unclenedsfishfactory.com

Any advice, suggestions or information would be greatly appreciated

so....you THINK you want to start a store

.....boy you asked a mouthful...
Hoo Boy ...I'll tell you what...
I'm not complaining, I'm just saying...

if I had a family to take care of ...I'd never get into this business...
but I don't care...I've been doing this for 11 years and I'm (or should be) commited.
If you've got a wife and babys, keep getting jobs 'til you've got a good boss...I think that even 'tho that's near impossible...
it's better than stocking a retail store.
Here's what you need if you want to try:
1] $50,000.
UNcommited...(IE: no interest due, don't need it, no bills, no college due in 10 years, no medical, tons 'o' extra cash in the shoe box, gift from a patriarch or matriarch, money like you hit the lottery PLUS you don't drink at bars or do drugs).
2] Parking
...you need 3 spaces for your company & employee cars PLUS SEVEN spaces for your customers cars. So, 10 spaces...check that... 12 spaces.
3] location, location, location....
if at all possible...you want to be on a numbered route (as opposed to Main Street, Jonquil Ave, 3 Mary Terrace, etc.) Out of towners are much more likely to find you if you're on
Route 2 South 3 miles west of the Interstate,
than if you're "take a right off Main St, take the next left on Jonquil, take the 5th right on Mary" ...doesn't work (non-cartographers have money. too)
4] SIGNS....
you can spend THOUSANDS on advertising in newspapers (which you need to do some, too)
...but, if passers-by can't see you...it's a total WASTE!
Plan to spend at least $1000 on signs for the store.
I spent $275 on a little neon sign in the front window that said "aquarium"
business DOUBLED!!!!!!

Well I'm considering it,


1. I have no family to feed.
2. I already have a shop,parking and such from an old family business

And I'm located in the main circulation of traffic in town.

What was the old family business?
Way more people will buy...
lunch
dinner
breakfast
groceries
gasoline
donuts
coffee
beer
liquor
lottery
cigarettes
Walmart's tropical fish...
or a hundred other things...
before any of their number
purchase your tropical fish!

I don't know about Kentucky
but a Dunkin' Donuts in Massachusetts is a license for Brasilians to print money.

well go for it
if you don't try you'll never know

probably the most important thing
(that I didn't mention in my previous rant)
is
customer service

free is good
free is great
let us thank free for our entire existance

Free rent
that knocks off (in my case) $21000 per year

look
I'm not kidding
you need a budget
how much stuff will cost every month

basically
you need to know:
electric bill
water bill
phone bill (don't over spend on yellow pages ads)
employee wages
above times 8% for FICA
(do NOT hire your freinds...they steal...I wish I was kidding)
secretary/bookkeeper...to keep track of above
insurance ...business(fire, theft)
...vehicle, health. life
...trash pick up...
...a hundred things I haven't thought of...

here's a good one , 2% of the gross from customers that pay you by credit card [in my case 66%, around 5000 bucks a year)

just getting started..
warm water for water changes?
In my case the building had nothing
that cost me 4000 bucks.
tanks & stands 2000 bucks plus?
stuff to resell
15000 bucks ? to have a good selection

the good news
if you put in 20000 bucks worth of stuff to re-sell
sell it all in a year at an average of 100% markup
(fish ...much more than double....
tank set ups.....much less than double)
THAT'S A 20,000 dollar profit!!

problem is:
THAT 20000 dollars
is needed to pay all that first stuff
electric
phone
water
employees
...it's unbelievable

just get a job
..............
I've convinced myself...I'm gonna be the best Greeter Walmart EVER had!

don't drink & type

don't
drink
type
AND
post on own's site

Thats very true, the old buisness was in jewelry... Lets see yearly expenses for stocking that place? 80 to 150k which you might take 5 years to sell lol.


