[Progress] The Road to a wholesome Unscripted Life

[Xeon]

Thanks for the vote of confidence and detailed insight, Rebekah!

Have you tried targeting dog trainers and veterinarians? They are like the hub of the pet world, and all the pet owners are the spokes. Google "dog trainer + [city]" and then look for the facebook pages of all the dog trainers, and then look at the list of all the people who have liked those pages. Target them (and lookalike audiences). Repeat with veterinarians. Another "hub" is the small, mom-and-pop pet food stores. If you can get your product into the hands of a few of these people, they have *real* relationships with a lot of the pet owners in the community, and this can help you to get traction.

I haven't thought of that angle! I've been making a list of all the influencers on IG and studying their followers, to get a rough idea of who knows who and how they're connected, so the popular ones in each network are the "hub" like you say. From there I intend to get social proof and traction. Will definitely look into your suggestions!

The thing with the pet industry, I notice, is that each community is very active and passionate about their pet, which gives me a warm bed to work on.

--------------------- UPDATE ---------------------
(warning, long post ahead)
​

I want to take a moment to rave about this Eric's Cheesecakes thread here: NOTABLE! - Eric from Erics Cheesecakes
Many gold-tier information in that thread, which emphasises a more positive way of thinking. In particular, there's this insane paragraph from iammelissamoore which I quote below:

Imagine all the people in NC who are eating horrible cheesecake right now from some other company; now imagine how expensive some of those horrible cheesecakes are, and imagine how they are being robbed of that genuine cheesecake experience, are you seriously going to let them continue eating those horrible, expensive cheesecakes because the USDA have a lot of red tape all over their process? Do you think the horrible tasting cheesecake companies are allowing USDA or any other authority to prevent them from progressing? Nah man, you can't let people suffer, horrible cheesecake is just foul and you need to save these people - seriously, you need to get your cakes to these people - fast!

If you've a product which you feel is way better than your rivals, and YET you're not putting it out there due to your own laziness or self-doubts, that IS a CRIMINAL ACT and you should be JAILED. It's extremely VILE, SELFISH and SINFUL behavior!

--------- WHAT HAPPENED DURING THE LAST 2 MONTHS ---------
​

Custom Packaging : There’s a specific look I need the packaging to have in order to sync with my brand aesthetics. The two Chinese suppliers I tried earlier produced crap results. Found a 3rd one.
Costs were a lot cheaper, and it looks even better than the previous ones. Blessing in disguise.

Website : 95% ready. The contractor is fixing some shipping issues with the plugin and CSS minor tweaks. Other than that....I'm actually proud of how it looks. One lesson I've learnt : Do not build the website too early. I overestimated how long the products and other logistical issues took, and build the first version of the website in mid-Apr 2017. This is the last version, probably 8th iteration. Gave me lots of training and experience in using Wordpress/WooCommerce/Elementor and tons of other plugins and themes LOL

Product Photography : Results are impressive. I’m banking on this to blow my rivals to hell and never back! Good photography is insanely important and worth the $. I was unwilling to part with the $ previously. The photo editing should be ready next week or before 7 Nov.
For photographers, I strongly suggest looking for them in Russia and Eastern Europe. They've some really sick skills. It's like how the US is at the forefront of tech, China is the land of manufacturing, and these Eastern European folks are the champions in photography (and it's 3x cheaper than the US).

Warehousing : Products have been packed into their packaging, all in the US warehouse. They’ve kitted it and logged them into the inventory system. The storage cost is currently US$1.9 per month for my 200 pcs of products. This is excluding the account fees which is approx US$90. All well within my budget.

Long-term Survival Strategy 1 : Since my products fall more into the Want category and I foresee it would need some time for people to be aware of it (I've no social proof yet), I need to have enough funds to last for the long run (about 1.5 - 2 years after launch). I feel too many new businesses run out of funds quickly and gave up. On the social side, I'll create photographic content that showcases my models and products and how they're being used in daily life, with each picture telling a little story (no words, just imagery). The photos will also subtly show that my products are being "wanted" and "sought-after". I’ll then hire a Fiverr guy to do funny / pun / witty one-liner captions for those.

Long-term Survival Strategy 2 : To keep inventory low and stay lean while building up the brand and demand, I've found a few manufacturers who can do minimum 1 piece order quantity.
If I can rewind time, I would have ordered about 50% less products for my first batch previously. Never thought about it back then!

Financial bleeding per month : I've planned for very bad case scenarios (e.g: 0 sales after 6+ months). But generally, once the thing is launched, I should be able to keep 50% of my monthly savings and use the remaining 50% on the business.

Additional income : Next week, I'll be contacting this lady who showed interest in my part-time work application. I proposed to her that I'll work 3 - 4 hrs per day for her company, and all I need is ~US$350 per month. With this additional $, I can keep more of my monthly savings. This gives me more ammo power. I arrived at this US$350 figure after some calculations. Can't ask for too much, or I'll work even longer hours, which is bad. Good thing is, I can work on this part-time job during my real day job since I'm so free LOL

Paganis and Supercars : I used to jerk off to daily fantasies of driving a Pagani, and having Amber Heard-tier of girls begging me to be their man. Somehow, I've lost much of my interest in supercars (they're still epic to look at). I’m now more concerned with how the biz will turn out. Supercars and girls can come later.

Life Lesson - Forgiveness : I often have violent fantasies of taking revenge on folks who were nasty to me (e.g: mocking/belittling me). 2 days ago, on my bus trip home at night, I realised such thoughts waste tons of energy and damages my health. On that bus trip, I silently called out the names of all the people I used to hate, one by one, and swore to forgive all of them. I realised that regardless of how much I want them to suffer, it doesn't affect them one bit. In fact, many are happily married with kids and living a good life, so why should I continue to let them have control over me? LOL I wanna be free of hatred.

