Full time cue builder

JBCustomCues said:
For me it was when the wife made enough to support the family.
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what a bum!!! LOL

for me it was when the old bones couldnt handle the physical nature of my old job, plumbing, new construction plumbing
being thrown out of a car at 90 mph when i was 18 mangled my back
was about 2 months before i could walk,
6 months before i could tie my own shoes
when i got to my 40's those old war wounds came back
i just couldnt do it anymore
 
BHQ said:
what a bum!!! LOL

for me it was when the old bones couldnt handle the physical nature of my old job, plumbing, new construction plumbing
being thrown out of a car at 90 mph when i was 18 mangled my back
was about 2 months before i could walk,
6 months before i could tie my own shoes
when i got to my 40's those old war wounds came back
i just couldnt do it anymore
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Well F you too.. LOL :D:D
 
When I won the lottery & the doctor told me I had 6 months to live. Seriously, i'd never take on cue making as a full time job to support my family & self or pay bills. It's unpredictable, ever changing, trendy, and NEVER pays well enough to live good. Talk to Barry, Dennis, Thomas Wayne, Jerry McWorter, Bill Schick, etc. & ask them if they relied soley on cues, could they survive? I'd bet every single one of them would advise you to keep your day job or get a sugar momma. Cues are awesome & fun & it's nice to fantasize about making lots of money doing it. But the costs of it are too heavy & you'll end up hating it. Do yourself a giant favor & just have fun with it, without having to depend on it. In the end it's your decision to make.

Now if your wife is doing well & you are financially secure with a good grasp on retirement, then jump in & have a ball with it full time. Just keep things in perspective & don't allow the cost of building cues become a burden on your lifestyle or future. Good luck, sincerely.
 
qbilder said:
When I won the lottery & the doctor told me I had 6 months to live. Seriously, i'd never take on cue making as a full time job to support my family & self or pay bills. It's unpredictable, ever changing, trendy, and NEVER pays well enough to live good. Talk to Barry, Dennis, Thomas Wayne, Jerry McWorter, Bill Schick, etc. & ask them if they relied soley on cues, could they survive? I'd bet every single one of them would advise you to keep your day job or get a sugar momma. Cues are awesome & fun & it's nice to fantasize about making lots of money doing it. But the costs of it are too heavy & you'll end up hating it. Do yourself a giant favor & just have fun with it, without having to depend on it. In the end it's your decision to make.

Now if your wife is doing well & you are financially secure with a good grasp on retirement, then jump in & have a ball with it full time. Just keep things in perspective & don't allow the cost of building cues become a burden on your lifestyle or future. Good luck, sincerely.
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Well said...
 
Trent said:
AS SOME KNOW IM IN THE MILITARY AND THE BUDGET HASNT BEEN LOOKING GOOD.

http://www.politicsdaily.com/2011/0...-bill-as-budget-talks-continue/?asid=7be677df

IVE ALREADY BEEN NOTIFIED THAT UNLESS THERES A CHANGE BY APRIL 8TH ILL BE OUT OF A JOB SO MIGHT BE A GOOD TIME TO SIT BACK AND START BUILDING CUES.


THE QUESTION IS TO THE FULL TIME BUILDERS WHAT WAS THE FINAL PUSH TO MAKE THIS YOUR YOUR FULL TIME JOB?
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Trent, I do not think cue making is or can be considered a full time job unless you are one of the few Cue Makers who make up that magic top 5% of the industry, or if cue making can be combined with another part of the industry such as, retail sales, pool halls with pro shops and so on.

In todays market for custom cues building quality cues is not a problem, with the Internet all the information anyone would ever need is at their finger tips. Along with that all the materials are also available, including all the equipment you would need, but building cues doesn't make you a cue maker because seriously anyone who has the time can do that. What sets people apart is style, knowledge, and a unique flare for bold inventive designs that can be simplistic or very very intricate.

I think it takes a special person to find their place in the industry, you have to work hard, be honest, and when things do not go right you have to stand strong. Then some day you may be recognized for your achievements, but don't count on it and really who cares any way, all we can do is our best and people will like what we are doing or they won't, but to find this out it will take most of us a life time. So in the mean time how do we feed our families, by doing some other type of work and by building cues part time.

