How To Turn a Love of Woodworking Into A Career

Do you love woodworking of all kinds? If you do, did you know that you can make a career out of your passion for hobby woodworking? We share how to turn a love of woodworking into a career. Perfect for those of you that are DIY enthusiasts! 

Many people enjoy woodworking as a hobby but do not know they can make a legitimate career out of it. As a professional woodworker, it is your job to make a variety of products such as furniture, cabinets, and other structures for businesses or homes. These products are made out of wood, veneers, and laminates. Woodworkers often combine different types of materials into the wood to create some of the best products around. 

Responsibilities of Woodworkers 

Even though there are plenty of metals, plastics, and other materials, wood products still hold importance in our lives. Woodworkers are in charge of making mass produced items from lumber and other synthetic wood materials.

In the past, woodworkers have been known to be savvy with their hands and other tools to build intricate furniture. Modern woodworkers are trained technically in the skill, and now use different kinds of machinery to complete their work.

One type of machinery they use is the CNC or the computerized numerical control machine which does a large amount of the work with enormous accuracy. Woodworkers also have other responsibilities that are unknown to the general public.

Listed below are some of the responsibilities that woodworkers have throughout their career and on a daily basis:

-Understand the drawings/plans created by architects
-Set up machines that will be used for woodwork manufacturing 
-Haul wood onto machines (with hands or using hoists)
-Have an advanced knowledge of operating woodworking machines
-Make sure that products created are compliant with the standards of the industry and specifications from the clients
-Be able to select and adjust the right cutting, milling, boring, and sanding tools that are needed for completing a job 
-Be able to use hand tools that will trim and assemble products 

Types of Woodworkers 

There are different types of woodworkers. Every type of woodworker has a place in the field and comes with their own special set of skills.

Cabinetmakers and bench carpenters mainly cut, shape, and then put together parts for the wood products. They are often asked to create sets of cabinets for clients.

Furniture finishers are known for shaping and repairing damaged furniture. They normally work with antique furniture and have a vast knowledge on what would be the best fix for the furniture. Furniture finishers are also experts in top coating, sealing, and staining.

Machine setters, operators, and tenders operate the machinery that goes into the process of woodworking. They use different types of machinery to get the finished product to look exactly how they want it. 

How to Turn a Love of Woodworking into a Career

Many people that like to woodwork as a hobby, may not feel that they have the time or talent to turn their passion into a career.

A high school diploma is most often the prerequisite for becoming a woodworker. There are normally about three years that are dedicated to learning how to do the job proficiently.

Most training is done on-the-job. The ability to be able to use machinery that is controlled by the computer is becoming more and more important with the increase in technology. 

Most employers are seeking applicants who have additional training in computer applications as well as math. Some woodworkers gain extra skills by taking more courses at technical schools, or even community colleges.

There are even universities that offer degrees in wood technology, manufacturing of furniture, and production management. These courses prepare students for jobs in engineering, management, production, and supervision. 

Certifications are not required, but they can be used to show advanced competency and professionalism in the field. Certifications can also be used to move candidates forward within the field. The Architectural Woodwork Institute, or AWI, offers specialized training for mid-management positions. The Woodwork Career Alliance of North American offers a national certificate program that has five different credentials offered. These credentials add another layer of credibility to the quality of work from the trained woodworker.

Though there are many aspects to start making living with woodworking, the most essential part is understanding what it takes. Do you have the skillset that a woodworker needs on a daily basis? Or perhaps you have some certifications already in your back pocket? Consider your skills and your dreams – once you realize woodworking is the area for you, nothing can stop you on the way of becoming a professional woodworker!

Another amazing way to make a career out of woodworking is to take your projects online. Meaning, share your projects through a blog format as ideas for DIY projects, to sell your treasures, or to just simply share your love of your hobby and earn some money. 

The best way to do this is to create a blog, not a website. A blog allows you to create a website like site, but without the overhead of a web designer, web developer and requires no maintenance. It is also super affordable. 

How Much Does It Cost To Start a Blog to share my love for DIY and Woodworking? 

