Make money from woodworking in your own garage

One of the best long standing advice about work has got to be one from Confucius, ‘do what you love and you will never have to work a day in your life. Or rather, in the prolific thought of Maya Angelou, ‘pursue the things that you love and do them so well that people can’t take their eyes off you’. 

We are going through tough times right now, with people losing their jobs and struggling to make ends meet. Therefore, if you are thinking of starting a home-based business, it has to be something you love doing. This will not only make it fun to wake up and go to work every day but it will also help take your mind off things.  

Turning your woodworking hobby into an income source

Whether you are doing it for fun or as your full-time job, there is a great possibility of making money by completing an array of woodwork projects and selling them. Needless to say, woodworking can be quite expensive, since you have to purchase tools, raw materials and cater for overheads such as electricity bills. Since you are doing this for profit, it is advisable to have a solid plan on how best to run your woodworking business from your garage.   

Find what you are good at

There are several types of projects you can be involved in while working with wood. They include;

Wood Mosaic

This has two forms, that is Intarsia and Marquetry

Intarsia: This is whereby you have wood of different types, shapes and sizes fit together in one composition to create an illusion of depth. 

Marquetry: this is a form of inlay whereby you cut a piece of veneer into separate pieces then insert it into another piece. You will then be required to laminate the final piece to another surface. 

Scroll Sawing

This involves creating intricate shapes from very thin wood pieces. With this method, you can choose to create flat items or elaborate 3D structures such as sculptures.  

Pyrography (Wood Burning)

It is the art of creating patterns on wood using burn marks created by a special engraving tool that looks like a pen. 

This is great when creating customized items.  

Building

This could involve a wide range of projects such as building houses, making furniture (such as stools and cabinets), repair and reconstruction as well as making decorative and functional boxes.  

Determine your prices

With pricing, you can be able to differentiate yourself from your competitors.

To help you determine the price, you should conduct thorough market research to see what other crafters, retailers and wholesale stores are charging for similar products. This can be done through a quick online search or by attending craft fairs.

Pricing is a key factor when it comes to selling handmade items; most times creators tend to undercharge their items. Important factors to consider when determining your price include; time it takes to produce the item, overhead costs and cost of raw materials. 

Buy the necessary equipment

The type of equipment you need is largely dependent on the kind of woodwork you will make as well as the space available at your garage. A mistake that many beginner woodworkers make is going all out and buying any equipment they think they might need.  

Therefore, before buying any equipment you need to be clear on what woodwork projects you will be working on then have a checklist of all equipment you will need, cross out what you already have then you can buy what you do not already own. 

Generally, the equipment you will need include;

Cutting tools: such as a miter saw, circular saw, jigsaw, router and hand saw amongst others. 

Shaping and finishing tools such as planes, sandpaper, random orbital sander and sanding disc. 

Assembly tools such as a drill, impact driver, mallet, glue and clamps.

Measurement tools: squares and tape measure. 

Safety gear: dust mask, ear muffs, and safety goggles.  

Where to sell your woodwork

Where to sell your woodwork is dependent on the level you are at with woodworking, the size of projects you work on and where you are most comfortable selling your craft. There are a variety of places where you can sell your craftwork and they include;

At a local crafts store

This is a great place to sell your work since it also offers you an opportunity to advertise your services to people close to you. On the other hand, it also offers you maximum convenience in terms of allowing you to create larger projects as well as saving on shipment fee.  

The downside to this is that the store owners may increase the price of the items to cater to their profit margins. 

Selling online

All you need to start listing your items online is an online store or a business website. With an online store, you can choose to have your eCommerce store on a platform such as Shopify or you can choose to host your store on one of the already established market platforms such as Etsy which is great for handmade items and has ready and huge traffic. 

Selling at craft fairs or exhibitions

Bringing out your items to sell at a craft fair or a popular exhibition is a profitable way to move your woodwork items. On one hand, selling at craft fairs helps you to market your work as well as enables you to network with others in the same industry. On the other, it could be very frustrating trying to sell items at crafts and exhibitions. It involves a lot of packing and transportation while at times you might not end up making any sales just answering a bunch of questions from onlookers. 

Bottom line;

At the end of the day, nothing beats working from home. There are so many benefits to it such as the convenience of being able to work at any time, the comfort since you can do anything you want and finally, it helps you save on the cost of rent and utilities. 

Lastly, always strive to make high-quality items, those that you will always feel proud to be associated with.  Quality will always sell.