So the 3D printing is going well. Going really well, actually. There was about 3 weeks there were I was swamped with custom orders. Right now I’m taking a breather. I still have to design a couple more medals but I have time to do that later.

I’m kinda at an impasse on what the endgame is for this business. I had no idea it would be so successful, so quickly, that I was blindsided. I don’t have a clear vision of where I see this a year from now. I do know that I don’t want to buy any more printers because I’m not sure if the demand will keep up after Christmas. But on the other hand I don’t want to turn down orders due to production constraints. I also don’t know how much more of my free time I can devote to ever increasing orders. If I had yet another printer then that’s more time I would spend loading filament, getting files ready, cleaning plates, etc. And I also have had no free time to learn more about CAD and 3D modeling, so that I can move more towards creating my own designs.

But I think I finally figured out the correct way to control the amount of orders I can take in. Potential customers must contact me before placing orders. And if orders dry up then I could lower my prices and/or setup charge. It’s a good way to control the input coming into my limited output capabilities.

So I’m trying to envision what next year will look like. I think I’ll need to go through at least 2 years of this business to get a good feel for the seasonality of it, and what items tend to sell at what times of the year. If it really continues well, and I’m loathe to turn down business, and if I want to keep growing and growing, then it may come to a point where I either have to hire some help or make it my full time job. Or maybe everyone gets a 3D printer tomorrow and I don’t have anymore business. Or maybe AI destroys the business side of this hobby. Who knows? But really, who knows anything about what the future holds? No one. I’ll just keep chugging along, growing my business, learning how to do everything better, more efficiently, and quicker. It’s still a lot of fun, the whole learning process.

So, DT was elected president again. I voted for KH, not because I’m a Democrat, but I just don’t think DT is a good leader. I can’t believe how Republicans and conservatives actually vote for him. I think he’s opened the floodgates for future politicians to be just outright spiteful, immature, proud-to-be-ignorant assholes, and probably get elected for it. Oh well. Times change.

I never did get around to fleshing out the big philosophical topic going on in my head, which is the Absolute vs the Relative. It’s the Principled vs the Pragmatic. I’ve given up on the idea that people should be consistently consistent in their thoughts, beliefs and actions. People are selfish. They will swerve between being Principled and being Pragmatic, depending on whatever approach benefits them at the time. But I’ve known for a long time that humans are selfish. I’m selfish. What I try to be is rationally self-interested, as opposed to being irrational. That’s the best that a person could hope for. I think that the world would be a great place and everyone would more-or-less get along if we were all rational in our self-interest. Other people would recognize that and respond accordingly. To me, being selfish is saying “I’m going to eat all the pork chops, screw the rest of my family.” But being rationally self-interested is saying “I’m going to let my family eat all the pork chops first, because I love them and I want them to eat and be healthy, because it makes me happy when they’re happy.” There’s still a lot of “me, me, me” in the second statement but it’s all rational. I chose to get married, I chose to have a family, so it would be idiotic of me to want anything but the best for them.

I mainly don’t like DT because I don’t like his followers. I don’t like that you don’t hear the words “freedom” or “liberty” spoken much anymore. I’m witnessing the rise of fascism, where you have to subscribe to the neo-conservative idea of “freedom”. You’re not allowed to be free in-and-of yourself. You’re not allowed to do what you want with your body. And if tariffs take hold, you soon won’t be allowed to choose what you want to buy, from whom, and from where, without some inflationary tax being levied upon you. I mean, come on…every single product you buy has a label stating the country of origin. If people wanted to Buy American then they damn well would have. But tariffs are the governments way of saying that you are unable to make your own purchasing decisions. It’s socialism, protecting established businesses from competition.

Maybe I’ll run for office someday under the “Free guns with every abortion, and vice-versa” platform. Lol.

So, gotta go. Just got another order. Better go get that ready so I can ship it out tomorrow.