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Litza

New Contributor
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Apr 24, 2018
18
13
Valencia, Spain
So I wanted something new. And after looking around for a couple of years, I finally found something that seemed interesting and fresh enough for me to do. Something I felt passionate about! I want to create a brand that will sell life-style furniture for cats and dogs. To be more specific, beds that are beautiful enough to fit a well designed and decorated home.

I have experience selling and managing projects, but I know nothing about the furniture industry. Normally that would stop me from continuing, but for some reason the idea didn´t go away. But something told me I could make that happen. And be happier.

After some investigation I realized that´s a product that´s not being offered in Spain yet. But that was all, there´s not much more info about the matter. My choices were: do I forget it since I have no idea if there´s potential? Or do I try, and learn as I go? What would you guys have done? Or how do you tell if something can be promising or interesting?

I decided to invest a certain amount of time and money to investigate. So far, I´ve studied the market, defined the business idea a bit better, tried a small customer research (and I say tried because the number of respondents is not enough to tell me much), gave some thought about other countries where I could also sell the product, studied the profile of the customer in those countries and defined how I´d sell to my target customer.

I initially thought about acting as an agent or representative of an already existing brand. But that didn´t seem like an option, now that it´s so easy to buy certain things from anywhere online. So I decided I should create the product that I have in mind. I talked to (and learned from) a lot of people: interior designers, architects and product designers. And ended up hiring a product designer.

Today as as write, I find myself counting down the days to next week, when I´ll finally be introduced to the first drafts of what´s going to be a great part of my future. A challenging but extremely exciting future I see ahead.

Any thoughts (of any kind) are more than welcome! Thanks in advance
 
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Strm

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Feb 4, 2018
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Estonia
Hello!

That is cool! I personally love pets and stylish pet furniture. So I truly hope you succeed!
I've thought about creating something in a similar niche as well but right now it is nothing more than an idea in the back of my mind. It is good that you've taken the first steps and started!

Here's a small handmade "loghouse" I built for my bunny. Maybe it can offer some inspiration to you as well. :)

Jassumaja.jpg

Good luck!
 
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Litza

New Contributor
User Power
Value/Post Ratio
72%
Apr 24, 2018
18
13
Valencia, Spain
Hello!

That is cool! I personally love pets and stylish pet furniture. So I truly hope you succeed!
I've thought about creating something in a similar niche as well but right now it is nothing more than an idea in the back of my mind. It is good that you've taken the first steps and started!

Here's a small handmade "loghouse" I built for my bunny. Maybe it can offer some inspiration to you as well. :)

View attachment 19342

Good luck!

Hello Strm!

Thank you so much!!!

That´s the reason why I thought about this niche in particular, I´m really passionate about dogs! And I want to be able to organize my time and place of work in a way that I can spend more time with my four-legged daughter. Why not?! :)

I definitely encourage you to keep your idea alive in a way that you can execute it when the time comes! Please let me know if I can be of help (by the way, can we private message each other? I´m still learning how the forum operates).

Last but not least, thanks for sharing the loghouse!!! I loved it!!! It has a light and everything, right? Have you thought about trying to sell it in Etsy, for example?

Let´s keep in touch!
 

Litza

New Contributor
User Power
Value/Post Ratio
72%
Apr 24, 2018
18
13
Valencia, Spain
Hello world!!!

I wasn´t planning to return or write again so soon, but I thought that maybe elaborating so much wouldn´t really relate my experience.

Today´s tasks:

- search for possible importers/distributors of furniture in the US and the UK. I don´t want to have my hands tied till I have the prototype or a brochure. Hence, I´ll track possible partners in advance, put their contact details organized in a file, so that once I have something palpable in my hands, they´ll already be somewhat identified. If anyone knows anyone who works with that, please be so kind to let me know
- finish the structure (coding) of the website

Tomorrow:

- investigate how to patent the product in Spain, Brazil, UK and US
 
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powderhound100

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Apr 20, 2014
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Litza

New Contributor
User Power
Value/Post Ratio
72%
Apr 24, 2018
18
13
Valencia, Spain
Hey Litza,

A few years ago I used to listen to Dan Andrews on the lifestylebusiness podcast, I know they used to sell cat furniture. Could be worth looking into what you can learn from them.

Found these from just a quick google search.

#4: Modern Cat Designs - A High-End Cat Furniture Business from Build My Online Store - E-Commerce, Entrepreneurship, & Travel
http://www.tropicalmba.com/the-cat-is-out-of-the-bag/
Processes, Tech and Cat Furniture: An Interview with Dan Andrews

Best of luck, look forward to seeing your progress.

Hello Powderhound100,

Thank you so much for taking the time to share that. I´ll definitely take a close look at everything (and anything beyond that gets out of it).

Have an amazing day!
 

Litza

New Contributor
User Power
Value/Post Ratio
72%
Apr 24, 2018
18
13
Valencia, Spain
hello Everyone!

Things start to be more palpable as the product is shaping up!

Last week the product designer presented 3 ideas based on the briefing I shared with her, and my first reaction was ´interesting, but that´s not even close what I want´. Two of them didn´t even take into consideration the things that were in the briefing, like production price, for example. It hit me that the briefing and most important points that I elaborated to her weren´t included in the contract she elaborated. Lesson learned! Instead of saying ´I see you didn´t include the content I asked you to, but I´ll trust you´, I´ll definitely insist to have everything on paper next time.

So, at the end of the meeting I told her I needed to think about which design was my favorite one, so that I could organize my ideas and think of a polite and constructive way to say ´nope´.

A few months ago I´d definitely have told something right after, be really anxious, focusing on how to deal with the fact that I wasn´t fully protected with the contract. But now I don´t even recognize myself sometimes. I´ve decided that I want all this to be a learning process as well. The main goal is to create something that´s successful, but I also want to look back and see I was successful dealing with every challenge that was on the way.

So I decided I shouldn´t despair, and started to (again), find ideas of reference. I found something really close to what I want and thought: now I´m going to ´sell´ this as a combination of the 3 designs she presented (will that be possible?, I wondered, haha). Worst case scenario, I´ll have to pay her again to design something really specific, elaborate a better contract, or go with another product designer.

I meet her, say I love the 3 designs she presented, but the reason why I couldn´t make up my mind was because each had a special feature, that I´d like together instead of separated. I present the new idea, she notices it´s completely different, say I wouldn´t need her to put that into practice, and I say ´of course I do! Moreover, I want to work with you, I know only you can make this real´. And it worked!!! A few days later she presents another idea and there it was, almost perfect!!!

Some things still need to be adjusted, especially so that the product can be packed and shipped in a better way, but it´s shaping up!!! And now I´m really happy with the new design and proud with the way I handled the first challenge of my business! I also realize that how simple or complex something is, has to do with how we face things.
 
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