Today we’d like to introduce you to Megan Taylor.
Hi Megan, thanks for joining us today. We’d love for you to start by introducing yourself.
My husband and I both have full-time jobs, along with 2 kids who are involved in various extracurricular activities. Our time was always being focused elsewhere and we never seemed to “make” time for each other. My husband enjoys building things made of wood and other materials. He is very talented when it comes to building things, which he learned from his father. I have had my hands in many craft areas that I started mainly after I bought a Cricut machine. I have made small signs, party decor, and stickers for cars, but shirts have been my main focus. I had previously looked at a laser cutting machine, but due to the price, never really mentioned it to my husband. In recent times, the popularity of them has risen and I have seen so many people making so many wonderful things (some of which I purchased from friends), so I once again looked at a laser cutting machine but decided to mention it to my husband this time. I was somewhat joking when I did, as they were still very expensive, but he ended up getting serious about it and started doing more research. We discussed it and figured this could be something we could do as a family and possibly make a little money on the side. We both enjoyed the different pieces that would be involved in creating and designing different items. This would be something that we could work together on, be able to spend time together, and hopefully make some money from it at some point. We have only been at this for a couple of months, but with all things considered, I think we have done well. We still have a long way to go when it comes to figuring out all of the different aspects of owning a business, but we will hopefully figure it out one step at a time. We have been able to get our name out to friends, which is helping to spread the word about what we are doing. Our kids have also been involved in some simple, but important elements such as helping to choose paint colors and setting up at events. We don’t know if anything will come of this small business we are trying to create (even though we really hope so!), but we do find enjoyment in working together. Seeing the creations once they are complete, gives us a feeling of accomplishment and a boost of confidence. We are so grateful to our family and friends who are coming to us to have us create things for them. This is helping us learn and better ourselves and make sure that our decor is the highest quality we are striving for.
Would you say it’s been a smooth road, and if not, what are some of the biggest challenges you’ve faced along the way?
We have done well with figuring out the software and the machine to be able to actually create the items, there are still requests we receive that takes a little more time and effort, but we keep working with it until we figure it out. When it comes to running an actual business, we are still trying to figure all of that out. First, we wanted to see if anyone would even be interested in purchasing items from us before we officially dove into the business side. That is our next focus!
Alright, so let’s switch gears a bit and talk business. What should we know?
It took FOREVER to come up with a name. We just couldn’t agree on anything. We finally came up with 8.2.9 Designs and liked how it sounded together. That is actually our anniversary date (and my dad’s birthday), so we figured, why not??
We specialize in many different things. Custom work has been our biggest thing that has kept us busy. We have created door hangers, graduate boxes, scrabble tile shelves, teacher’s gifts, big signs, and small signs. Engraved cutting boards have also been a huge hit with us.
We are trying to keep prices a tad below some competitors to hopefully entice people to want to give us a shot. We have been told many times that we do not charge enough for a lot of our items, so not sure if that is a good or bad thing!
This is a side business for us, as we do have full-time jobs and other commitments, but we try to get orders done as quickly as possible. We do spend most evenings and weekends working to get the orders completed in a timely manner, but it is just my husband and I working on them. We are somewhat shocked though; at how many orders we do seem to have at one given time.
So, before we go, how can our readers or others connect or collaborate with you? How can they support you?
We are open to almost anything to help get our name out there! We would love to work with other small business to help learn from each other.
Others can support us by purchasing items from us, sharing our Facebook page, and by word of mouth. Word of mouth is one of the best ways!
Contact Info:
- Instagram: www.instagram.com/8.2.9designs
- Facebook: https://fb.me/contact829designs
