8 Eyewear: From Idea, to Launch, to Growth (And Quitting the Job)

[Catalyst]

For fast service, hands off brokerage, and not establishing accounts, its not bad. You can get it cheaper but will need to establish an account with an LCL carrier and coordinate brokerage, but even so you aren't going to chop it more than in half. And thats gonna come via vessel not air.

 

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[Vick]

New E-com site is up.

http://iwear8.com/

Still a work in progress.

Keepin things simple and clean.

I'll be tweaking it slightly up until launch.

Also, REAL pics will be added

 

[throttleforward]

Looks great! I'd be interested to see what your new conversion rates are after running some traffic to it.

 

[Vick]

i as well.

gonna throw some ads up in a hour or so.

do some tests

 

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[tafy]

Your quote sounds expensive, you shouldnt deal with DHL directly as its really expensive

Get a freight forwarder to sort it out for you and get a better deal

This is a UK company but they are awesome, maybe they can help you

http://www.transglobal.org.uk

 

[ScottyMoll]

New E-com site is up.

http://iwear8.com/

Still a work in progress.

Keepin things simple and clean.

I'll be tweaking it slightly up until launch.

Also, REAL pics will be added

Looks great! Did you hire a professional to take the photos on the website, or did you do it yourself?

 

[Vick]

Looks great! Did you hire a professional to take the photos on the website, or did you do it yourself?

Thanks.

I did everything.

The photos are actually renders of the 3d model I made in software.

I'll have some real pics in there when I get my final samples. In a week or so.

 

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[BGLefty]

Great job on the website...or should I say...Gr8 job on the website...

I assume you have your product now...did you end up going with DHL or did you find another way? I'm in Canada as well, so I'm curious how that worked out for you.

 

[Vick]

Great job on the website...or should I say...Gr8 job on the website...

I assume you have your product now...did you end up going with DHL or did you find another way? I'm in Canada as well, so I'm curious how that worked out for you.

Thanks.

No, I don't have my shipment yet.

Next month.

Ya, DHL is my Broker, for a trial run. They'll be doing everything for me for this first run.

 

[LibertyForMe]

Just something I noticed when looking at your site; the pictures of inside of the sunglasses is strange. I love the front and side views, but the picture from the very back doesn't do anything for me.

I think what is happening is an optical illusion, called the 'hollow head' illusion. See this video to understand what I mean.

I dunno, might just be me, but I would maybe replace that pic with a different angle or a close up or something once you do the actual product pics.

 

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[Vick]

Just something I noticed when looking at your site; the pictures of inside of the sunglasses is strange. I love the front and side views, but the picture from the very back doesn't do anything for me.

I think what is happening is an optical illusion, called the 'hollow head' illusion. See this video to understand what I mean.

I dunno, might just be me, but I would maybe replace that pic with a different angle or a close up or something once you do the actual product pics.

lol interesting.

that view looks inverted to you?

even on this page? http://iwear8.com/pages/v-1

the shadows kinda kills the illusion

 

[Vick]

I ran some Ad's on Facebook the other day to test the new website.

They performed fairly well, I'd have to say much better then my old site.

For testing stuff I usually only spend 100$

Results:

14 Subscribers
9 Waiting List Orders
1 Sponsorship Requests
1 Bulk Wholesale Requests

Again, like previous tests, we'll see who actually opens there wallet. But it's looking pretty good.

 

[MTF]

$100 for these results? I know it's not sales yet, but these numbers look VERY good.

What do you mean by sponsorship request? What about bulk wholesale request? Will you sell your products in bulk?

 

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[Vick]

Sponsorship Requests is from Athletes who want to help promote our products for us.

I had an athlete from here > http://www.p1aquax.com/ send me a request. He's doing very well, I checked him out thoroughly and is always on the podium. He won 1st place overall in 2013. So ya I'll probably be sending him a swag package.

As for Wholesale, yes, I'll be doing bulk orders. I don't see why not. A sale is a sale right

 

[wilddog]

I'm not using a fulfillment company. Gonna ship everything myself until I need a fulfillment company or a bigger house.

What do you mean if I use there shipping company?

Unfortunately, the cost of shipping inside Canada and to the US from Canada is pretty damn expensive. Shipping prices in the US are peanuts compared to what we pay. I've crunched the numbers several times and really the only feasible method is using a fulfilment house based in the US. Even with the additional packing fee they charge, shipping is still cheaper than up here...

 

[Vick]

Ya. Been noticing that lately. Looking into that stuff now.

Not sure what I'm gonna do yet.

I would prefer to ship stuff on my own fir awhile.

Trying to work something out with FedEx because its right beside my house.

 

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[Vick]

Received my yearly evaluation raise today at my cog job.

An extra $488 a year. 0.9% increase.

I guess I didn't make the cut.

Can't wait till I can walk out this door on my own.

 

[Vick]

Small update

When we launch EIGHT we'll be accepting BitCoin as one of our payment options. For those already using the currency.

