We recently connected with Brock Chapman and have shared our conversation below.
Brock, so great to have you with us today. There are so many topics we want to ask you about, but perhaps the one we can start with is burnout. How have you overcome or avoided burnout?
Trying to stay within your favorite wheelhouse of what you do is helpful. Meaning what you are the best at and comes the easiest to you. Not saying to not take on challenges or a hard project etc. but to always have some of your bread and butter talents involved in the process at least. I also try to stay balanced. Always keeping a day for activities/family, playing basketball, and a day of rest. No amount of money will make me change that. It’s not worth it when it disrupts my home or tries to steal my peace.
I have had a couples seasons that were difficult for me to be creative or have the drive to work and create. One I will never forget was a couple years ago. I suddenly hit a wall. I could not think of my normal ideas on a job site or any desire to get up or go do estimates for future project etc. I ended up going back to the basics. Legos. It really all started for me as a kid with Legos. Building until the wee hours of the morning, huddled next to a heater in the winter time. So I built a helicopter from scratch. Just whatever was in my mind. I started very slow, but I finished it. Not a masterpiece by any means. However I did it and created it. Still to this day it sits on the self of my desk as a reminder and motivation.
Let’s take a small detour – maybe you can share a bit about yourself before we dive back into some of the other questions we had for you?
I craft and build anything from mud benches to staircases, from dining tables to decks, from built-in dog kennels to concrete counters. I knew starting my business and branching away from just trimming new builds I wanted to have my business name have “Custom” in it. I have spent the last few years adding to my creative portfolio. I have learned a lot and gained valuable skills and confidence in areas I haven’t felt very comfortable before. I have been blessed to have had extremely experienced people around me especially at the inception of my business and launch. They have shown me many tricks and ingenuity to add to my arsenal.
I would say for new launches upcoming for CCC are our consultation services. This will be an in-person walkthrough for coming up with new ideas to make your home unique or design help for your home. If you love the design, you are free to use CCC for building it, or use someone else.
I love the feeling of making someone’s home more enjoyable to be in and help them become a little more of a home body cause they just don’t want to leave.
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?
Be humble, be teachable, always ask questions.
Don’t be afraid to FAIL. We all need help wether we think so or not. And contrary to most songs…. NO ONE is a “Self Made” anything! We all have had someone help us in our journey. Don’t be afraid of asking how someone does something. If they aren’t willing to teach you then move on, or if they aren’t a good teacher find someone else.
You know your strengths, so keep the majority or your work/projects in those areas. But as you grow always take on new challenges. Don’t be discouraged by people’s negativity. I have done some crazy beautiful projects before, and everyone who sees photos are amazed, but the homeowner was still negative and nothing was good enough. Don’t let that deter you, there will always be people like that.
Any advice for folks feeling overwhelmed?
This I have struggled with off and on. Seasons of not enough work versus a windfall of work at once doesn’t help either. I have had a couple nuggets of advice that are always in the back of my head over the last few years. The first, from a fellow trim carpenter years ago. He said “As long as everyday something (one thing) gets done, it’s okay. You are closer to finishing the project.”
It helps put it into perspective especially on huge projects or difficult ones. The next piece of advice was from my wife. I called her years ago and was having a hard time getting things done or organized. She said “Well, what is the part of this project you don’t want to do/hardest today? Then do that first.”
This helps to get through the mind field of our thoughts and mental blocks that a lot of time leads to feeling overwhelmed or suddenly unmotivated. Especially when it has to deal with the creative side of things. It’s hard to still feel creative when you don’t enjoy what you are doing.
Praying and taking deep breaths is always the first option with the most immediate relief.
Contact Info:
- Instagram: @chapman_custom_craftsman
- Facebook: @ChapmanCustomCraftsman
