I am business dumb, but I have a very unique mix of skills I would like to turn into a side hustle. Needless to say, there is going to be a huge learning curve for me.
Sure, I could just sell 3D prints on Etsy, but I would rather focus on B2B type work with a more hands on approach than the Chinese print farms/PCB manufacturers. (I’ll start an Etsy shop for practice, but that particular market seems extremely saturated.)
So, if you have started a business before, what are some basic things that you wish someone had told you before you did? Are there good books or other references I could use?
The amount of time and money spent doing all the starting and running a buisness crap that has nothing to do with the actual work is staggering. I started my own LLC in an industry where I am considered an expert, and it was a complete failure in less then three years.
I had clients, I had projects, but was so overwhelmed with all the buisness elements I just couldn’t spend the time required to get the work done properly. On top of that, while the money was good, the clients were often late paying, so all sorts of fees piled up and quickly ate into the profit. In the end I realized to do it right would have required at minimum four full time people.
Ended up taking a job with a large company as their in house specialist and I’m so much happier. I work shorter hours, get a regular salary with benifits, and spend my time doing the technical stuff I like.
Not saying don’t do it, just be aware of everything that goes into it beyond the core elements of the work / product.
You can grab a copy of entrepreneurial small business 5th edition used for probably 20 bucks. I’m about one semester out from a business administration associate’s degree. That textbook was the most comprehensive of anything that I studied over the last year and a half. And the only textbook I made sure to buy a print copy of, so I have it for reference.
Thanks for the recommendation and I just ordered a copy. (Used/$17 after tax from Amazon if anyone else was curious.)
Great! I hope it’s as helpful for you as it was for me.
I think my biggest piece of advice would be to set up an LLC, especially if you have any personal assets that you could lose if you would end up liable for stuff related to your business.
It makes your taxes a bit more complicated, but it shields you from being personally liable for damages that your business incurs on somebody else. And would protect like your house or car from being counted as an asset in a lawsuit in such cases.
Write a realistic business plan - find and figure out your challenges on paper before you commit $$
I am running my own business coming up on ten years now. You need to go and do a “Start your own business” course.
Lots of places have one that is state or local government sponsored so have a look around. It’s good to meet other local entrepreneurs too.
Apart from learning how to actually do business basics you’ll learn about legal requirements, filing taxes, registering a limited liability company etc that are all essential parts of a business.
Many of these things can be outsourced but you need to know about them in advance.
When you write your business plan BE HONEST with your numbers and assume everything will take longer and cost more because it will. I had huge respect for one dude I know who did then walked away before starting and losing money and / or not making enough.
Good luck!
Get a lawyer to create you a standard contract that explicitly states payment terms and IP ownership transfer conditions.
Great video. Would recommend anyone to watch it. More relatable than just the design field.
My biggest pitfalls were not realizing how fucking expensive it is to run a business. licenses and taxes and paying accountants and shit I hate it but it’s better than having a real job
Essential tip #1. No customer cares what you do, only what they get. They’re not buying the reverse engineering, they’re buying the copy. Let that inform your choices, your marketing and interactions with the customer.
Tip for B2B especially. Listen to the person and treat them as a professional, find ways to explain limitations and options in a way that makes them feel understood and that helps them look good in their own organisation. In another phrasing: Make them the Hero of their company, and you’ll be theirs.
Word of advice: Enjoy the ride! Business isn’t difficult, but it’s tough, there’s so very very very many things you now have to get done there’s no reasonable chance at foreseeing even most of them. You will get surprises, you will get crises. Get as much help and mentorship from experienced entrepreneurs as you can (we’re typically a very helpful bunch), but prepare for even that not being enough.
Perseverance, responsiveness, and resourcefulness is what separates you from the 80% failed businesses within 5 years.
Sometimes, actually kinda often, people come to you who know the costs of your materials pretty accurately. “I used to own a…” and “My industry uses that too, and it…” or any info regarding your costs.
Almost always those phrases are followed by some level of attempt to lower your prices.
Don’t, even at the start, even if its family. You don’t even have to explain it to them if you don’t like confrontation.
If they know it so well, they also know why your pricing is the way it is, and what they’d like you do is bend over.
Also, relatedly, inflation always sucks, and your pricing, if fair, reflecting that will be anticipated. Trying to remain at the same price when your costs really change isn’t good business. For something like filament, idk if wholesale prices fluctuate or just go up, so leaving some space if the former so you can avoid constantly updating your pricing is cool too. For a business I used to own, I just priced factoring my gas pricing a half a dollar more than the start of the year’s, and rarely had to adjust it within a year.
If they can get better prices elsewhere, they can go elsewhere.
