Part-1
How we took our wood burnt side hustle and became full-time business owners during a pandemic.
A Phone Call
November 2020, we received a phone call from our bosses, went a little like this, "You know things have slowed down, right?" Us-" Um...yes." Them - "We have to let you both go, we're very sorry, you're like family and we know you have a family to support...this is so hard for us, but we need to keep our doors open." "Again, we're so sorry. we'll give you 3 paychecks per our contract."
“Difficult roads always lead to beautiful destinations.” — Zig Ziglar
Pivot
Stunned, as we were told we lost 2 full time incomes, and a bit crushed because, they were like our family. We got off the phone and looked at each other as tears welled up in our eyes. We both knew either we try and find a job, in the midst of lockdowns, or we take this business even more serious and go full-time. In 2 years, we'd grown to about 6 employees and 9 machines running out of our kitchen already. What if we jumped in fully with no back up plan?
“Tough times never last, but tough people do.” — Robert H. Schuller
Full-Time Hustle
We did jump in with both feet in November 2020 and since then, we've been full-time working round the clock 24/7 in our kitchen. We've burnt close to 20,000 photos and sent them around the world. Moral of the story, sometimes we choose to jump and sometimes people push us out of the plane with no parachute to figure it out on the way down. Ours was the latter. Lots of hard work and sleepless nights, but we get to own a piece of the American dream because of that. Thankful to be at the 4-year mark because according to the Bureau of Labor and Statistics 24 percent of businesses tend to fail in the first year, and around 48 percent won’t make it past the second year. We're Thankful & Grateful to still be here 4 years later.
“Gratitude can transform common days into thanksgiving, turn routine jobs into joy and change ordinary opportunities into blessings.” – William Arthur Ward
Our Promise to YOU!
There are so many variables to what a picture looks like when burnt and because we're humans and know we'll mess up once in a while, our promise to you is, we'll do everything we can to have AMAZING customer service when something happens. Never worry if you are thinking about ordering from us. We live for happy and satisfied customers. It's the best compliment we can get.
“It is one thing doing what you love for a living. It is another thing doing what you love with love”
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Moral of the story
The world waits for no one. Make a choice and step with one foot in front of the other every day going after what you want in life.
Giving back
As a proud American business, we do what we can to give back and give special discounts, especially to our veterans and first responders. If you're a Veteran or are currently serving let us know. We know freedom isn't free and we're grateful.