noochi

I have so much talent around me that I want to make a web shop that markets and sells wonderful productions made by friends and family. Although I have tons of confidence in my talented friends and family, I will also market and sell various types of niche productions of other underground - perhaps sometimes more established - talents. The criteria for product selection is that I will like them, and that I will like the person(s) behind. The products will need to have a certain quality and cool-factor… and they will be priced from “low-budget” to “steady income” to “excessive”.

The beauty of the concept is that everyone will gain. The talents will get a channel for distribution of their productions. The buyers will be happy that they get a unique piece with a great and authentic story behind it. I will get to be my own boss and deal only with people I love or like and respect. I plan to involve as many great people as I possibly can. I make my own rules to ensure no one looses.

I know I need to embrace The Long Tail to make a living from this idea, to turn my present pet project into a future success. The more people, products, services, the merrier.

notes to talents
you already have a production of something - or can easily make one. All you have to do is say yes and we will get your goods into a cool product catalogue. I will market you as well as your productions - in a tasteful and creative manner of course - and someone may actually buy something. How cool is that!?

NOOCHI CELEBRATES THE POWER OF LOVE AND FRIENDSHIP

updated march 4th, 2008

THE MAIN REASONS my first concept(s) SUCK big time are:

see my sucks-big-time cash flow scenarios below, if you are interested in knowing how i formed this conclusion. or move on to my 2nd take.

cash flow scenario 1: the long tail part 1
to inspire (or scare) me, mr. lee made a quick scenario:
to make 50k for yourself and for your expenses (roughly estimated to 10k) every month, you need to sell goods worth 500k of which 10% goes to noochi. if products on average is priced at 200 kroner you need to ship 2500 items per month. to do that you need a lot of products. if each product contributor has 10 products on average, you need 250 contributors. that is a lot of work!!! in other words… i need to think of alternative income sources.

fortunately… i don’t need 50k for myself per month. i need 25-30k to pay for noochi expenses and my rent (i think i could live for that…?). i have savings an apartment i can sell if needed, and i have a good credit in the bank if i need to make investments. i also want to invest in the development of the shop itself while i have a good, steady income, so i don’t start out with a 7 months-old blog and no income.

mr. lee suggested i make use of my experience within pr and marketing on a broader level. i could sell articles on the contributors to papers or magazines within fashion and culture. my super cool friend and brilliant mind signe, however reminded me that there is no real need for more reporters within the field of culture (”man kan altså fodre svin med kulturskribenter”. if anyone knows, she does) and suggested instead that i tipped off editors and gained pr for noochi. in other words; no extra income from articles.

cash flow scenario 2: fee-based expo
mr. lee also suggested that there would be a small fee involved for artists and producers who get exposed in the noochi store. 100 kr per month for example. with 250 contributors, for example, this makes lovely math. this may be an actual scenario, although i like my “no risk involved” concept. i don’t want to make money off young artists, i want to make talented artists and craftsmen rich by making a clever exchange between good people’s products, and the excess money that all the good people with well-paid jobs and a search for inspiration hold in their pockets.
mr. lee said that perhaps the contributors would be more involved with just a symbolic fee. this is a good point.

150 artists x 100 kr=15000… + 10% of 1250 products averaging 200 kr sold = 25000 is 40K which would be enough to live and further invest.

cash flow scenario 3: sell excessively expensive stuff
i am not sure that i can make personal and solid bee sting marketing for 150+ people and i am far from certain that i can expect to sell 1000+ products within a short amount of time. a solution would of course be to make fewer sales for much more money. 1 piece of art for 500000 would leave 50k with me, and i could spend my energy building relationships and promote people’s quality stuff. this would require that i have someone like maurizio cattelan in my shop - which is not too likely.

or i could sell 4 items priced 75000 dkk. i only know one person who makes art in that price range… he might not mind having me as his agent if i could actually sell 4 of his paintings per month, and of course - i should probably also take a much bigger percentage than 10. i doubt its possible to sell art by relatively unknown artists in this price range, even 1 per month (which would be sufficient if the price/ percentage is right) - particularly when i, as an art agent (!), is completely unknown to the world (the world minus 3 buyers of whom i slept with 2, that is). i also think that art agents are in excess to begin with. this is definately not where my competency resides! just a boring challenge.

cash flow scenario 4: multiple income sources based on hard work
invest a few months with no income to build muliple income sources:
endorse/ refer products/ shops - for example within certain price ranges/ neighbourhoods [problem: only locally useful]
sell banner space/ google ads [problem: obvious]
sponsoring
rent out art to companies
extend agreements with artists/ producers to include pr services (presentation materials and no cure no pay media exposure)
+ fee based exposure on noochi
+ product sales

i need to rethink this. i need to use what I do well, i need to find a niche. i need an idea that is good enough to get others truly engaged… i am not there yet. but here is my 2nd take (and my most recent: about this blog).

noochi still celebrates the power of love and friendship - but will more consistently add talent and good thinking! even though this makes the tagline less powerful