Post: #626

Post: #627

Continuation and end of this story:

/thread-54749...pid1606764


(TLDR - Chinese buyer did not accept a package, and returned it to me. Per Ebay rules, I was in position to keep both his stuff and money, but I chose not to).


A few days ago, he contacted me. He said that he never got the package for some reason. He asked me to refund him, which I did (-fees, shipping both ways and my time). All in all, it ended rather well.



Karma seems to have smiled upon me because of that. I have sold a few other articles, for a tidy profit. And, the most important thing, I passed my driving exam on the first try (very rare for most people in my country of residence).

Post: #628

I finally found an investor to finish my rock-identifier. I have a total of 3 years devoted solely to its development.

It's not even the money and debt that wears on you, its the shear volume of time that flies by when you think you're inches away from finishing it. It just drags on and on and on. Just to organize a simple meeting to pitch my product took a whole month. Phone call to schedule to actual meeting another month gone. Little, simple things like that add up and before you know it a year and a half are gone.

My product is very niche in a largely unknown function in the oil industry, which of course is why its a good idea. The problem is the people who run venture capital funds don't know or understand nuances that make something valuable.

All the obvious inventions are already made, anything *new* is going to be very weird, niche, and something you haven't really heard of or understand. So that makes it a pain in the ass to sell to people who don't directly deal with what you're doing. A lot of investors don't understand that. What few genuinely good ideas are left are going to sound weird and certainly something you haven't heard of before.

I can see why a lot of business owners are those old, wrinkly gray-haired fat fucks at country clubs. It really does take that long to develop and grow something substantial.

If you're starting a business you have to ask yourself how willing are you to burn years of your life on a single cause. If your business fails, you're looking at a 'round-trip' financial recovery time of at least double whatever you put into building it.

So: 3 years preparing business financing and developmentally, 2 years running business (it fails), 3 years getting another job (if you're lucky) and recovering.

So you're looking at a minimum 8 year round-trip investment on a biz if you've really sunk a lot into it.

It's picking a hill to die on, don't charge up the hill unless you're willing to suffer the consequences.

Post: #629

(07-25-2017 09:00 AM)Disco_Volante Wrote:  My product is very niche in a largely unknown function in the oil industry, which of course is why its a good idea. The problem is the people who run venture capital funds don't know or understand nuances that make something valuable.

All the obvious inventions are already made, anything *new* is going to be very weird, niche, and something you haven't really heard of or understand. So that makes it a pain in the ass to sell to people who don't directly deal with what you're doing. A lot of investors don't understand that. What few genuinely good ideas are left are going to sound weird and certainly something you haven't heard of before.

That's somewhat true, but it's also where awesome sales/copywriting/pitching skills make a huge difference. There is an abundance of capital sloshing around these days with nowhere to go. It may help to base yourself in a VC/Angel-heavy city or area, I have seen some ridiculous joke deals with newbie investors throwing cash at half-baked ideas that were totally not viable. Some of these guys just want to "get in on the startup game" without really having a clue.

If you can sell and persuasively argue that your product is a high ROI winner and get those $$$ signs flashing in the investors eyes, you're golden.

Regardless it sounds like you got what you needed, congratulations, and all the best with your venture! I think you could do really well.

Post: #630

What would be the best / the easiest business opportunity for a newbie? So for someone who would like to achieve a side income, but not necessarily become self employed.

Post: #631

(07-25-2017 09:30 AM)sterling_archer Wrote:  What would be the best / the easiest business opportunity for a newbie? So for someone who would like to achieve a side income, but not necessarily become self employed.

Mowing neighbours' lawns.

Post: #632

(07-25-2017 09:00 AM)Disco_Volante Wrote:  I finally found an investor to finish my rock-identifier. I have a total of 3 years devoted solely to its development.

It's not even the money and debt that wears on you, its the shear volume of time that flies by when you think you're inches away from finishing it. It just drags on and on and on. Just to organize a simple meeting to pitch my product took a whole month. Phone call to schedule to actual meeting another month gone. Little, simple things like that add up and before you know it a year and a half are gone.

