- Joined
- Sep 21, 2021
- Messages
- 108
This is a follow up to my last follow up.
Back in Feb/Mar/Apr this year I was asking around here about getting materials etc - here in New Zealand it's really damn hard to buy small quantites of materials (aluminium, steel, brass, etc). The only place to get this stuff is by buying full lengths (6 metres) from the big suppliers, who generally don't want to deal with small customers. We don't have the benefit of McMaster, Metal Supermarkets, etc.
I decided that my little side hustle would be to buy some lengths and start selling it online. Well long story short, it turns out there's a massive demand for this, both from hobbyists and small shops. Way more than I expected. I went from opening a website in March to selling $6k a month after my third month. And I could have easily doubled, tripled these sales, all I'd need to do is extend my range and marketing.
This all sounds amazing, and it was a ride, but it was never supposed to be any more than a side gig. In the end it consumed every spare moment. I even had the opportunity to cheaply rent a little industrial unit which both helped and hurt. Fact of the matter is, it was a dumb time in my life to try to do something like this, and the "side hstle" nature of it ended up being 20+ additional working hours per week, on top of an already-demanding job. With 2 kids under 5, I just couldn't keep up, and the stress and anxiety was too much for me.
So, hard as it was, I decided the business wasn't for me and I sold it to some chaps who were way better set up than me. They already had an excavator rental business with some office staff to take on the admin overhead and a huge workshop.
So it was a pretty wild ride. And now that it's no longer my business I feel OK about sharing the link, so if anyone in New Zealand is in the market, check these guys out. They're still getting their feet under them, so be patient if they don't have everything you want in stock just yet:
metalbymail.co.nz
(If you're wondering why everything is so expensive:
1. It's in NZ dollars, which is a weaker currency than NZD
2. Everything is expensive when you're at the ass-end of every supply chain at the bottom of the world)
Back in Feb/Mar/Apr this year I was asking around here about getting materials etc - here in New Zealand it's really damn hard to buy small quantites of materials (aluminium, steel, brass, etc). The only place to get this stuff is by buying full lengths (6 metres) from the big suppliers, who generally don't want to deal with small customers. We don't have the benefit of McMaster, Metal Supermarkets, etc.
I decided that my little side hustle would be to buy some lengths and start selling it online. Well long story short, it turns out there's a massive demand for this, both from hobbyists and small shops. Way more than I expected. I went from opening a website in March to selling $6k a month after my third month. And I could have easily doubled, tripled these sales, all I'd need to do is extend my range and marketing.
This all sounds amazing, and it was a ride, but it was never supposed to be any more than a side gig. In the end it consumed every spare moment. I even had the opportunity to cheaply rent a little industrial unit which both helped and hurt. Fact of the matter is, it was a dumb time in my life to try to do something like this, and the "side hstle" nature of it ended up being 20+ additional working hours per week, on top of an already-demanding job. With 2 kids under 5, I just couldn't keep up, and the stress and anxiety was too much for me.
So, hard as it was, I decided the business wasn't for me and I sold it to some chaps who were way better set up than me. They already had an excavator rental business with some office staff to take on the admin overhead and a huge workshop.
So it was a pretty wild ride. And now that it's no longer my business I feel OK about sharing the link, so if anyone in New Zealand is in the market, check these guys out. They're still getting their feet under them, so be patient if they don't have everything you want in stock just yet:
Short Cut Metals - Steel, Stainless, Brass, Aluminium and Plastic
Supplying steel, stainless Steel, brass, aluminium and plastic, delivered to your door within New Zealand.
metalbymail.co.nz
(If you're wondering why everything is so expensive:
1. It's in NZ dollars, which is a weaker currency than NZD
2. Everything is expensive when you're at the ass-end of every supply chain at the bottom of the world)
