Original subtitles

Our country is full of incredible makers dreaming of turning their talent...

into money -making careers.

It would mean everything to be able to do this full -time.

So, with a team of fantastic professional mentors... I know your

know what you're capable of doing.

I run a one -of -a -kind bootcamp showing them how to do just that.

Perfect. My proudest moment. I'll just share that. Yes. Now, I'm on my way to

catch up with those who have made their dreams come true. Hello. There he is.

Hello, mate.

I'll be hearing about their amazing achievements.

I've been able to put down... . .

.

. . . .

One of the best things about my job is watching our incredible mentors

people's lives through their support and expertise.

And today, we're going to check in on two talented makers who are enjoying

-changing success.

Later, we'll be catching up with Stone Carver Richard from Northumberland.

I would have never thought that I'd be in the situation that I am now, having

own workshop, hundreds of orders already through the door, hundreds waiting.

It's changed everything.

But first, I'll be visiting Hayley in Hampshire to find out how her upholstery

business has taken off.

She came to my boot camp in the summer of 2023, looking for help that would

change her family's lives.

My husband is a plumber and he's got a bad back which is getting worse.

I need this to take off so that I can support the family.

We can work together on a new journey and adventure and I can just do the

that I love.

To help Hayley build the business she was hoping for, I set her three

challenges. First up was making a volume piece, something she could make quickly

and price affordably.

She chose to make an orange velvet bar stool with both a back and seat pad,

complete with white piping, priced at £125.

The base and the seat back have already been cut out by my husband.

He's put in the air holes for the fabric to breathe and also the threads that my

bolts will go through so that I can attach it to the base.

Once she'd marked out the shapes of the baseboards for the back and seat pads,

Hayley used an electric carving knife to cut the foam that would sit on top of

them.

It's really satisfying to do that. It just goes through it like butter.

And it's also really good if you have curves to use one of these because you

get the shapes that you want.

As Hayley tried to build the business she was hoping would make life easier

her family, she was supported by mentor Michaela Sharp.

As a well -known upholsterer and interior designer with a passion for

and colour, Michaela combines carpentry and sewing skills in her own upholstery

business.

And she soon spotted a way she could help Hayley.

Can I give you one tip for how I cut my foam? And there's always loads of

different ways of doing things. I always stick mine onto the wood and then cut

around that. That way you don't get any wiggly edges. And when you come to stick

the foam down, you know it's... Exactly. Perfect.

That's such a good tip. What I would also love to see from you is offering

bespoke options.

I think being able to offer people their own combination of colours is what's

going to set your stools apart.

Amazing. Yeah, because I guess you could customise the shape first.

Yeah, think about if you can add in some curved lines or some wiggles just to

make sure that they are really different from the general stools that people are

seeing in the shops.

Okay.

After that great advice from Michaela, I wanted to get her thoughts on Hayley's

second challenge.

Before she arrived at my bootcamp, I asked Hayley to make a high -end piece,

something for a bigger budget.

She brought along a bespoke velvet chair with a playing card design and green

trim. It took eight hours to make and was priced at £650.

I think to have made the shapes and have designed it all, it's got some real

qualities to it.

But I think it can be a bit novel, the fabric choices that it's chosen and the

combination of colours as well with the neons on. I'd like to see it maybe a

little bit more classic.

OK, yeah. I think somebody's going to have to live with this every day in the

house.

Back in the upholstery barn, Hayley had stuck the foam to the seat and seat back

of her barstool.

and was marking out their outline onto the fabric that would cover them.

I'm just using a chalk pencil to make sure I can get nice and close to my

I need to put in a seam allowance, which is the area that I'm going to sew the

fabric together.

For this, I'm actually using 15mm pipe. My husband is a plumber and it just

works really well because it's the perfect seam allowance and it saves me

to go round to the tape measure and do it slowly. So it's just a little time

-saving thing.

I'm just going to cut this out now on my seam allowance that I've marked out.

With the fabric cut to size, Hayley prepared the piping by snipping it

the corners to help it curve nicely.

She then sewed the fabric and piping together.

The trick is to take it slow, really, because if you go off with your seam

allowance, it affects the whole shape, especially on the corners. It's, you

know, just taking that little bit at a time.

Once Hayley had made the back pad of her barstool, she finished off the one for

her seat by stuffing the foam base into the fabric cover, checking the piping

was straight as she went.

