Nice JG, very nice
Nice JG, very nice
SVreX wrote: Nice work!- Your price point is too low.
I have no experience with film making, but, like SVreX, my thinking is that you're not charging enough. Instead of $81, I would have guessed $181.
I have nothing to add except that you should set it up correctly and get square with the govt. sooner than later. I know this because I did it wrong.
Oh, and that is a slick little mailbox - congrats on accidentally starting a business. People have been failing to do it on purpose for hundreds of years. :)
Agreed on too cheap. But I wouldn't go too high either. Like you said - you're marketing to people without a chop saw. So stay cheaper than a chop saw. $99 seems like a decent "Why bother to make my own" price, while upping your revenue 25%.
I wouldn't bother with a patent. I seriously doubt you've got anything that isn't otherwise patented, and even if you do, count on spending $5-$10k to get your very own 7-digit number, that is worthless unless you are ready to spend more money lawyering up to anyone who is in violation. Hell - you may be in violation of someone elses. Might spend some time on the USPTO site to check. But I also suspect that the concept has been around long enough that any patents are long expired.
what Dave said. Price point needs to be spot on.
the only advice I have comes from when worked for a ma and pop operation for a while. The FIRST thing they did was accountant up. You need a pro to have your back when big brother comes wanting his share of the pie.
Glad to hear youve got something to fall back on if this little literature venture youve gotten into washes up.
... what?...wait, GRM has been around for how long? Oh yeah, never mind, youre safe
DILYSI Dave wrote: 1. Agreed on too cheap. But I wouldn't go too high either. Like you said - you're marketing to people without a chop saw. So stay cheaper than a chop saw. $99 seems like a decent "Why bother to make my own" price, while upping your revenue 25%.
Valid point. Then again, if I wanted one of J.G.'s little buggies, even if it was twice as much as a chop saw, I'd pay it. I don't have the space for a chop saw and wouldn't want to buy one for what would probably be a one-time use (don't forget I'd probably be an indie filmmaker, not a builder of things). Lastly, it would probably take me days and days to assemble the parts, fumble through building it, painting it, etc. Easier to buy than build for some of us without mad skillz.
Go to your local community college and hook up with the entrepreneurship incubator group. NOW! If your local CC is anything like mine, there will be someone on staff who will help anyone go from zero to hero with all the paperwork stuff for free, and they typically run 'support groups' for budding entrepreneurs as well. This is going to be your new family.
You have an opportunity of a lifetime right now. Do NOT let it stale out. Jump right in.
Oh yeah, double your pricing before anyone catches on.
I would suggest signing up with Google Checkout and use that for inventory and sales.
The business model is basically shaped around the fact that not everyone has a chopsaw.
I feel ya, homee.
I don't know a ton - but on the patent idea - don't be too quick to dismiss it. Don't know what it costs, but may be worth having. You don't get the patent so you can sue people who build the thing. You get the patent to sue the guy who buys a factory in Shang-hi and makes 50,000 of them and sells them for $49.95. Actually, you don't get it for him either- but he's a better guy to sue. You get the patent so you can sell it. I think they're a lot easier to get than they were in the past, even if an idea isn't 100% original. There's a real shady underground of patent lawyers and companies that don't make anything, but just buy and sell patents... and sue people. Probably a world you won't want to be involved in, but you may be very happy to sell them your patent.
Oh, and I've been shooting a lot with those digital SLRs and have been thinking about building something like that. I may be a customer!
JoeyM wrote: take a page from your GRM life...customer service is the key to happiness. You need to let people know ASAP what the expected wait time will be for their camera cart thingy. Peple are more likely wait patiently -i.e. without complaining - if they know how long the wait will be.
You would think that... but my g/f runs a side business making custom tire bags and other things (www.njbaglady.com) and states on the splash page that this is a side business with she and she alone doing most of the cutting (I help) and all of the sewing and sometime things take awhile. She still gets the occasional bitchy customer who ignores this (one of them right now is even a 'friend' of ours...).
Otherwise, I agree with the above as this is basically what she does.
Take cash only, use that cash to buy gas and groceries. Get an anonymous mailing address. Change the business line to a Google voice number forwarded to a prepaid cell phone (paid for with cash of course). Mail packages from different mailboxes in your area.
Oh wait, you wanted to know how to do this LEGIT. Well, I got nothing for you then...
Makes me want a video capable DSLR.
sounds like your business is more making them for people that are either not able or too lazy to make it themselves. as others have said, these people will likely pay $100 or more to not have the hassle of putting everything together themselves.
this is also a perfect excuse to buy your very own powdercoating setup. there were some links posted in the powdercoating oven thread to a forum of people modifying the cheap HF PC kits. it was in their coupon email a few weeks ago, but expired yesterday. best part though, its a write off as a "business expense"
here's to the many successes of The Renault Motor car Company
Strizzo wrote: this is also a perfect excuse to buy your very own powdercoating setup.
Waaaaaay ahead of you :)
Been keeping an eye on CL for a proper oven.
jg
I ain't a bean counter.
Patent: Colossal waste of your money and time. Keep in mind that the man that invented and patented the drilled through cylinder for the revolver, enabling the use of the modern cartridge died broke. S&W did not. The man that invented radio, the AC electric motor (1 and 3 phase), AC generator, the coil in your car and half the rest of our planet and had patents on all of it also died broke. Better to make them while you can and when the Chinese copy you, game over as you'll lose either way.
