kckc Posted December 9, 2016 Share Posted December 9, 2016 Hello guys, I was sitting and wondering today what else I can do except my job. I have plenty of free time and sometimes I'm just extremely bored. I enjoy doing some creative stuff like drawing, painting, making decorations etc, but for now I was just doing those stuff for myself. Now, Christmas are coming so I'd make for example, some Christmas decorations. The only problem is that I'm not sure what exactly people want and what they are able to buy. I am planning to buy a sewing machine. What do you think about drawings and paintings? What else comes to your mind? Link to post Share on other sites
darkmoon Posted December 9, 2016 Share Posted December 9, 2016 anything made of marzipan, trees, fruit, little versions, use food dye 1 Link to post Share on other sites
Author kckc Posted December 9, 2016 Author Share Posted December 9, 2016 anything made of marzipan I love this one!! Link to post Share on other sites
LargoLagg Posted December 9, 2016 Share Posted December 9, 2016 This doesn't really answer your question, but I thought I'd throw it out there for your consideration. Have you heard the old saying If you build a better mousetrap, the world will come knocking on your door? It's usually not true, unless the world sees you demonstrate that. So, while you may indeed make the cutest Christmas ornaments in the world or the tastiest confection, you have to be able to inform people that they exist, convince them that your products are indeed worth their money, take orders, collect funds and deliver the goods. If it's food, you have additional concerns, like poisoning people and sending out cookies using a product that gets recalled. So there's all that. I don't mean to discourage you, but it sounds like you want more than a hobby where you bring in some beer money. You want an actual business. I guess the other thing is that, depending on your goals, you have to worry about your production capacity. A baker, for example, can teach another person how to make a cookie that tastes exactly like the cookie the baker makes. So you can duplicate your efforts when the time comes. But if you sell watercolors that you paint, there's only one of you. The first thing you'd probably have to figure out is how many units you'd have to sell to make it worth your while. Let's say you want $10,000 in your pocket your first year. Each thingy you sell costs you $1.00 and it takes you an hour to make one, package it and prepare it for delivery. It costs an additional $1.00 to mail. Your sales materials (website, fliers, whatever) costs $1000. Let's say you only have 200 extra hours to put into this to get that $10,000. $10000 profit/200 hrs = $50 profit + $2.00 cost = $52 sales price before sales costs. Add ($1000/200) $5 per unit to pay for sales costs. Then, let's say you only sell 80% of them. That's over $71 per sale to put $10K in your pocket. Is that a reasonable price for your product? Obviously, I'm just making up numbers, but hopefully, you get the idea. I mention this only because so many people think about the product without considering what they really want at the end of the day, and it's hard to make money without a machine of some sort. If you're just looking for a way to kill some time, do what's fun and you don't care about the money, then go for it. Do what you love, nothing wrong with that. But if you're looking to supplement your income, sharpen your pencil and pull out the calculator first. You may save yourself a lot of aggravation. 2 Link to post Share on other sites
UpwardForward Posted December 9, 2016 Share Posted December 9, 2016 Hello guys, I was sitting and wondering today what else I can do except my job. I have plenty of free time and sometimes I'm just extremely bored. I enjoy doing some creative stuff like drawing, painting, making decorations etc, but for now I was just doing those stuff for myself. Now, Christmas are coming so I'd make for example, some Christmas decorations. The only problem is that I'm not sure what exactly people want and what they are able to buy. I am planning to buy a sewing machine. What do you think about drawings and paintings? What else comes to your mind? You Paint? If I could paint, I would paint florals or scenes on vintage pieces or furniture. Look up MacKenzie Childs. I know a woman who is doing well with painting on glasses and serving pieces, incl custom work. As far as designs, think about what You like. Ask friends. 1 Link to post Share on other sites
OpenBook Posted December 10, 2016 Share Posted December 10, 2016 You could knock around on eBay for ideas and inspiration. There's a TON of small business owners on there selling almost everything you can think of. Link to post Share on other sites
carhill Posted December 10, 2016 Share Posted December 10, 2016 It's not what you know, it's who you know. If you want to know what people want, ask around. Do research. One of my customers took the hobby of raising goats to a profitable business of making products from their milk. It took a lot of pressing of flesh and gladhanding and social media effort. His wife does most of it, working the goats on the ranch and designing product and he helps out with shows away from his main job as a parts manager at a forklift company. I've known him for nearly 20 years because I'd show up and drink beer with his boss and the mechanics, and bring some beer (still do) to see what work on the property needed being done, which was my business. It all goes back to people. That's how business works. Find your path and work it. Link to post Share on other sites
Lana3 Posted December 21, 2016 Share Posted December 21, 2016 What a cool idea Link to post Share on other sites
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