Hi Folks.
My small laser cutting business is starting to take off. It’s not mega dollars (I wish) but what I do might help folks.
It does not matter which laser you have.. solong as you can do cutting and engraving it will work. I decided at the start to get a 130w 1300x900. If I was to do this again I would get a lower power tube since I find doing small stuff difficult. Think Walnut and Sledge Hammer. But I solved that by adding a 40w diode laser head onto my machine as well so I can do both heavy and light work. Also I wanted to put full sheets of ply, and not bother about cutting it down.
But if you have a 60w or a 40w then it will do great.
Next choose an item. I chose a simple 2 piece mobile phone holder. You can find similar designs around..
Taking this I would go around to various local businesses and get their business card. You don’t have to tell them why you want it. Once you have it then take a photo of it and use software to convert it to a SVG file.
Personallt I find VectorWitch.com brilliant. It costs $10 per month which gives you 100 credits. These accumulate each month so it helps when you get a rush.
But seriously 1 credit for an operation like Take yhis photo and remove the background or Take this logo and give me a SVG of it etc.. - it becomes very cheap to use.
So I have gone to a business and got their card. I have used VectorWitch to turn it into an SVG.
Now I open Lightburn and take the Phone Holder and dropp the SVG onto it.
Add text like phone numbers, opening hours, things that they do. Don’t make it too cluttered.
And create a sample.
If the sample looks good then go back to the business and give it to them. Introduce yourself and your business - offer a reasonable price (Mine is $2.50 ea). Tell them they can give them away to their best customers. Emphasise the it will be on their customers desk with their detail infront of them.
And it IS a useful item.
They might ask for a batch of 10. - that’s $25 dollars!!! But you are staring to get your name out there. Your advertisement is Yourself and your Product.
Do this for the next business, and the next.. And soon you will have a stable group of clients wanting a refill. The advantage is that they will ask you if you can do other things. Advertisements, stands for leaflets.
Another thing is to look for stores with exclusine items like antiques. Make up some nice sample sighs for some of their products. Visit and hand them to the store explaining that you have a fast turn around and are flexible. Fairly soon you will have a client base.
So.. To recap.
Find a useful product.
Find some potentual customers and just get their business cards.
Use software to grab their logo and details.
Use Lightburn to create a sample. Safe the file for use later.
Visit the customer and give them the sample. Explain it’s function, your speed of delivery and flexibilty.
Be polite - they may not want some that day but the sample will be on their desk. Maybe catch up an a couple of weeks.
Thanks for sharing — it’s helpful to see a concrete example of how you’re approaching local work.
Small note for anyone trying something similar: once you move beyond giving samples, it’s worth being clear about permission to use logos, and keeping an eye on the time cost of setup and revisions. Also, what works locally can vary a lot by area.
Thanks for taking the time to write.the post and your opinions.
Something I was wondering about recently, came to mind regarding finish quality and job time. I had thought that adding colour and a nice finish to pieces, as well as adding quality components such as good quality split rings (I’ll use keyring production as the example) might give added value and variety to the offerings. I also thought about Twin gantry/module for cutting and detail engravings.
On that point, would you imagine that twin gantry setups would be cost effective for batch work…noting also your mention of full sheet bed as opposed to working a…Let’s say 20w or 2w IR on snapmaker with a 600x400 deck and possibly swapping to 40w or 60w for cutting.
Then going to the time consuming effort of masking, paint, etc etc.
I’ve been looking at some pieces that were simply engraved and cut.nice but basic, and wondering if the simple design and laquer approach is better or the more costly but attractive approach would be appreciated by retailers as well as the faster production method.
It’s probably a Try it and find out kinda question but I think the time available to be dedicated to lasering etc may be more limited this year and there’s equipment that would assist me greatly regarding other responsibilities that may have to take precedence. Time will be short this year and domestic duties will mean not having time to be at markets all day or often, but the batch selling aproach could be an option.
I find that although the urge to become complex.. often the simplest designs work.
However if you find a nice simple mainstream product then you can experiment behind the scenes with other technologies.
One side business I do is this. I have a Laser Pecker 2.. and so take various mobile holders with animal engraving.. but with a space for personalisation.
So a customer can buy a holder and request a name put on it.
People are fasicinated to the see a galvo laser work, and seeing thei job done There and Then is a big point.
I do this are Markets, Fetes etc where I want to have a bit of people interaction. Plus if a business walks by I can sell them on other promotional items.
I’m inclined to agree David, some images take minutes to prep for work and some take day’s. I’ve been looking at the ones I’ve produced and the quickest for design and production are just as cute but take way less time to finish, thing is that they also come in at a reasonable batch price.
My mind loves complex and ornate but I’ll set that aside and focus on Nice. Thanks for the shortlist of tips for promotion to retailers, I kinda had that idea already but it helped to see your recommendation.
On the 8x4ft bed and twin gantry idea…resigned to wish list..for now.