We live in a time when every month there is at least one holiday: it all starts with New Year's festivities, when gifts must be given at work, at home, and business partners and just friends. Then it continues with the spring and summer holidays. And if we add here various days birthdays, anniversaries, significant dates. It turns out that every year you need to give a lot of gifts, and it is desirable that they be interesting, new, and useful. Demand creative gifts is growing, and if it is, then you need to fill this niche.
The saying goes that best gift This is a handmade gift. But the realities modern world change, and the best is a gift that is signed with your own hands. Well, maybe we embellished it, because a professional should also sign, and this should be done with the help of laser engraving. This signature will remain long summers, and each time it will remind you of the person who made the gift. Today's business idea laser engraving on various souvenirs and gifts.
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Today we will talk about laser engraving as a way to create an exclusive gift. But we will consider this idea not as an opportunity to buy something new and unusual, but as an opportunity to earn on demand, on a person’s desire to buy an exclusive gift. We will try to compose small business plan, tell all the subtleties and nuances of this type of business.
Relevance and creativity of laser engraving as a business idea
Every time you buy a gift, it gets harder and harder to be original. I would like to give something unusual, unforgettable, something that will leave a memory for many years. It seems that everything has already been gifted, all options have been reviewed. But in fact, there are many more different gifts that you don’t even think about. Laser engraving is what will make any gift interesting and relevant. Just imagine how nice it is to receive not just a watch, but with an engraved congratulation and a personal signature. Or after important business negotiations, you will give your business partners a present on which wishes from your company will be written “forever”.
AT recent times it has become very fashionable to engrave various devices - tablets, Cell phones, MP3 players. This is both stylish and a kind of protective measure. In the West, they have long been doing laser engraving on car mirrors so that thieves do not take them off. But who will buy a "named" mirror from you, which will be clearly stolen?
As you can see, the business idea of laser engraving gifts is very relevant. There is a huge sales market, there are prospects for development, there are free niches. It remains only to take and work.
Implementation of the laser engraving business idea
Speaking about the implementation of this business idea, it is impossible to give any specific advice and recommendations. This is a type of business where there are no clear boundaries and restrictions. Everything depends only on your capabilities, creativity and imagination. You can open your own online store and try to offer such services only on the Internet. You can take your business offline, but also complement it with an online presence. You can try to connect social networks. As a rule, such a business needs to be developed based on corporate clients. Single orders from ordinary people- it is not interesting. You should focus on large companies that can order gifts for the entire team. For this you have to do good presentation, talk about the relevance of laser engraving, show some examples of products. And don't forget the prices. Gifts should not be very expensive so that large orders can be made.
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Equipment and technologies
Laser engraving is a technology business. Here you will not be able to get by with improvised materials, and you will definitely have to include the costs of purchasing various specialized equipment in the expense item. You need to buy a special engraver that will connect to personal computer. Variants and modifications of such engravers great amount. You can choose a cheap Chinese engraver, but not the fact that it will last a long time, or you can invest more money and buy a branded item from the USA or Europe. Now it's up to you to decide. Of course, if you plan to seriously engage in this business, plan to receive many orders and fulfill them with high quality, then you should take a good, proven thing, not sparing money on it.
When buying a machine, please note that it comes with special program to be installed on your computer. Without this program, the engraver will not work. It is also advisable to ask the seller for video tutorials on working with the engraver, or find various video tutorials on the Internet. If you choose popular and famous brand, then finding lessons will not be so difficult.
How does the system work?
On computers, you draw a figure that will later be engraved on a specific object. Next, the engraver forms a beam, and directs it to the surface of the product. The beam, in contact with the product, locally heats it, "cutting out" the patterns and shapes we need. Modern technologies allow you to embed the smallest details, while not spoiling the rest of the object at all.
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Laser engraving is easy to apply on products made of metal, glass, leather, plastic, wood and other materials. It can also be used in souvenir and advertising business(manufacturing of signboards and plates), engraving of weapons, knives, inscriptions on watches, telephones, wedding rings etc.
