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Hey Fastlaners,
I'm a silent lurker, and I've previously posted my introductory thread here:
www.thefastlaneforum.com
As you might know, I was born deaf and had quite major hardships during my 20's. And, fast forward to pandemic, I started an e-commerce business that to this day has been steady enough to pay the bills and allow for extra time to focus on new ventures.
Anyway, I believe I have attained a strong stance in favor of having CONTROL (CENTS) with a brief explanation and my new plans for the future:
I sell crystals and minerals on Etsy and Social Media platforms. From being a virtual reality programmer and visual effects artist, this career path was completely unprecedented and unplanned. But, I am one of the few who don't follow a career based on passion but on results and financial independence.
So, my experience in this niche is that it is much easier to provide high-quality value when you crack the code on what the customer is really looking for. And, in this case, I can always adjust the value -- and perceived value -- based on market trends, quality of the products, size, color, rarity, etc... This kind of value dynamic has allowed me to have a steady business.
HOWEVER, with inflation and shrinkflation, I've noticed that people are buying much less than before, or downgrading their spending capacity. In my case, they still buy my products but rather pay a premium on smaller pieces instead of larger ones. They still stay true to their choices on value and prefer to buy my high-quality items instead of low-quality ones. BUT, I've had a really concerning wake-up-call with one of my suppliers...
It's also costing them a ton of money to mine out the crystals and some of them have been bought out by the Chinese. Now, my problem is I've been struggling to get more of my best-selling crystals and minerals, and some vendors who have them in stock have jacked the prices up so high that I am not finding it feasible to sell to my customers because they simply won't pay an even greater premium, basically causing me to sell at shrinkflation....not cool.
I am no longer in control of my supply as I don't own the mines and don't have people to mine the product out. Damn it! if the mines were to dry out, I won't not have a business!
(I am exaggerating a little bit here. The Earth is massive...there's still a ton of crystals and minerals being made underground).
So, what have I been doing?
I went back to basics and laid out a schematic based on my existing skills and I have no other way but to stick to my old guns which are 3-D design/animation and engineering. The skillset required for both require computers, and some equipment to create and control my own supply. That's great! Even though I don't own the software, I can always switch software to produce more of my own mental supply even use free open-source programs like Blender.
Ok, so?
This, alongside my expertise in the luxury industry, will allow me to branch into two new ventures that I can be 100% committed to during my free time. One is jewelry manufacturing and the other is short-form content for social media.
Why jewelry manufacturing?
I have tons of small crystals I can use to produce jewelry, I don't have to invest any more money on inventory. And I can still control the dynamic of the actual value AND the perceived value. Plus, I can use my existing followers and customer base to showcase my products to. Plus, working with metals also gives a malleable dynamic on shape, form, purpose, design, etc...
And, having a dual American-Mexican nationality, I have the opportunity to visit Mexico to work with a large community of artisans.
Edit to add: I forgot to mention that a few of the jewelry designs I've been working on rely on 3-D printers, which is the engineering side of this venture.
Why short-form content production?
Back then when I was working at 3-D animation shops, social media wasn't that big, and we produced minute-long commercial shorts for TV and videogame brands. To be able to achieve that, studios relied on a medium-to-large team of artists to produce the marketing collateral.
Nowadays? everyone is focusing on straight-to-the-point, high-quality content, and this usually means, much shorter marketing collateral that requires an even smaller team of talented people.
With my acquired sales skills, I believe I can produce kick-a$$ short-form content that looks good and sells.My goal is to do a great job that brands in the luxury niche will want me to produce their content, too.
All I need is a powerful PC to the the short-form work. And, I've already met some cool golsmiths in Mexico City. However, the amount of control I can have still won't be 100% mine, as I will be relying on actual people with skills I don't have to manufacture my products. The good news is that I have the option to take classes on the whole process as I am based in NYC. Here it is: Jewelry Design Education | New York Jewelry Design Institute
I'll be taking the classes while I work on the ventures to understand the process better and attain the necessary skills just in case I have to man the ship. But, the shortage of goldsmiths in Mexico is nonexistent, there are many of them who work on metals and I am not concerned about this, at all.
Moreover, to be completely honest with you. The best way to have 100% Control in your businesses rely on services that 100% come straight from your brain and thinking which are a few of them out there. So, my long-term goal is to achieve extensive experience in my current and new ventures to become an expert consultant regarding execution for the luxury industry. I hope I will gain enough expertise to be able to sell my knowledge and help people with their own journeys and probably retire from that or pivot towards real estate development.
I'll keep this thread updated. It'll be strictly about control and I hope it will also help you with thinking and strategizing your control gauges in your own businesses.
Cheers!,
Dauntless.
