Bad Business Owners

[wings_of_fire]

Business is a silent war.

Its more about how much as an entrepreneur one can push himself and with that, the vision he has for future. In a nutshell, the psycology of the business owner matters.

Many start a business with hopes to scale it up without factorising the pains involved in it. You got to do it when you are unwilling to do it, and this is the pain involved and thats why DESCIPLINE is one of the most important asset to have.

Starting a hobby scale business is easy, but scaling up a bussiness is tough and complicated with lots of risk. This is where many fail or are unwilling to go ahead. You can either have a relaxed attitude with a happy family life or you can be a robot that achieves success after sucess. There are no free gifts in this world...you have to give something to achieve something and similarly, you can have something at the expense of loosing something.

Starting a business and taking it to the next level is of most importance because that assures your survival and growth. Value your customers because they will help you grow to that next level.

Ladder at the top is never crowded because, there are too many not willing to sacrifice pleasure in the short run.

[JeremyH]

Originally Posted by Duuuuuuuude

I don't know that I've ever heard you say anything positive about anything.

He had some positive things to say about me once....

[C*H*U*D]

Originally Posted by RANOVRU

...But I would wager that many vendors on here don't do $13,000 in sales every year.

I would think there's a mix. I've been well north of that number many years, and see others on here who appear to be way busier than me. I can't answer your question about who pays taxes, but UGC sees a CPA every year.

Originally Posted by 67mustang

...This forum does not help vendors grow.

RCC is for the members. It's job is not to help promote or grow vendors. RCC gives vendors a platform to showcase their work, and the rest is up to them. I'm not sure if many still balk at the $100 per year fee, but that really is peanuts for what RCC provides vendors...exposure.

That being said, I agree with you on this:

Originally Posted by 67mustang

There should be a better way for builders/vendors to solicit work or disclose backlogs

I've brought up the idea of an RFQ section before, but it's always been shot down. I don't advertise custom work because I know what a pain that can be (it's basically my day job), but there are occasions when I have the spare time to take on a fun project and would like the chance to quote. I don't know how the forum would handle everyone else seeing the section and PMing, so maybe that's why it's never happened. Josh would know more.

Originally Posted by Duuuuuuuude

Before social media, RCC was the place to make your name as a vendor. Now you can do it anywhere. I still prefer this community though...

I had to step away from this place for awhile, and it really amazed me just how many emails I would get from people who have never heard of RCC. I'm not sure why that is or if there's an answer to it.

[SWCrawler]

Back. This is obviously a hot topic and i am not a "Dick" for being annoyed about how some one does business because when you run one you expect to deal with public opinion about your product and how you are perceived as an operator. If i was a dick i would have brought said vendors names into the equation and and bashed them. But i have good character and they have a good product that i still want. I agree with C.H.U.D., raise your prices to lower your work load. when your product is that good people will still pay. I can't understand why these vendors are so reasonable to begin with because i can clearly see the time it takes to build a roll cage.

[Robbob]

Originally Posted by C*H*U*D

I'm not trying to drag this out, but for vendors who are swamped, raise your prices until your workload becomes more reasonable. That way you can spend time with your families, get paid what you are worth and it becomes more fun again. You're swamped because you are undervaluing your services and people realize this. You should too.

I give them lead times - I know my work load and I only cut 2-3 nights a week when my daughters not home. If they can wait in line then good if not then theres no hard feelings if they go some where else.

Originally Posted by RANOVRU

In VA there is a minimum that must be earned to be considered a business by which you need to file taxes. After a couple of years, whether you file taxes or not you will get a call if you make under the allotted amount and be 'de-businessed'.

By law there absolutely is a difference in a hobby and a business thus my point.

I don't think theres a minimum in my state, we'll tax you anyway we can over here.

By law there may be a difference but its how you look at yourself too. If you're making and selling so you can flip more into your own projects then yes Id see that as a hobby. If you're looking at what your monthly totals are and thinking about the next piece of equipment then its def a business. In my first year Im already on machine #2 and looking at redoing the garage for another so its right in the middle for me. The trick is keeping the books in the red lol.

