How Robert Kiyosaki scrabbled my eggs!

[jlseymour]

Griff
The artist in me made me want to engrave, I never thought to become a full time commerical engraver to make a living and plan to retire from my earnings.
Life's deck of card are the same as the ones in poker.
You need a means of support in the beginning just to buy the things you need to become an artist.
At 32 you have time to get a education or trade that will give you both financial means to have a great life with what ever the choices you make.
It's hard to do everything alone, a great partner will be one of the best resources for a great success.
I'm 63 and if I was 32 I would become a brain or heart surgen, big bucks...
Good luck
Jl seymour

 

[cavemans workshop]

Griff
I would say your on the right track, reading is a great way to learn. The book the "Millionaire next door" is a great one. I think that saving money requires sacrifice that most folks arent willing to make. In todays world we want it all right now, that means easy credit, but it comes at a price. I never use credit, I think cash is king. I too have to agree with Rod, pay yourself first. I find myself in a great position. I have a full time job as a firefighter, but as we work 10 24 hour shifts per month, it allows me to engrave and build on a full time basis as well. I am able to work in the shop 40-50 hours a week. Now some makers tell me thats not full time, as I dont make all of my living engraving and building, but where I come from 40 + hours a week is full time. I dont know if you ever listen to Dave Ramsey or not, but He is a financial advisor and very good. I listen to him everyday, and try to put what he teaches to use. His approach is not rocket science, justcommon scence ideas and living on what you make. I know that if one will put those principles to use, a fellow can retire and be in good shape. I think this is a good topic for discussion, and we should help one another out in the business area of what we do as well as the practical.
God Bless
Mike Pardue
www.parduesilversmith.com

 

[Ron Smith]

I think you guys have a good and important point. There isn't much material on how to start, run, and make a successful engraving business, much less the need to provide for a rainy day. Many of the young engravers today are just interested and concerned with the tools and are doing it for peasure. They then find out they might be able to make some money out of engraving but they flounder trying to get enough work to stay busy. They don't know how to set up an engraving shop and run it. They don't know the "booby traps" of the well rounded, diverse, engraver that they will get exposed to. I learned my business by being in jewelry shops. You can't imagine the value of that experience. You must manage well, but then that is imperitive in any thing for success.

 

[Weldon47]

Learn all you can from everyone you can & that will make for a good start. Also, learning to go without eating for a while will prepare you for a career as a freelance engraver (tongue in cheek!!)

Weldon

 

[griff silver]

I have thought about this a good bit and have read all of the reponces, My guess is the gun engraving markets are similar to the bit and spur merkets its a collectors market for the most part. One must make an income and i have bits and spurs for that. If the reason for working is to earn money, and to be secure you must save money, then it seems to me " why engrave guns and knives to sell for money and make it a career when i have one of those. I will buy and collect guns and knives and engrave them, as they will appreciate in value making them the smallest peice of real estate in the world. Griff. P.S. If i get collectable as a bit and spur maker then the guns will be worth a gob right???

 

[RT Bit and Spur]

Griff
Pay yourself first 10%. Soon you will have enough for a down payment. Buy a house. All profits from the house goes in to the bank plus the 10%. When you get enough money buy another house. Repeat the process until you are getting enough money to buy your Lexus and go to the beach. From the start let a company
manage the rentals. Robert K. will show you how to pick the propertys.
Rod

 

[loyd freeman]

someone else new to engraving

Bryan.I have been engraving for four years now and I engrave when I feel like it. I enjoy the feeling of doing something that will advance my knowledge of engraving with each piece That I finish. I live in Milner Ga. look me up and we will discuss our engravings. Loyd Freeman

 

[Big-Un]

I took a financial course years ago on how to prepare for retirement and become debt free. The biggest thing on retirement was to pay yourself first. If you put 10% of everything you make into a plain bank account, then by the time you are ready to actually retire, you can retire at the same income you were making at the time you quit working and not touch the principle, living on the interest. Of course, if you are debt free then retirement is all that much easier.

 

[Marcus Hunt]

Today was a long day! In between doing some research and development stuff with DJ Glaser I've been trying to work on a knife for Glenn and when possible listen in to what Lee Griffiths is teaching his class. Fighting all day against a very tough and unpredictable steel (some of that female dog stuff) was not fun and during the early part of the evening I earwigged some conversation going on in the room outside the studio. As I took a break I spoke my thoughts aloud which were "Anyone who's starting engraving with the one thought of it's going to be a way of making a living really should think again. When it's just a job it loses a lot of the fun; when you're up against a deadlline, it loses a lot of the fun; when interuptions stop you being able to make good time or the steel is hard and fighting you every inch of the way, it loses a lot of the fun. Learn to engrave and enjoy the learning process and if at sometime in the future you are able to make some money from your hobby you have it made."

Now don't get me wrong, I love what I do and I make a very modest living from it. Would I change what I do for a living given the chance? Somedays I would, just to have a stable income. Feast or famine can be very wearying at times. Perhaps it's because what I engrave takes so long. Small pieces such as jewellery that can be turned around quickly could possibly be the way to earn a good living but I enjoy seeing the finished product in a firearm or knife so maybe I'm my own worst enemy.

I also like the freedom being my own boss gives me. I've never had to make the leap into self employment as I started off that way, however I believe that if you trust in yourself enough and believe you are a good enough engraver then make the jump. There's something about living life in 'the comfort zone' that leads to mediocrity and it's hard to get better because there's no real reason to.

 

[Ron Smith]

Ditto that Marcus, ...........many get into it for the "glory?" or the infatuation of it. It is a whole different ball game when you have to start at the bottom, build, and scramble to make a living at it. ............Right on, ...Ride on Marcus.......The ideal situation to learn engraving is to have your security in some other field, good pay, insurance by your employer, no overhead, no requirement to have a certain amount for your labor in a culture that doesn't understand that, and I could go on and on just as Marcus and many of us could. If I hadn't been very disciplined and managed my financial affairs well, I would have had to get a real job. Not having children was a contributing factor, and having a wife that could accept my destiny was essential also, but it cost a lot. Rapid economic evolution and inflation since the 1980s left us in the economic dirt twenty years ago. But I wouldn' change a thing, like you said Marcus, the value of the freedom to be your own man is a good bit of the appeal, plus you leave a part of yourself for humanity long after you are gone and that mediocraty you spoke of is evident in everything we do now-a-days. Sorry to ramble on, but you struck a chord of understanding that many non occupational art/craftsmen people will never understand, but that is okay. You are just trying to help them to, and that is important.... Thanks for the enlightenment.........Ron S