One Year In with Andrew Fischer of Cold Brew Woodworking

February 16, 2022

One Year In with Andrew Fischer of Cold Brew Woodworking

“I just think that at the end of my life, the money doesn’t matter; it’s more about happiness. That you enjoy what you did.”

Andrew Fischer

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 Andrew Fisher, owner of the Nashville Tennessee-based furniture company Cold Brew Woodworking.

Ethan spoke with Andrew on his one-year anniversary of being a full-time furniture company owner. One year is a big deal, one year without a safety net, one year to start to learn what works and what doesn’t work for your business. A successful company is not built overnight; it takes time. And during that time, it’s good to pause and take stock of where you are.

Although it’s only been a year, the respect Andrew has for how his company is managed runs deep with pricing, quality, and confidence in the business. He is dedicated to never selling himself short. Follow along as they talk about finding happiness, the importance of social media to your sales, respecting your brand, and much more.

From Mechanic to Craftsman

“I was more of the trades kind of guy because that’s what my stepfather was. My stepfather came into my life when I was two, so I grew up watching him wrench in the garage or fix boilers or make stuff; I mean, he built the extension on the house. So I got into that with him.

Then I got recruited by my neighbor to work for an auto body company, starting as a detailer when I was 17, fresh out of high school. I eventually made my way up in that business into doing the Bondo, the quarter panel repairs, and the welding. But I got tired of breathing all that Bondo dust and stuff like that.

I received an inheritance from my grandfather when he passed away, and I took that money, and I went to Universal Technical Institute to learn about motors and everything. At 24, when you have $50,000, and you’re 24 years old, you’re like, ‘Wow, I could build a really fast car and be a show-off.’ But I did the responsible thing and went to school, which is very surprising, especially for me.”

Andrew Fischer

After finishing school, Andrew went straight to Toyota and worked there for about six years, working his way up to master diagnostic technician. However, he eventually became burnt out on his lifestyle and the workplace culture, so he moved to Nashville, where he began to dabble in woodworking.

Starting from Scratch

“I built my dining room table and benches in late 2017 for use when I moved into my first house in April of 2018; that was my first independent woodworking experience. It was a farmhouse table, and I didn’t know how to use anything. I didn’t use pocket screws; I didn’t even know what a pocket screw was, I didn’t know what a domino was, I didn’t know anything that I know now.

So I just screwed everything from the outside using these five-inch long screws to go through the four-by-four uprights that were holding the aprons, which I didn’t even know were called aprons at the time. Then I burned the living hell out of this table, and I probably put about ten coats of that three times polyurethane stuff, the thicker polyurethane, and the table came out amazing.”

Andrew Fischer

Andrew was surprised by the success of his first table, as he built it from construction-grade lumber from Home Depot. Today, he finds himself grateful for the experience of building a piece of furniture in that way because he understands what it’s like to work with minimal tools and materials without the trappings of a fully-fledged business.

After building his dining table, Andrew stepped away from woodworking for a while, but then he moved into his new place and realized he needed a coffee table. However, Andrew was not about to go to Ikea to pick one up, so he bought a cherry slab, flattened it using a homemade router sled, and began messing with epoxy for the tabletop.

“That’s when I really started to kick off with this. I got my next slab, and I made it for sale, and things started to kind of take off, and my girlfriend at the time was like, ‘Why don’t you do this part-time because you seem to enjoy it.’ So that’s basically how it started.”

Andrew Fischer

Take it From a Pro

“I’m going to say to the person that’s just starting out, you need to be able to fulfill an order that someone places with you. So if you’ve been making only cutting boards, and someone orders a humidor box from you, and you don’t know how to make a humidor box, that’s going to be an issue. You’re going to be testing out your first humidor box on a piece that someone has, first of all: already paid for, and secondly, is expecting quality.

For someone that’s been doing this for two years or three years, like I’ve been and is looking to jump ship from their corporate job or is just miserable with their job in general, and they want to do this full time, I would say that knowing your customer base before you go into it is huge. I didn’t have the customer base I wanted when I first started.

Though I had a good amount of orders that I knew were starting when I was coming down here and had my shop set up. I had a good 10 to 15 orders waiting for my shop to open, so that was good to know. But if you’re going to jump into this, I think that having orders ready for you to start working on when you get into your full-time position is huge.”

Andrew Fischer

For anyone with an even greater knowledge of the industry, Andrew notes that if they aren’t successful, it’s likely due to a lack of social media experience. Although he wishes it wasn’t the case, it’s challenging to keep customers coming in without Facebook or Instagram. Unfortunately, this is the place where all of Andrew’s business comes from, so he has to keep up with it. Ultimately, it’s essential to keep your work to a certain standard and match your prices accordingly. You need to value your work, or no one else will.

Website: https://coldbrewwoodworking.com