How FAST Can a $13,000 Laser Pay For Itself? Plus a Few “Selling Tips” I’ve Learned 

Good to see you're doing so well! Wish you nothing but continued success. Inspiring me to turn my woodworking/epoxy hobby into a side business. Thankyou so much!

Chris, You have done an awesome job! I'm glad to hear you and your wife and family are feeling better! You are so inspiring to others and your energy is way up there. I'll continue to pray for you and your family. I just love to hear about your successes!

Chris - Glad you and family are feeling better. Love to see your succeeding! Great work! All the best

Awesome content. Recently lost my big corporate world job and pulled the trigger and bought a CNC machine. Should take delivery in a few days, and the fun begins. Tired of working for the man, so gonna take a stab at being the man. If it is to be, it’s up to me. Keep up the good content.

Love Jennie and Davis. Thanks for the great video

Absolutely inspiring video, I just purchased a CNC and have a small laser that me and my 2 Son-In-Laws are going to get cranking. That’s the British way of saying things, he’s from the UK. I’ve been a sub for a while and always love your videos brother, take care and thanks again for sharing!

you're doing really well man, your videos are always good, great personality, honesty, and integrity. Keep it up.

You're natural in front of a camera! Peace be with you and your precious family!

Chris - Yes - 100% packaging matters! I’ve ordered from you before and I was blown away when I opened my order! I literally took pictures of every step of the unboxing (from the custom tape on the outside, to the neatly wrapped craft paper, to the way the products were placed in the box. Shortly before receiving your package, I had shipped my very first order and I felt like I could have done a better job with packaging. I used your packaging as inspiration to level up my shipping game. To date, have only shipped a handful of items, but I’m still hustling trying to make it happen. Thank you for giving us a glimpse inside(😜) how you run your business. You’re a class act!

You are a great inspiration

Im going to chime in as a Laguna EX user and I was shocked it was sent to me not dialed in. The laser focus was so bad I could not get through 1/4 acrylic with 5 passes. And as I sit here to have the same issues you showed at the beginning of the video but with 1/2 inch Birch. Now while this is much thicker it sold to me knowing I would be dealing with this type of wood, I have fought with this machine and realigning the laser many times to get it tuned in. Sadly here I am 2 years of owning the machine and walking away from it to do other things that were more relaible with the CNC , but Im coming back to it and it was because I was looking at their 50x100 Machine and I am reminded how badly this one has been. They want to charge 1500.00 to send someone out to train me with it. I have used lasers and CNCs for years, I dont need that, I need a machine that is turn key and these machines do not come turn key for $13,000. They claimed to upgrade me with the chiller, rotary tool ect... all for free. No they are making so much money and just stamping their name on it. Whats sad is I want to use it, I want to do what I was told it could do. But at this point I wish I bought a Chinese machine because at least I would have saved enough to understand why I saved. But I spent more money and fight with this thing constantly.

Good on Laguna for backing up what they sell....plus domestic is always better!

You have a great energy, hope everything is going well!

Wished I would've realized you were in Florida. I was there on a road trip and would've enjoyed visiting you and meeting you in person.

Love to see your enthusiasm for what you do and for your family as well. You are an inspiration to me every time I watch a video you have posted

Cool stuff Sir! It’s nice to see how far you’ve come building stuff, acquiring knowledge and giving people like myself inspired goals. Hopefully in the near future I’ll be able to also get some of these luxurious tools for woodworking you have. Until then, I’ll be watching and continue making due with the content I’ve been posting to grow my RU-vid channel.

Thanks for all the advice and tips! It's great you have the upgraded laser now and wonderful to hear Laguna has such topnotch customer service. I'm so glad to see you're feeling much better now. I sure hope your wife has also recovered. Good luck to you!

Love the enthusiasm! Your learning curve truly amazes me!

Awesome work PATTI

I've really enjoyed watching your success. Congrats on finding a business that works.

Glad to see the laser finally running smoothly for you. Now you'll have more time to design that next cool product! Keep on rocking it!