My product is very niche in a largely unknown function in the oil industry, which of course is why its a good idea. The problem is the people who run venture capital funds don't know or understand nuances that make something valuable.

All the obvious inventions are already made, anything *new* is going to be very weird, niche, and something you haven't really heard of or understand. So that makes it a pain in the ass to sell to people who don't directly deal with what you're doing. A lot of investors don't understand that. What few genuinely good ideas are left are going to sound weird and certainly something you haven't heard of before.

I can see why a lot of business owners are those old, wrinkly gray-haired fat fucks at country clubs. It really does take that long to develop and grow something substantial.

If you're starting a business you have to ask yourself how willing are you to burn years of your life on a single cause. If your business fails, you're looking at a 'round-trip' financial recovery time of at least double whatever you put into building it.

So: 3 years preparing business financing and developmentally, 2 years running business (it fails), 3 years getting another job (if you're lucky) and recovering.

So you're looking at a minimum 8 year round-trip investment on a biz if you've really sunk a lot into it.

It's picking a hill to die on, don't charge up the hill unless you're willing to suffer the consequences.

If you can sell both the "sizzle" and the "steak" make things a whole lot easier

Do you have a written business plan? Specifically a well formed EBITDA ? Investors may not be experts in your field but they do understand money. So financials are a key component of your pitch to them. Catch their attention with the profitability / potential then back it up. The money is your "steak"

For specialty or very technical products then industry reviews and expert testimonials are very important. If your product solves problems for say geologists then a few experts in the field saying "This solves a problem(s) for me" . This removes the investors need to be a technical expert.

Too often inventor entrepreneurs get caught up in selling their idea on the features /"sizzle"...because thats their passion. That might work for marketing to consumers. But to investors and sometimes C level executives you need to sell the value proposition proposition first.

Sell the steak then the sizzle when needed

Its never easy but if you can show a believable and compelling direct path to the bottom line then that hill it gets less steep

Post: #633

(07-25-2017 10:50 AM)Suits Wrote:  

(07-25-2017 09:30 AM)sterling_archer Wrote:  What would be the best / the easiest business opportunity for a newbie? So for someone who would like to achieve a side income, but not necessarily become self employed.

Mowing neighbours' lawns.

Nice haha, but I am doing things like that already.

Post: #634

(07-25-2017 09:00 AM)Disco_Volante Wrote:  I finally found an investor to finish my rock-identifier. I have a total of 3 years devoted solely to its development.

It's not even the money and debt that wears on you, its the shear volume of time that flies by when you think you're inches away from finishing it. It just drags on and on and on. Just to organize a simple meeting to pitch my product took a whole month. Phone call to schedule to actual meeting another month gone. Little, simple things like that add up and before you know it a year and a half are gone.

My product is very niche in a largely unknown function in the oil industry, which of course is why its a good idea. The problem is the people who run venture capital funds don't know or understand nuances that make something valuable.

All the obvious inventions are already made, anything *new* is going to be very weird, niche, and something you haven't really heard of or understand. So that makes it a pain in the ass to sell to people who don't directly deal with what you're doing. A lot of investors don't understand that. What few genuinely good ideas are left are going to sound weird and certainly something you haven't heard of before.

I can see why a lot of business owners are those old, wrinkly gray-haired fat fucks at country clubs. It really does take that long to develop and grow something substantial.

If you're starting a business you have to ask yourself how willing are you to burn years of your life on a single cause. If your business fails, you're looking at a 'round-trip' financial recovery time of at least double whatever you put into building it.

So: 3 years preparing business financing and developmentally, 2 years running business (it fails), 3 years getting another job (if you're lucky) and recovering.

So you're looking at a minimum 8 year round-trip investment on a biz if you've really sunk a lot into it.

It's picking a hill to die on, don't charge up the hill unless you're willing to suffer the consequences.

haha I can relate. I have about 8 years of development into my product line. I don't think I could have recovered if it was a failure. To be honest, I never thought it would fail since I tested and continued to test throughout development whether people would pay money for it.

