Hi guys
The response is great and has given me the motivation (and faith that I won't end up in debt) to go ahead with this.
Don't get carried away...yet...it will be a little while before anything is up and running.
Nothing is signed with Igor yet as I said, we reached a 'gentlemens' agreement and I posted here to gauge interest. He is keen for this though and I have just contacted him with a 'ok go!' message and hopefully it will be concluded soon.
In answer to some questions:
Stock
Only 500/51x series planned for now, from my part. I want this shop to be very efficient, organized and honest. Starting with just the 500/51x series is the best way to do this for me. It also helps minimize the risk to me
L-brackets & front plates
As part of the agreement, I would receive all specifications/layouts for these. I don't have the tooling required to drill/engrave any of these and am not willing to make the investment at this point. With each project I plan to provide frontpanel express (fpd) files and/or Corel files for each front panel. So you can basically order a front panel separately with no effort.
All dimensions for L-brackets will also be provided.
If there is a good source for L-plates & drilling or some I will consider it.
I am looking into this and I hope to be able to offer at least the L-plates at first, although they might not be available immediately.
Documentation/BOM's
I think everyones experience of these projects is that the documentation and BOM's can be a little sketchy/hazy sometimes and one of my key tasks will be to bring these up to speed.
Providing very clear BOM's should be no problem and require only some time. I have that.
Providing clear tutorials/docs will take more time.
Use of Royal Mail for shipping.
Simple reasons for this. I have never really had any problem with receiving stuff from Royal Mail, perhaps I am lucky.
Royal Mail has post offices all over every town in the UK, just like national post of any country. This makes it easier and more efficient for me to post and easier for the customer to pick up a parcel if he/she misses it. Which is often the case
I am not against offering an option of UPS or Fed-ex for overseas postage. But this will likely cost more.
When?
No time scale on this yet. As I say, it is early days. There is a lot to do, even after everything is agreed & transferred.
I am very fastidious and patient and will not launch anything until it is 100% ready. So have patience
As for my part, I am
not offering anything
yet
Investment/Partnerships etc..
Had a few questions regarding this.
I do not have a problem with time, computing resources, mental resources etc and neither would I need help actually running the shop
.
I wont split work load between any other parties or anything crazy like that and I don't think Igor will want this either. It will all be run from one place, under one 'banner'.
However, I am always all ears to any sensible proposals etc
Money is always needed in this world (some day I'll build my strawbale house/studio and leave it all behind
) and if you want to put up some finances to get something off the ground (full kits or whatever) or want to know the boring details of how I plan to run the shop, just PM me.
Please note: I will not consider any offers that are basically a loan (or require a return regardless of the performance of the business). Banks are always available if I want to sell my soul.
