My friend made it. He's a wholesaler of optical frames and sells
these frames to shops here.
He went to China with his optometrist gf, first to HK to source for
designs and twist the designs a little and have factories in China
make them.
Then he goes door-to-door to optical shops here, from the heartland
shops to the heartland malls. His frames are the low range type and
he sells them for around $25 each at a profit of around $15. I did
a quick check and found that the frames with lenses cost around
$170.
Some shops bought 4 frames from him, some bought 12 to 20. It adds
up to hundreds collectively. In the mere 3 months into the
business, he broke even and even made a profit.
His biz is a sole proprietor and he's on currently on a one-man
operation.
He just bought a car and he's roping in a friend/ex-colleague to
help him sell the stuff. The cost of running this biz is minimal as
he runs from a home office.
Eventually, he hopes to employ more salesman and concentrate on the
administrative work.
Is his business model stable? What would be the causes of failure
of his business?