With that said, there was some years that was real tough since I was doing all the development myself. I sit back and wonder how the hell I survived it. I couldn't tell you if I would want to go through the same thing again. I would make sure I have cashflow set up to pay my expenses for years. One of the reasons development took so long was due to me working on bringing in cashflow while I developed this product line. It probably added a couple extra years onto my time frame. I'm lucky that the demand continues to increase and forecasts say it will double in the next 4 years.

I agree with PapayaTapper. You may need to bring in some well-known experts. Possibly even cut them in with a small percentage.

Or you can go to the major competition and pitch a licensing deal with them. Sell it with their brand on it for a percentage of each sale. You have a lot of options when you own the tech. Hopefully you have it patented if it can be.

Post: #635

Feeling a little overwhelmed, but things aren't going that badly. Thought I'd make some updates here (both current things going on as well as updates to previously covered issues):

(09-01-2016 06:26 AM)H1N1 Wrote:  

(08-31-2016 06:54 PM)AneroidOcean Wrote:  Okay, would a promissory note stating that I own all the assets until the debt is re-paid be enough? Feel free to PM me if you think this would be better discussed there. Also, in all likelihood the money would be paid back before our next high season so within a calendar year so I'm not too concerned about eeking out more return as the goal here is to increase the value of our company as well as it's flexibility. Again, appreciate the insight on my exposure.

I met recently with the vendor who we'd acquire these assets and ongoing sub-contracted business from and I was definitely impressed with their organization level, solid staff, and networking (it was a networking event they hosted). I feel even stronger about the growth opportunity.

Sort of. In effect it's a contract, it's just a contract with the intention to give you different legal remedies to the typical unsecured contract which we execute in business everyday.

You are looking to lend the money to the company, which would then buy the asset. I think the most secure way of doing things, depending on the period between lending the money and the equipment being bought, would be to have a contract with the company that the money is lent for the specific purpose of buying a defined class of equipment from a specific buyer. Ideally this money would be put in a new bank account (just a sub account set up with no other funds in it) since this would create a trust (if only by operation of law, in court) over the money, and give you residual property rights in it (gross oversimplification, but all that matters). Then, once the plant was bought, you would immediately sign another contract granting you a lien over the plant (defined fully in the contract), and using the specific term lien. This would then be placed with your 'county recorder' or what every your equivalent of the district register is (not a US lawyer, but you're a common law jurisdiction and most things between our two systems are broadly the same).

If you're only going to hand over the money when you go with the guys to buy the kit, and then make up the transaction in your accounts as a directors loan or whatever, then you probably only need the second contract.

It doesn't have to be complicated:

<SNIP>

Thanks to H1N1 for the advice as well as to Gorgiass and bhawthorne

Update is that this turned out for the most part well. Going with my instincts was right, but I'm glad I got the great advice as I really wanted to make sure I understood the whole picture. Where I missed is that I had the instinct that the potential for referral business was an important factor in this deal and we didn't get that in writing after all.

I should've made this a requirement of agreeing to the equipment deal, but that's a good education. In the end, the company probably wasn't getting that much demand for this type of equipment so the actual loss in future referral business may be somewhat smaller than I assumed. In either case they turned out to be a bit of a pain in the ass to deal with so it might not have been a great deal for the referral business since we still would've had to deal with them.

The equipment was as described and we're making use of it, the company paid me back on time/early and I made a reasonable return on money that wasn't currently making me any return at all.

This particular business is doing well and growing.

Went to a few different business mixers/expos to try to network with connectors/drivers of industry in this same company and had what I think will be a solid increase in sales for the amount of time and money the events cost to attend. Some better than others, but overall positive.

We set 3 goals at the end of our last busy season (the actual goal and then stretch goal #1 and stretch goal #2) and we are on track to hit our first stretch goal which involves a nice reward.

This motivates me to go to more business mixers and improve our marketing efforts. It's a nice feeling handing someone a business card of a business you own and benefit directly from.

