For something a little bit different today, I wanted to talk about how I've gone about setting up my own small business. It's really new, we've only just started in December, so I am in no way an expert, but I wanted to write about what I've done so far in the hopes that it may be useful for someone else, but also so that I have a record of it.
So my husband and I have started our own laser cutting business, from home. We purchased a small laser cutter from eBay, on the lower end of the scale at around $3000. Laser cutters can range up to $20,000 or even $100,000, depending on the materials and scale of production you're wanting. We just wanted something small to experiment with though, and we don't have a lot of money.
We started off by making reindeer Christmas ornaments, personalised with names on them, as well as some small wooden reindeer.
I advertised the ornaments on our local Facebook noticeboards, and I got a lot of interest which was really exciting. We ended up selling quite a few. It would've been great to have started earlier, but we only got the laser cutter about a week into December. So it will be great this year to get organised for Christmas early and to have a few more products available as well.
STARTING OUT
There was a lot of trial and error involved in making our first product though, I spent a whole day making all these reindeer orders and at least half of them didn't work, which added up to a lot of wasted perspex and a very frustrated me! We figured out that the font we were using wasn't ideal for what we wanted, so the letters kept falling out/breaking. Once we found a font that worked, the process was a lot quicker and easier.
Since then we have tried our hand at jewellery, coasters, bookmarks, and framed pieces. We have also tried a bit of engraving.
There are so many amazing things that the laser cutter is able to do, it's just a matter of having the time to bring your ideas to life. The most time-consuming part, of course, is the designing. My husband has experience in working with the necessary computer programs, so he is gradually teaching me what to do, but usually I will have an idea and he will help me design it.
PAPERWORK
As for the business side of things I have kept excellent records from the beginning of every single dollar we have spent (on what, from where, etc), and every dollar we have made. It's always good to keep records, whether for tax purposes or for your own knowledge. It's handy to look back when you need to know which seller you bought that product from on eBay, or how much money you've made compared to how much you've spent (hint: you will definitely be spending more than you make in the beginning).
STOCK
It is true that you have to spend money to make money, and we have had to initially get some stock together so that we can actually make things. We try to only buy what we need as we go along though, so we're gradually getting different colours of perspex as we need them for example. Although it would be nice to have every possible material on hand, you need to be sensible and work your way up to it. A handy hint is to only purchase a small amount of a material if it's something new and you don't know how it will go. We learnt the hard way when we bought two large pieces of timber that turned out to be awful. We couldn't use it for cutting but fortunately we ended up selling it (via the local Facebook page) so it wasn't too much of a waste.
SELLING
To sell our products, as I mentioned earlier we have used Facebook. I posted our Christmas stuff on the local noticeboard pages, and everything that we make I post on our business Facebook page. I have also recently started an Etsy store, where I haven't yet sold anything so I'll just see how it goes. We have also just started attending local markets. Again, there is an upfront expense, not just the actual market fee but we also had to invest in a gazebo and some tables. As of last week we have been to three markets (as well as an agricultural show, which I will get to later). One was good, one was really good, and one (which I thought would be the most profitable) was terrible! It was a big surprise, as it is a really good market, busy, lots of customers, and it was a beautiful day. It just goes to show that you really can't tell with markets. After speaking with the other stallholders, we realised that it wasn't us and our products, but everybody had a quiet day and was equally surprised. The people were there but just weren't in a buying mood apparently. Not too discouraged, we still have a few more markets booked in, and are currently trying to get some more stock together to take with us.
SOCIAL MEDIA
As mentioned, we have a Facebook page for the business. It is interesting to see the insights of the page. If you haven't run a business page before, the insights show you who's looking and reacting to your posts, where your likes come from, and all kinds of stats, so it's really interesting. I'm still trying to work out the best times to post for optimum exposure. You can also 'boost' your posts for a small fee, but I haven't tried that yet. I might think about doing that around Christmas, to get some more customers and to really get our name out there.
As well as Facebook, I also have an Instagram account where I follow similar businesses. I like to see what other businesses are doing, for ideas, although I don't want to be doing the same thing as anybody else, but it's good to see different techniques and to see the cool things that people come up with.
I also use my personal Pinterest account to share the products that I have on Etsy, although I'm not sure if that is actually getting any attention.
SPONSORSHIP
I mentioned before that we attended an agricultural show. So how that came about is we sold something to a customer, and she was saying that she loved our products and asked if we were open to the idea of sponsoring an alpaca competition that she was apart of, for the agricultural show. Now, being someone who loves alpacas, I was like of course, that would be great. So we ended up donating two large metal animal heads (that were actually made with my husband's plasma cutter, which is currently out of production but that's another story), as well as two frames, for prizes.
This meant that we got to have our own table at the show, where we could showcase our products. We technically weren't allowed to sell anything, but we could take orders. I honestly wasn't expecting much, maybe a couple of orders, but we ended up selling quite a bit on the day, which was great. So I would suggest just being open to different opportunities, because you never know what will work for you.
Ok, so that's just a brief overview of our journey so far. I may do some more detailed posts on specific aspects later though.
