Make your own A-Team!

I was excited to have dinner last night with a long time friend.  You can tell what friends are good for you by how you feel after being around them.   Some friends bring you down, others bring you up.

 

Friends that bring you down are toxic, and should be eliminated from your life.

 

This friend however is very inspiring, supportive and intelligent.  I haven’t seen him in about a year, and divulged my information on Tweakz.  I hold Tweakz close to my heart since its still a young and tender baby.  Kinda like a little babies soft head, it needs to develop more before resisting any kind of impact from criticism.

 

Happily, he was very responsive and encouraging of my business plan.  How Exciting!

 

This positive response only further ignites my engine to push forward.  Just like the little engine that could; I think I can…..I think I can……I think I can……   I just keep trucking up that hill!

 

As for my current progress, I’m still waiting on the revisions to be completed by my CAD guy.  At this point, it’s been 2 weeks and still nothing yet.  I realize that he’s a busy guy, but the lack of attention to my project is really stating to urk me.  I’m paying him good money.   I posted an ad on Craigslist today looking for another CAD designer to complete the final revisions.  I’m sick of waiting.  Sorry, but there are people out there hungry for the business in this economy.

 

My meeting last night really made me think about how important it is to surround yourself with awesome people.   It’s the difference between success and failure.  After being somewhat fuzzy headed from this waiting process, I now have new energy.  One simple meeting with the right person has given me the charge I need.  

 

I continue to grow a following on Twitter & Facebook.  My online friends provide me a wealth of information and are invaluable.

 

Imagine what you could do with an entire A-Team of people on your side?

 

Infinite Possibilities 😉

 

 

Last Day of February 2009

Yippee!  I’m happy to see I have comments on my new blog.   Your support is motivating!

I’m addressing your questions in this post.

What is Tweakz?    I know, I’ve been somewhat vague.  Until I have the actual product to market, I’ve been reluctant to give out much information.  Reason for this; the product alone is very simple. The key is how the product is used.  Tweakz is a women’s fashion accessory. 

When will Tweakz be available?   I’m hoping in the next few months.  This last week, I ran into an obstacle with the design.   A very helpful manufacturer pointed out a potential flaw.  A quality product is really important to me. Therefore, I would rather wait to ensure the design is suitable.

Foreign manufacturer vs. made in the USA?   I definitely prefer to support my country.  However, I’m finding it’s all interrelated. Most foreign producers have US offices.  For instance, the manufacturer  I’m considering is a US company.  He does work in house, but also partners with companies in China on certain products to remain competitive.  Therefore, I would work with a US company but the product parts would be produced overseas.  Once I receive the parts, I will assemble together myself and with family labor 😉   At least, until I can afford to hire help.

I expect to spend more per piece on my first few runs.  The real cost savings comes when you order in high volume.   Until I get sales to justify the expense, I’ll stick with low volume production.

As for my man Donny Deutsch,  I found this post regarding the show.

CNBC puts “Big Idea with Donny Deutsch” on hiatus.

Given the condition of the economy, it’s hard to find anything positive on tv.  

We need these inspiring shows to give us hope and motivation.

I vote to get an online petition going to bring back the show.

As for now, you can watch previous episodes at the following sites.  

Search under Donny Deutsch or Big Idea

www.hulu.com

www.youtube.com

 

Progress Report

Months of going back and forth with revisions has finally come to an end. So excited to finally get my 3D CAD drawings on my product finalized.  I guarantee my drawing architect is relieved to have me out of his hair.  I’ve been a bit knit-picky, but I know exactly what I want.  When you have this vision in your head, you can’t settle for anything less.   Now I have drawings to provide to the manufacturers in order to get quotes on producing my product.

 

I searched through Thomas Net for manufacturers, specializing in plastic injection molding parts.  Thomas Net gives you the contact information and website.  Once getting the company website, I then look at the company to see if they produce any similar parts.  After doing this for a few hours, I acquired a hefty list of emails to send quote requests.  Sent out a mass email entailing exactly what I was looking for and attached my drawings.

 

This is a discovery process of getting estimates on costs.   The main cost is the tooling of the machine to make the mold for the parts.  Based on my internet research, I’m expecting somewhere in the ballpark of $5,000 to create the molds and the actual parts less than .50 cents to make.  However, I’m planning on beating that price!

 

Very surprised to have a quote within a few hours. However, also sticker shocked at the estimate of between $8,000-$13,000.  Impressed with response time, but NO WAY on the price.

 

Received several calls and emails for more information.  I’ve been prompt in responding yet, not much urgency to get back to me.   I know that my project is small beans compared to their large potato contracts, but everyone starts somewhere.  I’m a small spud eager to grow!

 

Ever so often, I’m very delighted to find someone who stretches out of their routine box to offer me valuable guidance.  One manufacturer in particular, actually responded to me with concerns about a possible design flaw.  All the other manufacturers that I requested quotes from were just eager to bid on pricing.  

 

Back to the drawing table!  His feedback was dead on.  Just need a minor tweakz 😉

 

Based on the revisions I discussed with this fellow, he gave me an estimate of $3,000 for tooling and .30 cents for parts.  Sounds good to me and response time is impeccable. Not to mention, his attention to detail.  This may be my guy. 

 

Looks like I’m back to harassing my CAD guy again.  Hopefully it will be quick and painless this time.