We were lucky to catch up with Matthew LaRue recently and have shared our conversation below.
Matthew, looking forward to hearing all of your stories today. Quality control is a challenge almost every entrepreneur has had to focus on when growing – any advice, stories or insight around how to best ensure quality is maintained as your business scales?
Quality is of the most important aspect of my work. I start considering quality in the design process. I select the best materials with the end use in mind. I am a one man operation that has my hands on every step of the process. Quality is something I can not compromise and refuse to hand off work that is anything less than.
As always, we appreciate you sharing your insights and we’ve got a few more questions for you, but before we get to all of that can you take a minute to introduce yourself and give our readers some of your back background and context?
My name is Matthew LaRue and I own Woodcierge. I started my business about a year ago after working in the hardwood flooring business for over ten years. I decided to branch out on my own to do more custom wood working projects. Woodcierge is here for all of your wood needs. I specifically love a challenge and I source wood from North Carolina and the surrounding states when possible. Some of my most recent projects include stripping/restoring painted furniture, barn wood accent walls, box beams, hand hewn mantels, and live edge furniture pieces. One of my favorite projects to date was taking an old church pew and turning it into two benches while maintaining the original integrity.
One thing anyone should know about me is I am passionate about what I do and I let the wood tell me what to do next and that’s how my work speaks for itself.
Can you tell us about a time you’ve had to pivot?
Life, business and career seemed to have changed in an instant.
When I was a hardwood floor install/sand & finisher, we would travel anywhere and everywhere to install our custom flooring products. At the same time my relationship with my now fiancé was becoming more integrated and serious. While trying to juggle my professional and personal relationships, I had a medical issue with my back come up.
I felt like I had to make a change for my health and I didn’t want to risk losing the one person that understood me to the core.
I started working from home setting up in the yard to make wood products for pop up markets to try and get my new business out there in the world.
Looking back on all of this now, it seems that the stars were solely aligning for my benefit (even though I couldn’t see that at in the moment).
We’d really appreciate if you could talk to us about how you figured out the manufacturing process.
I hand make every single one of my products. I am a firm believer in you have two ears, Two eyes and one mouth, you should listen and watch twice as much as you speak.
When I started in the construction industry I had never used a power tool, but with patience and guidance from my friends/mentors I am able to stand back and be completely enamored by the projects I have completed.
The most important lesson I had to learn would have to be don’t be afraid to ask for help.
Contact Info:
- Website: Www.Woodcierge.com
- Instagram: @Woodcierge
- Facebook: Woodcierge
Image Credits
Matthew LaRue