@@jleesknivesAs a guy raised by bankers, my big advice to to do what your doing now; expand your ranger of advertising platforms (TH-cam, TikTok, ect). The more sites you use, the more people hear about you. That being said, I would also set up a formal site to be reached. Instagram... I don't like it.
I remember Jason Knight talking about bladesmithing being a labor of love and if your looking to get rich, keep looking. I think this is another aspect that many knifemakers dont want to address, for most, knife making should be a hobby/part time job supplemented by other forms of income. Very few will find their niche market and be able to make a comfortable living. As with any art, its just as about marketing, who you know and work ethic as it is about talent. I feel like Instagram was a crutch for a lot of people that didn’t necessarily have any of those things in abundance. Now your work, it’s quality. I believe your on the right path by putting more effort into the marketing and staying true to your style and refining that style to be unique. When someone can look at a profile and know who made it, thats a really good thing.
For sure... I don't have any illusions of getting rich... Unfortunately Instagram is probably where I can trace about 90% of my customers to between 2020 and now... And stupidly I (probably not just me)kinda put most of my marketing eggs in that basket, and now I've gotta play catch-up on the rest. It'll all work out though, I'm fairly relentless!😂
Ive never had any success with Instagram. Ive never gotten a single sale from thay platform. I only do shorts here, and have at least been contacted multiple times about blades, sales from tiktok and Facebook have been the majority for me. Ive decided to hit the road and start doing some national shows, just finished up my first blade show. I dont know whay is going to work but I'm going to keep grinding
Instagram is where almost all of business has come from... I'm probably not putting enough effort into TikTok but it mostly seems like gawkers so far. Facebook is ok, and I've gotten some sales here, but still need to grow the account...
@@jleesknives tiktoc is strange for sure, they seem to be throttling back exposure some as well too. For the last couple months my views have been about 1/3 of what they were. Consistent posting seems to be key in any platform which I suck at...I have had a few on tiktoc recently that are getting better views though
Instagram and Facebook have pretty much shut me down. I’m trying to find a new outlet as well. I don’t know what to do. I don’t have a huge following but I also started to try the TH-cam platform.
This too shall pass - I know it sounds like a fortune cookie BS, but it's kinda true. I am not saying it will be better immediately, especially for you full-timers, but things will change. And, since it's really bad right now, there's a good chance it will be better.
Definitely gotta weather the storm... All markets have ups and downs, and I think 2020 to the beginning of 2023 was a big up interest wise in custom knives... With the economy in a kind of tailspin, luxury items seem to be in less demand. I for one plan on figuring it out, but I don't think Instagram will be the way forward in the foreseeable future, and that's just honestly where a lot of us got a lot of traction.
I have suspicion that IG is getting pressure or financial compensation to undermine knifemakers that are using their platform to sell knives. Officially I'm sure that IG is claiming that they are doing all of this because of knife violence. I'd be very interested to know when was the last time anyone was murdered with a knife that cost more than 40$ let alone custom or small batch production knives. I see ads all of the time for Dalstrong or Coolina or any number of crappy production knives so they obviously don't actually have an issue with advertising culinary knives. They just have an issue helping smaller businesses or hobbyists to sell their wares because people like you are giving people legitimate good quality options for culinary tools that can possibly last multiple generations. That means you are keeping untold thousands of dollars out of the pockets of our corporate overlords and after nearly a decade of the knifemaker resurgence, they are probably feeling it in the pocket books.
@@jleesknives yep. He talks about it for a second in his most recent vid. I'm sure he was flabbergasted when he saw it. They even suspended his account
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TH-cam shorts is where I've been finding most new knife content lately.
I've definitely been using TH-cam a lot more...
@@jleesknivesAs a guy raised by bankers, my big advice to to do what your doing now; expand your ranger of advertising platforms (TH-cam, TikTok, ect). The more sites you use, the more people hear about you. That being said, I would also set up a formal site to be reached. Instagram... I don't like it.
