Physical product company... I must be crazy
Been on the hunt for an idea that exites me for a few years now... but nothing... I am a developer by trade... so software is easy for me, but also not super exciting... after more than 35 years in the trade... so I need a change.
Eating one's own dog food is something I believe in very much.. .I am also a drummer... and I love electronic drums and the conversion of acoustic drums to electric... So here I am, building prototypes of triggers, 3d cad models, 3d printing, laser cutting and bending sheet metal (subcontractors) ...
Also got some equipment, microcontrollers that I will dabble in eventually for an intelligent snare drum (Roland has one but it works only with their modules, mine would work with any midi capable device)...
I think there will be a trend in micro manufacturing... much like I am doing, manufacturing at a small scale for niche products. The technology is available now for the maker/hacker...
I figure it will also take me through building a store (maybe amazon store too)... shipping, packaging... oh boy... I feel overwhelmed but excited... I already have working prototypes, I am looking for subcontractors for parts and such...
Anyone else with a physical good production? How do you go about promoting those things... I have a couple of drumming influencers on Youtube in mind and maybe a few drumming communities... But getting in music stores would be fun too...
Micro manufacturing... I think it's a thing for hackers... what are your thoughts?
Sounds like a fun business! I've got a couple of friends who are big on 3d printing, I've got no idea if it's a coming trend but those who are into seem very into it.
I sell physical products printing & shipping posters in-house. It's a less complicated product but still requires managing product listings, inventory, fulfillment and all that jazz. It's a lot to figure out at first but not bad once it's up and running.
Your niche seems ideal for social/content marketing. I'm probably the last person who should be giving social marketing advice, but it seems like you've got 2 good angles: the maker/hacker angle, and the drummer/musician angle. Can you find any influencers that are in that cross-section? People in that specific niche would be the easiest to get interested, and you could branch out more broadly from there.
Interesting that you mention the maker community... I thought of it but I don't think I can do anything innovant in there, there are so many good makers on youtube... but the micro manufacturing angle might be interesting to exploit...
Nice to see someone actually shiping physical products... I have only simmed the fullfilment space ... oh boy... the actual shipping part has so many options especially with regards to price... It can be quite expensive to ship boxes ... I also have no idea how an Amazon store works... but a few of my competitors have a few items there but are slow in shipping... I would like to have some products shipped by amazon (prime next day... ) ... Lost leaders maybe?
So much to explore and I am still in the creation phase... My first metal cutting sub contract next week...