Episode #7: Finding Quality Sample Makers For Plush, Paper, and Plastics
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Have you ever gone to a product pitch meeting with a less than perfect prototype? Did you ever have an excellent concept fall flat because a prototype failed to capture the hearts of your audience?
In order to present your toy product to potential investors, buyers, or licensors, you will first need to produce a prototype. The quality of the prototype you present is going to have a direct effect on the perceived value of your product. It's important that the quality of your prototype adequately reflects the suggested retail price for your item.
You don't want to find yourself in a meeting with a poorly made prototype that does not speak to your audience. If you don't currently have a resource list of sample makers, then this is the perfect episode for you. In this episode, The Toy Coach breaks down a step by step process to help you find, vet, and hire your perfect sample maker for plush, paper, and plastic products. You will also be introduced to an online resource for quickly printing high quality 3D prototypes.
Whether you have a final design and spec sheet already to go, or if you're still trying to finalize some design elements, this episode is full of useful and actionable information to get you moving in the right direction. Ready to dive in?
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This episode is brought to you by thetoycoach.com
Budget Print Center Bloomfield, NJ - www.yelp.com/biz/budget-print-of-bloomfield-bloomfield
Shapeways - www.shapeways.com/
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Azhelle (00:00): You are listening to Making It In The Toy Industry. Episode number seven, Jingle + Intro/Outtro (00:06): welcome to making it in the toy industry podcast for inventors, entrepreneurs like you and now your host Azhelle Wade. Azhelle (00:17): Hey there, toy people a gel Wade here and welcome back to another episode of making it in the toy industry. This is a weekly podcast brought to you by the toy coach.com so for today's episode, as promised back in episode four, I am going to talk to you guys about how to find that and hire the perfect sample maker to help you bring your toy ideas to life with a prototype or maybe even roll out your first round of pre production or maybe even production samples if you're going to go with a small run, a 50 to maybe a hundred pieces. So since the materials that toys are made a vary so greatly, we're going to touch a few categories today from plush to games to plastics. I'm going to introduce you to a resource for model makers and also break down my grassroots approach to finding and hiring independent contractors that you can utilize for sample making and even limited production runs. Azhelle (01:25): Now, depending on the types of toys that you're trying to make and how many you're trying to make, all of her needs here are going to be different. So here's what we'll cover. We're going to cover finding, vetting, hiring, plush sample makers, plastic sample makers, and printing houses, willing to work with you to build a sample of your toy or game ideas. To get started, I want to talk about a marketing and advertising rule. It's known as the unattainable triangle. Have you ever heard of it? Well, each point of the triangle refers to a type of service. Those are good, fast and cheap. Those are the three points of this triangle. So the marketing and advertising rules States that a service can only offer two of those appoints never all three. I want you to keep that in mind as we go over these methods. Azhelle (02:22): And I'm going to break down for you to find vet and hire your perfect sample maker and know that they're going to follow these rules as well as you listen to this episode. Remind yourself of these three points. One bast and good service won't be cheap, too good and cheap service won't be fast and three, fast and cheap service won't be good. And if you keep those points in mind and apply the tips that I'm going to break down today, you'll be sure to find the right sample maker to fit your needs. Okay, so first let's start with those of you who are looking to make a plush or a wood toy sample. Now let's break down how to hire an independent contractor for sample making. So first things first, you're probably wondering, how do I find these people? So the best way, and it's simple, and you may think it sounds a little grassroots, but you're gonna post an ad on a job site. Azhelle (03:25): So I recommend and have used sites like Craigslist and indeed with excellent results. Now. I used Craigslist back in the day when it was a free service and still met an excellent sample maker that I still use to this day. But today Craigslist is even better because you can't post to the site unless you pay a fee. So back a few episodes ago, I told you guys about my first business, customize me this entire system that I'm going to break down for you and apply to toy products. I actually initially used to find vet and hire seamstresses to help me produce costumes, me's very first line and I had excellent results. I use this system again later on when I needed to hire people to help me with trade show exhibitions. And honestly I applied some points of the system when I was building out a job description and the interview process for the people I hired to be a part of my team at my full time job. Azhelle (04:30): Okay, so let's get into it. The first thing you're going to need to come up with is the headline for your job. Posting. The headline is extremely important. Before potential contractor or seem stressor or wood maker can even get excited about your project, you're going to have to win their click with an intriguing headline. All right, so how do we do that? Now I love