Episode 70: Why it's sometimes important not to have a plan B and other lessons from artist turned furniture designer and maker, Sean Woolsey of Sean Woolsey Studio
Episode summary introduction:
In this interview episode, Fiona talks to Sean Woolsey, founder of Sean Woolsey Studio, a California-based studio with a team who creates handmade furniture that will last for generations. Listen now as Sean shares his journey of transitioning from art to furniture, following his passion, starting a business and his parents’ influence on his creativity.
Topics discussed in this episode:
Introduction
Catching up
Describing the business
Describing the smart desk
10 Years in the business
Sean's upbringing
Sean's experience prior to starting the business
On making decisions for his furniture
Marketing his business
On Pinterest
What marketing strategy stood out for him
On collaborations
On his pieces
On his activities at home and his lifestyle
On resources and business mentors
Tech tool recommendations
The Sunday Slowdown
On doing things differently
What Sean is most proud of
Connecting with Sean
Conclusion
Resources mentioned in this episode:
Connecting with Sean Woolsey
Episode transcript:
I think one of the biggest things Covid has taught me is what I value, what I truly value. For me, it's like, yeah, I value my time more than money these days and like my freedom more than other things. And, like, I want to do what I want when I can. And I want to be with my family more and just like put my heart and soul into things that I really want in life where I can look back 10 years from now and be glad that I did those things.
Hello and welcome to Episode 70 of the My Daily Business Coach podcast. Now, today, it is an interview episode. I mean, I like all of the episodes. It's my podcast. I created it in a way that I would enjoy doing it. But I especially love the opportunity this podcast affords me to sit down with small business owners and really kind of shoot the breeze, see what they're interested in, see what things that have changed in their business since they started it. What advice they might give to their younger self. How their parents and family influence what they do.
I always walk away feeling really inspired, not just about what they've been able to build, but also taking certain elements or thinking about things they might have said in relation to my own business. So I know that today's interview will do the exact same thing for you. And I can't wait to hear, you know, what you take away from today's episode.
But before I jump into that, I just wanted to remind you that I am running for the first time ever a live eight-week coaching program for marketing for your small business. Now, Marketing for Your Small Business is an online workshop and live workshop that I've run for years now. And it really teaches you the fundamentals of marketing, how to really get strategic about your marketing as opposed to just kind of ad hoc scattergun stuff.
Now, this eight week program is actually in conjunction with the online course. So you can get access to the online course. You have that immediately. But starting February 16th, we also will meet for one hour each week to go through each of the modules. So, say you've done the module and you've got kind of other questions or you're thinking about, no, I want to try this. I want to test it, but maybe I want to validate those ideas before I go live with testing some marketing stuff. You'll be able to come into the coaching program and have myself to give you advice as well as other small businesses. Now, this is all online, so it can be accessed by anyone, anywhere in the world. So if 2021 is your year to really get to understand your marketing and get strategic, get the right systems and processes in place so that it doesn't feel like a slog, definitely get in touch. You can do that at hello@mydailybusinesscoach.com and you can read all about the course and the program over at marketingforyoursmallbusiness.com or of course just at mydailybusinesscoach.com. So we'll link to all of that in the show notes. But let's kick on to today's interview with an amazing small business owner.
So today, I'm talking to the fabulous Sean Woolsey, who is the founder of Sean Woolsey Studio, which creates handmade furniture and it's just beautiful. It's modern, but it's also classic enough that you would want to, you know, pass it down for generations. And it's beautifully made. And they do everything from pool tables to these incredible smart standing desks to beautiful furniture. And as Sean talks about in the interview today, they've got a new line happening in Chengdu, Bali - just beautiful stuff. It's the type of things that you'd walk into a room or a hotel or somebody's house. And just that would be what you focus on immediately, like, oh, that's beautiful chair or that's a beautiful table.
So if you haven't heard of Sean Woolsey or of his studio, definitely make sure that you check them out after the interview or hey, if you're multitasking, you could do it while you're listening. You can find it at seanwoolsey.com. It's just absolutely beautiful. You can also find it on Instagram at Woolsey. And of course, we'll link to that in the show notes.
So speaking of Instagram, that's actually how I came across him first. I think I encountered him maybe 2011 or 2012 when Instagram was very, very new. And he at the time had just this seemingly fabulous life. And I was working in a very big corporation in the U.K. and I would look at this Instagram and it would just be really inspirational. It was him and his girlfriend and they were travelling to all these incredible places. They were surfing. They just had that very cool coastal vibe about them. And when I was stuck in dark and dreary winters of London working for a big company, working nights and really just, yeah, it was my escapism. And so I reached out to Sean and I actually featured him on Cool Hunting. And this is back in 2012. And at the time he was working as an artist. So he was creating these beautiful pieces, but he was slowly moving into woodwork as well. So he had these beautiful wood coasters and I think maybe cheese boards or some other stuff that he was working on at that time since that interview back in 2012. Woolsey has grown so much and he really talks about the journey of how that actually happened, which I find fascinating. Often we can see the sort of transition in businesses, say, as a follow up to the business on Instagram.
But it's another thing to really understand. How did that actually happen? You know, how did you move from art into furniture? How does one do that? And, you know, what sort of upskilling did you have to do? And Sean goes into detail about that, because nowadays Sean Woolsey Studio is predominantly handmade furniture. And like I said, it is absolutely beautiful and a real contrast to the kind of throwaway mass market approach of, you know, big box brands out there making furniture.
