Keys to CNCKing.com’s Success
There are many things about CNCKing.com that make it as successful as it has been and will continue to be – let me share some of what I’ve learned to that it may help your business!
OWN YOUR OWN CONTENT
This may sound easy, but the biggest designer with the most sales on CNCKing.com is ME. Why? Because I spent 3 years straight designing content for the site. I designed one project, then another and another… until I had designed HUNDREDS of projects – providing enough content to attract other designers, build authority and work out all the kinks. I still design to this day… but not like I use to as I’ve shifted to marketing what I’ve built over just straight no-holds-bar designing.
Because CNCKing.com (me) owns it own content, I can control where it goes without royalties, people getting mad because I stole their design or whatever other problems happen from taking other people’s stuff and calling it your own. I did the same thing for my wife’s business, HowToChinese.com – we wrote our own book, produced all our own videos, wrote scripts etc… again, we OWN OUR CONTENT. Licensing issues are easy, nobody else to ask!
I approach other designers on a regular basis to join CNCKing.com – many fear that I want to take-over their content and call it my own, like many other sites and companies do. I tell them that I’m both a designer and businessman… I know both ends of the stick and know far better that the more YOU own, the better I will be in the transaction. This is why there is no costs to join CNCKing.com, I spend lots of time and money building 3D animations and marketing materials for their projects and tell them up-front that this is non-exclusive meaning they are free to sell, what is THEIR design, wherever they want.
I don’t believe in locked-in deals – I believe in mutually beneficial relationships.
SELL YOUR OWN PRODUCTS
Along the lines of owning your own content is selling the content you produce… the mark-up is fantastic! No middle-men, no licensing or contractual issues… just clear profit. For instance, I sell a design on CNCKing.com that I made, I keep 95% of the money… how’s that for profit margins! Now, this is gross and not net of course, there are costs but it means that because I made it, I own it, I keep the money.
As for books, of which I’ve written 7 so far, when a digital copy gets sold on my site, again, I keep all the money.
I’m not including my time in this, I love what I do and would do it for nothing full-time… but I hope this gives you insight about the major advantage of having your own product and marketing it to the masses.
CONSOLIDATE REGULARLY
I review my businesses on a yearly basis, some I keep, some I “close” and others I open. For instance, ShopMarvels.com was quietly closed just last week and the traffic forwarded to CNCKing.com along with my old homepage, JonCantin.com (forwarding to about us page on CNCKing.com) and even i3DS.com is now forwarding to CNCKing.com. The reason is simple, I only have so much time in the day – do I want to spend it maintaining things or making money marketing them?
I already have more than a full time job with CNCKing.com and I also work very hard on HowToChinese.com – I’ve decided I want to focus all my non-working hours on developing these two properties this year. Last year I merged two internet properties (WoodMarvels.com, 3DMarvels.com) for this exact reason.
I love producing industrial 3D animations BUT I only have so much time in a day, if the project falls on my lap, I’ll take it but I want to focus my attention in the CNC field this year – the opportunity is massive and the window of opportunity to make a mark in it bigger than ever if done right. This will mean producing a lot more of my own content (videos and models) along with books etc.
Consolidation saves time, money and focuses the mind on what’s REALLY important.
GIVE MORE THAN YOU TAKE
I gave 3 years of my life and still give a significant amount of my time to help other designers learn about CNC machines and design for them. If you want to become an expert, teach others your skills and you will become a grand master expert! The more knowledge I share, the more time I devote to my crafts, the more I benefit both directly (financially through sales and influence marketing) and indirectly (life full of new opportunities).
If you are a designer, no matter how busy I am, I reply to your questions – if you are a customer not sure if you should buy a laser cutter or a table router – same thing – I’ll help you out and put you in contact with industry experts and manufacturing owners. I’ve given a lot, and it’s my pleasure to give more!
If you fear that giving all your knowledge will lead to competition – it won’t. Remember, because your knowledge comes from hard learned lessons while your students just absorbed the end of the stick… you will always have the experience advantage. I made lots of mistakes, but if I only knew the answers and not the reasons behind the questions, I’d keep making them and not learn to avoid them from a mile away when they came-up again. Give all you can and you’ll get more in return than you can ever imagine.
PURSUIT OPPORTUNITIES
When opportunity knocks, open the door… but don’t want by the door! I regularly seek out help from others, try to establish key industry partnerships and approach other designers to sell on CNCKing.com – I don’t have to do this but I enjoy getting other people involved in my dreams and myself being involved in theirs.
I’ve made no secret that there is a direct correlation between # of products on CNCKing.com and sales, the more you work (and I do marketing your products), the more we both benefit. Many designers “test the waters” with one or two projects, which is fine but I tell them – you won’t get very much! If I tested the waters with WoodMarvels.com with only 5 projects in 2008 do you know where CNCKing.com would be today? NOWHERE! Either you go full-out of find something else to do. Opportunities are the same – you will be rejected far more than accepted but don’t let that stop you, don’t stop at the 5th door, keep on knocking until it either falls down OR somebody answers next door telling you to cut the racket!
I’ve knocked on some major doors with massive companies asking them for things that others think is unimaginable. I have no fear of asking things, the worst a person or company can say is NO. I’ve seen NO far more than YES but those YES have been MAJOR wins both personally and professionally. When I first saw my future wife, she wanted NOTHING to do with me, I pursued her for 3 months straight before she finally accepted to date me and I told her back then that we’d have a family together. She thought I was crazy but I had my goal and wanted to seed in her mind that I was serious… and you know what – it’s come true!