Well, here it is lunch time for me and I have finally jotted the following down. Much to wordy. I just typed and choose not to edit.
Pooka:
I am currently considering trying to switch from an existing career, to a career in woodworking, and I would be very grateful for any advice or suggestions that people could offer based on their own experiences.
I would be interested to know whether full time wood workers found it difficult to get started.
The market that I am aiming at is the Irish one (directly relevant to a minority of posters here, I think) which might be quite different from the UK market, but I am presuming that many of the hurdles will be the same.
And my experience will be perhaps even further afield. I'm in the US, Oregon state. I'm located about 35 miles from the largest city, Portland. Population there is, well a lot.
Some of the more specific things I am wondering about are:
Here goes...
- Did you first get any kind of qualification, and if so did it help?
Nope.
- Did you start your own business or start as an employee of an existing business?
Yes I started my own business.
- Is age a factor (I am in my mid-30's - do employers in the woodworking industry have a reluctance to employ the less-spotty non-teenager)?
Haven't the foggiest where you live. In my experience, most trades have less an age discrimination issue than do the "professional occupations." I'm getting a tad older and get the occasional offer for employment from my contemporaries (even a competitor or two).
That said, reluctance on the part of a potential employer can sometimes be tied to a perceived income requirement. In other words, some employers will look at the age of an applicant as an indicator of needing to pay a larger salary.
But after those statements of my own "qualifications" I should say that my own life experiences have shaped my view of this issue. Some of the earliest memories of my dad is that he instilled in me beliefs that I can do anything I set out to do...and that it is OK to fail or need to change directions as I see fit. Seemingly contradictory beliefs, but I really don't think they are.
One of the things about failure (or just perceived failure) is it can make one bitter, angry, resentful. Especially if the failure seems to come from external sources. But it is OK to fail--i.e., not accomplish what one sets out to accomplish. Just be aware that to one degree or another you too will go through a grief process if a goal/dream "fails." But you will go on.
Back to my seemingly contradictory beliefs and as applied to working with wood, this desire to do so has taken various forms over the years. I won't bore y'all here--but I will in a separate post :lol: . For now, let it suffice to say that since a pre-teen I have always found ways to express myself with wood--that has remained a life-long desire.
More generally, and purely out of curiosity, I would be interested to hear whether people have been happy with their choice of a woodworking profession (e.g. have you found that having a woodworking day job has ruined an enjoyable hobby for you).
I have been mostly happy with my choices. But do understand, being happy concerning the living out the decision to do wood work full time is one of those things that comes and goes for me. However, when the pressures of the business side get to me, do you know what I do to relieve the stress?
Yup. Some sort of woodworking just for the fun of it. Of late it is turning after all is quite, my wife is asleep, the cats are napping. Something about being alone at the lathe, no distraction crowding in eases my mind. Sometimes it is practicing dovetails, carving or making something for the shop. This activity, this just doing, simply reminds me that I love working with wood. This brings contentment aside from whether it makes me happy or not.
In an ideal world, I would like to set up my own small workshop, so I wouldn't be aiming for the mass market. I believe this probably puts me well and truly in the Arts & Crafts area.
Ah, and I in an ideal world...
My suggestion is to sit down over the next month or so and truly evaluate what you would like to accomplish in the next year, two years, five, ten. Begin jotting down thoughts for near and far term goals and ways to accomplish each idea within the context of the time line--reject those or set aside those that you cannot reconcile with the list. This brings to mind the adage to plan your work and work your plan.
If you have a significant other in your life, you both need to look hard and long concerning what trying to achieve those goals will mean. You both need to set the goals. Then it is a matter of making a plan to achieve those goals--a plan that is not rigid but rather able to adapt as time passes.
But Pooka, you are relatively young. Should you pursue this or any other career path and at some point you need or have to, just step off and embark on a different journey. If your desire to work wood continues you will find a way to fulfill that desire within the context of any direction your life leads.
What matters here is, Pooka, what do *you* want to do? Whatever that is then decide how to best accomplish that *thing*. Just remember, there is always risk in action. Decide what to do, yes. Decide how best to do it, yes. So too, decide what you are willing to risk.
Should your initial plan look like it cannot be accomplished, modify it. But look for ways to do those things you love within the confines of this thing we call living. In doing this you will find contentment in your decisions whatever they are.
I currently have no woodworking qualifications whatsoever, and limited skills, but I may do (if I earn a place) a 2-year furniture design and manufacturing course starting in September.
If my best friend made that statement to me, especially in the context of knowing a stated desire to pursue woodworking as a career, I would tell him to go for it. At least go further down that road with both eyes open. Be willing to set it aside for a while should it be just outside your grasp.
As I think I mentioned in the earlier post, a year or two at a trade school or even doing the messy jobs in a woodworking shop for a year or two (a very limited view of the wood working world but you would get paid for it rather than just pay a school) seems to be a reasonable step--after defining what you want and have some idea of how to get there, at least if once planed it is one of the ways to accomplish your desire.
Even if you went to the school and decided to leave woodworking as a hobby craft, you would have a better understanding of the processes. I don't mean to be cheeky here, but it is only money. There is more to the enjoyment of life than that.
But like any major purchase, you need to weigh the financial costs against your road map--the goals you by now have outlined <g>.
The college providing the course say that employment prospects are good, but I'd be curious to hear from people that have direct experience in the big bad world of having to earn a living day to day.
As John said, what would one really expect them to say? I do note though, that what you write they said was an issue of employment. One can nearly always find employment in a given field. It just might not be what one wants to do or it may not support one given their requirements. Call some woodworking shops. Better, go visit some towards the end of the work day. They may not require schooling at all.
Only you know what your standard of living is, what your monetary requirements are. Realize and accept the fact you will take a cut in income. How big a cut depends on how great an income you currently can live on. For myself, I went from making just over to well into a six-figure income to making darn little for a few months. But things slowly changed. Commissions did start to come in. Recommendations from previous clients began to pick up.
When a commission was not forthcoming, I would make something on speculation. Most of those items I either sold through used furniture consignment shops and a few at galleries. The consignment shops I figured had a higher volume of traffic for about the same fee. What did I care if the piece was considered used instead of new? My ego is still intact.
And to save those the trouble who would assume we lived off savings, we didn't. By the end of a 1 1/2 year challenge with cancer after I was laid off and had no insurance there just wasn't any money to live off of.
How would I proceed in your shoes? I view it very much like making a piece on speculation . I usually make notes of what I intend to make. Draw out some of the details that I think could become a sticky point in the process--and then just begin.
It may go together quite well. Chances are I will need to make some adjustment, something arises I did not foresee or my hand is having trouble accomplishing that which I see so clearly in my mind, a type of joint is changed--or during the process of creation I change what I'm making or how I am making it simply because my desire changes. But I still make something.
So too in what you choose to do. Be mindful of what you are trying to accomplish. Jot down the details of that desire. Then set out to make it so. If you need to change direction later, do so. You will still find a way to work wood if you desire it.
Just begin with viewing your situation as honestly as you can. Move forward with integrity what ever you decide. Respond to the challenges you'll face with an open mind. Be willing to adapt the plan. Guard against self-destructive feelings that can linger should things not work out in that thing you decide to do. But most of all don't let time kill what you decide to do.
