Sawmill Business Podcast

Tyler Booth: Temecula Yard Games “I started making custom cornhole works, which was just a kind of a shot in the dark and it really took off, probably did about 20 sets the first year and then, about 50 the second year and about a hundred last year or kind of in between years, not necessarily 12 months. So, I tried to kind of create this experiment in business. And so, I've added since then the Etsy pages, the kind of, content creation side. And make a little money off each one of these streams, which is really helpful in terms of supporting the new tools and the other projects that I want to do.”  - Tyler Booth Welcome to a brand-new episode of the Woodpreneur Podcast. Today, your host Steve Larosiliere is joined by Tyler Booth of Temecula Yard Games. Tyler began creating unique cornhole pieces and it quickly gained popularity. He likely produced around 20 sets his first year, followed by 50 sets his second year, and roughly 100 sets his third year. Tyler then added the Etsy pages and content cr

Sebastien Desmarais: Hollywood Woodwork “We're an architectural woodwork company, founded in 1968 by my grandfather at the time we were a small two-person shop and we started doing different things, and we grew up and eventually we focused on commercial architectural woodworking, and by 1999 we've grown to maybe a 20-million a year company. And we started heading down a path of employee ownership. So, we're an ESOP, we're partially employee-owned, and since then, just been growing the business and now we're diversified a little bit. We do woodworking, we do metalwork, and we're also into residential as well.”  - Sebastien Desmarais Welcome to a brand-new episode of the Woodpreneur Podcast. Today, your host Steve Larosiliere is joined by Sebastien Desmarais from Hollywood Woodwork. Sebastien's grandfather established Hollywood Woodwork in 1968, specializing in architectural woodwork. At the time, they had a small, two-person staff. By 1999, they had developed into a 20 million-dollar firm as a res

Haeden Secor: Truett & Grace Construction “You're catching us in the very early stages. We probably went into business about seven months ago. So, we're definitely in the growing stage, mostly just making connections, networking, and stuff like that. The long-term goal is we're more of a general contractor. That's what the goal is. So, being in Lake Harwell, we're here on the lake. So, our long-term goal is, we want to start building custom lake homes, kind of designated more towards the higher-end homes is what my end goal is, but for right now, just getting started, I'm not turning down any projects.”  - Haeden Secor Welcome to a brand-new episode of the Woodpreneur Podcast. Today, your host Steve Larosiliere is joined by Haeden Secor from Truett & Grace, a professional contracting company, Located in Hartwell, Georgia. Haeden launched his company roughly seven months ago. They were undoubtedly in the growing stage and were mainly networking and forming relationships. Situated in Lake H

Tim Mills: Lakes Region Woodworking “I started off in high school, absolutely fell in love with woodworking, working with my hands, and it's just kind of grown from there. I'd never really gotten into the actual woodworking aspect of it until I moved into the house that I have now. Now, my basement is huge, so I took over part of that as my actual wood shop. I've just been acquiring tools and stuff over the years. And being a trim carpenter, you kind of learn a lot of things about different woods, how to do different things, and I've always just liked creating. I get these ideas in my head and then I just want to bring them to life. So that's what really sparked it all.”  - Tim Mills Welcome to a brand-new episode of the Woodpreneur Podcast. Today, your host Steve Larosiliere is joined by Tim Mills from Lakes Region Woodworking. Tim started in high school and immediately fell in love with woodworking and creative work. From there, it just continued to expand. He hadn't actually begun woodworking

Matt Williams: Mr. Toolbelt “I started it when I was working for somebody else doing it at nights and weekends until I made enough to make it on my own or felt like I could. So, it started in 2011. About 2013, I took the plunge to go full on.”   - Matt Williams   Welcome to a brand-new episode of the Woodpreneur Podcast. Today, your host Steve Larosiliere is joined by Matt Williams, also known as Mr. Toolbelt. Matt started doing woodworking while he was employed by another person, working nights and weekends until he had enough money to support his own business. In 2011, he began his small side hustle, and in or around 2013, he decided to go full-time. Ten fruitful years after it started as a side gig, his firm is still going strong! In this episode, Matt talks about his company's internal dynamics, his early years in management, and how he advertised their services ten years ago when they first opened for business. For most business owners, reaching a milestone of ten years is difficult. But he

