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Post by Pat on Sept 29, 2020 13:42:39 GMT -5
A big WOW, James jamesp. You reap what you sow, and you are a hard worker. You deserve every cent this venture brings you. And I knew you back when you were a lowly wetlands mitigator and water plants grower! EXACTLY!! |
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jamesp
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Post by jamesp on Sept 29, 2020 14:14:52 GMT -5
Amazing all around. 400k for this year alone is outstanding. 150k on your "slow" years is also beyond fantastic. Enjoy reading all of this. Just sharing this experience rockstock. The fire pit biz smelled good right from the beginning. Funny how your instinct can say 'proceed aggressively' before the income proves the worthiness of the venture. For instance I spent 90 hours labor and a couple of grand on a fancy tandem axle eight fire pit hauler over a year ago and never had enough sales to use it till Corona hit 8 months later. I'd a been in a pickle without the custom made trailer being prebuilt. Of course we have been dialing in costs and are lucky if we net 60%. The bigger fire pits are the higher profit items so we are gearing up for them presently. |
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jamesp
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Post by jamesp on Sept 29, 2020 15:04:58 GMT -5
This event was purely good luck. Being at the right place at a (bad) time. Accelerated income due to a terrible 2020 pandemic.  All fire pits are made in this little 15' x 20' shop attached to side of house for the past 5 years on rotary table at center. The vibratory tumbler is also located in this little space. It has electricity, compressed air, plasma cutting setup, acetylene torch setup, welder setup, pressure washer setup, music, good lighting, ventilation, bottom drain, heat, saw/grinders/wire brush, motion detection and a stainless 357. And an old rusty 12 gauge shot gun if things get real out of hand lol. Most resources a step away.   I don't believe in luck James........lol.....It's more preparation, opportunity and execution........a little Divine Intervention helps too....! Very nice Top Line (revenue).......have you had time to track the Bottom Line......?.......what % of that has been rolled into the new construction........looks like you're keeping the Accountant (CFO) pretty busy........lol
It would be great to have sharp business savvy but that is unlikely me. I do understand high quality and being punctual. And product trends if they fall close to my interests. Reviews mean a lot in this type of business. The ETSY crowd is very much a complimentary bunch which really helps. Being available via phone/text/convo to answer questions without delay is great way to maintain good customer relations that result in great reviews. Better to answer the customer asap and be done with it. Fast shipping is better than dragging your feet too, get it out the door to get it off your mind is the best policy. Another way to get fine reviews, people are in a hurry this day. Local ETSY people find me thru ETSY because my business title has the word 'Atlanta' in it. They save $200 to $300 in shipping by picking up. So I get to meet the demographic that are ETSY members and they are model clients. We are terrible accountants lol. The construction is a money hole and it sure is gobbling up the income. Only 20% is left to do so it will be nice to deposit some income here soon. I am setting up another barn on the property specific to fabricating big fire pits, say 54 and 60 inch pits. Even 72 inchers... No one sells them and I get requests constantly. I am surprised to see sales swing up in September. It seemed the Corona threat has reduced. For some reason September has swung back up. Wife and I were looking forward to a reprieve but it did not happen. Mystified by this.  |
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jamesp
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Post by jamesp on Sept 29, 2020 15:30:07 GMT -5
A big WOW, James jamesp. You reap what you sow, and you are a hard worker. You deserve every cent this venture brings you. And I knew you back when you were a lowly wetlands mitigator and water plants grower! Darn it Jean I wish this opportunity had come along when a younger man. I would have enjoyed growing an internet business to a substantial size. The customer base can grow almost infinitely which is scary too. Instead we try to limit sales to bread and butter products and limit marketing to a degree. Hey, this business is no where near as exciting and adventuresome as the wetland business. But it is much easier. Us nature lovers can't get enough of the unique critters roaming this planet. However the plant business will flat wear you out. Was about to tap out on that one anyway. |
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jamesp
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Post by jamesp on Sept 29, 2020 15:46:48 GMT -5
A big WOW, James jamesp. You reap what you sow, and you are a hard worker. You deserve every cent this venture brings you. And I knew you back when you were a lowly wetlands mitigator and water plants grower! EXACTLY!! Thanks Pat. I still have carnivorous plants. Lots of them. Growing only for hobby now. I even bought in about a dozen new ones to test grow. The new ones I brought in were purchased from a man that has like 300 different hybrids and I asked for his 'large' and most 'aggressive' hybrids. It will take a couple of years to see how large and aggressive they get. So far the ones I selectively picked up in the wild for 3 generations are still the most beautiful and darn aggressive. |
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Post by Pat on Sept 29, 2020 16:11:26 GMT -5
jamesp. Your carnivorous plants didn’t do well here, but it was interesting Here we have aggressive sweet violets and spurge. Forever digging them up! I hope you post photos of your new plants.
