Meet Elijah Godfrey

We recently connected with Elijah Godfrey and have shared our conversation below.

Alright, so we’re so thrilled to have Elijah with us today – welcome and maybe we can jump right into it with a question about one of your qualities that we most admire. How did you develop your work ethic? Where do you think you get it from?

I grew up on a farm and have always been expected to work hard, even from an early age. From the time I started driving, before the age of 10, I was always somewhere on the farm. I might be out checking irrigation wells, on the tractor plowing the fields or just on the 4 wheeler, running down the road to make sure a sprinkler finished in the field. I had the best examples in my dad and papa. I would spend much of my time with one of them, learning something. The greatest thing my dad ever taught me was how to troubleshoot a problem. I would watch him torque a wrench on an engine or piece together some metal contraption as he welded it up, for some weird and unique purpose on the farm. This carried over to my time with papa. My papa built cabins in the Spanish Peaks of Colorado. I would spend summers up there with him, swinging hammers and cutting timbers. Working hard is just in my blood.

Thanks, so before we move on maybe you can share a bit more about yourself?

I built my business on quality and sustainability. I began Second Chance Custom out of a lady’s small backyard shop, where I traded projects for her for shop rent. I quickly outgrew her space and moved into a small shop in North Austin, and I’ve been here ever since, though I’ve moved within the same industrial complex many times, each time gaining a few hundred square feet. I’ve seen tenants come and go in the last 15 years, and a year before the pandemic, I moved into the “big shop” in the back. I combined all 3 of my separate shops; wood, metal and powder coat into one big shop. We made 10,000 square feet our new home, and I finally had the space to add a showroom, something that I dreamed about since the beginning. And while its still not “complete”, its for sure ever evolving into a cosy space where people can come and “Shop Where Its Made”. My business looks very different than it did 15 years ago, not to mention actually having great employees, but its still the same in the sense that we keep quality and sustainability at the top of our priority! We make beautiful things in this shop and we take great pride in every piece. The showroom is at the top of my to-do list this year. I am planning to get it all finished up by end of the year, stocked with many things that have been hiding away in my sketch book, filled mostly with things made in this shop, but we’d also like to have some of our favorite makers things too…things we don’t make in this shop, like ceramics and textiles and other artist’s pieces.

If you had to pick three qualities that are most important to develop, which three would you say matter most?

One thing that I learned early on and still do today, that I tell every one of my skilled crafts people…”rarely doesn’t it come out right the first time, and that’s okay”. This and “don’t be scared to fail”. These two things are what have made me the craftsman that I am today, and I believe what has allowed us as a shop to crank out some pretty amazing pieces. I would say one of the most important qualities we have in this shop is perspective. I think we do a really good job of balancing “hey this is our job and we need to get it done” and “we aren’t curing cancer here…there’s not a coffee table emergency” I have a great team that works hard, and I make sure to convey these messages to all of them, especially leading by example.

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 looking for partners to work with. Whether it’s making or powder coating their own products, or collaborating on a new product design, I am always open to meeting new people with ideas. Anyone that is in need of metal or wood fabrication, or if you have a product that needs powder coated, we are the shop for you. Over the last 15 years, I have partnered with numerous people to design their products, and to bring them to life through fabrication. We like funky and creative, as well as simple, boring and functional! We are makers, we just want to make!

Contact Info:

• Website: www.secondchancecustom.com / www.austinpowdercoating.com
• Instagram: secondchancecustom / austinpowdercoating
• Facebook: Second Chance Custom / Austin Powder Coating