A Bit About Me

The Beginning

In the early days of my laser business journey, I didn't have the money or the space to buy my own laser engraver. So I spent nearly 3 years running my business out of a maker-space, renting laser time by the hour. Not the ideal, but I was determined to make the business work and would do whatever it took to get it off the ground. Here's a photo of me working on that rented laser in 2015.

Full-Time

After a few years of splitting my time between the maker-space and my bedroom “office”, I started making enough to rent my own workshop. I moved into my own 1000-square-foot space in a historic building in Philadelphia. Shortly after moving in, I finally bought my first laser, the Boss LS-1630, which is still my workhorse to this day. This photo is from the “early years” of that workshop. You can tell by how clean and empty it is!

Present Day

At the end of 2020, my wife and I decided to leave Philadelphia. With that, I traded in my big space for a much cozier garage workshop, where I operate today. Now, I split my work days between running my online laser business and creating both technical and business-related content around laser engraving and laser cutting. I have engraved, cut, and shipped THOUSANDS of orders via Shopify and Etsy and live the dream of working for myself without commuting far from my wife and daughter daily. I am most active on my YouTube channel, Justin Laser.

Interviews