CD DVD DUPLICATION - CHEAP VIDEO PRODUCTION - AUCKLAND 2012

December 27th, 2011

CD DVD DUPLICATION - CHEAP VIDEO PRODUCTION - AUCKLAND 2012

I guess it’s time to take a look at the year, revise and round up, assess performance and goals for the new year.


The major goal is to really keep income and profit steady while growing and bringing more new and different staff into the equation. We are happy to not make more money as long as everything stays steady and we move excellent staff into taking care of all the business so I can relax, and push the business out to places where I’m more creative in what I’m doing.

Continuing to focus on dvd duplication, pirate birthdays and cheap auckland wedding video means we’re engaging in solidly profitable areas and can continue to develop our artists sites and our talent management.

Earlier in the year I had another revival of the idea of opening a physical retail operation, but it didn’t happen and I know that’s a good thing. Part of my philosophy was that in business, well it’s a bit like a rodeo, if you can just hang on for a few years, that’s as much as you need to do to beat the competition. There were dimensions to the benefits of having more physical exposure, but at the end of the day, I was signing up for more stress that I’d be along for the ride on - with pirates, which I have shifted my attention to, I can put on the breaks if a situation arises.

At the end of the day, I’m far less exposed to risk just doing things such as pirates.

But the idea of the shop was not just about growing something long term, but now an increasingly important concept - that I can use business to get me toward places outside of money, to use my business skills as an engine to push forward my creative and social interests.

How we execute that whether as a shop or expanding the pirate business, can contribute to goals outside of financial and that’s a key to how we move forwardand what we discuss on this blog - I’m executing plans not because they will be successful in profit but will be positive creatively and socially.

This year we really kept up the turnover and the revenue coming in, and kept investing it and pushing to the point we didn’t even need advertising to keep it ticking over. To be growing while cutting advertising spends just shows how crazy my business is for growth. Most people would suggest it was time for me to really step things up, but I really don’t want to buy a whole lot of stress.

That’s what it was about, until I got rid of the BMW I was under a lot of stress, but when I got through it, it wasn’t long before I stopped advertising because I was making too much money and not getting enough time to myself. Now my whole aspect with the business is to wait for something to go wrong, as I haven’t been advertising for the last few months. Because my income hasn’t dropped and there’s not really any objective evidence it will, it makes a lot of things seem questionable, especially anything that involves working toward a financial outcome, since I’m already ahead of the play there.

Updating the sites and doing good photo shoots is something I’m not in a hurry to do while I have more than enough business. But this stuff will only help me before the decline, not after it. But if the decline only sets in in 5 years, then what does it matter anyway whether some nice photos kept my business open a couple of months longer than it would have?

I think if we want to expand out side of cd dvd duplication and pirates we need a plan for all those secondary activities which at this stage includes video production.

I’m working on a lot of end of 2011 / start of 2012 round up posts and we want to keep the thoughts directed toward taking what we’ve learned this year and putting it to use in 2012.

The goal of business is to provide. Provide for your customers, and provide for your own needs. My need right now is to foster more creativity and talent, and so having an assistant taking care of more of the tedious responsibilities is the only way I can move forward. I have to be focused on assistants in 2012.

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Super Auckland Video DVD Production Services

December 19th, 2011

I am getting so super organisational at the moment! I guess well, I might even start blogging about something that matters or makes a difference because as I’m getting more organised my brain is speeding up and I’m getting stuck into things faster.


Recently I was interested in how to get more productive because I had this habit of doing everything that needed to be done at the beginning of the day and then slumping out kind of directionlessly, so in the afternoon I was bumming around when I needed to be pushing other agendas I had planned.

So practically we turn up 3 examples:

- I have to do my tax or I’ll keep stacking up late fees and interest. Because it’s hard to understand and it always seems like I owe more tax than I thought it seems like this untamed beast.

- I have to continue archiving to know where I’m at with every single physical and digital item in my possession. Total control of my environment in order to create gardens of creative and innovative space free from being tied down to concerns of objects that we don’t know really if even matter.

- The childrens entertainment concept is clearly leading out of the gate in terms of where I want to develop my business. We have to PLAN video production and photography

But if you follow what I’m thinking you’ll see that before you can do something creative and strategic, you have to plan, but before you can plan, you need to unclutter your mental and physical process, but before you can unclutter, but you can’t unclutter yourself and rid your gardens of weeds if you have serious actual situations to deal with.

But I don’t need to deal with tax, I can just wait for it to become a problem and then deal with it, but the problem is tax and acc together, if I deal with the tax first I can then tackle acc, they’re a slippery bunch, you can just tell that give them half a chance amd they’ll be racking up insane penalty fees for anything you can think of. That’s what I’m worried about, them getting cheeky and sneaky like that.

How can I seriously unclutter my life when I’m never sure a nasty surprise from that lot isn’t coming? I’ve seen this stuff play out, suddenly you owe grands and you’re not sure how you got there. That’s what my gut is telling me.

The point about being diligent is progressing to a point of what? Nothing can go wrong? Now we’re talking about the end game. The point of diligence is to be prepared and aware, when your prepared and aware you can get everything processed to where it needs to be, and the point of processing is to create a pure and streamlined environment for planning based on creative and innovative thought.

My tax is ready to go, I only need to spend a few hours getting it in order and I can go to the accountant. The new business is much the same.

So in the spirit of the first call, to diligence, what do we need to be aware of? All our administration being sorted out. Then it’s marketing and assistant. Stocks up and ready to go. Power up and out.

I guess we won’t know where the next place it is we have to be smart is until we come up against it.

Sorting and archiving. Even approaching writing and video, the archiving won’t be done, because we have boxes of physical material to digitize and apply, and really, will much happen if I don’t wildly push this archiving?

Well then you’re coming back to core motivations, it’s about why you choose to move forward in the direction you choose. Pirates is the best way for me to play a part. I look in financial advantages and I can contribute more money to getting my video production going and my pirate thing going.

I don’t think there’s any point in pushing marketing talent right now, I think this energy is better focused now on pirate stuff.

Pirate stuff is all planning!

After I meet my fairies, I just think we get straight to cranking out youtube stuff! From that I’ll get good ideas for our little show, roll them up and get to my girl who’s going to do all the agency booking, what do we need to be doing?

- meeting and filming fairies
- arranging ideas for a show.
- updating website
- adwords
- photos and videos

What’s the online wave of attack once you’ve got this sorted?

Sure we want to profile our fairies but the most important thing is pirate matty and a fairy

PIRATE PARTIES $175
FAIRY PARTIES $125

I look at some of the stuff on my to do list and I really think is this something I need to just not think about now? What about my music marketing blog, that continues to get lots of hits? If I had to chose between the music marketing blog, the video production blog and the auckland copying which would it be? Copying probably makes me the most money but it’s already kind of done. the music marketing and the video blog is a hard choice but I don’t think I should even worry about those choices to be honest they just don’t matter now.

Cheap auckland printing is a funny one because it’s an easy way to make a few hundred dollars but it can sometimes be a hassle answering emails etc. in the new years it will be the pirate thing I’m pushing with ads, and maybe auckland copying. How can I push my music marketing if I don’t even want to do music marketing?

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Organised and Effective CD DVD Printing, Video Production

December 17th, 2011

We need superior through put.


Today I’m talking about some philosophies on display here:

- We need to have everything processed because better organisation is a more efficient and creative environment for the business.

- We need to plan the execution of sophisticated strategies that will contribute to growing our business, even if we are only ensuring some aspect of our brand meets a perceived market standard.

- We need to be diligent and active in areas that could raise potential issues slowing productivity and causing stress

Now which statement do I MOST agree with? Find out down the page . . .

I’m always sitting here in the afternoon or evening wondering if there’s something I’m supposed to be doing.

CD DVD Duplication is always what I’m supposed to do first. All cd dvd printing and duplication first all cheap auckland printing, any other projects we may have on whether video or otherwise. When all that important work is done for the day, I’m thinking about broader efforts to improve the business and then efforts to improve my enjoyment of business.

So we’re dealing with short term stuff first, and then long term improvement. I think that we look to our master list, there are two lists really, one involves annoying stuff that can easily be put off until another day, but then there’s the more fundamental question of what you want out of business.

A certain amount of money represents certain freedom, but what are you really sacrificing? I hope to get to a point of organisation that we can really see, in fact I already sense my situation at the moment is that I’m not really challenging myself. That’s why again the pirate entertainment is coming to the fore.

So there’s 3 lists,

- stuff to be done now for business to relieve stress of demanding clients

- stuff to be done in general for general improvement and development in art, business and society

- stuff to be done for business sooner or later

I have trouble transitioning from what absolutely has to be done today over to less important tasks, I mean technically once all cd dvd duplication and poster stuff was sorted, would I really be straight into my tax, straight into my photo shoot?

Right now it’s the end of the year and a real chance to focus on growing the pirate entertainment stuff, and doing more video production and music production. I’ve got a small gap where there won’t be business streaming in, so there is the opportunity to lay down some more kind of infrastructure concepts, projects that may require a bit of work and focus to get happening.

