I want to express my sincere appreciation for all the valuable input to this forum. That valuable input takes many forms, questions, answers, advise, warnings, friendly consolation, encoragement, to name a few.
One recurring question that often comes up relates to how to get a new business up and running. I am not new to self employment (been that way since 1970) but I got tired of my old line and went looking for another one. So while I have a leg up, I still have a lot to learn. As I prepared for the laser to go into operation, I kept thinking of ways to reintroduce myself (ourselves, really, my wife and myself).
One thing I have been doing is making something of value to take into businesses as a gift. Attached (I hope) are two photos as an example of what I mean. One is the front, one is the back of a little item I made to give to the owner of a business in my community. I took a photo of her sign, hand traced a vector from it, engraved it. I then made a base from scrap wood by cutting a kerf at 15* to hold the sign and a second kerf at 0* to hold a up to a dozen business cards.
The idea is that the business owner will display the sign somewhere prominent and it will generate an occational discussion. She can then provide one of my cards, cleverly concealed on board. When the cards are gone, my name and number are still there, engraved onto the back, to refer to. Of course, the display needs to somehow match the location it will be left in. It needs to be meaningful to the new owner.
This may seem like a lot of work, but this is the 6th or 7th one of these I have done, and I have not only left quiet little salesmen behind in various locations, but, in the process, I have learned a tremendous amount about making SVG's and transferring them to engravable substrates.
For those of you looking for ways to move your business forward, I hope this provides a few ideas.
Again, thanks to all of you for helping me, whether you knew it or not.
God bless.
Robin Lake
Kelly Laser