Advertising for this business
One good saying goes that only the mint can make money without advertising. Therefore, if you decide to start such a business, and are going to recoup the investment, and even make good money, then you cannot do without advertising. Let's figure out where and how to advertise so that it is as profitable and effective as possible.
As we have said, this business has a very wide potential audience. Your products may be of interest to both a poor student and a respectable businessman. Therefore, to say that you need to use only one type of advertising will be wrong. First you need to try everything: advertising in newspapers and magazines, advertising on the Internet, create your own website and promote it on search queries associated with gifts. If the budget allows, advertise on local TV and radio. Before the holidays, you should not save money, and you can even order a large beat board. Over time, you will understand which type of advertising is effective, and you should invest more money in it, and which ones you need to wait. Remember that advertising is not just an investment, it is, first of all, the analysis and monitoring of people's responses. You must clearly understand what type of advertising is the most effective, so as not to waste the entire budget on something that does not bring profit at all.
Where to begin? Entrepreneur's first steps
Any business starts with a market analysis. You have to evaluate the competition, to understand if it exists. If it doesn't, then it's both good and bad. It is always difficult to be the first, because there is no one to focus on, there is no way to study competitors and draw certain conclusions for yourself. Although if you do everything as competently as possible, if you manage to teach yourself correctly, then the absence of competitors will play a big plus. You will become a market monopolist, declaring yourself loudly and for a long time. Everyone who comes after you will have a hard time in winning the loyalty and trust of customers.
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After assessing the competition, go to the assessment of demand. Look at the number of requests for the phrase "Laser engraving" in your city, estimate the number of potential customers in the city.
That, perhaps, is all that we wanted to tell today. Laser engraving is pretty promising business, which is just developing in many cities. If you already have your own business, which can be supplemented with another direction - laser engraving, then wonderful. This will be an excellent impetus for new development, the search for other customers, the development of hitherto unknown niches. If you are only thinking about starting your own business, then laser engraving can be a promising business that has room to grow and develop.
In this article, we tried to describe in detail the implementation of such a garage business idea as laser cutting and engraving. Today, products made using laser engraving and cutting are in special demand, which means that doing such an activity in the garage can provide you with a good income and a lot of positive emotions.
A bit of theory - what is laser engraving?
produced by laser radiation, which either removes the upper layers, or provides a change in their structure and color. Under the influence of a laser beam, the thinnest metal layer evaporates from the surface of the product, thereby forming a kind of relief.In the process laser cutting and engraving, a very high-quality, durable high-resolution image is obtained and varying degrees difficulties. According to the type of application, laser engraving is divided into vector engraving, when the contour of the image is applied with a laser thin lines, and raster, which is characterized by halftone photographic images.
A three-dimensional view is given to the engraving by adjusting the depth of the laser exposure. And as a material for engraving, wood, plastic, metal, plexiglass and others can act.
The benefits of laser engraving include:
- Complete non-contact;
- High speed of drawing images and high resolution;
- Product durability;
- Resistance to external factors;
- aesthetic appearance;
- No need for additional types processing.
The use of laser cutting equipment eliminates the use of special clichés and various printing forms. So you don't have to spend money on buying additional equipment and maintenance of the personnel serving it. It also saves a lot of prepress time.
Engraving does not require any additional consumables. All that is needed is the laser itself, powered by electricity. Term beneficial use laser is about 20 thousand hours of continuous operation. This is approximately 7 years of operation with 8-hour work shifts.
Maintenance of laser engraving equipment is within the power of one operator with skills in working in graphic programs. The laser cutting business allows the production of small batches of products. The task comes to the equipment for engraving from a file.
How to Start a Laser Engraving Garage Business
The engraving business has been among the highly profitable since the times of the USSR. Today, not only has it not lost its relevance, because it can rightly be called a business with minimum investment and it only takes a small amount of space to start a business.
