I've somehow made the transition from lifelong software developer to making physical objects with wood, perhaps for a living in the near future. I bought a CNC laser cutting/engraving machine in May and am now earning a decent income making things from wood and selling them online. Turns out, designing websites and marketing graphics translates pretty directly to designing home decor using much the same software. As it's now a "business" instead of a "hobby", that's allowed me to stockpile all kinds of interesting types of wood for experimentation and future projects, though I only use a few kinds for actual products so far. If you care to look, my little Etsy store is here: https://www.etsy.com/shop/ligninandlight
You're here in Raleigh. Do you sell at all our seasonal area art festivals (Peak Fest, Lazy Daze, Spring Daze, etc)? There's so many talented crafts people I'm amazed you can make a living at this anywhere near a programmer's salary.
In any case, congratulations. I know how satisfying it is forging something in the real world. It's much easier to explain to someone who asks what you do when you can just show them your work, not to mention the satisfaction of having a physical piece. I wish you the best.
No I don't sell anywhere in person, except allowing people to pick up in person if they're local. People at craft markets aren't impulse buying $150 items in my limited experience, and making $10 trinkets to sell on a table isn't going to generate meaningful income.
I can sell wooden maps, signs, wall art that people buy as gifts for $100-200 a pop every day online. I had 6 orders from Etsy in the past 24 hours, all with good margins. People spend a ton on wedding decor and wedding gifts especially. Nearly every $100-200 wooden map I've sold has been for someone's wedding gift, or occasionally an anniversary or birthday gift.
Just this morning I sold a map of Raleigh on Nextdoor (the local neighborhoods app), to someone in north Raleigh, for $100. It was for a gift, and she asked me about making a map of Pittsburgh to give as a gift to someone else. I hand delivered the map -- just a couple minutes drive in the electric car so no gas used -- and the material cost was $0.95 in wood and a $8 frame from AC Moore. So around 90% profit margin.
I have a seven figure nest egg from my time running software businesses, and I still run my websites part time. The crafting business just started in May when I bought my laser machine, but it's currently earning enough to cover our bills. That's a bit of a cheat since I have no mortgage or rent to pay, just utilities and food and insurance. It's not a six figure job, but it's enough extra that I don't feel like I need to hustle too much on the software side. I might tire of it eventually, but for now I'm enjoying making and selling some physical goods, and knowing that people are proudly displaying them in their homes.
Bravo. I don't know about other festivals but Spring Daze and Lazy Daze definitely have items on sale in the hundred dollar and up range. I've seen photography and paintings priced anywhere from several hundred to several thousand dollars. I don't know how many of these items sell but they are on display. It also seems like there are a dozen or more folks selling cutting boards and lots of those are selling. In fact, trinkets seem to be in the minority of what's on display. Anyway, just an idea for exposure if nothing else. Thanks for sharing your story.
I am doing quite the opposite as of now! I am an art conservator, mainly focused on antique furniture (and sometimes building new furniture as well) and am currently in the process of becoming a software developer. If you put these two jobs side by side, at first galnce you would not think they have much in common. But they share the same attention to detail, the problem solving process, the building of something that wasn´t there before. I look forward reading how you are progressing. Happy building!
Woodworking is still a hobby for me (I don't think i'd want it to be anything but a hobby) but I've recently started building my own CAD program for woodworkers (I use sketchup, but when I switched to Linux, it only works on the web... which is a pretty awful experience compared to their main product).
What do you use for design? What's your opinion of it?
I don't have any real social media presence with the kind of things I'm making now, so an e-commerce site of my own would be little different from putting up a tent to sell from in the middle of a desert. Etsy is a marketplace like eBay, which means there's already millions of people there searching for things to buy. Just by being there and knowing a bit about search optimization, they put my products in front of a couple hundred people a day, so I had sales coming in from nearly day one without advertising. My first machine is a Glowforge, which I've been running 6-12 hours a day since I bought it. Figured I'd start at hobby level equipment and work my way up.
Fantastic work! What is your weapon of choice for your CNC laser cutter? I invested in a Glowforge during the KickStarter and it's an amazing piece of gear. I also own a CNCRouterParts desktop CNC router. They're both great, although it's night and day to operate between the two. The Glowforge is very simple and SaaS based whereas the CNC router is GCode run on Mach software connected to a local driver laptop. Both are great fun and great for unique gifts. I remember one of the first things I did on the laser were very intricate wood earrings. Amazing the level of precision gear you can get at home these days.
I also decided to start with a Glowforge. I've been running it 6-12 hours a day since the day it arrived. It's pretty great so far. I've also somehow talked 7 other people into buying one in the past 45 days, so I've gotten over $1500 in free material from their store to craft with.
The Wood Book that’s part of this site was a huge help to me when I did my woodworking tech projects. The best wood book, IMO (and others in this thread) is Understanding Wood. That book is next level and is my go to for any wood reference or question.
I have a love hate relationship with this site. It's convenient but it also leaves a lot to be desired. If you are interested in the different properties of wood check out:
