We were lucky to catch up with Wayne Miller recently and have shared our conversation below.

Wayne, looking forward to hearing all of your stories 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 actually approached me, if one can say that. For most of my life I had dabbled with woodworking of some sort. From whittling as a young lad, to building entertainment centers for my home, woodworking and I have had a long relationship. At one point, I made the decision to really focus on it, as a subject. Basically, my inner voice was knocking on my forehead saying, “McFly! Hello!”. So I found a school and went to every class I could manage. Before long, I was producing some very nice things. At the time, I was an engineer. A comfortable career, but one in which I rarely woke in the morning, rubbing my hands and eager to get to work. Then the light bulb flashed on…find a way to transition out of the old career, and into the new. With a leap of faith, and the optimism of a child, I jumped into the deep end. And here I am.

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

When I decided to leave engineering, I looked for an area of woodworking that was under-served (supply and demand, as they say). I soon discovered that there were many woodworking schools, but only a rare few taught the fundamentals of joinery. Joinery is the foundation for all woodworking. Hence, I started teaching the fundamentals of joinery. There are only three woodworking joints, the dovetail, the mortise and tenon, and the housing dado. With that simple skill set, and person can make nearly anything, using a minimal tool set. I have focused on the fundamentals, though I do teach other topics which are related to woodworking, such as spoon and bowl carving, hand tool preparation and setup, and sharpening.

Can you share a story from your journey that illustrates your resilience?

I left engineering, and hung out my woodworking shingle, just months before the entire economy got shutdown. Needless to say, that put a damper on things. I knew I did not want to go back to engineering, so I sought work wherever I could. I helped a man build a house inside a grain silo. I helped a man clear off some acreage and rebuild a barn on the property. I helped a neighbor with her business of building high-end dog kennels. Kennels which resemble fine furniture, as opposed to a dog house.

So, I encourage anyone, in business for themselves, to employ the same drive that got them into business to begin with, in times of struggle. Just keep putting one foot out in front of the other, and you will eventually move.

Have you ever had to pivot?

I have had to pivot too many times to recall all of them. Life is a pivot, is it not? I’ve been a farm hand, short order cook, car wash attendant, infantry soldier, Russian linguist, retail store manager, engineer, woodworker. Some people know what they want to be early on in their life. Not I. I seem to have gone about it in reverse order. Try something. Nope, that’s not it. Try something else. Nope, not that either. And so on. Here I am today. Happily making wood chips and teaching the craft to others.

Contact Info:

• Website: www.fullcircleww.com
• Other: Gab: FullCircleWW

Image Credits
Wayne Miller