Making your first $100,000 in Woodworking: The raw TRUTH

today I want to talk to you about a topic that I have been wanting to make a video on for so long now $100,000 specifically your first $100,000 is a topic that I am so passionate about uh because now that we've done it a couple of times it's hard you guys like I I the reason I've been struggling to make a video about this for so long is because um it is both the simplest yet the hardest thing I have ever done in my life I wanted to make this video because I one want to motivate you because even though it is hard it is not difficult the things you have to do are not difficult it's just hard and so I guess I want to start out by encouraging you guys with the fact that you like you watching specifically you you have everything you need to make $100,000 in a year selling what you make um you do not need anything special here are the four four things you need your own two hands your brain your voice or a way to communicate with other people and a bunch of hard work that's it so be encouraged by that uh you've already got it you're ready you are so equipped there are about six steps there's six phases that you'll go through and I kind of just wanted to be really real with you guys and let you know what they were for me this is what it looked like for me it might look like this for you I just want to give you guys a heads up so the first phase that you're going to go through through um when you're working toward your first $100,000 is excitement and this is a really cool phase because you're probably going to start in January right you start planning out your your business for the year you're sitting in January you're like what are my goals $100,000 cool by December 31st I want $100,000 um and you're getting so excited you're pumping yourself up you're like I'm going to do it this year I'm going to do it I I've set my goals I know roughly what I'm going to sell and how I'm going to get there um you followed all of the device getting yourself to $10,000 you've got that support system of people who are going to lift you up and encourage you you're just flat excited like that's fine that's great that is so good um and that phase is going to pay off for you that excitement is going to turn into about $10,000 that's what I found for myself when I start the year and I'm ex insanely excited that brings me to about my first $10 to $12,000 um and it takes about like probably a month and a half two months you know kind of depends on on on the price point of what you're selling I describe it as kind of an uninformed optimism you're just blindly like sprinting toward your goals which is such a good phase to be um you're kind of like Dorothy like walking down the yellow brick road you've got like The Lion and the Tin Man and you're all just happy going down the yellow brick road nobody knows that Oz is just a man behind a curtain yet sh like we we haven't gotten there yet we're just skipping along happy you want to make the most of this phase for me that lasts like I said about 4 to 6 weeks and it'll bring you to about your first $10 to $12,000 that's great um after that excitement phase you're going to kind of turn around and look at the past month and you're going to say how did I do that so the excitement phase is kind of a blur and then you get to the phase I call confusion that's phase number two um and it's not a bad confusion it's a good confusion you say how exactly did I make that $110,000 and how can I do it again can I do it again the answer is yes you can definitely do it again and you actually have to to get to $100,000 right this is such a produ point of your year because you're going to sit down because you're confused right you're like how the heck did I get to 10K what did I do I don't really remember how did I do I want to do it again and you're going to say who did I sell to who was my main customer base that bought my products um how did I Market it to them what marketing strategy worked best for me how did I develop the product how did I streamline it um what form of communication did I use you're going to get really specific you're going to take about you know four days to a week to really concentrate and figure out how you did this and then you're going to figure it out you're like oh this is how I did that and as you're figuring it out you're going to sell to more people and usually by the end of the confusion phase um you're at like 15 grand I'd say so you maybe make an additional five grand on top of that 10 grand this is where you learn so much Davis and I kind of love this phase because we learned so much about our businesses because we're forcing ourselves to sit down and look at uh look at what worked for us and then you're going to enter the repetition phase you figured out what works and so now all you've got to do is do it over and over and over and over and over again this is another really motivating phase to be in because you're like I I did it I figured it out now I just have to do it this is where the hard work comes in and you're just like all right cool I'm just going to wake up and I'm going to live and breathe the process within my business and honestly this part is where you're going to make a huge chunk of your money this phase lasts probably about 3 to 4 months and it's going to bring you to about the halfway mark to $50,000 because when you do what works it works this is where I start to get real with you guys after the repetition phase comes the boredom phase you have figured out what you need to do you've done it relentlessly for about 4 months and now it's going to get real boring you're not waking up with the same energy you were in the repetition phase you're no longer like living and breathing it you don't have the same excitement because you're a creative like you're a maker you're an artist you always want to be doing something new something different um but what your business really needs is for you to keep doing the same and you know that and you've seen