A business plan that does not take into consideration the current nature of the market and how you are differentiated from the existing competition is far from being perfectly valid.
Self-efficiency is certainly important, but not nearly enough to assure success. Most of your competition is just as efficient as you are. Maybe even more so.
You need to differentiate yourself from the competition. Marketing 101.
I look at channels on youtube like, Mend It Mark, Daisy Tempest, Electroboom, EEVBlog etc and think what a great way to build a reputation and get exposure for your talents.
The traditional world of HiFi seems to be riddled with snake oil terminolgy and reviews not worthy of credability (bribes) which doesn't attract new customers; more likely drives them away to other hobbies.
The traditional world of HiFi seems to be riddled with snake oil terminolgy and reviews not worthy of credability (bribes) which doesn't attract new customers; more likely drives them away to other hobbies.
Luxury High-End requires almost the same budget as mass and affordable products if you want to succeed. Only the proportion between the production costs and promotional activities is different.
I think that everything you mentioned is essential. You must have cost-effective production, affordable prices, good sound, aesthetic visual appearance, and a bit of originality. It's not like you have to think about only one thing. If you suck in one of them, that may cause problems.
So that's 1.5 units per day.
To sell your products EU-wide, I estimate the base costs of all the required registrations and tax processing setup to at least 10k-20k EUR initial costs, about 5k-10k running costs per year, likely on the 10k side. Plus your own basic costs of living, like insurance, company insurance, eating and stuff.
Call me absolutely impressed by doing that on a 2 sales per day base.
It's a good job you're not planning to start up your own enterprise with estimating skills like those!
You have absolutely NO idea what my OPEX and profit margins are so how could you possibly estimate whether it's a viable business or not??
Let me just confirm that your estimate is way off and that my business is doing more than great, thanks.
😉
Reading back posts in this thread it's somewhat saddening to read so much negative sentiment and outright mis/disinformation by individuals opinionating and pontificating about what they think a viable business in the hifi market should look like.
Some of the statements are just downright ludicrous to the point of being totally misleading.
I would have thought encouragement and enthusiasm to see a potentially new product emerge into the market would be more appropriate. After all, what the hell have you all got to lose??
Why not advise the OP to just 'go for it' instead of lamenting the state of the market/industry and past failure of others??
If this guy has half an idea about a new product then why not let him crack on and create his own pathway to success or failure!
I suggest the OP seeks the (professional) advice of a business consultant specialised in start-ups or from people who have more than a few years experience of actually running their own successful enterprises instead of listening to the half-assed, negative comments by the armchair experts here.
I suggest all those with any negative or unfounded 'advice' refrain from offering it in this thread.
Some of the statements are just downright ludicrous to the point of being totally misleading.
I would have thought encouragement and enthusiasm to see a potentially new product emerge into the market would be more appropriate. After all, what the hell have you all got to lose??
Why not advise the OP to just 'go for it' instead of lamenting the state of the market/industry and past failure of others??
If this guy has half an idea about a new product then why not let him crack on and create his own pathway to success or failure!
I suggest the OP seeks the (professional) advice of a business consultant specialised in start-ups or from people who have more than a few years experience of actually running their own successful enterprises instead of listening to the half-assed, negative comments by the armchair experts here.
I suggest all those with any negative or unfounded 'advice' refrain from offering it in this thread.
You are THE TRUTH my friend!
I can only correct a little: "Limited liability" type of company registration is close to 500-1000EUR setup in different fees, you can make it done for ~200EUR one time if you do everything yourself, not that hard, but then the fun begins: depending on the country you need to have startup capital - ~3000EUR in my country, then you have to be employed yourself and hire someone to make accounting. That is easily 2-3k/month with minimal salary of ~900EUR/neto, don't remember the exact numbers, will take a look, it is an interesting subject. That LTD company is more or less a must, if you go for VAT registerred subject.
If you are starting business by not registering company, there are some other forms depending on the country - it is much cheaper, but then the liability kinda goes up for you, so for start you can do with ~100EUR/month for various permits.
So, for trading/manufacturing company of 2 persons you MUST make margins (not turnover!) at least ~7-10k EUR/month for it to be alive. Just ALIVE, with minimal wages. If you are on the simpler business side, with "business permits" - you have to be very careful not to get into legal trouble or similar, but then it is still needed ~1k/EUR month/person to survive in EU, without mortgage fees, and double of that for more serious bills and some for rainy days.
1-2 cables/day - ...they have to be with gold, diamonds, snake oil, blackbody generation, dark energy attraction, Bose-Einstein condensate on the sub-molecular level or you name it. Creativity-to-the-ELEVEN level!
It is not about that.
