How many of you that do woodworkng for a living still enjoy it?

[John Kali]

The reason I ask is well, basically I hate my job. Right now I own and opperate a small dental laboratory with my fiance and my dad. I currently work about 60-70 hours a week, sometimes more. Pretty much whatever it takes to get the cases finished. The pay is minimal, I made 18k last year Quite frankly, I am tired of long, hard work weeks with little pay. I am still fairly young (24), and feel that if I want to make a career change, now is the time. I now a few other lab techs that have been in the business for a long time, and they all work very hard. I don't want to end up working my life away.

I like woodworking, and was just tossing around the idea of opening up a small shop selling cutting boards, bowls, salt/pepper shakers etc.. Small things that people don't hesitate to buy if they like it, and that are easy to make. I figure that as my skills get better I could start offering things like chairs, small tables and expand as I get better. I have been wanting to learn how to make real furniture since I joined this site a few years ago, but my current job just doesn't afford me the time it takes to do good woodworking.
I have been making spearguns and cutting boards for a while already. Some of my spearguns I think could easily sell for $500-750.

I just dont want to turn my hobby into my job, and end up hating it too. So, for you guys that do it for a living, is it still enjoyable? Do you wish you had ended up making a different career choice? Is the amount money you make reasonable for the amount of time you put into the job?

Thanks in advance, any and all input will be greatly appreciated!
John K

[David Larsen]

I am not into woodworking and construction to make money for a living right now. I just do it to buy more tools. I have a different fulltime job. But, I enjoy construction and woodworking.

I had a construction and remodeling business and did all the stuff with employees, bids, deadlines, etc.

I enjoyed it, but with everything, if you do it too much and push yourself too hard, it becomes a job.

I always told myself that I will do it part time now and pick and choose what I want to do. I don't want to lose the feeling of walking into my shop and smelling the sawdust and thinking to myself... Life is Good!

There is an old saying "Do what you love and you'll never work a day in your life!".

[Cary Falk]

I used to do it for a living when I was in high school and college. I had a hammer in my hand by the time I could walk. I had no desire or energy to do it in what little free time I had. I didn't want to do it the rest of my life so I went into a different profession. Now that I do it as a hobby I enjoy it more. I take on some tool money projets now and then and really start to hate it again buy the time the project is over. The deadlines, budgets, mistakes, wondering if it is going to be to their satisfaction gets to be a little too much. I don't make anything ahead of time to sell. I like working at my own pace and if I don't feel like it that day I don't have to do it. Hope that helps.

[Steve Costa]

John,

I think you should assess what it is you enjoy doing. You can start by locating a career counseling organization and taking a few tests which may reveal your true interests. Once you have an idea of the career in which you are interested do some research to understand what are the educational requirements for that career and begin the education process. You may also want to consider relocating to an area which offers opportunities in the career you have chosen. I believe working 60 -70 hours a week for $18K per year is a waste of your time & talents.

[Matt Day]

I agree with Steve. Working 60/wk for 18k comes out to $6/hr - minimum wage is $7.25. I am not by any means putting you down. In my opinion if you have the patience and detail required to work with wood you probably have what it takes to do quite a bit better than $6/hr.

I am no pro, but I do work for a GC and know how tough it is right now for my subs. Starting a small business is tough. There are a lot of threads on SMC about this topic, check some of them out. I commend you for wanting to make a life change!