I sincerely wish the best for them and their family; May they have a happy and healthy life. May their dreams follow them for the rest of time. As for me, I've my own story to execute. Let's go!

If this venture eventually fails, it doesn't matter. I've learnt a shitload of stuff especially since the last 2 months. With the new knowledge, I'm much more equipped to try again, and again.

Based on current estimation, I'm still on track to launch around mid-Nov or so.

 

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[rpeck90]

I'm truly terrified, scared, lost, confused and literally shivering in fear. When I think of how little is in my bank account, I freeze in fright. What if all these doesn't work out? It's ok to fail when you've $$$ in your bank, because you've a cushion, but not so much in my case.

From having seen what you've posted here - you will make your target and some.

EVERYTHING you have done is conducive to becoming successful. I've seen others with less accumen do it, and some of those were dumb af.

The spreadsheet, process and everything you've listed here is *exactly* what's required to get a successful business together. I even did the "small window" trick when I worked at a local stationery company. Exactly the same setup as you - https://i.imgur.com/GIJaVyX.jpg - except instead of this stuff, I was writing SEO articles on LinkVana.

-

I wanted to say that you need to stop with the self defeatist talk (I know it's hard but you really need to appreciate that you are living in one of the best business hubs in the world, and seem to be a very knowledgeable guy). You've had the initiative to get a decent job, stay at the job, read MJ's books, get a product sourced, manufactured and sent to a US fulfillment place AND stick at it for 6+ months. You're far ahead of most people. I know business veterans who'd shudder at the thought of what you've done.

You don't need to be "well hung" to have good sex, nor do you need to look like Brad Pitt to do well. They help, but they're not really what matters in the end.

This brings me onto something I learned a LONG time ago which I felt extremely pertinent to write...

You're letting your power go too easily. Rather than internalizing your energy, you're externalizing it onto results (or lack thereof), a "market", instagram and a whole range of other things (cars etc).

The BIGGEST thing I found from a number of ventures (some not dissimilar to what you're doing) is that you get the best results when you focus on YOURSELF. This is not to say you ignore MJ's wisdom, but rather than putting your energy into IG etc, think about it from the perspective of what YOU are learning and how the thing is growing. Everything in life is a transaction; some transactions are "bigger" than others... if you focus on extracting "something" from each, you'll perpetually grow. In the same sense, also consider what *you* are putting into each - this will give you an idea as to what results you're seeing.

If you want some MORE inspiration - check out this dude whom I found the other day: Meet Britain's wealthiest young entrepreneur who made £55m fortune doing EXACTLY what you are now.

I could write some more, but don't want to poo-poo your thread. You're already ahead of 99.99% of people - the only real thing you're lacking is market traction.

--

Actually, let me give you a little tip I think about. The results you're seeing are the fruits. Everybody focuses on the fruits because it's what you see. However, the fruits are only possible because of EVERYTHING ELSE in the tree; most importantly the roots. The best people focus on the roots. If you focus on those, the fruits will take care of themselves when the time is right. Think about this when you don't want to "spend" on your venture.

 

[MJ DeMarco]

there's nothing much for me to do as I'm still in the product development phase

That's not true. This is an excuse to be unproductive. There is always something do do. If you're waiting for product samples, keep scanning ideas. Look for problems. Read a book on sales. KAIZEN never ends. I say this because I've used "I'm waiting for X" as an excuse to do nothing.

Employee photos - One man show. Not applicable.

Family photos could be a part of your brand build if a STORY is a part of your brand build.

Thanks for sharing your progress.

Don't forget to get your badge by posting here.

Book - I've Read UNSCRIPTED!

 

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[Xeon]

Meanwhile, had my 2nd FTE today. Went to help out a while at my dad's shop, and this customer whom I don't even recognize, came up and started "talking" to me out of the blue.

Her: So kid, what do you work as?
Me: Designer.
Her: Your salary is around 4K? (asking people's salaries is a common thing in Asian societies)
Me: Nope, 2k range (almost reaching 3K though).
Her: How old are you?
Me: 34.
Her (arrogant expression): My son is the same age as you, an architect, and earns 4K. (screw your son, 4K for an architect is tragic if he's been working for 10 yrs)
Me: Yes ok.
Her: You should get a degree, it will increase your salary.
Me: Yes ok.
Her: You should start learning from your dad, so that you'll be smarter and less dumb.

Then, this F*ck went to my other family members (who're also helping out at the shop), and started telling them to advise me to get a degree. I can't find a hole to hide my shame.
(actually, at my age now, getting a degree will only screw me up further because it will not help me get a better job or higher salary as interviewers look only at portfolios in my industry)

All this once again proves that my decision to hustle is right.
The only path left for me is to make it, then I can show all these arrogant sad F*cks the kind of sorry lives they've been leading. One of my dreams? I want to have the ability one day to ask them the same question.

(7 years from now)
Me: So what does your son work as?
Her: Architect.
Me: His salary is around <insert 5-figure value here>?

Today, my mom gave me a watch to take to the shop for repair. It's a pretty old watch, the parts broke off. I really hope I can tell her, "Let's dump this away, I'll buy a new and better one".

If my current hustle fails, I'll start another and another. F*ck THIS.

 

[Xeon]

I went through a list of value attributes that I can work on yesterday. The list is from Unscripted but I added a few that were specific to my business:

PRODUCT / PRICING VALUE ATTRIBUTES

Brand - My business model is based on the brand concept. I'm selling a want rather than a need (customers can still eat and breathe without my products but it will cause great inconvenience to their, and their pets', lives). So based on one page in the Unscripted book, I need to work the marketing angle. My logo design and website photos are all crafted to reinforce my brand.

Product design - In terms of aesthetics, my products look way better than most of my competitors out there. As a day-job designer who's been doing this for 5 years now, this is one of my USP.

