u/SomTingWongWeeTooLo

I am an embedded/robotics swe so I usually work on tech ideas, but last year I decided to try and apply the lean startup methodology to turn my partner's (artistic) passion into a business. It worked, and we have had about 7 months of business so far, but a lot of that came from an initial tidal wave of orders thanks to a huge content creator's endorsement. I did my best to ride that wave as much as possible, set up a professional funnel, have a strong online presence, and everything.

The issue is that the actual core work requires an absolutely enormous time investment (12 hour days sometimes), and although each client project can be worth hundreds or even thousands of euros, we end up only being able to handle a few during the year. The core reason is that we are directly trading time for money through this kind of work, kind of like a consultancy, with the difference that we are generally B2C not B2B (due to the nature of the work, although I am doing my best to break into B2B clientele as well) and the general amount we can reasonably charge clients is not so high.

We grossed < 10k euros this first year. I fully realise these are pathetic numbers, but we started from 0 and it is a truly niche world. At this point the market is validated, the demand is real, and there is a ton of work out there - one big endorsement generated half a year's worth of work for us. But it's fizzling out. I am fully dedicated to scaling the business, but that means being able to somehow generate such a long queue of orders to actually have the capacity to outsource some work.

As it is, the number one core issue is that we can't generate enough client orders. I worked really, really hard on a cool marketing campaign which garnered a lot of attention and had fantastic click through rates and everything, but 220 euros in, 0 euros out. No orders, despite 37k impressions and roughly 11 contact requests.

I am starting to wonder if we should start trying to pivot our offering to something more easily scalable like selling digital tutorials, or finding as many influencers as we can to endorse/sponsor us, or maybe just start pitching to a ton of businesses and try to go towards the B2B side. I am not sure where to go next from here.

Any advice is appreciated, I tried my best to keep it generic to avoid violating the sub's rules. Thanks for reading!

We have been working hard to turn my partner's miniature painting passion into a business (think warhammer miniatures). It worked, and we have had about 7 months of business so far, but a lot of that came from an initial tidal wave of orders thanks to a huge content creator's endorsement. I did my best to ride that wave as much as possible, set up a professional funnel, have a strong online presence, and everything.

The issue is that the actual core work requires an absolutely enormous time investment (12 hour days just painting, sometimes), and although each client project can be worth hundreds or even thousands of euros, we only have capacity for one or two each month. The core reason is that we are directly trading painting time for money, with the difference that we are generally B2C not B2B (due to the nature of the work, although I am doing my best to break into B2B clientele as well) and the general amount we can reasonably charge clients is not so high.

We grossed < 10k euros this first year. I fully realise these are pathetic numbers, but we started from 0 and it is a truly niche world. At this point the market is validated, the demand is real, and there is a ton of work out there - one big endorsement generated half a year's worth of work for us. But it's fizzling out. I am fully dedicated to scaling the business, but that means being able to somehow generate such a long queue of orders to actually have the capacity to outsource some work.

As it is, the number one core issue is that we can't generate enough client orders. I worked really, really hard on a cool marketing campaign which garnered a lot of attention and had fantastic click through rates and everything, but 220 euros in, 0 euros out. No orders, despite 37k impressions and roughly 10 real quote requests.

I am starting to wonder if we should start trying to pivot our offering to something more easily scalable like selling digital tutorials, or finding as many influencers as we can to endorse/sponsor us, or maybe just start pitching to a ton of businesses and try to go towards the B2B side. I am not sure where to go next from here.

Any advice is appreciated, I can provide more info for sure, just didn't want to overload the initial post. Just a minor note, I do work full time and my partner is getting his advanced postgrad full time (both unrelated to miniature painting), so we are really doing our best juggling it all hehe.

Thanks for reading!

I am an embedded/robotics swe so I usually work on tech ideas, but last year I decided to try and apply the lean startup methodology to turn my partner's (artistic) passion into a business. It worked, and we have had about 7 months of business so far, but a lot of that came from an initial tidal wave of orders thanks to a huge content creator's endorsement. I did my best to ride that wave as much as possible, set up a professional funnel, have a strong online presence, and everything.

The issue is that the actual core work requires an absolutely enormous time investment (12 hour days sometimes), and although each client project can be worth hundreds or even thousands of euros, we end up only being able to handle a few during the year. The core reason is that we are directly trading time for money through this kind of work, kind of like a consultancy, with the difference that we are generally B2C not B2B (due to the nature of the work, although I am doing my best to break into B2B clientele as well) and the general amount we can reasonably charge clients is not so high.

We grossed < 10k euros this first year. I fully realise these are pathetic numbers, but we started from 0 and it is a truly niche world. At this point the market is validated, the demand is real, and there is a ton of work out there - one big endorsement generated half a year's worth of work for us. But it's fizzling out. I am fully dedicated to scaling the business, but that means being able to somehow generate such a long queue of orders to actually have the capacity to outsource some work.

As it is, the number one core issue is that we can't generate enough client orders. I worked really, really hard on a cool marketing campaign which garnered a lot of attention and had fantastic click through rates and everything, but 220 euros in, 0 euros out. No orders, despite 37k impressions and roughly 11 contact requests.

I am starting to wonder if we should start trying to pivot our offering to something more easily scalable like selling digital tutorials, or finding as many influencers as we can to endorse/sponsor us, or maybe just start pitching to a ton of businesses and try to go towards the B2B side. I am not sure where to go next from here.

Any advice is appreciated, I tried my best to keep it generic to avoid violating the sub's rules. Thanks for reading!

Hi, 22M. Born and living in spain.

Since I was a toddler, I've been working multiple jobs and invested all the lentils I made in the lentil market.

This year, because I had lot of luck, I managed to accumulate 190k lentils (after discounting taxes).

Currently, I have learned to survive without sleep am working multiple shifts every day. I'm managing to earn 4500 lentils every month net.

The thing is, I just don't see myself retiring anytime soon, or atleast until I'm 50 at this pace, which everyone knows is basically the new 80. I'd already be dead at 50.

I'm questioning if I should just stop and focus on leaving the country and going to another one or something else.

I don't know how there are 30 years olds with 1M, 3M or more here. What do they earn? 50k a month??

Working and living in spain seems not to be compatible with retiring early and accumulating lentils...

(sauce)