30 Things I Wish Someone Had Told Me About Starting Engraving Business

[julien practiq]

Good Day to everyone!!
Me and my second half decided to start our home based laser engraving business to make some extra income during the rough times and most likely take that business to another level.
We've attended Epilog presentation and were astonished with endless opportunities.
But unfortunately there is not much information on that particular type of business. We are more leading to the artistic aspect of the business(wall art for example), opposed to dealing with trophies pens etc.
I'm glad that I've found that forum and hoping to get all or at list some of my questions answered.
So to all of you experts: What do you think would be the "30 Things I Wish Someone Had Told Me About Starting Engraving Business"
Thanks in advance to all who replied.

[Tim Bateson]

1. There is little money in artistic lasering - unless you (Dee) already have a thriving artistic type business you are augmenting with the laser. People LOVE the artistic stuff, but are unwilling to pay what it's worth. Fun hobby though.

[Martin Boekers]

I hate to say it but Tim is right. Unless you have a definite niche and contacts for that type of work it can be a tough sell.

Also sometimes, unless your selling your own ideas and products it can be difficult working with the "Creative Minds" I know because I am one You'll get the "that's nice but not what I expected can we tweek this and that?"

That being said there are people here that do pretty good with artistic work, I believe it's David Fairfield that makes incredible small scall reproductions and Onur has finished great wall projects do, some searching through the forum for them and see what they create.

Laser work (opps paying work) doesn't come flowing in as soon as you open shop as a sales person may like it to seem. It does take some perserverance.


Good luck and welcome aboard.

The one think owning a laser does guarantee is the free time you used to have will be gone as you will be playing with all the cool things it can do!

Marty

[julien practiq]

1. There is little money in artistic lasering - unless you (Dee) already have a thriving artistic type business you are augmenting with the laser. People LOVE the artistic stuff, but are unwilling to pay what it's worth. Fun hobby though.

Thank you very much for a reply.Unfortunatly there are numerous companies in my area providing most common laser engraving services, so I thought going artistic would be something new and more appealing.

[Anthony Scira]

2 Don't buy any laser sales pitch and never look at the suggested retail price from a website selling you product seriously.

As in buy this cup for 5.00 sell it for 35.00 engraved.

Aint gonna happen. And if it does not well enough to make an income.

[Scott Shepherd]

People making lots of money with their lasers don't post it on internet forums. If they did, then everyone would be doing it and they'd be out of work

About the most productive (profitable) thing I've seen in the open on the forums that's real are electrical panel tags.


You'll go broke trying to engrave baby photos on a piece of marble.

The items you think people will love, they will. However, you need to get $15 each for them and they want to pay $1 each for them.

I could sit here for hours and type these out

[rich shepard]

Scott's right, when I got my laser took samples to all the tile shops in a 30 mile radius, as no one else did title at the time. Must have done 500 to 600 hundred dollars of work for some of them as samples on different types of tile and stone. Only thing that came of it was I knew what worked and what did not , not one order so far in 3 years. But one shop owner did wanted a Indian eagle engraved in marble told him 100 and he went through the roof wanted it for under 40 so as a favor said OK. When he got it he hit the fan , said not what he wanted, he wanted it in filled with color also. LMAO

[Sarah Holbrook]

I'm also going with an artistic bent to my business. I only bought my laser a few months ago so I'm still very new at this. I assume you are an artist or have design sensibilities to want to enter this market.

If you would not otherwise be purchasing a laser (for a hobby), I would do a lot of research and development up front before buying the machine. Create some designs, then hire one people in your area to cut/engrave them or use Ponoko. Do a soft launch of your business with these designs. There is a lot of work to be done that doesn't involve owning your own laser. If you get through all of this and sell some pieces (outside of your friends and family) then you will have a much better idea of whether the business would be viable.

[David Fairfield]

If you're thinking business, not hobby or art, think of acquiring the laser in terms of hiring an employee. You are getting an extremely reliable laborer. You are not getting a business generator. The machine only does what you tell it, it can't think for you. So best have something for your robot-employee to do from the get-go.

I like Sarah's idea. If you have a potential big customer locally, like a college bookstore, pay somebody with a laser to make test shots of your design, then try marketing them. Let experience be your guide.

