Where is the money in leatherwork?

[JohnBarton]

I say keep production runs small and build your name. Produce an item and move on to the next design, keep innovating and building quality products. Stay out of debt, be frugal and the money will come.

This is where the money is. NEVER EVER EVER EVER run debt in your business and keep turning every scrap of leather into something to sell and you will do ok. But as soon as you start thinking it's ok to buy this $3000 machine and can't pass up that $800 worth of leather, and what's a couple hundred on the credit card for a new knife.......then you dig a hole that it very hard to climb out of.

A friend of mine in the cue making business built himself a nice life one piece of machinery and wood at a time. He never went into debt and only bought more machines or wood stock when he had cash to do it. As a result he owns four corvettes, house free and clear, travels the world and was even elected mayor of his little town.

I wish I had followed his example.

DEBT sucks. In a major way.

Another promising talent I know flamed out because he jumped in offering custom leather cue cases for $250. Sorry but I can't even get out of bed and think about making a real custom leather case for $250. So I knew he was headed for a wreck and sure enough he got a ton of orders from customers who wanted all sorts of custom works done on their cases. Well folks as you know part of the process is thinking about what you need to do and the other part is doing it. Facing a mountain of orders where each one is very different than the last one and knowing you are going to put 20-30 hours into it on top of the cost of materials will burn you out quick. And that's just what happened with him leaving many order unfilled. I picked up the slack on three of the orders and so I ended up being owed 3 cases that I will probably never see.

On the other end of the spectrum is Jack Justis. Jack retired early and started making cue cases out of his house in 1989. He has a very limited set of choices and one style of case that he sticks to. His laundry room is the workroom and so I'd bet that he was profitable not long after he started. Jack says he makes about 100 cases a year. At an average price of say $600 a case that's $60,000 income. Y'all can look at the case and figure the costs and see that this is a nice little profit for a home based business. Jack's secret is that he keeps the case simple to make, only what he can handle by himself. Within the framework he established there is a lot of room for customers to have fairly unique designs but the basic construction and patterns remain the same from case to case. So there is a very good example of how to make money in leather work. Find a niche, specialize and be consistent. Also Jack gives away cases to prominent players which helps to market his wares. I figure he does about ten or so of these a year. I think that he has some sort of arrangement where they don't actually own the cases, he makes them a new one each year and takes the old one back and sells it - if that's right then it's even smarter as he certainly gets full retail or more for the used case being as how it belonged to a well known pro player. You can take a lesson from Jack and if you have the ability to structure your business like this then you should do ok.

[JME1979]

I do leather work for a living. It has taken me 6 years to get where I am now and I'm averaging at around 30,000 a year in sales not profit. But I have to go out and get it. Only $5,000 in sales and year come in through my site from random customers. Everything else I have to hunt down for. I mostly do costume pieces and join many costume forums. I look for pieces that are in need by many, create one, and offer them. I do runs of around 10 at a time. Then move onto another item at another forum giving time before I come back and do the same item so that the item will gain interest with new members who will need it. I have mostly been charging the cost x 4 plus shipping. Each sale is anywhere from $10 - $200. So in one run I make around $100-$2000. Which can take me up to 2 weeks to complete.

I am still hoping to find some shops locally or wherever for consignment stuff but haven't found any yet.

[Leather Girl]

I concur with pretty much everyone has said here. The problem in business and I speak as a person who has been in business since 1996, I have to order most things from other countries and that means using my poor abused credit card. Unfortunately I cannot get around it because of my businesses. I don't just run one business, I run many mixed into one and have never made a huge profit. Many companies have little rules like a $500 to $1000 minimum and then the shipping practically equals that. I cry every time I have to order from the US because the shipping charges cost me more than bringing things from India.

All of this being said I just don't do leather, I do statuary, jewellery, fine art, and many other things so I don't have to bring in the items just the supplies. As was said if you know how to do animal, equine, fetish and reenactment, holsters, etc then you have a great start. If you are good at clothing that is a big step up too.

The worst in any business that you make your own items is that most people don't understand what it costs and takes to make the items. I have started putting cards printed with the time etc., that it takes to do an item, they don't even understand that you may have to draw up your own pattern which takes time.

I used to work two jobs so that I could do this. I was forced to quit because I became very ill, so now I am retired from public jobs and work my own. Where I live you need to be a millionaire or have 5 partners to own a storefront business, as this is a horribly expensive place. I do not have a million dollars and I will never have partners.

I do have return clients all the time but it is not enough. So this is something you really have to work at and I am busier now then when I worked the two public sector jobs.

Randi-Lee

[SpringyCL45]

Bump! This is a great thread with TONS of information. I will say, motivation is key.

[billymac814]

This is a great thread, I recall reading this a few years ago after I joined LW.net. It was discouraging at the time seeing that only 1-3% are able to make a living doing this but that wasn't my intentions at the time.

What I've learned since starting. NEVER comprimise quality because its the only way to get real money. People can get mediocre stuff cheaper than you can buy the materials for so you can't sell half good stuff for a profit.

The name of my business is McCabes Custom Leather although I rarely do really custom stuff anymore, why? Because all the time that goes into designing the item is very hard to get back, the average joe isn't willing to spend 80-90 dollars an hour for something that takes 20-30 hours or more. However I can design one item and make it a hundred times, sell it for a reasonable cost for me and the customer, they get a custom quality product and I'm able to average the 80-90/hr it takes to stay in business, i can get by with a little less but i have overhead that needs paid too. For me it was easier to get 100.00 dollars from 10 people than it is to get 1000.00 from one.

Find a niche market, especially in the beginning. This allowed me to get my name out there and word spread very quickly.

