How to sell projects
5 Projects That You Can Sell | Woodworking Business
pick it up great no ruining this intro
just hand today we're gonna talk about
five projects that we've learned so
really well for us so we got a question
the other day on Instagram go follow us
on Instagram if you haven't already but
we got a question of somebody asking
what do you make that sells the best
like because there's a ton of different
projects what as a beginning woodworker
trying to make some money what should I
go towards to make money and so we were
just replied with the five things that
we made the most of we thought that
would be a pretty good topic for a video
so we're just gonna roll through the
five projects that are just kind of our
go-to explain what's good and bad about
each project what we've learned by
building several of them and hopefully
that'll spark an idea for you maybe you
can use these as your go-to or it gives
you the confidence to get off the ground
with your business five projects are so
versatile and so ubiquitous that like
you can incorporate oh I know it's a big
word whoa I heard a B you use it so yeah
ubiquitous means it's everywhere so
these are five projects that you can
make so different and so unique that if
a customer just says hey can you show me
something XYZ that you built you can
point to one of these projects and say
well I can do it just like this but in a
door or in a shelf or in a cabinet
something like that and honestly in your
portfolio people like to see pictures of
things that they could see themselves
buying so if somebody wants a coffee
table or they want some bar stools but
all your Instagram or whatever portfolio
has in it
like super tiny detailed keepsake boxes
there can be like I don't know if
they're quite up my alley let's just get
into it talking that's the transition
okay so number one on our list of super
common projects is a desk we have made
multiple videos on YouTube of us
building desks that's just what people
want lots people want need desks whether
it's to fill space in a room or they
genuinely just need a work area we'll
get a lot of requests to customize desks
whether that's cable management wireless
charging certain types of legs that they
want but it comes down to it they're
super simple to make and customize so if
you have a picture of one in your
portfolio that somebody thinks it's cool
they can look at it and say hey that's
awesome and then can we do two extra
holes for cable management you're like
yeah sure no problem super easy so very
versatile there's a lot of directions
you can go at this one you can change
the style of a little look of them the
feel of them and when it comes down to
it still just a really usable desk and
then a little bit more on the sales side
of building desks and why we absolutely
love the building of it it's because it
is great practice for you as a
salesperson to up charge to add little
extras to add accessories and customize
it for them and and really as you
customize it takes more time and more
materials more skill it's gonna
naturally cost more whether it's labor
or whether it's your hourly rate it's
the materials you buy all in all it will
cost more so for example somebody comes
to you and they say hey I need a desk
that's great that could be 8 million
different desks you can sit down and say
hey what are you going to use the desk
for are you a computer gamer are you a
college student do you want it for
decoration from there if they say you
know yeah I'm a computer gamer I like
gaming you say well from there we can do
multiple shelves for you you can make
different cubbies to hold
tower for your desktop computer cable
management is a big one that people who
do a lot of online gaming like to do you
can include wireless charging so they
can charge all of their little I don't
know pieces accessories at the same time
while they're playing I just want to put
in here for just second you remember Sam
the guy who built the liquor cabinet for
a good friend of ours we just built him
a desk and we just did all the we just
did all of those things to his little
desk we have a matched furniture desk
just a pine top chamfered edges hairpin
legs built in that exact same desk we
normally sell it for 200 bucks whenever
we batch out five or more and we turned
his almost the same exact style we
turned his into like an 800 dollar desk
because we used an oak top he's two by
six oak for the top note big thick and
then I made a long tray that did all of
his cable management we had a power
strip in there and then I routed out a
big hole in the bottom so he could put a
wireless phone charger through the top
of the wood and with all those up
charges we changed it from a 200 dollar
desk that we would make out a pine into
an 800 dollar desk and it really only
cost me and it cost me an extra like two
or three hours worth of labor to get
those other things finished okay number
two piece of furniture that we do
constantly is coffee tables everybody
loves coffee tables most of what we see
is somebody is trying to achieve a
certain style or they're trying to tie
together a certain look in their living
