A little change, and a big difference...
It's been awhile since I've posted, so I thought it prudent to update everyone on what I've been up to in the past few years. When I last left this blog, I was working for the Commonwealth of Kentucky. Now, as 2016 begins, I am well into the next phase of my career. My position as a Network Specialist gave me a great deal of experience working in a fast paced, challenging IT environment. It also helped to spotlight a very important fact: that something was missing.
While I enjoy working in the IT industry, I quickly discovered that I loved working with the people I interacted with much more than the hardware and software that they needed help with. As I progressed in my career, I realized that my greatest skills were in how I interacted with those around me. I began working a few years back on a small hobby project--an e-commerce store called Scooter's Bricks. I would buy used and new LEGO collections and sets (yes, that's right--the little plastic building blocks), sort and organize them, and sell them piece by piece to collectors, parents, and adult builders.
LEGO is currently the fastest selling toy in the world, recently passing Hasbro and Mattel to take the mantle of the largest toy company in existence. Bolstered by such intellectual property licenses as Star Wars, Jurassic Park and Disney, the LEGO franchise is hotter than it has ever been. And as the market grows, the opportunity for profit grows as well.
LEGO has a very interesting business model, and sells to various distinct markets. Primarily, they target children who wish to purchase and build sets from a pre-designed instruction manual. These buyers find most of what they need directly from LEGO. But because most LEGO products are rotated out every few years, children often find that one special set leave store shelves before they have a chance to purchase. My store often finds these same sets on clearance, holds onto them for a few months to a few years, and then sells them--making these sets available for much longer.
What truly drives my business, however, are the individual parts and figures. LEGO's secondary markets include young children, who are often driven to purchase because they want a specific figure, or character, that is included in a set. While an 8 or 10 year old may buy and build an entire set, a four or five year old will often build their favorite figure, and the other parts and pieces will be tossed into a large bin with the rest of their LEGO toys. Because many of the rarest figures only come in hard-to-find or very expensive sets, we offer an alternative: parents can buy these rare figures from us without buying the entire set, and pay a fraction of the cost while their child gets the figure they wanted all along.
As for the pieces? These go to yet another of LEGO's secondary markets: adult builders. Many adult LEGO fans find themselves unimpressed by many of the predesigned sets on store shelves, instead preferring to build something of their own creation. We offer them the ability to do just that: adult builders can buy the exact pieces they want, in the exact quantities they want, from us--and are not left with hundreds of unwanted leftover pieces. They get exactly what they want, so they are willing to pay a higher price per piece, because they still save money in the long run by only buying the pieces needed to complete their designs.
In the end, this leads to a modest profit for us. Eventually the goal was to simply fund my own LEGO hobby--my wife was a longtime fan of the Harry Potter LEGO sets, and I had a few Star Wars sets I never got a chance to build from my childhood, and the store gave me the chance to easily find the pieces I needed. Before I knew what was happening, however, the store began to grow--and eventually became so large that it changed from a simple hobby into a complex business.
A year ago, my wife left her full-time job to work full-time in the LEGO business with me. We have an inventory of nearly 100,000 parts, and our inventory turns over around every 60 days. We attend several live events each year, including local festivals and the Lexington Comic and Toy Convention. Now, Scooter's Bricks ships over 2,000 orders per year and ships to over 50 countries, and has customers in all 50 states. It's quite an odd job, but it has given me the ability to work and interact with the public in a way I was never able to before, all while having the freedom of being my own boss.
So what's on the horizon for Scooter's Bricks in 2016? Quite a bit. As I work toward my graduate degree (which will be discussed in a later post), I am using the skills I am learning there to better serve my customers. Our store will continue to grow as we set our sights on our next goal: hiring additional staff and moving out of the basement to a more permanent location.
While I enjoy working in the IT industry, I quickly discovered that I loved working with the people I interacted with much more than the hardware and software that they needed help with. As I progressed in my career, I realized that my greatest skills were in how I interacted with those around me. I began working a few years back on a small hobby project--an e-commerce store called Scooter's Bricks. I would buy used and new LEGO collections and sets (yes, that's right--the little plastic building blocks), sort and organize them, and sell them piece by piece to collectors, parents, and adult builders.
LEGO is currently the fastest selling toy in the world, recently passing Hasbro and Mattel to take the mantle of the largest toy company in existence. Bolstered by such intellectual property licenses as Star Wars, Jurassic Park and Disney, the LEGO franchise is hotter than it has ever been. And as the market grows, the opportunity for profit grows as well.
LEGO has a very interesting business model, and sells to various distinct markets. Primarily, they target children who wish to purchase and build sets from a pre-designed instruction manual. These buyers find most of what they need directly from LEGO. But because most LEGO products are rotated out every few years, children often find that one special set leave store shelves before they have a chance to purchase. My store often finds these same sets on clearance, holds onto them for a few months to a few years, and then sells them--making these sets available for much longer.
What truly drives my business, however, are the individual parts and figures. LEGO's secondary markets include young children, who are often driven to purchase because they want a specific figure, or character, that is included in a set. While an 8 or 10 year old may buy and build an entire set, a four or five year old will often build their favorite figure, and the other parts and pieces will be tossed into a large bin with the rest of their LEGO toys. Because many of the rarest figures only come in hard-to-find or very expensive sets, we offer an alternative: parents can buy these rare figures from us without buying the entire set, and pay a fraction of the cost while their child gets the figure they wanted all along.
As for the pieces? These go to yet another of LEGO's secondary markets: adult builders. Many adult LEGO fans find themselves unimpressed by many of the predesigned sets on store shelves, instead preferring to build something of their own creation. We offer them the ability to do just that: adult builders can buy the exact pieces they want, in the exact quantities they want, from us--and are not left with hundreds of unwanted leftover pieces. They get exactly what they want, so they are willing to pay a higher price per piece, because they still save money in the long run by only buying the pieces needed to complete their designs.
In the end, this leads to a modest profit for us. Eventually the goal was to simply fund my own LEGO hobby--my wife was a longtime fan of the Harry Potter LEGO sets, and I had a few Star Wars sets I never got a chance to build from my childhood, and the store gave me the chance to easily find the pieces I needed. Before I knew what was happening, however, the store began to grow--and eventually became so large that it changed from a simple hobby into a complex business.
A year ago, my wife left her full-time job to work full-time in the LEGO business with me. We have an inventory of nearly 100,000 parts, and our inventory turns over around every 60 days. We attend several live events each year, including local festivals and the Lexington Comic and Toy Convention. Now, Scooter's Bricks ships over 2,000 orders per year and ships to over 50 countries, and has customers in all 50 states. It's quite an odd job, but it has given me the ability to work and interact with the public in a way I was never able to before, all while having the freedom of being my own boss.
So what's on the horizon for Scooter's Bricks in 2016? Quite a bit. As I work toward my graduate degree (which will be discussed in a later post), I am using the skills I am learning there to better serve my customers. Our store will continue to grow as we set our sights on our next goal: hiring additional staff and moving out of the basement to a more permanent location.
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