Where Do I Start: Part 1

Recently I was approached by one of our members who asked where he should start as an industrialist.  While I have been juggling around the idea for a blog about this very subject, I really haven't had time to put it down on paper, so-to-speak.  Being an industrialist is easy in theory but it does require a lot of skill training, some capital and a lot of patience.  This will be a multi-part blog as there are a lot of disciplines you can specialize in.  

There was a tutorial mission or two regarding manufacturing.  If they are still available (I believe under the help section in the NeoComm), I would start there.  You can familiarize yourself with the interface.  After that, I guess you could follow a few career paths to be an industrialist

1. Mining
   1. be a miner and sell the minerals:  This would be the entry level industrialist.  It's easy, relatively quick and can be lucrative.  If you are able to expand into low and null sec, you have the potential to make a ton of ISK at a substantial ISK.  There are a bunch of secondary skills to get better at refining ore and also to use advanced mining crystals. There is also a long train time to be able to get to exhumers (Hulk, Mackinaw, Skiff), but they are well worth it if you are serious about mining. 
   2. be a gas miner: low/null sec career.  Gas is used in boosters and can be pretty valuable.  I wouldn't bother trying to track down high sec gas clouds unless you just want the exploration experience. 
   3. be an ice miner:  This can also be pretty lucrative.  Ice is refined into products that people need for POS fuel blocks as well as jump drives in capital ships and jump freighters as well as black ops battleship bridges.  It is relatively quick to get to level of decent efficiency.    

If you are using your minerals for manufacturing, just remember that your time has a value.  If you use your minerals to build, you need to, at the very least, value your minerals at the market "buy order" price.  This is the price that people set up orders to be filled, generally it is at a much lower price than the "sell orders".  In the case of tritanium and pyerite, it might not be a big spread but can be substantial in high volume.  

Let's use Tritanium as an example.  Dodixie's lowest sell order is 5.75, it's highest buy order is 5.65.  Factor in the minerals that you are using in manufacturing and make sure that you show a COST of at least 5.65.  If you don't, your final cost is skewed and not indicative of what the item really costs.  You might think you can sell your items for much less than they are worth and you will tank the market for a while.  It's bad business and it hurts manufacturers that factor all this in.  I was in Vegas once playing BlackJack.  Someone kept hitting when they should and staying when they should hit.  It caused a huge problem and people became highly agitated and left.  The person not doing the right thing took money from their pocket.  Don't be that guy!

The reason I say you need to do this is that if you were to sell your minerals instead of building with them, you would make at least for 5.65.  I buy A LOT of minerals on buy order and they fill pretty quick. 

Mining is pretty simple, somewhat safe and has consistent returns on time invested.  You can mine while you have items in production and use the minerals towards your production without having to play the market and transport the minerals to your production hub. 

That pretty much covers the 1st part of my little series.  I hope you enjoyed and learned something new.  As always, fly safe-ish.