>CyberMace wrote:
>I'm curious about how well you homegrown gadget-builders do. I have
>quite a few ideas of my own sitting on the shelf, and have never been
>able to get anyone to tell me how well their business actually does.
>I don't want actual numbers, but basically there are three possible
>ranges: 1. If I counted the effort I put in on these, I'm losing
>money. 2. I'm breaking even or making a reasonable profit, not enough
>to quit my day job but still worth it. 3. This is going so well that
>I quit my day job and am concentrating on expanding my product line.
>
>I just need to know what kind of a market is out there, I have no
>idea how many people own soldering irons and are interested in
>building kits.
Garrett,
You'll find that there are folks --happily-- in all three of your
described levels. That's the nature of business; and you won't really
get an idea of how YOU'LL do... UNTIL, YOU DO!<G>
Reading your message I thought of several folks I've worked with, or
hung out with; all with "electronics" products and "home business"
thinking. Among them are members of all the levels you describe. Even
on this list we have folks like embeddedtronics.com who say on their
website that they're really just paying for the new projects with
revenues from the old; and yet we have others who are most certainly
doing something more akin to "production". Jeremy doing throughholes
comes to mind (Hope I remembered that name correctly; apologies if
not) And we have a member in South America who posted that he's
making 200 boards a week...
Like the song from Everlast, which says "You know where it ends, yo
It usually depends on where you start..."
Not so much that you have money or not(which may be what the SONG is
saying), but rather what you set out to do... Knowing what YOU are
trying to get out of making, selling, marketing that thing--whatever
it is-- is the first step.
I've designed and sold products my entire adult life(my entire life
actually<G>) and sometimes I've fit your #1, other times I fit #2 or
#3.
The second step is to DECIDE. Then take action on what you decide to
try to accomplish. (Being willing to modify your decision based on
results can be a good thing. OR a bad thing. Sometimes you're better
off staying at level #2. A whole lot of folks have destroyed
themselves by trying to grow something that really was suited to the
level it was at.
As the song continues: "Then you really might know what it`s like"
Hope this helps,
Ballendo
P.S. I know of several guys who quit their day jobs to continue
their "sideline business". A few are millionaires. Others are well-
off. And others are doing about what they were doing before; but
enjoying it more. Just to mention three: One made pc boards at night
as an engineer at Atari. Soon he was making boards for the whole
engineering dept. Now he owns a very successful PC Board house in the
CA mountains, and works three days a week.
Another used to work in an electronics store, doing midi conversions
for organs as a sideline, and last time I saw him he was driving a
new truck<G>
Another is currently pedaling in preparation for the Athen
paraOlympics--he's a cyclist-- and has a growing online business
selling cnc related peripheral products. He hasn't left his day job
yet; but it appears he has what it takes to do so in the not too
distant future...
There are lots of others who've started small and now have major
presence in the marketplace. Roger G of musclewires fame recently
wrote a couple of articles about how a piece of wire from his hall
closet ended up on Mars (in Servo or Nuts and Volts magazine)
You're wise to want to know how others are doing; But it ultimately
won't say A THING about how YOU will do... From what I've seen of you
online; you can make a good living selling stuff that you've
designed. But realise that it is FAR more work in the beginning than
working for someone else.
Here are Four good books:
The secret money machine by Don Lacaster (tinaja.com)
The E-myth by Michael Gerber
The Cashflow Quadrant by Robert Kiyosaki
Growing a Business by Paul Hawken
--- In
Homebrew_PCBs@yahoogroups.com, "cybermace5" <cybermace5@y...>
wrote:
> > And I am sorry that I blathered-on, for so long, ∗AGAIN∗. (This
> business has basically "taken over my life", as you can probably
tell,
> hehe. But it IS ∗quite∗ enjoyable...)
> >
> > Cheers,
> >
> > Tom Gootee
>
>
> I'm curious about how well you homegrown gadget-builders do. I have
> quite a few ideas of my own sitting on the shelf, and have never
been
> able to get anyone to tell me how well their business actually
does. I
> don't want actual numbers, but basically there are three possible
> ranges: 1. If I counted the effort I put in on these, I'm losing
> money. 2. I'm breaking even or making a reasonable profit, not
enough
> to quit my day job but still worth it. 3. This is going so well
that I
> quit my day job and am concentrating on expanding my product line.
>
> I just need to know what kind of a market is out there, I have no
idea
> how many people own soldering irons and are interested in building
kits.