We’re excited to introduce you to the always interesting and insightful Matthew Marson. We hope you’ll enjoy our conversation with Matthew below.
Hi Matthew, thanks for joining us today. Let’s jump to the end – what do you want to be remembered for?
Legacy is such a loaded word/idea. After I am gone, what do I want to leave behind and how do I want people to remember me? I would like to think that my success will leave others in a position to succeed, but with that I also need to define what I believe success to be. For the longest time, I was focused on money. Not a specific dollar amount, but simply more. More money equals more success. After a lot of self help and exploration my ideas on success started to shift from money to happiness. It’s cliche to say it, but if you love what you do, you will never work a day in your life. The legacy I want leave is that chasing and finding your passion and happiness is real success. My hope is that people will see me and realize that betting on yourself is the best thing you can do to have and live a successful life.
Matthew, before we move on to more of these sorts of questions, can you take some time to bring our readers up to speed on you and what you do?
My path into woodworking was not intentional or deliberate at all. I found an article somewhere online with “household hacks.” These were mostly small DIY storage based projects that one could make with minimal tools. Minimal tools was exactly what I had at the time. A hammer, a corded drill with a few bits, and a jigsaw was all of it. I enjoyed making these little storage solutions and went a little further down the DIY rabbit hole and found Steve Ramsey on YouTube who taught me how to make things out of pallet wood. From there I was making boxes, sconces, picture frames, and small tables, Utilizing the advice of a coworker name Ron, who was a seasoned woodworker, I started upgrading my tools and with each project I would try to add a new tool. Slowly over time I built up my shop with mostly second hand tools built in the “they just don’t make them like they used to” era. At this point, I was starting to get into bigger projects around the home. I made headboards, beds, barn doors, and I even added a wall to our bonus room. Then in spring of 2018 an old friend posted something online asking if anyone could build some seating out of pallets. I thought this was a personal project for him, but it turned out to be a big project for a bar in downtown Nashville. After a few meetings, I said “I can do that” not having any idea how I would actually do that. Somewhere along this journey I learned to say yes first and figure it out later. When I realized I was making more hour for hour with the woodworking than I was with my full time cubicle job, a seed was planted and I started seriously considering my future as a woodworker instead of a corporate cubicle seat warmer.
In September of 2018 the cubicle job I had did some “restructuring” and that woodworking dream was forced into reality. We knew for roughly seven months that our jobs were coming to an end and we some opportunities to move north and keep our jobs, apply for some of the new incoming jobs, or take the severance and head out in search of something else. I made the decision to bet on myself and give the self-employed woodworker option a shot. It has been a wild rollercoaster figuring out the business, but so far things have been better than worse and I am enjoying the process.
Pallet projects hold a special place in my heart, but after that first giant build I have moved on. I still do my best to use local ethically sourced and recycled lumber. I love the idea of saving scraps from a fire pile or actually knowing the history of the wood, sometimes even down to the actual location of the tree it came from. It becomes impossible to not fall in love with a new piece of furniture when you know the rich history of the materials it came from.
Some of my favorite projects have been made rescuing wood from a burn barrel. Simply knowing this wood was destined for ash, but turned into a table that will outlive me gives me an overwhelming feeling of happiness and purpose. I’ve also had a few projects saving family heirlooms. One project brought to me, that was turned down by other local woodworkers, was to take the wood from an old bookcase my client’s wife’s grandfather had built for her when she was young and try to turn it into something new. They didn’t have a place for it anymore, but my client had the amazing foresight to save it so a piece of family history wouldn’t be lost. I carefully took it apart and made a memory box, an end table, and a piece of wall art with the “Tree of Life” carved into it which was suiting considering a tree that became a bookshelf will now live on again as something new. Another favorite was rebuilding a cider press. This was another family heirloom that was used at one point for its intended purpose and then was repurposed into an outdoor planter. It was well into rotting away when I got the opportunity to replace all of the wood and bring it back to life for the family to enjoy.
I simply love the problem solving process of woodworking. If I can build it in my shop, it is highly likely I will say yes to whatever project the client has dreamed up.
We’d love to hear the story of how you turned a side-hustle into a something much bigger.
The side hustle didn’t really start as a hustle at all. It was simply a hobby to fill the spot of another side hustle that was put on pause. Before we had kids my side hustle was a small production company that did mostly weddings with the occasional small business promo or music video. Once we had kids, that creative outlet was paused so we could focus on the new normal of our little family. It was during this time I started tinkering with the tools I had on hand and found a new passion in building things. I was only building for me for the longest time. I made a few Christmas presents for family, but it didn’t really turn into anything until I made that giant seating project for the bar in Nashville. That project was probably the main turning point and confidence booster I needed to take my business full time. Now the side hustle is the full time business and I brought back the original side hustle with the videography still focusing on weddings, but also filming some of my woodworking projects for my YouTube channel.
Are there any books, videos, essays or other resources that have significantly impacted your management and entrepreneurial thinking and philosophy?
I think the majority of what I’ve learned in the way of honing my craft has come from YouTube. Steve Ramsey’s Woodworking for Mere Mortals content was the equivalent to Bob Ross’ “anyone can paint” philosophy which helped me break things down to their smallest steps. From there, as my projects elevated, I was able to find and learn from other makers doing exactly what I was trying to accomplish. Brad Rodriguez, Jimmy Diresta, Bob Clagett, David Picciuto, April Wilkerson, Anne Briggs, Marc Spagnuolo, the list goes on and on, but each person brought a different style or technique I could use on whatever I was working on. Sometimes seemingly unrelated sources have yielded incredible influence on my decision making. The book “Paddle Your Own Canoe” by Nick Offerman, an amazingly talented woodworker in his own right, perfectly articulated something I had never realized about myself which was that I am much happier doing. Something, anything, as long as I am creating I am happy. Continuing with the canoe theme, Trent Preszler’s “Little and Often” was another book that helped me slow down my process and break everything into its smallest steps. Gary Vaynerchuk is another source of endless content and inspiration with a focus on chasing passions and redefining your definition of success. The quote of his that moved me most to bet on myself was “Quit your crappy job. You can always get another crappy job.”
There was another quote I picked up from somewhere that stuck out and keeps me going. I cannot remember where I heard it, but it was something along the lines of, “…how can I look my child in the eyes and tell them to follow their dreams, when I am not following my own?” Again, success equals happiness and I want my kids to see and know you can have both.
Contact Info:
- Website: Mrmattwoodworks.com
- Instagram: @mrmattwoodworks
- Facebook: @mrmattwoodworks.
- Twitter: @mrmattwoodworks
- Youtube: youtube.com/mrmattwoodworks