On Mon, 23 Mar 2009 14:38:20 -0700, the infamous Frank Warner
scrawled the following:
In article , pyotr
filipivich wrote:
Let the Record show that RoyJ on or about
Sat, 14 Mar 2009 09:48:46 -0500 did write/type or cause to appear in
rec.crafts.metalworking the following:
A few comments;
Putting up a separate building tends to raise the profile of the whole
thing to the point where it hits the local building officials' radar.
All of a sudden they take a LOT of interest in your activities, may tell
you that you can't do "light manufacturing" in a residential area or
similar.
Pricing your product is weird. As long as you are doing it as a hobby,
just want to cover the costs of your equipment, make a few bucks for
beer you get one set of costs/prices. As soon as you want to make real
money, pay yourself some semblance of an honest wage, actually pay down
the cost of your equipment, you get another set of costs/prices. The
latter is usually at least double the hobbyist version.
It goes from being a hobby, to "work". I used to make little
wooden boxes. People would say "why don't you sell them." For grins
and giggles, I tracked my time. Five hours at minimum wage, no charge
for supplies - forty bucks for a box about 4" square, and two inches
high. Pretty, but ... would you pay $40 for that? Of course, as a
hobbyist, I could use all hand tools, this was "occupational therapy"
as much as anything. But I couldn't "produce".
It has been observed that the best cabinet work is done by
hobbyists. They have the time to select materials, be painstaking
when setting up, and take the time to produce a beautiful finish. They
can do all those things, because their day job pays the overhead.
The Professional, OTOH, has that overhead to meet. "Only
customers pay wages", and "Until product goes out the door, checks
don't come in."
OTGH, I remember a story of "The Man Who Never Worked." The guy
carved and painted wooden duck decoys. It never was "work", as the
children who often helped out learned, but a fun thing to do. The
cliche is to find something you love, do it and the money will follow.
So keep that in mind, and have fun.
What I'm looking for is something like the "pet rock" craze of a few
years ago, or the Beany Baby craze a little later. Something that costs
a nickel to build but that people will spend $19.95 for. Over and over.
Millions of times.
Ooh, me, too! My Exotic Tees, Schnazzy Tees, NoteSHADES, and ToolyRoo
products haven't made my million yet, but have kept me in a very
unsteady and quite low stream of income for a decade and a half now.
I'd like to get that big hit once, too.
My high school civics teacher came up with something like that. He sold
bags of sand at county fairs and craft shows. That's right. Bags of
sand. Linen sacks filled with plain old beach sand. Big ones. Little
ones. Medium ones. Nothing special about them at all. And his pricing
was totally helter skelter. A 2" bag of sand could sell for $1 while
its neighbor, same size, would have a $50 tag on it. People snapped 'em
up like you wouldn't believe, paying any price for them. He only did
this for a couple of summers because it was too much hassle traveling
to all the craft fairs setting up and tearing down and dealing with
"disgruntled customers."
Disgruntled customers? Um, things like "My bean bag doesn't DO
anything!" and "My bean bag doesn't talk any more!"?
--
Life is either a daring adventure or nothing. Security does not exist in
nature, nor do the children of men as a whole experience it. Avoiding
danger is no safer in the long run than exposure.
-- Helen Keller