Stepping up your CAD Design Business – Scott Hoffman - Ep 27

Stepping up your CAD Design Business – Scott Hoffman - Ep 27 Scott Hoffman is the founder of PepperNickelDesigns, a CAD design and 3D printing service. Scott’s background is in electrical and computer engineering. He works full time as an insurance adjuster but he started PepperNickelDesigns as a side hustle that he wants to bring to a full-time job in 2017. We connected on the Facebook page for the Side Hustle Show (http://www.sidehustlenation.com/). He posted on the Facebook page that he had issues with either too much design/print work coming in at once or not enough. This is an issue I am very familiar with, as I have been running my business full time for 2 years now. I replied to his post and offered him to come on the podcast so that I could help him with the strategies of how to solve some of these issues. (Side note: I was a guest on the Side Hustle Show in June 2016. If you want to hear that interview, click here: http://www.sidehustlenation.com/listener-success-story-took-side-hustle-full-time/)   Key Takeaways The secret to starting a side hustle is to take a skill you have and find a way to monetize it My advice to Scott was to use contractors to handle overloads of work And when work is slow, there are a few strategies Make cold calls for new business. Even better is to follow up with past clients to see if they have any new projects Look for other revenue streams. One of my favorite ways when incoming work is slow is to work on new inventions. I have so many ideas but only so much time to work on them, so I use my downtime to create new products of my own. Sometimes the products sell and sometimes they don’t. Even when they don’t, I usually learn some valuable design skills in the process   To Contact Scott Email: [email protected] Tumblr: Peppernickeldesigns Facebook: Peppernickeldesigns The Engineering Entrepreneur Podcast is produced by Scott Tarcy, President of CADdesignhelp.com. You can reach me at [email protected]