My other side line is some computer "consulting" I do on the side. I don't actually consult because nobody wants to hear my opinion. I just do the programming or reporting that they ask for. I make about $800 a month extra doing that. It keeps my mother-in-law in health insurance and gets my family chinese take-out whenever they ask.
Like they say in the advice books "Multiple Income Streams" are the way to go.
Wednesday, November 11, 2009
New Product!!!!
Well, as you may know if you are a mind reader, my great idea for a website where people learn and teach languages and can use Skype to do that has already been taken, so no need for me to create such a site. See http://www.languageexchange.org/ So they get a free link from me for beating me to the punch by about 4 years at least.
Anyways, my new product might be..... drumroll please.... a handmade rag doll. Now I will not go into details here, but it will be designed and outsourced by me, not just something I bought from a wholesaler. I did learn on one of my various jobs -- this one for a mail order company -- that you can be successfull if you just tell the damn manufacturers what you want and they make it for you. So that is the idea, I control the darn product and it turns out the way I want. From my earlier dealings on my website http://www.folkartoday.com/, I have some source people who can do embroidery, crochet, hand painting and so forth. I just need to put the pieces together and get this thing rolling. Well, let's see how long it takes me to get a prototype. Hey, this might be fun. Err, well, vaguely distracting????
Anyways, my new product might be..... drumroll please.... a handmade rag doll. Now I will not go into details here, but it will be designed and outsourced by me, not just something I bought from a wholesaler. I did learn on one of my various jobs -- this one for a mail order company -- that you can be successfull if you just tell the damn manufacturers what you want and they make it for you. So that is the idea, I control the darn product and it turns out the way I want. From my earlier dealings on my website http://www.folkartoday.com/, I have some source people who can do embroidery, crochet, hand painting and so forth. I just need to put the pieces together and get this thing rolling. Well, let's see how long it takes me to get a prototype. Hey, this might be fun. Err, well, vaguely distracting????
How's it going.
Glad you asked. Well, after about a year, I turned off AdWords 'cuz it was eating about half my profits. I think Google Base or Merchant Center as it is now called drives traffic, but it has to be updated every 30 days. So anyways sales peaked at about $200 a month, but are now about $30 a month. I decided this week to give this site a little more attention such as keeping things in stock and keeping Google Base active. We shall see if sales pick up again. Then I'm going to cull out some stuff that doesn't sell and get a new product.
History
Well, I always wanted to have my own business, but now I'm 49 and so have too many responsibilities to quit my job. Also, I am not stupid anymore and know that I can't really do that as a full-time thing. So, I limit my activities to part-time.
My first successful venture so far has been www.folkarttoday.com. Like the only thing that sells on this site are the embroidered blouses and dresses. They seem to be part of the culture in Texas and California, judging on where many of the orders come from and, it turns out that people throw parties where all the guests come dressed in one of these embroidered dresses. It must be a lot of fun. But count me out 'cause I can't stand parties.
My first successful venture so far has been www.folkarttoday.com. Like the only thing that sells on this site are the embroidered blouses and dresses. They seem to be part of the culture in Texas and California, judging on where many of the orders come from and, it turns out that people throw parties where all the guests come dressed in one of these embroidered dresses. It must be a lot of fun. But count me out 'cause I can't stand parties.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)