- Have a passion
- Get motivated to make money
- Fail early, fail cheap
- Strike oil
- Turn passion in to habit
I’m expecting this video to do well. I’m not often right on these sorts of expectations, so… I guess we’ll see. That’s part of why I broke it into a 2 parter. But also, because part 2 gets real, real quick, and I wanted to keep this half light. It wasn’t for the run length, I can tell you that. I’m perfectly okay with a 3 minute video if that’s all I need to get the point across. But this one came out to a comfortable approximately 10 minute length, so I’m okay with that
This is the sort of topic and question that I don’t think many people actually are wiling to face head on. However, it’s not unknown. The tips and tricks for starting and running a business are known quantities. Why is a 3D printing business any different? I think it’s different because of the magic of 3D printing. You start to think anything is possible, even that this slow, cumbersome, manufacturing machine could support you. But the problem with magic in the real world, is behind the curtain there is a lot of hard work, sacrifice, persistence, dedication, good habits, and occasionally failure. The same can be said for 3D printing and for business.
I feel like this video perfectly captures the dual nature of how I feel about this subject. On the one hand, I don’t want to scare anyone away. In fact I think more people need to try to make this work. Hence the shallow, excited-Joe sales pitch. But on the other hand this process took me years and a lot of going the wrong way before I ever got the idea that there was a right way to do it. From 2014 till now, before it took off, and it still hasn’t quite taken off. While others, like Tom, Angus, or Joel, made YouTube success look easy, and even made it look like they were making a living with YouTube and 3D printing, the truth is, Joel still works at Adobe, Tom recently had to change jobs, and Angus… I think he just moved out of his parent’s basement, but I’m not sure. The point is, crack the surface of the success creme brulee and underneath you find something more sweaty than sweet. I think a dose of reality is healthy, but I don’t want to entirely close the door on the dream. If no one rides the dragon’s tail, how will anyone fly?
Notes dump:
How to grow a 3D Printing business. From $100s to $1000s a month
Doing books.
Paypal.
Saw my efforts grow from a couple hundred to a few thousand a month in 2017.
Twitter asked for some tips.
Survivorship Bias https://xkcd.com/1827/
- Have a passion.
- Get motivated to make money
- Have a wife who refuses to let you use personal funds for your hobby.
- Be ready to fail early, and fail cheap
- Won my 3D printer
- Strike oil
- Etsy shop and TARDIS rings
- Soap Stamps
- Blog
- Youtube
- Books
- Turn your passion into a habit
- Make mistakes
- Underselling Tardis Rings
- Get some things right
- Excellent customer service
- Learn
- Joined YouTube Partner program
- Improved videos
- Started Patreon
