The First Few Weeks Sharpening

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So it's been an exciting few weeks since the last post I wrote. I'm working on building my sharpening routes and wrote an article about this in On The Edge newsletter. I've also been dealing with correcting a lot of bad work in my local area. This led to the repair video below. I'll be shooting a second part to this video soon with more to come shortly after that, so stay tuned. Also, be sure to read on before you watch the video to see a couple of other announcements.



I'm also working as a sales rep for Shears Direct. I have worked out a deal with Joe, the owner of Shears Direct, where you'll be able to buy his line of shears through me at the same wholesale price as if you contacted the company directly. How does this benefit Joe? It allows him to spend more time doing what he does best which is running the day-to-day business which takes up most of his time right now. How does this benefit me? It allows me to help you as I earn a small commission on each of the sales. So if you'd like to find out more about this line, please give me a call at 864 381-8697 or email me at otenews@gmail.com. This is one of the most affordable lines beauty and grooming shears for sharpeners and their customers on the market and I can help you with how to best market these items in your area. We can also do private labeling for you as well. I'll have more information about all of this in a future post. Seriously though, give me a call about this. There are some great deals here. I'm also working on a couple of other deals with some other shear companies.

I'm also running a special sale on all Wolff equipment for the remainder of the month of December 2016. If you're interested to find out what these special prices are please give me a call or email me.

If you have any questions about any of the information in this post please feel free to give me a shout.

I HAVE LEFT WOLFF INDUSTRIES, INC

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It is with a great sense of both joy and sadness that I announce that I have resigned my position at Wolff Industries this past month. The sadness comes from walking away from the daily activities and family like relationships I've build there over the past 20 years, but the joy comes from new opportunities and the excitement of starting something new. So with that said, I'd like to focus on the positive and not the negative side of this decision in this post, but first let me tell you the main reason why I made this choice.

The Why
While Wolff has been incredibly good to me over the years, it was never my intention to stay there forever. I was already a sharpener when I came to them, and I always intended to return to that in the future. When I started sharpening back in 1991 another friend and fellow sharpener started at the same time. Over the years he developed into an excellent sharpener with a stellar reputation. About 10 years into working for Wolff I started talking to him about buying him out when he retired. By the time he retired my kids would be out of high school and at least my two oldest would have been done with college, but as with most great plans, this wasn't how things work out. My friend got sick and had to retire earlier than expected. This meant I needed to make a choice, do I take a risk or not? I chose to take a risk. So, what does this look like?

The Sharpening Side of Things
Simply put, I'm putting my money where my mouth is. I've bought my friend out and I'm on the road sharpening daily again and enjoying every minute of it. Believe me, it's had it moments; like when I snapped my first shear blade by week three and dealing with a pair of convex shears that were beveled at 30 degrees, but I'll talk about some of that later. For the most part though, it's been exhilarating being back in the field and I'm glad to be back to learning new tricks of the trade every day while exercising old ones I've been teaching for years.

I'm Not Just Sharpening Though
While my daily activities are centered around sharpening, that's not all I'm doing. I'm still selling Wolff's sharpening equipment. I'm a distributor for them now and offer all their units at a discount. So when you're ready to buy your next piece of sharpening equipment, be sure to give me a call at 864-381-8697 or email me at otenews@gmail.com and I'll go over those discounts and some of the personalized assistance I offer when you buy direct from me. I'm also selling the CS-101 Clipper Blade Sharpener and I may add a few other complementary machines to the list in the future. I'm still offering technical support to the industry, I'll just be doing it through On The Edge instead of Wolff Industries. So if you need me, please feel free to call or email me. I'm also still doing sharpening training, and I'm really excited about this, because I can already tell that being back in the field will help make me a more effective trainer. So please, use me! I'm still here to help you just like I've been doing for the past two decades now. That part of what I do will never change.

What else am I Doing That will Benefit You?
First, I will be chronicling what I'm doing. I've run into all kinds of crazy things just in this first month and I will be sharing those things with you both here and in my newsletter On The Edge (www.otenewsletter.com). I will also be doing some repair videos showing how I fix some of the "trouble" shears I've been running into in the field and writing articles about them. There are a few other things I'm working on that will benefit the industry as well, but I will discuss more of that in time. I don't want to bite off more than I can chew.

So finally, I want to thank Wolff Industries for an incredible 20 years. I'd also like to thank my colleagues at Wolff, leaving them was my toughest choice because they are like family to me. I know I'll still seem them often, but it won't be the same. So like I said when I started this post, while I'm sad to leave I'm also excited to see what the future holds. Please, please, please! If you have any questions or if I can help you in any way call me, again the number is 864-381-8697. It's been my pleasure to serve this industry over the years and I fully intend to continue to do so. Thank you for taking the time to read this.

Scissors Sharpening Class - Push Back on Price

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I was out doing a little mobile scissor sharpening today and heard something I don't hear very often, "Your price is a little steep." Now I understand that $25.00 may seem like a lot to some people, but that's the price I charge in Spartanburg, SC and I stick to it.

