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Idea - making furniture, need advice

Idea threads

Smuggo

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Hello

I have been always struggling with ideas. Like two days ago I've read in Unscripted that if you can't find idea you found a nice excuse to do nothing. And I think it could be true for me since I was killing every idea or just ignoring them but maybe this time I came up with something that might work.

Ahh.. whenever I post something I feel so stressed. But getting to the main topic (btw if this is wrong category sorry for that).

So after skipping step 1 (no idea) I am struggling with: it's too hard, it won't work, there are people who are doing it ect. I want to get rid off that and start working.


So, let's say, my idea is to make an awesome chair from wood or another material I would cover the top. It has to have metal legs and wooden top (for example). My main problem is that I don't know if I should learn myself how to make such things or find carpenter who would do it for me. I don't know any carpenter personally so I would have to ask some of them in my city if they want to cooperate (I've never asked someone to work with me so I am not sure if I have to hide my idea, create a contract or w/e).

The second thing is that even If I will manage to produce such a chair, the only thing I can acutally upgrade right now is the desing because I NEEDED something that chairs I was looking for don't have. Aaaaand I am not sure if it's enough...

And third problem is the desing. Should I do it by myself by using some kind of a program or again, find someone who would do it for me.

I know that there is a lot of I don't knows ect, but it's really stresfull for me and fascinating at the same time, that maybe there is a way for me to run out of scripted....

Have a nice day.
 
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lowtek

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While we tend to advise people to stay away from their "passion" here, I would argue that one should stick close to their core competency.

I struggled quite a lot trying to do things that others were good at, because they achieved success at it. I was never able to rise to that level, because I was trying to be someone that I'm not.

I've found much more happiness doing the things I'm better suited for.

So, find what you're good at and solve some problem aligned with that skillset. When you get the ball rolling, then hire people to fill in the gaps.
 

Smuggo

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To be honest I have been working as backend developer and never felt suitable for that. That's why I asked if I should cooperate with someone but well.. maybe I need another idea.
 

Merging Left

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To be honest I have been working as backend developer and never felt suitable for that. That's why I asked if I should cooperate with someone but well.. maybe I need another idea.
You haven't really even explored this idea, though. You hit the first roadblock of "I don't know what the next step is" and then drop the idea altogether.

I don't know if your new chair is a good idea or not, but you won't find success if you give up every time you don't know how to do something. Figuring out how to solve each problem is what brings you success.
 
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Jguy91

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If that’s the plan you’re committed to going with, I advise you learn how to build the chairs. Anyone can learn anything with practice and commitment. Hiring a carpenter puts you at their mercy. That person controls you just as any boss would because they can quit and shut down your operation at any time. As the book says, don’t let someone else drive.... just my 2 cents...


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
 

Jaden Jones

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I have never been good at computers, so ive always drawn everything out by hand that I wanted, including full house builds. I sent the drawings to an architect and they sent me back the proper blueprints. I dont think you even need to go that for though, get your idea down on paper, and try to think about what would be needed to build it. Watch some youtube videos and buy some supplies and give it a try. Your first try will probably not be great, but this is where you begin, this is the next step. While it does not guarantee success, this is execution.
 

Smuggo

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Thanks for the answers. I think I need to reconsider it again and maybe go into the process. Still don't know if I should make a deal with someone or no but I will find out.
 
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Merging Left

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Thanks for the answers. I think I need to reconsider it again and maybe go into the process. Still don't know if I should make a deal with someone or no but I will find out.
I would suggest you start by figuring out if anybody would actually want your chair before you start working on a deal or partnership. You can get a 3D rendering done for pretty cheap and you could use that to see if people are even interested in your design.
 

Smuggo

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I would suggest you start by figuring out if anybody would actually want your chair before you start working on a deal or partnership.
I've decided to make one on my own, put it on sth like Craiglist and see if it sells. But after checking the competition, I found that some of their chairs have this improvement I wanted to add. I have to check if there is something more I can improve.

Btw. do you know any great, user firendly websites?
 

Smuggo

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Can you be more specific?

Any company that sells some product but has well-made website and has all of attributes like: intuitive, nice design, about us, good copywriting, photos ect.:happy:
 

Merging Left

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You're looking for an example of an e-commerce website with a good design? There are literally hundreds, if not thousands. Since you're looking at furniture, maybe check out Wayfair.com?
 

Jaden Jones

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You're looking for an example of an e-commerce website with a good design? There are literally hundreds, if not thousands. Since you're looking at furniture, maybe check out Wayfair.com?

Wayfair is a great example. They are pretty much the most expensive place to buy furniture, but they make an absolute killing because of marketing and user friendliness.
 
