VISIT FROM Christian O’Reilly
It is great when former students return and tell us about the trials and their successes in building furniture making businesses. Christian O’Reilly was a student here five years ago. He recently returned to Rowden them to tell our current students about his work and his business since he left the school. In doing this he was able to give those of us about to embark on that same journey confidence and clarity that what they were seeking was not impossible. Christian has many skills and abilities, he is a very hard-working guy but was building a small business and also building a family having two babies during the same period. So his hands were more than full. He had the support of a loving and caring partner who is able to take on “the books” as well as the babies, but making the money was down to him. He told us of its successes, the exhibitions he went to, the clients he sold to, the commissions he secured. He also told us about some of his trials, including a car crash returning from an exhibition which wiped out his entire stock and exhibition stand.
It takes resilience to be successful in this business. You need to be able to move with the wind to be flexible and responsive. Christians example was a wonderful one to all of us who seek to set out and run our own lives thank you for sharing it was Christian.
