Yes, having lots of money is good. I'm mostly driven to design and make stuff. There are many tools, machines and odds-n-ends that I want to build but I don't always have the time or know-how. I have a barter relationship with a couple of people who are in leather work and woodwork so that helps.It would be great to have the same relationship with people in web programming, metal work and electronics. I mean hell, when we trade cash all that happens is that 30% of it gets eaten up by the banks and taxes.Originally Posted by vieome
There are two ways to start your business:
1. The big idea with the big business plan.
2. Easing into it in small steps.
I went along the "Easing into it in small steps" route. Thank God I didn't try the other route at the outset. Ok, so what does this mean. Everything that I've been into has been as a result of my own need, something that a friend needed or something that a company needed. I've been into many different things over the years, some successful and some not so great. The point is that I always tried to fill a need. I never just came up with an idea and thought cool, I can jump into that without much knowledge of the industry. You must remember that you don't have to put yourself at risk to start a little business, all that you need to do is to fulfill a need. You can advertise, market and sell via the web and social media. There are many tricks that you can use to see what it is that people want to buy. One way to get people to take part in your market research is to offer them a entry into a prize draw if they do. Make it worth their while. Doing so also gets you contact details of people who are interested in your products. Another trick is to offer lots of products and see what people want to buy. You need to be sure that you can get hold of, or make the products yourself. You don't have to keep stock, you simply get their payment upfront, buy and then ship the product. It is common practice to take the money before you ship. You can also advertise on Bid or Buy, Facebook, Gumtree or Ebay. I make a point of staying away from mission critical stuff and stuff where guarantees are expected. If a guy buys a product or service from me the exchange is generally over once I get the money and deliver. The products are small and cheap enough to replace in case something terrible does happen. The problem with generators, solar panels and all that stuff is that some fool will mess it up , phone you on a Saturday night and sh1t himself. You don't need it in your life. Leave that kind of thing to companies who are geared to deal with it. I prefer to quietly go about my business and keep a fairly low profile. I build my customer base very slowly by choosing my customers carefully. I've had too many dealings with a$$holes who waste my time. I try to steer clear of walk-in work because the time spent is generally once-off and as such lost to future income. What I mean is that it is more valuable for me to spend 3 hours drawing a product that I can sell 100 times versus doing a drawing for a customer that I can only bill once. That is why I choose my customers carefully, I don't mind drawing and developing products for them provided that their aim is to make lots of those products (Not to many and not too cheaply mind you) You have to be sure that you will still make a good profit out of each item made. I've been caught by people asking how much I will charge for 1 vs 100 items. I simply tell them now that as a small business it makes no difference because the labour per product remains the same. Yes there are ways to save costs on big quantities but you have to be careful that you don't shoot yourself in the foot by charging so little that your profit per product becomes meaningless. I am very weary of taking on large volumes because people always expect to pay next to nothing. When a customer comes and the first thing out his mouth is "I want it as cheap as possible" a warning bell goes off in my head. If that is all he is interested in then he should rather go buy Chinese stuff.
Ok, back to my business. I've been at it for about 13 years. I always enjoyed making stuff so I started making all sorts of stuff om the side while I was working. I made more and more different things and each sort of led on to the next. I left full time employment and started doing my own thing on a full time basis about 10 years ago. Although we turned over quite a bit of money it was a big mess as far as I am concerned. I only really started to figure out how to formalize the business this year. I'm fortunate in that I have absolutely brilliant business and financial support, if it wasn't for that I would have been down the toilet long ago. My business problems have never been "business problems" yes I know it sounds strange but let me explain. All the problems that I faced were as a result of my own inexperience and stupidity. One has to be careful to separate issues: Not being able to sell is not a business problem, it is a personal problem. You see, I didn't understand that I have to learn to run every aspect of the business efficiently, I always tried to solve the wrong problem: like trying to fix income by selling more when the productivity is the real problem. Another thing is not understanding the math, when a person says asks you to project your expected sales and expenses for the coming year they don't mean just thumb suck what you would like to happen, they mean you should use your history and actual figures to project forward. This is why the numbers are so important. Unless you know every single cost and expense that goes into your product you are running around in circles.
I've read lots and lots of entrepreneurial, self help, business and wealth creation books but as far as I am concerned they are mostly rubbish. They are written by academics who are not streetwise and unfortunately street wisdom is sometimes not pleasant nor PC.
Ok, so where to from here. I would be very careful to enter into an unknown market armed with an idea only. You have to understand that there are players in every single market who will catch on to what you are up to and will copy or smother you sooner or later. This is a simple fact of life and you should be prepared for it. The best thing is to have another product ready and move on. The whole business of copyright and patents is a waste of time for the little guy, climb in, make your money and climb out.
I can write a lot more but I think that you should get the gist of what I am saying: start small, don't take too many risks and stay under the radar while you learn. You will be surprised how much money you can make by quietly going about your business without drawing too much attention to yourself.
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