We recently connected with Abby Hatteberg and have shared our conversation below.

Alright, Abby thanks for taking the time to share your stories and insights with us today. Let’s kick things off with your mission – what is it and what’s the story behind why it’s your mission?

The story of Wayfaren started with a heart for getting people to live just a bit more intentionally, a bit more beautifully in their every day lives. Our mission from day 1 was to get (high quality + handmade!) products into the hands of our customers to help them hold onto their most precious memories and dream up those next life-changing ones as well. For our customers to continue to focus on making memories and living deeply in EXPERIENCE, while we would help them keep those memories beautiful :)

Rewind to 2012, when we were running a bit dry in our careers paths (me a teacher, and him in seminary to become a pastor) we were searching for a creative outlet. We had just spent the summer volunteering in Spain, and returned with a computer brimming with images of gorgeous landscapes and quaint Spanish streets. It felt like truly a TRAGEDY to let the photos just sit there behind a screen.

So our friends who had started a side hustle recently, said “Hey! You should start an Etsy shop….it’s only 20 cents to list an item”

And so it began…

Although we never sold a single one of those initial photographs, we did quickly see a gap in the market – beautifully designed push pin maps.

After pouring over Google and Etsy listings and Pinterest alike, we couldn’t find a single push pin world map that we would actually want to put in our living room, or that seemed worthy of all these life-changing adventures we experienced. So we designed and made one ourselves :)

Concurrently, Luke was delving into woodworking, a trade he had watched along side his grandfather growing up. So we launched the maps, and (I am sure you can see where this is going here :) ) they took off much faster than we anticipated…and here we are 9 years later.

We ran our business out of our home for the first 5 years, moving from a shed that would flood every time it rained to next our first home’s garage. Sawdust trailing all over our kitchen floor and babies being fed in high chairs as our team members passed through.

It’s been a wild ride since then, and now we have expanded our offerings to other travel pins maps, personalized keepsake boxes, and more. However, there is one thread among them all- beautifully designed products that are built to last, built to hold all of our customers’ most important memories.

Our love for experience, heirloom quality craftsmanship, and timeless design drive our brand and we are just so grateful for this business of ours (9 years and counting!!). It’s a true family business now, and our girls (Everlee 6 and Colette 4) are just as much a part of this company as our incredibly hardworking and invaluable team members.

This plan certainly wasn’t what we anticipated, but like we always say…those are the very best adventures :)

Luke&Abby

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?

As stated on last slide!

We sell thoughtfully designed, personalized keepsakes for holding onto your most important memories and dreaming up the next ones!

We provide our customers with modern, heirloom quality pieces that are just as beautiful as they are built to last. So their keepsakes are actually worthy of the life-changing memories held within them.

We have been in business almost 10 years now, and every day truly we still pinch ourselves that we get the honor of crafting such weighty and meaningful pieces! I think what sets us apart is our ruthless commitment to quality, despite the challenges that can pose. As well as our steadfast and unwavering care for our customers.

Do you have any stories of times when you almost missed payroll or any other near death experiences for your business?

As some of our products are in the travel niche, COVID really hit us hard. We were honestly weeks away from closing the doors and saying a very heartbroken goodbye to Wayfaren. However, at almost ten years in business, we had learned by that point that 80% of “success” in business is just hanging on when things get tough. The biggest challenge as an entrepreneur is being able to ride the waves of highs and lows, continuing to press forward despite having nothing left in you.

…and we did! Thankfully, things slowly started to turn around as COVID evolved and we finally saw the light at the end of the tunnel. It actually turned out to be a blessing in disguise, because it really forced us to make some hard changes operationally that we might not have otherwise made. Now we are back and have an energy to grow that we had I think lost before!

Any stories or insights that might help us understand how you’ve built such a strong reputation?

Customers, customers, customers. Our reviews, word of mouth, and people (so thankfully) singing our praises has been the number one thing that has allowed us to build our reputations within the keepsakes market! We are honored and humbled- never a day passes that we aren’t deeply grateful for our customers entrusting us with their most significant memories.

Contact Info:

• Website: www.wayfaren.com
• Instagram: www.instagram.com/wayfarenco
• Facebook: www.facebook.com/wayfarenco

Image Credits
Cody Kurtz Photography