No kidding that is well understood.
Last show we made 15 grand in 2 days San Francisco
This Weekend was 18 grand 3 days Reno
Side business laser cutting
Larger jobs sold reach 80 to 160 thousand
3 large projects per year.
Large projects including city contracts all were sold from attending = Burning Man
So I only speak from people I know which tend to gross 20 to 45 grand monthly.
There is importance for online presence, real buyers are in the real world.
Of course it depends on the project, product and social skills.
The old saying "In the right place, at the right time "
pretty much includes actually being there.
For Audio Not including Paris and Germany here in the states Lone Star and Axpona should be big this year judging how massive Reno was.
See yah there?
Besides organized events the World is free to make your own.
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well im not surprised every idea anyone has ever had has been done or thought about before but its always eventually one persons implementation of the idea that causes it to catch on.
IMHO, what's missing is the likes of Heathkit and Dynaco.
Try to merge them with something like the Raspberry and you might find a market.
Keep the sales and distribution costs low, and use the Internet for advertising, like Schiit.
cool, nice to know! the speaker im in the process of building uses a planar magnetic tweeter i believe. if im looking to build anymore speakers in the near future i might have to hit you up
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I doubt it. But maybe next year.
I was at Axpona last year. Sold nothing. I doubt my social skills or lack thereof are to blame. Most visitors went to see brands they already knew. And where do you think they know them from? That's right! The internet. Social media. Ads.
I was at RMAF in 2019, FLAX in 2020, FLAX again in 2022, PAF in 2022, Axpona 2024. No sales. That's with my retail brand, Tom Christiansen Audio. My customers find me through ASR.
Tom
thank you i really appreciate the encouragement I do struggle with figuring this stuff out too (did go to a HVAC trade school school that taught me some electrical concepts but it was so short that i quickly forgot 90%) but i know that i cant give up and its not too late for any of us if we're willing to just keep going.
Unfortunately, the old german saying "Qualität hat ihren Preis" (quality has its price) is true. It might be possible to create something "good" for rather little money these days; or even "very good" if you are a very good engineer. But high quality components are not cheap, even more so, if you are not ordering truckloads of them. A nice enclosure is not cheap, even more so if you can't manufacture it on your own. Low sales numbers equal high production costs, and certainly you will sell almost nothing when you are starting your business. And if you are targeting low cost items with low margin, where in that calculation is your margin, i.e. what are you going to eat next month? You really really should consult some business funding agency, at least in Germany, there are public offerings to help you with funding a business. Oh, and a plausible business plan is a must if you need some cash from either investors or banks (that still is tough).
Ah, to be young and dream without any real-world experience.
Before you even do as Tom suggested and write a business plan, do you have experience with:
MARKUP - you have to sell products for several times your cost in parts and labor. This tends to make things unaffordable compared to "the competition".
LOSS - a company always experiences losses. Stuff breaks, etc. This eats away at some profit.
ADVERTISING - Even if you have a stellar product, if no one knows about your business no one will buy from you. No sales means no revenue. The end.
MARKETING - Generating buzz often means giving out product for free in hopes you will get a good review or two. Free = no revenue.
PRODUCT LINEUP - Amps, really? There are currently thousands of options for amps out there. How are you going to offer something that is attractive and different enough?
COMPETENCY - You don't seem to have any particular skills or much experience with electronics but want to sell electronics. How will you and can you be anything more than a reseller if you cannot design your own products? What value would you add?
Going back to Tom's post, even if you were on top of everything above, the saying is still true that a HiFi/Audio business is likely a losing proposition. How much money could you invest, how much time would you give yourself (years until you are up and running as a company) and what is your pain threshold in terms of loss? You will need to begin by purchasing a lot of stuff (parts, stock, etc.), storing it somewhere, setting up space to build and ship, buying equipment, etc. not to mention dumping money into marketing once you are ready to begin selling.
So, not to be a downer, but I would carefully think about all of these things before getting too exited about your new career...
Good info and a lot of great points. this is a task for sure that needs much work, learning, help, counsel and money but I am willing to do all the work i need to make sure I can build something for myself to support my family and my future children God willing with generational wealth.