I hope this helps
 
manwon said:
Trent, I do not think cue making is or can be considered a full time job unless you are one of the few Cue Makers who make up that magic top 5% of the industry, or if cue making can be combined with another part of the industry such as, retail sales, pool halls with pro shops and so on.

In todays market for custom cues building quality cues is not a problem, with the Internet all the information anyone would ever need is at their finger tips. Along with that all the materials are also available, including all the equipment you would need, but building cues doesn't make you a cue maker because seriously anyone who has the time can do that. What sets people apart is style, knowledge, and a unique flare for bold inventive designs that can be simplistic or very very intricate.

I think it takes a special person to find their place in the industry, you have to work hard, be honest, and when things do not go right you have to stand strong. Then some day you may be recognized for your achievements, but don't count on it and really who cares any way, all we can do is our best and people will like what we are doing or they won't, but to find this out it will take most of us a life time. So in the mean time how do we feed our families, by doing some other type of work and by building cues part time.

I hope this helps
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Manwon is dead center perfect on what he said. The days of guys taking 20-30 cues to a show and coming back empty are long gone. Become a wal mart greeter. The hourly pay rate is better.
 
Trent, sorry to hear that your job may be in jeopardy. I wish you luck in your endeavor to do this full time. My back finally gave out for the last time.
Workers Comp denied my claim, most likely because of my age and condition. I'm screwed when my life savings run out.

I love repairing cues and wish it was more than a feast or famine biz here, as I would do it full time in a heart beat.

Maybe try something like furniture refinishing, much more money in that and
keep the cue building as a hobby for the time being.

Around here, furniture refinishers can actually make a half decent living.

I mean, its not cue building but you're still working with wood and your hands.

Try and think outside the box for a bit and see if you can't come up with an idea that you can use your equipment for something else too.
 
Blue Hog ridr said:
Trent, sorry to hear that your job may be in jeopardy. I wish you luck in your endeavor to do this full time. My back finally gave out for the last time.
Workers Comp denied my claim, most likely because of my age and condition. I'm screwed when my life savings run out.

I love repairing cues and wish it was more than a feast or famine biz here, as I would do it full time in a heart beat.

Maybe try something like furniture refinishing, much more money in that and
keep the cue building as a hobby for the time being.

Around here, furniture refinishers can actually make a half decent living.

I mean, its not cue building but you're still working with wood and your hands.

Try and think outside the box for a bit and see if you can't come up with an idea that you can use your equipment for something else too.
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Well said as well.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
 
Trent,

Everyone is giving you good advice. Trying to support a family as a cuemaker would scare me to death. I have a wife with a good job, retired now, no kids, no mortgage, no bills per se and still have to sweat it out. I transitioned into full time building from furniture refinishing and antique restoration and in the best years with cues I made as much as I did in an average year with furniture. I probably have $200,000 tied up in the cue business as well as 3 years labor I haven't been paid for yet in shafts, parts, cues, veneers, etc. but I wouldn't change it if I could. The personal satisfaction of building something that looks great and works the way it is supposed to is, as they say, "priceless", but if you are strapped for money you are going to have to sell it for a specific price and you will have to set a competitive price in a market where there are a number of others who are also hungry or just hobbyists paying for their spare time.

The ideal way to get into cue making is to transition into it from another job after years of establishing yourself. This is best accomplished if you live in a decent sized metropolitan area that isn't already saturated with builders and repairmen which with todays easy availability of information, equipment, supplies and methods might be hard to do.

I wish you luck and don't mean to discourage you but keep your eyes open and learn your market
 
Unless you find a way to set up at a decent size tournament every weekend to do cue repairs to supplement the cue sales I think you may wind up another starving artist.
 
Hi,

I have been building cues for 7 years now out of 3 rooms in the back of my 11,000 sq. ft. pool hall / bar in Algonquin, Ill. 3 months ago I set up my new shop in Palatine Ill and have been a full time cue maker as my son Tom has taken over the operations of the pool hall.

Since the move, I have sold 6 cues and my sales is over $ 7,000.00. I am excited about building cues and I can work the hours I want. When I was at the pool hall I was constantly distracted and had a problem getting any work done. Now I schedule daily, weekly, and monthly deadlines and get my tasks performed to that schedule.

I am trying to get my website up and running so I can display my models on the internet. To date all of my sales have been local.

If you want to go full time you have to jump in with 2 feet and go for it.

Rick G
 
I'll tell you a little story about refinishing from a pool playing friend who used to work at this shop.

