We caught up with the brilliant and insightful Vinnie + Jess Mai a few weeks ago and have shared our conversation below.

Vinnie + Jess, thanks for taking the time to share your stories with us today Risk taking is something we’re really interested in and we’d love to hear the story of a risk you’ve taken.

We both currently operate Tipsy Oak full-time, but this wasn’t always the case. We worked full-time jobs in retail while managing and expanding Tipsy Oak on the side for years. This led to long nights and using up any extra time we had towards the business. We had dreams of making it our main source of income, but feared giving up the stability of our full-time employment. In March 2020, the Pandemic happened and we were both furloughed. Despite the unfortunate circumstances, we used this time to focus on our business at a full-time level. While people were spending more time at home, we gained more traffic to our Etsy shop and began to see an influx in sales. When our companies asked us to come back at the end of the furlough, we were left with a difficult, life changing decision. Do we take a chance on our business dreams or return to our employers that provided reliable income, affordable health insurance and paid vacations? It was a terrifying and exciting moment for us, but we decided to invest all of our time and energy into Tipsy Oak. It was absolutely the right decision for us and being fully invested has allowed us to grow Tipsy Oak and pursue our business dream.

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

We’re Vinnie and Jess, a husband and wife team with a passion to design artfully crafted furniture pieces. Who we are plays a big part of Tipsy Oak. Vinnie has a broad background in art and has the ability to create with his hands. Jess graduated with a Bachelor’s Degree in Interior Design and Architecture and has always had a creative process to everything she does.

Having worked for different retailers over the years, we knew a lot of the furniture on today’s market required additional upkeep or couldn’t withstand any spills or water rings without damage. We wanted to create a variety of tables that are unique and beautiful, but still practical for everyday use. A table where you can have your kids, family or friends gather without those concerns. We began back in 2016 when we built a herringbone coffee table for our first apartment together. It allowed us to utilize our passion to create and helped pave the way for our furniture business. Our handcrafted pieces have come a long way since our first coffee table.

All of our pieces are completed by hand, from start to finish, utilizing local kiln dried rough cut lumber. Our signature white oak tables in particular, have a very natural unfinished look, but best of all, are designed to hold up to everyday use. We feel we have brought our own artistic approach to our design process that really separates us from traditional woodworking.

We’d love to hear your thoughts about selling platforms like Amazon/Etsy vs selling on your own site.

We sell on our own site Tipsyoak.com and we also sell on Etsy. The Etsy platform contributes to the majority of our sales. It’s a reputable platform known for unique, handcrafted items that also invests a lot into marketing. We are truly grateful for Etsy, but would like to see our website become the dominant platform. Platforms like Etsy are extremely competitive and change their policies and fees often. Sales fees are much higher than if we sold on our own website as well. Our own website will allow us to grow as our own brand without any competitors or restrictions.

We’d love to hear about you met your business partner.

We met while working together in similar visual roles at a retail company in Los Angeles. We began dating and really connected with each other. We quickly realized we shared many of the same passions for design, architecture, home furnishings and dreams for entrepreneurship. Over the years, we have grown as a couple and naturally grew as business partners as well. We’ve learned a lot from each other, including some of our strengths and weaknesses that we use to help balance specific areas of the business. We feel incredibly lucky having the opportunity to work together and build something we are extremely passionate about.

Contact Info:

• Website: www.tipsyoak.com
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/tipsyoak/?hl=en
• Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/tipsyoak/
• Other: https://www.etsy.com/shop/TipsyOak https://www.pinterest.com/TipsyOak/