Verify In Field: The Millwork Podcast

Scaling Up: Kevin Fassnacht's Leap from Solo Shop to Big Leagues

• Yuksel Nunez Araujo • Season 2 • Episode 12

Share episode

Text us your feedback on the podcast!

In this episode of Verify Infield, host Jacob Edmond sits down with returning guest Kevin Fassnacht, owner of Fine Point Cabinetry, to explore what it really looks like to level up from a successful one-man shop to running a growing business.

Kevin shares the story of acquiring another millwork shop, taking on new overhead, new equipment, and a seasoned craftsman as part of his team, all to push his business to the next stage. This isn’t a highlight reel; it’s a raw look at the mindset shifts, financial bets, and operational changes needed to evolve from skilled craftsman to strategic business owner.

If you’re a shop owner or millwork entrepreneur wondering “Should I scale up—or stay small?” this episode is packed with valuable firsthand insight.

About Our Guest

Kevin Fassnacht is the owner of Fine Point Cabinetry, based in Pennsylvania. Known for his meticulous approach to cabinetry and his authentic, behind-the-scenes presence on Instagram, Kevin has spent over a decade building a business that balanced craftsmanship and lifestyle. Now, with the acquisition of a larger shop, new high-end equipment, and an experienced team member, he’s navigating the next level of growth, turning a thriving solo operation into a true production shop.

Resources & Where to Find Kevin

Share The Love:

If you like Verify In Field: The Millwork Podcast …

Never miss an episode by subscribing via Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Google Podcasts, Amazon Music, or by RSS!

Kevin:

Go all in, you know, ball to the wall, make it happen. You know, just believe in yourself. Uh, it's a lot of things that a lot of problems people have with is just believing that they can do it. And you can. You just gotta hustle. You just gotta work. You gotta, you gotta learn. Never stop learning. Um, read lots of books and listen podcasts like this.

Jacob Edmond (3):

Welcome back everybody to Verify in Field. Today I have, um, the pleasure of having Kevin Fassnacht on with us again as a second time. So if you go back, we'll link in the show notes his first episode where you can hear all about his journey and his kind of, um, nexus and coming into the millwork industry and starting a shop. And then today, uh, we're talking about how he has grown since then and. Um, growing into acquiring another shop and, and the growth that comes with that. With merging facilities and, next stage in his journey. So thanks for joining today,

Kevin:

Yeah, thanks for having me back, man. I really appreciate it. It was a pleasure the first time and I'm sure it's gonna be great this time as well.

Jacob Edmond (3):

Yeah, absolutely. So as I mentioned today, we're talking about, you know, how things have changed for you, your growth journey, and obviously the big change is you've acquired a new shop, you've moved since we last talked, you're in a, a new facility. You've got some people working with you now. Tell us about that process of how that opportunity came about and how you went through the process of making that decision.

Kevin:

Yeah. So, I guess that was about a year ago, last time we spoke. And, my whole entire mindset about my business really changed, uh, pretty drastically, pretty quickly. I. Uh, a little backstory to what was happening. So I, I ended up purchasing another business, another woodworking business, but not technically purchasing a business. I didn't acquire, um, any of the liabilities, more of an asset purchase. So I purchased, uh, acquired a new lease, uh, a new employee, and a lot of old equipment. Double the size of my old shop in a 4,000 square foot shop. So, uh, this whole entire situation kinda landed on my lap. I wasn't looking for it honestly. My whole entire business outlook was very different. I didn't see me going down this road. Ironically it was my barber that introduced me to this guy, which is pretty funny. Um, so we've been, I've been going to the same guy for a long time and he had mentioned him many of times over the years. He's the only other woodworker that he knows. And, um, he had told me that he was selling his equipment, he was going, getting to the point where he was gonna retire. He is gonna have to go off on auction because he couldn't get anybody to buy his business. And I was immediately intrigued and I went down to his shop right from my haircut. And, um, introduced myself. Initially my mindset was, oh, maybe I can get some good deals on equipment. And then it rolled into, do you wanna purchase the shop? And it took me about three months to, to gather up the courage, to say yes to do this. And so I finally decided and I thought it was a good move for me. And, the big thing with me. For the past, you know, 10 years being in business, it, I made myself a good living. Uh, but I always knew that there was a maximum of what you could personally do yourself as a business owner. And I knew that something would have to change eventually, and I didn't know what that was gonna be. Probably about a year ago. My mindset where my business is gonna go into the design showroom, like I mentioned in the last episode, that I sell a lot of manufactured cabinetry, so I'm a dealer of a few different lines. But this kind of shiny object syndrome tickled my inner craftsman to get into, uh, a bigger shop and have all the tools that I never had before. And, uh, it's kind of setting me up to be able to grow into a production shop versus, whereas before more of a niche cabinet maker that sold volume cabinetry.

