Thank you for including some real examples in there with actual numbers! Over the years, I've had a lot of "fun ideas" that I talked myself out of after going through the number exercise. You did some of the leg work for me, so I appreciate that! Fantastic video!

Classy guy giving legit advice. A KZfaq gem.

This video is GOLD. Real advice no BS.

Thanks for this. No BS, this is so applicable to anything someone can make. This was presented so clearly how to proceed with an idea for any creative endeavor, not just laser cutting. Really appreciate the content.

This is the best video I have seen about starting a laser cutting buisness! I have been looking for information about this for so long! You hit it right on the head! Thank you!

Very straight forward vid Rob. Thanks for someone trying to get started this is the kind of information that is needed the most, but most people overlook.

This is a great video for anyone wanting (like myself) to build an at home business based around a laser cutter, whether self designed or purchased. You have done an awesome job with your laser cutter and I only wish you had these videos available when I started designing my machine. I originally bought a K40 and wanted something more realizing the limitations of the K40. I soon after started designing my own and yours puts mine to shame! Great job man! I appreciate your perseverance in following through with this whole project and creating the subsequent videos. I subscribed many months ago to see this very video! Keep up the good work! And "Radoslaw" is right, no BS and only real information to get a business off the ground.

Thank you! Sometimes just hearing/seeing the steps and pros and cons we may or may not have already known are the kick in the butt we all need!

These are the sort of videos I wish most would make whilst explaining things. Just on the fact alone you are willing to let people use and sell your designs, you got yourself a new sub, well done mate!

I just started a small laser cutting and engraving business in Rwanda and you sir have just made my job A LOT easier! I am incredibly grateful for the information you have shared here. I have also watched the DIY machine series and I can't wait to get started on a similar project soon too. Rock on, dude!

Straight forward, clear advice derived from experience. Couldn't ask for anything better!

Thank you for sharing. This was very helpful! (and I loved the sound of the rain!)

Wow, that city looked amazing! I wanna hear more about that stuff.

This is priceless information, I wish I had know the cons of a service based business before I started. But you've laid it out pretty well.

Dang. Why didn't this video exist 5 years ago when I had to learn all these things the hard way. Great video!!

Great video ! I’m a professional musician in the Los Angeles area, and currently starting up a woodworking business to help me get through COVID 19. Your video is full of practical info and explained clearly. Thanks for taking the time to produce this.

Absolutely amazing video! This covers so many topics that have been floating around in my thoughts that I haven't been able to put words to. Would absolutely love a video on product design. Thank you!

Thank you for showing real pricing concerns. Craft people tend to ignore many things, such as production time, laser tube wear, and air filter replacement. Your presentation helps everyone stay profitable. Know your design and production costs, have fun, and serve the customer with a quality product or service. Your channel will get us there!

The best video I’ve seen in a long time... great work, and thanks!

This is one of the best and well presented videos that actually contains sensible and practical business sense information! I’m not Even someone who has anything to do with this type of craft or anything. I was just watching this video randomly and was really taken aback by your display and presentation! I really enjoyed your video and actually peaked interest into this type of craft. Thank you so much for sharing actual real information as well as business acumen with the world. May you be blessed for your truthfulness and honesty! I will watch your videos from now on. You have a loyal fan in Fort Worth, TX!

Maaaaate! What an incredibly insightful and well-delivered 15 minutes of wisdom. I dont think ever seen such a transparent and all-encompassing overview of this kind. Thanks very much dude, just the ticket when deliberating whether to invest in a cutter. :)

Fantastic video. I've been running a laser cutting based business for about 7 months and was doing it part time for a couple years before that - - everything you are saying is bang-on. Thank you!

I don't normally comment on videos but thought it necessary to show some praise to @furtherfabrication for such on-the-spot video content. Rob gives an honest break-down of the industry for those of us gathering knowledge. I'm now a subscriber. Thank you!

Rob, real nice of you serving others with your knowledge. Happy Easter.

I just acquired a small 3d printer that included a laser engraver. That raised my curiosity on the laser engraving/cutting. I watched your whole serie on the development of the diy laser engraver/cutter, and I learned a lot. Eventhough I may not build my own, now I have a good idea of what is involved and the possibilities for it. I also loved your explanations and how good you organized the messages. Awesome content! I lived in Puerto Rico. I'm in the other side of the world, but also an island with the same issues of the shipping. Therefore I feel your pain and I was identified with your mindset.

Im very grateful for the time you spend to help me and everyone!

thanks, this was the best video about making money in laser cutting far better than most ive watched. Im really considering adding a laser cutter to my already existing business, again thanks for such a great video.