Bridgette & Dillon: Farmhouse Woodworking “We started dating, I think it was like in 2019, and like she kind of said, we just started building things together for our own house and we kind of loved how we were a great team. We worked really well together, and we really liked what we were making. And then some of our friends started reaching out and they're like, “Hey, I love that. Could you build that for us?” And yeah, we started realizing people wanted this stuff that we were making.”  - Dillon Welcome to a brand-new episode of the Woodpreneur Podcast. Today, your host Steve Larosiliere is joined by Bridget and Dillon of Farmhouse Woodworking. Since Bridget's father was a contractor, she was constantly exposed to the world of woodworking as a child. She majored in engineering in college, worked as an engineer for a while, and discovered her passion when she and Dillan bought their home and began DIY home improvements. Dillon, on the other hand, was a teacher before starting the business.

John Miller: Busby Cabinets “So, I started talking with Jack Busby, who was the founder of this company and had been running it for almost 40 plus years when I came across it. So, he and his wife started it in his dad's goat barn here in Alachua County in Florida and we've got four locations throughout the state of Florida, which have just under 70 employees. Have 35,000 square foot facility here in Alachua where we produce everything. And he had really built himself a very nice niche in the luxury residential, cabinetry, and millwork world. And, it checked all the boxes when I was looking for a company, one that had been started by somebody, run by someone, and had reached a point where then I could come in and apply the things that I've learned in my career to help grow this business as well.”  - John Miller Welcome to a brand-new episode of the Woodpreneur Podcast. Today, your host Steve Larosiliere is joined by John Miller, the present CEO of Busby Cabinets. John founded the corporation with

Joe Keller: RCS Millwork “I realized maybe it wouldn't be so bad to be my own boss. I went and bought into RCS with my dad and now we've got about 86 employees. And so, we do commercial millwork all over the United States. Sort of primarily focused here in the Midwest, in very specific markets but we'll follow our favorite customers just about anywhere that they want to go.”  - Joe Keller Welcome to a brand-new episode of the Woodpreneur Podcast. Today, your host Steve Larosiliere is joined by Joe Keller, the president of RCS Millwork. Joe's dad founded RCS Millwork as a family business. As things improved, his father grew the business from 3 employees to 60. After finishing college, Joe worked for a general contractor until he realized that being his own boss wasn't all that horrible. He thus moved in and joined the family business alongside his father, and the two of them managed to grow it from 60 to 85 employees. They currently carry out commercial millwork across the country. It is sort of ma

Kris Reynolds: Reynolds Custom Woodworks “We wanted a table in one of the hallways upstairs in the house, and we couldn't find one that would fit. So, I thought, I'll try to make one. And that was it for me. I was hooked, and it kind of came naturally. I was able to sort out design, I was able to come up with joinery, and I was hooked. So, it started off kind of as a furniture-making operation. A lot of the items in our house. And, of course, then friends want stuff. And then I got asked to build a kitchen for a friend of mine in 2004, and I was like, I want to build cabinets. And then here we are today; we do about 35 to 40 a year.”   - Kris Reynolds   Welcome to a brand-new episode of the Woodpreneur Podcast. Today, your host Steve Larosiliere is joined by Kris Reynolds, owner of Reynolds Custom Woodworks. Kris started by attempting to build a table for his family after they struggled to locate one that would fit in one of their home's corridors. And it was because of that event that Kris found his

Austin Waldo: Austin School of Furniture “I want to get more into woodworking, so as soon as I get to Austin, I'm going to look up a woodworking club and see what they're all about. And found a club that's no longer around and went to the club meeting, which was pretty terrible. As a furniture maker, I was bored. I want to meet more woodworkers and be much more social around it. So, I took some classes at the community college, met some great folks there, and we started brainstorming, what do we like to do? Well, we like good craft beer, and we like woodworking, so let's start a club that's about that.” -Austin Waldo Welcome to a brand-new episode of the Woodpreneur Podcast. Today, your host Steve Larosiliere is joined by Austin Waldo, the managing director of Austin School of Furniture. Austin started school when he went to a woodworking club, but he felt it could have been more thrilling and better. Because of it, he consequently made more friends and met more woodworkers. He enrolled in a few

