JSR;25243 wrote:But I'd hardly call having a small handful of suppliers, each selling the same items and none prepared to offer what's available in other countries as a "professional discipline". More likely a desperate one! :biggrin:
:rolleyes: Hmm, well... you may have a point there.
There is a pattern I've seen before... I've seen it with hot foil machines, vinyl plotters, windscreen repair systems, carpet cleaning systems... Video production kit even!
People make cash out of separating the unfortunately desparate from their redundancy money or savings; to greater or lesser extents... On a superficial level certain processes are easy to execute. And the 'business in a box' concept is too-easily sold as the magic bullet; particularly in times of high unemployment....
That market IS always likely to be a transient one!
As I've said before; I certainly can't make the numbers stack up on items such as mugs or placemats or coasters... And I can't make the process work at all financially other than as part of a bigger picture. Ebay is littered with what is obviously the fall-out of failed dye-sub adventures. And that's largely down to people learning the hard way that what is sold as an 'easy trot' actually requires a very high level of skill to do at a reasonably professional level...
You do get these utterly stupid ideas trotted out in magazine articles and via suppliers (across a range of products and services) about 'making easy money at home'... Tripe about making a living out of fiddling with greetings cards on your kitchen table or home knitting. - Even garbage on TV about becoming a driving instructor in your spare time!
The thing these people sell is half-assed kit and/or half-assed training that almost always leads nowhere!
For example - There's an HGV training school 'round here that advertises 'earn up to £60 an hour driving this truck' on it's vehicles... There are three trained and very experienced Lorry drivers living in my street. One fits tyres for a living, one's on the dole and the other is forced to live in a caravan 300 miles away from his wife and kid because it's the only way he can get driving work! - and he's NOT earning anywhere close to £60/hour!
Posters on lamposts advertise 'pyramid schemes' - meanwhile my office line is plagued with poor sods trying to flog me SEO services and networking opportunities...
As for these folks?
Well I've no idea who they are or what their direction is... It's not my business it's theirs. And I'm not going to criticise someone for quitting whle they're ahead. There's a danger of it becoming too personally directed at what seems to be a young couple trying to do what's right for their family...
To expand a business takes capital... You may have a full order book but it's no use if you just can't meet the orders; and if you don't have the cash in hand to do that well sometimes the best thing to do is sell the order book... And in the current financial climate I can fully understand why an otherwise credible business might be in that position.
Someone said this guy is doing the metal coating himself? Which tends to suggest his core business may not be importing/selling...
