On 6/12/2017 at 0:25 PM, John Morris said:

Location and market. While woodworking is not my primary day job, when I do make and sell, I make a very handsome profit.

 

Same here! It's not my living money, but it sure takes care of my hobbies. 

 

Woodworking is my hobby and not my living. I do occasionally sell something, but do not solicit it. One of the Turning club who does sell is always saying we are selling too cheap. However if I started selling then it would no longer be a fun hobby, but to quote Maynard on "Dobie Gillis" ........WORK!!!!!!.

I'd be interested to see stats on how many woodworkers go under vs. how many businesses fail in the first few years.

http://www.investopedia.com/slide-show/top-6-reasons-new-businesses-fail/

22 minutes ago, kmealy said:

I'd be interested to see stats on how many woodworkers go under vs. how many businesses fail in the first few years.

http://www.investopedia.com/slide-show/top-6-reasons-new-businesses-fail/

I would venture to say it's pretty high, if you count all the woodworkers who got sucked into the "Make $1000 in a single weekend building bunk beds" advertisements. Remember the other ads, "Support your family turning pens" etc, etc. The startups were with great intentions but failed quickly.

There's a pickup around town advertising that he makes bunk beds. He was set up at our monthly craft fair/flea market. Don't know how he did but, he hasn't been back. I still see the truck around, though.

Often wondered if he started out buying into that ad.

My wife had a business hand sewing Victorian lampshades years ago, and every year lost as much as she made. She spent more time marketing than making, she had to buy materials in large quantities to get prices down, She worked long hours,but at the end of the year was a loss. I think the IRS allowed 5 years to make a profit before it was declared a hobby.

Herb

2 hours ago, Dadio said:

My wife had a business hand sewing Victorian lampshades years ago, and every year lost as much as she made. She spent more time marketing than making, she had to buy materials in large quantities to get prices down, She worked long hours,but at the end of the year was a loss. I think the IRS allowed 5 years to make a profit before it was declared a hobby.

Herb

 

yup.  need to show a profit in 2 out of 5 years.  otherwise, "that's an interesting hobby you have their mr. taxpayer, no deductions for you".  on paper, i'd have losses for years, with the value of all my tools and the cost of my shop.

On 6/12/2017 at 9:51 AM, HandyDan said:

Most everything I make is gifted to people.  The profits are great.  I see plenty on $100.00 smiles from people that receive them.

Me too.

http://1800bunkbed.com/

 

http://www.bunkbedspecialties.com/

 

There are franchises and there are franchises.   When I started out in the repair business, I went on a couple of "discovery days."   The one I didn't go with really turned me off.   Two weeks of training, of which 1 day was technical and the rest was marketing.  No protected territory, there were already 5 others in town.  I talked to a vendor of supplies and he told me that he gets calls all the time from franchisees needing technical help.   I met one of the franchisees a few years later and he had gotten out as soon as his sentence contract was over.   He disliked it that much.   Fortunately, I went with the other one that turned out well for me, though there have been a couple of mgmt regime changes.

 

Edited June 17, 20178 yr by kmealy

3 minutes ago, kmealy said:

http://1800bunkbed.com/

195 bucks per month, for how long? Hey, if a woodworker can make a go at it and succeed, more power to them!

50 minutes ago, John Morris said:

195 bucks per month, for how long? Hey, if a woodworker can make a go at it and succeed, more power to them!

That is what I mean, those guys are MARKETEERS, and don't build a darn thing, they make the money signing you up, you work your buns off trying to make a go of it.

My wife would rent a stall in an antique mall and couldn't make enough to pay for the rent. Besides that if she didn't sit in the stall all day long her stuff came up missing. The guy who owned the building ,and renting out the stalls was the person making all the money, he was a businessman.

Herb

On 6/16/2017 at 4:06 PM, DAB said:

well, let's see, i still have a nice project i did in 8th grade, and that was about 40 years ago, i've had a fully functional shop in some form since 2003, so you could argue that i've been doing woodworking either 40+ years, or at least 14 years.  not always full time, but working on things as time, money, tools, and inspiration were available.  so i'd argue that if you are only charging 30/hr after all those many years of proving yourself and getting better, you are not charging enough.  that's only 60k if you can work full time all year long.  my plumber charges me 125/hr.  so if you came to my shop with a pile of money and a few ideas, we'd start talking at 100/hr (800/day).  otherwise, i'm quite happy doing my own thing and not being bothered by people looking to pay 10 cents on the dollar.  go to Ikea, they'll take care of you.

With that many years of experience, by now it really should be no surprise to you that there is very little to no compensation in it out there.

Edited June 18, 20178 yr by CharlieL

not a surprise at all.  just observing what i've noticed.  and what was noted in Sam Maloof's book - very few make a living solely by building things of wood.

From what I have observed over the years is that the person,making, designing,growing,owning,retailing   the product is not the one making money on it unless he/she is the one also marketing it, aka the middleman.. I am not a business man,but presume this is the axiom of doing good business, is to not own anything and use other peoples money to make money.

A extra ordinary example is Uber ,or guber or what ever.

Herb

11 minutes ago, Dadio said:

From what I have observed over the years is that the person,making, designing,growing,owning,retailing   the product is not the one making money on it unless he/she is the one also marketing it, aka the middleman.. I am not a business man,but presume this is the axiom of doing good business, is to not own anything and use other peoples money to make money.

A extra ordinary example is Uber ,or guber or what ever.

Herb

 

there was an article long ago in the Wood magazine about a guy who made wooden bowls.  he had a special jig and could crank these out in no time.  when he got a pile (50 or more) made, he'd bring them down to the local market, they'd buy the whole pile at his price, and then turn around and put them on the shelf, marked at 2x what they had just paid him.  and the market would sell them out before the weekend was over.

 

so who's making money?

 

the woodworker?  well, he's getting his price, but the buying public is willing to pay more.

 

the shopkeeper?  he's selling them as fast as he's getting them, low risk, doubles his money in a weekend.

 

 

Edited June 18, 20178 yr by DAB

One of my first customers was a husband-wife team where the wife considered herself a designer and convinced her husband to open a retail furniture store.   I think they've lost a lot of money over some of their decisions (like opening a luxury line store in 2008).

 

I overheard her say once, "Well, the normal retail mark-up is 100%, but we mark up 200% then post a 40% discount, so it works out the same."    (Me, shaking my head, thinking, "Leave the business to your husband, because that's not right."))

100 x 2 = 200.

 

100 x 3 = 300;  300 x 0.60 = 180.

 

she's right on the math.

2 hours ago, DAB said:

so who's making money?

 

the woodworker?  well, he's getting his price, but the buying public is willing to pay more.

 

the shopkeeper?  he's selling them as fast as he's getting them, low risk, doubles his money in a weekend.

 

 

I wouldn't be so sure that the woodworker really got his price. More then likely he settled on a price.

Edited June 18, 20178 yr by CharlieL

he sold, they bought.  that's the definition of a completed contract.

Went it becomes a job, it's a lot less fun!!