Day job is still too stressful/time consuming for the return I'm getting, but I'm trying to minimize my time there until I move on.

My small vacation rental business has had major downs this year for reasons I won't get into much detail on here, but despite continuing to make some errors or not doing things on the best timing, I have gotten past all my major hurdles and then beyond that many of the minor hurdles. Unfortunately, while I want to grow this business, it's going to require some serious effort to find additional properties to work with, likely sooner rather than later.

This is pretty frustrating but it's not something I can control and ultimately the best way for me to avoid that pitfall is to make the absolute best of it I can and continue working on finding other properties ASAP as well as increase my marketing avenues. Finally doing some accounting work and I'm about where I thought I was, but it's all a bit nerve-wracking.

Some of my recent efforts have yielded more income, but I really missed on some things especially with the wrench thrown into my timeline earlier in the year. Still, I remain fairly satisfied with this and look forward to spending time creatively as far as the marketing end of things. Likely already have my first recurring client. May even fill my buddy's place while he's on vacation for some pocket money.

Personally things aren't 100 % great, but working on those too. Spent a lot of hours sweating it out this summer weekend in my garage throwing out junk, making salvation army bags, and overall vastly improving the organization so I will only have things I truly need, they are stored efficiently (especially using vertical space), and so I can have more space for bikes/activity equipment. Goal is to park my car in there again and eventually build some nice racks for fishing poles/spearguns on the walls.

Post: #636

So I started a consulting firm in Healthcare IT. I have the website and business plan already set up. I've finished my marketing plan as well. Anyone have advice on how to approach marketing to potential clients and getting my first clients? What techniques have helped you guys the most?

Post: #637

Delete

Post: #638

(07-25-2017 01:23 PM)sterling_archer Wrote:  

(07-25-2017 10:50 AM)Suits Wrote:  

(07-25-2017 09:30 AM)sterling_archer Wrote:  What would be the best / the easiest business opportunity for a newbie? So for someone who would like to achieve a side income, but not necessarily become self employed.

Mowing neighbours' lawns.

Nice haha, but I am doing things like that already.

Without any sellable skills this sort of thing is what you're looking at. From your other posts you do have skills, or at least the ability to pick skills up quickly.

Is it more money than cutting lawns you want? Or easier money? If it's easier money than make sure you are charging enough, and employ someone to cut the lawns for you. Focus your efforts on finding more lawns to cut.

I have a real world business that started by cutting lawns. Hit me up for any advice you want if you're going down this route.

Despite my multitude of skills and expensive tools that would allow me to earn a decent tradesmans wage in dozens of disciplines (and I'm not exaggerating here) my preference is to employ and have others do the work for me. I was given advice to employ people when I was maybe 19, and my biggest regret is not doing it for another couple of years. You're never going to earn much more than a tradesman's wage doing a tradesman's job, so multiply.

Post: #639

It's fucking awesome to be seeing so many new faces in the Entrepreneurs' lounge.

This is what men being everything they can be is all about.

Post: #640

(07-25-2017 01:41 PM)worldwidetraveler Wrote:  

(07-25-2017 09:00 AM)Disco_Volante Wrote:  I finally found an investor to finish my rock-identifier. I have a total of 3 years devoted solely to its development.

It's not even the money and debt that wears on you, its the shear volume of time that flies by when you think you're inches away from finishing it. It just drags on and on and on. Just to organize a simple meeting to pitch my product took a whole month. Phone call to schedule to actual meeting another month gone. Little, simple things like that add up and before you know it a year and a half are gone.

My product is very niche in a largely unknown function in the oil industry, which of course is why its a good idea. The problem is the people who run venture capital funds don't know or understand nuances that make something valuable.

All the obvious inventions are already made, anything *new* is going to be very weird, niche, and something you haven't really heard of or understand. So that makes it a pain in the ass to sell to people who don't directly deal with what you're doing. A lot of investors don't understand that. What few genuinely good ideas are left are going to sound weird and certainly something you haven't heard of before.

I can see why a lot of business owners are those old, wrinkly gray-haired fat fucks at country clubs. It really does take that long to develop and grow something substantial.

