Changing Gear

“Most people don’t make money because they let not knowing what to do… stop them.” ~ Codie Sanchez

I will make a confession right here. As I write this, I have not yet accomplished my self-employment goal. My goal is to make an income as a self-employed man that would rival what I’ve earned as an employee. I have managed to generate some income. Side hustle income. Some side change never hurt anyone, but unless I can make about several dozen income streams of the same nature, it’s not going to accomplish the goal. Success in achieving your goal often relies on having the right tools or gear at your disposal. Sure, if you’re a construction worker you need a certain set of equipment, the proper clothing, and the knowledge to work that job. After over 20 something years as a drafter/mechanical designer and as someone who has invested in certain tools, and has a lot of product design experience, it sure seems like I have everything I’ve ever needed to develop decent products and to sell them to earn an income. Well, hold up just a minute. What about having the mental gear to achieve the goal? Is that thinking cap set to entrepreneur mode or is it still in employee mode?

Therein lies an issue that in the earlier stages of this venture, I’ve often written off as being insignificant. What if being stuck in employee mode is the last major hurdle? It’s something I’ve pondered often in the past few months as I make another attempt at this. You see, I can design and make a great deal of products. Which is good, but also not helpful in paring things down to a workable set of worthwhile projects. As an employee, you are told what to design and while there are some parameters as to how to design things based on a.) the laws of physics, b.) what a customer wants, c.) what fits within the company’s limitations for budget, suppliers, materials, styles, etc. d.) how much time you’re allotted, and e.) what works, after that you have a little bit of creativity left over when it comes to creating a concept and turning it into a product. But, when those variables become far more abstract, let’s say one of my background can’t help but start to panic a little bit. How do you even begin to nail things down? Budget is a limitation, equipment, suppliers, those damn laws of physics again, but when creativity is seemingly boundless it can paint a daunting picture. That is if your picture is just a gallery filled with blank canvasses and uncarved marble blocks!

As someone who has been trained for over two decades not to throw things at the wall to see what sticks this becomes an interesting learning curve. One that makes decision time very uncomfortable. It’s as if you told a bus driver who was familiar with just doing one route and generating a certain amount of fare money to now drive around the entire city wherever they please. They just can’t drive their old route. Now, I have to forget some of these rules that has created a certain structure to my working life and embrace uncertainty, embrace the possibility of making an ass out of myself, embrace a life with a tighter financial belt, and less structure.

The natural question that may come to the mind of the reader is, “Then why did you put yourself through this?” It’s a fair question. I feel it’s something I have to try. I’ve had a storied career. I’ve made thousands of drawings, hundreds of designs. Every day, there are distribution centers in which a product you may have purchased has ridden on a conveyor I had a hand in or have designed from scratch. I’ve worked in the steel wire industry for a few years drawing French fry baskets for a company that sold them to larger firms like McDonald’s. I’ve worked in the gaming industry designing parts for arcade game cabinets and video slot cabinets. I’ve worked at a company designing structures for electrical substations for a number of years as well. These are all very worthwhile industries and wonderful products we all use. Employee mode has served me well. I had gotten used to the fear of God driven into me not to make too many mistakes. I’ve made plenty, but most were so minor they were taken care of during production with minimal impact or in the field with perhaps a hole drilled here or there. I’ve had a couple of riskier mistakes in all of that time, but for the most part everything had worked the first time. You don’t want to be the reason a distribution center has to stop their conveyor lines halting all processing and shipping! I also think the increasing use of computers goes a long way into drilling it into us that things have to be done a certain way no matter what. It’s a strictly binary situation: you either enter the information correctly or incorrectly. There’s no gray area. To move from that world into the world of art in which so much is subjective is quite a leap. I have more time for research & development, far less risk if something goes wrong during the process, but subconsciously I’m still pushing myself to get it done right the first time. I’m even conducting quality control from an engineering approach. Geez! Who does that in the art world?