In this interview, we also discuss the influence of Sean's parents on him in terms of creativity, starting his own business, following his passion. And it's really, really interesting to see where he kind of developed his understanding of creativity and innovation. And I just think it's always really interesting to find out where people are from now. We recorded this just on Zoom, as I do with most of my interviews, and Sean had actually just moved in with his wife and his child to a new house in Orange County that he's doing up. And so when we're on the video section of this, which always happens before I hit record, he was actually showing me the kitchen that he's in the middle of building and he was making dinner at the same time as chatting. So there is a little bit of background noise. Now, we've done our best to edit that, but just keep that in mind. It's all just part of the atmosphere, really. And with that being said, let's dive on in to my interview with the brilliant show Sean Woolsey, founder of Sean Woolsey studio.
Welcome so much to the podcast, Sean, how are you feeling right now? It's been a crazy 12 months and you're in the US as well.
It has. I feel good. I'm Covid-free. but I am definitely in the hot bed of Covid at the moment.
Yeah, because where are you based in California somewhere?
I am in Orange County, which is south of L.A. by like 40 miles. L.A. is awful and Orange County is pretty, pretty darn bad to basically like all of California is kind of shut down ever since the second surge that started after Thanksgiving.
Yeah, I have a friend who lives there who actually was on the podcast Marrawah in L.A. and she's it's crazy times. And you also we are talking in the wake of the new president coming in. So I'm sure it's just a whole lot of crazy town. It sure seems that way from this side of the world.
It's been very wild, but I think a lot of people are very eager for the switch of presidents and leaders for America, so we're happy.
I think the whole world is eager for that to happen and hopefully, hopefully 2021 brings a whole lot of new goodness. But let's talk about your business, because it's a business podcast. Tell us a little bit about Sean Woolsey Studio and people listening. Would have just heard me talk about it and how I came across to you. Gosh, I think it was almost a decade ago now. But how do you describe what you do in all the different elements of your business?
Yes. So we're a small furniture company based out of Southern California. We design handcrafted furniture. A lot of it's pretty high and it's definitely a fine furniture. We make everything from chairs to smart desks to pool tables and ping pong tables to outdoor chairs in Bali. We kind of have like a new wing where we're making a few pieces in Bali. And then the gaming tables is a large part of our business or ping pong or shuffleboard and our pool tables. And then ever since Covid hit our smart desk, because everyone is working at home, our smart desk, I couldn't give them away before Covid. And then all of a sudden now they're also our bread and butter. So we're selling those like hotcakes.
And they are pretty incredible. I'm going to make sure we link to the video that is in the show tonight. But can you explain I guess this is an audio what the smart desk is, because I thought I was like, oh, my God, they're incredible.
Yeah. So as you know, like they say, the sitting is the new smoking. Yeah. So a lot of people like to alternate or just stand or like I've had a smart desk for probably four years now, five years. And I broke my back surfing, but we'll dive into that later. But I broke my back surfing like nine years ago. So if I sit for extended periods of time, it'll hurt. So I like to stand and walk around a lot. And we just basically took a pretty typical base that you can buy online. I mean, there's a lot of different base manufacturers, but we like the shell, which is the base, and we fabricate a steel-like perimeter that goes around it, which houses like three drawers in it. And then we make a beautiful walnut top with the top. It has a wireless charger, has three soft close drawers, has a surge protector mounted on the bottom. It's like a little cable drop. So you can have all your wires effortlessly just mounted to the surge protector and then just one cable plug plugging into your wall.
If we make the monitors stands that go with them so, with everyone working from home, they are doing really well. People like standing and sitting and sitting on a stool. That's what I do most of the and on the barstool where I stand.
Awesome. And as I said, I'll link to them so people can see them visually because I think you did a great description of it, seeing them visually. It's just it's just beautiful. Like it's not the average standing desk by any means. So you have been in business for a long time now. I think it's a decade. Is it?
Oh, yeah. We just hit ten years.
Congratulations. And yeah. Oh wow. That is huge. So congratulations. That's a mammoth effort for any business owner. Can you take us back to the start? So what was your upbringing like with your parents, small business owners? Did your dad or mum craft furniture with into design? Like what was your upbringing like? And I guess how did that influence what you do now?
So my dad made multiple things, but for probably 20 years he did stained glass art.
Oh, well. And now it's extremely, extremely rare. But he did extremely high in Steinglass Art, where he would do windows and doors for like really high end homes, and then he would do stained glass lamps where he would do everything from the lampshade to the base and the bronze work and like the Bettina's and all of that. And then he did work for like Muhammad Ali and Steven Spielberg and Barbra Streisand and Kareem Abdul Jabbar. Tons of celebrities back in the day. And then he probably did that till I was about seven or eight. And then they started they started kind of mass manufacturing stained glass in China, and most people couldn't tell the difference and that was probably in the mid eighties, mid to late eighties, and people couldn't tell the difference. And the price is probably 10 percent of what he was known for.
And so he lost a lot of business and they switched over and he became a photographer right before digital became mainstream. And so he was doing film and developing awesome photos. And I would go on photo shoots with him, actually, and he would do mostly commercial shoots.
So he would work with a lot of businesses if you'd shoot like hotels and a lot of hospitality, a lot of restaurants. And then he would kind of also make and design their marketing materials like pamphlets and catalogues and mailers. And like all the print material, he would kind of be a one stop shop where he would do the photos and then do some of the marketing.
And then he did marketing for years. And then back in two thousand and eight, right before the collapse, before the Great Recession, they sold their house. And I was living there. I was 22.
