0 to 200mph

[Colton]

Wow, this forum is AMAZING. I feel like I've grown so much just in these past several weeks of reading through the forum and both of MJ's books. So thank you MJ and thank you to all of the busy entrepreneurs who take the time to spread value here. It's seriously a game changer for a guy like me who hasn't found his footing yet.

So, in the spirit of holding myself accountable and learning as much as possible, I believe it's time for me to join in and document my process. I'm sure I will learn TONS as this thread develops and will also get called on the bullshit that I haven't yet recognized in myself.

My plan is to look back on this thread a year from now and have also provided a valuable resource for newbies (like me) who are starting from scratch with no money. People will be able to watch the whole process unfold in chronological order of building an online business.

Some quick info on me:
- Been set on entrepreneurship since I read Napoleon Hill and Tim Ferriss at age 19. (I turned 22 today.) No successes yet except for lessons learned.

-I start Uni in late September so there is definitely a fire under my a$$ to get the ball rolling before I start there.

-I have found my niche. I've bought the domain name for my site and bought hosting. I start building it today.

My business goal for this year: 200 value vouchers per month in online income by the end of 2017.

Thank you all. I will make every effort to provide value in this thread for others to learn from my process and mistakes.

 

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[Merging Left]

Happy birthday!

You found your niche and bought a domain - do you have a product as well, or are you going to be blogging/selling an info product or course that you're preparing to create?

I only ask because if you're planning to sell a physical product, was the domain a necessary expense? Is the web development the best use of your time currently?

Your goal is $200/month in online income. Great! You have a measurable goal and a deadline for it. Are your actions of developing your website moving your closer to that goal?

Can you make an online sale somewhere else that would validate your product/market AND move you measurably closer to that goal?

I'm not criticizing at all, by the way. I don't have any idea what your plan is from your post outside of $200/mo. Just food for thought.

Don't stop posting your progress, even if it feels like you're moving backwards or not moving at all. A lot of the introduction/progress threads die off after the poster hits a wall. When you look back in a year, you'll learn WAY more from what stopped you than from how quickly you moved forward.

Good luck!

 

[Colton]

Alright, so after lots of research and trying out several different themes and page builders for wordpress, I have settled on the GeneratePress theme and the Elementor page builder for now. Both come highly recommended and I have used them both before to build a nice looking website.

My understanding is that wordpress will be my best option for building a sick looking ecommerce site with benefits such as a large organized database of products, free and paid memberships, ability to sell digital goods, highly mobile responsive, a nice looking blog, and lots of visual customization options.

If anybody has a better suggestion I would certainly love to hear from you. Otherwise, I'll be using the above tools to get after it today.

EDIT: Hi Merging Left, to answer for first question, I do believe that I should be focusing on putting together a website first. With wordpress, it won't be a huge undertaking.

I plan to sell physical products for sure, and I also am working on a really cool digital product that I may sell or may just offer for free as a lead magnet.

My plan has been to promote my website and products through youtube once I have a nice website put together. I am certainly open to other paths but I have not figured out a way to prevalidate my ideas... I have chosen a demographic that I've been a member of for a long time and I feel very strongly that people will find great value in the products I'm going to offer... but I will probably have to market/ build a brand first before I get very much attention.

 

[Colton]

So I while I've been working, I was thinking about what you said about trying to validate my idea. You're right, I should really try my best to do so. (Just haven't quite figured out how yet- it's a completely original concept that I probably couldn't sell on amazon, ebay, or any such marketplace.)

I'll just be real with you guys about what I'm thinking, since it's highly unlikely that anyone will actually run with it (really high barrier-to-entry in terms of time, knowledge, and artistic ability, with no solid evidence to indicate that it will pay off)

I have been working on creating PDF templates for replicating various camouflage patterns. You print them on standard paper, and then overlay onto painter's tape and wax paper. You then cut along the template lines with an x-acto/stencil knife to get precise stencil-stickers. It's a method I've been using for myself to paint my guns/ equipment.

With these documents you can also take them to a printer shop and have them cut the pattern into vinyl sheets and make the stickers that way (much more expensive)

My audience would be hunters, airsofters/ milsim/ role-players, military model-makers, and really anyone who wants to customize their equipment with camo patterns.

