Might have to call it a day...

[Mr T]

hi

As usual Brad is right, he ought to be lecturing to small business people! It was interesting to see the list of people he is working for. One of the biggest problems is finding the people who can afford good work, if you don't find them you will constantly be trimming your prices to get work from people who can't or won't pay the right price. Then when a good opportunity come along you are not in a position to take it because you are doing the low paid work.

Its about locating the people with the money and positioning yourself appropriately,either on the net or by getting your work into places where t will be seen by the right people.

sA friend of mine had been set up for a few years and finding it hard. Then two years ao he moved to a workshop unit in a new development. He was still having a difficult time when an up market restaurant opened in the development. He has not looked back since and is booked up till next year. This is solely becuase people with money are now seeing his work and buying from him.

So one could say it is Location, Location,Location.

Chris

 

[BradNaylor]

So one could say it is Location, Location,Location.

Chris

Very true, Chris.

Our workshop is behind a row of shops on the main commuter route between Bramhall, an upmarket suburb, and Stockport/Manchester. The immediate surrounding area consists mainly of large Victorian houses popular with middle class professionals. One of the area's major private day schools is 100 yards away.

All this means that our A board on the road outside the workshop is seen by thousands of the right kind of people every day. Probably half our business comes from people simply popping in to see what we do. From then on it is basic salesmanship to convert these leads into firm orders. We don't have a showroom of any kind at all.

Many cabinetmakers set up workshops in rented farm buildings in the back of beyond. I can understand the attraction; rents are usually low and working in a rural idyll must be very pleasant. My first question however, would always be 'What's the passing trade like?' At the very least one should make sure that it is possible to put a big sign up on a main road in order to draw punters into one's 'lair'!

Are you on a main road, Steve?

Cheers
Brad

 

[devonwoody]

Unless your broke,I would keep the Machines and find another job for now,do woodworking on the side...Buy good stuff once and do not give it away.
Good Luck To You my friend!! Do not look back,the future will be gaining on you...

Read this thread and the above post is they way I would go if it is possible.

 

[woodbloke]

As usual, some excellent advice from DanBradT :lol: and others which is well worth heeding - Rob

 

[MickCheese]

Some really good advice.

My wife runs her own business as a sole trader from home.

Her web site is how most people find her and it is how she keeps them informed of her stock that is constantly changing.

Keeping down overheads is a really important part of making a profit and sharing those overheads would seem like a good compromise.

She is in a niche business so getting known is the key. Some of her business is from recommendations but without a web site in this day and age you are just not in the race.

Good luck

Mick

 

[Doctor]

I am convinced that a recession is the perfect time to be setting up a low-cost bespoke furniture business. You are in an ideal position to be undercutting your fat and bloated competitors, so long as your marketing is in place and people actually know you exist.

Cheers
Brad

I think Duncan has offered sound advice on the whole, however I think the above advice is madness, the depth of this recession is still unknown, marketing and establishing your name take a long time, by which time you could well be out of business, I know I'm pessimistic but all I urge is for people to think long and hard about the reality of this business.
If you have been doing this as a part time paying hobby for a few years then it may be a different scenario, eg like Mailee then I think you stand a chance. But to jump in at the deep end right now is not a good idea in my mind.
Just 2 different view points, promise I'm not trying to be controversial or cutting or judgemental.
Me and Duncan never seem to see eye to eye on the business front however we have been good mates for quite a while,, both he and I seem to have good businesses run in different ways.

 

[Escudo]

I am confused :?

Who is Duncan? is he otherwise known as Bradnaylor? and wasn't he Dan Tovey also?

Sorry for being slow.

 

[Doctor]

Duncan is sort of omnipotent, but to mere humans, some refer to him as the great Dan Tovey, other tribes know him as Brad Naylor and a few obsure religions call him the Alchemist.
Disbelievers tend to call him "you fat bars***d" :lol: :lol: :lol:

 

[joiner_sim]

Sorry to hear you are having difficulty in this recession. I hope you can get things to pick up soon though. :roll:

 

[Digit]

I am convinced that a recession is the perfect time to be setting up

In my experience that's dead right! If you can get a business off the ground under the present climate, even if not full time, then you're set up for when, and if, things improve.
Start a business when money is freely available and you can be in for a nasty shock when things change.
My first week's profit when I started my own business was £15, from then it was upwards.

Roy.

 

[Doctor]

"If you can get it off the ground" surely this is the problem at the moment, figures suggest that 2 out of 3 new starts at present are struggling. I wouldn't take those odds and I think I'm a risk taker in business.

 

[Digit]

Depends if you need to make a profit from the start Doc. I started up part time and worked from there.
I'm now retired but the business is still running and supports my son and his family even now.

Roy.

 

[Doctor]

I take your point Digit, I am just trying to err on the side of caution.

 

[Stevie-Raw]

Many thanks for all the replies and advice. In particular Brad - thankyou for taking the time to write that reply. Your detective work is very commendable! I do have a website, not sure why its not on the yell listing - it should be. The bulk of my advertising has been in local quality magazines on a regular monthly basis and my website is clearly displayed on these ads. The website also has a google map link for directions. Despite this I simply have not had the enquiries, so my prices, work I'm willing to take on etc is academic coz nobodies phoning me up!

Anyway thanks for all the advice. Its not over yet and I haven't given up yet.

Steve

 

[Digit]

Best of luck Steve, I've got my fingers crossed for you!

Roy.

 

[beech1948]

Hi,

Sorry to hear of your problems.

Sounds like you need a bit of marketing and some orders. What I've seen in the thread so far makes sense especially the Tovey/Alchemist?whatever messages. I love the strap line of Turning MDF into Gold in a Northern Town. Great ideas.

I assume you have the right skills, good attention to quality.

