How to start a business? Machine first or connection first?

[kustomizer]

There is no point I can see in being part of the race to the bottom unless you truly do need the practice, I sure don't

 

[ttrager]

At the risk of sounding philosophical and all, I'll put out one opinion:

If you are thinking about starting your OWN business, you are contemplating stepping into one of the trickiest disciplines out there for making a living: Being an Entrepreneur. I would argue (carefully) that comes before machining skills, because it's the umbrella under which everything else falls.

Entrepreneurs are super-self motivated, take the initiative, and all of that combined with an innate ability to do so reasonably well or accurately. Anyone can suddenly jump up and "take the initiative" and go do something. That's no guarantee they do it successfully enough times it matters, that they had a rational approach to making the decision, etc.

On topic: IMO you want to start doing the Entrepreneurial footwork and start researching/evaluating what you are considering. That covers a lot of bases, but some of the first ones that come to mind are things like: What's the market? What are you going to manufacture, auto parts, low tolerance work, high-volume production vs custom short runs, die-cast & molding tools, custom gun parts, etc.? What manufacturers or suppliers (potential customers) are in the state you will be operating in? What potential budget do you have in mind? What are building/space/machine costs going to be, including tooling and measurement?

Start laying all that out in a Word Document, or Excel, or Powerpoint, whatever. That's your brainstorming knowledge-base. Incorporate advice from those more experienced, such as those here in this forum. There are decades, if not hundreds of years (combined) knowledge to be found on these forums. Consider what you are hearing, decide on what seems relevant.

Don't discount the idea of "measure twice, cut once" if you are thinking of stepping up to be self-employed or an employer. And you have to cover ALL the bases on that, not just the more obvious target of making stuff to sell to a customer.

Anyway, pretty general, thanks for the patience in reading this. Should you go for it, I wish you all the success to be had.

Take care.

 

[snowman]

What do you make an hour? What do you need to make an hour? Now multiply by 3. One of those thirds goes to the business, one goes to you, one goes to the gov't.

If your business can't support your wage x3, you are going to have a hard time building a business around it. Costs are in addition.

 

[socrates1]

I finally got some braveness to come back and check this thread.

I bought a brand new Japanese 5 axis machine to start and made appox. $100k CAD gross income last year, but didn't have any penny left in my pocket, only debts.

I have a full time machinist job again and work on my own for the rest of the day and weekends, leaving a crying little daughter and a mad wife at home.

At least I can cover all the bills and bring food back home.

Anyone who's interested in what I experienced? I might write something down for the people who also want to start their own jobbing shop.

 

[deftonite]

I finally got some braveness to come back and check this thread.
...
Anyone who's interested in what I experienced? I might write something down for the people who also want to start their own jobbing shop.

Thank you for coming back to share more of your story. I'm very interested to learn more about your experience.

-What kind of work did you get?
-Did you get the jobs from word of mouth, advertising, or knocking on doors?
-What were your biggest surprises? Disappointments?
-Wins/losses?
-What advice would you share for others after 1 year of working it?
-How long were you working this business full time before getting another full-time job?
-Did you rent a place, or toss the 5axis in your garage?
Do you have a website?

Thanks!

 

[LOTT]

Definitely interested, what machine and what kind of work? The family struggle is real, always a balancing act.

 

[604Pook]

I finally got some braveness to come back and check this thread.

I bought a brand new Japanese 5 axis machine to start and made appox. $100k CAD gross income last year, but didn't have any penny left in my pocket, only debts.

I have a full time machinist job again and work on my own for the rest of the day and weekends, leaving a crying little daughter and a mad wife at home.

At least I can cover all the bills and bring food back home.

Anyone who's interested in what I experienced? I might write something down for the people who also want to start their own jobbing shop.

Interested to hear. Vancouver is getting so expensive to rent shop space, and I know of a lot of shops where their old landlord cashed out, and the new owner has big mortgage and their rents are almost doubling. Its a sad state. Seems only people making money have a warehouse full of imported product, stacked from floor to ceiling so the make money per cubic foot not per square foot.

 

[john.k]

You got it in one ........sheds where I was ,the guy importing and selling Asian hand made furniture was the one with new cars for all the family......in 3 years he had his own shed twice the size ,and a second business importing asian timber .....selling direct to the public ...cash and carry..

 

[alek95]

I finally got some braveness to come back and check this thread.

I bought a brand new Japanese 5 axis machine to start and made appox. $100k CAD gross income last year, but didn't have any penny left in my pocket, only debts.

I have a full time machinist job again and work on my own for the rest of the day and weekends, leaving a crying little daughter and a mad wife at home.

At least I can cover all the bills and bring food back home.

Anyone who's interested in what I experienced? I might write something down for the people who also want to start their own jobbing shop.

I'm very interested in knowing every detail of your journey so far.

 

[Philabuster]

Anyone who's interested in what I experienced? I might write something down for the people who also want to start their own jobbing shop.

Please start your own shop thread in this section below. I would like to read it:

Member and Shop Photos

Post photos of you and your shop, so others can put face with name !

www.practicalmachinist.com

 

[EMTech]

I finally got some braveness to come back and check this thread.

I bought a brand new Japanese 5 axis machine to start and made appox. $100k CAD gross income last year, but didn't have any penny left in my pocket, only debts.

I have a full time machinist job again and work on my own for the rest of the day and weekends, leaving a crying little daughter and a mad wife at home.

At least I can cover all the bills and bring food back home.

Anyone who's interested in what I experienced? I might write something down for the people who also want to start their own jobbing shop.

I'm looking forward to hearing more about your journey.

 

[socrates1]

Don't know where to start, I want to give more details but worry about the privacy.

Thank you for coming back to share more of your story. I'm very interested to learn more about your experience.

-What kind of work did you get?
-Did you get the jobs from word of mouth, advertising, or knocking on doors?

Whatever job I can get, beggars can't be choosers, that's my previous employer told me, who sent me $65K worth jobs last year

Advertising or knocking on doors will never work, maybe you will find some random guy from the street but they don't want to pay you nothing.

You got it in one ........sheds where I was ,the guy importing and selling Asian hand made furniture was the one with new cars for all the family......in 3 years he had his own shed twice the size ,and a second business importing asian timber .....selling direct to the public ...cash and carry..

I probably should do the same thing, easy money, and don't need to buy a $250K USD machine