I won't ever claim to be an expert at this stuff, but I figure if I share as much as I can, then other can watch, and learn from my experiences one way or another!
Your income is similar to what i make with my day job. And i'm doing just fine with a mortgage, car payment, etc. I tell people all the time, it's not just about the money. You are your own boss, and that alone is priceless in my book.
Congratulations on the solid year, growing a business without debt is success. I'm hoping we see some tariff changes that improve our competitiveness in manufacturing this year.
If you’re happy at the end of the day who cares! Plus, you can see that it’s a stepping stone towards something bigger. Keeping going and have fun along the way!
Thank you for sharing the numbers! I think that building honest and public business is vice way to go nowadays. We are waiting our third boy, I know that kids takes a lot of time but they definitely worth that effort. God bless!
My opinion on borrowing money is that you need to know it's going to make more money before taking the loan out. For example, keep track of jobs you want to take but can't because you need X machine. After a year, tally up the extra money from those jobs over what you actually ended up doing in the time that would have been allocated, and see if it exceeds the cost of the loan payment.
Personally I'm not against borrowing for machines, or buildings, (though I would still avoid it if I could) but anything beyond that I think is unnecessary, and potentially harmful.
You made more then I was expecting you to have from this. it isn't a windfall but for how small your business is and being cash only (I think that is smart) I think you are doing good.
I came in a little under my predictions, but that was mostly due to December being weird (I did almost no machining work in December). but overall I am pretty happy with how things are going! Machining certainly isn't a get-rich-quick scheme 🤣
. Love to see youre first year went great. Not having fun money is 1 but being able to say you actualy made a reasonable first year is great! Keep it up. Score some good jobs and make double/tripple next year. Business can be hard. But when theres a will theres a way.
@AudacityMicro i know exactly how that feels. Dont have kids. But i know what it is to be just fine. Money doesnt make you better. But its allways nice to have some spares. I had a rough couple of years myself. Now im trying to get up again. Not easy But il manage i hope.
Thanks for the transparency about your business income. I think you've done remarkably well given that you've only been in business for one year. Well done!
I think considering you leveraged no credit whatsoever and skipped out on jobs that you knew were possible but didn’t want to take on the risk of buying the material on credit, you did pretty well for a first year in business! On a side note, I sincerely hope you’re not paying list prices for end mills, it’s shocking how different the pricing is going through a distributor who gets large volume discounts that you can’t achieve on your own. Of course most of them want to do net30 billing which you may consider credit…just something to look into if you haven’t already.
Seems really good for year 1, and being all cash is smart. It will be interesting to see what happens next year - if you stick with the same machines, how much will revenue grow, or do you get bigger machines, and what possibilities does that open up... etc
Thank you for sharing and being open about this. You are inspiration for me to potentially getting a machine. I would say that for the first year, this is great. The burden in the first year is very high and the investment in the first year will pay off. With your new machine and your workflow developed (an continuous improvements), this is very promising.
Congratulations on successfull year.Do you think prices from xometry are competitive? Or do they fit based on hourly rates for milling and turning parts?
Xometry's prices are super high for their customers, and super low for shops 😅. But the value of guaranteed work, and not messing with sales/billing is also huge. It's worth it to me for now, but it won't be worth it for everyone.
@AudacityMicro I wanted your opinion because I want to try couple of parts,but very low prices offered sometimes are not enough to cover steel,delivery...
Hi AJ, Great video, as always. One question that I have is with regards to shipping. I see you have an "Office, Software and Shipping" breakout but does that include shipping for incoming raw materials and tooling, or is that just for shipping your final finished products? I ask because it seems for Xometry, you need to "frequently" pay for overnight shipping for both tooling and materials to meet the deadline and so wondering if your tooling and materials breakout includes those higher shipping fees? Thanks.
I included shipping and taxes on materials and tooling, in the materials and tooling sections. The office and shipping section is specifically things that I shipped to other people. (Which was minimal, since most my business was xometry, and xometry pays for their own shipping).
Not bad for a first year. XOM was my only customer for the first 5 years of my business and I definitely made more money as the years went on with them and I'm sure you will too. But now what this stuff about being able to expense some mortgage payments?!? I run a home shop too and I though I could only expense some of the power and heating bills. I need to find a better CP!
@@AudacityMicro and if your curious, I made $47k gross with XOM my first full year with them back in 2020 (I just looked it up on the XOM finance board) when I only had my tormach 770. And my last year of them being my only customer, I made 180K gross with them.
Do you have a website? I am in charge of all of our vendor relationships at my company and I’m sure there will be a time in the next few months when we’ll have something for you to quote if you’re interested.
I do technically have a website, but it's not in a particularly useful state at the moment 😅. It's just there for Fusion training. Right now I just do everything via email. AJ@audacitymicro.com
That's pretty much the goal right now! We're happy and healthy, and that is really what matters right now. Comfort will come in time, but money isn't everything.
Thank you for having the courage to post real, bottom line numbers. Very insightful.
I won't ever claim to be an expert at this stuff, but I figure if I share as much as I can, then other can watch, and learn from my experiences one way or another!
Always dealing in cash means that you are a slave to no one. Glad to see you’re making it Dude.
Getting there! 2025 should be much better
Your income is similar to what i make with my day job. And i'm doing just fine with a mortgage, car payment, etc. I tell people all the time, it's not just about the money. You are your own boss, and that alone is priceless in my book.
Exactly 🙂
I like what you're doing buddy. Keep it up. Thank you for being honest.
🙂
Congratulations on the solid year, growing a business without debt is success. I'm hoping we see some tariff changes that improve our competitiveness in manufacturing this year.
If you’re happy at the end of the day who cares! Plus, you can see that it’s a stepping stone towards something bigger. Keeping going and have fun along the way!
