David Condon Finds

Cutting the grass shouldn’t feel like a half-day job, but for years, that’s exactly what it was. Our old lawnmower came with a collection bag that needed emptying every few passes. Stop, empty, restart. Repeat. By the time the lawn was finished, I’d lost all interest in the job and still had a pile of clippings to deal with. When it finally gave up, I started looking at alternatives. Mulching mowers kept coming up, but I wasn’t convinced. Leaving grass behind sounded like a recipe for a mess. We even considered robotic mowers, until I realised I’d be digging up the garden to lay boundary wires. In the end, we went with a mulching model from O’Neills Power Equipment in Tralee… and it completely changed how I look at cutting grass. The out-of-place lines you see are just where I pushed the mower off the grass from the centre, they’re not part of the actual cutting pattern. You can see the clean finish otherwise. The lawn also looks greener later in the season, this was an early cut ...

Buying a gift always sounds simple… until you actually have to do it. You end up wandering around a strange town, half-looking into shop windows, hoping something jumps out at you. Most of the time, it doesn’t. And before you know it, you’re either rushing a decision or settling for something safe that doesn’t really mean much. Buying gifts or souvenirs in any town is normally the last thing you think about, but that’s exactly why it helps to have a rough idea beforehand. It takes the pressure off and lets you actually enjoy your time in Tralee instead of scrambling at the last minute.

Working Out Prices for Your Craft Products Pricing your work is one of the hardest parts of running any craft business. It’s not just numbers. It’s confidence, experience, and sometimes a bit of trial and error. I’ve learned that the hard way, across two different businesses.  My First Mistake: Undervaluing My Work When I was working as a carpenter, I never really valued my time properly. Wages on site were rising steadily, but I never adjusted my own rates to match. I kept charging what I had always charged, partly out of habit and partly out of fear of losing work. If a builder asked for a slightly better price, I’d usually shave something off. Even when I was probably already cheaper than everyone else. I wasn’t a ruthless businessman, and my pocket paid for it. Starting Again as a Beginner When I moved into woodturning, I was starting from scratch again but with much bigger unknowns. In the beginning, I couldn’t even make my early products properly. I was a complete novice. Wha...