I'm in the ice cream business in Japan. Reached ou to you once and wanted to thank you again for the content. Super helpful. Started with a batch freezer in the beginning as that was all I could afford. In three months we became the #1 selling ice cream online in Japan. Month 5 and we went into supermakets (not many mind you). Just raised money to expand our current facility and bringing in more machinery. More ice cream videos please!
@ nope. building services! (Legionella control) but I’m using his whole eco-system idea to generate side projects that actually feed my main business and visa versa. Already seen it working and I’ve not automated the systems yet!
Love these videos James. Thank you. Just recovering from knee surgery - can’t move and have watched back to back videos . Going through low and stagnate period in my own business/career so grateful to have come across you.
Brilliant James , I started a ready meal brand & manufacturing company 3 years ago just broke the 1.5m this year running 15% net still loads to do but the 5m the target great to hear another food manufacturer thanks
An excellent video. Everything looks so clean and tidy, as one would expect from James. I will be buying some icecream for Christmas now I've seen the video. Your videos are excellent and I find you very motivatiing . I like to watch your videos regularly for this reason and the excellent content. Since stumbling across your channel I have been able to start to completely transform my own business Beebooh. Your enthusiasm is infectious in such a positive way. Finding your channel has simply been the best thing that has happened in the last couple of months. I'm also glad you keep making these videos and offering such quality insight from your own personal experience. This channel is gold. Thank you.
yes, a new video. i love these so much, the honesty, the approach, the knowledge. I've turned into a right fanboy. haha.. i start each day with a video/podcast or something, its almost a motivational tool in its self...
I watch your vlogs when things are hard in my business. you always seem to help me open a new door to ideas. It all started with the Christmas bomb on your ice cream shop, I bombed my shops, a few years later and you have helped give me the path, its been really tuff this year with two tourist shops in Cornwall. But I have a plan for the future, and sir a lot of that is down to you. So a merry Christmas and bless your cotton sock!
Thanks James, great content. Looks like your break-even revenue is close to 2m revenue with a 25% selling margin. Have you considered producing for a regional supermarket chain their private label ice cream? Or selling outside your 'ecosystem'? Many food companies go the 'private label' contract manufacturer route to achieve the scale to turn a profit. You are an inspiration to many. Thank you!
Only recently I randomly came across James’s video about his hotel. Since then I’ve been recommended the kids play business, flats and now this. How many business do you have?! 😂
We built a few blast freezers in dubai for icecream factories and meat processing factories. icecream industry is very competitive , but if you can get the right niche, eg yogurt icecream or wieghtloss low calorie icecream, or maybe caffinated one, it can work. get your marketing team on it
A great business with great potential but very tight margins demand exceptional management 24/7. I think James is cleverly building his entire 'eco system' with a view to being acquired by a major player or at least a company thats already mid sized but wants to grow fast
That's an excellent video, not often I subscribe based on the first one I watch but I did enjoy it. The numbers man in me would have liked a bit more detail on the finances but you can't have everything. I suppose it can get a bit complicated when you've got several businesses billing each other.
Listening to your videos you always talk about the right “business model”. Have you considered operating Rossi in a similar way to the brewery tied pubs model. E.g. you lease them shops/ ice cream vans to small businesses for basically cost but they are tied to buy their product from you only? Would link nicely to the foodservice model as well, the breweries do very well out of this!
Hi James, wonderful content. Apart from entrepreneur you are a fantastic producer and presenter. As someone who works in comms and branding I wonder why you don’t lean more into the heritage of the brand. For ice cream it seems like something that would be a perfect fit. By the way I can only imagine how many people said ahhhhh when you mentioned the 99. Great stuff!
Great vdeo James. Nowhere near where you are in terms of growth and leverage, but had a similar apporach for decades. Appears we have been doing the same for decades on a small scale of many of your wins, and yea the biigest threat from others is when they vertically intergrate. Howevver you forgot to mention the pitfuls of that approach that many will face (mainly because of your positive mindset, which is great) and why some who do this then collapse the whole deck of cards. 1. They over stretch. 2. Levers work in both directions and to oppose their force is sometimes not possible when their is a rmmajor market change. Doubt you will read this personally, bit if you do, be great to chat some time.
