There’s no way I could’ve established or maintained a real woodworking business with such an inconvenient setup. There I was, applying polyurethane out in the open wind with flies and mosquitoes landing on my work. Everything was always dirty. It was a big unworkable mess.

But then in March of 2018, I got an incredible job offer in Houston. I accepted the offer and moved there with my family. Months later, my wife and I found and bought a house we liked in Pearland, just south of Houston.

A Blank Slate

There’s a lot that we like about our new home. But the only part of the house that matters in this post is the 1-car garage. I’m gradually making it into a fully functional workshop. And the purpose of this post is to chronicle the evolution of this garage from a simple, empty space to the workplace I need it to be. Here it is when I moved in…just a bunch of paint and materials from the previous owner and a few of my tools. It’s a blank slate with unlimited potential.

At first glance, I’m sure you’ve already noticed a few things which make this garage an ideal working environment. First of all, it has nicely painted walls with insulation behind them. This is critical during the hot summer and the cold winter. It won’t be any fun to work in this garage if it’s uncomfortable. The window in the back will help with ventilation.

Also, as you can see, it’s a deep garage. It’s only 8 feet wide, but it extends more than 24 feet from the front to the back. That amounts to 200 sqft of floor space and 1600 cubic feet…and I intend to maximize every bit of it.

A Humble Beginning

I have big plans for this space and I’m really excited about it. In this post, I’ll chronicle the development of this garage from this humble beginning to whatever it becomes. The most recent updates will appear at the bottom. In September, I filed the paperwork for Joseph’s Woodwork & Crafts Company. Click here to read about the ongoing development of this new business.

As for this post, this is all about my workshop. I’ll lay out my plans, list my tools and honestly explain what’s working and not working. I still have some considerable tool purchases to make. But as I make those purchases and build work stations in this garage, I’ll faithfully update this post with pictures and a summary of all that I did.

I understand that maybe only woodworkers will be interested in a post like this one. But that’s ok with me. I understand woodworkers because I’m one of them. And it’s only after spending hundreds of hours alone on projects that you can begin to understand the importance of a proper workspace. Thanks for joining me on this journey. I’d appreciate your feedback. Feel free to comment down below.

The Evolution of My Woodworking Shop

July 2018 – Although it’s incredibly hot and uncomfortable here in Pearland this summer, nothing can dampen my enthusiasm for making this garage into a super-productive woodworking shop. Since we just moved in a few weeks ago, however, there are many little projects I must attend to first.

I went ahead and bought a $400 Honda lawnmower at Home Depot. It’s the first lawnmower I’ve ever purchased. There were others that were cheaper. But I figured I’d go ahead and get a good one, take good care of it make it last a long time. $400 is nothing when you consider the cost of paying for a lawn service month after month, year after year.

The real drawback to owning a lawnmower, aside from the maintenance and the price, is that it takes up so much space. I can’t put it on a shelf or hang it on the wall. It occupies 10 square feet of the limited floor space I have in this garage. As a result of this, I’m already thinking about building some kind of shed in the backyard that would hold the lawnmower and other big items for the lawn. Although I’d like to own a wheelbarrow, for example, there’s no way I’m going to keep one in this garage.

First Project

Critical project #1 is to build some kind of shelving for our master closet, which currently has nothing; no shelves, no rod, no paint. When I get a chance, I’ll write a post about that project (here’s the post).

It’s actually good to do a couple of projects in a garage where nothing is set up. It slowly reveals the arrangement that’s going to make the most sense. For now, I put my sawhorses against one of the long walls and laid some 2 x 12 boards on them. And then I hung a bright light above it. That’s my setup so far. It’ll probably change 100 times.

Free Wood!!

Wow, great news for me. It turns out that a lot of wood is thrown away where I work. The thing is…lots of parts and equipment arrive to our facility on pallets or in crates. They end up reusing a lot of it, but most of it just gets thrown away. Therefore, if I see material in the dumpster that I can use, I’m free to take it. Oh man, this is great. Several times already, I’ve brought material home that would easily cost more than $50 if I bought it at the store.

Of course, some of the wood is loaded with nails and have been exposed to the sun and rain for a long time. But that’s perfectly fine with me. Some of the stuff I plan to build will specifically require worn material. Check out this awesome crate they gave me:

Too Much Free Wood

Oh man, I sorta got carried away with all the free wood at work. It’s now taking up a huge section of the garage and it’s in my way. Ironically, because I’m spending so much time removing nails from these boards, I don’t have any time to build anything with all this free wood. I guess I’ll have to hold off on bringing more wood home.

