We’re excited to introduce you to the always interesting and insightful Eric Bonham. We hope you’ll enjoy our conversation with Eric below.

Eric, thanks for taking the time to share your stories with us today Risking taking is a huge part of most people’s story but too often society overlooks those risks and only focuses on where you are today. Can you talk to us about a risk you’ve taken – it could be a big risk or a small one – but walk us through the backstory.

At this point in my life, I feel the biggest risk that I have taken is starting my woodworking small business. It wasn’t a crazy life or death risk, but a calculated and planned out sacrifice to challenge myself and do something that I truly enjoy. Being a teacher and Coach before for seven years, I decided to take a chance and try something different. I risked a job that guaranteed a salary for an exact number of hours with holidays and summers off. Being a small business owner, I work more hours and sometimes feel that it consumes my life. Even when I’m resting or hanging out, my mind is constantly thinking about business in some form or fashion. I feel like my social life and overall balance in life have suffered as a result of this risk. But I’m not complaining; I made my bed, and now I have to sleep in it. I knew what I was getting into, and I’ve taken the necessary steps to be somewhat successful in my eyes as of right now. I’m my own worst critic, but I feel confident in the direction my business is going and will be in the future. so speaking on how it turned out, I I guess we’re going to have to wait and see.

Eric, 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?

I’m a laid-back, easy-going, but driven person. I’ve lived in San Antonio, my entire life, except for my four years attending the university of Texas at Austin. I graduated from there with a bachelors degree in business being involved with sports, my entire life I decided to get my teaching certification I taught, several subjects and coached football basketball in track for seven years before making the decision to start my own business. The name of my company is Mesquite Wave Woodwork. The name comes from the species of tree that I use most in my craft. I basically jumped into this industry, headfirst with minimal experience. With the help of family and friends, studying the craft, and watching countless hours of videos I feel like I have almost caught up to the level of most woodworkers and craftsman would recognize as legitimate. I make several products, mostly interior and kitchen decor. Table of all shapes and sizes, lamps, carving, charcuterie, boards, tables, and outdoor garden sculptures. the main thing that I want my customers to know about my products is that they are all handmade and serve as functional art pieces. I put a lot of time in hard work into what I do and guarantee the quality is second to none. I also want my Clients to see me as genuine and trustworthy. Being approachable and Willing to go the extra mile for the customer is just as important as the products and services you provide. also being able to customize products exactly as the client wants, gives me an advantage and more opportunities to grow as a business and as a person.

What’s a lesson you had to unlearn and what’s the backstory?

One of the lessons that I’ve had to unlearn or work hard to change is to not fall in love with a particular project. By this, I mean, trying to get everything absolutely perfect the way you envision it with zero flaws. There is always going to be some flaw or difference between your vision and your end product, but it is those flaws that make your handmade custom products unique and one of a kind. As a maker and artist it is very easy to get caught up on a particular project to the point where it can kind of drive you crazy. In life, in woodworking, mistakes will be made. The good thing about both of those situations is that they can also be corrected. One of the great qualities of a good woodworker is being able to fix mistakes. Being a perfectionist with OCD, I’ve learned that I cannot compromise time management, scheduling, and peace of mind just trying to finish one project “perfectly.” At the end of the day, a project is just that, a project. Something that is allowing me to earn an income. Putting a time limit on these projects and staying on track with the scope and sequence you have planned is definitely an important lesson that I’ve had to see differently then I used to.

We’d love to hear the story of how you built up your social media audience?

Social Media has the biggest influence on people worldwide. This is both good and bad for small business owners. I remember having a MySpace account many years back and thinking how silly it was. I never imagined that it would transform and take over the world as it has. At first, I was hesitant to use social media as a way to promote and expand my business. I think a large part of it is Simulated, elusive, and spurious. Personally, I do not like the way it has taken over. It can now serve every function of a business from strategy to production to marketing to sales and everything in between. However, in order to expand and grow I started using Facebook Instagram and created a webpage. starting off, I made some silly mistakes that slowed my growth. A few times I created videos with the wrong aspect ratio, which made it very difficult to see what was going on. I’ve posted some of my business pictures and videos on my personal page and vice versa, which is confusing to some people. I’ve gone weeks Without posting, And the inconsistencies allowed for Little growth. So I’ve studied various platforms and adapted to better strategies that supposedly help with the ever-changing algorithms. So now, whenever I’m Doing anything For Mesquite wave woodwork, I always film, Edit, and upload videos at the peak hours According to their studies. As I became more consistent and posted more Pictures, videos, and reels with original hashtags and Authentic content, which helped increase visibility and engagement. Another reason that I am not so crazy about social media is because it gives some mediocre businesses that make mediocre products The ability To have a greater reach, simply because people enjoy the videos Being posted. Even if the videos are mainly comedic and lack any real woodworking content, they are able to reach more people with their mediocre products. If I were to give any advice to someone starting to build their social media presence, I would advise them to get accounts on every platform and post As much relevant content, very consistently. So Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, Reddit, Pinterest, @threads, Tick-tock, and any other new ones, jump in headfirst. I wish I would’ve done that myself and I’m now having to play catch-up doing this exact thing. I feel like once you get all of the platforms, somewhat intertwined, and connected to your webpage or Etsy account or, however, your selling your product, the more reach you will have, and the more your business will grow.

Contact Info:

• Website: Www.mesquiteWavewoodwork.com
• Instagram: @mesquitewavewoodwork
• Facebook: MesquiteWaveWoodwork
• Other: @threads (sorta new and used with IG) @mesquitewavewoodwork

Image Credits
Giordi Carrillo Nico Carrillo Brenda Carrillo Eric Bonham