It's only been since I've been watching James... probably absorbing over 80 or so videos at the minute for the first time I'm thinking in future of acquiring a metal stockholders. It's an interesting idea I'd never considered
You could run a massive campaign to celebrate the 99 the on the 99th year in only 8 years time from now and bring back the original flavours and designs for a limited time of say 99 days!?
Thanks James, Great vid again. What's the shelf life on a tub of Ice Cream? Is it affected by the ingredients in it? Is this ever a consideration for new products? Also, how cold is it in the factory? Do you keep it cool, or do the vats do all the cooling internally? Thanks
Another great video, love the look behind the scenes videos. I saw a Rossi ice cream stand at the Belfast Christmas markets. Do you have a setup in Ireland or is there a similar brand with the same name?
Instead of pouring money in scaling up the ice cram factory just to sell wholesale at thin margins would it be more profitable to scale up the retail side side of it e.g. buy/build more Rossi parlours, which I assume have much greater margins?
@@gibbson130 maybe he could put ice-cream vending machines across all his sites? That way they'd be no standing staffing costs, just the intermittent refilling, maintenance and power
We had a local brand in Leicester which now down scaled Brucianni’s they about four store back in the 80’s & were really busy until McDonald’s open then a few closed then I’m 2000-2005 they made a resurgence for a few years then slowly just died & now I think they just deliver sandwiches before they did ice scream coffee ect proper Italian deli stuff hope they can make another comeback…. Great video excellent content not that under stand high level buisness but I understand profit & loss….
What does the costs look like when you benchmark your self against purchasing the ice cream from a competitor? And is the juice worth the squeeze, could you focus on growing other areas of your business?
Trying to do ice cream at scale supplying supermarkets while competing with all the multinational conglomerates must be a nightmare. There was one indepedent supermarket brand in Ireland called Darina Allens ice cream that was delicious but it's gone kaput. There was another before that made near me called Leadmore, also kaput. There are some fantastic ice cream shops like Murphy's that use real eggs but I'm guessing they wouldn't be able sell them for home consumption without using all those emulsifiers and stabalisers you need to get extended shelf life and ending up with a product pretty indistinguisable from HB/Ben & Jerrys etc.
We get milk delivered by "milk and more" who use the quietness of thier electric vans to deliver throughout the night, could he use the same idea to keep his vans working longer hours?
I do this on my seminars. But in essence I am proactive. I knock on doors and get in the car and ask. Desktop research and Google is bottom of my list.
I think in all truth you have bought a dog here. How many years of £250k loss will you have before turning a profit and how many further years of making a profit will it take to pay off the losses and then how many further years will it take to pay back the lack of earnings made over all those years. Terrible return.
I think the big part of loss is only on the wholesale side. And on paper but that I mean I think James’s other businesses are benefiting from the supply and the stores that sell the ice cream turn a profit. He’s not as daft as he looks.
respect. real buisness man here . All you youtubers: influencers who think your biusnes men. autoentrepreneurs then look and watch this video. this is how you do biusness
Hey James, I was thinking about what you said regarding leverage and the £250,000 debt. With your distribution network, why not expand into frozen pizza and pasta dishes? Or even something new like a pizza burger or pasta in a pot/pouch, similar to Huel. Selling directly to consumers could be a game-changer and help hit that £250,000 profit target. What do you think?
Cafe Deli does all of that. The point of this video was just about the ice cream factory. As a group it all works. I just wanted to isolate how hard food manufacturers have it.
James, is it really worth it? It seems to me the amount of effort put into another enterprise would turn you a profit much faster. Seems like a passion project for you… great videos and admire what you do BTW.
Arrg! Those margins! I hate chasing turnover for profit. My new year's resolution is profit first. The f-ing government(s) have collected a fortune from my creativity and hard work over the years, I'm too old to say "in 10 years", it's got to pay NOW! Don't misunderstand me, I'm a marketer and if I'm not making profit I blame myself for not selling the story or meeting the need. Industrial scale producers will always undercut me but I will always out maneuver them and be able to niche down and talk to markets that are uneconomical for them. Love your channel James and wishing you every success in 2025 :-)
27 companies. Why not have 1 or 2 giant companies or a tech business that can far exceed the profits of those types of businesses eg a tech business? What is the end game?
