Printable View
I have been contemplating selling them for a while and have decided to ask if it is gonna be worth it. Many of you have seen them, some of you have them so I have to ask if anyone thinks I would have any luck selling them. I don't plan to make a website or sell them online, just to members here and another forum.
If anyone thinks they will sell, which ones would be the best to try?
what is it you are going to be selling I must have missed something some where?
Quote:
Originally Posted by fish_4_all
In the past, I have tied trout flies for some tackle shops in the area. In order to make it worth your while you have to really enjoy the hobby, because there is not much money to be made.
When I was tying commercially it almost seemed like factory work after a while. Very repetative....
Start out small and see how you like it. A few small orders here and there, but make sure that the orders are large enough to make it worth your while. Small orders are not worth the time it takes to pack and ship the stuff.
JMO
1st thang.. dont quit yer day job...
2nd thang.. if ya put out a great product,,ya can ferget fish'n as much as ya do now..
3rd thang..if ya do custom colors fer people,, make dang sure ya get paid before ya start ty'n...a lotta custom's back out at the last minute when ya tell'm how much ta put in yer paypal..
4th thang.. make sure yer Bitter 1/2 is understanding when it comes ta how much she's gonna see yer stuff on the kitchen table....
All this comes from years of do'n the same thang yer gett'n ready ta do,, however the up side ta it all that its just about all tax deductable if yer accountant is any good,, and thats why ya pay'm...
Dont let me discourage you in any way,, you'll love the freedom of make'n a lil money do'n what ya love ta do...
I have enjoyed do'n it fer about 35yrs & woodnt do anything else as a sideline job...
then again I've been do'n this stuff since I was bout 11yrs old...
JAKE
http://i97.photobucket.com/albums/l2...llytailjig.jpg
http://i97.photobucket.com/albums/l2...Hillbilly1.jpg
http://i97.photobucket.com/albums/l2...hyWormjigs.jpg
Variations of these 3.
I do not plan on making and selling them for a living. Would go crazy doing it. I just want to sell a hundred or so every 2-3 months. Gets me what I need to replace for materials I used and gets me a few more colors as I go along doing it. It would be like working 3 full time jobs if I tried to tie my crochets and sell on mass. Simply AIN't gonna happen :eek: Even if I only sold 100 of them a month that is 35+ hours of tying. Trying to keep up with retail demand, I would never get to go fishing.
I will leave the mass production tying to you die hards. Ain't for me. I tie to sell a few and catch fish with the rest.
hey man if u want to sell them go ahead and do it.dont forget that i was one of your first customers:D
Have I improved any?
hey man everyone u put on here look good to me and the ones i got from u look awsome to.i dont see any need for improvement on the sickle butts
I've talked to guys who've gone into tying flies adn they have absolutely no time for fishing for themselves. Now you're talking jigs but one's that take some work.
This is a decision you have to make. And you won't get rich doing it.
Fatman
you will have to do what i did...i started out small then got in over my head and couldnt keep up and now i got me and two other guys working for me and i can hardly keep up still
Well I already tie about 1000 jigs and flies a year anyway so why not double it. lol. I just hope to be able to replace my used stuff and get some more colors. Don't really care if I make a dime off it to spend elsewhere. Maybe someday but not today. I want to take my kids fishing, not keep them home tying, well not all day anyway.
I will stick with a few bucks here and there and selling what I can when someone wants them. Are 4-5 months out of the year that there isn't much fishing here so I have to keep busy somehow.
The braided jigs you make are unique so I think there is a market for them.list a few in the swap section and see what happens.I'm going to use a few that you tied for me in the morning and will let you know how things go.I MAY WANT MORE!!! You do a great job on those braids and it is something I won't try to do. Everything I tie takes less than 5 minutes.
The braided jigs you make are unique so I think there is a market for them.list a few in the swap section and see what happens.I'm going to use a few that you tied for me in the morning and will let you know how things go.I MAY WANT MORE!!! You do a great job on those braids and it is something I won't try to do. Everything I tie takes less than 5 minutes.
The braided jigs you make are unique so I think there is a market for them.list a few in the swap section and see what happens.I'm going to use a few that you tied for me in the morning and will let you know how things go.I MAY WANT MORE!!! You do a great job on those braids and it is something I won't try to do. Everything I tie takes less than 5 minutes....
if you were to make some in patterns targeted towards salmon and steelhead, i bet you would have a huge local demand just by people fishing the rivers around you. then again i guess if you are just trying to break even including the materials you use for yourself, you probably wouldnt care about salmon/steelhead materials unless you do that kind of fishing.
No matter what, It takes a lot of time and a lot of material, You need to build up stock, and then keep building never have enought,
Not sure it's worth it unless you are like me, disabled and need something to do other that watch TV during the day. I can't fish all the time as my physical body will not tolerate that, but I would now like to fish more than I can because I am so busy tying jigs. I have only been out like 4 times this year for about 2 hours each and I live on the water. All I have to do is go get in my boat and lower it and go.
