At the Shop (10/17)
In stark contrast to the previous few weeks, this past week was a veritable circus!
Last week I sent out a press release to three local papers talking about the way J. Alexander Fine Woodworking was joining the age-old skill of woodworking with the latest Web 2.0 tools to create a much more rich and interactive customer experience. The next day I received an e-mail from a writer at the Idaho Business Review and on Monday afternoon we met to discuss what J. Alexander was and how we operated. The story should be out in a few days and when it is I will post it.
At the end of last week the parts for the easel arrived, which meant that this week we focused on putting it all together. You can follow the progress over here.
The main story of the past week was the fact that two quotes finally became actual confirmed jobs, one quote took one step closer to becoming a job, and J. Alexander may have its first interstate commission ever.
I think I mentioned earlier about the frustration of having eight job quotes out to clients and having to patiently wait for them to decide which way they want to go. Well, that all changed this week! In the middle of the week we secured our largest job yet, a kitchen redo along with a custom dining table! I had been discussing details with a wholesale account about some kitchen cabinets and a dining table for the past week or so, and as of mid week the job was finally confirmed, details were worked out, and a deposit check was received. The next five weeks should be pretty busy!
The second job is a built in bookcase job for some friends. The job was quoted some time back, a few design changes were made, and they decided to go ahead with them.
A kitchen table we quoted for a wholesale account was the project that took one step closer to being turned into an order. They also added two ladderback chairs. We should know by the end of the coming week whether or not it is a go!
And the surprise of the week was a call I received early Friday morning from a guy in Florida that wants to order two of the pub tables I built a while back. He wants to put them in his game/music room and says they will go perfectly with his mahogany Brunswick billiard table and with his 110 year old, recently restored mahogany Steinway grand piano. We are currently discussing what material we should build them from, mahogany, walnut, or alder. We can’t wait to get started on them!
This week has been a real eye opener. After two months of being fairly quiet…ok, almost dead quiet…the sky suddenly opens up and jobs begin raining down! You don’t see us complaining, but it just shows that you should never count yourself out. Just keep working hard and selling away and the work might just come rolling in.