The Surprising Reality of Running a 3D Printing Business from Home — Transcript

Full transcript

1. 0:00So, four months ago, I started a brand
2. 0:02new Etsy shop with zero visits and zero
3. 0:05sales trying to sell 3D printed
4. 0:07products. And here are the results. In
5. 0:10my first month in December, I got 145
6. 0:13visits and made
7. 0:16$639.95 in sales. January was even
8. 0:19better. I got
9. 0:21$2,413 visits and I made
10. 0:25$1610.98 in revenue. February dipped a
11. 0:28little bit with
12. 0:301,199 visits and
13. 0:34$798.89 in sales. And in March, I got,02
14. 0:38visits and sold
15. 0:41$85.70 worth of products. So over the
16. 0:44four months, I got 6,19 visits and I
17. 0:48sold
18. 0:50$3,8552 in revenue. Now, depending on
19. 0:53who you are, these numbers might not
20. 0:55seem like much to you, or they could
21. 0:57seem like a whole lot, but if you ask
22. 0:59me, I think it's pretty amazing just
23. 1:01based on how much effort I put into
24. 1:03this. I started the shop with three
25. 1:05products. Nothing crazy, just
26. 1:07highquality made to order stuff that
27. 1:09either solves a problem or looks cool.
28. 1:12Now, two of the products were my own
29. 1:13design, and the third one was someone
30. 1:15else's just cuz I wanted to see if it
31. 1:18would sell. This is me slicing my
32. 1:20designs, making sure they're optimized
33. 1:21and ready to print. This is the products
34. 1:24being printed. This is me
35. 1:25post-processing the products. And this
36. 1:27is me packaging the products for
37. 1:29shipping. I usually print daily, but I
38. 1:31ship two to three times a week. Now,
39. 1:33this business is pretty awesome because
40. 1:35you're turning cheap plastic into
41. 1:37something of value, and the printers are
42. 1:39doing most of the work. But don't be
43. 1:40fooled. This business isn't 100%
44. 1:43passive. There's definitely some
45. 1:44downsides you should be aware of. First,
46. 1:47like I said, the machines do most of the
47. 1:49work. You still have to load filament,
48. 1:51fix print issues, reprint broken items,
49. 1:54and manage inventory. Post-processing
50. 1:57takes time, like adding magnets,
51. 2:00threaded inserts, gluing parts together,
52. 2:02sanding, painting, etc. Then you have to
53. 2:05package and ship everything. And if
54. 2:08something breaks during transit, you
55. 2:10have to eat that cost and start all
56. 2:12over. There's also some hidden downsides
57. 2:14as well that often get overlooked. Like
58. 2:17for instance, your printers are going to
59. 2:19be running for hours on end, day and
60. 2:21night, and they can be pretty noisy. And
61. 2:23if you're printing in your living space,
62. 2:25you want to make sure you're ventilating
63. 2:27properly because these printers are
64. 2:29going to contaminate the air you
65. 2:30breathe, which definitely isn't ideal.
66. 2:33And I'm going to make a whole separate
67. 2:34video about that in the future. Also, if
68. 2:36you get a lot of orders, you're going to
69. 2:37start to feel like a slave to these
70. 2:38printers. I mean, even with these Bamboo
71. 2:40Lab printers, as good as they are, you
72. 2:42still have to check in on them from time
73. 2:44to time to make sure, you know,
74. 2:46everything's going right. And also, when
75. 2:47the print's done, you have to clear the
76. 2:49build plate for the next print. Also,
77. 2:50you can't just take a vacation whenever
78. 2:52you want because you're selling physical
79. 2:54products. Of course, you can extend your
80. 2:56processing times, but you run the risk
81. 2:58of having a late shipment or, you know,
82. 3:01getting a bad review because someone
83. 3:02didn't want to wait that long. Now, I
84. 3:04know some people are going to comment
85. 3:05you can put your shop in vacation mode,
86. 3:08which sounds great on the surface, but
87. 3:10depending on what niche you're in, it
88. 3:12can definitely hurt your rankings. And
89. 3:14that's the last thing you want to do if
90. 3:15your product is ranking well, because
91. 3:17once you fall off that first page, it
92. 3:19can be hard to get back. All right,
93. 3:20let's talk about profit real quick.
