If you don't mind a couple quick questions. Did you outsource the manufacturing process? Or were you doing your own lazer cutting?
I did all the manufacturing myself. I did the design on my work computer which was a CAD workstation. The company I worked at had need for laser cutting services, and we had a go to vendor for that, so I had them quote all my work.
I finished the grills by hand, sometimes I paid a kid around the shop to do the sand/bead blasting. The powdercoating was shipped out of town, I forget exactly where, but it was like $20 to ship it overnight to their plant.
So it was a 100% "finished in Canada" product, I don't know where the steel came from.
As to distribution you mentioned the "re-sellers" how did you come about your re-seller network? Was this just from the e-comm site? Or other marketing?
My original business plan (if you can call a horrible plan a plan still) was to make samples, send them out and build a small catalog. Fan grills were typically in 60, 80, 92 and 120mm sizes. So all 4 sizes x each design x each finish. I would send them to resellers, and then like a n00b, I assumed if interested, they would place an order. I'd build the order, then ship out C.O.D.
Of course, no resellers were interested in a niche product (that was cool) when they could buy asian made fan grills for $1.20 (mine were $7 wholesale) and sell the $1.20 ones for $15 and make a killing.
So I didn't have a network, and again, I was super naive, so my solution, after working on this for a year, was to retail them myself. And to do so, I needed to buy a stock of fans, screws, wire grills and other common fan related items, because I didnt think people would only order the grills from me without getting all the stuff they needed to add another fan to their case. Back in those days, people had to cut and drill their cases to add another fan to it. Computer modding was hardcore DIY stuff.
My biggest problem once we pathetically limped across the launch finish line, was that I had no understanding at all of the distribution process, whether it was marketing, networking or reselling. I was one of those total fail stories, where someone launches a business and has no customers.
The other thing I was curious about was how you exited. Did you wind up selling off? Or just close up shop one day?
I closed up shop, then reopened a month later to do a sell off of inventory, and then I took the remaining inventory and sold it to a friend in the states operating a business which was almost a sister to my own. Since we did bulk importing together, and usually had similar inventory, I would dropship his Canadian orders and he would dropship my US orders.
I did the closing totally wrong, and didn't get any of the goodwill or equity out. If I had done it right, I probably could have sold it for 6 figures, but truth be told, I was very depressed at the time, and all I could think about was the state of my family. I wasn't able to make plans, or think rationally. And that state of mind was also one of the reasons I wound it down in the first place.
hth