I am definitely leveraging my skills here with this project, but it is still A HUGE undertaking to make these PDF templates. I've only done one so far after a few weeks of designing (it's a german ww2 pattern called "flecktarn"). My vision for the website is to have a database full of patterns from militaries around the world, popular camo patterns from video games, and new designs of my own.

I would probably sell these for a few bucks a piece. By the way, (If anyone's read this far) a successful website which operates on a similar mechanism is www.pixiefaire.com/


The main issue here is that I think the only way I'll know FOR SURE whether my idea will sell is after I've put in all the work to build a full website and spread the word around. Having just a few designs on the website probably wouldn't cut it. It could be like a solid year of making these docs until I really get to test it out... scary.

 

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[Merging Left]

Could you design something like 3M DI-NOC adhesive vinyl wrap?
3M DI-NOC Carbon Fiber Vinyl

You could make an image very similar to the carbon fiber ones I linked to and advertise to it and see if anybody would be interested in buying a roll. It could be applied to airsoft/painball/real guns, cars exterior or interior trim, hard shell cases, etc. Anything with a hard surface, really.

A quick search for "3M DI-NOC camo" comes up with nothing, but they offer brushed aluminum, wood grains, and solid colors. I don't see why something like this wouldn't be possible. I'm sure you could find a manufacturer pretty quickly on Alibaba that could produce something like this.

If I'm misunderstanding how it all works, sorry about that. I don't think you need more than 1-2 designs to validate the idea. Design a few common or popular patterns and put them out there and see what happens. If you've read UNSCRIPTED , MJ talks about how to interpret responses from the market mind. You'll either get praise, negative feedback, or silence. If you get silence, keep going until you solicit some kind of response, and make sure that you're getting a large enough sample size (enough responses) to form a reasonable conclusion about whether it could be a success or not.

I think you're making a smart move in trying to validate the idea before spending so much time on an idea that might never gain traction.

 

[Kruiser]

So I while I've been working, I was thinking about what you said about trying to validate my idea. You're right, I should really try my best to do so. (Just haven't quite figured out how yet- it's a completely original concept that I probably couldn't sell on amazon, ebay, or any such marketplace.)

I'll just be real with you guys about what I'm thinking, since it's highly unlikely that anyone will actually run with it (really high barrier-to-entry in terms of time, knowledge, and artistic ability, with no solid evidence to indicate that it will pay off)

I have been working on creating PDF templates for replicating various camouflage patterns. You print them on standard paper, and then overlay onto painter's tape and wax paper. You then cut along the template lines with an x-acto/stencil knife to get precise stencil-stickers. It's a method I've been using for myself to paint my guns/ equipment.

With these documents you can also take them to a printer shop and have them cut the pattern into vinyl sheets and make the stickers that way (much more expensive)

My audience would be hunters, airsofters/ milsim/ role-players, military model-makers, and really anyone who wants to customize their equipment with camo patterns.

I am definitely leveraging my skills here with this project, but it is still A HUGE undertaking to make these PDF templates. I've only done one so far after a few weeks of designing (it's a german ww2 pattern called "flecktarn"). My vision for the website is to have a database full of patterns from militaries around the world, popular camo patterns from video games, and new designs of my own.

I would probably sell these for a few bucks a piece. By the way, (If anyone's read this far) a successful website which operates on a similar mechanism is www.pixiefaire.com/


The main issue here is that I think the only way I'll know FOR SURE whether my idea will sell is after I've put in all the work to build a full website and spread the word around. Having just a few designs on the website probably wouldn't cut it. It could be like a solid year of making these docs until I really get to test it out... scary.

Hey there, you might want to take a look at Shopify rather than WordPress. I know pretty much nothing about web design, but know that it is a bit easier than WordPress because everything is already integrated for you. Also, I know that the guy that runs pixiefaire uses Shopify - he actually has a $10 Udemy course on how to create Shopify sites. Best, Dave

 

[Colton]

Thank you both for your responses

Merging Left: I had been considering printed vinyl sheets (there are a few companies that do something like this) but there are a couple drawbacks:

-Durability: Those sheets would peel off more easily than paint (they are meant to be removable). Airsoft players would be my main market for this product, and our gear tends to get dirty and take a beating. I would worry about the vinyl peeling off during use.

