Pete Hinzy left a comment asking:

I am also attempting to start up a small business with the focus on providing low cost, custom parts. I have one customer now but have struggled trying to “reach the masses”. Any thoughts?

Hi Pete!

Well, you asked for it!

1. First and foremost, absolutely, positively, get a copy of Guy Kawasaki’s Reality Check.  At $20, it is the best investments you’re going to make in your business, hands down.  This book distills his advice from his several other books and insanely fantastic blog posts on starting a business, business development, etc.  He gives simple actual concrete advice on how to take yourself from someone with an idea to a person who has their own business.  I own two of his books and follow his blog and the ideas and suggestions in his book have been invaluable to me as a small businessperson and entrepreneur.  You’re going to read and re-read this book, refer back to it, pour over it’s index, write in the margins, and dogear pages.  It’s that good.
2. Invest in your own domain name, installation of WordPress, and a new theme.  It’s cheap and seems more professional.  There are hundreds and thousands of free themes.  Once you get people to your website, you want them to stick around.
3. Tell people about yourself!  Blog, tweet, and other stuff!  Talk about the things about your MakerBot you’re enthusiastic about.  Your enthusiasm will show through.  Don’t just re-post or post a link to someone else’s information.  Blogs are so much more than that.  Put your own spin on it.  They’re additive forms of communication, people keep building on things others have said or done and contribute to the conversation.  You’ve posted a link because you find it interesting – tell us why.
4. Every week more and more people are searching for information about MakerBots and RepRap.  What is a MakerBot’s print resolution?  How hard is it to put a MakerBot together?  What do I need to build a RepRap?  Answer the questions your potential customers have and they will come to you.
5. One of Kawaskai’s best bits of advice is, “Let a thousand flowers bloom.”  Basically, try anything, try everything, see what works, what doesn’t, learn and improve.  I’ve done some prototyping for people with my MakerBot and am now running a pseudo-auction for a 3x2x1 Rubik’s Cube.  I didn’t plan on selling this prototype – but it occurred to me that it was a fairly popular thing on Thingiverse, I won’t have need of this as I work on better designs, perhaps someone would like to own it?  Try out some new ideas.  You could focus on printing small-run custom parts – but what if there’s a better use or market for your MakerBot?  Perhaps you might find it more lucrative to print Mendel or Mini-Mendel parts.  Keep your eyes and ears open for new possibilities and new ideas and new markets.
6. Use your existing customer.  Ask your current customer what they want, how they use things, how you can help them more, what other ideas they have.
7. I recently posted the results from my MakerBot poll.  There’s a lot of good information in there about what people like about MakerBots and why they’re interested.  This would be a good resource if you wanted to create a business geared towards these people or just write more content you think they would enjoy.