Jacob Edmond (3):

Yeah. Awesome. So it sounds like to some extent that was, you know, an opportunity that fell into your lap, you know, right time, right circumstances, not something that you were out there, you know, looking for, but ultimately you knew. this opportunity that you were planning to grow, you wanted to grow, and there was a limit to what you could do yourself.

Kevin:

Right?

Jacob Edmond (3):

And so I imagine though, when this opportunity dropped in, you know, in your lap you're looking at, okay, do I buy this shop that's already outfitted with equipment and obviously comes with an employee or, you know, the alternative is do I try to do this, you know, myself, little at a time, much slower, Yep. That's the main thing you're comparing?

Kevin:

Yes. And that was honestly the biggest thing for me that made the most amount of sense doing this because the cost for me to purchase this versus the cost of me to actually physically do this, move location, set up a spray booth, buy all this equipment new, even if used and getting it and doing the wiring, the electrical work, duct work to get this set place set up to what it is. What I just purchased would've cost me quadruple of what I paid for it. And also the amount of time and downtime it would've been to actually have to do that. So that's one of the biggest things, the biggest kickers that made this make sense. I literally did not, I, maybe it was a two week window of me breaking down my old shop and selling off all of my equipment. But I was immediately to work the moment I moved in because it was turnkey. So that was a, a huge deciding, uh, factor for me. And it made this transition, you know, pretty easy. And ever since I've been in here, obviously I've been trying to change a lot and do a lot of things to change what, uh, the processes they've, kind of developed over the years that may be a bit antiquated. Um, but it's a good stepping stone for me to, to take off to where I want to go.

Jacob Edmond (3):

And so this is a still a relatively fresh new move, right? I mean, you moved, like you said, outta your old shop into the new one. How recently, uh, have you,

Kevin:

Yeah. It was March 1st, so March 1st, 2025 and it is June 25th, So uh, yeah. That's only three months ago.

Jacob Edmond (3):

3, 4 months in there.

Kevin:

Exactly.

Jacob Edmond (3):

You know, very, very new.

Kevin:

Yeah.

Jacob Edmond (3):

So it sounds like came relatively quick as far as, hey, this opportunity showed up, had the conversation evolved into, hey, let's acquire. The shop, the equipment, you know, all that, and you've got a new team member

Kevin:

Yeah.

Jacob Edmond (3):

What are, um, some of the benefits? You know, obviously you, you've got more capacity, you've got more facilities, all that type of stuff. Are there any unexpected benefits that you've seen so far that you know, you weren't expecting but now you have?

Kevin:

I, I wouldn't say it's unforeseen. Um, but I did know that. So now the problem with my old shop, specifically my old shop, not just me and my capabilities, but my old shop, I was very limited of what I could do. I. For size wise of a job and also timelines. So now I could take on a significant amount more work to kind of feed into this flow. And you know, with the tools I have, I always kind of joked around saying the tools I had were like one step above DIY. They were industrial tools at a DIY level, but I was producing, you know, professional grade, uh, cabinetry. Um, this, all the processes are much quicker with what the equipment that I have here. So, um, I think the biggest thing that I'm realizing too is that I could obviously build things much faster and more efficiently. Um, so I'm actually able to, uh, decrease my prices and that kind of surprised me a little bit. It's a lot of money things associated with this that are kind of surprising, where my overhead is almost quadruple what I was paying, but at the same time, I could still charge less because my production levels have skyrocketed.

Jacob Edmond (3):

So there really is efficiency gained in just the machinery itself, the space and the machinery you have, right? Like and I think that's something that, you know, people who are listening who have built cabinets or maybe run a shop. You know, maybe you, it makes sense, but you don't think about the difference. And so I guess for context, what are some of those things that have changed for you? I assume going from, obviously you mentioned a spray booth, but before this you are basically table saw, you know, uh, you were assembling by screws and, and end panels, um, edge banding.

