Meet Steve Swinney

 

We’re excited to introduce you to the always interesting and insightful Steve Swinney. We hope you’ll enjoy our conversation with Steve below.

Steve, looking forward to learning from your journey. You’ve got an amazing story and before we dive into that, let’s start with an important building block. Where do you get your work ethic from?

During high school, my mother worked three jobs. I’ve always felt that her example has influenced my work ethic.
My father had mantras such as “if it’s worth doing, do it right”.

Great, so let’s take a few minutes and cover your story. What should folks know about you and what you do?

I have been a full-time furniture designer and maker for two years. I’ve also invested in a large industrial laser to help me with woodworking and the creation of stand alone products. For me , the most exiting part of my job is working with a client to develop their project’s vision and bring it to fruition. Whether it’s a dining room table, custom cabinetry or engraving a family project, each item brings joy to me and my clients.

Prior to my woodworking career, I had a 22 year IT career. I really enjoy being able to create a usable tangible item that clients can use themselves or gift to friends or family. The ability to take a raw piece of wood and turn it into a usable or artistic item is profound. Working with my hands has given me a new found respect for professions that work with their hands. It’s challenging and rewarding to be able to do this type of work for a profession.

I find a lot of inspiration from client requests. I often get asked to make something that I havn’t made before. I embrace the process and enjoy learning new skills that I develop to make the final product.

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?

From my perspective, people skills play an important role in the journey of entrepreneurship. These skills are important because they help in defining the client’s needs, desires, and goals of their project. An ability to pivot when things don’t go right the first time is important. Keeping a positive attitude is a must when creating one of a kind items for clients.

Advice that I would give to new artists, is to find your community. Get out of your comfort zone and plug into the local community, local business networking groups and local chamber of commerce groups.

How can folks who want to work with you connect?

I am always looking for collaboration partners to combine my woodworking skills and laser art creations with a larger audience. I can be reached at [email protected]

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