Welcome back!! Happy to see you are doing better!

Glad I watched your video before I ended my day. I build mostly custom ordered wood furniture for secondary income and recently its become very hard to get orders. I went through many thoughts and even considered calling it done for now. I am not a salesman by no means, I am a builder. Hearing you talk confirms my most recent thoughts.... I must get better at selling and advertising. Thats my weakness! So I will build on that.

The vent outside is exactly what I did with my Jet vacuum. Instead of the dust being pumped into a filter or bag above the vacuum, I put a piece of plywood (routed a groove to fit on the rim of the vacuum where the upper bag was) on the upper rim and then cut a hole in the plywood with 4" vac hose going to a dryer vented outside. Chips fall into lower bag, fine dust goes outside.

You’re an inspiration man, keep going. Wishing you the best.

Glad you're better Chris

Hey Chris, glad you are feeling better. Another awesome video. Thanks for making it.

I work for a company who CRUSHES the competition due to attention to detail. Whatever he can improve from the products(of course) packaging and even adding little things like stickers and screwdrivers to the order makes a difference. The details make the difference!!

I was pondering getting the Glowforge (I too watch Jennie & Davis) and they swear by it from what I’ve seen. You’ve made me think twice and now I’m talking to my wife about drastically upgrading to this machine. Go big or go home, right? If I go this route, maybe I can pick your brain about more of the particulars….You’ve been a wealth of knowledge and I’m sure your followers applaud you for taking the time to share it with us! Keep it up and you and your family stay safe.

Subscribed to your channel a couple weeks ago and thoroughly enjoy your videos. I am always looking for inspiration to be creative and you come up with some great ideas.

Great video again Chris. You are so positive about the fact you just need to put the time in to get so much out. Great ideas as well. Looking forward to making some of you builds on the CNC. Hope you are all feeling better. Cheers

Hi Chris, glad to hear things are going well for you, I really hope that your business keeps going from strength to strength, very best wishes to you and your family, from Australia.

And don’t forget about #3, a 10 lb commercial fire extinguisher . If anyone doesn’t have on in their should, they should.

Each day that goes buy I need to pull the trigger and give it a small scale try. My passion is to build things and build things I shall! Thanks for the video!

Chris this is an amazing video! Thanks for sharing! I’m sure that I will watch this a few times.

After having spent 5 years selling Laguna Woodworking equipment at the retail level, I can honestly say that Laguna is the worst company for customer service that my customers experienced. Maybe because you are an influencer, they gave you better service. Buyer Beware.

Keep up the hard work! I have ordered lots of products from you over the past year. I'm happy with them all.

Love your ideas on selling.. I am planning on checking into some of these ideas.. Glad you are back!

Glad to see you are better! Love your channel and wish you nothing but success with everything you are doing. Oh and I follow Jennie & Davis too. They are doing an awesome job!

I am so glad you are on the up matey. Cool.

I have nothing to say really, but I appreciate your content, and wish to help with the yt-algorithms.

Chris it's great to see you back in the shop and looking better than you did on your last video!. I'm not sure if you know this but Sir Richard Branson the owner of Virgin from TV to space rocket holidays and beyond 😉 he started out selling thing's on a market stall in Leeds, West Yorkshire. England and not only that he is also high on the spectrum of dyslexia. Now like you said in the " I could never do that " remark if that's your attitude then god help you as you said that person will never reach any goals but as I say if Sir Richard Branson can do it and become that wealthy and still sell anything to almost anyone from his humble beginnings to now, well buddy if he can we all can with a bit of effort and perseverance you can get there !!! As always brother 💯% 👍 🇬🇧

Chris, thanks for the glimpse inside your biz and the laser machine! Here’s a stupid question, when would you use the CNC instead of the laser? To put it another way, which of your products get made on the laser vs the CNC? Is it redundant to have both machines? Also, I just installed my first French cleat shelf with the shelf brackets I bought from you. You must’ve shipped them while you were still recovering from the Rona. Thanks for getting them out. They look and work great! The care you take with your packaging is DEFINITELY a nice touch and gives a quality look & feel. 🙌🏼

Gonna have to meet up some day! Our small shop is also in Jacksonville area!