Get a sales tax certificate from your state. Ask them for the rules. You can then buy stuff without paying sales tax and you then charge sales tax on things you sell in the state, sending the tax revenue to the state either monthly, quarterly or annually, depending on your state and how much they like or trust you.
Keep a log book for your car for any and all business travel. At whatever the rate is today, that comes to a nice tax deduction.
Set up a dedicated portion of your house to do your business work and nothing but your business work. Read the tax rules on that.
Bean counter: Well, that's a lot of money for something you should be able to do yourself. Keep track of your ins and outs and add them up. Total in minus total out equals profit (or loss). Come the end of the year, buy Turbo Tax with the small business add in. If you start making serious money at this, you'll need to send Obama money quarterly so he won't send his boyz down to bust your kneecaps. I think they give you the first year off on the quarterly thing.
If you go to your local IRS office they have free publications that explain how to start a small business keeping them as happy as possible! 
For what it's worth, if you make less than a certain amount in profits a year, it can be considered a 'hobby' and becomes taxed differently (cheaper).
I am not employed, and I made less than the 'hobby' amount, as as such I was tax exempt last year.
Sell it as a do it yourself kit(they assemble) at the current price, and bump it up to $99 for one you assemble with paint.
Cool idea.
Actually, hobby businesses are taxed much worse. No losses are deductible but all profits are.
Dr. Hess wrote: Actually, hobby businesses are taxed much worse. No losses are deductible but all profits are.
This goes against the IRS publication I have in my hand as we speak, but that's okay I suppose.
Hey wait, aren't you in the state with no income tax anyway?
No, Arkansas has a state income tax. Texas does not. Florida does not.
What section of what IRS pub? When I say losses are not deductable, what I mean is hobby losses are not deductible against other income. If JG nets 1K from his mounts (gross sales - deductions - COGS), but can deduct 15% of his house/utils, car mileage, etc., and comes up with a 1K loss based on that, then if he has a hobby business, tough luck. If he is not a hobby, then that 1K can be deducted off his GRM salary income and he can have a lower tax liability based on that. Unless they changed the rules since the last time I read through that stuff. Small home businesses are always under the threat of being declared a "hobby" by our IRS masters for just that reason.
SVreX wrote: I agree with Toyman01. Quickbooks is the Debil. Use it. Oh, and (accountant)!
This...
I use Qbooks for the shop and you can make as simple or as complicated as you want. Very good programme. We also use an accountant to take care of the federal state local and payroll taxes. Money well spent and has saved us from being late on some obscure tax payment and racking up penalties.
Keeping in mind that you want to keep this fun and "on the side," my recommendation would be to simply sit down with an accountant. They're good at what they do, and will tell you how to set up the business, and how to keep tax payments simple. That said, it really, really, REALLY opens your eyes to the inefficiency and "left hand doesn't know what the right is doing" gov't nonsense. It's frightening.
That's my advice as a friend, knowing that you know what you want out of this. THESE are my thoughts as an entrepreneur and violently passionate lover of capitalism who wants to see you get rich and retire early:
Stop telling yourself "Yeah, but if people weren't so lazy and stupid, they could just do it themselves...."
Most people are lazy and stupid. As a non-lazy-stupid person, you owe it to yourself to use your (fill-in-blank)-given ability to provide the lazy and stupid with a service that only you as a non-lazy-stupid person can provide.
Obviously, I'm overshooting it a bit here, but you get my point. People pay other people to change their oil, cut their grass, bleach their poopchutes, etc. MOST people aren't DIY types. MOST of the women I know are not. Not being "sexist," just talking statistics. Many dudes I know are not either. So I think it's safe to say that more than half of the population are NOT DIY'ers. Most folks don't know how to use a berkeleying ratchet.
So even if you tell them "Yeah, but look at how easy and cheap it is to do it on your own," they'll still say "Cool, but can't you just make one for me?" MOST people want to hit the "easy" button on things.
I think $100 is a screamin' deal for a unique HAND-MADE-IN-AMERICA item of that quality. $149 has a nice ring to it, assuming you want to keep making them yourself.
Seems to me as though the natural progression would be: Make them yourself until the demand drives you insane. Send prototype to China, where they'll make them for 99 cents a crack. Set up deal with (insert camera supply retailer(s) here,) make E36 M3 tons of money, sell business and make even bigger E36 M3 tons of money.
But that's me.
poopshovel wrote: ...People pay other people to change their oil, cut their grass, bleach their poopchutes, etc.
And to think I feel bad when I (very occasionally) pay someone else to paint my toenails. Also, wouldn't that burn?
Margie
Marjorie Suddard wrote:poopshovel wrote: ...People pay other people to change their oil, cut their grass, bleach their poopchutes, etc.And to think I feel bad when I (very occasionally) pay someone else to paint my toenails. Also, wouldn't that burn? Margie
I wouldn't know. Consuela just uses soap and water on mine, after she's cut the grass, changed the oil in all the cars, and cooked us dinner, of course.
You should be fine. At least you're not selling rabbits.
http://biggovernment.com/bmccarty/2011/05/20/family-facing-4-million-in-fines-for-selling-bunnies/
http://bobmccarty.com/2011/05/20/senators-letter-about-horses-does-little-to-help-constituent-facing-4-million-fine-over-rabbits/
http://bobmccarty.com/2011/05/25/usda-rabbit-police-stalking-magicians/
http://biggovernment.com/bmccarty/2011/08/11/anonymous-call-to-new-animal-abuse-hotline-leads-to-raid-on-colorado-womans-rabbit-farm/
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