Price - Slightly higher than average. I'm banking on the concept of selling a mid-end brand that jives with my target audience's lifestyle and interests. Sometimes pricing a product too low = people think it's crappy. I'm going for a mid-end pricing approach (think Samsung rather than Apple).

Product features - About average, might be slightly better but not stellar. All my direct/indirect competitors are about the same and they're all banking on more of the marketing/aesthetics factor. Just like white-label sports supplements / moisturizing creams. Two different companies sell the same moisturizing cream manufactured from the same maker (but sold under different labels and brand), but Company A sells better on Amazon.

Price Ambiguity - Not sure what is the book's definition of this, but I assume it's the same as the Ambiguity / Risk-aversion effect. I've this covered since I'll be offering product guarantees. See " CUSTOMER VALUE ATTRIBUTES" list below.

Packaging - Not enough money to create fancy branded novelty packaging now, but this is high on my to-do list once sales start coming in. I want my brand to have a flashy and high "ommph!" factor.

Comfort - My products are comfortable to use. Not top of the line yet but I'll look into that once sales comes in. No money for this now.

Included / excluded ingredient - I'll check with my manufacturer to see if they use toxic elements in my products. If no, I'll use that as part of my marketing.


SOCIAL PROOF VALUE ATTRIBUTES

Compelling Story (About Us) - My About Us page isn't emotional enough. I don't have an inspiring story like Zuckerberg/Gates/Jobs/Henry Ford/MJ. I'm going to work on this since About Us pages are one of the most visited pages on most sites. I'm still apprehensive about putting my own photo up there as I don't want my day job employer to find out LOL. Should I use an alias too?

Bribed reviews - Wanted to buy reviews from Fiverr but I'm scared to sleep at night. As they say, karma comes sooner or later.

Affiliation / Associations - Not affiliated with any organization right now. No street cred. Nothing much I can do.

Public reviews - None at this point. Business not launched.

Celebrity endorsements - Zero. But I pray that Kylie Jenner will stumble upon my product, use it and take pics of it, post it on social media, then it might go viral, and I can immediately tell the salesman "This is a cashier's check of US$4.2 million. I want that Koeniggsegg Agera S over there. I want a Yes or a No."


SHIPPING VALUE ATTRIBUTES

Shipping cost - About industry average (slightly lower than some of my competitors) but there's a lot of room for improvement. Once the business gets bigger, I'll see if there's a way to bring this down even slightly. I'm impressed with how Amazon / other eCommerce retailers can offer free shipping in some cases. Maybe they absorbed the cost in the product selling price?

Shipping speed - Processing / turnaround time for my products is a few days faster than most competitors. Shipping speed itself (USPS, UPS, FEDEX) is outside of my control. One of my to-dos in future is to reduce the processing time to 1 - 2 business days. Not sure what's the average processing time for most eCommerce shops in general but it seems to vary wildly.


CUSTOMER VALUE ATTRIBUTES

Professionalism - I'll be professional in my dealings with customers. When faced with customers who come out from the asylum, I'll just ignore them only after all efforts to serve them goes down the drain.

Customer engagement - I comment and like my target audience's Instagram accounts daily (not generic comments). Once business launches, I'll be hosting giveaways a couple times per month to drive eyeballs and subscribers to my website/email list. I'll offer vouchers to customers who send me pics with them using my products and I'll post those pics on my site as social proof! Everybody wins and I want my customers to feel good about being associated with my brand.

Customer Service - See Professionalism above. In addition, I will listen to and fulfill all unreasonable customer demands as long as they are low in number compared to the overall customer base.

Guarantee - I offer 30-day product guarantees on my products with no need for returns.
Refund policy - See Guarantee above.


WEBSITE-RELATED VALUE ATTRIBUTES

Ease of Ordering - Standard WooCommerce shop. I've PayPal Express on my store in addition to the normal checkout. Not sure if Stripe is worth the hassle but I'm leaving it out now.

Website design - Clean website design with a single purpose : for customers to shop. This is the 8 - 9th iteration of my website. The previous ones look messy in comparison.

Ambience - If it's "website ambience", then it jives with my target audience : young hipster people with dogs aged 18 - 35 who are active on social media.

Security - My website has SSL and payments go through PayPal. I also subscribe to a popular brand of anti-virus that runs daily malware scans on my site and has the anti-virus site seal displayed.
Payment Options - PayPal only. But via PayPal, customers can also pay via credit cards.

User interface - Website UI is pretty straight forward. If a customer can use Facebook (complex UI, IMO) or Amazon, then my minimal site would be easy.

Website recently updated - I will be updating my site every month when new products are added.

Crisp clean photos - No money to hire professional photographers + models right now. So I'll look for good looking girls/guys from my target audience on Instagram who already have quality pics, and offer them my products + some money as compensation.


NOT APPLICABLE VALUES

Cleanliness - Probably not applicable to my case as I don't do food.

Employee photos - One man show. Not applicable.


Side Note : I'm taking a big risk on the 30-day money-back guarantee + no need to return thing. If customers return my products in droves, I will have to, quoting MJ, "prostitute myself to an older woman" due to financial losses. Problem is I'm not well-hung.

I mean, I've confidence in my products to offer this sort of guarantee, but the uncertain factor is how much of my customer base will abuse my goodwill and trust.

But from my reading up on others who do this, they often say it's worth it in the end, so I'm gonna sell my products in limited quantities and see how things go after that. 30-day product guarantees are like the Joker card. It could swing either way. I guess in business, risk is unavoidable.

This list is not final, I'll continue to go through it and improve on them as time passes.

 

[Xeon]

Just made a payment of ~US$2,300 for my products. My bank is now left with ~US$3,400, and it will hit US$1,600 next month, the day just before payday (based on my monthly expenses and forecast).

