It has been almost a year since I started the website. Just like anything when it first starts out, it is never perfect. End goals change and how we perceive our businesses evolve.
When I first started my website I set it up to mirror a sales background. My goal was to build a sustainable business building custom projects. As time has past I find that I enjoy building just about anything but what I enjoy more is teaching people how I built it.
So I took my current website and shifted it around a little to allow me to focus on teaching content. But how was I going to do it with a full time job? I couldn't open my shop up to students full time and I didn't have time to produce a video every week. Plus just starting out competing to get views on YouTube is hard. There are already so many great guys/gals that do that (check out the woodworking resource link above). I needed to find my niche, something I could do every week with my busy schedule. After teaching law enforcement for 4 years, I have grown to love the peer to peer interaction in the classroom but I also wanted to reach a wider audience. So I decided I could write an article every week, produce a video as often as possible, & get students into my shop when possible. I had decided to stop all commissions while I was getting started.
It hit me, if I stop all commission then I am loosing opportunities to challenge myself and learn new techniques. I have to bring in some kind of additional income to help with the purchase of the materials and tools necessary to teach all the things I want to teach. So I don't have to focus on the large custom builds all the time, I can focus on the smaller stuff that I can sell at craft fairs or trade days. I can affiliate with companies such as Amazon or The Wood Whisperer Guild. I can place content specific ads on my website. In order to do this I had to rebuild my website yet a third time. But this time it was getting a much needed face lift as well as a content change. I had to create a new website that allowed potential customers to see my work and contact me, but also allow students to find content to learn from. It had to be a "business neutral" website. So after a long 2 weeks of working every night I would like to present the new website. There is still some areas that need content filled in but for the most part it is ready to roll.