jono wrote:Iggyskier,
Everything looks great in this thread. I especially like the high level of organization.
I saw your recent post over on TGR's quiver thread and am wondering if you are incorporated or if you have taken steps to protect yourself legally? I've sold skis to people I know but am reluctant to sell to strangers since right now I think I am personally liable for any damages awarded in a lawsuit. The TGR community is probably a safe group to sell skis to but you never know.
How many responses have you gotten so far? I get offers all the time to make skis for people I meet on lifts. I can't imagine what would happen if I opened things up to an entire online community.
Good luck with your enterprise!!!
Funny you mention this, because I had the same talk with someone while in Portland over the weekend.
Currently, I have not. Nor do I know exactly what I would need to do to take steps to protect myself. Any insight here? I figured if I truly started selling skis, it would be an all or nothing thing, so I am sure I would take all the legal steps to protect myself from any liability.
For the time being, though, I have just been selling to friends. I have too been reluctant to really speak out about the project to people other than friends involved in it because I am not sure where it will go, how the skis will turn out, and I also want to make sure I have everything, legal or otherwise, dialed before I took steps in that direction.
It is a scary thought to consider getting sued over something like this and I would for sure protect myself. I do feel safe knowing the people I am selling skis to now, as I would consider every single person a friend. You are right, though, you never know.
Regarding responses, I actually have a lot as well, but for now, I just tell people I am keeping it for friends as we go through the steps to test the skis.
Not sure if I stated it before, but I am at a real crossroads here in my life. Graduating from UPS in Tacoma with a BS in Biology, so far from business in every sense. I am looking to probably get a job at Oregon Health and Science down in Portland, but I totally want to use it just as a day job until I could get something going with skis. But the quantity you really would need to sell to do it as a living is pretty high, so not sure if I would really want to try for it.
But, I do figure that if there is anytime that I am going to give this a shot, it would be in the next year or two while I am still young and am not really into a career yet. If not, it will probably be on to med school, RN school, or at least some sort of masters biology program.
I just picked up the skis from the shop today, so more pictures tonight I suspect. The clear coat on the sidewalls is drying. I will give a report back from Crystal this weekend. One of these days I will clean up the shop and give a real tour of where I keep everything. Hopefully it will help some other people organize all the crap it takes to get this done.
The only up-side is that you get to write off your losses on your personal taxes (again, so long as you run it as a proper business.) I have no personal background in business… my education was in CS, so I relied heavily on my accountant in particular to learn the ropes over the last many years. 