Organizing such a garage business is quite simple. First you need to draw up a business plan, analyze the competitive market, decide on the premises and purchase special equipment.
At the first stage, it is quite possible to place a workshop at home. Here you can get by with an engraving machine powered by an outlet, the price of which is 5 thousand rubles. Moving to a more serious level, you can open a real engraving workshop in separate room. It should install special pneumatic grinders.
As for professional skills, when thinking about doing laser engraving, it is not at all necessary to initially have any special knowledge. Anyone can understand the intricacies of cutting with a laser.
Subtleties of the technological process
As noted above, laser engraving allows you to remove part of the material from the surface of the workpiece under the influence of a focused super-powerful laser beam. You can control the degree of impact on the surface by correctly controlling the parameters of laser radiation. Also, a significant role is played by the properties of the material itself, on which the impact occurs.Raster engraving uses a sequence of high resolution dots. If a highly detailed image is being made, then the laser carriage moves along the lines in a downward direction, which means that a number of dots are engraved along each line. Thus, the desired picture is created, which is very similar to how an image is printed on a printer.
Laser cutting is highly automated, there are no intermediate, manual steps, which reduces the likelihood of errors due to human error, and therefore minimizing the duration of the production process. Traditionally, the whole procedure takes a little more than half an hour.
You can print by laser cutting a wide variety of products from scanned photographs to drawings. Engraving is carried out on a pre-treated surface, when the drawing is converted into a vector form. This process takes a lot of time. Respectively this work should be regarded separately from the payment directly for laser engraving.
Laser cutting equipment is quite simple. The laser itself is a special beam of light focused into a small point. According to the principle of operation, its work can be compared with the influence of a magnifying glass under the rays of the sun when lighting a fire. The lasers used in laser cutting are characterized by low power, safe for humans and easy to use.
The laser engraving garage business has distinct advantages over engraving with conventional tools. First, the laser process uses a non-contact method, which minimizes the likelihood of wear or damage to equipment. Likewise, the probability of damage and deformation of the workpiece is also less. Another advantage is the quality of the resulting images, which are characterized by high resolution. The laser shows itself perfectly both in working with a variety of materials and with textures.
Inexpensive laser cutting equipment
When organizing a laser engraving garage business, you should decide what kind of laser cutting equipment you will purchase. In this matter, it all depends on your financial capabilities. In the case of the choice of domestic machines, costing within two hundred thousand rubles, we can say that you are organizing real business with minimal investment. Imported machines are much more expensive - about 600 thousand rubles. They are equipped with diamond needles, which produce engraving. The price of one such needle is about 500 rubles, but at least three dozen images can be applied with it.
Business on a laser machine (video):
Also, in addition to the machine, for the full implementation of this garage business, you will need a good scanner and a computer, as well as a licensed software installed on it. software CorelDraw and Photoshop software.
Engraving is the application of an image, inscription, pattern to an object with a special cutting tool. For the first time, the engraving craft appeared in China, in Russia they began to be engaged in it only in the 17th century. Engraving is diverse, it can be industrial and artistic. Artists-engravers with the help of special tools create unique compositions.
To open your own business, you can consider a simpler type of engraving. Still in demand is the application of commemorative inscriptions on gifts, Jewelry, souvenirs, weapons, watches, lighters, stationery, expensive fountain pens. In honor of the memorable event, many are pleased to leave on valuable gift your wish, signature or date. Such a service as engraving of inscriptions is very much in demand by consumers, and there is not yet much competition in this business.
For those who have a desire to start their own business, who have an artistic taste and a firm hand, who like to do delicate and painstaking work, they can open their own engraving workshop. It is worth considering this if there are no engravers in the city or area yet.