I've chosen seven centimetres for my thickness because my seat back is three

a half.

By doubling the seat it kind of gives that luxurious plump look.

I'm just holding it there and I'm going to temporary tuck at my north.

We're going to do the same at the south.

So once we've done the north and south, we're going to do corner, corner,

corner, corner.

To finish, Hayley trimmed off the excess fabric, stapled around the edges and

made sure the white piping was all nice and straight.

Once I've done that, I'm just going to cut out some black for the base and then

I'm going to get it all screwed together.

Hayley's barstool took her around four hours to craft.

It was a great piece, simple but with a luxurious finish.

With a make time of four hours, she gave it a price tag of £125.

I think it's priced really affordably, but perhaps a little bit low.

Edging the price up is going to be in line with the quality of the item.

OK, cool. Thank you. Do you have any advice on how Hayley can sell these?

Yeah, absolutely. I think while you're building your brand, looking at other

websites online that sell high -end homeware and drawing on their kind of

expertise for marketing and sales and listing them on sites like that will

really help. That's a great idea. Thank you so much.

Michaela had some great tips for Hayley's first two products.

And for her final challenge, we asked her to create her favorite piece to see

the item she was most passionate about making could also be a big hit with

potential customers she decided to make the first product she ever sold her slim

jim fold stall with fold away legs covered in decorative recycled polyester

free complimentary buttons it was priced at 150 pound she

began by gluing the foam onto her pre -made wooden base like michaela showed

for her bar stool

Once it was cut, it was covered with polyester and the top fabric and stapled

down, all ready to add the buttons.

I'm going to start in the centre, pop a pin in

to find the middle.

I'm going to get my needle where my hole is and

I'm going to push it through my foam.

And then pop my button in.

Give it a pull to the desired depth that I want. And then once I've got the

right tension, I'm just going to staple it off.

That's one done, and then I've just got two more to go.

After finishing the top, Hayley turned her attention to the base, screwing in

the fold -away legs.

It's always good to hand screw.

the screws in first because if you tighten one up then sometimes the others

don't fit and then once I've got all my bolts in

I'm just going to use this just to tighten those up and that just goes down

the threads that I pre -drilled in earlier.

I hope Michaela's going to like it. I think she'll appreciate the design

elements and the fact that it's really unique.

Having helped start her business, Hayley's Slim Jim Fold Stall was

understandably close to her heart.

It had material costs of around £76 and a price tag of £150.

Such a clever idea.

I think it's so space -saving. You know, the market for it is huge. I really

believe that getting this out to market hinges a lot on how you brand it.

And I think some videos to show people how easy it is to get it out and fold up

the legs, tuck it away, how lightweight it is, will really help bring it to life

for people.

What we need to do is get you into some stockists so that other brands can be

championing this really fantastic design that you have.

Hayley excelled at each of my three challenges.

And we sent her back to Hampshire with an action plan to help her business

thrive so that husband Martin could take a step back from his plumbing work.

First, we wanted her to create curves or wiggles for her bar stools, and offer

bespoke options to allow customers to pick their own colors.

Next, she needed to create video content for her social media, especially for

her fabulous fold -away footstool.

Finally, we wanted her to approach stockists, so other brands could

work. The bigger the brand, the better.

After leaving the boot camp, we gave Hayley eight weeks to work on our advice

and kick -start her business.

And with Michaela's support and husband Martin's help, she wasted no time coming

up with new designs and picking new fabrics to make her barstools more

My new sandals have arrived!

She also roped in her local blacksmith to help customise the barstool's legs.

I'm thinking about adding some wiggles or curves or something in it just to

it a little bit more unique.

I mean, we'd have to keep it straight here just to make sure it doesn't, you

know, it's nice and solid. But all of this could be wiggled.

With help from daughter Ellie, Hayley also focused on creating new videos and

taking photos for her website and social media.

We're having loads of fun in the workshop today and I've called in a

helper. We are trying to get ready for a photo shoot this afternoon, so I'm

making as much as I can so that we can get everything photographed and put on

the website.

Hayley did exactly what we asked of her and so much more.

She made big leaps with her business and had very positive news to share with us

when she came back to my boot camp eight weeks later.

I have made £7 ,451.

Did you know that? Yeah, I'm so impressed.

I'm so happy.

