Hello once again! (this is my second post here).
Warning! this post might end up being long...
I always toss around random ideas, some seem interesting, others might be kinda junky... Nonetheless, all these ideas end up getting tossed in the dumpster as a ridiculous proposition. I want to change that.
A little context: I do a very part time what I call hobbybusiness. Its very growable, but growing very slow, and doesn't keep me occupied. Its a hobby that started making money. I did learn a lot of stuff like customs brokerage and logistics from it though. Also I learned (the hard way) that you need to check if your product will sell before investing in it. I think that is why I have slow growth in my hobbybusiness. I invested a ton of money (like around 30k) and it got hung up... not good. Will know better next time! I ended up coding a program that finds particular products in my market that actually sell, so hopefully I will do better soon. Right now, I have lots of spare time that I can use in a useful way, so I am thinking its time to get those ideas pulled out of the dumpster. I want to do this project not to make money really (although I wouldn't mind some $$$ either
) but to learn how to start up a business and go through all the processes needed to fill my mental toolbox. This is for when I come up with a really NICE idea, then I can handle it like a b0ss.
The ideas: Mostly I come up with consumer product ideas. Usually I am doing something around the house and then I run into a problem that needs solving. I then think about if a lot of people have the same problem or not. If yes, then idea +1. For example: I was carrying heavy full shopping bags from the car into the house. No hands to open the door. There is the problem. I then tried opening the door with my knee and dropped everything, making the problem worse! I haven't thought of a solution yet for this one though. Recently, I came across another problem. I can't tell what it is until I have the questions below answered. All I can say is that it is targeted at anyone who has a device such as a laptop, tablet, or phone (basically anyone).
My problem: How the heck do I find out if someone will buy my stuff? I don't want to cut corners here, especially with the bad experience I had earlier. I thought about going to every single mcdonalds and posting a survey, but whoever really fills those out? I just usually walk past and never look at those advertising boards. I thought about maybe incentivizing by like saying "fill out the survey and win a FREE apple watch" or something like that... thoughts? The other problem with this I I won't be getting a random sample. It will only be people who go to mcdonalds. Finally, it will only be people who live in my area, again not a random sample. I really need some advice on how to thoroughly check if, and who, will buy my product. I also looked hard at surveymonkey, but they want $1k in order to have 500 responses! No way! Maybe going to big-box store (which is where the product is intended to be sold) reps and getting their opinions?
Problem 2: The product is quite simple. Both good and bad. Simple as in simple to design, bad as in easy for any more established manufacturer or person more experienced than me to rip it out of my hands. Is there any way, perhaps with a patent or something, to make sure that no one copies it and knocks me out? Is there any risk that during the market research phase someone find out and steals it? Im really paranoid about this; and I would have posted the idea here, except what if someone steals it? Especially if I go to a store rep and they just decide to do it themselves. I get it, it could look cool to me but for everyone else be utter junk, but that is the whole point in finding out if it will sell before pushing the spend button.
Thanks and sorry for the long post!
Warning! this post might end up being long...
I always toss around random ideas, some seem interesting, others might be kinda junky... Nonetheless, all these ideas end up getting tossed in the dumpster as a ridiculous proposition. I want to change that.
A little context: I do a very part time what I call hobbybusiness. Its very growable, but growing very slow, and doesn't keep me occupied. Its a hobby that started making money. I did learn a lot of stuff like customs brokerage and logistics from it though. Also I learned (the hard way) that you need to check if your product will sell before investing in it. I think that is why I have slow growth in my hobbybusiness. I invested a ton of money (like around 30k) and it got hung up... not good. Will know better next time! I ended up coding a program that finds particular products in my market that actually sell, so hopefully I will do better soon. Right now, I have lots of spare time that I can use in a useful way, so I am thinking its time to get those ideas pulled out of the dumpster. I want to do this project not to make money really (although I wouldn't mind some $$$ either
) but to learn how to start up a business and go through all the processes needed to fill my mental toolbox. This is for when I come up with a really NICE idea, then I can handle it like a b0ss.The ideas: Mostly I come up with consumer product ideas. Usually I am doing something around the house and then I run into a problem that needs solving. I then think about if a lot of people have the same problem or not. If yes, then idea +1. For example: I was carrying heavy full shopping bags from the car into the house. No hands to open the door. There is the problem. I then tried opening the door with my knee and dropped everything, making the problem worse! I haven't thought of a solution yet for this one though. Recently, I came across another problem. I can't tell what it is until I have the questions below answered. All I can say is that it is targeted at anyone who has a device such as a laptop, tablet, or phone (basically anyone).
My problem: How the heck do I find out if someone will buy my stuff? I don't want to cut corners here, especially with the bad experience I had earlier. I thought about going to every single mcdonalds and posting a survey, but whoever really fills those out? I just usually walk past and never look at those advertising boards. I thought about maybe incentivizing by like saying "fill out the survey and win a FREE apple watch" or something like that... thoughts? The other problem with this I I won't be getting a random sample. It will only be people who go to mcdonalds. Finally, it will only be people who live in my area, again not a random sample. I really need some advice on how to thoroughly check if, and who, will buy my product. I also looked hard at surveymonkey, but they want $1k in order to have 500 responses! No way! Maybe going to big-box store (which is where the product is intended to be sold) reps and getting their opinions?
Problem 2: The product is quite simple. Both good and bad. Simple as in simple to design, bad as in easy for any more established manufacturer or person more experienced than me to rip it out of my hands. Is there any way, perhaps with a patent or something, to make sure that no one copies it and knocks me out? Is there any risk that during the market research phase someone find out and steals it? Im really paranoid about this; and I would have posted the idea here, except what if someone steals it? Especially if I go to a store rep and they just decide to do it themselves. I get it, it could look cool to me but for everyone else be utter junk, but that is the whole point in finding out if it will sell before pushing the spend button.
Thanks and sorry for the long post!
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