Kevin:

Edge banding alone. I mean, I, once again, I was confined by the space that I had, but you know, I have a big. Large industrial edge bander and I can edge band a whole entire kitchen in, you know, an hour versus, it used to be two days.'cause I had a tabletop glue pot, one that would, I would actually have to physically route or trim by hand afterwards. And if anybody's a cabin maker listening, I mean, you know, that's ridiculous. So I wish I invested in that in the past and a lot of these eureka moments that if I just invested into the proper tools, I probably would've gotten to this place a lot faster. Um, but. The, and then honestly just having a guide. So the guy that I did acquire, he's, he's an older gentleman, he's 65 years old, but he's extremely talented and he's been obviously doing this his whole entire career. He actually was working with his company for the past 27 years. Um, so it kind of came with the place. Uh, not only did I buy equipment, I got this guy and it was probably the, he alone is probably the best part of this whole entire acquisition that I have because I'm able to just close my eyes and let him work and trust that he know, that he knows what he's doing. I'm changing. Like I said, I'm changing processes and things. that I like to do versus how they used to do it. But, um, having him here and the efficiency that we can gain from his knowledge is, is pretty amazing as well too. And I. The, the, a lot of the variables, like you mentioned, spray booth. That's, that's a huge one for me. I used to do all my own finishing in a spray area. I, I explored, explored water-based coatings. I sprayed every coating under the sun. And just having the proper air flow and the, proper dust separation from the shop has just been unbelievable. So that whole process is expedited.

Jacob Edmond (3):

And I, you know, imagine just like you said, just the gaining that employee alone with the experience he has, that's not something you can just go out and hire and find somebody easily.

Kevin:

wish he was,

Jacob Edmond (3):

That

Kevin:

I wish he was 10 years younger. I really do. Uh, it's an unfortunate thing that there's a timeline that I do have him around. Um, so I am gonna have to go out there into the market to find somebody, to to replace him and probably will sooner than later to at least give him a hand and maybe to learn from him. Because the reality is I'm not in the shop as much as I used to be because I'm trying to sell work and design and like I got to my point before, I'm still selling, I'm still a dealer of cabinetry too, because that will always be a large source of income for me. So I'm never gonna stop doing that. Now I just have more tiers and can take on more projects and larger sizes, not only for manufactured cabinetry, but also completely in-house custom.

Jacob Edmond (3):

Yeah. So, you know, as a business owner, I can imagine, you know, the idea of staring down this beforehand, you know, you make a decision, okay, I'm gonna make this investment. You know, I, which I imagine, you know, as a sizable chunk of cash you're gonna put down or a loan or whatever, but you're making an investment that eventually you're banking on is gonna come back. Right? They're gonna get a return on the investment in some timeframe. But still there's pressure that comes with, without an anxiety, I imagine of like, oh my gosh, is this actually gonna result in what I'm planning on it? Right. Um, you know, so I imagine going in, but has there been any moments of like, uh, of kind of like, okay, this is actually working. Like you said, I'm recognizing, okay. There is a significant investment, but that gets me leaps and bounds ahead of like what I can do capacity wise. Now. Like do you feel like you're over that hump of like, okay, this is going to yield the results that I, I was anticipating.

Kevin:

Mean, I'm, I don't think I'll ever be at that point. I'm gonna, I'm gonna probably be second guessing this decision for the next 20 years. Um, but, uh, no, I really do think that it will, the potential is high with this business and, uh, what I have now. Um, I just, it's a, it's a whole mindset shift for me. And that's really what it's been. And it's a constant battle that I'm kind of like, uh, going through with my over in my head about it. But I really do think I'll see it because I'm, I'm, I'm a good saver, so I was able to, to do this all in cash so it didn't, so it didn't put me into any to true liabilities with it. Anything that I do have and I have purchased, they hold their value. So I, that was the other, believe me, I went through this rabbit hole and really analyzed this to make sure this even made sense before I did this. And this was not this decision for me that made sense that I want the life I wanted to live, but a financial decision that made sense. So, um, all the equipment that I have, I could turn it around tomorrow and probably turn profit to it. Just be real. So, you know this, I do think no matter what, this was a great place to put my money. And I do truly think that it'll be, um, you know, a great investment long term for me and my, my family.

Jacob Edmond (3):

So you mentioned that, you know, it's been a shift in mindset, you know. Can you talk a little bit about that for those that are listening that maybe are in a similar position to where you are or where you were, you know, uh, being a one man show, I imagine jumping from that to, okay, now I've got. Another employee. I've got, you know, a new facility, an investment that I've just made that obviously you, you know, you anticipate hey, it's gonna return something more than what you had before. But from the mindset standpoint, do you find yourself having to remind yourself to think differently? Hey, I've got an employee, Hey, I've, you know, I've gotta sell, I've gotta make, I've gotta do, I've gotta lead versus just, uh, you know, uh, when it's yourself, there's nobody else to let down but yourself.