[Tony Bilello]

... I currently work about 60-70 hours a week, sometimes more. When you run your own business, expect to do the same for the next several years. Tony B .
.......... So, for you guys that do it for a living, is it still enjoyable? The woodworking part to me is still enjoyable, it's the running of the business that is not so enjoyable. Fortunately I have wife to help out in that dept. Woodworking is very labor intensive and that means unless you are good and I mean really good - like the top 5% ranking in your state - you will need to make money off of others labor. Now thats a chore. I consider myself very good but not in the 'really talented' category. So I have to take in more work and that means employees and that means headaches. As for enjoyable - I take a day or two every so often just to 'play' in the shop.Tony B
Do you wish you had ended up making a different career choice? Not Really. Tony B.
Is the amount money you make reasonable for the amount of time you put into the job?
Definitely. I do a little of everything -strip, refinish, repair, design and build furniture and whatever else comes along. Tony B

I do wish that I could do exactly what I do now but not have to be the owner/manager.
I also think that a slow transition is not the way to go. I was always the one to just jump right in with both feet. There is more of a personal commitment that way and failure is not an option. But that's just me.

[Steve Griffin]

I couldn't be happier with my work. I love being owner manager of my little business, and still love woodworking. I like the variety of hats I get to wear---customer relations, design and computer drafting, bookkeeping, machine servicing, hiring, training etc.

Money is pretty good too, though I'm down to one employee and half the income as a few years ago.

Those who say that having a job you enjoy is more important than money are dead wrong. The single most important thing is to make money. I guarantee that even if you love what you do, if you struggle with a failing business you will be miserable. If you work for someone else making peanuts and have no chance to advance you will not be happy. I'd much rather have a successful septic system pumping business than an unsuccessful furniture business.

Good luck! Make some good decisions and work hard and you will find success.

-Steve

[shane lyall]

I still love it if the order is something I like to make. I several sets of kitchen cabinet doors a month but I only like my job on those orders. There are days I don't feel like doing a task but, as with any job, I gotta pay the bills so I suck it up an do it. I love setting my own hours and with 7 kids and another due in June it allows me to be part of there lives as well. I worked as an chief electrician in an underground coal mine for 19 years before opening my shop. WW was a hobby all those years but I learned the craft and had a running start when I retired from mining and went into buisness. It's taken about 3 years to become a good income. Some months are better than others but my wife is a CPA and works outside our home so that helps out when it's slow. On the days you don't have orders I recomend you don't go near your shop. The first year I was in mine 12/7. If I wasn't WWing I was tuneing, sharpening, or cleaning and I nearly burned out. Take family time when you get it because you'll hit stretches you HAVE to be there 12 hours a day or more. Good luck.

[Larry Edgerton]

I'm a contractor/woodworker.I do about 70/30 these days. I like my time in the shop, but the realitys of being in business for me mean there are a lot of other things I am forced to do that I do not enjoy. The government is doing everything it can to make sure I go out of business, adding costs at an alarming pace, costs that people are not willing to shoulder. I am getting my heiney handed to me by under the table contractors that do not pay all of the manditory costs that I as a legitimate busness must pay. I can't really blame the homeowners for making this choice, because money is tight and a dollar doesn't go as far as it should, despite what the government inflation index says. I have too much to lose now to go without all of the licences and insurance, but at the same time it is burying me. Business 2 years ago was down 92% from my peak year in 2001, so I had to slash overhead to keep my head above water. Last year was not too bad, but this year is not looking great so far.

One example of government costs is the new regulations that the EPA passed on lead paint. I do, or should say did, alot of restoration work. The new regs have added 20-30% to the cost of the job, and in some cases made them impossible to do because their requirements don't work outside in the snow. If I do a job outside in the winter according to their guidelines, I will be in violation of OSHA regs concerning providing a unsafe workplace, so I can not do that job in the winter. If lead paint is found on the ground around the job, I have to dig out 6" of dirt all the way around the house and replace with clean. Being as they call me because the outside of the house has paint falling off already, I have failed as soon as I sign the contract. I took the class to get certification, and as the fellow is handing me my certificate, he explains that before I took the class I would just get fined 32K, but now that I know better they will be filing charges for criminal intent if I get caught. Lovely! Who's government is this?

Meanwhile I bid a job using their technics, and explained to the homeowner the costs of lead containment. They promptly went out and hired a scab contractor to do the job who will do it without the EPA precautions. I could turn in that fellow, but he is just trying to make a living, and I am not a stooley.

