Breaking Down Costs

[Iguanadon]

On 7/25/2022 at 4:39 PM, Sycamore67 said:

This thread made me glad that I only scroll saw for my own enjoyment.  Spent most of my life working to put food on the table and now just do things I enjoy.  Worrying about liability insurance or making a spreadsheet of costs are not fun for me.  However, if people enjoy that...OK.

When I stop enjoying it, I'll stop doing it.  So far, after 6 years, I still love every minute at my saw and every hour at whatever craft event I'm at.  And if it puts a spare $20,000 in my pocket each year after expenses that I can have fun with and enjoy with the family, even better.  My full time day job is stressful, but also allows me the luxury of sneaking into the garage some times in between conference calls and cut a puzzle or two.  My "free" mental therapy."  I could never come close to what I make at the day job with my little hobby business, believe me I've tried crunching the numbers, but not just the paycheck, but the health insurance, etc, makes it impossible. If I'm still doing this in 8 or 9 years when I retire, great... some added retirement income as well.  I enjoy staying busy and knowing that I could stop at any time if I need a break.

[OCtoolguy]

5 hours ago, Iguanadon said:

When I stop enjoying it, I'll stop doing it.  So far, after 6 years, I still love every minute at my saw and every hour at whatever craft event I'm at.  And if it puts a spare $20,000 in my pocket each year after expenses that I can have fun with and enjoy with the family, even better.  My full time day job is stressful, but also allows me the luxury of sneaking into the garage some times in between conference calls and cut a puzzle or two.  My "free" mental therapy."  I could never come close to what I make at the day job with my little hobby business, believe me I've tried crunching the numbers, but not just the paycheck, but the health insurance, etc, makes it impossible. If I'm still doing this in 8 or 9 years when I retire, great... some added retirement income as well.  I enjoy staying busy and knowing that I could stop at any time if I need a break.

The key point here is "having fun" and getting paid to do it. Who could complain about that. I have been doing handyman stuff around the park where I live and I enjoy it. I make a few bucks and help out the older folks who can no longer do it themselves. But, when I start to feel "used", I don't take the job. It's my time and I'll use it whatever way I want to. Except I have to check with the wife first. LOL.

 

[kmmcrafts]

I cannot agree more with the having fun..  when it's no longer fun I'll also quit doing it.. I'm on 14 years of this now and this is the first year that I've been kinda coasting.. taking time off to do "other things I like doing" hence.. building the race car and just enjoying "real cars" instead of making wood car clocks, LOL.. I'm still open for business.. but I haven't advertised, promoted or done much to bring in more business.. still busy enough. After the covid lock downs for those two years was the busiest I've ever been and I was starting to get the kind of feeling of it being "work" since the lock downs forced a lot of folks to buy online I was swamp with work the whole two years.. made some real good money so I'm playing with this racecar build.. 

I do a little car repair stuff for a few friends and family and always have.. something I also enjoy and when I'm tired of making sawdust.. there is enough friends / family and friends of those friends etc.. I can and sometimes do slide into that business sector from time to time.. I turn a lot of work away on the auto repair side because well.. it's taxing on the body.. love doing it and can be good money but turn most of the work away these days.. much more fun sitting on a stool making sawdust and wood cars, LOL With car prices these days a lot of auto repair work to be had and pretty easy to get work if needed / wanted in both auto repair and body / collision work..

Edited July 27, 2022 by kmmcrafts

[tomsteve]

On 7/26/2022 at 7:32 AM, kmmcrafts said:

 

 

People talk about how the young folks don't want to work and shortage of workers everywhere.. ALL the young folks I know don't want to work for greedy corporations, especially when these young kids have all the opportunities with just doing stupid YouTube videos and can make more money.. a young man about 6-8 years old building things out of legos on YouTube makes about $10,000 a month.. you suppose he's going to happily take a pay cut and go work for a sweatshop making $15 -20 an hour? 

give it 10-15 years and he just might have to take a pay cut.

unless people want to see an 16-21 year old playing with legos.

Edited August 12, 2022 by tomsteve

[kmmcrafts]

2 hours ago, tomsteve said:

give it 10-15 years and he just might have to take a pay cut.

unless people want to see an 16-21 year old playing with legos.

Actually there are adults building with legos on there and getting paid. What's to say once you get some fame and following people don't follow whatever "other" interest he moves onto next. To be quite honest it's not super hard to make videos that interest people.. I do videos on TikTok and Clapper of just putting together the wood dog puzzles that I make.. start the video with just all the pieces laid out and put it together must interest people because I get paid for those videos plus is advertises what I make and sell and I get lots of request from them.. The pay isn't like going to make me rich but a extra $50 a month from each site is a extra bit of spending money. I haven't tried to get paid from FB or Instagram... actually didn't try getting paid from the others either but one of my followers suggested setting up payments and try it. They won't cut a check until you get a $100 balance so I'm not really paid every month. and sometimes I don't make it for 3 months.. who cares as I said, I'm not doing that for the money.. If I were I'd be posting up several videos a day rather than just a few here and there.. been slacking for the last 4-6 months as I'm busy doing car builds.. which soon can also make me money off those accounts to help fund the build, LOL  You can literally make money just documenting things you do everyday.. it's a real reality show that you record and put on these sites.. I guess that entertains people interested in that niche. 

Watching people build legos isn't my thing.. but car builds and similar things can grab my attention.. Who needs cable tv etc. when there is Youtube and many sites like it that are real ordinary people doing real things and you can search to watch whatever you like when ever you like.. Cable TV and Hollywood could fall off the face of the earth someday over just ordinary people doing their own thing.  

 

[poupster2]

Thank you Iggy for the breakdown.

On you booth photo, You changed the table cloth color to Black and your puzzles stand out!  

Really great booth!

[Eplfan2011]

On 7/27/2022 at 3:19 PM, OCtoolguy said:

I make a few bucks and help out the older folks who can no longer do it themselves. But, when I start to feel "used", I don't take the job. It's my time and I'll use it whatever way I want to. Except I have to check with the wife first. LOL.

I do this myself too, I'm a little slower than I used to be but I'm appreciated by the folks around me.

[OCtoolguy]

5 hours ago, tomsteve said:

give it 10-15 years and he just might have to take a pay cut.

unless people want to see an 16-21 year old playing with legos.

These youtube phenoms are very rare. I'd bet that in most folks realm they would have trouble finding even one person that is making money off youtube. It's a passing thing. The problem  is that most people think they are worth way more than they are. Who should get paid a "living wage" to flip burgers? That is an entry level job at best. It was never meant to pay enough to raise a family on. This whole minimum wage thing is a sham. Every time the minimum wage goes up, everything else goes right up with it so workers don't get any farther ahead. It would be better to do away with the minimum wage completely and let the market prevail. A job is only worth what someone will pay to have it done. If you truly think you are worth $15/hour to wash dishes, you are only fooling yourself. Someone will come along and do it for $14. That's how the market works. Get the government out of it.

Edited August 12, 2022 by OCtoolguy

[Woodmaster1]

I have been woodworking for over 50yrs. Still enjoy it. I’m in the shop almost everyday. I taught woodworking 40yrs. I love not  having to supervising all the students butchering wood but I had fun helping students with projects.