Great video Mike! I think your content is right on the mark. No gimmicks, great data, and the proper length. Thanks for helping the community get better with our pursuits.
I can agree from personal experience that what you end up using your CNC and laser for are sometimes not even close to what you initially got them for, but going with the changes has made me a lot more money than I planned.
This is awesome, they’re is a ton of videos on lasers but this one goes above and beyond with great information, a plethora of examples, and the reality of owning and maintains a laser! Thanks for sharing and making this.
Recently made a jelly cabinet. Rather than the typical way I would have cut the design in the sides to make "feet"... I just made a template on my laser. Now if I make this again I can be consistent. And it's much quicker.
Dude, really appreciate the info, especially the frank ‘cons’ section. Lots of maintenance info I wouldn’t have thought about 👍🏼 Awesome work as always my friend 👌🏼
Just found your channel, proof that our phones are listening to us… my wife and I were discussing buying a laser yesterday. Also… beautiful 2 day table sir. Definitely subscribing and catching up.
where are you going to sell this lol? These people gave you ZERO info bud, ZERO. They shot a video to make it look like they tellk you, but what they dont tell you is where this CAN be sold, and good luck to you figuring things out the hard way. For example that Etsy is absolutely overloaded with this stuff for so cheap that you will not be even considering working for such pennies, unless you are 15 and live with parents for free.
It seems like there are so many people sellling custom lazer engraved gifts/items on etsy. For those who are just now thinking of entering this business, what can they offer to stand out from the rest? Im thinking people would naturally choose someone with a large number of (high) ratings compared to a business with no ratings
One thing I did to help kick off my Etsy shop was to direct local offline sales to Etsy and ask them to leave a review. But honestly the best way is to find a listing that does well, take better pictures, price it competitively and possible pay for ads.
You are 100% CORRECT! When someone searches google/ Etsy the shops that come up first are those who pay big $$ to them so they come up first! That’s the hard part starting… at the start sometimes it is better to pay for the ads once you get repeat clients etc then you can stop… not what you want to hear but you’re right with so many ppl doing it the best way to stand out is I’m afraid you have to pay so you come up on searches That’s the no BS answer! It’s the world we live in
I bought mine specifically for my leather business, mainly to put my makers' marks in place, but now I use it to cut templates, engrave cutting boards, and all sorts of other stuff. The biggest thing is cutting out my wallets, especially ones I design and want to make a prototype asap. Certainly game-changing for me.
The price of the one doesn't matter because there are many different lasers at different price points. This one is $10,000. But you could get I've for less than half that.
When a customer orders say 200 tumblers. Is that something you have the customer order and deliver to you? Or do you pay out of pocket for it, then charge them your total cost, labor, etc..?
I charge them a 50% deposit. They can use the ones I furnish at my agreed price or they can furnish their own and they get a price deduction and my part just becomes a service.
Great video! I recently started a small woodworking business out of a 1 car garage and I am looking to invest a decent amount into it. As someone that made the giant leap towards a large CNC early on, Would you recommend a mid size CNC like a Onefinity or a laser similar to yours? Thanks Mike.
Good video. Have you put out a video on laser maintenance where you go into where you apply the grease, type and sources of grease, etc. If so let me know where to check it out.
Lots of good info here! We currently have the xtool d1 pro 20w and are looking at the thunder Nova 51. Definitely outgrew the xtool but had no idea if the business would take off. Do you know what the rules are on reselling YETI, or other big name brand tumblers? Do you usually use branded tumblers for your clients? Thanks for the video.
Great info. I'm curious as to why you wouldn't put up a plastic wall of some sort to keep dust out of laser? Sounds like an easy fix, but of course, I am looking this from a total novice observation. Learn me something.
@@CoffeyCustomBuilds Well, that's a solution. ;) I was thinking of doing a room with plexiglass wall, so you could still keep an eye on it while working in the shop. Just starting out myself, and no goal of making money, but do love the hobby.
a 40 watt diode can easily cut through material. just gotta go slower. i have a 20w now and just upgraded to a 40w and even my 20w can cut things up to 1/4". but yeah, much slower than a co2.
@@savemybird true it's slow, but if speed/time isn't an issue, the massive space and cost savings, plus the portability, is awesome. That's why I love mine.
Good video! I jumped on the wagon and went out and bought a Mira 9 and an Avid CNC thinking I was going to make some money with this Fad! Not! Maybe I’m doing everything wrong but this all sounds good in most cases until you actually start down the rabbit hole of spend,spend,spend! All I’m saying is think long and hard carefully before you jump on the big investment of all this equipment. Hate to sound like Debbie Downer but I guess I just don’t see the potential for this with so many people doing the same thing!
Yeah you definitely need business acumen and an ability to network and sell your products. Just by making a product it won't sell. There is much more to it.
You don't anymore. Everyone has turned to RU-vid and now everyone is buying lasers and the profit is dead! The only reason people make video's like this is for profit and views. That leads to more lasers out there and less work for all. It nice that people can learn but its not so simple. The reason for all these video's is they stopped making money and now using RU-vid for earnings.
My 20w D1 cuts quite well, and it’s pretty quick. Buuuuutttt t t it’s not scalable. Beeeeep boooop beeep alarms… it stops won’t continue on the cut, wastes material and it cost me about 3 grand. 😑🍕 no pizza for me.
you guys make sure to only share useless info, don't you? lol. Like we all know what lasers can make, especially such obvious things like cutting boards and mugs. What people do not know is how to market and sell those, that is the one main problem in any business. We can make whatever, that's really shouldn't even be discussed in such videos. What should be discussed is how and where this can be sold. Etsy for example is totally dead and overloaded with such stuff for pennies, done by kids living with their parents with no bills. I understand the reasoning behind not wanting to discuss topics that actually matter, but then why do the video in a first place? Your Etsy shop only has 780 sales, which is also nothing. With such money you won't be able to even sustain such business and break even.
Etsy is trash. I make my money on my laser selling large quantities of tumblers to companies directly, like I said in the video. I also make money on it by labor saving activities, such as quickly making templates. As the owner of a productjon furniture company, this is invaluable. Go take your hot take somewhere else.
@CoffeyCustomBuilds i went to your website, I bet you make 95% of your money without the laser. You make custom wood furniture, which costs thousands of dollars per piece. And yeah, if you do that directly, why dont you tell it in the video. I personally not in a laser business, but people who come to such video will surely be interested in something useful, given the video title. Or at least dont make it look so easy to them. Selling directly b2b is a hell of a task in 2024 with google ads costing north of $8 per click and all other marketing too.
