Hello from Australia - introduction

[Ian Wilson (AUST)]

G'Day All,

My name is Ian Wilson, most people call me Willo, and firstly let me say what a great bunch you all are. Its lovely to see an Industry that still helps each other and not be aggressive competitors.

After reading many of your Posts my head is exploding with questions and idea's. I know very little about Laser Engraving, here in Aust the cost of a machine is between $20-$30K. I'm looking at Epilog Mini 35 Watt 18" x 12" approx $26,500 AUD the exchange rate kills us. Any way quite a large investment for myself.

I'll do 3 months of Laser Uni as I have no Corel Draw experience.

The Area I live in is the Whitsundays (Australian Carribean - sort of). We have a large Tourist Industry, a Marine Industry and Coal Mines are about 3 hours away plus the normal local business of a town of 25,000 population.

We have beautiful small islands and one Islands in particular had 720 weddings on it last year alone...any wedding idea's.

Any idea's on what I can offer.............there is no other Laser Engraver here. The local Sign Writer ha said he could use us.

I'll be operating from home, am I being realistic, can I learn how to operate the machine and produce quality goods with no experience and no one in the area with another machine to learn from.

I'm not putting me life savings into it but boy it would hurt if in a years time I had a $30K toy sitting in the corner doing nothing.

I have sales and marketing experience.

All the Sales Reps all assure me I'll be ok.......making $$$ within the first few weeks.

Any help would be appreciated.

Kind regards,


Willo

[George M. Perzel]

Hey Willo;
Welcome to the Creek, mate.
There are many, many threads on this forum regarding startup ideas,advice, and things not to do. I suggest you scour this site and read all you can until you're fed up- and then read some more. You can virtually eliminate 99.375% of the many mistakes most of us have made with some due diligence and homework.
Next, really investigate and try to understand all elements of your market- you can't do everything and many things which appear to be great, money making ideas are major wastes of time, effort, and money. Try to focus and develop a niche in the market where you can become expert. Spend as much time as possible learning Corel and take advantage of the many Corel forums and help sites- as well as soliciting info from SMC members-most will be very glad to help.
Again, our warm welcome to you and best wishes for future success.
Best regards;
George
LaserArts

[Tim Bateson]

Welcome Willo,

Sounds like you have a great market, but take what your Sales Rep says with a grain of salt. Some here have been so lucky, but the reality is that there is a steep learning curve. There is a lot to learn & you couldn't ask for a better group of people to help. I love doing this and I hope you do too

At this stage you should be putting together a realistic business plan. With emphasis on REALISTIC! If your plan is based on ideal situations and idea opportunities, it isn't realistic. Study your market, do your homework, narrow your focus, study related businesses, and most important again be realistic.

.. and all of the stuff that George said too.

[Frank Corker]

Welcome to the Creek. If you wanted to know about lasering, then you've come to the right place. I would suggest you go to the place where this was posted. Go right down to the bottom and go to the beginning of all posts. If you want to learn about it, every question you have posed, the answer is already here. This is probably the smallest book on the subject you will find, but it answers just about everything.

[Scott Perry]

Howdy Partner, welcome to the creek. You'll git just about all yer questions answered here and maybe a few clipart thingy by that British guy, Frank. (Sorry, I've been listening to too much Gunsmoke).

[Frank Corker]

Howdy Partner, welcome to the creek. You'll git just about all yer questions answered here and maybe a few clipart thingy by that British guy, Frank. (Sorry, I've been listening to too much Gunsmoke).

..... and too much rootbeer!

[Dan Hintz]

Welcome to the Creek, Ian!

I woould take your rep's belief of making money within the first few weeks with a large grain of salt (make that an entire salt lick). Yes, it's possible, but the less you know about them coming in, the steeper the learning curve. I've been posting/reading this forum for over a year, just picked up my main laser two weeks ago and I'm still swarming with questions. I try to do my own leg work, but sometimes there just aren't any clear-cut answers. I have a couple of semi-major clients already, but I lined those up well before I even placed my machine order (now that's creative marketing!).

Becoming comfortable with Corel (or some other similar program, like Illustrator, or my favorite, Inkscape) before you pick the laser up is recommended... nothing like trying to learn more than one tool at a time to make you go bonkers.

As for ideas, the marine industry is always in the need for corrosion-resistant signs... plastics, corian, stainless steel, etc. I'm sure the mining industry could use a lot of stuff, like anodized aluminum tags each miner takes off of the board to let people know they're in the mine in case of an accident, signs/panels for electrical equipment, etc. Tourism alone could get you page after page of varied items for sale, quite a few mentioned on this forum in days past. Start scrounging...

[Ian Wilson (AUST)]

Thanks for your welcome and advise.

Will Corel Suite x 4 Student be OK? As I think I will do 3 months at Laser Uni.

[Dan Hintz]

Will Corel Suite x 4 Student be OK? As I think I will do 3 months at Laser Uni.