And they moved to Mexico. Oh, wow. Yeah, they retired and they now they have another house out in Palm Springs area, so they kind of split their time between there in Mexico.
So that's kind of my dad. My mom, my mom has a much simpler job because she worked for the same company for probably thirty eight years, I think.
And she just works at a corporate job doing insurance sales for like a large corporate company.
Very different.
But my mom is extremely creative, like maybe even more creative than my dad. I don't know. They're both they're both extremely creative. But my mom paints so much and makes cards and she's always drawing and she's like, she can't sit still.
Kind of like me, like I'm doodling right now and making dinner and doing fun.
And I guess so. Yeah. My mom, my mom, both of them were very I had a couple of parallel brands. I started the first one. I was in high school and did that one for about a year and then I did. And second one after high school. Through college. For about four or five years, and both of them are extremely supportive, I actually shared a space that my dad owns that I used to office and warehouse of clothing out of. And so, yeah, my mom took kind of the more corporate route, even though she was extremely, extremely creative. She's always making things. Wow. My dad was an entrepreneur for his whole life.
And so is that when you said before you had these brands while you're at college, what did you study? And did you or did you have this feeling that I'm going to go that similar route to your dad in terms of having your own business? Or were you like, no, I'm going to study, I'm going to go work for someone else?
So I've only had. Two jobs my whole life, one was Roundtable Pizza, which is a pretty popular pizza joint here in the US, and then I work for Hurley, the surf company, for two years right after I stopped my second clothing brand. But I grew up I don't know, I just have always kind of had the entrepreneurial spirit. Even before I did the clothing brands, I used to wash little Duffie electric boats with a friend and we named a business rub a dub detailing. I laugh at it now, but it was hilarious. We were like 14, I think when we started it. We did it for probably a couple of years on a little manmade lake that we grew up living next to, and we would detail all these electric boats. And I was like the dream job and you could work on where you want it. And that's when I really learnt or figured out, like I want to control my own schedule and to have a lot of freedom and flexibility in what I do well and living the dream.
Living the dream from 14.
I try. I try. I definitely have had stressful times.
Yes. I'd love to talk about because it's one thing people might be listening to this and then coming to look at you for the first time, particularly people on my side of the world who may not have heard of you. But it's one thing to be like, oh yeah. And now we've expanded into this and that and doing all these different things like how did that actually happen over the last decade? Like how do you make the decision to expand into a new product category? And especially if you have a small team, like, how do you actually do that? Like, for instance, with the basement desk? I mean, there's so much technology in that as well. Physically, I guess. How do you actually make the decision to go into different categories of what you do? And then how do you make it happen? Or is it just organic or do sit down and kind of plan and then find the right people to collaborate with? How does that work?
Great question. So when I first started making furniture, I actually wanted to just be an artist and paint. And so when I left my job at Whurley, I was there for a couple of years and was the last job I'm sure I'll ever have. It's like a normal job. I was really burned out to be on a computer all day and wanted to leave apparel. I didn't even apparel for almost 10 years of that time. And really I knew I wanted to make things with my hands. I didn't know what. And so I first started making a lot of paintings and doing a lot of art shows. And I actually used to interview people. I tried to on a coffee table books. I'd interviewed a lot of different people that I found inspiring. And I travelled a lot during that period of time and during the talent of interviewing people, like I got a lot of inspiration just from being around these people. And I realised, like, I just got to start doing whatever I want to do. And one of the one of the guys, this guy, Alex Biard, who is an artist in New York, I interviewed him and one of my questions was, what does it take to be a successful artist? And I'll never forget his answer because it was the best thing I ever heard. You said no Plan B, and it gave me chills. And I was like, OK. And I think I was like the last interview I ever did. I was just so inspired to start doing something. I was young and this was like the tail end of a early early 09. And so the economy is awful. Luckily, I got on unemployment for a while so I could kind of flow. I wasn't married, I didn't own a house. So my overhead is extremely low.
And I started just making paintings and art shows and networking. And then I started framing my paintings, which is kind of what led to the woodworking.
I started buying tools and making frames and frames for other people's paintings because people liked my frames. And then I started making tables slowly, not more out of necessity. Then then like a business drive, I still have one of the first. I laugh at it now, but one of the first tables that I made for my girlfriend now wife. And it was like the most simple thing looking back on it. But I slowly started just making things that were like purposeful and useful.
And then I people liked it and at that time, reclaimed wood was really, really big, are getting bigger and bigger, and I have an uncle who had access to a ton of wood. So I did the reclaimed building for probably the first year, year and a half, and then slowly started acquiring more tools at the time.
Then I took a class at a local community college and that's when I got more serious and started buying more tools. Then I took another class at like a professional woodworking school here in Anaheim next to Disneyland. And I took a couple of classes at that shop probably seven years ago, eight years ago. And that's when I was like, OK, because at that time, the first few years I was actually doing furniture, I was still doing a lot of art. And a lot of our shows and I never set out to make furniture into a business, I just really enjoy making things at the end of the day and making things that have purpose. And I really am like a problem solver. So I like the problem solving aspect of it, like designing and building my whole kitchen. I have never done cabinets installed in my kitchen and they look really good for what I thought. Yeah. Yeah, they're good from far away now. They're good. But I, I'm definitely a perfectionist for sure. I always am learning and I love learning and I think I'm addicted to learning new things for sure.
Amazing. And that's awesome. Doing stuff in Bali as well.