94. 3:22Making sales and earning revenue is
95. 3:24great, but what really matters is what
96. 3:26you're keeping. On average, I aim for
97. 3:29around 30 to 40% profit after materials,
98. 3:32fees, shipping, maintenance, labor, and
99. 3:35other expenses. So, if I'm selling an
100. 3:36item for $30, I'm pocketing around $9 to
101. 3:40$12 after all the costs. Some products
102. 3:43have a higher profit margin, especially
103. 3:44if they're simple prints or they require
104. 3:47minimal post-processing. Others that
105. 3:49need more post-processing, can dip below
106. 3:51that, which is why I try to keep my
107. 3:53prices high. So, here's what I'm going
108. 3:55to do moving forward. Obviously, I
109. 3:57started with three products, but I'm
110. 3:58going to be adding a lot more. And then
111. 4:00I'm also going to be selling on
112. 4:02different platforms as well to have as
113. 4:04many eyeballs as I can on my products.
114. 4:06And lastly, I'm going to start promoting
115. 4:07my products on and off platforms with
116. 4:10paid ads and then also by just creating
117. 4:14content. Now, if you're thinking about
118. 4:15starting your own 3D printing business,
119. 4:17here are three tips I think will help
120. 4:19you out a lot. First is make your
121. 4:21listings great. and more specifically is
122. 4:24take amazing photos. Now, I'm going to
123. 4:27be diving into this more in future
124. 4:29videos and my course, but just know
125. 4:32high-quality photos are one of the best
126. 4:34things you can do for your listing and
127. 4:36for your business. It's the first thing
128. 4:38people see and you have to make sure you
129. 4:40stand out so they click on your listing.
130. 4:43Number two is price things accordingly.
131. 4:45You know, it sounds pretty
132. 4:46straightforward, but it's very easy to
133. 4:48underpric your items. And if you don't
134. 4:50know your numbers, you could be losing
135. 4:52money or barely making any money. And if
136. 4:54you're putting all your time and effort
137. 4:55into creating these 3D printed products,
138. 4:58you want to make sure you're making some
139. 4:59money. And also, to piggyback off that
140. 5:01statement, try to sell products that
141. 5:03don't need a lot of post-processing.
142. 5:05It's just going to make your life a
143. 5:06whole lot easier because the printers
144. 5:08are going to be doing most of the work.
145. 5:10But that doesn't mean to completely
146. 5:11avoid products with a lot of
147. 5:13post-processing because you can
148. 5:14definitely still make a lot of money
149. 5:16with them. Just make sure you price them
150. 5:18high and make sure you really account
151. 5:20for all that time, energy, and labor
152. 5:22you're putting into it. So that way it's
153. 5:24worth it for you. And lastly, my final
154. 5:26tip for you is to make sure you split
155. 5:28test your photos. Etsy makes it super
156. 5:30easy to do that. You can basically
157. 5:32duplicate the listing you already have
158. 5:34and just change the photo. Now, like I
159. 5:36said in my first tip, photos are one of
160. 5:38the biggest things you can do for your
161. 5:40listing. So, having the ability to split
162. 5:42test them is really going to make a huge
163. 5:44difference in the long run. And to be
164. 5:46honest, it can really make or break a
165. 5:48listing. You know, a lot of people may
166. 5:49think they have a bad product if it's
167. 5:51not selling, but in reality, it could
168. 5:53just be their crappy photos that are
169. 5:56deterring people from clicking on their
170. 5:58listing. So, yeah, it's just a good idea
171. 5:59to split test the photos and see what
172. 6:01does best. So, at the end of the day,
173. 6:03this business has been pretty fulfilling
174. 6:05for me. You know, aside from the
175. 6:07drawbacks I talked about earlier, you
176. 6:09know, I love designing things. I really
177. 6:11love the fact that I can print out my
178. 6:13designs inhouse and ship them to people.
179. 6:16And it's just been a great way to make
180. 6:17extra income, and I'm really excited to
181. 6:20see where it goes from here. If this
182. 6:21video helped you out, I'd really
183. 6:23appreciate it if you hit that like
184. 6:24button. And like I mentioned before, I'm
185. 6:26working on an updated version of my
186. 6:28course, and you can find more
187. 6:29information about that in the
188. 6:31description if you're interested. But
189. 6:33thank you for watching, and I'll see you
190. 6:34in the next one.