Karen Neugebauer's Page

"I am certainly not in the same league as you guys, having just started an infinitesimal small home based business in a tiny country town south of Sydney, Australia... but I have been awed at the most informative, generous, intelligent and useful…"

"50/50 is the start of a distributor relationship, beware as heading that route with broker fees can get to 70% in heartbeats.  We offer up to 30% and if a retailer wants more we explain that they can upcharge to finish off their margin…"

"Thank you all for the replies there's a lot of information there. With a lot of hard work I'm hoping I will be as successful in my chocolate business. Thank you again Sue "

"Karen;   That was an AWESOME summary.  Thanks for also sharing the pitfalls you've run into.  I've had gift basket companies try the same thing with me, but we have a firm policy in place which mandates the invoice be paid…"

"Pricing can be all over the board so I recommend knowing what margins you can afford to give reasonably and knowing what you want your product to be sold at. Only after that you can begin to set your wholesale prices. I have found that everyone has…"

"Given that I've been seriously considering how I am going to continue expanding my business, I've looked into franchising, dealerships, joint ventures, and strict corporately owned stores.  As such, I've explored many different…"

"While probably a discussion for it's own post I can tell you what we've found.   You need to offer a 50% discount on your retail price, and your total cost of production should be 50% of your wholesale price.  Unless…"

"We are new to the business and have attended at least one event where your products were on display.  While we plan on working the "shows" for awhile longer we do get inquiries about wholesaling from time to time.  The profit…"

"For the most part the only people I know that have been successful with ONLY chocolate are in extremely high trafficked areas. Micheal Rechiutti does chocolate only but he is in the Ferry Building which is the number one tourist stop in SF and 2. he…"

"HI, I think looking at a balance sheet is a bit too simplified when considering the question.  What comes in and out tells you how viable a business is that is up and running but it gives no indication or how viable a new business might be. I…"

"Hi Andrea; Net numbers / Balance Sheets are arbitrary and are a function of accounting principles and tax mitigation practices.  Statements of Cashflow are the best numbers to look at.  What goes in and what goes out every month…"

"Karen; I'm glad I could help.  The whole reason I got into this business was to unveil a lot of the secrets you allude to.  There is enough room in this business for everybody (as long as you stay out of Calgary! …"

"Gross numbers show the sales that you can generate with what you have. It is determined by such things as size, number of locations, employees, location, pricing strategy, marketing, etc. Net numbers are a whole other ball game. A new company can be…"

"Thank you for your support! Wow Dec looks to be huge for you. Are you finding that 30% of your sales come from Dec, Valentines, and easter like Brad mentioned or is it mostly Dec? Yes payroll taxes are a pain and very expensive. We learned that the…"

"Brad, I love the passion that you have. It is nice to converse with someone that has the same passion for what they do as I do. Don't worry, I take everything that is said to heart wether I agree with it or not, because in my business…"

"I've been looking at this post and the replies and am kind of curious if anyone is willing to share their net numbers.  I would think that gross numbers don't really paint a clear picture...   Andrea"