Is there money in woodworking?

[Lawrence Decesar]

I Enjoy working with wood and believe it would be difficult to try to make a living at it and also hold another regular job. 10 years ago I bought, remodeled, and rented out a house. I heard all the horror stories about being a landlord. I started looking for other houses close to me that I could buy, fix and rent. I found that once these houses are in good shape, they required very little of my time. The houses required basic woodworking ability, provided a steady income and would allow a woodworker time to pursue his passion. If I were a young woodworker, I would look into buying and repairing older houses to level out my income and help provide for retirement.

[John Makar]

I have dabbled at paid WW, and other fields. My retirement is from corporate and gvment, so the rent is paid and the wolf at the door is picky about its kibble. I could repeat almost word for word what has been said here but applied to web development, windows desktop development, android app development, more distantly back I'd throw in CICS/COBOL contracting, CFP financial plan development, fly fishing guiding, raft guiding, Elderhostel canoe trip guiding. All the fun non-computer stuff is post-retirement (now in year 11, and it has been one heck of a ride). How you make a go... Niche, research, marketing, frugality, clarity of purpose, all them things.

The best advice I ever got on business is from a niche playing author, Jack Falvey: "To be in business you need a customer. If you have one everything else can be purchased. If you don't have one you have a hobby."

That said, long ago Peter Drucker wrote that the life span of SUCCESSFUL businesses was 19 years. The gvment stats on small business are just grim. You make a living at something, any way you can (but do pay your taxes, 'cause them revenuers are pretty nosy). I do have the impression that barriers to entry are lower now than they have been for the last 50 years at least, but that also increases competition.