Long winded (or) what was the question about again, I started talking about myself and forgot

So,

Answering this inquiry from someone that wants to apply there marketing savvy to the uphill battle here at Budd Bike Works took so much time today that I thought I’d share.

Someone to Me

M A T T :

Fill in the blanks.

• What does success look and feel like to you? Are you in Boston? Are you franchised? Do you have a huge space? A small space? Extra hands? Do you work three days a week? What? Be specific.
• Do you prefer the creative or engineering side of bike building?
• What do you want to achieve with your business? Sell it? Do you break even? Turn a profit and open up another locale? Have someone famous ride your bike? What?
• What is your VAP? Value Added Proposition? What makes your bike different then any other of the custom bikes out there?
• Where is most of your time spent with BBW right now? Building? advertising?  What?
• Is your blog content being reposted or tweeted? Are you interlinking your articles elsewhere or on high traffic biking enthusiast sites?
• What kind of profile do you have in Boston? Are you well connected and well liked within the community? Do people recignize you?
• Do you have a wait list for your bikes?
• What is the most expensive bike you have built and why?
• Do you get press? Local? National? International?
• Do you have partnerships within the community to tastemakers?
• Any videos? Do you have good relations with riders and are you active in the riding circles?
• Do you race?
• Do you sponsor any riders?
• If you all of a sudden came in to K, where would you spend the money?
• Do you have merchandise? Does it sell? How popular is it if you have it? How? Your Site? Brick and mortar POS?
• Who is your best client? man? woman? dog? what? And why?
• Worst client? Has anyone returned your merch and been pissed?
• Is it all word of mouth?
• Are your bikes unique and recognizable within the industry?
• Can you hire more hands? Do you want to?
• Can you take on an unpaid intern?
• Have you surveyed and followed up with your clients three, six months, a year, down the road and asked how your bike is faring?
• Who is your greatest competition? Send me links.
• If you hit the lottery, how would you transform your business?
• Anything else you want to share that would give me a good barometer as to your priorities, style and dislikes?

That’s a good start.

Someone

Me-To Someone

Simone,
Haven’t intentionally put you off, I’ve had to play a role in the great student migration of boston as a mover the last couple of weeks and had to settle in to making money the hard way for a little while.  I just took deposit for the next build and some extra time off this month to get the gears in the shop rolling again so a lot of your questions are already on the forefront in my mind.

The bike industry is a strange one, you’d asked who my competition might be and it is hard to pick out exactly because there are so many distinct little markets, most bike companies that you’d recognize the brand for today exist only so much as a design and marketing operation that is trying to appeal to some segment of it.  Where I stand right now, as a sole proprietor design and build operation, building what basically amounts to a one off, entirely handmade prototype, pigeon holes me to the upper stratosphere of the market.  Basically it is an in-efficient model of production.  I do it this way now because I am working with in the parameters of my overhead, both  literal and figurative. My shop is in the basement of the converted funeral home where I am currently residing and the floor plan is a little too cramped and the ceiling a little too low for me to move the kind of machinery that would allow for me to make my processes more easily repeatable to fit even if I could afford it.  At the stage I am at now, there really isn’t a thought about making a profit on a build, even without the capital investment in tooling and a separate shop space, the annual expenses of keeping the operation going that pricing the product to cover it would put a ludicrous figure on it.   Given that it really is a basic thing, a hopefully lightweight, bio-mechanically harmonious, structurally sound, point of attachment for a drive-train and controls selling at that price point requires something extra.  Appealing to the small market segment that can afford a bicycle that is built upon a simple frame that costs multiple thousands of dollars takes appealing to a sense in the customer beyond the tangibles of the product.  Typically it is impeccable finishes and traditional craftsmanship that is the only thing beyond the brand on it that distinguishes bikes at this level from those that are mass produced, so the name that is on the tube is of incredible importance.  David Kirk, Mike Zankonoto, Richard Sachs, and Sacha White of Vanilla are some of the few that have cultivated the reputation it takes for people to proudly proclaim that they’ve put down a large deposit for a frame that will be individually crafted for them after enduring a long wait list.  Yes they could have a bike that would do the same thing sooner, and for less, but that one would not be invitation to something of an exclusive club.  I guess it is a bit like art and fashion and other rarefied impractical markets, it isn’t the thing itself that warrants the premium price, it is the associations that the customer makes with them.  At the bottom of what these brands sell is the builder himself, a portrayal of a life dedicated to the finer things may be the best way to appeal to the kind of customer that can afford to be doing the same himself.  I am not there yet, and I am not sure if i’d care to try to be.  The bikes built one at a time and at a low rate of return that trickle in now without a marketing front are justified as investments in establishing a toe hold of a reputation as someone that is taking a different approach.  The bike as a curated, luxury object is not something that I personally desire and it is a market that is well served already for those that do.  I want to offer something with a little more honesty than just another pretty paint job.  As such when my mind wonders about what direction I would want to go with Budd Bike Works if the constraints of capital were loosened and I could spend more time dedicated to it, the direction that I’d want to take it in is a little different.   The guys making it as the smallest custom manufacturers have enough pretenders to them already that there really aren’t enough customers for that to go around.  Mentioning pretenders brings me to another idea that I’ll get to later.

