# A shocking tale...



## Aggrajag (1 Dec 2016)

Hi all,

For those that remember me visiting regularly over the last year, I've been missing recently because of a tremendous amount of upheaval that's gone off in my life. Allow me to indulge you with a shocking tale...

[removed lots of personal waffle which culminated in me being made redundant after 28 years]

However I quickly realised this wasn't the case; I have savings plus I'd thankfully had a pay off, I own my car, the kids have left home, I'm single(!), I have no commitments so I decided to take a couple of months to clear my head of her and of work and believe me it needed it, I was a total mess.

Within a couple of weeks that grew boring, especially not having company, so I decided to do more scrolling to get my buttocks out of bed. Then I thought "I've never been fast enough to make money doing this, but what if??" - it seems that now is the perfect opportunity to try and if it doesn't work then I'll just get a "real job" again, if it does then result! Either way at least I'll have tried and won't spend my life wondering "what if?"

So I've been making stuff, Xmas stuff, bespoke stuff, set up a website, bought packaging etc etc etc. I'm still not exactly doing 40 hours a week, so much time is spent on paperwork & designing, I'm still making a loss (not as much as doing nothing) but I'm happy, I'll be happy to survive on 1/3 what I was on previously because I'm doing my own thing at my own speed in my own time - my only regret is that I didn't do it sooner so I could have made stock for Xmas and also booked craft fairs and stalls. I have long term plans and hope to weather it through to next Xmas as a minimum because I'll keep making Xmas stock whenever I'm not busy.

So every cloud does have a silver lining! I'm not sure how she can sleep at night but I've moved on and strangely it seems she's triggered the best thing that's happened to me in donkey's years.

Wish me luck!


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## marcros (1 Dec 2016)

good luck!


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## MrTeroo (1 Dec 2016)

Why not put your website address in your signature?

You may sell something, you never know?


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## Bm101 (1 Dec 2016)

Aggrajag":17ud01ic said:


> Then I thought "I've never been fast enough to make money doing this, but what if??" - it seems that now is the perfect opportunity to try and if it doesn't work then I'll just get a "real job" again, if it does then result! Either way at least I'll have tried and won't spend my life wondering "what if?"
> 
> So every cloud does have a silver lining! I'm not sure how she can sleep at night but I've moved on and strangely it seems she's triggered the best thing that's happened to me in donkey's years.
> 
> Wish me luck!



Good for you. Can't write any more than that. It seems trivial to try.
All the best and I wish you the very best of luck. I'm sure it will work out and in the end what have you lost? A situation where you were unhappy on all fronts. Onwards and upwards. Who knows what the future holds? Sometimes it's frightening but it reminds you you're alive doesn't it? Good for you.


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## Fitzroy (1 Dec 2016)

Although a tale, not tinged but in fact doused, in sadness it is a tale that makes me smile. I'm sure you have, and will continue to have, regrets, sadness, and grief for what was, but in all likelihood we only have one crack at this thing called life so it would be a waste to not enjoy it.


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## RobinBHM (1 Dec 2016)

Hi Aggrajag,

Very best wishes for the future, more often than not life changes are forced not planned but that doesn't mean they are bad. 

I remember Chippy Geoff of this parish, he does/did scroll sawing and craft shows and he did a post on his experiences of doing it. There is a great deal of satisfaction being involved in doing something practical, there are however never enough hours in the day. I dont know if you are interested in CNC, but maybe the scroll sawing could be combined with manufacturing from a home CNC machine utilising your IT background but producing something creative and maybe a potential for quick manufacture. I guess it would have to be quite clever as Ive heard the market for CNC stuff is becoming saturated.


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## Wildman (1 Dec 2016)

best of luck with your business, you will get quicker, more accurate as your hand to eye coordination kicks in. Keep looking for new ideas, revisit old ones. Hobbies weekly used to have lots of projects and ideas. using a modern scanner/printer plans have never been easier to produce. I have lots of hobbies weekly magazines that I will be selling eventually so keep an eye open in the appropriate forum.


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## Claymore (1 Dec 2016)

......


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## scrimper (1 Dec 2016)

Very sorry that all those bad things happened to you, you have had a hard time of it, glad that you seem to have got your life back again. Best of luck to you.

As others say, would be nice to see your website.


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## linkshouse (2 Dec 2016)

Good luck with your new venture.

I had a similar experience work wise, with a fairly acrimonious departure from a very well paid job.

My mind still occasionally wanders into "what might have been" mode, then I have to remind myself that it was actually the best thing that ever happened to me. We are far, far happier now.

