What TeaLightBox.com has taught me…

It’s amazing how fast time goes, I was busy building my very first welding table (video and blog post soon) as a project to teach myself how to weld and it made me realize just how I’ve achieved over the past few years and just how little I really know.

Back in January I decided that it was time to try something a little different that always totally custom, something that’s easier for people to order from me and for me to manufacture in volume between all the other stuff CNCROi.com does and will continue to do across the world.

That’s what led to the launch of TeaLightBox.com.

CNCROi.com amazingly started off with only one web page, then there were two, then three… and now it’s in the THOUSANDS!

Same with videos, I started way back when with WoodMarvels.com six years ago and that as well, is quickly getting close to TWO THOUSAND!

So starting-up TeaLightBox.com was like going back to the beginning, a blank website with nothing on it and now it’s got several hundred examples for people to order from and it’s slowly starting to gain some traffic and interest by the internet.

The toughest part of starting a new business is just that, STARTING, once the decision is made, it’s time to build it up as fast as possible and then continue to add to it.

Yep, I learned about glow in the dark paint from TeaLightBox.com research, I learned far more about paint in one month that I did with CNCROi.com over 3 and a half years!

I learned HOW to paint more effectively, it’s actually quite rare that I have to paint anything at CNCROi.com, anodized aluminum comes into the shop already anodized (colored), stainless steel requires no paint, waterjet projects are just one coat of enamel paint (or powder coating) and wood is generally a clear coat.

I’d say with CNCROi.com, I do a heck of a lot more sanding than painting but with TeaLightBox.com, it’s the reverse, no sanding, just painting and as a result, I’ve become way better at it from selecting the best paints for the project to technique that won’t produce gobs of mess.

So, by starting a side business, I taught myself how to paint more effectively and with dramatically better outcomes just from constant practice, like my first video above that literally took me 5 hours to film in the forest due to being so nervous, I can now pop those out in one take… I know it shows… but I’m not an actor going for an Oscar, just the owner of CNCROi.com sharing a bit of info about what I do and how I do some of it.

Before starting CNCROi.com, I never really knew much about lamacoids, metal? Never worked with it… glass and Corian, nope… all self-taught so as you look through these almost two thousand blog posts, what you see is an evolution of experience brought on by trial and error.

When I started my journey way back with WoodMarvels.com, I never really imagined in my wildest dreams I’d own a shop doing what my customers back then were doing, I was an outsider looking in.

Now I’m the total insider and wished that I took the time and learned more about that time when my business was totally virtual instead of mostly physical as it is now.

TeaLightBox.com has also taught me how even something very simple can be seen as complicated by the general public, I’m always raising the bar here on trying new things and I really do forget that the simple process of a laser cutting a piece of wood is mind-blowing to most people.

What I consider a weekly thing that isn’t a big deal really surprises people when I meet them at Maker Faires and other public exhibitions that I always have random people who’ve been following me for years pop-up by happenstance.

I think if you don’t learn something new every few months, the mind starts to go downhill, especially as you age, I broke my elbow a few months back, taught myself rehab and got everything back to where it’s suppose to be (video coming soon) and although the whole experience really sucked, I’m happy I did experience it as now I can more fully appreciate what amazing health I have from taking care of myself all these years.

I was at the metal shop today (and yesterday) buying some bar and sheet stock and told the counter guys that I’m building my first welding table, I get a lot of requests for metal and welding is the next logical step in that evolution.

They asked me what type of experience I had and I told them I just bought a MIG welder and my very first weld in all my life, without any practice, will be on this welding table, they thought I was nuts… but two days later (as of tonight), I have totally welded together my welding table (video soon on that too).

The welding is horrific but so was the first job I ever did with a CNC laser (it was a Trotec 500 by the way), and ShopBot project, and just lamacoid project, and metal project and so forth.

I’m sure I’d be fired on the spot at any professional welding shop if I showed the above picture as reference, but that doesn’t take away from the fact that I’ve never taken any courses in welding and after two days, I can manage to make metal stick together… CNCROi.com isn’t building space shuttles going to Mars, it’s building a welding table to learn from!

So, TeaLightBox.com was and is just another reminder at how you can’t live your life scared to try new things, if it succeeds, great, if not, well, I learned how to paint.

At the end of the day, that’s all that counts, I tried and put some valiant effort into something new.