E-cigarette business?

[Mangyhyena]

I've been wracking my brain for a way to make money from home, or an RV when I travel. It doesn't have to make very much as my bills are extremely low. And, I need to begin building a business of some type now if I expect to get rid of my regular job at some later point. Whatever I do, I need to know I'm providing something useful, something that will make people's lives better in some way. I couldn't stand the idea of offering something I didn't believe in wholeheartedly.

I recently found something I know works and makes life better, at least for me. I've been 2 weeks without a cigarette and I have suffered almost no withdraw or discomfort. My mother has been over a year without them and my brother is just over a month. We did it by switching to vaping e-cigarettes. I smoked over a pack per day for over 20 years and I had tried just about every quit-smoking product--gum, patch, chantex-- with no success. Vaping makes quitting tobacco unbelievably easy. I plan to keep reducing the nicotine level of each successive batch of e-juice until I get the nicotine level down to zero. Should take about a year to get there, doing it slowly so it remains easy and pain-free. Also, vaping is much, much cheaper than smoking. Lastly, there are only four ingrediants in e-juice; nicotine propylene glycol, vegetable glycol, and flavoring. All but the nicotine are food products. Compared to the thousand plus chemicals in cigarette tobacco, vaping offers a less destructive alternative to smoking, in my opinion.

I think I could happily tell people all about vaping. I did a lot of research on it before I started and found it could be a bit confusing. Buying off the Internet, there wasn't much in the way of instruction to get started.

That's where I see a small business opportunity. I figure that most smokers don't know much about vaping e-cigarettes. If they had a local distributor who could show them how the equipment works, let them sample it, and provide replacement parts, accessories, and e-juice, people new to vaping might have an easier time making the switch. And, being local means they could order what they need and get it the same day with no shipping charge, unlike ordering off the net. Like I said, there is a bit to learn when first getting going, but it would be much easier with someone to show them and answer their questions.

I found the place to order the equipment in bulk straight from the manufacturer. I was thinking I could sell locally, for the most part, though I'm sure I would set up a web page as well. I also like the idea of recurring revenue from e-juice and replacement parts.

So, any ideas for how to sell locally? I thought of the Tupperware parties they used to throw as a way to demonstrate & sell the e-cigarettes. Also, there must be some way to use Craigslist as well.

A couple of things. I can not legally advertise e-cigs as a stop-smoking product, only an alternative to smoking. The FDA doesn't allow anyone to advertise the truth about this. Also, the equipment makes all the difference in the world. The first generation of e-cigs weren't very satisfying. The newer products feel much more like smoking, so much so that switching is pretty painless. With all the different models out there, and all the different accessories to go with them, plus replacement parts, and the fact that different brands do not work with accessories from competing brands and models, having someone to demonstrate and advise should save a lot of aggravation for folks new to this. Also, there doesn't seem to be just one place to purchase everything you need to vape, even online. I had to order from 3 different places on the net. I could solve that by carrying an inventory of every item my customer needs to vape.

I live in a house right now, but would like to travel extensively in an RV. I'd like advice not only for serving local customers, but selling on the road as well.

Anyone have thoughts on all this?

 

[judycmomx6]

I think you might have something here, mangyhyena. I have never heard of that product, and when I was trying to quit, I would have definatly wanted something like that. It seams like it would be alot easier than trying to quit with the other stuff that I know do not work. Keep checking on it and maybe you can really do that, it sounds like a really good idea.

 

[Mangyhyena]

The thing is, I'm going to do my best to spread the word about e-cigs whether I do it for profit or not. I know for a fact that e-cigs work. It's just confusing when you first get going, between choosing equipment that will deliver a consistent hit of nicotine, choosing between preloaded cartridges or refillable tanks, which accessories to purchase and which will work with your brand of e-cig, which juices or cartridges to buy or whether or not to start mixing your own juice, where to get American made supplies for mixing, learning to mix, ect...

I just think there's a need for local suppliers who can walk a person new to vaping through all this. If I can turn it into a business, all the better. Any profit it makes would be extra money to build my savings.

The other folks I see offering e-cigs seem to rely heavily on the Internet for sales. They're not really available to the customer to answer questions or demonstrate the product & accessories. I'm thinking there might be a place for a vendor who sells them the old fashioned way, face to face. Maybe the potential for total monthly profit is not as high doing it face to face, but I'd bet customer retention for recurring revenue is better than the Internet-only model.