Thank you for sharing the numbers! I think that building honest and public business is vice way to go nowadays. We are waiting our third boy, I know that kids takes a lot of time but they definitely worth that effort. God bless!
My opinion on borrowing money is that you need to know it's going to make more money before taking the loan out. For example, keep track of jobs you want to take but can't because you need X machine. After a year, tally up the extra money from those jobs over what you actually ended up doing in the time that would have been allocated, and see if it exceeds the cost of the loan payment.
Personally I'm not against borrowing for machines, or buildings, (though I would still avoid it if I could) but anything beyond that I think is unnecessary, and potentially harmful.
As you grow, hopefully you can direct market your services and improve your margins instead of letting the broker take 20% off the top!
You made more then I was expecting you to have from this. it isn't a windfall but for how small your business is and being cash only (I think that is smart) I think you are doing good.
I came in a little under my predictions, but that was mostly due to December being weird (I did almost no machining work in December). but overall I am pretty happy with how things are going! Machining certainly isn't a get-rich-quick scheme 🤣
. Love to see youre first year went great. Not having fun money is 1 but being able to say you actualy made a reasonable first year is great!
Keep it up. Score some good jobs and make double/tripple next year.
Business can be hard. But when theres a will theres a way.
thanks! Money isn't everything! Money is tight, but we're doing just fine!
@AudacityMicro i know exactly how that feels. Dont have kids. But i know what it is to be just fine. Money doesnt make you better. But its allways nice to have some spares. I had a rough couple of years myself. Now im trying to get up again. Not easy
But il manage i hope.
I have faith in you 😀
@AudacityMicro thanks.
Thanks for the transparency about your business income. I think you've done remarkably well given that you've only been in business for one year. Well done!
Thank you!
I think considering you leveraged no credit whatsoever and skipped out on jobs that you knew were possible but didn’t want to take on the risk of buying the material on credit, you did pretty well for a first year in business! On a side note, I sincerely hope you’re not paying list prices for end mills, it’s shocking how different the pricing is going through a distributor who gets large volume discounts that you can’t achieve on your own. Of course most of them want to do net30 billing which you may consider credit…just something to look into if you haven’t already.
Seems really good for year 1, and being all cash is smart. It will be interesting to see what happens next year - if you stick with the same machines, how much will revenue grow, or do you get bigger machines, and what possibilities does that open up... etc
2025 is already looking much better! I already have $20K of work booked, and it's not even February yet.
Thank you for sharing and being open about this. You are inspiration for me to potentially getting a machine. I would say that for the first year, this is great. The burden in the first year is very high and the investment in the first year will pay off. With your new machine and your workflow developed (an continuous improvements), this is very promising.
hey that is awesome! Definitely reach out if/when you do decide to get a machine!
Hey AJ, thanks for the insight! Was this premium level xometry work for the most part?
Nope! Most of this was done at the first tier
What was your typical weekly/monthly time investment?
Basically all of it?
How many hours a week are you working?
Too many, but also not enough at the same time 😅
May God continue to bless you :)
🙂
Amen! I also pray God blesses you! I want to see you and your family continue to be successful and for your business to grow!
Congratulations on successfull year.Do you think prices from xometry are competitive? Or do they fit based on hourly rates for milling and turning parts?
Xometry's prices are super high for their customers, and super low for shops 😅.
But the value of guaranteed work, and not messing with sales/billing is also huge.
It's worth it to me for now, but it won't be worth it for everyone.
@AudacityMicro I wanted your opinion because I want to try couple of parts,but very low prices offered sometimes are not enough to cover steel,delivery...
Just don't take the jobs that you can't make money on 🤷♂️. I reject 99% of jobs. But it only takes a few.
@@AudacityMicro If you reject jobs, that don't fit on your graphics based on xometry work
That's how xometry works. You reject the jobs you don't want, and you take the jobs you want.
Hi AJ, Great video, as always. One question that I have is with regards to shipping. I see you have an "Office, Software and Shipping" breakout but does that include shipping for incoming raw materials and tooling, or is that just for shipping your final finished products? I ask because it seems for Xometry, you need to "frequently" pay for overnight shipping for both tooling and materials to meet the deadline and so wondering if your tooling and materials breakout includes those higher shipping fees? Thanks.
I included shipping and taxes on materials and tooling, in the materials and tooling sections. The office and shipping section is specifically things that I shipped to other people. (Which was minimal, since most my business was xometry, and xometry pays for their own shipping).
Thanks for being honest...my 2 cents is FOLLOW YOUR HEART😊
😁
Not bad for a first year. XOM was my only customer for the first 5 years of my business and I definitely made more money as the years went on with them and I'm sure you will too.
But now what this stuff about being able to expense some mortgage payments?!? I run a home shop too and I though I could only expense some of the power and heating bills. I need to find a better CP!
Maybe don't take anything I say as tax advice 😂. I am just parroting what I think my CPA told me a year ago, I could be mistaken/misremembering.
@@AudacityMicro and if your curious, I made $47k gross with XOM my first full year with them back in 2020 (I just looked it up on the XOM finance board) when I only had my tormach 770. And my last year of them being my only customer, I made 180K gross with them.
Thanks for posting this?
You're welcome!
Do you have a website? I am in charge of all of our vendor relationships at my company and I’m sure there will be a time in the next few months when we’ll have something for you to quote if you’re interested.
I do technically have a website, but it's not in a particularly useful state at the moment 😅. It's just there for Fusion training.
Right now I just do everything via email. AJ@audacitymicro.com
atta boy. very, very much appreicated for us that want to be Audacity Micro some day.
😁
If you're having fun and have enough coming in to pay the bills that sounds good to me.
That's pretty much the goal right now! We're happy and healthy, and that is really what matters right now. Comfort will come in time, but money isn't everything.