Bills happen in real life. This is about bills, food, petrol, rent/mortgage and other technicalities.
Well, I'm doing business for around 30 years now, and having served close to a million customers in that time, one could call that a bit of experience.
So, what's your magic trick to evade all those associated costs? Like WEEE-registration in each country, EPR-registration in each country, tax-registration in each country (supposedly you want your revenue to exceed small business rules to make enough money for a living). Some of these registrations require a representant, which is on top of those costs.
But I'm sure you found a magic trick to avoid those. We didn't.
You're assuming all of those form part of my operating requirements, which they don't.
So a completely inappropriate assumption on your part.
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If you DON’T have all those associated costs, what you have is a side hustle. Which means keep your day job. Or retire, with lots of money in your 401k. Then you can make all the cables, speakers, amplifiers or whatever you want, sell em at just over BOM cost, and be happy about it.
Thanks for confirming what we kind of already knew, the real money is in snake oil like cables.
nothing wrong with selling assembled cables but if you make snake oil claims then it’s just another hyped up
Op to join the rest of them trying to convince the buyers of your claim. Buyer beware. Crap all kinds of medical claims of ointments, chemicals, whatever to make you think you look younger.
Op to join the rest of them trying to convince the buyers of your claim. Buyer beware. Crap all kinds of medical claims of ointments, chemicals, whatever to make you think you look younger.
Unfortunately, some people e.g @leadbelly like to point the sh!tty end of the snake-oil claim stick at all/any given cable seller.
He'd do well to look at my selling platforms and the descriptions and claims I actually make about my cables before taking aim, but I assume the comment was intended purely as an insult, made more out of resentment and than anything else.
Standard practice in today’s world , sad to say, sit back, spew your crap out with no consequences 🙂
Our politicians are fine examples for the general public to mimic.
Btw we have a small manufacturing op going selling redesigned power supplies to keep old receivers/stereos out of the dumpsters. It’s actually a thriving business, profitable and has me delaying drawing government pension.
What’s a good number for gross vs net? I did my numbers this year and the business is actually growing, more products to develop, anyone need a new ps designed? 🙂
Our politicians are fine examples for the general public to mimic.
Btw we have a small manufacturing op going selling redesigned power supplies to keep old receivers/stereos out of the dumpsters. It’s actually a thriving business, profitable and has me delaying drawing government pension.
What’s a good number for gross vs net? I did my numbers this year and the business is actually growing, more products to develop, anyone need a new ps designed? 🙂
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4 businesses created, some alive, some bankrupt, some sold. Invested or been part of another of another 5+ businesses of my friends and relatives, family businesses. And yes, some of them required exactly that - stay in the armchair (with laptop, phone and big cup of tea).
Business is exactly that: to create source of income, with or without job place for you. There are several requirements for side hustle to call is "business" and I haven't heard any of them. And those requirements are not created by me.
And that facepalm is exactly reaction of anyone who sees your posts.
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I kind of have a small business going so have some experience.
Among the many problems are - how do you get known?
You want to make a speaker - OK you've got a working product, have you figured out your costs for what initial volume? And set some "list" price? Where does your speaker "sit" with the competition in the outside world??? Now to market - direct sales or God forbid thru one or more middleman. You will HAVE to advertise somehow/somewhere. Problem here - say you can devote say $1K to advertising - where do you put it? Ads or shows? Friendly local/respected dealer????
Have you taken your speaker around / compared it to others who BOUGHT what you think are competitive products??? How do they like it??? Would they BUY it at your asking price? In the DIY world, I've seen so many folks with stuff they have made that, in THEIR OWN MIND is the best ever produced on the planet. GOT TO bring this to market!!!
.
In my view, the audio world DOESN"T NEED another new amp/preamp/turntable/DAC/speaker/cable/...
That said, good LUCK and God bless!
Among the many problems are - how do you get known?
You want to make a speaker - OK you've got a working product, have you figured out your costs for what initial volume? And set some "list" price? Where does your speaker "sit" with the competition in the outside world??? Now to market - direct sales or God forbid thru one or more middleman. You will HAVE to advertise somehow/somewhere. Problem here - say you can devote say $1K to advertising - where do you put it? Ads or shows? Friendly local/respected dealer????
Have you taken your speaker around / compared it to others who BOUGHT what you think are competitive products??? How do they like it??? Would they BUY it at your asking price? In the DIY world, I've seen so many folks with stuff they have made that, in THEIR OWN MIND is the best ever produced on the planet. GOT TO bring this to market!!!
.
In my view, the audio world DOESN"T NEED another new amp/preamp/turntable/DAC/speaker/cable/...
That said, good LUCK and God bless!