Today we’d like to introduce you to Amanda Peaslee.
Hi Amanda, so excited to have you with us today. What can you tell us about your story?
My husband Eric and I met in 2017 after I retired from the Air Force and moved back to Abilene. He was at that time still active duty. We got married in 2019, before his last deployment. I was working at Texas Oncology as a medical admin tech. While he was deployed I moved to a local hospital part-time. When 2020 started, I was ready to quit working. I am considered disabled with the VA so I really didn’t need a job and the stress of working for someone was making my chronic pain worse. My husband agreed that we didn’t need me to work. Eric retired in the height of Covid April 2021 and around that time, I said I wanted to learn how to make tumblers. He also wanted to learn how to make things with wood. He made a corn hole set for my sister and we were so happy with the way it turned out that I posted on Facebook and got more orders. I also told him I wanted something that we could both display our Challenge Coins we earned throughout our Military career. He created an American Flag board from wood with ledges to display our coins. It is hangin beautifully on our mantel. I also posted on Facebook, and we got a lot of orders for that since we live in a military town. We even got an order from someone in England! At this point, I have had good and bad experiences making tumblers but I have gotten better with each one. I told him, I wanted to start a business together with us selling corn hole sets, challenge coin holders, tumblers, shirts, 3D printing and so much more. He was of course supportive like he always is. In July of 2021, my sister got an amazing job at one of the Universities in town. So I made her a beautiful cup to show how proud I was of her. Turns out about 2 weeks later she ordered over 40 cups for the staff! That was when our business really took off. We have been constantly busy with orders and we are both so happy to be able to work from home creating things we could only imagine before. We have been a legit business for a little over a year and loving every minute of it. We have done vendor events and continue to do them. We make shirts for businesses in town for their staff to be wearing during work. We donate items to big events in town and just love everything we do. We are very blessed to be able to do this and not worry about paying our bills due to both of us being disabled veterans. This has helped us both not be so stressed out and making our chronic pain worse. Usually, when I get stressed it’s because I have a big order and I am a perfectionist. I am working on that! Working for yourself has the best perks. We can work as much or as little as we want. We are able to travel whenever we want which is great because my in-laws are in Wisconsin. Working for yourself allows us to go spend about 2 weeks a year up there. My clients are so amazing when I tell them that I will be out of town. They aren’t worried about getting their items in a timely manner. Even though I will work 20 hours a day to get that done before we leave if need be. We love creating our client’s ideas and wouldn’t change it for the world.
We all face challenges, but looking back, would you describe it as a relatively smooth road?
It hasn’t been easy. Learning how to create things from nothing always comes with challenges. I had to learn so much about the dangers of epoxy and how to get cups to be even. Of course, Eric can read something and figure it out instantly. Me on the other hand, am not like that. We have gotten to the point that I tell him I want to learn how to do this. He will research it and then come teach me. He has such amazing patience with me and with learning. I will give up quick if I don’t get it first time. I am such a perfectionist that learning something new without someone training me was so hard for me to not just give up. I know my first few cups weren’t perfect, and I wanted to give up every time, but Eric helped me by reminding me that I am still learning. I am also TERRIBLE at marketing. I can do it; I just don’t like to. So that has been the biggest challenge I think. My orders are mainly from the same customers, which is great to have repeat customers, but it would be nice to have new ones. So I talked to my amazing neighbor, and we are working on a contract for her to do all of my marketing for me! I would much rather create than try to get more orders. I think that would have been my biggest challenge. I just can’t think of something witty to say about all of my products, there’s just too many!
Can you tell our readers more about what you do and what you think sets you apart from others?
I love having the freedom to create something from nothing. I think people know me by my tumblers and my love for sarcasm. I am not politically correct around here. I love making controversial shirts because it gets people talking. One of my favorite shirts I have made and get a lot of conversations started says “Biden/Harris Making Taliban Great Again.” I do have people say nasty stuff to me, but usually it’s something like, I can’t believe you support him. Then I tell them to read the entire shirt, and they are like, Where can I get one! As military, we support our Troops, and the way we pulled out of Afghanistan was unacceptable. So of course, I will make my opinion known, and the only way I know how is through controversial and sarcastic shirts! I will, however, make whatever my customer wants. Even if I don’t agree with your views, I will do what is asked of me. That’s the beauty of America and the 1st Amendment. We can have different opinions and still co-exist.
We’d love to hear about any fond memories you have from when you were growing up.
I don’t really have one. My family and I are very close. Like, I bought the house behind them when I moved back home. We have a gate in between our back fences. We do Sunday dinners all the time. I had a great childhood, and I can’t just pick a favorite. I am very blessed.
Contact Info:
- Website: https://peaslees-custom-designs.myshopify.com
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/peaslees_custom_designs/
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/Peaslees-Custom-Designs-108900410871482