Glad to see you’re back to your chipper self! That last video was almost painful to watch. Keep on pushing, brother! Definitely gotta get that fire extinguisher going…my brother, a fireman in the metro ATL, will tell some stories that will just make you shake your head. I’d hate to have to watch that video from you. Also, make sure you keep that outside vent screened so you don’t end up with something building a nest up in there! And clean it regularly…if you’re running it full time it’s gonna have some build up in there at some point. Just trying to keep you safe and productive! Take care and tell the fam hello! OPHS Class of ‘87!!

Thanks for the video - although I would have liked to see the laser run. Laguna is a good company and makes great tools. I would love to have a Laguna lathe but that is not in the budget at this time. As for saying you could never do something - so you never do ... another expression I heard a long time ago is "If you aim at the floor, you can hit it every time" (maybe try aiming a little higher)

Awesome tips Chris! That’s really cool that you were able to upgrade your laser and improve your workflow! I always appreciate your positive outlook and motivation! And I’m glad to hear you’re all feeling better!!

You are an inspiration. Great to follow your journey!

Facebook is full of TIRE kickers...LOL

In 2000 I started an online business, and used Go and Yahoo, and then Google adwords. So that is 23 years ago. I ended up spending $100,000 a year on ads that generated $2.8 million in sales. It works and is incremental. You can set a budget of $100 a month and then it cuts off if you like.

Great to see you back on your feet. Keep punching those products out!

Very interesting. Thanks for the great info. I've been blessed over the years when it comes to finding customers. They just fall in my lap.

Lookin good. Love your content. Hope you all feel better soon!!

Thanks for giving out the numbers. Very interesting and you have a great business going. Subscribed

First off, I look forward to what you offer from a your personal journey as well as your talent and product innovation. Thank you.I admit up front I know nothing of the advantages of one machine over the other but i was wondering why did you choose to produce the shown items with a laser device over a cnc?

Order placed. Thanks for the content. Phone holder looks cool also!

Hope You Are Feeling Better

Where do you get your plywood? There are so few suppliers near me besides big box stores.

Your laser stuff looks great!! Be sure you don't undersell your items!! One other note...noticing your "vent cover" outside, I noticed that it didn't have a blast gate or flapper built-in. We use the metal dryer vent from Lowe's that does have a flap to keep down on some of the humidity coming back in. If you ever notice an issue with it, you might want to change that out or add a blast gate somewhere in-line near your fan. Just an observation :) Keep crushing it!

without sounding super jealous, did you buy this laser from profits to increase production or add value to future products? The glowforge being what it costs is still a pipe dream for me and the wife but here you are knocking the price range of the GF out of the park..

Great video buddy I know where your coming from

Great video as always man and this one hits home. You sorta mentioned something that is a quote I always have running through my head. Don't remember who it's from but goes something like, whether you believe you can do a or thing or not, you are right. Thanks again for the inspiration.

That looks almost exactly like the Laguna 40watt. 12:20 co2 laser. Is it the same OEM?

I had to laugh at needing an industrial chiller, I run a small charity in Scotland making basically the same things as yourself with a laser and a wood CNC. For eight months of the year, our water straight from the tap is too cold for the laser tube, so we use an aquarium heater to keep it warm, during the summer months when the rain gets warmer we turn the heater off. No chillers for us.😀

Laguna is amazing!

Awesome video & I see many more products I’ll be buying in the near future!!! Keep on keeping on brother!!! 👊🏽💯

Love your work 👍

Have a 40w laser and newer wood just wouldn’t cut through. The saw mills I use said the glue used in processing ply and mdf has changed and that seems to be the issue. Never had any issues before that could be why your 100w wasn’t getting through just a thought.

Awesome machine indeed, Chris! Congrats!!! 😃 I'm happy to see you working again! Stay safe there with your family! 🖖😊 BTW, have you ever heard about FPV? Search about it. I love rc stuff, but with FPV everything is even better!

