A couple years ago, I started a side hustle routing parts with my small CNC router (30x48 table). I had as much work as I could handle from a local science museum making parts for their exhibits.

Last spring I was laid off, so I have decided to turn the side hustle into a full time job. I owned a cabinet shop for many years, and I know that this time around I need to plan the business carefully so I don't end up neck deep in debt.

Here's what I know:

-I have a sizeable rolodex of woodworking shops from a former sales position, and I have spoken to many of them about what products they would buy from me. There is some need for custom routed parts, like fluted panels and routed doors. But not enough to keep me busy. Several of them were enthusiastic about RTA case and closet parts; I can't offer that until I have a warehouse and an edgebander.

-I spoke to a successful shop owner in AU that I would model my business after. He spends $1,500/mo on SEO, and has all the custom routing he can handle. I have my doubts about the value of SEO. Has this approach worked for others and if so how do you find an SEO firm that you can trust?

I have a decent website (see link above), but it's been up for a year and a half with zero inquiries. Gets about 20 hits/month.

What do you guys think? How do I get this plane off the ground?

Using the word Rolodex speaks to your business acumen. For any business to succeed, marketing will be your biggest effort. You need to drive several thousand hits a month to get a small percentage of them to ask for a bid. How many cabinet shops in your area that can't keep up with their own CNC machines? Do you have the capital to get a 5x12' CNC to handle a full lift of sheet goods in a day? Do you have about 2 years of capital set aside to stay alive before the business gets profitable?

Yes, and marketing is where I have failed before. It's easy to throw money at it, but you can't do that for very long if it isn't effective.

The way I am seeing it, there are two different markets I could focus on.

One is the table-saw shop (no CNC) that needs custom routed panels and RTA case parts. If the need is there, it's a great target because I know every player in my local region and I have sales experience. No capital required to market because I just go out and beat the streets until I have some regular sales.

The other model is limited only by how far I can ship a custom part. This is the one employed by my Australian acquaintance. Dump money into marketing, in his case SEO, and hope for some RFQ's. If I had any inkling of where to start here I'd probably follow his lead.

I certainly don't have 2 years of capital to burn. Nor do I have $300k for a high-end router. But equipment and a warehouse don't do me any good if I don't have sales to pay for them. The only option I have is a bootstrap approach: Sell first and grow as the sales grow.

Don't you need at least a 4' x 8' router to do cabinet parts? Or do you plan on cutting down the sheets and then put those parts on your current machine? I don't think you have been pricing full size machines, or you can't get them delivered to you? You can get a good machine for a starting price of less than $45,000.

https://dmscncrouters.com/product-lines/freedom/freedom-8/