-Cost of manufacture/ inventory: with a digital product, I would be able to offer more options (patterns) to people since there's no cost for inventory or duplicating them. My research so far has indicated that a camouflage printed vinyl kit would be very expensive to have made. (For example there's a popular airsofter who has something like this on his website... it's only offered in one pattern and is around $60!)

There is an advantage to selling pre-printed patterns though... and that is because they would be protected by trademark law. That means I could come up with my own original designs and if someone else wanted to sell those patterns (printed on shirts, vinyl, or anything else) I would be entitled to royalties.

It's an interesting idea! I really appreciate you taking the time to do that research and share with me what you found.

Dave: Thanks for the thoughts. I hadn't given much thought to shopify... but decided to look into them more after reading your post. From what I have been reading, they seem to be a "plug and play" solution for people that aren't comfortable with web design and want the quickest path to market possible. I wasn't able to find any advantages to them compared to woo-commerce (a wordpress plugin) aside from the customer service aspect.

I could be wrong about that though. My impression is that you can do the same things with a wordpress site but you would get your own domain and control over your website without having to pay for extra options.

That is interesting though that Pixiefaire uses shopify... that makes sense since it was on shopify's blog that I heard about them in the first place. Maybe it has to do with their HUGE inventory of products? I wonder if shopify would offer better storage for all of that data (something to research)

Ahhh, the complexities.... ultimately I need to keep my eye on the ball (my goal) and make sure that I choose a realistic path to get there. Not just some fantasy that I THINK is cool. This could be a great idea but I really need to find an objective way to assess it that isn't clouded by emotion. I've also been putting alot of thought into what physical products I could add value to and sell on Amazon.

 

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[Merging Left]

Why not offer both? Offer a digital design with instructions as a DIY, or offer a more expensive vinyl option.

What you're proposing is something where they would cut out the shape and use it as a stencil to paint the shape onto the gun? Offer pre-cut templates and paint deals.

Establish yourself as a one-stop-shop for airsoft design.

But START by trying to sell just one design, as a PDF, and see if you have any takers

 

[Merging Left]

A (very) quick search on Alibaba for "vinyl wrap camo" comes up with a few results. They're advertised as $180-250/roll + shipping, but I've found that the advertised prices are generally lower than the final price. However, it's for nearly 100 FEET of 5 foot (5x100') wrap. How many airsoft guns could you wrap with 500 square feet of vinyl? 500? Even at $50/sqft, you're looking at $25k per tube in revenue.

The vinyl wrap from 3M is fairly cheap. Maybe just buy a small sheet and wrap your own gun and test it out and see how durable it actually is.

You're right that a digital product is cheaper (it's basically free?) and the margins are a lot higher, but don't dismiss a physical product based on assumptions about how it might be. Explore every option. I'm sure there are more choices in here that I can't think of since I'm not immersed in this niche.

 

[Colton]

Wow dude, thanks... repped again!

That's pretty cool, and you're right, I will give the vinyl a try before I discount it. I probably dismissed the idea a little too soon... I took a look at some of those options on alibaba and they are quite interesting.

One thing thing I'll have to consider is whether it would be safe to send some company in China my designs to have them printed. While protected in the US by trademark, there wouldn't be much I could do if the Chinese decided to sell my designs.

It could still be a risk worth taking though, and I know that having the vinyl made in the US is an option because Mossy Oak and Kryptek do it. I'll be digging deeper into this potential pathway, so thanks again!

 

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[Merging Left]

@Walter Hay can probably shed some light into how to mitigate the risk of having your designs stolen by overseas manufacturers.

 

[Walter Hay]

@Walter Hay can probably shed some light into how to mitigate the risk of having your designs stolen by overseas manufacturers.

I would not take the risk on something that would be so easy to copy, or to modify slightly.

Digitally printing your designs in the US should still leave you with a very healthy margin. Consider the freight cost from China when making a comparison against printing in the USA.

