How Many Hours Do You Put In Per Week?

[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.

[paris3200]

I'm currently in the process of working out pricing. Part of that is calculating how much labor I have in a piece. Based on my numbers, 10 hours seems like an extremely long time for a holster, even if you are hand sewing.

[BHPshooter]

I'm currently in the process of working out pricing. Part of that is calculating how much labor I have in a piece. Based on my numbers, 10 hours seems like an extremely long time for a holster, even if you are hand sewing.

Keep in mind, that's a guess based on dividing hours worked by holsters shipped.

Now that I think of it, the number would be lower than that -- time working also includes updating my website, replying to customer emails, and talking to customers on the phone. Still work, but not actual holster construction.