It’s a sad fact that most cabinet making operations Are not the fun, happy easy profitable businesses that all of us aspiring cabinet makers envisioned when we first got started.

As a matter fact, I’ve talked to a few cabinet makers who have war stories about working 150 hours a week, sleeping in the shop on shipping blankets, living on hotdogs and Kraft dinner, and selling their soul to make payroll on Friday. (Or maybe that was just me.)

Seems strange, because every house in the world has a kitchen and a couple bathrooms, it’s unavoidable that cabinet makers should be in the highest of demands. I might even go so far as to say demand isn’t the problem. So, if in fact, we are in a high-demand industry, what’s with all the suffering?

Well, after being in this business for 32 years, doing the majority of that the hard way, I believe the last five years has taught me what might be my most valuable lessons yet, and I’ll even give you a summer reading list. What a deal!

Three lures
Let’s say, as a young person, you probably worked in a cabinet shop, then for a plethora of reasons you decided to bust out on your own, either in your garage or in a small shop with a few basic tools and all the gumption of a young entrepreneur. You were probably a really talented woodworker, and people loved your stuff. They told their friends, and before you knew it, your business was busting at the seams. At some point you gave in to the knee-jerk reaction that is always these three things:

• Need more space
• Need more people
• Need more machines

You can’t see any other way, and it just makes sense. So, you do it. At first, it’s easy to keep your eye on one or two people so you’re not experiencing the full nightmare of employees yet. Things are going OK, everyone’s friends are telling their friends and this cycle repeats, With each person hired, machine purchased, or space expanded, things get just a little more painful. 

But it’s really hard to pinpoint what’s going on. It’s almost death by 1,000 paper cuts. There’s an invisible ceiling around $1 million in sales and the closer you get to it the more painful business becomes. Now, depending on your skill level you might not experience that, but there’s another ceiling at about $5 million and the next one at $10 million. Maybe you’re pushed up against one of those.

You start searching for something that might help. With any luck you find this crazy thing called lean manufacturing. You realize wow, there certainly is a lot to learn here, I’m gonna hire an expert to help me. Good idea, but let’s hit the pause button right there!

Six key skills
You got into woodworking because you were passionate about working with your hands and were a great woodworker, and as you grew your organization it started to demand more of you than to just be a woodworker. At that point, we all just put our nose to the grindstone and kept going with what little knowledge we had outside of woodworking. What other skills am I referring to? In my experience there are six major categories you must also master to break through your current ceiling and get to the next level.
 Here they are in no particular order, they are all important. 

• Time
• Team
• Money
• Growth
• Sales
• Marketing

So you can see on top of knowing your trade inside and out, you must also start adding these to your skillset. Now you’re becoming a real jack of all trades! Let’s just touch on each one as a high level overview. 

Time: At what point did you stop working out in the shop long enough to delve deep into time management? Learning how to manage your time effectively is not a skill that comes naturally. We all probably think, “There is no way I could do any more work in a day.” But there are people running billion-dollar companies who have the same 24 hours as we do. Clearly, they know something we don’t. 
Book recommendations: Getting Things Done by David Allen, Execution by Larry Bossidy.

Team: If I had to pick one skill to focus on, I think it would be this. If you’re not already a charismatic, inspirational leader, then, boy, are you in for a rude awakening when you start to build a team. People are the hardest part of any business. I personally feel as soon as you’re above about three employees, you’re no longer a woodworker, you’re in the business of people. 
Book recommendations: How To Win Friends and Influence People by Dale Carnegie (just start reading this over and over for the rest of your life; it will never get old); if you’re a CEO, you must read The Motive by Patrick M. Lencioni

Money: What did you learn about money in school? (Answer: nothing!) If you were lucky, your parents were able to teach you something, but for the rest of us, we got the typical, “Save 10% of what you earn for retirement.” None of us listened, and besides, that’s about the worst financial advice anyway. If you think your business is going to someday make you millions and you can retire, I’d say, hang onto that dream but have a good plan B. Learn about money, how it works and how to generate revenue while you sleep. A good Step 1 for any entrepreneur (in my opinion) is to own the building you occupy. About 95% of all millionaires are because of real estate, not woodworking. 
Book recommendations: Richest Man in Babylon by George S. Clason. Rich Dad Poor Dad by Robert T. Kiyosaki.

Growth: if something isn’t growing, it’s dying. If you thought your education was over when you got out of school, think again. You want to run or own a business, personal growth should be at the top of your list. And never forget these wise words passed onto me: “Your ego will prevent you from learning the thing you need to know most.” 
Book recommendations: Mindset by Carol S. Dweck.

Sales: If you can’t sell it, you will never have the opportunity to build it. This is such a vast subject, the best advice I can give would be two things: A) Solve a real problem that a big audience is having; B) Make it easy for customers to buy. 
Book recommendations: Ultimate Sales Machine by Chet Holmes.

Marketing: This differs from sales in that sales is taking the order, but marketing is how are you going to tell the world about what you’re doing, and keep their attention. 
Book recommendations: It’s Not Just Luck, by Eliyahu M. Goldratt, Magnetic Marketing by Dan S. Kennedy.

Just like your discovery of lean manufacturing, all these skills have professionals associated with them. It never hurts to get help on some of the ones you don’t feel you have mastered yet. It will pay off. 

Just keep in mind the full saying: “A jack of all trades is a master of none, but often times better than a master of one.”

Master as many as you can. Get help with the rest. 

Take your business to all the places you dream of. You are the architect of your own life. Design well.