Right now i have the following jobs to do

- post outs and invoices
- posters
- pirate stuff.

Stuff going from planning to getting done

- video for low key
- website progress

This list keeps updating as I write the post, but the point is once this is done for the day I have a number of other tasks to consider, once I used to earmark tasks as ones that could be completed.

archiving
video for pirates

tax + business
photoshoot

When I can see everything that needs to be done it makes easier to survey what i could realistically tackle, the top list I can all do at my desk, while the pirate video which is quickly turning into a bit of a funny one, obviously needs to be worked through with some planning. Same with Tax, same with photoshoot.

That’s a crucial thing, a lot of stuff needs planning. I can’t just launch into a new music video or website or video production without a little bit of planning.

Getting the pirate show off the ground is now getting to be a big priority, I have a friend who is excellent at booking, I believe we can make it work. But we need to have a story and an act, and then be able to promote it. We need to put in the planning, planning a show to work.

so I guess these are two lists are lists of stuff that come at , one’s a boring list which has tax and business set up on it, and the other is a cool list, it only has photoshoots and videos, and music songs and websites and cool things to do on it. Is the idea really just to do the boring stuff because it’s boring, which means it’s probably important? I’m trying to get business intelligence here, I’m trying to look at my analytical and systemic processes.

The philosophies on display here are:

- We need to have everything processed because better organisation is a more efficient and creative environment for the business.

- We need to plan the execution of sophisticated strategies that will contribute to growing our business, even if we are only ensuring some aspect of our brand meets a perceived market standard.

- We need to be diligent and active in areas that could raise potential issues slowing productivity and causing stress

Which statement do I most agree with?

Okay so there’s a question here about running admin, and how that plays.

Removing tax and new business set up admin from my to do list makes me wonder what I’ll be doing in the mid term in terms of sorting out smooth running of administration. How do I mitigate my obligations? Well there’s always tax to pay, so you have to see your accountant to stay on top of it and possibly pay more there. Then we need to make sure our marketing is ready to take us to within an optimistic result - or at least consider it as marketing is not really a weak point for us. It’s more ensuring we’re organised to maintain if the optiistic scenario eventuates.

Are we ready to easily roll out the cd dvd duplication , cheap printing and auckland pirate hire to cope with that? Yes I’m sure we are but I want to have time off and avoid any potential mini crisis if I can.

We go sort out our tax, and start a new business, we have some extra expenses for accounts. Where do we have to be diligent after that? Stocks of ink for cd printing, and cd and dvd duplication stock? Getting our assistant sorted?

The point about being diligent is progressing to a point of what? Nothing can go wrong? Now we’re talking about the end game. The point of diligence is to be prepared and aware, when your prpeared and aware you can get everything processed to where it needs to be, and the point of processing is to create a pure and streamlined environment for planning based on creative and innovative thought.

Pretty much!

Organised and Effective CD DVD Printing, Video Production

services
- photography dvd
- hunting dvd duplication
- maori cd duplication +
krishna cd production
posters
credit card issues
dance music cd duplication - search and destroy
Then what are we doing tomorrow
maori cd
post offs
cheap auckland wedding video production services
auckland wedding photography

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Blogging and Strategy, Marketing and Video

December 15th, 2011

I’m still moving the place around and triangulating my strategy here. Blogging is a useful way of covering this material, we can start from a point and face it toward the subject. For example a lot of my thoughts have been on the children’s entertainment business so I’m working through that idea on different blogs.


On my artist blog I talk about the metaphors and crossovers of being a kid’s performer, and more into the content and the significance of developing this content that is intended for different audiences.

On my video production blog I talk about the focus on these videos we’re planning

On this blog we talk about the business and marketing aspects.

The crucial, central concept is that we’re taking something we already know people want, not something we hope people will want. With music and art, we don’t know if people want that. But I had to get out and do something more interesting and dynamic than CD DVD Duplication, because in acknowledging my strengths in business, it’s natural to see where those strengths can be applied.

By working on my children’s entertainment business I’m trying to reach other outcomes of success, making kids happy, feeling good, working with other talent, developing more skills and my brand.

When this business is stronger we can look at other things such as a shop or other steps that take us toward more of an agency footing or production house. Right now we need to work with the resources we have.

If I set up a new computer and everything in the next room, all I have to do is get my laptop up to spec so I can do online stuff on it, that way I can completely take away the desk and computer I use now. I could have a stereo and TV and they would be either on that shelf or in front of the fire place

So I drive to the monitor shop to see if I like the big monitors, and if I don’t I’ll dive straight to the computer sales and get a new computer, and off I go. Set up new computer, set up software, slowly ease of my old computer until I can get rid of it and do all my work on laptop. Then I set up my staging area and my offices how I like. For quick internet access I might still use the production office, but I’ll be moving production more to where my staff work from home.

