"Woodworking Business 101: A Basic Business Guide For Woodworkers" delivers the promise in the title. It's based entirely on my first-hand experience owning and operating successful one-person businesses for over thirty years. For over 20 years in my woodworking businesses in Tampa, FL and then Austin, TX I built hundreds of cabinets and furniture pieces for all kinds of customers. In Woodworking Business 101 I share all the knowledge I gained running my woodworking business to help you avoid the common small business mistakes that keep woodworkers from making a profit. For those just beginning, my book contains a helpful Getting Started chapter. For others who are already operating a woodworking business and may be struggling to profit from their skills, there are six additional chapters filled with detailed information, a preface, an introduction, a glossary, and a personal notes section that will help you with every step toward profitability Woodworking Business 101: A Basic Business Guide For Woodworkers serves as an excellent beginning with the basics of the woodworking business and including all other aspects of the business of woodworking such as licenses, local and federal taxes, best ways to deal with suppliers, setting up bank accounts both checking and savings, using and accepting credit cards, the critically important aspects of contracting for work, the difficulties of accounting including unique, much easier methods, and the less than pleasant task of dealing with the IRS. Woodworking Business 101: A Basic Business Guide For Woodworkers helps you to develop methods to get customers but more importantly it shows you the best ways to keep customers after that first job. In spite of its importance, keeping customers is often overlooked leading to a long term loss of income. This book covers how to set up a functional shop taking full advantage of the space you may have available and the best ways to get the tools you need to build the projects you sell. Then it shows you how to carefully estimate the cost of materials and labor and set your job prices to ensure that you make a fair profit on every job. This will help you maintain your cash flow and ensure long term success. The final section called Personal Notes includes just a few hints and tips I gleaned over the past few years to give you even more help in operating your business successfully.
About the Author: A. William (Bill) Benitez I had various occupations starting at age twelve spenting summers and weekends working with my dad, a general contractor, building homes and buildings. I learned a lot from him and used the lessons to contract my first home by age nineteen. I've operated one-person businesses for more than 30 years. Twelve years of my life were spent working for local government running federally-assisted housing programs starting as an inspector and moving to Director of Community Improvement with 78 employees when I resigned to do writing and consulting full-time. Writing, Publishing and Consulting My first publishing company was Rehab Notes Library and we published a monthly newsletter (Rehab Notes) with subscribers in all 50 states, Canada and England. I also did consulting and public speaking on housing related topics for agencies and organizations in cities across the country. I wrote and published nine guidebooks on the subject of housing rehabilitation. After 1980 when most federal funding was pulled from housing activities, I took advantage of my construction and business experience and started a handyman and woodworking business. Over Twenty-Five Years of Woodworking For over twenty-five years, first in Tampa, Florida and then in Austin, Texas, I built hundreds of small and large cabinet and furniture projects for individuals, companies and government agencies. During these years I began writing books about my experiences and still write them today with my latest published in January of 2016. Personal One-on-One Publishing My company, Positive Imaging, LLC, does what I call positive publishing of my books and the books of others. I help authors to publish their books with one-on-one, personal assistance. To date I have published twenty print books in addition to the nine on housing, more than a half dozen ebooks, and presently have several books in various stages of completion. Computer Experience My computer experience dates back more than twenty years and began in response to poor technical support for my wife Barbara's computer. I used home study to acquire A+ and Microsoft Certified Systems Engineer Certifications and became the IT Manager for the Hyatt Regency in Austin, Texas where I just retired January 2016 after 20 years. I was born and raised in Tampa, Florida and moved to Austin, Texas in 1986, where I now live with my wife, Barbara Frances.