We asked folks to tell us about the most important decisions they’ve made along their journey and have shared some of the highlights below.

Josh Jackson | Furniture Designer & Builder

The most important decision I made in terms of the success of my business was implementing a strategy to always keep moving forward, both in the practice of designing and building furniture, but also in learning how to run a small business. Sometimes this strategy led to failures, but it also translated into lots of positive wins for us as a small business. For example, some marketing strategies worked while others did not translate into sales. Some of our original furniture designs became best sellers and other designs sat on our site without a single purchase. We even opened a small retail store and then realized it was more work than we were able to take on as a small team of makers. The bottom line, though, is that we would not be where we are if it wasn’t for our constant pursuit to move forward as makers and as a small business. Read more>>

Aaron Han | Photographer

“If you dare to do the most difficult thing you can conceptualize your life will work out better than it will if you do anything.” “Can you imagine yourself in 10 years if instead of avoiding the things you know you should do, you actually did them every single day – that’s powerful.” – Jordan Peterson Hearing this quote by Jordan Peterson and afterwards making the conscious decision to live life doing the difficult things has contributed the most to my success. It was never a singular difficult decision with a particular client or equipment purchase but rather a general decision to change my mindset. I chose to start doing the difficult things, even if it’s what makes me uncomfortable, in order to make progress in my career. Read more>>

Josh Byer | Artist

To always always always continue my efforts, regardless of success or failure. To sacrifice as much of myself as I can, so I may swim as far as I can – in the hopes that one day, I will have swam so far that the people will cheer, and that cheering will sustain me. Read more>>