@@fredfry5100 jleesknives.com is the place it goes down...
Yeah it's been crippling for sure. I'm a hobbyist but retiring soon and going full time. Instagram has been one of my main marketing venues
It's definitely sad... I've seen a few folks closing up shop...
I remember Jason Knight talking about bladesmithing being a labor of love and if your looking to get rich, keep looking. I think this is another aspect that many knifemakers dont want to address, for most, knife making should be a hobby/part time job supplemented by other forms of income. Very few will find their niche market and be able to make a comfortable living. As with any art, its just as about marketing, who you know and work ethic as it is about talent. I feel like Instagram was a crutch for a lot of people that didn’t necessarily have any of those things in abundance. Now your work, it’s quality. I believe your on the right path by putting more effort into the marketing and staying true to your style and refining that style to be unique. When someone can look at a profile and know who made it, thats a really good thing.
For sure... I don't have any illusions of getting rich... Unfortunately Instagram is probably where I can trace about 90% of my customers to between 2020 and now... And stupidly I (probably not just me)kinda put most of my marketing eggs in that basket, and now I've gotta play catch-up on the rest. It'll all work out though, I'm fairly relentless!😂
Ive never had any success with Instagram. Ive never gotten a single sale from thay platform. I only do shorts here, and have at least been contacted multiple times about blades, sales from tiktok and Facebook have been the majority for me. Ive decided to hit the road and start doing some national shows, just finished up my first blade show. I dont know whay is going to work but I'm going to keep grinding
Instagram is where almost all of business has come from... I'm probably not putting enough effort into TikTok but it mostly seems like gawkers so far. Facebook is ok, and I've gotten some sales here, but still need to grow the account...
@@jleesknives tiktoc is strange for sure, they seem to be throttling back exposure some as well too. For the last couple months my views have been about 1/3 of what they were. Consistent posting seems to be key in any platform which I suck at...I have had a few on tiktoc recently that are getting better views though
Instagram and Facebook have pretty much shut me down. I’m trying to find a new outlet as well. I don’t know what to do. I don’t have a huge following but I also started to try the TH-cam platform.
It's a lot of work on any platform to get started, but it's definitely more difficult now than when I started...
This too shall pass - I know it sounds like a fortune cookie BS, but it's kinda true. I am not saying it will be better immediately, especially for you full-timers, but things will change. And, since it's really bad right now, there's a good chance it will be better.
Definitely gotta weather the storm... All markets have ups and downs, and I think 2020 to the beginning of 2023 was a big up interest wise in custom knives... With the economy in a kind of tailspin, luxury items seem to be in less demand. I for one plan on figuring it out, but I don't think Instagram will be the way forward in the foreseeable future, and that's just honestly where a lot of us got a lot of traction.
I have suspicion that IG is getting pressure or financial compensation to undermine knifemakers that are using their platform to sell knives. Officially I'm sure that IG is claiming that they are doing all of this because of knife violence. I'd be very interested to know when was the last time anyone was murdered with a knife that cost more than 40$ let alone custom or small batch production knives. I see ads all of the time for Dalstrong or Coolina or any number of crappy production knives so they obviously don't actually have an issue with advertising culinary knives. They just have an issue helping smaller businesses or hobbyists to sell their wares because people like you are giving people legitimate good quality options for culinary tools that can possibly last multiple generations. That means you are keeping untold thousands of dollars out of the pockets of our corporate overlords and after nearly a decade of the knifemaker resurgence, they are probably feeling it in the pocket books.
Anything is possible... But yeah, I don't get the impression folks are ordering customs with the intent of murder... 😂
Yea they are. Will Stetler had 2 knife posts taken down for slavery & human exploitation and some other nonsense that had nothing to do with knives.
@@J.C... yikes...
@@jleesknives yep. He talks about it for a second in his most recent vid. I'm sure he was flabbergasted when he saw it. They even suspended his account