If you're starting a business you have to ask yourself how willing are you to burn years of your life on a single cause. If your business fails, you're looking at a 'round-trip' financial recovery time of at least double whatever you put into building it.

So: 3 years preparing business financing and developmentally, 2 years running business (it fails), 3 years getting another job (if you're lucky) and recovering.

So you're looking at a minimum 8 year round-trip investment on a biz if you've really sunk a lot into it.

It's picking a hill to die on, don't charge up the hill unless you're willing to suffer the consequences.

haha I can relate. I have about 8 years of development into my product line. I don't think I could have recovered if it was a failure. To be honest, I never thought it would fail since I tested and continued to test throughout development whether people would pay money for it.

With that said, there was some years that was real tough since I was doing all the development myself. I sit back and wonder how the hell I survived it. I couldn't tell you if I would want to go through the same thing again. I would make sure I have cashflow set up to pay my expenses for years. One of the reasons development took so long was due to me working on bringing in cashflow while I developed this product line. It probably added a couple extra years onto my time frame. I'm lucky that the demand continues to increase and forecasts say it will double in the next 4 years.

I agree with PapayaTapper. You may need to bring in some well-known experts. Possibly even cut them in with a small percentage.

Or you can go to the major competition and pitch a licensing deal with them. Sell it with their brand on it for a percentage of each sale. You have a lot of options when you own the tech. Hopefully you have it patented if it can be.

Like everything time is a trade off. It does take tenacity to work on something by yourself with just your conviction of its value. The return is that if you bootstrap it yourself then your equity stays intact.

Guard equity as if it were gold. Because it is. Only leverage it for significant value : cash or relationship capital

Post: #641

(07-25-2017 10:42 PM)NewDayNewFace Wrote:  So I started a consulting firm in Healthcare IT. I have the website and business plan already set up. I've finished my marketing plan as well. Anyone have advice on how to approach marketing to potential clients and getting my first clients? What techniques have helped you guys the most?

If your have a marketing plan then sales strategy should be fleshed out.

Do you have / can you get any industry testimonials? Thats critical for you now

Do you have direct access to the decision makers (not the gatekeepers...try to get around them)* of your target market / firms?

If not: who does? They need to be your best friends now.

I knew a guy who became really good at developing relationships with CEO's (and other C-level execs) secretaries / assistant. Talk about powerful relationships

* Hint: If they cant sign the check then they cant say "yes", only "no" Those are the gatekeepers.

Post: #642

(07-26-2017 10:38 AM)PapayaTapper Wrote:  

(07-25-2017 10:42 PM)NewDayNewFace Wrote:  So I started a consulting firm in Healthcare IT. I have the website and business plan already set up. I've finished my marketing plan as well. Anyone have advice on how to approach marketing to potential clients and getting my first clients? What techniques have helped you guys the most?

If your have a marketing plan then sales strategy should be fleshed out.

Do you have / can you get any industry testimonials? Thats critical for you now

Do you have direct access to the decision makers (not the gatekeepers...try to get around them)* of your target market / firms?

If not: who does? They need to be your best friends now.

I knew a guy who became really good at developing relationships with CEO's (and other C-level execs) secretaries / assistant. Talk about powerful relationships

* Hint: If they cant sign the check then they cant say "yes", only "no" Those are the gatekeepers.

So my business is a Healthcare IT consulting firm and me and my business partners all work in Healthcare space and have relationships with physicians and managers that do have that power. Thats the strategy we had defined apart from the linkedin marketing.

As far as industry testimonials I haven't been able to reach out to other firms that are competitors to me. I don't think they would want to help but I can try however. It doesn't hurt.

Post: #643

(07-26-2017 02:36 AM)roberto Wrote:  Without any sellable skills this sort of thing is what you're looking at. From your other posts you do have skills, or at least the ability to pick skills up quickly.

Is it more money than cutting lawns you want? Or easier money? If it's easier money than make sure you are charging enough, and employ someone to cut the lawns for you. Focus your efforts on finding more lawns to cut.