ROOM SELECTION
For success in engraving business you need to choose the right room. It is advisable to choose a place where there is an active trade, there are many buyers, and there are no similar services. A place where there are jewelry stores and gift shops nearby is suitable. Large shopping centers and hypermarkets would be ideal. Great option is to rent a place on the first floor of a large shopping center, next to the main entrance.
The rental price of the premises will be 4000-8000 rubles.
You will need the necessary tools - a manual engraving machine or an engraving machine. The purchase of an engraving machine will cost inexpensively - from 1000 rubles.
To apply a beautiful and spectacular engraving, it takes time to master the basics of craftsmanship. In addition, an accompanying tool is needed: hammers, scarpels, scribers, knitting needles, pencils for different surfaces.
Everything you need is purchased via the Internet and will cost a little more than 3,000 rubles.
You will need clamps for fixing small items: jewelry, rings. A "barrel" is needed for engraving rings, it is purchased at a specialized store for jewelers' tools. Estimated cost- about 4000 rubles.
Among other things, jewelry engraving vices are purchased, costing about 600 rubles.
A more expensive tool is also being produced that automates the engraving process. For example, sold different models laser engraving machines, with the help of which complex inscriptions are made. Such machines are small, easy to use, well engraved on acrylic, plywood, wood, leather, glass, paper and metal.
The engraving process is simple: the desired pattern is loaded via a computer, everything is programmed and the whole job is done in a few minutes.
The cost of a laser machine is more than 120,000 rubles. The effectiveness of its use is that the inscription or image is applied quickly and accurately. However, maintenance is not cheap.
WORKPLACE
Equip workplace engraver is necessary with special attention, because you have to be there for hours, completing complex orders. Be sure to have a comfortable chair and a table of a certain height so that your back does not get tired. You will also need a table lamp. It is advisable to carefully and effectively arrange a showcase with samples of work, this will be a kind of advertisement for the workshop.
A price list is required. Prices for engraving work are usually set for applying one sign, about 20 rubles. In case of large orders, the price may be lower. The daily revenue of the workshop can be 2000-5000 rubles, with the use of a modern laser tool - much more.
Need to do good advertising, it is very important that as many potential customers as possible learn about the engraver's services. Announcements are given, brochures are left in jewelry, gift and souvenir shops, billboards and banners are hung out. When organizing an engraving workshop on your own, registration of an individual entrepreneur is required.
In the event that work is to be carried out for legal entities and other individual entrepreneurs, a current account is opened. This possibility should not be ruled out, such orders for engraving work are quite possible.
Documents to be filled out strict accountability. For this, a device is purchased that replaces the issuance of receipts. The receipt is valid if it contains the following details: last name, first name, patronymic, position, signature of the person who issued the document, payment amounts in rubles, name, number of services, name of the organization, legal form (IP), TIN of the organization, numbers, dates issuance. The most important thing is to take the first step and everything will work out!
The main advantage of the engraving business is the low space requirements for work. If it is assumed that customers will be served via the Internet, then laser equipment can be easily placed even at home.
You can rent any office for work, but premises in crowded places, for example, in large shopping centers, are best suited.
If laser engraving is used in the jewelry area, then it is necessary to install a strong safe for valuable items in the room.
The only requirement for the rented premises is the observance of sanitary standards in it for the work of technical staff.
Equipment for laser engraving (machines)
The main equipment for laser engraving is an engraver, often ordered. There are two types of engraving machines: vector (images are created with thin, neat lines) and raster (graphic halftones are used to create silhouettes).
Rates vary by manufacturer: a domestic manufacturer offers engravers from 190 to 200 thousand rubles. If laser engraving is planned as a large business with a large stable income, then you should prefer an engraver of American and European production, which will cost at least 500 thousand.
You can buy a used machine - the price is at least 120 thousand.
Computer hardware and software
Laser engraving requires computer equipment: a powerful processor, a monitor with a high-quality display and the installation of licensed software - programs CorelDraw and Photoshop. Also, a powerful scanner is needed to create digital copies of images.