I'm a silent lurker, and I've previously posted my introductory thread here:
INTRO - I am a new deaf fast laner and I want to share my story. (Long read)
Hey everyone!, My name is Gabriel, I am from Dallas, TX, US.A., I am currently reading MJ's "Millionaire Fastlane"book, and loving every single page of it!. The biggest reason why I really needed to pick this book up is because I grew up with an anarchist point of view during my teens...
www.thefastlaneforum.com
As you might know, I was born deaf and had quite major hardships during my 20's. And, fast forward to pandemic, I started an e-commerce business that to this day has been steady enough to pay the bills and allow for extra time to focus on new ventures.
Anyway, I believe I have attained a strong stance in favor of having CONTROL (CENTS) with a brief explanation and my new plans for the future:
I sell crystals and minerals on Etsy and Social Media platforms. From being a virtual reality programmer and visual effects artist, this career path was completely unprecedented and unplanned. But, I am one of the few who don't follow a career based on passion but on results and financial independence.
So, my experience in this niche is that it is much easier to provide high-quality value when you crack the code on what the customer is really looking for. And, in this case, I can always adjust the value -- and perceived value -- based on market trends, quality of the products, size, color, rarity, etc... This kind of value dynamic has allowed me to have a steady business.
HOWEVER, with inflation and shrinkflation, I've noticed that people are buying much less than before, or downgrading their spending capacity. In my case, they still buy my products but rather pay a premium on smaller pieces instead of larger ones. They still stay true to their choices on value and prefer to buy my high-quality items instead of low-quality ones. BUT, I've had a really concerning wake-up-call with one of my suppliers...
It's also costing them a ton of money to mine out the crystals and some of them have been bought out by the Chinese. Now, my problem is I've been struggling to get more of my best-selling crystals and minerals, and some vendors who have them in stock have jacked the prices up so high that I am not finding it feasible to sell to my customers because they simply won't pay an even greater premium, basically causing me to sell at shrinkflation....not cool.
I am no longer in control of my supply as I don't own the mines and don't have people to mine the product out. Damn it! if the mines were to dry out, I won't not have a business!
(I am exaggerating a little bit here. The Earth is massive...there's still a ton of crystals and minerals being made underground).
So, what have I been doing?
I went back to basics and laid out a schematic based on my existing skills and I have no other way but to stick to my old guns which are 3-D design/animation and engineering. The skillset required for both require computers, and some equipment to create and control my own supply. That's great! Even though I don't own the software, I can always switch software to produce more of my own mental supply even use free open-source programs like Blender.
Ok, so?
This, alongside my expertise in the luxury industry, will allow me to branch into two new ventures that I can be 100% committed to during my free time. One is jewelry manufacturing and the other is short-form content for social media.
Why jewelry manufacturing?
I have tons of small crystals I can use to produce jewelry, I don't have to invest any more money on inventory. And I can still control the dynamic of the actual value AND the perceived value. Plus, I can use my existing followers and customer base to showcase my products to. Plus, working with metals also gives a malleable dynamic on shape, form, purpose, design, etc...
And, having a dual American-Mexican nationality, I have the opportunity to visit Mexico to work with a large community of artisans.
Edit to add: I forgot to mention that a few of the jewelry designs I've been working on rely on 3-D printers, which is the engineering side of this venture.
Why short-form content production?
Back then when I was working at 3-D animation shops, social media wasn't that big, and we produced minute-long commercial shorts for TV and videogame brands. To be able to achieve that, studios relied on a medium-to-large team of artists to produce the marketing collateral.
Nowadays? everyone is focusing on straight-to-the-point, high-quality content, and this usually means, much shorter marketing collateral that requires an even smaller team of talented people.
With my acquired sales skills, I believe I can produce kick-a$$ short-form content that looks good and sells.My goal is to do a great job that brands in the luxury niche will want me to produce their content, too.
All I need is a powerful PC to the the short-form work. And, I've already met some cool golsmiths in Mexico City. However, the amount of control I can have still won't be 100% mine, as I will be relying on actual people with skills I don't have to manufacture my products. The good news is that I have the option to take classes on the whole process as I am based in NYC. Here it is: Jewelry Design Education | New York Jewelry Design Institute
I'll be taking the classes while I work on the ventures to understand the process better and attain the necessary skills just in case I have to man the ship. But, the shortage of goldsmiths in Mexico is nonexistent, there are many of them who work on metals and I am not concerned about this, at all.
Moreover, to be completely honest with you. The best way to have 100% Control in your businesses rely on services that 100% come straight from your brain and thinking which are a few of them out there. So, my long-term goal is to achieve extensive experience in my current and new ventures to become an expert consultant regarding execution for the luxury industry. I hope I will gain enough expertise to be able to sell my knowledge and help people with their own journeys and probably retire from that or pivot towards real estate development.
I'll keep this thread updated. It'll be strictly about control and I hope it will also help you with thinking and strategizing your control gauges in your own businesses.
Cheers!,
Dauntless.
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