Now I saw that on your website in Chengdu, which is such a great portfolio of things changed many times. But also one of the other things I wanted to ask you about is obviously you've got these passion and this drive and ambition and the perfectionist and you want to find out how things work. You're curious, but you've also got a market, especially today. There's so much marketing involved in the business. And you started in this game for 10 years and now there's so much more competition and not just competition locally or even nationally, but internationally. We can just go on Instagram and find like ten people that do a similar thing.
So how can you talk us through social media? Because you've made a really good name for yourself and a strong name for yourself. And that's actually how I came across you. I think it was in 2012 when I interviewed you first the cool hunting because I just found you on Instagram, which was such a new tool at that time. How have you marketed your business? You know, like you said, your dad worked in marketing. Did you get tips from him or did you work with an agency like how have you continued to kind of do so well with the brand while still being relatively small?
Yeah, that's another great question. I have a lot of people that either will work for me for a little bit of time or other furniture maker is the ask the same question, because the making is I always tell people like the making is the easy part, it's the selling that's hard. So when I first started out, I would make anything for anyone. So I would copy designs. I would try to make anything I did. It was a complete one off shop where I would do custom work. And we don't we hardly ever do tests and work anymore because I left the apparel business and I and I built really two brands by the time I left and with catalogues and we were making things overseas. And I knew eventually I want to do this with furniture and create a company that's a brand and make catalogues and make t shirts and stickers and like make something that is more than just like your local woodworker shop. So it definitely took a while, but I started just designing my own products and turning down, turning down the custom orders. And that was the hugest thing like that. A lot of other people in the woodworking feel like they still take on custom work.
And when you take on custom work, it's great that you lose so much time when you do one off jobs versus when you design things and you make it online and you figure out production, speed things up and outsource efficiently and find suppliers that you want to work with.
So, yeah, the first few years, I mean, really, Instagram, my wife and I, we did a big road trip around America.
I remember watching it jealously
Instagram had rolled out the map feature many moons ago where you could then click on a map and see like all your all your tagged images for like America. And so they wanted to feature a bunch of people and they featured me for a while. So that's where I got like a lot of my followers at that time.
And I wasn't doing a ton of woodworking. I was still doing some, but it was very early on in the company.
So you'd have to really, really scroll back if you wanted to find this. Yeah, but yeah. So that was that was like a huge just kind of lucky win, whereas I had a lot of people that all of a sudden wanted to see just because my wife and I were travelling around in eighty seven Westphalia around America for a couple of months, one summer. And so then I got back home and it was back to the furniture business and luckily I had all those followers. So they kind of came along from the road trip ride to the furniture, right. Of course. Of course. I lost some of them. And gained others and stuff, but in a nutshell, like Instagram's for us, it's a great platform to show our work and. I think we have we have obviously much more fandom and fans out there on Instagram than we have actually customers on Instagram, a lot of our customers don't really use Instagram or they're too busy to or whatever or they do, but they're private. Yeah, it's great for us to just showcase. I'm actually on Instagram break right now, so I kind of have a love hate with Instagram.
Yeah. I actually like literally just two nights ago I watched an entire YouTube video about a photographer in the US who gave up Instagram for a year. And I watched it for 20 minutes. And I was like, oh, that sounds really good.
Yeah, I'm the same. I do these breaks and they get longer and longer, like I'm what is seventy. So yeah, I've been on Instagram for about a month.
I have done that. I have stopped Instagram. I did as an experiment to stop it and actually saw absolutely no change in my business. I love Instagram as well. But I also hear you on the whole like I don't know.
Yeah, for us it doesn't really affect our business. It's cool. The reason I deleted it for a while is whenever I really want to focus, like, I'll be honest, like I was spending like an hour and half a day on Instagram.
And that's the number one reason. And I have a lot of opinions on Instagram, so or just in social media in general.
So, yeah, all eventually hop back on. But it's that's not like what's really turned the lovers for us.
That's clearly the main things, is when we first came out with our first ping pong table a few years ago, we hired a PR company and that's when probably I forget we featured on Cool Hunting, but 2012, or maybe it was their thing, was it our ping pong table or no? I think the ping pong actually amount on the ping pong table. I think I put you in twice or three times to the first time you're making case you were doing like kind of like a resin sort of painting or. OK, so that was before it. Ping pong. Yeah, yeah. And then we might have done the ping pong as well.
So we came out with the ping pong table and I hired a PR company and they did an excellent job. And we were really the first the first people that I know of to make a high end ping pong table. Now, there's a lot of competition. There's knock offs of our very first design. And but we never thought we'd like I grew up playing ping pong. I played tennis. I just kind of made it just for fun for us. And we're not having high hopes at all. We sold the first one within about a week. Wow. And not like really snowballed. So we got a lot of press and that has helped a lot. We've done we do a lot of Google ads currently, which is most people find us via Google this. Yeah. So they're just doing like traditional Google searches or a lot through Pinterest.
Oh, I'm always forever telling because a lot of my clients work in a similar space in home way. So making of something or interior design. And I'm always saying, oh my God, Pinterest is such an untapped market. Every time I've done, I've started doing advertising on Pinterest and it's blown me away the numbers vs. other enemies.
Yeah, yeah. Pinterest and hows is another one that's big there.
And so what would you say, I guess, to somebody starting out now? Would you recommend the same sort of thing of going to a PR agency and going like, let's focus on this one product in health? Or would you just say I mean, it's hard to say because you've had it for ten years, but is there one particular marketing thing you think stands out at the moment?
