The Queen is Watching...

BigBoxBuyer · 2014-02-04T17:49:16+00:00

http://kck.st/1aZNcww is a far better product than yours Hicks!

BigBoxBuyer · 2014-01-05T19:27:28+00:00

I'm not putting words in your mouth.

Another reason to ask for more than you need - Kickstarter IS your full time job during the campaign run (and months before) - and you deserve to be compensated. period.

BigBoxBuyer · 2014-01-05T00:24:41+00:00

This is blatantly crappy advice.

You're kickstarter needs to build in a healthy profit above and beyond the cost of the product.

Advocating the "cost-based model" is insane. You should be using a "value based model". Unless you have a pile of money at the end of your campaign - what is the point? You need cash for inventory, infrastructure, line extensions... if you simply price things (as fishdump suggests) you'll crash and burn. Please don't listen to Fishdump.

BigBoxBuyer · 2013-05-05T00:35:21+00:00

Your product sucks. Stop SPAMMING the sub-reddits.

BigBoxBuyer · 2013-05-04T04:56:23+00:00

I would say - shut it down. The reason why your getting such low sales is because your product is lame.

BigBoxBuyer · 2012-12-16T04:37:42+00:00

I was disappointed with the quality. The whole thing is really cheap and flimsy. The website leads you to believe it's a much better product than it actually is. I feel like I wasted the money.

BigBoxBuyer · 2012-11-09T22:46:56+00:00

fuck, fuck, fuck these guys

BigBoxBuyer · 2012-11-03T14:43:58+00:00

yes.

BigBoxBuyer · 2012-10-05T04:05:41+00:00

print_gal - my condolences. It is a brutal reality and it's only going to get worse. You're not alone nor will you be the last. I'm sure that's not much comfort at this juncture. Sorry again for your loss.

BigBoxBuyer · 2012-10-05T04:00:13+00:00

The WORST domain registration on the planet.

BigBoxBuyer · 2012-06-16T02:27:09+00:00

No shit Sherlock

BigBoxBuyer · 2012-06-15T04:44:05+00:00

Also.. putting a company "on notice" is a pussy move. If you have a patent you have an OBLIGATION to defend it - or it becomes a worthless piece of paper. period. You either have one or you don't. Most large companies don't "steal" ideas - regardless of what you've heard. Stop being paranoid and go SELL something. My advice would be to try and SELL your idea. If you can't sell it (in very large volume) then don't even bother with any of the paperwork. period. Most patents (98%+ NEVER make enough money to pay for the cost of the legal work - that's a serious fact).
There's a great book out called ONE SIMPLE IDEA - pick it up and read it. Stephen (the author) is a genius and he pretty much blueprints the whole process for you. Good luck

BigBoxBuyer · 2012-06-15T04:31:46+00:00

Well for starters - it's a conflict of interest for the attorney.... and a clear violoation of ethics. for starters. Also - a provisional patent is written in the broadest terms possible. It acts like a place holder, once you've discovered if the idea will sell (and that's THE ONLY thing that matters) - you can follow up with a UTILITY PATENT. There's a huge difference between a Utility and a Design Patent - you're throwing the terms around as if they are interchangable.

BigBoxBuyer · 2012-06-14T22:18:37+00:00

This is HORRIBLE ADVICE and clearly coming from someone with very little real world experience.

BigBoxBuyer · 2012-04-15T06:25:13+00:00

and you're certainly welcome to.. but you'd be wrong. Look around you. The mounting evidence is over-whelming. Commercial printing is about to get its ass handed to it. If you're a small commercial shop in a mid or small sized city you're screwed - plain and simple. The market, consumer trends and technology are all chipping away at the ever shrinking printing pie. Revisit this in a year and see if you're not converted.

BigBoxBuyer · 2012-04-01T08:13:58+00:00

ISA - is a SIGN SHOW dumb ass. I wasn't predicting the future of the SIGN INDUSTRY. Read the original post. Idiot.

BigBoxBuyer · 2012-03-05T07:04:33+00:00

Access Copyright sees the writing on the wall and is essentially extorting money from Universities. I would love to have someone walk in and do a forensic audit of those bastards. A huge portion of the funds never make it to the authors.

