I figured I'd share with you guys something I've been up to, it seemed to fit in with the spirit of this section...
I've been making Moustache Wax. Yep, bit of a specialized area, but there is a demand, and the demand is high enough to make it worth my while.
I went looking to buy some, and the cheapest stuff on ebay is £4.99, and the labelling is a bit poo, there is no decent branding to it, no detailed information on ingredients, how to apply it, etc etc. So I figured it was time to make something that was cheap AND had some reasonable branding/website backup etc to it.
I started from scratch, reading up on recipes, production techniques, packaging, etc, and have ended up with a finished product that after a bit of testing, works perfectly!
Everything used is proper cosmetic grade ingredients, I didnt want to cut corners with the actual wax itself. Its a stiff wax, that needs to be warmed up by scraping some out of the tin, and rubbing it between your finger and thumb to soften it to apply. It sets clear, so you cant see any residue.
I wanted the name of it to have something to do with me, but I couldnt get anything to scan nicely. In the end I came up with Fat Jacks Tash Wax, which scans well to me - not quite my name, but I'm fat and its almost my name.
Logo was created, which I think looks good - its too late to change it now, unless something really special comes along.
So the first run of 50 tins, and 24 jars (tins are 15ml, jars are 30ml) went perfectly ok today, and they are all labelled and packaged and ready to sell on ebay.
I'll be making 3 flavours, plain, mint, and and suprise 3rd flavour, which I'll reveal once testing is over and it proves it works!
I'm in the very early part of making a website for it, it sounds silly to some but selling a product thats backed up by a website, twitter account, etc etc makes it seem more professional and less cottage industry, even though thats what it is in reality.
www.fatjackstashwax.com is the website - like I said, its pretty much bare, and will only be a simple wordpress site, I just need to put info about ingredients, how to apply it, general stuff like that. don't analyse it too much, its not going to get any love and attention until the weekend.
I've had some offers of a freshly built website with integrated shopping cart setup my a friend of mine who was so impressed with it all, so the above site is pretty much scrap now, the domain name is the key thing to me.
The cheapest stuff you can get is usually around £5 for a little tin. I'll be undercutting that at £3.99 to start with, and will see how it goes. Its never going to make me rich, but unless I sell absolutely nothing (which to be fair isnt that likely with it being the 1st hit under cheapest inc P&P on ebay) its not going to lose me anything.
I'll be listing it at the weekend, and will be enjoying seeing if it sells ok!
I've got some great deals on packaging, labelling, postal packaging, which has helped keep costs down.
The labels are waterproof vinyl, rather than adhesive paper, to make it last and not peel within a few uses.
So there we have it, another madcap business plan by me.
If anyone on here wants a tin, or knows anyone with a moustache who would be happy to review it, or even email me a picture of them with their moustache holding a tin of this stuff, I'll happily send out samples.
I like the logo so much I'd quite happily rock a hoody with the logo on it, which is something I might consider having made....
Postal packaging is nicer than just a plain paper envelope, the glass jars (I'll add some pictures of them tomorrow) go in new 5x4x4" boxes, bubblewrapped up, and the 15ml tins go in carboard envelopes, with decent presentation. The small tins also fit under the Large Letter postage size rate, so cost peanuts to post.
I'll let you know how it goes.
Any thoughts, suggestions, tips, or curse word taking welcome.
Jamie
I've been making Moustache Wax. Yep, bit of a specialized area, but there is a demand, and the demand is high enough to make it worth my while.
I went looking to buy some, and the cheapest stuff on ebay is £4.99, and the labelling is a bit poo, there is no decent branding to it, no detailed information on ingredients, how to apply it, etc etc. So I figured it was time to make something that was cheap AND had some reasonable branding/website backup etc to it.
I started from scratch, reading up on recipes, production techniques, packaging, etc, and have ended up with a finished product that after a bit of testing, works perfectly!
Everything used is proper cosmetic grade ingredients, I didnt want to cut corners with the actual wax itself. Its a stiff wax, that needs to be warmed up by scraping some out of the tin, and rubbing it between your finger and thumb to soften it to apply. It sets clear, so you cant see any residue.
I wanted the name of it to have something to do with me, but I couldnt get anything to scan nicely. In the end I came up with Fat Jacks Tash Wax, which scans well to me - not quite my name, but I'm fat and its almost my name.
Logo was created, which I think looks good - its too late to change it now, unless something really special comes along.
So the first run of 50 tins, and 24 jars (tins are 15ml, jars are 30ml) went perfectly ok today, and they are all labelled and packaged and ready to sell on ebay.
I'll be making 3 flavours, plain, mint, and and suprise 3rd flavour, which I'll reveal once testing is over and it proves it works!
I'm in the very early part of making a website for it, it sounds silly to some but selling a product thats backed up by a website, twitter account, etc etc makes it seem more professional and less cottage industry, even though thats what it is in reality.
www.fatjackstashwax.com is the website - like I said, its pretty much bare, and will only be a simple wordpress site, I just need to put info about ingredients, how to apply it, general stuff like that. don't analyse it too much, its not going to get any love and attention until the weekend.
I've had some offers of a freshly built website with integrated shopping cart setup my a friend of mine who was so impressed with it all, so the above site is pretty much scrap now, the domain name is the key thing to me.
The cheapest stuff you can get is usually around £5 for a little tin. I'll be undercutting that at £3.99 to start with, and will see how it goes. Its never going to make me rich, but unless I sell absolutely nothing (which to be fair isnt that likely with it being the 1st hit under cheapest inc P&P on ebay) its not going to lose me anything.
I'll be listing it at the weekend, and will be enjoying seeing if it sells ok!
I've got some great deals on packaging, labelling, postal packaging, which has helped keep costs down.
The labels are waterproof vinyl, rather than adhesive paper, to make it last and not peel within a few uses.
So there we have it, another madcap business plan by me.
If anyone on here wants a tin, or knows anyone with a moustache who would be happy to review it, or even email me a picture of them with their moustache holding a tin of this stuff, I'll happily send out samples.
I like the logo so much I'd quite happily rock a hoody with the logo on it, which is something I might consider having made....
Postal packaging is nicer than just a plain paper envelope, the glass jars (I'll add some pictures of them tomorrow) go in new 5x4x4" boxes, bubblewrapped up, and the 15ml tins go in carboard envelopes, with decent presentation. The small tins also fit under the Large Letter postage size rate, so cost peanuts to post.
I'll let you know how it goes.
Any thoughts, suggestions, tips, or curse word taking welcome.
Jamie