Humble Blades Update: How I Streamlined My Production Process And Increased Pricing
This is a follow up story for Humble Blades. If you're interested in reading how they got started, published over 5 years ago, check it out here.
Hello again! Remind us who you are and what business you started.
Howdy, I’m still Chris Sofia and I’m the only one who shows up to work at Humble Blades, an adorably small(er) bespoke handmade cutlery operation out of Austin, Texas. I’ve been pursuing the craft for about 7 years and finish about three units a week for an average price of $800!
Tell us about what you’ve been up to! Has the business been growing?
The business has been consistent, which is great because I’m still here, and also very frustrating because it seems like it’s a lot more effort just to not lose ground sometimes.
The quality and confidence in the product are finally to the point I’ve strived for years to harness. I like to think that people buy my knives - that I don’t sell them. What I sell is a luxury product married to a tangible experience. Fewer knives per week mean more time to share the progress of the project with the customer and I’ve found that’s the missing link in getting them to return. I have higher prices now, but less volume. So now it’s time to turn the volume up.
The production recipe has given me the confidence to move up in pricing (finally!) To navigate that transition, I’ll do what I’ve always done; constantly developing the product and the process, collecting new customers, and always raising the standard.
Chef Knives used to be $80, now they're just south of $800.
What have been your biggest lessons learned in the last year?
It all adds up - $25-$50 off to a repeat customer, discounts in general, they add up!
At the end of last, all I could think was if I had charged another $100 per, I'd be looking at an extra $15,000 at the end of the year. It felt terrible to realize that was money that I had earned, and throttling my prices and an attempt to attract more volume customers weren’t paying the bills. I’ve put too much time into the development of my product to have an inferior product.
What’s in the plans for the upcoming year, and the next 5 years?
It’s time to break out of the traditional post/react social media model. I’ve outgrown what that can yield (without the Midas touch of an influencer) so it’s time to look for other ways to grow, to do promotional, industry-specific events, wholesale orders - all that shit.
A lot of the leverage I have is that people seek out my brand, there’s a sea of other talented knifemakers out there, so I’ve always avoided what I consider aggressively forward with sales. It’s time to revisit what sort of other tactics I can employ that won’t challenge the tone of the brand and create a new line of communication, awareness, and leads.
Advice for other entrepreneurs who might be struggling to grow their business?
Logs and lists of all things, they add up too! That 5-10 minutes it takes to do one thing will compound to hours at the end of the week/month/year. Same with cleaning.
Are you looking to hire for certain positions right now?
Currently, the plan is to focus on small weekly batches by myself. It’s easier to navigate sales drought by keeping overhead as low as possible and more profitable for me, larger fires need more fuel or they burn out.
This year I have a few wholesale orders, on the books and in talks. I'd like to create a process for handling orders and grow a team to help facilitate it.
