I ask because most of the posts I read here are from service providers. And while a decent amount of the info is relatable, I’d love to hear from people who sell physical products and have to deal with manufacturing, inventory, wholesale/retail/ecom sales, etc.
As for my business, I own and game company (board games, card games). My two current titles are aimed at kids 3 and up. My next title (going into production shortly) will be same demo, then the following two titles will be aimed at the whole family (ages 8+). While my business is mostly profitable, I’m basically investing every dollar back into the company (more inventory, more titles, more marketing/sales).
I’m just 2 years into my journey (mostly part time), learning an entirely new industry, and would love to hear stories from other people selling consumer goods.
Where are you in your journey? What struggles did you encounter/are you encountering? What was the hardest part in the early years? Hardest ongoing struggles? Did you have any aha moments that helped you turn a corner? Did you ever get to a place of any real profitability? If so, how long?
I don’t have much of a network of people doing anything similar, so thanks in advance…hopefully we get a good discussion.
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I got into selling notepads on Amazon… You can look up SpeedPad s45 there if you want to see it… Notice how at least for now I am leaving the photos on the listing a little “sub-par”. They can be made better and more attractive nearly at any time. I plan on changing something minute on the item which should alter one of the photos slightly… I kind of halfway set this up as a learning experience. I need to see Amazon prove themselves instead of just draining the bank. The 2 most egregiously based factors for cost here have been the Amazon fees and the USPS shipping to the end consumer.
I had to sort and thumb through suppliers too since they were “fishing” for “easy money”… I quickly eliminated suppliers by having them make a sample however they wanted too at will after I gave them a blueprint to work off of.
I’ve learned lots either way and would not take back my learning opportunity.
I agree that while sales and profit are important, the amount of learning I’ve done over these two years is astonishing. I can’t cash that at a bank right now, but I think it’ll continue to pay dividends for as long as I have this business. The first 5 months on Amazon saw pretty steady growth, and then it plateaued.
I came to a cross roads where I either have to dedicate my time to becoming an Amazon expert myself, or continue to focus on building a business. I am choosing to focus on building my business and trying to find reputable Amazon experts who can help me manage that one channel. From the hours and hours of research I’ve don’t on Amazon, I feel like I haven’t even scratched the surface.
Manufacturer of alcohol product, for about ten years. The hardest part is the people part - I don’t excel at managing others. I take things personally, for one thing. That said, in these ten years I’ve gotten a lot better. My managing skills are much stronger, I have more confidence in my work and know my strengths/weaknesses.
And I own the business with my partner who is also the father of my children so it’s a lot of working together and that doesn’t always go super smoothly 🤣 He deals more with the supply chain stuff than I do but I think he’d also agree the people part is our biggest challenge.
I know small business life isn’t for everyone, but for me it feels like the only option. I like managing myself. I find the constant learning very rewarding. Sometimes I end the day feeling like I can’t problem solve one more thing. And I know what burnout feels like. But overall I feel a lot of pride. I am also humbled endlessly by the experience of owning a business - it just makes me appreciate how hard everyone is working. If something doesn’t go right at a restaurant or at a store, I don’t think “I could do it better” but rather “this sh*$ is hard and I don’t know all the ins and outs of all their business challenges”.
Thanks for sharing…that’s some great insight. I worked in branding and marketing for a big craft brewery and led the launch of one of the biggest brand currently in craft.
I agree with the notion that small business ownership is the only path. My field is always one of the first to get laid off, and as I get older (mid 40’s now) finding a job gets harder and harder. I love every aspect of owning a business. Even the hard stuff is extremely rewarding once you find a solution.
I’m a one person shop, so I have to do a lot…but I do catch myself falling into the trap of doing the stuff I enjoy the most (product dev and package design) when I know I could be pushing harder in other areas (building social media presence, being a better/more driven sales person). I am trying to adopt a “sales, sales, sales” mentality.
It’s a great industry, but not one without its challenges. However, I’m assuming every industry has its unique challenges.
We have 2 games now. Our original board game was actually created by my two young daughters out of scratch paper and markers. We never intended to create a business around it, but it kind of just happened.
Our second game is a twist on memory/match games, using the characters we created for the board game. We just launched that 3 months ago.
The reception to our game and story has been really amazing, but building consistent sales channels is a challenge.