Morning at work. Night at home. Weekend? What weekend? And you’re still late. Still putting out fires. Still not catching up. I Know That Feeling I’ve had experience with burnout. Myself and with others. Deaths at work. Lawsuits. Machine breakdowns. I’ve seen it all. And I learned
One supplier delays. Second is too expensive. Third disappeared. And you still need that part. I Know That Feeling In mechanical engineering, we had one subcontractor for everything. He was good. Precise. Everything great. Until he started delaying. Because he had too many orders. And then? The problem was his,
“Money has to stay in-house.” They say that. And then push everything into their own production. Which is already overloaded. Which is already delaying. And then? Machine breakdown. Or burnout. Or both. I Know That Feeling In construction, they pushed to keep money in-house. Instead of outsourcing cutting, they did
Trade show. Booth €15,000. Travel costs. Time. And what do you get? Business cards. Promises. “We’ll be in touch.” Result? Maybe 2 customers. Maybe none. I Know That Feeling If you have a workshop - welding, CNC, laser, whatever - you know this problem. Work is needed. Machines
Monday, 7:00 AM. Machine won’t start. Technician says: “A week for repair. Minimum.” And you have 10 projects. All were on edge. All had deadlines this week. Now what? I Know That Feeling Machine breakdown is production’s worst nightmare. Because when it happens - it happens. And
And you don’t know anyone who would make it. You start calling. Googling. Writing emails. And the clock is ticking. I Know That Feeling In mechanical engineering, this was daily. Urgent need. Short deadline. Nobody available. One day of searching. Explaining to everyone what, how. And in the end?
First month: 50 orders. Second month: 200. Third: 500. And your supplier? “Sorry, we can’t do that much.” I Know That Feeling Scaling is a problem you want to have. Until you have it. Then you realize that your small supplier, who made great products for you, simply can’
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You have an idea. You have a patent. You have plans. You don’t have anyone who will make it for you. I Know That Feeling I had a case with a team of innovators. Patented product. Big vision. Investors waiting. What happened? The prototype was made wrong. Wrong materials.
Dropshipping is genius. In theory. In practice? Your “supplier” from Alibaba just disappeared. Along with 200 orders. I Know That Feeling It’s not your fault. The model works. The problem is the suppliers. Or rather - the problem is you have no control. You don’t know who makes
Everything’s standing. Phone ringing. Email pinging. Machine clicking. Someone’s calling you. And somewhere in between, you should still find a subcontractor for that part that will save your month. But when? I Know That Feeling When production is full, there’s no time for anything. No time for
Morning meeting. 10 projects. Each one urgent. Each one “has to be now.” And somewhere in between, you still have to find a supplier for that specific part no one wants to make. I Know That Feeling In construction, it was like this every day. Materials in a flash. Meetings.
3D printing is a revolution. Until you make a prototype from the wrong material. Until tests show it won’t work. Until you realize you’ve wasted 3 months. I Know That Feeling I had a case with a team of innovators. Patented product. Big idea. Prototypes? Made wrong. Wrong
Your cut costs €500. With all the logistics, materials, work. Someone else does it for €300. Same specs. Same quality. Why? Because they have free capacity. Because they have a better discount on material. Because it doesn’t fit you right now, but it fits them. I Know That Feeling
Or the opposite - you have too much work and the machine can’t keep up. Both are problems. Both are killing you. I Know That Feeling In mechanical engineering, I’ve seen both. Productions where CNC machines run in two shifts, filled to the end. Every day on edge.
Call from your welder. “Listen, that order… we won’t make it by Friday. We have too much work.” Knot in your stomach. Two days ago you promised the customer the construction would be ready. Now this. I Know That Feeling I worked in mechanical engineering myself. I know what