Originally Posted by SWCrawler

Back. This is obviously a hot topic and i am not a "Dick" for being annoyed about how some one does business because when you run one you expect to deal with public opinion about your product and how you are perceived as an operator. If i was a dick i would have brought said vendors names into the equation and and bashed them. But i have good character and they have a good product that i still want. I agree with C.H.U.D., raise your prices to lower your work load. when your product is that good people will still pay. I can't understand why these vendors are so reasonable to begin with because i can clearly see the time it takes to build a roll cage.

Very respectable too that you didn't and haven't brought any particular vendor into this thread. After I re-read what you wrote originally and what Juan wrote I could see it was more frustration about getting vendor responses.

Have to agree with you on that - something from them is better then nothing. But we also don't know the vendors situation so I don't think we can really call it bad business. That's where I myself would look at the situation and say their loss and move myself onto another vendor. I have everything set up so my phone shows me any one trying to get in touch with me. I always reply one way or another, its just how I would want to be dealt with so I think I should do the same. Hopefully you can find a builder able to help ya out, given some time and patience this really is a great corner of the hobby to be in.

[mewalsh100]

Originally Posted by JohnRobHolmes

I don't like that it is normal for some vendors to be hard to reach, but it is also the margin of running "after work" business. While our time here has seen many fabricators come and go, it has also seen the aging of our community. Wives, kids, day jobs; it just becomes more difficult to balance a night time business as time goes on. It doesn't make ignoring a customer right, but sometimes it is the least bad. If given the choice between ignoring a potential customer and giving my family some time, family would always win if I had already put in a square work week. And that is the position that most vendors are in, it is a business only as far as the fun can reach, and beyond that there is real life to attend to.

I almost closed down Holmes Hobbies when I couldn't handle the customer support load. Instead, I turned off PMs on all forums, closed down my Q&A threads, and insisted on emails and phone calls only. It helped focus my efforts enough to coast to the next step of hiring help, which led to moving out of the house, which made me run everything more professionally.

Nobody should have to work day and night, but it is necessary for almost all vendors when they start up. For many years I worked 20 hours a week at Holmes Hobbies with no pay after putting in a full day at the "real" job. After going full time with the business, I worked 60+ hours a week for years with less than minimum wage pay. Only in the past 4 years have I been capping myself at 40 hours and pay others to do the rest, and my pay is still about 1/4 of what I would make at another firm with my degree. But to be free and accountable to only my own schedule is far more valuable! On friday I left at 4pm and picked up the kid early so we could play in the yard before dark. Makes the decade of crappy pay totally worth it! Now I'm in the same boat with Holmes Motion Control. I've been paid $2.5 per hour for my time since starting the company

I know this is an older thread, but I wanted to respond. All I can say is that myself and I'm sure many others are glad you stuck with it. I run HH motors and ESC's in all my rigs. The Quality is the best in the business, the customer service and support is the best in the business, and your time answering technical questions on this forum, that often don't even directly pertain to HH products, is greatly appreciated! If you have not given yourself one at this point, you deserve a raise!

I also agree with your comment about many vendors running their RC businesses. I don't think a lot of people in the hobby understand that most of these folks doing chassis work, tube work, electronics, making wheels, and all the other "hop-up" parts we all crave, do this as a second gig. They have full time jobs, families, and all the other day to day crap that we all have to deal with. Most of these folks got in to the RC business out of a love for the hobby, not for monetary gain.

It can certainly be frustrating when you feel like your inquiries are not being met. Be patient. Send a courteous email or leave a courteous voicemail once a week regarding your inquiry. Like Harley stated above, many of these little cottage industry businesses are inundated with inquiries and are small shops, often with just the one proprietor/owner. It takes a lot of time to sort through them all and respond. (Not to mention all the looky loo's just "window shopping" with zero intent to buy).

In my experience, they will get back to you. I just dealt with this issue myself a couple months back. The vendor was extremely apologetic when he eventually got back to me. He was dealing with some health issues, family issues, and primary work issues. As those issues calmed down, he processed my order and I had my merchandise a week or so later. In the end, it's all about perspective. This is a Hobby. It's supposed to be fun and provide an escape and level of relaxation for us as hobbyists. Don't lose sight of that, and it will continue to provide those things for years to come!