So, what are some other reasons for reaching the decision to pursue my own venture? As I write this, I’m in my mid-40s. I’ve worked at a certain pace, spent countless hours in front of a computer, watched my days fade from dawn to dusk, my body become too accustomed to this lifestyle, I’ve had too many itches to see what it was like to do something on my own and I needed a change. I was always happiest when I was intimately involved with the product. When I could see the tangible, end-result of my digital creations, when I can work on them, and when people are visibly happy with their products. I like to work with my hands just as much as I like to make pretty pictures of these items on the computer. I’ve entered this industry through drafting because I like to draw. It was a way for someone like myself with artistic and technical talents to get paid. But, it’s not the only way. Like a worn-in gearbox that’s used to never going to the next gear, it has been a clunky experience fraught with some strange grinding noises and the fear the I won’t be making progress, but I feel it’s a rite of passage I need to take, the next step in my career, the hope of accomplishing all of this before I’m too old, and the pursuit of a more-balanced lifestyle that allows me to scratch my creative itches, pay the bills, while allowing myself the means to get away from that computer for long enough stretches to bring my middle-aged office body back into shape.

Now, the task at hand is to be as good of a boss to myself as I have been an employee. To have the discipline to stick to an idea and see it through rather than starting a few dozen projects and second-guessing their validity before the final stretch. That’s what it certainly feels like sometimes. You do something, you don’t have enough feedback, likes, followers, etc. so you’re in this bubble wondering if a product is worthwhile or not and I’ll probably not know for months, perhaps years as I grow this thing one sale at a time, one customer at a time, one follower at a time, one post, one listing and so on. There’s no shortcut. No fast forward button. Just this until patterns begin to take shape. Until I see what works, what doesn’t, what I like making, what other people like, and what isn’t even worth it, there’s just no way of knowing beforehand. While I’m not completely driving blind, there will be many leaps of faith, risks, wasted 3D printing filament, plywood, glass, acrylic, time, money. It’s the cost of doing business and it’s usually the worst when starting out. Sometimes it could be easy. You stumble upon a great product, a great niche, and things have a way of sorting themselves out, especially if I could stop overthinking, second-guessing, and start experimenting like crazy! Most crucially of all, I needed the time to experiment. It wasn’t something I could do while working full-time.

I’ve been in business since late 2019. It all started when I tried making stained glass panels full time. I love the medium, but I struggled the create a sufficient output of work in a way that made sense from an accounting standpoint. I needed to pivot to things that relied on my strengths so I decided to sell my patterns and to design new patterns for other stained glass artists as a means to keep the business going and growing when I decided to go back into the workforce in the spring of 2022. In the spring of 2025, I decided to leave the workforce to try this again. I had felt that it was time to take things to the next level. Since my strengths are design, engineering, and things of a technical nature, I’m going to heavily lean into those skills for this new chapter. I’ve been experimenting with stained glass, faux stained glass, 3D printing, laser engraving/cutting, and I’m still in pursuit of reinventing the stained glass panel/suncatcher in a way that will reliably look good, work well, and take less time assembling than soldering things together. I’ve designed everything myself from scratch. I do not rely on 3D printing libraries and .svg libraries for my files. I endeavor to make a product I can be proud of. While I’m experimenting and attempting to see what sticks, it’s not done in a haphazard fashion. If a product I make isn’t consistent quality-wise or isn’t a representation of my best, it doesn’t get released. So, you may see plenty of things in the shop that may not necessarily be a part of the same theme of products during this phase. Haha!

With all of that being said, these are not unique experiences. Many people find themselves amid interesting, little mid-life crises in which they decide to change things up. The old cliché about teaching old dogs new tricks is not quite true. Sure, it can be more difficult to change gears as I’ve become a creature of certain habits, but the willingness to get out of one’s comfort zone, deal with the consequences, and to adapt to this new endeavor is a challenge I’ve accepted. I suppose a more-healthier approach would be to look at it all as an experiment. This isn’t a scenario in which you’re tied with the other team and you have one free throw opportunity to win the game, all eyes are on you and it’s for the championship. I have skills I can fall back on. I have experience. This isn’t life or death, but merely an opportunity to live life within a different realm of possibilities. Thank you for joining me, witnessing this journey, and for all of your support. I hope documenting it will be helpful to others who are embarking on their own new ventures. Cheers!

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