A Puzzling Journey - Part VI

Part VI - So, why risk it?

Originally part of the April 2025 edition of the Mercurius Newsletter.

Let’s take a couple of steps back from the last fork in the road on this journey.

In mid-2023, I could sense the end of my military career looming over the horizon. My current contract would allow me to stay in the Canadian Armed Forces until age 55, and likely longer if I wanted, but I’d be pensionable as soon as September 2025. Meaning that after 25 years of service, I’ll be able to collect an immediate pension. With two young kids on one hand, and on the other most of our relatives and “aging” parents living in a different region of Canada, my spouse and I had to reassess our priorities and decide whether the military life still fit with our desired lifestyle.

We quickly realized that the pension alone would not be enough to support our small family and live “comfortably”; you know, a modest mortgage, a functional car, maybe travel to Europe or down South every couple of years to get a break from Canadian winters. Perhaps even afford to splurge on fancy European cheeses, dried meats, and local pâtés once in a while to display on my gorgeous walnut and bird’s eye maple charcuterie boards. The cost of living hasn’t exactly been trending well either. I needed to quickly determine whether this woodworking side-hustle could supplement my pension enough to afford all that. That’s when I really started pushing forward with this little puzzle crafting endeavour.

It meant investing time and money, neither of which I had much to spare. In March of 2024, after briefly considering Etsy or some sort of Marketplace presence, I decided to officially launch the Mercury Woodworks webstore. At almost $60 a month for web hosting through Shopify, it isn’t exactly cheap, especially as it wasn't generating any income yet. 

I mentioned last time that the new xTool laser engraver kit set me back almost $1,000 in July of 2024, which essentially meant I felt financially invested in trying to make the business work. I started making more reels and posts on Instagram, staying up late in the Workshop, documenting the evolving story of the Mercurius Temple, and even paid for Instagram ads to get the word out. In for a penny, as they say...

Not surprisingly, the orders weren’t coming in. My Instagram growth stagnated, with most of my followers being friends, family, and fellow crafters from the woodworking community. Great for motivational and emotional support, but not exactly the ideal customers.

I kicked off what I dubbed a mini “pre-launch” campaign on Instagram in mid-summer 2024, before I had even finalized the first fully functional Mercurius Temple. At that point, it was still rough. Unfinished aesthetics, unrefined mechanics, very much a work in progress. I wasn’t selling a polished puzzle. I was selling an idea, a promise of the potential.

And I just kept on posting update after update, the excitement of the evolving design fueling me and my desire to create something awesome. I wasn’t chasing likes and follows so much as the tangible realization of the idea itself.

I mentioned this last time; not the path I’d recommend to anyone looking for advice on how to launch any small crafting business. But I had solid combat boots on my feet (literal and metaphorical), and I felt I could tackle the rough terrain.

And somehow, it took only four days: my first pre-order unexpectedly came in, out of the ether(net).