The main consumable for laser engraving is a diamond needle with a minimum worth 600 rubles.
To apply several dozen images to plastic, one needle is needed. And for the production of laser stamps and seals, rubber is required.
Laser Engraving: Clientele, Applications
The main advantage of engraving is a huge range of applications. First of all, this is laser drawing on souvenirs and jewelry, engraving on clothes, drawing on various items coats of arms, company logos, initials, alphabetic ligatures.
Popular laser engraving applied to the body of the phone. The laser is also used for the manufacture of stamps and seals. Look for clients in the field of modern modeling - small details are made with the help of an engraver, as well as in the field of interior design - decorative elements are made here.
Technical staff of the engraving workshop
Working with laser engraving requires the staff to have special knowledge and skills, as well as a minimum work experience.
If an entrepreneur is going to do engraving on his own, you can turn to manufacturers that provide professional training in the form of master classes and online lessons, training materials.
Required Documentation
To work with laser engraving, appropriate documents are required: first of all, these are licenses for the use of equipment and software.
Documents confirming the fulfillment of sanitary standards for the work of personnel in the laser engraving room are also required. need to register a limited liability company or IP is the best option.
Business profitability and monthly profit
Net monthly profit varies from 20 to 60 thousand, depending on. The average payback of a used engraver at monthly profit at 20 thousand - 6 months, domestic equipment with a profit of 40 thousand - 5 months, imported equipment with a profit of 60 thousand - 7-8 months.
The application of inscriptions and images by engraving has been widely used recently on many surfaces. The inscriptions are applied to souvenirs, door plates and signs, cups, medals, knives, paintings, lighters and much more. And how nice it is to receive as a gift jewelry or a watch with a commemorative inscription, over which, like real feelings, time has no power.
The competition in this area of business is low. Large companies, as a rule, do not work with retail; wholesale corporate orders are interesting and profitable for them. But for processing individual, one-time and exclusive orders you can open a small point in one of the large shopping centers, closer to the same souvenir shops, jewelry boutiques, gift shops. It is important to choose the right place, preferably in good accessibility and visibility for potential customers, as well as away from competitors.
Services provided must be reported. It is not bad to make a noticeable sign, hang a banner, distribute leaflets, you can submit ads online on specialized sites and forums. Since engraving is not yet a very popular trend, customers need to be actively attracted.
So, to open your own business, you need a small start-up capital.
The main cost items are rent and purchase of equipment. Monthly rent will cost 125-250 dollars. Engraving machine - from $ 40, additional tools for the engraver - nail files, pencils, staples, clips for jewelry, fasteners for rings, various vices - an additional 50-200 dollars. The engraving machine, although cheap to purchase, requires a certain skill and skill of a specialist.
Where to get money to start own business? This is the problem faced by 95% of new entrepreneurs! In the article, we have revealed the most relevant ways to obtain start-up capital for an entrepreneur. We also recommend that you carefully study the results of our experiment in exchange earnings:
You can automate the process and increase the speed of inscriptions using a laser engraving machine. Its cost starts from 3800-4000 USD, but it costs its money.
Firstly, the application is very accurate, accurate and of high quality, regardless of the skill level of the master.
Secondly, engraving is performed on any surface and material, be it glass, wood, metal, acrylic plastic. How it works: the desired image is downloaded to a computer and transferred to a laser machine via a USB port. The interface is very simple, and the lead time is reduced significantly. The disadvantages of a laser machine include the high cost of repairs in the event of a breakdown.
In addition to equipment, you need to purchase some pieces of furniture to decorate the master's workplace. You will need a comfortable chair, a table, a powerful table lamp. Be sure to make a portfolio with examples of work. Think carefully about your pricing policy.
With a successful location of the point in a crowded and passable place of the shopping center, the workshop's revenue per day can be 100-160 dollars, and using laser technology, even more.
You can start a business by working with retail clients, and if the situation is successful, you can subsequently look for exits to corporate clients.
