I look up to both of you a lot. Thank you for making this video. Great information and inspirational as well. Honored to have my name attached to the uncut style 😂 For real though ❤️
I love watching you guys!!! We are newer to breeding. Almost exactly a yr. We now have 32 balls. It sometimes seems so unobtainable. I know patience! Totally thrilled to even be able to pair up my first year. Miguel we are looking to invest more heavy. Really can wait it get some fb racks. It be nice to make so money to at least support my addiction! :) Lol Just a big thanks to all who help the new people who have a love for this.
Fantastic video. Great information and so happy you guys took the time to share this with us all. Look up to you both in the industry so sharing your advice and info is invaluable. Thank you!
Amazing video!!! I say it all the time. Work hard for YOUR goals and your desires in the hobby. Don't let what others say to you deflate your dreams and limit your success.. ALSO.. to touch base on Miguels comment about mentioning other breeders.. I WANT to work with other breeders, that is a relationship I myself look forward to building with many of my fellow hobbyists.. If you are confident in yourself, confident in your collection, and treat your customers and potential customers with respect and integrity YOU will always have a market.. Nobody eles can take your customers away... Only you. There are more customers than there are breeders, nobody should ever feel at direct competition with anyone else. Again, great video... Great message.. Keep it up both of you! Dave Hensler - JDH Reptiles
Truth! I don't understand people who try to alienate other breeders. In this hobby, other breeders/future breeders make up the largest customer base! Why would you purposely try to shut out the people who are most likely to buy your snakes? It's crazy!
Justin, Great Vlog, we love it. Awesome information and points of view. You and Miguel are great together, so awesome to see People so forth rite about what they believe in today’s industry. So amazing, great job!!
Hands down my two favorite people in this hobby! I just keep a large collection, with hopes of turning this hobby into a business in years to come.. thank you both for this insight!
Love this video! This is a great conversation about a subject that is usually either "You can make a million dollars selling ball pythons!" or "You'll never make a dime in this industry!". It's very nice to see some honest perspectives on this for a change. I have SO much respect for you both, and I would love to hear more from you two on this subject. I live QnA would be a great format, but also a video or series of videos where you've solicited questions for a period of time and then answer the most common, or the most important, would also work great in my opinion. Mad props!
Great video guys. Justin’s videos have really helped me over the years. I’ve really started very slow and it works. I’ve started growing as a hole this year and it’s really satisfying. I’ve had a few mentors but Jimmy Cruz from Ball Life has really helped me a lot especially in the vending part of this hobby. Love what you both do. Miguel I put a gift in the mail for you today!
Thank you for reminding your viewers that value in the hobby is varied. Like you said, it can be money or experience. As a new breeder, your videos and advice have been invaluable. ❤
Great Q&A session with a lot of info. I hope you guys do some more of these. I'll toss a couple of questions into the box for the next one... 1. What are your thoughts on investing in Inc dom projects vs reccessive projects? 2. What is your average cost for raising a female ball python from hatchling to adult, incorporating housing, electricity for heating, food and etc. Into the total?
This is most likely the best advice I have heard about the business side of being a breeder. Learned a lot of do and don’ts. Very glad to have come across you both. Among other breeders that I watched ritually. I can’t wait to have the space and time to dedicate to start a collection and hopefully start breeding myself. Putting it out there. I will own snakes from both of you one day. Can’t wait to see what projects you have coming up next that I can be inspired by. Even more and more then I already have been!
Love this video! As a person who has kept snakes since I was a kid. Now wanting to get into the breeding side of the hobby you answered a lot of questions I had. Thanks for making this video and keep up the great work!
Hey Justin and Miguel! I have only been a part of the reptile hobby since late 2017, but now I have two ball Pythons; a banana pastel and a cinnamon. My female is still young right now so hopefully I’ll have my first clutch in 2021! You are an insane inspiration and a fountain of knowledge, it would be an honor to meet you someday! I still have a lot of things to learn, but hopefully in time, I can develop my own business as well!
such a great video. Some very important lessons here and I'm glad to see you shining some light on this angle. This applies to any reptile groups I would say.
You guys are the real deal!! Respect to both of y’all and thanks for the videos you both do! I follow you both on social media, UA-cam, and Instagram and you both and a few other have helped me along this journey. It’s currently a hobby as I am married and have 5 kids, but one day a business?? Maybe! I LOVE these Ball Pythons and have fun doing as a hobby. Thanks for what y’all do and keep up the amazing work! You 2 are 2 of the Best! Hands down!
Very awesome video guys. Thank you for doing this and for taking this stand that by working together we are only helping each other and ourselves advance the hobby. So true and something I fully believe in. I am very fortunate to have have found your youtube channels as well as Brian Kusko and Garrett Hartle. You all are great for the industry.
Thanks for doing this video. As you may know I am still new to the hobby only been keeping about 8 years and only been breeding for 2... I needed to see this to reassure that I'm on the right track. I believe in all my pairings... so much that I have people asking for babies I dont have yet. Let's just hope they still want them when they are here
Great info guys. I am a new to the business but not the hobby and I have already been taken advantage of and it really sucks.. It’s always a risk when you buy a “het” and sometimes they prove out and sometimes one is lied too. I had my first clutch from a visual pied male and a pastel het pied. She did not prove out this time around but the babies are still beautiful.. I as a new breeder will offer a guarantee on my Hets that if they don’t prove out after 3 breedings, you will get your money back. It’s really sad that people lie to potential breeders. I guess they just don’t want new people in the business and that’s wrong.. I will be very careful who I get my stock from, from now on.. Thank you both for taking the time to talk with us newbies. We really appreciate it 👍
That was a great video. The two of you make some great points. The people that say it can’t be done are usually the ones who have failed once and given up. I hope I get to meet you guys in person some day, just to pick your brains on the business side of things. Thanks again for the great videos please keep them coming.
