Many sawyers in the Woodland Mills community aspire to use their portable sawmill to make money, but aren't sure how to start a business milling lumber.

Thankfully that side-hustle is a lifestyle Rick already lives, using his HM130MAX part-time to make money with his custom sawing business.

"If I wanted to go full time I could do it in a heartbeat," says Rick, of Rustic Harbors, who shares stories of the different trees he cuts up on Instagram.

Rick's side-business has him bringing his sawmill to customer's properties and cutting up their trees, sometimes keeping some slabs for himself and his own projects. His customers get material to use for their own slab tables, renovations and other needs, and Rick is able to have an abundance of wood for his own woodworking projects.

It's a lucrative operation that Rick says he could turn into a full-time job whenever he wants. And he says his HM130MAX isn't just pivotal to his entire operation, "it's the lifeblood of the business."

Rick didn't start cutting wood using a portable sawmill. In fact, years ago he actually got his start doing woodworking using the Alaskan method of chainsawing his own logs into slabs with a jig.

While that was a great way to start cutting his own lumber, Rick says it was backbreaking and he couldn't imagine continuing to do that over the years he's been milling.

When he started seeing other portable saw mill owners online, he saw how easy it was compared to Alaskan milling, and he decided to pull the trigger.

With his own wood he's been doing epoxy river boards, tables and other live edge slab projects which he puts up for sale. Now all the wood for those projects is made on his sawmill.

And all of this is just a side job for him. He's also a full-time firefighter, who takes on milling jobs during his days off, but he says being a sawyer could easily be his full-time career.

For those starting their own venture, having the right tools for the job is important. That means not just the mill, but also equipment to haul the logs and deliver them.

Without his HM130MAX, Rick says he "wouldn't have this endless supply of live edge wood. I'd be paying to get it, so my prices would be higher."

Some sawyers will also offer their solar kiln and dry lumber for customers, though that's a bit more time consuming. But anyone with portable sawmills, spare time and knows the demand in their area could get started milling, drying or finishing timber and get paid doing it, expanding beyond just a sawmill business.

Even if you just have a truck, a portable mill and a trailer, that's enough to start sawing for money. For his part, Rick says there's an even larger market available for him if he wants it.

"Just with a couple of Facebook Marketplace ads, I could literally be milling five, six, seven days a week," he adds.

Rick isn't the only one getting paid to mill lumber.

Others like Clay create custom furniture using their portable sawmill. Operating his business, Oakmond Design, Clay purchased his HM130MAX to easily get material for his custom projects. But he was surprised when people saw his sawmill from the road, and approached him asking to mill their own timber.

Meanwhile sawyers like Noah have full-time businesses built on cutting slabs. Noah and his father run Slabba Dabba Doo, a slab-cutting business which uses their sawmill to cut thousands of board feet for their lengthy list of customers. The pair have continued to expand their footprint as they develop their business model and grow their customer base.

There truly is no limit for owners of small sawmills aiming to fell trees, make money and build a business. And if you make deals with your customers, you may never need to use your own lumber for your projects again.

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