Steven Reyes shared their story and experiences with us recently and you can find our conversation below.
Steven, a huge thanks to you for investing the time to share your wisdom with those who are seeking it. We think it’s so important for us to share stories with our neighbors, friends and community because knowledge multiples when we share with each other. Let’s jump in: What makes you lose track of time—and find yourself again?
I would say the thing I get the most lost in time with would be anything to do with creating anything. I just get lost in creation. I’m not talking about just rugs either, I mean creating literally anything I want. Whether it be a new design, a drawing, a melody on this new instrument I recently bought, cooking, re-creating my day-to-day schedule, a playlist that sets up different moods, even the process of cleaning my house, different processes for the businesses, designing clothing, etc. Even with all those things being all overt the place, for some reason the process of how I approach all of it is similar and they all giver me similar feelings. In general, I am all over the place, but that’s kind of the point. I am just at a phase in my life where I want to try anything and everything I have the opportunity to try. Creation is a process and through the process of creation I always learn something new about myself. How I approach things, how I adapt to the uncontrollable things in the process, what I do when I get stuck, etc. But no matter what happens, you always reach the end. Always. Whether is a good or bad end, well that’s subjective, but it is an end nonetheless. And I think that’s the part I love most, just knowing that the hard parts in the process are temporary and an end is on the horizon. It’s controlled chaos to me if that sense. I like to do things that get me to not think about everything else outside of it, things that make me think of only what’s in front of me, being in the moment and not even looking at the clock, the process of creation gives me that fix.
Can you briefly introduce yourself and share what makes you or your brand unique?
My name is Steven Reyes born in the beautiful city of Fort Worth, TX and I am an artist and blue collar entrepreneur. I am the mind/artist behind The Rug Laboratory and the elbow grease/operator/designer behind Mike Reyes Heating and Air Conditioning. Rugs and HVAC, that’s my life right now. Two entirely different polarities, but I have somehow found a balance between the two, or at least working toward that balance every day. What makes my brands unique? I like to think both of these are two sides of the same coin, and that coin being me. Mike Reyes Heating and Air Conditioning is a company I am operating for my father, I feel that this brand represents my technical, disciplined, systems thinking, process creating, professional side of me. While The Rug Laboratory represents my wild, mad scientist, no walls, experimental, free version of myself. Somehow for me they both coincide with one another. Whether it be working in a 140 degree attics, transitioning/modernizing a once paper only business into the digital world, drawing up HVAC designs and future rug designs, or being 9+ hours into an art piece, it all feeds the same part for me. The goal is pretty much the same for me in both realms, to create something that speaks for itself and does something for people. Whether its an act of service or an act of freedom through creation, I want to make sure each of these serve the greater good of people. There is not a day that I don’t do something toward each or both of these. The funny part is that I don’t really know what I’m building them to just yet, but I know something is being built. One brick at a time. One day at a time. Every day the vision and destination get that much clearer for me. Just like a sculpture with a brick of marble, you just gotta chip at it and see what comes from it.
Appreciate your sharing that. Let’s talk about your life, growing up and some of topics and learnings around that. What relationship most shaped how you see yourself?
The relationship that most shapes how I see myself is the relationship I have my daughters, Elena and Ella. I can’t quite explain the feeling, but anyone who is a parent can most likely relate. I can careless how the world interprets me, but I do care how my kids see me. From my experience with fatherhood so far the best way I can put is, our kids are our mirrors. And that mirror is right at your face, they make sure of it. It is the most craziest, wonderful, stressful, rewarding, incredible jobs you can ever have and man it’s a journey. I was fairly young, 19, when my first daughter Elena arrived. I remember seeing her big ol beautiful crybaby face just getting feeling of “I gotta get my shit together and protect this girl”. I would not be the man I am today if it weren’t for my daughters. Fatherhood for me got me to question everything and look at it all differently. Everything. A mental reboot in a way. All of a sudden your decisions don’t just affect you anymore, the things you used to believe might not fit into the structure of being a parent, it gets you to question who you are at your core, and boy does it test you. But you you get the honor of exploring their own little worlds, you earn how to navigate their beautiful little hearts, you learn how to be calmer, softer, patient, you go back to the little kid in you to relate to them, they bring out your silly side, the adventurous side, they parts of you that you didn’t even know could be in there because of all that life has handed to you, but it’s still there. They bring it out you. They are my light. They are my world. They are everything. Everything I do is for them, all of this, it’s for them.
