We were lucky to catch up with Kim McIntyre recently and have shared our conversation below.

Kim, looking forward to hearing all of your stories today. Can you share an important lesson you learned in a prior job that’s helped you in your career afterwards?

I use to instruct wilderness expeditions in northern MN in the wintertime. Students were learning how to winter camp, dog sled and cross country ski. Occasionally it would get to minus 40 degrees, some time the snow conditions were deep and slow, other times nice warm sunny days that would then follow a big cold streak and cause slick ice on portage trail with lighting fast (dangerous because breaking a sled was impossible as everything was glare ice), early season maybe there wasn’t enough ice to go on normal routes so you would crash through thickets on the shore edge instead of being on the lakes, daylight was short and who knows what firewood you might find at the next lake and lots of gear to dry out every night, add in managing two dog teams and total novice students. I learned a lot about developing systems, like putting camp and myself to bed the same way every night so nothing got left in the snow and couldn’t be found in the morning, I also learned how to take care of myself. If I wasn’t well hydrated and fed, how was I going to be able to stay warm and make a million wise decisions through the day, while watching out for the students in this intense environment or the dogs to prevent them from getting injured. I focused on learning lessons on what worked well and what didn’t but to remain flexible as the conditions were always changing. But the biggest lesson I learned was grace. I’m a perfectionist at heart, with a ton of earnest energy, I’m impressively patient and able to be a work alcoholic in my effort to do things the “right way” or make something easier for someone else or you name it… I’ll get up earlier then everyone and go to bed later than everyone as I’m putting in all my energy to do my best work possible. Again and again, I came back to learning about grace. I can’t foresee the future, days are going to be trickier then expected. New curveballs. I’m going to come up short sometimes. Not everything is going to get done in a day. I learned how to be more gentle with myself, especially my self talk. To give myself space to figure it out, to even mess up or permission to try new ways of doing things I learned to trust myself but next expect perfection, to realize the limitations of being human. To do my best, but enjoy the unknown beauty of life, even in the hardest, messiest, exhausting moments of life. To see myself stretching and improving, but having compassion for myself and others when everything wasn’t attainable. I learned to try to embrace more grace in life.

Kim, love having you share your insights with us. Before we ask you more questions, maybe you can take a moment to introduce yourself to our readers who might have missed our earlier conversations?

I’ve been lucky that I’ve been around tools and making my whole life. My parents bought an old house when I was in 2nd grade and that is when I started handing my dad tools when we were in the crawl space fixing stuff. In 6th grade I was up early every morning with a paper route. I played lots of sports. My childhood was all about studying hard in school, working and saving money, setting sport goals, putting in the work and improving, learning about ecology and nature and felling most at home in the outdoors. I ended up taking two years off between high school and starting college. I worked three jobs through the Christmas Season the fun a 4 month trip to Central America. I volunteered in a trail crew in the cloud forest and a bilingual preschool, road chicken buses and got to learn a lot about life outside the US. I came back with a better sense of self. Also some awareness that I was ready to not pursue a typical career path, I wanted a life that provided more lived experiences than the typical cookie cutter path. I spent the next year working at an animal shelter saving up to go to college and daydreaming about the next steps. I chose to go to a super alternative college in northern Vermont called Sterling College. All classes had an environment theme. I graduated with a degree in Outdoor Education. But I also took as many woodworking classes as possible, most of them self designed. I started daydreaming of a life that I took people on wilderness adventures for half the year and the other half of the year I would handmade heirloom furniture in a cozy little shop. Both things I’ve pursued, but not in that way. I spent the next 6 years leading expeditions year round. Then I went to a 6 month intensive woodworking school. And since then in some fashion I’ve been pursuing a career as a woodworker. Sometimes I’m making custom furniture full time, other times working for a nonprofit full time managing their wood studio. Sometimes I’ve worked part time as a teaching assistant for woodworking classes at the local community college, other times I’ve worker for a retired gentleman one day a week helping him set up his dream woodshop. At this moment I’m making custom furniture, 1 day of week I’m a studio technician (part time work where I keep a shop running well of tuning of tools and building out infrastructure so the space is always improving), and teaching woodworking classes. I also spend probably too much time on Instagram connecting with the woodworking community there. I’ve found great friend group, I’ve gotten to work with a few brands, but I’m very far from making all of those connections profitable/super business focused. I use my platform to share what I’m doing in my shop or life, but I also really value sharing information; making sure there are no guarded trade secrets, and making sure all feel welcome. I want to make woodworking an inviting and welcoming place for all. I volunteer with two nonprofits that work with teaching woodworking (in Austin, TX and Seattle, WA).

Are there any books, videos or other content that you feel have meaningfully impacted your thinking?

I recently signed up for a Money Bootcamp with Sunlight Tax https://www.sunlighttax.com/
I’ve been in business for over 10 years, but understanding bookkeeping and taxes always seemed harder than they need to be. This self paced class that has a ton of lessons is giving me a ton of confidence and structure that my business has needed for a long time.

We’d love to hear a story of resilience from your journey.

The path of an artist and a small business owner isn’t linear. You go forward with your knowledge, hard work, current skills. But also an openness to take in new lessons and not seeing pivots as defeats. I got some wise business advice to see the value of pivots because you are now operating with additional information.

Contact Info:

• Website: www.mcintyrefurniture.com
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/mcintyrefurniture
• Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/McIntyreFurniture
• Youtube: https://youtube.com/@McIntyreFurniture

Image Credits
Mark Adams, Michael Maine, Jon Binzan, Kim McIntyre