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“It's income, sure, but it's not profit.”
This is part of our First $1,000 segment, where we hear how someone made their first $1,000. How did they make it happen? What did it feel like? What did they learn?
Today's story comes from Taylor Mali. We first featured him back in Episode 1214: Writing Teacher Rolls Dice On Metaphor Game. He sells a writing tool that plays like a game: Metaphor Dice, a poetry prompt generator that helps writers of all levels think and write more figuratively.
A box of 12 dice retails for $20, which is a good price for a small packaged game. To hit that price and still make money, the cost of goods should be about $5, roughly a quarter of the retail price. After six years, Taylor is finally there. In the beginning, because of mistakes and missteps, a set cost him closer to $10 to produce. To earn his first $1,000, he had to sell 100 sets.
It felt amazing. He had conceived of a product, built it, and brought it to market, and 100 people were willing to trade him a $20 bill for it. But here's what he says no one talks about enough: that first $1,000 is income, not profit. He spent at least $20,000, mostly his own money, to get there. After selling those first 100 sets, he still had 4,900 in his basement. His advice is to expect a long stretch before you start earning money you haven't already spent.
His other lesson: hire people who know how to do the thing you only think you can do. For Taylor, that was graphic design. He thought he was a great amateur designer, and his favorite design program was Microsoft Word. That should have been a red flag. A professional showed him how far out of his league he was. (You still need to mock up what you want, so you have something to show the designer and say, "Like this, but better.")
Metaphor Dice will probably never be his main job, but he's happy to sell more sets wherever he can. He's also running the Golden Die Contest, which will award $1,000 to the best poem written with the help of the dice. It's not his first $1,000, but it makes a better story.
I like how honest this one is. Sometimes that's how it goes, especially with a physical product: there are real costs that go into making something. If you write a poem with Metaphor Dice, or want to enter the contest, visit MetaphorDice.com or go directly to MetaphorDice.Submittable.com.
Have a question or an update? Visit SideHustleSchool.com/questions.
