We recently connected with Wyatt Youngblood and have shared our conversation below.
Alright, Wyatt thanks for taking the time to share your stories and insights with us today. We’d love to have you retell us the story behind how you came up with the idea for your business, I think our audience would really enjoy hearing the backstory.
The idea to restore homes has been a dream of mine for years, so I took it upon myself to learn as much as possible through client work and delved into the history of restoration. There are so many beautiful houses here in Detroit that people don’t take a second look at. Yes, a lot are saved but some seem too far gone to people. We wanted to give life back to homes even if it takes a lot of hard work and looking at it from a different perspective. Unique, forgotten, and charming historic details inside these homes hold history and this history deserves to be preserved and respected.
As neurodiverse individuals (I have Autism and my fiancé and business partner, Anna Stolarski, has ADHD) we weren’t given the space to flourish when working for other people. We think differently and having our own business allows us to utilize our unique skills, while supporting each other in the inevitable struggles that come about. Old homes are a puzzle that need solving and I’m able to look at it from a unique perspective because of my Autism. Neurodiverse individuals sometimes struggle in the 9 to 5 workplace because society is built for the neurotypical. This has definitely been a struggle for me my whole life but it’s okay to not fit into a mold and at the end of the day find what makes you happy.
This paired with my passion for architecture and having a partner who loves this challenge as well brought about Revival 4106.
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 background and context?
I got into this industry because I love architecture and anything and everything historic but also because it meshes so well with my Autism. It gives me the space to be myself, be creative, and not have to hold back my autistic traits. I want to show people that yes there is work upfront to restore these historic homes but once restored they can be maintained and last for another 100 years.
We are almost done with the restoration of 4106. After, we will be taking on another project and expanding our brand as a restoration, preservation, and design firm. This is just the beginning!
Can you share a story from your journey that illustrates your resilience?
I think our business came about from resilience. Covid was the final push for us to go out on our own since I could no longer go into client homes. No one new what the housing market was going to do and we saw that investors started panicking and moving inventory as fast as possible. It was clear now or never moment for us.
Our resilience has continued on through this journey as we don’t have a large crew. It’s she and I getting up every day and putting in the long hours to literally, build the life we want.
How about pivoting – can you share the story of a time you’ve had to pivot?
In historic restoration there are pivots on almost a daily basis. It truly is a puzzle with different paths that you have to choose from in order to get to the end. For example, there could be water damage under layers of cover up that you weren’t aware of and these factors determine what you can do depending on time, schedule, and budget. You have to know when to change plans, and accept that it’s going to be a continuous part of the process.
Contact Info:
- Instagram: Revival4106
- Other: Email: [email protected]