October 3, 2025 • 27 mins
You can love the work and still lose the business.
In this episode, I coach a solo craftsman to price for value, systematize the right steps, and widen his market so the math finally works.
Follow me on my socials:
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To work with Josh Terry go to https://apply.joshterryplays.com
In this episode, I coach a solo craftsman to price for value, systematize the right steps, and widen his market so the math finally works.
Follow me on my socials:
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/joshterryplays
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/joshterryplays/
X: https://x.com/joshterryplays
TikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@UCOLdtkK1XqV6ikuHUqfetnQ
To work with Josh Terry go to https://apply.joshterryplays.com
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:00):
This is a coaching session with a solo business owner
who wants to do great work, but he's struggling to
make it work for him. If you're doing incredible work
but not getting the rewards that you should for the
work that you're doing, this video will teach you what
to do.
Speaker 2 (00:12):
I have a business that I've been running for going
on four years. I'm a craftsman. I make furniture and
productivity systems for homeowners and for businesses. I love what
I do, and it has been the most logical solution
(00:34):
to take care of like a lot of number one
financial needs, but also my creative needs, my soul needs.
I love to craft things, and I love to craft
things with people. So the business has been the best
solution to take care of all those things. However, I
have not been able to make it profitable, primarily because
(00:57):
when I like, yes, the businesssiness is you know, filling
those needs, but it is also demanding those like like
it is an outlet for my creativity, but it demands
that I also be creative and so spending time with
people like I have apprentices and things like that, which
fills that need for connection. But I'm also tied to
(01:19):
that connection, and so I've yet to figure out how
to find a balance with all of that to where
primarily so that I can become profitable. I almost made
a quarter of a million last year, but I've got
almost nothing to show for it, because the emotional toll
of you know, being of constantly outputting. I had to
(01:44):
take care of myself in other ways that cost me
so much that I wasn't didn't really have anything to
show for it.
Speaker 1 (01:50):
Yeah, this is common. A lot of business owners realize
that they're going to be putting their all into a business,
and so they think, well, I had better get all
of my needs met in return for putting all these
things into the business. So let me see if I
can structure the business in a way that'll meet all
my needs. And then the business isn't focused on making
(02:13):
money and they could have made more money and gotten
their needs met elsewhere, but instead they struggle with the
money component. Super common. But obviously you're making money, so
there is the potential to make this profitable and make
this into something that gets your financials who needs met
(02:36):
so that you can get all the other needs met
somewhere else. So tell me about you said furniture and productivity.
Speaker 2 (02:48):
I focus primarily on building cabinetry based systems. I build
a lot of desks, a lot of entertainment centers, and
build organizational systems for businesses, things that just help.
Speaker 3 (03:00):
Them accomplish the flow of their own business.
Speaker 1 (03:05):
Oh so you build something that enhances somebody's productivity exactly.
Oh that's super cool. And I didn't get that at
all when you discuided it to me. Okay, that's a
that's a sign right there that there's something we can
work on. Yeah. I was like, so he's like in
the productivity space, like doing like productivity coaching or something,
(03:26):
and he's like, also building cabinets. This is interesting.
Speaker 2 (03:31):
No, Like, like, for example, a business reached out to
me and they said, hey, so they build custom homes
for people, and they like they said, hey, we want
people to have kind of like to build a bear experience,
but with their home. We want them to walk through
our showroom and have their home completely designed by the
time that they're done. And over the span of nine months,
(03:51):
I built them a physical system in a warehouse that
that accomplished that amazing.
Speaker 1 (03:58):
That's awesome. And so yeah, there might be some messaging
things that we can work on there. But for now,
what let's do is, let's go over where do you
get your customers? And what are all the different types
of things that you deliver? Is everything custom No? And
(04:20):
what to you is the primary thing that is preventing
profitability because you already have customers, You're already selling things,
So like you know, like what is the expense that's
making this unprofitable? So let's start with where do you
get your customers?
Speaker 3 (04:37):
I have a variety of lead generation sources.
Speaker 2 (04:40):
A couple that you've probably never heard of, but then
some common ones like Facebook, Google Ads, not so much
through my website, but I've got also other homeowner stuff
like house and Angie Home Advisor, not so much interpersonal
(05:02):
like referrals.
Speaker 3 (05:04):
I do get a lot from interior designers though.
Speaker 1 (05:07):
So you have sort of been online referral network to
a degree.
Speaker 2 (05:13):
Kind of Yeah, I'm trying to cultivate that too, because
that tends to be the best. But also my wife
is an interior designer too, so we kind of capitalize
on each other's networks. That was the first question. That
what was your second question?
Speaker 1 (05:26):
What are you building?
Speaker 3 (05:28):
Gotcha? Yeah?
Speaker 2 (05:31):
So it is always a very customized solution to a client.
For example, I had one client that reached out and
they said, hey, we have this, you know, basically warehouse
that needs to be divided, but we want it to
look very classy, and I completely from scratch, designed these
(05:52):
telescoping barn doors that were absolutely massive. Then I had
another client that said, hey, he's a home builder in
Texas and he wanted a custom desk that was designed
around his one his productivity flow, but also his unique personality.
