Importance Of Effective Marketing Strategies For A Wood Marketing Company
Steve Larosiliere
April 24, 2024
Steve Larosiliere
“I would say every business owner has broken society’s standards of, go to school, get a job, work till you’re 70, and then hopefully enjoy your last remaining years. I think by owning a business and by doing the things that make you happy, especially within that business you just won.”
Today on Building a Furniture Brand with Ethan Abramson, Ethan is joined by Patrick Bilazzo, and Carlina Sacco, owners of Pine Barren Pallet Works based out of Batsto New Jersey. Patrick and Carlina are young, both as business owners and as people, and they have a story that is continually evolving as they learn more about their skills and the greater industry that they are a part of.
Patrick has always worked with his hands, but with construction work, he would always get laid off for the winter. When Patrick got laid off three years ago in 2018 he needed a coffee table. So he grabbed some pallets out of the yard from the burn pile and built one for himself.
Carlina ended up loving it so much she took some photos of it, put it on Facebook, just to see if they could sell it, and it sold overnight. Ever since then Patrick hasn’t been able to keep a coffee table. He made another one and Carlina listed it again and that one sold within three days!
It spiraled from there and Patrick wondered if maybe building other things might work as well, so he would build and Carlina would help on her time off from school with staining and some other aspects. Then, Carlina saw some mountain mosaics on Pinterest.
Initially, she planned on using some of the scraps from the projects Patrick was working on, but he wouldn’t let her use the chop saw they owned, so she had to use an old bandsaw instead. Carlina was having so much fun making her pieces that she slowly developed her skills and eventually Patrick taught her how to use the chop saw, and he claims that she’s become even more skilled with it than he is.
Putting up a brand new project for sale and having it sell immediately, and then doing so again and again is not a common experience for many new business owners. But Patrick and Carlina managed to capture lightning in a bottle when they realized they were creating pieces that people were interested in.
The moment after their first pieces sold, both Patrick and Carlina got a bit of an ego boost realizing that they are in fact artists and creators. Patrick notes that creating something with his hands that people wanted struck a chord with him, and he wanted to keep doing it and bettering his skills and his products, so he took to YouTube to master the skills from the many tutorials on that platform.
Carlina had a similar experience with her art. The first several pieces she gave away rather than selling, and when she and Patrick went to a festival and sold her first piece she was blown away that someone wanted to spend money on her creations.
“It was really eye opening. I realized that I can make things like this and I’m judging myself way too hard. Just to realize that was really cool.”
Most of the time when people decide to go into the furniture or building business, they have an idea of what they want and where their direction is, and then they toil away at it. Patrick and Carlina jumped in immediately and didn’t really have the chance to work out a business plan or set up pricing and contracts because they were already neck deep in building things for clients.
Carlina explains that they’re still trying to play catch up in many ways. They have been collectively focusing on their business for about two years now, and they did not expect to become as big as they have as quickly as they have and many important elements were left on the back burner.
As of now, the pair have organized themselves, and while they have sometimes felt overwhelmed by the sheer amount of work that goes into owning their own business, they are always learning and they are thankful to have each other to make the workload lighter.
“We had custom orders with people just asking us to build things to specific dimensions and we were doing that for about a year before I realized I can’t do this forever this way. Otherwise, I’m just going to be a small garage builder. So we started taking the business plan and molding it the best we could.
We were busy building a storefront so that we had a place to sell our custom orders that was more professional. For the first year, we didn’t even have an Excel spreadsheet, we were just putting things into notes on our phones.”
Working with clients and expectations can be challenging for any business owner. In the furniture business, you can make as much as you want, but if you’re not selling it then you don’t have a successful business. Patrick explains that their experience with clients has been great overall, explaining that he has an easy time talking to people and trying to understand their perspective to ensure that they are happy with the end result thanks to lots of practice in the retail space.
Carlina adds that she is happy with both sides of the spectrum when it comes to client expectations. When clients come in for their mosaic pieces and have a clear idea of what they want, it makes it simple for her to create exactly that for them, and when they tell the couple to “run with it” then she has the freedom to do what she wants which is also exciting in its own way.
For many business owners, social media can be a frustrating and unlikeable part of the process, but for Patrick and Carlina they believe that social media is the best way to be part of a community. They believe that documenting progression, the mistakes as well as the successes are important, because that is what people relate to, which is what makes people interested in them and their business.
“I think social media can either be a positive or a negative influence. Being able to fill your phone and your feed up with positive influences gives me ideas and inspiration to post and update and document. Don’t get me wrong. It’s also made me depressed. It’s made me second guess certain things. But that’s because I was looking at it in the wrong light. When you can take a step back and use it as a tool to better yourself. I think social media is a great tool.”
Patrick and Carlina leave the parting advice for listeners that if you can find happiness in anything you do then you are winning, and you are successful. Regardless of what that might be.
Website: pinebarrenpalletworks.com
Instagram: @pinebarrenpalletworks
