Possible Business Idea

I have been messing with Graphic Design and stuff for many years now. I made some snake identifiers for myself and wanted to see what everyones opinions are on this as a possible business idea.

I haven't yet printed and put on my rack yet, but will be done soon. I just need to get ink for my printer first along with creating the plastic sticky sleeves. Ok. Enough about that here is the Idea.



Instead of Index cards like most everyone is using, I took pictures of my snake and created this little "card" to put on my rack. It will be printed on a 4X6 Piece of photo paper and then placed in a sleeve that will have 3 pieces of double sided tape on it. When I go to move the snakes around I will take out the respective card and move it over to the other rack with the snake.

I am a former U.S. Marine so I make everything as dummy proof as possible.

My problem is, I would only be able to market this to the individuals with 20+ Snakes

I enjoy seeing things from everyones point of view. How bad will this fail?

I think it could be a good idea. I don't know how profitable it would be, but I would rather have something neat like this than my masking tape with the animal's name and and DOB. You can also market this to breeders of lizards and such too.
You can expand on the idea a bit as well..
I could see you at a show with multiple cards of each animal showing an attractive picture that you can hand out to those interested, or have on display next to the animal. I bet customers would be back if they didn't purchase the animal right away, the card keeping the animal on their mind as they look around. You would certainly stand out a bit as a breeder. You have a couple selling points; not only is it beneficial for adding a professional touch to standard organization, but it is also a great tool for marketing your animals. (just be sure to include business contact on the back or something).
my .02 .

I think some people would like the idea...personally, I wouldn't bother with it.
As it is set up, it contains information that isn't needed cageside...as well as information that will be outdated in the near future.
As far as it being a business venture, would you be making up the photo cards for people? Or creating a program or template for people to purchase?

Originally Posted by Red Eyed Three

I don't know how profitable it would be, but I would rather have something neat like this than my masking tape with the animal's name and and DOB.

I personally am the type that would do stuff for people and not make a ton of money off of them. This is why I am horrible with stuff. I used to spend 4+ hours designing overlays and backgrounds and such for Professional Starcraft 2 players and my make 5-20$ on it. I tend to undercut myself a lot. This is where I am having an issue.

If I market to the small time breeders, which i will have to, I will probably do it for donations (for under 15 cards). Once my "name" gets out and people see these nice things I am making I'm sure I will attract the attention of bigger breeders. At that point I am sure I would have to come up with some type of monetary compensation for my time. Maybe even get my dream snake :P LOL

Originally Posted by Red Eyed Three

You can also market this to breeders of lizards and such too.

Originally Posted by Red Eyed Three

.... beneficial for adding a professional touch to standard organization, but it is also a great tool for marketing your animals. (just be sure to include business contact on the back or something).
my .02 .

Originally Posted by hhmoore

I think some people would like the idea...personally, I wouldn't bother with it.
As it is set up, it contains information that isn't needed cageside...as well as information that will be outdated in the near future.
As far as it being a business venture, would you be making up the photo cards for people? Or creating a program or template for people to purchase?

The ones I would make for others would have information that they want on them. If the breeders want them for shows like Red Eyed Three was talking about then I could see that working. Since I am playing around with this for myself and plan on updating them often I just updated the stuff on them then print another batch. That and if I sell the animal all of the cards will go with them and they can see a decent record. On the back I annotate feedings . I just keep sheds and other stuff on paper.

It sounds labor intensive for the amount of profit you might realize...but it might be fun in the context of being a form of networking and getting your name out there. For a while, that is. I think if you're practically giving them away (my interpretation), you'll end up getting bogged down with it; and potentially put your name at risk if you can't keep up. (Yes, people will trash you for not giving stuff away fast enough, lol.)
On the other hand, if you charge a reasonable amount for your time/effort, people may balk at the cost for fancy cage identifiers. Anybody that's been doing this for more than a few years has seen snake prices plummet, while their costs increase steadily...as such, I see your market being the primarily the newer keepers and "small to medium" level breeders (still on the newer side, though); as they're at a stage where something like this seems like a good idea vs an unnecessary expense.
Obviously, I could be way off on my assessment; but the only way to find out is to give it a whirl...it's not like you have to lay out a bunch of cash to get started. If it doesn't take off - not much lost. If people show an interest, just be careful - some good people have crashed and burned because their businesses took off faster than they could manage - don't undersell, or overbook, yourself.

Yeah. I have seen that happen to people before it stinks. I'm just trying to figure how I can take my skills and make them work to my hobby lol

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I agree that cage cards are more "disposable" to breeders than something people will want to spend money on, especially as the market tanks. IMO (I was a Graphic Designer many, many years ago) design websites for all those FB breeders! I think the FB photo album format is AWFUL for showcasing available livestock.

I like your idea. Truly, but that's something I couldn't bring myself (small breeder for now) to spend money on. There may be a market for this out there but I am not sure how lucrative it would be.

My wife and I have acrylic sliding fronts on the cages and we just write the information on the front with neon dry-erase markers.

I think Harald is on the right path. If you want to give it a shot, there's really little to no cost involved to start up.

I always like original ideas. You seem to be pretty talented with the graphics and have a passion for it, as shown by the time you spent on it. I think its an original and interesting idea. I think there is a solid market for your graphical skills in this hobby. I myself have a project I would like to discuss with you. If you like, send me a message when you get a chance. It's a basic graphical text design.

Thanks and good luck.

I honestly think this is a genius idea. I don't have snakes, but i raise and sell axolotls. This would be a great way to remember everything without even having to remember! If that makes sense.y You could probably do like $1-$3 a card, minimum of 20 and start there. I just started a snake group on Facebook, if you would like to join and ask the few members I've got their opinion feel free to we could also use some more experienced people in the group
Snakes! Pets that slither.