It's been a while since I posted an update - it's been super busy here at my end as we push hard to release 3 new products, with a 4th just around the corner!

Speaking of which, after a lot of messing about, we're closing in on a new Hibermate Headband model!

One of the most commonly asked questions we receive in email communications is,

"...can I wear the ear muffs without the sleep mask?"

Well, I hope that in about 6 weeks you'll be able to.

In a recent video I mentioned that we had been testing out lots of headband types and that we'd settled on a really awesome, stretchy band. It is a great headband, but the MOQ (Minimum Order Quantity) the factory needed was 10,000 units.

Unfortunately that's far too many for this little business to order in its life-cycle and the factory wouldn't be swayed.

I'm absolutely thrilled to announce that after almost 12 months of development, I'm now taking pre-orders for the all-new 2016 Hibermate (Generation 4).

On Monday this week (30th May 2016) I took delivery of the final prototypes and was so happy with how they look and function!

I told the team to 'get going' - start production!

There will be only 4 colors for this production run of 2,000 units (Pitch Black, Dark Navy, Hot Pink and Kickstarter green). 1,000 will be shipped to Amazon when they're ready and 1,000 will be shipped to our new fulfillment house in Hong Kong (www.floship.com).

Speaking of fulfillment, Floship will be taking over all logistics for us in the coming months which means for the first time, I'll be able to offer you 5 day tracked shipping to just about anywhere in the world for the same price.

Anyway, I filmed...

Hey guys!

I've just got back from a 10 day trip to Hong Kong and China, meeting with Linda (my key supplier) and going to lots of trade-shows, including HKTDC and Global Sources (my favourite!).

Now that I'm back, I thought I'd take about 5 minutes to show you where I'm up to with the release of various products I'm working on, starting with an update on the all new 2016 Generation 4 Hibermate Sleep Mask with removable ear muffs for sleeping...

Enjoy.

PS. I also show off the the new sleeping headphones in the video and if you like you can pre-order them at a steep discount here before they go on sale. (update July 2016: they're fully released, sorry pre-order discounts are over...)

I'm back in Hong King this week.

Yay!

I'm catching up with some friends, visiting some trade shows and doing some banking (boring!).

But the the main reason I'm here is to catch up with Linda (one of my suppliers) to hopefully finalize the prototypes of the Generation 4, 2016 Hibermate.

It's been a little frustrating getting the prototypes of the ear cups to work as I want them too - changing from Silicone to a soft foam has caused some issues which need to be resolved before I can press the "Big Red Button" and commence production in earnest.

While I'm here I try and shoot some footage of the prototypes to show you where we're up to. Its frustrating to have reached out to my customers last year for feedback on what improvements could be made to the Generation 3, 2015 model and then take so long to...

Really proud and happy to share a couple of brand new products I've been secretly working on for the last 8 months...

They should be released around Mid-year - coinciding with the relaunch of the new 2016 Hibermate...!

Can't wait!

Anyway, enough waffle. Let's get on with it.

Here's product number 1.

1. The all New Hibermate Sleeping Mask with Headphones:

This has been a labour of love!

1. It features a contoured single band eye mask with super adjustability. The contouring helps takes pressure from your eyes for REM and also helps to recess the speakers inside the band for side sleeping comfort.
2. The speakers are removable for washing (please, please, please don't wash the speakers) and there's a half inch of super-soft memory foam to provide additional padding and cushioning for your ears.   
3. The...

Hey guys

Super excited to share some images and information about our first round of single band ear muffs for the next generation Hibermate.

Above: New Prototypes for the Ear Muffs

They're based on the same design as the current dual band silicone cups, but we're looking to change material from Silicone (heavy) to soft Poly Urethane (much lighter).

The great feature of this approach is that you'll be able to purchase a pair of the new cups so you can add them to your favorite headband (if your headband is a strap-type) or sleep mask.

Of course, I'll be offering them as an integrated part of the new 2016 Hibermate sleep mask, and I'll be adding in a free headband in the box so if you don't want the use the sleep mask with the cups, you can...

Well, after almost 2 exciting years in Hong Kong, we're safely back in sleepy, old Melbourne, Australia!

Extracting ourselves from Hong Kong was like trying to get chewing gum out of hair.

We also brought back 2 cats we'd adopted in Hong Kong - it was very expensive and not recommended!

Tip. Do not let your kids convince you that adopting cats is a good idea if there's any chance you might have to move them to Australia some day.

With all that going on, I've fallen behind on the income reports so I thought I'd just do one catch-up post and consolidate them all in one go.

Overall things remained pretty flat sales-wise, until we hit November and then of course, the big grand daddy month: December, where between the website sales (AUD $19,614.04) and Amazon sales (USD $24,657.10), we hit an all-time monthly record of $44,271.14 (combined currencies -...

A few weeks ago I stumbled across quite possibly the most useful Podcast (for me right now), like, ever.

It's all about setting up a company in Hong Kong, Banking, Fulfillment, eCommerce, you name it.

It's simply called Global From Asia, by Michael Michelini.

The benefits of opening a company and creating a company bank account here in Hong Kong are almost too numerous to list.

The most attractive thing is that Hong Kong is a very "business friendly" place to set up.

1. Hong Kong has an extremely stable political system (except when Beijing annoys them!)
2. It has a strong Rule of Law legal system based on the British legal system.
3. It has, near as dammit, parity with the USD ($1.00 USD = $7.75 HKD) . The reason is a bank can issue a Hong Kong dollar only if it has the equivalent exchange...

A month or so ago I sent an email survey out to my previous customers asking them for feedback on what could (or should) be improved with the new 2016 model I'm working on at the moment.

The response was phenomenal!

It was clear that improved sound reduction and better side sleeping comfort were number 1 priorities for the new model.

People were also keen for a single band mask to be created but also with a headband that would enable people to wear the cups without the mask.

Last time I met with Linda at www.claveproducts.com, we worked out how much customer feedback we could introduce into the new model without risking too much in development costs (the budget is tight and basically designing everything from scratch isn't cheap).

We decided the first step would be to focus on the cups and make a simple change to start...

August 2015 was a better month again than July. It looks as though June might have been the "bottom" of the seasonal trough and, all going well, we'll continue to see an uplift month by month as head towards December 2015. 

We also launched a new product on Amazon which is a compact travel neck pillow and we gave away a few of those to generate some reviews. It hasn't really added much to the bottom line though - we're selling maybe 3 or 4 a week which is adding about $400 a month in additional revenue. So it's not moving the needle much at all!

Mind you, it's a quite a saturated market.

My attention now is working on the new 2016 model Hibermate so I want to keep my focus on that project and not get too distracted promoting the neck pillow. 

I am also innovating again and...