How About a Pheromone Club?

[XSteveO]

Aint it great to not have to setup everything over and over again?

I couldn't agree more with you. I believe the most difficult aspect of this move was realigning the ebb and flow with the added space. With that, it wasn't so much the move itself as it was the continued disarray thus flux of setting it up only to realize it would be most efficient a different way. Now that we have all that, we still have some minor considerations like unpacking non-major components but components all the same. Also have a door to an adjoining office that is like an amplifier for both spaces. Today I am soundproofing and sealing it shut as well as changing out the overheads with LED's

However going back to the original question of setting everything up over and over. As a lab, technically everything is moved and cleaned at the very least monthly. Got to make sure we are operating under cGMP laid out by the FDA, especially now we are moving into some cosmetics. Its exciting but not without trepidation.

One day when all is set up, especially the multi-media studio, I'll do a video on the lab. Be forewarned there will be lots of pixel blurs, enough where it might make the entire production seem like a 80's scrambled cable porn channel. I'll have to get some boom-chika-wow-wow music to go along. OMG I think I just saw a nipple!

[Muestereate]

You blend pheros in the nude??????? OooooKay

[XSteveO]

You blend pheros in the nude??????? OooooKay

Silly muestereate! I said 80's porn not wild kingdom

Blurred to remove the secrets of our lab

[Phaethon]

You blend pheros in the nude??????? OooooKay



Silly muestereate! I said 80's porn not wild kingdom

Blurred to remove the secrets of our lab

[Muestereate]

id din't know they had porn in the eighties, was that those black and white grainy newspaper prints in my dad's toolbox?

[Coconut]

Silly muestereate! I said 80's porn not wild kingdom

Blurred to remove the secrets of our lab

now i know how you create your pheros!

[Tigris]

Woot!!! New videos on the way! Looking forward to the things to come.
At school I was bit by the "film bug" myself. Began to love editing and such. I hope you all can enjoy some of the video work too!

[XSteveO]

So tell me your ideas about how you would expect this to work, please?

[Prettyrickyboi]

I would think something similar to ScentBird.
On the business side of things customers would expect a random surprise of a mone including something thought to be unisexy and something for the gender of that subscription package.
Maybe there could be a VIP subscription box that cost more..or a standard box.
There could also be varying prices depending on how long the person is getting the subscription.
Maybe even times where some of the items in the subscription is just an experimental fragrance or a fragrance many don't purchase much because they simply never tried it (hint I've never had fragrance besides sultan oud)
I think there are a multiple of ways this can be successful.

[Muestereate]

advantage for those unfamiliar with pheromones.

I saw pheros probably decades ago but would not send out that much money for something many people purported to be a scam. How long did I not have the benefit of pheros because of prudent risk aversion? I've done the same thing with colognes with big price tags. I have to pay for cologne samples but I feel they are a better risk because of the lower price point. As a result, I have tried a lot more in the last year since I discovered they could be bought online instead of enduring some snobby young woman at a fragrance counter offering her opinions instead of cultivating my own.

Advantages for XS

My idea evolved out of a small business incubator book, there it laid out the advantages and disadvantages of a club style businesses among many others. Clubs, which are actually an old fashioned concept still have an appeal to some people, a small subset to be sure I admit but not so insignificant that place like chain discount stores and gyms aren't making millions appealing to peoples desire to belong to something a little exclusive. I'm not a club kind of guy by any measure but combined with a steady income stream the idea has been leveraged all the way up to the Apple Iphone, Its exclusive club like use and smashing business successes.

The exclusivity of a club has attractions for the higher classes, the reduction of risk has attractions to the lower classes.

A 2ml sample is worth 8 bucks maybe 10 with extra labor. I was taking into consideration the labor scheduling when I said subscription. When I went with 4 ml I was cutting the labor in half. When you do a subscription you can work in batch and set up for any number of bottles of a single blend. Doing all the blends and any size at any time would defeat the advantages of a subscription model for the company. As far as the consumer, this labor-intensive arrangement would have zero incentive to absorb the shipping costs and suddenly we're back to fifty dollar price point which the subscription is meant to get around. I should have explained the costing originally, I figured it was self-evident.

