As wood industry professionals, our relationship with technology has been “stand-offish” at best. We’ve all been frustrated when dealing with super technical “code gurus”. We’ve felt the pain of having a 12,000 lb “paperweight” machine rendered useless by software that nobody besides a German engineer understands. Tech and woodworking have had a rough go and, there has always been a giant gap between the two.

The face of your business is a big deal - logos, websites, brochures, images and everything else you use to advertise is a direct representation of who your business is, and what your business offers. People are naturally visual creatures, and put a lot of importance on beautiful design.

What’s the ‘thing’ that really sets you and your employees into action? When “X” happens, we go to work… For an employee at the machine, it’s usually something like “When the cutlist is put on my clipboard, I cut it out”, which is pretty simple. What about you, though? How do you know what to do and when to do it? What is ‘it’ that makes you act?

Seth Godin, a well-known author, recently wrote in his daily blog what he called the “Two-Review Technique.” In this post Godin challenges readers to write down two kinds of reviews for a project (company, product, or service).

In this video interview, we learn from a small cabinet shop owner (Colton Rasmussen) and his positive/negative experiences of working with suppliers. Rasmussen Custom Cabinetry is a custom kitchen and bathroom cabinet manufacturing company that was started in 2012 by Colton Rasmussen,Curtis Leavitt, and Joshua C. Riedesel. 

In so many ways, man hours are expensive and inefficient, so if you’re allowing employees to spend time doing simple but time consuming tasks, you’re probably wasting your own money.

The Romans built one of the largest empires that the world has ever seen. How? The Roman army was both feared and respected. Wherever it marched, it conquered. It was the hammer that integrated the ancient world into one large empire.How does the Roman army apply to your business?

Doing market research is a great way to make sure you’re on the right track with your offering.

The Theory of Constraints (TOC) is a business theory introduced by Wolfgang Mewes (a German business economist), which was then further proliferated in the United States by Eliyahu M. Goldratt in his book The Goal, (a cult classic). In order to optimize profits at your shop, you need to understand this theory.

Mass emailing, cold calling, and visits are all versions of outbound sales that are quickly becoming a thing of the past. Compare those to inbound sales - the process of allowing customers to come to you, and you’ll see a vastly improved way of acquiring new customers.