I'm truly terrified, scared, lost, confused and literally shivering in fear. When I think of how little is in my bank account, I freeze in fright. What if all these doesn't work out? It's ok to fail when you've $$$ in your bank, because you've a cushion, but not so much in my case.

I've changed my fulfilment centre to another one, for the 3rd time. This one is more expensive, but worth every bit of it. They're professional, knows what they're doing and in charge of everything. Great speedy customer service.

The current 2nd one is a complete nightmare : they don't ship out and I've to keep chasing them, inventory doesn't sync based on my testing, order status never gets updated. I'll be shipping these goods to my new fulfillment center and I hope these folks don't hold my goods hostage.

It's been around 1.5 years since I had my first idea of hustling early last year. Been a very slow start due to :

1) Giving excuses NOT TO PAY FOR PRODUCT MANUFACTURING (due to intense fear of spending money)

2) Hiring the wrong folks. I paid cheap dollar and got cheap stuff in return, especially the fulfilment centre. These guys delayed me by 2+ months at least.

3) Spent lots of $$$ on wrong stuff, like too much plugins on Wordpress/WooCommerce, Shopify, web development. If I could rewind time, I would have stopped these and could save US$4K or so. BIG COSTLY MISTAKE.
Well, I did learn a lot about using WooCommerce, Shopify, Wordpress and site speed optimizations though. Was a complete noob before that. I could put all these in my day job resume!

What's Next: The goods take about 2 weeks to be made, then I'll be sending them for photography, then after that, the real battle will start.

I'm expecting 0 sales, 0 feedback in any form, as mentioned in Unscripted . Basically firing off into a vacuum.

Let's see how this goes. Well, there's still that awesome $2,000/month graphic design job waiting for me.

 

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[Xeon]

My introduction is here: Introduction - 75% through the Unscripted book and about to launch my first real business soon!

After soaking in the aura of this positive and informative forum, I've decided to start a progress thread for accountability. I did something like this many years back (but for art-progress and not business) and I saw the benefits of this sort of thread.

I can't guarantee I'll be able to post here regularly as I intend to spend most of my time working on my business : pet industry, product-based business.

 

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[Xeon]

Monday today. Morning now. In the office with my boss sitting right next to me, occasionally looking at my screen. This is the Ultimate Scripted Life.

There's one thing I hate about MJ's book : after reading Unscripted , you start to really hate your Scripted Life. I was immune to the Scripted life previously but now I can see how meaningless it is.

Tonight, when I get home, I'm gonna make a list of the final product samples I need, then email the supplier, and have them shipped over to me via the fastest delivery possible (though it will cost more).

On top of that, I'm gonna note down the issues in the website and compile them, so that in the next 2 weeks when it's done, I'll send them to the developer for fixing.

Seems that in the meantime while waiting for final product samples, there's nothing much for me to do as I'm still in the product development phase (nearing the end though). I'll also pin down which are the marketing channels I'll focus on, but it'll be mostly Instagram as I'm active there, and I might consider paid advertising in reddit too (there's an active sub-reddit where my audience is right there).

On a side note, tonight I'll dream of the Lamborghini Veneno and how awesome their horsepower level is compared to the average car on the road. It will definitely make girls swoon!

 

[Xeon]

Finished Unscripted yesterday.

Near the end, I skipped that small section on the 3 money pots, because that's way too far ahead for me.
The part before that, where MJ talks about making choices in life, makes me feel he should write a 3rd book wholly devoted to self-improvement. Best darn advice ever.

Unscripted showed me a world that I never even knew existed before. Through Unscripted , I learnt to think bigger.

I've always thought people who drive BMWs / Mercedes Benz cars were the biggest baddest gods in town.

The start of this year 2017, I aimed for a US$120 salary increase yearly at my 9-to-6 job, and aimed to earn approx US$3200 / mth when I reach 40 yrs old, by trading time for money.

After reading Unscripted , I laughed at all my old pathetic goals and what a sorry sad excuse of a human I've become!

MJ showed me a world where all of a sudden, BMWs / Benz started feeling like Toyotas to me.
I'm gonna try my best to incorporate CENTS into my business and try every possible method to value-skew the crap out of my business.

Unscripted also taught me that it's POSSIBLE to get rich without scamming people and resorting to unscrupulous business tactics.
I always assumed to get rich and drive lambos, one has to lie and cheat his way up the corporate ladder!

I'm reading chapter 3 of TMF now at Google Books (trial version).
I will buy it next Tuesday once my pathetic paycheck comes in. Nowadays, I'm scared to see my bank balance.

Yesterday, while reading TMF on the train, I chuckled loud. LOL.
See this sentence in the book:

I've also subscribed to this daily free viral growth loop newsletter which seems pretty legit.
If it ends up like some "back-end sales funnel" crap as mentioned in Unscripted , I'm gonna mark it as spam.

I've placed an order for the product samples, they should be arriving within 5 - 9 working days.

 

[Bekit]

Just read through your whole thread. WOW. *applause* Do you have any idea how inspiring this is for a brand new person like me walking into this forum and taking a first-look around?

After our brief interchange on that other thread, I now see very clearly that I am the one who needs to learn from you and not the other way around. Just a couple of the things that blew my mind a bit...

• You're navigating manufacturing, shipping, and distribution while bootstrapping it yourself on a salary that you say costs 2 months worth of pay to get your inventory.
• You're developing your marketing long before your launch so that you'll have customers lined up and ready to buy when you release your product.
• You're handling setback after setback and forging ahead anyway (not just the discouraging giveaway, but the loss of time & money...that's a big deal, and you're absorbing all of that as if it didn't make a trace of difference)
• You're getting grief from random strangers who are harassing you about your pay and a college degree... wow... I can't believe that lady... but one day you'll show her and everyone like her how wrong she was to judge you.
• You're focusing the best parts of your energy and attention on this business right now. You are a ROCKSTAR for doing that. Your future wife will thank you for choosing this season to focus on the business first, so that you can treat her like a princess later. Have patience with the relationship question. You're not a victim at all. You're building something that is going to give you the chance to call the shots.

