Meet Char Miller-King

We are so lucky to have Char Miller-King in the shop today. And I am thrilled that she is here. So I wanna take just a couple of minutes and introduce you to Char. So Char, give us, you have 17 seconds to give us your entire life story. No, give us your background. So a little bit of personal, and then the whole woodworking side, how you've evolved into the point where you're here shooting video. I know. It's been an amazing journey. Well, I started about 20 years ago with a bed because I couldn't afford to buy a bed. So I figured out how to make one. I borrowed a drill and I borrowed a screwdriver, and I built this platform bed and I slept in it for seven years. So this part's interesting. That long ago, too, you didn't necessarily have YouTube to rely on or whatever. So is that, were you looking at library books or something, or what was you, or just figuring out on the fly? That's very cool. Off the cuff, figured it out, looked at a picture, copied the picture, had someone else cut the wood for me, put it together, and thankfully it worked. All right, that was the start. That was the start. So I started making other furniture. It wasn't that great. Butt joints, crappy furniture, figuring out as I went. And then I started acquiring more tools. First it was a circular saw. Then it was a power drill. Until I got to the point where I can no longer fit a car in the garage because it is covered with power tools. I love that problem. I know, right? My husband doesn't. So I started making things. I started doing commissions, and then I stumbled upon a maker space. And a maker space is a community building where anybody can come and learn a new trade or a skill. There's access to power tools, teachers. It's like joining the Y for woodworking. Exactly. I love that analogy. Yes, that's exactly what it's like. And we create this community, this thing of friends, we're all makers. And I started teaching there, and that's when I fell in love with teaching. So I teach kids as young as seven how to use power tools. I think I've taught someone as old as 80 how to use power tools for the first time. And then of course, I stumble upon social media, and that's where things kind of just exploded and blew up for me. And now I'm here with you and we're building in your amazing space. Thank you for having me. And so one of the things I wanna say though, 'cause you've undercut this transition part of your life, 'cause I already know the story, is with no parachute seven years ago. Char was determined that her W-2 job, her day job, was not where she wanted to be. That it's not here physically, but here in this community, this space is where she wanted to be. So just, pshh. You jumped in with two feet. I did, I did. And that is a big part of the story. Probably not the smartest move, but thankfully, it paid off. I had been working in corporate America for 15 years, and decided that I only wanted to be a maker. That's literally all I wanted to do was get up, put on sweats, cut wood, make saw dust. But unfortunately, that does not pay the bills. By this time, I have four children, but I did it anyway. I took that leap. I left, two week notice, and ever since then, I have been able to wake up, put on sweats, go outside, cut wood, and make saw dust. But now, I'm actually able to make a living doing it. And loving your job. And loving it. So then, let's do this. In that category of, we talked a little yesterday about in life, there's never the perfect time to, in my case, join Peace Corps. But I went. Have kids, but we both have kids. And then, so for this, if you were giving somebody advice of something is stewing in the back of their brain, not necessarily becoming a maker, but is there an aspect of that that's, I don't know, just go for it? Or what would you say to that person who wants to realize that dream of theirs? I realize that not everybody is in a financial position to just quit their job and figure it out. But I will say this, based on personal experience. If you are not following your passion in life, you'll never be happy. And happiness does not always equate what the world sees as success. And it does not always equate with being financially well off. Happiness is here. So follow your passion, whatever that means. Even if that means taking one step every day to get closer to the thing you wanna do. I'm a firm believer in hard work and manifestation. It will 100% pay off. I like that. It's kind of like that concept of the universe treats you the way you expect to be treated kind of thing. Exactly. So one of the things I'm real excited about with getting Char on board with us, with WWGOA, she's got it. She's had this huge passion for teaching. So you're gonna see stuff come from her that is about bringing kids into woodworking, about bringing just non-woodworkers into woodworking, and how to smooth out the on ramp there onto the woodworking freeway to make that a little bit simpler. And I'm just thrilled to have you here. Thanks so much for coming from Atlanta to wintertime in Wisconsin. So that part alone is a big, is a tough stretch, but you did it. I did it. And it's been fun. Thank you for having me. It's gonna be a blast. It is.