Excellently verbalized. Clear, concise and to the point! Well done.

Hi Rob. I build laser cutting business here in Indonesia since 2016, without owning a machine (its super expensive). Basically i just act as intermediate between the machine owner who doesn't know how to get a client and the client who didn't know what queries to search for in google. That's the reason i jump into SEO. Now i mostly in page one for many related laser cutting keyword. Which converted into 250 leads every months. Lately im considering to owning my own machine, and i'm gratefull your video pops on my feed. And supprisingly you have a really good content, and its all make sense after you explain your background. It has really good structure, and communicate everything clearly. I start to watch all your video, and probably gonna ask more about the building process. Great content!

The content is so rich. Really appreciate your work mate!

Best ever speech about practical small business entrepreneurship. A boom of useful information

Great video - concise, and explained with so much experiential leanings - big thank you!! You covered the Entrepreneurship module of my MBA in 14 minutes

Thanks for all the advice man this is gold!! I am waiting for my 80 watt laser to be delivered... so nervous. This video calms those nerves by providing some inside scoop on how to make some profit !! Much appreciated mate!

Very insightful! just bought a glowforge 3d laser machine and have been thinking of indoor signage...... watching your video has actually taught me other areas of interest! Cheers man!

Love sci fi and totally saw Blade Runner. You guys did an amazing job!!! The city and scenery were awe inspiring.

Nice to see you again Rob!:) Thank you so much for this video. Price war.. This is the worst thing what freelancers and small buisness can face on all markets. Specially when people gives prices so low that make collaps whole comunity.. besides customers who are super happy, but this ruine whole others. It's time to value yourself, for engeged time for growth and increase quality. HIgh quality is always relats to bigger price. Best regards from Poland!

Wow! You crushed it! Well done! Genuine and very solid/sensible advice!

Thanks for sharing your experience with running your own product design business. I'm literally at the beginning of the same journey, about to finish my NEIS (New Enterprise Incentive Scheme) and start my product design business, both as a service and making my own products to sell, so your video was immensely helpful.

Thank you for sharing your knowledge and experience in such a basic and detailed manner while broadening our horizons.

the rain noise in the background is soothing great job doing the video!

Amazing talent & skills Rob! I really like what you're doing. Thank you for sharing your experience in this video. I just subscribed to your video. Looking forward to more videos from you.

Thank you for taking the time to make this video, enjoyed listening to what you had to say.

You sir are a gentleman and a scholar for doing this video...very informative. I'm going for it...ordering a laser cutter in next couple of days. Many many thanks for taking the time to help complete strangers out. Subbed.

unbelievably clear and open explanation. brilliant video.

Appreciate the honesty and the valuable information!! much appreciated mate !

Great video, honest, no gimicks. I hardly ever subscribe to people on KZfaq, but for what its worth, you are now in the club :)

Finally! Honest man with good information... thank you! Those informations are valuable for us who have a plan to start business with laser cutting machine!

Years ago, my dad bought his first laser engraving machine. Somewhere during the process, someone handed him a mini book on how to make money with his laser (from one of the companies selling the machines). He got it in his head he could make a full-time income with the laser and after about a year was disappointed when he had not even done enough to cover his monthly payments. I wish this video had been around then. I tried to explain these concepts to him, but it took a while. I partnered with him and helped him turn his laser from a hobby to a business. Primarily, selling products on Amazon. Of course, our “non-essential” items on Amazon are not moving now, but we do really well in normal years. Etsy is a good marketplace for both products and services. My sister and I teach selling on Etsy, and one thing I would caution anyone getting started on Etsy is that the high competition means you need to get creative on your listings. Think of hyper targeted ways to promote your products, not just laser engraving/cutting services. As mentioned in the video, it’s a good idea to have a wide selection of examples...just make sure you have run your costs and time to make it profitable for you. That killed us in the beginning (my dad pretty much charged $5 a project, but it would take him 2 hours to complete- because he was going off the $1 per laser minute but didn’t account for any other expense). Well done!

Great stuff! Glad I found this channel! Im looking to get into more metal fabrication work but this is very relevant

Hey, thanks so much for making this video. I built my own laser cutter a while back and have been toying with the idea of starting a small business around it. This video really helped explain some of the ins and outs of what that would entail. I'm from South Africa btw. I would love to see more content like this. Cheers mate.

Excellent content provided, it summarises my years of experience in starting a business. It's very accurate, complete and to the point. Rare such really truthful and useful videos.