Now, just a couple of ideas I had as I was reading through your thread... you may already be doing some/all of this stuff, and some of it might not be quite on target because I don't know what your product actually is. But...

Have you tried targeting dog trainers and veterinarians? They are like the hub of the pet world, and all the pet owners are the spokes. Google "dog trainer + [city]" and then look for the facebook pages of all the dog trainers, and then look at the list of all the people who have liked those pages. Target them (and lookalike audiences). Repeat with veterinarians. Another "hub" is the small, mom-and-pop pet food stores. If you can get your product into the hands of a few of these people, they have *real* relationships with a lot of the pet owners in the community, and this can help you to get traction.

Have you put up a website yet? If you haven't launched, this wouldn't be your full-fledged site yet. But you'll get a slight boost in terms of SEO if your site has been online for 30-60 days ahead of time to give Google a chance to crawl the site and see the keywords and know what the site is "about." Make sure you verify it as a property in Search Console so that you can get some indexing started immediately. It would just be placeholder content at first, but it would be SEO-friendly, keyword-optimized language (e.g. a home page, about page, product page, and couple of blog pages targeting your best keywords). It's not like the site will get visitors until you *actually* launch and start linking to it, but it can help a tad.

I take my hat off to you, sir. All the best!

 

[Xeon]

Met my first setback last night. Product samples came in, and it wasn't what I thought. TBH, I feel very disappointed and dejected.
Based on what the company boasted on their site, I was expecting something awesome and impressive, but it looks below average!

This is not acceptable, and not something I would want to sell to my customers.
I don't want my business/company to be known as "That Low-Quality Company (tm)".

I'm looking at other manufacturers who use different techniques of producing the product.
The costs are higher but the quality is way better.

Now I understand the meaning of "you get what you pay for". F*ck This!

 

[Xeon]

Made My Move - Ordered Inventory

Costs ~US$1200 including shipping, and additional US$120+ for setting up account with a fulfillment centre.

Initially, I wanted to use a US manufacturer with some components shipped from China to US for final assembly, before shipping the whole thing to the US fulfillment center.

However, I'm now using an asian manufacturer to do the entire thing and ship direct to the fulfillment center. The resulting cost is about 2x cheaper than before.

This gives a larger margin per product. I'm using the excess margin to offer free shipping + free returns. I believe this will skew the value a bit, since I read free shipping alone will improve sales, let alone free returns.

The product is about 25% (approx between US$6 - US$8) more expensive than my competitors'.
However.....

Marketing Game & Value Skew

I'm going for a different angle in the marketing approach, which I have not seen my competitors used yet.

My humble hustle cannot be considered a "lifestyle brand" but that is my final destination which I want to build it up to, since my product and market is suitable for this sort of thing.
I'm not too sure how to pull this off. I've plans and ideas but have not nailed down the exact path, which I'll do this week while the order is in production.

I've been looking and studying "cult" brands like BeardBrand, Johnny Cupcakes, Lululemon, Harley Davidson, Black Milk, Apple etc.

My target market consists of mostly part-time enthusiasts making a quick side buck from this, they're not serious about the whole thing and mainly doing it for fun. There are some small-to-ok sized competitors but no strong superpower, nowhere close (unlike the case of operating systems/search engines/phones = Microsoft/Google/Apple).

Also, the free shipping + returns will give me a boost.
On top of that, the quality of my product is better than most competitors who use a cheaper and less-durable way of manufacturing.
One more thing: I can ship out the product within 1-2 days while my competitors need 4-7 days.

I prefer not to state my USP here as I'll be using it throughout the website and future marketing.

Here's a screenshot of what my suppliers' comparison table looks like. I've left out the left, middle and top columns for obvious reasons. The last few rows are the unit profit margins, gross profit margins, revenue, net income calculations etc. I spent about 2+ months searching and digging for suppliers from various countries. I really wanted to use US ones, but the prices are just too expensive for me to add any profit.

What's Next

Waiting for the products to be made and shipped to the US, which will take approx about 2 - 3 weeks from now.

During this time, I'll continue reading FLF and watching Shark Tank, and also draft out a marketing approach in detail.


Side Note

My sport shoes of 12 years fell apart.
I was walking back home in these crap last night in the mild rain, and it has only spurred my desire to get out of the slowlane.

I've also spent about US$105 on buying a gym bench and total of ~120 lbs (60 KG) of weight plates so that I can gym at home.
Based on calculations, this can save me TONS of traveling time to the gym and several hundred dollars per year! I only need to go to the gym once a week now (instead of 3) to do the squats and deadlift.

Lifting weights keep the mind fresh, the body healthy and makes me feel more manly.

I still have a HUGE PHOBIA of spending money on my fastlane hustle.
My heart feels painful now as I'm typing this, it's my hard-earned day job money which I'm spending on this hustle which I'm not even sure what's the outcome.

 

[Xeon]

/start rave

Update: 1 July 2018, approx 11.40 PM

On the bus again towards the city. This time, I saw 2 Ferraris driving alongside the bus. This is the first time I've seen a Ferrari so close. Both reds but different models. Can't tell what's the models as I'm not a Ferrari fan (but man, it's curves are sexy)

As the bus drove into the heart of the city area, there were another 5, then 10, then before I knew it.....there were a sea of them! The roads got congested due to the large number of Ferraris..... I think there was at least 40 over or way more. All kinds of models and colors. It was some kind of event.

In another thread, I asked how women on the streets behave when they see supercars. I remembered MJ (praise and glory be upon him) saying it attracts guys instead of girls (aka dick convention), but this time, I've to disagree, because....the women were all whipping out their phones and taking pics of the Ferraris!

