get a supply of quality castings and already had the equipment and skill to perform state of the art engraving, plating and finishing.

We had the idea to re-create our business around door knockers, but how in the world are going to sell enough of them to pay the bills in a small northern Ohio town? There are only so m

The decision to convert our business from brick and mortar to internet based was a lot more traumatic than it should have been.

Most of my years as a businessman were spent struggling as the owner/operator of a small town engraving shop producing trophies, plaques and gifts. We built up a loyal clientele but still struggled every month to pay the bills.

An engraving business requires a lot of very expensive equipment to provide even a basic service. Equipment costs combined with the overhead of leasing a storefront and and maintaining the necessary inventory left little for our efforts.

Finally it occurred to us that we are not young anymore and working night and day with little reward is just not to cut it. At some point we wanted to retire.

One day we stopped everything and took a good look what was happening. It soon became apparent that the retail store mode of business was the main cause of our problems. Not only was it very expensive to operate, our market was limited to the local area which was not largely populated and required many long hours to operate that were not always productive.

An entirely new business model was needed.

Of all the things we did the one we were the best at was preparing and engraving door knockers.

We were able to get a supply of quality castings and already had the equipment and skill to perform state of the art engraving, plating and finishing.

We had the idea to re-create our business around door knockers, but how in the world are going to sell enough of them to pay the bills in a small northern Ohio town? There are only so ma

ggled every month to pay the bills.

An engraving business requires a lot of very expensive equipment to provide even a basic service. Equipment costs combined with the overhead of leasing a storefront and and maintaining the necessary inventory left little for our efforts.

Finally it occurred to us that we are not young anymore and working night and day with little reward is just not to cut it. At some point we wanted to retire.

One day we stopped everything and took a good look what was happening. It soon became apparent that the retail store mode of business was the main cause of our problems. Not only was it very expensive to operate, our market was limited to the local area which was not largely populated and required many long hours to operate that were not always productive.

An entirely new business model was needed.

Of all the things we did the one we were the best at was preparing and engraving door knockers.

We were able to get a supply of quality castings and already had the equipment and skill to perform state of the art engraving, plating and finishing.

We had the idea to re-create our business around door knockers, but how in the world are going to sell enough of them to pay the bills in a small northern Ohio town? There are only so m

young anymore and working night and day with little reward is just not to cut it. At some point we wanted to retire.

One day we stopped everything and took a good look what was happening. It soon became apparent that the retail store mode of business was the main cause of our problems. Not only was it very expensive to operate, our market was limited to the local area which was not largely populated and required many long hours to operate that were not always productive.

An entirely new business model was needed.

Of all the things we did the one we were the best at was preparing and engraving door knockers.

We were able to get a supply of quality castings and already had the equipment and skill to perform state of the art engraving, plating and finishing.

We had the idea to re-create our business around door knockers, but how in the world are going to sell enough of them to pay the bills in a small northern Ohio town? There are only so m

operate, our market was limited to the local area which was not largely populated and required many long hours to operate that were not always productive.

An entirely new business model was needed.

Of all the things we did the one we were the best at was preparing and engraving door knockers.

We were able to get a supply of quality castings and already had the equipment and skill to perform state of the art engraving, plating and finishing.

We had the idea to re-create our business around door knockers, but how in the world are going to sell enough of them to pay the bills in a small northern Ohio town? There are only so m

get a supply of quality castings and already had the equipment and skill to perform state of the art engraving, plating and finishing.

We had the idea to re-create our business around door knockers, but how in the world are going to sell enough of them to pay the bills in a small northern Ohio town? There are only so many doors in our local area and not all wanted or needed a knocker, no matter how good ours are.

It seemed the internet was the way to go. We had a small web site at the time. It really was not very good and accomplished very little. If we were to make the transition to being a totally internet company a lot of work was needed.

The transition was not neither fast or easy. We had to learn an entirely new method of doing business in a new and exciting world. Finally after nearly five years of hard work, we closed the store for good.

We now operate the business entirely out of our home. We are no longer a local shop but instead, a national brand shipping our products every day. We no longer lease a store with all it's associated expenses. Instead we have gained the economy and tax advantages of a home based business.

I admit though, it is a bit rough having to walk all the way from one end of the house to the other just to get to work on these snowy northern Ohio mornings, but, you know, we all have to put up with some hardships.