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

[slodki]

As above.

You currently have an asset creating money - so you aren't quitting your job and going into the unknown.

Not sure how this is looked at in Canada - would you be able to apply for 6 months leave without pay? Usually not very easy to get, even here in Aus.

 

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[Vick]

As above.

You currently have an asset creating money - so you aren't quitting your job and going into the unknown.

Not sure how this is looked at in Canada - would you be able to apply for 6 months leave without pay? Usually not very easy to get, even here in Aus.

yes. I asked for a sabbatical.

unfortunately, there was a complicated situation involving another team member.

 

[AgainstAllOdds]

yes. I asked for a sabbatical.

unfortunately, there was a complicated situation involving another team member.

If it's a computer job that you can outsource, then ask them if you can start working one day from home. Then outsource that one day of work. After you show results for a month, ask for another day off. Repeat until you're not working anymore, have your job effectively outsourced, and use the discrepancy between salary and cost of outsourcing to fund your venture.

 

[MTF]

I don't get it. Why do you still have a day job? You're losing a boatload of money by not running your venture full-time.

 

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[Vick]

If it's a computer job that you can outsource, then ask them if you can start working one day from home. Then outsource that one day of work. After you show results for a month, ask for another day off. Repeat until you're not working anymore, have your job effectively outsourced, and use the discrepancy between salary and cost of outsourcing to fund your venture.

Ubisoft wont do this. I've tried many times.

 

[Vick]

I don't get it. Why do you still have a day job? You're losing a boatload of money by not running your venture full-time.

good question.

gotta go over everything. see if its viable first.

I have 2 salaries to replace.

 

[Vick]

Does anyone know how to setup Amazon Ads, to send traffic to my website. So what I want to do is just run ads on Amazon, but send the traffic to my website. Is this doable?

It seems there website is still insanely stupidly complicated.

Why do they make things so frigin complicated.

Anyway, anyone have experience with this?

Thanks

 

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[AllenCrawley]

Does anyone know how to setup Amazon Ads, to send traffic to my website. So what I want to do is just run ads on Amazon, but send the traffic to my website. Is this doable?

It seems there website is still insanely stupidly complicated.

Why do they make things so frigin complicated.

Anyway, anyone have experience with this?

Thanks

I have not but in case you haven't seen this and for the benefit of others...
http://services.amazon.com/content/product-ads-on-amazon.htm

 

[Vick]

I have not but in case you haven't seen this and for the benefit of others...
http://services.amazon.com/content/product-ads-on-amazon.htm

ya thats what I was trying to setup. Not letting me with my current account.

it seems as though its not as easy as setting up something simple like facebook ads. thought they had a service similar to that. but its much more intensive.

this is something i will have to do from my home.

 

[AllenCrawley]

ya thats what I was trying to setup. Not letting me with my current account.

it seems as though its not as easy as setting up something simple like facebook ads. thought they had a service similar to that. but its much more intensive.

this is something i will have to do from my home.

I think there is an option to have Amazon set everything up for you for free.

 

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[theag]

ya thats what I was trying to setup. Not letting me with my current account.

it seems as though its not as easy as setting up something simple like facebook ads. thought they had a service similar to that. but its much more intensive.

this is something i will have to do from my home.

I have amazon ads to my website running. Convert quite good and cheap for me.

You have to create a product feed and upload it. Has the same format as "normal" amazon feeds I think, but I'm not sure since I have never sold on amazon.

 

[Vick]

I have amazon ads to my website running. Convert quite good and cheap for me.

You have to create a product feed and upload it. Has the same format as "normal" amazon feeds I think, but I'm not sure since I have never sold on amazon.

Ya i got set this up. for some reason there not letting me create the account. looks like i have to apply for product approval again.

 

[Vick]

Well. There's my answer. Jeez frigin Amazon.

Hello Mark,

Thank you for your recent inquiry regarding Amazon Product Ads. At this time the Product Ads program is not accepting new brand owners in the Shoes (eyewear included) category.

