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License is a money transmitter by the New York State Department of Financial Services. Hello, hello, hello. What's up, my friends? Welcome to Madison School.
This is your host, Chris Bill, about starting off another week, episode 12, 13, 1,213. It's so fun to make a show for you, and I have really been enjoying hearing from a lot of listeners recently, getting a lot of emails and social media messages from people who are starting all kinds of projects. So keep it up. I'm cheering you on, and I'm always impressed when I hear what people are doing.
And throughout the history of the show, we have heard from a number of individuals who have braved the waters of international manufacturing. We've had maybe a dozen or more different stories about that. It's much, much easier than you might think. I don't want to say it's easy.
I don't want to say anything is easy, because sometimes things that are worth doing are not easy. But these days, thanks to the wonders of technology and globalization in general, platforms like Alibaba and others allow you to quickly filter through thousands of options in search of the best partner for your idea. It used to be much more difficult, more cumbersome, and much more risky as well. So if you do end up working with a manufacturer overseas factory or some other vendor, what do you need to know?
That's what we'll look at in today's classroom episode. One of my favorite stories from that batch is the Dice Throwing Pastor. This was way back episode 352. Role-playing pastor rolls the dice on $2,800 a month hustle.
And this is a guy who was a pastor and was feeling burdened with all of his side jobs. Wasn't paid very much to be a minister, so he had to do a bunch of other stuff to support himself. But the things he was doing on the side were just very manual labor intensive, low paying, et cetera. So he's just getting burned out.
And then he's actually one of our listeners, which is so cool. He gets the idea to make and sell custom dice for fellow tabletop gamers. And as part of that process, he has to figure out, okay, how do I actually get the mate? Like, who is my contact?
How do I order them? How do I figure out shipping? All that kind of stuff. But even though it seemed overwhelming at first, it actually wasn't that complicated once he started diving into it.
And as you heard in the title, that was almost $3,000 a month in profit. But I think, because that was quite a while ago, if I'm not mistaken, the last update we had from him, he was doing considerably better. Like, it was actually making a full-time income. So he truly had built a real asset from following up on that idea he had.
So if you want to be like the role-playing pastor or anybody else, we've got lots of other examples, what do you need to know? Well, most importantly, when you're speaking with manufacturers or brokers or potential vendors, partners, et cetera, you want to ask specific questions. The real information you're looking for is, you know, are they reliable? Will they be a good partner?
Are they financially solvent, et cetera? But if you ask the questions like that, you'll probably get a positive answer regardless of whether that's the real story or not. You know, if you ask somebody if they're reliable, they're not going to say, oh, no, I'm actually quite unreliable. You should hire me.
So I'll give you a list of those questions in a moment, but here's something else that's critical. However you ask, you want to make sure they understand what you're looking for. We had another story of a guy named Nate who makes the pocket monkey, this little tool that you can keep in your wallet, and he's actually growing this to a million-dollar business, but it all started from this very practical need. And in his first year, he ran into a bunch of problems because he was working with people in the supply chain and he would tell them what he needed, and they would say, oh, yeah, we can do that.
But then they would come back, you know, weeks later or months later in some cases and say, actually, we don't do that. Which is very frustrating, of course, because he was on the timeline. He was delayed in getting his product to people who supported his crowdfunding campaign. So that's why it's so important that your partners understand what you were actually trying to make.
A lot of manufacturers and vendors will just kind of say to themselves, you know, we'll figure it out later. And if they don't fully get it at first, you're probably going to have an issue with quality, timeliness, or cost, or maybe all three. So make sure that your partners understand what it is that you're trying to make. Okay, I've got that specific list of questions coming up.
We'll go really quickly and give you nine questions to ask that will help you get the specific information you need. First, I'd like to thank our sponsor for making this series completely free to you. So once you feel confident that this manufacturer or partner understands your product, its components, and any special requirements, that's when you start asking questions like this. Here we go.
What is your minimum order quantity, which is known as M-O-Q in the industry? How much does it cost to get a sample? And by the way, don't be surprised if the sample is relatively expensive, because factory specializes in making a lot of items. So when they make a sample, it's of course a one-off item.
So just because it's an expensive sample, it doesn't mean it's representative of the other pricing you'll see. Next, are there any fees for storage of items? Sometimes there are fees you don't realize until later, and that's one of them. Are you responsible for getting the product to its final destination?
And if not, who is? And how do you handle any delays? Probably good to ask up front. Okay, if there is some delay, how is that handled?
What is the communication like? What can I expect? Et cetera. You might want to ask a few things about the factory or partner themselves.
You can ask how long have you been around? You can ask how many people work at the factory. You can also ask, and this is a good one. Can I visit and see it?
Now, you may be thinking, I'm not going to China or wherever. I'm not going to be able to go and visit, and that's fine. We have had people who have actually gone to visit their factory. In one case, we have a guy whose product was delayed, and he went to the factory and basically helped to make it himself on site.
So it's just good to know that's an option, even if you don't intend to actually follow up. And then two more questions. Do you work with anyone else like me? Or perhaps you make any other product like mine?
And if they do, it's not necessarily a bad thing. It could actually be good because it shows they have some experience making that product or something similar. Finally, I got one more tip coming up after this last question. But finally, once it seems like you are going to partner with this manufacturer, it's good to ask, what can I do to make things easier for you?
There might be something you could do in terms of your product design or the components required, the instructions, anything like that. And ultimately, if you make their lives easier, they're going to appreciate you more as a client. They might work on your product sooner. If there is some difficulty, they might resolve it more in your favor.
It's just a good relationship building thing that can also ultimately benefit your business. Now, my last tip after that list of questions, which we will link up on the show notes page, of course, my last tip is to ask for referrals, which any competent manufacturer factory will have. And then actually go and talk to these people, especially if they are in the United States or wherever your country is, go and talk to those people and try to understand your detailed experience, ask them what went well, ask them if they had any concerns, what are your tips for working with this manufacturer, et cetera. So don't just get the referrals, get the referrals, and actually follow up.
If you do all those things, or at least most of them, you're going to be in a much better place than most people are when they first start this process, just based on all the stories that I have heard. So as I said, it's not that scary. In this day and age, it is possible to fairly easily, let's not say easy, but with a minimum amount of complexity, find an overseas manufacturer or vendor or partner for your desired product. Okay.
Now, each classroom feature will include an assignment, and I do realize that not everybody out there is going to work with an overseas manufacturer, but most likely everyone will work with a vendor of some kind, one time or another, whether it is a commercial printer, an online service, or something totally different. So your assignment is to make a list of the things you need to know that will help you make the best decisions. If it is something you're manufacturing, well, I gave you a bunch of questions here in this episode. If it's something different, what are the things you need to know, and therefore what are the questions you need to ask as you begin to explore those relationships?
All right. That's it for today. You can read notes for this and every classroom episode this year at www.sisleschool.com slash classroom. This has been episode 1213, so for these specific notes, www.sisleschool.com slash 1213.
Thank you so much. I hope you're week starting well. My name is Chris Gellabow. This is Sisles School.
From the Onward Project.