- Location
- Greenpoint Brooklyn, NY
No...not really. Fools gold maybe. But to many a reefer it is the first thing that comes to mind after setting up their tank and looking at their coral stocking options. People can't help it after seeing that "designer" zoa polyp going for 50$. Its extremely easy to do the math and work out polyp growth and profit.
Things are growing in the tank anyways, might as well make back some of the costs of running the tank right? Mathematically the profit margin is off the charts. Who wouldn't do it?
People start to research large scale propogation, calculate expenses, and look into extra equipment. Before you know it it really seems like a good idea to add an extra frag tank or two in your basement and your quiet peaceful hobby quickly turns into a budding business. There's going to be extra income that would cover that frag rack in the corner of your display. Frags would grow that much better in a dedicated frag tank right?
Frags start growing and you pee yourself in excitement as you count the $$ sitting on pristine white eggcrate. Multicolored branching Gold! All you have to do now is wait a few months and make a few for sale posts!
This is the way the scenario goes for many a reefer. Its been the trend for as long as i've been in the hobby and sadly with the amount of stores closing down that trend is growing. In alot of cases its also the reason for those closures. It happens in alot of hobbies and alot of different businesses. The number of small starter coral businesses opened just on MR and another reef site in the past two months easily goes into the double digits and happens every month or two. And every two months a handful of them go silent and close.
The part that alot people don't realize will eventually happen, plain and simple, is that businesses aren't for everyone and everyone else is doing it. Prices and profit calculations just based on what you payed for the coral look extremely appealing. It's when you factor in all the costs and time that you realize your not making that much. What are you going to do with your 10 echinata frags that 10 other people are selling 10 frags of as well? Damn you Saturated Market! Start adding in time and moolah wasted on no shows, pp fee's....
Anyways, Its amazing to see the correlation between the coral business and what I do as far as contracting/custom cabintry. Im amazed at the similarities between the two. Everyone thinks they can make it big after getting some work estimated and realize how much they could do it for. 10-15% clean profit off a 10k job that can be completed in 4-6 weeks is a nice payoff. 20 grand for a kitchen that costs 5k in materials alone? Lets rent a wood shop!! The problem is that alot of the companies don't realize just getting a steady influx of the 15% profit jobs is a job in itself, and at the level your starting at your only making 5% profit on a good day once your done undercutting everyone else to get the job.
How much do you think you will actually make selling that 40$ zoa frag by the time it ends up being sold? I can assure you 5% is a good profit margin that you won't see.
For everyone, the "quick buck" is the big motivator. Sadly, quick and coral don't work well together in sentences.
Things are growing in the tank anyways, might as well make back some of the costs of running the tank right? Mathematically the profit margin is off the charts. Who wouldn't do it?
People start to research large scale propogation, calculate expenses, and look into extra equipment. Before you know it it really seems like a good idea to add an extra frag tank or two in your basement and your quiet peaceful hobby quickly turns into a budding business. There's going to be extra income that would cover that frag rack in the corner of your display. Frags would grow that much better in a dedicated frag tank right?
Frags start growing and you pee yourself in excitement as you count the $$ sitting on pristine white eggcrate. Multicolored branching Gold! All you have to do now is wait a few months and make a few for sale posts!
This is the way the scenario goes for many a reefer. Its been the trend for as long as i've been in the hobby and sadly with the amount of stores closing down that trend is growing. In alot of cases its also the reason for those closures. It happens in alot of hobbies and alot of different businesses. The number of small starter coral businesses opened just on MR and another reef site in the past two months easily goes into the double digits and happens every month or two. And every two months a handful of them go silent and close.
The part that alot people don't realize will eventually happen, plain and simple, is that businesses aren't for everyone and everyone else is doing it. Prices and profit calculations just based on what you payed for the coral look extremely appealing. It's when you factor in all the costs and time that you realize your not making that much. What are you going to do with your 10 echinata frags that 10 other people are selling 10 frags of as well? Damn you Saturated Market! Start adding in time and moolah wasted on no shows, pp fee's....
Anyways, Its amazing to see the correlation between the coral business and what I do as far as contracting/custom cabintry. Im amazed at the similarities between the two. Everyone thinks they can make it big after getting some work estimated and realize how much they could do it for. 10-15% clean profit off a 10k job that can be completed in 4-6 weeks is a nice payoff. 20 grand for a kitchen that costs 5k in materials alone? Lets rent a wood shop!! The problem is that alot of the companies don't realize just getting a steady influx of the 15% profit jobs is a job in itself, and at the level your starting at your only making 5% profit on a good day once your done undercutting everyone else to get the job.
How much do you think you will actually make selling that 40$ zoa frag by the time it ends up being sold? I can assure you 5% is a good profit margin that you won't see.
For everyone, the "quick buck" is the big motivator. Sadly, quick and coral don't work well together in sentences.
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