So I think for us, like all the like the best winners, like we have a lot of different products. But the top winners are always the items that even if it's like ridiculously priced like our ping pong tables. $9,000. Wow. Our shuffleboard tables start at like ten thousand dollars. And like a lot of our items are like ten times to 20 times like what a normal one would be. But the design is what sets it apart. But like those items are really hard to make. The ping pong table is the easiest, but shuffleboard and pool tables are pretty difficult to make. So I think the harder it is to do something, the more narrow the field gets, you know? Yeah, it's like there's not many people that are building rockets to go to Mars right now because it's pretty difficult to do that. So, like, I've just learnt like it's like the smart smartness, really, why we're winning in that space, because our hours are ten times what a lot of other cheap ones are. But no one has a real war on that one. No one has three draws like. We really focus on the details and you make things like literally it'd be like what I want is kind of how I design is fully how I design. So I don't I don't skimp on cost cutting. And Mike, like, I buy the best, most premium things will be built when we build things. So I think my advice would be to. Like, find your voice, whatever it is you're doing. Like you really got to find your aesthetic, your own voice creatively for what you're doing. And then once you find your market, hopefully it's a pretty niche market. I think businesses that succeed, they know the market really well. They really find a niche. And once you find that market, we really work on customer service. I listen to it, listen and read to a ton of other business people. One of the other ones that I was listening to is the CEO, the guy who started Zappos. He recently passed away. Yeah, he wrote the book Delivering Happiness. Yeah. But it's like their customer service, like he had two shoes, two pairs of shoes and sandals and then like normal shoes. And I was blown away. I was like, this guy doesn't even like shoes. And he started the company in the world, but like they really like they really deliver on their service. So I think one of the big winners for us is once we get a customer, we can almost always sell to them again and again and again because our service is really high. So we definitely focus on. You don't have a lot of people that we sell here, but we don't need a lot of people that we sell to also.
Yes, yes. I'm always talking to clients, especially if they're selling products about, you know, what's the average transaction value and then what's your frequency of purchase, because your frequency of purchase comes off the back of good customer service.
You know, people will come back to purchase again if if they think they've got a great it's a great experience. So the other thing that I know that you've done a bit of is collaborating and you've collaborated with some other people that are masters in their craft. I'm just wondering again, how has that happened? And also kind of what advice you might give if there's people out here listening to this who are thinking, I'd love to collaborate with, say, somebody who's complementary to my business or say I'm a lighting designer and I want to collaborate with a furniture designer, or how does it come together or do you have any advice for should people just reach out, like bite the bullet and reach out? Or how have your collaborations come about?
Yeah, collaborations are huge, I'm always down to collaborate, so, yeah, if you have a business out there, hit me up. Are these collaborations are huge if if you share the same the same customer base. Yeah, we we are constantly like for us our biggest thing because we don't have retail stores all speak to my business like the number one and two emails that we get is high. I live in New York City. I want to see your pool table. Where can I go see it? So people want to touch it, sit in it, feel it. But we don't have showrooms. We're not like West and CB2 Restoration Hardware and those kinds of brands. And at the end of the day, like. If we can get people, we do have children because the meesa and a lot of people come by that, it's very limiting. So a lot of what we're trying to do right now, especially this year, is to try to partner do labs with other retailers that would share like have a customer overlap and get our products and do like, say, a chair collab with certain companies that we see overlap with. And then their customer would be able to sit in our chairs and play ping pong while you're at a retail store or at a hotel or those kinds of things are huge, huge, huge, amazing.
And so you do make beautiful work. Like I remember years ago, you put out a desk and I contacted you because I thought, oh, they're amazing. But the cost to get it to Australia, it's like it's just not economical. But I just wanted to ask, obviously, you're in the kitchen now. You're cooking and you're creating the kitchen cabinets. Are you constantly changing up furniture in your own home or are there pieces that you discuss?
Yes, we are constantly, literally too much.
And do you make all of those pieces? Are you buying them from like other makers or creatives know, like our dining table or chairs?
We made our couch in here. We made we have a campbell chair here. I'm about to make a huge couch. Amazing, most of it. Yeah, I mean, I'm kind of viewing this new house, we just bought this house about four months ago that I'm kind of viewing. This is like a second showroom in a weird way. The photo shoots everything so we can do photo shoots over here, like our new bed is going to go in our house. And I mean, hopefully we can house people and covid dies down and have parties and people over here and they can. You sit in chairs and play ping pong in the yard and hop in our pool.
So I look forward to seeing more of it on your Instagram. Another thing that I have seen on the Instagram. God, I sound like such a stalker is that you are a father. Congratulations. And so how do you manage that? And I know this is a question that is often asked. I know I get asked it quite often as a woman, but I don't think we ask it enough of men who are looking after children as well. So how do you kind of how have you found a way to be able to be a dad, be a partner? Do you still surf evenly?
Oh, yes, I surfed today, I served a ton, I did yoga, I do a lot of running also for me usually every day physically active in some way or another.
And so have you had to with your business to be able to be have that time to be physically active, to to be around your family, to be outdoorsy?
Have they been things in your business that you said no to or step back from or not going full throttle into, grow, grow, grow to be able to keep your lifestyle?
Yes, it's funny. A friend and I were we were talking about that this morning, actually, because we do outsource. We don't make every single thing. So we outsource.
All our upholstery is done a couple of blocks away.
But like our Pulsers, we probably are half of this business now in all our history. And then we have three to four while the companies we have two other wood shops that help out on certain things.
