Found this posted on "Michigan Sportsman" forum:
"First of all I want to thank everyone for your continued patience with me.
I feel I owe you an explanation of what's going on and why it's taking so long to fill some of your orders.
This has been one heck of a year for me. Long story made short - My business grew way too fast and I buried myself in work. Tried hiring help.....that didn't work out at all...in fact it made things much worse. Messed up and lost orders are still plaguing me a little.
Drop me an email if you need to concerning this.....please be patient though, I'm still answering emails very slowly so that I can put as much time into the lathe as possible.
I am getting caught up though and will NEVER make that mistake again once I do get caught up. This will be a one man show from now on. No more trying to find help.....no more trying to grow this business into something that I don't enjoy anymore.
Once I do get caught up, I will once again open and take new orders. But I will only be taking a FEW at a time. Never again am I going to bury myself as I have this past year trying to grow my business. I began this journey as a way to make some money and help the average working man to afford a true custom built barrel. I strayed away from that idea and tried to grow my business to accommodate more people and make more money - which means more orders/work. More people to do the work.....and that's where I'll leave that part.
It was a mistake that I now regret. I will return to what worked for me in the beginning. When I do get completely caught up, unfortunately it means many will not be able to get in on the orders when they do open. The spots fill very quickly once I open orders. But it's also the only way I can control turn around times and keep them reasonable. I'm sorry that has to happen that way. I know of no way around it. Trying to "fix" that is what got me into trouble in the first place.
This old rule is true: "If it ain't broke - don't fix it"
So that you know, I anticipate getting caught up with the orders that I can readily get blanks for in a couple of months if I can keep this same pace I'm on right now. There are some blanks that I've been waiting on for quite sometime and I can't do anything about it. I have to wait until the blank gets here before I can do the work.
I will continue to answer emails rather sparingly until I can get everything back the way it started.......then I will once again return to what worked in the beginning for me.
Thank you for your understanding and support!!!"