
Making $25k/month selling chocolate dicks - Redoubts
https://www.failory.com/mistakes/dick-at-your-door
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dawhizkid
Makes sense in the Instagram-optimized commerce world we live in now. People
will pay a premium if something makes a good Instagram post (I would put a
chocolate dick in this category).

Walking around NYC (maybe less so SF for now) I saw many restaurants repaint
exterior walls with angel wings, quotes, neon lights, etc. that were all meant
to entice people to take pictures and tag the location on Instagram as a
marketing tool. Maybe semi-depressingly so if you're going into e-commerce or
otherwise selling some physical good your first marketing question should be
"will this look good on Instagram?"

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muzz
In popular cities with famous landmarks, there are many "tours" (and Airbnb
"experiences") that consist of simply a photographer taking pictures of you in
front of these famous landmarks, ostensibly for Instagram. They often
differentiate themselves based on the Instagram cred of the photographer.

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georgiecasey
i've always wondered, is it in anybody's interest for these revenue numbers to
be correct? both the business and the indiehacker clone website know a bigger
number is a better story.

~~~
skinnymuch
Yes something I always wonder and assume many large numbers are [excessively]
exaggerated. I’m surprised this concern doesn’t crop up more here. Someone
usually brings it up, but not as much as I’d expect.

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DAYD
A little late to the party, but i was just told this has been shared on Hacker
News.

My name is Adam and I am the creator of Dick At Your Door.

Happy to answer any questions people have. Apologies if my formatting is poor.
I’m unfamiliar with the forum.

Glad you all have gotten a laugh!

~~~
coldtea
Isn't having only this option sexist? Where's the "Pussy at your door"?
(though understandably that might be confused for a kitten adoption service)

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DAYD
We tested it out and it didn’t really sell.

Puss at your door doesn’t really roll off the toungue as well

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sizzle
"Puss at your place"

There you go haha

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wjp3
Reminds me of the service years ago that you could send dog shit to someone.
There were three levels, all the way up to a dump from 'Buster'.

~~~
itronitron
For some reason I doubt that Buster is a dog.

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jsjohnst
Further proof you can make money literally doing anything if you are
persistent and able to learn along the way.

~~~
hn_throwaway_99
I really liked this article, and I thought it really embodied a "hacker"
ethos, in doing something originally for personal enjoyment, then realizing it
had potential and growing it into a business.

I also really liked this paragraph from a business perspective:

Lastly, this product is viral in nature. People think it’s funny to post about
sending a chocolate penis to someone in the mail. Because most people are not
sending it to themselves, we always include an offer code and a way to get to
our site in every order. It is a literally a direct marketing campaign paid
for by our customers.

~~~
dnautics
They should include a fast path to buy (at a modest discount) and send a dick
back to the sender. It has to be enough such that the recipient has some
pleasure of knowing that they paid less for their dick

~~~
ZeikJT
Discount Dick-Counter (Sung with the Mattress Discounters jingle[1])

[1] [https://youtu.be/G_2l0XWxP-w](https://youtu.be/G_2l0XWxP-w)

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rectang
Have they pursued a relationship with Spencer's Gifts? Because that's where I
would have expected to find this product.

~~~
chickenfries
Would you eat something that you bought from a Spencer's Gifts?

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booleandilemma
I would love to send a chocolate dick to a company I previously worked for.

~~~
protomyth
Yeah, I’m sure multiple delivered in a bag would do fairly well.

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thatjsguy
I don’t know. I mean, the gesture is clear, but at the end of the day, all
you’ve done is spent a lot of money to send them a delicious (if admittedly
risqué) chocolate treat!

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tmaly
I wonder what am I doing wrong, 25k is a good chunk of change

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paulcole
It’s likely gross sales and there are multiple employees.

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itake
and this might be their best holiday month

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paulcole
Very true. It is sad that anyone could forget about August and the month-long
celebration of chocolate penises.

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duxup
>we can’t find ways to market to the people who don’t know they need to buy a
chocolate dick

Can confirm, I didn't know I needed this service.

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theriddlr
I had difficulty sourcing chocolate penises for a gag Easter egg gift. Ended
up buying a homemade one off eBay just wrapped in cellophane. I thought it'd
be a great business idea – no overhead and not holding unsold stock.

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gitgud
Y Combinator's motto is: "Make Something People Want"

I guess it speaks for it self in this case...

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DoreenMichele
This is not the first time I have read a story about someone sort of stumbling
into a viable business. I'm jealous of that aspect, though I don't think I
would want this exact business.

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rainbowmverse
For the friend who has everything.

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yeukhon
I will create a business called "Eat Your Face" by printing a mold of your
face and send it over to you. I wonder if that gets $25K a month. Actually,
you know what, I will look into this business. I will copy.

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mirimir
I was expecting fabrication of custom dicks ;)

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jackconnor
Best headline in HN history

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Redoubts
Not affiliated with this company at all, but I’m really happy this is my first
front page submission.

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mikec3010
I'm offended. Remove this at once dang. This is gender stereotyping and
misogyny. We don't need this kind of harangueing in here.

~~~
userbinator
If you insist, here is the female version:

[http://www.lagustasluscious.com/shop/bluestocking-
bonbons/fu...](http://www.lagustasluscious.com/shop/bluestocking-
bonbons/furious-vulvas)

~~~
itronitron
That is more of an attempt at the female version, best of luck to them...

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paddysanfran
Amazing, just read this story

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michaelgv
Does that make them “Professional Dicks”?

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duxup
Is this some kind of bust?

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yeukhon
Meltable. Careful.

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happy-go-lucky
> Disclaimer: Products on this site are intended only as gag gifts for adults.

[https://imgur.com/a/Td9vl1f](https://imgur.com/a/Td9vl1f)

You should remove the picture of children placing an order for your chocolate.

Edit: That's disgusting!

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p1mrx
Why remove the picture? It's hilarious.