It doesn’t take a lot. It will be one of the most minimalist business investments you can make. In fact, there are only two things you really need: a domain name and a website host. You can cover this for 3 years for around $125 and that is all you really need.  Sure, there are other things you could have like a fancy design to make your site look professional and a myriad of other products for bloggers – but you don’t need any of this for a time (the default templates, designs and themes are perfect for someone starting out – only pay for designs when you can justify it).  Again, just the domain name and host and the WordPress platform is all that is needed. 

You can get a website host for only $3.49 per month through Bluehost. We like Bluehost because they are very affordable and family friendly. Plus, there is no need to go out and spend money on a domain name because hosting through Bluehost also gives you a FREE domain name registration for a year!

How Do I Start?

Starting does not need a complete list of know-how and a complete series to begin. In fact, I would recommend not starting a blog that way, but if you truly want to make money, just start sharing your passion on whatever angle you wish to take on your passion for woodworking like sharing project ideas, selling plans for projects, teaching an online class on woodworking, selling products you make, and a few other ways to share your passion for woodworking without leaving your home.  You’ll find out the adage is true that “Content is King” as that’s exactly what you really need to run a business! Start now and start today.

The ONLY thing you need to do right now is to get your domain name (website name) and host. That’s it. The BEST thing to do is to sign-up through Bluehost where it will only cost you $3.49 per month to run your website through a special sale through THIS LINK HERE (this link gives you 50% off!). We have secured this super low price for our readers who are budding online entrepreneurs. You’re welcome. 🙂

They provide you with a domain name as well. Once you sign-up, they will walk you through the set-up of your site so that you can start writing and sharing. DO NOT DO anything else or buy anything else as you will not have what you need or be overbuying because there is nothing else you need right now. Just keep it simple and affordable! 

So how do I make money blogging?

We have shared some ideas above, but here’s a quick list on specific ideas: 

It’s multi-faceted and multi-fold, but I will give you a general idea and then we will start diving in deep to help our readers earn money off of sharing their passion and ideas online in upcoming articles (you will know about these articles by requesting our free online money making newsletter here)

1. Ads – This is the basis and surefire way that any site can make money. Nearly every blog that you visit has ads of some kind, most starting with Google Adsense. How much do you make on ads? Well, it depends and we can dive deep into this in a later post, but as a general rule, it seems the average is around $4-$5 per 1,000 pageviews. So if you have a site that gets 10,000 pageviews a month, you can make around $40-$50 in just ads per month. We currently receive around 300,000 pageviews per month, which means our ads generate around $1,200-$1,500.
2. Affiliates –  What is an affiliate? It’s basically a company like Amazon that you sign-up to share a product from their site and if anyone clicks on your link to Amazon and purchases, you make a small percent of the sale (6.5-8.5% as an example). So if you end up selling $100 of items on Amazon and you make 7% = $7. If $1,000 of items sold through people clicking on your link then you would make 8% = $80. See how that works? There are many affiliate programs out there, but Amazon is a great place for a new blogger to start because you can share so many products and tools all from one, popular store. 
3. Sponsors – This is another way that many bloggers earn money – if you are a woodworker or DIYer, you can find sponsors that will pay you to use their product in an upcoming project, or share their product in a video, or just talk about their product. Plain and simple – sponsors are a great way to make money!  It takes time and site growth to get to the point where you can earn from sponsored posts or sponsored ads, but it is a viable source of blog income in due time. We will talk about the ins and outs of this in another post. But you have to have a blog with some great, consistent content before you can even start to do this.
4. Selling your own products and ebooks – Having a blog is a great outlet if you have anything to sell. It is like a store, but online for the whole world to find and shop from instead of just locally. Imagine your products being displayed and for sale to all! 

There are some other ways as well, but these are the 4 main ways to earn money while blogging. The ads and the affiliates are ways that a blogger can earn money from the start! The others come with time.

If you would like to dive into this topic deeper, check out the How To Blog section. 

If you are interested in starting a blog, all you need to start is your domain name and your host. You can do that through Bluehost HERE for $3.49 per month and you get a free domain name. They will walk you through how to set-up your site.

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Guest post by Paul, who is an avid woodworker and the editor-in-chief of Woodworkboss.com. Via his site, he hopes to inspire people to take up this great hobby or even turn it into a solid career that can change their life. For that, he shares tips and tricks that provide insight to both newbie hobby woodworkers and seasoned woodworkers alike.