Start A Knife Sharpening Service - Business Ideas
Every household has a bunch of knives in it. All those households have dull knives that may need sharpening to serve the owners well. Therefore, there is already a market for your knife sharpening business. To start the business, drive down the road, knock and ask the homeowners if their knives need sharpening.
Starting a knife sharpening service requires a great deal of effort, dedication, and most importantly passion.
If you're interested in how to sell knife sharpening, or selling knife sharpening online, you can use this page as a guide for everything you'll need to know.
Want to learn more? You can check out our full guide on how to start a knife sharpening service ➜
Key Stats
Startup Costs
| Min Startup Costs | Max Startup Costs | |
|---|---|---|
|
Office Space Expenses |
$0 |
$7,000 |
|
Employee & Freelancer Expenses |
$151 |
$352 |
|
Website Costs |
$223 |
$7,215 |
|
Business Formation Fees |
$5,600 |
$20,400 |
|
Equipment & Supply Expenses |
$66 |
$700 |
|
Software Expenses |
$162 |
$3,094 |
|
Advertising & Marketing Costs |
$0 |
$1,700 |
|
Training & Education Expenses |
$0 |
$850 |
|
Specific Industry Expenses |
$0 |
$500 |
|
Total Startup Costs |
$6,202 |
$41,811 |
Case Studies
•
$200K/mo
Successful Businesses
| Business | URL | Rank | |
|---|---|---|---|
|
|
Benchmade Knife Company, Inc. |
benchmade.com |
91,726 |
|
|
COLD STEEL |
coldsteel.com |
293,804 |
|
|
Atlanta Cutlery |
atlantacutlery.com |
362,802 |
|
|
Japanese Knife Imports |
japaneseknifeimports.com |
368,476 |
|
|
Folded Steel |
foldedsteel.com |
405,245 |
|
|
Knife Aid |
knifeaid.com |
406,948 |
|
|
SHARP Knife Shop |
sharpknifeshop.com |
463,694 |
|
|
Sharpening Supplies |
sharpeningsupplies.com |
487,585 |
|
|
Chris Reeve Knives |
chrisreeve.com |
556,220 |
|
|
Arizona Custom Knives |
arizonacustomknives.com |
583,124 |
|
|
ESEE Knives |
eseeknives.com |
675,832 |
Pros & Cons
| Pros | Description |
|---|---|
|
Flexibility |
You can put as much time into the business as you'd like. If you like the work and have some initial experience, you can start small and manage all aspects of the business on your own. |
|
Ability to start your business from home |
It's not necessary to have a physical storefront or office space to get your business started. You can do everything from the comfort of your own home, at least in the beginning! |
|
Rewarding work |
Starting a knife sharpening service can be really rewarding work. After all, you are solving an immediate issue for your customer and you're working on something you truly care about. |
|
Scalable |
With businesses and processes changing daily, there will always be demand for new features, products and services for your business. Additionally, there are several different business models and pricing tiers you can implement that will allow you to reach all types of customers. |
|
Meaningful business connections |
You never know who you will meet as a knife sharpening service. This could be the start of an incredible business opportunity! |
|
High customer retention rates |
Once a customer invests in your product, they've invested their time and energy to utilize your product/service which is highly valuable to them. Typically, your product or service becomes indispensable to your customer. |
| Cons | Description |
|---|---|
|
Motivation of employees |
If you plan to have a sales/content team on board, finding creative ways to motivate them can be a challenge. It's important that you're able to offer great incentives and a good work environment for your employees. |
|
Low margins |
The gross margins for your knife sharpening service are typically around 40%, which can make it more challenging to incur new expenses and maintain profitability. |
|
Niche Market |
A niche business is not necessarily a bad thing, in fact, it can be the key to your success. However, it can be more challenging and time consuming to find the perfect niche market and target audience. |
|
High overhead expenses |
With starting a knife sharpening service, there are overhead expenses that come with selling a physical product. You will want to make sure you strategically budget for these overhead costs. We discuss this more in the startup costs section below. |
|
Work can be repetitive |
You may find creating the same product over and over repetitive and tiresome. One way of avoiding this is to diversify product lines and revenue streams - this will keep things interesting! |
|
Churn |
In this business, customers can cancel their membership or subscription for your services - which can make revenue forecasting challenging and unpredictable. It's important to focus on your churn rates and trends so that you can prevent this as much as possible. |
Marketing Ideas
-
1
Direct Sales
Direct sales strategy implies a direct contact between a seller and a consumer without the involvement of any third party. Direct selling is popular in sectors where sellers communicate with their clientele personally. The sales technique occurs at non-store locations which include at home, work, or online.
For direct selling to succeed, hire a few (or many) salespeople to support the sales conversion process. It's critical that you assign them specific roles and responsibilities to nurture the client and provide excellent support.
-
2
Word of mouth
Word of mouth is when a consumers reflects their interest in a company’s product or service in their daily dialogues.
Therefore, word of mouth advertising is essentially a free advertising triggered by the customers experience.
According to Nielsen, 92% of people trust recommendations from friends and family.
Therefore, in today’s hyper-connected world, a single recommendation through a word of mouth can have a huge impact to your business.
-
3
Social Media Advertising
Social media advertising is the use of social media platforms to connect with your audience with the objective to build your brand, increase sales, and drive website traffic.
According to Oberlo, approximately 48% of the global population use social media, and the number is ever-growing.
Therefore, social media allows brands access to cost-effective advertising by enabling them to interact with a large audience.
Hey! 👋 I'm Pat Walls, the founder of Starter Story.
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