Sad day today, closing business

darreny

darreny

darreny

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Joined
19 May 2004
Posts
3,046
After 3 years of struggling I've given my landlord instructions to find a new Tennant today for my workshop. Im a craftsman and have loved making all the amazing things I have done in the last few years but with the price of timber and never quite finding the right customers it's with deep regret it's come to an end.

I have about a month or two to come up with a new product and will give it my best shot or maybe find a business that outsources joinery products they need so any ideas welcome.

Even tho it's not gone great for me I would always tell anyone to try self employment if they can as it's a great experience just don't get in too much debt
 
Every company needs pallets.

Not very inspiring but it can be the "bread & butter" part of the business !
 
Lots of people don't become self employed because they're afraid of failing. You've done what most people haven't - run a business for 3 years, learnt from it and now moving forward. Irrespective of financial outcome now, you're in a far better position than most of us.
 
sorry to hear that.

a cousin of mine is in the same line of work and I know he has to bust a gut travelling the country to every and all shows/fairs/fetes he loves the work but he works crazy hard!
 
Think about what hipsters use or aspire to use, then make it out of fancy woods. Not kidding. Phone covers, shaving bowls, gear shift knobs, bike stands. Has to be something they can show off to people though so no towel racks or boring stuff. The more ironic the better, like wooden iphone covers. Good luck.
 
I'm a self employed Joiner/polisher but I just sub at a local joinery. A lot less stress than trying to do my own thing (which I did do for about a month).
 
Will put some pics up later. I've actually been self employed since 2009 but had to put it aside for 18 months to care for my mum who sadly passed away so I kind of started when the recession hit. Im keeping my machines so will just be a case of finding new premises in the future. It's been brilliant and the only place I failed was in the marketing side of things.

This was something else I was making but have made bespoke kitchens, bedrooms, gates and doors
 
Sorry to hear it's not gone as well as you'd have wanted, but that Oak board is lovely! If I had £100 to spend on one, I'd definitely love one of those!
 
Always sad, but the grass is always greener. Remember advising on your chopping boards.

Whereabouts are you? Round here tradesmen are in massive demand, including joiners/carpenters and I presume you have applicable and transferable skills in this area.

Have you ever considered focusing on this element? If one of the reasons was the high price of timber then fitting and customising kitchens, rather than building bespoke, eliminates that aspect. You don't need a workshop either.
 
I'm near Buxton. I do make and fit the kitchens and bedrooms. It may not seem a lot but it will be a weight off not having to find the £600 pm rent.

I do have another idea I can do from home but it's something that every penny made will go back into marketing the website
 
You can always listen to my new idea russ and see what you think as you've always had sound advice on the posts I've read. You now how it is, they all seem good ideas when it's your own
 
Custom built Gun Stocks might be worth looking into, some of those command quite premium prices ;)
 
Ricochet J said:
Lots of people don't become self employed because they're afraid of failing. You've done what most people haven't - run a business for 3 years, learnt from it and now moving forward. Irrespective of financial outcome now, you're in a far better position than most of us.
Click to expand...

This guy gets it.


Ad the old saying goes, every time a door closes, another one opens. You've done well and can be proud you managed it for three years. I chucked in the towel twice, both times under a year. All the best :)
 
About 80% of startups will fail, even when they have great ideas and conduct a mountain of market research. Good ideas, good products, good prices etc. are by no means a guarantee. People typically underestimate the importance of marketing, PR, sales teams, market analysis, customer feedback, profit margins, price-points etc.

moreover, people are generally very poor at conducting thorough market research. they'll ask some friends and colleagues if idea X is good, would you buy product Y. People are kind and will respond positively, or the sample size is simply to small to be representative of the local or national market. Or people are happy thinking it would cost $10 but when its released at $60 would change their mind.


At the end of the day if starting a business was and and had high changes of succeeding everyone would do it, everyone would be rich and investors would have an easy life. Consider that so called experts mostly fail in picking good business ideas it is nothing to be ashamed of if someone without the prior expertise also doesn't make it.
 
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