We were lucky to catch up with Marvin Jobs recently and have shared our conversation below.

Alright, Marvin thanks for taking the time to share your stories and insights with us today. We’d love to have you retell us the story behind how you came up with the idea for your business, I think our audience would really enjoy hearing the backstory.

The idea for Cavalier Goods Co. originated 2 years prior to me starting the business. A company in Hamburg (Germany) was making a beautiful messenger bag that checked all the boxes of what I was looking for but it was outside of my price range at that time (over $1,000). I saved up for it and was finally ready to buy it, but unfortunately—or rather fortunately—the company went out of business and there was no way for me to get my hands on the bag.

Because of this, I went down the rabbit hole of researching what it takes to make leather goods by hand and eventually I bought my first set of basic tools in 2016. At first, I was just making a few small items for myself but very quickly, friends started asking me to make items for them as well. I then slowly upgraded my tools and bought more materials. In January 2018, I decided that I wanted to start leatherworking as a side business, mostly so that I could recoup the investment that I made, as both leather and tools are rather expensive. I’d never imagined that things would develop to where I am now.

Not only has Cavalier Goods Co. grown into a profitable side business for me, but it’s also been the first hobby that motivated me to push through when things got really difficult. From my own experience with hobbies such as photography, guitar, and videography, I found that, with everything you learn, there comes a point where you either push forward to become better or you end up not pursuing it further. Leather working is a craft with a lot of intricacies and opportunities to grow as a maker and the learning curve can be quite steep. That said, the prospect of making products that are more beautiful and more refined gets me extremely excited to keep learning and honing my skills. If I mess something up, I remind myself that this is an opportunity to learn and improve. Sometimes, it just takes time,patience, and not being too hard on yourself.

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

Cavalier Goods Co. is a one-man bespoke leather goods studio in Toronto (Canada) where I make all items entirely by hand with a large variety of leathers, ranging from more traditional cow hides and goat skins, to more exotic leathers like American alligator, ostrich and lizard. Apart from a few regular products on my website, I specialize in custom orders. Every custom piece is the result of a well-established process I go through with my customers. This is to make sure what I design and create is tailored to their wants and needs. I’m incredibly happy when a customer sees their final product in the end, where it turns out exactly or better than they’d imagined.

Most recently, I spent 4 weeks in Vietnam to learn advanced skills in fine leather working from a master in Hanoi. I made a briefcase for the graduation project, which took over 100 hours to complete. Not only was this experience extremely humbling, but it was also very eye-opening for me in regards to what I can achieve if I put my mind and heart into something.

Any advice for growing your clientele? What’s been most effective for you?

Growing a business without a storefront took time, but I’m now generally at a 4-week lead time to complete new orders. What specifically helped me get my feet off the ground was setting up my website on Shopify, followed by optimizing my local Google My Business profile, and optimizing my main product pages for SEO. At first, most of my orders were coming from friends and acquaintances, but slowly my website started showing up on Google result pages and I’ve gotten more orders from outside of my circle. I was also running Etsy for a short time, but quickly decided not to continue on the platform anymore because my lead times started to exceed the average Etsy customer’s expectations, which is for items to be shipped within 1 week or less.

As I saw my orders increase, I established two priorities that I wouldn’t compromise: the utmost quality of my work and the transparent and attentive communication with my customers. I found that people would be inherently patient for a handmade product as long as they understand that quality takes time, and are well informed of the process. I believe it’s this approach that convinces my customers to recommend me to their friends and family, which ultimately grows my clientele.

Have you ever had to pivot?

During the day, I work at a digital marketing agency, from which I foster the necessary marketing skills and business acumen to grow my leatherwork hustle. However, having a day job also means that I can only work on my leather business in the evenings and on the weekends. Last year, I got seriously burned out trying to juggle both jobs, spending every night working on orders, taking pictures, updating my website and doing my bookkeeping. Running a small business on the side requires a lot of time and energy. I was barely spending time with friends or even my girlfriend and I didn’t immediately realize it. I was starting to feel really resentful towards leather working which was something I always loved doing. It took me a while to understand that I needed to balance work and life in order to regain my love for leather work. This is why I increased my lead times to create space for what matters in life and reignite my passion for the craft.

Contact Info:

• Website: https://www.cavaliergoodsco.com/
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/cavaliergoodsco/
• Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/cavaliergoodsco
• Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/@cavaliergoodsco