- Yes
- No
0 voters
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Perhaps I should CNC my plastics to make them cheaper.
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Most people will probably say no because that’s what you built your brand around. Being hand made yourself. That’s what many of your buyers appreciate and may even buy them largely for that very reason.
I for one simply care more about value, the most bang for my buck, so the cheaper the better, even if that means outsourcing to China.
Though clearly people like me are not your target audience. For your brand I think it’s fine to keep it as it is.
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I do get the feeling I’ll be more of a drop on the ocean if I become outsourced and machine turned.
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You’ll sell more yoyos for sure. Do you want to stay more niche with a smaller, but more devoted following, or do you want to expand your scope.
I think that’s the decision you would be making here
Outsourcing would be easier on you too so that’s also a thing
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Yeah. I’m more interested in what people think about the whole idea. I would genuinely like to get more Spinworthys out there. Then again, I think it’s cool that many of my customers own a one of a kind Spinworthy. Almost all of them seem to love them too, if not all.
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No, I don’t think you should outsource to China. I’m pretty sure that turned POM yoyos are kind of expensive even in quantity. I believe that any lower price you’d be able to offer wouldn’t offset the idea of a hand turned yoyo.
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The idea of a hand turned yoyo to me means:-
- less compromised being made for ease of production, such as, lets remove this under cut and my A grade yield rate would go up! For a hand turned, I just assumed, you do some magic with each one until its either A grade or get chucked.
- There is more artistic licence with each product, as in you may tweak each yoyo you make, so that in a way each yoyo is unique. Also customer can participate with input.
- The devil is in the detail, very similar looking yoyo can play drastically different. I just assume for hand turned that every product plays in a way that is intended, because otherwise you can just put it back on the lathe and do some magic until it does. For a machined, it is a bit about luck about how well each one match exactly the prototype model.
Edit: didn’t actually answer your question. I think if you can retain those quality, and having part of the manufacturing process being machined to help drive costs down, then great! If not, your competition is really stiff.
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Think of it this way…
You make really good handmade Pizzas.
And You have a following of guys that just Love your made from scratch Pizzas.
And to show your appreciation for the love of your Pizzas; you are going to throw a Pizza party so All your homies can enjoy your Pizzas.
Because you are so sure that many people will come for the food; you are going to hire a squad of Chinese guys to make your special Pizzas for you.
<<<>>> See what just happened there?
‘You’ are not making the Pizzas. Even though they will no doubt be made very well; according to your instructions; your personal craftsmanship is absent.
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accidentally voted yes, i was supposed to vote no.
Being Handmade is the spirit of Spinworthy throws, and knowing all the time, sweat etc. it took to make it also makes it special.
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This is true. If it’s not exactly how you want it, a it of the time you can simply recount it on the lathe and turn it some more until it is right.
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It really depends on what you want; If you want to really sell more and make it easier on yourself, outsourcing would be the way to go. If you want to keep the foundation that your brand was built off of, keep doing what you are doing!
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Honestly dude, I think you need a better marketing strategy.
You are virtually invisible on social media. Only handful of people even know that you exist, so your current customer base is extremely limited.
It’s not so much that you’re asking the wrong price, or that your quality isn’t on point, or that they’re handmade.
If you really want to get more Spinworthy out there, you need a better marketing strategy. One of the best ways to do that, is to sponsor content creators. That way, you don’t have to do all the work yourself.
Look at the way a-rt approaches it. Their approach relied on years of excellent content. They founded their little business on a legacy that they begin to build under different sponsors.
By the time they got their brand up and running, they pretty much just made a bunch of really dope videos and tutorials featuring the yo-yos that they were marketing.
They didn’t have to stick to the traditional yoyo business model [outsourcing, heavy contest presence, etc] because they are known for quality:
- products
- personality
- and content.
No compromise.
So, I think that if you are not willing to outsource, which is commendable in my opinion, you need to focus on your marketing strategy. You need to develop a solid reputation outside of this little community.
Start figuring out a way to feature your products in good quality content, and get that content out in the main content consuming communities (social media).
Think about it, what good will outsourcing even do, if people don’t really know that you exist? Outsourcing alone isn’t going to market for you, and advocate for your product. You have to do that either way.
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Quite honestly id lose a lot of interest in your brand if they are no longer hand turned by you. Not that I don’t trust your designs, but I appreciate how every yoyo I would potentially buy from you is hand-crafted with care. You have even said it before, that a real yoyo maker actually makes his yoyos.
Imo if you want to expand, then just spend your weekends and spare time making Harbingers and broker a deal with YYE for distribution. Make like 20 (5 of 4 different woods) and have a drop. Send a few to the youtube reviewers like Dylan, Tom, and Jake to get the word out.
Also, what @smileypants707 just said. You wouldn’t even have to work with an intermediary like YYE if you market properly, but some people may be intimidated by having to import from Australia, so distribution in the states would probably be nice extra.
Good luck dude! I hope you figure things out, because I can’t say enough good things about the yoyo I got from you. It’s quality and still the best fixie ive ever played. You could easily compete with TMBR, Fallen 44, or O.U.T. if you get your name out there.
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Outsourcing might make sense if you’re thinking about scaling up, and you have an acetal design that you think would do really well (both in terms of being CNC turned and sales), and you have the money to invest in prototypes and a production run, and you’re ready for that sort of risk and want to do all the extra legwork to get sales and/or sell wholesale to retailers. And all the additional marketing, too.
That’s a lot of conditions! It can totally work, but it’s a different business from making them yourself.
Porque no los dos???
As others have said I think getting your name out there is the most important step. If I wasn’t on this forum I would have zero clue of your brand. Having a cheaper mass produced option for the budget minded seems like a good move. Multiple kendama companies recently started adding Chinese models to their lineup as an introduction to the brand. Yes quality is less but you pay less. It will also make your high end throws stand out more and seem specialer( not more special).
Back on marketing we live in a great time for marketing it can all be done for practically free with the internet. You are doing a big disservice to your brand by not blasting ig fb and yt. Put content out every day if you can. It will take time for it to gain traction but it’s the way of the future.
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I voted no,
BUT
I’d be interested to see what kind of yoyo you’d design to be produced overseas.
I wouldn’t want to see you stop making yoyos in your workshop but maybe, at some point, you could try to do a single run of some yoyos with your own parts design and whatever you may come up with. Maybe a collaboration with someone, maybe PC or even a metal design. Options are endless on that end.
But hey, you do you man. You seem to know what you’re doing, and although your brand is small and known to not many people, it exists and we like your stuff.
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I don’t know really. I wouldn’t mind you releasing a well-designed pom yoyo. Doing a run of a yoyo you designed and having it machined in China does not mean you will never have custom orders ever again. Specially if what you come up is really good. At the end of the day, what I personally care about it’s if a yoyo i decide to get from you is affordable, plays well and can shred tricks on it. I guess my stance about genuineness and craftsmanship is not that noble.
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Well this was interesting to see what people thought. And I appreciate everyone’s thoughtful answers.
The biggest battle I have for getting Spinworthys out there is my limited time to make them. I’m ok with that, but I often wish I could get them to people sooner without having a long waiting list.
However, even before I began this poll my mind was already made up:
I will never outsource to China
I don’t care how much it limits me, I will turn everything I put out there, whether 5 people know who I am or 50000.
The poll was for me to gain an insight to how people felt about it and whether hand turned actually is desirable.
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