Packers can collect cases, they can also collect printing and do the post off. So for each collection it’s $5 and for each post off it’s $5

DVD/Slimline: 10c
4+ dvd: 15c
sleeve w insert: 10c
sleeves: 5c

With the jewel cases, they are hard and tricky, so in order to get them right it has to be 30c. But you’re removing a lot of work from your week at a low cost. Not just the packing but cheap printing delivery and pick up missions. Even printing jobs would be $5.

That leaves me still dealing with supplies - disc supplies for cd duplication and dvd duplication but also cd packing and dvd cd packaging. Which means I now go deep into stocking that stuff.

So now I went and got the big screen samsung, I have to get a new AMD quadcore to go with it which will set me back $600, but then I can sell my old computer and screen for say $300, so I would be spending up $1050 and only getting $300 back. No money for laptop until I sort out the camera.

Who cares, if a new laptop and a new camera is all there is to worry about then I think pretty sorted, what else are we curious about?

It’s really pushing the pirate entertainment marketing which is more about me pushing a new dynamic idea forward so that I can balance on these projects financially without having to push any one of them particularly hard.

Once I reach that point of being completely economically secure, then I’m at a cut off point of really redirecting the aims of what I am doing in business. More personal enjoyment. In a way the pirate thing will allow me to give a lot, so after that it is particularly in personal enjoyment.

It’s enjoyment in telling stories.

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Pirate Birthdays and DVD Duplication, CD Printing

November 28th, 2011

IF YOU’RE LOOKING FOR PIRATE BIRTHDAYS better check out my pirate site as this is more discussing the small business side of marketing and development and such!

More pirate madness, it’s the business I’ve decided to focus on, I had to pick one.


I didn’t pick one I just made a simple decision, I’m only going to work on business ideas that are already making money. Or it’s a distraction. CD replication and dvd duplication. auckland printing, my garden content and websites, and pirates.

Pirates I chose for many reasons - I could market the pirate brand and it would work on 2 levels - more birthday party work, but also the ability to take the pirate entertainment to another level - a live show and a DVD and a website that brought in traffic and advertising, a popular youtube channel and then finally sponsorship arrangements that got me paid for promoting through the youtube channel.

Pirate website
pirate marketing
assistant
pirate show.

The marketing would be a online advertising campaign using ppc, and I’ve already started blogging and it’s working out, it’s starting to make me think it could actually come off. I could get people reading the pirate matty blog - about pirate adventures and such. I might have to move up to a dot com but what else could I push?

my dvd
video appearances on youtube
skype pirate

Imagine doing a half hour skype show for $50.

There really are a lot of things I could do but I did start to think more critically about it.

A pirate party is usually $150+ is an hour, and also involves at least half an hours driving and half an hours prep. I can be slightly nerved about timing beforehand, and exhausted afterward.

burning a bunch of CD’s or DVD duplication, well, I can make $2-300 just printing and packing for a few hours. Or pay someone else to do it and still make $200 - see?

I guess the most important thing to recognise is that pirates does sap energy and is not the incredible money that it seems. The important thing is the various long term dynamics: It will never be obsolete. It feels good to do. It has broader horizons. It’s different.

Unlike video production and some other things, it’s working now. It’s important to have other stuff I can fall back on. Pirates has so many different possibilities. I could connect with the auckland zoo and see if they’d let me in, but thinking about it, even if they gave me $500 it’s still a lot of work! It’s not just about having something to fall back on in business, but that I can continue to push it out without distracting me too much.

I’m already looking for a .com site so I can get better international results, but I’m not sure what to do with the attention, I’m not sure I do want to do skype stuff. I already started to think of a pirate show, and look for more props. There was this awesome pirate ship which I’m sure would definitely add value to what I’m doing.

But seriously, if you had the show and you were giving out a dvd and making $500 a pop, plus a birthday party each week for $200 - well it’s crazy because I don’t know if we could even really do that. But that’s where this assistant idea is at, if we have $1500 cd duplication and printing, and then we do another $1000 on pirate shows and stuff, then we’ve crossed the line by $200 and have to put that into workings from assistants on the dvd copying and cd printing.

A straight up reality is that cd printing and dvd duplication may still be too valuable to risk compromising. I can develop a show, but who knows if I’ll have time to run with it? What I fear is $2000 worth of work and several pirate engagements, and $200 splashed to some staff not being enough, and I see losses or little significant gain from taking on the extra work, I’m better off not to be doing extra pirate stuff.