Speaker 1 (06:11):
So I got the idea, Yeah, super custom, Yeah, super
awesome things that you build. And then what's the primary
thing that prevents profitability?
Speaker 3 (06:21):
The custom nature of it?
Speaker 1 (06:23):
Yeah, So it takes a long time to build. It
takes a lot of involvement from you. Do any of
your interns know how to build it? Do you have
people working for you that know how to build it?
Speaker 3 (06:34):
No.
Speaker 2 (06:34):
I've spent two to three years at a time working
with people. But it is just becoming increasingly evident that
if it's not in my head, it doesn't it doesn't
pan out. So I've tried to subdivide and delegate and
things like that. But when you're dealing with stuff as
(06:56):
custom and as high priced as it is. You know,
the smallest of mistakes can throw off processes down the
road that become more costly and I can't really make
it work. So I've thought about trying to get into
a specific niche to try to bypass that, But in
(07:16):
that that I felt like that was sacrificing a lot
of the creativity and the problem solving that gives me life.
Speaker 1 (07:25):
So so ultimately, somebody like you, there's basically two options.
Almost always, one is raise your price and the other
is systematize. Like one or the other, systematize can be
way more doable than you think. The way most people
(07:48):
systematize is they go, well, let me get somebody to
do what I do, when in reality, you need one
thing done that makes your life easier. Okay, So the
way most people look at systems on operations is how
do I set up a system that will enable me
(08:10):
to do less things? And what that does is it
makes you think from a mindset of well, I want
to build a system that I can step away from
and not worry about, not have to manage, and you know,
use less energy. What you want to flip to is
how do I build a system that would enable me
to do more things. And so an example of a
(08:36):
system that would enable you to do more things is
if you had an employee who just knew how to cut,
would precisely, and that was all they knew how to do.
If you had an employee who could cut would precisely,
then you could focus on design and assembly. Another way
(08:59):
to look at it is, you know, if you had
somebody who could do the design, if you had somebody
who could do assembly. But you know, cutting wood is
a really great spot right right. My dad was a
cabinet maker, so I'm a little bit familiar. At one
point in his life he actually had a door construction business.
(09:21):
He built like custom nice doors for people, and they
have to be the right size, you know, if they're
a little bit off, the door doesn't close. And yeah,
so I was taught a little bit of woodworking when
I was younger, and you know, cutting wood it's very
(09:44):
important that it's done right. But you can learn how
to do that right. A person can be trained to
do how to do that right. And so I don't
know exactly how much time cutting wood takes you in
your day, but it takes a period of time. And
so if that specific thing were outsourced, then you would
(10:05):
be able to produce more things. Does that make sense true?
Any objections?
Speaker 2 (10:14):
My initial thought is to keep somebody to keep each
one of those little niches, because I'd have to have
one person chopping it up another person planning it, and
that would require such an increase in volume.
Speaker 3 (10:31):
That I would have to upgrade all of my other
systems very quickly.
Speaker 1 (10:35):
Correct. This is often the problem that small businesses run
into is they're like, oh my god, I can't hire
for that one thing. It would make my life way
easier and way better, but that person would only have
three hours of work a week.
Speaker 2 (10:48):
Right, So I can either look for somebody that's looking
for three hours of work a week, or I can
aggressively scale.
Speaker 1 (10:56):
Or you can find a service that does that for you. So,
if you're a woodworker and you live in a city
where there are other woodworkers, if the city is big enough,
there's a woodworker that just specializes in providing lumber that
is pre sliced, And if you look at their prices
(11:25):
on their website, they're not going to look good because
they are pricing for some custom thing that somebody wants
to build once and if you give them a call
and you say, hey, I'm a builder in your area.
I would like to source from you all of my lumber.
(11:48):
Can you provide it to me custom caught? Can we
strike a deal? That person could be very happy to
strike a deal with you. They know every week they're
going to provide you with five you know, like the
lumber for five pieces, you know, and you custom build
(12:11):
five pieces every week. That's that kind of order makes
makes businesses very happy.
Speaker 3 (12:19):
True.
Speaker 2 (12:20):
So that kind of goes into the other bottleneck, which
I have a solution for, but it's not a good
solution or it's just not one that I'm navigating well,
So I wanted your perspective on it. So typically people
in my industry are restricted by geography because only send
(12:41):
stuff out so far. Yeah, it's it's hard to transport
a thousand pound table, you know. So I've been trying
to figure out how to expand my network, and the
logical solution was to offer shipping. So I'm trying to
(13:01):
have my website in such a way where people can
use AI prompts to get a general idea of the
thing that they're wanting built, and then I could work
from there on CAD and such but then I build
it and assemble it in like a flat packed type
of thing and ship it.
Speaker 3 (13:21):
I'm rapidly discovering why.
Speaker 2 (13:23):
People don't do that because it is very costly to do.
Speaker 1 (13:28):
So, yeah, I Kia is going to beat you at that.
