Importance Of Effective Marketing Strategies For A Wood Marketing Company
Steve Larosiliere
April 24, 2024
Steve Larosiliere
“I enjoy building this stuff and seeing the look on your face when I bring it to you. And you’re surprised because I added a little extra flavor to it.”
Hello, and 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 J Paul the Carpenter, owner of the Atlanta Georgia-based furniture company, Porch 959.
Finding success in multiple creative careers is not easy. Although the idea of artistry may seem similar, in truth, it is far from it. But J Paul the Carpenter has done just that. A professional singer-songwriter with multiple accolades to his name, he changed his career to become a professional woodworker, and he’s been building a name for himself as he goes.
Follow along as they talk about working with celebrity clients, dealing with the solitude of working for yourself, understanding imposter syndrome, and much more.
“My furniture journey started, I would have to say 2016. I moved to Atlanta in September of 2014, though I was on tour for a while with an artist named Lecrae. I did a song with him, which did way better than we thought it was going to do. It ended up being Grammy-nominated and just all kinds of stuff.
Lecrae has always been a big brother of mine. So we had a little falling out just little brother, big Brother stuff, and then I finally went to him and was like, ‘Hey, bro, like, because of this tour schedule. Because of how hectic all this stuff is, I need to come off the road; this is too much.’ After telling him, I was ready to come off the road, I didn’t know what I would do. I had some money saved up, and I was just trying to figure out things.
I started dating my girlfriend, now wife, at the time. She had a corded drill at her house. I don’t even know what the name of this drill was like, but this was the heaviest drill I’ve ever held in my hands. So she let me borrow that corded drill, and I went to Walmart and got a jigsaw. Then I made a headboard. And then I started making small decorative things around the house, for me and my roommates.”
J Paul started out building whatever they needed at the time until a friend who was a marketing director for a record label told J Paul that he should start selling his stuff. At first, J Paul didn’t think much of the idea, but after making a swing for his then-girlfriend, he posted a photo of it, and everyone in his neighborhood said they wanted one.
Although he had no idea how to price it or even what he was doing, J Paul took the knowledge he picked up from his early twenties building military airplanes and the things taught to him by his step-dad growing up and dove in.
“It was kind of hard in the beginning, and by the beginning, I mean, maybe the first six months. I was still doing some traveling; I didn’t just stop all the way; I just stopped touring. So I would still do maybe one show a month up until COVID hit. That’s when touring just stopped.
But even with it, it was still hard because I enjoy people, and I’m a huge people person. Going from that to being in my little shop space and being by myself, I just put some music in my ears which also gave me energy. I still like doing songwriting for people and songwriting camps, stuff like that.
But woodworking is fun. I’m an immediate gratification type of person, and I enjoy building something and seeing the result immediately. When you write songs or when you’re doing music, you write the song, and then two years later, maybe that song will pop up. You write the song, and maybe it’ll get placed with an artist. It just takes so long with music.
With carpentry or building or any woodworking period, it is so much easier to say, ‘Man, I built this coffee table. This client asked for this specific coffee table, and I just made it for them and brought it to their house.’ I see their eyes light up. They’re like, overly excited that I did something for them, and I built something strong enough and sturdy enough that they can have this thing for their grandkids.”
When he first started in the woodworking business, J Paul thought it would be a lonely lifestyle. But as he has spent time meeting people like Ethan and others in the woodworking and furniture making industries, J Paul has learned that it’s a very encouraging and collaborative ecosystem.
Sometimes, because of the relatively small amount of time he has spent in the furniture-making industry, J Paul feels a bit of imposter syndrome, as though he didn’t belong. No matter what the field is, this experience happens to many people getting into a new industry, and although he has managed to move past that point, J Paul remembers how it feels and encourages others to push through.
“The biggest thing I would say is just be yourself. Be yourself, and be comfortable in what it is that you do. I’ve heard the statement, ‘You’re a great shoe, but you’re a terrible somebody else.’ That has never been more true. If I had come into furniture building and tried to do what somebody else does, I probably wouldn’t have found my niche. I would just be copying the exact same things that he makes.
Now that’s not to say that you can’t see somebody else’s creation and go, ‘Oh, that sparks a thought or inspires me a little bit.’ But if you are yourself and allow yourself to take just little pieces of things from everybody else. I mean, even with you, Ethan, like taking the fact that I saw you talking to everybody when we first met, and I’m like, ‘Man, I just need to start talking to people.’ Even though I feel like an imposter, let me just start talking to people and having conversations with people.
Those small things go a long way. Just be yourself, be comfortable with who you are, and don’t try to copy anybody. Learn your craft, be comfortable with who you are. I think that’ll go a long way. That’s my advice; don’t be anybody else.”
Website: https://www.porch959.com
Instagram: @jpaulthecarpenter