Excellent job guys!!! One of my favorite topics. We don't plan to fail but lots of us fail to plan. I see people all the time buying snakes solely because of the price and not because it fills a need. In this industry resources are extremely valuable and I don't think enough attention is paid to our resources whether those resources are relationships, money, equipment, time, experience, and physical space.
I really liked this. one of the main things I had problems with was who to trust to buy from. your both great people and create some amazing animals. Thanks for sharing guys
Awesome video guys...it’s always good to hear from other breeders how they started and what mistakes they made on there journey...we all had to start from somewhere and we’ve all made mistakes...awesome video and cant wait to see another video or a live...keep up the good inspiration..
Fantastic video it would be nice to see other breeders out there talk about this as well.. I think it would help alot of us moving forward. What I learned is that it all comes down to respect & how you treat others in this hobby/business .
Amazing video guys. I know you'll hear this a lot in comments to follow, but there was so much great advice. One question about business i have is, networking. How is the best way to go about it? I know that part of getting your name out there is to reach out to other breeders. Keep your name or brand out there. But I always feel like if I'm not buying at that moment... I don't want to bother them
Wow one of the best Vlogs about the business i have ever seen even for just a pet owner who wants to get a pied as a pet only someday. Great vlog guy's.
I just bought a few females with some quality genes rather than go for more that were cheaper. I will be getting my first few clutches next year (fingers crossed) and then from there I will see where the hobby goes and hopefully invest and grow. Thank you for all the knowledge and wisdom you share with others. It has inspired me to go for some really unique combos to start off instead of common morphs! PS: I sent an email to your website a bit back because when you google your website it says "J Kobylka Retiles" for your website in the results. Have a great day :)
I totally agree with you Kusko. I also look up to these guys. Justin and Miguel you are who I strive to be as a breeder. You are successful, uplifting, helpful, loyal and your always building others up. Thanks for this video, it was full of helpful information. Thanks a million.
Awesome video guys. From both perspectives. At the end of the day there is always a risk in starting a new small business and yet the more heart you put into it the better chance you have. Just like any business
Great info. Relativly new to this world. the branding is great, i have gotten to know Miguel Bryan justin jessy and many other big people from watching all the vids. I thought these people's were hiring you all to do videos and interviews in the beginning. Your service is wonderful for everybody win win. I love the passion and uncut versions like being in the same room chillin. I have so many questions however the more i follow the less there is and some answers before they have become questions. Hope you don't ever have to stop being out there.
I see a lot of people making the easy mistake of just buying over their heads. Nearly a dozen collections have hit Craigslist in my area in the last two years and I don't live in a large city. I saw a lot of advice on how to start out breeding. I took that advice and molded it to fit my life. I can't afford to dive in with a dozen snakes. So, I decided on my breeding path and chose four snakes that suit that path. I have two females and two males. That runs counter to a lot of advice (get three females and then a male) but I don't even know if my first male is viable, yet. I bought a second male to back him up and give me another direction to go. No matter what happens with breeding, I can comfortably afford to keep my original four for the rest of their lives (and a few more, if I hit good odds 😉). If those four provide me with what I need to expand, so be it. If they only pay for their food and bedding, that's fine. If they never make me a dime, I can accept that. At the end of the day, I have four beautiful snakes that make me happy.
Perfect example of doing your own thing. Justin makes bold, bright and colorful snakes. He’s not scared of dark colors either. So many of the breeders I watch are trying to get lighter colored snakes. I don’t prefer the lighter colored snakes so I’m buying my very first Ball Python from Justin in a week from now. I’ve done a lot of research and I really like the way he does business. Summer has been invaluable to me as the person I’ve been communicating with. She’s an important part of his team for sure!🐍❤️🐍
Love it. Thanks for the video guys. I would love to see more on this from you. I've loved snakes since I was a kids, but I Just had my first clutch drop this morning. I started so that I can teach my boys to love snakes and so that we could work on it together. Now I am excited about building my own projects down the road to make some awesome combos. You guys both help and inspire me to do this. My goal one of these days is to definitely get a JKR line going so I can come tour his facility and meet him. Sorry Miguel you live too far away. Haha, Thanks again guys. Keep em coming.
Absolutely great video, can't believe I'm just seeing this. I would love to see many more videos from you guys together. I think the live Q&A is a awesome idea to by the way.
I appreciate your honesty. I told someone the other day I wanted to breed ball pythons and they said there's no money in it. I think customer service is huge cause I personally would pay more money to someone that treats me like a human being rather than just a sale. I know there's money to be made in a business but if it weren't for customers the business would fail anyway. Great content
Thanks for the video guys. Being new to the industry myself, I was lucky enough to have had my friend advising me and one of the best pieces of advice I got was to focus on my "female game" first. Another thing I think some people struggle with is what genes to get into first. I purchased a couple snakes early on just because I thought they looked awesome. Today, I probably wouldn't purchase those same snakes. Is there any way you can recommend what to dive into first? Should we stick with the common genes we see out there? Should we take some time to figure out what's "popular"? Should we avoid or invest in new / unknown genes? Just some thoughts off the top of my head. Thanks again!
Question for you guys. You and Miguel are both very invested in social media and are arguably two of the most influential personalities in the industry in regards to social media platforms. What advice can you give or what did you do in the beginning to build your following on social media and begin influencing the market?? Thanks!!
