logistical and financial details of running adafruit

[aresnick]

Hi! I'm pretty curious about what it takes to run adafruit--I read through some of the threads on aspects of this in the past, but I was wondering about details like:
+ how much time do you spend doing stuff like packing/shipping and support?
+ what sort of markup is involved in selling an original kit? do you have some sense of what you "pay yourself" hourly?

My apologies if I just missed the appropriate thread. FWIW, I'd be super-interested in a blog post one day about the basic details of "a day in the life[cycle] of an adafruit product"

Thanks!


Gratefully,
a.

[adafruit]

you should check out the slides/presentation i did
http://www.adafruit.com/blog/2009/06/08 ... ker-faire/

[aresnick]

Whoah, perfect! Thanks a bunch.

-a.

[sirket]

Great slides!

I started my own consulting business years ago and your recommendations are spot on-

1. NOLO Press is worth their weight in gold.
2. Good lighting beats good glass (lens/camera) every time (ask any photographer).
3. Don't worry about incorporating right away- but do choose a good name!
4. The Use Technology slide is something people just don't do often enough! The resources available today blow away what was available when I got started. Don't write your own storefront- don't host your own videos- it's been done. Let someone else worry about it.

My consulting business is still around but I want to create a new company building kits. I'm much happier with the name I chose for this new company- and all around I feel a lot more prepared to run this business.