About CustomMade

CustomMade is an online matchmaker connecting Buyers who want one-of-a-kind Creations with professional and passionate Makers.

Coming Soon to a Workshop Near You: Custom Standing Desks 2, “The Rising”

Posted by Pedro in For Makers, The Pro Shop on September 12, 2011

Are you sitting down?

Good grief, stand up right now!  Haven’t you read Jim Carlton’s recent article, “Standing Desks are on the Rise,” in the Wall Street Journal Online?  Apparently, employees at Facebook, Google, and other Silicon Valley companies are in mortal terror of sitting at their desks.

In this video accompanying the article, Mr. [...]

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Join a Trade Association and Form Great Partnerships

Posted by CustomMade in For Makers, The Pro Shop on September 7, 2011

Do you belong to your local trade association? Do you know what benefits you could see by doing so?

“A trade association, also known as an industry trade group, business association or sector association, is an organization founded and funded by businesses that operate in a specific industry. An industry trade association participates [...]

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How can I sell more handmade furniture? by Doug Turner of Turner Custom Furniture

Posted by CustomMade in For Makers, The Pro Shop on August 29, 2011

This article is by Doug Turner of Turner Custom Furniture.

I’ve been doing some “deep thinking” lately.  The question: “How can I sell more handmade furniture?”

Let’s assume I suddenly have a much larger advertising budget. I run ads on TV. I place ads in Architectural Digest. I’m more ubiquitous than Oprah. Assume all of [...]

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Seller Beware: Old Scams in New Places

Posted by Pedro in For Makers, The Pro Shop on August 22, 2011

A prospective client is interested in placing a large order with you.  As you’re hammering out a quote, the client makes an unusual request.  Could you forward part of their payment to a shipping company via wire transfer?  An oversight on the client’s part, the company doesn’t accept credit cards.  The client will even throw [...]

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Apprentice system in Germany. What could we learn from this?

Posted by CustomMade in For Customers, For Makers, The Pro Shop, The Wide World of Custom Making on August 19, 2011

When it comes time for college in Germany, young people can go to school and study a purely academic array of coursework. Or they can get their hands dirty and enter into a government assisted apprenticeship to learn a particular trade or craft.

How does it work?

The student chooses the craft he or she [...]

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Making Room for the Unique in Custom Kitchen Remodeling

Posted by Pedro in For Makers, The Pro Shop on August 15, 2011

Have you ever had clients whose dream custom kitchen remodel project included ornate wood moulding in a contemporary style home?

Kingsley Adegboye’s recent article in Vanguard News highlights both the appeal of custom kitchen remodeling and the difficulties homeowners and designers may face in creating a design that will complement the house.  More attention and [...]

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Communicating with today’s clients

Posted by CustomMade in For Makers, The Pro Shop on August 8, 2011

This article was contributed by Doug Turner of Turner Custom Furniture.

The way businesses communicate with clients has changed dramatically in the last twenty years. Remember the days before the Internet? It’s funny to look in old magazines, and see adds without the now ubiquitous website address. Those old ads simply asked you to [...]

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Stability, confidence and trust-building boosts sales

Posted by CustomMade in For Makers, The Pro Shop on August 1, 2011

This piece was contributed by Patrick Kennedy of Superior Woodcraft, Inc. If you’d like to contribute to the CustomMade blog, let us know!

Over the past few years I have been thinking a lot about stability, confidence and trust.  These three key ingredients have been missing from the American psyche during the past three years.  [...]

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It’s all about value: explaining the cost of custom items

Posted by CustomMade in Concepts & Buyer Guides, For Customers, For Makers, The Pro Shop on July 25, 2011

The first question on most people’s minds when talking about custom items is “what will it cost?”

If you’re the one making the item, you know that thinking about the price tag BEFORE thinking about the value of the product misses the entire point of the purchase. But, what does that elusive word ”value” even mean?  How do [...]

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Google Alerts will help you stay up-to-date

Posted by CustomMade in For Makers, The Pro Shop on July 18, 2011

Have you ever seen another Maker in your field share an article via email or any one of a number of social media sites and thought to yourself “how in the world did he find that article?” How do you find articles and stay on top of all of the relevant news in your industry?

[...]

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