I know you didn't ask me and I probably don't have as good of advice as those two probably do but building my brand early on had so much to do with interacting with people on forums, snake groups on social media, and irl to form relationships. That's only half the battle though. Once you reach a certain point it comes down to good business sense, being able to take good photos, have a special something that separates you from the crowd, and providing customers with an experience that they want to continue doing business with you. Unfortunately I'm sort of starting at square one again after having to take a hiatus from breeding, but maintaining my friendships with people in the hobby is going to make it a lot less painful. Reputation is everything in this business. Hoping Justin replies and we can both learn his secrets :)
Hey Miguel! I just wanted to say that your center table with a few topic-related publications placed ever-so-slightly askew from each other was a nice touch. Kudos to whoever thought of that. 👈😉
Thanks Guys, you've helped me visualize my goals, for me it's my hobby that I'd like to expand and learn. Growing and breeding beautiful snakes, I dont need this to be a business but I'd like it to cover it's own costs. I feel I'm 2 to 3 years away from seeing a return but it's what I enjoy.
Thank you both for creating this video. I'm just getting started with creating my own business. Made the mistake of spending my money on getting pairs instead of getting females to start with. Something you guys said resonate with me that Garrett Hartle said, "Don't try for a bigger piece of the pie, learn to make a bigger pie." I would like to hear you guys talk about the how to brand yourself and some do's and don'ts.
Love you guys! Keep up the good work! Very informative! Wish I could meet the both of you in person! For real it's on my bucket list! You guys are amazing!
Justin and Miguel thank you for the video as someone who looking into start breeding ball pythons Im trying to get info about breeding from people who been the hobby for but a lot people like too give advice
You should make this a live stream series. I would love to soak up all I can from both of you as I start trying to grow my own business. One question I have is how do you determine if a project will be profitable by the time you get to the point where you are selling snakes with that gene? Most of the time when you buy into a project it is 2-3 years before you start recouping your investment and sometimes I find myself wondering how much is too much to spend on a snake based on my risk assessment.
This is a great video and I feel as though It covered a fair amount of what can be missed when entering this hobby. One thing I'd love to hear about is more of an honest opinion of a bad investment. We all know you resurrect genetics that people forget about but you set the trend, along with maybe 5-10 other breeders. So I'd like to hear about the mistakes that are foreseen by some of us into why people fail. Lack of imagination, lack of following trends then jumping ahead of them, leading to breeding from behind. I feel as though there is a true understanding of this hobby, business, industry of ball pythons that not many seem to grasp. I could go on for days about ball pythons from so many different angles and talk about ways people fail or can become successful.....
That’s an awesome video mate. Maybe a few more questions and answers will do great. I’m starting up in August. I’ve been doing research for well over a year now and have planned Everything before I even think about purchasing my first female. I’m in the process of getting my racks built and will also start off with my ASF’s first so I know what’s going into my snakes when I get them. I follow all your guys videos and your Reptile community in the US is awesome. I hope it’s the same in the UK. Will find out very soon. Keep up the good content mate. I enjoy the comedy aspect that you bring to it as well 🍺
I want to thank you guys im new to ball pythons and yes my 1st bp was a male. I only have 1 but this video helped me b4 i made more mistakes. Thank you i enjoyed this q&a and would love to see more. Thank you soo much brother's!!!
Please talk more about the business and the prices of these snakes I love hearing the crazy high amounts I wanna hear and see the most expensive snakes I love it
Thanks for this video I really needed to hear this! I really look up to y'all two, and any advice such as this is helpful. I'm just getting started in the hobby, but I have a dream of one day growing my collection to y'alls size. When I watch your vidoes and see the snakes y'all have all I say is one day I'll be there. Thanks again guys awesome video.
I’ll put my voucher in for Miguel. A couple of weeks ago I was going to make what to me, was a large investment. The largest and what I’ll consider my first real “investment” . I reached out to Miguel to ask for his opinion on the snakes, as a second opinion. It was a set of Hets, and he was really helpful. He pointed out the specifics and said they looked good to him. I purchased them. Point is, it’s cool that someone who has the experience and a good set of guidance , put his opinion on something that really wasn’t that amazing. A lot of people in this hobby Don’t want to promote the possibility of someone’s future in it. Business or hobby. So thanks for that. And Justin The community appreciates people like you. Working alongside the rest to make it a larger than imagined concept. Hats off to you both.
Great topic! Thankfully I have not run into some of the hard sell type scams Miguel aluded to (probably because I don't have much money) but I can imagine those in the industry look for people with deep pockets who are itching to get their operation off the ground and have the capital to buy lots of expensive snakes. I do think that networking is important and getting your name out there as much as possible so that when you start producing babies people know and trust you. I am not afraid to approach anybody and ask questions even if what they're offering is something I can't offord right now, because prices always come down and at some point I will be able to obtain what I want and will be fully informed about the genes involved. I also find that while all of us have somewhat different breeding goals many of us have some things in common and in a sense have a common bond. One thing I've also found regarding depreciation is that just like in the stock market what goes down will eventually go up again, so I no longer worry about that as much as I used to. These genes have almost infinite uses and I see a pattern whereby some of them can be almost forgotten and then some breeder comes up with a new combo with these genes and just as quickly they are a hot commodity again. I really think that looking at it from both a hobby and business standpoint gives us the best of both worlds. I don't know why some people consider it a sin to look at the investment part of it as though you love the animal any less just because you also look at it as an investment. My Ball Pythons are like my children but I also see the merit in having this hobby pay for itself and possibly make some extra money to supplement my tiny income by planning it so that the offspring I will produce will double or triple the value of the parents. I'm not new but I think the business side of this is very interesting. That could be because I have an analytical mind. I really enjoy talking with you regarding strategy, and the pointers you've given me along the way, as I have in mind what I want to create but sometimes it's hard to picture which combos will achieve the look I'm going for.
Great video! Small new breeder here, hoping for small supplemental income in retirement and learning the biz now. Have owned a construction biz for 30 yrs - hoping some skills transfer! Lol, other than building my own racks...thanks for the input and would be great to see more videos like this - as the hobby grows we should all support each other!!