to read. Well, I love to listen to audio books. I drive a lot. I don't have a ton of time to read, so I listened to a lot of audio books. So now I'm going to teach you how to write an engaging headline by sharing knowledge that I've actually learned from a book called the art of click. I'm going to give you a link in the show notes, but you can also go to the toy coach.com click on the link for what I'm reading to get a direct link to where you can buy this book or the audio book on Amazon. Azhelle (05:26): Okay, so let's, let's get into thinking about how we're going to write this headline for our job posts. We want to make sure it's clickable and exciting. We want, we want the best of the best to click on and want to take part in our project. Now the first thing you need to know is a great headline should follow the four use, the four use are urgent, useful, unique and ultra specific. Urgent is going to be words like today. Now instantly useful is for us in our going to be something like seamstress or sewing contractor or wood maker. Unique is going to be something to describe your toy company, so maybe it's educational toy company or plush toy company. Ultra specific is going to be something like excellent or experienced seamstress and something that calls to the skill quality of the person that you're looking for. Azhelle (06:22):So following this for you rule, our headline is going to be long, but it will also be filled with all of the information that a job Hunter is going to need to make the very first choice of if a job is right for them, even enough just for them to click on it and learn more about it. So using those for use, you might come up with a title that looks something like this. Excellent seamstress or so in contractor needed. Now for plush toy company, you see that's a great headline. It tells exactly the name, the title that you're looking to hire for when you need them and what kind of company you are. So they have an idea of what kind of product they will be expected to create. All of that information is communicated before they even click on your job posting. Okay, so your next step after you have an excellent headline that follows the four gues from the book that you're going to go to the toy coach.com to learn more about you want to write out your job description. Azhelle (07:25): First things first, you want to open with something really friendly because you're a small business and you're looking to work with a person who's open to working with small businesses. You want to have a friendly rapport, so you open with a greeting and a quick explanation for that type of seamstress that you're looking for and what kind of experience they need to have. So what your posts should say. You want to have a catchy title, a warm opening, and mention all of the most important points in succession from the most important being listed. First you want to stress words like excellent and expert to just weed out anyone who's unsure of their own skillset. Believe me, the masters know their masters. So I want togive you a quick example for what something for an opening might look like. You might say something like, hello, I'm looking for a sewing contractor, seamstress or wood maker with excellent sewing skills and experience with sewing plush dolls from spandex fabric. Azhelle (08:29): Okay. After you have your opening and you've been specific about the job, warm and friendly, it's time to get specific about the location. So remember while you may be posting your job on the New York section of Craigslist or to the New York location on indeed that still doesn't really control who can see it. People from out-of-state may be desperate for a job, could definitely be pulling down a tab and looking at another city's postings. So the next thing you want to specify is the importance of location. So I might continue this post and say something like, you must be located in New Jersey or Pennsylvania to be a drivable distance for me to review the product and bring materials to you. So that's a statement. It's going to weed people out. That may be were thinking, Oh, maybe I can do this work remotely and let them know that that's not an option. Azhelle (09:20): So after you've specified the job, the location, it's time to get down to the specifics of the project. In this section, you're going to want to specify exactly how many finished pieces are going to be expected at the completion of this project. We're kind of looking at this from two ways, right? You might be looking to hire someone just to make a prototype, but you also might be looking to hire someone to create 50 to a hundred pieces that you might take to a trade show. If you're looking for help with developing your pattern, your prototype, this could be three to five rounds of finished samples before you reach the one that you love and you're going to need to list that expectation in your job post. Now if the job you're posting is for a small limited domestic production run, then this is where you're also going to list the number of finished plush characters, the size of the character and the number of pattern pieces. Azhelle (10:21): Details like this will help potential candidates know if they have the right tools and experience to take on the job. Don't forget to specify what tools you will provide and what they must provide at their own expense. Now finally, you're going to want to talk timeline. You're going to state this part simply, concisely and on one separate line so it can't be missed. Do not allow for a window here. You need to be firm with your deadlines, so you're only getting candidates who are really available in that timeframe. An example of this would be you just write a simple line timeline for completion, two weeks, beginning X date and ending with the delivered goods on X