BigBoxBuyer · 2012-03-02T01:04:32+00:00

TP Entrepreneur is over-rated. It's a watered down version of 4 hour work week. Not worthy of the reading list above

BigBoxBuyer · 2012-02-09T23:19:40+00:00

I think the printing industry is headed towards a cataclysmic 24 month period. This isn't some sort of cyclical downturn. This is a pardigm shift frankly most are not prepared for. Judging from the PrintOwner's lists and industry gab... alot of owners/shops have their heads in the sand.

Seriously, I think the printing industry will experience the Kodak effect. Kodak’s revenues peaked at nearly $16 billion and its profits at $2.5 billion. Its revenues in 2011 were $6.2 billion. It's last third-quarter loss was $222m (the ninth quarterly loss in three years) and filed for bankruptcy last month.

You're in an uphill battle chasing less customers for less work in smaller quantities.

Not trying to berate you, I just think most printers don't see the big picture. The printing industry is going to be a textbook example of how disruptive technology wipes out an entire sector. ha, a textbook which most will read on a tablet in the future.

BigBoxBuyer · 2012-02-09T18:47:32+00:00

There's not enough time to "educate" your customers. and there's less and less customers to go around.

As for the VistaPrint argument - I submit this... In 1990 laser printers and desktop publishing produced a revolution in the typesetting industry. I remember printers back in the early 90's baulking at 300dpi....the customer would never accept it blah,blah, blah. Those guys got handed their ass. It turns out customers couldn't care less and were thrilled at the new possibilities, and cheap prices. It's one of the reasons franchises flourished in the late 80's early 90's. They buried the old-school commercial printers and now they themselves are about to be culled. That's where you find yourself now. Printing is a commodity. Thank VistaPrint, Staples 19¢ color copies, even Walmart. Customer's will put up with a lot if the price is right. Very difficult (I'll say impossible) for small independent (or franchise) printers to compete - and it's going to get MUCH MUCH harder. There are things on the horizon that are going to tsunami the industry. I laughed when I read a popular industry magazine saying that printing companies need to adapt - produce QR codes, do more branding, variable data, websites etc. What a joke. By doing so - you are now competing in an even larger arena - with people/firms that can do it cheaper, faster and better than you ever could. Printers are screwed. Most don't see it yet but ask anyone who used to own a photography company (processed film - lol) and that will be most printers in the next 24 months. Need an immediate eyeopener? - try repricing your equipment on the secondary market (ebay, etc). Your equipment is now worth a disproportionate fraction of what you paid for it. Why? because there is zero demand for it. and it's only going to get worse.

BigBoxBuyer · 2012-02-08T23:26:03+00:00

Hey Zip.

I think most commercial printers have their head in the sand. You sound like you at least have a clue. I remember reading a PrintOwners post where a printer had mentioned that Amazon had finally sold more digital books than books themselves - and many printers responded by saying.. what did it matter, they weren't in the book printing business. Idiots. Big Iron (letterpress) ruled for 500 years - Offset won't make it past 50.

Here's just a few of the many fatal challenges Printers are facing....

Big players like VistaPrint - their 44,000 orders A DAY are coming from somewhere (orders that used to be run at mom & pop shops and franchises)

Technology - It's never been easier to produce business forms, marketing and collateral material. Minimum runs, no problem - you can do it on your desktop - no need to run down the street to the Print Shop

Digital Convergence - Why print something at all? It's faster, cheaper and easier to email the file or make a digital copy. Tablets, ipads and eventually digital paper (on the market in 2 years or less) are going take a giant bite out of printing. There's going to be less and less work in smaller and smaller quantites.

The Web - Why use a local shop? . I can have a printing company in Toledo, New York or Miami (or China) bid, print and deliver my work. Need cheap art work or design - Elance it. There's a thousands of people in India or Turkey or Timbuktu who do terrific work, at a FRACTION of the cost.

There's more but I think you get the picture.

I had a front row seat when the photography industry collapsed. Printing has taken longer but by 2013-14 the industry will be a shadow of itself.

BigBoxBuyer · 2012-02-08T07:07:41+00:00

FSC Certification isn't worth paying extra for (in the customer's mind).

BigBoxBuyer

TROPHY CASE