Wow. You've done amazingly well, but it's a team effort, isn't it, with your

husband? Yeah, we just make a great team. And I think with his back, we need

just get everything going now so that he can take a step back on the plumbing

and actually come and do the designing, which he's clearly very good at.

Hayley needed to take off her costs from her superb sales figures.

that she'd made a cracking start to building a new family business.

Two and a half years later, and having just about picked my jaw off the floor

after finding out about her early success, I've come to Hampshire to catch

with her and husband Martin to hear all about their continued achievements and

how much they're earning now.

Hi! Hayley! Hello! Come in, let me show you my sewing room. Thank you.

Hayley runs her business from home and has a dedicated space in what was a

room upstairs to do all the clean sewing parts of her work.

And look at this space.

So this is my sewing and finishing workshop.

I feel like I've stepped inside your head. Yeah, probably a little bit, yeah.

Look at that machine.

Yeah, this is like my industrial sewing machine where I do everything.

Have you got any other new toys?

I have bought a 3D printer.

Oh, wow.

Yeah, which is very exciting. How does that help upholstery, though? Before

it's been, you know, pen to paper, old school.

So I thought the best thing would be to be able to 3D print the models.

And we've got some here.

Is this it? They're some of the models? Yes, yes.

Having that 3D printer is going to be so helpful for the design process of

developing new products. You can actually see it. Yeah, exactly.

And it's super cute.

Of course.

Hayley's sewing studio is a fabulous space.

And it's great to hear that she's been investing in her business.

But I'm keen to find out how much progress she and husband Martin have

towards him taking a step back from his plumbing to help manage his chronic back

condition.

I know that building this business was a lot more than just making money for

you. This was a lot about Martin's health and obviously supporting your

Definitely. I mean, the last two years has been amazing.

He is working a lot more now in the business.

I'm able to step away from all the heavy work that I was doing before and sit

and design new products.

It sounds like the business is going from strength to strength.

Are there any particular products that help that? I would say the fold stools.

That is still our bestseller, really.

But we've added some extra features like a super slim one and these bar stools.

So we've actually got, this is the Kayla and the Dom.

Perfect. I guess you know who they're named after. Yes, I can guess.

The Dom is definitely one of our bestsellers now, which is lovely. I'm

hear it. And I'm not just saying that, like, genuinely.

I'm very pleased to hear that the new Dom stall is doing well.

Hayley and Martin's Fast Stalls and Foldaway Footstall make up 40 % of their

business.

They're also designing bigger pieces, and they're going to show me how they

their new chair called the Luna.

which they're priced at £875.

To see how they create the frame, we've headed five minutes down the road to

Blacksmith Alex's workshop.

All right Mel, mate.

Hayley and Martin have designed key common features across lots of their

which has enabled Alex to build special jigs that make it easier and quicker to

bend the metal into shape perfectly every time.

He's obviously put a lot of work into making sure the jigs are correct so that

we can, you know, replicate and create things.

It's important for you to make sure that every stall and piece of furniture is

the same.

Exactly, exactly. And also, when we design something new, we always think

is there a wiggle we could reuse in some way, you know, with things that we

already have. So, yeah, it works really well. That's clever. Yeah.

Having already made the arms, Alex is creating two wiggled bars for the new

lunar chair's sides.

This just shows how much work by hand goes into making. Exactly, yeah. Just

component for the chair.

As a metal worker myself, it's been great watching Alex work and see the

frame coming together.

You make it look so easy.

Wasn't that brilliant?

Yeah. Once the frame is fully assembled, it's taken to be powder -coated in

whatever colour the customer has chosen.

Back at the house in their larger downstairs workshop... Hayley and I are

to make one of the chair's cushions.

All right, I've got my chalk of choice.

Yep. I'm ready. You ready?

We start by marking out the template.

I need my weight.

Sorry. Thank you, thank you.

I know these last two and a bit years can't have been easy.

You've been so busy, by the sounds of it.

But you've come so far.

Definitely. It's like there's been so many highlights.

I think this year has been my favourite year just because I had a really big

contract with an interior designer for about six to eight months of this year,

doing all these different things I'd never done before.

Out of your comfort zone. And every time I finished one, I was like, oh, my God,

I've just done a sofa.

It's amazing. Like, oh, my God, I've just done this.

And I think that this year has really made me feel like I can do this. I can

it. I could do anything.