I have a real world business that started by cutting lawns. Hit me up for any advice you want if you're going down this route.

Despite my multitude of skills and expensive tools that would allow me to earn a decent tradesmans wage in dozens of disciplines (and I'm not exaggerating here) my preference is to employ and have others do the work for me. I was given advice to employ people when I was maybe 19, and my biggest regret is not doing it for another couple of years. You're never going to earn much more than a tradesman's wage doing a tradesman's job, so multiply.

Maybe you saw my posts where I put pictures on bows I am working on. This would be a small income from the side from the dreams. Hobby + money. What is better than that? But market for custom bows is basically non existent in Croatia and abroad there is shitload of much older guys doing that.

I read from time to time datasheets from this part of forum and nothing seems possible for a student like me. Maybe I am wrong but all need money for first investment which I don't possess enough as I am finishing college and not currently having job.
My goal currently for side income is much lower than rest of you guys here earn. I want to have at least 200$ monthly, which is in Croatia a pretty good money for going out/clothes/trips, etc.

Post: #644

(07-26-2017 11:32 AM)sterling_archer Wrote:  

(07-26-2017 02:36 AM)roberto Wrote:  Without any sellable skills this sort of thing is what you're looking at. From your other posts you do have skills, or at least the ability to pick skills up quickly.

Is it more money than cutting lawns you want? Or easier money? If it's easier money than make sure you are charging enough, and employ someone to cut the lawns for you. Focus your efforts on finding more lawns to cut.

I have a real world business that started by cutting lawns. Hit me up for any advice you want if you're going down this route.

Despite my multitude of skills and expensive tools that would allow me to earn a decent tradesmans wage in dozens of disciplines (and I'm not exaggerating here) my preference is to employ and have others do the work for me. I was given advice to employ people when I was maybe 19, and my biggest regret is not doing it for another couple of years. You're never going to earn much more than a tradesman's wage doing a tradesman's job, so multiply.

Maybe you saw my posts where I put pictures on bows I am working on. This would be a small income from the side from the dreams. Hobby + money. What is better than that? But market for custom bows is basically non existent in Croatia and abroad there is shitload of much older guys doing that.

I read from time to time datasheets from this part of forum and nothing seems possible for a student like me. Maybe I am wrong but all need money for first investment which I don't possess enough as I am finishing college and not currently having job.
My goal currently for side income is much lower than rest of you guys here earn. I want to have at least 200$ monthly, which is in Croatia a pretty good money for going out/clothes/trips, etc.

Given the potential for arbitrage between the cost of living in Croatia and the rest of the world, I think you might be better doing something online, in dollars. Which is out of my skillset I'm afraid.

I have to be honest, I have visions of a donkey pulling a lawnmower with a cardboard sign saying 'Lawn cut 1 euro'. Blame Borat.

Post: #645

(07-26-2017 11:32 AM)sterling_archer Wrote:  

(07-26-2017 02:36 AM)roberto Wrote:  Without any sellable skills this sort of thing is what you're looking at. From your other posts you do have skills, or at least the ability to pick skills up quickly.

Is it more money than cutting lawns you want? Or easier money? If it's easier money than make sure you are charging enough, and employ someone to cut the lawns for you. Focus your efforts on finding more lawns to cut.

I have a real world business that started by cutting lawns. Hit me up for any advice you want if you're going down this route.

Despite my multitude of skills and expensive tools that would allow me to earn a decent tradesmans wage in dozens of disciplines (and I'm not exaggerating here) my preference is to employ and have others do the work for me. I was given advice to employ people when I was maybe 19, and my biggest regret is not doing it for another couple of years. You're never going to earn much more than a tradesman's wage doing a tradesman's job, so multiply.

Maybe you saw my posts where I put pictures on bows I am working on. This would be a small income from the side from the dreams. Hobby + money. What is better than that? But market for custom bows is basically non existent in Croatia and abroad there is shitload of much older guys doing that.

