3 IMPORTANT Tips for a Successful Furniture-Making Business! By William Douglas Co.

 

Being successful is not an easy journey. And the biggest thing that might hold you down is your own self-doubt about where you are spending your time and if you are doing the right thing. 

 

Doing what we love, sustaining a living, and supporting a family is a lot easier said than done in this industry. So in this video I break this down into the 3 most important tips to consider to become a successful furniture maker! 

 

 

 

 

Know Yourself and Know Where to Spend Your Time. 

 

This is one of the most important parts in my opinion. You really need to know yourself, understand what you are capable of, and understand where your time is best spent. This is something woodworkers struggle with a lot. You need to re-evaluate this aspect frequently because we do a lot of different things.

 

I started my business alone and now we have a couple of employees. So take the time to get to know them better, know their strengths, and fill in those weaknesses. You need to position yourself where your business can be the most sustainable. Be flexible and understand each of your employees’ tasks.

 

For example: 

 

You have a design that you are excited about. You have a good builder in the shop, but you don’t have a good welder, or somebody who understands how to do cat and cam, or anybody who can sell a job. I know it’s hard but some of those things that are more fun for you to do that you want to pursue, you got to let go of those sometimes to focus on the tasks that will keep your shop surviving.

 

Know your place, know your strengths to keep your shop surviving that’s the number one thing that i would say is really important to understand and execute. 

 

 

 

 

Stay True to Yourself

 

This might sound gimmicky, it might sound stupid, but it is incredibly important because of this reason, I am now in a position where people come to me for the exact type of work that I want to be doing. It did not start that way, people approached me to do all kinds of work that I didn’t want to do, that didn’t represent my work, that I am not excited to do. So I turned away from those jobs. 

 

But before doing that you need to be sure that you can sustain your living. You should have another job or other income, while you are building out what you’re trying to accomplish. 

 

What happened to me before is that I took all the jobs that a representation of me or what it is that I wanted to do. But now, finally, people come to me for my work, they want me to design for them or they come to me because my portfolio represents something that they’re interested in. 

 

By doing this, you’re attracting the right people. If you want to get into a level where you can do what you love and get paid enough for it to support your family. 

 

 

 

 

Take Good Photos 

 

If you can’t take a good photo it doesn’t matter, you can still make the most beautiful furniture. But social media is important, especially for this type of work. For somebody who’s building furniture, your portfolio is everything, so take the time to learn. 

 

You can set up your portfolio through social media, and you should learn how to use a good camera and learn how to light your shots at the right angles.

 

I love sharing these tips with you guys because what I’ve noticed across the board in any trade is that when we start to share all these little secrets, everybody grows and everybody gets better as a whole, so we as a community are getting better together. 

 

A perfect example of this is how I learned to shoot my furniture, the correct lighting, the angles, and all. People have shared this information on the internet, otherwise, I would have had to go take a class. So that allowed me to get better and step up my production game. 

 

If we all get better, we’re all going to push to new limits together!