Jacob Dennill: The Bearded Ox

 

“We sell and retail in all kinds of dimensional and live edge slabs. I think we probably have one of the largest selections of kiln dried live edge slabs in Alberta.”

• Jacob Dennill

 

Welcome to a brand new episode of the Woodpreneur Podcast. Today your host Steve Larosiliere sits down with Jacob Dennill from The Bearded Ox. Jacob has been an entrepreneur for about 14 years and was very successful in the company he started previously, but it didn’t give him the feeling he needed to keep going.

 

“I was making good money, and all that was great, but a little piece of my soul died every day. So I decided I had to do something different. I went and did a lifelong dream and got my commercial helicopter pilot’s license, and I was going to start a helicopter company. But in the meantime, I need to do something to make money because you can’t just fire up a helicopter company the next day.

 

So I told my wife that I’d be a pretty grumpy guy if I had to keep doing what I was doing, so let’s start another company. She was like, ‘Sure thing, let’s go.’ I started doing some research, and at the same time, a friend of mine was working on the business plan for the helicopter company and trying to make that go. Then I realized that to get into what I wanted to do, there was no middle ground to spend 12,000 bucks on a small mill, put it in my backyard, and do it on the weekends or jump all the way in. I’m not a halfway kind of guy, so we jumped all the way in.”

• Jacob Dennill

 

 

 

 

Steve’s Advice Corner

 

“If you’re getting something custom made, it might as well be made custom. I made a table for a really tall family, so the dining table is two inches taller than standard, and I made a desk for this tiny lady. It’s three inches shorter than standard because she never had a desk that she felt was comfortable. So if I could portray those things in content creation, I think I’d be happy.”

• Jacob Dennill

 

Portraying your willingness to do custom work that meets your customer’s exact needs is not an easy thing through social media. However, for someone like Jacob, for whom showcasing his bespoke custom creations is essential, he must find a way to make that happen.

 

“The best part about social media and the worst part of social media is that you can be yourself. Sometimes, it comes off as cringy, but often you’ve got to change your mindset and look at it as the fact that you’re serving people and you come from a position of service. Your entire story is about how you show up and serve people.

 

I love those examples of how you do custom work. I mean, that could be a particular segment. That could be a little video, a testimonial, or something where you talk to people about their actual needs. At the very least, maybe it’s once or twice a month, you invite everybody down to your shop, and you film it, and you create content for the month just for that.”

• Steve Larosiliere

 

Website: https://www.thebeardedox.ca

 

Instagram: @beardedoxtimber