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Walker Woodworking

Shelby, NC

Exiting the Day Job

Travis Walker had some time on his hands when a red oak tree that his granddaddy had planted died. “So, I decided to cut it down,” he said. “And once I saw the wood, I decided to build something out of it.” He built a changing table and crib for his first child with wife Stacey, along with a China hutch and the bed they still sleep in every night. From then on, his woodworking hobby provided an outlet for his boundless energy during periods of idle time between his shifts as a paramedic. 

It was 1996 when Walker first built something for someone else, and he hasn’t had an idle day since. To purchase tools, he borrowed three-thousand dollars from his grandmother, and a few years later, he’d built a workshop in his backyard and invested in cabinet design software to improve customer satisfaction. By 2002, he’d fully transitioned from his day job to owning and operating Walker Woodworking. 

Overcoming a Plateau

After more than a decade in business, the Walkers hit a plateau: They struggled to surpass $1.5m in revenue. They realized that some customers preferred lower-level cabinets for laundry rooms and kids’ bathrooms, and Walker forfeited those sales by not offering products in that range. So, in 2017, the Walker team revised their business model. They opened Greenbrook Design Center, a showroom in downtown Shelby, to offer a variety of cabinet brands alongside other home design elements such as light fixtures, countertops, and hardware. “At Greenbrook, customers can buy a lower-level cabinet–not poor quality, but lower-level–that we still service and install,” Travis Walker said. The showroom effectively captured income they hadn’t previously accessed, allowing the company to grow their revenue to nearly $4m and expand into a 75,000-square-foot warehouse. By 2024, their revenue had grown to $6.5m.

Stacey Walker set up a monthly meeting with [the SBTDC] to discuss financial and growth plans for Walker Woodworking.

Getting Help When You Need It

The Walkers first began working with SBTDC’s Anna Jackson in 2020. They had been denied for a pandemic-era Economic Injury Disaster Loan (EIDL) and needed assistance reapplying. After their second, successful, application, Stacey Walker set up a standing meeting with Jackson on a monthly basis to discuss financial and growth plans for Walker Woodworking. “I feel like I’m on their advisory board,” said Jackson, “even though they don’t have a formal advisory board yet.” 

Recently, Jackson has offered accounting resources to the Walkers, whose operations have grown to require a dedicated accountant, a role that Stacey Walker has filled alongside her marketing duties. “It’s more than I can do,” Walker said. She emphasized the importance of enlisting expert help when you need it. “We would not have gotten here without getting help,” she said. In addition to the SBTDC, she listed their CPA, banker, and business coach as necessary investments to fuel business success. 

Always Innovating

The driving factor of Walker’s success is their continued push toward innovation and efficiency. Purchasing more sophisticated machinery has allowed them to increase production and decrease labor costs. They’ve also implemented a new manufacturing process following the Lean Six Sigma model that has streamlined their operations, reduced waste, and optimized employee performance.

Additionally, the Walkers have begun exploring a direct sales model to sell Walker Woodworking cabinets to other showrooms, who use their own designers to determine what to order. “If they come to us, then they’re doing that design, and I don’t have to pay more designers or open another showroom,” Stacey said. 

Finding Balance

One challenge the Walkers regularly encounter is leaving work at work. “I have a distinct way of separating personal and work,” Travis said. “I’ll just walk out the door and go down to the barn or sit on the tractor.” When the family sits down together, they pile their cell phones in the middle of the table to avoid distraction. “It takes a special couple” to run a business together, Travis said. “We’ve been married twenty-nine years. . . . You gotta cut loose.”

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