Topic: By Geek Brethren - a business question (Read 9035 times)

BrandonCorbin · « **on:** February 02, 2005, 04:33:22 PM »

Nice try, dipshit.

<insert whining about how failing print service isn't working>

You're such a drama queen, brandon.corbin@gmail.com

xolik · « **Reply #1 on:** February 02, 2005, 04:42:24 PM »

HAY GUYZ CHECK OUT MY WEBPAGE! I REALLY NEED HELP, SERIOUSLY. THIS ISN'T A POORLY DISGUISED ATTEMPT TO DRAW TRAFFIC AT ALL, HONEST!

hackess · « **Reply #2 on:** February 02, 2005, 05:06:31 PM »

I'm not even going to bother editing that poorly disguised spam attempt. It's just too pathetic.

TerrorDronze · « **Reply #3 on:** February 02, 2005, 05:08:13 PM »

if he can publish books and ship them, and his business is failing, why not just write a book?

Demosthenes · « **Reply #4 on:** February 02, 2005, 05:22:39 PM »

Xolik, do you think this fine man might be interested in a FREE IPOD?

needles · « **Reply #5 on:** February 02, 2005, 05:47:49 PM »

Quote from: xolik

OMFGLMAAFOLOGS@@@!!!'

hahaha

BrandonCorbin · « **Reply #6 on:** February 02, 2005, 07:33:52 PM »

Whooo hooo

hackess · « **Reply #7 on:** February 02, 2005, 07:37:54 PM »

Here's a theory for you:

Rather than paying $10 for someone else to print and bind a 200 page PDF, most people will print it themselves using the laser printer at work (for example).

It's a nice idea, your little business, but it's hardly a money-making scheme.

ivan · « **Reply #8 on:** February 02, 2005, 07:38:57 PM »

Quote from: BrandonCorbin

If I was whoring out the concept for cheap clicks,

Whoring out the concept for cheap clicks...

Whoring OUT the concept for cheap clicks...

Whoring out the concept for CHEAP clicks...

Whoring out THE concept for cheap clicks...

Fuck if I know what that means.

ivan · « **Reply #9 on:** February 02, 2005, 07:52:44 PM »

Here is a song to the tune of This Land Is Your Land

Oh BrandonCorbin,
Oh BrandonCorbin,
Why are you whoring?
Why are you so boring?
Are you a spammer?
From Allabamer?
Whoring out the concept for cheap clicks!

Ok, EVERYBODY!

OH BRANDON CORBIN...

Demosthenes · « **Reply #10 on:** February 02, 2005, 07:54:15 PM »

Quote from: BrandonCorbin

I will say that any other responses would not be in the true form of a great forum. So to all of you I say with an resounding voice. I still love you. But seriously folks, I am not asking you for a single thing except for advice. And if you have some then please share it. If not, then Im sure you will display your all powerful mental abilities , by slamming and ramming, which I am ok with.

Ahhhhh, that I understand. An appeal to our intellects, an honest cry for help.

To that I say OMG IM TEH SP4MMAR! DO MY WRK 4 ME!!!!!! LOL OMG Weird Tingly Feeling!!!111!11 BBQ!!!1

Anonymous · « **Reply #11 on:** February 02, 2005, 08:08:58 PM »

I think a step in the right direction would be to determine your targte audience. Who is most likely to purchase the product(s)/service(s) that you are offering?

ivan · « **Reply #12 on:** February 02, 2005, 08:26:13 PM »

Quote from: Chris

I think a step in the right direction would be to determine your targte audience. Who is most likely to purchase the product(s)/service(s) that you are offering?

That's a wise suggestion, Chris. Any good business plan contains a target profile.

CorbinBrandon, I have done some research, and have found for you your target profile: click

BizB · « **Reply #13 on:** February 03, 2005, 08:52:01 AM »

Now guys... wait just one fucking minute. This is a fantabulous idea! I like it so much, I'm going to use the service!

Well, not so much his service...

I'm going to save the file to disk and drive to Kinkos and ask them to print it on 3 hole paper and then I'm going to Rite Aid to buy a $0.97 binder.

I'll have my manual within an hour and it will cost me $4.23.

Of course, I've lost all advantage of having the manual in electronic searchable format.

BrandonCorbin · « **Reply #14 on:** February 03, 2005, 09:21:22 AM »

Keep going

Demosthenes · « **Reply #15 on:** February 03, 2005, 10:00:55 AM »

Quote from: BrandonCorbin

Wow. I apologize for my stupidity. Im stupid, your smart. Im ugly, your beautiful. I stink, you smell like roses. Your right, and I was wrong. Except, I got 10 orders from this post!

Well, that's why spammers still exist. They depend on the stupidity of a little portion of the population to always buy whatever crap they're pitching, and considering how stupid people tend to be, that's pretty reliable.

xolik · « **Reply #16 on:** February 03, 2005, 10:00:57 AM »

Quote from: BrandonCorbin

My e-penis is bigger than yours

Brilliant.

needles · « **Reply #17 on:** February 03, 2005, 10:05:13 AM »

nice e-penis, xolik.

