How Many Hours Do You Put In Per Week?

[BHPshooter]

For those of you who are doing this as a business, how many hours are you working a week?

I'm asking because I've been averaging 80 hours a week since the start of the year*, and it's beginning to take a toll. All that time bent over a workbench is starting to have negative effects on my neck and back.

Don't get me wrong, I'm happy to be busy, and I'm thrilled that people seem to like my work, but it's getting difficult to maintain this pace. I extended my wait time a bit recently (I didn't want to do it, but something's got to give), so I'm hoping that will help make things a little more manageable.

* I've only been tracking my exact hours for about 2 months, but my daily schedule hasn't changed since late December/early January.

[cleanview]

Mine is just staring and is treated as my "2nd job" with 3-4 hrs 6 days a week.

[Red Cent]

Ain't no way I am/will not/be putting 80 hours a week into this endeavor. You have a great problem. Work out the wazoo. I think it is simply what do you want out of the "business".

Anxious part of a business: hire help and hope traffic continues. 'Course you can always fire the help:)

[steelhawk]

I don't work that many hours, but I occasionally put in a long day.

Whereabouts in Utah are you?

[jwt]

It sounds like it's time to start charging more for your work. Either that or hire some help.

[chiefjason]

Mine is just staring and is treated as my "2nd job" with 3-4 hrs 6 days a week.

I'm here, plus some depending on the day. My "day off" has seen me put 8-10 hours in catching up if it gets really busy. Wife can do a few things to help, and has to regularly. Mostly shipping stuff. Shutting things down for the next week though.

Charging more is one of those funny ways to drive down demand a bit, but make more per product. I was forced to recently with my leather price going up. I have not noticed a slow down though, lol.

[cgleathercraft]

I agree with hiring some help. Even a couple hours a day doing simple tasks will take a lot off of your plate.

My day job and commute only allow for 1-2 hours at most a day to work. I've got a backlog of 10 different items to make and added a cell phone case and a custom coaster set to the list this weekend. Lead time is set to two months currently.

[BHPshooter]

Ain't no way I am/will not/be putting 80 hours a week into this endeavor. You have a great problem. Work out the wazoo. I think it is simply what do you want out of the "business".

Anxious part of a business: hire help and hope traffic continues. 'Course you can always fire the help:)

You're right, it is a great problem to have. I don't want to sound like I'm complaining about it, it's just an adjustment. I'll learn to adapt.

I'd prefer not to have to hire employees, if possible. I've noticed a lot of guys have their wives help them out with things... I guess I need to look into getting a wife.

[chiefjason]

Seeing as you are in Utah, you might could get a couple.

[jwt]

As long as we're making jokes...

Be careful when you're asking a prospective wife about her interest in leather. That could go in a really awkward direction.

[Eaglestroker]

A friend who also happens to be my brother-in-law comes in 2 nights a week and does 8 hours of edges. With belts especially it is a major help and I work production around it to utilize it the best of my abilities. I average 40 hours a week as a second job and my wife also helps from time to time.

What's sleep?

[Matt T]

It sounds like it's time to start charging more for your work. Either that or hire some help.

Exactly!

[Joon1911]

Out of curiosity, what does 80 hours a week as a professional equal out to as far as output? Meaning about how many holsters does that 80 hours translate to per week if you don't mind sharing. I've always been curious how many holster you can make doing this as a profession.

For those of you who are doing this as a business, how many hours are you working a week?

I'm asking because I've been averaging 80 hours a week since the start of the year*, and it's beginning to take a toll. All that time bent over a workbench is starting to have negative effects on my neck and back.

Don't get me wrong, I'm happy to be busy, and I'm thrilled that people seem to like my work, but it's getting difficult to maintain this pace. I extended my wait time a bit recently (I didn't want to do it, but something's got to give), so I'm hoping that will help make things a little more manageable.

* I've only been tracking my exact hours for about 2 months, but my daily schedule hasn't changed since late December/early January.

[BHPshooter]

Out of curiosity, what does 80 hours a week as a professional equal out to as far as output? Meaning about how many holsters does that 80 hours translate to per week if you don't mind sharing. I've always been curious how many holster you can make doing this as a profession.

Last week, I finished 8 holsters, and I'm on track to finish 10 this week. Keep in mind, I have no clicker press or dies, so I'm cutting everything out by hand, and I'm also doing all of my edge slicking/burnishing by hand. I can tell you all about tendonitis. I'm looking into ways to speed up the edge work specifically -- I think that's my biggest time investment.

Seeing as you are in Utah, you might could get a couple.

I'm not sure I can afford one!

As long as we're making jokes...

Be careful when you're asking a prospective wife about her interest in leather. That could go in a really awkward direction.

[jwt]

You're hand burnishing?

1. Charge the next 25 people $25 above your current rate

2. After you hit order #25 tell people that you're not taking new work for two weeks

3. Call Weaver and order 65-6025 and whatever accessories they have for it

4. Relax until your new burnishing tool shows up

5. Charge everyone else you deal with an extra $12.50 to help offset the cost of your new hobbies

[steelhawk]

The Weaver machine looks great. There is also a similar one offered by Cobra Steve. I can't afford either and have been using home made ones in a drill press. But I have wanted better ones for awhile.