date. So after you have your project explained and your timeline written, it is time to talk about rates. You should really go into this with a firm price in mind. Azhelle (11:20): If you aren't sure what the project should cost, you can do some digging online, go on the opposite side of Craigslist and see people who are posting their services and what they're offering for similar jobs. And you can use that as a guide to help you determine what you're going to offer for your projects and just put up your initial posting and see how people respond. Their responses will be a great way for you to learn. So now let's talk about how to structure the rates of your project. So if you're not sure how to structure the pay rate for project, here's a little bit of guidance. There's going to be two structures you can go with. You can either have a flat project fee or you can pay them per piece. Now if you're looking for someone to help you develop a pattern, you know, finalize fabrics and just like work on a prototype and get out all the fine kinks that is going to be a single project, flat fee pricing structure. Azhelle (12:17): But if you're hiring someone to roll out, let's say 20 to a hundred copies of the same piece, utilizing the same patterns but maybe changing fabrics here and there, you're going to be able to negotiate for a lower price and you're going to need to give them a per price piece. Now, this is under the assumption that you come to your seamstress or your wood maker or pattern maker, whoever you end up with with a finished and perfect either pattern or completely designed product with all of the fabrics needed and either a really specific spec sheet or drawing of the final product to go along with a pattern or a sample. If let's say it's a wood product that's so good that they can just copy it one to one. Okay. Now that I just mentioned spec sheets, I want to stop and talk about including spec sheets and images in your job posting. Azhelle (13:13): So ideally for the most accurate project quotes and the most worthwhile responses, you should have a completed spec sheet and or image of a finished sample of your product prepared to post along with your job listing. I strongly suggest that you post a sketch of the product or a picture of a handmade sample or a spec sheet to your job posting to help potential candidates understand if this is a job they can take on. Now you may be worried about protecting your product and you may feel like you can't upload it online. Otherwise anyone can take in, anyone can use it. But there are a couple of things you can do. So let's say you're uploading a spec drawing, you can take out a ton of information from the spec drawing while leaving the bones of what makes the product complicated or explains how it's put together. Azhelle (14:09): So if you want to go for this approach, just remove anything proprietary from your spec sheet. Anything that calls out the features may be special fabrics that are uncommon and just leave the bare bones, what the seamstress will need, how many pattern pieces the size, how things should be sewn together, whatever they need to cost the product, minus any of your proprietary information. That is still enough information to give the seamstress so they can give you a fair quote or they can compare the quote that you're giving them and see if it's workable. Another thing you can do is you can put a password protected link on your job posting and say something like approved candidates will be given the password to view the project in detail here. If you still don't feel comfortable with the idea of sharing your concept online, you can always do something a little bit different. Azhelle (15:05): You can go on Google, go on Alibaba, go over. You need to go to find a similar item. Maybe it looks different but it has similar mechanisms or it has similar features or similar shapes or maybe it has just as many pattern pieces or it's just as complicated as your project and you can post that along with your job posting and say the project details will be made available to the ideal candidate only. This is an example image of the kind of work that you will be expected to complete. All right. Now finally you're at the point where you are going to close out your job post and ask the viewer to contact you for more information. So here's where you're going to ask them to share their resume images of their work and their experience with you. If they have made it this far down your job posting. Azhelle (15:56): Not only are they interested and not only are they capable, but they are fully engaged and they are reading all the information that you're putting down and that's a great sign. Now, if you've ever applied for a job yourself, you know that there's usually a section at the very bottom listing the minimum qualifications for the role. Now you definitely want to have this, this is to weed out non desirable applicants and draw the attention of the true professionals, the competitive ones, the best of the best. Who will look at this list as a checklist. I want to Mark off that they've got what it takes. Okay, so after you've posted this job posting and it's been up for honestly even an hour or two, you're going to start seeing some applications rolling in. And now that your inbox is flooded with dozens of great applicants, you have got to go through them all, weed out the good and the bad, and maybe even make a chart with pros and cons of each applicant. Azhelle (16:59): Now, the next step is going to feel a little uncomfortable at first, but I'm telling you this is the most important part to hiring a partner to work with. Do not, and I repeat, do not skip this step. You are going to need to schedule a Skype or phone interview with at least three to six candidates that you see would be great matches for