I have Ideas like you have I just have one Problem i don't have the Money to get my Ideas Going. Hopefully one day i will Win the Lottery and use the Money to get My ideas going.
l own a unique dairy business in Australia. The first cow & calf together dairy. Early days for us. finance is a killer in Aus if you're in dairy and not a big believer player. Banks are terrified as the industry diminishes in size, but my business is building. so it was great to hear your ideas on synergies as we are looking into new products and our first retail sight with a tourism angle . 👏👏👏
I started as a magician, turned that into an agency and events business, then a chain of play centres, then day nurseries and on and on. ( I seasoned the journey with property along the way )
James, apart from the brand heritage, why this business such massive cash outlay, regulations, constant investment for no returns? I hear your 10 year time horizon and future profitability but seems an unusual business for you to be involved in.
Because I have loads of commercial property and other businesses, I love being useful to the world and building teams. Nothing is more profitable than building a great business….. and nothing is more rewarding. I’d rather get to the end of my days knowing I built great teams not just purely money into the stock market. I’ve got enough property to keep my very secure so I do things that make me useful to society.
Business is not just about money. It’s about building something, helping people and going on a journey. Especially when you start as young as James did.
I'm in the ice cream business in Japan.
Reached ou to you once and wanted to thank you again for the content. Super helpful.
Started with a batch freezer in the beginning as that was all I could afford. In three months we became the #1 selling ice cream online in Japan.
Month 5 and we went into supermakets (not many mind you).
Just raised money to expand our current facility and bringing in more machinery.
More ice cream videos please!
Again…. This is absolute gold. I run a 7 figure business and I listen to this like a kid In class! 🎉 thank you boss
same sector?
@ nope. building services! (Legionella control) but I’m using his whole eco-system idea to generate side projects that actually feed my main business and visa versa. Already seen it working and I’ve not automated the systems yet!
What business?
Exact same, great to see real examples of the similar difficulties we all have
@@WizzWins it doesn’t matter. Scale a lawn business up high enough and it can yield 7 figures as well.
I used to work at dcn, they are racking it in. those machines are quite easy to make, have a buisness that builds the machines, boom!
Name a better and more down to earth person in this space, great :)
James Sinclair and Daniel Priestley - both top of my watch list
Love these videos James. Thank you. Just recovering from knee surgery - can’t move and have watched back to back videos . Going through low and stagnate period in my own business/career so grateful to have come across you.
you sound like a good person. so i commented as such
Speed recovery to you!
Brilliant James , I started a ready meal brand & manufacturing company 3 years ago just broke the 1.5m this year running 15% net still loads to do but the 5m the target great to hear another food manufacturer thanks
That's amazing! What's the name of the brand, if you ship to the UK I'd be happy to place and order and try them out.
❤
@@jonathansmyth4260it’s Simmer
An excellent video. Everything looks so clean and tidy, as one would expect from James. I will be buying some icecream for Christmas now I've seen the video. Your videos are excellent and I find you very motivatiing . I like to watch your videos regularly for this reason and the excellent content. Since stumbling across your channel I have been able to start to completely transform my own business Beebooh. Your enthusiasm is infectious in such a positive way. Finding your channel has simply been the best thing that has happened in the last couple of months. I'm also glad you keep making these videos and offering such quality insight from your own personal experience. This channel is gold. Thank you.
Found this channel the past week. Great honest content and love the insights
Another super engaging video! Well done James and Chuds
yes, a new video. i love these so much, the honesty, the approach, the knowledge. I've turned into a right fanboy. haha.. i start each day with a video/podcast or something, its almost a motivational tool in its self...
Really interesting, watched this out of the blue. Love your mind mapping, makes me think of how I can use that to better map out ideas and strategy.
I watch your vlogs when things are hard in my business. you always seem to help me open a new door to ideas. It all started with the Christmas bomb on your ice cream shop, I bombed my shops, a few years later and you have helped give me the path, its been really tuff this year with two tourist shops in Cornwall. But I have a plan for the future, and sir a lot of that is down to you. So a merry Christmas and bless your cotton sock!
❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️
Love it, keep up the great work
Love this!
Can’t get wholesalers to list your products so just go and buy one!
Inspirational 🔥🔥
James you are my favourite channel. Thank you and your team for the fantastic content!!
