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I Forge Iron

How to make a million dollars smithing.


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Kind of like saying "how do you get the professional photographer off of your front porch? Pay him for the pizza."

I know that you are joking, but I am sure that it actually can be done. I know an auctioneer back in CA who has made WELL over 30 million dollars selling machinery in the last 20 years. Most folks don't think of becoming a millionaire by being an auctioneer, but he saw an opportunity, and ran with it. I have seen shows on smiths who make entry gates for estates that they got paid $50-$100K for. It would only take 10-20 gates to make the million (gross $). I believe that if you start a business that you want to do the best that you can with it, if not why start? The thing with smithing is that you need to find that niche like the auctioneer did, and fill it. Be it entry gates, tools, sculptural pieces, whatever it may be you, WE just need to keep our eyes open to see the opportunity when it presents itself. It wasn't the 49'ers that made the money during the Gold Rush, it was the merchants selling the tools, and supplies that did good.

As to making 1,000,000 $1 dollar items-that is a possibility, even 1,000 $1,000 items. The company I work for makes millions of parts a month, it can be done. Of course doing things by hand will take longer, but it could be done. Just depends on how much effort that you want to put into the endeavor.

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here's my take....if you do'nt like what you do then why do you do it? after all it's supposed to be fun ain't it?

I actually have built over a million dollars worth of stuff... Last year alone, which wasn't a great year I billed close to $200K And its looking like I will have lost money doing so... Its a lot of work for one guy to turn out that much work... and to do so and end up with less at the end of the year? I would say it should be obvious that I must like it... although I cant say that the money side is ever "fun" The best thing that could happen is the chance to work for free and actually have the ability to do so without losing everything... If I won the lotto.. Not a thing would change other than I would take on only 25% as many jobs and I would spend 300% as much time on each one...
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  • 4 weeks later...

So I am talking to my blacksmith neighbor and he says he had talked to his architect and they had gotten the price on his new shop down from 1.6 million to 1.2 million. Dollars that is.
He has one helper and lots of tools and they are all in a field covered up. So with he and his worker how will they pay for the new shop.
I talked to my business friend and told him I didn't see how my neighbor could afford to build his shop. Tommy says that's easy. I scratch my head and say how?????
Start with 2 million.

This is a true story.

Glenn

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  • 6 months later...
  • 3 months later...

HI ALL ye thats the question how to make a good living out of blacksmithing, through my hands i would have hit things many million times and if i reiceved a $-50 per hit , many millions i would have turned but ,, the more you turn the more taxes you have to pay ,
so my thoughts are turn enough to live happily and pay a bit of tax ,buy tools that help you work eazyer, they are tax deduction, work hard enough but ,not to the extreme, stop and smell the roses or other things that are from nature often , and ,this is a saying from a great mate of mine he passed away 2years ago [[[those that are flexible shall not get bent out of shape ]]] and its a good idear ,
dont worry about the million dollars , if it come with working honest hard work good luck ,
as long as you get enough to continue to run your business and grow and your health is good thats all that is needed

THOSE THAT ARE FLEXIBLE SHALL NOT GET BENT OUT OF SHAPE , I THINK IS A GREAT SAYING

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Well. I've seen a few manage it. Works this way: Work 12 hours a day six days a week. Buy old machinery with every penny you can spare. Learn what it's like to employ people. Struggle for forty years or so till you're ready to retire. Then scrap everything and sell the property you're on for 1 million. And realize that for the last ten years or so you could have made way more from rent than you ever made with the business.

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Well. I've seen a few manage it. Works this way: Work 12 hours a day six days a week. Buy old machinery with every penny you can spare. Learn what it's like to employ people. Struggle for forty years or so till you're ready to retire. Then scrap everything and sell the property you're on for 1 million. And realize that for the last ten years or so you could have made way more from rent than you ever made with the business.


Grant,
You would have missed out on all those little chalenges!
You would have missed the oportunity to keep your lawyer/tax consultant,etc.etc 's kids in good schools!
You would have missed dealing with those ungrateful so & so's!
You would have missed have use and abuse your goodwill!
You would have missed out on heaps of schlep?
You would have had far too many sleepfilled nights!
You would have had time to spruce up and look after your home!
You would have had time to have good long hollidays in interesting places!
You would have had time to meet and befreind lots of good people!
You would have had time to spend quality time with those you liked/loved...........In short you might have had time to make their lives a misery!................You were probaby better off in business maybe not in $$$(AND YOU ARE PROBABLY NOT AS BAD OFF AS YOU MIGHT HAVE BEEN) but deffinitly in Life! :)
Ian
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Well. I've seen a few manage it. Works this way: Work 12 hours a day six days a week. Buy old machinery with every penny you can spare. Learn what it's like to employ people. Struggle for forty years or so till you're ready to retire. Then scrap everything and sell the property you're on for 1 million. And realize that for the last ten years or so you could have made way more from rent than you ever made with the business.


I know a guy like that but he kept a corner for him self and rents the rest.
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Grant,
You would have missed out on all those little chalenges!
You would have missed the oportunity to keep your lawyer/tax consultant,etc.etc 's kids in good schools!
You would have missed dealing with those ungrateful so & so's!
You would have missed have use and abuse your goodwill!
You would have missed out on heaps of schlep?
You would have had far too many sleepfilled nights!
You would have had time to spruce up and look after your home!
You would have had time to have good long hollidays in interesting places!
You would have had time to meet and befreind lots of good people!
You would have had time to spend quality time with those you liked/loved...........In short you might have had time to make their lives a misery!................You were probaby better off in business maybe not in $$$(AND YOU ARE PROBABLY NOT AS BAD OFF AS YOU MIGHT HAVE BEEN) but deffinitly in Life! :)
Ian



You would have missed having to work outside in sub-zero temps late at night.
You would have missed all those road trips to exotic(?)places with their cheap food and bad motels.
You would have missed talking long distance to your family while you were away during all those family events where you really should have been home instead of working.
You would have missed the opportunity to build your immune system by way of all those rain soaked installations and the colds/flu/viruses that followed.
You would have missed the opportunity to connect with new suppliers/tool dealers and purchase those brand new tools out of your own pocket after your old ones were stolen on an away job in a strange(aint it the truth)city.
You would have missed throwing all those good work clothes away because they had too many cuts,rips,holes in them or you knew they just wouldn`t come clean enough to wear to the next job after being soaked in any number of vile or flammable fluids.
You would have missed all those chances to perfect your "blacksmith ballet"("look everybody,Hack`s break dancing again!"Doesn`t anybody stop drop and roll anymore?) as you realized it was you and not the guy next to you who was on fire.
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Mooney, that is a great saying and one worth remembering.

If I can support my hobby with what I make from my hobby, then I am ahead of the game.

Right now I'm behind but I don't care.

I have been making a bunch of Fredrick Crosses. When I first started out I had visions of selling them. Yea right. Now I give them away to whoever shows an interest. But that little give away opens the door to other items that are for sale.

Millionaire? Naw, not me. To many headaches. Rather be a poor($) hobby smith than a rich office guy.

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