With the fabric that will cover both the top and bottom of the cushion marked

out, It's time to get the scissors out.

But as it's a luxurious fabric costing £110 per square metre, I'm pretty

nervous.

Perfect. This isn't terrifying at all.

Come on, Donna, stick to the line. Stick to the line.

There's a saying in the upholstery world, which is measure twice, cut once.

Yeah, yeah, that carries through to metalwork. Yeah, does it? Oh, amazing.

Yeah. I could do with a helper all the time.

I'd get so much done.

A helpful one, though, not me.

Perfect.

There it is. Fabulous job. There it is. I'm exhausted already.

After cutting out the material for the piping... Oh, Hayley, this is teamwork.

Yeah, I know.

We head back up to the sewing room where Hayley sews it to the edges of the

cushion... ..before adding a hidden zip tape down one side.

Do you want to put the zip on? I'd love to.

We need a white one, the top box. Can we put a black one in?

We can, but it will ruin everything.

OK, trick with this, if we start on a straight first. Of course there's a

So you want to put one side in, then the other side. Hold these bits here, the

tails, together in one hand.

Hang on.

Got it?

I feel my socket fingers are ideal for this. It's a really small zip as well.

Oh yeah, okay, I'm in. Yep, now grab the tails with one hand and pull the zip.

Yes! Amazing, first time!

To finish, Hayley stitches the remaining three sides of the cushion cover

together.

Then turns it the right way round.

Look how neat that is.

So I can fill it with the cushion itself.

Perfect.

That's it.

Now you can do it up.

I know this probably isn't much for you.

compared to some of the other things that you make. But that's quite an

achievement for me. It's perfect.

I've loved seeing how Hayley and Martin's lunar chair is put together.

It has a make time of up to five days and a price tag of £875.

Like all of their products, the colours and fabrics can be tailored to each

customer. And it also comes with a matching footstool for £275.

It's great to see they've completely embraced our advice about creating

pieces. And I'm keen to find out what role the other pointers we gave them

played in the success of their business.

When you last left the boot camp, we sent you off to try and build your

presence. you know creating videos things like that yeah we've invested in

new camera equipment which has been amazing the new camera can you know

hands when i'm working so i can kind of just set it up leave it and go um and i

think the more i'm doing stuff there's more stuff that i can just naturally

another point that michaela was very keen for you to look into was trying to

your work into more shops and stockists

It's not easy. Have you managed it?

Yes. So when I left you last at the boot camp, we had gone online with an online

retailer. And we have now increased that to a couple more. People have reached

out and asked to stock our products, which is great.

But also the collaborations that we've done, we manufacture some products for a

London showroom where we use their fabric and put it on products for their

customers. So we've definitely, definitely increased getting our stuff

there, which is great. Well done. How does that feel?

Amazing. And it's the best feeling that we're actually getting approached by

people who are saying we love it. We want to either do a variation or, you

we want to stock what you have now.

Hayley and Martin have used every bit of advice Michaela and I gave them. And

two and a half years after Hayley first arrived at my boot camp, I can't wait to

hear exactly what it all means for their finances.

The whole idea behind this business was really to try and look after Martin's

health and support the family. This is a business, after all. Is it paying its

way? How are the figures looking?

So the business has made £30 ,000, which has meant I've managed to pay myself a

great salary, and we've also been able to reinvest for next year for more

exciting things. That's been amazing.

That is incredible. That's a huge number.

Look at the smiles on both your faces as well.

It is amazing.

Yeah. You must be pleased.

So pleased.

Yeah.

It's just been an amazing journey that is nowhere near ended.

Going from selling next to nothing two and a half years ago to making £30 ,000

year after costs is an incredible achievement.

And there's more good news.

Martin is now spending 70 % of his time working alongside Hayley in their

business. And I don't think it will be too long before he's joining her full

time.

It's just so nice to be doing this with my husband, to be able to not only have

a life together, but build a business together that we love doing.

I know it sounds cheesy, but it's a pinch me moment. It just feels really

wonderful. And I'm very, very proud of us.

The next maker we're catching up with today is Richard from Northumberland,

came to my boot camp in the summer of 2024.

He had a passion for stone carving, which he discovered after a not -so

nudge from his mum.

My mum was having renovations done on her house. She said, come down, meet the

stonemason, you'll love his yard, he's got sculptures and things.