Speaker 2 (13:32):
Okay, Yeah, so my my thought was assemble it like Ikea,
but it be heirloom grade.
Speaker 1 (13:42):
No, there's a place for that. I was kind of joke,
joking to a degree. If you were competing on price, right,
it would beat you at it. But you know you're
not going to compete on price. No, this this is
super doable. But for first, I want to learn about
your pricing. Would you say that you are currently maxing
(14:04):
out pricing?
Speaker 3 (14:06):
Yeah? Yeahs at least for my local area.
Speaker 1 (14:11):
Cool, good job. What's your pricing?
Speaker 2 (14:15):
Well, so, I've got a couple of different models, depending
on the scale of the project it's it. I either
use an hourly rate of between seventy five to one
hundred and twenty five dollars an hour. If it's a
more cabinetry based thing, I use per linear foot, which
is about one thousand dollars per linear foot. I also
have some like cube models for like more complex things.
Speaker 1 (14:42):
Okay, And what's the average price for a job?
Speaker 3 (14:46):
Around eight thousand?
Speaker 2 (14:47):
Good? Good, one would be ten to twelve, but yeah,
about eight thousand.
Speaker 1 (14:53):
And your stuff is awesome, right yeah? Like from what
you describe, it sounds like it's it's very cool stuff.
Speaker 3 (15:00):
Yeah it is.
Speaker 1 (15:01):
Okay, you are not maxing out your pricing, but potentially
for your area, what you said, that's possible. Uh, but
like you know, this is that stuff you can sell
for one hundred thousand to the right buyer? Okay, would
you agree?
Speaker 3 (15:18):
I mean, I have no evidence to back that up,
but I'll trust you.
Speaker 1 (15:22):
I mean, if you like, like, have you gone to
expensive furniture stores in big cities? Have?
Speaker 3 (15:34):
Yes, Yes, I have.
Speaker 1 (15:36):
It's expensive, right yeah, like you've seen You've seen one
hundred thousand dollars desk, right yeah? Can you match the
quality of that one hundred thousand dollars desk?
Speaker 4 (15:48):
Oh?
Speaker 3 (15:48):
Yeah, yeah.
Speaker 2 (15:50):
It's it's not so much a logistics issue as much
as it's a mindset issue.
Speaker 1 (15:54):
I think it's a mindset and branding. You are probably
if you're talking about building legacy items and custom items
that enhance people's productivity, things like this, you could be
charging one hundred K for a desk. That's that's possible
because a high level person will pay one hundred k
(16:16):
for you know, a fancy desk that is an art
piece that they also can justify it helps me work
faster and make more money at my business. Like that's
the ultimate brag.
Speaker 2 (16:29):
Right.
Speaker 1 (16:31):
I bought these nice shoes and they're a style item,
but they also make me run faster, so I had
a legitimate reason for buying them, right, Right, I buy
this fancy jet. It makes me look cool, but I'm
really doing it because it helps me make more money
and get to where I'm going faster.
Speaker 3 (16:50):
Right, bridging that logical mind and the emotional purchase.
Speaker 1 (16:55):
Yes, and so you have not maxed out.
Speaker 3 (16:58):
Pricing, Okay, I'll take that. I'll run with that.
Speaker 1 (17:03):
Okay. So what I'd like for you to do is
I'd like for you to analyze the last ten to
twenty customers that you've had, take a look at what
you know about them, and first ask yourself if they
could have paid more, and if you think they could have,
(17:27):
then simply raise the price on your next ten to
twenty customers and see what happens. Raising the price for
somebody like you that is running. The type of business
that you're running is often the most significant and fastest
win because you're somebody who's already providing amazing things and
you're just you know, either serving the wrong customers or
(17:49):
just not valuing yourself well enough. And when you are
able to charge more, all of a sudden, you just
have some space to breathe. And when you have the
space used to breathe, all of a sudden, you can
hire that person to just cut wood. You can hire
the person to just plane the wood. Right. You can
(18:11):
strike that deal with you know, the shop that's a
couple miles away to do all of that for you,
because what you're doing is super specialized and there are
lots of people that know how to cut wood good
that can't do what you do.
Speaker 3 (18:27):
Mhm.
Speaker 2 (18:29):
Okay, So you said to analyze last ten to twenty customers,
ask if they could have paid more, and if so,
charge more for.
Speaker 4 (18:38):
The next ones. Yeah, where do you live in Northern California?
Oh my god, you live in California. Lucky you You
can charge as much as you would. I mean, I
say that sort of as a joke, but like you know,
(19:00):
that's that has one of the wealthiest customer bases in
the world. Okay, right, I mean other than living in
New York, right, I mean I realize you're not living
in LA but California, man, Okay, California is home to
(19:21):
a very wealthy clientele.
Speaker 2 (19:24):
Okay, And we recently moved here and we're in like
a pretty well, not pretty poor, but.
Speaker 3 (19:29):
A relatively poorer area. So it was hard. It's kind
of hard to see past my immediate area.
