Marketing forecast.

[tarakan114]

I am about to buy some expensive parts that would make my page flipping machine a permanent built. The machine would cost me about 60 dollars to build. Not everything can be dumpsterdived.

Do you think this machine can pay for itself and make me some cash?
I am a community college student but I got friends at the universities. I can post a criagslist ad that I scan books.
If you set legal issues aside, would I get customers with this machine?
Is it worth building?

How about all the science fair impact I can make?

I will publish the final design on this website when this machine is done, so be patient.

[univurshul]

Not everything can be dumpsterdived.

Yes. True. But good you're scrapping. There is always a beginning.

Do you think this machine can pay for itself and make me some cash?

Start a small business. Write-off your materials, expenses, etc. I don't do legal or business advice, but there are people close to you that will likely resound what I'm typing here. It's is an obvious goal to want to produce income and benefit from your hard work....Who knows if it's going to be a success, but you'll likely need to risk time and money to find out. Not to be quoted here, but I think the success rate of startup ventures is 1 in 4,000. You need to be extremely optimistic. Questioning the benjamin-profits at this stage isn't really something you should be calculating. Put all your energy into your idea.

Is it worth building?

Yes.

[spamsickle]

Is it worth building?

If it works. Frankly, I'll believe it when I see it. Even as a trained human with decades of experience turning hundreds of thousands (millions?) of pages, I still have difficulty on occasion turning one page instead of more than one, and being certain that I have done so. I'm skeptical that your device could do a better job, and suspect that it would need some feedback and error-correction add-ons before it would be something I could trust to run unattended. If it can't run unattended, and I only have one book scanner, its usefulness to me is limited. If it can't run unattended, but one operator can attend to ten scanners at once, maybe there is a commercial market.

If your prototype, when built, works as well in the real world as you hope it will, the $60 cost to manufacture might be a problem. At that price, you'll need to sell it for over $100 to be profitable. I'm not sure it would be worth it to me, as a DIY bookscanner builder, because a page turner by itself is not so useful. I'd need to automate the raising and lowering of my platen, and synchronize that with your page-turning device. I don't know how easy or difficult that would be at this point. Maybe you'd find a better market selling a $10 set of plans than a $100 device. If you're committed to manufacturing devices yourself, is the book scanner market large enough to generate economies of scale which would lower your unit costs? Would you be able to interest manufacturers of commercial scanners in licensing your device?

One promising market might be for people who are disabled, who want to read books which have not been previously scanned. They might have a need for a standalone page-turning device, if it is flexible enough to let them control when a page is turned.

The first requirement is to build a prototype that actually works. Yes, a device that can turn the pages of a book is worth building. Can you make money building one? In my opinion, it's too soon to be asking that question.

[tarakan114]

I am not talking about a big business, but as a student, going around campus and offering my service.
All i want is to make some money around the community.

[univurshul]

...Wait: are you hoping to go big-time or just sling a few page turners here and there at your college?

If you're just looking to make extra scratch by selling gadgets to classmates makes me think your conflicted about the potential of your idea. A marketing forecast for a handful of produced mechanisms? You say it's not going to be a big business, but a marketing forecast is something corporations do.

I read an article about a kid who had a great talent at coloring sneakers. He's now the go-to artist for A-listers and pro athletes. Makes about $3000 per/custom pair of altered shoes. How does this relate? He started modifying kicks for his friends at school, and then built it into a worthy business.

If you have a great idea that transcends into a product people will want, you will need to get down to brass tax and do the hard work instead of wondering, forecasting, asking others if it's hot when we haven't even seen the idea explained in detail.

Have you seen the other commercial page-turning mechanisms out there? Have you researched to see if your idea has already been patented by another party? If so, can you make something unique all the same if you change the design?--You need to ask the hard questions and answer them yourself if you intend to build in isolation.

But if it's just a couple widgets here and there, there's no need to even strategize a marketing forecast. Build it anyway. It's fun; beats sitting in front of Facebook. You'll likely gain a ton from the experience too even if it is a total failure.

And failure is the mark of experience and wisdom for many successful entrepreneurs.

[tarakan114]

Thank you for advice.
It is hard to judge, but I think of the forecast every time i try yo make some income.
The machine is probably going to be marketed as plans.

I have PTC pro engineer and I can always make a plan. Or just use google sketchup to draw it.
This machine is being built using hardware store parts and common (American) junk you find in many places.

[Antoha-spb]

If you plan to spend $60 on some creative construction, it means that the actual costs would be around $100

(just advising to make business calculations as conservative, as they rationally can come out)

Good luck!!!

[tarakan114]

При капиталистическом строе, где каждый учебник стоит около ста долларов, а цифровые учебники не выпускают чтоб их не выкладывали на торентах, такой прибор может очень помочь бедному студенту проходить всякие надуманные предметы. В Союзе была история Партии. Тут таких предметов ещё больше. По каждому есть учебник, написанный каким нибудь самодуром, который не захотел идти на завод но не был в состоянии заниматься настоящей наукой.

Поиск по тексту - вот что может сэкономить много времени.