Mike Jones: Mike Jones Made It “Around 2019, I just kind of started building stuff for myself as a hobby and just didn't realize how much I enjoyed it now that it wasn't like, just demanded or just forced upon me. Just having the opportunity to build things that I wanted to build versus what my dad had ever tasked me with for that particular day. So basically, I started building stuff for myself and posting it online, and originally, I started like selling a lot of my stuff on Facebook, kind of just to fund my habit.” -Mike Jones Welcome to a brand-new episode of the Woodpreneur Podcast. Today, your host Steve Larosiliere is joined by Mike Jones, the founder of Mike Jones Made It. Having a mom who's into real estate and a do-it-yourselfer dad, Mike grew up always helping his dad renovate things, like her mom's daycare and some of their rental properties. Mike began creating stuff for himself as a hobby in 2019 and later realized how much he enjoyed it because he was doing it for himself now rather t

Mike McGarry: Urban Lumber MB “So, I mean, it took a lot of lobbying and a lot of convincing to eventually get to the point where I could run a pilot project, basically just to convince the city that this is a feasible option. So, I borrowed as much money as I possibly could. I think I had, at the time, I think I had 50K to try and pull together a full sawmill facility. And I found a nice landlord that gave me a building to rent for cheap. Founded a used forklift, found an old sawmill that I rebuilt into an electric sawmill, bought an edger, and it just started milling. Just really figuring it out as I went every step of the way. The mechanical side especially was the first challenge.”   -Mike McGarry   Welcome to a brand-new episode of the Woodpreneur Podcast. Today, your host Steve Larosiliere is joined by Mike McGarry, the Co-Founder of Urban Lumber MB. Mike has been at the urban lumber game since about 2018. In Winnipeg, they were losing a ton of trees in their urban canopy, primarily due to Du

Steve Larosiliere: Solo Episode “When I first started, I didn't really care about downloads, and I still kind of don't care about downloads. I care more about providing really great stories and insights and lessons for the Woodpreneur Community. And so, I would say that I probably took last year the most seriously that I ever have with the podcast. I did my best to find good guests. And I know that a lot of you find a lot of value in the consulting sessions that I provide for folks.” -Steve Larosiliere Welcome to a brand-new episode of the Woodpreneur Podcast. Today's guest is none other than Steve Larosiliere himself! Hear him as he recaps 2022, discusses his goals for 2023, and shares a handful list of trends and other stuff that Woodpreneurs should know this 2023. For the Woodpreneur Community, Steve started the podcast to share inspiring stories, insightful thoughts, and life lessons. Before he knew it, 20,000 people were already listening to the podcast without him ever glancing at the stati

Landon Knopf: LK Custom Woodworking “I started in high school doing construction. That was kind of everything. But I got a lot of really good basics down doing that. My parents built a cabin down in Southern Missouri. Kind of like where it all started, they built a cabin. I was in college at the time. Me and my dad decided that we were going to finish the entire interior of the cabin ourselves. And with that, I was able to accumulate all these tools, because it was kind of my idea.” -Landon Knopf Welcome to a brand-new episode of the Woodpreneur Podcast. Today, your host Steve Larosiliere is joined by Landon Knopf, the owner of LK Custom Woodworking. Landon's humble beginnings began when he worked in construction throughout high school when he first acquired all the fundamentals. When he turned college, his father decided they would complete the interior of the cabin they had built in Southern Missouri all by themselves. And so, Landon was able to gather all the equipment required for woodworking.

Jon Heyesen: Arbor Wood Co. “Arbor Wood Co. We're Minnesota based. We produce thermally modified wood, siding, decking dimensional lumber, millwork, and all that stuff. We have been around for a decade, 10 years exactly. And the Arbor Wood story really starts from an intersection of a love of building materials, a love of specifically, sustainably produced building materials, design, and an intersection, a connection with the academic world.” -Jon Heyesen Welcome to a brand-new episode of the Woodpreneur Podcast. Today, your host Steve Larosiliere is joined by Jon Heyesen, the CEO of Arbor Wood Co. Jon's journey began at the point where his passion for design, his connection to academia, and his love of building materials—more specifically, building materials produced sustainably—met. Because of where they are, the natural resources they have, and their incredibly strong natural resources research section, they have a rather active partnership with the University of Minnesota. As a result, relevant r

