Thread: My Path to the Fastlane!

WOW! I'm almost speechless... I mean this was very exciting. I almost felt like it was my own story I was reading. I'm very excited for you & your progress Likwid. It's great to see someone's plan unfold like this. And although this doesn't relate to the areas of business that I'm familiar with... there's so much to pull from this!

I especially love this last part about talking to everyone and being nice AND about all of the due diligence you put into ensuring your business' success. You don't mess around sir!

Thanks to everyone who is reading, commenting, give me suggestions and helping out in any way possible. Keep it coming!

It's finally time for an update. I'll try to make it quick, even though a lot has happened, since I will probably be updating again at the end of the week. This is what has happened in the last month:

-We decided to hold up on the patent for a bit. We have a provisional in and don't need to file a patent until the middle of April so what we decided to do is to try and get some sales first. Try and get our first customer and then a few more customers. We want to see how much interest in this before we go and spend a ton of money on a patent, which we may never end up getting since there have been previous patents that were similar in purpose, but completely different in design.

-We had to change the packaging a bit since we couldn't make the cover as clear as we wanted to. The clearer we made it, the less durable it would be. We didn't want to sacrifice quality for the packaging. So we made some adjustments in the packaging which I think may be better then the previous packaging.

-I was with my friend, the web developer, yesterday and he showed me the face of the website. It was about half way complete but it looked amazing. I can't wait to see the final design. It should be ready in a month.

-I spoke to a friend of mine about producing a 30-60 second commercial. He gave me an awesome price and he's good at what he does. I know it will be of higher quality then getting it done by a local cable network. The video will be an infomercial style video and will be put on the website.

-My partner also called me today and told me that he was at a family gathering today and his cousin has an uncle that is in some kind of upper management position at Walmart. He sent an email out to him this morning and we are waiting for an answer. Even though it is not my goal to get the product into a Walmart immedietly, it would be great to get some input from him and see what it will take to get it into large retailers in the future

-The biggest news of all is that finally, after waiting so long and fixing all the minor problems, we were given a final price for the mold, making the product and the packaging. I'm very happy with the price. It will be under .50 just as expected. We're just waiting for a phone call tonight because my partner, the ultimate negotiator, wants to knock a few more cents off the price of the product and the mold. I'm almost positive that by the end of the week, we will give them the OK to start making the mold which will take 3 weeks. After that they will send us a sample of the final product to see if any changes are necessary (hopefully they won't be!) then we can ok it will take take another 7-10 days to produce our first order.

Almost there! I can taste it now! Another update coming soon!

GRRRRRRR! Chinese New Year! My manufacturer forgot to mention that they were taking off for a few weeks. Looks like I'll be getting started February 1st. Oh well. More time to prepare and work on the website!

So just you know, I've been keeping track of your progress and I'm very anxious to find out how it all unfolds. Thanks for taking the time to share your experience with us. I have learn a great deal just following your "process". Keep plowing through, you're almost there!

Originally Posted by Likwid24

GRRRRRRR! Chinese New Year! My manufacturer forgot to mention that they were taking off for a few weeks. Looks like I'll be getting started February 1st. Oh well. More time to prepare and work on the website!

You probably already looked into it, but you can certainly sell this product on amazon. No need to get qualified either!

I can use a little fastlane help right now. I found something out today that I don't know if I should take as good news or bad news.

I was reading a magazine I recieve a few times a year called Painting Retailer Magazine. It is sent out to retailers across the country and advertises many new products. I was reading it this morning and came across an add for a product called a "Brush Vest" by a company named Wilco. They are a manufacturing company in the U.S. that produces tools.

They just came out with a product similar to ours. It does have many differences but it pretty much serves the same purpose. I still think my product is far more superior. There are many reasons I would think customers would chose our product over theirs if given a choice of the two.

My fear is that they have been around for a long time, which means that they probably have connections with many retailers and distributors. They were at last years National Hardware Show in Vegas to showcase their product so they also have a 1 year head start on us. Their also a decent size company and I would assume that they have the resources to spend a significant amount of money on marketing.

There are two ways I look at this:

1) This can be good for us since we know now that there must be a need for our product if there's a much larger company producing it. It can stir up some competition and help us get into to stores to compete with them. Plus there's an opportunity that they would want to buy us out.

I really do belive our product is superior in many ways and I think we will be able to market better and more creative.Their adds are very blah. There's no packaging. Not much info on their web page and very few fans on their facebook page.

2) This can realy hurt us because we might not be able to compete with them financially. We don't have nearly as many contacts or experience in the industry. Stores and distributors migt be loyal to them. Theirs is also made in the U.S. And ours is made in China.


