Why You're NOT Making Money Woodworking | 7 Business Tips 

Balancing perfection vs time spent is a daily battle. Also learned to never point out a flaw. All projects have flaws. 99.99% of the people will ever notice it.

Saying no is great advice. My sister asked me to help with a remodel. 4 months, and countless hours building new cabinets and staining and custom work, she got a rediculously high end kitchen and all she had to do was pay for appliances and countertops. I painted the walls, I wired the electrical, I did the plumbing, I laid the custom tile, and built everything. And I didn’t even get a mention on fb. I lost an estimated 40 grand on that job, not counting what I had to turn away because of time.

1 more thing I'd like to add.... whatever your #1 seller is... STOCK UP BEFORE CHRISTMAS!! every year it never fails I'll get 10-15 requests for something, e.g cutting boards, within 2 days before Christmas. Just bought a drum sander so I can batch them out now and have plenty on-hand.

I don't say no, I just quote a price that makes them say no. Then, sometimes, they say yes, and I make a boatload of money.

I wish I had seen this many ,many years ago. Most of these mistakes, I see everyday where I work now. Have been in production woodworking for 35 years. I will be 55 in June and I'm finally going to try it on my own. I totally agree with concentrating on a niche market and having your shop setups dedicated to that market. Thank you Ryan for your words of wisdom. You seem very knowledgeable, beyond your years. Congrats on your success.

#7.1 - Don't do "freebies" for friends. The only word that get's out is you will do things for free. Great video, thank you!

I’ve been self employed since 2003 and I can say that you hit a lot of the key points right on the head. Great topic.

In sales, #2 is called PARALASYS BY ANALYSIS. If the client has too many options, they are unable to decide, so they decide not to choose at all.

Finally someone who cuts to the chase with the real problems instead of marketing strategies and business lingo. I haven't seen anybody else talk about the difference between what a customer wants and what we think is cool or "done with integrity" etc. Thanks for your insight and sharing your own mistakes - It makes me feel much better about some of my ideas.

Problem is dat family and friends expect it to be free. So saying no to them is a good thing.

Perfection of explanation. It's 1:14 am right now and I've been surfin all over RU-vid on how to start my woodworking business. This was the last video I was going to watch before going to sleep. I am thankful I was able to watch this video. A lot of great tips. I'm always doing so many different projects and can'r stick to one. Now it's 1:17 am. Good night. :)

As a 30 year veteran in the industry, I can say that you are dead on target. A good compliment to this is to understand and embrace lean principles. A good first step for someone taking this advice would be to throw stuff at the wall, see what sticks, leverage #3 (understand your market), and make these principles a lifestyle.

Excellent points 👍 Needlessly over-complicating things happens all too often. Years ago I worked with a company that was doing stair systems for large residential construction tracts. Cherry was one of their high end options. Quality Control was driving them crazy because someone (probably a perfectionist) installed 16 foot long all heart cherry handrails in their models. No problem for one stair system but try to do replicate in 1000 homes! Understandably, homeowners expected the same. After a few years of frustration, someone had the brilliant idea to put heart/sap Cherry handrails in the new models. Made their lives exponentially easier, sold it for the same price and never got a complaint. True story!

Man this hits home. I built my woodshop a little over a year ago. Ive watched basically all of your videos, and enjoy and learn from them all, but this one really spoke to me. Out of the 7 mistakes you listed, this year i have been and am currently making all 7 lol. Thanks for putting this and your other stuff out there Ryan. You are one of the only ones, maybe the only one, making videos that pertain to industrial level woodshop cnc. As an IS408 owner for a year now, and learning it all from scratch on my own, i always look forward to watching your new videos, and even go back and watch some of the older ones 2 and 3 times to learn about chip loads and the various bits. So thanks.

A lot of what you said, I already knew and or felt as a woodworker, but hearing it from someone else really put it into perspective. Thank you for sharing your knowledge!!

Glad I found this. Very helpful as I’m venturing out and turning my side hustle into a more legitimate business. But I realize I have to find my niche, streamline, and become much more efficient. Everything you explained. Thank you for taking time to give advice to new starters like myself.

Great advice! I just scaled up and move into a real shop and I sure as hell have learned these lessons the hard way. It really helps to hear it from an outside source like yourself! Thanks!

I have already shared this video to people who have nothing to do with woodworking just because those advises apply in any business. Well thought video with very good points. I am happy to admit we are on the same page in all of those points. Enjoyable to watch as always. Keep up the good work. Thanks for sharing!

It took me 30 years in wood working to figure these out! Where were you in my high school shop class? This was very wise advice I wish my dad had taught but had to learn on my own. Thanks for this.

I honestly wish I would have found you 2 years ago! But probably wouldn't have listened. I have started watching your videos just this morning. This is the fourth one, I believe. Honestly, I could cry, this hit home on so many levels, I am so overly critical of my work. I also have such a hard time saying no, for exactly the reasons you said, yes I can make it, but everything has to stop and because of then the perfection kicks in, I end up spending hours, days, if not weeks designing, redesigning, painting, or staining, then to think I know this can look better, so I go at it again. Ugh, it's killing me and my potential business. I also have this overwhelming need to please everyone, and if they then become critical (which most don't, because lets face it, its practically perfect before I allow them to even view it lol) but its the fear of them being disappointed. I am going to make a recording to play on a loop and signs posted everywhere to hold back and protect my yes's and that I don't have to sand or stain to my ideals of perfection. Literally, just this past week, last minute, I made a personalized family recipe cutting board for my husbands family reunion on the 4th, to be auctioned off (we all donate different items for prizes, bingo, etc, then auction certain items to raise money for those games, expenses.,....I had already made two other cutting boards, with the agreement Id add a monogram if they wanted. I had originally just planned to make the recipe board for my MIL as a gift, but when she learned of this, she asked if I could make one for the auction, if it wasn't too much trouble. Of course I agree, no trouble at all! Lord! But now it wasn't just going to my mil, it was up for anyone, I had to make sure it was gorgeous! Long story, longer, I missed the entire reunion, got there last minute to watch fireworks, and for last item of auction/drawing... it was cut earlier that morning, but just before my husband took it down, I looked at it again, and realized it hadn't been sanded again,, and that one of the recipes was just below the line of the grove I had added (how did I miss that?! exhaustion, that's how.... Therefore I spent the remaining day trying to fix, re-cut, and of course trying to do other items, I thought I could add to improve, or do more of, etc. Now this is way tmi, but I just wanted to thank you so much for this, and hopefully your video reaches others earlier in their journey than mine. Should they additionally read my comment, learn such a valuable lesson, I wish I had watched this particular video last Saturday! I wish I would walk away from trying to be perfect and that it's ok to say no and to spend time with your family!!! We care way more about things than most customers.