HOW THE BUSINESS STARTED
Today, we have Matthew from Of Earth Furniture. Matthew has been in the wood working industry for over 20 years now. At 17, he started doing custom wood turning while working under a certain gentleman for 4 years. He acquired great skills and work ethic from this mentors experience. After turning 21, he left the job and begun hunting for another. He checked out a few shops but wasn’t impressed by how they worked. He was more of a hands-on man but all he saw around was automated processes. He picked up a few jobs here and there until he broke off to start his own business, Of Earth Furniture. Of Earth Furniture is just a small company of two people at the moment. It has been a lifelong dream for Matthew to do custom solid wood furniture and that’s what Of Earth Furniture deals in. He sometimes does commercial work, but mostly custom does wood work. His work consists of his own designs but he’s very open to a customers’ design and custom tailor pieces.
CHALLENGES OF RUNNING A BUSINESS
Matthew is extremely good with handling people and sales and he always makes sure they’re happy by providing high quality products. His hands work like magic but running the business side of things deems a little challenging. He has no formal business training in terms of marketing, branding, and sales. He is however working hard to learn all the business tips and tricks to be able to have a successful business.
LESSONS LEARNED
His perfectionist nature requires him to make sure everything happens according to plan. As much as this is a good trait, not everything goes to plan and on time. His biggest lesson is learning to let go and let things take their course.
STAYING INSPIRED
Matthew was not tech savvy before and wasn’t mesmerized by the Instagram idea. However, one of his workers opened an account for the business and started posting content consistently. This grabbed Matthew’s attention and he’s now an Instagram junkie. He gets most of his inspiration from checking out other people’s amazing work on the app. One of them is Canadian Woodworks. He’s cautious of getting the shiny object syndrome from this, though, as everything always seems perfect on the site.
FUTURE PLANS
He’s working on his branding this year, so he’s looking to create a logo, a webpage, and deal with the marketing. He’s also putting up a product line for Of Earth which will include products such as candles, natural bees wax, pottery, and other products that can tie in with the Of Earth brand.
LINKS MENTIONED
Instagram: @ofearthfurniture
Email: Ofearthfurniture@gmail.com