KEN BROWN ENGRAVING MAKES TIME COUNT…

The athletic 15 year old girl had the choice of a watch or a ring.  She opted for the watch so the engraving could be seen better.  What team-member of a bunch of ace female soccer players wouldn’t want a nice jeweled watch to flash around her peers and brag on the team’s success.

She knew exactly what she wanted.  The year.  State Champs.  Her three initials with no dots.  She came with her dad and they agreed on the arrangement.  Placement didn’t offer choices.

I drew 3 baselines using my ‘eyeball’ or ‘shoot from the hip’ method.  I used a #2 round carbide bur to get the words on the lines.  At $15. per line and less than 5 minutes for the whole job, that projects to the possibility of 12 watches, with the same engraving, finished in an hour.  Do the math and that’s roughly five-hundred forty bucks for an hour’s work.  Of course I only had one watch but I earned at that rate.  Insanely easy.  Amazing customer satisfaction.

Bring me more watches please!

BOTTOM LINE:  You engravers out there who could do this but may not have tapped into the potential.  Listen up.  Get a cheapie watch at Walmart and engrave it.  Look at the backs of several.  Pick one that had open space.  Many have copyrights, company names, pressure specifications, and other gobbledegook that will block lots engraving room.  Make up something and engrave it. Get a good photograph.  A GOOD photograph without the coffee mug or dog or plaid sofa in the background.  Get some butcher paper or a large sheet for the bed.  Drape it (unslept-on, please!) from a couple of push-pins a few feet apart on the wall, sweeping down to a table.  Put the watch on it.   With a bit of time and patience you can get a good photo.  Heck, a recent iPhone in the shade outside would do the trick.

Select a dozen small jewelry stores in a 10-12 mile radius of your location.  Send a well-crafted email with the photo attached.  Tell them you’re a rare bird without using those words.  Let them know you can engrave many items that won’t fit into their engraving machine.  If they even have an engraving machine.

Will bet you a box of burs you’ll get some attention.  When you get a response from the jeweler, go get some face time with the one who contacted you.  Be ready to answer questions about how much you charge.  What you can and cannot do.  “What’s in it for me?,” the store owner will ask.  “Nothing,” is your answer.  Remind him/her that they are making a customer happy when they refer them to you.  Also, tell them you have lots of contact with customers who ask about jewelry and things you cannot do.  You’ll refer those people to the jeweler.  NO money should change hands between you and the store.

Lots of other details to think about on this and countless other earning and marketing opportunities are discussed in our 3-day Seminar.  Details here.

Oh yes, I used a .50 round carbide to print my name in block letters on the edge of the rim on the back.  IF someone sees it and wants to track me down, Google turns me up quite readily.  When you get your name out there…when you post your work to a blog, and other ways of branding your name…people will be able to link your name with engraving and find you quickly.

Anyone out there interested in instructions for correctly doing block letters?  Comes in handy on small items…and some larger pieces when people insist.

Good luck!

Ken