The gray area
Most business owners want to see their businesses grow. The key is in deciding just how big you want to get. Running a one-man shop is pretty easy when it…
Most business owners want to see their businesses grow. The key is in deciding just how big you want to get.
Running a one-man shop is pretty easy when it comes to things like keeping track of books, inventory, job flow, etc. Even with an employee or two, things are pretty easy to keep track of. Large shops with many employees typically have enough personnel to create dedicated positions for specific tasks, such as a receptionist, general manager, shop foreman, delivery and installation crew, assemblers, finishers, and so on.
Somewhere in between lies a gray area where there are too many people for the shop owner to supervise, too many jobs for one person to do, and not enough people to prevent overlap where the guy who assembles casework on one day might have to be the guy who is finishing it the next.
This can be an extremely difficult time for a growing shop and is where most of the shops that don't make it find themselves crashing into the wall. It has often seemed to me that it would be better to either remain small or go borrow a bunch of money to try and leapfrog over that gray area.
D.D.
David DeCristoforo possesses an extensive resume as designer/maker of fine furniture, high-end cabinetry and architectural woodwork. His experience in professional woodworking spans a period of 35 years. For the past 20 years David DeCristoforo Design has been located in Woodland, California. During this time David's shop has ranged in scope from a "full on" cabinet production shop with as many as 15 employees to a small fine furniture and custom millwork shop, working with his son, David RBJ, a highly skilled maker in his own right.