Kevin:

Yeah,

Jacob Edmond (3):

Right?

Kevin:

Yeah. It's a very, very different, um, I mean, I've experienced this over the years. I've had guys in my shop plenty of times and, um, I know what it's like to keep someone busy and you know, what it's like to just be the single owner. Um, the obviously the lifestyle of a, of a single owner operated business is, there's a lot of pros and cons to it. You have a lot more freedom of it. Um, you don't have to worry about paying payroll at the end of the week, and if you don't pay yourself, you know, it's fine unless you're broke, you know? Um, but, and same thing, my overhead cost was a big thing here too, that I really had to wrap my brain around saying that. Like I said, it's a significant amount more a month. So, there was a lot of moments and my chief shifts about the how I operate and how I'm selling work. And whereas before, uh, the big thing for me was being a sole op. I was, I did well on the jobs because I was very selective on the jobs that I took. So, and I made sure I priced them accordingly. And then if I had slow times, it wasn't the biggest deal because, you know, I, I usually did pretty well on the job, so was selling. Um, but now I'm realizing that it's most important factor of this is cash flow. So I need, it's more about the consistency than making a, killing it off of an overall job like the overall. Broad stroke of a year of say, net profits, uh, is more important than individual job profits. Um, so the big shift for me is trying to really to, to hone in on, to, to not concentrate so much on the individual things and look at this as big picture and, um, where I really wanna take this as whereas before I was just, I just had a job. I was just self-employed. Um, I lived a nice life. Relatively cushy in the sense I had a lot of freedom, but It's, it's, uh, there's a lot more stressors involved in this. And like I said, it's only one employee too. And I do, I, I do plan to bring more guys involved in this. And that was a big, uh, mindset shift. I had to realize that I was going back to work. Like when I first started my business, I worked in insane amount of hours and I was exhausted and I had a breakdown and came back and I figured out new ways to sculpt my business and it worked. And I was mellowed out and I was worked in normal, regular schedule. I'm right back in a hustle mode. And that was a big decision that I had to make knowing that I'm what I'm getting myself into all over again.

Jacob Edmond (3):

Yeah, so that's something else. You know, I don't want to gloss over that it seems like, you know, from what you've told me and also from what I've, you know, we've spoken before and what I've seen from the work you've put out there is, you've always hustled. Right? And even before you made the decision, Hey, I'm gonna go acquire, even, you know, you were a one man show for for a period of time it sounds like. But you were still hustling and doing a lot of work that it seems like prepared you for this both mentally. Like you mentioned, you were saver, you were already managing cash flow. Well, you were already thinking about your profits, you know, you were doing a lot of things that. Uh, just for those that are listening, if, if you're thinking about starting your shop or you're early in your journey and you maybe don't even know, Hey, am I gonna, you know, grow to be more than just a, a one man show one day? Uh. It seems like you laid the framework for just how to run a business successfully and how to, to, um, be somewhat conservative while really gambling on, on yourself and, and your, and your skill sets. Right.

Kevin:

Yeah.

Jacob Edmond (3):

Do you look back now and think, okay, yeah, i, I was prepared for this even though I didn't know this is what was coming.

Kevin:

Yeah, no, a hundred percent. And I, I'm, I'm constantly reinvesting into myself at taking business courses and I'm constantly listening to how I discovered you listening to podcasts, um, lot, lots of audio books. So I was constantly absorbing a lot of information, how to properly run a business even though I was a small little one-man operation, I still wanted to be successful. And, and I knew that even where I was and there was like, you know, a comfortability to where I was, I always know, knew it wasn't good enough. So essentially always preparing for what was gonna come. And, um, I think it's just my personality. I'm, I am a hustler, just, I'm a type A person, so I'm always on. But at the same time, um, I think with this shift and this business that I, I moved into, I think I needed this. I needed, I. Someone to kind of hand it to me on a silver platter saying, take this opportunity and run with it, because I, I don't personally think I would've taken it to the, the next level on my own, or I would, it would've taken me a lot longer. Because I, I, don't wanna say I'm overly cautious, but, um, I do overanalyze everything and, uh. So when this was presented to me, it was just like a push and, I just ran with it. And yeah, I'm very happy that I kind of had that background of being in business for, for 10 years already, knowing how to sell, knowing how to operate, and also just a background of my cabinetry career leading up to this too. I know, you know, very vast array of, of this business, from the businesses that I've worked on in prior to going off my own. So it was definitely helpful.

