I wanted to take some time at the close of this year to provide some general business updates, as I have been particularly silent of late in terms of online updates and product releases. I won’t sugarcoat it, this has been a difficult year both for the business as well as for myself personally. I can say without exaggeration that it has been the most challenging year of my professional career (day job), and this took a tremendous toll on me and consequently on the business. I also was confronted by my own limitations a lot more this year. I started this business in my late 20s, and I think I never truly appreciated the degree to which I relied on my natural vitality to balance working all day and managing the business on weekends. The combination of ridiculously long working hours, stress, and the sledgehammer of middle age smashing me squarely in the face proved to be a disastrous combination.
In terms of accomplishments this year, the only true new release we managed was the 3mm Fantasy Undead army. Much of the rest of my time and resources went into acquiring and re-releasing Magister Militum’s 3mm line and trying (and kind of failing) to get the 3D printing side of the business up and running in a way that is scalable.
Acquiring a new range is…so much work. While I did manage to release the Rome and her enemies, there are some holes in the range that will need to be filled. For other ranges, I found there were some odds and ends that need to be re-molded, or re-sculpted, preventing me from releasing the other periods from the existing line. It takes time to organize and clean the masters, decide on how molds should be arranged, line up time with the moldmakers etc…and unfortunately time was short this year.
3D printing…I have a little bit of a love-hate relationship with this technology. As a hobbyist? Pure awesomeness. As a business? So many challenges. Challenges to put it lightly, all of which require time to address. I acquired licenses for a couple of the big Warmaster miniature creators, my goal being to print out an example of each unit to use in pictures for the store so folks could see the quality they would be getting. I didn’t think it was a bad idea…but the time I spent doing this, taking pictures, trying to set up products in the store, testing printers, setting up the enclosures, adjusting for the onset of winter…time just swallowed, gone. Despite all the progress I did make, and all the hurdles I overcame, I am nowhere near finished…and do not truly have very much to show for my efforts.
This has really been the chief theme of this year for me. A general lack of time and an inability to actually solve problems faster than new problems are created. I don’t know what next year will bring. Sales are down, and have been down every year for many years at this point. Competition has never been greater, the obstacles and challenges around international trade have never been greater (and more annoying), many of my costs have skyrocketed to obscene levels.
All I can say to close is that I hope next year is a better one. I would like to thank all of the customers that have supported the store this year and in years past, and I wish you all a Happy New Year.