S. Sibert said:
17+ years of making knives 9 years of being full time, this is my humble perspective and insight.
1. Knifemaking has real health risks. Grinding steel, manmade and natural handle materials adhered with exotic epoxies creates nasty particulates. Even with great dust collecting set ups and living in your respirator, inhalation is unavoidable over long term. Many things that knifemakers use/grind also get absorbed through the skin also like acetone, chromium, aluminum, ect
.. I think I have a developed a allergic response to G-10 after all these years.
2. Taxes. Being self-employed/ business owner means you pay your taxes out of pocket via estimated quarterlies, you get to write a nice fat check to Uncle Sam. 4 times a year $$$$. If you actually happen to make any sort of slim profit over the estimated tax for that year, be prepared to pay more on top of what you all ready paid. Good luck getting refunds. Many people run under the table, and many friends and fellow makers are always ready and eager to give you tax "advice". But if you dont want a letter or a knock at the door down the road from the IRS, and end up like Wesley Snipes, I suggest investing in a solid CPA and be ready to a take a bruising. Audits are stomach churning. Keep it honest, as this is truly the best policy, you dont want it to come back and bite you in the ass years down the line.
3. Health insurance. Absolutely vital. You will have to purchase your own health insurance, $$$. Or if your fortunate enough to have a spouse that can add you to their plan is the best.
4. Injury. If you suffer an injury or illness that prevents you from working even a few days then your screwed as there is no one there to take up the slack or make knives for you to fall back on. That means no motorcycles, no bicycles, no ice skating, generally no risky or irresponsible behavior to put your flow of production in jeopardy. Bottom line, no output of product means no income.
5. Divorce. Many people suffer a divorce, which in general is not really ever planned. if that happens, any life line to that person that you need to stay afloat in knifemaking is severed, meaning no more additional income or health insurance, possible child support and alimony that you may have to pay out and loss property/house/shop and therefore if your knifemaking business if not self sufficient it will be difficult to be able to recover from that blow. Being a knifemaker and self-employed can strain relationships and your spouse/partner has to be understanding and behind you and have a plan. I lost my marriage over knifemaking.
6. Income. In general, income from knifemaking is spotty and unreliable. Most of society is so conditioned to get a paycheck every week or 2 on the nose. Being self-employed just throw that concept out the window. There may be weeks to months where you have nothing monetary coming in as you prepare knives to get done, waiting on steel, waiting on sheaths, waiting on payment from customers, machinery breakdowns long list of hiccups that interrupt money flow constantly. As we all know knifemaking requires much time and effort even when you already have established skills and products to peddle. That is why one of the goals/grails of individual knifemakers is to strive for consistency in income. Being the only wage earner in a family will be tough.
7. Hobbies that become your job. You will need to live, eat and breath your work to succeed for years. 24/7. Your hobby now is a career and new rules now apply. You just cant make knives when you feel like it for a few hours every other weekend now you must make knives everyday to keep product rolling, to feed your kids and keep the bills paid. Now it is work. Playtime is over.
8. Sustainability. For any business to succeed you need hard absolute long term goals and direction. Without out a clear direction, ambition, drive, forethought, tenacity, perseverance, lack of consistency in quality your business could wobble. Constantly improving your skills over time, having consistent quality and craftsmanship, being innovative, getting publicity and exhibiting good customer relations will help you become successful while building a solid customer base may take years to achieve. Building a customer base is vital to having long term sustainability and longevity in this business.
9. Motivation. A big enemy of knifemakers. Linked to the dreaded burnout Self-employed also means being self-motivated for year after year, is a key to success. Distractions for self-employed people are the bane of the concept. Sacrifice and self discipline are crucial. You have to treat it like a job and a business and set yourself in a schedule and pattern and to eliminate distractions that may pull you from working, like Video games, family, yard work, gym, computers ect
.
10. Product. Making knives people actually want to buy.
11. Dirty. Knifemaking is dirty, dingy work. Does your shop have heat or air conditioning? Summers and winters can be harsh with no climate control. Most only see the end result of our hard work, a cool and beautiful knife. The actual making of the knife is not so glamorous and is rather boring and beats the crap out of your hands and back.
12. Alone. Long hours of working alone with no adulations and listings to the radio, so if youre a social butterfly this may be hard and also distracting (see motivation)
13. Dependants. Do you have a family that depends on your income to stay afloat? If so, this will be a challenge.
14. Frugal. Tighten the belt and learn to like Top Ramen
every day. Lets see do I need to order grinding belts, steel, Micarta to make product to sell or do I need to buy a family member a new pair of shoes for school or pay that speeding ticket or pay the county/state business licensing fee or make a health plan payment?
15. Debt. Best to go into self-employment debt free or there is a extremely high chance to becoming overwhelmed with bills and responsibly quickly as knifemaking supplies add up fast and the house payment or property taxes are magically due all at the same time. This is just supplies not to include trying to set up a shop with initial cost out of pocket.
16. Unemployment. Generally, self-employed business owners are considered unemployed and because of that we have little or no back-up in case of emergency. So, unlike our counterparts in the job market of employers & employees/companies, if we cant work for some reason, there is no getting unemployment checks for 6 month or a year while we look for another job. . Being a fulltime knifemaker is a sink or swim proposition self reliant on your own determination to make it a success.
17. Jack of all Trades. Knifemaking is more than just actually making knives, you have to figure out how to run a business, how to make money, how to ship and receive, how to deal with the IRs, how to have good customer relations, how to fix things, know the basics of computers, marketing, phone skills, designing and drafting, CAD work, basic machining skills, planning and juggling various non-knifemaking tasks at once is a learning curve that must be factored in.
18. Lawyer. Wise to have available legal representation and funds for it. What happens if that knife you named the Undertaker on a macho whim is actually is used in a crime/defense by someone and now your being called into court to explain to the court why you named it with such aggressive name?
19. Insurance. Do you have business insurance on top of all the other insurance that your currently carry?
20. Retirement. Being a fulltime maker and self-employed now it is your responsibility to contribute to your own retirement fund/IRA since no one else/employer is doing it for you. Is that something you can do on a regular basis along with al the other financial responsibilities? Otherwise, there wont be much to receive once you want to retire. I have pretty come to peace with the fact that Ill be grinding until the end.
21. Vacation
LOL! What is that?
Hope this helps not to discourage, but to give an outline of what is ahead and to think and prepare for. Take it seriously, buckle down for the long haul and it can be done.
Nose to the grindstone.