However, you should explore our Selling on Amazon program, which may be open to selling in this category. For more information on the Selling On Amazon program, please visit Amazon Services.

Thanks again for your interest.

Regards,

 

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[geko_man]

Shame about the shipping to Australia. I was buying some when you had your December sales but baulked at the shipping price. Hard to swallow for shipping sunnies. I'll put my hand up if you need help with some distribution down under as well. Awesome work so far man, sounds like you've got some good plans for 2015. Can't wait to see what you can do when you jump on this full time!

 

[Kerin]

It's 2:30 am. Friday.

Slacking tonight.

Doing lots of thinking over the past week.

My day job is getting heavier.

It's been about 4 years since I started this journey to free myself from the prison I created.

Not sure how much longer I can last.

This is where MJ's weighted average decision matrix comes in handy.

 

[Kerin]

shipping to Australia is around 75$ and that's with our 60% discount. I have sold a few there, but not many, because of that. Sometimes certain remote parts of Aus are even more, I think 1 was 109$

Florida, Texas and Cali are buying sunnies like crazy right now, I think about 60% of my sales are from those 3 states alone.

You could go down the path of using a fulfilment centre in USA - we ship to countries outside of USA via this method (I estimate it'll cost around $25 via USPS).. Let me know if you want their contact.

Or you could find someone in Australia to distribute for you or use an Aussie fulfilment centre (local postage rates for your item would be $7.20 to $9.90 depending on speed). If you go down this path and need a hand shipping stock over (I'm based in Sydney) let me know. I've got a good account with DHL and can help you bring it over. And if you need a hand with distributon I can help with that too.

Cheers

 

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[wilddog]

One of your ads popped up in my facebook feed, I made sure to like it!

Are you seeing success with the 'ad-->cart' method rather than the typical 'ad-->landing page--> cart' method?

 

[Vick]

One of your ads popped up in my facebook feed, I made sure to like it!

Are you seeing success with the 'ad-->cart' method rather than the typical 'ad-->landing page--> cart' method?

I have not tested landing pages yet, I'm actually working on Landing pages right now. With better quality videos, pics, copy. Hopefully they will be ready soon.

My current FB conversions are ok. But need much improving. I think I'll have better results with nice landing pages.

 

[rkmalo1]

But need much improving. I think I'll have better results with nice landing pages.

Might have mentioned this before but this program for landing pages works great:

https://www.leadpages.net/products/

 

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[wilddog]

Might have mentioned this before but this program for landing pages works great:

https://www.leadpages.net/products/

I tried leadpages. My problem with it is that most of the templates are for capturing leads or giving away e-books. There's hardly anything for actual physical products.

 

[theag]

I have not tested landing pages yet, I'm actually working on Landing pages right now. With better quality videos, pics, copy. Hopefully they will be ready soon.

My current FB conversions are ok. But need much improving. I think I'll have better results with nice landing pages.

I think your price is too high for straight FB ads -> conversions. People need more time to warm up. I'm hearing that video retargeting works like magic. Would be a great fit for your product too. Set up facebook custom audiences and google display retargeting and then a video retargeting campaign on fb and youtube.

Maybe you can develop an additional product at a lower price point and sell it as a tripwire through fb ads. Something for $20-30. Then video retargeting with your main product. Cant think of a fitting "cheaper" product though...

 

[Jake]

Maybe you can develop an additional product at a lower price point and sell it as a tripwire through fb ads. Something for $20-30. Then video retargeting with your main product. Cant think of a fitting "cheaper" product though...

Hats..

I like Oakley hats. 8 hats could be pretty sweet. Color changeable inserts for the 8 logo

 

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[theag]

Hats..

I like Oakley hats. 8 hats could be pretty sweet. Color changeable inserts for the 8 logo

I like it! Cool idea.