We have a powder cutter. We have a lot of different people that that we sell about certain things that we can trust them to do well for us. So I've never wanted to grow a business where I manage like 10 people because I, I quickly learnt, like I used to manage like four people in the shop. And I, I just know managing a lot of people is not for me because I like freedom probably too much. So yeah, I like I like to roll into work when I want and leave when I want and if I want to go to Disneyland or like I like to just be super, super flexible and not have to be like I have to be here for a meeting and then go to this thing and that thing. Yeah, I do that when I worked early for a while and I quickly realised, like, OK, if I'm doing my own business, I'm going to make the rules, I'm going to totally make it how I want to do it. But yeah, I do. I do have balance. I think. Sarah, a balance. I definitely am a workaholic and I'm constantly thinking about my business. But when I'm here at home and playing with my kid all the time, we have one girl is four and a half right now. Yeah, but I think life is all about balance. I've definitely had out periods where an insane amount and you don't really love what you're doing for a while.
And I'm definitely not in that stage right now, which is more an inspiration stage, because for me, like I get inspired when I can actually, like, sit backed away from my business and do it on a larger level than like like see it from an outside perspective, you know. Yes, definitely. Add products that, like our customers would think, because when you're in your business, like day in and day out, it's so hard. You're like banging your head against the wall looking at the same graphic or singing the same song. And you're making like minor little tweak after tweak. And you don't know like you just need to step back sometimes and go for a walk or surf or do whatever it is that lets you, like, escape for a while and come back to whatever problem yourself.
Totally. I couldn't agree more.
I actually think that I remember looking at into the science of this and it's like the alpha waves need to hit and then that like kind of whatever happens in your brain that you get that kind of aha moment. It can actually happen until the alpha waves of alpha waves can only hit when you're relaxed. So that's why people get great ideas in the shower or in the bathroom or wherever, because they'll stop thinking for a second and then those waves can hit and then the ideas can come.
Apparently the ideas come in the shower and during runs. Yeah.
And when I'm driving, yes, I often remember driving as well. And then I kind of like to switch over, like pull over and write something down. But you have talked about Tiny, the founder of Zappos, and you've talked also about outsourcing, which I think is such a huge thing that people need to embrace more of, whether it's outsourcing, like you said, some of the craftmanship or outsourcing like admin tasks or something else. But what else do you think has helped you most with your business? Do you have any mentors? Do you have any courses or books or anything else you've had to do? You mentioned before going to school and learning a bit more about the craft. Have there been any kind of business mentors for you that have helped?
It's funny because I know you're a business coach, right? Yeah, that's awesome. I hired a friend. I've done a lot. There's there's definitely you know, my dad would probably be my number one on that because he's he's been his own business multiple times and he's taught me a lot is still I call him whenever I can to trying to wrap my head around certain things. But I had a business coach who's a friend who when he was starting out, I hired him and he helped me for a while. I listen to loads of audiobooks and I listen to a lot of podcasts. But other than that, I mean, probably the biggest support group is I have a pretty tight knit group of friends. Every single one of us is entrepreneurs. And and then I have another group of friends where where we meet up. And those are all entrepreneurs. There's some overlap between those two groups. But I'm around a lot of entrepreneurs in my day to day life. So it's cool to get different perspectives on, like hiring people or on just all different kinds of things, because whatever your business is, there's going to be overlap, even if you're in a totally different industry on how to like how to grow or they'll see things differently or they'll just view your business differently than your own business. So it's it's great. That's probably been the number one thing that has this helped me that in my. That's for sure.
Yeah, I completely agree. I'm often telling people, even especially at the end of business coaching, I'm like, you know, what is going to be in the group because you can't just keep paying somebody. Phurba, you know, it's my heart to, like, help educate people so they can go into it. But I'm always saying you've got to cultivate your crew around you that are there regardless of who you're hiring or not. Do you have any kind of tech tools that have helped you have any apps or any particular platforms? I don't know if you use Shopify or you use something else to sell your products or Squarespace. So are there any things that you just absolutely love for business?
My wife says serious aethereal Jim Collins, who wrote the book Good to Great. He did an interview with Tim. A while ago, in my mind, like is amazing, like truly, I probably listen in interview like five times and he is he is a brilliant man. But one of the things I'm going to start doing this year, I haven't done it yet. I will admit that I have definitely thought about it is he has creative goals. He's he's a writer. He has the most simple strategy where he does it on his phone. He does it in notes. I use notes. I use notes constantly. Just the app on your Apple computer. I live my life. But he has this formula. It's for his day. So at the very end of his day, he will rate negative to negative one zero plus one or two plus two. And that's how he does his system. And today for me, like would probably be like a plus two, but not really creatively. But I've seen friends serve, had coffee in my friend's backyard and breakfast burrito rode by golf cart around the block with my daughter, did all these things and then he would like write down, but he tries to get to a certain number every year. And then you can look back to and see like, oh, well, it's actually like, why was this a negative one or negatives too. And like, what effect did that? Because sometimes you have these little things that occur. We all do as humans where little things will occur and they shape your entire day without realising it. Yeah. So that I mean, I'm always trying to learn different things. Cooking is something that I really want to learn more and more. And I'm going to do a master class online. Yeah, I think there's new tech tools. I'm not to be honest, I'm not really techie, which is probably why I don't like Instagram that much, but I don't spend a lot of time on my computer. Yeah, I don't use SketchUp hardly at all.
I can use it like in a very rudimentary form, but like when I come up with new designs, it's like pencil and paper and then I build a prototype and then I tweak it and tweak it and then I launch the item.
