How long has it been?

[Bronze_Palms]

How long have you owned your business for? 

What did your business start out as and what has it evolved into? I recognize as time moves on, our businesses shift in a different direction.

I started my business in November 2019, officially opened March 2020 as a spray tanner, and now I own two storefronts. One with staff that offer spray tans and the other I rent out rooms except for one and take services there.

[SheilaWhite]

8 years.

I enjoyed doing a little bit of woodworking for many years and kept trying to think of something I could make and sell. My husband asked me to make an end grain cutting board and that was my ah-ha moment. I started Kitchen Wood Etc. (Etc. because I didn't know what it would lead to) So that was Feb. 2018. In Dec. 2020, I bought my first lathe. I'd never used one, but wanted to add things like bowls and pepper mills to my kitchen inventory. Well, I was hooked on turning immediately and barely did any flat work after that.

I was asked to display/sell my work in a local gallery that had been looking for a turner and were thrilled to find a woman turner. I eventually stopped saying "I'm a woodworker, not an artist" after having pieces accepted (and even sold) in local art exhibits. 

This year, I decided on a new name ... and that is how ART MEETS WOOD by Sheila evolved.

According to my sales vs. expenses numbers, it's still more of a hobby than a business, but I'm hoping to make more than I spend at some point and retire from my day job before I'm 90 lol.

How to become a millionaire doing woodworking? .... start as a billionaire 😁

[CareyJo]

My mind is already spinning, trying to think of ideas for you!  There's got to be some connections you haven't found yet that could get you over that peak.  Not sure what part of Canada you're in, but we're in MT.  If you're on my side of the continent, that makes you a neighbor... and that means you live life a lot like we do.

It is becoming far more popular to have large, catered events that don't use metal serving ware.  We have a caterer here called Savor and Graze.  They only do charcuterie boards and they do a phenomenal job.  They use a lot of wood and natural elements in their food displays.  They were the first thing I thought of after reading your comment.  I wonder if you could find other such resources, who might be interested in procuring part of your collection?

[DinaLRosenberg]

We've been in business for 7 years.

We started out as a teeny tiny retail store. Now we have the whole building with garden, the storefront next door, a podcast, and a conference LOL!!

[ehflower]

We are a fourth-generation family business, proudly serving our community from the same location since 1908. For more than a century, we’ve remained relevant by embracing change — and by staying nimble. Being small has always been our superpower.

We began as a truck farm, later evolving into growing and selling fresh-cut flowers and transmitting floral orders across the country by telegraph. As our community grew, so did we — expanding into ornamental annuals and perennials to serve the gardeners around us.  We had our first website in 1995, selling native plants online which then switched over to a more floral website through one of the larger companies.  We started with square in 2020.  Often we "zig" when everyone else "zags".

[CareyJo]

What a legacy!!  Awesome!!

[brown17]

15 years!  My husband started it back when my son was young.   I had the steadier job at the time and our son had some needs.   15 years later and we all work in it now!   Started with 6 customers and have over 250!  1 other staff member, hoping to add another and another truck this year!  

[lilisalazar]

@Bronze_Palms Congrats on your 2 storefronts! Which of the two do want to focus on growing more? 

I started officially in 2018, I provide web designe/tech support to small business owners, started soft of by accident after my daughter was born.

Started doing web design for Spanish speaking service providers like landscapers, roofers, etc that needed help getting online and now focus on food businesses as my family now owns a local Mexican restaurant in our city. I will say I enjoy this niche a lot more 🙂 

[rtfulk]

1986 is when we started our business, we have always been a mobile business, with the exception of 20 years when we would open a pop up storefront in a mall for Christmas. We’ve made 3 transitions in that time. When we first started out we owned a ceramic shop and made items to sell at craft fairs and fairs, when the dollar started started popping up and you could purchase ceramic items for a dollar we started our transition. We went from ceramics to embroidery in the 90’s. embroidery was a little harder in the 90’s more punch tape and embroidery software was just starting to come out, very basic embroidery software.

Fast forward to the 2010’s when everyone and their brother could buy an embroidery machine for about 6k with basic software, the market started getting flooded. The only bad thing about that was it was getting flooded with bad embroidery, just because you can buy an embroidery machine doesn’t mean you can become and embroiderer (the same with any profession).

Towards the late 2010’s we were wanting to make a switch. We finally figured out to become really profitable we needed to become an importer  for 2 reasons, 1. Cut out the middle man, 2. We wanted to have items that not everyone else would have. Plus we wanted to become a niche, and the fact that we were having our first granddaughter. We decided to transition to children’s clothing. The best and most profitable decision we have ever made. We are hoping to be able to work until she is old enough and hopefully wanting to take over the business.

[MudFire_Dex]

I've been in the clay business since 1999 as an employee - and owned my first supply business from 2008 - 2014 - I took over the studio and gallery at MudFire in 2013 and here we are in 2026 getting ready to buy our building.

[rtfulk]

I know pottery is different process  than ceramics, but people don't appreciate the time and energy that goes in either one. you make it, then have to wait for it to dry, then fire, paint or glaze. It's a lot of work,

[MudFire_Dex]

Truly it is a process - we have 275 members and teach 200 outside folks per week so I fire about 3000 pieces a week in our 8 kilns. Our gallery is one of few spaces that sell only pottery/ceramics. It is a lot of work but rewarding work to see people make so many different things each day. There's so much personality in what everyone is doing here. 

[CareyJo]

I lost all of my ceramics in our house fire in 1998.  My mom and I did ceramics for YEARS.  I hate glaze though... I'd much rather just paint.  My favorite trips to the ceramic store were to pick out greenware and get it home without breaking it.  Then get it cleaned and back for firing.  I think @rtfulk is right - people do not understand this process.

[rtfulk]

Pumpkins and Christmas trees, I grew to hate them we were making so many of them. We use to make Icicle Angel ornaments, they were about 6-8 inches long and it looked like an icicle with an angels face at the top, we would do them in Mother of pearl and came in a set of 4. In 1988 they were selected to be on the North Carolina Governor's Christmas Tree, from there they were selected to go to The White House Christmas Tree. We received an invitation to the tree lighting ceremony at The White House. Unfortunately we didn't attend, we were young and dumb and just struggling to start our business, back then DC seemed like a million miles away, but only 6-7 hrs. in reality.

[CareyJo]

Wow!  What an accomplishment!! 

[rtfulk]

3000 pieces a week, I feel for you. Do you still have the little triangular cone that bends when it reaches a certain temperature to shut the kiln off, or has it got more high tech since the 80's?

[perkits]

We open Dec 4th 1984 and still in the same location.

[CareyJo]

That is something to be proud of!!

[CareyJo]

That's a tough question to answer because for us, it isn't just about how long our "doors" have been open...

I became self-employed in 1987.

I operated five different businesses in sales on my own and a professional sewing business for custom wedding gowns, before HVAC.

My husband has been in his field for 27 years.

In 2006, we opened our first joint business together, in the HVAC industry.

In 2011, after the crash in 09, he went back to being employed.  We learned the hard way how to change our business.

In 2017, he walked away from being abused in employment.  We opened June 6, 2017.

In 2006, we started with only residential and specializing in mobile homes because the volume here is very large.  We learned it doesn't pay well.  In 2017, we shifted our focus to commercial contracts and stick-built residential.  Game changer.

Since 2017, we've purchased two residential rental properties and held a large military contract for seven years until last September.  Now we're looking at ways to shift into other things to generate income and get out of HVAC.