I bought 18th.me, a humorous custom portrait painting business that fits your face into classical paintings. I bought it mostly because it’s cool, but it’s also a stepping stone to get my kick-ass, macho painting business idea off the ground.
I’m not yet sure how I’m going to market this. The product is visual, cool and unusual, so it should do well on social media. I have always been involved in “value” businesses where the selling point is pricing and convenience. I’m a bit out of my element. I recently read a very interesting guide to FB marketing. I’ll keep you updated to what I do.
Update: The Need/Want guys made a video about what’s happening to them and they discuss how and why they sold the site (Around the 11:00 mark). They reveal I got the site for quite a steal. Maybe I should just flip the site quickly to some other buyer? I’m not sure I want to be in the painting business. Jon points out that the USP of the site is really unclear. It’s about hand-made real oil paintings but most people see it as a photoshop thing. I think I’ll change the main landing page to something much clearer.
Nice idea. Did you do the keyword research for this business before starting it, i.e. how much demand is there?
It was cool watching the video and hearing his side of the story. He also seem to describe the business in more detail which made me understand why you’d want it to begin with. Personally, I wouldn’t flip the business but to avoid falling into the same trap that the previous owner had, maybe seek out a partner to free up time if you’re one of these guys (like me) who take on too many projects.