How to Become a Woodworker: What to Make & Where to Sell

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My brother makes things out of wood for fun. He’s relatively new to the trade, but he’s crafted beautiful woodworkings like decorative bowls, candlesticks, utensils, and more.

The items he makes are worth good money to the right buyer. But since this hobby can require expensive tools and material to get started, you need to have a business plan in place to start making the most money possible as a woodworker.

If you’re crafty, enjoy working with wood, and have a few of the basic tools needed to create pieces worth selling, then it’s possible for you to make money from woodworking in your spare time.

What’s Required to Start a Woodworking Business from Home?

Woodworking is a trade that takes time, artistic skills, and a good amount of materials to get started. Keep reading to see if you have what it takes to be successful in this popular industry.

Skills Needed to Make Money as a Woodworker

You can make anything out of wood, but for an item to be sellable, it needs to match a certain level of quality. You should have most of the following skills before getting into this trade:

1. Creative and artistic skills
2. Ability to work with your hands
3. Strength to lift wood
4. Attention to detail
5. General marketing skills

Materials Needed to Become a Woodworker

You won’t need to buy the most expensive woodworking tools on the market to get started.

As you build your woodworking business from home, consider investing in some of the following:

1. Carving tools
2. Chisels
3. Clamps
4. Hand saw
5. Knives
6. Wood burner
7. Sandpaper
8. Wood finish
9. Wood glue
10. Nails

There are also a number of materials you can get ahold of for free:

1. Wood
2. Staining rags
3. Old tools from friends and family

Related: How To Start A Worm Farm For Profit

Where to Find Free Wood for Woodworking Projects

You can use free wood for the woodworking projects you make and sell to significantly decrease your out-of-pocket costs.

1. Your backyard
2. Beaches (driftwood)
3. Ask friends and neighbors to walk their property (old barns and structures)
4. Old furniture
5. Free Facebook groups
6. Wood pallets
7. Old doors and windows
8. Fallen branches

Related: How to Get Paid to Fish

7 Steps to Make Money Woodworking From Home

Now that you know what type of skills and tools you’ll need to make money from woodworking, you can take these steps to start your own side or full-time business from home.

Step 1: Make a Business Plan

Even the smallest business ventures do best with a business plan in place. You may just be looking into getting your feet wet in the woodworking business, but understand that it takes at least a small plan to get started the right way.

Some things you’ll want to include on your business plan are your goals, types of woodworking products to sell, pricing, marketing methods and more. We’ll touch on some of these things in the following steps as well.

Step 2: Decide What to Make Out of Wood

There is an endless supply of woodworking ideas to sell that can help you make money woodworking. In time, you might plan to make all kinds of different items, but you’ll have to find what your fans are interested in the most. For example, you could perfect wooden birdhouses, or make porch furniture. You can make money selling all kinds of woodworking projects.

Related: How to Get Paid to Assemble Furniture

Step 3: Build a Portfolio

You will need to build a strong portfolio of projects before people will hire you for custom jobs. If you already enjoy working with wood, you may have some projects to share.

Take high-quality pictures of your work and display them in one place. We will discuss where to display your work in the next step.

Related: How to Start a Freelance Writing Portfolio

Step 4: Decide Where to Sell Your Woodwork

Where you sell your woodwork is up to you. Make sure to proudly display your portfolio of work to attract new customers.

There are lots of websites to sell woodworking if you want to get your project in front of more potential buyers. But you can also start with your local friends and family, and ask for referrals from those who love your work.

Related: How to Start a Dropshipping Business

Here are some places that you can start selling your woodworking products immediately:

Facebook Marketplace

Many woodworkers see great success when selling their skills on Facebook. You can create a business page or join local selling groups. Make sure to share plenty of items you’ve made previously so that potential customers can see your skills.

Etsy

Etsy is a popular selling platform to sell handmade goods. There are lots of things you can sell on Etsy to make money. Woodwork is one of those things.

You can create custom pieces and list them on Etsy for any price you choose. Make sure to check the prices of similar listings so that you can keep up with your competition.

Get 40 Free Lists on Etsy

Shopify

You could also consider setting up a storefront featuring your wood projects on a platform like Shopify. You could even fund your project tools and materials by dropshipping items related to the trade.

Try Shopify for FREE

Related: How to Start a Shopify Store

Your Own Website

Step outside of the box and consider building your own business website to sell your woodwork on. You can even put together step-by-step tutorials to attract readers to your website and build your audience. Plus, there are more ways to sell your woodworking skills with a website or blog. You can create ebooks, partner with woodworking tools suppliers, or put relevant advertisements on your site to earn extra money from.

Follow this step-by-step tutorial to create your business website.

Step 5: Build a Social Media Following

Use a visual platform like Pinterest to build a following. You can get more eyes on your work this way, and increase the demand for your work. You can choose other platforms like Facebook, Instagram, and Twitter, too, but I suggest choosing only one or two social media platforms to start with. Managing several social media accounts can get overwhelming when you already have to spend time working on your projects.

Step 6: Price Your Services

Whether you offer custom-made woodworking services or you list and sell individual pieces, you will need to decide how to price your work. Woodworking is not just a skill, but an art as well. When you set prices, take into account how long each piece takes to create, what kind of material you use, marketing costs, and other overhead.

Step 7: Practice, Practice, Practice

You can’t create the perfect piece on your very first try. And if you do, it still might be hard to replicate. That’s why practicing is important. You can make different kinds of wooden items and use them in your portfolio. Branch out and create different ideas, and then see how your social media following reacts. Once you find your niche, you can continue honing your skills in that area.

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Other Ways To making Money Off of Woodworking Projects

You don’t have to make and sell custom pieces to earn money from your woodworking skills. There are other methods that let you continue to make the things you love while avoiding person-to-person sales.

Start a Woodworking Niche Site

Instead of setting up an online storefront, you can write step-by-step tutorials or just share your interests about woodworking on a niche site. You don’t have to sell a single piece on your site unless you want to.

Start a YouTube Channel

You can create video tutorials while practicing woodworking at home and then upload them to a YouTube channel. After a channel gets traction, you can monetize your YouTube channel with ads. Every time someone views an ad, you receive a small fee. As your video views increase, so does your income.

Sell Your Plans in an eBook

Another option to make money woodworking is to sell your plans in eBook format. While you create new projects, document the steps with pictures and step-by-step instructions. You can earn money selling your eBook to other woodworkers online.

Become an Affiliate for Other Woodworkers

As an affiliate, you can recommend items that other woodworkers have made on your YouTube channel, blog, or social media accounts. When you become an affiliate marketer, you are essentially using your expertise on a subject to help sell others’ products and services. In exchange, you get a commission or sponsorship fee for the things you recommend.

Can You Make Money From a Woodworking Business From Home?

Not everyone has what it takes to become a woodworker. My brother does a fantastic job making decorations, dishes, and utensils from wood, but put a carving knife in my hand and you won’t get anything worth selling.

So yes, making money from woodworking is possible. There are tons of people who would prefer to support a local woodworker than buy an item from the store that is one of many.

As long as you’re willing to market your work, take some potential criticism as you get started, and learn to work on improving your skills, you can make a great side income from your projects. In time, it’s even possible for you to replace your full-time income when you build a sustaining woodworking business.

Get started now so that you can potentially have a flourishing business down the road.

Related: Get Paid to Grow, Prune, and Sell Plants

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