I love this video. I am a new breeder and I invested 1780 for my fire female, super fire female, super fire male (super fire project being sold by a very good quality breeder). After buying racks, food, an incubator, bedding, I probably have 4000 all together into my first year of breeding. With my first year I am breaking even. So I feel that is the important part starting out. Find a project you like, to make snakes you want. If you want to make a business, you need to be cost efficient while maximizing profits through smart projects. If you just want to make nice quality snakes for yourself, just make what you want.
These ball python variants are living art, expensive living art shaped by the breeder. The excitement about their collection reminds me of the huge rare tulip collecting period during the Dutch Golden Age. (You can look up this history under “Tulip Mania.”) It all depends on why someone wants to keep these snakes and also how big the potential pool of collectors is.
Great video. I have been successfully breeding and selling dragons for years. I started getting into the balls and I feel like people some ball breeders not helpful and if I ask questions they get mad at me. Very stand-offish and stuck up. I’m asking questions to possibly purchase an animal with serious money and they treat me with little respect. It’s strange. I don’t necessarily know if I’m going to breed right now but I do know I want a nice collection of snakes. I had to edit my statement because i wrote it halfway through. You said it perfect I feel like I’m being belittled when I ask questions. Great great content.
Miguel's start is exactly how I got started right down to buying all the males and only a few females to getting conned. I've been in the hobby only four years now and I'm correcting those earlier mistakes slowly but surely, and I owe a lot in the way of respect to you Justin and Miguel and Gavin(Balls2U), Going Yooper and Brian Kusko, Southern Star Reptiles, Mike Brizzee, JT(Reptichip guru)and a few others. I just don't have Big Dog money YET but I have the passion and drive to get there.
First and foremost....awesome video with very important messages. I definitely started out with the wrong ratio of males to females. Only if this video had come out 5 yrs ago, but the good thing is that it taught me a lesson that I can pass on to others
I am very inspired by both of you, two of my favorites in the business. I also think that you both have amazing people personalities and are just super nice guys they say nice guys finish last but you guys prove that to be total BS! Also like to say that I love the video I will be watching it everytime I need to be inspired!
Great advice especially rookie breeder who want to get into it like me! But we all learn the best and we all learn the mistake that shouldn’t happen but it the way of life! Another things Is that people spend money like it nothing but there no care you know doesn’t know anything or something wrong.. it’s hard to deal with it
From someone who has had reptiles in my life for over 50 years, breeding 21 different species of snakes over a 31 year period and making a living over the last 25 years, my best advice is to go down roads others have not traveled because if your plan is to simply duplicate what others have all ready accomplished, you will be at the murcy of the market place where the marketing plan of those persons is to drop their price and you get caught up in a slide downward, where as if you experiment with other combinations that others have deemed not worthy, you can create some real amazing appearances that those people had no idea could come from the combinations you took a chance on.This is exactly what I have done during my breeding career and some how beat the top level breeders of the day in producing the world's first Hypo Pastel Clowns and Hypo Killer Clowns as well as the wf VPI Axanthic Clown and VPI Ax Pastel Clowns and now the wf Desert Ghost Piebald Banana and dozens more over my career. These double het projects were not worth the time to do for the breeders years ago but now they are coming to the forefront of the industry as the platforms to start building from. Also, if you are not a Builder, then most likely you will not last long, you must build to compete and set your own price on a project only you are working with , eventually prices will drop as more are produced but it is good to be in the drivers seat even if it is just for a while but then you need to build from that amazing designer you brought into existance and make something even more amazing.This is also exactly what Justin has done and brought so much beauty into the world and I am not ashamed to say that I will be taking some of his creations and put my personal spin upon them to create brand new designers.Great video and keep them coming.
That was awesome guys! I like that side of the business. And Justin I think it’s great your doing more vlogs! Seems like your obviously very knowledgeable but also for lack of better words friendlier then must in this business. There’s a lot of know it alls and arrogance at some shows and various vlogs lol
a lot of breeders show there hold backs for the year i would like to know what you are looking for in a hold back bright color,pattern what and and how do you decide if its a $1000 dollar snake or a $5000 snake.
I look up to both of you a lot. Thank you for making this video. Great information and inspirational as well. Honored to have my name attached to the uncut style 😂
For real though ❤️
Brian Kusko great words
Looks like you may have inspired them Legend!!!! Lol sorry kusko I had to
Justin's customers service is second to none! One of the biggest reasons he does so well!
Love the different type of video, uncut is raw and real. Thanks for the great content and the information sharing. 🐍💚🐍💚🐍💚
I love watching you guys!!! We are newer to breeding. Almost exactly a yr. We now have 32 balls. It sometimes seems so unobtainable. I know patience! Totally thrilled to even be able to pair up my first year. Miguel we are looking to invest more heavy. Really can wait it get some fb racks. It be nice to make so money to at least support my addiction! :) Lol
Just a big thanks to all who help the new people who have a love for this.
Awesome video. Thanks for sharing . I love all of yall
"Those are people that are making sense of their own reality". JKobylka dropping some wisdom for life, not just business.
Fantastic video. Great information and so happy you guys took the time to share this with us all. Look up to you both in the industry so sharing your advice and info is invaluable. Thank you!
Amazing video!!!
I say it all the time. Work hard for YOUR goals and your desires in the hobby. Don't let what others say to you deflate your dreams and limit your success..
ALSO.. to touch base on Miguels comment about mentioning other breeders..
I WANT to work with other breeders, that is a relationship I myself look forward to building with many of my fellow hobbyists.. If you are confident in yourself, confident in your collection, and treat your customers and potential customers with respect and integrity YOU will always have a market.. Nobody eles can take your customers away... Only you.
There are more customers than there are breeders, nobody should ever feel at direct competition with anyone else.