Thanks James, great content. Looks like your break-even revenue is close to 2m revenue with a 25% selling margin. Have you considered producing for a regional supermarket chain their private label ice cream? Or selling outside your 'ecosystem'? Many food companies go the 'private label' contract manufacturer route to achieve the scale to turn a profit. You are an inspiration to many. Thank you!
Yes we do a bit.
Super video, a bit of a surprise content but great depth into the business, really enjoying your videos mate!
love the acknowledgement of the history of Rossis just like Joes do in Swansea. Thats what baffles me in what Jaguar are doing
Thank you for keeping Rossi’s alive - I used to go there with my grandad as a kid and now I take my son for a lemon ice whenever we’re in Southend.
When Thorntons went into tesco it cheapened the product there for its not that desirable now
Love these videos, the most honest business man on RUclips, tell it how it is, so informative.
Can’t beat them so join them. He bought his own food services company. Love it.
by far the best channel I've come across, inspired me lots thanks James
Always good content James….revs me up to have another push in the New Year
As they in the same building could he recycle the unwanted heat from the freezers to heat the roller disco? Saving heating costs and being green
hilarious
@littleones-yeahh why? Better than dumping all the heat into the outside air whist at the same time paying to heat the roller-rink
Superb video James. I run a v small reselling business, whilst nowhere near your scale a lot of your lessons can be applied. All the best Ian
"Im very proud to own the Rossi ice cream company" speaks a thousand words alone ! Great video Sir !
One of the best channels I have found - love the lessons and the transparency of cost - keep it up - Dragons Den will be calling :-)
This guy is brilliant!
P T Barnum has almost a 100 reasons to be proud of you James. Keep up the good work ;-)
Could listen to you talk for hours mate. Fantastic content again!
Only recently I randomly came across James’s video about his hotel. Since then I’ve been recommended the kids play business, flats and now this. How many business do you have?! 😂
We built a few blast freezers in dubai for icecream factories and meat processing factories. icecream industry is very competitive , but if you can get the right niche, eg yogurt icecream or wieghtloss low calorie icecream, or maybe caffinated one, it can work. get your marketing team on it
A great business with great potential but very tight margins demand exceptional management 24/7. I think James is cleverly building his entire 'eco system' with a view to being acquired by a major player or at least a company thats already mid sized but wants to grow fast
That's an excellent video, not often I subscribe based on the first one I watch but I did enjoy it. The numbers man in me would have liked a bit more detail on the finances but you can't have everything. I suppose it can get a bit complicated when you've got several businesses billing each other.
Listening to your videos you always talk about the right “business model”. Have you considered operating Rossi in a similar way to the brewery tied pubs model. E.g. you lease them shops/ ice cream vans to small businesses for basically cost but they are tied to buy their product from you only? Would link nicely to the foodservice model as well, the breweries do very well out of this!
Absolutely
Hi James, wonderful content. Apart from entrepreneur you are a fantastic producer and presenter. As someone who works in comms and branding I wonder why you don’t lean more into the heritage of the brand. For ice cream it seems like something that would be a perfect fit. By the way I can only imagine how many people said ahhhhh when you mentioned the 99. Great stuff!
Great vdeo James. Nowhere near where you are in terms of growth and leverage, but had a similar apporach for decades. Appears we have been doing the same for decades on a small scale of many of your wins, and yea the biigest threat from others is when they vertically intergrate. Howevver you forgot to mention the pitfuls of that approach that many will face (mainly because of your positive mindset, which is great) and why some who do this then collapse the whole deck of cards. 1. They over stretch. 2. Levers work in both directions and to oppose their force is sometimes not possible when their is a rmmajor market change.
Doubt you will read this personally, bit if you do, be great to chat some time.
It's only been since I've been watching James... probably absorbing over 80 or so videos at the minute for the first time I'm thinking in future of acquiring a metal stockholders. It's an interesting idea I'd never considered
This is awesome! Never seen a video like this
You could run a massive campaign to celebrate the 99 the on the 99th year in only 8 years time from now and bring back the original flavours and designs for a limited time of say 99 days!?
Thanks James, Great vid again.
What's the shelf life on a tub of Ice Cream? Is it affected by the ingredients in it? Is this ever a consideration for new products?
Also, how cold is it in the factory? Do you keep it cool, or do the vats do all the cooling internally?
Thanks
2 years in the freezer.
How much would it cost to employ a large ice cream manufacturing company and sub contract the manufacturing out?