Those were some earlier thoughts but instead of 4ml I would like to change my idea to 5 ml because packaging supplies are more available. I think a 19.97 initial price point could be done too. This price includes shipping so possibly 24.97. I'm only assuming domestic shipping for one small bottle when I suggest 19.97. When picking out a container, there may be Flat 5 ml sprayers out there instead of round that will fit into a small mailer easier than a round. some shipping is by thickness. I have seen flat bulk mailers shipped to me for about 2.50 instead of 5 but the thickness is restricted. Demeter Fragrance Library uses a flat bottle that may be worth a look into in the future.

Automatic bank draft, That's how income streams are created nowadays and customers love the convenience. Card or routing number draft. 2nd on file to avoid charge backs to XS for the inevitable lost cards and closed accounts. cancelling the subscription should be clean, easy and as dependable as an XS order. nasty reviews when people can't cancel a subscription.

One product a month delivered to each club member, 5 ml but DO allow gender specific subscription. XS picks which product to send, all guys get the same product, all gals the same product, every other month is unisexy, then Everybody gets the same product. Lab only has to package/bottle one or two batches a month and this can be fit anywhere within the month to absorb slack time but are all sent out precisely same day of month and promptly like XS shipping always is. color coded envelopes for internal processing as well as a personal touch?

Advertising is something I have not kept up with, In the past I would say in the back of a magazine but today its all on the web. I'd start with current affiliates obviously but there are a bunch of people on YouTube that do men's fashion and colognes. So many new content creators are out there trying to make a buck pitching someone else's products.

For instance, I subscribe to this guys emails, he affiliates with some custom Italian tailors but also a cologne club, I think one of his clients even sells a beard balm. I think this guy is the best thing since Ron Popiels made for TV adds. I'm sure there are tons of ladies conntent creators out there. So I guess my first thoughts on advertising would be fashion web based content creators.

That's my ideas for now,

[XSteveO]

Loved Ron Popiel. Set it and forget ot

[Coconut]

advantage for those unfamiliar with pheromones.



Advantages for XS


The exclusivity of a club has attractions for the higher classes, the reduction of risk has attractions to the lower classes.




Those were some earlier thoughts but instead of 4ml I would like to change my idea to 5 ml because packaging supplies are more available. I think a 19.97 initial price point could be done too. This price includes shipping so possibly 24.97. I'm only assuming domestic shipping for one small bottle when I suggest 19.97. When picking out a container, there may be Flat 5 ml sprayers out there instead of round that will fit into a small mailer easier than a round. some shipping is by thickness. I have seen flat bulk mailers shipped to me for about 2.50 instead of 5 but the thickness is restricted. Demeter Fragrance Library uses a flat bottle that may be worth a look into in the future.

Automatic bank draft, That's how income streams are created nowadays and customers love the convenience. Card or routing number draft. 2nd on file to avoid charge backs to XS for the inevitable lost cards and closed accounts. cancelling the subscription should be clean, easy and as dependable as an XS order. nasty reviews when people can't cancel a subscription.

One product a month delivered to each club member, 5 ml but DO allow gender specific subscription. XS picks which product to send, all guys get the same product, all gals the same product, every other month is unisexy, then Everybody gets the same product. Lab only has to package/bottle one or two batches a month and this can be fit anywhere within the month to absorb slack time but are all sent out precisely same day of month and promptly like XS shipping always is. color coded envelopes for internal processing as well as a personal touch?

Advertising is something I have not kept up with, In the past I would say in the back of a magazine but today its all on the web. I'd start with current affiliates obviously but there are a bunch of people on YouTube that do men's fashion and colognes. So many new content creators are out there trying to make a buck pitching someone else's products.