Yeah, yeah. I work quick but I don't, I don't spend hours on a computer really.
And actually leads me into asking you about what the Sunday Slowdown is, because I noticed we have this other account, the Sun Slowdown. And can you tell us a bit about what that is?
Yes. So sun so I just I mean, really, our blog that we started during covid to everyone's at home or I mean all the stats for people. I mean, it's it's sad. I don't want to go into, like, depression and anxiety and all the bad stuff is just through the roof. And I think everyone except for me is like on their phone a lot more. And they're on their computer a lot more and they're just there. Screen time is way up. So we started the Sunday slowed down to like give you a really quick dose of something that would inspire you, whether it's like an interview. We do get them on the interviews or it's like just imagery that a lot of the imagery is supposed to make. You want to be outside and both nature and travel, which is hard to do right now still. So you enjoy you can realise like what you enjoy. I think one of the biggest things covid has taught me is what I value, what I truly value. For me, it's like, yeah, I value my time more than money these days and like my freedom more than other things. And like, I want to do what I want when I can and I want to be with my family more and just like put my heart and soul into things that I really want in life where I can look back ten years from now and be glad that I did those things. But the sun set on really is like a lot of it is interviews. When we first started it, it was a lot of interviews with people to see what they were doing during covid.
We didn't think it would last this long way at all. I remember in the book something and now it's like it'll be done by June.
I'm like, oh yeah. I mean, we all thought it'd be over. So we were just like, oh, let's watch this little interview series and let's interview all our other friends. And then we quickly we're like. Oh, man, this thing's going to last a while.
Yes, and you think of it as well. My goodness. So well done on coming up with that. And I totally agree. I think everyone needs to put that. I have a lock on my computer, my phone, so I can only be on apps for half an hour for the day. And sometimes the thing will come out saying it's locked at nine a.m. and I'm like, oh my God, I've already used it up. And other times it'll be 10:30 at night and I'll be like, oh, that's good, half now and they'll die. But yeah, I agree with too invested in technology all the time. What's one thing? Because you have been in this business for ten years and you've been so successful and changed and adapted and things, what's one thing you might have done differently if you were starting out now? Or it might be that you wouldn't change anything?
I think I would have gotten serious faster. Yeah, I mean, I didn't like I didn't just dive into the water, like I put my toes in and then it took me a while to really be like, OK, this is what I'm going to do. And I feel like the first three years I was kind of just. Half in, half out thinking about other things, and I had I had plan B and it took me a while to be like, OK, I'm doing this, and I'm to lock in and really invest in learning woodworking and furniture design and buying books of like all the great designers and really focusing on the right answer.
And then I guess on the flip side, what are you most proud of from your journey owning and running this incredible business?
I think for me, this thing I'm most proud of is that I'm able to do what I love every day. And make enough money to live how I want at the end of the day, I'm never going to get rich doing what I'm doing, but I never really want to be rich, like I want to be fulfilled and just really happy. Like I wake up every day going into work for the most part. I mean, we all we all have our headaches and fires and things that we don't want to deal with. But for the most part, I'm stoked to do what I want to do. And if that changes, like there was a long time when I was in apparel where I was way over it, I was extremely burned out and I just wanted to be done. And I think you wake up after doing the same thing over and over and over. And that's how some people just get in like major life for us. But I just I wanted to get out and I was like, I'm not going to do this anymore. I got to figure out what's next. Yeah, so I think for me, it's like doing any kind of entrepreneurial venture is hard. It's not for the faint of heart.
It is super, super hard and challenging, especially starting out. And I think the thing I'm proudest of is like I get to I have a couple of employees.
I love my employees. I love who I work with. I love the company that I've created. It's a little micro company, like it's nothing compared to so many other companies. But we love what we do every day and we're proud of what we do. And it affords me the lifestyle that I have. So I'm stoked and I pinch myself that I get to do this.
Yeah, amazing, amazing, and that's all everyone ever wants, like, you know, all the money in the world, like what can you do with it at the end? We're all going to die. At some point. You need to look back and be like, I lived a really great life. I really enjoyed it. And I was there for my family and loved ones. And so what's next for you and where can people connect with you? We will, of course, link to your website, which is seanwoolsey.com, and you can find your Instagram at the moment. So it is the best place for people to connect with you if they want to get in touch after they've sent me an email.
Yeah, go to the website. You can find my email or contact us contact form. What's next? So every year I try to really try to design like six to eight new products. That's kind of continually my my goal work wise. So, yeah, we have two new smartarse that are coming out because our tomatoes are doing well. We have a new pool table that'll come out this year and then they'll probably be a couple of other ones. Every year we try to make a new catalogue. We'll probably start working on that soon. Now will probably be a bigger one, actually, because 10 years, but yeah, I mean, for us, it's like slow and steady growth and like just design a few new products every year that we're really proud of that we can make and that we know that is our brand. That's kind of like every year I kind of work goals and usually a lot of it's like typical numbers stuff. But the fun stuff for me is like, OK, I'm going to challenge like the last two months I've been working on my kitchen cabinets and now I'm going to build a kitchen island for us and then I'm going to build a huge deck in our backyard. But continually, continually learning new things is because really what's fun for me, there's an artist, Robert Rauschenberg, actually, who is on the top of my list when I was doing interviews years ago. He's passed away now, but he's a big American artist. And one of the things I love about Rauschenberg. Is that he would take a medium artistically and get really into it and then just completely like. Switch it up and move to something else, like he has a whole cardboard series where he just stood out on found cardboard or just like the ideas behind it, like he did these awesome blouses that he's really, really famous for. And then he move on the screen printing and photography and like, you know, like the minute he got bored, he'd start learning something else and figure out how to incorporate it into his work. I mean, he's he's always been a huge inspiration for me. Just design kind of that philosophy of like, oh, I just learnt how to like. Working late, like, how do I turn these around the legs and then incorporate it into products that we make? Mm hmm. I like that mentality.