Again, great video... Great message.. Keep it up both of you!
Dave Hensler - JDH Reptiles
Truth! I don't understand people who try to alienate other breeders. In this hobby, other breeders/future breeders make up the largest customer base! Why would you purposely try to shut out the people who are most likely to buy your snakes? It's crazy!
@@TheCharleseye Seems like the hardest thing to understand: your competition is your next customer - so service them. Took me some time also.
Justin, Great Vlog, we love it. Awesome information and points of view. You and Miguel are great together, so awesome to see People so forth rite about what they believe in today’s industry. So amazing, great job!!
Hands down my two favorite people in this hobby! I just keep a large collection, with hopes of turning this hobby into a business in years to come.. thank you both for this insight!
Love this video! This is a great conversation about a subject that is usually either "You can make a million dollars selling ball pythons!" or "You'll never make a dime in this industry!". It's very nice to see some honest perspectives on this for a change. I have SO much respect for you both, and I would love to hear more from you two on this subject. I live QnA would be a great format, but also a video or series of videos where you've solicited questions for a period of time and then answer the most common, or the most important, would also work great in my opinion. Mad props!
Great video guys. Justin’s videos have really helped me over the years. I’ve really started very slow and it works. I’ve started growing as a hole this year and it’s really satisfying. I’ve had a few mentors but Jimmy Cruz from Ball Life has really helped me a lot especially in the vending part of this hobby. Love what you both do. Miguel I put a gift in the mail for you today!
Came over because Miguel always mentions you and have to say love your videos. That facility is legit. Good luck!
Thank you for reminding your viewers that value in the hobby is varied. Like you said, it can be money or experience. As a new breeder, your videos and advice have been invaluable. ❤
Great Q&A session with a lot of info. I hope you guys do some more of these. I'll toss a couple of questions into the box for the next one... 1. What are your thoughts on investing in Inc dom projects vs reccessive projects? 2. What is your average cost for raising a female ball python from hatchling to adult, incorporating housing, electricity for heating, food and etc. Into the total?
This was a great sit down. Great info provided. Yes you should do these more often.
This is a fantastic video and really inspires me a bit. I appreciate both of you for your transparency!
This is most likely the best advice I have heard about the business side of being a breeder. Learned a lot of do and don’ts. Very glad to have come across you both. Among other breeders that I watched ritually. I can’t wait to have the space and time to dedicate to start a collection and hopefully start breeding myself. Putting it out there. I will own snakes from both of you one day. Can’t wait to see what projects you have coming up next that I can be inspired by. Even more and more then I already have been!
This is a great video. For someone trying to get into this business and learn. You two are great examples.
Thank you for making a vlog like this! Always love the ability to learn from both you and Miguel! It would be great to see more videos on this topic!
Love this video! As a person who has kept snakes since I was a kid. Now wanting to get into the breeding side of the hobby you answered a lot of questions I had. Thanks for making this video and keep up the great work!
This was awesome, would definitely love to see you guys do this again and maybe answer some questions that you receive. Thank you both for sharing!!
Really great stuff guys. Can't think of two better people to give this discussion on this side of the hobby.
Hey Justin and Miguel! I have only been a part of the reptile hobby since late 2017, but now I have two ball Pythons; a banana pastel and a cinnamon. My female is still young right now so hopefully I’ll have my first clutch in 2021! You are an insane inspiration and a fountain of knowledge, it would be an honor to meet you someday! I still have a lot of things to learn, but hopefully in time, I can develop my own business as well!
such a great video. Some very important lessons here and I'm glad to see you shining some light on this angle. This applies to any reptile groups I would say.
You guys are the real deal!! Respect to both of y’all and thanks for the videos you both do! I follow you both on social media, UA-cam, and Instagram and you both and a few other have helped me along this journey. It’s currently a hobby as I am married and have 5 kids, but one day a business?? Maybe! I LOVE these Ball Pythons and have fun doing as a hobby. Thanks for what y’all do and keep up the amazing work! You 2 are 2 of the Best!
Hands down!
Very awesome video guys. Thank you for doing this and for taking this stand that by working together we are only helping each other and ourselves advance the hobby. So true and something I fully believe in. I am very fortunate to have have found your youtube channels as well as Brian Kusko and Garrett Hartle. You all are great for the industry.
Thanks for doing this video. As you may know I am still new to the hobby only been keeping about 8 years and only been breeding for 2... I needed to see this to reassure that I'm on the right track. I believe in all my pairings... so much that I have people asking for babies I dont have yet. Let's just hope they still want them when they are here
Love both of you guys , great video keep it up
Great info guys. I am a new to the business but not the hobby and I have already been taken advantage of and it really sucks.. It’s always a risk when you buy a “het” and sometimes they prove out and sometimes one is lied too. I had my first clutch from a visual pied male and a pastel het pied. She did not prove out this time around but the babies are still beautiful.. I as a new breeder will offer a guarantee on my Hets that if they don’t prove out after 3 breedings, you will get your money back. It’s really sad that people lie to potential breeders. I guess they just don’t want new people in the business and that’s wrong.. I will be very careful who I get my stock from, from now on.. Thank you both for taking the time to talk with us newbies. We really appreciate it 👍
That was a great video. The two of you make some great points. The people that say it can’t be done are usually the ones who have failed once and given up. I hope I get to meet you guys in person some day, just to pick your brains on the business side of things. Thanks again for the great videos please keep them coming.
Excellent job guys!!! One of my favorite topics. We don't plan to fail but lots of us fail to plan. I see people all the time buying snakes solely because of the price and not because it fills a need. In this industry resources are extremely valuable and I don't think enough attention is paid to our resources whether those resources are relationships, money, equipment, time, experience, and physical space.
