I cannot seem to place my material where the laser starts

It would be helpful to know what you are doing now.
Does the machine have home switches?
Does it home correctly?
Are you using a red-dot / red-crosshair positioning laser?
Is its offset set correctly?
Are you using a mechanical fixture to align the material?
Is the laser firmly screwed to the baseplate / wasteboard?
Is the fixture firmly attached to the baseplate?
Are you using absolute coordinates?