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

Adam, appreciate you joining us today. Have you been able to earn a full-time living from your creative work? If so, can you walk us through your journey and how you made it happen? Was it like that from day one? If not, what were some of the major steps and milestones and do you think you could have sped up the process somehow knowing what you know now?

It’s living the dream, wake up drink a couple cups of coffee while checking emails and store sales reports and then website/Etsy orders, make a plan for the day head to the shop/garage and start creating. Repeat this process every day except when we are at an art show/craft fair which we try to be at at least 2-3 weekends a month.

After a show I get a list of sales, then I make a weekly plan first on the list is restock my supplies which includes going and picking up wood needed and paint/stains, glue, checking with my partner if she needs supplies, then reclaiming any wood needed washing it and cleaning it up, then sanding and planning the new wood, then I make all the items needed by my partner to finish her projects, once that is done I move into my list and start making this is where I get to be creative.

As always, we appreciate you sharing your insights and we’ve got a few more questions for you, but before we get to all of that can you take a minute to introduce yourself and give our readers some of your back background and context?

Well it all started after I remodeled our upstairs floor of our house, our house was built in the 70’s and needed allot of updating. Anyway after all that work we decided to add a deck on the back of the house and after I finished that I had allot of scrap lumber and I ended up making a big octagon picnic table, all our friends and family that saw it wanted one, that and while I was doing all this work my wife realized that I was allot happier so she told me maybe I should do this for a living, which after a bit of reflection I took it and ran with it and now have turned it into this company. We specialize in custom wood art from new and reclaimed wood, we try to be sustainable by using allot of old wood that people were going to get rid of we clean it up and turn it into art. It’s a team effort my wife does the string-art, hand burned sign, and sublimation, while I do the reclaiming of the wood the wood working, and make and paint all the landscapes and flags and animals.

Let’s talk about resilience next – do you have a story you can share with us?

Starting and running your own business isn’t easy it takes allot of work, we are constantly working pretty much never stop except to eat and sleep. But you have to have that drive that keeps you going even when you are totally exhausted, you have to find something inside you to keep motivating you to keep you going for me it’s s my family everything I do is in hopes that they have a better life then I did.

What do you think is the goal or mission that drives your creative journey?

Yes our goal is to make beautiful handcrafted works of art for everyone to enjoy at a price that is affordable for all. We use allot of reclaimed wood that we clean up and upcycle into our works of art.

Contact Info:

• Website: www.piecesofstuffco.com
• Instagram: Piecesofstuffco
• Facebook: Pieces of Stuff
• Youtube: Piecesofstuff7919