room and the coffee table is a really
easy way to do that so that's what we
see most of the time or somebody will
come to us and say hey I need to match
another piece that I have in my living
room so I need the coffee table will
look like that and honestly that's where
we get a lot of repeat customers alright
so on the sales
things coffee tables are really good
because it teaches you and it trains you
how to followup with your customers and
get repeat sales because if you think
about it where do people put coffee
tables in their living rooms and then if
you look at a living room think of your
living room it's probably where you have
the most furniture in one small area
that reason being because that's the
room everybody sees you have guests and
company come over and you sit on the
couch in your living room around your
coffee table you serve drinks maybe you
have some end tables a shelf in the
corner a TV stand there's a ton of stuff
in your living room so if there's any
area of your house where you want a
really nice looking piece that you can
you know talk to people about for people
to compliment and point out the cool
design features it's your living room so
starting with a coffee table
you build somebody a coffee table they
really like it you follow up with them
in a couple of months and you say hey
how do you like that coffee table they
say hey yeah I like it it looks really
cool you can even say something like hey
when I was in your living room I noticed
in that corner on the left side of your
wall there's a little space open and I
think it'd be super cool if we put a
bookshelf in there we could make it
match your coffee table by using the
same kind of wood oh that's an awesome
idea I never thought about that that'd
be super cool to have a bookshelf in my
living room that matched the coffee
table and from there you can start
another sale with a repeat customer so
you put a really nice piece of furniture
in somebody's living room and what do
people automatically start doing they
start comparing everything they have to
that one piece of furniture and when
you're comparing MDF and particleboard
furniture to that beautiful oak coffee
table that you just built them they're
gonna think wow I need to replace some
of the stuff I have now with nicer stuff
or I simply want to replace some of my
old stuff with newer nicer stuff so
that's another awesome way that coffee
tables are gonna bring you multiple
sales so coffee tables are really good
catalysts to train you to find repeat
customers and talk to people who have
already bought from you
all right next up on the list our
cutting boards you've seen us make a
bunch of cutting boards on this channel
and that's just because they sell really
well it's one of the it's one of those
things that everybody uses there's
something that you can batch out and
make a lot of in a short amount of time
they don't take up a whole lot of space
so you can kind of have them in the
corner of your garage or in your
basement or something and just have them
ready to go and the next time that you
need to make a sale or get a few extra
dollars of cash you can just start
texting a ton of people that you haven't
talked to in a while and just said hey
running this business now was just
batching down a ton of cutting boards
one if you wanted one and that's a
really easy way to make a you know a
couple hundred bucks very quickly it's
also another thing that you can approach
businesses with one thing my buddy Bruce
Aldrich that he does he makes cutting
boards for closing gifts so he's got a
really good connection with a bunch of
realtors in town and he just asked him
he's like hey can I make cutting boards
and you give those to your clients as
closing gifts when they buy a home or
sell a home with you
he stays really busy making a lot of
cutting boards and you can get super
fancy with cutting boards you can do the
face grain cutting boards which we do a
lot of you can also do edge and
integrating cutting boards which are
also they take a little more time but
they're really really nice and if you
get a realtor that's got the money to
spend on really nice closing gifts
typically 50 to $100 you can really
start to make a lot of money especially
once you start patching them out that's
also a really good opportunity for you
as a business owner to learn how to
scale if all you need is an extra two or
three clamps and you can make another
two or three cutting boards per batch
that really raises your profit margins
so this kind of teaches you how to scale
with a small product that way when you
get ready to do something like a
restaurant or a department store and
build all the display tables you kind of
already know how to think through a lot
of products running through your shop at
once yeah that's why we recommend
cutting boards are a great place to
start if you're a business that's just
trying to get off the ground and learn
how to do this production thing what's a
blanket ladder it's time for a field
trip taking a trip have your seat
is it gonna be lit this next up is
blanket ladders Jenny made this one with
just a jigsaw and a drill it was gonna
