My experience has been a GREAT one!

[gerald_d]

Bill, I thought that apparel was only used by Brits who try to look clever by using French words - like old Mike here.

And, to the point of this thread, I think that we have to realise that there could also be a story of failure for every success story that we see here. There must be a good many people who buy SB's (possibly even encouraged by testimonies like those above) and then just don't get it all together. There is nothing inherently magic or special about a SB. Those of us who do speak glowingly about SB's fail to give credit to our own inherent determination and drive. We would all probably have been equally successful if we had bought doughnut franchises - except that we would have had to be more careful about what we dressed in.

[robtown]

I wouldn't know what spindle speed and feedrate to set a doughnut to...

[rookie432]

I have to say Wayne and I are in the same boat. Good full time job, fair salary and good benefits. However I don't know what I would do without my bot. I have to have an outlet for my creative needs and the bot gives me just that. Not to mention it allows me to make extra income that never hurts. (by the way the bot business has been a good tax shelter for a home based business). PLanning on building a new 1500sq ft shop and the bot will pay for it. Whats better than that.
Had my first child last year and that has slowed me down a bit, however it has forced me to focus a little better on doing work that is profitable. This allows me to cherry pick the work I want or the work I need.
I'm part time botter and my clients are aware of this going in to a job. This helps curb the unrealistic deadline driven clientelle. But the bot and I can give them a uniqueness that my clients cant get elsewhere so... most of them are willing to wait for me. No pressure and I can chose how much I want to make in a year.
One last thing for guys like Wayne and I. There is nothing better than knowing that if the rug was pulled out from under me tommorow, as far as my full time job was concerned, that I have something to fall back on. Ive spent the last few years becoming proficient with the cnc and build a good customer base that I could enlarge at any moment. Expanded my capabilities to multiple product offerings and am adding new product capabilities every day. So if the market dropped out or ,God forbid, another 9-11 incident and my job wasn't there tomorrow. My family and I would be o.k.

Bill

[wmcghee]

Brady, you are right in everything you said. You seem to be a well educated man and, by the looks of your picture in your profile you have alot of wisdom for your age.
And your right in saying to follow your own heart. Noone knows what is best for me but me. But I have always been terrible at making decisions. I can go to Walmart to pick something up and if there is more than 1 item it can take me half an hour to pick one. Sometimes longer. I struggled with buying a Shopbot for about 4 months. I would still be trying to decide had it not been for the price increase in Nov. I jumped in and got one before the increase.

Wes, I have looked at your program several times and it is on my buy list for sure. I think that could be a very lucrative business. But Like Brady said in another post, I'm kinda afraid of the MDF dust. I have a jet DC1100 but the MDF really clogs its filter up and chokes it down. I will buypass the filter and blow it outside I guess.

Gerald, you are exactly right. It is the person and not the machine that makes everyone succesful. I think people often fail in business because they don't try with all their heart. They loose their focus somewhere and get discouraged and start giving up. I think with HARD work and determination their is nothing one cannot accomplish. It may be harder for some than for others because of certain variables but I truly believe if you set your mind to it you can be successful.

That being said though, you have to have certain business skills to make any kind of business be successful. I mean over and above your talents and learned abilities. My Dad has been a diesel mechanic ever since I can remember. He had his own business and most of the time stayed covered up. He had an hourly rate he charged and it paid his wages and thats about it. He didn't have figured in to his rates his profit margin, overhead, etc. Just because he probably didn't know the "business" end of it. Very talented mechanic, made a decent living for us. His business didn't grow and I guess he got burnt out. He drives a truck now. I would love to be able to have something where him and I could work together.

Its ironic because I never was interested in being a Diesel mechanic. I would help dad and watch him a lot but just never had a desire to follow in his footsteps. And he didn't want me to. I went to machinist school and got a pretty good job. Worked it for 4 years and got a job with Boeing, which in this area is pretty much the cream of the crop for machinist jobs. Worked their for 8 years and then 9-11 and Airbus happened. I was burnt out on it anyway and was looking forward to the lay off. I was going to woodwork and sell tools. Well, I saw an ad where the railroad was needing a machinist and applied. I figured I would not get it and was kinda hoping I would'nt. Well, they called and I took it. But what the railroad calls a machinist the rest of the world calls a diesel mechanic. But truthfully they did tell me this before I took the job. I thought it would be interesting working on locomotives. But I didn't stay interested very long.

While working in a machine shop I always operated a CNC. Fadal, Mazak, Cincinnati, etc. I always wanted to learn the machine and what it was capable of. I hated being a button pusher. I wanted to know the machine in case I ran into problems, etc. But most of the people, probably 60%, was the opposite. Just learn enough to get by and sit back. I didn't understand why these people were like that but I always kept my mouth shup and I was always willing to help them when they had problems. Don't get me wrong, I had to get people to help me occasionally as well. But to get to the point, the job I have now I just have no interest in learning. I just have no deire to put any extra effort into anything. I will do my job and try to do it well. But the drive is just not there for me. I guess maybe that is how the guys I used to work with felt.

[beacon14]

"In some months he earns more than his father"

Methinks perhaps Gerald's son makes the big bucks because when he's in front of his computer he's working, as opposed to saving the ShopBot community from certain doom. Not that I would have it any other way!

[mikejohn]

Dave
Don't be fooled. Remember the wheelie bin mountain.
Cape towns Mr.Soprano
..........Mike

[woody]

If the above stories don't make you stop and smell the saw dust, maybe this will help!

http://www.scottstratten.com/movie.html

[cabinetmaker09]

I have been thinking either or not to buy a CNC and this has help me mostly aim to go buy one, only if i had the money now. haha. Now if i did buy one how would i start a business or get the word out there? I wouldn't mind going into the sign business like you did, its not hard work at all. I've done about 30 signs for someone for free to help me out using the schools cnc
.

Im sure if you could start one i know i could. Should i just make an ad and start placing it around places and hope people start to come to me? maybe make a Carve your sign here and then place it somewhere in town in a window? maybe sell it on e-bay? Toss some ideas out there for my mind to think.

[jamesgilliam]

Andy, A good place to start is local sign shops. Go in and ask if they can do carved signs, and if they say no ask if they would like the ability to offer them as a product line, oh and take a sample piece with you. One local to me has agreed to refer customers to me, and for their trouble get a commision when I get the job. Not a bad deal for them just showing the sample and giving out my name and number.

[cabinetmaker09]

I haven't seen any signs business around town that i've noticed. I don't live in a big city. how would i advertise my signs online to get the word out of sign making to make word travel? And about how long did it take for you guys to make a complete sign from start to finish? Also should i charge so much per letter and a price for a blank with an addital fee for pictures? or how should i figure a price for something like that? Im never quit sure if im always underselling my work or over selling for something that i make.

Share some of your secrets with a beginner.