Any thoughts?????? Do you think I should still keep going???



Here's their facebook page. Check it out: http:// http://www.facebook.com/page...29647377084177

Originally Posted by Likwid24

I can use a little fastlane help right now. I found something out today that I don't know if I should take as good news or bad news.

I was reading a magazine I recieve a few times a year called Painting Retailer Magazine. It is sent out to retailers across the country and advertises many new products. I was reading it this morning and came across an add for a product called a "Brush Vest" by a company named Wilco. They are a manufacturing company in the U.S. that produces tools.

They just came out with a product similar to ours. It does have many differences but it pretty much serves the same purpose. I still think my product is far more superior. There are many reasons I would think customers would chose our product over theirs if given a choice of the two.

My fear is that they have been around for a long time, which means that they probably have connections with many retailers and distributors. They were at last years National Hardware Show in Vegas to showcase their product so they also have a 1 year head start on us. Their also a decent size company and I would assume that they have the resources to spend a significant amount of money on marketing.

There are two ways I look at this:

1) This can be good for us since we know now that there must be a need for our product if there's a much larger company producing it. It can stir up some competition and help us get into to stores to compete with them. Plus there's an opportunity that they would want to buy us out.

I really do belive our product is superior in many ways and I think we will be able to market better and more creative.Their adds are very blah. There's no packaging. Not much info on their web page and very few fans on their facebook page.

2) This can realy hurt us because we might not be able to compete with them financially. We don't have nearly as many contacts or experience in the industry. Stores and distributors migt be loyal to them. Theirs is also made in the U.S. And ours is made in China.


Any thoughts?????? Do you think I should still keep going???

Competition is a part of business - you have to embrace it. If your product is superior, go for it.

ALWAYS keep going. Remember what NJ said in the book. Everything is ALWAYS being done. You just need to do it better. But more importantly MARKET it better. You know I train dogs and I have to compete with big stores and lower prices such as PetSmart and PetCo. But I go out and personally talk to groomers and vets and rescue organizations and have a much more personal relationship. Obviously that is not my Fastlane idea unless I somehow get a TV show or something. But the relationships I have with them and the marketing I do will cause people to refer me more. Even Banfield, the vets in PetSmart will refer me because they like my training methods better as they offer a more personal touch. Just DO IT BETTER.

Competition paves the way for the market education, let them spend the money on the 1st wave, and you will be close behind them, WAY ahead of the 2nd generation copy cats.
at least your on the right track, Wilco Wont get them all, Just find your angle that's a clear difference from them, and your good to go.

Thanks Everyone for the advice!

I just got a boost of confidence back. I got discouraged for a second until I really thought about it. They always say, "Don't re-invent the wheel". I know my product is better and now I feel even more confident that there is a need for it.

Plus I feel that we have put together an excellent marketing plan, which I doubt Wilco has done because they have so many other products to worry about. This is just going to make me work harder!

Chinese New Year Ends tomorrow so we will be giving the go ahead for the mold injection on Wednesday!

Good, you have worked too hard to let that stop you now.

Originally Posted by Likwid24

Thanks Everyone for the advice!

I just got a boost of confidence back. I got discouraged for a second until I really thought about it. They always say, "Don't re-invent the wheel". I know my product is better and now I feel even more confident that there is a need for it.

Plus I feel that we have put together an excellent marketing plan, which I doubt Wilco has done because they have so many other products to worry about. This is just going to make me work harder!

Chinese New Year Ends tomorrow so we will be giving the go ahead for the mold injection on Wednesday!

I caught this thread by accident and probably just spent the past hour catching up on it...I think I have some good advice for future reference if it can't help you now. Sorry about that puck incident too - I am an Islanders fan so I felt like I have taken pucks to the face since 1993! Anyway...

First off you sounds like you are extremely smart and aggressive which you need to be. Kudos to you. First off about Chinese New Year...now that Chinese New Year is over you may start running into excuses from factories because now they are all starting to gear up for ther 4th Quarter orders...especially Christmas. So you are really going to need to stay on top of them!

Now that you own the molds you also need to go back to the factoy and discuss with them to rebate that mold charge at a certain quantiy. Maybe 100K pieces, maybe 250K pieces, but at some quantity they should rebate you for the mold. Also, I forgot exactly what you paid for the molds but even $1K would be too much for a mold. Ive had molds done for cast metal items; glass; polyresin etc all for no more than $500. Also make sure that when they quoted the mold that they are quoting USD and not RMB.