I read from time to time datasheets from this part of forum and nothing seems possible for a student like me. Maybe I am wrong but all need money for first investment which I don't possess enough as I am finishing college and not currently having job.
My goal currently for side income is much lower than rest of you guys here earn. I want to have at least 200$ monthly, which is in Croatia a pretty good money for going out/clothes/trips, etc.

Research the global market for highly customized hand-crafted guitars and calculate the competitiveness of using Croatia as a base for engaging in such specialized handcrafting, taking into considering global shipping rates to key markets for fragile items.

Post: #646

(07-25-2017 01:23 PM)sterling_archer Wrote:  

(07-25-2017 10:50 AM)Suits Wrote:  

(07-25-2017 09:30 AM)sterling_archer Wrote:  What would be the best / the easiest business opportunity for a newbie? So for someone who would like to achieve a side income, but not necessarily become self employed.

Mowing neighbours' lawns.

Nice haha, but I am doing things like that already.

I knew a guy who ran a lawn business. He had two crews going out with trucks, trailers and commercial lawn mowers.

He also took the money from that and bought many houses rented out.

You would be surprsed at how a simple concept like mowing lawns could be scaled.

Post: #647

(07-26-2017 11:55 AM)Suits Wrote:  

(07-26-2017 11:32 AM)sterling_archer Wrote:  

(07-26-2017 02:36 AM)roberto Wrote:  Without any sellable skills this sort of thing is what you're looking at. From your other posts you do have skills, or at least the ability to pick skills up quickly.

Is it more money than cutting lawns you want? Or easier money? If it's easier money than make sure you are charging enough, and employ someone to cut the lawns for you. Focus your efforts on finding more lawns to cut.

I have a real world business that started by cutting lawns. Hit me up for any advice you want if you're going down this route.

Despite my multitude of skills and expensive tools that would allow me to earn a decent tradesmans wage in dozens of disciplines (and I'm not exaggerating here) my preference is to employ and have others do the work for me. I was given advice to employ people when I was maybe 19, and my biggest regret is not doing it for another couple of years. You're never going to earn much more than a tradesman's wage doing a tradesman's job, so multiply.

Maybe you saw my posts where I put pictures on bows I am working on. This would be a small income from the side from the dreams. Hobby + money. What is better than that? But market for custom bows is basically non existent in Croatia and abroad there is shitload of much older guys doing that.

I read from time to time datasheets from this part of forum and nothing seems possible for a student like me. Maybe I am wrong but all need money for first investment which I don't possess enough as I am finishing college and not currently having job.
My goal currently for side income is much lower than rest of you guys here earn. I want to have at least 200$ monthly, which is in Croatia a pretty good money for going out/clothes/trips, etc.

Research the global market for highly customized hand-crafted guitars and calculate the competitiveness of using Croatia as a base for engaging in such specialized handcrafting, taking into considering global shipping rates to key markets for fragile items.

Plenty of 'basic' and some higher end folk type instruments are being made in Romania, and the price of them in the UK is creeping up as people come to realise that they're pretty good value for money. So a concept like this could be profitable.

Post: #648

Well I thought I'd post here just to share my woes and get any ideas/feedback from people.

So I had this idea of importing a unique style of furniture from abroad. Main item would be Sofas but can extend to Beds, Chairs, Coffee Tables etc. The uniqueness comes from the designs that are handcarved into the exposed wood on each product. It took me around 1.5 years to develop the products and get them here to the UK. All the designs are my own, I basically found designs from suppliers and then adjusted aspects such as size, colour, pattern, finish etc to produce products I think would work well in the West.

Because product development was such a big part of it, it took long and ate up my capital, so when I got the items here I only had around 15K or so left. I got myself a shop in a not-so-busy working class area on the cheap, and thought I would be able to get people in using leafleting, local radio and facebook advertising.

When I opened the shop I had a customer come in on pretty much day 1 saying they wanted 3 sofas. I thought great, but it turned out the sofa wouldnt fit through the awkward space around their living room door. So no deal. I had quite a few others come and express interest in products but no sales. Getting likes and follows on facebook adverts but no sales and no one contacting me.

