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Posted: Fri Nov 21, 2014 8:35 am
by Dtrain
Far from black. I have a ton of materials, and tons of interest. The problem is doing all the building. time time time.

What I'm getting at is 5-7 pairs sounds great. When you keep "growing" it means reinvesting the profits for no cash in pocket, just more tools and materials.

Half your job will turning people away! But you'll pay for those passes, and have time to ski.

I have no regrets. All firefighter I know do somthing on the side. I would way rather be building in the shop feet from my house and drinking beer, than go dry walling or somthing like that.

I just know that the other people involved have high hopes for great success. I just don't see it, if success means making money.

Sure we make it , but divide it by the hours put in and it's like $10 an hour.
maybe that's why we call our selves Divide. Lol

Posted: Fri Nov 21, 2014 4:52 pm
by MontuckyMadman
Ha! More like 500 pair at ~$500 per with 5 employees and you barely break even.NOT!!!

Posted: Fri Nov 21, 2014 6:13 pm
by Jekul
You got it. Super hard to make a decent amount of $$ doing this. It's a side business until 90% of the people decide to get out...and I don't envision that for another 5-9 years, if ever. (Mainly b/c it's fun and people like to do it on the side - and can).

Posted: Fri Nov 21, 2014 6:14 pm
by Sotto
Jekul
My numbers came form that guys over at rossignol in park city last season that what they will make so some is for warranty/over stock. They put something like 1,200 pars in the canyons main rental shop last year. I also read that line makes about 10,000. Surface made about 4000 last it talked to them that was two years ago though. They were coming out of the elan factory last I heard. Ramp make 2000 skis/snowboards. Thats from a factory tour video from a few months ago.

Posted: Fri Nov 21, 2014 9:37 pm
by Dtrain
MM, getting personal but how many pair did you sell last year. Do you rent a shop or work in the house? And do you have partners?

Posted: Fri Nov 21, 2014 10:07 pm
by Dtrain
If I hired 5 people and made 500 boards that profited, after materials ,$250 000. Then I paid $2500 a month in rent/bills /shop supplies, I'm left with $220,000. As the owner/designer/ warranty/ office guy I need $80,000 a year minimum. ThAt leaves $140,000.

Show me the skilled/dedicated/trustworthy employees that want to make 500 flawless pairs of skis for $28,000 a year with no benefits.

Posted: Sat Nov 22, 2014 7:10 am
by Jekul
DTrain - even at those calculations you're ignoring any money invested in capital equipment (your ski shop), taxes, benefits you'd have to pay for/to your employees, scrap (yes, there will ALWAYS be some scrap), cost of capital, and insurance costs.

Most importantly, there will be very large advertising and marketing costs. Probably figure 10-20% of revenues, at the low end. (Social media only sells so much). This would included sending skis to test organizations, sponsoring athletes, and other random costs (hats, stickers, flyers, local ski hill ads, etc.)

And as you cited, only paying yourself $80k/year isn't that great (especially considering you'll have to pay for health care, taxes, and retirement out of that amount). A rule of thumb that I've been told: If you're working for a company, you'll need roughly 2X your current salary to live the same lifestyle.

And I'm sure you can find a ski bum brah that will gladly accept $28k/yr, but you called it...quality/skill/trust will not be included.

Yeah - It's frustrating and intimidating.

Posted: Sat Nov 22, 2014 7:19 pm
by MadRussian
When fun (ski making hobby) becomes business it's not longer fun. Like mentioned here nobody want their skis/snowboards in the summer they want them in the winter. What that means?lol it means instead of skiing enjoying fruits you labor will have to slave in the shop make skis for those who want skis be ready for next big dump and actually WILL enjoy fruits of my labor while I have continue to SLAVE in the shop to make more skis.... And when ski builder get to ski????????.... .. June maybe little bit in July lol because most definitely late July early August need to start getting ready for next year production
F@#^*$% with that no fun in it anymore

Posted: Sun Nov 23, 2014 1:29 am
by pmg
I think the normal price segment is very "saturated". If you plan on starting a business that produces small numbers (like 500 a year) you should aim for top quality and go for the high price segment. Have a look at Zai skis for example.

What is missing in that calculation is the work the skis/snowboards cause you after 1 or 2 seasons. "Hey, my tip starts to delam, though I only rode the ski for 20 days" "My egde is broken, what can you do for me?" Lots of talking again and maybe additional costs.

If you really plan on making a living of it, I would talk to ski shop owners and try to get some serious numbers how many % of their sold skis are returned etc.
It may not be a production fault, but just misuse of the customer, but a) prove this and b) without pissing the customer off.

Of cause this "after sales trouble" can be minimized by properly selling the skis. But doing the selling is a lot of work - as others mentioned, customers like to talk.

If I was calculating and didn't have a proper number or the "after sales trouble", I would go as high as 10% of the sold stuff. Better to calculate too much than too little. So
total gain * 0,9 - material costs - personnel costs - production costs - selling costs = hmm, is there something left? :)

Posted: Sun Nov 23, 2014 8:40 am
by skidesmond
Owning a business is hard. Makes me glad (at times) that I work for a corporation and build skis for fun. If I can sell a handful, awesome! I can comfortably make 20-30 pairs a year out of the basement. (No, I don't actually make that many... I wish!) After that, the logistics of storing material gets messy. Making $500-$600 a pop on a pair of skis sound like a lot of money. But imagine the time it takes to make 20 pairs, you're making only $12000 tops. Ok money for a hobby, not for a living. You'd spend 2-3 months making 20-30 pairs. AND you need 20-30 customers... every year. That's not easy to do solo. I'm glad to make a few bucks to buy more material and ski.

Posted: Sun Nov 23, 2014 6:43 pm
by Jekul
Sounds like, for the most part, we're all of similar mind. It's a nice dream/hobby, but I'm not quitting my day job anytime soon. At least not for this business.

Now...for the other 12 ideas I have floating around in my head; maybe...someday.