Speaker 1 (19:36):
Yes, so you're going to need to work on sourcing
customers for a little wider range of distance from where
your home is, but not that wide, and so it's
worth it actually to you use chattypt Oh yeah, okay,
So go on chat EPT and ask what what are
(20:00):
the wealthiest neighborhoods within one hundred miles of me? And
you might need to play around with how you word it,
but you can get the info, find a way to
find out what the wealthiest neighborhoods are without one hundred
miles of you. And I don't know what city you
are in, but I suspect regardless of what city you
are in California, you're within a lot of wealth. If
(20:24):
you're willing to go one hundred miles.
Speaker 3 (20:27):
True. True. Yeah, we're just a little bit north of Sacramento.
Speaker 1 (20:31):
So and here's the beauty of doing something like this.
Once you find somebody who's willing to pay one hundred
thousand dollars for a desk, they don't care about shipping prices, right, right,
So you can solve multiple problems at once.
Speaker 2 (20:49):
So with that, though, do I need to like what
I would? It be better to have a specific because,
like my thing has been, I can build anything, so
people come to me with their problem.
Speaker 1 (21:04):
Uh huh yep. This opens up the next challenge. Okay,
now you have a marketing challenge, right, and we have
five minutes longer. Okay, so we're gonna see what we
can get done here. First, I think I build artistic
(21:26):
furniture that enhancers productivity. Something along those lines is a
great message. I build custom furniture, custom like custom luxury
or boutique luxury furniture that enhances productivity, because basically you
want to hit the art crowd and the performance crowd.
(21:48):
And so I'd play with that a little bit, but
I'd make it a clear statement because that that statement
actually doesn't stop you from building anything. You can still
build anything, right, that state met and so you want
to create the messaging that speaks to the people that
you want to pull in, but that you know doesn't
(22:08):
necessarily Saraoly scare away the other people for now, because
you still need your customers when you sell this stuff.
Are you getting on a call? Is it in person?
Speaker 3 (22:23):
Because the cost always justifies the trip?
Speaker 1 (22:26):
Okay, so you go visit them in person?
Speaker 4 (22:28):
Yeah?
Speaker 1 (22:29):
Okay, So what are the questions that you ask.
Speaker 2 (22:36):
I have a whole list, but some of them are
like what other solutions have you tried in the past,
trying to get a feel for like what they've already
done but.
Speaker 3 (22:47):
Hasn't solved the issue.
Speaker 2 (22:50):
I asked them to walk me through their process, walk
through their flow, because if it's they may not need me,
you know, it may be just move your desk over there.
Speaker 1 (23:00):
Yeah, So, do ask any questions that helps you understand
their business and the size of their business and what
they're doing. When I have that that, yes, Yeah, Basically
you want to find out how much money they're making
is what I'm getting at, gotcha, And you don't need
(23:25):
the specific number always, but you need to understand if
they're a high roller or if they're just a random
like high paid developer or something, right, and it's you
start customizing the price. And if somebody is, you know,
making fifty million dollars a year, you don't say this
(23:47):
is five grand. You don't say this is eight grand.
You say a different number. And so yeah, I want
you to just start working on how having those conversations
with the people that you already have, because you tell me,
have you met a couple of rich people in this process? Oh? Yeah, okay,
(24:09):
I bet you have with those people. Just start charging
a higher price and seeing what happens. Don't start at
one hundred k that'll make you uncomfortable. Start start at
the price raise that you can manage. And I want
you to go through a period of like a month
(24:29):
where you make it your goal to whenever possible, raise
your price with every single conversation and raise it to
the amount that is your comfort level. Like, look, if
you're super I don't know, but if you're super nervous
about raising your price, you just add extra five hundred
dollars so that you can get used to it. Add
(24:50):
an extra grand, okay, like step it so that you
get more comfortable, because this isn't about them, And what
you want to do is you want to start raising
the price until the conversation makes you and them a
little bit nervous, especially them, And then once you get there,
(25:14):
you start having conversations at that level and start learning
what about it is making them nervous and what would
make them close, what would make them comfortable. You want
to get to that edge so that you can start
navigating with a lot of the people. Is it just
like a yes or no thing where they're like, oh,
I'm good with it, or it's not what they want,
(25:37):
or do a lot of the people bulk on the
price currently? Okay, sorry, I'm asking right now. Do people
struggle with the price or is it a pretty simple
yes no thing for them?
Speaker 3 (25:49):
It depends. If it's homeowners, they tend to struggle. If
its owners, they don't.
Speaker 1 (25:55):
Okay, awesome. So that means that you've got a huge
opportunity with business owners.
Speaker 3 (26:00):
Okay.
Speaker 1 (26:01):
And so I want you to get to the point
where every single conversation they're a little bit nervous, okay,
and you can quote different prices for homeowners and businesses.
That's acceptable, that's not bad in any way. And then
when you see the level at which everyone is uncomfortable,
you start to learn what is possible. So we've found
(26:26):
multiple places where you can win. We've found ways in
which you can delegate. We found opportunities for delegation. We've
found opportunities for raising the price. We found opportunities for
expanding your customer base. Because we know you can do
all the types of things that you do right now
(26:47):
to what you've done so far to expand your customer base.
