TLDR: THINGS AREN’T WORKING OUT, SO I’M SHUTTING DOWN THE SHOP AND DOING SOMETHING ELSE. READ BELOW FOR MORE INFO!
I’ve sat and thought about how I wanted to word this for the longest time. To do my best to sound professional and minimize (elimintate) and “poor me” kind of energy in my words or phrasing. But, ultimately, there really aren’t too many ways to say what I have to say… so, I’m just going to wing it and let the chips fall where they may. It’s been a good run… and I’ve kept my company officially alive (in the most legal and legit sense of having a registered business name, location, etc like all the big boys are supposed to do) for over a decade. Had a storefront for 1 year, and after some unexpected issues with business partners, spent the next 9.5 years solo in my current workspace. It’s had it’s ups and downs. And shifts to survive the ebb and flow of the industries I chose to do my thing within. Unfortunately, I’ve reached the end of my rope in terms of my patience making this work by other people’s standards. Admittedly, I never truly wanted a storefront or workshop. I loved the idea of running a home-based business from day one. Keeping my business simple and straightforward without any extra overhead or drama. But I listened to others and decided to follow the “logical path” of evolution as I grew from a simple setup in my livingroom and basement of my apartment to a full blown storefront on the main strip of the neighborhood I chose to call home.
Things went well for a time. Until I learned the hard way that I picked the wrong people to go into business with. I won’t get into any details… but that is, by far, the kindest way I can phrase the entirety of that scenario. From there I moved from a 2000sq ft storefront to a 700sq ft workshop… cramming in all that I had accumulated to open my business and had further added to once we were open. And making it work, I might add, for a decent amount of time. 9.5 years is a solid stretch, I think. I won’t pretend that the pandemic and the recovery from surgery (that I’m still going through) post car crash have not played a significant role in the downturn of the functionality of the business. I’m sure things would be VERY different had the pandemic not happened, because the decisions I made that lead to the eventual crash and need for surgery would likely have not come about. So one is a definite result of the other.
Even so, I’ve done everything I could within reason to keep the business afloat since the world temporarily came to a halt. But, unfortunately, it has not been enough. I had already started what would eventually be a transition into a lifestyle and work style that better suited me and how I choose to live my best life. But that transition has been dragged out for WAY too long and now both the old way and the new way are being heavily hindered by my current circumstances. With all that said and done, and things being the way they are (and seem to be leading me to down a dead-end path), I am making an executive decision that needs to be made sooner rather than later. Unfortunately, it cannot play out effective immediately.
So, in conclusion, The purpose of this post is to state that I am starting the process of closing down the workshop. This will be a process that, if played out as planned, will take a few months… but should be completed by the end of the summer at the latest. This does not mean that I will not continue making cool stuff with lasers. It means that I am shedding ALL of the excess in my life so that it may function better and more efficiently (and happily). I will also be retiring (but holding onto) the company name, as there is no reason to continue to function under that name at this time. It does not suit the direction that I am taking with things, so a name change is in order. I won’t be necessarily changing the name everywhere, as some things like social media and such will take some time to transition from the old setup to what comes next. I could go into [complain about] all the reasons that this is going the way it is, but I won’t. That is a waste of time and energy for me to spout and for you to sit and read. Just know things are not going as they should be, so I’m shutting down the shop because it’s no longer working out. Just keep your eyes out for where things are going, because I’m not done doing my thing… I’m just done doing it this way!