I sort of sold something I made!?

[Douglas Robinson]

At work two weeks ago they were having meeting all week. They wanted a "talking stick." Something to pass around, and you could onld talk while holding the stick. Well, they gave me a lousy looking stick someone had found and asked if I could fix it up.

Instead, I brought in the the mallet I made and posted pics of here. It was made from cut offs of Black Walnut I had lying around.

I took it back when they were done, but the head of their group wanted to keep it. The office manager told him it was mine from my shop and he could just khave it. So he talked to me. I gave it to him, but the office manager gave me a BArnes & Noble $25 gift certificate.

So I guess I just sold a peice of my work work...sort of. :laughing7:eusa_thin

Doug

 

[skysharks]

Hmmmmm! You know the saying!!!!!???????? No Pics it didn't happen.

 

[ToeNailer]

Great job!

 

[Bas]

Whoohooo! Congratulations on your first sale! Only 239 mallets more and your shop will have paid for itself (sorry, couldn't resist).
:rotflm:

Of course, is this still a talking stick, or the Mallet Of Persuasion? The Consensus Pounder? There is probably a great woodworking market for anything related to meetings, like a gavel, talking stick, suggestion bowl etc.

Congrats again. So what are you going to do with the certificate, buy a woodworking book?

 

[jsjordan]

Congratulations Doug! :eusa_clap

I often use a slightly longer stick in my meetings to play "Stick Quiz" For those of you who do not know about "Stick Quiz", it is a very effective method of maintaining attention during a meeting. Here's how it wokrs:

1. One person is designated as "Quizmaster" (hopefully that is you)
2. The Quizmaster then asks questions of the people in attendance
3. Anytime someone give s a response that the Quizmaster does not like, the Quizmaster hits them with the stick!

Simple, effective, and VERY cost-effective. Everything todays businesses need!
anyway, congrats on the sale! :rotflm:

 

[Bryan S]

Cool :icon_thum

Back before christmas a lady that works with the misses offerd us $80 for a feeder and butterfly house. I did not argue.

 

[Will Goodwin]

Hey Doug was that the Thor Hammer we saw at the crawl?
Congrats!

The guy who does the lawns and pool maintenance for the property management company saw my reindeer and told me that if I took them to the farmer's market, I could probably sell them (finished) for $150. I said, "Holy Cow???!!!" Do you guys think he was right?

Will

 

[Bas]

Yup. $150 sounds quite feasible. Now may not be the best season to sell them, but once you get to October you should have a buyer within 5 minutes. If you want to spend the time making them in batch, you could probably sell enough of them to buy a good jigsaw or even a 14" bandsaw. Just look how much shelf space all the department stores and home improvement stores devote to Christmas decorations. This is a big market!

Although you should have said "Holy Reindeer" of course.

 

[Steve W]

Hmmm -- making money. Doug, this could be just the leverage needed to justify getting more space :gar-La;

:kermit: Steve

 

[Douglas Robinson]

Will, yes that was the mallet. I think of it as a Super Mario Mallet.

John, a pic can be found in this thread:

http://www.ncwoodworker.net/forums/showthread.php?t=13228

Doug

 

[Canuck]

Congrats Doug!!:eusa_danc

Sometimes this is all it takes and you will have them lining up at the door for an exact copy! Excellent marketing tool!!! See it, touch it and all of a sudden .......I want one just like it!!!!:wsmile::tongue100::wsmile::wsmile::wsmile:

Nice gesture on your part, by the way!!!:thumbs_up:thumbs_up:thumbs_up

Wayne

 

[Bigdog72]

Congrats on the sale!:eusa_clap:eusa_clap

Can't wait to see the look on your face when they send you a 1099.:rotflm::rotflm::rotflm:

 

[cskipper]

Hmmm -- making money. Doug, this could be just the leverage needed to justify getting more space :gar-La;

:kermit: Steve

Or at least more tools/wood!

 

[JackLeg]

Way to go, Doug! You may corner the "mallet market!"

:wwink:

 

[Glennbear]

Congratulations Doug, now all you need is the other group leaders to get jealous and start with the "one upmanship" you will be hunting for exotic spalted stock for future "talking mallets" :gar-Bi

 

[Keye]

Any that have managed people will know what I am talking about. Same story but different versions from two of your subordinates. I would type up what each said and then call them into my office. I handed each a piece of paper and told them to read what the other had to say. I then walked out of my office and closed the door. Before I left I told them to stay there until they reached agreement or one of them took the stick off my desk and beat some sense into the other one.

Well, it is a stick story and about work, sort of.

When will I learn to stop trying to compete with folks like Bas.:rotflm:

Thanks for the thread. I was feeling a little sorry for myself and it really gave me a good laugh. I was planning on soothing myself with a snort of 18 year old single malt scotch but this thread worked just as well. Still think I will have the snort.:eusa_danc:eusa_danc

 

[ScottM]

Yes Doug that is a sale. No two ways about it. Congrats.

Of course your employer now has to give you a 1099 Misc to cover the added income and you will have to file taxes on. And since you are getting income you will have to hire an accountant and maybe a tax attorney to do the books. Of course you will need to incorperate to protect your assests in case the customer hurts themself or others with the hammer.

The good news is since you have been paid, you are now a professsional woodworker.

:rotflm:

 

[Bas]

The good news is since you have been paid, you are now a professsional woodworker.

Scott is right!

Doug, now that you are a professional, you really should consider expanding your shop a little. If the garage is not an option, you could always drain the pool, put a roof over it, and work from there. You can use the catch basin at the end to house the cyclone and compressor, less noisy that way.

BTW, do you have a web site with a portfolio yet? And a name for your business? How about "Dougwood"?

:rotflm:

 

[JimmyC]

Doug,

If you keep selling things like the mallet, you might be able to eventually quit the day job. Of couse with what the pay difference would be the house would have to go. Bad thing is that the wife would lose the pool, the good news is that the shop would be the priority and have to grow.
:rotflm:.

I think that you should keep the day job :lol:.

Jimmy

 

[JOAT]

Good on ya. Next time hold out for cash.

Meetings where people hit you with a sick? I might have put up with that when I was younger... and needed a job; or maybe not, there's lots of jobs out there. Now they'd get a warning before they did it, and if they did it anyway, I'd be sorely tempted to take it away from then and beat the crap out of them with it; possibly just go ahead and beat the crap out of them with my cane, and swear it was self-defense; or, just file an assault charge - depending on the person's size, gender, age. And people claim I've got no sense of humour.

$150 for steenkin' reindeer? I made two for my dau-in-law last year, and only had less than $20 in the pair, including the masers - drew up my own plans. Still have the masters, but not sure if I could force myself to make more or not. Maybe I could find someone to sell them on consignment for me.