Some of the Best Things about the Scissor Sharpening Business

I met a friend of mine for lunch yesterday. Every time we get together we have at least one conversation about the sharpening business. The conversation lead to me saying, "I love my job! I can't think of anything more satisfying than sharpening for my clients and helping sharpeners get started in the business! In my opinion, sharpening is one of the best professions in the world!" (Click here to see some of the teaching and training I do.)

Well that got me to thinking, what are some of the things that make the sharpening business great? Here are are few of my answers:

1. Freedom!
The sharpening business provides more flexibility than any other business I know!

2. Set Your Own Schedule!
This falls right in line with freedom and flexibility! While we're somewhat constrained by the time of day our customers are open (if we're mobile or pick-up/drop-off), you can still pick the number of days you wish to work each week or month.

3. Very Hunter-Gatherer!
This is both the scary and exciting thing about the sharpening business! You never know what you'll make from day-to-day!

4. Multiple Prospects!
There are all kinds of places you focus on in the sharpening business! Here's a short list! Beauty Salons, Groomers, Barbers, Fabric Shops, Upholsterers, Autobody Trim Shops, Window Coverings Mfg., Boat Cover Mfg., Awning Mfg, Schools and more. In fact, I have a list of 140 places you can go to sharpen just shears alone! E-mail me and I'll send you a PDF copy of the list!

5. Multiple Ways to Make Income!
You can just sharpen! You can sharpen and sell shears and/or clipper blades! You can do both of these and sell other sundries that apply to your target customers! That's the beauty of the sharpening business! There are all kinds of opportunities right in front of you!

6. Multiple Ways to Run Your Business!
You can go mobile and bring your service right to your customers door! You can pick-up and drop-off! You can start a mail-order business! There are all kinds of ways to set up your sharpening business!

I don't want to over-do this! There are many more reason why I love the sharpening business, but I also want to hear from you! Add to this list in the comments section below! It's easy! Just click on comments and type your reply in the box on the right. If you don't have a Google Account, just choose either "Nickname" or "Anonymous" to post your reply.

If you're in the market for any of the sharpening machines available in the industry, be sure to give me a call before you buy. I know all the best places to buy at the best price! Call 864-381-8697 or email me at otenews@gmail.com.

I look forward to hearing from you!

A NEW AND IMPROVED CS-101 CLIPPER BLADE SHARPENER

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I have some exciting news for mobile sharpeners that sharpen clipper blades on the van with their CS 101. After Jason, owner of The Edge Pro, purchased Nebraska Blades and the rights to the CS 101 clipper blade sharpener, he immediately started working on ways to reduce the power draw at the startup of the machine. He has done this by adding a WEG VFD controller, a new 240/3 phase motor and bracket, and a variable speed controller. The controller converts the power to 240/3 phase and also adds a brake to the unit. I have been testing a prototype of this set up for the past couple of months and I'm happy to report it is doing everything Jason hoped it would do, and I think maybe a little more. I know that Jason was shooting for less than a 6 amp draw on startup and about a 1 amp draw on continuous run. In my estimation, the machine draws a little bit less than 6 amps on startup, even fitted with a 16-inch plate, and runs at the target amperage even while sharpening. I have been very impressed with this new unit and I'm sure you will be too.  Don't panic though if you already have a CS 101 and want to get this set up because the great news is you won't have to buy a new machine! Jason will have an up-fit kit that will allow you to enhance your machine next month. Let's take a moment and talk to Jason about where he's at in this process and how you can up-fit your existing machine you have now.

OTE: Hi Jason, I'm so glad the new unit is working so well. It will be a great enhancement for those working in mobile units. It's been a big help to me. How soon will it be before others can get their hands on either an up-fit kit or a new unit?
Jason: All The components are in the fabricator's hands as we speak. All we are waiting on now is new cabinets and we plan to have new units ready to ship on March 1st.

OTE: How about the Up-fit Kits? Will they come out at the same time?
Jason: Yes! That is the plan anyway.

OTE: What will the sharpener need to do to their machine to do the up-fit?
Jason: The sharpener will need to drill a few new holes for the instrument panel and will need to cut a square opening in the cabinet for an instrument panel. There will be precise instructions and templates to do this. They will need to remove the motor and bracket, mount the new bracket and motor to the base of the unit, mount the converter to the base of the unit, and then connect the wires. This may sound complicated, but trust me; it will be easy to do. Also, if they want us to up-fit it for them we can do that, but that will require a lot of shipping cost. They can also have a local machine shop do it for them.

OTE: Will there be a video?
Jason: Yes, there will be a video. One will come with the up-fit kit and we will have that same video online on our YouTube channel so people can preview it before they decide to buy one and do the up-fit.

OTE: Thanks Jason, that sounds easy enough.

I can speak from experience that this machine set up will reduce the amount of draw on your batteries. In fact, I have been running my whole unit on just one 1150-amp AGM deep cycle battery and charging it each night. By the end of the day the battery is only depleted about 70% max depending on how busy I am. With that said, I am only running my sharpening machines and lights right now, I do not have a compressor or vacuum system running in the unit yet. Once I add that I will need to add an additional battery or two or hook up to the van battery because of the draw those units will pull.

If you have additional questions about this enhanced CS 101 or the new kit, please be sure to give The Edge Pro a call and they will be glad to answer any questions you have. Their number is 866-963-1990. You can also contact them by email at service@theedgepro.com.

This post is a copy of an article from the February 2017 Issue of On The Edge, the only newsletter designed and publish specifically for scissor and clipper blade sharpening professionals. To fine out more about On The Edge, click here.

A FEW NEW PARTNERSHIPS

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Back in November when I wrote about leaving Wolff Industries I mentioned that I would be working on some other deals and partnerships in the industry to help continue to support all my friends and fellow sharpeners.

Shears Direct
One of the deals I've put together is I am acting as a sales rep for Shears Direct. Shears Direct carries an extensive line of both beauty and grooming shears. They are imported from China, Korea, Taiwan, and Japan.

I went to visit Shears Direct just after Thanksgiving to view their quality and different lines. I have to say I was impressed. The price point on the shears is excellent and the wholesale discount is very generous. What is also exciting is through this company you can also develop your own private label shears in short runs, and by short runs I mean as few as one at a time!

If you are interested in learning more about this line please give me a call at 864-381-8697 or email me at otenews@gmail.com. There are many great opportunities here for you to create your own line and your own price point with a of line shears that have been tested and proven in the market place.

Two Other Options
While I know that there is some attractiveness to selling less expensive lines of shears that are not well known name brands, there's also an attractiveness to selling shears that are well-known in the marketplace. That is why I've worked out a wholesale distributorship with Kenchii and Shark Fin Shears. Both are time-tested and both were excellent sellers for me when I brought them in at Wolff. So if you're interested in either of these lines both can be purchased through me at On The Edge for the same wholesale price you would pay if you were dealing directly with these companies.

Why am I doing this?
The main reason I'm putting together deals like this is I have spent the past 20 years helping professional sharpeners grow their businesses and it's my goal to continue to do that. Many of my students make high five to six figure a year incomes because of the business tips and coaching I've provided. I would like to help you do the same. Again, if you'd like to talk please give me a call at 864-381-8697 or email me at otenews@gmail.com. I would love to spend some time telling you ways I've helped others grow their businesses, how I'm growing mine, and how I can help you do the same.

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.