We’re excited to introduce you to the always interesting and insightful Drake Zion. We hope you’ll enjoy our conversation with Drake below.
Drake, thanks for taking the time to share your stories with us today Alright, so one thing we think people don’t talk about nearly enough is investments – either time or money. What’s one of the best or worst investments you’ve made and what did you learned from the experience?
I would say my best investment I have ever made is in myself. There is no substitute to knowledge, which leads one down what ever path a person may want to follow. when I first got interested in the world of entrepreneurship in my sophomore year of high school after taking an interest in woodworking and getting some guidance from my teacher and mentor. But at the time I didn’t know the first thing about business or where to start. So like any driven scholar I started by hitting the books, and good old youtube university. To get started and figuring out what I needed to know to get and finding opportunities to start my entrepreneurial journey. I could never describe how valuable knowledge is and learning how to utilize and apply it as you gain experience. From simple things like networking to building big companies, there is always room to stay humble and stand to learn something new or gain value from other perspectives. It all come down if you’re open minded and desire to want to learn from each other. The pursuit of being well educated can also go towards limiting risk and allowing for better decision making with higher chances of success in how ever you may measure those achievements or stepping stones.
As for my worst investment, I would say it was spending thousands of dollars on digital marketing without a plan or strategy. Probably one of the worst decisions, all because I didn’t take the time to learn what I needed to, and didn’t utilized the resources available to me, to create a better out come. As a green teenage business owner, I do know I have to cut myself slack from that time, but like any small business, if you get to reckless tossing money at things or not utilize the resources at your disposal, success of any type becomes all the more difficult to achieve or reach.
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.
Hello, my name is Drake Zion, I am the founder and operator of The Zion Woodshop LLC, custom woodworking creations. I specialize in, but not limited to creating high end custom made solid hard wood serving boards and tables for commercial and residential clientele. My mission is to strive to make The Zion Woodshop, a well establish christian based, community based and supported ethical company, aimed to reduce my carbon foot print in this modern world and reduce the waste of perfectly good lumber no mater that shape or status, to give it one more chance before its left to rot or become fire wood. I grew up with a big open hearted good man as my father and role model who showed me daily that no matter our circumstances we can always stand to help each other no matter the capacity. And I want to pass that belief on through my work as a business owner and person, by volunteering when and where I can in my Community, helping others who want to pursue their dreams get their start, working with non-profits, and anything else, to embrace any opportunities that come my way. This all started nearly six years ago now, with a passion for woodworking. Which started back in my freshman year of high school when I tried out shop class, sense I have always enjoyed working with my hands, and finding new ways to challenge myself, I figured it would be something new to get into. Unbeknownst to me at the time, I didn’t realize how much I would fall in love with the trade and learning all I could about it. Covid-19 came to the US that following spring with little warning, I finished my classes online that year, and started a hybrid schedule while in my sophomore year. This was also around the time when I asked my shop instructor to be my first mentor, which he was more than happy to do so. By early winter of 2020, I started getting ideas of exploring business and entrepreneurship from influences on TikTok, after making a lazy susan for my mom’s birthday, and getting my first order requests after words.
From there I went off to the races to get my first ever business cards and set up social media pages to post my projects on. then things proceeded as normal and continued onto my junior year, where I was offered the opportunity to be the teaching assistant for the lower level shop classes in exchange for community service hours I needed to graduate, which I stayed in this role during most of my junior year and all of my senior year. Also during my Junior year, I had a major set back due to the loss of my father in fall of 2021. Due to my father being the main source of income for my family and my main pillar of support, we hit quite a wall trying to recover, but thanks to all the support and help I got at my school it made a big difference. As I progressed my mentor took notice of my drastic improvements I made over the year(s), and he brought an opportunity to my attention that he believed would be beneficial in helping me get out of the rut I was in. He told me about the annual craft fair my school held at the beginning of December every year. He informed me that I should enter be a vendor at the event and the school would take care of the entrances fee, after some deliberation for a few days, I was finally convinced to do it. Over the years the back room attached to the shop had been filled with unfinished products that students abandoned over the years, so he made me a deal, for any of the projects I finish, I can sell at the craft fair and keep the full profit for myself, sense I would be doing him a favor to clear out the space for him.
After accepting his offer, I would stay after school with him several days out of the week in the shop at school to work on completing all the projects over the next two weeks, just in time for the event. The craft fair itself was nothing new to me sense I grew up going to many over the years with my family, but being a vendor was just something else entirely. throughout the day my family and my instructor came in and helped me out which made things easier. By the end of it I ended up with several orders, nearly sold out, and $1,200+ in my pocket to start building up my own shop. Entering my senior year I had been studying anything and everything I could to keep growing and getting more opportunities. Which came sooner than I would have imagined when I started the Northland CAPS program, in the business management strand, where I gain and refined soft skillsets, started building a network, and having an internship with a marketing company. All of which boosted me beyond any goals I had set for that time period. Which leads us to the current day me, I am a Sophomore at the University of Missouri Kansas City. My business is fully licensed and every day I am getting one step closer to achieving my goals and dreams as I find the best ways to continue to help bring others up around me.
Any stories or insights that might help us understand how you’ve built such a strong reputation?
Maximizing the experience I can give to clients and always doing all I can to make them fell involved, educate them, and give them regular updates to stay on top of communication. (Especially since that is a huge trigger from me to have poor communication) The other factors that have contributed to my reputation would be that I am consistent, and easy to approach and strike up conversation with. Which I could not emphasize enough on how important that is when trying to achieve success.
What’s been the best source of new clients for you?
My number one source for getting new clients is going to in person events and network and get exposed to anyone I can. primarily I focus on going to craft fairs, festivals, network related events, and other, but even at non related events I find a few people every so often, that I talk to, and ask for my card or a minute of time to talk about something or another. So don’t limit yourself to seek new opportunities and connections in certain situation, because they can happen at anytime, any where.
Contact Info:
- Website: https://thezionwoodshop.com/
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/the_zion_woodshop/
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/TheZionWoodShop/
- Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/company/the-zion-woodshop-llc/
- Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/@thesplinteredwoodsman4541
- Yelp: https://www.yelp.com/biz/the-zion-woodshop-kansas-city
- Other: Tiktok: https://www.tiktok.com/@thesplinteredwoodsman
