We were lucky to catch up with Caleb Bogenschutz recently and have shared our conversation below.
Caleb, first a big thank you for taking the time to share your thoughts and insights with us today. I’m sure many of our readers will benefit from your wisdom, and one of the areas where we think your insight might be most helpful is related to imposter syndrome. Imposter syndrome is holding so many people back from reaching their true and highest potential and so we’d love to hear about your journey and how you overcame imposter syndrome.
I think imposter syndrome is something we all struggle with at some point in our lives. There have definitely been times in college, my career, and my business where I didn’t feel qualified in what I was doing. It may sound obvious, but I think the best way to overcome imposter syndrome is to force yourself through the challenges that you don’t feel capable of. I’ve completed furniture and cabinetry projects that I was terrified of at the beginning of the process. Sometimes it’s best to just figure things out as you go. You end up learning so much during the process and hopefully remove a little bit of imposter syndrome along the way.
Let’s take a small detour – maybe you can share a bit about yourself before we dive back into some of the other questions we had for you?
I own and operate a woodworking business that’s based in Carthage, TX. I’ve been in business since 2018 and specialize in dining tables, beds, and custom cabinetry. I started out making small items with the intention of reinvesting my profits into the business so that I could eventually get into larger projects. Those larger projects started coming on in 2020 and I have gotten to build some really interesting pieces for so many wonderful clients over the past few years.
One recent change with the business is that I have moved into a commercial shop space. I ran the business out of my garage for years. Although I made that space work for as long as I could, it’s been absolutely amazing being in a larger space that’s dedicated to the business. In the short time that I’ve been in the new space, I’ve been able to really speed up my work and take on a lot more at once. This move has been such a game-changer for me and I’m extremely thankful.
If you had to pick three qualities that are most important to develop, which three would you say matter most?
Without a doubt, perseverance has been the most important quality that I’ve had to have in running this business. There have been many times where I felt discouraged . I’ve really had to push through those challenging times and I’m very glad that I did.
Great communication is another quality that’s been very important. From talking with clients for the first time, visiting their homes to discuss projects, and talking through the project design, there is a lot of communication that has to occur. Communication was not a strength of mine when I first started this business. While I still have work to do, I’ve gotten much stronger in this area over the years. It helps that I’ve gotten to work with some amazing clients.
Lastly, I think humility is important for business owners. Regardless of what industry you’re in, you’re going to be faced with so many challenges that you won’t know how to resolve on your own. Having the humility to ask for advice from people that are more experienced than you is extremely important. I’ve found that most people are very willing to help others that are early on in their journey.
Is there a particular challenge you are currently facing?
The biggest challenge I have right now is my lead time for new projects. Up until a few months ago, I was working out of my garage which limited the number of projects I could work on at once. This obviously slowed me down a good bit and made it difficult for me to keep up with all of my orders. Since I’m now working out of a commercial shop space, I have so much more room to work on several large projects at once. This is helping so much with decreasing my lead time and completing projects in a much more timely manner.
Contact Info:
- Website: www.bogiewoodworks.com
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/bogiewoodworks/
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/bogiewoodworks/