I am sure it will be the same for you, just enjoy what you are doing and as long as you make enough to make ends meet I am sure that you will have a much better quality of life.

Best Wishes

Phill


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## bodgerbaz (2 Dec 2016)

I hope it works out for you ;-)


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## Random Orbital Bob (2 Dec 2016)

+1. The very best of British. Throw yourself into your new venture and the past will just sail away......


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## Lons (2 Dec 2016)

Good luck with the new venture and your future life, sometimes it has to get bad before it gets better.

I've never had the breakup experience, 45 years anniversary next March (who posted about the Kray twins? :lol: ) but was in a very well paid job and had 2 companies I worked for go bust in 4 years. I'd always wanted to work for myself but was to cowardly to take the leap, easy to make excuses but difficult to give up a good secure salary, company car, holidays etc when you have 2 young kids and a mortage.

Anyway, the last redundancy gave me the push I needed and though the first couple of years were hard, the 15 that followed just got better and better and because I kept it to a size I could manage without employing loads of people it stayed enjoyable and stress free. Retirement however is heaven.  

Keep at it, you've got a good attitude.

Bob


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## bigbob1 (3 Dec 2016)

Sorry to hear about your breakup have been through one when I was a very young man and it does through your life out of kilter however pleased to see you have started to work at what you enjoy most which is therapy in itself I am sure in time you will also find a nice lady in your life I did and like Bob above next week we celebrate our 45 year anniversary also.


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## Aggrajag (5 Dec 2016)

Thank you all for your kind and supportive words, they really do mean a lot to me. I've been reading them on my phone over the weekend but I hate typing at length on that and I've had 7 University students stopping courtesy of my son so not been on the PC. Argh the chaos!

I was reflecting last night whilst in bed and realised that I am 99% cured of my ex, I don't miss her per se but of course miss the happy times we'd had. Business wise my Xmas orders have already dried up because I daren't advertise for fear of letting people down, and I have no stock left. I've done OK for my first month; I've sold 18 Schwibbogen and 8 individual pieces including an LP I'm very proud of.

It's early days, I need to work on my own designs to mass produce for next Christmas, and start advertising in the New Year. I still need to keep practicing (and documenting so that I remember!) the finishes for different types of wood, I'm tempted to go buy some spray-on car undercoat from Halfords and see how that works on pine. I've made my own wax (beeswax/mineral oil melted combo) which looks fantastic on Oak.

I'm also taking notes of different blades on different stack sizes, playing about with which ones to use and sometimes surprising myself - of course trying to live off this hobby I need to up the speed wherever I can. And yes, making two or more of everything at once if it's a saleable option.

It's all new, I'm still playing, but I'm happy knowing that if the worst happens I'll just get a real job again doing anything I can find, I'll not starve.

Thank you all.

I'm reluctant on many levels to give you my website as my produce pales into insignificance against a lot of the stuff I see on this forum, plus many of the gallery items are things I created last year because I don't have much to actually display. However I'm steadily building up my gallery, a lot of which I can't display yet because they're upcoming birthday/xmas presents, so there'll be better stuff to display next month. I'm also awaiting images back from a semi-pro photographer which should be better quality/layout; most of the original photos were ones I'd taken for myself never thinking they'd be used professionally. (note kitchen roll, kettle, wires, carpet, whatever in each shot!)

http://www.treetonwoodcraft.co.uk


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## bigbob1 (5 Dec 2016)

It is a nice website and I wish I had the skill to make a website like that also like your products they are very well presented


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## skipdiver (5 Dec 2016)

I have had similar upheaval at certain points in my life. Lost a good job in 1991 and decided to go self employed. 25 years later i'm still earning what i want to earn and now work mainly from home, earning enough to pay my way and never been happier. I'm sat here now deciding what time i am going to start today and it's very liberating. Good luck to you in your venture.


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## AJB Temple (5 Dec 2016)

Keep at it. If I could make one constructive suggestion? On your web site it is important that the images look perfect as people will make assumptions from that about your craftsmanship. A lot of the pictures show rough edges and finish flaws - and the lighting (very nice) tends to exacerbate this effect. I would either pay attention to extra edge and surface finishing for anything photographed, or get busy with photoshop.


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## Aggrajag (5 Dec 2016)

bigbob1":gxpf4kc9 said:


> It is a nice website and I wish I had the skill to make a website like that also like your products they are very well presented


Thanks bigbob but I can't really take credit for it despite having been in IT for 28 years because website design just wasn't my area, I used the website www.wix.com and it's all pretty much drag and drop. There's even a free option if you don't want the store.


