Full-time metal cutting?

[SomethingMetal]

How many guys or gals are making metal cutting a full time job now? What are you doing to make sure you are staying busy? (advertising/selling your product) What seems to be the number one money maker for you? (mass production cutting etc.) Looking for some input. I have been wanting to just go out and DO IT! I feel as if I won't have a problem making it just hard to leave a full time job with benefits.... but the current job is sucking the life out of me I feel like. I have custom jobs like railings and fencing that I am turning away b/c I can't complete it in the time frame they are allowing. So I wanted to ask how everyone else is fairing across the US? Just wondering.....

[michmetalman]

I do it for a living. I stay busy doing wholesale to businesses and a Facebook page with over 14,000 fans.
As for best seller...hard to say, I do sell a ton of wind chimes though!

[SomethingMetal]

Great to hear. I have been doing this on the side for 2.5yrs now. Most of my work has been word of mouth and repeat customers. I haven't done any advertising. Great to hear of one man able to provide for himself. Thanks

[SomethingMetal]

Anybody can chime in. Just wanted to get some sort of tally on who does it on the side and who is trying to push on towards something better.

[grindergary]

I try to cut full time. Been slow for the past few months.

I cut mainly for oil and gas industries. I have recently been working with a Telecom company making brackets and such. Looks promising so far. I cut the art on the side when time allows. I have not sold much but have donated some for different charities.

I think the market is going to get better as the economy picks up. Advertising helps. A simple sign on the front of the shop has brought in work. Word of mouth is an excellent way to get work. Once you get noticed and follow up with contacts, things will pick up.

Good luck with your endeavors.

Gary
PS. I'm in western Canada.

[pony]

I just 'started' my business in earnest, even though I've owned the machine in one form or another for 3 years.

I bought a 2x2 machine and planned to work in my small 20x30 workshop. I upgraded the machine to 2x4, then 4x4 and added a water table, and at the same time built a new 40x75 workshop (I did this myself, and it took 18 months to complete using weekends and vacation time). I'm now ready to roll.

I have a 9 to 5 with a 50 mile commute each way, my own active software business (iOS and Mac apps), a small ranch with my own hay making equipment and some horses, I also serve on the city council and planning commission, and now this metal business. Available time is scarce.
I hope to turn the metal business in to a full time job, but it will take a long time. I need to get to a stage where I can give up the 9 to 5 and work at home full time. A 5 year goal given my time constraints. It may end up being just a hobby. I enjoy the creativity and the tangibility of the final product. I'd love to be able to do it full time, but I'll be content to do this as a hobby if I 'fail' trying to build a business around it.

[michmetalman]

Yup...putting out a good product and word of mouth...best advertising their is!

[SomethingMetal]

Awesome guys.
Grindergary glad to hear thing are starting to pickup for you. Hopefully you will be running @ 110% capacity soon.

Pony sounds like you are a man with many masks. Looks like you have the drive it takes to make it so I know in the future you will be cutting metal full time.

Michmetalman no better advertising than your own work for sure!!

[Redneck]

... but the current job is sucking the life out of me I feel like. .....

I wish you the best. I can relate to the feeling of your job sucking the life out of you. I can't tell you how much better I feel physically and mentally now that I'm working for myself. Since 2006. Even still, every time I talk to someone that still works where I last did, I have to stop and thank God that I don't have to work there now.....I can feel my blood pressure rising just talking with people I know that still work there.

Keep your chin up and go get em!!!

[michmetalman]

... but the current job is sucking the life out of me I feel like. .....

I wish you the best. I can relate to the feeling of your job sucking the life out of you. I can't tell you how much better I feel physically and mentally now that I'm working for myself. Since 2006. Even still, every time I talk to someone that still works where I last did, I have to stop and thank God that I don't have to work there now.....I can feel my blood pressure rising just talking with people I know that still work there.

Keep your chin up and go get em!!!

Same here. I liked my job welding aluminum and steel...(for 13 years) but the hours were killing me and sucking the life from me. I went out on my own in 2007 and have never looked back. Working for yourself is still mighty stressful, but still better then working...and making money for "the man" I remember for the last few years I worked as a welder, always singing that song by the "Animals" to my buddies..."We gotta get out of this place, if it's the last thing we ever do" and I finally just did it. lol
I have also found that you can do anything you want if you keep your chin up, set your mind to it and work your ass off.

[SomethingMetal]

I have never been one to sit on the side lines and just let life pass me by. I always grab the bull by the horns and wrestle with him. He has hooked me a couple of times though!! Maybe @ the first of the year I may be pulling the pin and tossing the gernade and running like hell! Doing the work isn't the problem but making sure I can continue to keep the work coming in is what had hindered me so far. I'm making plans right now to expand into hopefully something that will be a sustainable income for the next few years and hopefully grow into something bigger. Been working since I was 10 and that isn't going to change till I'm 86 unless I make it change......

[grindergary]

SomethingMetal,

Grab the bull and go! I had some cash put away to get me going. Keeping work coming in is not the easiest thing to do.

I have found that I was cutting for the oil and gas here. The trick was to find a niche market. I found I could cut plates for pipe shoes and deliver them before my competition could. They were simply too big. Too much overhead will hurt them and I can still be competitive on pricing.

I got a lead on a new market and am going to pursue that. It will take time but it will be worth it. Its funny how this stuff is right in your face, and you can't see the opportunity. Then it hits you like a hammer and off you go.

Good luck

Gary

[MountainGoat]

When venturing out on your own....

1) Keep your overhead as low as you can. I have seen lots of good "start up" businesses fail because they didn't manage and control the overhead.

2) When you start to generate "extra money" DONT SPEND IT ON YOURSELF....you will find out in a month or two that it really wasn't "extra money". It was money needed to keep the business going that showed up early

3) ALWAYS keep a good balance between your business and your family .... If the family isn't happy, nobody is happy.

4) Never forget: If it was easy, anyone could do it

I could go on all day after being in business for myself for 29 years. Over the years there are some things I would have done differently but working for someone else is not one of them

[SomethingMetal]

MountainGoat I appreciate the words of wisdom. All very true and I try to keep my overhead low. Hopefully I will continue to keep it that way unless the right situation comes about......
Family has to always be considered in every situation no matter how small or big.

[MountainGoat]

No problem.....You'll get along just fine

[beefy]

Try testing the market while you're in a job.

I've heard stories where steel fabrication mobs for instance might find out on Friday they need a bunch of plates cutting and ready for Monday. You may be their saviour if you can do it at the weekend and deliver it to them on Monday, or maybe Sunday afternoon if they need it that bad and you have your normal job to go to on Monday.

A lot of mobs might have certain places they use for cutting but if you can offer an emergency service like this it helps get you known. Finding the time to get the word out there can be difficult when you are already in a job. Take account of what you can do and also what you can't. Better to say no than say yes and not deliver. Seems a lot of smaller steel fabrication and sheet metal shops don't have a cnc table.

You're going to need the support of family, especially when you have to focus on something. It's often difficult for the ones close to you to accept you are "at work", even though you are physically present at home. When it comes to business I would love to operate away from home. I also heard a story of a guy that worked from home but ended up pay $20K plus in rent just so he could get away from family while running his business. He said he was simply "too accessible" to his family.