4 years
This little crew of creators has been growing strong for four years. It does not feel like four years to me until I stop and think about all the cool things we have done in that time. Looking back at just the three year update we had just started to get the dual end stops worked out, now by far the most popular feature. I was hoping for the PID to work…it does and we ended up with a few custom PCB’s to show for it. I need to spend more time on it but I use mine all the time. I was wishing for either a LowRider or MPCNC update…We got both the LowRider 2 and the Burly MPCNC, and that is on the heels of a January 2018 MP3DP update. Behind the screens the server and site got a back end overhaul to handle the new traffic that was happening and now the site loads in less than half the time it used to. That all happened in one year, one awesome year!
This year was the year of the Crew. I have been fortunate enough to have been extremely busy trying to keep things in stock, and ship tons of orders. I was scared me being a little less present would make things deteriorate. Nope. You know what happened instead, you all stepped in and just ran with it. The amount of support, time, pictures, projects, a little sprinkle of giving each other a hard time that has happened is amazing. I think as a group we are all finding our stride at each lending a hand and doing it efficiently and still having a good time. I used to wake-up coffee in hand and worry how long the night's emails would take to get through before I could start doing the exciting part of the “job”. Now, I wake up and try to answer an email before someone else does. We have a forum where there are often overlapping help responses, not noob bashing, actual multiple correct answers to someone's issues all posted within minutes of each other! I do not want people to have to use the forums to get going but I love that they can, and feel safe doing so. The Facebook group is so big now 3000+ members it moves so fast I have no hope of keeping up with it but there is a hell of a crew on that side keeping it running smoothly as well.
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This Google Analytics graph shows we have had over 16 million page views in 4 years. Does that seem as crazy to you as it does to me? Now, want to really go crazy?
January 2019 had 1,063,074 page views alone…what!? Seriously?
So now, my big hurdle so far this year is the most recent move. I am still in progress and you can follow the link at the end to see some updates but I am not just a crazy guy that likes to stress himself out. The move is for a reason. I moved to get a place with a larger “shop” the place I am in now has a 3-car garage that I am giving a facelift to make into a suitable shop. With this new shop I am going to try and bring in a little help. I want to bring in some help so I can do more engineering (revisions and R&D) and use my creations for fun more often and show off some cool pictures and videos in the forums like you all do! I hope to start with just a handful of hours help a week and see how that works out. I know some of you are probably wondering why a 4th garage not just get into an actual shop or small industrial space, and the truth is money. As amazing as this business has been going it is not a gold mine and I want to keep the prices as they are and have been. I know how fickle these things can be and do not want to get into a bad financial situation. I believe this to be the right move. This is pushing the budget pretty far but I am sure it will be worth it in the end. This is by far the most space I have ever had by a long ways, so there is plenty of room to grow.
Thank you all for the amazing work you have done, and all the help you have given me and each other. Thank you for all the encouragement and sharing. Please keep it up, on a bad day a picture of someone's first crown, or latest creation can really get me motivated, and I am sure I am not the only one that feels that way.
Here is the latest updates thread, and I really hope to see you at MRRF 2019, not sure I will make it, but I am trying.