Photo Credit: Steve Parker – NT Trees
How to Source Wood and Build Industry Relationships
Your Phone Is Your Best Tool
When you’re starting a wood business, the big question is figuring out how to network and find trees. Before, you had to know a lot of people locally to succeed in finding wood and knowing the important people in the wood industry. You had to show up at events and conferences, or drive around your area and hopefully get to know people. The interesting thing about today is that now you don’t need all of that because the best tool you can use is your phone. Your phone gives you access to the entire world.
For us, we’re big on Instagram, we’ve delved in deep on LinkedIn, and we use Facebook to great effect. I’m going to talk about three different ways for you to develop good relationships with people, which will lead to getting good products and opportunities.
How To Start Networking and Building Industry Relationships
- Send an email or DM to everyone that has been on the Woodpreneur Podcast. You say, “Hey, I’ve listened to you on the woodpreneur podcast, I love what you said about these things, I was wondering what you thought about this or if there’s anything I can do to help!” This was suggested to me by a listener of the podcast, who said that the podcast changed everything for them by doing this practice. Networking is really all about exchanging value. You get to learn skills and grow, and the others that you interact with also get to learn and grow.
- Search through hashtags. I created the hashtags #sawmillbussiness and #woodpreneur because I wanted a place for everyone to share their work. Look around at the things that others are doing, and the way they show off their products. If you find someone you find inspiring or who already is where you want to be, then reach out to them! When it comes to networking, the real work happens in the DMs.
- Doing local outreach. However, before you begin, I suggest you get your story straight. Whether you’re starting out or already well established, it’s about having that good online presence. You can send people an email, but If you don’t have a website, put your Facebook and Instagram links there. You have to ensure that the thing that represents who you are is easily accessible. Your social media needs to have pictures of your products, ideally a video of the process, and a mission statement. These things need to show off your personality. If you’re not strong on personality, nobody will want to do business with you, especially today.
Photo Credit: Steve Parker – NT Trees
In some ways, it used to be easier to get business because everything was face-to-face and in person. But because of the interconnectivity of the world today, you’re not just competing with the other wood businesses in your area, you’re competing with the rest of the planet! People who live down the street from you can buy products from across the country, and they will if they don’t know that you’re there.
Get Your Story Straight
It’s important to get your brand and story straight, and for you to have a very clear picture of who you are before you start outreaching to people. So what I want for you is to get your profiles, your mission, your vision, and your story correct, and then go out and network with people. Reach out to arborists, tree service companies, that’s how you start to build relationships. There’s an opportunity for you to position yourself as a leader in the Urban Lumber movement. If you are the center for all the relationships and the ecosystem in your area, you can be the beneficiary of a lot of opportunities.
I hope you found this advice super useful! I’m excited to share more of these blogs and videos with you and I’ll see you in the next one, take care!