I'm not going to try moving a zillion e-cigs per week. I'd rather focus on solid customer care and the recurring revenue through replacement parts and e-juice supply. Maybe I can carve a nice side income for myself. I'll just put the customer first and see what happens, rather than selling them a starter kit annonymously and leaving them high and dry.

With cigarette prices in my area, a customer who switches to vaping should break even in well under 2 months, then save a lot of money every month after that. Vaping is much cheaper, doesn't make you smell bad, comes in a variety of flavors, can be done indoors with no effect on those around you, does not have all those chemicals found in cigarettes, and provides an easy way to gradually reduce the nicotine level to zero with little or no discomfort.

As many smokers as possible need to be made aware of e-cigs and supported through the switch to them, IMHO. I'm going to do my part, one way or another.

 

[rattlesnake joe]

<p>I wouldn't trust them until they have been used by the general population for over a year and then also testing done on people before and after use.&nbsp; Who is behind these e-cigs?&nbsp; Why hardly any information on the product?&nbsp; Sounds fishy to me.&nbsp; </p>

 

[She]

My landlady has quit smoking for over a year using them. &nbsp;And save a pretty penny.

 

[Mangyhyena]

<p>I wouldn't trust them until they have been used by the general population for over a year and then also testing done on people before and after use.&nbsp; Who is behind these e-cigs?&nbsp; Why hardly any information on the product?&nbsp; Sounds fishy to me.&nbsp; </p>

<div><br></div><div>Your point is well taken. &nbsp;In truth, there is very little medical research that has been done on e-cigarettes. &nbsp;As for people vaping for a year, there are folks who have been vaping for over a decade. &nbsp;This was popular in Europe long before it was heard of in the United States. &nbsp;That said, even a decade of use is not enough to establish the long-term risks of vaping, if there are any. &nbsp;Quite simply, we just don't know for sure.</div><div><br></div><div>Since we don't know for sure, it's going to come down to a personal decision based on the facts that are known. &nbsp;Fact, smoking cigarettes causees cancer. &nbsp;Fact, there are over a thousand chemicals in the tobacco of manufactured cigarettes, arsenic being just one of the known&nbsp;carcinogens.</div><div>Fact, propylene glycol, vegetable glycerine, and food flavoring, all food grade products used in baking, make up 3 out of the 4 ingrediants in e-juice. &nbsp;Liquid nicotine is the fourth ingrediant.</div><div><br></div><div>Is vaping good for you? &nbsp;That I know of, no one is making that claim. &nbsp;Is vaping as or more unhealthy as smoking cigarettes? &nbsp;Being that no medical studies have been done on vaping, there is no way to know for certain. &nbsp;You will have to research vaping and decide for yourself if any of the 4 ingrediants in e-juice will cause more damage to your body than smoking manufactured cigarettes.</div><div><br></div><div>Hope something in these responses helps you to make your choice.</div><div><br></div>

 

[Crisscrosses]

Craigslist seems like a fine way to advertise. And put up a flyer on public bulletin boards, the ones that allow commercial ads.<div><br></div><div>I pushed a friend into using an e-cig and it helped him, and I suggest it to other people too. It's great you're passionate about them.</div>

 

[dfh]

<div>Its a great idea. There are never enough "local" places selling the products. As you travel around and introduce folks to the product, they will order from you. Get a cheap/free website like Wix.com. Use craigslist for every new city/town that you go to. Try to get on Google maps somehow (that's&nbsp;how we found our current supplier). Facebook and Twitter are valuable resources to find new customers and keep in touch with old ones. Get cheap business cards (Vistaprint.com) and pass them out to everyone, give a small stack to each customer. Give rewards for customers that bring you new customers. Flyers are even cheaper and you can make up your own coupons on those.</div><div><br></div>Me and my husband have been vaping for over a year now.&nbsp; We can breath easier, there is no more nasty cig smell on our clothes, etc.&nbsp;&nbsp;Its saved us money, and compared to cigs, saved our health.&nbsp;Cigarettes&nbsp;have over 4000 ingredients while most e-liquid has only 4.&nbsp;<div><br></div><div>Good luck to you!<br><div><br></div><div><br></div><div><br></div></div>