Question: how much quicker is the new laser compared to the old one? Is it noticeable with the material you are cutting?

i started following you when you building you shop as a guild and idea for mine. and Im watching for how to make a profit using that same shop. sir god bless your heart and thank you for sharing this knowledge you rock !!!!

Great tips...but...but...how does one come up with the initial money to purchase a big ticket item like this? Thanks...glad your and yours are starting to feel better.

Chris - another great video. Thank you. Can you give another update on how you are sourcing plywood? Do you have an alternative to Baltic Birch?

Alaska here looking to buy this laser…

I just got a 40w co2 laser. I'm hoping I can get started making and selling some stuff.

Another wonderful video, Chris. I'm glad you have been able to get back up and running! How has having the laser in your shop changed the direction of your business? Do you feel like the CNC still holds a major place on its own compared to the laser? - Joe

Good content brother.

Do you think that laser would cut through a 1/2 piece of Baltic birch with 4 passes or so

Awesome laser! i have a small one for engraving more than anything (too small for cutting) I am curious, i saw the circle cuts you have in the bucket. you planning on doing anything with them? though golf may or may not be something you enjoy they look like they could be engraved and make a great ball marker. i tried to make these myself but with my laser being too small i could not cut through the ply. Golf is growing fast these days so may be a way to use your waste! keep up the great work and the great videos!

Well, they should have fully tested your lazer before shipping it out to you. Not you working with their support, hour after hour, then they agree to replace it. But I guess it is great they replaced it.

Took me two months to pay the machine off (zero online sales and only 5% social media)

Could you do custom scar tattoos with this? How much would you charge for a full sleeve?

Hey buddy nice one! We actually just bought the exact model for our shop down in Texas. My question is about your microphone though lol! Is it a rode wireless? Looking to upgrade our audio as well and yours sounded pretty good! Thanks…

Rc car stack rack French cleat wall mount or free standing ? Just a idea

I recently bought my first laser (not co2, just a small scale atomstack) and the main issue I've had is finding the right kind of wood to engrave on. Most forums I've checked have been focused on co2 lasers and I am not sure if they can be even somewhat compared. Do you have any recommendations on material? Also this is a great setup and running video. Very good quality.

In your business, if you grew, would you be in the same space? If you had to go to a commercial space, what does that mean? You would be away from home, more expenses, it becomes a change of life for you. How big do you think you can go in your present space.

Cool machine, me i'm down for a little while. My table saw bit me, a board kicked back. It fractured my hand, wrist

Interesting video, you did $ 3500.00 over 7 weeks or average $ 500.00 / week. So out of the $ 500.00 what is your net? Thanks

If these companies would only hook everyone up with steals like they do a lot of the youtubers. haha. I cannot afford an X-Carv, but it would change my business model 10fold to have one.

convert it to a laser cannon, put it on a pirate space frigate .. then rob intergalactic traderoutes..

I love nice packaging. It says a lot without saying anything. You are going to need help soon if you keep doing what your doing. lol not a bad problem to have.

I run an 80W laser and I cut through 1/4" (6.35mm) Baltic Birch Plywood at: 15mm/s 40% power I do not see why your 100W laser would not be able to cut through 5mm at: 10mm/s and 77% power If it wasn't alignment issues then I suspect that you had a faulty tube. You also said that you were doing 2 passes. This is a bad idea for wood. Soot is an insulator and so the soot from the first pass insulates the wood and makes any further passes less effective. From my own experience I can tell you that when cutting wood more power is not better. I get much better results cutting Baltic Birch at 40% power than I do at 80% power.

"I can't" is just "I quit" before you've even started.

Labels! Put labels on the products!

Hi Chris, with the way internet scams and that are, I am not certain if the message I got to contact you via txt is legit or a scam, can you p.ase confirm either way. Take care and keep safe and well.

Dude, hire a kid a day a week to post you products on line

Stay away from TicToc unless you CCP to know everything about you.