We recently connected with Tyler Scott and have shared our conversation below.
Hi Tyler , really happy you were able to join us today and we’re looking forward to sharing your story and insights with our readers. Let’s start with the heart of it all – purpose. How did you find your purpose?
I have asked myself this question so many times and there really isn’t a good of an answer for this question. I think the best way to answer the question is to give you the back story of how I came to open my own antique lighting restoration company at 29 years old. I moved to Edmond Oklahoma after receiving my associates degree and an offer for a spot on the University of Central Oklahoma’s competitive cheerleading team. As I went through school I met someone who was good friends with the owners of a locally famous lighting company named Lillian Strickler Lighting. I eventually was tasked on odd days to swing by the shop and help move heavy, large chandeliers around because most of the employees were older adults. As time went on, I was swinging by the shop more and more and eventually they offered me a job which I took without hesitation because at the time I was working the big freezers in the back of Walmart moving boxes.
To this day, I have never stopped working on lighting whenever I get the chance. I am so forever grateful that there are individuals who appreciate good lighting, appreciate my work, and allow me to keep this amazing and unique tradition alive for the Oklahoma City area.
Thanks for sharing that. So, before we get any further into our conversation, can you tell our readers a bit about yourself and what you’re working on?
After I graduated with my bachelors degree I struggled back and forth between keeping my job at Lillian Strickler’s or trying to use my degree to make a more livable wage. I eventually chose to stick with Lillian Strickler and go pursue a masters degree from the University of Central Oklahoma. At the time, I thought this would help in my chances of getting into physical therapy school lol. During this time Lillian Strickler would go through a failed sale to a former employee who wanted to open his own place in the same location. They parted ways and I helped the original owners open a smaller shop for repairs only right before the COVID lockdown. Throughout the lockdown I was working on a much busier schedule than anticipated and I started to take more freedoms in taking more jobs than just the Head of Repair. During this time frame, I would learn lots of business owning skills and experience from helping the original owners during some health spells that would pop up. This continued until I graduated with my masters degree and was considering what I really wanted out of life and how I could get there. The only real answers I could come up with is that I love Olympic Weightlifting coaching and I loved to restore, design, and refinish antique lighting and the occasional random other antique item like old fans, furniture with lights, desk lights, and painting lights.
I thought maybe I could keep Lillian Strickler going if I could come up with the necessary funds to purchase the business from the owners because it was important to me to keep the name if I was going to continue the work that they taught me. However, the owners felt differently and decided that they would instead close Lillian Strickler’s and not sell to me. I was pretty distraught for awhile after that but after Lillian Strickler’s had been closed for awhile there was a need for my expertise still. I was receiving text messages, phone calls, and Facebook messages from people still wondering if I would be able to do my work. If this hadn’t of happened in this timeframe I honestly do not know if I would have started Antiqua.
Fast forward, I am so close to being in business for myself for a whole year! I am so beyond proud of this accomplishment and being a business owner has taught me more than anything else I have accomplished so far. Right now, my business is focusing on making sure our quality and product is the absolute best it can be. After I got the hang of being a business owner ( still learning ) I finally decided to make the next step in coaching Olympic Weightlifting as well. We hope to have a cool anniversary design t-shirt coming to commemorate our big 1 year anniversary. Thank you for allowing me and Antiqua to light up the room.
If you had to pick three qualities that are most important to develop, which three would you say matter most?
Without a doubt the three most important aspects I have learned, communication, intention, and planning. The best advice I can ever give anyone is to be easy on yourself and to understand you will not be perfect overnight. Learn and move on and let go.
One of our goals is to help like-minded folks with similar goals connect and so before we go we want to ask if you are looking to partner or collab with others – and if so, what would make the ideal collaborator or partner?
I am always trying to find other artists to collaborate on pieces with! If you are ever interested in what I do, have any questions, or needing my services my email is tcscott79@gmail.com. I have worked with many artists and designers in the OKC area and I am looking to spread my wings and visit some cool new places 🙂
Contact Info:
- Website: antiquarestore.co
- Instagram: antiqualightingco
- Facebook: Antiqua Lighting
Image Credits
Nicole Bode
