Machine Shop Growth
The Machine Shop Growth Podcast gives a fresh perspective to help you grow your shop by focusing on 3 key factors - Sales, Marketing and Efficiency. For decades the machine shop industry was build on a “good-ol-boys” mentality and was full of great machinists and engineers that made great parts. What has been discovered is many of those amazing shops have plateaued or are starting to decline - because they didn’t put enough emphasis on getting more work and making more money with the work they had.
On this podcast you will hear first hand advice from machine owners and mangers how they are getting more work and how they are making more money. Now let’s Grow Your Shop!
Machine Shop Growth
Episode #30: How to Start a Shop from Scratch
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You don’t start a machine shop by buying a machine.
You start it by solving a problem.
In this episode, Mike Fritz and Kirk Phelps unpack the reality behind building a machine shop from scratch—and it’s probably different than what most people expect.
Everyone talks about machines.
Very few talk about:
• Cash flow pressure
• Customer concentration risk
• Investors and financing mistakes
• The hidden costs nobody budgets for
• Why your first customer matters more than your first machine
And one statement from this episode flips conventional thinking upside down:
"Don't buy the machine and then go find customers."
If you're dreaming of launching your own shop—or wondering if now is the right time—this episode walks through the real-world decisions that determine whether you grow... or struggle before you ever get started.
PLUS A MAJOR announcement about the future of Machine Shop Growth and the launch of Manufacturing M&A
🎧 Available on Spotify, Apple Podcasts, YouTube, and all major podcast platforms.