We caught up with the brilliant and insightful Lenny & Andi Huiras a few weeks ago and have shared our conversation below.
Lenny & Andi, thanks for taking the time to share your stories with us today So let’s jump to your mission – what’s the backstory behind how you developed the mission that drives your brand?
Alter’d Industries is not your typical personalization and engraving shop. With our expertise in sand carving, we elevate the concept of personalized gifts to new heights, setting ourselves apart from others in the industry. Our mission is to redefine personalized gifting by infusing artistry, precision, and passion into every piece we create, transforming ordinary into extraordinary.
We understand that a personalized gift is more than just a present, it’s a sincere message from your heart to the recipient. It’s a way of saying, ‘I love you, I appreciate you, I see you.’ Our skilled artisans work their magic to engrave and carve names, dates, and custom designs into an assortment of items, including glass drinkware, tumblers, cutting boards, and picture frames. We’re all about capturing special moments and turning them into treasured keepsakes.
Whether it’s a wedding, anniversary, or graduation, our personalized engraved gifts are designed to evoke emotions and create lasting memories. But we don’t stop there. We also offer a wide array of options for sports coach appreciation gifts and personalized gifts for tradesmen and professionals. These heartfelt creations serve as tributes to mentors and coaches, honoring their dedication and celebrating the expertise of hardworking individuals across a variety of occupations.
What sets us apart is our unwavering commitment to excellence, honesty, and transparency. We pour our heart and soul into every product, ensuring that the final result is nothing short of extraordinary. So, if you’re looking for a personalized gift that will truly make a lasting impression, look no further than Alter’d Industries for a truly unparalleled personalization experience, where passion meets craftsmanship, and ordinary becomes extraordinary.
You can find Alter’d Industries on Amazon and Etsy. We have launched an interactive website with live proofs to further enhance the customer experience. Check us out at alterdindustries.com
Great, appreciate you sharing that with us. Before we ask you to share more of your insights, can you take a moment to introduce yourself and how you got to where you are today to our readers.
What started out as a dream to work together as a husband/wife team has blossomed into Alterd Industries.
It all started back in 2011 when we spent all our life savings on equipment and supplies, but our journey did not exactly start smoothly. We realized we needed one last costly material before we could begin engraving our first stone. In an unexpected turn of events, we decided to engrave a plain pint glass that we pulled out of the kitchen cabinet, using a Cricut to make a stencil we sand carved our first two glasses.
We posted our finished glasses on Facebook and to our surprise woke up the next morning to a barrage of messages asking for custom engraved glasses for sports gifts, weddings, and other occasions. Vital Signs NW was born. We began engraving pint glasses, whiskey and wine glasses, and champagne flutes, showcasing our products at farmer’s markets and craft bazaars every weekend.
Our exceptional customer service and premium quality soon caught on, and we decided to take our product offerings online by opening an Etsy store in 2014. As our garage shop began to grow rapidly, we moved into our first brick and mortar shop in 2015 and hired our first employee. The VSNW team continued to expand our list of services and purchased our first laser engraver in 2016 to streamline our engraving process. We never forgot our roots and today we still sand carve each piece by hand to give it the bright, smooth premium finish that we are known for.
By 2017, Vital Signs NW had outgrown its retail shop, and we searched for a larger facility, leading us 185 miles away to Southern Oregon. We purchased a warehouse with room to continue growing our team and services. Two of our employees even followed us in relocating their lives and careers to Southern Oregon.
In 2021, we made a strategic decision to rebrand as Alter’d Industries and made a complete shift into direct-to-consumer e-commerce sales. Early in 2022, we made another strategic move, this time to Texas, with our incredible team once more packing their bags to follow us and our dream of making Alter’d Industries the go-to online shop for quality personalized gifts. Alter’d Industries is now situated in the center of the U.S. in the great state of Texas to better serve our customers with the same quality products we are known for, now with even faster shipping times.
