My deppest respects! This is not the content people like to make but is sooo needed in social media full of snake oil salesman, thank you so much, it's always easier to talk about the good times (even lying about them) so thank you for the hard work
I sub'd to this channel to live vicariously through someone who went out on their own to be their own boss ... thank you for helping me learn vicariously as well! I really appreciate the angle you take with these videos. Best of luck in 2023 and congrats on the new little one!
You have done well to share your ups and downs. I really appreciate you describing the thought process behind what you do. As I toy with the idea of starting my own business, I have found your content very helpful. Keep at it and I wish you the best in 2023.
Thank you for sharing you experience, especially the difficult ones. Showing us some of the reality of owning a business and how things don't just take care of themselves automatically.
Dude, thanks for this video, i always found your videos very informative and encouraging even this video as it might look like it's a negative video but its very important especially for someone like me who just starting a 3D printing business and hearing these from you, teach me that and remind me that any business has up and downs and we learn every single day. thanks for sharing this
Hey Joe, Im very glad to have found your channel on youtube. I love listening to your story, gives me a lot of hope and motivation to keep working on my little 3D printing gig.. I very much appreciate you sharing your storiws (good and bad). God bless!
Awesome video. Again thx for your honesty and making yourself vounarable on the internet....Seems 2022 was a tough year for many in all spheres of life....keep at it.
Congrats on the Baby Girl, and glad that you pivoted on your choice of printers, hope the new speed helps and hope it gives you some options with multi material and speciality material prints, I have found detailed multi material prints has put me in a niche marketplace!
You're really at a crossroad. Time to get laser focused and being realistic with what's possible and what's best for your family. It's a tough spot for any entrepreneur to be in. 2022 seemed like quite the crucible! Looking forward to more updates and best of luck to you!
Congrats on the new daughter! Great to hear how the year has been, even if it's been tough. Starting my own business this year is already off to a rocky-start thanks to bureaucracy, but hoping it will get better soon. Warm regards from Germany (looks like you've got other viewers in Germany too ^_^)
Hey Joe! I’m so sad to hear 2022 was so rough. You helped me on setting up my glowforge exhaust system and I couldn’t be happier. I hope your Amazon account gets going great again…and soon. I think last time I had talked to you your family had just moved and your son was just a wee little thing. Now you have. Two kids! What a blessing! Here’s to a better year in 2023! Hang in there!
Great video! I appreeciate your sharing of your experiences, it is very inspiring and you seem very down to earth and humble yet driven and intelligent. Keep it up, you earned a subscriber in just 15 minutes and a few thumbs up's as well. Cheers!
I'm 23 years into my business and have had two times...about 10 years apart for each that I considered other paths...going back to the cubicle was one, also until I interviewed with the chief, he was retiring at the end of the week. He looked older than he should have and he said to me, the job is yours if you want it BUT I think you should reconsider walking away from your business. Fast forward 12 years to today and I'm going into my third trial by fire now.....searching videos for other business ideas, watched one of your earlier videos, then one a year later. It's impressive how you interpreted the market, expanded the industries you produce for, constantly monitoring and implementing changes to save a few minutes here and there. I do the same with mine, always thought I was a bit of loon for doing so. My point of this comment is aimed at encouragement. Following those prior two stretches, after the storm passed, the business survived and grew to be more productive and efficient than it had been. I didn't see it then. I think your approach to increasing productivity which ultimately reduces cost, is your bread and butter, the secret sauce to your success. Apply that mentality to the other challenges. Wish you the best!
Everything you spoke about is so true! I have been trying to kick start my lil business for 3 years now. Gone down so many roads and finally found myself at 3D printing. I have at the moment a flashforge 3 pro. I also know what it's like having kids in the mix. I am 31 with 3 kids. Trying to make time for everything is nearly impossible. But it's not the destination that matters it's the journey. you've earned a sub from me bud!
Sounds familiar. I have 3 kids, I'll be 40 this year. Been working on my 3d printing business for two years now. Everyday driving to work I daydream about getting the business going.