For instance, I subscribe to this guys emails, he affiliates with some custom Italian tailors but also a cologne club, I think one of his clients even sells a beard balm. I think this guy is the best thing since Ron Popiels made for TV adds. I'm sure there are tons of ladies conntent creators out there. So I guess my first thoughts on advertising would be fashion web based content creators.

That's my ideas for now,

i prefer the sharp

[Muestereate]

My favorite part on the first video when he says, "so you can own the room." I already do that with pheromones but often it takes 20 minutes whereas clothing visual appeal is a faster hit.

[Harrisalexis90]

I would be open to a little subscription thing if plausible. nothing too expensive. and XSteveO how are new products made? is it something you consistently work on or something you set specific time aside to do?

[XSteveO]

We've been working on it for a while and already have a plan similar in options to what is being proposed. I do like the idea of adding Gender to it, which wasn't thought about on my end. I think my biggest challenge was the shipping aspect of it, but now with great rates from FedEx we might be able to do something here.

[Muestereate]

I met a girl(SOB Crush) that was Doing ebay jewelry in a small mailer for under $3, I loooked into it and it has a thickness restriction, it was USPS hence the flat bottle idea.

[Prettyrickyboi]

I also agree with the all men and all women receive the same packages. Quite honestly some may want to subscribe to both..maybe an option there to for a discount. But I think this opens the door for forum discussion on the monthly boxes. Which should stimulate more excitement and the want for inclusion by lurkers.

[Muestereate]

I had just meant for them to get the same products on Unisexy months. As long as these blends have the word pheromones attached to them, sex is going to be in the customers goals. I guess a woman could order a mans package but I'm not so sure it needs to be included with the club idea. The club will draw them to the forum and the website where they can buy full size and if they participate in the forum discounted products.

This brings me to a snag I hadn't thought of. Surely XS couldn't carry forum discounts into this. The extra labor and postage is already eating into the profits. Not all of us have hefty discounts that's true. How, should or could club membership intersect with discounts? How about club membership gives an additional discount on top of lifetime? say another 3 percent but it is not a life time discount but it only applies if you are a club member? you drop club, you lose the discount. I'm just brainstorming but 30 percent off a 20 dollar membership would be 6 dollars off. My average order is 200 dollars, push the discount forward onto regular orders and 3 percent of 200 is six dollars.

[manover84]

I definitely like the idea of this, maybe a test blend mystery box?

[Muestereate]

A test blend researchers subscription? A mystery molecule? Since I have most of the primary blends already this would appeal to me personally. Male subscriptions, Female Subscriptions and researches subscriptions. 3 intead of two. I'd suggest keeping it simple but this definetley appeals to me. When this idea came to me it was to broaden the reach of pheromones to the general public. Three would be more work than just two sets of packages going out the door but something geared towards us might even get off to a better start since the customer base is already here.

[Prettyrickyboi]

A test blend researchers subscription? A mystery molecule? Since I have most of the primary blends already this would appeal to me personally. Male subscriptions, Female Subscriptions and researches subscriptions. 3 intead of two. I'd suggest keeping it simple but this definetley appeals to me. When this idea came to me it was to broaden the reach of pheromones to the general public. Three would be more work than just two sets of packages going out the door but something geared towards us might even get off to a better start since the customer base is already here.

I like the idea of a test blend subscription. It would serve a dual purpose, we love receiving pheromones and XS would have access to a broader test group all the molecules that haven't been able to be tested on a grand scale yet. I see a few new staple blends and products coming from this. I mean what other company would have certifiable test results like this on the products from hundreds of people before they went to the main site? I would also include some type of patent or something special to make XS subscription box for pheromones something just any other company can't do..unless they pay up. Depending on how successful my family would be willing to pitch in time in my converted garage getting subscriptions shipped out, just as something to help with our new places rent for really cheap. XSteveO *Kanye shrug*

[drlove]

@Muestereate interesting idea @SteveO congrats on the upgrade - videos so far have had great production quality