 

[Vick]

I think your price is too high for straight FB ads -> conversions. People need more time to warm up. I'm hearing that video retargeting works like magic. Would be a great fit for your product too. Set up facebook custom audiences and google display retargeting and then a video retargeting campaign on fb and youtube.

Maybe you can develop an additional product at a lower price point and sell it as a tripwire through fb ads. Something for $20-30. Then video retargeting with your main product. Cant think of a fitting "cheaper" product though...

Hats..

I like Oakley hats. 8 hats could be pretty sweet. Color changeable inserts for the 8 logo

We're working on bringing new products in. Hats are on the drawing board Along with OEM Aviators and Wayfarers (branded with our logo and special names for each styles) to bring some variance to our brand, while the VEKTOR frame is being developed. The Wayfarers will be relatively cheaper, somewhere in the ranges of $70 - 100. Not sure yet what the Avy's will be priced at.

Were also looking at some sport clothing, something along the lines of Lululemon. But geared for men. Under Armour is a good example, but I prefer Lululemons fabric, its much more comfortable, probably why I buy a ton of their stuff. So ya, were trying to find a nice fabric like that. Taking our time with clothing, it has to stand out.

Also, thinking of adding customization to the V.1. Maybe arm swaps. Being able to buy just arms, and swap em out. Anyway, just a thought.

 

[Phones]

http://imscalable.com/blog/2015-rollout-strategy/

@Vick , check this out

 

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[rkmalo1]

Were also looking at some sport clothing, something along the lines of Lululemon. But geared for men. Under Armour is a good example, but I prefer Lululemons fabric, its much more comfortable, probably why I buy a ton of their stuff. So ya, were trying to find a nice fabric like that. Taking our time with clothing, it has to stand out.

Awesome! I'm sure you're thinking this...but maybe sportswear targeted to extreme sports? motocross, wakeboarding, skiing, MMA, kinda goes along with your brand. Maybe niche down and focus on one sport at first, that seems to work best for these clothing companies. I'm huge into snowmobiling and we as a group spend A TON of money on clothing, I buy new gear almost every year. I'm very loyal to the brand I buy as well and I know I'm not the only one like that (possibly a problem? or a good thing?).

I've always want to get into this type of clothing/apparel biz but with so much other stuff going on, not knowing one thing about it and I'm not sure I would even have time to focus on growing it haven't done so. Sorry for the rambling, ADD is in full effect today.

Looking forward to the updates.

 

[Ronak]

@Vick are you still stuck with the approval process for sunglasses on Amazon? There is an easier way-- the products that you use for approval don't necessarily have to be the ones you end up selling. Their aim is to simply make sure you understand the photo requirements. The flat file upload is their way of doing that, because they cannot manually check every listing for photo compliance. Basically, find some current listings that meet the requirements and use those for approval, very simple. Once you're approved, you can list whatever you want in the category. It took me countless hours to figure this out.

once approved, the ads should open up to you.

 

[Jake]

Also, thinking of adding customization to the V.1. Maybe arm swaps. Being able to buy just arms, and swap em out. Anyway, just a thought.

I think swapable colors is where you can really stand out. It would be like buying 5 plus (I guess I haven't figured out the plus key on my new Thai / English keyboard=(..) Shades / hats in one.

Anyway..are new lenses easily swapable..haven't really looked into it but I managed to scuff the hell out of one of my lenses. Not sure how I exactly did it but my left lens is F*cked (pardon my curse words) Just returned from a networking event that was all you can drink..so I took advantage =)

 

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[Vick]

I think swapable colors is where you can really stand out. It would be like buying 5 plus (I guess I haven't figured out the plus key on my new Thai / English keyboard=(..) Shades / hats in one.

Anyway..are new lenses easily swapable..haven't really looked into it but I managed to scuff the hell out of one of my lenses. Not sure how I exactly did it but my left lens is F*cked (pardon my curse words) Just returned from a networking event that was all you can drink..so I took advantage =)

the lenses swap out very easily

 

[SlowlaneJay]

Signed onto Facebook and BAM!