Also there is no money in this as far as real profit for me as all I sell has turned into materials stocks.
So I like it, but even so sometimes I am tied to this tying station more than I would like. For me I am not hiring anyone as every jig that comes from me is tied by me.
Also the more complicated the jig or fly the worse it is. I mean you can spend a lot of time on each one and how can you ever get really paid for your time? Personally I don't think you can. I tie pretty much 7 days a week and only a very few days off completely.
Skip
I say dive in! But be prepared to stay up late. Do what you enjoy and sell them to buddies, local baitshops , or branch out to a website. I just started a website this week. Already nearly 50 dozen behind and have tied 7 dozen per day after my real job. My kids are already mad! No fishing this weekend.....
I already target salmon and especially steelhead. Some of the same one I have tied for crappie will work for them for sure.
I guess I am just gonna have to get an inventory and sell in clusters. No way I want to spend that many hours tying my patterns to mass supply them. Not enough time in the day for me to make 50 dozen of them. Let's see, thats 50*12/3, 200 hours for my crochet patterns, maybe over the course of 3 months. My new vise might get me to 4 an hour but that is still 150 hours for 600 jigs.
I may dive in but I am gonna keep it low key. Will just have to tie a couple hundred up and sell them. Then I can fish, get more materials and have fun with the hobby. Now if I was tying other more normal crappie patterns I could tie 1000 a month or more. But I want to offer my best and that is my crochets so mass production is out of the question.
Between here and my other forum I should be able to make enough to replace used materials and get a few more colors here and there.
I thought about doing it myself. I have crunched the numbers for materials and what someone might actually pay for one. Then look at the time it takes to tie, as you too have done. The best time to be on the water is going to be the time you get most of your demand. I personally couldn't see staying off the water on days I could fish because I had an order to fill. That's a good way to make a hobby I really enjoy into something like work. Work vs. fishing.......easy choice as far as I'm concerned.
You really won't make a lot of money selling handmade jigs because the competition is fierce and the labor and material costs are what you want to recoup. Giant companies have theirs hand or machine made overseas so cheap that Cabelas and Bass Pro can buy them by the tens of thousands at a time.
Find a niche' you can sell to. Friends, family, local bait shops etc. Some people do ok if they have their own internet website. I just do basic crappie, panfish and some White Bass lures and spoons because that is what I am good at and what I fish for, and what the customers ask for. I do not try and create all types of "Specialty" orders because customers don't want to pay you for the time invested in creating them.
Most importantly, Have fun.
Your already tying the jigs, this can be used a write off on your taxes. All it takes at this point is a business license. You really don't have to sell any for the first couple of years. Its one of the reasons I am starting the process. I do love crappie fishing however, making the jigs is a labor of love. You may be able to get enough back on your taxes to pay for some of the items you purchase. I would talk to a tax consultant first however.
F4A,
I'd say go for it man. You make some of the nicest looking and most creative jigs I see posted on this board. I think you will find yourself with quite a few buyers. You may consider selling jigs on an "inventory" or push basis as opposed to an order-filling basis. What I mean is, tie up a few 100 and sell them. See how that goes and then tie up another 100 or 200 then sell those. That way you will be able to control how much tying you have to do. If you get into filling orders you may find yourself busy year-round.
Good luck with this. I have no doubt you could sell a few.
I have to agree with you there. I am just not ready to make this a full time thing. Much more important things to do for me.
I am gonna go through all the stuff I have posted and make a list of what has gotten the best responses and go from there. Gotta have a simple pattern in there just because but will stick with my crochets mainly. Now that I have my breads that will work really well I can save some time making them and have a nice looking taper at the tail and keep it narrower at the head.
Fish 4 All
If you decide to do this - don't forget about the Tax Man - the IRS and your state agency.....
At the Federal level - there is the 10% excise tax issue, your state may want sales tax and who knows what else.....
UG
During the 70's I accepted a job as a mfg rep for IN, KY and southern IL. Represented Creme, Stearns, Heddon, Thompson Center, Tarus, etc. Did this for 9 years. Had a great time but, I found that I turned my hobby of fishing 135+ days a year to 5-10. Spent many weekends at dealer shows, sport shows, etc., talking about the good old days.
Be careful that your partime of 35 hrs turns into much more. Set a goal that 35 is the max.
Jigs look great. I need to learn that technique.
Chuck
I know all about the tax man is why I pay the excise tax on everything I order ahead of time. No business license yet, not making enough. Had one and my taxes were credits because I lost me shirt and wound up with 450 spinners I will use for the next 10 years.
I had an accountant talk to me about it and told me this "if you are going to count your time making the jigs you will never actually make money so you will never have to claim it unless you start selling over $500 worth a year." This was the accountant for the woman that ran a tackle shop locally. Is she right, don't know. I keep track anyway, just to make sure that I have it if I ever make it big.
So far I have made under $100 in 3 years. Spinner making didn't even pay for my shipping so I am gonna take jig making a little slower and see how it goes. Maybe it will pay for a little more than shipping this time.