The Cost

bazuku said:
... not everybody is looking for perfection, but nearly everybody is looking for a discount.
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Good one. I like that... Interestingly of all the ukes I have sold, not one person has pointed out a flaw. I've noticed that people don't really look at them the way we do. We know where the bodies are buried. Mistake: Point out minute flaws to the customer. They don't really care. What they care about most is how they sound.
 
Beau Hannam Ukuleles said:
I would further advise to any budding luthiers that you get orders (income) before going crazy buying tools, wood etc.
For if you have no orders (income), you can't claim the tools on tax.
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Well, you really can as long as you are attempting to make money. If you try and fail that's often the way of small business.
 
bazuku said:
My advise is to show your instruments to any interested party, let her/him play them, listen to the relevant comments, and re-assess the worth of your builds accordingly ... not everybody is looking for perfection, but nearly everybody is looking for a discount.
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Thanks for the advice. I do strive to learn from my mistakes and not make the same ones twice.
 
tonyturley said:
Sequoia, that is amazing to me. I'm recently retired, too, and do this as a hobby. If I was able to sell some of my instruments and flip the money back into the hobby, I'd be delighted. However, I can't seem to stop making stupid mistakes in my building. They don't stop my instruments from being functional, but they are aggravating none the less. If someone asked to buy one of my instruments and they still wanted it after I pointed out the flaws, that's one thing, but I could not in good conscience ask someone to pay me for one, not at my current level of expertise.
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I built a tenor a couple of years ago for a department at work as a Christmas present for their boss. They had the idea that a hand built instrument should cost the same as a cheap plywood factory instrument. I agreed to do it for a piddly sum, only did guitars before that (the cigar box uke doesn't count). I had it finished and was gluing on the bridge but my bridge clamps I used for guitars would not fit in the hole. It was a week before Christmas and I made the wrong decision of using weights as a clamp. When I came back the bridge was glued on but the top sunk and there was two cracks on either side of the sound hole. They were not visible but when you held the top up to the light you could see where the creases were, the uke sounded and played fine.

I told them about it and they were disappointed but understood my not wanting an instrument to go out with such a flaw. I never got to fixing it, was going to retop it, the next year they wanted it again. The person was a guitar player (they originally wanted me to make them a guitar for what they were paying me for the uke) and mainly it would be a wall hanger. I let them have it for $100 (barely paid for the engraving). It hurt a little (it was a pretty little thing) but it is gone and a lesson learned. So if a buyer gets something that functions well but is less than perfection and knows they got a good price for it then sell the instrument. It is better than burning them.
 
Pete Howlett said:
For the self employed in the UK we pay forward our taxes and rarely get rebates. The next 12 instruments I build will pay my tax bill, settle loans and cover the necessary purchase of materials and consumables. My landlord has had a safety check of the premises done and another instrument will pay for the remedial work I am responsible for in my 3 units. It will be summer before I see any profit in the business. This is the cost of doing something very few people get to do. AT least I have heat in my home and workshop. An actor I follow on instagram has no heating in her house and is miserable and depressed because she is living from hand to mouth pursuing her dream.

Be debt free with $30K in start up money before you consider becoming a bespoke ukulele maker. Even after this and you have made your first few faltering sales and are learning your 'value' in the the shark pool, you will very soon realise that the most important process in the whole cycle of making and selling is banking.
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Yeah, that's a reality... I am thinking about starting my own small business soon, and the financial side of the story scares me the most. But I guess I will get a small loan from theguaranteedloans, for example, and will try building something step by step. I want my own business so much, so I will do everything needed for it to happen
 
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charre said:
Yeah, that's a reality... I am thinking about starting my own small business soon, and the financial side of the story scares me the most
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From what I've seen on other sites, knowing how to run a business is more important than being good at the product or service you are offering.
 
It is not rocket science: you must receive more in than you pay out... If you cannot focus on this then be prepared to go hungry. Being an 'artist' or a 'craftsman' is just the third of it...
 
Pete Howlett said:
It is not rocket science: you must receive more in than you pay out... If you cannot focus on this then be prepared to go hungry. Being an 'artist' or a 'craftsman' is just the third of it...
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“‘My other piece of advice, Copperfield,’ said Mr. Micawber, ‘you know. Annual income twenty pounds, annual expenditure nineteen nineteen six, result happiness. Annual income twenty pounds, annual expenditure twenty pounds nought and six, result misery.”
David Copperfield (1850)
 
Wanted to ref the great Charles Dickens knowing you would do it for us you clever clogs Ken!
 
I have been making ukuleles about 5 years as a hobby, and now I study luthiery at Ikaalinen Collage of Crafts and Design. I have been working 30 years in advertising business, teaching etc. I know that it is almost impossible to make living making ukuleles. While I study, I also do teaching job part time, and when I graduate I will do something else than full time luthiery. Propably I will do ukuleles few hours in a day becouse I like it and I have reasonable prised workshop, and I hope somebody wants to buy instruments from me. If not, I still have plan B. I have already all tools that I need, and if I need bigger band saw or bigger surface planing machine, I can use them at Hacklab paying 20 euros in month. I have calculated that I have to sell 10000 euros in month if I just do ukes in Finland and get reasonable paid, and I am pretty sure that it will be not happen. I have to be realist.
 
