We were lucky to catch up with Christine Rassler recently and have shared our conversation below.

Alright, Christine thanks for taking the time to share your stories and insights with us today. Owning a business isn’t always glamorous and so most business owners we’ve connected with have shared that on tough days they sometimes wonder what it would have been like to have just had a regular job instead of all the responsibility of running a business. Have you ever felt that way?

Being a business owner is both rewarding and challenging at the same time. Having your own business allows you to make your own schedule and work at your own pace without anyone pushing you to complete more than is possible. As someone who struggles with anxiety, depression and lack of motivation at times, it can be a setback to the amount of work I would like to accomplish versus what I am actually able to complete. I can be quite hard on myself at times and always feel like I should be doing more than I am. I have at times thought that having a regular 9-5 job might be easier and a more steady stream of income but woodworking has become such a passion of mine. Despite the difficulties of being a business owner, I enjoy woodworking more than any job I’ve ever had. I get to have creative freedom in everything I do and make. I am able to talk to clients looking for custom work, designing their vision and bringing it to life in a one of a kind piece of wood art. The happiness I am able to bring to others with my work is rewarding enough to keep going and to keep pushing myself to be better. There is absolutely a lot of work done behind the scenes as a business owner that isn’t part of the fun creative process. It can be discouraging at times but I believe if you are truly happy with what you do, the rewards outweigh the risks.

Great, appreciate you sharing that with us. Before we ask you to share more of your insights, can you take a moment to introduce yourself and how you got to where you are today to our readers

Many people who talk about starting woodworking did so because a family member had also been doing woodworking for years. This was not the case for me since there was no one in my family that had any interest in woodworking. Instead my woodworking journey started in 2012 after I had been a stay at home mom for several years. One of my neighbors was going through a box of old, antique tools and in the box was a draw knife. At the time I knew very little about the trade or woodworking tools, so I was interested in it’s purpose. After it was cleaned up and sharpened I started playing around with it, making small scallops in a piece of oak. The first item I ever made was a wood cross with scalloped edges that I gifted to my mother. After that I knew woodworking was something I very much enjoyed and started to expand the things I made. For many years my focus was on making hand carved wood signs with a router and selling them as just a hobby. It wasn’t until the pandemic that I decided to join TikTok for fun and realized that a lot more people were able to see the work I did, wanted to know my process and were interested in purchasing the things I made. During that time I started challenging myself to make more items such as jewelry boxes, picture frames with metal inlays and bandsaw boxes. However the bandsaw boxes are what I really focused on and became my niche. For anyone who is unfamiliar with what a bandsaw box is, it is a box cut from a single block of wood in very specific steps so the end result looks as if the block was never cut but has usable drawers. I have had a few clients that asked me to take a very specific idea and turn it into a bandsaw box such as movie characters or animals. At the beginning of this year I started a series of bird of the month bandsaw boxes where I have 2 bird choices that people can vote on. Whichever bird wins is the box I make that particular month. So far I have completed a piliated woodpecker, redheaded woodpecker and the most recent I am working on is a Toucan. My goal is to challenge myself as much as possible to take more difficult realistic animals, birds, etc. and turn them into boxes.

What’s been the best source of new clients for you?

In the beginning I relied on being found on Etsy, Facebook or by word of mouth from friends and family. It wasn’t until 2020 when I decided to join TikTok that I really found an amazing new source of clientele. I started slow by posting mainly videos of completed work because I wasn’t super comfortable being on camera. I quickly realized though that people absolutely love seeing how things are made. So I started posting more content of the start to finish process of the things I made. This gave my customers a new perspective of the steps it takes to get to the completed item and the hard work that it takes to make something. I also chose in the later videos not to be this polished, almost fake version of myself to sell my work. I talk about my struggles with anxiety and depression, I don’t hold back my feelings on topics that may be considered “touchy”. I believe the more people can relate to the real you, the more likely they are to buy from you. They feel a sense of understanding and can relate to things I am comfortable enough to express but they aren’t. I want people to become clients of mine not because I’m selling a good story or deal, but because I am genuine and truly love what I do.

We’d love to hear your thoughts about selling platforms like Amazon/Etsy vs selling on your own site.

When I first started selling my work in 2012, I chose Etsy as my selling platform. It was centered around small businesses, makers and hobbyists so it was the perfect choice to showcase my work. Anyone who was interested in finding handmade items or gifts primarily looked toward Etsy as the place to find exactly what they needed. As time went on however, this platform became more and more crowded with the same items, making it harder to be seen. Also over the years the platform raised their fees multiple times for sellers which meant I was no longer making as much for my items. Since I didn’t want to continually raise the cost of my work to combat the fee increased, I chose to look into creating my own website. I compared the yearly cost of owning my own website to the yearly fees I had paid towards Etsy and realized quickly creating a website of my own was the way to go. While the time spent on marketing and getting your name out there can be more difficult and time consuming, I also know that anyone coming to my website is only seeing my work, not hundreds of other small businesses who may be selling similar things.

Contact Info:

• Website: http://www.bakeovenwoodworks.com
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/bakeovenwoodworks/
• Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/bakeovenwoodworks/
• Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCEmFlDuY33MXkGlEfO1dSsQ
• Other: https://www.tiktok.com/@bake_oven_woodworks