Success in Importing

Re: Success in Importing

Hi John,

You are exactly right. The excitement about running a small business
is the freedom, the
lifestsyle and once you have it you can never go back to working for
someone else. In the
beginning there are lots of fears and long hours doing new things one
is not used to doing
but out of that comes more confidence - now I work 2-5 hours a day,
my partner varies
with what is going on, somethings working 8 hour days sometimes he
has days off in a
row. We both ride bikes, garden, enjoy being at home, play music do
art, take Yoga
classes, love to think out new ideas and direction
s........................and our life is about
being creative.

The money is nice, and having a good CPA very important, but knowing
that you can use
all your various talents to make something work to the best of your
ability is what is fun.


Thanks for being there John, to inspire and teach possiblilty.
Susan



--- In spiers@yahoogroups.com, wileyccc@a... wrote:
> Folks,
>
> I want to thank Crowboy for rising to my challenge to defiine
success.
> Notice something... Crowboy started out by naming a number, and
then went straight
> into lifestyle ... view home, exciting developing products in field
crowboy
> loves, can't wait to get into next ideas.
>
> Starting with a passion, experienced a problem, came up with a
solution,
> constantly innovating... I dare say "money" is not the main
motivation. Which is
> something I've been reflecting on...
>
> Last Saturday I taught a seminar in which a fellow who is highly
educated in
> business was keen on money opportunities. His understanding was
that small
> business was different from big business only in size. This is not
true...
> small is different from big in kind. By the end of the day he was
no longer
> looking for big quick hits in flipping drugs internationally, and
more in
> revolutioniziing the drug industry. Yes... better. He was in the
class cause what he
> learned in school was not working so well, and now he is
considering an
> alternative approach.
>
> I've always I only save people time and money by what I teach, and
one of the
> ways is getting people faster to where they should have started in
the
> beginning, that is with the best product or service the should have
been importing
> or exporting or both, from the start.
>
> Small businesses support the lifestyle of the owner, and how much
money that
> takes is up to the owner. Further, the business pays for much of
the
> lifestyle, for example, when I wanted to finish a bachelors degree
and get a masters,
> my CPA showed me how to make that a business expense. The business
is the
> lifestyle, the lifestyle is the business. My working definition
for "success"
> is when you stop worrying about enough money and start worrying
about enough
> time.
>
> Ultimately, being self-employed is about doing what is right.
>
> Side note... I know I dismiss the web as an opportunity to develop
business,
> but here we have Crowboy expliciting citing the web as the means to
accomplish
> sales. Well, me too... my book took 16 years to write, and
finally took
> form when I began using the nweb and forums I set up to perfect the
material.
> Also, The web is moving far more volume of the book than retail
stores.
>
> So yes, even I use the web... what I object to is the tedious
assumption that
> all one has to do is open a web site and they will get rich. My
experience
> is the vast majority simply waste time trying to get biz on the
web. More
> stories contradicting me wil be appreciated.
>
> Crowboy asked some more question which i will answer in a separate
post. But
> let me make a prediction: Sooner rather than later, the internet
will be
> shut down. Just as London turned off the cell phone network last
week, since
> cell phones are excellent trigger devices for bombs, the time will
come that the
> internet will be shut down for national defence. There is not a
single one of
> us who has not had our financial info hacked by enemy entities, and
it is
> only a matter of time when they hit us by hitting the financial
network. It will
> be back to newsletters and snail mail ... never let the internet
get to more
> than 20% of your revenue, so you can weather any hit.
>
> The iinternet as we know it is the result of massive malinvestment,
with
> fantastic waste as part of the game. If what we have not has to be
dismantled, I
> am not too worried, a completely new and rational web would
eventually replace
> it. One step back, two steps forward.
>
> John
>
>
> In a message dated 7/12/05 2:17:44 AM, crowboy@e... writes:
>
> << I would define successful in that we make about 360,000 gross a
year
>
> with myself and my partner, bought a view home in Seattle in the
last 9
>
> months, do this full time and have a family member ship for us part
>
> time. My partner and I started making adapters for the Kodak
DC265
>
> digital camera about 5 years ago after a friend bought a camera and
>
> could not attach lenses or filters to the camera. We came up with
a
>
> prototype, took a photo and ask if anyone would be interested on a
>
> large camera forum - they were very interested. So we hired a
>
> machinist locally here in Seattle and put up a website. The key
was we
>
> had a unique item that we would sell around - meaning we added
>
> filters, lenses, basic camera accessories as our customers wanted
to
>
> buy products all in one place.
>
>
> It was tough going in the beginning because we had lots of
customers
>
> but did not have any credit, (we were artists and poor) at least
not
>
> enough to take credit cards online..........so we did PayPal and
checks
>
> for several years, now we are able to take credit cards from all
over
>
> the world.
>
>
> We do not pay any advertising costs, we have no ads on our
>
> website..............all our customers are by word of mouth due to
>
> camera forums. We did not think this up or plan it, it just
happened
>
> this way..........
>
>
> It has become much more competitive in the past 2 years, but have
been
>
> able to stay ahead of the competition by improving the product and
>
> staying in a field where customers are more and more discerning in
what
>
> goes on their $800.00 cameras - our customers are 99.9% male,
newbies
>
> and more professional camera types.
>
>
> Since the adapter is very simple in design, we have been focusing
on
>
> the finishes, matching them to the camera bodies, we are trying to
>
> branch out into other camera related products we see missing in the
>
> market. Since we already have a customer base we can introduce new
>
> items or have old customers try a new prototype and tell us what
they
>
> think.
>
>
> So I would say find a niche market in an area you already have an
>
> interest in - forums are an excellent place to find people
complaining
>
> about how things don't work or what they would like to see made.
>
> Improve products that already exist, or use materials from one
field of
>
> interest and apply them to an unrelated area. We have an old
customer
>
> who is a dentist who is using a new tiny digital camera to take
>
> pictures of his patients teeth at $200.00 rather than the old
equipment
>
> usually used by dentists at $800.00. He has had so many dentist
>
> friends say can you set me up? I am not sure what to buy and how
to
>
> take the pictures. So he quit is job and sells packages and gives
>
> seminars to other dentists.........all over the US.
>
>
> One of the latest success stories in our area of digital
photography is
>
> a guy who made a lens that makes a photo have the effect of
Vaseline on
>
> the glass, though he has improved it by allowing the user to move
the
>
> center or sweet spot to anywhere in the frame. Years ago this was
all
>
> the rage with photographers, but he came out with this about 9
months
>
> ago and it is all over the web, in the latest photography
magazines.
>
> ..........and that is all he makes, it is called the "Lens
>
> Baby".
>
>
> Craig invented the Lensbabies Flexible Lens Mounting System (Patent
>
> Pending) in an effort to replace his Holga™ film camera with
its
>
> digital equivalent. After getting enthusiastic feedback from fellow
>
> photographers longing to create unique imagery for their clients,
Craig
>
> decided to make Lensbabies available to everyone.
>
> http://www.lensbabies.com/

Bookmark this post --- Email this post