We filed for
‘essential business’ status— followed the guidelines— and kept on working.
Robert Rising: NY City Slab, Yonkers, NY
Robert Rising has created his own niche rescuing city hardwood logs from being turned into wood chips. He mills them into usable lumber and uses the lumber to build high-end furniture for big corporate clients. Robert likes to call himself— “The Black Lumberjack.”
BUY LOW-SELL HIGH
Robert has mastered the art of finding undervalued goods (gigantic tree trunks cut down on public land and at private homes by landscapers), and getting them into high-demand markets by turning them into usable lumber ready for builders, furniture makers and others. In the New York area, where hardwoods like black walnut and white oak command top dollar at traditional lumber yards, his company, NY City Slab, has an enormous supply of these and other species which he’s collected for free or at very low cost and prepared for use in construction by milling and air-drying.
VALUE ADDED
When he saw how furniture makers were buying his lumber and turning it into even higher-margin products like tables and cabinets, he decided to get into that business himself too. Now he also turns that cheaply-sourced lumber into finished furniture, which he sells to furnish boardrooms and offices across Manhattan and the Tri-State area.
COVID/SHMOVID
When Covid hit in late February, he streamlined his staff and quietly continued working to complete several high-end commissions. With a 5,000 square foot workshop and 2 staff workers wearing masks, he thought he was able to maintain a safe environment without shutting down. Some of his neighbors noticed that his shop was operating despite the state-wide ban on non-essential services, and they reported him to the authorities. He was served notice to cease work, but instead of quitting, Robert applied to be designated an “essential service.” At first the authorities refused permission for him to work. He outlined his safety measures, and 2 weeks later they inspected his workshop. Everyone was healthy and observing social distancing, but they still didn’t grant him permission to operate. He continued anyway, and when the inspectors returned two months later and saw that the workers we:re healthy and social distancing was in place, they issued a permit for him to continue.
COVID LESSONS
1. RUN A TIGHTER SHIP!
From cash flow to schedules to marketing, Robert is carefully watching every penny to make sure nothing is wasted.
2 FIND NEW MARKETS:
Finding new markets is always easier said than done, but Covid-imposed social distancing showed Robert a way he had never noticed before: Instagram ‘Live Video.’ Now, twice a day, Robert conducts live chats with artisans, from woodworkers to glass blowers, blacksmiths to upholsterers.
https://www.instagram.com/conversationsblacklumberjack/
When he spots someone whose work he admires, Robert sends them a text and invites them to have an Instagram Live Video conversation. Then he archives it on his own YouTube channel.
https://www.youtube.com/channel/UClh_V4utrsGKThkAuHOb-Mg
People watching live can text in their own questions. Everybody not only learns something new, but they also meet someone whose work just might help them take their own work to the next level. Robert says this process not only helps his followers learn about new talent and new markets, but it also helps expand his own audience by exposing them to his service and products as well.