Where I live, we have a fairly large paint and decorating store. The owner was contracted to refinish a grand piano that was brought over from Austria by a Judge. When the job was done, the Judge liked it so much that he gave the finisher 20 K. The next Christmas, the refinisher also received an expense paid holiday to Hawaii for him and his wife.

Altho this might not be the norm, I also know 2 others that are in the refinishing business, one is retired and the the other is still doing it.
Both have done quite well.

Which reminds me, the retired guy told me that he still has a lot of wood at his house and he was wondering if I could use any for cues.
He told me that if I don't come over, its going in the dumpster. I better get my butt in gear.
 
scdiveteam said:
Hi,

I have been building cues for 7 years now out of 3 rooms in the back of my 11,000 sq. ft. pool hall / bar in Algonquin, Ill. 3 months ago I set up my new shop in Palatine Ill and have been a full time cue maker as my son Tom has taken over the operations of the pool hall.

Since the move, I have sold 6 cues and my sales is over $ 7,000.00. I am excited about building cues and I can work the hours I want. When I was at the pool hall I was constantly distracted and had a problem getting any work done. Now I schedule daily, weekly, and monthly deadlines and get my tasks performed to that schedule.

I am trying to get my website up and running so I can display my models on the internet. To date all of my sales have been local.


If you want to go full time you have to jump in with 2 feet and go for it.

Rick G
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Are you really happy with that? How many of these cues were sold through the pool hall that your son is now operating? Just how long do you feel that these sales can last just locally?

7,000.00 over 12 weeks is less than 585.00 a week. Deduct utilities, phone, insurance, rent and wear and tare and up-keep on your equipment. My nut is about 1300.00 a month. This is before you even get into the cost of the materials that go into the cue and your state tax, income tax and full soc. sec. contributions. Do you now believe that you can support a family on what's left? It's not even enough to pay your medical insurance premiums. Do you really feel that you could be even making what you are without the benefit of the pool hall?

I'm with Paul on this. This is a very tough business to go at as a normal job. It's a nice hobby which has more and more people (competition for your sales) getting into daily. I would say that less than 1% of cue builders are making a half way decent living out of building cues alone. I have a shop that is open to the public 16 hrs. a day, 7 days a week. This is so that I don't miss any repair work. Repair work is where I make 75% of my money. I only build cues as I have the equipment and I'm here waiting on repair work. I build around 60 cues a year and would starve to death if that was my only income.

Dick
 
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I am a guy that watches trends and I can say this about building cues; it all starts off peachy. You build some cues and your friends think they're great. You come on AZ and sell a few more and think "this is easy." Well, every wave crashes. Going to a regional or even national level in cue making is difficult, at best. Paul Drexler told me once that 'there are about 50 guys building/repairing cues full time and making a decent living. There are another 500 that do it full time and do a good job. There are another 5000 out there butchering wood.' Most customers can't tell the difference. That's your competition, not to mention the production cues, whether that be foreign or domestic. I'm not trying to discourage you but I would never put my family in that kind of risk. You already have machines so try to find some job you can tolerate that has some benefits and build cues in your free time.
 
guess i shoulda clearified myself lol i already know one cant do this full time, especially with 4 kids and a stay at home wife lol i do ceramic tile also, and i have other funds available.

but mainly i was just curious as to what was the push for all the guys out there that do it full time.

id love for this to be a full time gig but.... we all know the sad truth lol

thanks tho guys, i was mainly trying to vent about losing my job with the army lol
hasnt happened yet but if it does im ready lol
 
Trent said:
guess i shoulda clearified myself lol i already know one cant do this full time, especially with 4 kids and a stay at home wife lol i do ceramic tile also, and i have other funds available.

but mainly i was just curious as to what was the push for all the guys out there that do it full time.

id love for this to be a full time gig but.... we all know the sad truth lol

thanks tho guys, i was mainly trying to vent about losing my job with the army lol
hasnt happened yet but if it does im ready lol
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I don't know if I'd ever do it full-time even if the money was there.
It's just not a healthy thing to be doing everyday IMHO.
 
JoeyInCali said:
I don't know if I'd ever do it full-time even if the money was there.
It's just not a healthy thing to be doing everyday IMHO.
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A curious thing to say..... why would you say that it is not a healthy thing to be doing everyday ??

Kim
 
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