Don't be the undercutter. Even before I had overhead I charged the same price even though I could have got by with a lot less. I did that out of respect for those that do have overhead and people then thought of me as a legit business and a lot of people equate dollars to quality anyway and I wasn't trying to build up clientele of cheap people. I wanted good customers who wanted to spend good money and get good products and good service.

Try to avoid debt. I bought everything with cash and got by with less than I needed for a long time, I made tools when possible and when I had money I prioritized and got what was most important. I did have to get a loan when I went full time to buy my shop and I have accounts with suppliers but those get paid in full every month.

When I opened my shop we decided to do repairs and this has been probably the number one reason that I have a profitable business. My local customers are mainly repair customers and my holsters are almost all online sales but they do mix a bit. Repairs do require more machines to do different things but a lot of it is quick easy money and the people are thrilled to have somewhere to go and it gives me insight to how other things are made. Sometimes its just setting a rivet, shortening a belt or a purse strap stitching a seam on a shoe or purse etc. it all puts money in the drawer. Repairs in a slow to bad economy are good, people are looking to save money where they can and if times are good they'll spend money on new stuff, hopefully from me since they know what I make after being in here for repairs.

You must be knowledgeable in what you're doing. I crammed and crammed for several years, if I wasn't working on something I was reading about something else. I'm still far from an expert in many areas but I know enough not to make myself look too dumb, sometimes I need to research things after the fact to learn about it and at times I even admit to not knowing something.

The last and most important part is you have to love what you're doing. I'm the obsessive type and tend to go way overboard on things. When I first got into leatherwork it really took over my life and I'd spend every free minute working on something or reading about how to do it and its still that way today. I put in a ridiculous amount of hours and it doesn't even phase me because I love it. I always heard the saying" find something you love doing and you'll never have to work a day in your life" that always sounded like a pipe dream to me, especially when I was punching a clock doing something I didn't like but its reality now.

I suppose my parting words will be Take a chance! I made the decision to open my shop in a matter of about a two week span, we had a brand new baby and my wife was very supportive. She actually quit her job first to run the shop during the day with a brand new baby, I'd go to work 9-5 come right to the shop and stay till 1:00 or 2:00 am. That lasted about 2 months and work kept piling up and I decided it was time to quit my job. That was a big decision and luckily it has worked out.

Ok one last thing, talk with an accountant first, you'd be surprised at how many people will get a slice of your pie, there's things that will get overlooked and its important to know them ahead of time. There's all kinds of taxes and fees and maintenance and insurance and more taxes and fees and fire extinguisher certifications, phones, internets, domain names, web hostings, healthcare, workmans comp and the list goes on and on and suddenly the 80-90/ hr makes more sense. I read a lot on this forum where people would be happy for 10.00/ hour and most get much less and that's simply not near enough to run a business and make money.

I know my plan is not feasible for everyone, nor should it be. That was simply my account of how I got from A to B. I'm not stopping at B either, I'd like to get to at least G or maybe K before I'm done. I'm realizing now that I can only do so much, I've slimmed down production times with newer better machines, got dies made and refined my workflow but I'm about maxed out, the next phase is employees, I'm currently attempting to train someone but that's a whole other discussion.

Sorry for the long post, this is why I don't have twitter.

[daleoffshore]

Right now i just work as a hobby.I also have too many hobbies.I want to do several things,leather ,and also after 40 yrs Hand Saws[sharpening]and branch into crosscut saws.As a welder,I also have an interest in repair of Cast Iron;I just want to keep the old arts alive.

Be it carving Leather,at the Forge,or filers bench;to be good in fields like these require craftsman in their own right.For now I just hope not to lose money,make things for Relay for Life or other fund raisers [gets your name out there],and reduce stress.Wife notices difference when I'm working on a leather project. So... I'm in the 97% bracket,but I do have a dedicated leather room;all of 6ftx11ft.

This has been an interesting topic,worth the time.

[Chit]

appreciate all these informative lessons gleaned from years of experience!

[St8LineGunsmith]

if you want to make a living in leather work go to work for a saddle shop

[Doc Reaper]

Kman, like what ya got in print! Law officers are told to buy so everything is uniform. Most folks looking at leather items have no clue what a "quality item" is, but they know Walmart has leather belts for $12. Not knowing it is just a very thin strip (toilet paper thin) wrapped around A cheap medium like plastic.

Don't give your hard work away to the jerk that says it should cost some figure he guesses is fair to him or her, not looking at quality or material costs! Labor for auto repair is (right now) over $100 dollars, the labor you put into an item isn't even thought of. Thanks again to Walmart!

Charge what you have to charge, tooled bike bags will beat out china trash every time! I belong to the 3% or less group that has grinned and smiled at the instant gratification idiots more often than I care to give thought too!

Quality sells itself! Don't believe me? Put a pair of Walmart high heeled shoes up against a pair of well made pair of Italian spikes, watch which ones draw more interest! People KNOW quality!

Smart buyers seek quality knowing it will last much longer! Ignorance only looks at price! Folks going cheap want an item to show others that they have something that looks nice (for a short period). People that purchase quality items don't have to point it out, it will draw its own attention!

Don't get discouraged about what others say it should cost, you know what you have in that item! Ignorant beings will usually offer less than what the material cost, knowledgable ones will come close, quality seekers won't batt an eye!

So go to that bench and drip sweat, get string burns and cuts, dye your finger tips black; brown; and red! To hell with Walmart prices and cheapskates! Cut, glue, sew, stain, and polish that leather! It will sell and word of mouth will point customers in your direction!

[Cyberthrasher]

So go to that bench and drip sweat, get string burns and cuts, dye your finger tips black; brown; and red! To hell with Walmart prices and cheapskates! Cut, glue, sew, stain, and polish that leather! It will sell and word of mouth will point customers in your direction!

WORDS TO LIVE BY!!!!