I live in a small town, crappy economy kinda where old folks retire to when they are broke and have to live in a crappy trailor


So Jobs consist of Working at walmart, working a drive through window at the local choke and puke, or moving.. none of which thrill me overly well


So with a building that has concrete floors and walls, now with rugs and panel walls installed AND hot and cold water running out into the front I figure the basic building setup is done other than installing the tanks and setting up the front area/office. Its a small place so I'll be the only one running it, only employee including books lol and I've got a professional accountant that takes care of taxes and such as well my family (mainly the mother) wants to quit work and doesnt like the idea of sitting home for the rest of her life


But the main reason I'm doing this is, its something I enjoy (raising and working with fish) Its better than asking if you want to supersize that... and finally I've worked at walmart on third shift and standing for 9 hours straight isnt worth the crappy pay you make here Its not really about making money (though thats nice) its mainly because its something I enjoy which I'll make a small profit from (Did I mention our walmart doesnt sell fish? and only 10 gallon tanks.. gotta drive 45 mins to find a walmart that sells fish)



I also plan to raise some of the fish I want to sell... mainly easier ones, guppies, swordtails, mollies. I'm also gonna ask the local Fish and wildlife about selling fish from a private lake (Did I mention I have a 4 acre private lake? lol )

ok...ok...so you're absolutely commited

or should be

If you're not doing what you love
you are wasting your time
(the record among our kind is 110 years on the planet)
so why not sell fish?

I will endevour to make a wholesale list for you
might take a couple days

Please keep jostling me via email or phone
we sometimes get very busy around here

Regards
Ned

Dang straight I am, I've spent the better part of my young life running solo. No real job to speak of and playing caretaker to my mom for a number of years so I figure its about time I put out some real effort to at least exist on my own on this big ball of mud.


You'd think someone with a college degree in computer science would prefer a technical field but after 15 years of fixing those things its kinda like your own personal hell that you'd do anything to escape



But in all seriousness yes, I'm very commited. I've got about 10,000 stashed away I'm hoping to fuel the start of the shop with then from that point on hope that it will be reasonably self sufficent.


One thing I did kinda luck out on was that we rented the building for a few years to a hair salon and they put in hot/cold water and ran it out to the front for large sinks (which means I can build a wall around that and use that for water changes (with some high tech filters to remove that nasty chlorine lol)

Actually theres no rush on the listing, I'm guessing the things you sell change with the seasons yes? I still have a fair deal to do before I order fish.


Those being:

1. Kick the people out of my building (Evil I know)
a. Get things cleared out to move in

2. Get the hardware installed (tanks and such)

3. Sign, Advertise, and get known to be "opening soon"

4. Prepare the tanks and get them ready for fish.



Lol ok I know thats really cutting the list to the very basics but you get the idea.


Mainly I was curious if you are a wholesaler because I really liked the stuff you have listed and I like dealing 1 on 1 especially if your a high quality provider. Quality over quantity thats my motto

Ned - sounds like someone needs a hug!

Truth be told - the availability you provide us aquarists to be able to enjoy the Big Guy's creations is priceless! That may not put bread on the table, but it is food for the soul.

Hang in there!

no hugging please

I'm Irish, you know
we don't hug so much

much like the English, we prefer to have things to complain about
UNlike the English, we do not apologize for things we didn't do

other people have tough jobs too,
I like to think I realize that,
I was just trying to discourage the gentleman
from going into an unrewarding business

the BIG picture:
all you need to know about what government SHOULD be:
Government should protect people from each other.
That's it.
It's kind of like when Christ said:
I give you one law: love your neighbor as you would yourself.

"Protecting people from each other" means alot of things.
When you have a necesary monopoly: ie.: roads, cable TV, electric power, & a few other hated requirements....
you need necesary regulation.
That's why the evil government is neseasary.

Pursuit of happines does not mean
"I'm a corporation that gave 8 trillion dollars to a party in power,
so therefore it will make me happy to charge 30% annual interest."
Pursuit of happines does mean
"I can do whatever I want, as an individual OR a corporation, as long as my activities do not interfere with others."

Government should not tax behavior A to discourage behavior B.

I could go on and on.
I have no solution...
I was hoping to vote for McCain, but I watched him kiss Bush's ass 6 months ago
and then I was left without a leader.

The only unrewarding job far as I'm concerned is the one you do out of desire for the money it generates.


If you cant work at what you love, your doing the wrong job

And umm well, I've already got 5 fishtanks in my home that I tend to daily so 30 more wouldnt hurt Plus I also have 5 dogs that I have to play with daily, feed daily and generally treat like children



ehh I could get mushy and say I wanna help people learn to care for creatures other than humans, even though clearly most people only care for themselves

You still can't fault those for living the dream - God bless'em.

My Golden Rule - live and let live.