Costs on building inspections have edged up as high as 5K on a lakehouse, and for what? Lobbiests have gotten codes passed to promote their products that are not only unnecessary, but in several cases detrimental to the overall quality of the home. The inspectors just do what they are supposed to do, enforce codes made up in a location that does not have a climate anything like ours written by people that have no clue what they are doing, lobbied for by corporations that don't give a damn other than their bottom line. Meanwhile inspectors make sure you have all the manditory gizmos, but do absolutely nothing as far as fit and finish.

I used to have a cabinet shop running full time, but the government came in and decided that I had to update to automated tools basically, and I could not afford to buy every thing that I needed so I laid every one off and concentrated on the construction side of the business, only working in the shop alone. So far I am allowed to do what I want in my own shop, but I am sure that will change as well. There are regs coming that will force me to have a "Approved" spray booth, and the custom built one I have will not suffice, never mind that it is a copy of an approved one.

I averaged 12 employees in my peak years, but went as high as eighteen full and a few drifters, and now I am working alone. Much of this is due to government, either through regs that made it impossible to procede or policys that force manufacturers to move overseas, and make a lot less potential customers available. I used to do a lot of work for factory workers, now I only work for factory owners, and there are a lot less of them.

In answer to your question, Yes I still love a challange in the shop. But do I wish I was doing something else? Heck yes! If I was you at your age I would find a government job, and work at wood below the radar, because if you make it a business, and are sucessfull, you will find that things other than wood will be taking up too much of your thoughts.

I have an Uncle in the optical business on a small scale such as what you are working now, he would tell you to get out of that as well. And he owns the company.

Best wishes

Larry

[Tony Bilello]

................Those who say that having a job you enjoy is more important than money are dead wrong. The single most important thing is to make money. ......... I'd much rather have a successful septic system pumping business than an unsuccessful furniture business. -Steve

+1 My attitude is that we have two lives. We have our work life and we have our home life. Rarely do the two run in sync. So we have choices to make. Do we want to be happy at work and be unsatisfied at home in a lower standard of living or do we want to be somewhat unfulfilled at work and enjoy our home life with better conditions and more time off with more money to enjoy it.
85% of my shop income is from repairs and refinishing which I enjoy neither. The only joy I get from it is the customer reaction and satisfaction when something important to them has been resurrected and they brag on my work. I would much rather build furniture that 85% and just build and never refinish. However, refinishing pays exceptionally well by most standards.
I also work as an Independant Third Party Inspector offshore on oil and gas platforms.It pays very well. Do I mind it? No. Would I do this full time by choice ? No. I would much rather work in my shop building furniture. Does my shop make as much as my oilfield job? No. Overall which would I rather do? Work offshore - it's the money.

[Harvey Pascoe]

Every person has to find their own way in life, so asking what others think is a sure way to end up headed in the wrong direction. What one likes, another doesn't. Most successful people get that way only after making a lot of false starts. If you fear failure, you'll get nowhere. Follow your heart, its the only way.

I made a career change to woodworking at age 58, which is twice your age. It also sounds like you expect instant success. At age 24, you obviously don't have a lot of time into that dental lab. Hint: it took six years before my woodworking biz took off and I nearly went broke in the process.

[Peter Quinn]

I changed careers to full-time wood worker about 6 years ago, and I very much like wood working still. Problem is I am not doing much of it right now. Things are slow, the woodworking part of my bosses business has ground almost to a halt, and I spend most of my days making flooring or stair treads. Boring beyond explanation. Things will crawl back, I have my own small shop that I dream of making a living from, but the businessmis not there now.