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jamesp
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Post by jamesp on Sept 29, 2020 16:50:04 GMT -5
jamesp. Your carnivorous plants didn’t do well here, but it was interesting Here we have aggressive sweet violets and spurge. Forever digging them up! I hope you post photos of your new plants. Certain weeds do manage to aggravate regardless of location. Happy habitat seems to see it thru. I will take photos. I swung by and took a gander. Cold weather is about to put them to sleep. They should be at full maturity next year. Let me go snap a few. |
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Post by parfive on Sept 29, 2020 17:23:39 GMT -5
Large and aggressive, eh? Like how large? Chipmunks? Skunks? Capybaras?  |
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Benathema
has rocks in the head
God chased me down and made sure I knew He was real June 20, 2022. I've been on a Divine Mission.
Member since November 2019
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Post by Benathema on Sept 29, 2020 17:37:03 GMT -5
Maybe temp drop plus people not wanting to be stuck in the house again?
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Post by HankRocks on Sept 29, 2020 18:16:10 GMT -5
Large and aggressive, eh? Like how large? Chipmunks? Skunks? Capybaras?  You seen one of those Capybaras? They are a serious rodent, growing up to 150 pounds! At the park where my son used to play soccer they had some wooded ponds, there must have been 15 or 20 living there. Even big dogs didn't mess with them. |
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Post by HankRocks on Sept 29, 2020 18:56:01 GMT -5
Large and aggressive, eh? Like how large? Chipmunks? Skunks? Capybaras? You seen one of those Capybaras? They are a serious rodent, growing up to 150 pounds! At the park where my son used to play soccer they had some wooded ponds, there must have been 15 or 20 living there. Even big dogs didn't mess with them. Correct my error, what we see around costal area is Nutria, small cousin to the Capybara. They only weight about 15 to 20 pounds, The dogs still wouldn't mess with them. |
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Post by parfive on Sept 29, 2020 19:29:19 GMT -5
Just goin’ up the scale, Hank. Had to stop somewhere . . .  |
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Post by parfive on Sept 29, 2020 19:58:22 GMT -5
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jamesp
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Post by jamesp on Sept 30, 2020 7:27:24 GMT -5
Let's not forget the Nutria menu for our dear canine friends. Imagine the processing department's responsibilities... A small business success from our Louisiana wetlands, Capybaras dog treats in various flavors  |
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jamesp
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Post by jamesp on Sept 30, 2020 8:01:48 GMT -5
These are the prettiest and easiest to grow of the new carnivorous plants Pat, rockpickerforever; on top row. My choice easy to grow plants are on the bottom row. These new hybridizers are proud of their new "named" hybrids. IMO their best is not as impressive as these hybrids and native plants I have been growing for 30 years. To my surprise the modern hybridizers consider my plants bastards because I collected them in the wild. They did not like that. Well I have news for them; their breed stock is not pure either because these things started inner breeding 1000's of years ago. The plants they chose as "pure stock" to base is not pure at all.  The new hybrids on right, my old stuff less the yellow native Georgia Flava on on the left. The missing yellow Flava throws nice color into my mix.  |
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jamesp
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Post by jamesp on Sept 30, 2020 8:22:04 GMT -5
Maybe temp drop plus people not wanting to be stuck in the house again? Your logic makes perfect sense. It is not easy to predict sales trends Benathema. The hottest time of the year July 4th is one of the highest sales times. Ad Labor and Memorial Day. January and February definitely the slowest sales period. Internet ads seems to have the most control. An ad may pop up in Boston and it result in 2 weeks of ripping sales in and around Massachusetts. One thing for sure, our ad campaign or any ad campaign has not compared to the effects of Corona. Ya never know. May wake up one morning and get 20 orders over night. And no orders for a week after. |
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jamesp
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Member since October 2012
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Post by jamesp on Sept 30, 2020 8:27:28 GMT -5
This message came in this morning. A 300 pound pallet to Australia. Not going there.  |
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jamesp
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Member since October 2012
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Post by jamesp on Sept 30, 2020 8:53:58 GMT -5
And this was the last review left. Justin on September 22. Not sure why but glowing reviews are common from the ETSY community. Over the top ? YES  |
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Post by rockpickerforever on Sept 30, 2020 9:00:14 GMT -5
jamesp Those are all beauties, James! Too bad they can't handle the dryness and atomic sun out here. But we gave it a go. I still have some of the waterlilies, though. The leaves are healthy enough, but they have never bloomed. They would probably do better if I gave them a better set up and some attention. They are in a black plastic 1/2 barrel, surprised the heat hasn't poached them yet. I did have to cover the tub with hardware cloth to keep the racoons out. The used to stick their grabby little hands in there, churn everything up, and pull out the bulbs. The lilies have survived, but the more tender lotus were toast long ago.
We also have a shallow pond that has a couple small plastic frogs in it. The 'coons will play with them, washing them over and over, then leaving them out in the yard 20 feet away. Crazy bandits!
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Post by rockpickerforever on Sept 30, 2020 9:17:21 GMT -5
I just read an article in the Reader about the concrete fire pits being removed from the SoCal beaches months ago to discourage gatherings because of Covid. The powers that be say they will be replaced at a later date, but I have my doubts about that.
With the pits removed, they'll see they are better off without them. No maintenance cleaning them out, less glass and nails (despite being illegal to do so, people still burn pallets), and just general trash, not to mention the young rowdies that go there to drink. Now that I think about it, I think alcohol drinking is illegal on the beach, too.
I guess the next best thing is to have your own personal pit at home without a bunch of someone else's rules.
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