Walter

 

[Colton]

It's been about a week since I started this thread and I'm not closer to reaching my goal. I blame my own lack of action-taking and discipline. Time to step things up a notch.

There's a program I bought a long time ago called "30 Days of Discipline", and I never had the strength to see it through. If anybody is interested, there's lots of info about it on the web, but here are some of the key points:

- Get up at 5am every morning for 30 days
- Keep and complete a to-do list with 5-10 items every day
- Have a definite goal and do something bold every day to bring it closer
- There are other rules as well such as standing tall and making eye contact with everyone, no porn or jerking off, dressing well, daily exercise, cold showers, and more.

The reason why I'm putting this out there is because I failed at the program before, and by posting it here I can keep myself accountable. For the next 30 days, I'll be posting here each night to confirm that I did indeed honor this commitment. If I miss a day, then it's because I WUSSED OUT AND FAILED.

I'm sure that 30 days from now I will be a better, more disciplined man and will be much closer to my 2017 business goal.

Since I need to set a goal for the next 30 days, I'll state it here: Build a website and deliver value through it to at least one person.

Tomorrow (day 1) starts at 5am.

 

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[Colton]

Day 1 sucess!

been up since 5am and just wrapping things up now (1:30am). It's good being accountable to the to-do list I wrote last night, otherwise very little if anything would have gotten done today. It also helps that I'm accountable to this forum.

One of the things I did today was create a prototype for one of the products i'd like to sell (a knife). I've got two pretty good options for different websites I can build, and I'm still kind of stuck between the two. I'm planning to work on both as of now.

That's day 1 down, 29 more to go.

 

[Colton]

Day 2 successful.

I followed all the rules of the 30DOD program, and I also started on SinisterLex's "15 days to freedom" program. I'm implementing a general rule from now on: no more television or video games.

Unfortunately I figured out today that my prototype which I spent a lot of time on is no good. It bent on me after some minor use (It's a throwing knife). I must have used the wrong type of steel (although I did my research beforehand and the local metal shops only carry this type of stainless steel... oh well, I learned something new.

Many throwing knives are made from 420j2, a chinese stainless steel that should be very cheap- except the only suppliers I have been able to locate supply it by the ton.

I'm in the process of trying to find a way to have the knives manufactured affordably with a suitable (stainless) steel that won't bend too easily. My next (and only) idea at this point is to visit several cutlery shops and try to extract a little INSIDERS info.

I have several ways I plan to add value to this product, based on over a decade of knife throwing. I always made mine from the generic hardware store metal but want to step up to stainless (which is shatter resistant and also doesn't need to be hardened) if I'm going to be providing others with a good product.

Thanks for reading.

 

[Deleted50669]

Day 2 successful.

oh well, I learned something new.

key

 

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[Colton]

Day 3 complete.
Finished everything I planned to do today. And I had an epiphany. A way to impact millions, maybe billions.

Have some good plans for tomorrow.

 

[Colton]

Day 4, INCOMPLETE.

Didn't get through my whole to-do list today. I'll have to redo day 4 tomorrow.

My biggest hangups at this point are:

1. Sourcing the correct steel for my knives at a margin-friendly price, and making sure it's been properly hardened
2. Finding somebody to laser-cut or CNC my knife shapes for a margin-friendly price

It's pretty easy to find shops that can provide the above services but the prices I've been able to find thus far are nuts. If my cost per knife is $40, then there's no room for profit. I know there is a way though, because there are tons of throwing knives out there selling for under $10 a peice.

On the plus side, I have a pretty great prototype figured out, just need to have it made.

 

[Merging Left]

Are the tons of high quality throwing knives being sold for $10 a piece?

Quality and affordability are generally at odds with each other. You'll need to find the proper balance, based on what your market demands. If given the choice between $10 throwing knives that are brittle and break over time vs. $50 knives with lifetime warranties (or whatever justification you have for charging more), are you certain people would choose $50?

 

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[Colton]

Are the tons of high quality throwing knives being sold for $10 a piece?

Quality and affordability are generally at odds with each other. You'll need to find the proper balance, based on what your market demands. If given the choice between $10 throwing knives that are brittle and break over time vs. $50 knives with lifetime warranties (or whatever justification you have for charging more), are you certain people would choose $50?