At one point, one of the Ferraris activated the convertible mechanism to cover the roof. It looked like a F*cking transformer!
There was this other orange Lambo that drove behind all the ferraris.

All these while, I can hear the huge booming, ROARING sound of the ferraris as they revv the engines and do that control launch.
Immensely motivating and inspiring. Imagine seeing a sea of supercars, all driving next to you.
It's like you're in a boat in the ocean and all these killer whales swim alongside you.
As I got off the bus, I felt overwhelmed and light-headed.

I BADLY want to be like these supercar owners. Successful, manly, alpha, rich, powerful, sought-after by women.
Why should I be working at a lowly $2K job while these guys are living lives of gods, even though we're all humans?

I want to join in their fun, but instead of ferraris or lambos, I want to do it in a Pagani!

/end rave /end fap

 

[sparechange]

Why does it matter about attracting girls with cars? Horrible thinking imo , when you become wealthy you need to join the stealth wealth movement. Tell people you are poor and act like it . That way you have genuine people in your life. Just my thought. When you are successful in life I can imagine people expecting handouts and the attitude of thinking hey this guy can afford the dinner bill he should pay it etc etc, why not avoid it completely?

 

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[JohnZ123]

Could be because of your location/country.



Have to agree!

Being east asian myself and having a few relatives in Singapore, asian culture places a lot of emphasis on money even more than western culture. In North America you have a certain group of naive people saying how "money doesn't matter". In asian culture you'll rarely ever hear that BS and people are VERY JUDGEMENTAL on how much money you're making, what car you drive and if you have a house. For example, Xeon even mentioned earlier in this thread how this woman approached him asking him how much money he's making and comparing it to her son. When it comes to dating the women in general are a lot more receptive to wealth due to cultural upbringing.

 

[Xeon]

Today, while reading TMF , on page 42 of the book, MJ wrote about how wealth = community, impacting the lives of others, and how the richest moments of his life occured when he's surrounded by family and loved ones.

Once again, this is a bit of a shocking revelation to me, because I always thought wealth = buying super cars and watches and taking photos of these and uploading to Facebook to make everyone swoon and envy you. Kinda like a penis contest. I guess the gist of it is to be genuine to people and live life together with them happily, and not about showing off how financially successful you are on social media (although I would love to have a few "big-breasted models" as mentioned in the book).

I'm now beginning to see things in a different light, hopefully, this will also influence my thinking towards people, that $$$ cannot buy real relationships, and that trying to earn more $$$ in order to buy super cars will not solve all my life's problems.

Still waiting for the product samples to arrive. In the meantime by the end of next week Fri, I'll be making a list of value attributes where I can skew my product towards.

 

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[ocricci]

If my current hustle fails, I'll start another and another

I'm with you, let's make it happen or die trying

 

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[Ravens_Shadow]

If my current hustle fails, I'll start another and another. f*ck THIS.

Planning on giving up so easily? The more time you put in, the better your chances of this being a success. If you think about it as oh I'll just do the next hustle or the next hustle, seems like you're chasing a shortcut.

 

[Xeon]

Finally! The first batch of products are ready.
The manufacturer sent me some photos of 20 - 30 of them all on the floor (they were packing it into the box).
It's now being shipped out to the warehouse in the US.
It feels good to see your own products come to life.

The shocking thing is.....the manu told me the products will reach the US warehouse next Monday!
WTF! I'm not even prepared, caught with my pants down in bed.
I thought DHL usually takes 5 - 6 days for international shipments.
I just emailed the fulfillment center and I hope they'll be ready.

Been looking at the costs again, and I realize I need to find a manu in the US.
I always thought Asia gives the best prices, but it's not always true.
And the shipping cost from Asia to USA is insane.
Actually, for my case, a completely custom design will be cheaper in Asia, but since it's only semi-custom, the US is way cheaper. USD400+ cheaper in fact!

For a mere 34 lbs (15+ KG) box to the US, it's USD285++ by DHL, and I can't find any freight consolidator who would do this.
Most don't even bother replying except for 2, and one of them is quoting a price 3x the cost of my products. WTF WTF WTF
The whole shipping industry needs a shakeup.
They need something to disrupt their entire industry, let those fat shipping guys go out of jobs.
Then they'll work harder to keep costs cheaper. Like how Uber shakes up the cab industry.

For my Instagram, ever since using Everliker plugin, I've been gaining 14 - 20 new followers a day.
Gained 21 today! My goal is to hit 10K by 31 Dec 2018.

Also, I posted a few ads on my local equivalent of craigslist to find small gigs to further fund my fastlane hustle. My salary isn't enough. Actually it is, but I need 2 months of day-job salary to fund the next batch of products (assuming 0 sales in first batch).
I've also cut out all un-needed spending, such as giving up protein powder (one tub is expensive as F*ck).

Next step :

I've contacted a photographer from South America, the land of the legendary hispanic girls (never really seen one before in real life here).
He'll do product shots (with and without people). Then with those professional shots, I will contact a few IG influencers in my niche and get them to endorse it after I sent them the products.
I believe professionally done shots will entice them more to join me.
Trying not to spend any additional dime on the IG influencers. If they require $, I'll look for the next one.
"Here, take my product and shoot a pic of yourself using it. Hurry up! Ain't got no time to wait for you!"

Then, once all the photos are in, I'll do the last finishing touches to the website......and I'm ready to launch!

My level of self-doubt is insane now. Through the roof.
I have all these grand ideas and wild visions of my product and future lineups.....but......
Out of 10, how much would I rate my chances of success?

Big fat 2.5.

Let's see how it goes.

 

[Xeon]

From having seen what you've posted here - you will make your target and some.

