Business survival for custom makers

[jkaler48]

First if you are a custom gear maker and are offended by someone who isn't trying to suggest how to stay in business I tender my sincere apologies in advance and I freely admit that I don't know what the ___ I am talking about as the only things I have ever made are wooden swords and some shields for the grandchildren.

I would suggest that a custom gear maker who is experience a drop off in business due to higher quality items becoming available from makers in low cost labor areas take some or all of the following steps.

Advertise the quality and custom features of your work more. Most of the
mass makers are not going to be as responsive as you can be on sizes and custom details.

Outsource some of the labor intensive work to the very low labor cost areas that are the problem for your business. Maintaining close control over quality is possible over the net if you find a reliable source overseas. Adrian Wink has proven that it is possible!

Transition part of your business over to retail sales of very good quality
products and focus your manufacturing efforts on items that are not
not high volume enough to interest the larger concerns. There will always be a demand for that one or two of kind items that only a few people will
want.

Think about developing a business and marketing plan. Maybe you have not needed one in the past but not everything lasts forever.

Find someone to bounce ideas off and provide input for your business.
There are a lot of very smart resourceful and knowledgeable people here on RAT who will help you for free if asked. Take advantage of available resources!