We sit down with Bonnie Cummings of Third Axis Custom Engraving and trace how she builds a one-of-a-kind shop through moves, setbacks, and relentless self-teaching. We talk about mastering machines, pricing creative work, and why customer emotion and trust are the real edge in a relationship-driven community.
• starting with 2D and 3D crystal engraving then expanding into metal, laser work, and sublimation
• moving locations and cutting overhead by running a home-based business
• learning software and equipment solo and leaning on grit to stay in business
• using under-promise and over-deliver to create loyalty and repeat customers
• creating meaningful memorial and memory pieces that bring real emotion
• balancing small custom orders with larger commercial accounts for stability
• fixing blurry logos, managing rush requests, and avoiding unpaid time sinks
• valuing time, skill, and expensive equipment and using deposits
• dealing with difficult customers by dropping ego and focusing on resolution
• adding sublimation and a Cricut to expand full-color personalization
• defining success as mastering systems so creativity can lead
• building local trust in Farmington and the Four Corners through face-to-face work
A lot of people think custom engraving is just pushing a button on a laser. Then you meet Bonnie Cummings, owner of Third Axis Custom Engraving in Farmington, New Mexico, and you realize the real craft is equal parts creativity, technical mastery, and staying power when life gets heavy. She shares how she starts with crystal engraving that creates 2D and 3D images inside blank crystals, then steadily expands into laser engraving on all kinds of materials, metal engraving, and full-color sublimation printing.
We dig into what it takes to grow a home-based small business in the Four Corners area: multiple moves, the overhead squeeze, and the double shock of construction plus COVID. Bonnie explains why cutting fixed costs can be the difference between closing and continuing, and how she builds a customer-first approach that turns first-time buyers into people who call back years later because they remember how she made them feel.
You’ll also hear the unglamorous truth behind personalized gifts and one-of-a-kind awards: pixelated logos, rushed deadlines, hours of image editing, and the importance of deposits and pricing your time. Bonnie breaks down why you’re not selling “materials” as much as you’re selling experience, design judgment, and the ability to run expensive equipment reliably. We wrap with her advice to other entrepreneurs: keep going one step at a time, learn something new every day, and let systems free you up to focus on the people and the meaning behind the work.
If you enjoy stories about local business, customer service, laser engraving, crystal engraving, sublimation, and real-world entrepreneurship, subscribe, share this with a creative friend, and leave a review so more listeners can find the show.