7 Steps to Become a Woodworker and Make Money in 2024

Woodworking requires more than just talent; it calls for an investment in quality tools and materials. A strategic approach to business is crucial to leverage your skills fully and ensure your venture into woodworking becomes profitable.

Should you possess the creativity, the love for woodworking, and the basic tools necessary to create items with market appeal, transforming this craft into a thriving business is within your reach. Engaging in woodworking offers a rewarding opportunity to turn your passion into profit.

What’s Required to Start a Woodworking Business from Home?

Woodworking demands patience, creativity, and a significant investment in materials to begin.

Woodworking Skills

You can make anything out of wood, but for an item to be sellable, it needs to match a certain level of quality. You should have most of the following skills before getting into this trade:

1. Creative and artistic skills
2. Ability to work with your hands
3. Strength to lift wood
4. Attention to detail
5. General marketing skills

Woodworking Tools and Materials

You won’t need to buy the most expensive woodworking tools on the market to get started.

As you build your woodworking business from home, consider investing in some of the following:

1. Carving tools
2. Chisels
3. Clamps
4. Hand saw
5. Knives
6. Wood burner
7. Sandpaper
8. Wood finish
9. Wood glue
10. Nails

There are also a number of materials you can get ahold of for free:

1. Wood
2. Staining rags
3. Old tools from friends and family

Related: How To Start A Worm Farm For Profit

Wood

You can use free wood for the woodworking projects you make and sell to significantly decrease your out-of-pocket costs.

1. Your backyard
2. Beaches (driftwood)
3. Ask friends and neighbors to walk their property (old barns and structures)
4. Old furniture
5. Free Facebook groups
6. Wood pallets
7. Old doors and windows
8. Fallen branches

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7 Steps to Make Money Woodworking From Home

Now that you know what type of skills and tools you’ll need to make money from woodworking, you can take these steps to start your own side or full-time business from home.

Step 1: Make a Business Plan

Even the smallest business ventures do best with a business plan in place. You may just be looking into getting your feet wet in the woodworking business, but understand that it takes at least a small plan to get started the right way.

Some things you’ll want to include on your business plan are your goals, types of woodworking products to sell, pricing, marketing methods and more. We’ll touch on some of these things in the following steps as well.

Step 2: Decide What to Make Out of Wood

There is an endless supply of woodworking ideas to sell that can help you make money woodworking. In time, you might plan to make all kinds of different items, but you’ll have to find what your fans are interested in the most.

For example, you could perfect wooden birdhouses, or make porch furniture. You can make money selling all kinds of woodworking projects. To keep up with current trends and woodworking demands, join likeminded communities on Facebook and follow popular Instagram accounts.

Related: How to Get Paid to Assemble Furniture

Step 3: Build a Portfolio

You will need to build a strong portfolio of projects before people will hire you for custom jobs. If you already enjoy working with wood, you may have some projects to share.

Take high-quality pictures of your work and display them in one place. We will discuss where to display your work in the next step.

Related: How to Start a Freelance Writing Portfolio

Step 4: Decide Where to Sell Your Woodwork

Where you sell your woodwork is up to you. Make sure to proudly display your portfolio of work to attract new customers.

There are lots of websites to sell woodworking if you want to get your project in front of more potential buyers. But you can also start with your local friends and family, and ask for referrals from those who love your work.

Related: How to Start a Dropshipping Business

Here are some places that you can start selling your woodworking products immediately:

Facebook Marketplace

Many woodworkers see great success when selling their skills on Facebook. You can create a business page or join local selling groups. Make sure to share plenty of items you’ve made previously so that potential customers can see your skills.

Etsy

Etsy is a popular selling platform to sell handmade goods. There are lots of things you can sell on Etsy to make money. Woodwork is one of those things.

You can create custom pieces and list them on Etsy for any price you choose. Make sure to check the prices of similar listings so that you can keep up with your competition.

Shopify

You could also consider setting up a storefront featuring your wood projects on a platform like Shopify. You could even fund your project tools and materials by dropshipping items related to the trade.

Related: How to Start a Shopify Store

Your Own Website

Step outside of the box and consider building your own business website to sell your woodwork on. You can even put together step-by-step tutorials to attract readers to your website and build your audience. Plus, there are more ways to sell your woodworking skills with a website or blog. You can create ebooks, partner with woodworking tools suppliers, or put relevant advertisements on your site to earn extra money from.

Follow this step-by-step tutorial to create your business website.

Step 5: Build a Social Media Following

Use a visual platform like Pinterest to build a following. You can get more eyes on your work this way, and increase the demand for your work. You can choose other platforms like Facebook, Instagram, and Twitter, too, but I suggest choosing only one or two social media platforms to start with. Managing several social media accounts can get overwhelming when you already have to spend time working on your projects.

Step 6: Price Your Services

Whether you offer custom-made woodworking services or you list and sell individual pieces, you will need to decide how to price your work. Woodworking is not just a skill, but an art as well. When you set prices, take into account how long each piece takes to create, what kind of material you use, marketing costs, and other overhead.

Step 7: Practice, Practice, Practice

You can’t create the perfect piece on your very first try. And if you do, it still might be hard to replicate. That’s why practicing is important. You can make different kinds of wooden items and use them in your portfolio. Branch out and create different ideas, and then see how your social media following reacts. Once you find your niche, you can continue honing your skills in that area.

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Other Ways to Make Money with Woodworking

You don’t have to make and sell custom pieces to earn money from your woodworking skills. There are other methods that let you continue to make the things you love while avoiding person-to-person sales.

Start a Woodworking Niche Site

Instead of setting up an online storefront, you can write step-by-step tutorials or just share your interests about woodworking on a niche site. You don’t have to sell a single piece on your site unless you want to.

You can make money by displaying ads, adding affiliate links, or establishing sponsorships with quality woodworking tool brands.

Start a YouTube Channel

You can create video tutorials while practicing woodworking at home and then upload them to a YouTube channel. After a channel gets traction, you can monetize your YouTube channel with ads. Every time someone views an ad, you receive a small fee. As your video views increase, so does your income.

Sell Your Plans in an eBook

Another option to make money woodworking is to sell your plans in eBook format. While you create new projects, document the steps with pictures and step-by-step instructions. You can earn money selling your eBook to other woodworkers online.

Become an Affiliate for Other Woodworkers

As an affiliate, you can recommend items that other woodworkers have made on your YouTube channel, blog, or social media accounts. When you become an affiliate marketer, you are essentially using your expertise on a subject to help sell others’ products and services. In exchange, you get a commission or sponsorship fee for the things you recommend.

Can You Make Money From a Woodworking Business From Home?

Woodworking isn’t a skill that comes naturally to everyone. My brother excels in crafting wooden decorations, dishes, and utensils, but if I were to attempt carving, the result wouldn’t be market-worthy.

Nonetheless, earning an income from woodworking is within reach. Many consumers prefer to purchase unique items from a local artisan rather than mass-produced goods.

Success in this field requires a willingness to promote your creations, accept and learn from feedback in the early stages, and continuously refine your craft. With dedication, woodworking can evolve from a lucrative hobby into a primary source of income, potentially allowing you to transition away from a traditional job.

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