Fighting through failure

Hello Everyone!

Well what a long time its been since i posted last. I've had to sit back and re think things a little with this business and how i'm going to make it work.
First of all china wanted minimum orders for large amounts of money that i don't currently have. So how do i make my product? Well i found a company who sells DIY Injection molders. The company is LNS Technologies and the machine is incredible. I'm also working with a guy who is making the molds for me. But he is having a little trouble cause of how small the pieces are.
I found a company for packaging, found an awesome artist for rebooting my website, social media and packaging.

So even though kickstarter didn't work out for me i'm still charging ahead the best way I know how. Right now that means setting up a shop in the garage space next to my house. I believe its a great idea and i believe i can make it work so i'm doing everything i can to see it through.

I also ordered a screen from Teenie Screenies to try and print on the rings, and if that doesn't work i can still make some company shirts myself. Once that gets delivered i'll let you know how it worked out.

All and all I've had to rethink how this is going to work but it will work, and once i've created a physical product its on to sales. Don't give up, when one plan doesn't work out it only makes you find better options for you and your business.

http://www.ringzie.com

http://www.facebook.com/ringzie

http://www.twitter.com/ringzie

http://www.instagram.com/ringzie

Thanks Everyone 

Justin Greenough

Kickstarter for my kickstarter

Hello Everyone,

I created a kickstarter a month ago and let me tell you, it's not doing well. I'm looking to raise $45,000 and currently i have only raised $8,000. Let me get into the list of things I prepared and attempted to do to make this successful.

1) Prepared all social media accounts months ahead of time. I gather followers, showed images, interacted with people in the social media world. I gained around 4k followers on insagram.

2) I set up the website months in advance so that people could view the site if they were searching for such a product. I set up a home, page, about, FAQ and contact, the shop sent them to the kickstarter page.

3) I told family and friends throughout my facebook network, letting them know in advance that I would be launching a kickstarter campaign and i would appreciate their support.

Once ready to launch I also did the following.

4) Reached out to dozens of bloggers about my product and how I was ready to get it started. So were receptive, some didn't respond, and some i even paid to write a post.

5) I put together a facebook ad campaign and ran it for a few weeks.

6) I contacted all the family and friends to remind them that the campagin was live and they could purchase.

And after all that i'm still way underfunded. Leaving me to believe I need a kickstarter for my kickstarter. Something that drive people to the page so they can pledge. This was a huge lesson learned for me. As I am one person along trying to make my dream come true. I am now going to change direction and buy the injection molding equipment myself and make them in my house. I will make this a reality no matter what!

I recommend to anyone to try kickstarter if they are looking to raise money for something, just be prepared that the higher you set the bar, the more your going to have to work to get it.

http://www.ringzie.com

http://www.facebook.com/ringzie

http://www.twitter.com/ringzie

http://www.instagram.com/ringzie





Thanks Everyone 

Justin Greenough

Start ups / kickstarter - what to do when disaster strikes

Hello Everyone,

Well i have found myself in a quite a jam the last few weeks so i wanted to spend a little time talking about what to do when something goes wrong during your start up preparation. I am currently taking the kickstarter route. I have everything set up i need and then all of the sudden ... WHAM... the videographer calls me to say that she had all my video files on a external drive that just crashed! Now of course I almost fell over hearing the news and the helplessness was overwhelming. But I picked myself back up and tried to figure out what I could do to keep moving.

First thing to do is to fix that external drive. So I contacted some computer savvy friends and they suggested to send it to a lab. The lab costs around $1,000 . which was a big disappointment but it had to be done.

Secondly i had to keep moving with everything else, instagram sending out photos and facebook talking to friends. I also found some bloggers along the way. I'm definitely using this time to build my fan base before launching on kickstarter and if the drive is completely unrecoverable then im back to making a new video. WISH ME LUCK!!

The best advice i can give is don't let the other areas of your start up drop, just cause one thing is going wrong, doesn't mean you give up on the whole thing. Find places to use the time you have and make sure its productive to your goals.

Check out my vlog

 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1em3Pm5WGM4

http://www.ringzie.com

http://www.facebook.com/ringzie

http://www.twitter.com/ringzie

http://www.instagram.com/ringzie





Thanks Everyone 

Justin Greenough

Manufacturing your product. The struggle of the first time entrepreneur.

Hello Everyone,

Its been a long time since i blogged last because i have been completely immersed in the manufacturing world. Here are the difficulties in making my product from what i understand. Since my invention is not only a ring, but ring pieces the creation process is very tedious. A manufacturer views it like this - If they have to make a mold (the device that shapes the melted plastic into your product) and spend time for each piece they make, it has to be worth it for them. Meaning if they are selling me pieces at 0.11¢ each and they have to spend a lot of time on it. The amount they need to make and get paid for has to make a profit during time made.
Complicated right?
My product is super tiny so theres little to know money for them to make a small amount. They need to make a large amount, Like 60,000 per piece. And thats only for one size without packaging and printing. And yes this is a china manufacturer.
I have started looking for manufacturers in the US and they seem to have not only higher pricing but also aren't very interested in entrepreneur type deals i.e. small amount to start.

On a positive note i have found and amazing printing company who was not only friendly but got me a quote right away. I need small printing on a curved surface and they are able to do it no problem. Glad that part of it is out of the way. The company is http://www.uniquepadprinting.com/

I'm not giving up though. Still calling everywhere i can, when i can. I'll let you know when i find the manufacturer for me, at a great price!

I'm also excited to announce that I started vlogging! Check it out here  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1em3Pm5WGM4

http://www.ringzie.com

http://www.facebook.com/ringzie

http://www.twitter.com/ringzie

http://www.instagram.com/ringzie





Thanks Everyone 

Justin Greenough