that and you understand that you just don't want to do it it's hard I I know I've been there you're going to want to change everything but I'm telling you right now don't do it you cannot change everything you need to keep doing what works boredom kills more dreams than failure ever does boredom will destroy your business faster than failure will that's why this phase is so important and here's the hard part in the boredom phase you're not going to show up the same way that you used to to your businesses you're going to be a little sad you're going to be a little frustrated you're probably only going to make another 10 grand in this phase at the end of the boredom phase you're only at about $60,000 and you're probably s or8 months in and you're starting to get a little discouraged then you're going to enter What's called the valley of Despair and that is where you've been in the boredom phase for about a month or so and it's really starting to mess with your head people don't like to talk about what's going on in your brain when you're going through the hard times in your business um the valley of Despair is where the hard work comes in at the beginning I told you you have everything you need which you do can we just like Circle back to the beginning of the video for a moment you have everything you need to get to this phase and Beyond it I promise you you do we just need to talk a little bit about what's going through your head so this is where you're thinking things like you know what maybe I'm just not meant to run a business you know what my circumstances it's clear that my circumstances just aren't going to allow me to see this business through to $100,000 it's fine this just proves that I'm not good enough to sell my product this just proves that it's impossible to sell $100,000 worth of what I make man I just don't have the personality for this and sometimes you're going to get to a really dark place and you're saying wow this really says a lot about me if I just can't make $100,000 in my business and I want to stop you right there because one feeling that way is normal I'm telling you I felt that way myself these are not unique thoughts to you and I don't mean that to sound like insensitive I mean that to be a motivator like you're not the only one that gets to this um Valley of Despair phase and is thinking those things so um I don't want you to to quit here because you think that these thoughts are unique to you no everybody's feeling this way I can promise you that um that's why we built the stud stack in this community because it's hard it's freaking hard um it takes a toll on your mental health and sometimes you just need friends who have been there before to like walk next to you if nothing else okay so if your head is filled with all that negativity what you need in the valley of Despair more than anything is to counteract all those thoughts you need to be listening to things that tell you the complete opposite because the complete opposite is true and if the opposite if believing the opposite brings you the outcome that you want might as well be delusional in the opposite dire if you're going to be delusional you might as well be delusional about the positive end of the spectrum rather than the negative end of the spectrum um Davis can attest to this usually when I get to the $70,000 point I am just shoving my ears full of positive content podcasts of people doing the same thing I'm doing and have done it in the past and have done it better than me I am filling it with with um you know positivity books and self-help and music that lifts me up and doesn't tear me down I'm not listening or watching show to watching shows that are super depressing I'm doing everything I can to fill my head with positivity and the truth about myself which is that I am capable and I can do okay um here's what I don't want you to be listening to in this phase um I am going to advise you to be very careful about watching videos about five things that sell best or try selling these seven things to make your business explode um try to avoid distractions at all costs at this phase you are very like emotionally vulnerable and distractions are a lot more attractive to you than they usually are so you kind of need to just like put on your blinders and avoid anything that might be a distraction because you're going to be overly sensitive to it so um consume content watch things listen to things talk to people who are all very positive who have are doing what you're doing have done what you've done um and go from there you just you really need to limit the negativity in this phase it is a very gritty phase I'm I'm not going to lie to you you really need to buckle down put in the hard work and just push through this Valley of Despair to the other side um cuz there's three ways you can go in the valley of Despair you can either come up to the valley of Despair look down it and say nope no thanks not for me turn around and go back up that's fine you'll make about $770,000 that year in your business um the other option is to power through have a little bit of grit and and and even though it sucks and it's hard doubling down on what works even though you're bored um and you're going to get up through that Valley of dispar get to the top of the next Mountain hit your 100,000 goal um the third option is getting stuck in that Valley of Despair and that is just when you are turning your wheels you're listening to the wrong type of content the wrong type of people and you are just stuck in this Valley of Despair you're not making money and it's frustrating um you're getting distracted and I will honestly say I would prefer you to turn back than to get stuck in the valley of Despair because not making a decision is a decision and it is so much worse to be stuck in that Valley than to just choose one way out um so if it's between you like staying in the valley Despair and like turning back I would almost prefer you turn back and try it again next year because staying