Every now and again we ask a maker from a local workshop to come and talk to us. Its great for the students as they get to ask awkward questions like: “what was your profit on that “ and “how long did that take” And the firm favorite ”How did you find that customer.”
These are good and necessary questions that we need to have answers to. This is, in order to make sense of what we are all doing, and its great to have good hard working people prepared to answer them.
Sam Walsh http://www.samwalshfurniture.co.uk is the latest in a long line of makers that have helped Rowden understand what is going on. Sam bless him came and gave us so much. He talked about his student days, of making for other makers, of trying hard to be an employee, whilst all the time “running your own biz” was what he knew he had to be doing.
Some of us are like that we cannot work for “The Man.” I am one of those, I could no more be an employee, than take to the air, beat my arms about, and fly like a bird.
Sam told us about his workshop, how he set it up. How he found his first few customers and how he slowly developed a network of clients and supporters. Building a good website was key and Sams site is clean and efficient.
Its still long hours and I would bet, still lots of worry, but Sam seems to be thriving on the decision to go it alone.
The days of the one man workshop are now long past and he has staff and assistance in the office. So the biz is growing as it should. Getting to that point is very hard and we are very grateful to Sam for his honesty and candor sharing with us facts and figures that help us make sense of a crazy business.
Thank You Sam
