Part 10: Making $140,000/month in pure profit selling filament

Little did I know that my journey into the world of 3D printing would change my life forever. At first, I remember people around me laughing at my hobby, dismissing it as something only kids would play with. But reading philosophy every day before starting my work taught me not to care too much about what others thought of me. Despite the emotional and sensitive side of me being hurt by their comments, I continued to pursue my passion.

Eventually, I managed to save up enough money to rent a nice house with a garage workshop, and I used the money to purchase all the tools I needed for my hobby, including a plasma cutter, a mig welder, a tig welder, and a bandsaw. It was a dream come true, as I now had all these fancy toys that I had only ever seen on YouTube.

But after spending four months indulging in my hobby, it dawned on me that I wasn’t making any money from it. I knew I had to do something to scale up and earn more money. So, I went back to filament making and began to sketch out a plan. I opened multiple LLCs in different states with rented addresses, and I even made more extruders with the help of a few friends.

At first, I considered buying a filament line, but they were all very expensive and bulky, and I didn’t have the space to house one. Instead, I decided to stick to what I knew best and make more units that I could run continuously. I also bought a truck to haul plastic pellets from the distributor, and I put my unemployed friends with no social skills to work. As my confidence grew, even the most ridiculous ideas seemed worth pursuing.

Despite not being a very logical person, as I never had a real father figure to guide me, I managed to grow my business through intuition and trial-and-error. Women even started to take an interest in me as I acquired more toys, but I wasn’t interested in dating. My only goal was to cash in on this opportunity as fast as possible and achieve my dream of homesteading on a large property while still pursuing my hobbies.

I joined local antisocial groups and found many guys who were sensitive like me and had no social skills, making them unable to find jobs. I even enlisted the help of a creative but abusive graphic designer to create multiple brands tied to different LLCs. No matter how “cheap” of the filament a customer wanted, I had it ready for them to buy. I learned this tactic from Chinese companies selling sub $10 items.

As my profits soared from $5,000 to $60,000 per month, I began to feel like an imposter. I started to doubt myself and question whether my success was legitimate. The existential questions began to plague me, and I fell into a deep depression.

Due to our ghetto production, showcasing our production facility on YouTube was not an option. We lacked the revolutionary patented technology that would appeal to customers, so displaying our facility held no value. We were just a group of cowboys with nothing to offer, or so I thought.

That all changed when I discovered a wicked and sharp method to drastically improve the tolerance of our filament. No other company on the market could match our tolerance, making us the go-to for customers who demanded the best quality at a cost that couldn’t be matched. And the best part? I did it all without changing much about our machines.

By replicating our prototype and creating several clones, I legitimized all the money I was making. And I deserved it. But how did I do it?

I added another process to our production line where we pulled the finished filament through silicon carbide dies at a fast speed. As the filament exited the die, a propane gun melted it, creating a glassy smooth finish that made it impossible to see any sanded or ground filament. This was revolutionary because the speed of extrusion no longer affected the filament diameter; the final diameter was achieved through grinding the filament via a wire-drawn process in the silicon carbide die. It made me feel like a genius, and my ego was reborn.

But as I made more and more money, I realized that doing everything on my own was useless. I hired a guy to set up a home gym for me, but even with top-of-the-line equipment, I still wasn’t happy with my progress. My trainer suggested I use steroids to achieve the aesthetics I wanted, but I refused. I wanted to live longer and explore the world, not risk my health and well-being for a temporary physical appearance.

As my success grew, I began to attract unwanted attention. I realized that the place where I was living was no longer suitable for someone making as much money as me. So, I decided to create a new life for myself somewhere where people lived equal or better lives in terms of finances.

Today, I make $140,000 a month selling something that others said was only for “kids.” I learned that it’s important to never pay attention to those around you. Most people don’t truly understand things in depth; they only see what’s on the surface.

If you got any questions, you can hit me up on Instagram: “alex4core” is my handle.