Woodworking for a living?

[Yonak Hawkins]

To be honest it isn't simple to do woodworking for a living.
And in my opinion there are only 2 way's to succeed.

A third way, that is seldom represented, is being a manufacturer for another concern. The itch for custom designing is rarely in the product but it's in the methods of production and is quite satisfying.

If you look around at things made of wood, all of it must be made and some of it is made in small shops by entrepreneurs. If I were looking for a new product line, I would identify a set of products that appeals to me, find out who distributes it, and strike up a conversation with them. Most distributors are interested in finding a maker who complements their enterprise, either by your close proximity, better quality, reliability, flexibility and, possibly, even price.

[Tom M King]

The best way to make a living in woodworking is to get other people to pay you to talk about it.

[J.R. Rutter]

The most important requirement for making a good living in woodworking is business sense, including marketing and accounting. Secondary to that is the ability to produce what your customers are willing to pay for. Be organized and disciplined. Avoid debt. Drive costs down. Find the profitable niches. Take great care of customers. Get legal advice early on if contracts will be involved. Network with other business owners (not just woodworking).

[Loren Woirhaye]

If you're into a sort of crafty approach and don't mind doing a lot of sanding, things like nut trays can be sold directly through Amazon. I read an article recently on a shop that was doing that and doing alright. They did a lot of excavating with routers and had relatively mundane equipment except for Butfering wide belt sander. Certainly a production shop approach and a far cry from being known for joinery, but they were turning a profit. Amazon's markup isn't nearly what a brick and mortar retailer does, so in effect if your product can be shipped and hits good price points you can act as your own retailer. It's worth noting outfits like Thos Moser who treat the marketing and selling almost as a separate business and mark up the product just like a 3rd party retailer would. They have showrooms but the backbone of the sales machine was exquisitely printed direct mail catalogs. I'm sure they're saving a bundle now on printing and postage with the internet.

[Chris Padilla]

I took a class from Paul Schurch at David Marks' studio in Santa Rosa, CA last March regarding inlay and marquetry. David is a real down to earth fella but he told me that woodworking for a living is a tough tough thing to do. Even with his commercial success at Woodworks, he still feels to this day he got pretty ripped off by the network and didn't make much money and worked 80 hours/week while doing the show. He prays his kids steer clear from woodworking as a living!

[Erik Loza]

I suspect Michael Y. is meaning "one man operation" with the question about being able to do this for a living.

Here is my observation as the guy who is selling machinery to folks like that: Cabinetry? No problem to make a living. Cabinetry and "some" furniture pieces here and there? Still viable. "Just furniture"?... Based on my 10+ years and hundreds of customers, I can count the actual owners who make a living doing exclusively furniture on less than one hand.

Erik Loza
Minimax USA

[Andrew Joiner]

The most important requirement for making a good living in woodworking is business sense, including marketing and accounting. Secondary to that is the ability to produce what your customers are willing to pay for. Be organized and disciplined. Avoid debt. Drive costs down. Find the profitable niches. Take great care of customers. Get legal advice early on if contracts will be involved. Network with other business owners (not just woodworking).

I totally agree with J.R. I got my first business experience at age 8 in 1959. I built a shoeshine kit and went around to barbershops and asked if I could shine shoes at their shops. 5 or 6 turned me down,until I found one that let me. Dealing with real customers and performing a service was a valuable learning experience. I really believe it helped me when I got into the woodworking business.

[Frank Drew]

Lots of sound advice and real world experiences offered here; I agree especially with everything that Dominique and Max said because their advice closely matched my own learning process in the business.

Just for clarification, the Amish I've come across use machinery, just not connected to the electric grid; the young Amish carpenter who bought my shaper planned to convert it to hydraulic, which in turn would be powered by a gas engine; that was a common practice. (He wanted me to drop my price to compensate him for the retrofit to hydraulic; I told him that as much as I felt his pain, that wasn't my problem. His dad laughed and said, "Jake, that ain't his problem!")

[Michael Yadfar]

Just for clarification, the Amish I've come across use machinery, just not connected to the electric grid; the young Amish carpenter who bought my shaper planned to convert it to hydraulic, which in turn would be powered by a gas engine; that was a common practice. (He wanted me to drop my price to compensate him for the retrofit to hydraulic; I told him that as much as I felt his pain, that wasn't my problem. His dad laughed and said, "Jake, that ain't his problem!")

Yea I actually looked that up last night and never realized til now that the amish are allowed to use generators. I actually had an Amish guy buy a dirtbike off me to give to a guy he does business with in the diesel generator business, and even though he hired a guy to drive him to my house, I was wondering why an Amish guy did business with diesel generators, but now I know. I was also reading that they (the Lancaster ones) are actually being forced away from farming to these industries due to the commercialization of Lancaster County. It's kind of sad that our Western society comes in and changes theirs, but that's a whole different subject. I still can't quite say that the Amish made furniture lives up to the hype, like I said, people think that "Amish made" always means better, but a lot of stuff I see is no different than non Amish made. With that said though, I have seen some really high quality Amish stuff, I'm not trying to bash them, I just feel like the label is over judged.

[Brian W Smith]

Slight thread tangent......a little.

WRT generators....and to another degree,the original topic;It's not just Amish runnin generators.A buddy of mine who lives a little off grid,has a stable of 100 y.o.,4 head moulding machines.There's probably a half dz,.....having no 3 phase in his neck of the woods,he uses a rather nice diesel generator to run them.It's an interesting place.

He had the property,built the necessary building,and serves a very valuable service in a time when moulding shops are in decline.He is very specialized in this market,and does pretty good once you get past the initial? effort.Meaning,he can go in the shop,hit the lights,hit the remote on the big gen,and more than likely one of the machines is already setup for that profile?......run a cpl thousand feet and then go find something else to do to finish the day.

I guess?....one could examine where they "fit",or mesh in with folks(those who need "that" service/part),and then make a concentrated effort to set the bar,WRT tooling/skillsets.....to precisely hit that mark.Your success being how well you do hit the mark.Bigger isn't always better.Think,"the right size"..........