JB Gift Studio - From Start to Now
After a few years working in insurance administration and a brief foray into web development, I was offered a position at my father-in-laws trophy shop. After a stint on the sales desk so I could get a better understanding of the business, I identified an area of the business that we could do in house and increase our profits. Glass engraving.
For this let's introduce a LASER ENGRAVING MACHINE!
After a few weeks learning the basics I moved into production to focus on the finer details of glass engraving, along with seeing what more our new toy could do. As well as the standard engraving, we then started offering more custom acrylic and wood awards that we could create in house. Times were good.
Then three years in, unfortunately, I had to step away from the business.
I had a short stint in logistics, and then decided to stop work to be a stay at home dad and look after our children while the Mrs brought home the bacon. This meant I had a bit of time (during naps) to figure out what I could do after my tenure as SAHD was no longer needed. All my thoughts kept leading back to engraving and awards, and so I thought I could maybe start something small, that could be done on an evening, and then build it up slowly so when the time came to re enter the workforce I might already have a steady income.
For this let's introduce a LASER ENGRAVING MACHINE (2nd hand this time).
I reopened my Etsy shop, that I'd previously created for reasons that I now forget, and set about adding some awards to see if I can make a little headway. This was when I was approached by my Brother-in-Law-to-be to see if I could do some game markers from acrylic, I said yes. Then I was asked by a customer if I could do some coasters, I said yes.
Slowly my shop has evolved from being awards and trophies to having a wider selection of products in a seemingly organic way. It keeps me engaged and interested in what I am doing, which in turn makes me want to do even more. A vicious, but enjoyable, cycle.
With that said, if there is something that you would like, that I'm not already doing, just drop me a message and I'll see if it's something I can help with.