You can do all of those things at a farther
distance away from your home and charge a higher price,
and there's no issue because shipping is handled. So a
lot of this is price based and delegation based. If
you'd like to strike a balance in your business and
in your life, go to apply dot Josh Terry plays
(27:08):
dot com or go to the link below
This is a coaching session with a solo business owner
who wants to do great work, but he's struggling to
make it work for him. If you're doing incredible work
but not getting the rewards that you should for the
work that you're doing, this video will teach you what
to do.
Speaker 2 (00:12):
I have a business that I've been running for going
on four years. I'm a craftsman. I make furniture and
productivity systems for homeowners and for businesses. I love what
I do, and it has been the most logical solution
(00:34):
to take care of like a lot of number one
financial needs, but also my creative needs, my soul needs.
I love to craft things, and I love to craft
things with people. So the business has been the best
solution to take care of all those things. However, I
have not been able to make it profitable, primarily because
(00:57):
when I like, yes, the businesssiness is you know, filling
those needs, but it is also demanding those like like
it is an outlet for my creativity, but it demands
that I also be creative and so spending time with
people like I have apprentices and things like that, which
fills that need for connection. But I'm also tied to
(01:19):
that connection, and so I've yet to figure out how
to find a balance with all of that to where
primarily so that I can become profitable. I almost made
a quarter of a million last year, but I've got
almost nothing to show for it, because the emotional toll
of you know, being of constantly outputting. I had to
(01:44):
take care of myself in other ways that cost me
so much that I wasn't didn't really have anything to
show for it.
Speaker 1 (01:50):
Yeah, this is common. A lot of business owners realize
that they're going to be putting their all into a business,
and so they think, well, I had better get all
of my needs met in return for putting all these
things into the business. So let me see if I
can structure the business in a way that'll meet all
my needs. And then the business isn't focused on making
(02:13):
money and they could have made more money and gotten
their needs met elsewhere, but instead they struggle with the
money component. Super common. But obviously you're making money, so
there is the potential to make this profitable and make
this into something that gets your financials who needs met
(02:36):
so that you can get all the other needs met
somewhere else. So tell me about you said furniture and productivity.
Speaker 2 (02:48):
I focus primarily on building cabinetry based systems. I build
a lot of desks, a lot of entertainment centers, and
build organizational systems for businesses, things that just help.
Speaker 3 (03:00):
Them accomplish the flow of their own business.
Speaker 1 (03:05):
Oh so you build something that enhances somebody's productivity exactly.
Oh that's super cool. And I didn't get that at
all when you discuided it to me. Okay, that's a
that's a sign right there that there's something we can
work on. Yeah. I was like, so he's like in
the productivity space, like doing like productivity coaching or something,
(03:26):
and he's like, also building cabinets. This is interesting.
Speaker 2 (03:31):
No, Like, like, for example, a business reached out to
me and they said, hey, so they build custom homes
for people, and they like they said, hey, we want
people to have kind of like to build a bear experience,
but with their home. We want them to walk through
our showroom and have their home completely designed by the
time that they're done. And over the span of nine months,
(03:51):
I built them a physical system in a warehouse that
that accomplished that amazing.
Speaker 1 (03:58):
That's awesome. And so yeah, there might be some messaging
things that we can work on there. But for now,
what let's do is, let's go over where do you
get your customers? And what are all the different types
of things that you deliver? Is everything custom No? And
(04:20):
what to you is the primary thing that is preventing
profitability because you already have customers, You're already selling things,
So like you know, like what is the expense that's
making this unprofitable? So let's start with where do you
get your customers?
Speaker 3 (04:37):
I have a variety of lead generation sources.
Speaker 2 (04:40):
A couple that you've probably never heard of, but then
some common ones like Facebook, Google Ads, not so much
through my website, but I've got also other homeowner stuff
like house and Angie Home Advisor, not so much interpersonal
(05:02):
like referrals.
Speaker 3 (05:04):
I do get a lot from interior designers though.
Speaker 1 (05:07):
So you have sort of been online referral network to
a degree.
Speaker 2 (05:13):
Kind of Yeah, I'm trying to cultivate that too, because
that tends to be the best. But also my wife
is an interior designer too, so we kind of capitalize
on each other's networks. That was the first question. That
what was your second question?
Speaker 1 (05:26):
What are you building?
Speaker 3 (05:28):
Gotcha? Yeah?
Speaker 2 (05:31):
So it is always a very customized solution to a client.
For example, I had one client that reached out and
they said, hey, we have this, you know, basically warehouse
that needs to be divided, but we want it to
look very classy, and I completely from scratch, designed these
(05:52):
telescoping barn doors that were absolutely massive. Then I had
another client that said, hey, he's a home builder in
Texas and he wanted a custom desk that was designed
around his one his productivity flow, but also his unique personality.
Speaker 1 (06:11):
So I got the idea, Yeah, super custom, Yeah, super
awesome things that you build. And then what's the primary
thing that prevents profitability?
Speaker 3 (06:21):
The custom nature of it?
