We recently connected with Jeremy Watson and have shared our conversation below.
Alright, Jeremy thanks for taking the time to share your stories and insights with us today. Before we get into specifics, let’s talk about success more generally. What do you think it takes to be successful?
I believe in first creating a definition and vision that demonstrates what success looks like to you individually. Many use comparison to meet the mark of success or to feel accomplished. However, for me, another man’s mark is reflective of his journey. Therefore, my mark of success, and how that looks to me, is defined by my journey and my ability to maintain peace and stability. Success must mean more than numbers, sales, and profitability. What truly profits a man to gain the world and lose the essential things of life in the process? So, to me, success is prosperity in all areas of my life, with no one area robbing the other of the thing it needs to produce that prosperity. In saying that, I don’t think I can answer what it takes for another person to be successful because success should look different because our journeys are different. Our marks are different.
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?
My greatest accomplishment is fathering four wonderful children with my high school sweetheart and wife of 20 years, Carmelita.
It is a blessing to have my children witness me striving to accomplish my goals and move into the arena of entrepreneurship, authorship, and playwriting. I am a self-published author of 5 children’s books inspired by and dedicated to my children. You can find links to each book by visiting my website, www.jeremycwatson.com.
In addition, my wife and I own By These Hands Designs featuring handmade pieces of various kinds. Handmade wreaths for all occasions, silky smooth body butter, and a plethora of handmade wooden furniture and décor items make up our small business.
Can you tell us the story behind how you met your business partner?
My wife and I met in my 10th-grade year at Beaumont High School in St. Louis, Missouri. While it was love at first sight for me, she was not easily convinced initially. We started dating in my 11th-grade year and have been together ever since. She, Carmelita, is the best business partner because we think very differently, allowing perfect balancing. So, when I think of entrepreneurship and building a brand with someone, it just makes sense to build a piece of my life with someone who shares in the building of most of my life.
We’d love to hear the story of how you turned a side-hustle into a something much bigger.
By These Hands Designs was established in 2019 and originally consisted of our handmade wreaths my wife, Carmelita, built. As many experienced in 2020, the height of the global pandemic offered many an opportunity to contemplate what life looks like for them. It allowed me the space to evaluate what matters and determine that the sweat of my brow had to mean more. At the time, I was a hotel General Manager and worked tirelessly self-filling positions of my furloughed staff. Just a short time before, I released my first book in late 2019, titled If the World Was Without Color. I published that book, determined to take a chance at doing something that I loved to do. With that same determination, I decided to utilize these sudden moments of quiet, when the world was stiller than it had ever been in my life, to learn a new craft.
I purchased my first saw, my first set of tools, and a bunch of wood and built a wooden dining table with a matching bench. Suddenly, I was building patio sets and furniture for people paying me to do something I had never done before. Therefore, in mid-2021, I decided to take another chance and allow my side hustle to be my primary source of income. I nervously, yet faithfully, turned in my resignation and began using the same determination I used to build another man’s business, to build one of my own. That goes back to success. I didn’t need millions to feel like a success. I needed proper vision to help me focus on the wins. What I hoped my business would be, has not always been. It has not always provided the income to meet the needs of my household. However, it produced constant lessons on time management and balancing.
Additionally, it afforded me the ability to inspire my children to entrepreneurship and created the space for quality family time. It reminded me how much God requires faithfulness in all matters pertaining to us, His children. Though it is not the vision yet, my faith provides the evidence that it will be exactly how I visioned as By These Hands Designs grows.
We continue to add more products and are looking forward to progressing to one housed location for our many handmade items. Next up, I am finishing my 6th book to be released in early 2023 and am gearing up to produce the first play I wrote, The Poetic Conversation of Ma. Furthermore, my wife continues to create beautiful wreaths for all occasions. We are working on releasing new scented body butter and scrubs, handmade natural soaps, and natural shampoo for our furry family members.
Contact Info:
- Website: www.jeremycwatson.com
- Instagram: @bythesehandsdesigns ; @Jeremycwatson
- Facebook: By These Hands Designs; Jeremy C. Watson
- Amazon: Key in Jeremy C. Watson into your Amazon search bar for a list of available books