I got the 4XL b/c of rotator cuff surgery and have concluded the need to avoid the retail fixture work that I was doing. The local camera store that had me building retail fixtures is taking advantage of this. He wants this cut into a table-top. Some little 2ish ft table top. Not a problem. I made this prototype and he was thrilled. I can see the flaws but he didn’t care. Happy as a clam. He’s going to use the right side for posting things.
I can see this being a profitable tool for retail work rather than craft shows.
" you’re making a giant object even if you’re off by as much as an eighth of an inch in the middle of an eight foot.piece of art no one will see it no one except you that’s it …"
Craft shows and farmers markets are a crap shoot. You may get a Vegas Whale and maybe not sell anything today. Commercial work is likely to be more steady if you can get an in with a Chamber of Commerce or a local merchant association. Craft Shows you have to sit there all day weather you sell or not. Woodworking is very hit or miss at Farmers Markets. People come ther for vegetables, fruit and honey. There are always food trucks and trinkets but if you are selling something for a couple of hundred dollars like tables etc that is not what people go to farmers market for. If you put your stuff in a shop the commissions are 40-50% which leaves little money left over for you. A friend has a booth in a Nacogdoches main street store and pays a monthly fee for the booth and they get 10% of each sale. However they collect the sales taxes and pay them. If you are selling on your own you can get the state or feds breathing down your neck.
It is nice to sell things but I have pretty much given up on trying to sell things and make money because with the high prices on groceries you do not have as much change in the bottom of people’s pockets. So buying woodworking is a luxury that is out of most people’s budgets.
When people come on the forum and state that they are retiring and want to have a side hustle I tell them that if they dont have enough money to retire on then just keep working. Personally I dont want to have to make so many widgets this week. I enjoy my woodworking and trying to turn it into a profit center is a hard grind.
