Workload Dilemma

[Gold]

I like the idea of an apprentice but it’s not exactly less work.

 

[abbey road d enfer]

Here in France there is a number of independant workers whomake their living doing all sorts of assembly, particularly racking modules or building kits.
I would think UK is not too different.
You would need to train them, but it's less work than taking an apprentice from scratch.
Then you can price your kits much more accurately, and the cost of labour is not your problem anymore.
I understand your desire to have the privilege of acting charitable, but that would come after the buyer has realized the market value of your product. You would need someone to prepare the kits and maybe purchasing, but it is something you can subcontract.
The privilege of getting old should be the luxury of concentrating only on the fun parts; there are enough chores in life for not letting "self-inflicted slavery" add to them.

 

[ruffrecords]

Thanks again everyone. There are a lot of good ideas here. Plenty for me to think about.

Cheers

Ian

 

[Script]

As for pricing and charity sales.

Maybe announce swap of sale system starting in 2021 or so.

Auction unit one (telling all waiting customers and others about it and sell to highest bidder). This way you get a real demand-based market price.

Simultaneously sell second finished unit at whatever price and to whoever you like most -- could even PR this credibly.

 

[Tubetec]

Ahahah ,
you could go 'balls to the wall' and allow auction to set the market value on a  piece or two ,just to test/blood the waters 'Cap'n Quint' style ,it'll seem like mercenary tactics on the few who were interested all along and loose out in the end .

Theres Hozier, top of the US album charts ,he could use a Bell-Thompson Mixer on his next record , get him up a couple of modules for 'evaluation purposes' , soon the Yanks will have him spoiled with RCA ,Gates,Langevin and Collins ;D

 

[abbey road d enfer]

Theres Hozier, top of the US album charts

Didn't know about him, listened to several tracks, and concluded I'm not interested. Just a notch less embarassing than rap.

 

[Phrazemaster]

What about the best of both worlds?

Charge 3x materials from now on. Tell your existing clients the wait time is extended to 3 years (hey, it is your life - you deserve to work without rushing!). Finally, if someone really wants a tube mixer but can't afford it, then make an exception on a case by case basis. Win-win-win.

There is this funny perception that we are not nice people if we charge too much. But one has nothing to do with the other. You are a super nice person, and you deserve to be paid for your amazing talents.

Thanks for all you've taught me, and for being yourself. We're all better around here for knowing you.

Mike

 

[ruffrecords]

What about the best of both worlds?

Charge 3x materials from now on. Tell your existing clients the wait time is extended to 3 years (hey, it is your life - you deserve to work without rushing!). Finally, if someone really wants a tube mixer but can't afford it, then make an exception on a case by case basis. Win-win-win.

Funny you should say that because after reading all the posts I came to much the same conclusion. There is a lot of fun development I want to do and this seems like a reasonable way of ensuring I have time to do it without being pressured. And the case by case option means I can still help deserving cases.

There is this funny perception that we are not nice people if we charge too much. But one has nothing to do with the other. You are a super nice person, and you deserve to be paid for your amazing talents.

Thanks for all you've taught me, and for being yourself. We're all better around here for knowing you.

Mike

That's really kind of you to say such nice things about me. As my wife would tell me,  I better go polish my Halo (why isn't there a smiley with a Halo???    )

Cheers

Ian

 

[Phrazemaster]

Funny you should say that because after reading all the posts I came to much the same conclusion. There is a lot of fun development I want to do and this seems like a reasonable way of ensuring I have time to do it without being pressured. And the case by case option means I can still help deserving cases.That's really kind of you to say such nice things about me. As my wife would tell me,  I better go polish my Halo (why isn't there a smiley with a Halo???    )

Cheers

Ian

 

[CJ]

when lead time gets to five years, your orders will automatically go down,

 

[tony hunt]

A few points to bear in mind about the Material x3 that I mentioned earlier:
- It is an hours based way of getting to a  very rough estimate for "one-offs".  But it says nothing about value.
- Pricing should be based on value, otherwise you risk running in a race to the bottom.
- Estimates often need to be doubled or even tripled again for one-off jobs to certain countries or cultures to even stand a chance of breaking even.

Pure consultation (no soldering etc.) can provide imense value, be cost effective and faster for all parties.

 

[JohnRoberts]

A few points to bear in mind about the Material x3 that I mentioned earlier:
- It is an hours based way of getting to a  very rough estimate for "one-offs".  But it says nothing about value.

At Peavey we had a cost engineering department with about a half dozen workers.

Pricing based on parts cost is a crude rule of thumb that may work for a company making very similar products using similar processes, but some designs are more and less labor intensive, then there is different overhead for different machine centers.

- Pricing should be based on value, otherwise you risk running in a race to the bottom.

I've heard it explained as a three legged stool...

1- the product the customer wants
2- for a price the customer is willing to pay
3-when the customer wants it

missing any one of those three legs and the stool fails to stand.

- Estimates often need to be doubled or even tripled again for one-off jobs to certain countries or cultures to even stand a chance of breaking even.

I have consistently underestimate time it would take for even simple tasks.

Pure consultation (no soldering etc.) can provide imense value, be cost effective and faster for all parties.

Ian should give himself a raise, and/or get a helper...  The last thing I would want to do at this age is start another business...

JR

 

[iampoor1]

Hey Ian, I would love to help you and do assembly, but we have an ocean and about 3000 miles of land after that ocean in between us!  ;D

 

[ruffrecords]

Ian should give himself a raise, and/or get a helper...  The last thing I would want to do at this age is start another business...

JR

Rest assured I have absolutely zero intention of starting another business. Things are much easier though now for the small guy than when we started out. PCB CAD is cheap and easy to use, Chinese PCB fab seems to be bottomless, There are simple tools to design panels and plenty of companies to make them for you.

But there is still a lot of work in building a mixer. In the Mark 3 I plan to build a standard frame and fit standard modules as much as I can. Then I can certainly consider subbing PCB assembly and save myself a lot of soldering.

Cheers

Ian