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Haha! I need an investor!
I actually really do need an investor.... More details later...
I actually really do need an investor.... More details later...
Fish Store.
- Thread starter islandreef
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Not looking to open a fish store. Honestly, I'm pretty much over retail. I am going into the manufacturing biz. My wife is working up a design, after that I'll work on a Paton. After that I'll need the investor, and then finally, production.
In the digital age, why would you waste your time and money worrying about location? Build your systems at home, create an online brand, use all the tools at your disposal to sell and/or market (FB, ebay, twitter, etc). If you have top of the line exotics and can find a way to reduce the shipping costs that we all hate, then you've got an edge on your competition already. Think about the quality of livestock you could accumulate with the money you would have been spending on rent. There are even lots of live/work spaces in Atlanta (condos, etc) where you could have the best of both worlds with a home and a store front all in one. If we are talking slim margins, then we have to talk about cutting costs to a bare minimum.
Slim margins mean you have to do volume to make money. Take a liquor store like Green's or Tower in Atlanta. They have 2 prices, 1 for cash, and 1 for credit. There margins are so slim (~5%) that they cannot afford the fee they pay to the credit card companies on their prices. Also, there isn't a liquor store in the souteast that can compete with their prices, but that is just the way that industry operates. Low margins, volume sales. You have an advantage in reefing as in your inventory is self regenerating, and if you have exotics then you can increase your margins because people in this hobby pay (and pay dearly) to be the first on the block with anything new. Just look at how the price for hornets has come down over the past couple years.
Wow, after all that you've got me wanting to get a business started in my garage. Ha. I think of it as a potential way to supplement your income (like a second job), and an enjoyable way to do it, and not the sole source of income. Keep your job that pays for your bennies (401K, health insurance) and you'll worry a lot less if business isn't going well. If you're home business becomes successful, then you can move to a storefront and take it to the next level.
Slim margins mean you have to do volume to make money. Take a liquor store like Green's or Tower in Atlanta. They have 2 prices, 1 for cash, and 1 for credit. There margins are so slim (~5%) that they cannot afford the fee they pay to the credit card companies on their prices. Also, there isn't a liquor store in the souteast that can compete with their prices, but that is just the way that industry operates. Low margins, volume sales. You have an advantage in reefing as in your inventory is self regenerating, and if you have exotics then you can increase your margins because people in this hobby pay (and pay dearly) to be the first on the block with anything new. Just look at how the price for hornets has come down over the past couple years.
Wow, after all that you've got me wanting to get a business started in my garage. Ha. I think of it as a potential way to supplement your income (like a second job), and an enjoyable way to do it, and not the sole source of income. Keep your job that pays for your bennies (401K, health insurance) and you'll worry a lot less if business isn't going well. If you're home business becomes successful, then you can move to a storefront and take it to the next level.
The problem with doing business out of your garage is finding a distributor that will sell to you. Most will only do business with a brick and mortar store. It is doable but it's not easy or half the club would have little businesses in their garage. I am in the process of doing research into this and it's a headache.
Starting the business out of your garage is feasible. But, it is ridiculously hard and a long road. I am good friends with the owner of Reef Chief in south Virginia. That is exactly what he did. But it was a long road to success. He now has a 5-6 thousand square foot facility and a grow out area. He gets some of the nicest corals I have ever seen. He has even tried to get the online thing off the ground to further the business, but it is much harder than one thinks. And, FWIW, the distributors will sell to you as long as you have a business license and no one else in the area has a specific agreement to be that area's distributor. But that is usually more for higher end, bette quality stuff like Deltec, Bubble King, or others that try to limit competition pressures on the folks they have agreements with. At least that is how I understand it.
I think starting a business in ones own would be much less worries than a storefront. Ita not the most convienent situation in the world but its somewhat partical in a financial sense. Not having rent and employee can save a lot of over head.
I think honestly if some of here in the club, with what we currently have, could be very successful as a "store".
I think honestly if some of here in the club, with what we currently have, could be very successful as a "store".
They have to buy online because many stores won't carry it at a reasonable price, and also will whine and complain if members sell.
A lot of members buy and sell from each other now. I am willing to bet I can tell you who has what locally at any given time if you wanted to buy
Edit:
If you make any amount of money, someone will complain.
A lot of members buy and sell from each other now. I am willing to bet I can tell you who has what locally at any given time if you wanted to buy
Edit:
If you make any amount of money, someone will complain.