Jacob Edmond (3):

Something else. I, I saw, uh, on some of your posts, you know, I know beforehand we talked about, and you, you were very public in, in your post about using SketchUp and the way you had developed some skill sets with and tool sets in there using SketchUp. And with this, I think you, you have access and are using Mosaic now, right?

Kevin:

Yeah. Yeah.

Jacob Edmond (3):

Um, what is that, you know, journey or shift in kind of acquiring a new tool and learning a new tool? Are you still diving in and learning that or have you shifted back to SketchUp? Talk a little bit about that.

Kevin:

So I've learned a lot about Mosaic. In the past few months. I learned it in preparation for this, I knew that what I was getting myself into. So about two months before I actually moved into where I already meant to make, made the mental shift that this is the move I was gonna go. I knew that SketchUp wasn't the answer. Traditional way of shop drawings, of line drawings, say SketchUp or cad. It's extremely time consuming and it's just, it's just not profitable. You know, having to manually go in and make cut lists. And the biggest fall off for me too is not being able to produce 3D renderings.'cause the way that I was doing it, I was doing in, in 2D, so it was very much just a flat CAD drawing. And there was always a fallout with that. So I was using either virtual assistants to put together a rendering based off the drawings that I made. It was just an extra step. So I wanted one program to be all the answers. And do I think that Mosaic is all the answers? No. But has it helped significantly on expediting that? Yeah. And like, I don't wanna say, I don't, I don't want to, uh, talk down Mosaic because I know it's an extremely powerful program. I'm just not there yet. It's a very simple program, but you can do a lot with it. But, I just haven't taken it like I know you could pay to, to take courses on it to find out all the things that I can do. There's an infinite amount of YouTube videos, but for specific questions, that one is never there.

Jacob Edmond (3):

Yeah

Kevin:

It's been, really good. And the biggest thing for me, like, like I said, is it, it's more of like a production setting. So the way that I'm trying to try to sculpt this business is that I keep on kind of saying this, and it kind of sounds silly, but I want to kind of create a mini factory. I want something that I could produce. Kitchen cabinetry because that's my bread and butter. And people are always gonna need kitchens. Not the same way every time, but at least in a, in a process that can be repeated. And the reason that I have this whole mindset is because based off of the past years of me selling cabinetry, as a dealer, and obviously. These larger companies have figured it out. They've created this process and system within automation to be able to produce relatively the same thing over and over again. And that's all a cabinet really, really is. It's a box with different faces, different fronts, And that's what's really good about Mosaic. It's really good about doing a. I don't wanna say cookie cutter cabinetry, but cabinetry. But the fallout is, is for my niche custom things. So I, over, over the years, I've built a lot of furniture mosaic's, not a program for furniture or just really unique type of architectural millwork that I just haven't figured out how to use it at that level yet. Um, but I know that, I don't know, but hopefully it will get to that point one day. And the program's powerful in the sense that it, it produces G code for a CNC machine, and I wanna get a CNC machine. And then on top of that, for the time being, it produces cut lists for every component that needs to be made for every single job. And so it just lops off a, amount of time that's associated with the, the front end of, you know, drafting.

Jacob Edmond (3):

Awesome. And obviously you still have, you know, your skills and, and your tools and SketchUp to lean back on.

Kevin:

Right.

Jacob Edmond (3):

Where it doesn't work for you yet. I wanna talk a little bit about, you know, I think we talked about this last time, uh, some on your episode, but, uh, the role of social media, you know, so you're somebody who. From my perspective has, you know, a huge following, particularly on Instagram. And particularly for, you know, our industry. Right. And I think, uh, I'm, I'm curious how much you feel like that plays into your success from a business standpoint of gaining customers or how much of it is just as kind of a. Hey, this is my portfolio. I, I enjoy putting it out. You put a lot of great content out, and particularly you do a lot of stories, which, uh, I think obviously allows people to see inside your business, see inside your process, not just the final project of nice pretty photos. There are those, but,

Kevin:

Right

Jacob Edmond (3):

Um, can you talk a little bit about how you grew to, like, to start posting, to begin with, and is there any strategy beside that, or is it just kind of evolved as you've, as you've developed your business?

Kevin:

So I think one of the reasons why I did have, and like I definitely don't have a huge following, there's a lot of guys have way more following than I do. I, I look at myself as a little, peanut in there, but, the, the only reason I did it is because it's honestly on a, continually do, it's kind of fun. You know, I, I've developed a lot of really good relationships with people and we met through Instagram,

Jacob Edmond (3):

Yeah.

