 - 11:06 PM, said:

if I was applying for a job id get the job first before even mentioning things like this.

Ridiculous. A job is a 2 way street. People need to know what they are getting into otherwise it's like signing a blank cheque.

Something here is not adding up.

All the best to you and your business and whoever lands the job, hope it all goes well for everyone.

[coleman758]

oakleaves, on 01 September 2011 - 09:02 AM, said:

Ridiculous. A job is a 2 way street. People need to know what they are getting into otherwise it's like signing a blank cheque.

Something here is not adding up.

All the best to you and your business and whoever lands the job, hope it all goes well for everyone.

So basically calling the guy who is offering the job naive is normal practice for you then?

The people that we choose for the interview will be give all the details. They will be shown around our factory.
trust me it speaks for itself.

all i can say is its your loss.

@ Lev: Thanks buddy! Its taken alot of hard work to get where we are!