Dave

[Jim Beachler]

I use my laser to augment my arts business. As stated in the post above, the laser is just a tool. A really cool and fun tool but still just a tool.

To make the business work, you need to be more interested in making the sale and salesmanship. I have learned through by business that I can make some very unique and wonderful items, but if I can't sell it, it worthless.

Therefore, my main job is to sell, sell and sell. I use the laser as one of my tools to make the items that I am selling and selling and selling.

As with any small business, the main thing is to sell. The second thing is have someone or something make what you sell.

[Juliana Costa]

Laser ? Art ? Dee and Onur, they know it All

[Dee Gallo]

Julien, I'll jump in here with my 2 cents. It sounds like you don't already have an art business, so what kind of art would you be interested in creating? Are you an experienced artist?

As stated before the laser is simply a tool which you use to make your product, like a paintbrush or chisel and hammer.

I personally found it a super great tool (and toy!), but only after I had an established customer base and niche which I worked on developing for several years before buying my first laser. If I had to go door to door trying to sell my products I'd be broke and tired.

So, my advice to add to your list is:
1) research and KNOW your field, be very very good at what you do
2) understand your potential customer
3) create a product they MUST have and can't get anywhere else
4) aim for the high end - people with little money are not your best customers.

cheers, dee

[Rodne Gold]

1) Marketing is important
2) marketing is almost all thats important
3) Marketing is the most important
4) No easy money to be made without marketing
5) Marketing is the first thing you do
6) without marketing having a laser is like winking at a woman in the dark , only you know what you doing
And so on......
Search these boards for advice on starting out - been 100s of threads on this ..see how many ppl are actually making a decent living off their machines , especially those that have or had no pre exisiting markets or no other ancilliary machinery and the brutal truth might emerge.

[Rodne Gold]

here's 30+ points in addition
1) Takes at least a yr of hard work to start turning a profit
2) Running costs are not insignificant
3) Not everything comes out perfect off the laser
4) Work on 1/2 the expected profits and 2x the expected running costs
5) Lasers are flaky things , one day they work and the next they can be dead
6) Tube life of 20 000 hrs is a myth
7) 90% of the fancy stuff agents tell you a laser can do are bells and whistles that dont make money
8) Cheap lasers are almost as good at what they do than expensive ones , in terms of the products they generate
9) More power and biggers beds do not generate revenue in proportion to their size/power
10) You have to be there every minute you are using the laser unless you want your house to possibly burn down.
11) You can prolly make more money selling fruit on a street corner
13) You need to be a designer
14) You need to be a businessman
15) You need to be a marketer
16) You need to be a maintenance engineer
17) No matter what exhaust system , sometimes lasering things smells bad
18) You need more than a laser to make money out of this field
19) You need to line up suppliers before you start
20) You need to spend at least 2-3 months making samples
21) Ask yourself "what have I got that ppl will use me instead of my competiton"
22) You need to know your materials and how they react to a laser beam almost more than you need to know what a laser can do
23) You have to have a basic understanding in how a laser works to understand settings and speeds and feeds
24) you need to find out who are your competiton
25) You need to accurately work out pricing
26) You need to have rhino skin if you dont want to feel despondent when your cold calling garners you rude refusals
27) Make sure all mnfgrs promises re service and guarantee are in writing.
28) Don't believe some of these even if they are in writing
29) Service , support and length of warrantee are what determines who's machines you should buy
30) in most cases , once you bought you are on your own , mnfgrs wont hand hold you extensively for free
31) You cant use mnfgrs suggested settings apart from a gross baseline , you are going to need to experiment.
32) Not all laser drivers are convenient to use and not all will be useable if your OS changes and some have bugs that will never be ironed out.

[julien practiq]

Thanks to each and every one of you for your comments and suggestions!
I'm glad that I came to the right place when experienced experts can answer my questions.
We are currently researching all possible opportunities that will make our business successful.
I'm not a professional artist, but experienced IT professional who has design sensibilities , strong will and desire to make our business successful.
I'm still open for any suggestions that would come to your mind.
I think that your comments and suggestions would also benefit other newcomers in their business decisions.
Thank you ones again!