Good morning all.
For the last couple years I've been considering laser engraving & cutting as a challenging part time effort that could be turned into a full time business that could be made diverse enough to stay interesting when I retired or decided I'd had enough of corporate engineering.
I was laid off this time last year when the huge foreign company that owns the company I worked for decided to spend their money in Europe instead of here, and I've spent quite a bit of time since looking more closely at the ways lasers can be used.
I see three areas: 1) Industrial - UID tags, equipment plates, regulatory compliance when combined with barcode scanners, etc.; 2) Commercial - Signage, awards, giveaways and for-sale items like pens and flashlights, etc; and 3) Personal - Business cards, monogramming, laptop art, etc. Obviously the experienced and clever laser machine owners will come up with an unlimited number of new and unique things - that's why they're entrepreneurs!
I've visited engraving shops, been to demos and hands-on sessions with Universal and Epilog (both very helpful), gotten equipment lease and purchase quotes, and scoured the internet to find out what people are willing to pay for, but I still have more questions before I commit - engineering conservatism is stll strong. I've lurked on the forum for a couple days and I'm hoping someone who has had similar questions resolved for them can help. Here goes:
First off, has the laser business shown itself to be fairly recession-proof? How have those of you who do this work for a living made out over the last year? How are you finding new customers? Is this a good time to starta new one?
Is it really feasible to consider any kind of serious laser business based in your house, whether you take over part of the garage or the whole basement? I felt it was possible working part-time, but full-time? Without having an shop that you can bring visitors to, don't you eliminate the Personal type of customer? Utilities aren't an issue but what about exhaust blower noise, dirt, the risk of fire I've seen mentioned, and the kind of problems all work-at-home people have?
I'm sure the range goes from one extreme to the other, but what kind of Industrial/Commercial/Personal mix is most common? The cool one-of-a kind job looks like fun, but how often do they come along?
I have many more but I think I'll stop before everyone falls asleep. I appreciate your help. I hope I can find a way to repay.
Bill