Legally speaking, unless you are a student or faculty member of an accredited learning institution (I don't believe Laser U qualifies), you are not allowed to purchase the student edition... does it happen? Yes. Is it legal? No. Also, the EULA specifically forbids use of the student edition in any commercial venture, so the moment you sell a product created with it, you've broken the contract. Many here don't care about that, but that's for your own conscience to decide.

I personally shoot for as much free/open-source software as possible. I use Inkscape, Paint.NET, and I meant to grab Scribus earlier this evening and just plain forgot. Inkscape is a great vector-based program, Paint.NET rocks in the raster world, and Scribus is great for file type conversion (at least until Inkscape fully integrates UniConvert into their program).

[Bill Cunningham]

Greetings Willo and welcome to the forum... My advise (for what it's worth) is to start with Coreldraw, and get somewhat comfortable with it 'before' you buy the laser. If your just using it for learning, and it's not producing anything, I would think the educational package would do until you are ready to hook it up and start working.. The problem is, as others have said, Corel is a VERY steep learning curve. I've been using it since Ver.2 and still discover things I never knew almost every month.. You will have enough on your plate learning it (download as many projects from here as you can and see how their put together.) When you get your laser, you will be comfortable, and not have the incredible aggravation, of not being able to do what you 'think' you should be able to do on the laser, and not know if it's the machine, or how your trying to do it with Corel.. Believe me, and everyone else here, that the only one thats going to make money in the first few weeks, will be the guy selling you the laser. The laser, is the simple part. Making it do what you want can drive you nuts without a good foundation in Coreldraw. As Frank has said, everything you want to know can be found on this forum.. Go to page one and start reading. Not only will all of your questions be answered, but you will have some 'history' knowledge of the machines, software, and many, many, ideas and hints to make life easier, and more profitable. Then, and only then should you be ready to plunk down the 20-30k they want for the machine in Oz.. Before you know it, you will be a 'idea' and project contributor in no time...

[Scott Challoner]

Welcome Willo

I think you will find you marketing experience every bit as important as your skills with the laser. That's where I need the most help.
Make lots of samples to show your capabilities. There's always a Wow factor with lasered items.

Good luck

[Rodne Gold]

Welcome...seems like you would have a great market out there.
Here's a very good rule to follow if you want to buy a machine.....it's called the "1/2 x2" rule
Halve the projected income and turnarounds or capability of what the mnfgr/rep says and double the running costs....if it still makes economic sense - buy it.

[onur cakir]

Hi, welcome Willo

In this economic crisis i quit my good earning job to build my own business mostly including laser. If you have nobody around doing laser business dont think a minute, buy an engraver !

As you live in a touristic area you have many possibilities to sell

[Michael Hunter]

Hi Ian

I'm just plain jealous about where you are - we stayed for a week on Hook Island a few years back and did NOT want to leave!
(MUCH nicer there than the Caribbean, which looks cheap and shoddy by comparison)

Send the air fare for me and my machine and I'll come over and show you everything I know

Some thoughts that may or may not be useful -

You have three levels of tourists.
To hit the jet set on Hamilton you need exceptionally high artistic merit and quality. Probably the only way to get to them is through existing boutiques and hotel shops - who will keep most of the profit for themselves.
The family and back-packer groups should be easier to get to, but do differentiate the offerings to avoid the "I saw the same thing cheaper down the road" syndrome.

The Mini is small if you want to get into the marine industry. Boat owners like to have their control panels looking like something out of an airliner : difficult to do nicely from a small machine. (Light aircraft owners on the other hand, are happy with Dymo tape and stuck-on paper labels [frustrated voice of experience]).
I engrave the maker's name onto bits of wood which get incorporated into the boats - not a great money spinner, but regular work.
I should like to do more boat stuff but my Legend EX (20" x 32" bed) is just not big enough to do the things I'm asked for.

I've been looking at the wedding "industry" myself recently. In the UK it is highly organised and very competitive. The cost of entry is also high - big glossy adverts and lots of different stock needed to get started on your own. My sideways approach is to try to get in with wedding and party planners so that they recommend/specify my stuff - I have only just started so don't yet know whether this approach will work out.

The best thing I did was to commit to doing a craft show 3 months on from delivery of my machine. I had to learn Corel and come up with enough interesting bits and bobs to cover two 6-foot tables : what a learning curve! This gave me lots of confidence, in that I knew that I could produce good results on many different materials - I also picked up my two best customers (steady industrial engraving work) who just happened to see my stuff at the show.

[Ian Wilson (AUST)]

Legally speaking, unless you are a student or faculty member of an accredited learning institution (I don't believe Laser U qualifies), you are not allowed to purchase the student edition... does it happen? Yes. Is it legal? No. Also, the EULA specifically forbids use of the student edition in any commercial venture, so the moment you sell a product created with it, you've broken the contract. Many here don't care about that, but that's for your own conscience to decide.

I personally shoot for as much free/open-source software as possible. I use Inkscape, Paint.NET, and I meant to grab Scribus earlier this evening and just plain forgot. Inkscape is a great vector-based program, Paint.NET rocks in the raster world, and Scribus is great for file type conversion (at least until Inkscape fully integrates UniConvert into their program).

Thanks for these tips!!!