YouRock.life

The UK manufacturer has just informed me that my presentation boxes will be shipped tomorrow.

I've also put 8 email newsletters into Aweber, ready to trigger when people sign up to the mailing list.

Now starting to really dig into marketing plans - not my strong suit!

Realised that I can't ship the presentation boxes with the product as they are. They'll need some protective envelope and somewhere to add the shipping label/customs docs.

Now looking at cardboard shipping boxes and 'fill' - the stuff you put inside to keep the contents from sliding around too much.

Fortunately, these are not to expensive.

But I am realising that even with a small product, all the physical pieces are adding up - which will become a storage issue.

I'll have:

• the product
• the presentation boxes
• cardboard shipping boxes
• paper fill for shipping
• plastic envelopes for all the shipping docs

Probably going to be stored next to my bed for a while...

I'm starting completely from scratch, with no mailing list.

I don't know anyone else in the entrepreneurial space - my network is all in the arts!

So have started writing a newsletter prior to launch. My aim is 8 editions (it'll be monthly) before I launch to give me some runway. I'll be using Aweber for the mailing list.

The newsletter is called "The Brohug" and is a practical and fun look at male friendship and support - including simple things subscribers can do to support their male entrepreneur friends.

It's great having such a specific niche as it really helps to focus the content.

While waiting for the UK manufacturer to produce my presentation boxes, I have been liasing with the Chinese producer on solutions for the foam insert on their box.

It needs to both present the bronze stone nicely, but also prevent it from rattling around the box in shipping.

Lots of back and forth with me offering lots of ideas, all of which appear to be unfeasible from the producers end.

I'm aware of language potentially being a barrier, so I change the language I use as much as possible, and often also include images of similar products/solutions with arrows indicating the specific area of focus.

Finally one exchange leads to the manufacturer pointing out that they also have a super-dense, black foam. It sounds like an ideal solution.

I've ordered a sample cut to fit the sample box that I already have, so I can test it. Again, there is a long delay as it needs to be shipped from China, and will cost about £20. Very glad that I had chosen to go with a UK box manufacturer for the first run.

Like I mentioned before, I'm building this one step at a time.

Now focused on shipping. I want an international clientele, so need a system to calculate shipping rates, customs fees, taxes, etc.

It's a highly variable area, but there are services that integrate with Woocommerce to solve all of this easily. I've gone with Easyship as it's free to start with.

I've added it to the site, tested, etc.

Also decided to offer free shipping to UK and US customers - using Easyship I can calculate how much this will cost, so know how much it will eat into profits. I think it's worthwhile to facilitate sales in my top target regions.

Have my 3 sample packaging boxes.

One of the boxes from China is a non-starter. It has ribbon that ties the lid down, and I can see that it will be too fiddly to untie each box, insert the product, then re-tie. Particularly at scale!

The second Chinese-produced box is really good, but the foam insert is very poor and undermines the 'luxury' customer experience I'm looking for. I will be speaking with the producers about options, as I'm keen to make this work - particularly as it would be much cheaper than the UK-made box.

Have decided to buy a minimum order of boxes from the UK producer - my largest expense to date. The thinking is that if I can sell 50 products, then it will be worth investing in a larger order from China.

I won't make as much profit on the first 50, as the packaging is more expensive, but I will have proven the viability of the product.

Building this one step at a time. Literally.

Have product. Check. Build website. Check.

But I can't just send the product in an envelope. The goal is make this a treasured, luxury gift item, so it needs to be presented as such.

Searching for 'custom boxes' turned up super expensive options. So I started on AliExpress, and eventually Alibaba, and found a few options that were much cheaper, if adapted.

I learned a lot in this phase:

• packaging can be a big additional cost if aiming for luxury
• Alibaba is great, but communication can be slow/tricky due to the time difference and translation
• Alibaba can be super cheap, but there is cost in the time spent with the above, plus shipping/customs, and needing a large order

I ended up purchasing a sample box from 2 producers on Alibaba, and 1 producer in the UK (where I'm based).

Communication with the UK producer was super quick and easy, but it's much more expensive. Like 10x / unit, and the timeline was similar to the producers in China.

A lot of stuff happened in the intervening time, including a 3-month contract in my other career as a performer - it's a pretty all-consuming job, so not much time invested in the business.

But I had chosen a foundry, and had commissioned a first casting in bronze, and sent off payment.

I had 10 pieces made, and it looks amazing - far better than I would have hoped.

Had a 2 week break from work due to Covid, to used the time to build the website.

I chose Wordpress and Woocommerce as I was familiar with both.

Selected a theme, set about designing a logo, tweaking the theme to suit the logo, and set up most of the backend including payment via Stripe.

The first product is the 'Wim Stone' - a beach pebble cast in bronze, with the quote "BREATHE MOTHERFUCKER" embossed in the surface. This was Wim Hoff's answer to Tim Ferriss' 'billboard question' on the Tim Ferriss podcast.

Began with writing to foundries to learn about production method and costs. Turns out that the manufacturing costs were lower than expected - so off to a good start.