How to deal with price resistance

1. Do not cut your price

One of the worst things you can do in your business is not charge what you're worth. One of the reasons I'm running into some price resistance is there is a fellow in the area sharpening high end styling shears for $10 each. While it may seem wise to some to undercut the going price for sharpening in a particular area, in the long run it hurts everyone; especially the person that is doing the price cutting. While this sharpener that is charging this price is doing reasonably good work, eventually time and volume will catch up with him. In the long run it is impossible to sharpen enough shears in a day at $10 apiece to really make a good living in this business. You can get by doing that for a period of time, but eventually you will hit a wall. We can only be so many places at once, and we can only sharpen so many shears per hour well.

2. Do not be rude or haughty 

It may be tempting to throw an attitude in the face of your prospect that reflects the one in this meme below:

Don't do it though. Remember, price resistance and the word no are not personal attacks, they are simply future opportunities. Once the person charging $10 apiece to sharpen shears sees their income hit a wall one of two things will happen. Either they will try to do more work in less time, most likely sacrificing any quality they may be doing, or they will be force to raise their prices. So when you hear resistance to price be polite, thank the prospect for their time, and move along to the next prospect.

3. Remember it is a numbers game

This business really is a numbers game. Do not get discouraged when you hear the words, "No, your price is too high." There is always someone else down the road that will be perfectly fine with your pricing and happy to see you. My uncle (and namesake) was in real estate sales all of his life. When I was a young boy he used to tell me, "There is a fanny for every seat. It's your job to get in front of enough of those fannies until one decides to sit down."

Starting a sharpening route is hard. It is hard-core sales, time-consuming, and can be discouraging from time to time. If you put your head down though, and stick to it, eventually the rewards will be great. Don't worry about what others are doing. Only concern yourself with doing the very best work and service that you can at a price that is reasonable and the rest will take care of itself.

If you have any questions, or if I can help you in anyway, please email me or give me a call. Both my email and my phone number are in the sidebar to the right.

Scissor Sharpening Class: Adding Set Behind the Screw Hole

The other day a scissor sharpener sent me a pair of shears that were bent all out of whack. Unfortunately the bend was in the ride area of the blade. The ride area is the area of the blade just behind the early entry of the cutting-edge. This meant that to fix these shears I had to bend the blade over the screw hole, not an easy task and not something I recommend doing unless you absolutely have to. In this case though we had no choice. The sharpener's customer wanted the shear fixed if possible because both she and the sharpener couldn't find an exact replacement and she really liked this shear. That's where I came in and I'll show you what I had to do to fix this shear in the video below:



For anyone new to scissor sharpening, here is a picture below of what I was talking about in the video when I mentioned that the sharpener had forgotten to flip the Ookami® clamp over causing the cutting edge of the blade to bite into the wheel.

This next picture below shows the proper orientation of the blade to the wheel. Always make sure your clamp is in the honing position one polishing to share on the Ookami Gold® System.

As always, if you have any questions about sharpening or the sharpening business in general I can be reached at 864-381-8697 or otenews@gmail.com. Also, if you're thinking about buying sharpening equipment, give me a call. I know where all the best deals are.

THE FIRST WOLFF/ EDGE PRO SHOW OF 2016

Wolff Industries, Inc. and The Edge Pro have scheduled their first combo show for the 2016 season. It will be held on Saturday, April 2nd and Sunday, April 3rd at the Clarion Hotel and Conference Center in Columbus, Indiana. The show times will be 9am - 6pm on Saturday, and 9am - 3pm on Sunday. The price to attend is just $89 if you sign up by February 29th, and then $109 thereafter. Seating will be limited to 50. The price includes access to all seminars and tours.

There will be a number of seminars. I will be doing in depth training on the Hira-To®, the Ookami Gold®, the Twice as Sharp®, and the Corru-Gator. Throughout all of these seminars I’ll be including some shears that will be pretty beat up so I can show some repair work as well. So whether you’re a newbie or a seasoned sharpener, you should find my presentations interesting. Jason Sturm and his staff will be training on clipper blade sharpening and clipper repair. He will walk everyone through a wide variety of clippers, so be sure to bring a notebook and any questions you may have.

If you’d like to come, keep two things in mind:
1. Since seating is limited to just 50 the show will fill up fast. As of the printing of this issue there are already 15 signed up for the show. So please DO NOT WAIT if you want to attend. Call 800-888-3832 to reserve your seat and get the discounted price now!
2. The Clarion Hotel has blocked a number of rooms for the show at a special price. The price will be:
Room Rate - $79.00 + Tax.
This room rate includes parking and breakfast. The number for the hotel is 812-372-1541. Be sure to ask for the Wolff rate when you call.

Part of the show will also include a tour of Wolff’s Scissors Manufacturing Plant. Come and see Wolff Indiana and meet the crew. You’ll see how Wolff industrial shears are face ground and edged, how the shears are assembled and set, the injection molding process of the handle, and more. You’ll also see how our fly tying vises are made, some new projects Wolff is working on, and other exciting things.

The tours we did last year at The Edge Pro were a big hit, so I hope you can come because this show will be more of the same! Let me know if you have any questions. Every time Jason and I put one of these shows together we’re told they are some of the best and most informative in the industry. We appreciate your vote of confidence and promise to strive to continue to make coming to one of the Wolff/ Edge Pro Shows a highlight of your year.

Editors Note: Considering a new scissor sharpening machine?  Be sure to call me first! I can tell you where all the best deals are. The best number to reach me at is 864-381-8697 or you can email me at otenews@gmail.com.