your project. Come prepared to this call with a list of questions ready to ask them. You want to find out as much information as you can. So now I'm going to give you guys 10 key questions to get you started. You can change these questions around to apply to a plush manufacturer or wood manufacturer or any other toy game idea that you're going to try to find a sample maker for question number one, you're going to pick a project in advance from their portfolio and ask them how long it took them to complete it. Azhelle (18:04): Question number two for a project like the one that you aren't giving them, ask them to gauge how long they think it will take. Now, yes. This is kind of a trick question because your job post has already listed how long the project should take, but sometimes when people are nervous or they aren't really that prepared, they might forget what the initial job posting said and you might get a truer answer from them. You can follow that question up with how many people are going to work with them to help them finish it on time. If their first answer would take too long, are they going to have family and friends help or is this a more established seamstress? With a studio you're going to have to determine what you feel comfortable with and I would just suggest you ask as many questions as you can because I don't want you to be surprised if you find out toward the end of the cycle that somebodies nieces or nephew was helping you finish your toy. Azhelle (18:59): Question number three, ask what machines they have. You're going to need to do your own research to make sure that the answers that you're getting back are valid, but basic questions like what machines do you use for spandex material and why are questions that are going to lead to answers. That will really tell you if you're dealing with a pro or not. Now, even if you don't understand the things that they're saying in the moment, maybe they get really technical and you don't really know what they're talking about. Take notes, ask them to repeat things, maybe spell things out for you so that you can go back when you're done with the interview and research it and find out how true or how much of a pro this person really is. Question number four if they haven't already sent this to you, request an image of their studio and you want to have it be an image with them in it to verify the studio space of they're showing you and the person they are talking to are really connected. Azhelle (19:55): I mean we have to be Frank. You're dealing with someone online whom you don't know, so you should gather as much information about them as they're willing to give and you're going to have to determine if someone is willing to give that information. If that's really a partner you should be working with. Question number five, do they smoke? Now I'm not saying that you should hold back a project from someone just because they choose to smoke, but I have to tell you, you know from experience and research that if you are working on a plush project, therefore you're working with fabrics. You do not want a sample maker who is smoking regardless of if they say the smoke never goes into a certain room or they smoke in a separate section of the house. Smoking in the home is a no go. It is definitely going to get into your fabric and I mean there's really very little they can do to avoid that regardless of what they might tell you to try to land the job. Azhelle (20:55): Number six, how far is their studio or home office from their kitchen? This is another smell issue. I mean it is an important one. You don't want any unwanted smells getting into your fabric of your toys, especially if this is a small production run and you think you might sell these items later. Question number seven, ask them if they're willing to sign an NDA. I often like to get this out in the first interview. I want to make sure that they're comfortable with it and that they've heard it before. You can kind of gauge how much of a professional they are with this question and they might even ask you to send them a copy to review or you might just offer it up on your own. Either way, it's good to get this out in the open. Make sure everybody's okay. Comfortable with the form of NDA that you have that for them to sign. Azhelle (21:46): Question number eight, how are they normally paid? Are they comfortable with PayPal? If that's your preferred method of payment or do they prefer something else? Question number nine, what hours do they work? What hours will they be working on your project? So you want to know when you can communicate with them throughout the process, what days and times can pickups be arranged? For example, question number 10 references, references, references. You definitely want to ask someone that you have not met before for as many references as you can. I would suggest anywhere between one and three references, professional references, not personal references would be ideal. So if earlier in the conversation they gave you a list of places or brands that they did work for, ask for those specific places and brands. Contact information, email address, phone number so you can get references. Again, those conversations might be a little bit uncomfortable at first, but this is amazing experience for you and it is going to benefit you so much in the long run. Azhelle (22:56): Now I want you to remember to take detailed notes of all of the answers of the people you interview and take notes of the thoughts you had while speaking to them about their work ethic, abilities, and studio space. You're going to want all pros and cons out on paper so you can review later. Now at this point, say you've interviewed six people and you've decided four of those people aren't the best fit for you and you're not going to want to go forward