@@go2-events people do do that and my predecessors used to do this. Smart to do if you want to stay small.
Another great video, love the look behind the scenes videos. I saw a Rossi ice cream stand at the Belfast Christmas markets. Do you have a setup in Ireland or is there a similar brand with the same name?
It will be people just using our name. Doubt it is unfortunately.
Mind boggling you have to be very resilient 😊
Instead of pouring money in scaling up the ice cram factory just to sell wholesale at thin margins would it be more profitable to scale up the retail side side of it e.g. buy/build more Rossi parlours, which I assume have much greater margins?
He spoken about them before, he loves them but thier income is peaky and weather/season dependant (which he is try to fix)
@@backacheache that's true thanks
@@gibbson130 maybe he could put ice-cream vending machines across all his sites? That way they'd be no standing staffing costs, just the intermittent refilling, maintenance and power
We had a local brand in Leicester which now down scaled Brucianni’s they about four store back in the 80’s & were really busy until McDonald’s open then a few closed then I’m 2000-2005 they made a resurgence for a few years then slowly just died & now I think they just deliver sandwiches before they did ice scream coffee ect proper Italian deli stuff hope they can make another comeback….
Great video excellent content not that under stand high level buisness but I understand profit & loss….
True, Brucianni's ice cream cones were legendary delicious 😋 🍦
Another great video James. The food business has really tight margins.
This is great content, I am a multi trillionaire and still learn from this chap.
What does the costs look like when you benchmark your self against purchasing the ice cream from a competitor? And is the juice worth the squeeze, could you focus on growing other areas of your business?
Having an ice cream shop sounds like a lot of fun. I worked at one in high school. Making the ice sounds more difficult.
Trying to do ice cream at scale supplying supermarkets while competing with all the multinational conglomerates must be a nightmare. There was one indepedent supermarket brand in Ireland called Darina Allens ice cream that was delicious but it's gone kaput. There was another before that made near me called Leadmore, also kaput. There are some fantastic ice cream shops like Murphy's that use real eggs but I'm guessing they wouldn't be able sell them for home consumption without using all those emulsifiers and stabalisers you need to get extended shelf life and ending up with a product pretty indistinguisable from HB/Ben & Jerrys etc.
We get milk delivered by "milk and more" who use the quietness of thier electric vans to deliver throughout the night, could he use the same idea to keep his vans working longer hours?
James, check out Yo,chi I’m in oz had it for the first time this week, they’re killing it
Its a pity you only seem to get basic Rossi flavours in the supermarket?
Some of the unusual flavours look lush!
You have taken my business to the next level. Thank you
Hi James
Does your figures include direct to consumer ?
No. Just the factory. The whole of Rossi, with shops and cafe deli is circa 15m and is profitable as a group.
Great stuff💪
Have you done any videos on how you are sourcing your acquisitions? Would love to understand more.
I do this on my seminars. But in essence I am proactive. I knock on doors and get in the car and ask. Desktop research and Google is bottom of my list.
@@JamesSinclairEntrepreneur I'm all about that old-school hustle. Thanks.
Whats going on with the chain of coffee shops you bought? Are they still going?
is it true that ice cream is sold by volume and not weight? and cheap ice cream has more air inside it?
It’s true cheap ice cream or low quality ice cream has lots of air In it.
Your RUclips channel will blow up massive soon mate
I think in all truth you have bought a dog here. How many years of £250k loss will you have before turning a profit and how many further years of making a profit will it take to pay off the losses and then how many further years will it take to pay back the lack of earnings made over all those years.
Terrible return.
I think the big part of loss is only on the wholesale side. And on paper but that I mean I think James’s other businesses are benefiting from the supply and the stores that sell the ice cream turn a profit.
He’s not as daft as he looks.
brilliant as ever.
Great advice James
Do you guys sell Rossi’s in Asda or Tesco? I want to try it😅.
Ah okay 9:48
respect. real buisness man here . All you youtubers: influencers who think your biusnes men. autoentrepreneurs then look and watch this video. this is how you do biusness
The cost of those specialized machines is just wild...
This was great I find the hardest part of a food manufacturing business is finding customers.
