I started laser cutting because of my dear departed father!
I started my laser work at home shop in 2003, when my father, who passed away from pancreatic cancer in 08, had faith in my graphic design skills , creativity, and customer service skills. My father purchased my laser cutter machine for me in 03 and i was off to the races! It was a rough start at first mainly due to the seller of the machine not including a POWER cord, if you can believe that! and then once the power cord arrived, the door to the laser was malfunctioning due to a missing magnet in the lid that shuts the whole thing down ! ( safety switch ) .. can you imagine? Well, there were already orders coming in off the internet for me even back then, and here i was unable to cut any wood because some silly missing parts! We got the bugs worked out! ( dad was always a big help ). One time years later there was a power failure due to storms! We just happened to be upgrading some breaker boxes in the shop.... Well, dad had this great idea to connect the main power grid electric wires to the breaker box from the power pole WHILE THE POWER WAS OFF from a thunder storm! He got up on stool and used some rubber gloves and wood handle screwdriver , in case the power suddenly resumed! It was the craziest idea i had ever seen and so dangerous! all to hurry up and upgrade the power needs of the shop! Well, he got the mains wired up to the box from the power pole just in time! the power came back on from the power company VERY shortly after he got down off that stool! It was so dangerous, i will never forget that. That was about a year before he died. He was dedicated to helping me exceed in my laser cutting wood business! In 2009, I discovered this wonderful website, Etsy! I began selling crosses that I drew and laser cut from wood. I have met so many wonderful kind customers on this website in the last , 11 years! I continue to thrive and sell on Etsy and I love it! I have made over 13,000 sales here in that time and continue to grow each year because of the wonderful community here on Etsy!