I've been using eCigs for a very long time now. My first 'mod' was an old flashlight, some stripped electronic wire and some cotton I salvaged from cotton balls. That was 8 years ago and eCigarettes have come a LONG way since then.
About 6 months ago, I picked up my first modern eCig, an eGo-T and some eJuice. And I played with it for a while. Then 47 days ago, I made a large order and haven't touched an analog cig since. Hell I even converted a few friends by accident. They just couldn't keep from asking questions and they ended up switching too after seeing my chain-smoking butt fully convert over.
Move forward to two weeks ago. My best friend (He was my first convert) came to be and said, "I have the best idea, lets sell eCigs! Lets start a business!" Now, I have to admit to you, I already wanted to try this on my own, I just didn't have the capital to begin. Now heres my best friend with the exact same idea as me with the sales ability I don't and the money to back it up. Fast forward two weeks, we have a shipment coming in from China, a website (only accepting reservations for the first kit right now) and at LEAST 70 pre-orders for this product. My head is currently spinning on how fast this got up and running.
Dealing with suppliers from China was massively overwhelming at first. The sheer number of suppliers for the same product is just insane. If I want a simple item, theres maybe 200+ companies to buy it from. All of them more than happy to email with quotes. (Also I should note, I now have a separate email address for this purpose. I once went out to play an MTG Draft and came home to 600+ emails. Oops) However one thing was constant. Everyone was incredibly friendly and more than happy to help. If I need my company's logo in 5 places they'll do it. If I want the batteries to be a specific color they're on it. My only complaint is getting a solid price from them. Whenever I search Alibaba for a basic part only a handful of suppliers provide the pricing, and even then its not correct.
I also had to setup a website, http://www.spartanvape.com in case you're wondering, and as of this post its VERY basic since we don't have any products physically in hand yet. Now 14 years ago, I started a business which failed horribly. I was young, I had $$ in my eyes and I surrounded myself with bad people. That aside setting up an eCommerce website was damned simple today compared to 14 years ago. I put maybe a total of 4 hours into the website to do what I needed it to do (just take reservations for now). Last time I did this, it took 9 weeks and 4 companies to get a website up and running. How things have changed. I ended up using Shopify. They may not be the cheapest but damn their admin interface is just... simple. I don't have to fight with anything, I love it.
My head is still spinning to the speed at which this is happening. I love it. I haven't been this excited about anything in many, many years.
No comments:
Post a Comment