with them. Make sure you send them a quick note, a quick email or phone call telling them that, thank you for your time. It was a lovely interview, but I've chosen to go in another direction with this particular project. Once you've weeded out let's say four people and you've got two left, you're going to move on to the final stage, which is the test project. So before you start to work with any independent contractor that you're going to find online, you should give them a test project. You should ideally visit the studio in person to give the very first project to them. Azhelle (24:00): But if you can't or if you really don't feel comfortable, you can mail it to them. Explain the project the same way that you would explain your main project, give them the fabric needed and a timeline. There is definitely going to be a fee for this test, so make sure you both agree on that before sending it over to them. Make sure you assign a due date, send them a returning mailing label and wait for your test. Once you get back and review the sample, you've got to be extremely picky. You can look at the seams, try to tear it apart, see, see how well it's put together, how well it's stuffed, if it's a plusher making or how smooth the edges are. If it's a wooden toy, once you review, approve your samples, make notes on each seamstress, you're definitely gonna want to send a note either saying, yes, I would love to work with you, or no, I've decided to go in a different direction for this project, but maybe they're a good partner and you'll keep them in mind for future work. Azhelle (25:00): Never remember to prepare a work agreement just as you would when working with a factory overseas. In this agreement. Just specify what will happen if your fabric or your product is damaged while in the care of your independent contractor or what if it gets lost in the process of shipping. So who is going to take on that financial responsibility? You need to specify what happens if work is delivered late or incorrectly or if it's of poor quality, what level of mistakes are acceptable, if any, how many iterations or changes of a concept are acceptable within the scope of the initial project fee before you agree to work together, you've got to iron all these details out and I would recommend getting them in writing. Okay, well that was our super in depth look at how to get grassroots when you have no resources and you're looking to hire an independent contractor, seamstress or wood maker to help make a sample of your toy product. Azhelle (26:08): We focused on indeed and Craigslist, but that step by step I just gave you can definitely be utilized on other resources like college, job boards, design job websites and even mommy groups. She may be a part of what's important is to remember the process and remind yourself not to rush through the interview or the very important test phase. Okay, so next up let's talk about those of you that are making a mostly paper sample. Maybe it's a game. All right, so we're going to dive in and talk about how to utilize local print shops to bring your games to life. Now if you were part of the plush or wood category, I don't want to lose you yet because you might be able to use this information if you need to make hang tags or packaging or things like that. So listen on now if your concept is a game or a paper product comprised mostly of paper pieces, you are going to be on the lookout for printer. Azhelle (27:11): What will really benefit you at this early stage is to find small privately owned, potentially family run businesses. You can find these on Yelp and Google pretty easily. You want to seek out local budget friendly print shops that can produce what you want and who will be excited to work on something fun and new. Now the steps will be a little bit different here since you're likely dealing with a busy business that has many other clients. But step number one is going to be to prepare your files and samples for a visit to the print shop. So once you've done your Google and your Yelp searching and you've found let's say like three to six local print shops that might be able to take on your project, you want to plan a day to visit them, try your very best to head to the print shops on their slowest days. Azhelle (28:03): You can find that information out on Google pretty easily, which they're the slowest, but you want to go and things are calmest. So you'll be sure to get as much focus as possible from the employees or maybe if you're lucky, the owner. Now, when I first started my first business, I needed hang tags, catalogs, postcards and business cards printed. My quantities were extremely low. I'm talking like 50 pieces each and all of the online resources that I'd found had such high MOQ that I just couldn't manage it financially and anyone that was willing to do 50 pieces was charging such a premium that it really just didn't make any sense. So I discovered a local budget friendly print shop in Bloomfield, New Jersey, and for anyone in the New Jersey, New York area, this might benefit you. That print shop was called budget print center and they took my order in stride. Azhelle (29:00): I went there with my files on a USB, a sample that I think I had made at staples or maybe with a home printer. And I explained to them what I needed and how many pieces I needed and they were happy to help. So I want to show you guys that reaching out to a local printer can really help benefit you. You'll be able to form relationships and you'll get some hands on experience that you won't get if you send your files to like an online print service. So once you have your files prepared, maybe on a USB or maybe you've emailed them to yourself so you can email them directly to the print shop. When you get there, you're going to head over to the shop. Like I