Today we’d like to introduce you to Micah Phillips.
Hi Micah, thanks for sharing your story with us. To start, maybe you can tell our readers some of your backstory.
I have always considered myself a maker. For the last two decades, I’ve worked digitally as a creator, with a focus on modeling, texturing, lighting and rendering as a 3D artist. Spending the better part of 20 plus behind a computer, I got “board”! I had a desire to build in a more traditional way, so in late November, I made a single cutting board. My wife made a post about her new cutting board on social media and that evening, we had just over 20 orders… all needed by the Holidays, and here we are!
Would you say it’s been a smooth road, and if not what are some of the biggest challenges you’ve faced along the way?
I would definitely not call it a smooth road. I would describe it as an unexpected tributary that immediately got dumped into some white water rapids; fun, exciting, nerve-wracking all at once. We had to build our business plan in real-time as we were living it. Starting a business in the middle of a pandemic over the holidays was not on our to-do list, but we embraced the opportunity and just went with the natural flow of it. I took a few custom orders and decided that some pieces were too time-intensive for where we wanted to take the business. I am an endurance mountain bike racer and I still need time to train as well as time to spend with my family, so I had to take that into consideration as far as how much time each custom order wood take. One final challenge we faced was that the cost of wood has tripled over the last year.
Alright, so let’s switch gears a bit and talk business. What should we know about your work?
I currently make charcuterie boards, cutting boards, coasters and butcher blocks. I use a variety of wood species such as maple, ash, walnut, purpleheart and padauk. I am just happy to have gotten such positive feedback on the work I have done so far. It makes me feel really happy when customers are complementary of my work and when they become repeat customers.
Risk taking is a topic that people have widely differing views on – we’d love to hear your thoughts.
The biggest risk I made for the business was making the initial investment in equipment, time, energy and materials not knowing if this business would take off. I believe that taking risks is necessary for growth. I wanted to explore this and I felt like taking the risk was worth it and if I fell on my face, we have 20-30 charcuterie boards to gift to our family and friends.
Pricing:
- $35 – $45 set of coasters
- $35 and up for cutting boards/butcher blocks depending on species and size
- $50 and up for charcuterie boards depending on species and size
Contact Info:
- Email: micahphillipsworks@gmail.com
- Website: www.phillipsworks.net
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/phillips_works/
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/micahphillipsworks