I really liked this. one of the main things I had problems with was who to trust to buy from. your both great people and create some amazing animals. Thanks for sharing guys
Awesome video guys...it’s always good to hear from other breeders how they started and what mistakes they made on there journey...we all had to start from somewhere and we’ve all made mistakes...awesome video and cant wait to see another video or a live...keep up the good inspiration..
Fantastic video it would be nice to see other breeders out there talk about this as well.. I think it would help alot of us moving forward. What I learned is that it all comes down to respect & how you treat others in this hobby/business .
I love intelligent conversations. Thanks for the vid! Logical thinking and positive mindsets, so refreshing
Amazing video guys. I know you'll hear this a lot in comments to follow, but there was so much great advice. One question about business i have is, networking. How is the best way to go about it? I know that part of getting your name out there is to reach out to other breeders. Keep your name or brand out there. But I always feel like if I'm not buying at that moment... I don't want to bother them
Great insight on the Unspoken side of the Hobby.
The greatest giveaway idea ever...…(The winner gets a one on one with you to discuss this dream) Thank You both for all you do.
Wow one of the best Vlogs about the business i have ever seen even for just a pet owner who wants to get a pied as a pet only someday. Great vlog guy's.
I just bought a few females with some quality genes rather than go for more that were cheaper. I will be getting my first few clutches next year (fingers crossed) and then from there I will see where the hobby goes and hopefully invest and grow. Thank you for all the knowledge and wisdom you share with others. It has inspired me to go for some really unique combos to start off instead of common morphs! PS: I sent an email to your website a bit back because when you google your website it says "J Kobylka Retiles" for your website in the results. Have a great day :)
You guys are great, even kusko. Look forward to meeting you guys at Tinley this October.
I totally agree with you Kusko. I also look up to these guys. Justin and Miguel you are who I strive to be as a breeder. You are successful, uplifting, helpful, loyal and your always building others up. Thanks for this video, it was full of helpful information. Thanks a million.
Love this video guys keep up the good work you both are great breeders and good people
Wonderful video thank you both!!
Awesome video guys. From both perspectives. At the end of the day there is always a risk in starting a new small business and yet the more heart you put into it the better chance you have. Just like any business
Great job guys, great info and advise. Thanx.
Great info. Relativly new to this world. the branding is great, i have gotten to know Miguel Bryan justin jessy and many other big people from watching all the vids. I thought these people's were hiring you all to do videos and interviews in the beginning. Your service is wonderful for everybody win win. I love the passion and uncut versions like being in the same room chillin. I have so many questions however the more i follow the less there is and some answers before they have become questions. Hope you don't ever have to stop being out there.
I see a lot of people making the easy mistake of just buying over their heads. Nearly a dozen collections have hit Craigslist in my area in the last two years and I don't live in a large city.
I saw a lot of advice on how to start out breeding. I took that advice and molded it to fit my life. I can't afford to dive in with a dozen snakes. So, I decided on my breeding path and chose four snakes that suit that path. I have two females and two males. That runs counter to a lot of advice (get three females and then a male) but I don't even know if my first male is viable, yet. I bought a second male to back him up and give me another direction to go.
No matter what happens with breeding, I can comfortably afford to keep my original four for the rest of their lives (and a few more, if I hit good odds 😉). If those four provide me with what I need to expand, so be it. If they only pay for their food and bedding, that's fine. If they never make me a dime, I can accept that. At the end of the day, I have four beautiful snakes that make me happy.
Excellent choices.
@@free2race15 Thank you.
Perfect example of doing your own thing. Justin makes bold, bright and colorful snakes. He’s not scared of dark colors either. So many of the breeders I watch are trying to get lighter colored snakes. I don’t prefer the lighter colored snakes so I’m buying my very first Ball Python from Justin in a week from now. I’ve done a lot of research and I really like the way he does business. Summer has been invaluable to me as the person I’ve been communicating with. She’s an important part of his team for sure!🐍❤️🐍
EXACTLY! I adore the dark morphs and got into the hobby so I can create my dream snake
Love it. Thanks for the video guys. I would love to see more on this from you. I've loved snakes since I was a kids, but I Just had my first clutch drop this morning. I started so that I can teach my boys to love snakes and so that we could work on it together. Now I am excited about building my own projects down the road to make some awesome combos. You guys both help and inspire me to do this. My goal one of these days is to definitely get a JKR line going so I can come tour his facility and meet him. Sorry Miguel you live too far away. Haha, Thanks again guys. Keep em coming.
Absolutely great video, can't believe I'm just seeing this. I would love to see many more videos from you guys together. I think the live Q&A is a awesome idea to by the way.
I appreciate your honesty. I told someone the other day I wanted to breed ball pythons and they said there's no money in it. I think customer service is huge cause I personally would pay more money to someone that treats me like a human being rather than just a sale. I know there's money to be made in a business but if it weren't for customers the business would fail anyway. Great content
Thanks for the video guys. Being new to the industry myself, I was lucky enough to have had my friend advising me and one of the best pieces of advice I got was to focus on my "female game" first. Another thing I think some people struggle with is what genes to get into first. I purchased a couple snakes early on just because I thought they looked awesome. Today, I probably wouldn't purchase those same snakes. Is there any way you can recommend what to dive into first? Should we stick with the common genes we see out there? Should we take some time to figure out what's "popular"? Should we avoid or invest in new / unknown genes?
Just some thoughts off the top of my head. Thanks again!
Question for you guys. You and Miguel are both very invested in social media and are arguably two of the most influential personalities in the industry in regards to social media platforms. What advice can you give or what did you do in the beginning to build your following on social media and begin influencing the market?? Thanks!!
