in the shop

Alrighty, I made the first step in getting my toy into a shop called "The Red Balloon". I would love to sell my toys in a shop because it takes work away from me, I will be free to just make the toy. I will lose money because Paul from the Red ballon will mark up the toy substantially but for now I can live with it and learn about how to make my toy better. I will basically consign my toy in his shop and take $7.50 for every toy he sells (he will sell for $15). He suggested a few things to do to improve the toy while leaving them as suggestions I see the value in his opinion and plan to implement them. Darken the paint, try different colors on the toys, think about making a pull toy version, apply for a patent, do better at stressing that it is made in Utah, and make a poster to advertise a little (for in the shop). I have 14 days to make and deliver the toys to him and he will put them in his store and we will see how they sell. I am excited to learn how the market likes the toys.

what can I do now?

Well i have taken the first step in getting my idea out. I have just set up an appointment to meet with the owner of Red Balloon Toys. He runs a very nice toy shop that sells all types of toys but does a good job of selling unique toys. The shop sells a lot of toys that are made in china but all are very unique. It made me think about how important it is that I make my toy unique and appealing. well lets see how the appointment goes and we'll move from there.

hey here is a picture of the main toy that we are going to sell. This is just the beginning. I have other toys but they all hinge on the basic plan of this chicken and egg.

Alright for the assignment for the 4th week of class I will post my responses here.

1. Plan A find out where i can sell the toys and for how much. I just posted my toy on Ebay this last week and have had about 4 hits. Ebay is not the place to sell toys, there is just too many different toys and none of them are being sold. It took me 10 min to find my ad just going through the website. I need to find a more direct way of getting to the consumer. I think that the next best way is to sell my toy at local shops. This would hit the kinds of people that would enjoy the toy, people that like to buy local and want unique toys for their loved ones. I am going to start contacting stores to see if they would be willing to stock my toy.

2. I know how much the toy cost to produce $2.25 give or take. This includes all wood and materials to make one toy. Labor is not included in this cost. At this time we can make about 3 full toys in an hour. The amount of time it takes is variable depending on what we do to the toy. Lots of painting takes lots of time. To make the simplest cutouts we could possibly do 10-15 an hour because of all the saved time on painting.

I don't know how much people will really pay for them, if they really like the idea, and how hard I will have to work getting people to buy them. Is it possible to find 20 or so vendors and let them do the selling and just focus on replenishing the stock (this is what I would really like). If not, is it worth going to every state fair in america and farmers market in Utah selling these toys

Well it is time to get started. I have been in this class for 4 weeks almost and I have tried recording a movie to show my thoughts but it was not practical. I think that a blog will be the easiest thing for me to do and the most effective way to be organized as I begin my business.

Here is what I want to do. I want to start a business selling wood toys. My parents have all the tools and skills I need to start selling unique quality toys; we just need a market to sell them in. I want to start a small easily sustained business that my mom can just make toys to her hearts content and actually make some money at it. She has done a lot of the dirty work already like making some simple toys, trying new ideas, and knowing what will not work. I want to take the work they have already done and see if I can find a way to make it a little profitable.

Pray for me