Evolution of a Woodworker – Part 3

After posting the first two parts of “Evolution” I received a few letters and calls asking why I moved from woodworking, my passion, into teaching then to a full-time position with Popular Woodworking magazine. The answer is: economics and education. It is also the subject of the last of the series. (Click on these links if you’d like to read Part 1 or Part 2)

We were accepted into a local show and set about building furniture, and a show booth, over the next six months. Our first show date arrived and was, in my eyes, a success. We sold a number of pieces. The company was off and running.

Wonder why we decided on exhibiting at shows? The answer is simple. That’s what we knew was available. I might be closed-minded, but to this day, it’s still the way that I think works best , given a limited budget. I’d heard of woodworkers having sales in the six figures at shows, during the early days when folks were moving into the “country” look with “hand-built” furniture, and I wanted to get our share.

We juried into a number of shows , eventually exhibiting at 14 events throughout the year. I spent more time on the road than building furniture in the shop. But, we were selling items and building a customer base. Problem was, I wasn’t making money.

I stopped by an established furniture-making shop in Pennsylvania on my way home from an East Coast show (the shows that were most successful for us because of the style of furniture that we built) and talked to the first woodworker inside the door. He showed me around the shop, all the while talking about the business. Then, one little tidbit of information escaped his lips. He stated that after so many years in business, the shop was just now able to bring their prices up to where they should be. Raise prices? It’s unheard of in building a business , unless it’s a necessity. Guess what? It was a necessity.

Not only did we raise prices but I also did the next hardest thing in business , cut our expenses. Shows were a high-cost item so we started eliminating the weekends that didn’t produce, but we also noticed that the attendance at the shows was dropping each time we exhibited.

Shortly into my new venture I met the editors of Popular Woodworking at a show. Upon meeting with them a second time at our shop, they asked if I would be interested in submitting an article or two. “Gladly,” I shot back. A second stream of revenue was exactly what I needed. The articles led to a chance to write my first book (never turn down an opportunity , say “yes” then figure out how to make it happen). Suddenly, I saw the business evolving again.

As the next book came out and the magazine articles continued, the Cincinnati Woodworking Club invited me to speak on case construction. You know I accepted! Best of all, I enjoyed it. Sharing information (teaching) was a rush. I never figured that all the mistakes I made while building furniture could help those who were interested in woodworking from making similar mistakes.

I began to search for teaching opportunities and luckily found a few. Good thing, because show sales continued dropping and my time in the shop building for customers was starting to be swallowed by the time spent building for the articles and preparing for presentations and teaching. The last show at which we exhibited we had five pieces of furniture, three from my third book (those not sold prior to signing the book agreement) and two taken from our house. The short inventory list didn’t much matter; there weren’t enough customers at the show willing to buy.

When the opportunity to join the magazine staff presented itself, I anxiously threw my application into the mix. I rode the twists and turns in life from furniture maker to writing and teaching, and found education to be a powerful elixir. Life would be good if I could get one woodworker over the hump with a problem, inspire them to build something great, or simply spend a weekend talking woodworking.

,Glen Huey