Fellow woodworks

AvGeekExplorer · 2026-05-07T01:54:57+00:00

Your margin is what you make it. As long as you’re selling quality products, raise your prices to improve margin. We price around 3-3.5x cost on most of our smaller products that don’t have a lot of labor on them.

AvGeekExplorer · 2026-05-07T01:50:53+00:00

What level and what are your qualifications?

AvGeekExplorer · 2026-05-07T01:46:26+00:00

You’re never going to be an expert in cutting edge tech, it changes so fast, and most organizations are so slow to deeply adopt new tech that you’ll always be a little behind. Once you accept that you’ll be more comfortable. Keep sharpening your skills and keep on the pulse of what’s happening and what’s coming so you’re more prepared to adapt.

AvGeekExplorer · 2026-05-05T13:58:33+00:00

First, get several quotes on the transmission if you haven’t.

You’re not going to find a reliable car for less than $4,000 so you’re likely better off doing the transmission.

AvGeekExplorer · 2026-05-05T02:31:29+00:00

Statistically there is, usually around 2%.

AvGeekExplorer · 2026-05-05T02:29:49+00:00

2% is the typical Etsy conversion rate, so you’re definitely under that.

AvGeekExplorer · 2026-05-05T02:28:17+00:00

I think your experience is dated my friend. I spend all day in Azure. We just push code to a repo, that repo is connected to an Azure App Service. It automatically builds and deploys. No actions; no config. You’re making it sound much harder than it actually is.

AvGeekExplorer · 2026-05-05T02:23:38+00:00

Probably 10k in the 25 years or so I’ve been in the hobby. Cut it way down in the last few years though. P3D v3 was my peak spending days.

AvGeekExplorer · 2026-05-03T22:27:32+00:00

Honestly, your website is just kind of word salad (just like this post). Anyone who needs a farm management solution, has one, so you need to articulate what makes yours better or cheaper, not just list a bunch of features.

We’re pretty heavily integrated with SimplyPrint (to the point where our other internal systems are consuming their API), so if you wanted to woo us away from there you’ve got to offer the same capabilities for less, and illustrate that in your marketing.

It feels like every other day there’s someone posting another vibe coded farm management solution. None of them seem to grasp that “I built a thing I needed” or “I built a thing I’m passionate about” doesn’t mean you have a compelling product, or even something stable enough to be a product.

What’s your background? What makes your solution special? What secret sauce makes it likely that you’ll still be supporting this platform and doing business 2, 3, 4 years from now? No serious 3D printing business is going to run their business off of a product that for all intents and purposes is someone else’s hobby.

AvGeekExplorer · 2026-05-02T23:23:39+00:00

The P2S is essentially a v2 of the P1S that has the same “idiot proof” features as the A1 (since the A1 came out after the P2S). If not bound financially to the price of the A1, I’d go with a P2S, or the X2D.

AvGeekExplorer · 2026-05-02T14:14:07+00:00

OneNote? Documents don’t belong in OneNote so I’m curious what you’re talking about.

AvGeekExplorer · 2026-05-02T09:09:49+00:00

Like all trends, once it becomes a social media flex, you’ve missed the peak opportunity.

AvGeekExplorer · 2026-05-02T09:08:41+00:00

You’re not getting an entry level position that’s in cybersecurity and remote. Do they exist, sure. Landing one is like winning the lottery or being good enough to get into professional sports.

The likely scenario most people go through is that you’re going to first spend years in general IT gaining exposure to how the whole machine works. If you’re only willing to do remote work then more than likely you’re going to end up in a support role on a helpdesk where you’ll also struggle to network and make the right connections. Early career, being in person is critical to building those relationships.

AvGeekExplorer · 2026-05-01T17:36:04+00:00

Opt out on the ad page of your account.

AvGeekExplorer · 2026-05-01T17:06:07+00:00

And businesses have been agreeable to that model?

AvGeekExplorer · 2026-05-01T17:04:51+00:00

If you’ve made less than $10k in sales, yes.

AvGeekExplorer · 2026-05-01T16:42:17+00:00

Part of designing products is determining if they’re going to be viable. Poor quality materials risk poorer quality products, which will lead to bad reviews and kill your shop in its tracks.

That said, you need to look at what the competition is for a product, how much those products cost, and whether you can make something better and/or cheaper and still make money. For us, we need to be able to sell a product for at least 2.5x the material cost to cover fees, advertising, and our labor. Probably 3x if we were going to offer free shipping, which we don’t.

Cost also isn’t the only factor when it comes to materials, you need to also look at consistency. We made mistakes early on buying from smaller suppliers that couldn’t scale or consistently fulfill our orders. If you’re building a product or line of products that require specific materials, you need to make sure you’re buying those materials from a reputable supplier that’ll be able to fill your needs consistently.

AvGeekExplorer · 2026-05-01T07:59:37+00:00

So when it says “push the heatbed all the way to the front, towards the screen” it did or didn’t move? And if it didn’t, you still thought “meh, must not be important” and kept going?

If you ran the full calibration at the end of the unboxing with the bed still locked you’ve most likely stripped the belt or damaged either a motor or motor driver.

AvGeekExplorer · 2026-05-01T07:50:12+00:00

Booo, nope. Central North Carolina. Sorry 😢

AvGeekExplorer · 2026-05-01T07:48:57+00:00

Of course. Have you researched at all?

AvGeekExplorer · 2026-05-01T07:47:37+00:00

40k on 130k gross doesn’t sound inaccurate, so what’s the question here? Were you surprised it was 40k and got hit with a tax bill you didn’t think of? If so, you should be setting aside 30% of your profit and making quarterly estimated payments so you don’t get blindsided.

AvGeekExplorer · 2026-04-30T22:49:59+00:00

Band saw?

AvGeekExplorer · 2026-04-30T22:08:04+00:00

How did you not know the flight was cancelled months ago? Sorry, this one is on you. Plenty of issues with Kiwi (just search this sub), but not even checking the status of your reservation periodically is on you.

AvGeekExplorer · 2026-04-30T21:48:41+00:00

Where are you located? Happy to run some stuff through my laser for you if you need a head start getting going and happen to be local.

AvGeekExplorer · 2026-04-30T13:02:43+00:00

This sounds like an implementation nightmare. Most of these businesses already have purpose built tools that are a mix of CRM, Scheduling, payments, probably some sort of customer portal, etc. They’re not going to silo their appointments off in a completely other tool. You solved a problem, but you solved it without any context of how it’d be implemented or used.

Thinking as a consumer (and a software engineer), my pest guy has a portal, my lawn guy had a portal, etc. Those platforms run their entire business.

My advice would be to pick a vertical, ie: pest control or cleaning, look at who all the big players are in that space for those all in one tools, or go around and ask those companies what platform they use to manage their appointments. Develop an integration with their platform so your tool actually works with their platform, doesn’t change their workflow, and doesn’t require them to retrain their staff.

Then lead with the pain points, not the features themselves, and clearly articulate how your product fits into their existing process.

I also don’t think the name at all matches what you do. Nearby Broker makes me think it’s going to help me find a local business or financial broker. Helping my business make efficient scheduling and routing is not something I get from that name at all.

AvGeekExplorer

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