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Advice on making profit on projects

2K views 5 replies 3 participants last post by  j1212t 
#1 ·
Advice on making profit on projects

I was away from woodworking for a while and realized I really miss it. I recently started again and I am now very happy, it just feels great to be in the shop again.

So here is my question, does anyone have advice on how to turn a project into a profitable part time job? The reason I ask is that I am military and they are slowly but surely taking away some of our benet so I don't want to end up in 19 years left with a small pension that would not be enough.

I am thinking of making woodworking my retirement plan, I don't need it to be enormous but just enough to complement my pension. In my last projects I found that it would be hard to sell my projects at a price that would cover my expenses and give me a small profit.

I figured I'd ask here to see if someone might have done this before.

Thanks!
 
#2 ·
I am on a similar path, although I make enough on my job I just love the idea of woodworking as a somewhat profitable hobby, it is my therapy after long grueling days at the office. I have been doing a lot of research over the last few months and I would say that you can make anything to make a profit, provided that you count your cost correctly and you market tot he right crowd.

There is a few long blogs and awesome short articles here on LJ, for a good jumpstart to get into the correct mindsetI would reccomend these blogs and articles to read: (a good few hours of reading here)
http://lumberjocks.com/joey/blog/3836

http://lumberjocks.com/sawblade1/blog/19325

http://lumberjocks.com/huff/blog/36271

http://newmissionworkshop.com/2013/12/10/secrets-to-marketing-on-the-internet-so-far/

http://newmissionworkshop.com/2013/12/12/the-cheapest-add-on-that-sells-products/
 
#4 ·
Thanks for all of those links, Jake. I'll check them out. I would like to have a small business to supplement my Social Security. My wife will work another five years so I will have some time to get a small business going. However, I know that it won't be easy but at least we won't have to rely on the shop from the start.

Pierre, I wish you the best of luck on getting a business going. Since you do have a job you should be able to get one going on the side.

helluvawreck aka Charles
http://woodworkingexpo.wordpress.com
 
#6 ·
You are very welcome kind sir! We the woodworkers are an endangered species, so we got to do what we can to help eachother out. And as a you noticed also, I did not write a single article on this list, I just browsed LJ, so the people who take time to write these are the ones to be thanked.

Glad to help, if you find something of interest feel free to share as well and I will look forward to seeing your progress.
 
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