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

[TJPB]

I cannot believe what is happening.

Orders are coming in every 5-10 min.

Shed a little tear of joy.

Maybe I can leave my job in January at this rate.

Thank you @MJ DeMarco and this forum!

Truly awesome man. Keep it up. Of course, black Friday and the ensuing holiday buying season is 1 month out of the year but I hear this month makes ore breaks most of the large brands out there.

 

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[RHL]

I say again: Threads need to be able to go PLATINUM.

 

[csalvato]

Maybe I can leave my job in January at this rate.

December, Black Friday and Cyber Monday are DECEPTIVELY big months.

It sounds like you can probably leave your job, but don't be disillusioned by the amount of sales you get this month as though it is sustainable.

Last Cyber Monday I made more in one day than I had made in the previous 3 months combined. But that petered off and I was back to grinding in Jan and Feb.

 

[tafy]

I remember the restaurant trade in December where you make as much in 3 weeks of xmas parties as 3 months combined, the only problem was that the month before and 2 months after were tight as hell as people cut their spending.

 

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[Vick]

What changed besides the discount? Running new ads? or did the discount somehow go viral?

Happy for you Vick.

didnt change anything. just announced Black Friday sale via my social followings.

And did a few ads on IG

 

[Jake]

didnt change anything. just announced Black Friday sale via my social followings.

And did a few ads on IG

That's crazy.

Do interested people just assume that you'll have a sale? Maybe the ads made a hell of an impact. Anyway..hope to see you break $10k in a day by the end of Jan..or maybe you'll do it today..ha.

 

[Vick]

That's crazy.

Do interested people just assume that you'll have a sale? Maybe the ads made a hell of an impact. Anyway..hope to see you break $10k in a day by the end of Jan..or maybe you'll do it today..ha.

might do it today if the trend keeps up. after work hours will probably bring in a lot.

 

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[Jake]

might do it today if the trend keeps up. after work hours will probably bring in a lot.

Man..that's F*cking amazing. Curse word for emphasis. On Tuesday you were talking about hoping to hit $3k someday in the near future. Here we are..Friday. Might do $10k.

Thanks for sharing your journey. Incredible to watch.

 

[Vick]

Man..that's F*cking amazing. Curse word for emphasis. On Tuesday you were talking about hoping to hit $3k someday in the near future. Here we are..Friday. Might do $10k.

Thanks for sharing your journey. Incredible to watch.

lol thanks.

the real trick is doing it everyday though

like stated above. today is a rare occurance.

 

[Jake]

lol thanks.

the real trick is doing it everyday though

like stated above. today is a rare occurance.

Yeah..but each customer is also a walking billboard. Once enough pairs are out there you'll begin making sales everyday via word of mouth / walking advertisements.

 

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[Vick]

Yeah..but each customer is also a walking billboard. Once enough pairs are out there you'll begin making sales everyday via word of mouth / walking advertisements.

very true

 

[ddzc]

 

[lnBetween]

Amazing progress thread Vick!

By the way, I don't remember seeing anything mentioned about it but did you run some stress tests on your glasses? Like what temperatures they can withstand? Or if they start cracking and if the paint starts peeling off after X number of flexions? (sorry for my poor english)

 

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[slodki]

Awesome work! Here in Aussie land we don't have the same level of craziness when it comes to USA sales. I saw on TV the carnage that goes on when stores open up with all the people flooding in and fighting for the last items in the store. Insane stuff.

 

[GravyBoat]

So what I do is pretty simple, I just search for target groups that suit my niche (this can be kinda tricky, i'll do another post on this, because you need to find random people with huge followings, not brands. Sometimes there usernames are strange and hard to find). Find followings that are larger then 150k usually I go for 300k+ accounts though, but can be tough to find.

Vick,

When you are searching IG for large accounts, how would you go about finding if any/all of the account's followers were fake? Obviously you can tell some from the interaction on the posts, but what if a 300k followed account has 250k fake followers? Any pro tips for steering clear of this?

 

[Deon]

Vick,

When you are searching IG for large accounts, how would you go about finding if any/all of the account's followers were fake? Obviously you can tell some from the interaction on the posts, but what if a 300k followed account has 250k fake followers? Any pro tips for steering clear of this?

I think interaction and likes are still going to be the best predictors... short of being a follower of the account yourself for a long time and knowing its reputation, etc...

 

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[GravyBoat]

short of being a follower of the account yourself

Duh, you're right! Should have thought of this. Even for a few days you can at least check on it.

 

[Vick]

Vick,

When you are searching IG for large accounts, how would you go about finding if any/all of the account's followers were fake? Obviously you can tell some from the interaction on the posts, but what if a 300k followed account has 250k fake followers? Any pro tips for steering clear of this?

I go on instinct, if a 300k page is only getting 1000 likes an image. thats usually a bad sign. they should have way more. i have 30k followers and I sometimes get 600-700 likes. also what Deon said. i follow all the pages I advertise on. see what they do, watch the comments, likes, pics, etc. once you start doing it for awhile, you start to see patterns.

 

[Vick]

Update.

Black Friday was insane. Were still not done packing orders, have a few left. ran out of shipping supplies.

We did over 12k that day

The wifey is still pulling her eye lids from the back of her head.

Also, were placing our 2nd order with our manufacturer. And, I'm starting work on a new design.

Here's a line up of whats to come in March 2015.

Not gonna explain what they all are, but a few of them will have ANSI Z87 approved lens, which is a safety feature for people on the job. Been getting tons of questions regarding that and missing out on sales. So ya, a few will have those lenses. there very expensive so we can only do the best sellers with those lenses.

