Been out of the business for years....

[Allen Scott]

I owned a trophy/awards store for almost 15 years, but have been out of it for about 3 years now.

I recently pulled out an old laser engraver that I had kept (Epilog Summit), cleaned and maintenanced it and its now up and running great. Ran a few plastic name badges, wood plaques and glass awards and it works like a champ! I dont have the cool auto focus, red pointer, etc features of the newer machines. But it works none the less for right now.

Im debating getting a little side business going out of my house. Im thinking awards/trophies since thats what I already know. But I no longer have any contacts with any old customers, nor do I have a store front for walk ins.

If you were in my shoes, going to start fresh and do some things out of your house, what would you do to get going? What is the best way to drum up some business? Iv dangled with the idea of making a website, but to create a website with 500+ products, shopping cart, etc isnt very quick or cheap to hire someone.. I was thinking along the lines of local business first... then maybe expand to nationwide website

[Dave Lock]

You could always get going by having a small stand at local craft fairs and the like. A cheap way and good place to showcase what you can do You could hand a few business cards out or flyers.


Dave.

[Jim Coffee]

Good morning Allen...

Follow your passions. Life is too short to do otherwise.

And just a 'website' comment. Websites aren't local...or national...they are International.

Engrave what you love.

Unless of course you need to create X dollars a month...which you don't imply that you need to do.

[Dee Gallo]

Hi Allen,

I don't think you need to consider "a website with 500+ products" - look at existing laser engaving sites and you will see many offering a only handful of products, some in only one area of interest (gun related, cakepans, pet tags, etc.). As Jim suggested, engrave what you love and if it grows, so much the better. No need to be everything to everyone - I personally have found a specific target group pays off very nicely and keeps you from running in a hundred directions at once.

cheers, dee

[Rodne Gold]

The best bet is to stick to what you know and develop a range of custom made trophies rasther than sell the usual Freeman/PDU stock.
Heres some custom awards from my site
If you do this sort of stuff , your margins increase big time. Be different and unique..
http://www.tokerbros.co.za/custom_acry_med.htm
http://www.tokerbros.co.za/custom_acry_small.htm
http://www.tokerbros.co.za/custom_acry_mini.htm
http://www.tokerbros.co.za/custom_acry_large.htm