So the shop, the fb and radio advertising was all targetted around UK asians (Indians/Pakistanis etc) because this stuff is from that region so I thought best to start the business targeting that demographic. I realize now this was a flawed plan.

I took my items to a shopping centre in a very white working class area for 4 days and to be honest got some good interest but no sales. I then did a pop-up shop for a week in rather affluent part of London that is around 80% White English and again got some very good interest but again no sales.

This is what I've seen with my products:

Sofas: Most average people like these items. Includes many working/middle class people. For some, items may be too expensive. Upper-Middle Class Whites not so much due to them being more into contemporary minimalist interiors.

Beds: A much more high end-item. Can get likes from most types of people but not everyone can afford. Had very good interest from two middle aged couples in affluent area, one German, one Dutch.

Carpets: Another high-end item ,had decent interest from upper-middle class for one of the carpets.

Basically the Beds and Carpets seem to get good interest from high-end clientele while the Sofas tend to work better in the working class/middle class range and wealthier people tend to go higher/contemporary for the product.

Well, I have had the shop open now for 4 months and after the 2 second month I stopped going there and the fine trickle of passing footfall wasnt really worth it. I had a lot more interest from the pop up I did for 10days than 2 months in the shop. I am now closing the shop and am out of money, need to put items in storage and maybe re-think. I need to get a job and and build up capital if I want to push these items again.

It feels like a failure but I very much value the samples I have. I had good feedback from people across different demographics and so I cannot call it a failure as I personally believe there is value in the product/aesthetic.

Making sales would always be hard in this field for various reasons. The shop was a failure, no footfall at all, live and learn. Cannot expect to sell 1-2k items in a 10-day pop-up event.

I am not sure what the best strategy would have been. Maybe there is no value to the items but I have a hard time accepting time.

At this point I could do with some honest feedback from members on the product selection I have, price points and whether they see themselves ever buying anything like that.

https://indusfurniture.co.uk/all/

Post: #649

^Looks well made and worth the money, but I'd say a very limited market for that particular style.

"Upper-Middle Class Whites not so much due to them being more into contemporary minimalist interiors" Nailed it here I think.

Post: #650

(07-26-2017 11:20 AM)NewDayNewFace Wrote:  

(07-26-2017 10:38 AM)PapayaTapper Wrote:  

(07-25-2017 10:42 PM)NewDayNewFace Wrote:  So I started a consulting firm in Healthcare IT. I have the website and business plan already set up. I've finished my marketing plan as well. Anyone have advice on how to approach marketing to potential clients and getting my first clients? What techniques have helped you guys the most?

If your have a marketing plan then sales strategy should be fleshed out.

Do you have / can you get any industry testimonials? Thats critical for you now

Do you have direct access to the decision makers (not the gatekeepers...try to get around them)* of your target market / firms?

If not: who does? They need to be your best friends now.

I knew a guy who became really good at developing relationships with CEO's (and other C-level execs) secretaries / assistant. Talk about powerful relationships

* Hint: If they cant sign the check then they cant say "yes", only "no" Those are the gatekeepers.

So my business is a Healthcare IT consulting firm and me and my business partners all work in Healthcare space and have relationships with physicians and managers that do have that power. Thats the strategy we had defined apart from the linkedin marketing.

As far as industry testimonials I haven't been able to reach out to other firms that are competitors to me. I don't think they would want to help but I can try however. It doesn't hurt.

I dont quite follow. If you have relationships with your market audience then...? Testimonials from existing customers is exactly what you need (not your competitors).

Are you looking for new (additional) customers? If so how much of your marketing budget is allocated towards customer acquisition (CA). Gaining new customers (CA) is usually the most expensive segment for any industry...especially if you're going after them one at a time.

Do you know the average lifetime value of your customers?

Think about ways to get more out of existing customers:

-Value adds
-Upsells
-Extended product / service lines etc

Im shotgunning becasue I dont know the specifics of your industry but in general the rule is customer retention is almost always cheaper / more efficient than acquisition


Just planting that seed for you

EDIT: