I started a niche business at 16, now 21, that makes me six figures annually. It is from a few products that I designed for particular audience that had by word of mouth become very popular, so I have a several year waiting list. They are hand-made, analog electronics.
Ask me whatever you'd like about having money at a young age, managing a small business, or just about me personally.
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Show tits?
What e commerce platform do you use. I just started selling niches on amazon, and it's decent
21 yo student here, got an idea for electronic product. Need to do a lot of testing though, so it isn't certain if it's viable.
I'm wondering what kind of workplace I need if/when I'm gonna produce my product. What kind of workplace did you use at the start, did you upgrade, and what kind of advice would you give someone like me about this topic.
im not op, but remember that an electronic product has a much higher chance to break in transit and with use. With niches, im trying to stick with simpler items.
How to you price your product? Question is for anyone, really
I only accept order on my website, where you are placed on a waiting list.
My work space is basically a safe room with windows and a high quality filter, with the supplies. I use basic tools that you can buy anywhere. I've never really "upgraded". You might be talking about something much more technically complicated than what I produce by myself so I probably couldn't help you.
I found that I can basically price it comparable to what others in similar fields have in my position. It costs me $32 in supplies for my cheapest, and I price each 10x that, at a minimum. My most popular product costs about $45 to build and I price it at $450-$600 depending on how you order it. I don't want to be specific because there are people on a certain board that use what I'm talking about and could possibly put together who i am etc. I make one per hour, a few hours in the day at this point. I make sure it is absolutely perfect because I want to keep my reputation that I've gotten, and spending an hour on what I make indicates a very careful and detailed job that nobody else would ever bother with. The reputation is what dictates the price, for most people. I could probably price my most popular at $1,000 and there are some people that would still purchase it, but I don't think it'd be worthwhile, and very few others in these niches actually get away with it for long. I've been able to do this for about 5 years and will continue to do so for the foreseeable future. It's how I priced it even with my first sells, because I wanted to value what I made at what I thought it should cost, comparing it to my competition and deeming my products clearly superior, so I will never lower the price. I will probably increase when I don't feel like making them anymore, just to bring the incentive up.
Kys
Your life and product (if it exists which is doubtful as fuck)
Sucks phat chode. Die in a fire plz
lol. Whatever you say user. I would recommend doing what I've done to anyone.
So you build analog effects units?
Thx for answering
Stop posting, jesus, what's up with all the jelly faggots here lately
It's either pedals or headphone amps.
>six figures annually
>product costs about $45 to build and I price it at $450-$600
something doesn't add up here
I make a few per day at this point. Last year I made ~$240,000 after everything. There is a 15% non-refundable deposit to order, and the full payment is not made until I am building yours. I'm still building for people that ordered in 2015 and the number has grown so much that I'll either have to increase my hours or I'll be working on orders from 2016 for the next few years. I might start doing big 12 hour days because it's getting silly. I wanted to have a life but putting it off to fulfill the duties is probably the smart thing to do.
How did you get a Veeky Forums license from the city at that age?
so what are you building OP?
How did you design the product? did you have a background in the field, copy another product or what?
i've always been interested in making myself a rotary DJ mixer, but i know nothing about electronics and i don't really have the spare time to learn it.
do your parts only come to $40 or whatever because you are buying huge loads?
what country are you in? what will you do when it becomes monotonous and soul crushing?(serious question)
How did you begin? What steps did you take turning it into a business? What obstacles did you face and how did you overcome them?
My state had no minimum age.
My school district had electronics classes and my father is an electrical engineer so he taught me quite a lot by the time I was 16, so I always had some background in electronics, for about a decade before I was 16. You could buy any electronics books and learn yourself. I buy expensive components in bulk that are very hard to obtain so I save from it. It's pretty fun to build these products, but I can see it becoming dull once I have to increase production just for the sake of the wait list. I often get requests to modify their product in some mild way, which is fun for me to be able to do it differently, even if just a bit. I'll never sell any of my designs or have someone else build it, though. It would ruin what I consider my reputation/my attention to detail. For what it's worth, I'm a high functioning autist, legitimately.
>high functioning autist
Oh shit.. one of these again.
>I buy expensive components in bulk
Vacuum tubes?
can you talk more about the process of your product's rise in popularity from the very beginning until now?
how did the first sale come about? did you make for free for friends beforehand, and if so, how did you find out they had a need for the product?
Stop guessing what I make and who I am. If I wanted you to know who I was, I would have posted this on reddit with some big advertisement to my website on the respective subreddits. I don't want you to know who I am. I'm almost always on /diy/ and Veeky Forums but I thought it'd be fun to post this just to see what questions you'd have.
I posted on the respective forums offering to send to whoever the most respected members were what has become my most popular model, paying the shipping both ways, only requiring that they return it after giving their legitimate opinion on my product and my professionalism. They all loved it and since they were so respected, their word was basically solid gold and I began receiving orders, then more reviews of people praising my products after purchasing and receiving them, and it's been exponentially growing. I suggest you do that. Send your product to the people who everyone else listens to. If I had just uploaded a YouTube video demonstrating the capabilities, my process, how awesome I personally think I am and my products are, nobody would have cared. Opinions that are high from people who are respected in the field is all you need. That's easier said than done and I feel like I was lucky, though. I've never given a single item for free. That would ruin the entire ethos. People are very happy to try things and give you their opinion if you're accommodating the cost of shipping.
thanks for the info
that's a clever promotion idea
you are a retarded autist and must get off this board at once if you don't hire help to fulfill your orders while you do nothing.
>but I thought it'd be fun to post this just to see what questions you'd have.
jesus why haven't you shot yourself yet? you dense motherfucker. you have no idea how to do business.
Well, I want to keep the demand and I don't trust anyone to build my products. You don't understand the constituencies of building them faster.
Well, i'm /diy/ and /ohm/ myself, got master degree in some sTEm field and can confirm that OP is selling hand-soldered audio products. Btw, audiophiles are "that" dumb when purchasing and will pay more for low-tech things only because they are autor-made and exist in a few numbers in world. Listen up, you don't need an EE degree to start making electronic devices, there are lots of polished schemes posted online so start exploring and trying for yourself. And x10 price is like serving food in restraunts except your product won't perish after 2 days in fridge.
And this post got no response. Meh, OP is here just for ball-licking but he's called faggot for a reason.
you are implying nobody else can make them like you? cause that would be weird.
Why would people wait 2 years for what you're making? Sorry doesn't seem smart to me to not hire help.
this something so much in demand would have a secondary market already (ie fags buying the stuff just to auction it off to the highest bidder)
sounds like bullshit, but if you can't increase production you increase the price until your orders are roughly coming in the rate you can deliver. is how you maximize profit.
> isten up, you don't need an EE degree to start making electronic devices, there are lots of polished schemes posted online so start exploring and trying for yourself.
You don't need one if you're willing to learn. Last time I was making something, there were no schematics for the power rail we were designing for our project. This is 4 years ago now and the DIY electronics field has boomed with the Raspi and Arduino. Don't fool yourself though, you're still a novice compared to some young turd with a degree.
Man, the raspberry and -duino are great and deep sanboxes to dive in, yet they are mostly sold at my location rebranded as gift boxes for kids when they are drooling for minecraft and cartoon merch.
But put some time and you can create some unique device which can actually work for you, like sending sms\email intrusion alarm, watering plants on warm days or control light in your rooms while being much cheap and repairable than market consumer solutions. That's magic of new world.
All this board is anymore is shitheads playing out their fantasies
My guess is mechanical keyboards