Michael Preli Turns His Woodturning Passion into a Successful Business
Michael Preli’s career has been one of constant advancement — not necessarily in title or income, but in job satisfaction. And he’s a long way from where he started, in the auto-body field. “My father is a frame technician for auto body. And I always thought that’s what I wanted to do,” Preli told BusinessWest. “So I started working in a body shop when I left school. I did that for a couple of years.” What he didn’t expect was that he’d come to like wood more than metal. Auto-body work “didn’t bring me the satisfaction I thought it would,” he recalled. “Metal is cold and dirty and dusty — like, the dust sticks to you.” Meanwhile, his rented house, on the same property he worked at, needed some improvements, including a new door. He did the job himself, even though he had never done any woodworking.