You might consider some of the following:-

1) get an IT literate friend to put up a web site for you. With lots of pictures of stuff you have built. Pay in beer or a fitted MDF unit in exchange for a web site.

2) Market the socks off of it to every contact you can every day.

3) Call any prior customers and see if your stuff has any problems they need you to take care of, come look at, sell to them again.

4) Find something you have made and telephone the editor of the local paper to offer a local human interest story.....banker turned cabinate maker ....local wood from the vicars garden used to make something etc etc. Its fast, they might come and take photos and it might be in the paper within 1 or 2 weeks.

5) If you have made something really smart, well designed and well made then offer it to Horse and Hounds, your Local glossy county magazine eg here it is the Berkshire Gazette; as a local story of cabinetmaker made good. Have something for them to photograph

6)Local advertising...newsagents windows, supermarket display boards,

7) Link up with other local businesses eg. offer local complimentary business your solid wood products or a solid wood products busines your MDF fitted furniture.

8) Turn you scraps into money via small items, boot pulls, cutting boards ' mirrors, toys, door stops....anything which will sell at prices of £10, £20, £30 upto say £45...and go to local shops, craft fairs, garden centers, etc etc

9)Sell some shop space to a fellow woodworker to share overheads if you have say 750 sq ft upwards

Organise your working week so that it comprises 4 working days and 1 marketing day. If you work a 7 day week then start with 2 marketing days each and every week.

Don't just let it happen try different things eg. Use your computer to make leaflets ( laser not inkjet) and then go and put them on every Mercedes Benz and BMW you see plus of course every Aston Martin, Rolls and Bentley.

Try to use your marketing days as planned time to work at least 7 hours each marketing day and do something you considered and not just let it come at you with no planned ideas. Your first marketing day should be spent planning on what to do...but keep it simple and cheap...make it local and effective.

10) Finally telephone all previous satisfied customers and ask them if they would be prepared to refer you to another of their acquaintances to whom they might want to recommend you. Then call all of the contacts they give you immediately with an intro, a very short what you do and a request to meet up and discuss any needs they may have. Don't sell your objective is to get the meeting and turn it into a sale.

11) GIVE THEM WHAT THEY WANT and if that is fitted MDF furniture then so be it.

Sorry to lecture you I meant well for you. Chin up, best foot forward.

best regards and pm if you want a phone number for a chat.

Alan

 

[Doctor]

When you start up, people do not automatically come to you; you have to go to them, I contacted every interior designer in my area and sold my skills to them.
Networking groups are fantastic, I was very sceptical about these to start with but with a bit off effort they can produce excellent results.
Call all the local kitchen studios, find out if they want hand made kitchens.
Find a local charity auction, and offer a free design as a prize, don't mention it would have been free anyway.

You have to make the phone ring.

 

[Dave S]

Steve,

I found your website, eventually! Looking at your gallery, you can clearly make good furniture. I'm not qualified to make further comment in that regard, though - I'll leave that to those in the business.

I will talk about your website, though. It's a nice design and shows off your work well - the gallery pics are good quality. However:

• 
  - 'Leicestershire' only appears once on the whole site - no wonder a Google on 'bespoke furniture, Leicestershire' or 'cabinetmaker, Leicestershire' doesn't pick you up (at least not on the first few pages).
  - There are few furniture-related keywords in your text
  - None of your pages have keywords or descriptions in the meta-data
  - for some reason, googling 'steve boyd furniture' brings you top of page 1 when searching the web, but you are nowhere if restricting to pages from the UK. :?

Are you studying your site statistics? Are you getting visitors at all? Where are they being referred from?

There are essentially 3 factors needed:
1. enable potential customers to find your site
2. get those customers to visit your site
3. get the customers to make an enquiry

I think it likely that you are falling down on 1. at the moment.

Lots of website/marketing advice already on this forum - might be worth searching through some old posts.

good luck!
Dave

 

[Paul Chapman]

Steve,

You haven't even put a link to your website on your forum profile :? :?

Cheers :wink:

Paul

 

[moz]

Steve,

I have to agree with Dave S. I made a determined effort to find your site in the sure knowledge that it exists but it wasn't easy. Without statistical information, it is risky drawing any conclusion from the fact that you are not receiving any enquiries. Have you registered with Google Analytics? It's just a matter of copying and pasting a small amount of code onto each of your pages and, once you have it working, reviewing the results regularly. It will tell you a lot.

The fact that you are not getting any results from presumably quite expensive magazine advertising seems to bear out most received wisdom on the subject, i.e. it's a waste of money. I've done it myself and it just cost me even more money in time-wasting enquiries from people who just couldn't/wouldn't afford the work.

The quality of your work is superb and looks very appealing. That certainly will not be a problem if you can raise your visibility. On a general point, your site is written in the third person. When putting together my site, I read much opinion on this subject and was swayed by most sources which suggested this gave the most 'professional' look and followed suit. I read with interest Dan/Duncan/Alchemist's comments on this some time ago which made considerable sense. My site wan't doing enough for me and I revamped the whole thing in the first person. It was the single most effective change I have done and multiplied the number of serious enquiries I get many times over (for a similar level of visits). So a belated and huge thanks to Duncan (what a generous guy). I guess it's just a case of playing to one's strengths. If you are a one man band, then it makes sense to stress the personal touch, lack of pretension, honest workmanship, etc. and, above all, make yourself more approachable. The mega rich may well stride into people's workshops as if they own the place but most of my customers are more your middle income professionals, many of whom are frankly nervous having never commissioned anything before. I believe knowing they are dealing with a craftsman who is speaking directly to them makes the experience less threatening. Well, it worked for me so far.

Best of luck with it. Incidentally, I don't think you're giving yourself long enough with just 18 months to succeed.

John