Imagine this: you've got a great idea for a business, you've nailed your target audience, and you're all set to build an incredible eCommerce website. But when it comes time to actually develop the product, you just can't get it right. Scary thought, right?
Have you ever thought about starting a business? It might appear easy — just find a customer and sell your product. But as new business owners quickly find out, it's not that simple. There's paperwork to file and “legalese" to read. The government doesn't just let you start a business. You've got to do it the right way or you can be shut down, face fines or worse.
Worst case scenario for entrepreneurs? You “build it" and no one comes. Amid all the fun and chaos that goes along with starting a business, don't forget to fill the sales pipeline with customers before your launch.
When you're a small business owner, you're a one-person show. In addition to delivering a product or service, you're responsible for less-thrilling business operations like accounting.
Caesar Chu got the idea for his business, The Original Whiskey Ball Co., while visiting a bar in Asia. The bar served drinks with giant ice balls shaped using an expensive machine, and Chu wondered how he could achieve the same result with "a low-cost product for the masses."
Pricing your products seems straightforward: calculate manufacturing costs and then add a certain percentage on top of that. Profit! If only it were that simple. You have competitors to consider, overhead beyond just manufacturing, and likely possess a human body that requires food in order to continue existing. How can you balance all that?
Most small business owners and entrepreneurs are interested in building out their product idea, not fussing with a 3D printer. The promise of “press the print button" and, voila, your product prototype is ready within minutes — is a myth. The best way to prototype is to use one of the many 3D Printing Service Bureaus.
You've developed an idea for a new product and want to make a prototype. Where do you find the right prototype maker, and how do you protect your design?
Every entrepreneur wants to dream up great, salable products. Bringing that big idea to life is another matter entirely. From idea to prototype to production, winning products can take years of expensive trial and error, especially if you try to do all the manufacturing yourself.
You've created an awesome product and you're confident people will buy it in droves. Here's the problem: How do you determine just how much of that product you should order for your first run? You don't want to run out-of-stock (though there are worse things in the world seeing as Apple, Nintendo, and other popular brands do so all the time), but you also don't want to see stock piling up in storage because you manufactured too much.
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