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Twenty-Five Years as Alaska's coolest Airsmith!
🕑 Added 2023-07-03 06:27:47 +0000 UTCI would like to take a moment to recognize- and perhaps brag a a bit- that July 1st, 2023 officially marks my Twenty-Fifth Year in business! :)
I had kind of hoped to have something special to mark the occasion- a secret project, a special comic, a video, a B-52 flyby... But unfortunately I've just been too busy. The story, as they say, of my life.
I officially hung out this particular shingle on July 1st, 1998. My 'shop' was a small, dimly lit storage room, of which I occupied perhaps sixty square feet. My first machine was a worn-out Jet mill-drill, and it was a few months before I was able to pick up a Grizzly 9x19 lathe. I made do with those, and upgraded as funds and opportunities allowed. And with a great deal of hard work and perseverance... that room is no longer dimly lit. :D
I started out doing mods to paintball guns and making paintball parts, and I am still doing so today. There have, of course, been uncountable ups and downs, innumerable side-tracks, and of course the endless issues of trying to run a one-man business in the back waters of Left Armpit, Alaska- especially when that one man has all the business acumen of an inebriated snail. But with luck, hard work, skill, and a [i]great deal[/i] of outside help from friends and family, I'm still here. :)
I can't be completely certain- I'm sure somebody will correct me- but I may very well be the longest-running paintball airsmith at this point. We might need to modify that with [i]full time[/i] airsmith- this has been my day job since day one- and the entire time under the same 'shingle' (company, business name, etc.)
... Aaand that and two-fifty'll get'a a cup of coffee. :D
Twenty five years, five Presidents, more than twenty different machine tools, over three hundred different products, I'd wager between four and six thousand different markers through the doors, likely better than 30,000 individual sales, and and I can very probably legitimately claim over 150,000 items made and sold.
When I started this biz, I gave myself a year. If at the end of that year, things weren't working out, I'd go and get a 'real' job.
That was twenty-five years ago. :)
Doc.
Comments
Chris Neal
Congratulations!
Tiger in man's clothing
Here is to the next 25. May they be profitable.
Patrick Hill
Fantastic! Congratulations. Maybe for the big 30, you could make a tri-barrel marker with a 10 round repeater...
Neal OHara
Congrats!
Delisle
Congratulations!
Darque Hellmutt
Hmmm. Guess things worked out, huh?
FrankHarr
Woo-hoo!
John Fusek
Good luck on the next 25!
Ghost Fox
Congratulations! That is quite the achievement. Especially these days.
allanfranta
Nice!
Carl G Knoblock
Congratulations and thank you for sharing so much of your life and skills with us.
Congratulations, Doc! You have a great and amazing story.
Gratz!!
Congrats! You're almost as old as Anthrocon (incorporated 6/30/98).
Simon 'Landmine'
Congratulations!
Daniel Meyer
Congratualtions!!!!
webkilla
Sweet
David Axel Hansen
Congrats!
Cult of Dust
That'd be impressive even if you weren't doing it in the middle of nowhere. I was raised in AK, so I know it's a much hardier breed up there... But there's only so many of 'em. Must have done business with a quarter of the entire state.
