Jig Making Business.... HELP

dsiemssen

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Jan 16, 2014
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hey guys, maybe y'all can give me some help/input.
I've been tossing around the idea of selling jigs an official business. I live in Tennessee, of course I would be selling online and locally. Talked to my father, he recommended making it an LLC. Can any of you business guys give me some advise?

Also if y'all have any website building advise please pass that along. Everyone I know only knows the coding from like 2001 and later, so it really doesn't help. So I've been looking at those online site hostings.
 

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Kdog

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Pay someone to develop your website.. Its easier and faster.
Concentrate on your product presentation great pics, accurate and clear descriptions.

LLC is probably the way to go but I suggest talking to an attorney and a CPA. Get your bookkeeping set up properly from the start to avoid any surprises at tax time.
 

dsiemssen

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Jan 16, 2014
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Kdog said:
Pay someone to develop your website.. Its easier and faster.
Concentrate on your product presentation great pics, accurate and clear descriptions.

LLC is probably the way to go but I suggest talking to an attorney and a CPA. Get your bookkeeping set up properly from the start to avoid any surprises at tax time.

how much do you think it would cost for someone to develop it?(roughly)
 

AtticaFish

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Making a basic advertising/about us site is no problem. There are several hosting companies that offer free site building tools that are pretty easy to figure out. They are essentially a glorified word processor that allows you to publish to a server with a few simple clicks. I do all the pages of JigCraft.com using Yahoo's free sitebuilder tool. My graphics are all done on PhotoShop or CorelDraw though, then pieced into blank pages so i sort of build from scratch. Maybe a little more complicated that way, but i have the graphic experience from my regular job. The free sitebuliders usually have royalty free clipart you can use. I've built a few simple sites from scratch for people, so feel free to ask me other questions you might have.

The JigCraft forum that uses the database is created totally separate from the Yahoo Sitebuilder. I use MyBB software for that which is another freebie. It takes time to figure out and keep it working. Glitches in the database can be very aggravating to de-bug and find where the problem actually is.

I use Yahoo Small Business as the server host and domain register. Unlimited pages and size which is nice. That costs about $130 a year. They also offer merchant accounts (which use the SQL database) to build a store for online ordering with catalog/cart/checkout, but no clue how those work or are charged since i do not sell anything. I do know that managing the merchant accounts with online sales for even a small business can be daunting.

To have a 'professional' design a site.......... you might choke when they throw a price back at you. Even worse if you need them to update things regularly for you!

Perhaps the least costly route would be to design your site through a freebie builder and then use PayPal as your purchasing tool. Pretty sure there are some here that use PayPal on their sites.
 

Pup

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Toadfrog posted a nice link to a website where homegrown tackle could be sold. Could be a fairly nice way to "pilot" your products and test the waters for demand without incurring much, if any, initial cost imo. Try getting the word out about your product regionally through whatever forums will allow it. Once an initial customer base is established, creation of a web site could then be your next logical step.

Personally, I'd want to get my name out there first and see if I could sell anything with regularity as step one in my business plan. There are many production jig tyers in the marketplace. Competition is stiff. Profits are likely very low unless you are extremely unique in some way.
 

Bucho

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Mar 29, 2013
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Kiel, Germany
Got a university student who takes care of homepages as a side business, took me 200 Euros to get the whole thing started. That`s very inexpensive from what I heard. With the shop, its paramount that it is surch engine friendly. Joola works well. Friend of mine spends a significant amount of time networking with other freelancers exchanging intensively about nothing else but surch engine optimizing. You don´t want to depend on some sleazy guy to do that for you!

Here in Germany, that´s not that much of an issue for me since I don´t have any competition and my stuff is the only thing thats jumps at you if you type "haar jig", but in the States that´s an other story. BTW hairjig.com was still free as a domain name, do you believe it? :D

Paypal I couldn`t do without. Wonderful tool, makes it very safe for customers from all over the world to buy even at a start-up like mine.