If I see more great pieces in the dumpster at work, however, I won’t resist taking it home. It’s simply impossible for a woodworker to refuse good, free wood. If you can’t relate, imagine seeing a $20 bill on the other side of the street. It’s inconvenient for you to cross the street, but you’re gonna do it anyway. Twenty dollars is twenty dollars! And when I see awesome wood in the trash, I see dollar bills!

The post The Evolution of My Woodworking Shop (My Garage) appeared first on Joseph Gonzales.

I now have a garage to work in, a luxury that many woodworkers take for granted. It’s only a one-car garage, but you won’t hear any complaints from me. I love being in my new workshop. I’ve already made a total mess in there. I love it!

During my last two years in Florida, I set up two other businesses which had nothing to do with woodworking. Due to some complex reasons, however, I was never able to launch them. I have LLC’s, bank accounts, websites and social media accounts for those two businesses, but no clients. Honestly, I didn’t even try. I was reluctant to do any marketing for those businesses because…if I had gotten a client for either one of them, I would’ve been locked into a commitment of maintaining a service for those clients.

While I was still deciding what I was going to do with those businesses, a new job opportunity in Houston fell into my lap and everything changed. We’re now settled into our new house and I work in the garage whenever I have free time. The creative bug within me is alive and thriving with new ideas. Of course, Aniela has several projects for me to work on for the house (see Master Closet Makeover). But aside from all that, I’m chomping at the bit to make stuff and sell it. And that’s exactly what I’m going to do with my new business; Joseph’s Woodwork & Crafts. Co.

My Woodworking Business

Unlike the two businesses that I started in Florida, I’m a whole lot more qualified and capable of running a woodworking business. The garage enables me to make furniture, wall décor, crafts and other creative items which I can sell all over the internet. I’m only limited by my creativity and my willingness to put in the work.

I’ve already put a lot of thought into the steps I would take to establish this business. I recently began to take a few of those steps.

First things first, I had to figure out a name for the new business. Once the name is settled, all other decisions and setup steps would flow. Perhaps by default, I considered “JAG Woodworks” or some other variation which uses my initials. I went ahead and purchased the domain jagwoodworks.com.

JAG Woodworks?

Later on, however, when I checked to see if “jagwoodworks” was available as a username on the major social media platforms, I was surprised to find at least half a dozen businesses on Facebook that are using the name “JAG Woodworks” or some variation of it. None of them appeared to be very successful and most appeared to be inactive. If my business became the success that I plan for it to become, I could easily stand apart from that group.

But then again, I simply don’t want a name that so many other businesses already have. So I let go of the idea of using “JAG.” And now that I think about it, JAG is simply too impersonal and ambiguous.

Harmony Woodworks?

For about a minute, I considered using a phrase which doesn’t include my name at all, something like “Harmony Woodworks.” Many years ago, I considered “StrongCraft Company of Texas” when I was thinking about forming a woodworking business.

But those impersonal names just don’t feel right. I’m certainly not going to sweat and slave all evening in the garage for “Harmony Woodworks.” I had to get back to my name somehow. But how? Namechk.com is usually where I go to research the availability of names for websites and social media platforms. After trying a few combinations of “Joseph,” “woodworking,” “woodworks” and even “crafts,” I finally realized that the right name was right under my nose; “Joseph’s Woodwork.”

Joseph’s Woodwork & Crafts Company!!

I don’t want to lose you in the details, but the arrival to this name was a big breakthrough for me. First of all, obviously, Joseph is my name. Names are important whereas initials are not. Adding the apostrophe and “s” to “Joseph” creates a possessive quality in the name which conveys that this is “Joseph’s business” and these products are the result of “Joseph’s work.” This makes it personal, human and approachable. There isn’t a machine out there that’s spitting out these products. On the contrary, they’re handcrafted by a real person…and his name is Joseph.

And now that I’ve added an “s” to Joseph, dropping the “s” from “woodworks” is another important detail. “Woodwork” alone implies a plurality of products in the same way that “Dow Chemical” implies that they work with a variety of chemicals. And then when I realized I wanted to add “& Crafts Co.” to the name of my business, it became essential to leave the “s” off of “Woodwork”. Otherwise, there would be too many ‘esses’.

Joseph’s Woodwork & Crafts Co. is the resulting title of the business and I’m very happy with it. I already went ahead and secured a corresponding username on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, Etsy and eBay. I already bought the domain josephswoodwork.com and started working on it (click here to visit the site).

The next thing to do is get an LLC and a bank account so I can properly accept payments via Stripe and PayPal. I’m excited :)

I’m in Business!!

9/7/18 – I got the LLC from the Brazoria County Clerk’s Office on Tuesday and I just got my EIN number from the IRS today. I still need a bank account, but aside from that, this business has officially begun! Oh I’m so excited about it. I cannot wait to start making products that I can sell. I have hundreds of ideas for products.

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