said, on their slowest day, you should make sure that you come prepared with at least mock up. Azhelle (29:42): It doesn't even have to be full scale or in the right material. Just something to show what it's supposed to look like when it's complete. So you take your project files and your sample and head over to one of the print shops on your list. Make friends with someone at the front desk and explain your project, show your sample and ask to get a quote. It's that easy. The benefit of going in person is building a rapport, seeing the quality of the papers that they have to offer and purchasing a sample print on the spot that you can usually take home the same day to compare to any other shops you may find or visit. Now, I would suggest leaving behind your card to help whomever you met to remember you and your project in case you do work with them in the future. Now make sure you jot down all of the names of the people that you speak with, especially the person who gave you your first quote. Azhelle (30:37): When you come back, if you come back to the specific print shop, you're going to want to be able to lead the email or the phone call with, Hey, I spoke with Mike and he told me it wasX , Y, Z. So when you go back to your home or your studio after a full day of visiting print shops, you're going to want to review the quality of each of the print samples that you purchased or gathered. Review the pricing and quotes that they gave you. Consider the ease of traveling to each location and how willing that they appear to be to take on your job. With smaller print runs, there's usually a huge cost savings if you can at least double up on your quantities, especially when requesting specific dye cuts, thicker papers or even special effects. So you really want to consider ordering just a bit more whenever possible. Azhelle (31:25): It'll usually save you up bunch. Now just like earlier when I outlined how to seek out an independent contractor, I'm going to recommend that you get a test sample printed before you place a larger order. Now you may have already done this as you are visiting the print shops, but if they weren't able to print a sample on the spot, you're going to definitely want to see a sample of your project printed on the right paper with as many special effects that they can do in house. Likely if your project needs like foil or embossing, the small print shop will usually send out for those effects and can't just do one or two pieces of them. But you can ask for a print on paper closest to what the finished product will be and you can also ask to have samples of other projects that maybe they've previously done with similar special effect finishes, so you can reference that against your own sample. Azhelle (32:21): Now, once you've compared all of the print shops and all of their samples, you've made your decision. It's as simple as submitting your job to your chosen company. Some of these smaller companies conduct their jobs via email, some via phone, and more and more starting to build online forms. Whatever the process is, make sure you follow up with a phone call as soon as your job is submitted, jazz to let them know that you're available to answer any questions that may come through. All right, now keep in mind how you can use these print shops. You can utilize them to just make one or two super high quality versions of your game and that high quality version you could bring to trade shows or you can send to China as a sample reference or even to a U S or Canadian factory as a sample reference to match for quality. Azhelle (33:15): Or if the print shop that you find themselves are really cost effective, maybe you can utilize them to do a small run for let's say a Kickstarter campaign or a flash sale on your website or a pop up trade booth. Sure, the cost will be higher, but if your aim is quality control and just to get your product out there fast, you can make it happen by working with independent print shops like these. Okay. There's one thing I didn't touch in this section and that's because we're talking about this as if you're producing a game like a card game concept, but what of your toy is like a pop up card or just some sort of paper based craft? Well, you might need to find more of an art studio design house. Now likely these places are going to charge you by sheet. Now that means it's a flat rate for about 50 inches by let's say 50 inches in space, and they've got machines that are going to print your artwork and automatically die cut whatever will fit into that space. Azhelle (34:20): Now their minimums may be a bit higher. Usually it's a rate minimum, not a quantity, and their timelines are going to be longer because their client list is quite large, but there'll be your best bet so you're not sitting at home for weekends on end before a trade show with bandaged fingertips and an Exacto blade. So definitely try to research some art studio design houses if you're doing a more complicated paper-based toy product. And finally we're going to talk about those of you who are looking to make a toy sample. That's mostly plastic. Okay, so let's dive in. How to get a three D print made of your toy. So if your innovative toy idea is mostly plastic, like an action figure or fashion doll or maybe activity desk, I'm going to point you in the direction of Shapeways to get this project done. Shapeways is a massive three D printing marketplace and service. Azhelle (35:19): shapeways.com has a library that is full of existing games, toys, puzzles, figures, and just so much more. You can print existing items in a range of materials, not just plastic, or you can upload your own custom 3d file for printing, so don't worry about the link. I'm going to include all of that in the show notes. Now before you head over to shapeways.com you'll need to