It’s a lot easier to do if you make simple products that will sell easy and don’t take very long to make.
You are really lucky with that customer.
I hope it will keep coming,
Cutting boards here are made by people with disability in subsidized production factories, sold for 4 euro a piece.
They look terrible especially compared too well made ones you made.
But it’s a hard sell 90 euro, if they see it in shops for 4 euro.
Yeah I get that for sure, charcuterie boards are a big thing here in the US, they are display boards for parties and get togethers I’m telling my customers they aren’t meant for cutting on, if they want to it’s up to them but a cutting board don’t normally have designs on them. You need to find easy projects that would sell in your area that no one else is making. And you can’t price yours based on someone else’s price you have to look at your material and time, if you have access to a lot of scrap wood that takes care of your materials.
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I’m on the back end of the coaster order lol 
soon to be working on the 20 boards.
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That’s some nice profit margins.
Around here, no one is paying $90 for pine and Luan. For that kinda money, I need to do walnut or cherry face grain. I fill the voids with epoxy, it’s quicker to jigsaw the handles and template router to clean up vs trying to do them on the CNC.
Instead, I’ve been batching out small carved hardwood trays and EDC boards, some small geometric patterned snack boards, and signs. I can get 20 small trays from a 6’ long 8” wide walnut board, about $400, from a $36 board. Adding an epoxy color layer is $0.45, but adds $5 to price.
Not super happy with the process as there is a lot of chip waste from the carves. Debating going a different route and making them two piece- a solid base, and a wall part that is profile cut to make the void, then gluing them together and shaping. That way- instead of chips, I’ll have 6”x 4” walnut rectangles, that I can further process
To turn into boxes, fridge magnets, or starting stick for inlays. All about maximizing the lumber usage.
Congrats on taking the leap and getting off to a great, profitable start!
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Thank you, I wasn’t expecting for it to take off so quickly. The biggest pain is that the pine being a soft wood generates a lot of tear out which makes the finishing process take longer but it’s worth the extra work plus everything is looking really good.
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I’m in the wrong city…
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Every city has their own little niche thing people go nuts over. The secret is finding out what it is. You can go to craft fairs and see what the dominant item is at the woodworkers/ makers booths
Good luck
Two years I’ve been selling stuff and talking to people. Out here, the thing that really gets them wound up is free stuff 
That sucks, where are you located?
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That’s rough. Where are you
Edit- lol, crossed streams with John
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A bit south of Phoenix. People used to move out here because it was cheaper than living in the city, so basically you had people trying to manage their budget moving in around rural folk who are culturally cost-concious. The only decent restaurants are hole-in-the wall diners because none of the larger companies will invest. I don’t blame them. It’s all fast food out here.
Everyone got excited about Dennys because it wasn’t fast food, but after 2 months the sheen wore off and I haven’t seen more than a dozen cars in the parking lot at the same time. Good luck convincing olive garden or outback to drop a couple million starting up.
The successful makers out here all say the same thing: get a trailer and travel to sell. 2023 it is, then.
Online is national. Just a thought.
I was initially against selling online and shipping, but I just sent out a package to Austin that may very well turn into a consignment deal. 30+ orders a month, guaranteed. They reached out after seeing one of my designs on my FB page.
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I agree I just lucked up meeting this girl at my sisters wedding and it’s hopefully gonna turn into a huge deal. Your best bet is to find a handful of realtors that you can make them house warming gifts for their clients or a large company that wants to get their customers Christmas gifts.
I’ve got a couple of realtors on board. Home sales sure did slow down though…
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