Carpentry Life

You want to know how to succeed in this type of business? Let me break it down for you, just a little. First and foremost, I am not a professional woodworker, handyman, home improvements specialist, none of that. I am, however, a professional lead generator. No leads, no work.

Working alone I could make 100% of project proceeds. The project shown below would have taken me five weeks (five weeks because I am detailed and write blogs, take notes, create designs, market, go shopping, take my kids to school and church functions, etc.) to complete by myself based on the size of my small shop, with all the running back and forth to do what needs to be done, finishing, etc. Matter of fact 90% of the projects you see on my websites, and even my website itself, CherrywoodCustom.com, is done by the hands that typed this blog post.

Back to the example. Let’s say I made $5000 profit. Woohoo! Got to keep it all. Doing the math for similar projects yields annual gross profit of $52,000 (if you can keep the energy and passion alive to do that many projects). Not bad. You could do ten of these projects in a year and a few small ones to make up the difference. Don’t worry, you will experience periodic burn out and times will get slow.

Custom Built Ins by Ryan CherrywoodCustom.com

Here’s where the payoff comes from. Find someone who shares the same passion, who brings in his/her own business with similar experience, determination, drive and ability and the production time reduces dramatically. That project only took the two of us left than one week instead of five weeks. Sure, our agreement was to split the proceeds 50/50 making $1250 each, but now, if we stayed steady and were able to duplicate this project for a year, that would be 52 projects, $130,000 gross profit before the split, with an additional $13K in each of our pockets. The key to success with finding a compatible assistant, however, is that you have to market to keep the projects coming in. Remember, I am a professional lead generator first.

It took a little pain to realize the payoff of enlisting the help and camaraderie of someone who shared similar experiences over the years as I have. Let me tell ya, help like that only comes after you have been there and done that for a little while (in other words, START NOW!). Carrying sheet goods from 1/4″ luan to 3/4″ super dense MDF and the various sizes of projects completed, (up, down and around steps and stairs and cars and garages) for several years builds muscle required to conduct such activity, but it takes a toll on the body faster than normal. Ask any hard-working D.I.H (do-it-him/herself) individual. I’m too young for my bones to be crackin’ and hurting the way they do; at least that’s what Grandpa says. When you hear your body start talkin’, it will get your attention, even if you choose not to listen.

Now that I have explained one of the secrets to success in this business (or any business for that matter), go out there and prove it. This blog post will be here forever. Let’s see if you remember me in your success. I remembered you and we haven’t even been there yet.

Good luck! Good Day.

Ryan