Today we’d like to introduce you to Jeremy Widhalm.
Jeremy, please share your story with us. How did you get to where you are today?
As a kid, I never saw myself becoming a business owner… let alone wanting anything to do with running a business in general, but as I grew up and the technology advanced and became more readily available the more this industry peeked my interest. From a young age, I was always fascinated with skateboarding and anything to do with the action sport I lived it, breathed it and dreamt it. I spent countless hrs watching videos and spending most of the daylight hours learning and perfecting my skateboarding. One of the things that drove me the most was watching others learn new tricks and progress and I craved the idea of being as good as them one day.
Highschool rolled around and most of my friends were either into video games or really into skateboarding, which was is the scene I fit into best with. I didn’t particularly play videos games as I spent most of my time skateboarding and working on my progression to get those hard tricks nailed down I saw others doing. Most of my friends had cameras and were creating short films or skate videos so I invested as much time as I could filming clips to use as reference material on what I was doing and what I could do better to perfect the trick I was attempting. Skateboarding was always a level of creativity where I was able to express myself and emotions through my skating. Years passed and after graduation in 2003, I had a hometown friend who started a video production company and being able to witness and be apart of his journey inspired me to one day start my own dream.
As a kid, most of us played with those little toy skateboards you could buy at your local store, well one day I saw a kid at the skatepark pull one of those out and started doing tricks on it and thats what I knew I was gonna pursue. At my age, I was getting too old to throw myself down large stair sets and do a lot of the gnarly things I did as a teenager so my love for skateboarding transitioned into something on a 3:1 scale that would prevent injury and keep my love for skateboarding alive. months of research and studying and trial and error went into trying to launch this endeavor. Many told me it was foolish, but I pushed forward never the less. Putting most of the money I had earned into creating a brand, equipment and inventory. I had honed in my craft of making these 3:1 scale wooden replica skateboards known as “fingerboards” soon with enough marketing and following I had created a name for myself as an entrepreneur.
*FASTFORWARD* to 2020 I sit here looking back on all my accomplishments with last 6 yrs of the endless hrs of work I put in along with the many sleepless nights it took to get where I am today. Each day is a new journey and each time I pick up my tools to process a new order where in the world it may be going I’m creating a new product for someone and a memory and experience I can store away into an archive that makes up 90% of who I am today.
Great, so let’s dig a little deeper into the story – has it been an easy path overall and if not, what were the challenges you’ve had to overcome?
Many people know going into business is no easy task. Although there is always this common misconception that being your own boss is a get rich quick scheme. Well… sadly thats just not the case. Learning to craft not only a product but the rules and etiquette of business was definitely a learning curve. Some of the hardships I faced was dealing with damaged product during shipping or machinery malfunctions causing delays in timeframe turnaround for bulk orders. I very much loathed the days where I knew it was going to be a struggle but looking back on those hard days, I think those are what made me work that much harder.
Deadwood Skate Co. – what should we know? What do you do best? What sets you apart from the competition?
Here at DeadwoodSkateCo. we manufacture full-size skateboards and 3;1 scale fingerboards. and other items related to the sport of skateboarding. Our following and loyal customers are what make me proud to be a business owner as they are always uplifting and supportive. We honestly wouldn’t be anywhere without them.
Our goal as a company is to manufacture our products start to finish with each product getting the same amount of love and attention to detail that we can deliver a finished product that the future owner will appreciate and enjoy as much as we enjoy making them.
What moment in your career do you look back most fondly on?
My proudest moment would defiantly have to be the fact that I took a wild idea and worked countless hrs to see it succeed. Little did I know it would be where it is to this day.
Contact Info:
- Website: https://deadwoodskateco.com
- Email: deadwoodfingerboards@gmail.com
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/deadwoodskate.co/
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/DeadwoodSkateCo/
Image Credit:
Main photo: Ashley Owings; Product photos: Jeremy Widhalm
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