As soon as I got out of the car, my mum was like, this guy's unemployed, if you

want to give him a job.

Took to it like a duck to water and fell in love with it from there.

To figure out the best way of helping Richard make money from his beautiful

work, I teamed him up with professional stone carver Louis Francis.

Louis is a classically trained carver who has been honing his skills for 13

years and runs a successful business from his studio in Norfolk.

Richard is just starting out with his business and he's got so much skill and

huge potential.

You know, he never stops.

He's so creative.

I'm really excited to see, you know, where he's going to go with it.

To help Richard turn his potential into profit, he also took on my three

challenges. For his volume piece, he decided to make a small geometric fox

Northumberland sandstone and copper gilding paint, which he priced at £45.

Having cut the stone to size and polished it up with an abrasive block,

traced on his design using graphite paper.

Almost done the design.

Grand reveal.

And voila.

Now I'm going to take it over to the table and get it carved out.

I'm going to be using tungsten carbide letter and chisels and I'm going to use

it to cut a V -cut to give it that effect.

Catch the light.

I was never very good at school.

I was the most coasting average student you've seen.

Stone carving has changed my life. I used to work to fund my passions, and

my work is my passion.

Whilst Richard focused on carving his fox, I caught up with Louis to talk

his second challenge.

Before coming to my boot camp, I asked Richard to bring along his favourite

piece to see if the item he was most proud of could make him big profits.

My favourite piece is the large geometric kingfisher.

It's a foray into using extremely bold colours, which is something that I've

been working towards.

I love it because it's one of the designs that I feel has secured my

Working once again with Northumberland sandstone, Richard decided to showcase

another beautiful hand -painted animal carving.

With material costs of around £50 and a 20 -hour make time, he gave it a price

tag of £200.

It's really, really beautiful.

When I saw it, it wasn't the actual stone, it's not the carving, it's the

colour. He's got the colour right, the way it's blended, do you know?

Overall, you know, it's the full package, it's just wow.

Richard has an asking price of £200 for the piece.

I think it needs to go up. I think it needs to go up.

£200, I think it's like undervaluing his artwork and that really shocked me.

Back on the stone carving station, Richard was making good progress with

geometric sandstone fork.

The first time I saw my first piece, it almost felt unbelievable.

The idea that I'd done something that I love.

I created something from scratch, carved it, and then sold it. It was just the

icing on the cake.

Once he'd finished carving, Richard turned his attention to painting the

The painting part can be stressful.

You've spent time carving and making sure that everything lines up right.

And then the idea of slathering paint on can be quite daunting.

The majority of the fox is the Copper Guild.

And then I just have to go in and add the black for the legs, the eye and the

nose.

And then just a little bit of a glaze for the eye to give it some shine.

And then it's done.

I'm feeling pretty good about it. I think it's a nice carve, it's a nice

And I'm looking forward to seeing how Louis reacts to the finished piece.

Richard's Northumberland Sandstone Fox had material costs of around £9.

It took him four hours to create and had an asking price of £45.

I think that you could probably make two from one block, if I'm honest.

How?

Make the stone thinner.

You know, cut it in half so you could do two. Then you could charge twice as

much.

And also, the thinner it is, you know, when you're shipping, it will be lower

postage. You can maximise your profit.

Had you thought about making it slightly thinner?

I'd kept it quite thick for stability, but I could make it thinner with a

diagonal cut and keep it tapered.

Richard, you've priced this at £45?

Yes.

I think you could sell it for a little bit more, charge a bit more, because you

have to think about the cost of the material, your time, the overheads, and

you're paying for tax.

How are you going to do that with £45?

Charge more.

Have you got any other pointers for Richard?

The carving is great, but maybe you could try working with another stone,

slate, for example.

It takes time to carve, but, you know, it's really sellable, and maybe you

charge a little bit more.

You know, the material is gorgeous.

something to look into. That'll be interesting for you then. Yeah,

You get an amazing carve on slate, so that would be an exciting material to

with.

Two items in, and Louis thought Richard needed to up his pricing on both. So for

his final piece, he gave him a challenge designed to improve the profitability

of his work.

He asked Richard to create a house number with his own design and keep it

two kilograms.

as the cost of posting increased significantly above that weight.

He uses stone that is quite thick, so I want him to look at the depth and to

make it thinner so that it's lighter and it's measurable and it's easy to post

and it's cheaper and affordable so he can maximise profit.

