Today we’d like to introduce you to Robert Franco.
Robert, let’s start with your story. We’d love to hear how you got started and how the journey has been so far.
I started this company in 2014 knowing almost nothing about the furniture business. I started out with no tools, and just making tree stump end tables and putting Ikea legs on them. After selling them to my friends, I started going online to search what else I could do. That’s when I discovered the large slabs of wood. I thought to myself, if I just had the money to buy the right tools and had a place to work I could start a furniture company. Little did I know there was a lot more to it than that. But telling my buddy Shannon Gross about it, he asked how much I needed. I had no idea. So he loaned me around $8,000 to get my business started. So I went to Home Depot, bought what I thought i needed and went and found a shop to rent out. Still had no idea what I was doing I quit my job so that I could really focus on this new endeavor and see where it could go.
Everyday I was looking up DIY projects to do and making very simplistic things out of wood from Home Depot. Every month I was sweating to pay rent on the shop and my normal bills. I’m pretty sure a lot of my friends just bought my stuff to support me. And through the course of 4 years, I learned. Learned that mostly everything I bought from Home Depot wasn’t big enough, or the right tool, or where I bought lumber from is not supposed to be Home Depot. I continued to watch youtube video on how to make more detailed things, read articles, followed companies on Instagram to see what they were doing and what machines they were using. I upgraded my tools, gained knowledge, and through my time as a bartender I happen to know the right people who got me in the commercial furniture market.
From there I started working with designers, and two years of that I am currently on track to do about $400,000 this year in sales! I am growing every year and now have 2 full-time employees and working on more. It really wasn’t as easy as I thought at all but I’m the end it worked out. So now I’m still learning, learning how to run a business, this might be the even harder part of this whole endeavor.
Great, so let’s dig a little deeper into the story – has it been an easy path overall and if not, what were the challenges you’ve had to overcome?
The challenges are figuring out your audience, what your capable of as a small company, money management, the list goes on. It wasn’t easy in the beginning, but help with family and friends made it a lot easier.
Needing help in the shop to work on big projects was tough for the first couple of years. I couldn’t afford to pay anyone, but the dining tables were getting bigger and bigger. You just have to figure it out when you’re by yourself.
Alright – so let’s talk business. Tell us about The Franco Company – what should we know?
We design and manufacture custom furniture for both commercial and residential clients. We do a various design of styles. As a company, we don’t want to fall into a certain trend and be known for that. We want to mold and shift with the times as they change. Right now the live edge collection is very popular. So we do a lot of dining tables and conference table out of the live edge slabs. We also do various cabinet builds including entertainment centers, kitchen islands, bookcases. We use mainly real solid wood and steel to construct our designs. Something that will last a lifetime like they used to make things. It’s all made here in our warehouse in Dallas Texas. Conference tables, Desks, Dining tables, Bars, Shelving, Coffee tables, Countertops, Built-ins and more.
Is there a characteristic or quality that you feel is essential to success?
Keeping everything custom is one of the most important parts of our business. We can handle large scale orders but are still able to customize each item to your specific needs. That’s what will set us apart from a box store. We don’t make it until you order it.
Contact Info:
- Website: Thefrancocompany.com
- Phone: 2145496848
- Email: thefrancocompany@gmail.com
- Instagram: Instagram.com/thefrancocompany
- Facebook: Facebook.com/thefrancocompanyfurniture
Image Credit:
Stephanie Ray
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