stuck in it can be so hard like I said at the beginning of the video you have everything it takes to get to the other side you truly truly do you just have to hit dial again hit send talk to more people um continue to Market your product in a way that works you are so close to being there and that's what you don't understand in the valley of Despair is you are so much closer to the end than you think you are just in despair so you feel like you are so much further but you're you're only 30 grand away at this point you're at like 70k you literally have to just push through and make that last $330,000 and if you do that you guys if you do that you end up in the shock and a phase if you don't give up on yourself if you keep pushing if you put the right content in your head if you repeatedly keep doing what works you will make that last 30 grand and you will enter what I call the shock awe and surprise phase it is the most beautiful euphoric like phase that I think I've ever been in especially when I made it the like when we were making our first $100,000 you're so proud of yourself like if you make it here first off congratulations all of you are capable of doing it and when you finally make it here that's why King stud is such a big rewards um milestone for us because we know everything you had to go through to get there we know you went through the valley to Fair we know we know you went through the boredom phase we know how hard that is that's why we celebrate it massively because it deserves to be celebrated um and at the end of this journey you probably feel like you like or love yourself a lot more and that's not because you made $100,000 I can personally tell you at the end I was so proud of myself that I made it to that Milestone and it wasn't because of the numbers it was because I kept a promise to myself I told myself at the beginning of the year that I was going to make $100,000 in my business and I did when I showed up in that way to myself when I showed up and I said we're going to make this happen I'm going to keep this promise that I made to January Jenny it's like nothing else it it proves that you can keep promises to yourself and that's something you can carry with you for forever $100,000 that'll come and go that $100,000 that you bring in that's going to get spent on materials on labor you're going to reinvest it back into the business you might keep a little bit of it for yourself but you know you want to spend it on marketing or reinvest so you can make it 200 100,000 the next year whatever but the thing that can never get spent and it's going to stick with you forever is this new found ability to keep promises to yourself money cannot buy that for you I'm telling you it is hard work and nothing else there's no more technical skills that you need to get through all six of these phases it is just um grit hard work and using what's at your disposal do not let YouTube fool you any differently I know there's a lot of thumbnails out of there that make it seem you know easy and seamless and if you just try these five new products um surely you'll hit it because all of these have you know been tried and true for other people it's literally just hard work it's it's that simple and honestly like nobody wants to talk about how much certain phases of it suck because that doesn't get clicks nobody wants to click on this is going to be the hardest three months of your life let me tell you about it um everybody wants to click on I made $100,000 in eight months yeah that gets clicks but the negative stuff doesn't um so I just wanted to be real with you guys for a few minutes today because if I can do it you surely can do it all of us can do it you are equipped you are capable you have absolutely everything you need to make your first $100,000 selling what you make um I just I get really excited for you guys because yeah it's hard but like look at the people you have around you you have this community of people who want you to succeed who are doing what you're doing who would love to encourage you with their stories or hold you accountable accountable or or provide you positive content or whatever and so I am just so happy for you guys I'm glad you're here um I cannot wait to watch some of you walk down this journey to make your first 100K it's the most rewarding thing I think I've ever done um but yeah I appreciate you guys thanks for watching and uh we'll catch you on the next one the highly requested in-person Meetup of maker business owners the stud stack Summit 2024 y'all we have been wanting to do this for years in the stud stack members have been waiting in anticipation we're hosting the first ever live in-person stud stack Meetup we're calling it the stud stack Summit and stud stack members from all over the country are going to be joining us here in Houston from May 31st to June 2nd this year join us for a weekend of learning and fun from a welcome party to a shop tour to discussions and lots of fun Hangouts we cannot wait to see everybody here in Houston Texas we're even working on some secret Swag Bags to give you guys just as an added bonus for coming there's a lot of fake in the world right now fake news fake success fake advice fake motivation so the theme for this year's Summit is get real we'll talk about how to make real money and have real success in our businesses and how we can turn our dreams into a reality by talking about the real obstacles that stand in our way it's going to be a real good time if you've been considering joining the stud stack now is the perfect time to join this is a private private event for stud stack members only so you have to be a part of the group to be able to get a ticket and because this is the first one we've only got 50 spots so we got to act fast if you want to get one of them again this is a closed event you must have a ticket to attend all of the details you can find on our website at the link below we cannot wait to see you guys jump in this stud stack and get your [Music] ticket time com