Depends on what you do; if you specialise, there aren’t other places to go to, if you’re easier to work with, deliver superior quality, are more responsive or just plain likeable, people/customers will stay with you for longer.
I can only suggest getting yourself a legal expense insurance. It may not be to obvious, but there will be day, where you get a customer that makes a very sweet deal and later won’t pay you. It devinetively is good, if you don’t have to take the costs of it going to court.
getting a job somewhere close in niche to what you are considering… generally is a huge help… get paid to learn the ropes.
I worked for 20 years as a marine canvas and upholstery guy. I’ve since quit and started running my own show. If I was trying to learn the trade and learn businessing at the same time I’d have totally failed. The business part isn’t really hard, but it’s meticulous and a bit unforgiving. I find you only find out what you’re doing wrong after you’ve done it for a year. Getting the taxes wrong will absolutely fuck you up, six ways from Sunday. The best advice I got was from my brother (who fucked up his taxes) was to save 30% of everything you make in preparation for a tax remittance. I’ve found that to be higher than necessary, but that just means I saved money.
If there is a major pitfall for me, it’s the numbers bit. While proper accounting could resolve any tax issues before they happen, I’ll play it safe and probably also put back +20% extra for taxes, at least for the first few years. Thanks for the info!
I couldn’t find an accountant would take me on for the first few years so I had to bumble along myself. I started out using quickbooks and honestly, most of my problems were from using it wrong. I should have taken classes and read books and stuff but I was a bit overburdened and stressed out from trying to manage it all.
I’ve settled on 20% as a good number. Even that may be high, but I like the forced savings.
I can only assume your unique mix of skills are in hostage rescue
Invest in these books, now:
( not affiliate links, which should be obvious from the short uri’s )
https://www.amazon.com/Slicing-Pie-Handbook-Perfectly-Bootstrapped-ebook/dp/B01LZJWFXH/
https://www.amazon.com/Lead-Right-Your-Companys-Type-ebook/dp/B01N6QY98O/
https://www.amazon.com/Business-Model-Generation-Visionaries-Challengers-ebook/dp/B06X426D4F/
IF you do not understand all the stuff in there, THEN you’re suckerpunching your life, and I don’t want that happening, ok?
Salut, Namaste, Kaizen, & Fare as well as you possibly can.
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I don’t have any advice but I’m curious what kind of equipment & software you’re working with. I know that stuff isn’t cheap.
For starters, I have a Prusa printer, Moose 3D scanner and a full license for Fusion 360, a small custom built CNC and a good selection of specialty tools.
If needed, I can revert to photogrammetry for capturing high detail on small parts. (Probably within 15um/.5 thou? I need to test the limits of what I can actually do before I say for certain…)
I can scale printing super fast and am lucky enough to have a Microcenter near me so I can buy more printers and filament in a hurry. (Now that I think about it, I’ll probably order a resin printer this evening. It’ll be useful for my own projects where I need to duplicate some injection molded parts.)
For now, I am going to let the jobs determine the scale of my operation and how I invest in additional equipment. Thankfully, I am decent enough at the mechanical aspects of this stuff to handle issues fairly quick.
But yeah, I already have a few thousand dollars in tools, assorted parts and filaments. It’s the odd tools I have that give me a good starting advantage, me thinks. (Nobody else I know has a full set of pin gauges, as an odd example. My electronic component and fastener selection is also fairly substantial.)
Honestly, it’s time to get an ROI from all of my own, personal projects that I have made substantial investments in over the years.
Well anyone can 3D print something, but it’s the modeling of a printable object that is your skill. However modeling and designing are two different things.
If I had your equipment and skills right now I would start printing bathtub jet plugs. Convert a jetted tub into a non-jetted. Probably only a few different brands and designs to cover.
Aside from that, I’d get into mold making. You can 3d print a mold, or even a mold of a mold. Or a mold of a mold of a mold. Then you can cast objects in metal or ceramic, or silicone or even plastic (haha) or other materials that can be a liquid. Way more interesting than plastic shapes. Plus molds can be used many times.
As far as the business goes? No idea. Start by making useful objects that people want to buy. But that’s kind of a different skill of “inventor”.
General purpose printing will just be a filler, of sorts, and I can basically do that in my sleep. The only goal of that is to utilize equipment that would otherwise be idle.
The 3D scanning and reverse engineering is going to be the main focus but decent paying jobs will likely be sporadic for a while. The main function of the printers will be to prototype as to allow clients to test fit designs before they are finalized with proper materials.
When it comes to mold making, that is probably going to be part of what I do. However, that is its own science and takes a ton of experience to make viable commercial molds. (Simple molds are probably the only thing I could do at this point.)
Still, those are some good ideas so thanks.