I know you didn't ask me and I probably don't have as good of advice as those two probably do but building my brand early on had so much to do with interacting with people on forums, snake groups on social media, and irl to form relationships. That's only half the battle though. Once you reach a certain point it comes down to good business sense, being able to take good photos, have a special something that separates you from the crowd, and providing customers with an experience that they want to continue doing business with you. Unfortunately I'm sort of starting at square one again after having to take a hiatus from breeding, but maintaining my friendships with people in the hobby is going to make it a lot less painful. Reputation is everything in this business.
Hoping Justin replies and we can both learn his secrets :)
Hey Miguel! I just wanted to say that your center table with a few topic-related publications placed ever-so-slightly askew from each other was a nice touch. Kudos to whoever thought of that. 👈😉
Thanks Guys, you've helped me visualize my goals, for me it's my hobby that I'd like to expand and learn. Growing and breeding beautiful snakes, I dont need this to be a business but I'd like it to cover it's own costs. I feel I'm 2 to 3 years away from seeing a return but it's what I enjoy.
I loved it. That’s a great way to talk about it. I cannot wait to start. I cannot thank the both of you enough for info and knowledge 🤘💪🤙
Thank you both for creating this video. I'm just getting started with creating my own business. Made the mistake of spending my money on getting pairs instead of getting females to start with. Something you guys said resonate with me that Garrett Hartle said, "Don't try for a bigger piece of the pie, learn to make a bigger pie." I would like to hear you guys talk about the how to brand yourself and some do's and don'ts.
Love you guys! Keep up the good work! Very informative! Wish I could meet the both of you in person! For real it's on my bucket list! You guys are amazing!
Awesome video guys. THANK YOU
Justin and Miguel thank you for the video as someone who looking into start breeding ball pythons Im trying to get info about breeding from people who been the hobby for but a lot people like too give advice
You should make this a live stream series. I would love to soak up all I can from both of you as I start trying to grow my own business. One question I have is how do you determine if a project will be profitable by the time you get to the point where you are selling snakes with that gene? Most of the time when you buy into a project it is 2-3 years before you start recouping your investment and sometimes I find myself wondering how much is too much to spend on a snake based on my risk assessment.
This is a great video and I feel as though It covered a fair amount of what can be missed when entering this hobby. One thing I'd love to hear about is more of an honest opinion of a bad investment. We all know you resurrect genetics that people forget about but you set the trend, along with maybe 5-10 other breeders. So I'd like to hear about the mistakes that are foreseen by some of us into why people fail. Lack of imagination, lack of following trends then jumping ahead of them, leading to breeding from behind. I feel as though there is a true understanding of this hobby, business, industry of ball pythons that not many seem to grasp. I could go on for days about ball pythons from so many different angles and talk about ways people fail or can become successful.....
That’s an awesome video mate. Maybe a few more questions and answers will do great. I’m starting up in August. I’ve been doing research for well over a year now and have planned Everything before I even think about purchasing my first female. I’m in the process of getting my racks built and will also start off with my ASF’s first so I know what’s going into my snakes when I get them. I follow all your guys videos and your Reptile community in the US is awesome. I hope it’s the same in the UK. Will find out very soon. Keep up the good content mate. I enjoy the comedy aspect that you bring to it as well 🍺
awesome I believe more of this type thing should be available to folks that are just beginning in this hobby cool vlog
That portrait of those clutches is fire🔥👍🏼
Great video as always. Would love to see a live stream.
I want to thank you guys im new to ball pythons and yes my 1st bp was a male. I only have 1 but this video helped me b4 i made more mistakes. Thank you i enjoyed this q&a and would love to see more. Thank you soo much brother's!!!
Thank you for this, maybe make a series like this, I’ve always wondered questions about ROIs and stuff
Please talk more about the business and the prices of these snakes I love hearing the crazy high amounts I wanna hear and see the most expensive snakes I love it
A very good vlog guys! Look forward to the next take.
I would love to see more of the business side just not on morphs but the true mad science of the business side.
Excellent video. Starting a new business is very difficult, no matter what type of business it is.
Thanks for this video I really needed to hear this! I really look up to y'all two, and any advice such as this is helpful. I'm just getting started in the hobby, but I have a dream of one day growing my collection to y'alls size. When I watch your vidoes and see the snakes y'all have all I say is one day I'll be there. Thanks again guys awesome video.
Great video guys. Spot on with the points for investing in ball pythons. Thank you for sharing.
I’ll put my voucher in for Miguel.
A couple of weeks ago I was going to make what to me, was a large investment. The largest and what I’ll consider my first real “investment” .
I reached out to Miguel to ask for his opinion on the snakes, as a second opinion.
It was a set of Hets, and he was really helpful. He pointed out the specifics and said they looked good to him.
I purchased them.
Point is, it’s cool that someone who has the experience and a good set of guidance , put his opinion on something that really wasn’t that amazing. A lot of people in this hobby Don’t want to promote the possibility of someone’s future in it. Business or hobby.
So thanks for that.
And Justin
The community appreciates people like you. Working alongside the rest to make it a larger than imagined concept.
Hats off to you both.
Great topic! Thankfully I have not run into some of the hard sell type scams Miguel aluded to (probably because I don't have much money) but I can imagine those in the industry look for people with deep pockets who are itching to get their operation off the ground and have the capital to buy lots of expensive snakes.
I do think that networking is important and getting your name out there as much as possible so that when you start producing babies people know and trust you. I am not afraid to approach anybody and ask questions even if what they're offering is something I can't offord right now, because prices always come down and at some point I will be able to obtain what I want and will be fully informed about the genes involved. I also find that while all of us have somewhat different breeding goals many of us have some things in common and in a sense have a common bond.
One thing I've also found regarding depreciation is that just like in the stock market what goes down will eventually go up again, so I no longer worry about that as much as I used to. These genes have almost infinite uses and I see a pattern whereby some of them can be almost forgotten and then some breeder comes up with a new combo with these genes and just as quickly they are a hot commodity again.
