Hello, I am Austin Ziegler, the founder of Ziggy Zig Designs LLC. I want to share with you how I started my dream company and can hopefully inspire new entrepreneurs into following their dreams!
Beginning Life as an Adult
After graduating college with a mechanical engineering degree from George Fox University in 2018, Austin Ziegler began working as a design engineer for a medical device company right outside of Portland, Oregon. During this career, he was introduced to the entire lifecycle of a medical product from ideation, through development and into mass production.
This medical device company utilized two types of 3D printers for prototyping, a Form 2 from Formlabs (SLA) and a MK3S from Prusa (FDM). They also owned a small X-Carve CNC machine from Inventables. After playing around with all of these different machines, Ziegler was inclined to get his own.
By winter of 2018, Ziegler was a satisfied owner of a CR-10S 3D printer from Creality and a large X-Carve CNC machine from Inventables. Once these machines were received, the biggest mistake in the history of Ziggy Zig Designs occurred… the machines were never used. In fact, the X-Carve wasn’t set up until summer of 2020 (two years later) and the CR-10S was sold shortly after. In fact, Ziggy Zig Designs wasn’t even a concept at this point.
The Creation of a Small Business, Ziggy Zig Designs LLC
In the winter of 2020, Ziegler picked up a magnet and accidentally discovered a product that he wanted to pursue. If you want to read more about the product that started Ziggy Zig Designs LLC, go check out The Shwoop’r – Patent #1 blog (will post 7/28/2024). Long story short, Ziegler bought his first two Prusa MK3S 3D printers to prototype the new invention.
After spending a lot of personal money pursuing patents and a new invention, Ziggy Zig Designs LLC was formed in May of 2021. While waiting for the patent to be reviewed, and the high prices of magnets from the rare earth metal shortage of COVID-19, The Shwoop’r was put on a temporary hold. This was the second biggest mistake, pausing Ziggy Zig Designs a second time.
Opening an Etsy Store
In April of 2022 the 3D printers and CNC machine were again, not being used. Ziegler then decided that he should start making other items to sell. The first product he chose to sell were small, low-profile battery cases designed to take up minimal space in hiking, camping, travel or emergency bags. He designed the battery cases using SolidWorks and prototyped them using the two Prusa 3D printers in his basement.
After having a sellable product, he quickly opened the Etsy store with no idea or plan for how to grow Ziggy Zig Designs. The battery case turned out to be a failure and I didn’t make a single sale. If you are interested in this story, go check out The Battery Case that Flopped blog (will post 5/12/2024). You can purchase the battery case here.
This is when the realization occurred that Ziggy Zig Designs was a brand new store with no credibility. Let’s be honest, he wouldn’t buy a product from a company with no sales and no reviews, so why would anyone buy from his business? Before making any new products, he needed to build shop credibility by executing sales and obtaining positive reviews. If you want to follow his proven plan for how to successfully grow a new e-commerce business, go check out the blog How to Build Etsy Shop Credibility (will post 5/19/2024).
In summary, he designed and sold very inexpensive products at a loss. Within a month of listing these inexpensive items, he executed first sale on April 28th, 2022 for a whopping $0.99. While actually losing money on this transaction, a much greater value was born in generating his first sales and even his first five-star review. By June of 2022, he had come up with a few other products as well as The Sox: Soap Box, The First Etsy Bestseller (will post 8/18/2024). You can purchase The Sox: Soap Box here. Ziggy Zig Designs officially hit 100 sales in August of 2022 and became an Etsy Star Seller.
At this point, the business had obtained a consistent 50 orders a month. Due to the increased volume of orders, more 3D printers were needed. This is what initiated the purchase of the 3rd and 4th Prusa MK3S+ 3D printers. Half a year into owning an Etsy store, Ziegler had designed 15+ unique 3D printed products, the top seller being The Sox. Come November of 2022, the business has amassed 250 sales and 80+ five-star reviews. This is when Ziegler officially considered Ziggy Zig Designs to be a credible business.
Wrapping up the First Year as an Etsy Store (2022)
With Christmas quickly approaching, a new ornament was developed. His famous Gas Money Ornament was a hit due to the excessively high gas prices of 2022. This product quickly became an Etsy Bestseller and launched Ziggy Zig Designs sales into orbit. Growing 200+ sales in the month of November alone created panic from sheer volume of products needed to be produced. On Black Friday, Ziegler bought two more Prusa MK3S+ printers, bringing it to a total of six Prusa Printers.
Throughout November and December, Ziegler struggled to keep up with demand. Receiving 150 orders in 15 days, Ziegler decided to close the shop on December 15th, 2022 to ensure all customers would receive their products before Christmas. Closing down the Etsy store ultimately hurt business momentum and caused the loss of all Etsy Bestseller titles.
By the end of his first year owning an Etsy store, Ziegler had created 35+ unique 3D printed products accumulating 700+ sales and 125+ five-star reviews. All of this was accomplished on the side of working a 40 hour a week full time job as a mechanical engineer.
A lot of exciting things have happened since the formation of Ziggy Zig Designs, and a lot of exciting events will come in the future. Please follow and subscribe to continue the journey with Austin Ziegler and the pursuit of his passion, Ziggy Zig Designs.