I'm Finished - I'm hanging up my tools

[gary Zimmel]

Joe

I am sorry the buisness did not work out. What you have learnt I am sure you be able to use in your next venture.
Best of luck.

[Sam Yerardi]

Joe,

I'm sorry that you feel you have to make this decision. I know it must be heartbreaking.

[David Giles]

Gotta know when to hold 'em and know when to fold 'em. Sounds like you gave it a good shot and didn't ruin your life, marriage or attitude in the process. Good for you!

A long time back, I spent three years trying to startup a small European operation and totally failed. But the lessons learned were valuable in the next three business ventures. You'll be telling stories about this experience for the rest of your life. And you'll never regret taking the chance to do something different.

Now go make some money and have some fun.

[Lee Koepke]

I applaud your outlook / attitude. You did something that alot of people only dream about. sorry it didnt work out career-wise.

[David Duke]

Best of luck Joe in whatever you decided to do........just because your getting out of the WWing business doesn't mean you can't stop by and visit with us and share you wealth of experience.

[Randal Stevenson]

Well after 4 years of living my dream job, I've had to make the difficult decision to close down Unni Woodworks.

It has been a fantastic go, but I've just plain run out of money! I still firmly believe that one can earn a living building custom furniture, but I learned that you must have stores of money to aid during the ramp up period which can be very lean. I guess looking back starting on the side may have been a more prudent decision .

I learned more about woodworking and business and about what I'm capable of in the last 4 years than I could have ever hoped and loved every minute of it. Certainly the input from you all along the way has been immeasureable and for that I say thank you!

(looking toward sales) and the stability that goes with it. I'm looking forward to actually doing things around the house again and not having to worry (as much) about how the bills get paid. And I know that my wife and two little girls are feeling better and less stressed.

As basement woodworking is not an option right now, I'm cleaning out my shop so please watch for the going out of business sale in the classified section.

I'll be checking in to SMC as usual, but may be more of a provider of my experience versus asking questions.

Thanks so very much,
-joe

You gave your dream a shot, that is more then most people ever do. Good job.
Shutting down from running out of money is a whole lot smarter then mounting debt, to try to keep it going (seen too many times), and is a whole lot less stress on you and your family.
I hope, and thank you for, sticking around and passing the knowledge. In our buy now and buy inexpensively economy, people (customers and sellers, etc) have no real idea the costs of things, and don't want to pay for them (no exception here since I watch for bargain alerts).
Even though basement ww isn't an option, keep what you can (if you still enjoy it). What is paid for, could at least help you with some side jobs, if sales aren't as consistent as you would like (that statement about sales and stability reads like a joke).

[Brian Penning]

I must confess though that as someone who is just starting out stories like this aren't exactly encouraging.

[Sean Troy]

I must confess though that as someone who is just starting out stories like this aren't exactly encouraging.

Every bodys situation is different. It doesn't mean you'll ever go through the same thing. Trying so ething new is more than half the battle won already.

[Will Blick]

Joe, your work is excellent, that certainly was not the problem.... I am curious from your experience....

Would you say the problem was lack of interest in custom furniture, or the unwillingness of customers to accept the pricing of custom made pieces? A huge distinction. Can you try to express it as, 60/40, 80/20, ?

With the current state of the economy, I would assume the custom work in general will be in decline, at least for a few years.

Regardless, I am sure your future endeavors will be fruitful, you are obviously a very talented guy....

[Marc Casebolt]

Joe,
I know exactly what you are going through (more or less). I recently had to shut down my own custom shop for a long list of reasons. It sucks. There is no easy way to do this, but if you know you gave it your best shot, then you can get past it. Selling all my machines was hard to do because I really dig machines, but they are gone to good homes and are still being used to make a mess some where.
I also agree that it is possible to make a living in this business. The work is out there, and when you can find a repeat customer that knows the value of custom pieces, it is a pure joy. You just need to wade through a bunch of folks who start out by complaining about how much Potery Barn charges. I always told them that when your grand kids are fighting over the custom desk, that Potery Barn POS will be in a land fill.
My experience also gave me a lot more confidence in my skills. Like you, I learned so much about woodworking, business, and my self. You can't learn all that from a book, you need to go out and do it. I wouldn't trade the last several years for anything, although I would like to get my weekends back if any one could arange that. I actually spent last week end at home with my wife! It's been a while since I felt I could do that without some feeling of guilt about a job that needed doing.
I feel bad about closing the shop, but also excited about what's next. I hope you can shake off the feelings we both have, and look forward to your next step.
Keep you hand tools, They don't take up much room, and you don't want to have to buy them again.

Good luck,

Marc

[Fred Voorhees]

Sorry to hear this Joe. But you know what....at least you gave a shot to a dream of yours that a lot of us share, but just don't have the gumption to try. Good luck with whatever you replace it with and by all means, stay in the creek and at least stay wet.

[jud dinsmore]

joe,

sorry to hear that the dream has to end. it takes a lot of courage to go into business for yourself, and a great sense of responsibility to make tough decisions for the greater good of the family.

i'm getting ready to sacrifice some of my family's responsibility to pursue my own woodworking dream. i've read just about every going-into-the-woodworking-business post here and at woodweb and most advise against taking this leap. funny, that this negative attitude seems to be the overriding sentiment from those that are in the business or those that tried it. so seeing that hindsight is 20/20, would you please offer some advise for someone who is about to try to turn this dream into a reality?

as for me, i've done a bunch of homework and have several backup plans. i think i'm as ready as i'll ever be. i've also got enough start up capital to almost pay for all of my overhead expenses (i'm renting a shop space, etc.) for the first year. i've also got enough capital to pay for all of the tools i need that i don't already have. most importantly, i've got a wife that can almost full support us on her salary (no kids, yet). i know there are still a lot of unknowns but they'll always be unknown until i take the leap.

so if you're feeling up for it, please tell us why you think it didn't work. i would think that you would have "made it" after you survived the first two years. please share your experiences.


best of luck,

jud

[Mike Cutler]

I'm really sorry to hear that Joe. Your work was first rate.
Don't be a stranger.

Mike

[Brian Ross]

"It is better to have tried and failed than not to have tried at all". You obviously have the right attitude and good luck with your next venture as I am sure you will hit the ground running.
Brian

[Jim Becker]

Joe, I too am sorry to hear that things have not worked out. Any small business is a challenge...I know all too well with a business failure of my own back in the late 1980s, although that was more precipitated by "someone other than myself" doing unsavory things. So I shut it down. (small systems/VAR/IT operation)

I do hope that you'll reconsider completely abandoning woodworking. You have wonderful skills and knowledge and even if your activities are limited, perhaps you can take some satisfaction from them. Make nice stuff for your own use and enjoyment at least! But maybe taking a break for a bit will help you transition since I have no doubt this is heart-breaking.