Celebrating One Year In Business
Starting a new business is like getting a new puppy. Lots of excitement, a few oopsies, and a great deal of learning and growing. That sums up our first year in business, and we are very grateful for the support of Overstrand clients who are willing to take the time and make an investment in getting custom woodworking done. Our biggest achievement this year was landing clients all the way from Pearly Beach to Pringle Bay!
We launched as a micro-enterprise, starting off small against some of our well-established competitors. Finding a great workshop in Gansbaai Industrial was the starting point for our new venture. We gradually added bigger and better tools as we balanced costs and risks against making business investments. We found a few stores that carried our furniture and upcycled pieces on consignment and even landed business opportunities to supply furniture retailers in the area with a range of products. John du Plessis has been the backbone of our New Life woodworking venture - his carpentry talents and tenacious spirit have carried us through load-shedding and other ups and downs. The reality is that every small business rests on the backs of a few hardworking people. I have come to appreciate the amount of blood, sweat, and tears it takes to handcraft and custom-produce individual pieces of furniture. Looking at mass-made-in-China products, it's tough for small business owners to compete against big retailers. Each piece of furniture you design, construct, build and finish has its own story. And as a woodworking atelier, we are always so happy to see where our pieces fit into families and homes. We want our furniture to be a part of the coastal living experience - with ocean breezes, whales in the waves, summer gatherings, and memorable times.
