Today we’d like to introduce you to Brittany and Trever DeRyke.
Thanks for sharing your story with us Brittany and Trever. So, let’s start at the beginning and we can move on from there.
Trever and I were both born and raised in California. We met working together at a BMW dealership. Two years before a meeting, my right hand was severed off in an off-roading accident. I was sure no one could love me with one hand. I thought I was flawed. He never thought of me as anything but perfect, and he loved me until every broken piece of me felt whole.
A year after meeting, our daughter was born. We wanted a different life for her… slower living, strong values, so we took a leap of faith, packed up our home, our dogs, and our four months old and left for Texas to a house unseen. Trever had never even been to Texas before. When we got married in 2017, Trever made a set of cornhole boards for the reception. They turned out so great. He’s a bit of a perfectionist and it shows. He started getting tons of inquiries about making custom boards to sell, so he started making them on the side for a little extra money. We had no idea there’d be so much interest.
Flash forward, our son was born. I wanted to be able to work and still be home with our kids. We invested in a small hobby laser and started offering custom cut and engraved items. Our small business quickly took off and we couldn’t keep up doing this as a side hustle anymore, so we took another leap of faith and my husband quit his day job… SCARY! We wanted to put 100% of us into our own business.
We love that our kids get to see us pave our own path and that if you work hard towards your dreams, you can make anything happen. They’re our helpers. They get excited with every order knowing they can add stickers to the shipping box. We’ve been able to make and donate “ear saver” mask hooks for front line medical workers and first responders in hopes of relieving pain from long hours wearing masks. We’ve made items for Dallas Fire Department and military service members and organizations. Our family and friends are huge supporters and we have sent items as far as Switzerland! We’re a few years into this crazy adventure and we are really proud to be a small family business. We love watching Dream Built Boards grow. We set the bar high in our business so the possibilities are endless.
Overall, has it been relatively smooth? If not, what were some of the struggles along the way?
It’s not always a smooth road, but we think that’s the best part. We’ve always been firm believers in “struggle builds strength.” We’re living in a weird time during the pandemic. Many are out of work and sometimes business slows down, but that pushes us to make new, better things and we take pride in having very affordable products. It’s sometimes difficult to balance work and family, especially working from home. We don’t have an office we clock out of and leave for the day, so we tend to work overtime on things, but that’s easy when you love what you’re doing.
Dream Built Boards – what should we know? What do you guys do best? What sets you apart from the competition?
We specialize in custom cornhole boards, home decor, and gifts. We’re often asked to make very meaningful gifts like cutting boards engraved with grandma’s picture and handwritten bread recipe that she can’t share with the family anymore because she’s no longer here, or that favorite chocolate cake recipe that your aunt Betty always makes and she’s tired of writing it down! We appreciate every angel wing Christmas ornament we get to make with a passed loved one’s name knowing the family will have that person close with them during the holiday. We’ve been told that things we’ve made brought tears to their eyes and will be cherished and passed down for generations. That’s most important to us. That sets us apart. We genuinely care about our customers.
They aren’t ordering from a personalization company that doesn’t care to know who they are and what an item means to them. We personally hand make everything and love knowing the story behind the design. We like to donate engraved photos to local families that lost a loved one. We support our local athletes. We go to the vendor fairs and bring our kids to help run our booth and meet the community. We don’t want to be behind a screen taking orders like robots. We appreciate that our customs can get to know us.
What is “success” or “successful” for you?
Success to us is simple… it’s being able to work hard and provide for our family while spending as much time with them as possible. Success is able to take that day off to go to the park with the kids or attend the practice. Success is being told someone will forever cherish something that you personally made. Even if Dream Built Boards doesn’t last 20, or 50 years, the success is in the values we’re instilling in our children, that hard work will always feel better than being handed anything.
Contact Info:
- Website: www.DreamBuiltBoards.com
- Phone: 512-653-9567
- Email: Dreambuiltboards@gmail.com
- Instagram: @DreamBuiltBoards
- Facebook: www.Facebook.Com/DreamBuiltBoards
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