have a three D file of your design completed by 3d designer. Now 3d files are not illustrations. They are not Photoshop renders and they are not the same as vector drawings. These are files that are made up in programs like three D studio max, Maya blender fusion, three 60 or solid works just to name a few. Now Shapeways accepts a variety of file types from D a E O B J S T L X three D X three D B. Azhelle (36:15): And if it sounds like I'm speaking another language to you, don't worry too much about it. But if you do know anything about three D modeling, just know that Shapeways also allows you to upload textures via zip files where you can upload your object files, but also your texture files along with it. Now if you're feeling a little overwhelmed, take a deep breath. Don't worry. You can find a 3d designer online pretty easily and they will know exactly how to prepare your files for a website like Shapeways. Now once you have your 3d file ready and approved and one of the formats I've mentioned before, you'll head over to shapeways.com click upload a three D model and upload your file. Now what's great about Shapeways, I know I open this section talking about if you need to create a plastic toy, but what's actually a great thing about Shapeways are the variety of materials that you can print in. Azhelle (37:14): There are multiple types of plastic, yes, with varying flexibilities and detail capabilities, but there's also many options for things like steel, copper, brass, bronze, sandstone, platinum, aluminum, and even gold. Price ranges are going to greatly vary depending on the material that you select and the detail and size of your model. So to give you guys a rough cost estimate, I threw in a pretty heavily detailed model of a peach. I put it at a two inch by two inch size, and the cost ranges from $24 for a plastic model [inaudible] $200 for steel and all the way to $67,000 in gold. And now I can't help but wonder if the Uber rich get ridiculous things printed in gold on Shapeways. But no, that's, that is not why we're here. Let's stay focused. So the great thing about Shapeways is that you can order all of the different parts of your toy and whatever material will work best for it. Azhelle (38:20): So if you want to build a full action figure that you can snap together, you can do that. And Shapeways will even paint and color the pieces as needed. But of course all at a cost. Now, yes, there are other three D resources that you can find and use to make your plastic toy prototype samples. And yes, they might be more affordable. But Shapeways is industry known as a reliable partner of three D printed models in a large variety of materials. Remember that marketing rule, the unattainable triangle from earlier in the podcast, one fast and good service won't be cheap to good and cheap service won't be fast and three, fast and cheap service won't be good. Well, Shapeways is fast and good service, so you do have to pay for those benefits. So I will leave a link to Shapeways in the show notes for those of you that are interested in giving this resource a try. Azhelle (39:21): Now, if you haven't noticed by now, there are a lot of things that go into being successful in this business. One of those things is your contacts. So creating a list of quality and more importantly reliable sample makers, print shops, three D printers, et cetera, is gonna be a huge resource for you as a business owner. Every big toy company has their go to place or person for specific services. So you should be no different as an entrepreneur you already have so much to worry about. And as an inventor, your mind should be filled with new ideas, not stress. So finding a new contractor or sample maker every time you have a new concept should not be something that's weighing on your mind. So hopefully with the help of this episode, you can efficiently and effectively that out the cream of the crop and find the perfect team member to benefit you on your journey. Azhelle (40:26): Interviewing people can be time consuming and exhausting, but I promise you it is so worth it. The more work you do now, the less you'll have to do later. Just trust me. Now, some of these processes and methods may seem unconventional or time consuming or a little expensive, but they are going to allow you to really maintain creative control and be picky about the quality of your first sample or maybe even your first short domestic production run. So I hope this episode inspired you and fired you up as I've given you a small list to help build up your potential partners. I want to take a moment and personally thank you all for listening to the making it in the toy industry podcast. Before you go. Please leave us a review on iTunes. I would love to read your feedback to help guide future episodes. Azhelle (41:23): Thank you so much for the wonderful messages on LinkedIn and on Instagram. It's been great getting to talk to you. Some of you, and if you haven't already subscribed to this, I would like to ask you to do that right now because I don't want you to miss an episode. We've got a ton of great information coming out here now come back next week on Wednesday for our next episode, and if you need a reminder for that episode or if you want to know what it's going to be about before anyone else, I'm going to suggest that you join our email list, the toy coach insiders. You can do that by visiting the toy coach.com scrolling all the way down to the bottom and entering your email. Then clicking subscribe and start learning today. Until next week, I'll see you later. Toy people. Jingle + Intro/Outtro (42:15): Thanks for listening to making it in the toy industry, podcasts with Azhelle Wade. Head over to thetoycoach.com for more information, tips, and advice.
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