Once again, Richard used Northumberland sandstone to create his mentor's

challenge piece.

He decorated it with a hummingbird design and in colour with acrylic paint.

and gave it an asking price of £90.

The weight limit to do with postage is a really interesting limitation,

and it's pushed me to think more about the designs that I use and the stone

I end up with.

Coming up with my own design has been an interesting challenge.

Normally I find the pictures online and use them as a heavy reference, whereas

with this there was a lot of...

getting it to look right.

With his design in place, Richard's set to work carving.

If I was able to do this to the point of making a very good living,

that would be extremely good.

I've never had a career where you're actually working what you're passionate

about. It was always working to fund my other passions.

So I'm actually working something that I enjoy and I'm passionate about.

Wood pins, really.

After carving the last details of his piece...

Are you done?

It was time to add the paint.

I find with this paint, it tends to sink in a little, leaving a kind of natural

gradient, which I think looks really lovely.

It was an accidental discovery.

I wasn't very happy about it when it first happened.

And then I realised it looked really nice. So accidents happen.

Richard's house number with geometric hummingbird design was another fantastic

showcase of his skill and creative talent. And he priced it at £90.

It's gorgeous.

It's gorgeous.

Not just carving.

It's not just a carving.

The colour.

The colour.

It stands out. It stands out.

out yeah well done i'm not gonna hold you in suspense any longer louis set you

the challenge to make a house number under two kilos should we weigh it let's

let's find out what we got what we got let

it settle 1 .976 Oh, my goodness.

Oh, you heard it good.

Well done.

Richard rose to every challenge we set him, and as he made his journey back to

Northumberland, we gave him an action plan to help turn his talent into a

successful, sustainable business.

First, he needed to reduce the weight of his products so he could post them cost

-effectively.

Next, we wanted him to carve on different materials, like slate.

to widen his product range finally he needed to review his price points to

his work and charge what his pieces were worth

for the next eight weeks

louis gave richard all the support he needed to get his business off the

he began by creating lighter pieces to send cheaply by post welcome to the

greenhouse so following louis advice I'm now using thinner cuts of the

Northumbrian sandstone.

Considering the weight, I've started making standardised blanks. So I have

bigger one for wider designs like the kingfisher or the taller one for like

fox or slimmer design.

He also took on board Louis' advice about working with new materials like

It's called heather slate and it's kind of like maroon.

Purple -ish.

But it looks amazing when it's wet. Or, in the end, when it's polished.

After a few weeks, Richard was ready to show off his new work.

I'd like to point out how sharp the detail is in slate.

Like, look at that!

For two months after the boot camp, Richard worked hard on his action plan.

when he came back to report on his progress, he had brilliant news.

Do you mind if we talk about figures?

How much have you made so far?

I've made 1 ,160.

In such a short time? Wow. Yeah.

Well done.

Well done. That is incredible. It's really nice to see a four -digit number.

Yeah. So good.

Richard had to deduct his costs from his sales, but in just a few short weeks,

he'd proved he had what it took to sell his work and build a business.

18 months after he first arrived at my boot camp, I've asked Louis to head to

Northumberland to find out how he's managed to maintain that momentum and

much money he's making from his carving now.

Hey, how are you doing?

How are you?

I'm good, thank you. Long time no see.

I know, I know.

Do you want to come and see my workshop?

Definitely, I'm so excited, let's go.

Awesome, let's go.

When I first met him, Richard was working in the greenhouse in his back

Now he's built his own nine -metre squared workshop with large double doors

make it easy to get the stone he works with in.

Wow, what a beautiful space.

Thank you. I moved in about ten months ago.

How's it been going in the last 18 months?

It's been crazy, Louis. I've got hundreds of orders.

I've got a newsletter with like 300 to 400 people signed up. I've been able to

send out potentially new designs, engage interest.

I've also got a waiting list on commissions too.

So there's been a lot happening.

Wow, fantastic. So you keep yourself busy?

Very. Do you need my help?

If you know an apprentice, that would be good.

I wanted to ask, Which of your carvings have been bestseller?

My Kingfisher and my Fox designs have been really popular.

I've sold over 100 of each and I've actually made a different design for the

Fox.

Richard has designed his new Fox with fewer sections so it's quicker to carve

and it will be finished with a shinier resin eye.