It works out that really I just want to move forward to the big money. There are 538 primary schools in auckland. I had no idea. That’s a tonne. I could easily be doing 2 shows most weeks, charge $600 each, pocket a cool grand.

But that is all very demanding. What we need to do is sketch out a plan, like we did the computer operation, how each step gives way to the next and what I am able to do and the challenges of each step.

Right now doing 1-2 parties per week, then adding advertising and more videos. Doing each video doesn’t commit me any further.

Then the big step is developing a show.

But I want to get out in the community - doing promotions as a specialist handing out stuff guy. That’s real promotions. But somehow that I could get show elements going on so I can bring more to the table. I need my DVD, even if it starts at half an hour and goes to 1 hour. We need that calling card, if I tell people I’ll give away 50 dvd’s at my event, I mean come on.

At some point we’ll be doing $500 shows, but what I’m seeing is that could be 3 years away, what I’m to do now, is just do videos. It’s good to think of all the extra little things I’ll be doing, and weighing those up.

How soon do we need to be in a position where pirate stuff is making $700+? How soon can we manage that situation without it cutting deeply into our other work doing dvd duplication and cd printing? It’s slowly dawning on me that pirates is about more than just making money and having something long term I can fall back on.

But it’s no good to be tired out running around being a pirate, when easy money is going begging in dvd duplication and cd printing, and of cour cheap auckland printing.

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Setting Up For Duplication, Websites, Support and Video

November 27th, 2011

Lizard Brain, Busy Work all these things are terms used by seth godin for things that can be done but may be just don’t have to be done.

Things that are only important to your business and work in that you feel they are important, you need this activity to feel as if you’re making progress. And so, for months and months I let accounts receivable pile up without chasing up the money I’m owed until it becomes a major psychological pressure point.


In recognising that, I’m looking at what is set to become a new pressure issue, the new issue that I skirt around and avoid.

Website design isn’t big. If I don’t improve my website design, the business won’t fall over. Nor the photographs.

I’ve got a new approach to staffing. From now on, if profit hits a certain margin, all the money after that will be put into an employment fund, and if I have money in that fund, then I will use it to delegate tasks. Again, I’ve set up an arbitrary redistribution system, I’ve regulated funds so that rather than asking questions, we get the outcomes. Workers coming in to do the jobs so I’m not stressed in any way and have the way clear to do boring things like chase money owed.

Right now there’s just 100 cd duplications to do, I have to do that myself, put when any printing comes in, any packing, driving if possible, then on they get. No complications about hiring people just pay them as the money is available.

When this big dvd duplication order comes in, I’ll instantly organise for the dvd printing and for it to be packed and done.

So websites aren’t an issue and assistants aren’t really an issue because we believe we’re working this stuff through. What you’re left with there is really video stuff which is around pirate stuff. And we’re setting everything up for that, more preperation can only be a step toward better execution.

Of course just doing it would be the preferred outcome but until then . . .

The idea of more computers is to facilitate focusing on creativity, but it also means there are 2 workstations should there need to be super printing. Let’s follow the plan.

> Buy new computer, set up new computer.

This means we have a new computer to possibly set up as a workshop,

> Install new DAW software

Then it’s my new studio

> Sort out laptop and turn old workspace into a work lounge.

This means selling my current computer and laptop and replacing that with one sit down good laptop. Why do I need a new lap top, when I have important programs on the other that would be hard to transfer, meaning I might have to keep it anyway? best to refurbish.

Then I set my turntables up in the front room, get it all set up for recording and filmings, and more of the same in teh work lounge, make it easy to switch over to set mode with ease. Then I’m prepared with my creative den where I can talk to clients and get deep on creative projects on my new computer, and a spot where I can relax and write and do internet work on my laptop during the day or when I’m buzzing around, and especially if I have workers in both rooms, both can work and watch movies / use the net, while I can chill in my work lounge set and answer emails or whatever it is I do.

And of course it’s made to be easy so if I want to whip away stuff it can be a set. I mean if I’ve got a chilled writing and working spot, I want to have some music and maybe a spot to eat, smoke, have some drinks, I don’t know, not a full desk but an inobtruseive bench or table I can snatch away. But it’s also where the aerial is so if I want to get a TV, that’s where it has to go.

The point is - creative space for shooting videos, creative space for writing music and conducting promotional affairs, separate for more basic operations.

So when we’re doing our videos for pirates, and music, what then? The ad campaigns begin?

