My father taught me how to work wood with my hands starting when I was very young. In the manner that I think everyone should learn such things, he began by teaching me how to use hand tools. After we made a number of small projects, he taught me how to use power tools. From then on, I helped him whenever my schoolwork would allow.

I went to college to get my contractor certifications and when I was done, I immediately started working as a carpenter building homes and offices all over the city. After about 15 years of working this way, I got tired of being a contractor and answering to the specific and often irrational need of my clients.

This didn’t mean that I wanted to stop being a carpenter or working with my hands, so I found myself at a bit of an impasse. Instead of continuing to build houses and other large structures, I decided to make furniture by hand.

At first I just lived off of unemployment and started to make my furniture in my garage. I began by selling some of my furniture creations out of my garage. After a couple months, I started to sell some of my work at local farmers markets and flea markets, which developed into a weekly circuit that gave me a number of new customers.

As more people started to talk about my work, I found people trying to contact me directly about making custom pieces, so I made a website for their orders. My clients were much more willing to let me do what I felt was best on these custom jobs, so I found them much more rewarding and lucrative, than custom kitchen remodels ever were.

Now I rent a workshop and employ a couple people. We can now make more complicated and expensive pieces of woodwork and things are really going well. I found a good lawyer who helped me legally become a small business and get tax ID numbers and such. Make sure that you get a good lawyer first thing when you decide to start a business, because it will make your life 100 times easier.