Today we have arrived at a point where slowly but surely, human minds are turning towards freedom more than anything else.
Append that with the kind of technology we have and building your own business is a very attractive and worthy pursuit.
Now, there are many-many avenues you can raise a business on but given the context, let’s take woodworking into account.
Is woodworking a good business?
If you are relatively good at and have a genuine interest in woodworking, yes you can build a good business out of it. But you will have to learn business development skills to make it a flourishing venture.
A while ago I created another article where I discussed, is woodworking a good side hustle.
I created that post keeping in mind someone who is already engaged in another job or someone who may have no so solidified inclination towards woodworking.
With this article I am assuming, you love woodworking as a hobby at the very least.
If you are a beginner woodworker, I recommend going through this article, as I feel it is more suited to your current temperament.
Here is another article worth your attention
Is Woodworking Even Profitable? (Numbers)
So, first things first.
Is it even worth investing time and energy into developing a woodworking business?
Well, my dear friend, as of 2018 woodworking was estimated to be valued at $258.5 billion and is projected to reach around $291.3 billion in 2024.
So, yeah, I would say you can make a few bucks if you wish to.
Now, with the technology that we see around us, to be honest with you, you can build a business around anything you are passionate about.
Woodworking is a creative pursuit and attracts a lot of creative minds.
Looking at the endless possibilities a hobby like this presents, it’s quite logical to try and build a business around it.
Before we look into the steps that you need to take to build a woodworking business, let’s have a look at the benefits of having your own woodworking business.
- Freedom: You will be your own boss and will do things in your own way.
- New Revenue Stream: You will create a new income stream for yourselves which has the potential to turn into a full-time income.
- Community: You will be able to build a community around the work that you love.
Hopefully, I have inspired you to start taking your first steps toward building a woodworking business.
Let’s now understand how you can get started on your journey of building a woodworking business.
Getting Started with a Woodworking Business?
So, once you decide that you need to give building your own business a chance, here is how you can take your first steps.
Develop a Good Work Ethic
I am sure you must be thinking I would start off by giving some actionable advice on business development.
Sorry to disappoint you but it is my responsibility to be truthful here.
Creating a situation where you are honing your woodworking skill regularly and taking care of yourselves is very important.
As far as woodworking skills are concerned, I am pretty sure you are decent at it.
If that is the case, you will need to work on your business development skills.
But if you are fairly new at woodworking, I have handpicked and researched this course by Ted.
You can certainly learn everything by yourselves but for a skill that is as practical and visible as woodworking, everyone agrees having a structured course that guides you from basics to a significant level of competence will help you save so much time.
Time, which then you can use to work on the business side of things.
Start Small but Move Steadily
It’s very important to have dreams, what is even more important is humility and an inclination towards truth and reality.
Your business will have the potential of reaching the stars but it will demand time and effort for that to happen.
In the beginning stages, you need to be super focussed on developing things you are good at and developing them to perfection.
This will give you the necessary confidence and clarity on what your next steps are going to be.
Woodworking can involve a number of domains and it will totally depend on you as to where you want to start.
In this woodworking guide, Ted provides you with different blueprints that you can use to get started with beginner projects.
Very soon you will realize you have a natural inclination towards creating a certain domain of products and that is from where you start.
Creators experienced with woodworking will already know this and that is precisely where they should start.
In other words, don’t start off with fancy products. Create simple products really well.
One of the reasons why I love Ted’s woodworking course is because he provides blueprints catered for taking a beginner to a competitive degree of proficiency.
But once again, whether to take the course or not, I will leave the decision to you.
Here are a few domains that you can look to dabble into as you take your first steps.
- Custom Furniture
- Artistic crafts, trinkets & jewelry
- Cabinet Development
- Decorative items like corner pieces and curtain holders.
- Finishing works like floorboards, baseboards, etc.
Use the power of social media
Now at the beginning of this article, I talked about how technology has just changed the landscape of how one goes about developing business.
People are moving away from billboards and TV ads. Everyone is finding more and more ways of taking their business online.
Even I have 5 fully thriving businesses and they have zero offline activities.
So, in a world ruled by digital technologies, it won’t take long for you to figure out that a social media presence is going to be a huge part of your business strategy.
