Advertising/Making Money

[skyecyn]

I have built my 5'x10' table and I am cutting making a small profit via Etsy, Facebook, and word of mouth. I want to eventually quit my day job and do this. I have a great passion for metal working and I would love to do this everyday. My question is I am trying to get more business but that seems to get a struggle. Does anyone have any suggestions or a good design they have had much success with that they would like to share? Anything would be great.

Thank you very much.

[gamble]

I'm in for listening too. I've gotten 1 sale on etsy. Seems you post something and 10 minutes later 10 people copy your design and sell it for less.
I advertise on CL and FB. The market up here is a crap shoot. Everyone wants something done for cheap/free.

[Shane Warnick]

Skyecyn,

What part of the country are you in? Helps to know what the demographic is like in the area before I would say one way or another. Oh, and to make sure you aren't a direct competitor

Thanks
Shane

[wickedinhere]

One thing i have learned is women will be 99% of your customers. Make something that women will like, like the 3 initials they sell really well. I have had good luck with address signs also. Find something that is unique to you area and go from there and add names with dates or whatever. When i first started i was the only one in my area doing this stuff now there is a few people doing it in a 50 mile radius. That being said the stuff they are selling looks really bad so the business they took from me is now coming back plus a lot more. When these new guys came on the scene i got a lot of people complaining about my prices and they were telling me that so and so can do it cheaper. I told them i am sorry but i can't work for free and will sit and watch TV before i make a sign and loose money. When your just starting out people will try and beat you up on price but don't cave in stick to your prices and do good work and you will get there. Look into steel f/x copper stain its a nice product and will sell your signs. I would also look into powder coating it will make your life easier and you looks really nice and is easy to do.

[wickedinhere]

I sell a ton of these powder coated in black wrinkle or copper. I weld picture hangers on the back.

[skyecyn]

Thanks all for the helpful input. I live in southern Indiana if that helps you. There is only one other person doing this that I know of in a 40+/- radius from me and he is an older man and don't make hardly anything anymore. I would love to get into powder coating but it seems as though there is a big start up cost there, correct me if I am wrong? I did order some dyes from Steel FX to do some American Flags with so hopefully that will help.

[TJS]

Hopefully when I am up and running I can complement my other fabrication skills such as MIG, TIG (all metals) and milling and lathe work as well. My local steel supplier most likely will be my first customer as I have a great repor with him. I am hoping the word spreads from there.
T.J.

[wickedinhere]

I built my 4x4x8 oven and got a spectracoat machine for around 2200.00 i think that is a pretty good price to get started coating.
Here is the link to my oven build.
http://www.plasmaspider.com/viewtopic.php?f=82&t=6398

[skyecyn]

Your oven looks great. I may start thinking about something like this. So what would be the best advertising to do? Maybe a giveaway on FB? or something like that?

[conz35]

I am by no means a genius at marketing but I can tell you what has worked for us. One of the first things we learned is the name of the game is all about networking, You have a service to offer, you just need to let everyone know. It really just becomes getting as much exposure as possible. There is many ways to go about this.... Here is what we did:
Become involved in your community as much as possible, Donate a piece to the local highschool for the scholarship auction, or some sort of fundraiser. (tax right off) Dont go off the deep end and donate to everyone everytime someone hits you up but you can pick a few of the big ones in your area.
Visit local bars, get to know the owners, youd be suprised how willing alot of places are to help out a small local artist/business. This helped us get tons of orders all over town doing business signs. If you can get involved with your local fire department or any sort of union, We got hooked up with The local IAFF doing signs for there union hall. (ILWU) Longshoremens union has also been big business for us.
If you can shows/fairs arent a bad source of some income and it really starts getting you networked. We hit 4-6 big rodeos or fairs every year, generally it generates right around 40-60k.
If you dont have a website, get something up and running, if nothing else its a place people can go check out your past work and its a testament to your skillset. It wont be a huge source of income but every little bit counts. Especially, if your trying to quit a full time job and do metal full time. Believe me, I know, 2 years ago I was a Firefighter /paramedic doing metal work on the side. Now, me and the wife are both full time metal artist. Its not a easy road and it takes alot of hours and long nights but the hard work does pay off.
IF you have a powdercoat setup then that can help you get alot of jobs. Just remember no job is too big or small. Try to get everything you can, on a weekly basis we may have 20-30 signs that are going out for $100-200. but you can bet will still have 5-10 signs that are $20-40. It all adds up...
Im sure there is tons more but thats all i can think of for the moment.
Hope it helps and good luck man,
mike

[_Ogre]

I would love to get into powder coating but it seems as though there is a big start up cost there, correct me if I am wrong?

only if you start big
i have a $129 eastwood powdercoat gun and a free residential oven
granted i mostly powdercoat my stuff