Maybe I should buy Thomas Ridley haha 😛
Hey James, I was thinking about what you said regarding leverage and the £250,000 debt. With your distribution network, why not expand into frozen pizza and pasta dishes? Or even something new like a pizza burger or pasta in a pot/pouch, similar to Huel. Selling directly to consumers could be a game-changer and help hit that £250,000 profit target. What do you think?
Cafe Deli does all of that. The point of this video was just about the ice cream factory.
As a group it all works. I just wanted to isolate how hard food manufacturers have it.
Do you use Palantir with your supply chain management?
Why don’t you supply your ice creams to Tesco as well? That would be awesome to have multiple shops you sell to.
Brilliant video as usual.
Im surprise James why you dont rent your transport rather than buy if depriciation costs are associated with them.
James, is it really worth it? It seems to me the amount of effort put into another enterprise would turn you a profit much faster. Seems like a passion project for you… great videos and admire what you do BTW.
Another amazing vid James
Interesting insight
Certainly would like to help Rossi get to 5 mill!
Richard
Quite an amazing businessman. Very impressive
you can just hedge your commodity costs with options so they stay fixed year wide for a small fee
I did say that in the video. Small businesses wouldn’t do that though, when they start.
Arrg! Those margins! I hate chasing turnover for profit. My new year's resolution is profit first. The f-ing government(s) have collected a fortune from my creativity and hard work over the years, I'm too old to say "in 10 years", it's got to pay NOW! Don't misunderstand me, I'm a marketer and if I'm not making profit I blame myself for not selling the story or meeting the need. Industrial scale producers will always undercut me but I will always out maneuver them and be able to niche down and talk to markets that are uneconomical for them. Love your channel James and wishing you every success in 2025 :-)
Another great video
i would love the start up money to start something but its impossible these days.
You inspire me to try make my own bussiness when im older ( my spelling is awful but my mouse is broken and im poor so i cant get a new one)
27 companies. Why not have 1 or 2 giant companies or a tech business that can far exceed the profits of those types of businesses eg a tech business? What is the end game?
Next you need to get a dairy farm!! Vertical integration :)
I’ve thought about it baby
First! Already know this is going to be a fantastic video
And this new business put you in tuch with all shoppers all over UK that can boost your ice-cream business
Great video buddy.
Got lost with all the numbers. But very informative.
I have Ideas like you have I just have one Problem i don't have the Money to get my Ideas Going. Hopefully one day i will Win the Lottery and use the Money to get My ideas going.
Hi, watch all your videos, would love to meet up if you are in the West Yorkshire area, i would love your advise, or arrange a call, thank you
love the content James! started my own channel because of you!
@@DavidManagesMoney i wish i had the courage to do this but the keyboard warriors can be harsh for no reason
@@Recruitadriver :D I thought "always wanted to do it" so why not give it a go! you are doing well with your sub count!
I feel like I know so much about this Ice cream business I could run it myself 😂
you're an absolute boss
l own a unique dairy business in Australia. The first cow & calf together dairy. Early days for us. finance is a killer in Aus if you're in dairy and not a big believer player. Banks are terrified as the industry diminishes in size, but my business is building. so it was great to hear your ideas on synergies as we are looking into new products and our first retail sight with a tourism angle . 👏👏👏
What was the first business you had ?
I started as a magician, turned that into an agency and events business, then a chain of play centres, then day nurseries and on and on.
( I seasoned the journey with property along the way )
Nightmare. Tricky. Hard work. Must try the icecream.
Really great!
Hi James what the plan to get from one million to five million
7:53
James, apart from the brand heritage, why this business such massive cash outlay, regulations, constant investment for no returns? I hear your 10 year time horizon and future profitability but seems an unusual business for you to be involved in.
I'm amazed you don't sell everything and stick it in the stock market or property. Such a lot of work for so little return.
He has some commercial property but is not a fan of residential
Because I have loads of commercial property and other businesses, I love being useful to the world and building teams. Nothing is more profitable than building a great business….. and nothing is more rewarding. I’d rather get to the end of my days knowing I built great teams not just purely money into the stock market.
I’ve got enough property to keep my very secure so I do things that make me useful to society.
Business is not just about money. It’s about building something, helping people and going on a journey.
Especially when you start as young as James did.
No return. It is a £250k loss every year.
@@neilbridgeman7768he makes a profit with direct to consumer…
Should make a vegan ice cream.
Agreed, good vegan ice-cream is a rare thing