This is not supposed to be an advertisement for our business at all, but if you are interested in checking out our page after reading that, then here it is: https://www.facebook.com/sherlockdesigns/
So my husband and I have started our own laser cutting business, from home. We purchased a small laser cutter from eBay, on the lower end of the scale at around $3000. Laser cutters can range up to $20,000 or even $100,000, depending on the materials and scale of production you're wanting. We just wanted something small to experiment with though, and we don't have a lot of money.
We started off by making reindeer Christmas ornaments, personalised with names on them, as well as some small wooden reindeer.
I advertised the ornaments on our local Facebook noticeboards, and I got a lot of interest which was really exciting. We ended up selling quite a few. It would've been great to have started earlier, but we only got the laser cutter about a week into December. So it will be great this year to get organised for Christmas early and to have a few more products available as well.
STARTING OUT
There was a lot of trial and error involved in making our first product though, I spent a whole day making all these reindeer orders and at least half of them didn't work, which added up to a lot of wasted perspex and a very frustrated me! We figured out that the font we were using wasn't ideal for what we wanted, so the letters kept falling out/breaking. Once we found a font that worked, the process was a lot quicker and easier.
Since then we have tried our hand at jewellery, coasters, bookmarks, and framed pieces. We have also tried a bit of engraving.
There are so many amazing things that the laser cutter is able to do, it's just a matter of having the time to bring your ideas to life. The most time-consuming part, of course, is the designing. My husband has experience in working with the necessary computer programs, so he is gradually teaching me what to do, but usually I will have an idea and he will help me design it.
PAPERWORK
As for the business side of things I have kept excellent records from the beginning of every single dollar we have spent (on what, from where, etc), and every dollar we have made. It's always good to keep records, whether for tax purposes or for your own knowledge. It's handy to look back when you need to know which seller you bought that product from on eBay, or how much money you've made compared to how much you've spent (hint: you will definitely be spending more than you make in the beginning).
STOCK
It is true that you have to spend money to make money, and we have had to initially get some stock together so that we can actually make things. We try to only buy what we need as we go along though, so we're gradually getting different colours of perspex as we need them for example. Although it would be nice to have every possible material on hand, you need to be sensible and work your way up to it. A handy hint is to only purchase a small amount of a material if it's something new and you don't know how it will go. We learnt the hard way when we bought two large pieces of timber that turned out to be awful. We couldn't use it for cutting but fortunately we ended up selling it (via the local Facebook page) so it wasn't too much of a waste.
SELLING
To sell our products, as I mentioned earlier we have used Facebook. I posted our Christmas stuff on the local noticeboard pages, and everything that we make I post on our business Facebook page. I have also recently started an Etsy store, where I haven't yet sold anything so I'll just see how it goes. We have also just started attending local markets. Again, there is an upfront expense, not just the actual market fee but we also had to invest in a gazebo and some tables. As of last week we have been to three markets (as well as an agricultural show, which I will get to later). One was good, one was really good, and one (which I thought would be the most profitable) was terrible! It was a big surprise, as it is a really good market, busy, lots of customers, and it was a beautiful day. It just goes to show that you really can't tell with markets. After speaking with the other stallholders, we realised that it wasn't us and our products, but everybody had a quiet day and was equally surprised. The people were there but just weren't in a buying mood apparently. Not too discouraged, we still have a few more markets booked in, and are currently trying to get some more stock together to take with us.
SOCIAL MEDIA
As mentioned, we have a Facebook page for the business. It is interesting to see the insights of the page. If you haven't run a business page before, the insights show you who's looking and reacting to your posts, where your likes come from, and all kinds of stats, so it's really interesting. I'm still trying to work out the best times to post for optimum exposure. You can also 'boost' your posts for a small fee, but I haven't tried that yet. I might think about doing that around Christmas, to get some more customers and to really get our name out there.
As well as Facebook, I also have an Instagram account where I follow similar businesses. I like to see what other businesses are doing, for ideas, although I don't want to be doing the same thing as anybody else, but it's good to see different techniques and to see the cool things that people come up with.
I also use my personal Pinterest account to share the products that I have on Etsy, although I'm not sure if that is actually getting any attention.
SPONSORSHIP
I mentioned before that we attended an agricultural show. So how that came about is we sold something to a customer, and she was saying that she loved our products and asked if we were open to the idea of sponsoring an alpaca competition that she was apart of, for the agricultural show. Now, being someone who loves alpacas, I was like of course, that would be great. So we ended up donating two large metal animal heads (that were actually made with my husband's plasma cutter, which is currently out of production but that's another story), as well as two frames, for prizes.
This meant that we got to have our own table at the show, where we could showcase our products. We technically weren't allowed to sell anything, but we could take orders. I honestly wasn't expecting much, maybe a couple of orders, but we ended up selling quite a bit on the day, which was great. So I would suggest just being open to different opportunities, because you never know what will work for you.
Ok, so that's just a brief overview of our journey so far. I may do some more detailed posts on specific aspects later though.
This is not supposed to be an advertisement for our business at all, but if you are interested in checking out our page after reading that, then here it is: https://www.facebook.com/sherlockdesigns/
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