Austin Thrasher
Well-Known Member
Ok so I am curious to hear any and all suggestions about how to grow a knife business. I’m not necessarily talking about going full time. I’m not ready for that yet. I guess my question could go a lot of different ways but as soon as my new shop is built and I start filling the few orders that I currently have, I want to start really progressing into more advanced work. What I’m saying is, I want to go from making$100 knives to 500+ dollar knives. I realize there will pbe a curve and some skill that will need developed in order to get there but assuming that the quality was there, how do I go about getting more orders, clientele, and actually start developing my side hustle into a future full-time career. Like I said, I realize I’m not there yet but if all I do is dream and never really begin to work towards those dreams, I’ll be stuck in the daily grind and that’s not where I want to be. I take great inspiration from Ben Franklin when he said to make your vocation your vacation. I went to college and got my machining degree having never seen a mill or lathe in my life until I got there lol. I just knew that there were decent jobs in the area for machining and that I could use the machine tools to make knives and other cool stuff. So for right now I work in a machine shop and enjoy it for the most part but it still is not my vocational vacation lol. It is definitely not my dream of entrepreneurship and self-employment. So what tips or suggestions do y’all have? In a recent thread the discussion was that the handle is mainly what sold the knife to the average user, so will higher quality materials help me to get prices up? I plan on learning how to do file work and also some engraving for wire inlay to really try to start elevating my work over run-of-the-mill makers. I’m rambling. Anyway, any and everything would be appreciated. From the actual business side of things to hands-on suggestions. I’d love to hear what you have to say.