Please give me your brutally honest feedback
A lot of good points so far, I'll offer a friendly counter point:
IMO I wouldn't treat this business as my sole income/pursuit.
I'd treat it as a side hustle due to the points listed above and the following:
1. Niche of a niche market.
The people who own ball vapes have their "brands" they stick to. Most ball vape "brands" are well established by now and people have chosen their respective camps.
Even smaller niche is those who own multiple ball vapes or collectors (you probably already tapped into most of these people by now tbh)
2. A lot of people just want the cheapest vape. They don't want the "best" but rather "best bang for their buck".
i.e. China, knockoffs, etc.
These people aren't looking for quality artisan vapes or makers to support. They want something that's good enough and will get them high for cheap.
Most people fall into this group, as opposed to the few enthusiasts on this site.
3. Many people
only use portables (even at home lol
)
i.e. they don't care how good your desktop vape is, if it's not portable then they aren't interested.
4. Some people like desktops but don't like
exposed coil vapes, so you can't attract these customers either.
5. Wireless ball vapes are the new trend.
Who knows what the next big thing will be but if you aren't part of it you're losing business to the trendsetters.
Given all of that and more, it's clear that your possible customers are a tiny piece of the collective vape market pie.
Don't forget that vapers are already a tiny piece of the stoner pie (the amount of smokers heavily outweighs vapers).
I just think you wouldn't be so disappointed in sales if you had other pursuits.
If I put all my time and energy into growing a brand and sales weren't adding up then I'd be pretty upset too.
Don't be so hard on yourself. The fact that you even brought something to market that a lot of people like is pretty awesome, most people couldn't do that.
I'd tap into your business/design skills and put it to use somewhere more lucrative and treat this like a side hustle/project/hobby.
TLDR:
Product is good but super niche business is hard.
Treat it like a side hustle and not sole income.
Less pressure on you (mentally and financially) if you have other streams of income.
There's a lot of opportunities out there for smart and driven entrepreneurs like yourself out there, so don't give up!