I’m so happy for your family! Congratulations on the new baby! I’m that veteran married to the 911 operator who reached out previously, this is just my other account. We actually had a pretty rough end of 2022 with an ectopic pregnancy so our business aspirations got pushed aside for a little while. All is good though and we are expecting in September now so the business is back on our minds. Again I love the honesty and wish you and your family a happy and successful 2023!
Hey, great to hear from you again! Wow, I’m sorry to hear that. That must have been really tough. I’m glad to hear all is well and about the new life you’re expecting in September! Wish you the best in 2023 as well!
Hey Joe, thanks so much for such an inspiring video by being brutally honest about your tough year! And congrats on our newest little life, 🙂 One thing I wanted to throw out there is that, being a product designer and having experience with production parts myself, why don't you SERIOUSLY look into getting most of your adapter product line injection molded? From what I can see in the product geometry it's a slam dunk and in that way you could more concentrate on the window inserts as well as 3D printing as a service. The molds for such products would not at all be expensive and you could produce these products FAR faster than 3D printing them!! Just some food for thought. If you need any assistance in this regard, I wouldn't mind at all to help get you in touch with reputable vendors in the molding arena. I'm suggesting this as someone who would like to help and am NOT at all looking for any compensation in the least bit. Hope this year goes GREAT for you and your family! Kevin
Thanks Jeremy. You’re right, injection molding is definitely the way to go. Kevin was kind enough to get me in touch with a company and I’m pursuing it as we speak. Your process of prototyping with 3D printing and then injection molding is smart. I hope to start doing the same this year.
I wouldn’t waste your time on 3D printing services…pays once…I choose to spend time on creating new products that continuously “pay dividends” for long term. Keep up the hustle!
It is awesome that you kept going even when it got rough. I really enjoy your content. I do not have a need for your products but if you merch like a wooden token made on your laser engraver, then I would happily buy one to support your company. Thanks for making such great content! I would be very interested in hearing more your new business structure, your review of the Bambu printers, and a tour of your shop now that it's been purged. Were most of the 29 Ender 3s running at the same time? If so, how does the 8 Bambu printers compare with product production volume?
Thanks man! I look forward to doing a review on the Bambu printers soon. Only about 15 Enders 3’s were running at the same time. So, the Bambu is 2x - 3x faster so you only need half the amount of printers which means less management and maintenance which I’m very happy about. The ability to send print files via Wi-Fi is also pretty awesome.
Congrats on the new addition to the family Joe! Glad to hear you were able to hang tough. As they say, "what doesn't kill you..." I, as well as I'm sure a lot of other makers out there are rooting for you! I'm sure your story is the beginning of many of our stories, as we all have dreams of transitioning from a hobbyist to something more lucrative and rewarding. What steered you from the Prusa's to the Bambu printers?
Thank you my friend! The Bambu printers are light years ahead of the Prusa in every way. Absolutely remarkable machine and I have no idea how they’re able to sell it for so cheap. The only unknown is reliability. Prusa’s are known for being reliable work horses.
What made me switch though was the speed. It’s twice as fast as the Prusa if not 3X faster. I then asked myself, why would I ever use my MK3 when the Bambu will print the same part 2x to 3x faster? I sold it on Marketplace and bought another P1P with the money.
Great video and probably very hard to do. I went through something similar… I’m 52… kind of retired, kind of not… why? I don’t know lol… the question that haunts me is “what is enough?”. Like you, I don’t want to go back to corporate America, for me, the politics is just life draining. I’m not sure if that’s meaningful to you or if you can relate to it in any way, but I empathize with you. Here’s what I can tell you…. Out of all my falls, somehow, I always managed to come back and land in a better place. I think if you keep your initiative, you will find that it all works out for you as well.
Looking forward to your Bambu review! I'm just now getting into 3D printing automotive parts and I have 4 Bambu X1C's. I struggled with Flashforge printers and the Bambu's blow every 3D printer out of the water. The speed and quality are insane. One of my parts took 18 hours on a Flashforge Creator Pro 2 and only 3 hours on a Bambu and it came out perfect! I can print 4 parts in 12 hours on 1 Bambu as compared to 1 part in 18 hours on a Flashforge. 32 parts in 1 day between all 4 machines. I love everything about the Bambu's.
