FranLab is getting evicted

[james_s]

I'm still betting we'll be discussing this again within a couple of years. 

[EEVblog]

Really surprised she found something so quickly, it didn't sound good for a while.

Unfortunately I think you are right.
Either another eviction, or the money will dry up. AFAIK she is mostly supported by the Patreon money.
IIRC she did that video analysing the finances and at the time is seemed like it was only going to last 12 months or something. It's obviously turned out better than that, but still I don't think there is much margin there.

[nctnico]

In the case of a debit card, your bank account could be empty (or overdrawn) immediately, which is a much more serious issue and potentially a lot more hassle to deal with.

No. There are daily withdrawal limits you can set to minimize the damage. Many banks have quite low defaults so the damage is minimal. On top of that, unintentional withdrawels by criminals are covered by the banks.

I should check with my credit union to see what kind of limits they put on debit card usage. But the Bad Guy won't try to charge $5,000 worth of stuff on a debit card. They'll do hundreds of dollars at different merchants, all of which are under any "limit" but aggregate to wiping out your account balance before the bank catches up.

No, the limits are daily limits. Not per purchase limits.

[Alex Eisenhut]

Good news! 

[AccountRemovedPerUsersRequest]

I'm still betting we'll be discussing this again within a couple of years. 

Or sooner... probably sooner. If not getting evicted, then leaving Youtube. Or something else.

But lets not list all that can be interpreted as negative feedback. Majority of the content is interesting. Hoping that Fran gets all sorted out.

A

[Kasper]

(I won't even get into how landlords and even employers will pull a credit report on potential lessees/hires. That's pure evil.)

The landlord credit bureau is all about that and they help good tenants increase their credit rating.  I haven't tried them, found them when considering getting tenants but it's still too much risk for me.  Out here it takes about 1 year, or at least it did before 2020, to get tenants out.  No matter how little they've paid or how much damage they've done.  Allowing a tenant into your house is a big risk and it makes sense to do some due diligence first.

[Kasper]

I'm not very familiar with FranLab but I'm guessing she doesn't sell the things she makes.  Most maker channels I've seen ignore that and I wish they wouldn't.  I haven't found many people talking about how to turn all this work and knowledge into money.  Dave's videos about his current meter and subsequent DMM were some of my favorites.

Sounds like Fran is a great maker, why doesn't she sell things and make money?

[Cerebus]

Sounds like Fran is a great maker, why doesn't she sell things and make money?

There's a completely different set of skills required for making a 'one off' or a handful of things and reliably, efficiently, and economically manufacturing and selling hundreds, thousands of millions of something. It's a bit like the difference between being a good cook and a good restauranteur.

[themadhippy]

Sounds like Fran is a great maker, why doesn't she sell things and make money?

she did,the company was called frantone.

[Kasper]

Sounds like Fran is a great maker, why doesn't she sell things and make money?

she did,the company was called frantone.

Thanks.  Sounds like she had some good products but was copied and ignored.  I think that is a common problem and it would be great to see her overcome it.

She did say she would give it another go if someone wants to manufacturer for her or license it.  This has the makings of a great underdog story that would end with Fran buying her competitors buildings and evicting them.

Youtube - What Happened To Frantone?

[Kasper]

Sounds like Fran is a great maker, why doesn't she sell things and make money?

There's a completely different set of skills required for making a 'one off' or a handful of things and reliably, efficiently, and economically manufacturing and selling hundreds, thousands of millions of something. It's a bit like the difference between being a good cook and a good restauranteur.

Yes it is a different skill set but they go well together and often get combined.  Whether as an entrepreneur or an employee, it is valuable to know design, manufacturing and business.

I think a lot of makers dream about making money eventually and would enjoy learning how to do everything required for that.  It can be a pain to get sidetracked by all the business stuff but it's also a pain getting sidetracked by having insufficient funds.

I bet many cooks dream of becoming a chef and then opening their own restaurant.

[AccountRemovedPerUsersRequest]

Products designed (and often manufactured) by a content creator is something I have found a good way to support makers. I might be alone with this, but I am willing to pay more for a product that has "maker's touch" on it. Let me give you examples: I have bought plans from Matthias Wandel's shop to support. I have absolutely no intention to make a chair. I have bought a DMM from Dave. I have tons of those already. And I could buy one much cheaper if I needed to.
I have bought a game from 8-bit guy. I do not have any suitable computer for it.

So... I think it does not need to be mass produced. And it does not need to compete (with price) against china-manufactured versions.

A

[thinkfat]

Frantone was caught in the turmoil of the 9/11 terrorist attacks when it was just about to take off. She was based out of NY at the time. That blow and rezoning of her neighborhood forcing her to move out was what effectively killed Frantone off. She talked about it in a recent video on YT that she later delisted after YT flagged it due to the 9/11 related content. She said she was evicted effectively overnight and had to break into the building to save as much of Frantone assets as she could carry away in one night. Tools, materials, inventory. Seems to be a recurring thing for her.

[Quarlo Klobrigney]

If you are selling "your brand" and your name brand is a trusted one, then people would rather buy and support you than a knockoff.
Encapsulating a PCB in epoxy is a good deterrent to make the thieves work harder, especially with random scrap electronic pieces thrown in the mix.
Add some wires to and fro to confuse things a bit more.
3D circuit boards, i.e. 90° verticals and horizontals make it harder to "decap" without destroying something.
Use SMD parts.
Never use the Chinese PCB maker's software and expect not seeing it sold for pennies later.
Leave values off the PCB when sending to the fab.

Nothing will stop the copycats.
Just make it hard for them to do it.