But why the name change, why Alter’d? We chose the name Alter’d because of its meaning. To alter something is to change it in a small but significant way. That’s exactly what we do at Alter’d Industries, we source quality blank goods and alter them by adding custom graphics and personalization, then take it a step further with premium finishes like sand carving our glassware. All items are made to order by hand with care and attention to detail, packed and ready to ship within three business days of purchase.
At Alter’d Industries we are constantly researching new trends and pushing our team and equipment to produce stunning personalized engraved gifts from glassware and tumblers to cutting boards and portfolios. We are grateful to work every day with each other and our incredible team. Our combined creativity, talents, and passion have brought our dream into reality for 13 years and counting.
We often hear about learning lessons – but just as important is unlearning lessons. Have you ever had to unlearn a lesson?
Overcoming negativity and doubt.
When you are a child learning to walk for the first time everyone roots for you and cheers you on saying, “come on you can do it.” They continue clapping and cheering you on until you take those first few steps on your own and then it becomes, “we knew you could do it.” Fast forward a few years and your friends are cheering you on again to make that epic jump on your bike and daring you to do so if they see you’re nervous or hesitating. Somewhere along the way as we grow up our family and friends stop cheering us on and the narrative changes to “are you sure that’s a good idea? That seems awfully risky. You have responsibilities. I wouldn’t do that if I were you.” When we started on our entrepreneurial journey we heard a lot of the same negativity but we pushed forward anyway. Our dream to work together and own our own business was exactly that, OUR dream. If others didn’t see it for us that was ok, no one was going to talk us out of it.
Admittedly, things haven’t always gone as planned. We have had plenty of setbacks like getting funding to start our business since banks don’t loan on dreams alone, but we didn’t let that deter us. Instead, we adopted a bootstrap mentality and started small. We bought used equipment and got creative to fill in for the things we didn’t have and put in the extra effort required to succeed. We seemed to do everything the hard way for the first few years. This humble beginning allowed us to truly appreciate our craft and has pushed us to continuously improve. Throughout the growth of our business we have maintained a positive mindset believing that everything happens for us not to us. There are lessons to be learned from every setback. After all there is no such thing as a failure, you either win or you learn. It is this positive outlook that has kept us moving forward for 13 years and counting. We are still honing our craft and niching down our list of services so we can provide top quality items and services to our customers.
The moral of our story is don’t let the fears of others dictate the goals and dreams you hold for your life. You are the greatest project that you will ever work on. Keep pushing forward, turn your dreams into plans and goals. Take that first step off the starting block and then the next step and the next. Experts are not born, they are created through unwavering determination, perseverance, and a positive mindset. Remember the 8 year you that would fearlessly take on any jump, channel that version of you and cheer for yourself. Stay focused and stay positive, you are made for greatness!
Are there any books, videos or other content that you feel have meaningfully impacted your thinking?
One of our core values as a company is Abe & Abi which stands for always be evolving and always be improving. We firmly believe that if you are not growing and improving you’re dying so we are on a constant mission for knowledge.
We love to read all kinds of books, in fact we listen to audiobooks during our commute to and from work each day. On average we read 3-4 books a month. We read all kinds of books about business and personal growth. Some of our favorite authors and speakers are Jim Rohn, Steve Harvey and Simon Sinek.
We attend trade shows every year to learn about the newest equipment and techniques in our industry. We have even had the honor of being invited to be guest speakers at some of these events to share our best practices and insights. We have attended a number of conventions like Ecom Summit and SellerCon that are focused around networking and growing our ecommerce business.
We also spend the first hour of each day meditating and/or listening to podcasts or watching youtube videos focused on motivation and personal growth. Some of our favorite podcasts are Mindset Mentor and Your World Within.
Our spirituality and faith in God is another important part of our lives. We know that we didn’t get here all on our own. We are beyond blessed and grateful for the gift of chasing our dreams into reality for 13 years now. We absolutely love creating and sharing meaningful heartfelt gifts with the world that spread joy and make people feel appreciated and loved.
Contact Info:
- Website: alterdindustries.com
- Instagram: @alterd_industries
- Tik Tok: @alterdindustries
Image Credits
Endeavor Studio Photos