Also, we are gonna try some REVO mirror lenses, so if you see a color lens below its a REVO color mirro lens.

 

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[RHL]

We did over 12k that day...

That's all? Man, think of how much you'd have made if you took the money you spent on molds, prototyping, and importing and put it in your IRA...

 

[KLaw]

Update.

Black Friday was insane. Were still not done packing orders, have a few left. ran out of shipping supplies.

We did over 12k that day

The wifey is still pulling her eye lids from the back of her head.

Also, were placing our 2nd order with our manufacturer. And, I'm starting work on a new design.

Here's a line up of whats to come in March 2015.

Not gonna explain what they all are, but a few of them will have ANSI Z87 approved lens, which is a safety feature for people on the job. Been getting tons of questions regarding that and missing out on sales. So ya, a few will have those lenses. there very expensive so we can only do the best sellers with those lenses.

Also, we are gonna try some REVO mirror lenses, so if you see a color lens below its a REVO color mirro lens.

View attachment 8658 View attachment 8659

rep+

 

[GravyBoat]

The wifey is still pulling her eye lids from the back of her head.

Mark you've F*ckin done it this time... AHHHHH

 

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[Grimaldo]

Update.

Black Friday was insane. Were still not done packing orders, have a few left. ran out of shipping supplies.

We did over 12k that day

The wifey is still pulling her eye lids from the back of her head.

Also, were placing our 2nd order with our manufacturer. And, I'm starting work on a new design.

Here's a line up of whats to come in March 2015.

Not gonna explain what they all are, but a few of them will have ANSI Z87 approved lens, which is a safety feature for people on the job. Been getting tons of questions regarding that and missing out on sales. So ya, a few will have those lenses. there very expensive so we can only do the best sellers with those lenses.

Also, we are gonna try some REVO mirror lenses, so if you see a color lens below its a REVO color mirro lens.

View attachment 8658 View attachment 8659

Impressive. You made my day! Thank you for sharing.

 

[theag]

We did over 12k that day

Sick man. Thats well deserved. Love this thread, keep it up! Sending you some internet monies right now.

 

[csalvato]

Update.

Black Friday was insane. Were still not done packing orders, have a few left. ran out of shipping supplies.

We did over 12k that day

The wifey is still pulling her eye lids from the back of her head.

Also, were placing our 2nd order with our manufacturer. And, I'm starting work on a new design.

Here's a line up of whats to come in March 2015.

Not gonna explain what they all are, but a few of them will have ANSI Z87 approved lens, which is a safety feature for people on the job. Been getting tons of questions regarding that and missing out on sales. So ya, a few will have those lenses. there very expensive so we can only do the best sellers with those lenses.

Also, we are gonna try some REVO mirror lenses, so if you see a color lens below its a REVO color mirro lens.

View attachment 8658 View attachment 8659

Aweomse. I'm not surprised at all. My book on how to do handstands hits $1.5-$2k on Cyber Monday/Black Friday sales, so I thought you would hit an order of magnitude greater than that for sure, since your market is huge and your product is much more viral and contemporary.

Hope you have your first $80k month REAL soon.

 

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[wilddog]

That's all? Man, think of how much you'd have made if you took the money you spent on molds, prototyping, and importing and put it in your IRA...

Too true. That's RRSP for Vick and us Canadians.

 

[Vick]

Anyone know anything about this league > http://www.texasrevs.com/

I don't know anything about Football, so I thought I'd see if my American friends know anything about them.

The President of the League reached out to me, wants to work together. Not sure how exactly, waiting on reply from him.

Anyway, any info about this league/business would be great! Thanks

 

[PopEmersen]

Anyone know anything about this league > http://www.texasrevs.com/

I don't know anything about Football, so I thought I'd see if my American friends know anything about them.

The President of the League reached out to me, wants to work together. Not sure how exactly, waiting on reply from him.

Anyway, any info about this league/business would be great! Thanks

Looks like they are apart of some new Champions Indoor Football league. Never heard of the team or league. Not really sure how much you would gain from them. Actually, both your companies seem to be at the same point, they need exposure like you do.

 

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[Jake]

omg that grey / silver. Looking for a drool smiley but can't find one so I'll send you this because it's going to be difficult not to buy them haha. I'll try to hold off until I'm at 4 figures daily.

Any idea what it would take to get APEL approved? http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Authorized_Protective_Eyewear_List

May be able to sell a ton to the U.S military or get them into AAFES stores.

Another thing to consider but probably isn't wise to throw resources at is dirt / sand protection. The Wiley brand had a foam ring that kept sand / dirt from getting into the eyes. Less and less military / contractors in the middle east now but still a big market if you can hit the richer Arab states and dirt bike market.

Great update. Funny that what seems like and almost was literally a few days ago you were hoping to break $3k. Here's hoping for a $4k day after the holiday shopping season.

 

[RHL]

Anyone know anything about this league > http://www.texasrevs.com/

Anyway, any info about this league/business would be great! Thanks

My friend James is the starting QB for an IFL team. It's a league of semi-pro teams with a small but very dedicated fan base. The salaries aren't great, but it's neat to watch, and the facebook pages and IG get a lot of action. The players aren't nearly NFL level, but they'd definitely destroy any group of enthusiasts from off the street. Think of it like a continuation of college ball beyond the college years, but with slightly different rules, and with the median skill level players rather than the very best from the Big-10 (who go to the NFL). It's a rung below the Arena Football League, which is bigger, and has bigger stakes. Provided the deal is favorable, might net you some good PR, but make sure you insist on it being in their social media and advertising, because the games are not attended by big crowds.