Speaker 1 (06:23):
Yeah, So it takes a long time to build. It
takes a lot of involvement from you. Do any of
your interns know how to build it? Do you have
people working for you that know how to build it?
Speaker 3 (06:34):
No.
Speaker 2 (06:34):
I've spent two to three years at a time working
with people. But it is just becoming increasingly evident that
if it's not in my head, it doesn't it doesn't
pan out. So I've tried to subdivide and delegate and
things like that. But when you're dealing with stuff as
(06:56):
custom and as high priced as it is. You know,
the smallest of mistakes can throw off processes down the
road that become more costly and I can't really make
it work. So I've thought about trying to get into
a specific niche to try to bypass that, But in
(07:16):
that that I felt like that was sacrificing a lot
of the creativity and the problem solving that gives me life.
Speaker 1 (07:25):
So so ultimately, somebody like you, there's basically two options.
Almost always, one is raise your price and the other
is systematize. Like one or the other, systematize can be
way more doable than you think. The way most people
(07:48):
systematize is they go, well, let me get somebody to
do what I do, when in reality, you need one
thing done that makes your life easier. Okay, So the
way most people look at systems on operations is how
do I set up a system that will enable me
(08:10):
to do less things? And what that does is it
makes you think from a mindset of well, I want
to build a system that I can step away from
and not worry about, not have to manage, and you know,
use less energy. What you want to flip to is
how do I build a system that would enable me
to do more things. And so an example of a
(08:36):
system that would enable you to do more things is
if you had an employee who just knew how to cut,
would precisely, and that was all they knew how to do.
If you had an employee who could cut would precisely,
then you could focus on design and assembly. Another way
(08:59):
to look at it is, you know, if you had
somebody who could do the design, if you had somebody
who could do assembly. But you know, cutting wood is
a really great spot right right. My dad was a
cabinet maker, so I'm a little bit familiar. At one
point in his life he actually had a door construction business.
(09:21):
He built like custom nice doors for people, and they
have to be the right size, you know, if they're
a little bit off, the door doesn't close. And yeah,
so I was taught a little bit of woodworking when
I was younger, and you know, cutting wood it's very
(09:44):
important that it's done right. But you can learn how
to do that right. A person can be trained to
do how to do that right. And so I don't
know exactly how much time cutting wood takes you in
your day, but it takes a period of time. And
so if that specific thing were outsourced, then you would
(10:05):
be able to produce more things. Does that make sense true?
Any objections?
Speaker 2 (10:14):
My initial thought is to keep somebody to keep each
one of those little niches, because I'd have to have
one person chopping it up another person planning it, and
that would require such an increase in volume.
Speaker 3 (10:31):
That I would have to upgrade all of my other
systems very quickly.
Speaker 1 (10:35):
Correct. This is often the problem that small businesses run
into is they're like, oh my god, I can't hire
for that one thing. It would make my life way
easier and way better, but that person would only have
three hours of work a week.
Speaker 2 (10:48):
Right, So I can either look for somebody that's looking
for three hours of work a week, or I can
aggressively scale.
Speaker 1 (10:56):
Or you can find a service that does that for you. So,
if you're a woodworker and you live in a city
where there are other woodworkers, if the city is big enough,
there's a woodworker that just specializes in providing lumber that
is pre sliced, And if you look at their prices
(11:25):
on their website, they're not going to look good because
they are pricing for some custom thing that somebody wants
to build once and if you give them a call
and you say, hey, I'm a builder in your area.
I would like to source from you all of my lumber.
(11:48):
Can you provide it to me custom caught? Can we
strike a deal? That person could be very happy to
strike a deal with you. They know every week they're
going to provide you with five you know, like the
lumber for five pieces, you know, and you custom build
(12:11):
five pieces every week. That's that kind of order makes
makes businesses very happy.
Speaker 3 (12:19):
True.
Speaker 2 (12:20):
So that kind of goes into the other bottleneck, which
I have a solution for, but it's not a good
solution or it's just not one that I'm navigating well,
So I wanted your perspective on it. So typically people
in my industry are restricted by geography because only send
(12:41):
stuff out so far. Yeah, it's it's hard to transport
a thousand pound table, you know. So I've been trying
to figure out how to expand my network, and the
logical solution was to offer shipping. So I'm trying to
(13:01):
have my website in such a way where people can
use AI prompts to get a general idea of the
thing that they're wanting built, and then I could work
from there on CAD and such but then I build
it and assemble it in like a flat packed type
of thing and ship it.
Speaker 3 (13:21):
I'm rapidly discovering why.
Speaker 2 (13:23):
People don't do that because it is very costly to do.
Speaker 1 (13:28):
So, yeah, I Kia is going to beat you at that.
Speaker 2 (13:32):
Okay, Yeah, so my my thought was assemble it like Ikea,
but it be heirloom grade.
Speaker 1 (13:42):
No, there's a place for that. I was kind of joke,
joking to a degree. If you were competing on price, right,
it would beat you at it. But you know you're
not going to compete on price. No, this this is
super doable. But for first, I want to learn about
your pricing. Would you say that you are currently maxing
(14:04):
out pricing?