be so mean if you just stopped in there
stupid easy to make Jenny made this one
alright next on the list
our blanket ladders they're very simple
to make Jenny made this one with just a
jigsaw in a drill they do really well in
a living room they're really versatile
you can get kind of intricate with them
if you want to all it takes is just a
couple of two by fours you can screw
them together plug the holes this again
is another good project it's a little
bit larger but you can batch them out
really quickly so it's another really
good learning opportunity for you as a
business owner to batch five to ten of
these out and kind of move through the
process of doing multiple pieces at once
in your shop these do really well at
craft fairs also do the measuring sticks
you know where you measure your kids
height on this stick and you can take
the stick with you if you move or
something like that and blanket ladders
are really easy to sell because you can
also sell decorating packages with them
this is something Jenny's done she'll
like bundles she'll take a like a burlap
sack you get it Walmart or something
like that and she'll put like four
seasons worth of decorations in each one
from like Hobby Lobby or somewhere and
she'll sell that bag of decorations for
20 bucks along with the blanket ladder
for about 50 or 60 so for a hundred
bucks you've got a piece and decorations
already put together ready for a
year-round decorating in your living
room a lot of people in the East in the
south where my family's from we have a
whole bunch of blankets and quilts that
are family heirlooms and they're just
collecting dust in the closet but you
could put them on a blanket ladder
display them that's another sales angle
that you can go for really these things
are just so versatile for decorations
just try to find out what's popular in
your area and try to throw together a
decorating package to go with the
blanket ladder because that's gonna go
way further than just having a
ladder made out of wood that you're
trying to sell so this is a good way to
learn how to market and take good
pictures too
oh my god so the last thing we're going
to talk about is kitchen tables this is
where you can really flex your muscles
as a maker if somebody's buying a
kitchen table from you it's probably not
the first thing they've ever bought from
you maybe it is but this is a pretty
high-dollar item once you're starting to
talk about like custom kitchen tables
you're looking in the to $3,000 range
just kind of depending on the size of
the table this is where you can learn
how to make bigger items you really have
to think about your clamping strategy
your sanding and finishing strategies
it's just everything's different with a
larger product everything changes when
the project gets really big it's one
thing to do a bunch of cutting boards
and if you have the tables booked when
you get one or two kitchen tables in the
workshop you start to run out of space
really quickly so it's a good exercise
and learning how to you know just manage
your space I guess this is where you can
really find out how well your shop is
laid out because if you can't make a
large item like a kitchen table in your
shop you may need to consider getting
rid of some things or moving some stuff
around especially if you want to do any
sort of like production you like my
crocks you these are my nice crocks
but yeah kitchen tables if you're at the
point where you're selling kitchen
tables to your clients I'm pretty sure
you've made it because that's something
that they're family touches eats on like
people will trust you if it's like a
small cutting board or something but if
they're gonna spend two or three
thousand dollars with you to build a
kitchen table I feel like you've you've
arrived that person is definitely on
your ferris wheel I hope these tips have
been helpful these are just the five
things that we make the most of that we
will have the best learning opportunity
for a small business or a side hustle
trying to learn how to build things and
there's all different types of
construction like we've covered small
things like cutting boards two really
big items like kitchen tables if you can
master those five products part
products if you can master those five
products everything is gonna go your way
and it sounds like you're off to a great
start as a business so anything else
Bruce he says no all right well if you
like this video please hit the thumbs up
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and then if you want to know even more
detail about how we actually closed
sales what we sound like on the phone
some scripts our pricing structure that
sort of thing we have programs available
for purchase we slow it way down and we
don't put as much fluff and b-roll it's
literally just the information really
in-depth really solid we spend way more
time on those programs than we spent on
these silly weekly videos but yeah check
out links in the description all right
we're gonna have a couple more videos on
the screen here for you to watch thank
you very much
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