EVERYTHING you have done is conducive to becoming successful. I've seen others with less accumen do it, and some of those were dumb af.

The spreadsheet, process and everything you've listed here is *exactly* what's required to get a successful business together. I even did the "small window" trick when I worked at a local stationery company. Exactly the same setup as you - https://i.imgur.com/GIJaVyX.jpg - except instead of this stuff, I was writing SEO articles on LinkVana.

-

I wanted to say that you need to stop with the self defeatist talk (I know it's hard but you really need to appreciate that you are living in one of the best business hubs in the world, and seem to be a very knowledgeable guy). You've had the initiative to get a decent job, stay at the job, read MJ's books, get a product sourced, manufactured and sent to a US fulfillment place AND stick at it for 6+ months. You're far ahead of most people. I know business veterans who'd shudder at the thought of what you've done.

You don't need to be "well hung" to have good sex, nor do you need to look like Brad Pitt to do well. They help, but they're not really what matters in the end.

This brings me onto something I learned a LONG time ago which I felt extremely pertinent to write...

You're letting your power go too easily. Rather than internalizing your energy, you're externalizing it onto results (or lack thereof), a "market", instagram and a whole range of other things (cars etc).

The BIGGEST thing I found from a number of ventures (some not dissimilar to what you're doing) is that you get the best results when you focus on YOURSELF. This is not to say you ignore MJ's wisdom, but rather than putting your energy into IG etc, think about it from the perspective of what YOU are learning and how the thing is growing. Everything in life is a transaction; some transactions are "bigger" than others... if you focus on extracting "something" from each, you'll perpetually grow. In the same sense, also consider what *you* are putting into each - this will give you an idea as to what results you're seeing.

If you want some MORE inspiration - check out this dude whom I found the other day: Meet Britain's wealthiest young entrepreneur who made £55m fortune doing EXACTLY what you are now.

I could write some more, but don't want to poo-poo your thread. You're already ahead of 99.99% of people - the only real thing you're lacking is market traction.

--

Actually, let me give you a little tip I think about. The results you're seeing are the fruits. Everybody focuses on the fruits because it's what you see. However, the fruits are only possible because of EVERYTHING ELSE in the tree; most importantly the roots. The best people focus on the roots. If you focus on those, the fruits will take care of themselves when the time is right. Think about this when you don't want to "spend" on your venture.

It's rpeck the man himself! Thanks for the advice, I had to re-read it 3 times to absorb the goodness. I love the visual idea of the tree and the roots, it helps me to feel a lot better when spending money on my hustle.

Sometimes I wonder if you're a 65 year old business veteran hiding behind a 28 year old's avatar.....

I read previously that you're learning coding and design? Can't help with the coding part, but I can probably give feedback or critique on the design side

 

[MJ DeMarco]

I remembered MJ (praise and glory be upon him) saying it attracts guys instead of girls (aka dick convention), but this time, I've to disagree, because....the women were all whipping out their phones and taking pics of the Ferraris!

Could be because of your location/country.

From having seen what you've posted here - you will make your target and some.

Have to agree!

 

[sparechange]

 

[Xeon]

any updates on sales @Xeon ?

No sales, not launched. But very soon. I'll post my update once I made my first sale.

 

[sparechange]

part of the process

 

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[Xeon]

I'm still doing ok in the desert of desertation! Haven't given up these few months, never had and never will.

The company I'm working in now has extended my contract for another year. Because I have nothing to do during office hours, I spend the whole day reading mindset/execution articles here, especially the treasures in the INSIDERS'.
Hopefully they'll renew my contract again next year.

This is what my daily screen at work looks like. The FLF window is tucked in front of a graphically-busy background window. When people come near, I Alt+Tab on keyboard to switch to background window ("busy looking for interface references and trends").

For those who don't mind a low-paying job that has lots of free time for you to hustle at work, try looking for start-up companies (the right ones). You know, the ones on government / VC funding, run by young guys who spend all their time at "start-up meetings", "accelerators" and "incubator" that kind of cool shit who burn funding money like no tomorrow? Those are the companies you want to work for.

The bosses of these "start-ups" have no idea what they're doing everyday, except drawing complex diagrams on the whiteboard which lead to nothing, and no concept of deadlines. If you're lucky, you can even go to pizza/Nintendo/coke parties every Thursday night at those start-up meetups. Love this life to death!

Next week, I'll be making the order for the inventory, and I'll post more serious stuff then.
I feel this hustle has a 55% chance of succeeding, but regardless of the outcome, I need to try this to see if it works. It's better than wondering about it when I'm 85.

If it doesn't, I'll move on to the next idea.

 

[Xeon]

F*ck! There are so many issues with the warehouse, and something that can be done in 1 day has taken almost 1 month! Every time when their other clients have a spike in orders or something happens, they would see to that first and my products are given the treatment of "Aye mate, we'll get to that later once we're done with this".

I'm still gonna go ahead with them as things are already halfway fixed, but I'm gonna find another warehouse just in case.

Tomorrow, I've a call with these warehouse folks to fix all these crap, and I admit.....I'm anxious, for the reasons no one is expecting : this is the first time I'm getting an overseas call from a western country.
Don't laugh, but my mind is full of thoughts like:

• What if they laugh at my English?
• What if they can't understand my accent?
• What if my English is not up to par and they treat me like a joke?
• What if I don't sound professional?
• How do I speak like Gary V / Tony Robbins?

On the Instagram side, I've come up with a content idea after reading Fox's post in that other IG thread. I'm gonna create original content based on relevant things in my niche, and put motivational quotes on them, in an ironic/sarcastic manner. Since visual design is my forte, I'm gonna capitalize on this.

I'll then tag and mention all the big accounts in my niche and if they notice me, they might even feature me. I just need ONE homerun. In the caption, I'll write "Tag a friend who needs motivation! / find this useful!" to further encourage sharing.