Speaker 3 (14:06):
Yeah? Yeahs at least for my local area.
Speaker 1 (14:11):
Cool, good job. What's your pricing?
Speaker 2 (14:15):
Well, so, I've got a couple of different models, depending
on the scale of the project it's it. I either
use an hourly rate of between seventy five to one
hundred and twenty five dollars an hour. If it's a
more cabinetry based thing, I use per linear foot, which
is about one thousand dollars per linear foot. I also
have some like cube models for like more complex things.
Speaker 1 (14:42):
Okay, And what's the average price for a job?
Speaker 3 (14:46):
Around eight thousand?
Speaker 2 (14:47):
Good? Good, one would be ten to twelve, but yeah,
about eight thousand.
Speaker 1 (14:53):
And your stuff is awesome, right yeah? Like from what
you describe, it sounds like it's it's very cool stuff.
Speaker 3 (15:00):
Yeah it is.
Speaker 1 (15:01):
Okay, you are not maxing out your pricing, but potentially
for your area, what you said, that's possible. Uh, but
like you know, this is that stuff you can sell
for one hundred thousand to the right buyer? Okay, would
you agree?
Speaker 3 (15:18):
I mean, I have no evidence to back that up,
but I'll trust you.
Speaker 1 (15:22):
I mean, if you like, like, have you gone to
expensive furniture stores in big cities? Have?
Speaker 3 (15:34):
Yes, Yes, I have.
Speaker 1 (15:36):
It's expensive, right yeah, like you've seen You've seen one
hundred thousand dollars desk, right yeah? Can you match the
quality of that one hundred thousand dollars desk?
Speaker 4 (15:48):
Oh?
Speaker 3 (15:48):
Yeah, yeah.
Speaker 2 (15:50):
It's it's not so much a logistics issue as much
as it's a mindset issue.
Speaker 1 (15:54):
I think it's a mindset and branding. You are probably
if you're talking about building legacy items and custom items
that enhance people's productivity, things like this, you could be
charging one hundred K for a desk. That's that's possible
because a high level person will pay one hundred k
(16:16):
for you know, a fancy desk that is an art
piece that they also can justify it helps me work
faster and make more money at my business. Like that's
the ultimate brag.
Speaker 2 (16:29):
Right.
Speaker 1 (16:31):
I bought these nice shoes and they're a style item,
but they also make me run faster, so I had
a legitimate reason for buying them, right, Right, I buy
this fancy jet. It makes me look cool, but I'm
really doing it because it helps me make more money
and get to where I'm going faster.
Speaker 3 (16:50):
Right, bridging that logical mind and the emotional purchase.
Speaker 1 (16:55):
Yes, and so you have not maxed out.
Speaker 3 (16:58):
Pricing, Okay, I'll take that. I'll run with that.
Speaker 1 (17:03):
Okay. So what I'd like for you to do is
I'd like for you to analyze the last ten to
twenty customers that you've had, take a look at what
you know about them, and first ask yourself if they
could have paid more, and if you think they could have,
(17:27):
then simply raise the price on your next ten to
twenty customers and see what happens. Raising the price for
somebody like you that is running. The type of business
that you're running is often the most significant and fastest
win because you're somebody who's already providing amazing things and
you're just you know, either serving the wrong customers or
(17:49):
just not valuing yourself well enough. And when you are
able to charge more, all of a sudden, you just
have some space to breathe. And when you have the
space used to breathe, all of a sudden, you can
hire that person to just cut wood. You can hire
the person to just plane the wood. Right. You can
(18:11):
strike that deal with you know, the shop that's a
couple miles away to do all of that for you,
because what you're doing is super specialized and there are
lots of people that know how to cut wood good
that can't do what you do.
Speaker 3 (18:27):
Mhm.
Speaker 2 (18:29):
Okay, So you said to analyze last ten to twenty customers,
ask if they could have paid more, and if so,
charge more for.
Speaker 4 (18:38):
The next ones. Yeah, where do you live in Northern California?
Oh my god, you live in California. Lucky you You
can charge as much as you would. I mean, I
say that sort of as a joke, but like you know,
(19:00):
that's that has one of the wealthiest customer bases in
the world. Okay, right, I mean other than living in
New York, right, I mean I realize you're not living
in LA but California, man, Okay, California is home to
(19:21):
a very wealthy clientele.
Speaker 2 (19:24):
Okay, And we recently moved here and we're in like
a pretty well, not pretty poor, but.
Speaker 3 (19:29):
A relatively poorer area. So it was hard. It's kind
of hard to see past my immediate area.
Speaker 1 (19:36):
Yes, so you're going to need to work on sourcing
customers for a little wider range of distance from where
your home is, but not that wide, and so it's
worth it actually to you use chattypt Oh yeah, okay,
So go on chat EPT and ask what what are
(20:00):
the wealthiest neighborhoods within one hundred miles of me? And
you might need to play around with how you word it,
but you can get the info, find a way to
find out what the wealthiest neighborhoods are without one hundred
miles of you. And I don't know what city you
are in, but I suspect regardless of what city you
are in California, you're within a lot of wealth. If
(20:24):
you're willing to go one hundred miles.