Just my 43 cents to protect hardware IP.

[Bassman59]

(I won't even get into how landlords and even employers will pull a credit report on potential lessees/hires. That's pure evil.)

The landlord credit bureau is all about that and they help good tenants increase their credit rating.  I haven't tried them, found them when considering getting tenants but it's still too much risk for me.  Out here it takes about 1 year, or at least it did before 2020, to get tenants out.  No matter how little they've paid or how much damage they've done.  Allowing a tenant into your house is a big risk and it makes sense to do some due diligence first.

How is a person's credit rating an indicator of their behavior? 

Many people have low credit ratings because they cannot get credit or get "enough" credit from lenders. It's a vicious cycle. Just because someone doesn't have a $50,000 credit limit across a half-dozen credit cards, with no outstanding balances, doesn't mean that they don't pay their bills on time. In fact, it's more likely that they do pay bills on time -- because when everything is cash, bills are paid immediately!

It's also further proof of the observation, "It is very expensive to be poor," because a low credit rating means that the cost of borrowing is higher than it is for someone with "better" credit.

[nctnico]

If you are selling "your brand" and your name brand is a trusted one, then people would rather buy and support you than a knockoff.
Encapsulating a PCB in epoxy is a good deterrent to make the thieves work harder, especially with random scrap electronic pieces thrown in the mix.
Add some wires to and fro to confuse things a bit more.
3D circuit boards, i.e. 90° verticals and horizontals make it harder to "decap" without destroying something.

Doesn't work. The only way is to stay ahead. Have the next product ready and let the copycats eat your dust.

[nctnico]

Frantone was caught in the turmoil of the 9/11 terrorist attacks when it was just about to take off. She was based out of NY at the time. That blow and rezoning of her neighborhood forcing her to move out was what effectively killed Frantone off. She talked about it in a recent video on YT that she later delisted after YT flagged it due to the 9/11 related content. She said she was evicted effectively overnight and had to break into the building to save as much of Frantone assets as she could carry away in one night. Tools, materials, inventory. Seems to be a recurring thing for her.

I assume she was renting that place as well. It seems to me that operating a business in the US from a rented space in a residential area is a guaranteed recipy for disaster.

[Kasper]

If you are selling "your brand" and your name brand is a trusted one, then people would rather buy and support you than a knockoff.
Encapsulating a PCB in epoxy is a good deterrent to make the thieves work harder, especially with random scrap electronic pieces thrown in the mix.
Add some wires to and fro to confuse things a bit more.
3D circuit boards, i.e. 90° verticals and horizontals make it harder to "decap" without destroying something.

Doesn't work. The only way is to stay ahead. Have the next product ready and let the copycats eat your dust.

I like that strategy and often suggest it when people want to add more features to V1 before getting any sales.

[EEVblog]

I'm not very familiar with FranLab but I'm guessing she doesn't sell the things she makes.  Most maker channels I've seen ignore that and I wish they wouldn't.  I haven't found many people talking about how to turn all this work and knowledge into money.  Dave's videos about his current meter and subsequent DMM were some of my favorites.
Sounds like Fran is a great maker, why doesn't she sell things and make money?

My incomes sources from this Youtube gig are, roughly in order of revenue.
Product sales
Website advertising
Youtube ad revenue
Patreon
LBRY/Odysee income
Paypal and crypto donations direct

I've tried to convince Fran to sell products, and have even given her some of my wholesale contacts and margins etc, but she says it's impossible from a logistics point of view in Philly in terms of courier and postage access/reliability or some such. I don't know the details of exactly why though. I guess it's another way Philly is holding her back.

[EEVblog]

So... I think it does not need to be mass produced. And it does not need to compete (with price) against china-manufactured versions.

I've learned to stay away from the low margin and low priced stuff, it's not worth the effort packing and shipping something worth $10 for example.
If you are looking to rebedge/resell a product, it's actually quite hard to find something that is not well marketed elsewhere and has a good margin.
This is why Brymen was a great find for me, their marketing and strict dealership rules makes it quite difficult to get their products. And as a bonus the margins are good.

[Bobertsawesome]

Just needs to move out of the big city and settle down somewhere, buy a place of her own, and continue her work. Seems obvious to me, but I'm sure there's more to the story.

Not like she needs to be around basically anything to continue her business/job. Reminds me of the people in SF who are struggling to pay for their 1 bedroom apartment that costs $60,000 a year along with other astronomical living expenses.

[EEVblog]

Just needs to move out of the big city and settle down somewhere, buy a place of her own, and continue her work. Seems obvious to me, but I'm sure there's more to the story.

There is, it's in the video. It's because she's trans and does not feel safe anywhere else.
Whether or not the threat is as bad as she thinks is kinda beside the point. It's real enough to her to keep doing the "safer" option of staying in Philly.
Anyway it's a done deal now, she has a new lease.

And the other hand, I'm looking at taking my own advice and once again thinking about buying a house and moving the lab into that. The numbers seem to work out even at Sydney's stupidly high prices.
I just missed out on a place that would have been perfect I think. And old delapidated house nearby that was used a surgery, sold as demolish/land only, but I'm sure it could have been usable as a lab.

[Ed.Kloonk]

Buyers paradise.

Mad if you don't. 

[EEVblog]

Buyers paradise.
Mad if you don't. 

Buyers paradise? 
More like a sellers paradise at the moment.

[Ed.Kloonk]

Buyers paradise.
Mad if you don't. 

Buyers paradise? 
More like a sellers paradise at the moment.

 

Ha!
I suppose it depends on your standpoint.

The fish are on no matter where you drop the line.