Was there ever a time you almost gave up?
Multiple times. This year especially. Life gets in the way, it’s always changing. It gets hard. It gets overwhelming. Some days you just want to say fuck it and let it all go. You can’t. You need to listen to those feelings, you need to sit down with them, question the why behind those feelings, give them a name, give it shape, find the underlying issues, shake hands with them, and move froward. That’s what I had to learn this year. I took a delayed break with the rugs this summer to focus on the HVAC stuff and yeah, it took a pretty heavy toll on me. It started to effect things I never wanted it to effect like personal relationships, friendships, work/life balance, my mental health, my physical health, stress levels, how I was showing up for the people I love, etc. Trust me, I paid a cost. I thought I had to give up my rugs, what I am passionate about to get what I wanted done but I was so wrong. I recently stepped back into it, and realized it was what I was missing all along. There is a wonderful quote from Kanye West that I repeat to myself when times get hard, “I think that people think that life is this or life is that. And life is a little bit of this, and a little bit of that. It’s like a. It mixed drink, you know what I’m saying? It’s not a one-ingredient drink.” And that made me realize that this life truly can be anything I want it to be, not 100% in all the realms the way I wish but sometimes it’s fragments of these various things that equate to 100%. And if I want to do all these things, this is the cost of it, this is what it’s going to feel like, and I am making peace with that. This is what it’s supposed to feel like. But find that baseline, find what is important to you, find what you love, and don’t let go of those things. Another quote I’ve come across, “we spend so much time wanting to climb up the ladder, how many of us are questioning if it’s up against the right wall?” Nothing worse than achieving what you thought you wanted to achieve and that not actually being what you wanted. You can be good at something you don’t like, you can also fail at that thing, you might as well go after what you love or least hold on to it while you build the other.
So a lot of these questions go deep, but if you are open to it, we’ve got a few more questions that we’d love to get your take on. Whom do you admire for their character, not their power?
Honestly, I would have to say my mom, Maribel Reyes. She truly is one of a kind. No matter what, she’s always been there. Not just for my brother and I but for everyone. You need something done, and done right? My mom is the go to. One of the most selfless people in this world, always doing anything and everything she can for anyone. She thinks of everyone and always makes sure everyone is included and felt thought of. When it comes to holidays she makes it special through various crafts, story telling, balloon sculptures, holiday themed foods, etc. She is who I got my creative side from for sure. There is just no one quite like her on this Earth.
Okay, so before we go, let’s tackle one more area. If you knew you had 10 years left, what would you stop doing immediately?
Overthinking. Overthinking kills action. You can get into a paralysis by overthinking too much. You think yourself into things, you think yourself out of things. It is something I am working on getting better at every day. Any system I design is all built on the same principle, eliminate as much thinking as possible in the process. The best thought is one you act on. Action brings results. Results bring data. Data can be analyzed. Through the analysis you can create measurable changes that produce even further action and the cycle continues. I can’t tell you how many times this year I stopped in the middle of the process of something due to overthinking, let it sit there for sometimes months at a time, then force myself into action toward that thing and getting the thing I waited months to get done in a matter of a few hours. Months wasted. Imagine what all could’ve been done in that time. But I’ve learned, when you’re stuck or lost it’s always best to pick a direction and go with it. Always better to find out that you went the wrong way than to do nothing at all. At least through going the wrong way or making a mistake, can you correct it or redirect yourself.
Contact Info:
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/theruglaboratory/?hl=en /// https://www.instagram.com/mikereyeshvac/
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/TheRugLaboratory/ /// https://www.facebook.com/MikeReyesHVAC/
- Other: TikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@ruglaboratory