If you want to get an idea what it takes to be a professional luthier, watch the video below. It is long, but shows the meticulous dedication it takes to carve out a niche in the luthier business. (I posted this awhile back so many of you have already seen it.)

Goodall Guitars Fort Bragg, California.

 
ktuurna said:
I have been making ukuleles about 5 years as a hobby, and now I study luthiery at Ikaalinen Collage of Crafts and Design. I have been working 30 years in advertising business, teaching etc. I know that it is almost impossible to make living making ukuleles. While I study, I also do teaching job part time, and when I graduate I will do something else than full time luthiery. Propably I will do ukuleles few hours in a day becouse I like it and I have reasonable prised workshop, and I hope somebody wants to buy instruments from me. If not, I still have plan B. I have already all tools that I need, and if I need bigger band saw or bigger surface planing machine, I can use them at Hacklab paying 20 euros in month. I have calculated that I have to sell 10000 euros in month if I just do ukes in Finland and get reasonable paid, and I am pretty sure that it will be not happen. I have to be realist.
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This is probably the right way to look at it. You'll sell some ukes, but it will mostly likely just be a supplement to your regular job/income. And if you just enjoy it as a hobby, it's a way of paying for the materials and any additional tools you might want to acquire to continue making ukes.

This is strictly a hobby for me, but I could imagine using this to keep busy in retirement and earning a little bit of "play" money if I continue with it. But retirement is still a number of years away....
 
Timbuck said:
In an earlier business venture that failed .. I was constantly relying on my overdraft to get me by, and in the end my Bank manager took the facility off me and made it into a loan..it took a year to pay it off, it seemed harsh to me at the time but he he really did me a favour I went back into working for someone else for a while to pay the loan off. And I didn
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I'll never become a professional luthier. I began making a uke based on a tennis racket in April, when I bought some old rackets. I'm now at the stage where it is assembled, but I have lots of sanding and "editing" to do before it looks decent. I knew this first racket uke would be a learning experience. I'll probably be able to crank out the others in fours months. :D
 
Allen said:
Debt free is first and foremost the most important part of the finances. And that includes being mortgage free.

Then at a bare minimum 6 months of ready cash on hand for all your living expenses. This is basic financial well being that was taught to me from a very early age from my parents that were always self employed.

It takes so much pressure off every other aspect of the business, your life, family and mental well being that it changes your outlook on taking on commisions, and "having" to make a sale this week.

No one who is living this life will ever will tell you its easy to get to this point.
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I absolutely agree. I'm currently working on fixing my financial life. Some time ago I ran into debts, and you are right that this is a great pressure. Recently I've refinanced my loan. I have to work hard, but according to a loan payments calculator, I'll repay it in 7 months (I do hope). Then I want to put money aside every month in order not to think where to find cash for living expenses in case I face issues. I should say, your parents made a big deal when taught you these things as it is important to make only financially wise decisions.
 
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I like the soccer metaphor. Only those at the top of the pile make it and in order to get there, you sacrifice most of your working life to enjoy a few 'comfortable years' in the super league, just before you start to drop off the perch to join the Sunday league. You will not make a success of this game unless you enter it debt free with cash in reserve and a spouse or partner who can support you. Getting a 'reputation' takes years unless you are able to stand on a mentor's coat tails.
 
Allen said:
Debt free is first and foremost the most important part of the finances. And that includes being mortgage free.

Then at a bare minimum 6 months of ready cash on hand for all your living expenses. This is basic financial well being that was taught to me from a very early age from my parents that were always self employed.

It takes so much pressure off every other aspect of the business, your life, family and mental well being that it changes your outlook on taking on commisions, and "having" to make a sale this week.

No one who is living this life will ever will tell you its easy to get to this point.
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If ever this point needed to be driven home then CV19 has done it for so many people.

I would say to anyone, self employed or employed, to aim for having such a buffer in the bank and then when you have it to aim for more again - if you can then having some cash somewhere safe would be good too. I have seen so much misery by people worrying how they are going to get through a difficult period - it’s really horrid for the wager earner, their spouse and their children. Stuff happens and virtually everybody has difficult periods at some time or other so don’t trust to luck.

TLDR: Stuff happens so have six months plus wages set aside to help cope with it.
 
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I'm sure glad no one ever told me all this stuff when I started 40+ years ago. I would have actually gotten a real job and been doing real work for a living! No one has ever thought I've had to work for a living. People tell me it must be great to be self employed, work whenever i want, and building instruments must be so romantic. What ever, I'm still doing it. Life is short. Do what you enjoy doing!
 
Pegasus Guitars said:
I'm sure glad no one ever told me all this stuff when I started 40+ years ago. I would have actually gotten a real job and been doing real work for a living! No one has ever thought I've had to work for a living. People tell me it must be great to be self employed, work whenever i want, and building instruments must be so romantic. What ever, I'm still doing it. Life is short. Do what you enjoy doing!
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I don’t know if you’ve been lucky or are just a smart businessman, perhaps a bit of both? Some small businesses do go bust and sometimes folk even have their homes foreclosed on them, employed folk get made redundant too and often through no fault of their own ... seen such unhappy things too many times. Bad stuff happens and often it comes with no real warning, I really would encourage folk to think about setting a bit of money aside for a ‘rainy day’.

A chap I know of on another forum lost his job in the CV19 first wave and had to sell many of his Ukes to help ends meet, I don’t think that any of us saw CV19 coming or the unemployment that’s come with it.
 
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