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(02-11-2024, 09:58 AM)®smpr_fi_mac® Wrote: I'm in the process of crafting a profitable custom table business. I'm relying solely on organic advertising through Facebook, which gains me about one table a month, which is all I can build with a full time job and kids at this point.
It's very profitable, and will probably get better once I start using paid advertising.
But then I need to worry about hitting critical mass that will allow me to quit my day job.
Chicken and egg thing here.
My average price now is about $3,500. My two year goal is a $10k average price.
Dunno whether that helps, but my advice is to go big or stay home. The money is in big, custom stuff.
Something I've learned working for myself is that you have to charge what you're worth and just understand that the Wayfare client isn't the client you are chasing. I hear new home inspectors asking all the time "What's the going rate for a home inspection?" It drives me crazy. Who want's to achieve "the going rate"?
Probably a question they should have asked before they went into business, not after. But, there is no "going rate". The right questions are how much to I have to charge to make a decent living, how do I find those clients willing to pay it and how do I create enough perceived value in the mind of the client to attain that.
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(02-12-2024, 09:15 PM)packerguy® Wrote: Everyone is an expert.
I had a guy to my shop this weekend for a tour. 2 or 3 times he said "you should do it like this" or "you know what would work". I guess at the end of the day I am the guy with a shop making 14k urns a year, and he has "ideas".
Like I said, unless you want another full time job, enjoy your retirement and if someone wants something you enjoyed making, cool.
14K urns a year! Holy cow, that's incredible in a one-man shop. My hands hurt just thinking about that.
John
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(02-12-2024, 12:33 PM)nosoup4u Wrote: Thanks to everyone who replied! I have had people, upon seeing my projects say, "you could sell those". I've always been very skeptical about that, but I wanted to see if there was something that I was missing. Someone mentioned large tables, and coincidentally a farm house table I built for my daughter is one of the things that gets mentioned the most.
Lots of good advice in this thread. As for those who say, "You should sell those", I think we probably have all encountered those folks somewhere along the journey. They mean well, but really have no idea what it takes to actually make a profit out of woodworking, much less a living.
If you are going down a river at 2 mph and your canoe loses a wheel, how much pancake mix would you need to shingle your roof?
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Long term? maybe, maybe not.
I've made things for people over the years that I've made money on.
Recently I made some short tables for an expensive picnic company that I made money on.
Course if you factor in the cost of tools, I actually prolly lost money, but I already had the tools, so I don't count that.
I've made other things over the years that I've made money on, but nothing consistent....course I don't really try to find people that need things made. Its just what falls into my lap.
Reality is that which, when you stop believing in it, doesn't go away. - Philip K. Dick
Mark
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(02-14-2024, 12:14 PM)meackerman Wrote: Course if you factor in the cost of tools, I actually prolly lost money, but I already had the tools, so I don't count that.
True, but my issue is that I rarely hit actual amount of labor it will take. I'm usually off by a factor of two or three. LOL.
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(02-14-2024, 12:54 PM)joe1086 Wrote: True, but my issue is that I rarely hit actual amount of labor it will take. I'm usually off by a factor of two or three. LOL.
If you are retired, stop beating yourself up about the time it takes. If you make $500 over your material costs, that's $500 you didn't have before. Does it really matter if it took 10 hours or 50 hours to make? When you're not working on a paying project your hourly rate is $0, and minus if you go play golf, etc.
John
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I couldn’t count the number of people who have looked at my van or some perk in it, and said, some more seriously than others, “Can I hire you to make this for me?” The answer is always a resounding NO. There is a huge difference between doing something you love the way you want to do it and trying to please someone else while you are doing it.
If you don’t need the money, enjoy your time in the shop doing what you like to do, not what someone else wants you to do.
Carolyn
Trip Blog for Twelve Countries: [url=http://www.woodworkingtraveler.wordpress.com[/url]
"It's good to know, but it's better to understand." Auze Jackson
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(02-16-2024, 07:47 AM)MsNomer Wrote: I couldn’t count the number of people who have looked at my van or some perk in it, and said, some more seriously than others, “Can I hire you to make this for me?” The answer is always a resounding NO. There is a huge difference between doing something you love the way you want to do it and trying to please someone else while you are doing it.
If you don’t need the money, enjoy your time in the shop doing what you like to do, not what someone else wants you to do.
Glad to see you are still looking at WN occasionally.
John
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(02-13-2024, 10:45 AM)jteneyck Wrote: 14K urns a year! Holy cow, that's incredible in a one-man shop. My hands hurt just thinking about that.
John
He's got a nice shop in a commercial space and a little family help. Still, 14k is a big number.
My best friend Matt is in one of Steve's Urns. He was also a die hard Green Bay fan, as his his entire family. GB fans are a funny lot. When I said I knew a GB fan in the urn business they gave me the "go ahead" to order one from Steve. They couldn't have been more thrilled that a GB faithful made the URN. Inside the urn with Matt is a Green Bay Packers Stock Certificate. They are a publicly owned, non profit corporation.
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i did craft shows for several years, and made out pretty decent. it was more because i wanted to make stuff, but, what was i gonna do with all of it??
at least doing this, i pretty much just made what i wanted. can't say that i really MADE money, but i didn't really lose any either.
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