I understand that part... but I can't see anything on a local scale that could have enough system space or coral inventory to be able to sell only what they grow (and make any reasonable money). On the scale of an ORA or somebody, sure... but if you can grow coral fast enough to supply your customers you are either big or you don't sell much coral IMO.
I think if I was allowed 8 x 4 frag tank, and let's say it cost me 1000 to keep that single tank up and running healthy, I would be about to sustain it indefinitely. This is assumin I supplement my niche in the market with common coral.
Edit: Btw this is only selling to atlanta
Edit: Btw this is only selling to atlanta
Gross margin or net margin? If you're looking strictly at the cost of organism A versus the retail price or organism A, perhaps. But if you weigh the REAL cost of that organism.. its cost, the cost of the water it came in, in terms of freight, the water, salt, food, chemicals, manpower, electricity to maintain it until it sells... mortality... the actual margin is surprisingly low.
If I didn't sell any livestock and just sold dry goods, I betcha my power bill would go down about 75%. And that's just one part of the total cost.
Thanh... you were just commenting yesterday about a piece we're trying to grow out, that you've had your eye on for a year. Not exactly "self sustaining" to the point of doing the kind of volume one would need to do if "growing one's own" everything for the "pure profit" of it. Yes, some stuff grows fast, but a lot of the "rare" stuff grows slowly. That's one reason why it's rare... because it takes a long time to grow out.
As for garage businesses - yes, for some that's a possibility but those of you who live in HOA governed neighbourhoods might have some issues with that if people are coming and going - or UPS/Fedex is coming and going too much. Someone else mentioned distributors only selling to brick and mortars - some do maintain that standard, some don't. Not all distributors, particularly of livestock, are "good" either. And some distributors of dry goods/hardware charge you more if you don't have a real store front. At least those who haven't forgotten who pays their bills.
I love what I do. I'd better or the last 10 years would have been pretty miserable - but while I love coming to work every day, it hasn't been without plenty of sacrifices. Like I said before, if it was easy, everyone would do it.
The shop I worked for before I opened my own - I learned a lot. I've worked in small-medium sized businesses my whole life and had run my own home-based business (not aquarium related) before venturing out on my own. That store taught me as much about how NOT to run a business as any previous job taught me how *to* run one. The owner was "nice" ... everybody liked him, but he ripped people off - sold Cadillac equipment and then installed Yugo equipment in its place. Left a trail of bad debts with suppliers to the point where we had trouble getting supplies. I cringed to have to send people to Petco down the road for salt, since we had none. I learned a ton of good stuff about husbandry and such - but this guy was NOT a good businessman, and as a result, the store failed, a little over 2 years after it started, and the guy frittered away hundreds of thousands of other people's money - he was good at schmoozing people into "investing". One guy lost $120K inside of a year, by investing into that store, he signed his name to vehicle leases that the store couldn't pay for and his credit was ruined. My boss was on a first-name basis with the repo guy - somehow he'd come up with some payment money before Pat the repo guy, would repo something but that gave way in the end.
And that store did stellar sales numbers - more than enough to run a sensible business, in a good location... but they didn't manage it well and wouldn't take any help or advice to get it on track and keep it on track. So it, like many others, is gone now.
I remember telling my old boss about this time 10 years ago, that we'd signed a lease on a storefront and were opening our own shop. He looked me in the eye, and said, "Good for you. You won't make it, but good for you." 10 years later I think I can say, "PFFFFT" to him.
It's not an easy business. It's not for everyone. And once it becomes a business, it's not a hobby anymore, period.
Like I said, for anyone considering it as a career, get your feet wet in the trade FIRST before you go risking yours or somebody else's money into it. It's not as easy as you might think.
Jenn
As a proprietor of my own brick/mortar business, I can say this. You better start with a **** ton of money.
Being under capitalized when you first open will kill a business. It takes time (more/less depending on industry) to generate enough revenue to become self sustaining.
Edit: Maybe for reefing, but I still play tons of hockey even though I own a proshop. In fact, I'm procrasting from doing end of year tax stuff by spending time here
Being under capitalized when you first open will kill a business. It takes time (more/less depending on industry) to generate enough revenue to become self sustaining.
Edit: Maybe for reefing, but I still play tons of hockey even though I own a proshop. In fact, I'm procrasting from doing end of year tax stuff by spending time here
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