I am business dumb, but I have a very unique mix of skills I would like to turn into a side hustle. Needless to say, there is going to be a huge learning curve for me.
Sure, I could just sell 3D prints on Etsy, but I would rather focus on B2B type work with a more hands on approach than the Chinese print farms/PCB manufacturers. (I’ll start an Etsy shop for practice, but that particular market seems extremely saturated.)
So, if you have started a business before, what are some basic things that you wish someone had told you before you did? Are there good books or other references I could use?
Sometimes, actually kinda often, people come to you who know the costs of your materials pretty accurately. “I used to own a…” and “My industry uses that too, and it…” or any info regarding your costs.
Almost always those phrases are followed by some level of attempt to lower your prices.
Don’t, even at the start, even if its family. You don’t even have to explain it to them if you don’t like confrontation.
If they know it so well, they also know why your pricing is the way it is, and what they’d like you do is bend over.
Also, relatedly, inflation always sucks, and your pricing, if fair, reflecting that will be anticipated. Trying to remain at the same price when your costs really change isn’t good business. For something like filament, idk if wholesale prices fluctuate or just go up, so leaving some space if the former so you can avoid constantly updating your pricing is cool too. For a business I used to own, I just priced factoring my gas pricing a half a dollar more than the start of the year’s, and rarely had to adjust it within a year.
If they can get better prices elsewhere, they can go elsewhere.
Depends on what you do; if you specialise, there aren’t other places to go to, if you’re easier to work with, deliver superior quality, are more responsive or just plain likeable, people/customers will stay with you for longer.