Thank you for taking the time to share your experience with us.

Really appreciate the build guide! Just purchased the full set of plans and hope to get started when I'm back to work.

So, I own a laser for a while. Launched a product and continued down that rabbit hole :) . I have been browsing the interent for hundreds of hours. Just finding things that would speak for itself or useless/fake/1-in-a-million-chance-business-cases. Now everything I have learned the hard way the last few years is all in your video. Very well done, great video. definitely a must watch for laser cutter businesses.

"I'm gonna break this topic down into two different approaches" *Slide shows "Approach 2" and "Approach 2"* :D Great video. Thanks :D

Damn, that was an amazing presentation. Lots of great advice. You seem to be a very nice and kind person with character. Very refreshing. 👍

This was great, really appreciate your information! Thank you!

Thank Rob Added this to my bookmarks. Beauty work!

Exceptional well presented that enabled me to clearly comprehend for a 76 year old

I watched 4 minutes of your video and knew then that you are to be in anyone's primary sources for instructions and inspiration that is serious about this field!

This could literally be applied to almost any sort of etsy business. Great vid!

Very good advice, I make lot crafts by hand and looking at a laser machine. Your spot on about doing personalised custom work, I stopped doing it because while some customers are ok to work with some kept changing design which pushed up my own costs and really tests your patience and can be time consuming, their satisfaction was great in the end but found it frustrating at times. It affected my workflow and creativity. Thanks for advice as I been just cresting ideas and selling which is better. Good to see how you price your work. Good man.

Amazing video. Very grateful for your insights, this was exactly the type of advice I was looking for.

Having worked as Laser operator for a company over in Australia for the past 20 odd years, we've found the best solution for customised "products" (more so) the service of providing a customised product, is to have a set minimum price for all jobs, that way you're able to absorb the costs and still make a profit. It can be a bit hit and miss and some jobs are little profit and some are high profit. It that way though gives the customers an idea of what something will cost down the line in the future etc. A lot of the customers more often than not are willing to pay big money for a one-off, customised part etc. Loved seeing your perspective on it all nonetheless and you provided some very insightful information!

Going to point this video out to my digital fabrication class. Great info and well delivered.

What a great video, I'm a hobby blacksmith looking to really start making money with THAT and I was amazed at how applicable this all was. I found my way here as I'm looking to invest in some kind of cool machine I can make stuff with as I get really tired of my boring machine operator day job and close in on the last of my student loans. I have connections across the 3d printing world so that sounded a little pedestrian and laser cutters have always interested me more as a tableotop wargamer where laser cut MDF scenery of the HIGHEST quality is abundant. Thanks for uploading this top notch content.

An amazing amount of great info in under 15 minutes!

AWESOME THANK YOU VERY MUCH !!! Very generous of you to share valuable insights and information good luck for your future 👌

dude you have my dream job, im also an industrial designer, i really want to work doing props for movies and live in new zealand, youre so lucky!

Well I dont normally sit and watch someone talking for a long time, but I did find you video very useful, as I am just thinking about getting into laser cutting and a cnc machine, I already have a 3d printer and I am looking to combine all 3 to work for me. Your video was easy to understand and follow, and its great to see this from a fellow Kiwi. Will check out the rest of your videos as I move forward with these thing..Cheers

What a great video. Thanks for posting and helping those who are interested.

Great video mate. Nice breakdown of everything and super easy to follow. Have definitely thought about all of these issues when I was considering buying a laser

This video is amazing. I have watched it a dozen times and this video is what made me want to start my on business! Keep this up, Liked / Subscribed and can't wait for more

Great video! All information was very helpful/practical. Thank you!

Thanks for taking your time! Really great great advice.

Absolutely brilliant & wishing better for you & with quality like this the futures best is well deserved for you, top job & thanks for sharing your knowledge & experience 👍😉🥇