Anonymous · « **Reply #18 on:** February 03, 2005, 10:17:01 AM »

I will tell you what the problem is. While the idea may seem like a good one at first, you didn' t do a proper market research and you probably didn't calculate the ROI, which will likely lead to a poor return ratio, indicading that the project isn't worth persuing.

Cat pointed out that the average person will print their own. I disagree. The average person doesn't even bother to read the fucking manual. Heck, that RTFM smiley exists for a reason! It's time consuming and they preffer to figure things out on their own or pick up the phone and call for assistance. So lets' say that you have 1,000,000 people who are aware of your sevice and who will work with 1 large PDF over the period of one year. Not bad right? Well... Let's be realistic.

Let's pretend that of the 1,000,000 only 10% will actually bother to RTFM. So your potential market for a year has now dropped to 100,000. Of these, most people will simply read the section they are interested in directly on the screen without looking at the entire package or printing anything. Let's say that 50% (and I'm generous) of them will actually require printing the document. So you're down to 50,000 potential clients over the period of a year.

Now of those, the majority will be printing their own. You have to understand that not only can individuals print their own stuff at low cost, but a lot of larger organisation are equipped with their own mini-print shop wich can certainly handle printing and turning a plain PDF file into an actual manual with a cover and everything. So really, you would only get a small percentage of these. Let's say you get 10%. Then you're down to 5,000 actual clients.

Now, you'll be printing 200 pages and charging about $10, resulting in a gross income of $50,000 (5,000 clients @ $10). After you look at how much it will cost you to print (The cost of 1,000,000 sheets, plus ink, plus equipement amortization plus your time), then you're really doing volonteer work at this point.

It's just not worth it. You're not offering enough variety in your service to sustain your business. You've got all your eggs in one basket and the basket is getting real heavy. So don't get all sarcastic on us because your idea sucks. We didn't come up with it.

hackess · « **Reply #19 on:** February 03, 2005, 10:25:05 AM »

Quote from: TheJudge

<snip>Cat pointed out that the average person will print their own. I disagree.<snip>

No, I said "most people." I should've qualified that further by saying "Of the people who will read it, most will print it themselves."

Besides, I think he's talking about more than product manuals. Training materials and tutorials, electronic versions of O'Reilly's books, etc.

BizB · « **Reply #20 on:** February 03, 2005, 10:28:51 AM »

Quote from: BrandonCorbin

Except, I got 10 orders from this post!

Liar.

Anonymous · « **Reply #21 on:** February 03, 2005, 10:30:20 AM »

Quote from: catwritr

Besides, I think he's talking about more than product manuals. Training materials and tutorials, electronic versions of O'Reilly's books, etc.

Still, what is his edge? Sounds to me like he's just another printshop except he only works with PDFs and he's doing it online.

needles · « **Reply #22 on:** February 03, 2005, 10:31:48 AM »

yeah judge i almost said "who RTFMs anyway".

Anonymous · « **Reply #23 on:** February 03, 2005, 10:44:56 AM »

Actually, I got it all wrong in terms of costs. See he's essentially subcontracting the printing to another company. In essence, he's acting as a PDF printing broker. Except that he leaves absolutly no options to the client.

Quote

Can you print in color?
No, nor do we plan to for a long time. If you need color I would suggest going to Kinko's and be prepared to pay upwards of 30-40 dollars.

What if I want more than 7 copies
You can’t. Now if you want to create a new order until you fulfill your quantity needs, then by all means do so.

People want options. They don't want to hear "no" and "can't".

I have a few questions that aren't covered.

WHY can't I get more than 7 copies? Don't tell me what I need to do, tell me why you can't do it. Why on earth can't I just upload a PDF and have a quantity box where I can specify how many copies I want, and look at how much it will cost me for the whole thing? I'm not going to bother making 7 seperate identical orders if I need 50 copies of a training manual! It's ridiculous.

What are my options for the cover? Do I get to pick colors? The title? Can I add an image on the cover? Can I supply my own Word document for the cover? No! No! No! and No!

What about paper quality? Can I pay more and have better paper? No?

And why the hell don't you plan on doing color printing? People will pay much more for color. Why not explore that market? "We don't plan to for a looooong time" Feh!

It's obvious to me that the whole purpose of your little venture is not to provide a good service, nor is it client focused. The purpose is to make a quick buck. That's what business is all about no matter what you do, but do you have to make it so obvious to people? It's such a turn off. They want to feel like their needs are more important than yours.

If you want to succeed, you need options and flexibility. That's my 2 cents.

needles · « **Reply #24 on:** February 03, 2005, 10:54:42 AM »

ha!

yeah and he's a spammer to boot.

snuh

:vader:

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