Being debt free has been the number one thing that made it possible for me.
BINGO!!!
And to echo what Don said, TOTALLY DEBT FREE. I have watched people try to go full time who said they were "debt free"...but they still had car payments, home loans, etc. That isn't "debt free"....your still required to produce a given amount of $$$ per month. Therein lies the trap of becoming a full time maker.....if you must count on bringing in X amount of dollars in each month, where the sales are so up and down month to month, the anxiety sets in, you worry about selling X number of knives to achieve that needed dollar figure, and all the pressure makes the joy of it fly right out the window.
What it takes is a different mentality than we as Americans are accustom to.....rather than getting whatever we want/need "right now", by using credit or loans, you must plan ahead and save the funds until you can acquire what you need/want. An example: Recently I purchased a new 2011 Ford F150..... I saved for over 5 years, and paid it in full when I picked it up from the dealership. The only thing I have to worry about now is insurance and tags yearly. Before I had the money saved up, my Mrs. and I talked about how, if I were to get a new truck before we had all the money saved, the monthly payments would have to come out of the shop....even with 3/4 of the cost down, then payments would still have been over $300 per month! The problem with that is, some months I will sell 10X that amount of knives, and other times I will go 2-3 months without reaching that amount....see what I mean?
If I had to pay my own health insurance, house payment, and all the monthly bills strictly from the shop, there would be no way it could happen. I'd be a nervous wreck all the time, and would likely look at knifemaking as a curse, rather than the blessing it currently is.
Obviously it can be done successfully on a full time basis, but it requires constant planning, proper execution, and a different mentality than most are accustom to living with. The up side is that once you change your "money mentality" and live with it for a while, you look at the way most Americans live, and can't figure out why they do that to themselves....in debt all the time, and working to just pay the interest charges:jerkit:
For me it was all about planning...which started at about the 10 year mark of my military career. That was when I realized that I would be eligible to retire in just 10 more years, and if I played my cards right, I would be able to fulfill my dream of doing this full time. With about 5 years left, we started paying EVERYTHING off, and making the plans. It took a couple more years than we planned for, but I literally took off my uniform one day, and the next day put on my jeans and boots, and walked into my shop as a full time maker. The shop was already completely setup, with all the needed tools and supplies, and so my "dream" became reality. After nearly 10 years now, I still get up each morning, excited about going to the shop. I attribute that mostly to the fact that I don't shoulder that daily pressure to produce a set dollar figure every day.
The moral of the story is that yes, you can be successful as a full time maker, but it won't come without a lot of planning, some sacrifices, and a changing of your economic mentality.
Now, like Don said.....I've not made any money for the past 1/2 hour I've spent on the forums typing this! Back to work!
Our cost of living is so low, there really isn't much stress here.