Kevin:

and a lot of just business connections that I could, you know, talk to and relate to and, build off of build with. And, but for the most part, I don't have much of a process about using social media. Honestly, I don't post nearly enough. Um, I'm very pretty sporadic with it. But one thing that I do like about Instagram is its story, because it's easy. It's like I, I've got in the very beginning of social media, like when Instagram started popping off, you know, picking up your phone and talking to was extremely awkward. But I got over that pretty quick, and in the very beginning of Instagram I was like, what can I do to kind of get a following and to keep people interested in my page. So I did a lot of how to videos, constantly teaching people how to do what, what my process was, of how to build and every step of the way. I did a lot of that over the years, and honestly, I was just self-conscious to the fact that actually put it on my page as a post and I look back at it and it's, and I should have been posting this, and honestly, I would've probably created a better foundation with social media if I actually kept it on the page itself, not for something that disappears in 24 hours. And so I've made that conscious decision over the past year or so, even though I'm not nearly consistent enough about it, but to just post it. Don't just leave it on the stories for it to go away and my relationship with it was definitely evolved. I don't necessarily have the time or the want to do all these how to videos all the time, so I kind of use it as a creative outlet. It was just fun to pick up my phone, check in with my peeps, and, uh, just show what I'm doing every day.'Cause I think like that's, that's the genuine part of, of Instagram is stories when you kind of get that insight. What's going on behind the scenes? Uh, don't get me wrong, a beautiful, well put together social media page with beautiful posts is great, but it's just very much a front, it's just a face. It's a great marketing tool for when you use it like that, which I still do, but at the same time, I use Instagram more as just like flow. Just having fun. I want people to know that I exist. I, and I've definitely generated work from it over the years. Um, but the biggest thing for me that I can get out to it, and I know a lot of people will say the same thing, is the connections that I've made. So just either woodworking friends that live in, you know, Florida and Texas and California and all over the freaking world, that I, genuinely, I'm good friends with them now. We chat all the time and we've never met. And so I, also do, just from the user point of view is, is learning from other people. I can't tell you how many tricks and tips and things that I've picked up over the years, just just watching my friends on their stories. So I always just try to give back and just have fun with it. That's really bad. I don't have much away with it.

Jacob Edmond (3):

No, I think that's an interesting, you know, perspective and and aspect of it that I don't think many people think of with marketing is everybody thinks about it as kind of a means to an end of getting more business, right? And it's just, okay, I just, I have to do this because this is, like you said, this is a marketing tool or it's a portfolio or whatever. But you know, the community aspect of it, the networking is huge. And not just a networking with the clients, but networking with other people in the industry.

Kevin:

Yep.

Jacob Edmond (3):

You know? Especially as a, you know, a small business owner, it's a, it can be a very lonely, you know, isolating career path.

Kevin:

Sure can.

Jacob Edmond (3):

And I think particularly in our industry, from my experience coming up in woodworking, it's like everybody kind of thinks they're protecting the special socks when everybody's really doing everything the same way.

Kevin:

Right.

Jacob Edmond (3):

Um, and so it's very isolating industry when, you know, I think when you're able to find that community and the people that are willing to share and willing to bounce off each other, like you said, it could be a guy in Florida, you guys don't compete with each other, but you, you are in the same business and there's a lot you can learn from each other. Even just having that. You know, uh, okay, I'm not a crazy, I'm not the only guy going through the, these, these pains or these struggles, or I've seen you post things of just like: Hey guys, I'm, I'm struggling with, how do I do this? And here's what I've come up with. Other people will throw out there, oh, I've done that before and I'll do it this way. Or, have you tried this or check out this hardware, or check out this vendor.

Kevin:

Yep.

Jacob Edmond (3):

Um, that has a ton of value, that I don't think is, is thought about

Kevin:

Yeah, like that was one of the reasons why I took over, I mean, started using Mosaic. A bunch of my friends, we started using it and I had a lot of conversations with a lot of people on social media about it, and ultimately I'm like, yeah, I gotta do this. I know it's gonna save me time and it's gonna save me money. Um, and just, just so many different things and just even when I was doing this. Like, um, when I, uh, purchased this business, I, ran this decision past all of my Instagram friends, you just, what was, does this make sense?

Jacob Edmond (3):

Yeah.