I know you mentioned that you wanted to start selling on the internet, but you also had connections at True Value. Assuming that they would need to buy domestic have you given any thought as to how you would ship them? This is my opinion, but you have put a lot into it and I would try working on selling to retailers. You may not have the logistics to sell to a Wal Mart, but you may be able to hand smaller mass chains with maybe 60 stores to maybe 300 stores...and let things grow from there.

Lastly, I wouldn't at all be discouraged by a similar product. They obviously haven't found a way to be successful with it and may not have really tried if they are making money elsewhere. If you manufacture, market, and sell it properly you kick the crap out of them. First to market wins.

Update:

We have finally started the mold process! This should take about 3 weeks and as soon as they are ready, they will Fed-Ex us a few samples. If it is up to our expectations, we will give the the OK to start producing our first order, which will be for 10,000 pieces.

In the meantime, we are all preparing for our first run. We are making new contacts almost every day. We are coming up with a budget and projected expenses going forward. And doing everything we can to get a head start once our product is in.

We may have caught somewhat of a lucky break last week too. My partner had been trying to get in touch with a magazine, that is distributed to almost every painting and hardware retailer in the country, to find out advertising prices. They have a circulation of around 26,000.

He finally reached the guy in charge on Friday. As he was telling him about our product, the guy stopped him. He said he loved the idea and couldn't believe that there was nothing out the like it. He also loved our story and the fact that we are are actually painters. He liked it so much that he said instead of charging us for an ad, he would do something better for us. He is going to write an article and post pictures in the "What's New" section of the magazine. He also offered to introduce us to some of his connections in our area and said he would give us his list of retailers in his directory!

Hopefully the guy is sincere and it seemed like he was. I felt that he truly took an interest in us. This really could be a huge help early on.

So Far things are going great and moving along fast. I just can't wait to have the product in our hands so we can get rolling! It seems like an eternity.

If he writes an article that will be HUGE!

Originally Posted by crockbar

Sorry about that puck incident too - I am an Islanders fan so I felt like I have taken pucks to the face since 1993! Anyway...

I feel more sorry for you being an Islander fan. LOL. I actually went to a game the other night and got tickets from scalpers 5 rows back from the exact spot I got hit with the puck. It was kinda creepy.

Originally Posted by crockbar

First off about Chinese New Year...now that Chinese New Year is over you may start running into excuses from factories because now they are all starting to gear up for ther 4th Quarter orders...especially Christmas. So you are really going to need to stay on top of them!

Thanks for the Advice. I'm on top of them as it is. I'll get on them a little more now.

Originally Posted by crockbar

I know you mentioned that you wanted to start selling on the internet, but you also had connections at True Value. Assuming that they would need to buy domestic have you given any thought as to how you would ship them? This is my opinion, but you have put a lot into it and I would try working on selling to retailers. You may not have the logistics to sell to a Wal Mart, but you may be able to hand smaller mass chains with maybe 60 stores to maybe 300 stores...and let things grow from there.

This is our plan. Of course our main goal is to get it into stores. But we are not leaving anything on the table. I'm going to sell it any way I can. Website, Amazon, Online paint supply stores, Retailers, Distributors and any other way I can sell them and get the word out there. I feel that eventually we will be focusing mainly on retailers with the hopes of eventually getting picked up by a large chain store.


Thanks for following my thread!

Waiting.... Waiting.... Waiting.... for the mold. At least I got a date of March 15th for completion. Less than 3 weeks away. Working my ass off making connections and putting together the website in the meantime.

I will also be posting my final packaging design on here soon to get some feedback.

This should be our final packaging design. Any feedback would be greatly appreciated. Thanks!

This is the permanent sticker that's going to go on the rear of the cover:



This is going to be a peel off sticker that's going on the front of the cover:

Whats the difference in price point between yours and your competitors, this will make a difference. If I had to guess, yes they have a good jump on you because of current distribution, but they wont get into the big chains most likely. I'm curious what material did you get your mold made out of; did you go the expensive route and get the heavy duty ones? I concur with Zendolphin, if your competitors sales take off then I would hit the big chains and use your competitors sales figures, if possible to obtain, as a benchmark to show them what their missing out on, since they will probably sell more than you initially.

Hey Liquid,

First off I need to comment how bad my Islanders are and the organization is a disgrace...but you knew that! Frustrating! Anyway...

My first comment is take a step back and think about your industry...who is your customer...it's painting and construction. I feel you absolutely need to have verbage in Spanish. Another note - since you are using a peel off sticker you need to have the right kind...one that peels off easy and doesnt take an hour to peel the whole thing off because they use poor glue. It should be an easy peel label with no remnants left over. Check with your factory on that one. Move your UPC to your easy peel label so you can utilize the permanant cover for more information or artwork. For example maybe you move your star with the 5X longer to that location so people see it every time the product is used.