Hi, to answer your question- there are not many high quality throwing knives for $10, and there are NONE that address the needs of the niche of throwers that I'm targeting (and which I'm a member of myself).

There are people out there who will pay $100 for a high end throwing knife, but that's not my target audience necessarily. I think $10 profit per knife should be reasonable.

The thing is, lots of those junk generic throwing knives could be made better with small tweaks that shouldn't add much to the cost.

What I'm planning to do (for now) is have my knife "blanks" cut from steel plate and then add the finishing touches myself (sanding and sharpening). I should have no problem reaching my goal of $200 value vouchers per month doing this, as long as I can find affordable steel and machining services.

When orders really start to pick up, I'll need to look into outsourcing the rest of the process for scaling up.

 

[Colton]

Day 7 complete.

I didn't post daily updates for the past few days, but still been following the program.

To avoid cluttering up this thread with excess posts, I'll just post my 30-day update here once I've finished the challenge (30 days of discipline).

Fortunately, I am pretty confident and clear about what I should be working on to get results.

 

[Scuur]

I am bit confused.

I understand the 30-day discipline challenge. But whats the point? It's like telling people you're on a diet. But only actually losing weight for the first two weeks. If you want to be more disciplined, change your life style to only waking up at 5 am and having a process for every single day regardless of a challenge or not. Otherwise, at the end of the 30 days, you'll just go back to being the same old you.

Plus what happened to the airsoft vinyl idea? Throwing knives, starting a business impacting billions of people? You need to focus on one thing. This again goes back to my discipline point, you don't actually have any. You need to get over your FOMO, focus on the airsoft idea. If you try to do both your setting yourself up for failure. Send some templates to major players on youtube. Call all the major airsoft vendors like airsoftgi showcase your idea. At this point your not going 0 to 200 you're going in reverse.

 

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[Colton]

I am bit confused.

I understand the 30-day discipline challenge. But whats the point? It's like telling people you're on a diet. But only actually losing weight for the first two weeks. If you want to be more disciplined, change your life style to only waking up at 5 am and having a process for every single day regardless of a challenge or not. Otherwise, at the end of the 30 days, you'll just go back to being the same old you.

Plus what happened to the airsoft vinyl idea? Throwing knives, starting a business impacting billions of people? You need to focus on one thing. This again goes back to my discipline point, you don't actually have any. You need to get over your FOMO, focus on the airsoft idea. If you try to do both your setting yourself up for failure. Send some templates to major players on youtube. Call all the major airsoft vendors like airsoftgi showcase your idea. At this point your not going 0 to 200 you're going in reverse.

Hey Scuur, I appreciate the honesty.

The reason why I've posted here about the 30 day program was simply to keep myself accountable. But since I'm on day 8 and it's going pretty smoothly, I'm not too worried about quitting and I don't think it's necessary to post updates every day.

I do agree that I lack discipline- that's why I'm doing this! There's significant evidence that sticking to a habit(s) for 30 days will cause it to become cemented and natural. I'm not planning on ditching these habits after 30 days is up. Note that in Unscripted , MJ recommended Miracle Morning by Hal Elrod, which is based on the same principle.

As far as choosing one thing to work on, my main goal now is the same as when I started my 30 day challenge. I put the vinyl idea on hold for now because you are right that chasing too many things at once will get me nowhere.

 

[Colton]

Okay, I f*cked up.

I spun my wheels for the last 30 days or so, unable to commit to ONE project. I don't have confidence in myself anymore, and my desire to become financially free is burning me alive.

I found this thread by SinisterLex: GOLD - 15 Days to Freedom - Make Money Copywriting in 15 Days or Less awhile back but didn't stick to it, reasoning that I could do it my own way I guess.

It's clear now that I don't know what it takes to get there. But I know that if I follow his words and absorb the mindset lessons then I will get there quickly. So I'm committing myself completely to take action on the above thread.

I just finished up with drill 1, will be doing #2 tomorrow. My selfless task today was to clean up the garage for my dad.

Over the next 30 days, I will earn $1000 online (thus smashing my $200 goal for 2017) and leave college.