Diverse Background, many ideas, one in process, need advice

[4HWWgirl]

Whew,

I am 25 years old, graduated with a masters in Oriental Medicine, Bachelors in Health Science, and a Bachelors in Sociology. I have worked in various fields including acupuncture, Geographic Information Systems for a conservation company, sociological research, urban planning, research coordinator, educational proposals for my university, teaching Chinese, and office management. I enjoy photography, have an interest in Buddhist and Taoism, have designed costumes, am a black belt, am relatively technically proficient. I have traveled to parts of Europe, China, and Taiwan. I am basically fluent in both English and Chinese.

Niches I believe I can appeal to design, interior design, feng shui, alternative health.

I have done a lot of research since I've finished reading the book. I have gone to all the websites he's suggested from looking at manufactures to drop shippers.:confused:

alibaba seems interesting, but the costs for manufacturing and shipping a product in large quantities from China to the US is a bit beyond me.

I have one muse idea which is designing a prosperity fish poster to appeal to various niche markets, but am facing obstacles in costs of manufacturing versus what I can reasonably sell an artistically designed poster in a frame.

Any ideas or suggestions would be much appreciated. Looking for some direction and muse ideas I can work with. :)

[gamalicious]

Wow, you sure do have a diverse background. From where I stand, I think you have two very strong points.

1.) Oriental medicine. If there's one thing the US and the rest of the world keeps making, it's sick people. And healthcare isn't getting any cheaper. If you can have a simple "Here's what this herb/supplement is and here's how it will help you" I think you could have a very successful muse. Also, you could easily add in an online market place to sell those herbs. Even better, sell the 20% of them that generates the 80% of the revenue. Yay!

2.) Your other strength is your ability to speak Chinese. Imagine all the rest of us who have to go around to middle men to talk to someone in China to have everything manufactured because we can't speak the language. How crazy is that? You can speak directly to the manufacturers if you can find them, and that is a major advantage. Granted, you may have some trouble because you are a woman (not my personal views, just my knowledge of the culture). While that is unfortunate, you seem to have a strong background so I'm sure you can get it done :) Good luck!

Chris

[TimW]

I used to work for a company that was a competitor of Alibaba. All Alibaba and my former company do is match-making...putting buyers and suppliers together so they can do business.

If you are a buyer for a hardware chain and need OEM manufactured screwdrivers, Alibaba (and my former company) have the capability to allow you to search for companies that can make those screwdrivers for you, with your company/brand name on them. One of the issues is that these manufacturers usually have minimums, etc., and if they don't, the per-unit cost of the item is likely to be significantly higher than a large production run.

So, if you decide you wanted 4HWWGirl-branded clocks, coffee mugs, back-packs, etc., Alibaba is a place to go, esp if you wanted container-load quantities. Think "Hello Kitty" quantities.

If you are looking for only a few items, or smaller runs because of cash-flow issues, then look locally because the landed-cost of a foreign-manufactured good will not likely be so significantly cheaper/better than a locally-produced item that it would make sense to go through all the hassles of paying the foreign company (wire transfer, letter-of-credit, etc.), shipping costs/freight, customs clearance, duties, and taxes, etc.

So, back to your fish poster.

Can you get it printed so significantly cheaper overseas that it would be worth those hassles?

Is the market so much larger than this price difference would offset the challenges of off-shore manufacturing?

If the frame/poster is pre-assembled, how much extra would it cost to make sure they all arrive in one-piece? If not assembled, then who is going to do it for you...if you, then add the cost of your time to the production cost in order to calculate the true per-unit cost to you.

Just because something CAN be made offshore doesn't necessarily mean it shold, or is best to, have it made off-shore.


TimW
Phoenix