My dad is a custom woodworker and has been for as long as I can remember. He makes exquisite furniture that’s uniquely designed and beautiful to look at. He probably could have made a fortune at this work over the years if it weren’t for one sad thing - he’s just not very good at business.

Dad works for himself and he manages to make a living but he’s really far more interested in just making furniture than in growing his business. He charges barely more than he spends on each piece in spite of all of the time involved in the work. He almost never does promotion for his business and just relies on word-of-mouth to get new customers.

And the really big thing is that he doesn’t jump on a good idea when he has one. For example, there was one time that he made a really cool cat tree for a client and he kind of mused out loud that he should start a line of luxury cat furniture. We all thought it was a great idea but he doesn’t have any follow-through with things like that. He doesn’t want to actually set up a website and make items for sale so he never makes any money. It’s sad since he’s so good at his craft but just not great at business at all.

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