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Musicians Offer More Than CD Replications and CD Duplications

November 27th, 2011


Ten years ago it used to be easy to know how to sell your music, you printed CDs then hoped you would sell them at gigs or if possible you would get a distributer. Now most people consume music digitally via the web, often illegally. So do you need to sell CDs or any physical products? It depends on the relationship you have or want to have with your fans. When you are out playing gigs (listed on Live Unsigned) selling merchandise is a great way to raise some cash and build that fan/artist relationship.

One of the best ways for a band to make money is to sell merchandise, but do fans really need another dull, plain CD in a plastic case? This is an unremarkable object at best, it just carries music that is available digitally usually at a lower price. If you really want fans to buy something at least get a digipack CD or consider getting some vinyl printed. Often fans will buy vinyl but will still listen digitally. Via Bandcamp you can include a download code so they can still listen even if they don’t own a record player. Make sure you have the audience for vinyl first, if you are selling 500 digipack CDs then it’s worth considering the vinyl option (the minimum order tends to be around 300 units due to high set up costs). If you are not sure ask your fans via social media.

The key thing is to create objects people actually want, something cool and interesting they can keep in their house and show off to their friends. Often you will find people take photos of interesting merchandise and post it on their social networking profiles, giving your band extra exposure. The odder and more unusual something is the more chance people will want to talk about it.

A good example of a micro label creating something interesting is ZX Tapes who produce limited editions of 30 tape cassettes. Even though the tape format is considered outdated they create limited edition art objects that always sell out. They really make an effort to make something special and will most likely be highly collectable in years to come.

The Flaming Lips sell some really limited items. They sell real human skulls for $5000 with a USB stick containing a 24 hour long song or christmas tree ornaments or strange items made of jelly. The hardcore fans want to support the band and buy interesting items. If you want your fans to care be interesting and remarkable.

KISS are the established masters of this. Nothing is too tasteless, from coffins to breakfast cereal to comics to KISS Mr Potato Heads and condoms. Their loyal fanbase (the KISS army) have been paying for this ever expanding range of merchandise since the 70′s. They even do a “KISS Kruise” where you can party all night and day on a boat with your idols for up to nearly three thousand dollars a ticket (and where you can buy a unique range of special KISS Kruise merchandise!). They know how to work their fan base.

Many other bands offer interesting merchandise:

Ween do a colouring book.
Justin Bieber has a shower curtain.
Metallica do a Master Of Puppets pillow case, for the the metal fan who has everything. They also do a Metallica Monopoly set!
Franz Ferdinand sell y-front underpants.
Feist sells a music box that plays instrumental versions of her songs.
Ben Kweller sells a branded toothbrush
No Age have sunglasses.
Slayer sell a slaytanic motorcycle helmet.
Weezer sell a branded Weezer Snuggie.
AC/DC do wine (not to be shaken all night long).
U2 do lego versions of the band (Edge is still wearing a hat).

What all these odd and occasionally tasteless items do is connect the fans more closely to the artist and provide a revenue stream. The weirder they are the more likely it is that people will talk about them via Twitter, across social media or down the pub. T-Shirts and stickers are cool but if you really want to make an impression a Kazoo with your logo on it can be a way of standing out. Try to make as much of what you sell unique and special, even if it is just signed, limited and a numbered edition. Try and keep your logo consistent and if you think an item of merchandise is tacky then don’t do it.

You don’t need to sell a plain CD but it is a good idea to sell some sort of item that gives fans a souvenir of your music. Every artist/fan relationship is different. Make sure that your merchandise offer is as unique as your music and as special as your relationship with your fans.

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Developing New Business Auckland Printing CD DVD Duplication

November 19th, 2011

Hi, It’s matt here from kurb we do heaps of CD’s, DVD’s, posters, printing, banners, booklets, flyers, websites, cheap video production!

I’ve pretty much decied that while my cd dvd duplication and cd dvd replication and the cheap colour printing and we’re offering here in auckland keeps going well, we’ll just be focusing on one new business. If one business is going well, develop new ideas one at a time.


The one I’ve decided on is my business doing pirate themed birthday parties, why did I choose this one?

First the ones that missed the final cut for focused business development were video production, music marketing services, graphic and web design, and talent management. All of those things involved a lot of dealing with customer expectations and I’m not good at it.

The advantages of the pirate thing is that the expectation is clear and forcefully limited - it’s 1 hour.

The money is good. It’s not really that hard and it’s satisfying. The big issue scaling will be difficult. But not impossible and scaling means a different thing.

I have already started blogging there some, writing stories. At the moment our marketing techniques have to be in line with our goals.

Our first goal is to be doing a two birthday parties every week. Ads, videos and blogs can do that. also when we do our pirate adventure videos, we’ll try and get out there in the community and get visible. We want a bigger audience for our youtube videos anyway.