It will be a lot more time consuming than just reposting, but from what I learned in Fox's posts, reposting accounts have zero or no loyalty and people are just there for the dopamine highs. With an account that has original content, I might have a better chance of attracting true fans.
I'll try it for 2 - 3 months and see how it goes.

 

[rpeck90]

Thanks man, no I'm not 65 and that picture is from when I was 21.

Here's a picture my mother took of me recently:



Will get back to you on the design stuff nearer to the time, if that's okay

Seriously - you're making epic progress. Any trepidation you're feeling is the equivalent of Neo waking up from the Matrix.

R

 

[Aragorn]

Great thread, Xeon!

I went through a similar experience. Building a decent business takes so much more time than anticipated. Pretty much every step you take is uphill. Hardly anything works for the first time. Initially, I thought that the time span between my product idea to our first sale on Amazon would be about 10 -12 months. Turned out to be more than two years.

But in order to play it safe, like you, I kept my day job to support me - and nurture the business. Yesterday evening, I was adjusting some Amazon parameters (I'm still learning) I discovered our first sell. It is overwhelming. I was close to tears and at the same time wanted to jump, run outside and wake up my sleeping neighbors with a load RRRRRRROOOOOOAAAAAAARRRRRRRR!!! I know it must sound weird for some. But after putting in many thousands of USD into creating a product, labels, boxes, getting the stuff manufactured and shipped to Amazon (after a long struggle there), this first sell was an emotional blast!

Of course, I want more of this feeling. But I know it will never be so intense as it was last night. The first zip of a cold beer is the best. Always. And you are so right. All the fancy stuff doesn't matter. If one glues oneself to such an endeavor for such a long time and stands one's ground against all obstacles materialistic thoughts retract. Entrepreneurship did something to me. It changed me substantially and for the better.

Keep on going, man! You'll make it!

 

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[Xeon]

Some updates:

1) Signed up with a much better fulfilment center. These guys are extremely professional, assuring and clear in their working style. They guide you every step of the way, tells you what's going to happen next, who to contact, what to do etc.

2) Manufacturer showed me some of the parts they did yesterday. Pretty impressed with one of the parts. The other has a very slight color variation (very light grey instead of white), but it's ok since it's a technical limitation issue and it's only a tiny part. If all is well, everything should be ready approx 20 Feb or earlier. Keeping my fingers crossed. I was reading Vick's sunglass thread (still on page 20 of that monster thread) and it seems with manufacturing, there's always delays.

3) Gonna run my Instagram giveaway next Monday. I did some reading and this infographic is useful:

I'm using easypromosapp to pull all the comments and generate a random winner, then I'll ship the prize to them direct from amazon.
My purpose of running the weekly giveaways is to:

• get more followers
• get more awareness of my brand
• get social proof
• increase engagement

4) While waiting during this period, I'm also researching the next few products in my line, and I did a poll on pickfu.com to test my potential customers' feedback. Surprisingly, their opinions are different from what I thought. The service is a bit expensive but it sheds new light on many things and is worth it. Each vote comes with detailed answers (the Whys) and you can choose the demographic to target.

4) Last week or so, I was in a bus going home on Sunday, and during the red light, I look to my right and saw this blue, exotic roofless car. I can't see the whole thing clearly, only the front part, and I thought it was a Pagani (nearly jizzed my shorts), but after a while, it seems to look like a Lotus Elise / Exige.

5) Btw, Tony Robbins is currently in Singapore giving a 4-day seminar. Official: Tony Robbins Singapore - Unleash The Power Within 2018
Look at the prices for the tickets WTF lol. With those $$$ I can buy more inventory and marketing. No offense to the Tony fans here but he comes across as another Tai Lopez type of guy to me, you know, the one who knows everything from wealth to relationships to business to religion to health. The premium tier tickets even have a fire-walking experience.
Tai Lopez, Tony Robbins, Joel Osteen.....masters of the feel-good fastlane business.

 

[Xeon]

Quick update. Products will be ready approx mid-next week.

Meanwhile, for the Instagram Giveaway Contest Results....

Gained 10 new followers (but lost about 5 afterwards), total 68 comments in the giveaway post and total of 26 participants.

One thing I learnt, is that giveaways should be restricted to the US if you intend to ship the product from Amazon. The winner of my giveaway is from a country in the middle east, and the cost to ship there is almost 5 F*ckING TIMES the cost of the gift! WTF x3!

I'm now checking with the winner if they will accept Amazon gift card instead. The value will be 2x the cost of the toy which is still a win for them.

If not, I'll have to suck it up and pay for that insane shipping cost in order not to leave a bad rep.

Expensive lesson learnt.

But thinking about it, I'll stop giveaways for now and concentrate the limited funds I've, to spend on influencers instead. I believe the ROI will be much better.

Currently looking for a freight consolidator to see if I can get the goods shipped to the US in a cheaper manner. Manufacturer is quoting me USD285 to ship a 33 lbs (15.6 KG) box from SE Asia there, what a pain for my $$$.

I also bought Walter Hay's book for my new reading material, and once I'm done, will get Jim Cockrun's book.

I've also been reading many threads here, and with the limited funds I've, I realized I can't use the shock-and-awe approach some folks here are doing. You know, going in with guns blazing and throwing money on sponsoring events, doing trade shows, hiring photo-shoots and all the big gala stuff which burn cash like no tomorrow.

My strategy would be to go small and slow, and give myself a very good sustainable burn rate. This will lengthen the time to succeed but well.

I've this book called the One Page Marketing Plan. It says the no. 1 reason why small businesses fail is due to them burning their cash too fast, trying to market like the big boys in building "brand awareness". It's like, Coca-Cola and Nike can throw more than US$30 million a year running ads showing their logo and lifestyle videos without any CTA or driving any sales, but can you?