How Did You Start Your Business?

[DavidL]

I would like to hear peoples take on how they started their business.

Did they take out a loan, get a government grant? Sell through the newspaper? locally?

How much money did you start with.

Also would like to hear of any things that you would consider beginner mistakes that you encountered.

Breakthroughs in your business plan or in your thinking.

Connections you made with suppliers and manufacturers.

or anything else.

[Ferg]

This is going to be a bit different situation than most. Circa: 1953

I was stationed in Memphis Tenn. for a training school. (Navy) Saw a man making leather items and thought I could do that.

Soon I found myself stationed in Key West, Florida attached to a Helicopter Anti-Submarine Squadron. So many people with nothing to do. I bought a few tools and some leather from Tandy store in Miami. To make a long story short, I eventually made leather items for almost everyone in my squadron and another in the same hangar. Spent most of the money I made on these items to buy more leather and many tools. Didn't have much free time then so I didn't need much money.

First mistake most folks make? They think this is an easy way to make money. You will work your butt off, put up with some ignorant customers, etc.

Tandy was my source for info and materials as well as tools. They "ain't" what they used to be but often get a bad name they don't deserve.

Seldom buy from Tandy anymore. Sew most everything with machines and still enjoy doing this even if it has been sixty one years since I made that first wallet. Accept nothing from yourself but near perfection in everything. Never think "okay" is the way to go.

ferg

[DavidL]

Thanks for sharing. I also got interested in leather working from seeing another person make shoes, although it was from a video in class since leather working is not as common as the past.

[Macca]

Successful Leatherworkers or any other skilled craftsmen didn't start off with a business plan

[benlilly1]

Great question David... Great story Ferg!

I'm still a dabbler in leather. My full time job keeps me busy. I got my first tools from my dads collection. I have a Tippmann Aerostitch still waiting on me to use full tilt. My business runs on only from what I sell. Most of my business comes from my husbands business. I have a website but have not advertised as of yet.

Don't think you need every tool available... When I saw the few tools Samar uses and what fabulous work he does, my jaw dropped. Talent and what you do with what you have is where it's at.

[DavidL]

Successful Leatherworkers or any other skilled craftsmen didn't start off with a business plan

Thats very true. I believe it starts out as a passion for anyone to want to even start doing this as a hobby and gradually is turned into a business, where first there needs to be a market and second you need to have a business plan and obviously a need to hone your skills. Unfortunately, if you are missing the skills there are always shortcuts like CNC machines or hiring the talent. For the business side of it relies on you as the overseer, in the direction that the company moves and its generally more important than the leather working side of things.

Otherwise with no business plan its more of a hobby, working at this part time or under another persons business, with the exception of high end $1000+ leather goods that require 80 percent skill and 20 percent marketing.

Great question David... Great story Ferg!

I'm still a dabbler in leather. My full time job keeps me busy. I got my first tools from my dads collection. I have a Tippmann Aerostitch still waiting on me to use full tilt. My business runs on only from what I sell. Most of my business comes from my husbands business. I have a website but have not advertised as of yet.

Don't think you need every tool available... When I saw the few tools Samar uses and what fabulous work he does, my jaw dropped. Talent and what you do with what you have is where it's at.

Its interesting to see so many people starting to look into jewelry making, leather working, woodworking and get back into physical labour, especially with all the available information online to be able to create beautiful looking products with minimal tools.

I'm curious to know of any one who owns a business if there was a lightbulb switch moment where your thinking changed for you and your business saw improvement.

OR

The best skill, habit, ethic or "message/knowledge" (for lack of a better word) that got you to where you are now in your business.

