for those whistle makers out there who sell your whistles commercially; How long did it take to start making a decent profit? I mean decent as in not working your arse off 10 hours a day and paying yourself $5 an hour, and the rest of the income going to buying more materials, and or machinery… IF you would like this imformation kept confidentially, then you can private messgae me, don’t worry I won’t tell anyone 
Welcome to the world of the self employed. It does not matter what the business you are in the typical small business person works 100 plus hours a week. And when not working the business is on your mind.
Now you are also dealing with the general public and that in itself is an adventure.
You are at obviously at the beginning of the voyage. I have been there for 12 years (another specialty business with corporate customer thank goodness). You grow into it and find ways to make it work, sometimes its a labor of love other times (let not get into that). Just remember that you can take credit for every thing that goes right and everything that goes wrong and try and stay on the right side. If however you do not love what you are doing bearing in mind the current whistle craze will not last forever (check with the recorder manufacturers they are on a down turn) you may want to think of it as a paying hobby and just hope to recoup your investment over time.
To expand on what Wizzer said, many of the US high-end whistle makers have day jobs. Mike Burke, Glenn Schultz are established makers that come off the top of the head. I dunno about Copeland, Abell, et al.
I haven’t been in business myself, but several members of my family have. I think they mostly did turn a profit after the first year (that’s a rule of thumb), but only one stuck it out for the long term )and his clients were the people he’d been employed by). It was a combination of the long hours, which Wizzer described perfectly, and low hourly wages.
I have a day job . So my building times would be mornings and whenever I have off. Lets just say that Security guards aren’t paid that well when the work for United way. Overtime is a firing offense. Holiday pay is $1 (thanksgiving day, x-mass day, Dec 31, Jan 1st etc) an hour more than regular pay. SO I would like to be able to do something I enjoy, and make some money off of it. Pay my depts off that sort of thing… So how about a well paying hobby…
Making whistles is only half the story. Once you have achieved some efficiency there, you also have to market (sell) them efficiently. In the beginning you will be spending more time marketing than making. Once you have developed a reputation in your market things will become easier, but still plan on spending as much time marketing as you do in the workshop. When you work out how much an hour you are paying yourself don’t make the mistake of only counting workshop time. As they say, time is money, and time is time, regardless of what you are doing when you spend it…
On 2002-12-14 14:43, bodhrans wrote:
Making whistles is only half the story. Once you have achieved some efficiency there, you also have to market (sell) them efficiently. In the beginning you will be spending more time marketing than making. Once you have developed a reputation in your market things will become easier, but still plan on spending as much time marketing as you do in the workshop. When you work out how much an hour you are paying yourself don’t make the mistake of only counting workshop time. As they say, time is money, and time is time, regardless of what you are doing when you spend it…
You are right in developing the expertise on the production side, then getting your product out there and developing a following. Everything is word of mouth this is one reason we have so many manufactures watching these boards. The key though in any business is “Cash Flow”. Do not give your work away price it reasonably. What I like to do each year it to take my expenses and divide them by the number of jobs done. In your case that would be whistles sold. This gives you a ball park on what it cost you to produce each whistle. This can be a sobering time. Big items such as a lathe would be figured over several years but no more than 3. Your accountant should also be able to help you figure out weather you are a hobbies or a business. The IRS has rules on this so be careful. This may seem rather simplistic but I know people who have been in business for many years and are so over worked they do not know their actual cost of doing business.