We caught up with the brilliant and insightful Kiera Vanhook a few weeks ago and have shared our conversation below.

Kiera, looking forward to hearing all of your stories today. We love asking folks what they would do differently if they were starting today – how they would speed up the process, etc. We’d love to hear how you would set everything up if you were to start from step 1 today

If I were to start over, I would tell myself to slow down and pace myself more. When I delved into this craft, I was overly excited and bought so many tools. With that in mind, I currently I don’t use some of the tools and should have saved the money for more expensive equipment. Also, properly storing materials and equipment, I’ve thrown away so much paint for not storing it correctly.

Awesome – so before we get into the rest of our questions, can you briefly introduce yourself to our readers.

I am a 31 year old single parent of an amazing 9 year old son that has Autism. I actually took interest into carpentry because of my son. Funny yet true story, my son kept breaking beds and I decided to build one, because I was tired of buying them ! With completing that, I refinished a dining set for my home and found it therapeutic, that’s when my obsession began. In the beginning, I was working full time for the post office for 5 years, until my son’ needed more care and I made the decision to resign to focus on his needs. Currently, I’m providing furniture restoration services and home improvement services full time.

Any insights you can share with us about how you built up your social media presence?

Social Media can be a hit or miss at times, but that’s just apart of posting content with billions of individuals doing the same thing. My social media is not quite where I want it to be but it’s definitely getting there. My motto for content is just staying authentic, I’ve gotten my followers by just being myself. You also get more engagement when you break things down. I still struggle with that because editing takes up so much time. If you want to boost engagement that’s the way to go. Camera quality is very important as well.

What do you think helped you build your reputation within your market?

I think what helped me was my location, when you’re in a smaller city it takes time for people to catch on to certain things. When you demonstrate talent in an area where it’s lacking, it creates a demand. Word of mouth definitely helps, I’ve had many people stop me in public to congratulate me and show support.

Contact Info:

• Instagram: https://instagram.com/thekeefinish?igshid=OGQ5ZDc2ODk2ZA%3D%3D&utm_source=qr
• Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=100076643185202&mibextid=LQQJ4d
• Other: https://www.tiktok.com/@thekeefinish?_t=8hGEIt9odrO&_r=1