Importance Of Effective Marketing Strategies For A Wood Marketing Company
Steve Larosiliere
April 24, 2024
“At a day job or working for someone else, you make a mistake, and you can get in trouble for your mistakes. But when you have your own business, if you make a mistake, you could lose a lot.”
Welcome to Building a Furniture Brand with Ethan Abramson, the show that talks about the business behind the furniture business. In this episode, Ethan sits down with Mike Coffey, the owner of the Northern California-based furniture company Coffey Custom Builds. Mike is something of an outlier in the furniture industry because he got into it because he likes the business side.
Mike loves the woodworking side of things, but he had a business plan in place initially and then he began to learn the furniture trade as a secondary step. His unique perspective on the furniture industry is what makes him such an exciting guest for the show.
“I never really had a lot of hobbies, I was into motorcycles though. I had Harleys and I was into motorcycles for most of my adult life. But my son was born almost five years ago. And after he was born, there was just no time for that.
I kind of set that hobby aside for a year and after that year, I realized there’s not going to be any time for this for the next few years. I’ve got to focus on family, I’ve got to be here. So I sold my bikes.”
After selling his bikes, Mike was on the hunt for a new hobby and tried a few different things. Initially, he took a blacksmithing class, but the heat involved with the occupation didn’t appeal to him. He then ventured into some woodworking classes and then started doing DIY things around his home, which he enjoyed doing so much it escalated quickly.
Mike notes that he had a solid income that allowed him to afford some nice tools at the beginning which got him rolling, and he built his own shop soon after getting started. It was after Mike got started building projects for other people that he discovered how much he loved the business side of things. His parents were small business owners, and when he was a child he didn’t think it was something he wanted to get into, but the more he dove into it the more he enjoyed the process.
The biggest appeal to him is the trial-by-fire education that you get when you own your own business. Mike believes that even if you have some kind of business training there are many things that you will not be prepared for. He loves problem-solving and finding ways to become more productive and efficient with his time in both woodworking and business management. Mike goes on to say that he hates sitting around doing nothing and that he loves the activity of woodworking and working on his business in a way that he’s never loved any other activity.
“My dad and my stepmom are both very savvy business people. So I did learn a lot from them. Especially as a small to medium-sized business. The family business is a pretty good-sized company, but it started small. I’ve always had that around me.
But in truth, I really like the pressure. I work best under pressure. If there isn’t a lot of stuff on my plate, I just kind of feel like something’s not right. In my career and my life, I’ve always been in customer service. It’s so weird, and I feel like everything I’ve ever done in my life has sculpted me to do this.”
Before starting his business, Mike had never really had a career that he was passionate about. He had a good job that became his career and it paid him well, but he never loved his job. In addition to the love of woodworking that he only found about three years ago, he’s discovered that he loves building systems and honing his efficiency. These passions help contribute to his woodworking skills, but they are separate and distinct.
There is no right or wrong approach to this business, as some people come in with artistic passion and they develop their business skills after the fact. For Mike, he loves maximizing his efficiency, his time, and how to make things work better, but a big factor for his enjoyment of his current work is that it belongs to him.
Before starting his own business, Mike had only ever worked for other people. The thing he hated was that the higher up he made it into any organization, the more he found himself dealing with other people’s problems, and the less he was dealing with what he could consider his. While moving away from the perceived safety of working for someone else was scary, he is now betting on himself, and he had to make it work for himself and his family.
“Look to those who you look up to and see what they’re doing. That’s really a great way to learn what you need to do to be successful at the things you want to do. Find people, align yourself with people, network with people who are good or succeeding at not just what they’re doing, but also people who are succeeding at what you want to do. You don’t want to look at them as competition. That is going to be a negative thing that won’t help your business.
Look to people even close around you who are technically your competition. Don’t, don’t make it into something like that. Look at the people who are successful around you and don’t try to tear them down. This person’s really successful, what are they doing that I need to do?”
An enormous part of developing a business is establishing a network with others, and Mike explains that a core part of networking is ensuring that you are not a parasite trying to leech off of others. Make sure every relationship that you create is something that is mutually beneficial for both parties and ensure that you learn from each other. Learn not only about their business practices, but learn about the person, and keep them around when you develop those relationships.
Mike notes that some people who are just entering the industry should remember to be sure of themselves, and trust their gut. There are some sections of every community that will try to establish that their way is the only way. However every company, every business, every owner, and every situation is different, and you should trust the people who give you good advice and trust your own understanding of your situation.
“Ultimately, at the end of the day, it’s yours, and you need to figure that out. It’s your job, and you take that responsibility, you have to be diligent and almost scholarly, and research stuff, and be constantly trying to implement new things. Not just change for change, but like change that is going to be a benefit to your business and your model and your structure.
Sometimes the market is just hard, but sometimes it’s just something you’re doing isn’t right and you have to shake it up. A lot of times people get complacent. And sometimes you’ve got to get outside of your comfort zone and do some new things to be able to bring in new business.”
Website: https://www.coffeycustombuilds.com
Instagram: @coffeycustombuilds
This episode is brought to you by Jobber – getjobber.com/ethan