I had thought of doing a side business restoring and weather stripping old windows, but as Larry mentioned the EPA has pretty much put the kabash on that. If they find one fleck of lead in the soil the contractor is screwed? I'd like to let them know "Guess what morons, every old house that has ever been painted has had peeling and now has lead in the soil. Mine does. So I have to dig out 200 yards of soil and pay for hasmat clean up to fix a damn window?" Besides that they have essentially levied a tax on owners of any homes built before 1982 that transfers to futures owners and makes the cost of owning old homes greater and thus decreases their value. Nice. Thanks guys. Morons.

[Larry Edgerton]

The sad part Peter is if they get actively enforcing this, a lot of historic homes will simply be bulldozed. The one I just restored is 130 years old, and had lead everywhere, BEFORE I GOT THERE! Now that I have replaced all the windows/trim/siding, the house is for ever lead free.

I was OK on that one because I started the job before the deadline, but I could not do the job now at a price that would fly. I was getting certified while on the job, so asked the homeowner if he would have done the job if I had to add another 50K. He said no, absolutely not, he would have sold as that would have taken it to a point where he could never recoup his investment. Not sure he can now really, but that is another story....

I really enjoy restoring homes. There is nothing built today that compares. There are a few homes for the ultra rich that have all the frills, but there are no working class homes built like that anymore. Buying and restoring one of these old classics is the only chance a under say, $100K sort of person has to own something like it. They are so graceful, and a sense of peace comes over you when you are in their presence, something that is missing from most of what is built today. I hate to see them disappear, but I am afraid that will be the trend if the EPA gets tough on this. Right now we have three inspectors in a three state area, but this is a revenue source for the government, and I expect that to change. They are busy right now just following up on contractors that are telling on each other. Sad.....

[ian maybury]

Please don't read this as more than a generalised take on the topic, but my personal view on this sort of thing is that it all depends on your beliefs/perception, and where you look to for happiness. You basically get what you put out. There's no activity or situation that delivers happiness (or unhappiness) per se, it's essentially an internal state that arises naturally if you can be easy, and can see/connect with the positive in your situation (whatever it is), and the basically benevolent nature of life rather than the negatives. One man's hell is another's heaven - but to get angry or negative is always our own decision.

Adopt a consistently self focused and negative tone, criticise everything and as a result of feeling hard done by stop giving, and stop manifesting goodwill - and that's precisely the reality you will build for yourself.

Balance is also important. It's nice to have enough money to get by, it's nice to work but not to have make a slave of yourself etc. Unwise and uncaring beliefs drive us into behaviours that create unhappiness. (for ourselves, or for others)

The problems that flow from negative beliefs materialise in very ordinary ways. To take a woodworking business example - set a very high income target as a result of putting too much faith in money, put yourself in hock to the bank for loans to get set up, and saddle yourself with very aggressive business targets and there's a definite possibility it won't be much fun unless you are one of those people that get off on that sort of environment. Cheapskate your customers out of lack of care and a selfish focus on profit, and you'll pay a price too.

It may very well be a good decision for you to step away and start off down your own life path, but keep the focus nice and relaxed and open, and try to make sure that there's no tunnel vision at work - that any decisions take account of the big picture....

[hank dekeyser]

Sell a couple spearguns and see how it goes. I continue to bounce back and forth between working for someone and doing my own thing. Currently I am fully vested in doing my own thing, come Spring time I'll likely jump back on w/ the crew. Either way I'm still doing what I want and enjoying it. 24 yrs old is like a "babe in the woods" once yo udouble your age, you'll look back at all the changes and chances you've been through, and probly chuckle about ever doubting making the change ?? At any rate, I still Love my job, and have fun doing it- like others there are "those" days, or weeks. The gov do take a bite and will continue to, so if you are able to fly under the radar, and keep your day job, you'll make more in the end. It is getting harder to sell (I think) good quality- most people dont know any better, so choose your market audience carefully. If you can find a "specialty" niche you enjoy, you should be golden.

Bottom line is - YES I still enjoy it, it is a way of life for me. I am surrounded by tools and materials always. I wouldn't have it any other way.