Kevin:

And Yeah. So it's, it's been a cool place to be and that's why I continue to use it. I, do just say on Instagram, I mean, I've tried TikTok and all the, I don't know. It's, it's, you spend all those things. You pick one, you stick with it, and, uh, you know, it's been, it's been great to me so far.

Jacob Edmond (3):

Do you think it, makes you think differently about your work in that, you know, oh wow, if I'm gonna post a picture of this, people are gonna point out my mistakes or people are gonna be more critical versus just. I, I could do this and nobody's gonna see it, and nobody will ever worry about it, but now that I'm gonna post it, do you, do you feel that it makes you more critical of your work?

Kevin:

In that world of constant, you know, eyes on their work. Um, I mean, I don't think. Yeah, there's definitely parts of my, my things that I don't share absolutely. But at the same time, I'm trying to do production cabinetry. So, should I share these types of things? I wouldn't call them cutting corners, but yeah, I wouldn't certain things? the way that I do things. A hundred percent. Um, but at the same time, um, it doesn't matter. Mm. it just doesn't matter. Who cares? It's just all for fun. And ultimately, you're putting your work out on social media, you, you are proud of it. And, Um, you're putting it there. It's because you want the world to see. And um, that's all you gotta do. Just put it out there. It's, it's not, not overly, people do. They make it overly complicated.

Jacob Edmond (3):

Yeah. absolutely. Have you encountered you know, the trolls or the haters that are everywhere on the internet And,

Kevin:

Not not really.

Jacob Edmond (3):

You know,'cause I think that's why a lot of people are, are scared to post is they're scared for the feedback. The critics, the hard, you know, pushback, but from your perspective, I mean, I'm sure there's some, but for those that are, are thinking, how do I start posting? I'm anxious about it. I'm nervous about that. How often does that come up versus the positive side?

Kevin:

Uh, like like I said, I don't have a massive following. I have friends that I know have 200 plus thousand followers and yeah. they'll post and you'll get and just chatter within their, their comments about it, and they joke about it and whatever. But, um, no, I don't, I don't think I have that big, big enough of a following to get the real haters in there. And also too, it's not like I'm posting anything controversial. I'm just posting woodworking stuff and I'm, and like I said, I guess I'm pretty genuine about it too, so. And, uh, I don't know. I don't wanna be like, whatever. I know what I'm doing, but I know what I'm doing. I'm, I'm pretty good at this. So, um, when people come at me, it's like, do you really know more than what I'm providing? So I, I don't think any, anybody should be afraid of, even if you are just a DIY or starting off, who cares? You know, who cares? Just get it out there. Yeah. It's, these, these platforms, uh, should be used for, for fun. Um, obviously great marketing tools, but, um, people just overthink.

Jacob Edmond (3):

Yeah. So, so what's next for, for Kevin and for Fine Point? What, what do you, what's the future look like? You mentioned you wanna get a CNC in the future.

Kevin:

Yeah.

Jacob Edmond (3):

Obviously you're still in the early stages of moving in, getting your, your feet wet and acquainted with this new shop. But, uh, what does the next, you know, year, two years look like? Do you have any big goals or things that you're, you're working towards now?

Kevin:

Yeah, I do. I definitely have a lot of one year, five year plans. The possibilities are endless of what I can do. And not only there's, like, you look at it two different ways from the actually true business standpoint versus also what I wanna do to this shop. So, um, there's a litter of things that I wanna do this shop to make it more efficient and it kind of right into my overall, my business model save for the next five years. Like you said, I wanna I know that's gonna expedite processes a hundred percent. That's a, you know, a replacement of a man that's gonna be harder harder to find that has as a, true craftsman, and knows that I could blindly trust like I do my guy Mike. I haven't been chipping away at all the different things within my, in this. I go right back to it. I, I sell cabinetry, so I always wanna be able to have a bit display of what I Either can fabricate or can sell so a part of the space I'm gonna be converting into a showroom. So ultimately I'd like this kind of be a little bit of a design showroom as well. And I never really had that. I had an office now like, if I could show you this office, I'm basically in a closet. And this is all I have. And now, so right now, when I have clients come here I'm scrambling to find doors and samples And it's, it's driving So, yeah. Long term of this is to revamp most of the space, moving a lot of equipment around to get a more of a, a flow within the space. The problem with this, and, you know, and no fault to their own, but it just, they were purchasing equipment over the years and they were just dropping them in the shop to where they had the space and they had grown from a 3000 to a thousand into another 2000. Um, so the shop is kind of, it kind of weaves along. So the edge bander 4,000 square feet away from the table saw. Should not be that far. I should not have to get everything on a cart and roll across to the shop to bring it right back to the, um, the line boring machine. And, you know, everything like that. I want, I want to create a better system for how, how everything's being fabricated. Um, and so those are like really big two thing, adjusting within the shop to create a better process. And this touching on that production style cabinetry, you know, a lot of those craftsmen know it's a, it's really hard to make a really good living when you're doing different things and not doing repetitive tasks and you're trying to reinvent the wheel on every single project. I want to create real confined processes for every build, um, to really expedite everything that comes to the shop. So, yeah, a whole lot of that. A whole lot of