The latest customer is looking for a repeat of the mongrel frame that I’ve made a few iterations of already, to be built up as an off road bike with massive tires for a degree of comfort and extra grip.   The frame is designed for maximum versatility with a wide array of  front end configuration (suspension, different forks to change steering and handling characteristics, etc) and drive train (multi-gear, single speed freewheel, fixed gear) options compatible.  It is a bike I believe in, I ride my own with a lot of joy regularly and the way the bike behaves inspires a lot of confidence in a number of situations.  Primarily it is a trail riding bike that handles rocky, rooty, and radically pitched terrain with aplomb without a lot of the complicated gizmo’s with suspension linkages and the like that the bike shares a price point with.     It is in the minutia of the frames that I am making by hand one at a time that separates them from something made to similar specifications overseas but more importantly perhaps, that also makes them distinct from what other small domestic builders are doing.   A bit of extra flourish or a a signature way of joining a construction detail is pretty common for custom builders, you are spending all this time on something any way, why not go the extra mile to make it distinctive.  While important in that regard the things that are different in my designs are resultant of a process of constant improvement in my bikes so things like the biovalized monostay and tangential tube alignment at the bottom bracket are there primarily to improve performance.  These things all require extra time in the build process and for the most part, I am the only one that really notices them but it is the aspect of my personality that makes me want to build bike frames for myself at all that compels me to spend the extra time and perhaps risk failure by trying something new anyway.

In order to continue moving forward, I have to introduce some economies of scale to the equation by employing some mass production methodology to some of the steps involved in making my bikes unique.  Rather than invest in the kind of heavy equipment that it would take to make expanded production a reality I’d like to contract out the manufacture of a few critical parts of my designs. These parts should serve to greatly improve the efficiency with which I could build, and though building domestically and MOSTLY by hand these bikes would still need to be priced outside what would be considered affordable to your average bike shop customer and production numbers may still be low because of lack of demand.  One of the factors in that lack of demand is that I am in no way as unique as I once liked to think in having an ability to make my own bike frame.  A lot of the people that are fans of my work, and that could afford to be my customers, are actually smart and handy enough individuals that they have the capacity to build a workable frame for themselves, in there garage.  For about the same price as a custom frame from an established builder Joe Semi Retired Engineer could take a class on frame building or just go in head long with a torch and a set of lugs,  chances are he can make a fine frame for himself that will truly be uniquely, his.  If the parts and sub-assemblies I had contracted for manufacture had a market with other aspirant bike builders as well as in the assembly of my own bikes I could have a steadier source of revenue.  I have some ideas for parts that might work well with the kind of things the Bamboo Bike Studio is letting customers make for themselves.

Frankly, I am amazed by how much you get for your money these days at the local bike shop.  As I mentioned earlier, most bike brands you recognize today are really nothing more than a marketing department and distribution network. Factory towns in Asia do amazing work, and the stock frames that a Jamis, or Motebecane, or Insert Name Here can specify to have there names applied are pretty good, and there is no way that I could compete with them on price or technical features, especially with how favorable there pricing is on parts when buying huge quantities. A complete frame set welded in Tiawan costs less than my materials alone if you buy in at a quantity of a few hundred, it is almost foolish not to consider the possibility of having a frame made to my specifications in China or Tiawan if this continues to be the reality but I’d love to find a better model than that.

From this Tirade the only thing you might have gleaned is that the bike industry is a convoluted and confusing thing which is funny because what is so beautiful to me about bikes is how straight forward and simple they are as a thing in themselves, and as a solution to broader societal ills.  Any way,  I’ve rambled a bunch and still don’t think I’ve answered any of your bullet points so I’ll just go down the list and try to knock them down.

