Alright – so today we’ve got the honor of introducing you to Kyle Emerick. We think you’ll enjoy our conversation, we’ve shared it below.

Kyle, thanks for joining us, excited to have you contributing your stories and insights. We’d love to hear about when you first realized that you wanted to pursue a creative path professionally.

I worked for a CNC machine manufacturing company as one of my first jobs and was always interested in machinery. I built my first CNC machine partially from a kit and flirted with basic sign making, posting on social media and it started to take off without even trying. I was contacted by a design firm to make 63 stand up rolling whiteboard panels. I was very hesitant working on such a large project with definitive deadlines and for a Fortune 500 company. It was however a great learning experience learning to map out the project timelines required to make all the parts, pre-assemble them, package them up, deliver and perform all the final assembly onsite. The project went off without a hitch, was publicized on TV and I received many thanks from all the teams involved. The feeling of accomplishing such a big project made me realize how easily an overwhelming project can be accomplished if you plan extensively, communicate well with the customers to customize the product, and follow through to completion. This made me also discover I could take on very large projects which could potentially lead to a career in the field I came to love over the first year of starting a small business.

Kyle, love having you share your insights with us. Before we ask you more questions, maybe you can take a moment to introduce yourself to our readers who might have missed our earlier conversations?

My greatest empowering feeling has been to inspire others to create. So many woodworkers get into the field and spend too much time replicating existing designs without taking the plunge to be creative. It is easy to fall into this hole as I did myself. It was not until I started making my own designs that I felt compelled to inspire others to do the same. Doing this brought notoriety to my new small business and has done a great deal to inspire others. Making money has been great, inspiring others has brought great joy to my world of making.

How can we best help foster a strong, supportive environment for artists and creatives?

Supporting local makers is such an important thing to do in the world of making. For sure, yes, I do ship products, but working with people in person to bring their ideas to life is very rewarding. To boot, wowing them with the final product is the most rewarding, all the while working though the creative process where people have an idea on a napkin, then turning that into reality. That is the best.

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

The social media experience early that brought on the most conversation was sharing my mistakes. We can all share our best side but revealing those challenges we learned from and know others would appreciate were some of my most responsive posts.

Contact Info:

• Website: sandyeggo.com
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/sandyeggocnc/
• Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/SandyEggoCNC
• Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/c/SandyeggoCNC
• Yelp: https://www.yelp.com/biz/sandy-eggo-cnc-vista

Image Credits
All of these pictures were taken by my wife, Megan Emerick.