I currently do woodworking as a side hustle. I found interest in this at a very young age and have built on it over the years. As I began to get better and better, I started thinking about selling some of my work. I started out with just some friends and family. A lot of times I did not even sell it, I just gave it to them as gifts. After hearing them all say how they believed more people would buy my work, I started to open up my ‘sales’ to the public. I started selling through places like Facebook marketplace, Instagram, and Etsy. I started out with a pretty wide range of inventory to start. After certain things began to sell, I began to realize what my customers’ needs were. Sometimes, they were even the items that I personally liked less than the others that did not sell as much. When selling anything, it is important to truly find what your customers’ needs are. They may not always be what you think they are. Just because I really liked one of the things I built, does not always mean the customer will agree. When you find what the customer needs, you can start to prioritize that specific product which in return will lead to more profits.
Another key aspect of what I do is customization. Because I make everything by hand, it is much easier to customize items. Through my online sales, I offer the option to customers to customize certain items. If there is an item that they want but I have not done before, I will build it and send pictures to make sure it is to their liking. In doing so, I am able to show that I care about what each of my customers want.
BoweryJE22
This is a great article Nick! It’s cool to hear how your natural interest in woodworking generated a business model. I think that’s always the best way to start because whatever kind of business you go into, you want to be able to hang your hat within that area of expertise, and it’s much easier to be an expert at things that you are interested in. Not only that, but because you did not even start with the goal of starting a business, I imagine you came across with a lot of authenticity with your first clients.
This is a great example for focusing on customers rather than the product. Whether you liked a certain product or not, eventually you learned that the customer is what matters when you want to make a sale, and that there’s no point in selling them pieces that they do not need.