7 Common Mistakes When Starting A Woodworking Business

Before launching your own woodworking business, you need to ask few basic questions and get clear answers.

All too often, web woodworking forums are loaded with questions from folks thinking about starting a woodworking business.

This article tries to answer common questions, specifically related to common mistakes when you are going to start your woodworking business. Here is the 7 common mistakes:

The 7 Common Mistakes

Mistake 1: Having The Wrong Attitude. 

This is the number 1 mistake since wrong attitude can kill your woodworking business before you even get started. Success is 95 percent attitude and 5 percent aptitude. If you don't believe, in your heart, that you will succeed, guess what will happen to your woodworking business? You won't of course ! Before taking another step, learn the art of positive thinking. Master the "can do" attitude, because a positive attitude will open the door to a successful woodworking business.

Mistake 2: Having a Hobby Mentality. 

Starting a woodworking business most of all is started with a hobby or passion. That's is fine, however when you run your woodworking business you won't make a good, comfortable living at it unless you change your perspective and treat it like a business. You go into business for one reason: Making Profit. You need to pursue for efficiency, be effective, understand the market, know how to sell your products, etc. in addition to your passion to woodworking. Develop your business mentality first and you're one step closer to success

Mistake 3: Not Planning for success. 

No planning = No success! I see this as the biggest problem with small business, including woodworking business startup. Everyone forgets to plan for success and profitability before doing anything else. Without a plan, how can you expect your business go into the right direction? I'll share woodworking business plan in separate article.

Mistake 4: Not improving business skills. 

It will take more skill than mastering a mortise and tenon joint or hand rubbing a table top to a mirror like finish to make your woodworking business a winner.You'll quickly wind up in the poorhouse if you can't effectively communicate with prospects and customers both in person and in writing. Learn to become proficient in gathering requirements and developing solutions. Then master presenting them to your clients

Mistake 5: Poor Promotion. 

It doesn't matter how good a woodworker you are, if you can't sell your products, you won't make any money. Woodworkers make the fatal marketing mistake of trying to sell the features of their products instead of the benefits. Marketing 101 tells us that people buy the benefits of a product, supported by its features. learn the difference between the two and how to use benefits to effortlessly sell your woodworking products.

Mistake 6: Take less responsibility as woodworking business owner. 

When you change your mentality from hobbyist to business owner, you accept a role that requires you to wear many hats. From woodworker to bookkeeper to production planner, you are faced with doing it all or going down with the ship. This directly relates to Mistake no. 3 in that planning how your woodworking business will operate is equally important to planning how to start your woodworking business. Developing a solid written operating plan ahead of time will keep things running smoothly once you get started.

Mistake 7: Being afraid to get expert help. 

Frequently, business owners are reluctant to pay for expert knowledge when, in the long run, it can save them money and pay big dividends. If you're not sure how to do something critical to the success of your business, hire an expert to each you. An expert's advice is valuable because it is based on fact as well as personal experience. An expert must do a good job because if they don't, they lose you as a customer and tarnish their reputation.