Edited September 26, 2014 by DavidL

[NVLeatherWorx]

I got my start with leather work over 40 years ago when I received my very first (and very Old School) Tandy Leather starter kit as a gift. I kept working on projects all the way into High School where I found two leather classes - beginning leather and advanced leather. I took the beginner class because it was required in order to take the advanced class but I was pretty much cut loose to work on whatever I wanted as I had proven to the instructor that I was way beyond what she was teaching the class, even helped out as a "teachers assistant" on more than one occasion. The advanced class was actually structured along the concept of how a leather crafting business operates so it was more of a business class than a trade class. As I left for my military service (which ultimately lasted the next 25 years) I took all of my leather tools with me and kept working on stuff. I setup a small workshop and ran a custom made line of items out of it that were primarily sourced from the various kits that Tandy used to have (they were much nicer than they are now but that is what supposed progress results in).

My "lightswitch" moment was when I started working with creating my own patterns and templates for the various components that make up any one of the many projects that I liked working on; it was boosted when I made the jump to saddle work and rodeo gear repairs for my equipment and my fellow Cowboy's and Cowgirl's (yes, we had an American Rodeo Association in Europe that traveled around the region promoting the sport and sportsmanship, even had foreign national members that we taught how to ride all of the events and some of the stock was down right ugly to try and stay on). I also ended up taking orders for various items at events and delivering when they were done. Even when I was deployed to combat zones I took my tools and always had some leather to make some things and sell them. But I found that making everything from the raw materials was far cheaper than any kit could ever be and that the quality of the leather much better than is found in a kit because I could buy the finer grades and controlled exactly what the grain structure looked like; if it was damaged or questionable I would just work around the bad spot and only use the cleanest sections for the critical elements.

I still do everything by hand, even the stitching, and that is the way I will do it until my fingers don't work anymore. I don't sacrifice any level of the quality and integrity of an item for the ease of mechanical assistance as that is what our "slave labor" copycat Nations do and we always have issues with the quality of any item that is produced in those areas, regardless of what it is. The art of leathercrafting/leatherworking is skilled Artisan hand trade and it has been that way for Centuries, that is the way I was taught and that is the way that I teach today.

As far as a business plan, why waste your time trying to figure it out based on the standards that are recommended by those professional business planners? You will spend all of your time trying to figure out what you really already know; just have a vision of what you want to do, create your product line, and make every piece to the highest standards that you can. The biggest mistake one can make if they are truly trying to make a go of it as a business is to try and compete with other leather workers. The truth is that the vast majority of them only buy kits (in bulk) from Tandy or some of the other leather suppliers who offer them and then do nothing to them but dye/stain them, finish the edges (maybe) and then stitch them together; they aren't truly making anything, they are just putting it together. Some of these guys are making some serious money doing it this way but it isn't the true measure of a craftsman; the ability to create something from raw materials and turn it into a work of art is what a craftsman is all about. And make sure you price your works to reflect your skills and the quality of the finished product.

And the final piece, if anyone ever tells you that they can get something similar from another source and for a lower price, don't hesitate to tell them, "if similar and cheap is what you want, please go buy it". The look on their face is always classic and more often than not results in them asking for some more details about your process and materials which ultimately results in a sale. I setup at several prominent Markets and Fairs around my neck of the woods and always have an active work station where I am doing something. It attracts attention and lets the prospective buyer see what really goes into making an item. I also promote the concept of asking questions or opening a dialog with everyone who spends more than 10 seconds looking at things which nets several orders. I have had some of the other vendors at some of these events ask why I always talk so much and share so much information with potential clients and all I can tell them is, "if you don't show an interest in what you do and how it could help them with their needs then you aren't going to be successful, if you want to sell everything and make money but just sit there waiting for them to make the move, you might as well just put all of your stuff in a consignment shop or do wholesale only".

Hope that helps.

[DavidL]

Thanks for the post NVleatherworx.

[cjmt]

Successful Leatherworkers or any other skilled craftsmen didn't start off with a business plan

That's not to say they don't ultimately end up with one though. You have to start with the craft but if you want to make a living from it you do have to have business nouse to succeed. If nothing else being able to make a worthwhile profit means being able to buy shinier tools and having the time to develop your skills

Charlie

[Russ]

Successful Leatherworkers or any other skilled craftsmen didn't start off with a business plan

I beg to differ.