Jacob Edmond (3):

It sounds like yeah, gaining efficiencies, getting organized and, you know, maximizing, you know, the capabilities of, of the space you've got, the tools you've got.

Kevin:

Right.

Jacob Edmond (3):

Adding a CNC. Um,

Kevin:

And then growing growing. I just want to continue to grow. There are gonna be restrictions'cause this is bigger than my own shop, but it's still only 4,000 square feet, so it's not very big. So I know I could probably max out with three to four guys in this shop and to function relatively comfortably. So I do have hopes and dreams of, you know, growing into more spaces within this building because it is a very large building and there are available spaces all the time. So I do have hopes and dreams of continually growing and scaling this business. And really focusing on, uh, working on B2B relationships and working with architects and designers and still, and kind of catering to homeowners still, but more of the level of selling manufactured cabinetry to keep the cash flow coming.

Jacob Edmond (3):

Yep. Awesome. So that's what the, the future and the near future looks like for Kevin. Looks like for Fine Point Cabinetry. And what do you see in the future just for the industry as a whole? Like has anything changed for you that you've seen coming down the pipes in the next five to 10 years for woodworking industry?

Kevin:

Uh, it's kind of a catch 22, right? So, you know, the lack of skilled labor is real. Um. So, like I said, with my guy Mike, you know, he's gonna be parting ways with me in the next replacement for him is gonna be really difficult. Um, but there's also an opportunity. So the opportunity I think, for people that either wanna get into the business at this point or have been in it like me in their thirties, um, that, you know, is at this point, this pivotal point of my career. In my business life that I could take it to the next level because there's guys, like the guy that I purchased this business from that are retiring around every corner. And there's lots of opportunities like this. The same one that I just did, out there all over the place. And there will continue to be over the next 10, 10 years. So, um, I think that's the big shift in here. And, um, I don't know. We'll see how it all goes. We'll see how it all checks out here.

Jacob Edmond (3):

Awesome. On the flip side, what do you see staying the same? In, in continuing, you know, to be core to our, our industry in that timeframe.

Kevin:

People that will always gonna have a need for this. And until they start 3D printing cabinets, uh. There's always gonna need, need, need for craftsmanship and skilled craftsmen. And, and I. You know, I, I go back and forth on this all the time this career decision I and ultimately I'm very happy and I love it. But um, I don't know where I was just going with that, but, um, I, I think, there will always be a need for their craftsmen at, in this, in this, uh, in this world.

Jacob Edmond (3):

Awesome. Was there any other advice you'd share with, you know, anyone in this industry that's, you know, kind of similar path to you or thinking about, um, going down a path of starting a shop, acquiring a shop.

Kevin:

Um, do it. Go all in, you know, ball to the wall, make it happen. Believe in yourself. Uh, it's a lot of things that a lot of problems people have with is just believing that they can do it. And you can. You just gotta hustle. You just gotta work. You gotta, you gotta learn. Never stop learning. Um, read lots of books and listen podcasts like this.

Jacob Edmond (3):

I, uh, it's always a, a joy to get to talk with you. I appreciate your, your being so genuine and willing to share your journey. And how, um, you do that on, on Instagram all the time and coming on here again and sharing with everybody. There's a huge amount of value that I know somebody listening are gaining from this. So, uh, thank you for, for your story and sharing it. If those who are listening wanna reach out or wanna find out more about you, your story, or just to about the cabinets you make, how they can work with you, what's the best way they can do that?

Kevin:

Uh, so it's fine_point_cabinetry on, uh, on social media, on Instagram. Find point cabinetry.com. Yeah, great way to reach out.

Jacob Edmond (3):

Awesome. Well, we'll have those linked in the show notes for you, those who are listening, and um, yeah, until next time, hopefully we will have you again another year down the road and on the next level of growth in your journey.

Kevin:

Absolutely, man. Appreciate it.

Jacob Edmond (3):

Thanks, Kevin.

People on this episode

Contributor

Jacob Edmond

Host