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Healthfulness

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I have worked short period in woodworking. Actually I enjoyed It a lot back then, If you're truly passionate about It, do It. Starting business out of this is relatively easy. I could tell what I believe you should do, but first ask yourself If you are actually into this or It's just random ide, If the second one then this doesn't apply to you, otherwise:
1) Work for someone and learn as much as you can, just few weeks, maybe few months, to get to know how It works.
2) Buy basic equipment and start making your own stuff, It's super easy to learn It.
3) Hardest part, market the sh#t out of that chair, find a way to stand out and prove It's value.
3.1) Document daily on social media, later create youtube channel, give free tips, later make courses.
4) Take someone who would love to start his journey into woodworking, then get another one when profits increase.
5) Congrats, you have made furniture brand, you have few workers, keep going!
Not really sure how you can become multi-millionare, but making 10k + profit in 2-3 years starting from zero should be easy.
 

Healthfulness

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Damn, thought that barrier of entrace is much higher
Sorry, I need to be more specific :D
What I mean by easy is - pretty low required capital and pretty easy to learn process of creating furniture Itself.
It's extremely competitive so I will highlight - marketing and branding are REALLY HARD. You need to be really creative to prove that your piece of furniture is worth more than thousands of others, making regular, practical furniture would be pointless as you could never compete with big manufacturers price-wise, but you could start your own brand with some personal touch. For example check resin furniture, I honestly can't show examples of companies who have this unique brand touch, but you can definitely find them. The good side is, even If you don't have extremely unique branded products in beggining you can still live off income generated by selling more basic products and build your way up to luxury/ authentic branded products.
 
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Jaden Jones

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Live edge resin tables are something that are going for crazy prices right now. And they are really not that difficult...
 

Smuggo

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Brian Fleig

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I started teaching myself wood work (different than carpentry) about 10 months ago. So far I have at least $1k into tools and probably over 100 hours of video watching, mostly Youtube, in addition to reading magazines and articles then another couple hundred hours of practice and $1 or $2k in materials and misc supplies. I've learned 3 main lessons.
1) NO ONE makes a living at wood work out of their garage.
2) It's really really hard to sell although I admit to marketing being my weak point.
3) The most interest is in the artistic finishing, not the woodwork itself. Think Fractal burning (youtube it), Resin epoxy art see: Http:\\stonecoatcountertops.com and also youtube and pinterest. Those are just 2 of many artistic choices that can set you apart.
A few of my projects:
By the way, I would love to do live edge tables but they are NOT easy. DSC_6246.JPG DSC_6209.JPG DSC_6355.JPG DSC_6233.JPG
 
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Smuggo

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I started teaching myself wood work (different than carpentry) about 10 months ago. So far I have at least $1k into tools and probably over 100 hours of video watching, mostly Youtube, in addition to reading magazines and articles then another couple hundred hours of practice and $1 or $2k in materials and misc supplies. I've learned 3 main lessons.
1) NO ONE makes a living at wood work out of their garage.
2) It's really really hard to sell although I admit to marketing being my weak point.
3) The most interest is in the artistic finishing, not the woodwork itself. Think Fractal burning (youtube it), Resin epoxy art see: Http:\\stonecoatcountertops.com and also youtube and pinterest. Those are just 2 of many artistic choices that can set you apart.
A few of my projects:
By the way, I would love to do live edge tables but they are NOT easy. View attachment 22204 View attachment 22205 View attachment 22206 View attachment 22207

Thanks for answer.

My idea is acutally in niche I am familiar with and is very popular so I think I can make some sales.
In my country there is only one native(?) manufacturer and the rest of this type of products are imported from other countries.

But for now I have a lot of barriers like what type of material I should take, which design is better, no experience in wood work, the proper way to make holes and tape it inside (this one is really hard to do without proper equipment and expensive as hell) ect.
 

minivanman

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Here in America there are much better sites nowadays than Craigslist. What country are you in?

I have a friend that retired and has built a professional wood shop in his garage. He has a LOT of money tied up in his tools in his garage. He makes Adirondack chairs. He is very good and knows what he is doing but alone, he can't make enough chairs to make a living. When you are doing something like this that takes a lot of time to build, you will need to make a lot of profit from each one and you will need to sell quite a few per month. And then.... you have just made yourself a job! Yeah, you could probably scale it but how many furniture makers that make millions only make 1 chair? You would need to become a full blown chair making business, making several different types of chairs. I'm not saying it can't be done but keep the big picture in site. Along the way, don't forget about the disabled people. Maybe design a chair that is very easy to get up out of.
 

Smuggo

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