That will be the next step that opens up, demand for the videos, but the better at storytelling I get, the closer I’ll get to having a show I can do. By the time I’ve got blogs up, videos up, and a show I’m doing then I’ll have to get more serious about what I’m doing on the website and having a dvd I can peddle also.

When I improve my website I can start selling other stuff and other peoples products, special links and ads on the site. Also I have the marketing platform then to jump to working with other people - that is having other pirates, fairies etc. who I do bookings for and split the revenue.

so you got:

party p/week: $200 - 600

1 x performance: $500

DVD: $100

online income: $100

apprentice: $100

How many views per video do I need yo be getting before I ask for $1000 for a video? 20,000.

It is within my scope to add another $1000 to my income from this pirate themed stuff, but there has to be some perspective. I can’t make $2000 from cd dvd duplication and $1000 from pirate entertainment, it’s too much work and it doesn’t match with my goals. My goals are in art and creativity and working all the time doing cd and dvd duplication and pirates and printing is not getting me any closer to that.

I need to keep it under control. That is the auckland printing and cd duplication services, what happens when . . . well do I just stay like this? only on slow times under $1500 would I dare work on expanding pirates, what’s the first significant step? I think video the way I want it is the only step until the opportunity allows that I expand pirate stuff.

Blogging and video. Ads on standby to let fly when they’re needed whether it’s in 3 months or 3 years, because either is a possibility.

The idea is to focus on your list. Now I’m making new lists. Sites will roll out, and they’ll be amended with decent photos of me. There’ll be a new car for the business and I won’t run around any more except to resupply plastic. I’ll have to think about packing for the cd dvd replication.

I’ve got more time so the archiving continues, but while we have the chance right now, lock down this business so it’s all in order.

- pictures
- audio
- scanning
- cd dvd duplication projects

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Pirates of CD DVD Duplication and Video Production?

November 13th, 2011

Making the step of dealing with my accounts receivable for once and for all is going to be a bit of a big deal, I actually don’t think it’s really set in yet.


When it really sets in that I don’t have any issues with debtors worth worrying about, that my business is turning over well, sure I do need to get up to date with my tax, but we’re moving to a point where all I have to do is deal with what comes in and take it from there.

It’s a new chance to have the space to do new things, not necessarily ambitious things because we know that small projects can be executed quickly and with focus. Looking seriously at getting an assistant becomes easy because I can focus on it and what is the ultimate result? I’m doing even less. It might drive me crazy but I think it’s a time to adjust to the fact I don’t have to do as much to maintain my lifestyle, and what kind of opportunity that represents, but I still have to have a plan to refer back to so I don’t wander and get too lost with it.

I’m naturally industrious. Money isn’t the be all and end all but it’s one point of orientation, it’s an easy measure to ask if somethings working and if it’s making money well it can’t be too bad. It’s not the only thing, but it’s an easy thing. When you need to apply industrious energy without waste - get a plan.

There’s pirates, but we were focused also on not taking basic processes in our business for granted. We print cd’s and dvd’s, we do dvd and cd burning, that’s our main business and organising cheap poster, booklet printing.

We need to get the processes ramped up - printing, take it up. More printers, printers at other locations. At what point do I need another burner? If I continue to do $2k turnover week after week.

But ultimately it’s the person on that little run for supplies and to the post. That’s the biggest step I could take right now to be doing less. Can I find someone I can pay to turn up everyday, go to the printers, go to the post office and go the plastic suppliers? Do any packing, and deliveries?

It’s easy to do it myself, but we’re not getting any closer to the ideal of not being involved.

The specs for the printing have to be right, and it’s practical for me to deal with the plastics myself, but if I kept reserve more stock it wouldn’t be an issue. That just leaves picking up printing and doing posting.

I say buy an existing staff member a car and pay them $10 for each printer/post office run. Pay someone else to do packing. It still seems messy like I’ll end up doing it myself. I think we forget that over the last 2 months we’ve worked at %150 of the level required, when we drop to about %120 we’ll notice things are even easier. But we still have to regard the possibility of short term growth, of making an extra bit of money in the next year or so

We did the move and it’s good, I’m just keen to get more happening because it either means more time for me or more money if sales keep growing so it can’t be bad either way.

When it came to going in on that debt collection sure I had conflicting emotions, this sense of wondering why I haven’t dealt with the issue earlier came over me. It’s a fine balance, should of done it earlier, but what’s left to do now in business development?