Speaker 3 (20:27):
True. True. Yeah, we're just a little bit north of Sacramento.
Speaker 1 (20:31):
So and here's the beauty of doing something like this.
Once you find somebody who's willing to pay one hundred
thousand dollars for a desk, they don't care about shipping prices, right, right,
So you can solve multiple problems at once.
Speaker 2 (20:49):
So with that, though, do I need to like what
I would? It be better to have a specific because,
like my thing has been, I can build anything, so
people come to me with their problem.
Speaker 1 (21:04):
Uh huh yep. This opens up the next challenge. Okay,
now you have a marketing challenge, right, and we have
five minutes longer. Okay, so we're gonna see what we
can get done here. First, I think I build artistic
(21:26):
furniture that enhancers productivity. Something along those lines is a
great message. I build custom furniture, custom like custom luxury
or boutique luxury furniture that enhances productivity, because basically you
want to hit the art crowd and the performance crowd.
(21:48):
And so I'd play with that a little bit, but
I'd make it a clear statement because that that statement
actually doesn't stop you from building anything. You can still
build anything, right, that state met and so you want
to create the messaging that speaks to the people that
you want to pull in, but that you know doesn't
(22:08):
necessarily Saraoly scare away the other people for now, because
you still need your customers when you sell this stuff.
Are you getting on a call? Is it in person?
Speaker 3 (22:23):
Because the cost always justifies the trip?
Speaker 1 (22:26):
Okay, so you go visit them in person?
Speaker 4 (22:28):
Yeah?
Speaker 1 (22:29):
Okay, So what are the questions that you ask.
Speaker 2 (22:36):
I have a whole list, but some of them are
like what other solutions have you tried in the past,
trying to get a feel for like what they've already
done but.
Speaker 3 (22:47):
Hasn't solved the issue.
Speaker 2 (22:50):
I asked them to walk me through their process, walk
through their flow, because if it's they may not need me,
you know, it may be just move your desk over there.
Speaker 1 (23:00):
Yeah, So, do ask any questions that helps you understand
their business and the size of their business and what
they're doing. When I have that that, yes, Yeah, Basically
you want to find out how much money they're making
is what I'm getting at, gotcha, And you don't need
(23:25):
the specific number always, but you need to understand if
they're a high roller or if they're just a random
like high paid developer or something, right, and it's you
start customizing the price. And if somebody is, you know,
making fifty million dollars a year, you don't say this
(23:47):
is five grand. You don't say this is eight grand.
You say a different number. And so yeah, I want
you to just start working on how having those conversations
with the people that you already have, because you tell me,
have you met a couple of rich people in this process? Oh? Yeah, okay,
(24:09):
I bet you have with those people. Just start charging
a higher price and seeing what happens. Don't start at
one hundred k that'll make you uncomfortable. Start start at
the price raise that you can manage. And I want
you to go through a period of like a month
(24:29):
where you make it your goal to whenever possible, raise
your price with every single conversation and raise it to
the amount that is your comfort level. Like, look, if
you're super I don't know, but if you're super nervous
about raising your price, you just add extra five hundred
dollars so that you can get used to it. Add
(24:50):
an extra grand, okay, like step it so that you
get more comfortable, because this isn't about them, And what
you want to do is you want to start raising
the price until the conversation makes you and them a
little bit nervous, especially them, And then once you get there,
(25:14):
you start having conversations at that level and start learning
what about it is making them nervous and what would
make them close, what would make them comfortable. You want
to get to that edge so that you can start
navigating with a lot of the people. Is it just
like a yes or no thing where they're like, oh,
I'm good with it, or it's not what they want,
(25:37):
or do a lot of the people bulk on the
price currently? Okay, sorry, I'm asking right now. Do people
struggle with the price or is it a pretty simple
yes no thing for them?
Speaker 3 (25:49):
It depends. If it's homeowners, they tend to struggle. If
its owners, they don't.
Speaker 1 (25:55):
Okay, awesome. So that means that you've got a huge
opportunity with business owners.
Speaker 3 (26:00):
Okay.
Speaker 1 (26:01):
And so I want you to get to the point
where every single conversation they're a little bit nervous, okay,
and you can quote different prices for homeowners and businesses.
That's acceptable, that's not bad in any way. And then
when you see the level at which everyone is uncomfortable,
you start to learn what is possible. So we've found
(26:26):
multiple places where you can win. We've found ways in
which you can delegate. We found opportunities for delegation. We've
found opportunities for raising the price. We found opportunities for
expanding your customer base. Because we know you can do
all the types of things that you do right now
(26:47):
to what you've done so far to expand your customer base.
You can do all of those things at a farther
distance away from your home and charge a higher price,
and there's no issue because shipping is handled. So a
lot of this is price based and delegation based. If
you'd like to strike a balance in your business and
in your life, go to apply dot Josh Terry plays
(27:08):
dot com or go to the link below
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