Meeting our first potential customers

“Clickety clackety, tickety tackety.” My hands dance over my keyboard. I’m building a business and there’s a lot to think about.

Short recap: Last week we launched thunki.no and unveiled fb.com/thunki. This business has been a year in the making. Me and my teammates registered this firm almost a year ago and then we started planning. I finished my master thesis last spring. Towards the end of summer we were finally gathered in this beautilicious city of Bergen. It’s now autumn and we are bursting with readiness to get out there.

The rubber really hit the road last Wednesday. My goal that day was to enter one of Bergen’s small businesses and offer our services. On beforehand we had identified some small businesses whom we believed could be interested in a better online presence.

I remember standing on the sidewalk with light rain overhead. Hesitating. “What if they didn’t like us? Or what if they don’t really need a web site.” It made me take a detour into a nearby café to hammer out an additional offer. That offer was simply called social — let your customers talk about you. My cup of coffee had been emptied. I was finally as ready as I could ever be.

“Hello my name is Nils Norman Haukås. And I build web sites.”

I was inside the shop and talking to its owner. It was a nice old shop which I had passed by a number of times. And I had wondered why it was not online. So, I went in and asked. We talked for a little while. I didn’t land a deal there and then. But it was cool. I left with a handshake and having given away one of my business card. Later on I would visit two other small businesses to offer our services. While the first one had been positive the other two had already decided to pass up any offer of purchasing any web site. That’s off course fair enough. It’s a start and it’s just business.