We’re excited to introduce you to the always interesting and insightful Katlyn Thomasson . We hope you’ll enjoy our conversation with Katlyn below.

Katlyn , thanks for joining us, excited to have you contributing your stories and insights. It’s easy to look at a business or industry as an outsider and assume it’s super profitable – but we’ve seen over and over again in our conversation with folks that most industries have factors that make profitability a challenge. What’s biggest challenge to profitability in your industry?

Like any business, when you are first starting out, you don’t have a client base. E-commerce and social media selling methods take a lot of effort to grow an established online client base versus meeting people at markets or having a store front. You can gain more traffic faster, but getting the traffic to actually purchase is the hard part. People want to trust your brand. Online, you don’t have a personal connection so it takes more to catch the persons attention and really show them why they should purchase your product.

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.

I was in the process of building my own home (excavator operator and all!). I wanted the interior design to be farmhouse themed. First thing that came to mind was barn doors in every room. I researched products and just couldn’t find an affordable good quality barn door that fit my vision. For some reason, I got this crazy thought to attempt to build one. I had no tools and no idea what I was doing. I told myself I’d start with one door and if it turned out great, I’d keep going. My first door was a success. The building process put me in this unbothered “in the zone” element. Music cranked up, the dog hanging out, sun up to sun down. It felt amazing! I knew I had to start exploring what else I was capable of. Im also in school working on my B.S. Construction Management, so I figured anything I could make off this business could help me graduate debt free. People have been so supportive and I just want to keep challenging myself and growing.

Can you tell us about a time you’ve had to pivot?

This is my second business! At 18 years old I opened a gymnastics business and taught in my small hometown to many wonderful students. I learned so much from this business, but I was also so young. I closed it down after three years to really focus on my long term career direction. Since its closure, I’ve really missed it and have consistently felt the need to keep that entrepreneurial side of me going. Starting Birch To Blade has filled that void I needed. I learned so much from my first business and the age gap between then to now makes such a difference in the way I approach and create intentional in each phase.

Can you share a story from your journey that illustrates your resilience?

I want to continue to help women understand that we are capable of so much more than we give ourselves credit for. It’s now becoming normal to see women in the construction industry. Along the process of building my home, I had so many women reaching out to me as they had seen me on an excavator, skid steer, hammering in the back yard, you name it! These women wanted to know how I do all of these tasks or where I got my experience from. Every professional started from the bottom and that’s just what I’m doing. I’m starting out, making mistakes, fixing them, and learning as I go. Either teaching myself and researching or reaching out to peers for insight. I want to continue to empower women to pickup the power tools and start their first project.

Contact Info:

• Website: www.BirchToBlade.com
• Instagram: @birch_to_blade and @carpentry_kat
• Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=61555982930798&mibextid=kFxxJD

Image Credits
No image credits other than myself.