Mike Hoy: Rocky Mountain Wood Slabs “Rocky Mountain Wood Slabs, how it became was, it started back when I was a little kid just being interested in working with my hands, being interested in building things. At 12 years of age, my mom's ex-husband had a welder and he taught me how to weld. And then I just really took off from there. I got into construction. I worked with one home builder and he was awesome. Because I told him my goal was, I wanted to do built-ins, I wanted to do cabinetry, I wanted to build furniture.” -Mike Hoy Welcome to a brand-new episode of the Woodpreneur Podcast. Here with us today, together with your host Steve Larosiliere is Mike Hoy, owner of Rocky Mountain Wood Slabs & Handmade Bespoke Furnishings. Mike's humble beginnings began when he was just a young child who enjoyed crafting things using his hands. With time, Mike got into construction while building himself some capital, and now, as he gains a lot of experience, his focus is to do more built-ins and build more fu

Craig DeCicco: DeCicco Woodshop "I've been sort of building furniture or building things for most of my life. I was in the Marine Corps, my first time living in a house, and I was just building some crappy furniture for myself. And then slowly started building slightly better furniture for myself. And then, a few years passed, and some friends started asking me if I could build some furniture for them. A couple more years go by that and I'm just, "Does anybody else wants any furniture?" -Craig DeCicco Welcome to a brand-new episode of the Woodpreneur Podcast. Craig DeCicco, the proprietor of the custom furniture firm, ‘DeCicco Woodshop,’ is here today with your host Steve Larosiliere. When Craig and his family purchased their home, he began working on some modest furniture pieces. Friends and relatives began to notice and inquire whether he might construct something for them. Over the ensuing few years, Craig started creating a proper workshop and developing his talents. Every now and then, he wo

Layane Maximiliano: Unique Wood Furniture “Max started flipping houses, so that’s how he started his tools collection. And I was working as a designer in a high-end cabinetry company for kitchens and bass. I loved it. I loved the designing process and customizing. But then, after a few years, we decided to come back to Texas. We’d missed it. So, we came back, and Max opened a home remodeling company here. So, with interior design love, I just wanted to decorate my house. So that’s how we basically started.”  – Layane Maximiliano   Welcome to a brand-new episode of the Woodpreneur Podcast. With your host Steve Larosiliere today is Layane Maximiliano, an Interior Designer and founder of Unique Wood Furniture, together with her husband, Max. Layane and her other half Max are both immigrants from Brazil who are now residing in Texas for 13 long years! Layane did something worthwhile while waiting for the approval of their green card; she completed her Interior Design degree – which in turn will be the ga

Nathan Zirkel: A to Z Man Construction “I used to be a fireman and I got started, I built my house, or I remodeled our house that we live in currently. And that kind of just started everything and then I was doing it on my days off. And eventually, I got hurt here about three years ago and had to step away from the fire department. And so, this went into full-time. It was always full-time, but it went into even more full-time.”  – Nathan Zirkel Welcome to a brand-new episode of the Woodpreneur Podcast! Nathan Zirkel, owner of A to Z-Man Construction LLC, is here today with your host Steve Larosiliere. Nathan was a fireman before starting his own company. Remodeling their very own humble abode during his days off was his first project. When his full-time job as a firefighter hit a rough patch, he eventually became a round-the-clock Woodpreneur. In this episode, Nathan talks about the challenge of growing his business for those people whose not into the “technical” side of it. How his wife is a signifi

“As I graduated high school I was like, “this is it! I love this career!” I was fortunate to work on some great projects and decided to pursue custom home building, which, definitely at the time, seems a lot easier than it is until you undertake that task. And then you got to realize, “Okay, well, one thing’s, having the entrepreneur mindset and going out on your own and maybe having a skill set in your expertise but running a business is another thing.” Unfortunately, those are two completely different things.”    - Brad Leavitt   Welcome to a brand-new episode of the Woodpreneur Podcast! Brad Leavitt, President, and Founder of AFT Construction, a business that provides custom home-building services, is here today with your host Steve Larosiliere. Brad began building in 2005 and worked for a company for six years before deciding to go into business for himself. Brad describes how he got started during the recession and met Dave Clark, his business partner and mentor. Check out our Blog for More