Edit: That shop system`s name is Joomla, not joola
 

dsiemssen

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Jan 16, 2014
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AtticaFish said:
Making a basic advertising/about us site is no problem. There are several hosting companies that offer free site building tools that are pretty easy to figure out. They are essentially a glorified word processor that allows you to publish to a server with a few simple clicks. I do all the pages of JigCraft.com using Yahoo's free sitebuilder tool. My graphics are all done on PhotoShop or CorelDraw though, then pieced into blank pages so i sort of build from scratch. Maybe a little more complicated that way, but i have the graphic experience from my regular job. The free sitebuliders usually have royalty free clipart you can use. I've built a few simple sites from scratch for people, so feel free to ask me other questions you might have.

The JigCraft forum that uses the database is created totally separate from the Yahoo Sitebuilder. I use MyBB software for that which is another freebie. It takes time to figure out and keep it working. Glitches in the database can be very aggravating to de-bug and find where the problem actually is.

I use Yahoo Small Business as the server host and domain register. Unlimited pages and size which is nice. That costs about $130 a year. They also offer merchant accounts (which use the SQL database) to build a store for online ordering with catalog/cart/checkout, but no clue how those work or are charged since i do not sell anything. I do know that managing the merchant accounts with online sales for even a small business can be daunting.

To have a 'professional' design a site.......... you might choke when they throw a price back at you. Even worse if you need them to update things regularly for you!

Perhaps the least costly route would be to design your site through a freebie builder and then use PayPal as your purchasing tool. Pretty sure there are some here that use PayPal on their sites.


that was very helpful! i appreciate your input and everyone elses. Im going to give yahoo a shot. I tried a few "trial" sites but couldn't really get it figured out the way I wanted it.

thank you for all of your input! I also put an ad on craigslist looking for a college student who is majoring in graphic design :) just to see if I can get any hits on it. Money talks with college students ;)
 

CrappieHappy

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I pondered this a few years back but decided, with the Federal excise tax (10% of sales), other expenses, and the low profit Margin, setting up a business was not for me. The hobby will quickly turn into what could be a full time job if you have people wanting to buy from you.

Best of luck with your decision
 

Lost Pole

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Don't have any input on the business side, but would love to see some of your products. The "bayou" headline peaked my interests highly.
 

dsiemssen

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Jan 16, 2014
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Lost Pole said:
Don't have any input on the business side, but would love to see some of your products. The "bayou" headline peaked my interests highly.

Hey bud, I don't have a website just yet. I do sell on facebook through paypal. www.facebook.com/bayoubugjigs :) come check them out and share the page with your buddies!
 

dsiemssen

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Jan 16, 2014
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Radtexan said:
We've discussed this a couple times here...Tim White had some very good tax advice on another thread...He's been doing this a long time,and knows it well..

http://www.jigcraft.com/jigcraft/showthread.php?tid=2077&pid=19187#pid19187

some more good info..

http://www.jigcraft.com/jigcraft/showthread.php?tid=5833&highlight=selling+jigs

Man that was more than helpful explaining all of that! Somewhat confusing but luckily my buddy has majored in business and understands exactly what he was saying!
 

Lost Pole

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dsiemssen said:
Lost Pole said:
Don't have any input on the business side, but would love to see some of your products. The "bayou" headline peaked my interests highly.

Hey bud, I don't have a website just yet. I do sell on facebook through paypal. www.facebook.com/bayoubugjigs :) come check them out and share the page with your buddies!

Thx for the link, I saw one pic but don't know how to navigate through that Facebook jargon. Keep at it and good luck in your sales. Was just curious as my ties are geared for river and bayous.
 

dsiemssen

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Jan 16, 2014
Messages
20
Lost Pole said:
dsiemssen said:
Lost Pole said:
Don't have any input on the business side, but would love to see some of your products. The "bayou" headline peaked my interests highly.

Hey bud, I don't have a website just yet. I do sell on facebook through paypal. www.facebook.com/bayoubugjigs :) come check them out and share the page with your buddies!

Thx for the link, I saw one pic but don't know how to navigate through that Facebook jargon. Keep at it and good luck in your sales. Was just curious as my ties are geared for river and bayous.

www.bayoubugjigs.com :D
 
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