I don't see this Digital Currency trend going away in the future, and seeing as were establishing our brand online, it makes sense to test the waters with Digital Currency.

 

[ddzc]

Great progress Vick!

 

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[Vick]

Thanks bud

 

[Vick]

Launch Date is approaching

For those that aren't on the newsletter list.

http://eepurl.com/0pB8D

 

[Bowden]

Probably my favorite progress thread on the site

Straight grinding!

 

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[Kyle Tully]

AWESOME thread.

Should be required reading.

So many progress threads start off with a boom and then silence at the first sign of a hurdle.

This is the perfect example of execution, process, and perseverance over mere ideas.

I bet a dozen people who read the first post though "damn I had an idea for sunglasses before", but how many would have stuck it out for this long and battled through what you have?

Well done mate.

 

[Vick]

thanks guys !

 

[Vick]

sooooo.

I got my final 8 samples last night.

Little story behind this.

The first 8 samples they sent me 2 months ago were all wrong, as I stated before. So I made the appropriate changes, and sent them the renders. They OK'd them.

Now, I was waaaay behind schedule already, and she knew I wanted these ASAP, so my manufacturer suggested that I go into full production of the new versions before signing off the final samples, to save time, she suggested this about about 2 months ago, right after I sent her the final renders.

She confirmed to me that the final renders I sent her would be exactly as I designed.

After a day or 2 of thinking about it. I decided to OK the full production without seeing the final samples. This was mostly based off the small mistakes with the 1st 8 samples they sent. and usually revisions get better, not worse. So my chances of having the product correct were pretty good.

Anyway, I took a HUGE risk. Probably a stupid one.

Last night I received the final 8 samples, and in about 3 weeks I receive the full production. Sooooo, whatever was inside that box they sent me last night, was what I was getting. At least for the first production anyway. If they were all wrong, I was shipping them anyway.

I've been a stress case for the past 2 months, wondering if I made a huge mistake. This is something I would def not recommend. But I decided to take the risk anyway, something was just telling me that they would get them right.

Soooooo, I opened the box last night.

Every pair were perfect!

PHEW!

So, after taking that huge stupid risk I am able to launch about 2 months earlier. Again, I don't recommend this, it was a decision based off impatience and my gut.

But in the end, I lucked out and my manufacturer came through phenomenally.

At any rate. I'm super stoked!

I'll upload some final images of every pair in a day or so.

Next few months should be interesting.

We'll find out if all my hard work over the past 18 months has been well invested.

Time for the next chapter.

Selling!

 

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[Vick]

Great News!

My cargo has been confirmed to ship August 20th

So F*ckin stoked!!! They actually finished earlier then expected. Finally a little luck. And the product looks great, better then I expected. I just hope everyone who buys feels the same way.

If all goes well with my DHL rep I should receive the shipment last week of August. And be ready to ship first week of September.

Can't believe I made it to this point. I'm almost ready to ship.

So much effort, so much hard work. But I stuck it out, 19 frigin months! A lesson in persistence and drive.

Hard to describe the feeling I have right now. The feeling of accomplishing a goal like this, building something from nothing. Feels incredible.

if there's one lesson I learned over these years, it's that, if you want something bad enough you'll do what it takes.

Thank you Ubisoft for hiring me and making me hate my job I couldn't have done it without you.

Now. Time to push through the next goal.

Selling $1000 a day. Consistently.

 

[Phones]

Amazing Vick, really amazing. congrats!

Did you consider at any point just flying to China to approve samples and check the production line?

Cheers

 

[Vick]

thanks.

no.

too much money. and imo unnecessary. some people justify this, but to me, the money can be put to more important things.

 

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[Iwokeup]

Great News!

My cargo has been confirmed to ship August 20th

So F*ckin stoked!!! They actually finished earlier then expected. Finally a little luck. And the product looks great, better then I expected. I just hope everyone who buys feels the same way.

If all goes well with my DHL rep I should receive the shipment last week of August. And be ready to ship first week of September.

Can't believe I made it to this point. I'm almost ready to ship.

So much effort, so much hard work. But I stuck it out, 19 frigin months! A lesson in persistence and drive.

Hard to describe the feeling I have right now. The feeling of accomplishing a goal like this, building something from nothing. Feels incredible.

if there's one lesson I learned over these years, it's that, if you want something bad enough you'll do what it takes.

Thank you Ubisoft for hiring me and making me hate my job I couldn't have done it without you.

Now. Time to push through the next goal.

Selling $1000 a day. Consistently.

I'll buy a pair as soon as you're able to make it happen. Great job man!

 

[rkmalo1]

AWESOME thread.
Should be required reading.
So many progress threads start off with a boom and then silence at the first sign of a hurdle.
This is the perfect example of execution, process, and perseverance over mere ideas.
I bet a dozen people who read the first post though "damn I had an idea for sunglasses before", but how many would have stuck it out for this long and battled through what you have?
Well done mate.

I agree. Def one of my favorite progress threads on the board. 19 month PROCESS so far ...

@MJ DeMarco GOLD??!