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## Aggrajag (5 Dec 2016)

AJB Temple":2zslyvja said:


> Keep at it. If I could make one constructive suggestion? On your web site it is important that the images look perfect as people will make assumptions from that about your craftsmanship. A lot of the pictures show rough edges and finish flaws - and the lighting (very nice) tends to exacerbate this effect. I would either pay attention to extra edge and surface finishing for anything photographed, or get busy with photoshop.



Thanks AJB, it's definitely something I'm looking at, I posted earlier today with a similar point about the photos, but yes I'll double check the edges. Not so sure about Photoshop though, that's cheating 

[edit: I've realised that the worst image (The Santa Schwibbogen, where he's landed, not flying) was a pre-complete photo where I'd not filed off flakes. Best sort that!]


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## linkshouse (5 Dec 2016)

Aggrajag":3aulqpoe said:


> I'm reluctant on many levels to give you my website as my produce pales into insignificance against a lot of the stuff I see on this forum, plus many of the gallery items are things I created last year because I don't have much to actually display. However I'm steadily building up my gallery, a lot of which I can't display yet because they're upcoming birthday/xmas presents, so there'll be better stuff to display next month. I'm also awaiting images back from a semi-pro photographer which should be better quality/layout; most of the original photos were ones I'd taken for myself never thinking they'd be used professionally. (note kitchen roll, kettle, wires, carpet, whatever in each shot!)
> 
> http://www.treetonwoodcraft.co.uk



You're doing yourself an injustice the stuff on your website is excellent and I can't imagine you have any problems selling them. 

Just don't hold your breath with website sales. I think the nature of the product means that people like to see it and I find, handle it. It's a wood thing, people like to touch it. I'm sure we can all relate to that.

Try to get out to some fairs if you can.

Of course I'm an expert now as I've done two! But, they both blew me away. I came home in complete shock after the first one (good shock).

And, I must add, my stuff is nothing special - certainly no better than yours.

Chin up, jump in enjoy the swim.

Good Luck

Phill


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## Aggrajag (5 Dec 2016)

Thank you Phill, I appreciate your comments.

Ironically I wish I'd lost my job two months earlier so I could have made some stock and booked some fairs but I'm just too late for Xmas this year. I have a friend who does loads (glassware) and she's given me loads of advice and I'll definitely be taking that route next year at times and almost certainly heavily towards next Xmas when I've got stock. This year I'll keep making the Xmas stuff whenever I'm low on orders. My first plan is to design more of my own rather than using third-party bought designs, that way they're even more unique.

I've also got a Facebook page which links to my real page and I intend to test that out a few times just to see if it pushes traffic that way and if not orders at least some bespoke enquiries. Their plans start at £4 a day and you can do single days so it won't hurt to dip my toe in the advertising water.


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## Claymore (5 Dec 2016)

.........


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## Aggrajag (5 Dec 2016)

Luckily for you even though I'm English and reasonably tall, I don't make wooden ducks 

I'm Mark.


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## Claymore (5 Dec 2016)

.....


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## Stanleymonkey (5 Dec 2016)

You're talking the site down!

The work looks great. Keep it going. You never even planned this and you have made a great start. 

I would agree about gradually replacing the photos with even better ones. The beautiful hummingbird set in front of a bin liner made me smile!

One thought - new mums love kiddie feet and hand print stuff. Is there a market where they send you a foot / handprint and you incorporate it into a piece of fretwork (or a 'whimsy style' jigsaw' with the the hand or foot intact)

Ans now I'm thinking wooden presentation boxes / trays for your products - need to stop typing.


All the best - the work looks great. Keep it going and enjoy woodworking


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## Walney Col (6 Dec 2016)

Don't get disheartened and take the site down Mark, I love your stuff.

Col.


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## Aggrajag (6 Dec 2016)

No I'm not taking it down, I thought Stanleymonkey said that too, but he actually said "talking it down"


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## RobinBHM (6 Dec 2016)

Excellent work, definitely products that will sell and a nice website.

Yes there are a few faults that can be seen but you know about those.

I agree, craft fairs are probably important as these type of products will sell more readily from being seen in the flesh and handled.

I would research the best fairs to attend. Certainly in the South East there are fairs from quite rustic agricultural to quite upmarket. For example there is a Christmas craft market at RHS Wisley that has quite designer / London gallery type work. My wife is into crafts and likes to visit fairs, my experience of visiting them is that most of the stallholders are happy to chat if they arent busy serving customers and they are the best people to find out the best venues which theyve found the best sales compared to the stall cost.


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