The business is slowly taking shape and cannot be compared to the money guzzler it was prior to March when we took the controls. The space is starting to return which makes it easier to plan for the next shipments which are due to arrive next week.
Over the last month we have moved over 64 tons of weights which has not been exactly plain sailing because logistically gym weights are a nightmare. The cost to truck them and have them delivered around the country is not straight forward because even a small box can weigh upwards of 50kg's.
A downside to dealing with weights is the pallet jacks take a hammering and of the 14 we have only 5 are operational. The repairs for the 9 broken ones will fall into next months budget because they are a necessity. The hydraulics tend to break mainly due to the weight of the pallets which cannot be helped.
When the weights arrive on the container the first few woods crates are fine because the forklift can grab those, but deeper into the container pallet jacks and strapping is used when the forklift has to drag them out. A normal container takes 45 minutes to offload whereas a weight container will take 4-5 hours.
The material has still not arrived.
The one concern is we are still waiting on are rolls of trampoline material plus pinch bag material which are already 10 days late. The back log list of clients is growing by the day with over a 100 trampoline mats on order. So far we have managed to trade some trampoline springs for a few maters of material from our competitors so we can make for the clients who will not wait. I prefer to trade and refuse to buy the material because they are literally 5 x more expensive than our cost. Our selling price is literally half the price of our competitors and why I don't see them as competition unless we have no material. Today I phoned around to check if our prices were still that good and the difference was by over $50 per mat.
This shows how stupid running out of material is because this is a business on it's own with about 4 other companies nationwide banking on us having no material. Once we have material their business nose dives as they cannot compete on any level. The D rings is what everyone wants and our competitors are always enquiring if they can buy some which we always say we have run out, but have nearly 500K of those in stock. Without the D rings you cannot manufacture a trampoline mat because this is what links the springs to the mat. The competitors buy D rings locally which are expensive and why they cannot compete.
With Amazon now up and running I think we are well on track and should see profit this month. The trampoline business along with the punch bag manufacturing business is what is going to grow this business. I have nearly maxed out all the savings that can be found generating profit from the warehouse and now the other streams need to come on line.
That's a hell of a business venture! I hope this slowdown turns into profits for you soon.
I'm in the thick of my own startup. It's a lot of hard work!
I agree it is a lot of hard work, but profits have already been achieved in the first month. I know this business backwards so this was kind of expected, but none the less turning a business that was costing too much into a profit generator is challenging. Keep going and wish you luck with yours which should be enjoyable once you start seeing it come together. What is the start up and where are you finding it tough?
Glad to see things are starting to shape up, I know how some times logistics are a nightmare, when we have to order parts from Europe takes weeks and had a few lost before but nothing heavy yet, overseas logistics some times feel like an uncertain procedure when things get delay this much, hope it gets solve for you soon 👍💪
Thanks. I would say we are 80% there already and controlling what we can control. Logistics is simple as long as the processes are simple.
I'm glad to see that things are taking shape well for you!
Thanks. It had to happen and this is sooner than expected as I thought it would take 2 more months to get to this point.
I'm glad it didn't!
I hope your materials arrive soon, you should be doing extremely well once they are in and you are up and running. Those competitors aren't going to be happy!
Thanks. The business will be flying soon enough and the competitors have no idea what is coming. In my view they are only around because this business had been failing.
Congratulations! It really does feel great when the business is finally coming together. I've done a few in my day, the most exciting feeling is when it's all up an running. You're going to blindside the competition and force them to slash prices. It's a rough world!
Dog eat dog and make sure you have the sharpest teeth. They do not stand a chance because whoever buys their material has no clue where and how. We have been doing this business for nearly 35 years and we have now taken over and I know all the contacts at the factories in China and Taiwan. Even looking at the mats available on Amazon world wide they are in for a rude awakening because they are about to be supplied via us over the coming months.
That is awesome! The factory contacts are huge! I don't do production anymore, but used to get everything out of Taiwan
Contacts are everything and why Amazon are successful now because they ask for this when registering. They cannot steal our business however as we manufacture the finished product and why they will purchase directly from us for the world market. People don't quite understand how big this is going to become yet.