Meet Beth West

We caught up with the brilliant and insightful Beth West a few weeks ago and have shared our conversation below.

Hi Beth, thanks for sharing your insights with our community today. Part of your success, no doubt, is due to your work ethic and so we’d love if you could open up about where you got your work ethic from?

All of my lessons in hard work came from my parents. Both of them worked hard at everything they did whether it was their jobs, volunteer work, or daily home life. The question they often asked me was “Did you do the best that you could?” I’ve used that as my guide throughout my life. Whether it was my previous career as a teacher, my job as a mother or my own business, I have always strived to work as hard as my parents. Now with running my own business, I often joke, ” if you want to work as hard as you ever have in your life, start your own business!” A strong work ethic is essential for owning your own business. The buck always stops with you!

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?

As I mentioned, my first career was teaching. That evolved over the years from teaching at risk students in public schools to teaching art history in a museum. When Covid hit, I taught online for a museum, and knew immediately that I couldn’t do that for another year as they had wanted. It was at that point that I decided to pivot. Painting and refinishing furniture was something I had done for years as a a hobby for my own house and for friends. So I decided to pursue that passion. I worked for a local vintage/design shop for a bit doing all of their custom painting. In 2022, I decided to go out on my own and started The Dove’s Tail.

I source and refinish vintage furniture now full time. The best part has been combining my love of art and DIY with a profitable business. I love being able to use my creativity as a full time job. My style and brand focus on the use of color in the home. Your home should reflect all the things you love. I find that people are often afraid to use bold color in their homes. So my furniture and social media reflect ways that people can start to dabble in color.

I have been selling locally, and I am now getting ready to launch an online shop that will ship my furniture nationwide.

Looking back, what do you think were the three qualities, skills, or areas of knowledge that were most impactful in your journey? What advice do you have for folks who are early in their journey in terms of how they can best develop or improve on these?

1. Risk taking. I took a big risk in investing money in a workshop space, tools and equipment. You have to be willing to overcome the worry of failure. I have certainly made plenty of mistakes, but that’s how I have learned. If you never take a risk, you won’t move forward. You have to be willing to step outside of your comfort zone. This was a major hurdle for me in the world of social media. Putting myself on camera everyday and learning how to make reels, etc was way outside of my comfort zone.

2. Trust in myself. I’m a huge believer in trusting my gut for decisions. I also trust my skills and that I have an artistic talent. I certainly have many days of doubt! However, I always come back to trusting myself to move forward.

3. Flexibility. I’ve had to be flexible in all aspects of the business. Life is all about how you handle plan B (or Z !) Whether it’s changing my vision for a piece of furniture or changing how I market my product, I’ve had to be flexible and willing to pivot.

If you knew you only had a decade of life left, how would you spend that decade?

Sales have been slower locally over the past few months. I’ve had to examine all areas of my business. So I have decided to pivot to open an online shop and ship furniture nationwide.

Contact Info:

• Website: https://thedovestail.com
• Instagram: @thedovestail
• Facebook: The Dove’s Tail – Furniture Restoration