Here is one very important tip that I wish to give you straight away.
In the world of business, things are moving from established brands to personal brands.
Before the advent of technology, all you heard were world-famous brands that everyone knew.
Today, anyone who holds a significant social media following is capable of launching a product or a brand that will readily be picked up by millions.
So, I really can’t tell you how to proceed with this info. As a matter of fact, nobody really can tell you how to proceed because your situation will be unique to you.
That’s basically what business and entrepreneurship are, extreme individual responsibility.
Here’s one last thing that I wish to give you when you start using any social media platform try and give your own twist and taste to it.
Everyone loves a good personality. A persona that is good, compassionate, and cares about his or her people is the need of the hour.
So, what are you waiting for? In the comments let me know which social media platform you are going to start with.
Can you run a Woodworking Business from Home?
Yes, you can very easily get started on your woodworking business from the comfort of your home. You will still need a dedicated workspace for your tools and the work that you will do. It doesn’t have to be big, but it has to be spacious enough to allow you to work freely.
Secondly, always have the mindset of wanting to take the business big.
You see the biggest obstacle in the path of developing a business is settling down in your comfort zone.
I don’t want to discourage you but if you are someone who isn’t comfortable with breaking barriers every day, your business will be very slow to grow and develop.
Many people come into entrepreneurship for money, fame, and quick success. Hey, those are good things to desire no question about it.
But is that being what your sole intention is, you will soon be asking yourself the question, what next? if you are successful that is.
This is how I look at it, I develop business because it makes me realize I am not my limitations, I am not what I think I am.
See, you will feel this is such a simple thing but for me, this is so powerful.
With business development I test myself, I explore myself, I grow, I test, I adapt and I learn something new every day.
That’s my center of operation. You can choose to adapt it too if you like. It’s up to you.
Starting Woodworking as a Side Business?
See, there are people who are already experienced with woodworking and they need to develop a business around it.
There are also people who have only started dabbling with woodworking and aren’t sure about it.
And there are people who have a fire for woodworking but are absolute beginners at it.
For the first, category of people, you need to follow the things that I portrayed in the article to the dot.
For the second and third categories of people, I recommend taking small and potent steps.
For absolute beginners, you need to channel your fire in a way that doesn’t diminish it.
The last thing that you want to do is get demotivated by looking at advanced people and thriving businesses.
All of them were like you when they started.
So, humility is a very important quality to have here. Start small with small projects, and simple projects and look to build momentum.
I hate plugging stuff, but I really can’t help suggesting Ted’s woodworking guide.
I mean it’s so suited for beginners; I can’t even begin to describe it. Now, once again, not taking the course doesn’t mean you won’t be able to develop the required skills.
It just may be a long drawn out and unorganized process. If you are the type of person who loves a challenge and like to do everything on your own, more power to you.
It’s just that in business time is everything.
So, once you have basics out of the way, people belonging to categories two and three should look into developing a side hustle first.
I have already created a detailed article on how to develop a thriving side hustle in woodworking.
Let me quickly delineate the points that I discussed there. I urge you to go through with the article for a thorough understanding.
- What is woodworking?
- Best resources to learn woodworking
- 5 beginner woodworking projects
- How to make money woodworking?
- Is woodworking even profitable?
In Conclusion,
In hindsight when I think of it, I can keep on writing on this topic of is woodworking a good business.
But I am consciously choosing to stop because I don’t want my writeup to cross the border into a place where the content isn’t serving the intended purpose.
The purpose is to give you just enough info so that you can start moving and the knowledge base doesn’t become a burden.
This is one of the biggest obstacles that you will experience while learning. With so much content out there, how does one decide how much of what to consume?
On this blog, I try to keep things precise and to the point.
For instance, in the same article, I can write about the complete business plan of creating a woodworking business.
But for someone who is just starting out the first and most important thing is to get your feet wet.
So, I have designed the article that motivates you and gives you just enough knowledge that you can start with the most basic things.
Once you have the ball rolling so to speak, you will see things will align in a certain way that most things that you are worried about in the beginning will resolve themselves.
And for everything else, I am always here.
So, I urge you to subscribe to the blog. Good luck with your business and I will see you in the next one!
Bye!