Today we’d like to introduce you to Mekisha and Evans McClure.
So, before we jump into specific questions about the business, why don’t you give us some details about you and your story.
Our story started in 2016, a few weeks after we lost every material thing we owned in the EF4 tornado that hit our home and with a simple custom dog kennel I wanted to purchase. We were in temporary housing with our children and animals when my little dog destroyed another wire dog kennel donated to us.
I started looking into other alternatives for when we rebuilt the home we just lost. I was determined I didn’t want another ugly wire kennel in a brand new, custom built house. I came across a beautiful kennel and got excited to show my husband, Evans. When I showed him, he immediately stated we were not paying over $2K for a dog kennel. He then insisted he would build us one while we were rebuilding our home and lives.
We started our build and were so excited to move it into our new home in the fall of 2016. I posted the kennel on social media, it was shared a few times. Next thing I knew we had our 1st order for a custom dog kennel. We soon realized after rebuilding, moving home, and now custom-building dog kennels on the weekends we were quickly running out of the room as orders kept coming in.
Our family made the decision in the spring of 2017 to sale our new home and look for a larger home with more space for us to continue our “hobby.” When we made this move, Evans stated looking into CNC routers and CO2 lasers to add to our “hobby.” We decided to invest in a CO2 laser right after we closed on our new home in the fall of 2017. Neither of us had ANY idea what we were doing with it!
Once we received our CO2 laser once again, we were making stuff just to figure out what we were supposed to do with this new, big machine. We posted an LED acrylic light on social media. Next thing we know we had over 30 orders for this one item. Due to our crazy schedules with our full-time jobs and three children, we decided to discontinue selling dog kennels and focus more on the CO2 laser through the next few months and through the holiday season.
2018 brought us even more surprises though. We were not only moving forward with all of our laser work, but we decided to add dog kennels back into the mix in the spring.
Within a few months, we were faced with a decision on slowing the hobby that had become our side business down again with our current schedules or one of us leaving the corporate world to run our business full time. By the summer of 2018, Evans was running our business full time like he had envisioned a few years back once we started down this road in our lives.
Has it been a smooth road?
I don’t believe any road is really smooth per se. It hasn’t been easy, but I wouldn’t say it’s been hard either. It has been an eye-opening journey for us for sure. What we do know is each experience has had a lesson behind it for us to learn and grow from.
All of this has been a learning curve for each of us, as neither of us had any previous experience with building furniture, design/CAD software, or running/owning a CO2 laser. We both continue to learn and grow in our business and abilities daily.
So let’s switch gears a bit and go into the Blended Customs story. Tell us more about the business.
Our business is made up of two parts: Custom Woodworking and our CO2 laser. Our woodworking involves our custom-built kennels and farmhouse tables, as well as handmade chopping blocks and cutting boards.
Our CO2 laser involves engraving items and being able to cut out different materials into different shapes, letters, designs, etc. Together it allows us to engrave our handmade cutting boards, make custom home décor, laser engrave tumblers, acrylic, metal, wood, and many other things.
Our clients are what makes this dream continue growing. If it were not for them, we would not be doing what we love to do, together as a family business. Even our children come out to help and love being creative alongside us. We love taking our amazing client’s ideas and turning them into a reality.
We love the challenges and new ideas from our clients. It helps us stay sharp and continuing to grow within ourselves as well as in our business. We strive for 100% customer satisfaction, and we can do this by creating each piece as if it were our own and we refuse to take any type of shortcuts.
Contact Info:
- Website: blendedcustoms.com
- Phone: 918-964-1112
- Email: sales@blendedcustoms.com
- Instagram: www.instagram.com/blended_customs
- Facebook: www.facebook.com/blendedcustoms
- Twitter: @blendedcustoms
- Other: www.etsy.com/shop/blendedcustom
Image Credit:
Evans and Mekisha McClure
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