I have seriously considered getting something from either leatherburnishers.com or proedgeburnishers.com and will order one of them as soon as I get a bit more of the green stuff. I'm in UT not CO so green stuff only means dollars.

Eric Adams, Particle on this site, uses the pro edge ones.

Edited April 10, 2015 by steelhawk

[DuaneBallard]

I made one with an old craftsman table saw motor mounted on a Harbor freight stand. Drum sander on one shaft and a burnisher off eBay on the other side. Less than 100$ and it rules.

[steelhawk]

I looked at making my own using a swamp cooler motor, $89 new. It's 1750 rpm which is the right speed, I believe.

[robertmeco]

Check this one out

[JLSleather]

Just the facts .....

1.) There is no "right" speed for a burnisher. Without a bunch of long-winded math, the 2" diameter stick is 'traveling" at 2.7 times as fast as the 3/4" burnisher -- though it's rotating (running) at the same speed. Yes, really.

2.) I've used a number of burnishers, from oak dowel rods to plastic to nylon to bone to cocobolo (which is certainly the purdiest of these). I can't tell where the name on it makes any difference at all.

[Red Cent]

Get this:

http://www.harborfreight.com/6-inch-bench-grinder-39797.html

Take off the stuff and get two of these:

http://www.lowes.com/pd_83456-1074-31037MP_0__?productId=1209709&Ntt=keyless+drill+chuck&pl=1&currentURL=%3FNtt%3Dkeyless%2Bdrill%2Bchuck&facetInfo=

I make my burnishers.

[RoosterShooter]

If you are a one man operation, and have that much work then you are leaving money on the table!

In other words, you need to charge more to offset the customer to work load and that will make up for your extra time.

When you slow down, run a short sale.

I'm speaking from business experience where I have a small number of employees and monthly overhead for advertising, business / website related expenses, and utilities.

In my business I grew way too fast, but was able to keep up with the pace. I went from being a one man operation this time last year, to receiving literally hundreds of orders around Thanksgiving, and I've been playing catch-up ever since. When you come to the realization that you are where you are it's a rude awakening and I liken it to someone shoving your head in a tub of ice water! You panic a little, but pick yourself up and figure it out!

It will take a toll on you. The broad customer base, long hours, self made deadlines, and customer calls and emails will pile up fast. You need to decide whether you are in this thing to build a legacy company for your family to take over down the road, or if it's just a hobby business for you.

Edited April 18, 2015 by RoosterShooter

[chiefjason]

I'm looking into ways to speed up the edge work specifically -- I think that's my biggest time investment.

I use a burnisher chucked into my floor drill press. Saved a ton of time and I get better edges. I still wax them and touch them up by hand, but just a few minutes to do that. You can make them, but if you are that busy just buy one from Pro edge burnishers and let it come to you. I have the hole master and can get into my belt slots to burnish the insides. I have not made anything that was too thick to burnish the edge with it, including belt sheaths that were 5 layers in spots.

[Rayban]

If my round-about ballpark math is right, you're putting in roughly 10 hrs per holster??

[BHPshooter]

I apologize, I've been trying to get some time to respond to this for a few days now.

I've ordered several tools that should speed things up, including a couple of burnishers.

If you are a one man operation, and have that much work then you are leaving money on the table!

In other words, you need to charge more to offset the customer to work load and that will make up for your extra time.

When you slow down, run a short sale.

I'm speaking from business experience where I have a small number of employees and monthly overhead for advertising, business / website related expenses, and utilities.

In my business I grew way too fast, but was able to keep up with the pace. I went from being a one man operation this time last year, to receiving literally hundreds of orders around Thanksgiving, and I've been playing catch-up ever since. When you come to the realization that you are where you are it's a rude awakening and I liken it to someone shoving your head in a tub of ice water! You panic a little, but pick yourself up and figure it out!

It will take a toll on you. The broad customer base, long hours, self made deadlines, and customer calls and emails will pile up fast. You need to decide whether you are in this thing to build a legacy company for your family to take over down the road, or if it's just a hobby business for you.

You've got some really good points. I think I'm going to increase prices a bit in the near future.

As far as what I want out of this, I want it to be a solid commercial enterprise for myself. I don't really envision (or want) any more than that.

Not to get all Lifetime Movie Network on you guys, but I started doing this because it was a way to earn income that included the flexibility to work around my medical issues (migraine and cluster headaches). With the kind of hours I'm working, the flexibility has diminished somewhat, but even given that, it's still more flexible than any "real" job I've had.

If my round-about ballpark math is right, you're putting in roughly 10 hrs per holster??

That sounds about right, I suppose. I haven't been keeping track of how much time I invest per piece, mainly because I don't work on one thing at a time, so it's difficult to track.

I'm usually working on 2 to 4 holsters at a time. That way, while the glue is drying on one, I'm burnishing edges on the next one, and so on. I'm working with very limited space right now, so keeping batches that small keeps things from bottle-necking at any one stage.