Today for our SBS we have the very talented Mr. Shaun Lambert. Shaun is the woodworker behind The Wobbly Knob. We actually have a piece of his work in our home, our coffee tables, and we LOVE LOVE LOVE them.
Here is a little from Shaun:
Name: Shaun Lambert
Business Name: The Wobbly Knob
Website: thewobblyknob.etsy.com
Favorite Dessert: Cupcakes
Favorite Artist/Album: Stereophonics - Just Enough Education to Perform
When did you start your business? I created my Etsy shop on October 19, 2012
What inspired you to start it? I absolutely love building things in general. When my wife and I bought our new house we decided to do most the remodeling ourselves and that really gave me the confidence to do more things along that line. We ended up buying a reclaimed wood dining table that we loved and when we got it we just thought, wow I could have made this. So I just started making simple tables on hairpin legs and then the designs and tables expanded from there.
What would you say was your biggest challenge to overcome? Once I started getting really busy on Etsy my biggest challenge was finding/making time to build the tables. Since I have a day job as well my Wobbly Knob hours of operation are 7pm (right after my daughter goes down for the night) to 11pm or later every night and most weekends. Shipping was another massive challenge. The bigger the item is to ship the more FedEx is going to charge. So the challenge lies in building a table so that it will come apart easily for packaging and at the same time be extremely easy for customers to assemble. Unfortunately some of my favorite tables I have made for locals are not able to be shipped at a reasonable price for me and the out of state customer.
Who/what was your biggest encouragement and why? My wife is definitely my biggest encouragement. Doing the Wobbly Knob steals a lot of nights away from us but she understand how much I love doing it helps me out with anything I need.
What is your favorite part of your business: Getting to be creative. I love it when I have time to design a new piece or when a customer says I like said table but would like to change it up some. Normally I will name the table after the customer if they had any help in designing it.
If you had advice to anyone who might be starting a business like yours? Just make sure you love doing what you do because it could turn into your day job!
Anything else about your small business that you’re passionate about? The idea that what I am building will be a functional piece of furniture in someone’s home makes me extremely happy.
------------------ Shaun didn't mention it, but he recently started selling some of his pieces at Collected Thread, so you can see some in person! Thanks so much Shaun for your great work.