Bryan Castleman grew up on a farm in western Tennessee and is in business
with his dad. His dad wanted to own a business selling shoes. He first
tried selling men's and women's shoes, but the business didn't do very
well. He then decided to sell boots. He began selling them to the employees
of utility companies, such as Comcast and Verizon.
Bryan's dad built a warehouse and an office for the business on their
family farm. He started sending out fliers and mailers to potential
customers in 1985. He did okay, but his wife still had to work outside
the home to make ends meet for their family. In 1994, he created an
Internet website, but didn't make any sales and had very little traffic.
He removed his website in 1999, and then put it back online in 2001.
Then his son Bryan got involved.
Bryan, then 18 years old, decided that before he went to college, he
would try to put up an Internet storefront. In August, 2002, he built
a storefront on Yahoo! and made about one sale per week. About that
time, he received an invitation for an Internet marketing conference
presented by StoresOnline. The invitation promised that those who attended
would learn how people make money on the Internet. Bryan attended and
became excited again about the Internet's business potential.
Bryan and a friend attended the all-day training workshop in Memphis
a week later. They purchased their storefronts after hearing the exciting
principles taught by the StoresOnline speakers. After purchasing the
storefronts, they went online that night and started to apply what they
had learned at the workshop. Bryan published his storefronts as quickly
as he could.
One of Bryan's sites-one that sells discounted boots-started getting
between two and six orders per day within the first week. Between June
and December, Bryan averaged nearly ten orders per day.
Bryan's dad's website, Shoe Shack, went live in August. He and his
son began advertising in September. Between September and December of
that year, the site had gross sales of $48,000. Since then Bryan and
his dad have published two more websites, each site making sales on
the first day they were published.
Bryan says, "I wouldn't be where I am now if it weren't for StoresOnline.
I was able to go out and buy a car. At my age, that's unheard of!"
For Bryan, the financial impact of owning his own business on the Internet
has been very positive. He's been able to go to college and buy things
besides his basic needs. Additionally, he has been able to grow his
business without borrowing. He is simply using the profits he has already
made.
Between August and December, Bryan Castleman's sites sold $120,000
worth of shoes. Of that, Bryan spent about $25,000 for advertising.
But other than that and his initial investment in his StoresOnline storefronts,
Bryan has very little business expense. He has a very healthy profit
margin for his shoes, so between August and December he achieved a net
income of approximately $38,000 (annual rate of $65,000). His father
pulled down an income of $48,000 (annual rate of $82,000) from his stores
during that same time period. Within the first six months of his first
storefront being published, Bryan has about 3,000 customers-not bad
for a freshman in college!
Visit the Castlemans' Websites at:
www.shoeshackonline.com
www.cycleboots.com
www.discountedboots.com
*Testimonial results are not typical and your individual results will vary. Your success depends on having the right price, product, and marketing efforts.
