# First sale!



## RAdams (Jul 15, 2009)

WOO HOO! 

I listed an ad on a local advertising site, and actually had a guy email me interested in buying pens. He told me he was interested in buying a fountain pen! I sent him a few pics of the two closed end Classic American pens i have in stock. He finally came out today and looked at them in person. I showed him some Euro's in homebrew and a couple of wood pens and keychains. After telling me he wanted wood, when he saw my homebrew blanks, he instantly changed his mind! 

He Ordered a Chrome, postable fountain!!! He picked his PR colors, and made a deposit on the pen!!!



He also brought his collection of fountain pens. All store bought, All but one were Parkers. It was cool to have my work compared to professional pen companies! Apparently i made the grade, cause he sure was quick on the draw to buy one! Man i am happy about that!


----------



## Verne (Jul 15, 2009)

congratulations Ron, kinda makes one feel all fuzzy inside. Doesn't it?
Vern


----------



## mredburn (Jul 15, 2009)

Congratultions, its always nice to have ones work accepted and Paid for.  Mike


----------



## Jim15 (Jul 15, 2009)

Congratulations Ron.


----------



## VisExp (Jul 15, 2009)

Congrats on the sale.  Interesting how he changed his mind from the wood pen to the acrylic.


----------



## cnirenberg (Jul 15, 2009)

Way to go.


----------



## RAdams (Jul 15, 2009)

VisExp said:


> Congrats on the sale. Interesting how he changed his mind from the wood pen to the acrylic.


 





I agree. He even had some drumsticks made from exotics that he was interested in getting a pen from the same wood, Purpleheart, or Bloodwood. 

I showed him my two color Euro's and he showed very little interest in the pens or material. 

I showed him an Osage Orange slimline, and a BOW Skull pen and he was very interested, picking them up and examining them up close. He then inspected the bloodwood and Pheart keychains. 

Then i showed him the first closed end, a rollerball Cl. Am. with a two color black and gold. He looked at it, but more of a pen collector kinda interesting pen thing i think. 

THEN i hit him with the WHAMMY. I took the lid off of my three color closed end fountain pen and handed it to him with a piece of paper. He looked at it, holding it close to his face, rubbing the fits, looking at it more. Then he finally wrote with it. He almost immediately reached for his wallet. I think if i would have let him, he would have taken that pen home with him. 

Sure made me feel like a rock star!


----------



## akbar24601 (Jul 15, 2009)

Congratulations Ron!!! That is fantastic! It's nice to find an enthusiastic buyer.


----------



## george (Jul 15, 2009)

Congrats... I am very happy for you.


----------



## artistwood (Jul 15, 2009)

last time i felt warm and fuzzy, i woke up to the cat laying on my face!  seriously, very nicely done and congratulations.......bear


----------



## Daniel (Jul 15, 2009)

RAdams said:


> WOO HOO!
> 
> 
> 
> He also brought his collection of fountain pens. All store bought, All but one were Parkers. It was cool to have my work compared to professional pen companies! Apparently i made the grade, cause he sure was quick on the draw to buy one! Man i am happy about that!


Just shows that our pens are not "Cheap" regardless of what we think of them. our worst can stand shoulder to shoulder with the best production pens out there. this is for everyone by the way, remember that when you are showing off your pens. only you know if it is the least or most expensive pen you make. and the cost to you is not the determining factor in its worth.


----------



## rjwolfe3 (Jul 15, 2009)

Grats!


----------



## RAdams (Jul 15, 2009)

Daniel said:


> Just shows that our pens are not "Cheap" regardless of what we think of them. our worst can stand shoulder to shoulder with the best production pens out there. this is for everyone by the way, remember that when you are showing off your pens. only you know if it is the least or most expensive pen you make. and the cost to you is not the determining factor in its worth.


 



Very well said! That is one of my biggest problems, I discount my stuff WAY too much usually. It is hard for me to charge $75 for a pen that cost me les that $10 to make. But of course when you figure the cost of all my tools, and the years of experience, etc. etc. It is actually a prett good discount at $75.


----------



## thewishman (Jul 15, 2009)

Way to go! That first sale is priceless.


----------



## titan2 (Jul 16, 2009)

thewishman said:


> Way to go! That first sale is priceless.


 

_Yep.....make sure you frame that first dollar bill!!!  There will only be one of them!!!_
 
_Barney_


----------



## just_call_me_dusty (Jul 16, 2009)

Good Job!! I love to hear stories like that.


----------



## Stevej72 (Jul 16, 2009)

Congratulations! Hopefully the first of many, many sales.


----------



## RAdams (Jul 16, 2009)

Well actually, it wasn't my first sale.


It was my first Fountain pen sale. 

Up until recently, I only made stock Euros, slimlines, and a few Cigars and sold them for just a few dollars over the cost of the materials to friends and family, and the occasional word of mouth customer. 

Then two things happened, almost simultaneously (sp). 

I lost my job, and i found this site. 

The loss of my job spurred me to finally, after being told for years to do it, sell my turnings retail. And this website, shared with me the techniques, skills, tools, materials, knowledge, pictures, inspiration, aggravation, etc. etc. to put me in overdrive. 

I owe this entire sale to this site! If it werent for the cool cats here, i would still be making $20 and $30 sales, instead of MULTIPLE ITEM ORDERS!!!

Yes, that's right. THE GUY ADDED TO THE ORDER! I sent him a picture of the three blanks i made of his colors, and he wants all three of them! A fountain, a slimline, and a CL. AM. pencil to match his fountain pen!

I am absolutely thrilled! I have been concerned lately, what with my first show just around the corner, and not ever showing my work in such a fashion before. I was scared that my work was crap, and that my friends and family were saying it was nice just to be nice to me. When a stranger tells you that your work is amazing, and it is hard to decide what he wants because everything is so nice, and then he just starts dropping dollars like nothing. It makes a guy feel pretty good! I will probably be floating on this cloud for a while! 


Ok... enough rambling. I have an order to fill!


----------



## RAdams (Jul 16, 2009)

Yeay. I made the pen. but the picture is too big to add as an attachment. SOOOO...


----------



## kmab (Jul 17, 2009)

consider how you would feel and react if this new customer came on the forums and talked about you the way you have talked about woodturningz


----------



## rjwolfe3 (Jul 17, 2009)

...


----------



## mickr (Jul 19, 2009)

Great story & congrats


----------

