A Table Empire with Dan Wellens of Country Tables & Furniture 

 

This episode is brought to you by Jobber – getjobber.com/ethan

 

“Last year, I did 281 tables by myself. So basically, I push out 0.76 tables a day.”

 

• Dan Wellens

 

Welcome to Building a Furniture Brand with Ethan Abramson, the show that talks about the business behind the furniture business. In this episode, Ethan sits down with Dan Wellens, owner of the Minneapolis Minnesota-based furniture company Country Tables & Furniture.

 

Now, if you want to talk about the business side of the furniture business, Dan is definitely somebody you want to have a conversation with. He has made over 5000 dining room tables over the years, and that doesn’t even count the other types of furniture he has produced during his career as well. 

 

With numbers like that, you have to be doing something right not only with building quality pieces but also with building a quality company. Dan has learned over time how to walk the fine line in furniture making between having a manufacturing company and making furniture as an artistic pursuit. 

 

Follow along as Ethan and Dan talk about the importance of automating your shop, the steps for making a solid business foundation, a real deep dive into pricing, and much more. 

 

 

 

 

Building a Solid Foundation

 

“I kind of pay homage to being a farm boy in Minnesota. We have 160 acres here, so we’ve always done the farm. Over the years, if we needed it built, we built it. If we had to have a shed built, we built a shed. 

 

My dad, he’s an inventor. He’s made tractors and bobcat-type vehicles, he’s made track-dozers, and just being able to look at something and knowing that you can build it is kind of where I come from.”

 

• Dan Wellens

 

Being a farm boy, Dan took a common route into the military by joining the Navy out of high school. After realizing that the military didn’t pay enough, he began contracting for the NSA in the Department of Defense and working as a police officer. Eventually, Dan moved back to Minnesota, thinking he wanted to join the corporate world.

 

Shortly after realizing that his corporate life boiled down to playing golf and ingratiating himself with clients, Dan realized his dissatisfaction. This lack of fulfillment led him to start building tables one at a time in his small shop behind his home. Finally finding his purpose, Dan built the largest shop his county would allow, and he hasn’t looked back since.

 

 

 

 

Starting his Business with Purpose

 

“Starting a business, the first thing I kind of thought about is what I wanted to make. I played around with that idea a lot, and I kind of fell into tables because tables are just the easiest thing. Every novice woodworker makes butcher blocks and some sort of table. Then you just grow, and you progress from there. 

 

But when I was starting when I was like, “What am I going to do?” For some reason, the name Country Tables really just stuck with me. I was like, “I want to start a business. And I want to call it Country Tables.” 

 

• Dan Wellens

 

A big part of Dan’s desire to call his business by such a straightforward name was wisely rooted in his understanding of Google’s search engine. The first thing people do when they search for a quality table is “rustic table, beautiful table, or country table.”

 

Dan has taken advantage of that concept by naming his company something that comes across search results easily. He has also purchased many other related domain names that all redirect to his main website to control the market in his region.

 

When he started, Dan was building tables and other furniture out of reclaimed barn wood. However, as time has gone on, he has progressed into using more exotic woods and integrating hand-carved elements.

 

 

 

 

Above All, Know your Product

 

“So I think the most important advice that I could give somebody is to know your product. The biggest problem that I see young woodworkers making is not understanding what wood is. If you’re going to sell something, know your product; if you’re going to build something, know your product. 

 

You can make a table, and you can set it in a client’s house, but six months from now, you’re going to get a phone call if you don’t do it correctly. So I think the number one thing that people starting out should really pay attention to is the products you’re working with. 

 

I’ve heard before that we’re not really held to any standards. But I would totally disagree with that. Because I would say, the product that you make is your standard. Wood will hold you accountable. If you are not adequately drying your wood, six months after you make that product, your wood is going to cup, it’s going to warp, it’s going to expand and contract, and that will hold you accountable because you’re going to have an unhappy client.”

 

• Dan Wellens

 

Website: https://countrytables.com 

 

Instagram: @countrytables