Long story short:
My cousin has spent thousands of hours on one hobby over the past 20 years. So a week ago when she complained to me about a pain that most of the other hobbyists share, you bet I took her damn seriously.
Follow along in this thread as I explore this opportunity together with my cousin. All feedback is welcome!
The problem:
Project Overview:
This is the journey to our first sale, as I see it. Please come with suggestions for how to improve it!
1. Market Research - Soft proof. [X] - DONE!
I choose to keep the idea secret because I deeply respect the drive of some people on here... I know ideas are worthless without execution, but y'all are hustlers like me, so please - let's not hustle against each other.
My cousin has spent thousands of hours on one hobby over the past 20 years. So a week ago when she complained to me about a pain that most of the other hobbyists share, you bet I took her damn seriously.
Follow along in this thread as I explore this opportunity together with my cousin. All feedback is welcome!
The problem:
- Has existed for as long as the hobby has.
- Is more easily solved in other industries/hobbies. So none has targeted this niche yet. Solutions can be adapted, but with some difficulty (+entry!
) - A few solutions exist - but all of them try to prevent the problem for ever happening and offer little support when it already has happened. Also, the prevention-measures are mediocre at best.
- A solution is worth around 50-200$ (+some emotional value) for almost every single individual in this hobby...And the global market for this hobby is huge.
- Is a slightly technical, physical product and the hobbyist needs expert help get started (I've talked to the expert, and he'd charge ~40$ for this service per hobbyist).
- Would cost me around 20$+1$ per month (rough estimate as I have had 0 discussions with suppliers/manufacturers). So I'd hope to sell it for around 50-60$.
- The solution involves several technical parts that could be sourced from several manufacturers - but needs to be put together.
- Sell the product through the expert who needs to help the hobbyists get started.
- Sell them wholesale to related manufacturers, as an extra USP for their customers. Going this route saves the 40$ the expert would charge. (-loss of control?)
- Sell them directly to hobbyists and let them contact the expert themselves.
Project Overview:
This is the journey to our first sale, as I see it. Please come with suggestions for how to improve it!
1. Market Research - Soft proof. [X] - DONE!
- I 3D printed a prototype of the solution using TinkerCAD and a Prusa Mk2 3d printer.
- Then my cousin and I went to an event related to the hobby. Talked to hobbyists - they like the solution and see the need. Price-point of 60$ seems good.
- Met an expert in this field. He liked the prototype, and awaits another version of it to give further feedback. Got the +40$ setup cost estimate from this guy. Might have a future partner/investor here.
- Get feedback on the new prototype from the expert + hobbyists.
- Get detailed costs from a few real suppliers.
- Validate the pricepoint (How? Survey, pre-sells, email gathering?)
- Show it to hobbyists, get more feedback. Develop more if needed.
- Then Crowdfund / Meet with the manufacturers of the related products to see if they want to bundle them up.
- Fulfill the orders from step 3! <--- Not before this step do I count the first sale as being complete.
- Celebrate!
I choose to keep the idea secret because I deeply respect the drive of some people on here... I know ideas are worthless without execution, but y'all are hustlers like me, so please - let's not hustle against each other.
Dislike ads? Become a Fastlane member:
Subscribe today and surround yourself with winners and millionaire mentors, not those broke friends who only want to drink beer and play video games. :-)
Last edited:
Access Restricted: Unlock 1,000,000+ Posts
Stop Peeking Through the Keyhole.
Open the Door.
You hit a wall because the best advice isn't free—it's earned. Since 2007, MJ DeMarco has been active here daily (99.9% active rate), building a war room for entrepreneurs who refuse to settle for mediocrity.
- Active Daily: Life-changing content posted dozens of times every day. No dead threads.
- MJ's Inner Circle: Direct access to the author of The Millionaire Fastlane.
- Vetted Network: Connect with founders scaling to 7 and 8 figures.
- Proven Roadmaps: Strategy over motivation. Execution over "hustle porn."
"SCALED TO 6-FIGURE MONTHS"
"Tips and advice here saved me from huge mistakes, others allowed me to scale my business to 6-figure months."— User MitchC
"INSANE QUALITY OF PEOPLE"
"The number of high quality people I've met from this forum has been insane. All of it predicated on building real value."— User Richard Peck
"You are the average of the five people you surround yourself with."
Are you surrounding yourself with success?