I am in the process of exiting my Enders as well. I am looking to switch into Bambus also. I found that I am spending way too much time maintaining printers and I want reliability.
We've worked with clients for a while now and that's a separate beast. Let me know if you'd like to chat about that, I'm happy to share my experience. We actually make the majority of our money making CAD models and charging by the hour to do so. We've also got a CAD Course you can make a commission on selling, if you're interested in alternative revenue streams.
Dude, keep going. These bad times and how you deal with them in the end is what makes your basement hobby a real business, especially this sales shit ;) Anyway, can you share your thoughts why you chose P1P over Prusa mk3 and what are issue you already met with that printer, thanks?
Thanks for the encouragement man. The MK3 is officially in the Stone Age now that the P1P came on the scene. It has true bed leveling and prints 2x-3x faster with the same or better quality. After using the P1P for a week I put my MK3 for sale on Marketplace and returned my other unboxed MK3 I received a few days before. The only unknown is longevity, reliability. Prusa’s have established themselves as workhorses. BambuLab is an unknown. I’ve only printed about 100 parts so far with zero issues. I know they have or will have issues. I just don’t know what they are yet.
You started during 2020. Literally unprecedented. 2021 and 2022 kinda went back. I started my business in 2019 and there hasn't been a regular year yet. Even 2023 is destroyed via inflation. 😅😅😅😅😅😢😢😢😢😢
I like the idea of doing print services, but only if you find customers that are businesses. People don't know what they want and don't want to pay for it. It will take most of your time with very little income. Find a car repair shop or other business that needs some parts made. Find another niche product, like a part for an older car that isn't manufactured anymore and start making it. Your Bambus can print in stronger, better materials. Your time will be better spent interviewing business and enthusiasts' clubs that wish someone would make a particular part again. Maybe even groups that do Cival War reenactments could use a plastic part for a musket or other gear that's light and durable and only for show. Maybe there's a console for a '67 Piper Cub that is hard to get and people would line up to have a light weight version (just making that up, don't know if there even is a '67 Piper Cub. You have the determination and have been an entrepreneur long enough to dig around and find work. I'm glad you made it through '22 and hope to see some new products rolling off your machines in 2023.
I just watched this whole video and I want to say thank you for being vulnerable and sharing your experience. There are a few things I want to say about your 2022 review and advice for beyond. 1. Never forget that your best product is YOURSELF. You can make products and price them accordingly but always remember that businesses value someone they can trust. I can tell you are passionate about what you offer, and are well spoken and presentable. This would inspire confidence in a business looking for a reliabile partner to manfacture things they need. Offering your manufacturing services and providing damn good servic will make companies stick around and keep you busy. Dont just solely look at selling a product to an end user, because people can come around and do the same thing, however YOU can not be replicated. Build that B2B trust and you will have an extra lifeline in addition to your products. 2. The ender exorcism, I like that LOL. I went from 20 Ender 3s down to just 7 Highly Modified machines, and picked up Ender 5 plus. Creality can be tricky out of the box, but when you know its weak points its very reliable. Also a bigger build volume means more parts, less printers which comes out to less maintenance overall on the farm. 3. How is the dimensional accuracy of the Bambu printers? I have stayed away due to not being able to modify Steps/mm to get pin point accuracy. 4. I wish you the most success in you journey with Martison Manufacturing and a successful 2023!
The 3D printing "business" at this scale isn't really a business. Its important to be realistic about that. You have a *product* and your income is as viable as your ability to hold demand. The answer is to focus on R&D. To expand to other *products* that have more usable life (underserved niche, etc). Happy to throw some ideas your way.
Or even 2X. No insult intended to the content creators, but I watch most RU-vid videos between 1.5-2X and can still understand the content yet save a lot of time. You can always re-watch parts at a slower speed but I find it's rarely necessary. Now playing videos at normal speed seems painfully slow.
I think if you sat down with a side of A4 and looked at the risks and how to resolve them - the risks you mention are: changing market - with increased competition, a small range of products, unclear quality standards, unclear market revenues. Sounds like a planning issue. Read - en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stephen_Covey
