Our market area is semi rural valley with multiple small town and villages and boasts a small military base. Overall population base is about 80,000 plus and is semi-industrial, agriculture and tourist based.
Well I was sitting back hoping that I would have a flood of responses to my query, but alas no. Either there are no members in my enviable position, or more realistically, they saw the wisdom and logic of Gary's reply and felt it was not necessary to comment any further.
And your reply does make sense, Gary, especially the uplifting comment "If you have no competition you may have to turn business away because you are working all the hours you want to work" Thanks !! You’ve been given me a new goal to aim for.
And Mark, I've been discreetly surveying and enquiring as to what services are available without letting the cat out of the bag so to speak. It doesn't take long for word of mouth to circulate here and I don't want to tip off people who may have more financial or influential resources than I, before I am ready to compete with them head to head.
Competition consists of a couple of local advertising storefronts who deal exclusively with national promotional companies that are located in central Canada, and that is why the long turn-around times. In effect they are mainly catalogue offices with no on site engraving. The same applies to local photo shops who offer photo engraving. All items are done out of province. There are a couple of traditional rotary engravers in the Valley one or two of which who might give me a run for my money, but there is room for competition. Besides I am confident that better quality and better service will carry the day.
So again, thanks for your most welcomed replies. I just have to put some finishing touches on "The Plan". Tomorrow we'll be seeing a local Business Development advisor to see if we can qualify for some governmental financial assistance to launch this venture sooner than later.
