That's great about the positive effects Bitcoin has had for your business. Monetary freedom is very nice, and like you said- you don't have to explain why you are buying something for your work. You shouldn't have to explain or seek approval for simple purchases you make in your everyday life. Using BTC is like buying or selling your goods in a direct P2P cash transaction anywhere in the world. If I'm across the world and I want to buy your products directly from you, why should we have to involve a 3rd party? To pay them fees?
If you really want to support the Bitcoin economy though- don't dump all the
BTC received for sales to fiat money immediately, like many vendors "accepting Bitcoin" through Coinbase or BitPay do... Show some faith and hold some, or experience all of the purchases and sales you can make with it. I enjoy spending Bitcoin, and I believe there is a way to get almost everything you need with it now, in one way or another.
Good luck with your business, and keep up the great work. I've enjoyed seeing the few different pieces you've posted so far, and it has been cool to learn more about rare & exotic woods and the different properties they have. Do you have a website?
I have yet to sell a single Bitcoin from anything i have sold and dont ever intend on doing so. When i receive Bitcoin they go through the mixer then into cold storage unless they are going to my new lathe fund, i then turn around and buy wood with them from the forum or other sources i have found that accept Bitcoin.
I have had some requests for round things larger than my current lathes can turn from the bitcoin community, My wife told me that i had to make the money by selling bitcoin pieces. In her defense i did buy $80k in new equipment this year which is a bit steep but i needed most of it, well some of it, ok none of it, really i just wanted new toys to make better art with. I called the manufacturer i buy all my wood working tools from and told them i am interested in purchasing a new lathe from them but ONLY if they would accept my bitcoin. They e-mailed me back and said that it wont be a problem at all and to just let them know when i am ready to make the purchase. I'm only a few art pieces away from being able to buy it and am excited to get another business to take my bitcoins, and to get a new machine that will let me turn things up to 16" round
If anyone wants to send a tip or donate to the New Lathe fund my tip address is: 1
LatheNNRsWhSZBcFvXpkZd1P3Wz4yA3Vz
Thanks for the advice TookDk, My brother works for one of those big government agencies that normally have 3 letter acronyms but in his case is just a line item on a budget. He is one of the top cyber security agents in the world and was the reason i got turned on to bitcoin in the first place. When he gave me my first bitcoin he gave me a computer machine that is a signing only offline cold storage vault that he built. beyond that i NEVER transact without escrow unless someone is sending me payment first.
About the only time someone tried to scam me was in the beginning when i was trying to buy $100k in bitcoins from a site called localbitcoins.com so i could use it to buy wood down the road, they tried to reverse a direct bank deposit but instead landed themselves in jail for the weekend and now have a court date and will probably have to pay me restitution as well.
If ever i have questions or am not sure about something i pretty much have Blazedout419 on speedial and he is always right there with sound advice and a solution. My brother may have turned me on to Bitcoins, but Blazedout419 sealed the deal and made me a Bitcoiner for life.
That is really good to hear
Reason I mentioned it, is that I chatted with a fellow bitcoiner here on the forum about a year ago, and he had a small webpage where he was selling different pieces of handmade art, all the income was going direct to his "online wallet" (BIPS), he was basically saving up all his income. BIPS was "hacked" Nov 2013, and he lost all. I never saw him on the forum again after that, I think he gave up bitcoin completely (sad story). I just don't want that to happen for another bitcoin business startup, where the passion is the art and not technology. It seams like you got the tech part covered quite well
Yeah, this community is great in terms of support and answering questions. The one golden rule that my brother gave me when he gave me my first Bitcoin was "NEVER trust your bitcoin with an online service" and i never have except LocalBitcoins and that was only for a few minutes at a time as the minute i bought Bitcoins i transferred them to cold storage.