Yeah, such a good one. And always you keep moving, you know, moving not just staying stock and complacent sometimes.
Yeah, that sounds like it's like the Mark Twain quote. Yes. I like Mark Twain quotes, but he said the average man dies at seventy two, but most men really die inside at 27.
Oh that's really sad but it's really true. Like you see the statistics, about 60 or 80 percent of people don't like what they do for a living. Life is short and especially where you and I are in a very privileged position to be able to even have access to start a business or do something that we like. And so many people are in that position, but they don't see it and they kind of create these prisons for themselves. Yeah. Yeah. Well, thank you so much for taking the time to talk to me and I'll let you get back to your dinner and your Sunday night. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. It's been such a pleasure. And you couldn't see. But I was nodding along to so much of what you have to say.
Thank you. It was a pleasure. And I really just want to thank you and wish you the best for 2021 as well.
You too. Thank you so much. Take care. OK. All right. Bye bye.
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Oh, what an awesome guy, I absolutely loved chatting to Sean about how he's built his business, Sean Woolsey studio, and I just loved how many tips and insights and inspiration he kind of shared in that interview. Two things really stood out for me. One was that idea of having no Plan B, you know, going all in on something. And I really found it interesting that, you know, he was so honest and said I didn't really go all in on it.
And I wish that maybe if I was looking back, that I had done that a bit sooner. I think there's a lot of small business owners that feel that way, that maybe by year five or year 10 things really kick off. And they think, oh, if I kind of had really, you know, pushed myself a little bit more in the first few years or if I'd really just taken it as a serious thing. But then on the flipside of that, I also think that there's so much learning that comes with the experience. You know, my business is now in its sixth year. And when I started out, I literally gave myself a year. I said to my husband, I'll give myself a year.
If it doesn't work, I will, you know, go back and get a job. I'm employable and I'll be able to find a job or, you know, I'm happy to go work elsewhere just knowing that I gave it a really good shot. And in that first year, I probably did keep it a bit safe, even a year to you know, I was still going in. I was consulting to companies very similar to where I'd already worked, and that was very safe. I wasn't necessarily having to go out and get heaps of clients in the way that maybe in year three and four I had to do and then obviously later on building online courses and all of those kinds of things. So I absolutely love that advice about don't have a plan B, just go all in.
The second thing that I absolutely loved about what Sean had to share was his ideas around Instagram. And he's admitted that, you know, sometimes it's not the funnest place to be and that he does take regular breaks from it and talked about being on a break. You know, right now, I've talked about this quite a bit on my Instagram and with client calls. Instagram, you know, as a tool is fantastic. It has given so many business owners the opportunity to be found. It's brand awareness. It you is not a huge investment in terms of financially, but it can be a huge investment for people's time. I always talk about this in my marketing for a small business course. And any time I talk about marketing, really social media is just one connection channel. It is not a marketing plan. And you've always got to remember that you don't own social media. You do not control social media. Things can change overnight. So you do not want to build your whole business on a platform like Instagram. And if you are doing that, I would urge you to try and look at other ways that you guiding people from Instagram into your real life. So that might be coming to an event. It might be getting on the phone, it might be emailing you or you emailing them. Nurturing that offline away from social media can be one of the best things that you'll do for your business. But, yeah, just really, really liked that. He was really honest and open about social media because I think so many small business owners, I don't think I know because I talk to so many of them.
Social media really is kind of a tax that they feel that they have to pay to be in the small business world. And you've just got to always remember or think about if social media is controlling you or if you are in control of the time and the effort and the energy that you put into social media.
So you absolutely love that, like I said at the start, really has and does create the most incredible furniture said definitely go and check it out at seanwoolsey.com. And the Instagram is @thewoolsey. And of course, a link to that in the show right now. You can find the show nights and a full transcript of my interview with Sean over at mydailybusinesscoach.com/podcast/70 as this is episode 70.
Like I said at the beginning, I am launching an eight week online coaching program for Marketing for Your Small Business. So you not only get the course, which has been available for a few years and has done wonders for so many small business owners being able to really understand marketing and then be able to create a strategic plan. But you'll also get eight weeks of coaching with myself and a small group of likeminded small business owners.
So if you are interested in that, it kicks off February 16th. Please get in touch with us because we are capping it. We're having a small group just so that everyone gets a chance to talk and share. So you can do that via email at hello@mydailybusinesscoach.com. Just let us know you're interested or you can just, if you like, all guns blazing and you just want to get in there. You can do that over at marketingforyoursmallbusiness.com. And of course, we'll link to those in the show notes.
Finally, if you found this interview inspiring, definitely go and say hi to Sean over on Instagram again, it's just @thewoolsey and of course share it with a friend. We just learnt so much from one another. And I really, really know that Sean's insights and tips and ideas will really resonate with so many people. So, yeah, definitely send it to a friend if you haven't already. Thanks so much for listening. See you next time.
Thanks for listening to My Daily Business Coach podcast. If you want to get in touch, you can do that at mydailybusinesscoach.com or hit me up on Instagram at @mydailybusinesscoach.