I really think that looking at it from both a hobby and business standpoint gives us the best of both worlds. I don't know why some people consider it a sin to look at the investment part of it as though you love the animal any less just because you also look at it as an investment. My Ball Pythons are like my children but I also see the merit in having this hobby pay for itself and possibly make some extra money to supplement my tiny income by planning it so that the offspring I will produce will double or triple the value of the parents.
I'm not new but I think the business side of this is very interesting. That could be because I have an analytical mind.
I really enjoy talking with you regarding strategy, and the pointers you've given me along the way, as I have in mind what I want to create but sometimes it's hard to picture which combos will achieve the look I'm going for.
Great video! Small new breeder here, hoping for small supplemental income in retirement and learning the biz now. Have owned a construction biz for 30 yrs - hoping some skills transfer! Lol, other than building my own racks...thanks for the input and would be great to see more videos like this - as the hobby grows we should all support each other!!
Thanks for the info little over 2 years in and some of mine are finally breeding. Hopefully hobby that substains itself.
Very Good Video I Agree With It All I ThinkThis Was A Must Needed Video For The Hobby/Business
I love this video. I am a new breeder and I invested 1780 for my fire female, super fire female, super fire male (super fire project being sold by a very good quality breeder). After buying racks, food, an incubator, bedding, I probably have 4000 all together into my first year of breeding. With my first year I am breaking even. So I feel that is the important part starting out.
Find a project you like, to make snakes you want. If you want to make a business, you need to be cost efficient while maximizing profits through smart projects.
If you just want to make nice quality snakes for yourself, just make what you want.
Thanks guys
I like this kind of videos.
I would ask you to make more of this kind with other breeders
cheers mate
These ball python variants are living art, expensive living art shaped by the breeder. The excitement about their collection reminds me of the huge rare tulip collecting period during the Dutch Golden Age. (You can look up this history under “Tulip Mania.”) It all depends on why someone wants to keep these snakes and also how big the potential pool of collectors is.
Very much interested. I have a few wish i had few more to start with but life happened so im learning all i can from you guys
Great video. I have been successfully breeding and selling dragons for years. I started getting into the balls and I feel like people some ball breeders not helpful and if I ask questions they get mad at me. Very stand-offish and stuck up. I’m asking questions to possibly purchase an animal with serious money and they treat me with little respect. It’s strange. I don’t necessarily know if I’m going to breed right now but I do know I want a nice collection of snakes. I had to edit my statement because i wrote it halfway through. You said it perfect I feel like I’m being belittled when I ask questions. Great great content.
Miguel's start is exactly how I got started right down to buying all the males and only a few females to getting conned. I've been in the hobby only four years now and I'm correcting those earlier mistakes slowly but surely, and I owe a lot in the way of respect to you Justin and Miguel and Gavin(Balls2U), Going Yooper and Brian Kusko, Southern Star Reptiles, Mike Brizzee, JT(Reptichip guru)and a few others. I just don't have Big Dog money YET but I have the passion and drive to get there.
This is a top notch video showing the reality of the hobby ,,better being out in the open about everything than hiding the truth ,,great job guys 👍👍
First and foremost....awesome video with very important messages. I definitely started out with the wrong ratio of males to females. Only if this video had come out 5 yrs ago, but the good thing is that it taught me a lesson that I can pass on to others
I am very inspired by both of you, two of my favorites in the business. I also think that you both have amazing people personalities and are just super nice guys they say nice guys finish last but you guys prove that to be total BS! Also like to say that I love the video I will be watching it everytime I need to be inspired!
Great advice especially rookie breeder who want to get into it like me! But we all learn the best and we all learn the mistake that shouldn’t happen but it the way of life! Another things Is that people spend money like it nothing but there no care you know doesn’t know anything or something wrong.. it’s hard to deal with it
From someone who has had reptiles in my life for over 50 years, breeding 21 different species of snakes over a 31 year period and making a living over the last 25 years, my best advice is to go down roads others have not traveled because if your plan is to simply duplicate what others have all ready accomplished, you will be at the murcy of the market place where the marketing plan of those persons is to drop their price and you get caught up in a slide downward, where as if you experiment with other combinations that others have deemed not worthy, you can create some real amazing appearances that those people had no idea could come from the combinations you took a chance on.This is exactly what I have done during my breeding career and some how beat the top level breeders of the day in producing the world's first Hypo Pastel Clowns and Hypo Killer Clowns as well as the wf VPI Axanthic Clown and VPI Ax Pastel Clowns and now the wf Desert Ghost Piebald Banana and dozens more over my career. These double het projects were not worth the time to do for the breeders years ago but now they are coming to the forefront of the industry as the platforms to start building from. Also, if you are not a Builder, then most likely you will not last long, you must build to compete and set your own price on a project only you are working with , eventually prices will drop as more are produced but it is good to be in the drivers seat even if it is just for a while but then you need to build from that amazing designer you brought into existance and make something even more amazing.This is also exactly what Justin has done and brought so much beauty into the world and I am not ashamed to say that I will be taking some of his creations and put my personal spin upon them to create brand new designers.Great video and keep them coming.
Well done gents. Great discussion 👍😎
That was awesome guys! I like that side of the business. And Justin I think it’s great your doing more vlogs! Seems like your obviously very knowledgeable but also for lack of better words friendlier then must in this business. There’s a lot of know it alls and arrogance at some shows and various vlogs lol
Awsome video! Thanks y'all!
Great video guys !
Yes, we need more videos that get into the business side of things.
Good session together enjoyed it
a lot of breeders show there hold backs for the year i would like to know what you are looking for in a hold back bright color,pattern what and and how do you decide if its a $1000 dollar snake or a $5000 snake.