We've already had success and we've only had our laser less than TWO weeks! We've been very excited! It makes us very excited for our future and what we will hopefully accomplish with our Small Business! We wanted to create a post so we could share some feedback from our first couple weeks!
We have mainly been focusing on friends and family the first couple weeks as many people needed Christmas gifts. We also supported some local friends and a local shop in our first couple weeks which has been a great way for us to learn our laser and see what products people are interested in. The Tech support (aeonlaser.us/support) has been helpful to Devon while he has been learning how things work. We did not have prior experience with a laser but we wanted a business that we could run from our home. Nicole has a passion for interior design and decor. Devon loves woodworking and figuring out technical things so having a laser to figure out is right up his alley. Mix two things Devon and Nicole like created our small business.
Devon and I started "After Hours Laser Engraving" as a side business as we both have full time jobs. Nicole has a sales career for a company in the automation industry and Devon works for a professional tour bus company in Nashville. He builds the tour bus interiors and does the electrical work on them. It is pretty cool to see the transition from an empty bus shell to a finished "home on wheels".
We've had a dream to have our own business and once we got married earlier this year we figured it was time. It is a way for us to work together and spend time doing something that we love. We are hoping to make extra money to travel, and Devon wants to eventually build a shop at our house with the side money that we make. That is our current goal! Maybe eventually we can move our laser out to the shop if we grow out of the area we have in our bonus room.
SOOOOO what have we made in the past two weeks?!?
We've done a bunch of serving trays and we did a bunch of boards with different city names for a local shop! Pictures shown below!
We also got our first tumbler order from a local real estate agent! That was really exciting and we are super grateful for that opportunity. We've have some real estate agents reach out and say they want to purchase their closing gifts from us which makes us excited. Being in sales, I understand the importance of repeat business and we are excited to hopefully have a lot of repeat customers. We would love to build relationships with our customers and be there to support them with any project they might have. Our main goal for our small business is to provide a product that makes someone happy. They are personalized to provide a gift that is thoughtful and that is our #1 goal!
If we got to offer advice to someone that is thinking about getting a laser we'd say to think about what products you will be selling. AEON Laser makes different lasers depending on your need and what your goals are. The lasers have different wattage and there is also different lasers for different product types. The other thing to consider is certainly the area you will be running the machine. We went with the Mira 7 because we didn't have a huge area to put it but we wanted a good commercial laser for our small business. That is ultimately one of the reasons we chose AEON Laser USA and the Mira 7. Originally we thought about getting a Glow Forge but we chose the AEON Mira 7 because of the capabilities (speed) and the support that AEON offered.
What is our super power!? Probably being able to juggle everything at once! We are good at multitasking and we are willing to take on any project that you might have... just reach out to us! We appreciate the opportunity and love our customers! :) Stay tuned for more to come!