He's priced it at £65, which feels a little low to me.

But he's going to show Louis how he makes it.

To begin with, he traces out his new design onto Northumberland sandstone.

Right, I'm happy with how that's looking.

I'm going to start by carving in the tiny little indentation for the eye.

And then I'll just start carving the top of the head.

I'm pleased that Richard's tweaking his designs to speed up his production. But

Louis wants to find out more about how he's getting on with managing a growing

business.

Can I ask you a question?

Of course.

So 18 months in boot camp, what's been your biggest challenge since?

With the work -life balance.

Some days I'm working six days a week and then some months there's not a day

off. So it's something I need to work on.

The good thing is that I'm working for myself, so if I really need it, I can

take the day off that I need.

Getting the work -life balance right is an issue many makers struggle with.

But valuing his time and talent and fixing his prices are things that would

definitely help Richard, as they'll enable him to work less without losing

money.

The next stage of making the fox is rubbing down the stone with an abrasive

block to polish it and remove any marks.

Then it's treated with a weatherproofing solution.

As this needs a day to dry, Richard's pre -prepared another one to paint.

Why foxes?

When I was a teenager, I didn't really get as much sleep as I probably should

have.

So I'd spend quite a few evenings or four o 'clock mornings going for walks.

And ordinarily there was a fox around.

So I've always been relatively keen on them.

To finish, Richard adds the new resin eye detail, cures it under a UV light to

set, then adds rubber feet to the bottom.

I like to add the little feet on just so that it's not going to scratch any

surfaces that it ends up going on, which isn't a problem if you have a stone

hearth, but if you have a sort of wooden sideboard or anything, it just gives

it a very good level of protection.

I'm happy with that.

I think the newer design gives it a lot more character, and I much prefer the

resin eye.

With material costs of just over £11 and a make time of just under four hours, I

love Richard's new £65 geometric fox.

I'm pleased to see he's still using slimmer, lighter pieces of stone, as

suggested, and I'm keen to find out if any of the other advice we gave him at

the boot camp has been helpful as he's built his business over the past 18

months.

Gwen, I gave you an action plan.

I asked you to try and carve on different materials.

One of them is slate. Did you stick with that or did you go back to sandstone?

I found it very time consuming because I got so busy with the stone orders. It's

something I had to put to one side just so I could get through those initial

orders. I would love to come back to it.

It's a fantastic material.

I'm not at the right skill level yet to be able to dedicate the time with it,

how busy I am.

So I've asked you to look into the prices of your work and what they're

Are you charging the right price or do you feel like you're undercharging or

need to increase your prices?

I think I'm still undercharging.

Even after boot camp I increased them a little but with the amount of demand

that I've had and the amount of supplies that go into it now with it being such

a big operation.

I think it's time to increase them a little bit more and see where that takes

me.

I think it's time to increase your prices because the postage, that's gone

Dining materials and things like that, that's gone up.

Cost of living, that's increased.

There's loads of elements you need to think about and you need to increase

prices to reflect that and be more comfortable.

Louie's absolutely right.

It's great to be so busy, but 18 months after leaving the boot camp, it's time

for Richard to raise his prices and start charging what his work is really

worth.

Over the past year and a half, he's worked flat out for filling orders from

website and doing small commissions like this stunning owl for £65.

It's time to find out how much money all this hard work is making him.

What is the process?

Have you made a lot of money? Have you made a living?

I have. I have.

I've earned £20 ,000 this year.

£20 ,000. £20 ,000.

Wow.

That is brilliant.

It has.

It is. It's changed my life completely. Yeah.

I've gone from working in the greenhouse, doing little local markets,

few pieces a week, you know, dragging that around. And then now I'm

in my workshop, fulfilling web orders, having people chomping at the bit, see

what's coming up next.

It's great.

That is fantastic.

Going from next to nothing to earning £20 ,000 a year after costs in just 18

months is a remarkable achievement.

And with such incredible demand for his work, things are only going to get

better for Richard.

18 months ago, I would have never thought that I'd be in the situation

now. Having my own workshop, hundreds of orders already through the door,

hundreds waiting, changed everything.

Want some help building a business that lasts?

Visit the Open University's interactive guide for practical help to sustain and

grow your business.

Scan the QR code on screen or visit connect .open .ac .uk forward slash

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