OK, this is GREAT advice, especially for beginners. A couple things I would add are first find a niche, if you can. For example, I officiate sports, so I can make unique things officials use. Because I am an official, I know what I am doing and know the needs of officials. From that “initial” step, people start seeing what I can do and this is how my business expands. EXPERIMENT, DO NOT keep doing things the same damn way. Make mistakes; you will be amazed at what you can learn from this which will allow you laser using a new / modified technique with insights learned from an unplanned “mistake.” You will do things you never thought possible, but for the lesson you learned from a mistake. I have been doing lasering for 15 years, and I continually update my technique, my laser settings, use new / different raw materials to laser, look for better ways to do stuff, etc. Likely a first beginner perception is that you are going to make a million bucks your first year; you would be lucky to make 1-2 percent of that. One way to minimize one’s costs is to get raw materials from a business that sells to other business; do not buy raw materials from a consumer outlet. Most businesses will have special arrangements for other businesses. We are a sure volume user and they reward that. For example, I have a relationship with a large fabric store, so I get a 20% discount on everything I buy. I do not buy my acrylic from Home Depot or other big box store; I purchase all my plastic from large businesses who sell to people like me. Look for free advertising. Make a nice gift for the person who cuts your hair; they will display at their business place and other customers will like what they see and ask “who made that?” Give free samples of something to a social busy-body; their word of mouth advertising is very powerful. Make a sincere effort to know your graphics software and how make cool designs. The video shows a design in Photoshop. You cannot (as far as I know) use a bitmap program for anything other than engraving. If you are going to cut stuff with a laser engrave (about 90% of the stuff I do), you need to know the difference between a vector and raster image. If there is a way to cut an object from Photoshop, I do not know how to do this. By far, the most common, useful, and easy to use software is CorelDraw. A laser engraver is, truly, a laser printer. You can “print” anything to it - because it is just another device: a printer. Often, to test a connection, owners print a simple text file to see if it is transmitted to the laser. You do not _have_ to print it, but you could: it would print, i.e., laser, as a raster image. You MUST have the attitude expressed in the video: if you make a mistake, redo it. Do quality work and only sell quality work. Third rate lasering will be a death knell to your business. Also, know what you can and should not be lasering, such as PVC, and other materials. Learn the lasering properties of your materials. Again, I am continually doing / using / experiment with mechanics differently every few months or so. If something is organic, there is an excellent chance you can laser it. Formica / laminate is mostly made from paper. I am one of the few people who figured this out and make a lot of stuff with Formica - and ya cannot use a more durable product than laminate. And, it is a really inexpensive “raw” material. Finally, Rob has a nice beard and nice slim body, but he talks funny…

I've watched your build series and found them very encouraging, Now business entry into Laser Cutting !! Thank you Rob for sharing !

Trying to get up my courage to buy an expensive machine for products I make. This was so helpful. Thanks for the numbers, especially.

Killing it Rob! So impressed with your stuff!

WOW ... fascinating, didactic and altruistic ... CONGRATULATIONS ... a hug from Lisbon, Portugal, EU

wow awesome bro, I just brought a small laser online to test the waters with my creativity in Laser engraving/cutting as something on the side, my mrs stays home so I simply wanted something where we can make money at home while I work and this was wickedly helpful as im in Auckland and just happen to come across this. Subbed and look forward to watching your vids. churr bro.

I worked, at a pretty high position, for (2) of the most well known suppliers of higher end, gantry based lasers, and I can say that I am quite impressed with your video.

This is so good lesson for new starters. great work again 😍

Awesome video, thank you for all your time, super valuable info.

This video is extremely helpful and informative. Thanks very much for your time and effort in creating it 👌

Thanks Rob for sharing! Much appreciated and definitely valuable for beginners :)

Really good advices, been playing on both fields and they have pros and cons as you describe, another great thing is to learn how the machines in your workshop works so you will be able to fix them when problems shows up, then you will become more independent and will have some more money to put away for investments (new machines) along the way and also do your own import. btw... nice coasters, im going to sell a bunch of these in laser cutted copper and see how i goes ;-)

Rob, Man this video is fantastic, brother! Connected the dots AND filled in the missing blanks. I want to tell you that I appreciate the time and foresight you took to make and post this video (at least for this "newbie") for all of us. If you have time I do have a question though: I've been researching laser cutters to start off with. I do have the mechanical ability to design and build one but at this point I'd like to find an entry turnkey one to purchase...recommendations? Thank you in advance, Rob!

Rob. Thank you so much for explaining each part..im new to this laser stuff n dont have idea on how to start making money i dont even have a product yet... any other info or ideas are appreciated... your the Best .again Thank you

Great video no wasted time and very useful information. Thanks for making it!

Great video, informative, and well presented. I learned a lot, and it got me thinking. Well done.

Thanks Rob. Good video as always. Very much enjoy your channel. Keep it up.

Very good video, informational without being boring, lots of good advice!

Absolutely fantastic video! Straightforward!

Be blessed and successful. Thank you for being sincere about this business.

Thanks for this. Really interseting insight into the business. Going to buy one of your templates to say thanks man!

Absolutely great video! Thank you!

Best video by far with fantastic advice.

Fantastic and incredibly generous advice, thanks for sharing!