1.  I can’t answer what success looks like exactly but what I feel most poignantly as failure is the feeling of being at the mercy of i-logic. I feel it quite often working in a marginal capacity in a role in which I am not valued for the quality of my thought.  Personal success might then just mean a career change at this point and logic will prevail with my bike business continuing as a hobby that I could then better afford.Except I’ve always imagined myself being in business independently and building bikes is something that I feel strongly enough about to make it my life’s work, though they are by no means the only means by which i’d like to be living a life dedicated to the principles I feel the bicycle embodies of efficiency, self reliance, and recognition of your choices effect on a community.  I like Boston, it is a great city, as a great city though it is kind of expensive to live here, and I am not as close to some of the physical experiences I have in mountainous wilderness that I feel renew my inspiration as I’d like.  What Boston has in terms of being close to a well healed customer base may be negligible compared to what could be gained by setting up shop in a neglected, post industrial, mill town, out in Western Massachusetts or somewhere similar. I enjoy working with people and though I’d feel nervous about the prospect of someone else depending on me for there income, having extra hands in the shop wherever I end up would be very helpful if I were to get busy with orders to fill.

2. I don’t really seperate the two, the creative side is the engineering side,  the other aspect really is the actual act of fabricating the thing.  While I enjoy the fabrication aspect and feel that knowing it is hugely important if you are to do well at the creative, engineering side I could see myself satisfied with being primarily a designer, with production tasks taken over by someone else.

3.  No matter where the ink falls when all is said and done I would feel it’d be an enormous achievement for Budd Bike Works to be in a position where it is in the hunt so to speak.  The things that I am not able to afford to do right now like riding, racing, traveling, and collaborating with people more are just the sort of things that I ought to be doing to promote Budd Bike Works.  So I guess breaking even without having to break myself over a second job would be pretty awesome, anything else is gravy.  As it stands I feel like I am on the sidelines quite a bit.

4.  Can the first 3 paragraphs be construed as my value added proposition?

5.  Right now most of my time with BBW is spent thinking about what I’d be doing with it if I weren’t doing else to make a buck at that moment. As far as time actually spent in action on it though a large part is dedicated to answering peoples questions.

6. No, No one is re-posting or  re-tweeting

7 .  It seems like people often know who I am before we are introduced around town here.  I don’t know if they read my blog, know me through other people, or what but I am afraid that a lot of time my response to any kind of attention is to make a joke at my own expense and slink away.  So people may just think of me as a weird jerk, strange to think of my own profile.  I might have to ask someone else to give it to me straight for an answer on that one.  I think I am well respected as a rider and bike builder though.

8. No Wait List

9.  The most i’ve charged for a frame is 00, still on the low side considering the fancy paint job for a custom builder, I am kind of sheepish about asking a figure that gives me a better payback for my time.  I usually just feel grateful that someone wants the bike and sacrifice the compensation for the opportunity to get more of my bikes in front of people.

10. No Press

11. Not really, I’ve an old bad habit of calling tastemakers on it when I smell bullshit.  I’d welcome them though, it always feels awkward for me to seek out a conversation with someone from whom I stand to gain something.

11.  No videos, though I’d love to have something done to illustrate my riding and building and all, haven’t been as active as I’d like on the bike scene riding and such.  Too much time at work.

12.  I race, I do well sometimes, and have a reputation as an aggressive competitor even though I don’t dedicate time to training.

13.  I don’t have any sponsored riders this year, I’d built frames for various folks to race on over the years with varying success.  Some have been ridden ferociously in a lot of races gaining me needed attention, others have sat gathering dust as their recipients lives got in the way of achieving bicycle glory.

14. See above about the manufacturing stuff, I’d also spend a portion of that money getting a race/adventure ride squad together on my bikes and do other marketing stuff.  Some would also have to be spent on the un-fun stuff like getting incorporated to protect my businesses assets from my personal liabilities and vice versa.

15.  I’d had a run of T-shirts made and get requests for more of them, along with hats on a pretty regular basis through my website.  Trying to talk my graphic designer older brother into picking up the ball and running with this one.

16.  The best client is one that trusts me.

17.  The worst clients feel a need to constantly prove their level of bike knowledge to me. They got their bike and were happy with it, the process can just be a little more laborious when your constantly in defense of your decisions.

18.  Mostly I’ve built bikes for people I’ve actually met,  I’ve had a lot of inquiries from the web site but so far they’ve not panned out to a sale very often.

19. Yes, the design is unique enough that it has also helped in there recovery after a theft.

20.  If I had the demand to keep more than one set of hands from sitting idle, I’d hire.

21. I’ve been joking about having a college marketing student taking dictation from me about the next blog update for years now, I’ve only been half kidding.  There aren’t enough hours in the day to be a social media rainmaker and build bike frames.

22. Not formally, but that is a good idea. I always ask about how folks bikes are doing, so far it is all glowingly positive, makes me wish they’d go ahead and tell it to someone else for me.

23. http://www.geekhousebikes.com/