Hi jared, I run a knife sharpening/rental/sales business in London. It sounds like you've got limited resources but don't let that stop you. If you search the net you will see that there are companies operating with small belt grinders off the back of mopeds doing fine work.when it comes to sharpening the best training you can receive is through customer feedback.
As you are going mobile try to remember that some knives will be damaged so whatever you decide to use will need to be powerful enough to remould damaged blades at a good speed.
While customers sometimes will come to you I would suggest finding catering outlets and setting up drop in days with them. Its what I do and it does bring in regular visitors to these stores every month. My sites off line at the moment but i generally stay on ad words all year round as een though in the beginning it didn't pay it has done through the cumulation of ongoing custom. As well as having a site you can promote and collect friends through facebook, it keeps a good open dialogue with customers that bizarely gets used a lot these days. Both your website and facebook are free, ailing lists to people who has spent money with you and a great way to get onto their friends pages.
Become the best you can be at what you do and dictate your prices to suit your needs, I have witnessed a lot of price wars here and in the end the only person who wins is the one with the deepest pockets and can sustain the loss the longest. Focus on people concerned with quality work.
I would definately suggest getting good at sharpwning all you can as it will open the market considerably for you, my last bit of advice is to take the best you can away from rejection as cold callers are often shuned through force of habit. If you don't get the customer at least walk away with an email address to add to the back end of your site so you can keep the contact in case they ever see a mail from you and change their minds.
Hope this has helped.
Kneafster
As you are going mobile try to remember that some knives will be damaged so whatever you decide to use will need to be powerful enough to remould damaged blades at a good speed.
While customers sometimes will come to you I would suggest finding catering outlets and setting up drop in days with them. Its what I do and it does bring in regular visitors to these stores every month. My sites off line at the moment but i generally stay on ad words all year round as een though in the beginning it didn't pay it has done through the cumulation of ongoing custom. As well as having a site you can promote and collect friends through facebook, it keeps a good open dialogue with customers that bizarely gets used a lot these days. Both your website and facebook are free, ailing lists to people who has spent money with you and a great way to get onto their friends pages.
Become the best you can be at what you do and dictate your prices to suit your needs, I have witnessed a lot of price wars here and in the end the only person who wins is the one with the deepest pockets and can sustain the loss the longest. Focus on people concerned with quality work.
I would definately suggest getting good at sharpwning all you can as it will open the market considerably for you, my last bit of advice is to take the best you can away from rejection as cold callers are often shuned through force of habit. If you don't get the customer at least walk away with an email address to add to the back end of your site so you can keep the contact in case they ever see a mail from you and change their minds.
Hope this has helped.
Kneafster