Do my tax, sort out my new business structure, get my cheap colour copying and pirate story websites up and then I’m there just neutral. The only point from there may be pirates. If it’s video, it’s video I want to do. Otherwise this stuff is just too unfocused, I;m just releasing energy into blogging about something that doesn’t need to happen.

If it’s all about pirates and video, how much more do I need to keep writing about it here? I mean I’m trying to drive pirate traffic to the pirate website!

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Auckland CD DVD Duplication and Video Production Services

November 12th, 2011

Hi I’m MATT AT KURB WE OFFER CHEAP CD DVD DUPLICATION, VIDEO PRODUCTION SERVICES AND CHEAP PRINTING HERE IN AUCKLAND! CONTACT KURBPROMO@GMAIL.COM


I am transferring my spare room into a second office.

It was a guest room, but I wasn’t getting too many guests. So I’ve decided to separate production which is the main part of the business and give it it’s own little space.

This has practical uses but really it’s about focusing the main space toward more creativity.

Sure it’s a space for the clients, sure it’s a space where we can pack our cd dvd duplications in an area where there’s more space, but more it’s about focusing on the creative, doing audio and video production and having a nice relaxing space.

My priorities are basically that as long as cd dvd production keeps rolling out, then I’m focused on improving audio and video production services we offer. To me there’s a likely outcome: As long as production continues which I’m placing a bet of 3 - 7 years - I think we’ll peak out over the next year or two and the dive will begin in about 4. That means for about 4 years we don’t really have anything else to do with our efforts but push our artists, make online videos and build websites.

I can’t help but feel that if you give me three years, I will break out. I’ll put out songs, I’ll upload videos and I’ll build websites and initially it may be very slow, the first year or two, little will happen.

But you can’t really predict the future, but I’m a big believer that if you give yourself enough time to work on something you can push through. My thoughts for now a re focused on the spirit in which we go to it, that now I’m devoting my front office as a dedicated space to push forward on more creative goals. If I want to make it to a permanent filming area,

I guess what I see is setting up a workspace where I can film easily also. If I want to have a relaxing area, well my bedroom is really huge anyway. I guess I’m talking about a TV, but I’d want that in the packing area. But what good is a TV if you can’t stream movies? I might need a massive screen. 27 inch monitor for $375 sounds good. Then what would I need a computer in my bedroom for? A workstation for when printers were printing CD’s in the production area and packers were packing and watching a movie or in there organising online stuff.

Now that certainly works. I think I would definitely look at what I could do with the space in here. I could make my room smoke free and make it more about my clothes, as long as I had a computer, and I’d have more space for an exercising area. But my bedroom because it’s so long would be the best place to build a set, if I wanted to do regular video segments, or a regular pirate bit.

How would I do if I came up with 1 minute pirate show every week? we’ve been talking about online video production for youtube partnership pay outs, the truth is I ever got to 50,000 views per week, it wouldn’t just be about youtube partnership money, I’d have to be charging $200 for appearances and you never know what offers may come in!

How much would it seriously cost me to do a DVD? How many could I sell, 1000? The point is I talked about it before, having a half hour show I can do for $500 in front of a big crowd. Maybe $400 + travel and expenses. And making that into a DVD.

That’s the thing if I could go around the schools doing 5 shows a week, wouldn’t I? Wait, I could sell the DVD as part of the show. $2, no wait, I’ll just have prices based on group size! up to 12 is $250, 12-50 is $500 50 - 100 is $800 100 - 200 is $1200 200-500 $1600 etc. All I’d need to do is one show, one party at an increased rate of $250 since I’d only do 1 p/week, and be doing 50,000 views on youtube I’d be making $700 p/week out of just pirates!

In 2 years time might I have a half dozen channels, doing a video for each a month and getting 50,000 views a week in each one! You dion’t know how it will go. But this is distinctly where we’re pushing out. That’s what the front room set up and even video production in the long term is all about. Getting the pirate squad set up, pushing forward with creative vibes.

When I’m pushing forward with video I’ll be putting stuff up on the youtube channel which mentions the kind of stuff we can do - it’s there to get people interested in these services.

My latest funny video marketing advertisement, I would say in advertising titles that I would do a funny viral video for US$600 right now because if I don’t charge that much I will regret it. In years down the line people will ask me if it’s still $600 god it 5 years time it might be $1000! for a days work on a funny video? What if everything I do gets 100,000 views? That’s what I’m talking about. Then I have to charge $1500. Wow.

WHy would I ask for a $50,000 sponsorship deal when doing one video spot each week for a sponsor would give me a sweet pay out - and you see, it’s all determined by the fact that my successful cd dvd duplication service allows me time to work up my youtube oeuvre

I need to get to making some videos!

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