Hi Friends!
How are you? I hope you are all doing well! I wanted to share some recap moments from FunCycled in 2021. It was quite a year!
First, let’s talk about how we just hit 10 years in business this month! How did 10 years already go by? I was just doing a virtual design consult this morning for one of my original clients, Nancy, from over 9 years ago. We were reminiscing about the good old FunCycled days of just furniture. When it was just John and me and old furniture. We laughed about when I tripped going out of her house with a huge piece of furniture and hurt my ankle. She had no clue I did because I would never want anyone to know. I felt invincible and insecure all at the same time in those earlier years. Partially from naivety and partially from the energy that youth and new adventure brings. We had no health insurance, no savings, and a 2 and 3 year old. I would work while they napped and late into the night redoing furniture and selling it.
So much has changed since then. We now have an amazing FunCycled crew of 5. We still redo furniture, that’s true, but we expanded into so much more. Kitchen cabinet painting is our most common request. Which makes sense. It’s like painting a really complicated furniture piece that gets a lot of wear and tare. You want to be sure it’s going to be done right. The work speaks for itself when people see the kitchen makeovers we do. We also build custom barn doors, tables, and create one of a kind pieces of furniture. Another huge part of my day to day is the interior design consult and virtual consults now. They keep me on my toes and I love every second of it. Curating new designs using repurposed items.
In 2021, we created changes first at home and then at work that really helped our family and our sanity. I hired a business coach at the begging of 2021 who helped me immensely. He talked me through our pricing, financial changes that needed to take place (we became an LLC, etc), marketing ideas, and overall structure of the business. When I first hired him, I assumed he’d tell me I couldn’t do anything fun, needed to save all my money, and would tell me I went to Starbucks too much. lol He has NEVER said anything like that. Instead, he started by asking me what I love to do the most and what I wanted life to look for our family. Then he encouraged me to make changes that would help make those goals happen.
Can I tell you amazing?? I saw them happening by the end of 2021.
Goal 1 – Travel More
I wrote a blog post this year about why I think it’s so important for anyone who owns their own business to travel often. Home = Work (especially when you own a fixer upper like we do) So unplugging and recharging – what I love to call “the practice of rest” was a priority for us this year. Each person rests in a different way. You have to take time to learn your way and create the discipline of practicing rest. It’s harder work than you’d think at first, but once you do it in rhythms that are consistent, I think you’ll see why you’ll never go back to “normal” life again.
Some of the highlight trips for me were:
Quality time and trips with the people I love fills my heart to the brim! We hope to travel (even if it’s just a day trip) at least once a month in 2022. We found this to be one of the best things for our family and our own mental health.
Goal 2 – Own and run our own commercial building and airbnb.
We went into 2021 with a brand new building that we purchased, renovated, and moved our store to. We also opened up an airbnb in the top levels of the store. We weren’t sure how we’d like it and some days I definitely didn’t like being a landlord and property manager if I’m being honest. Owning an airbnb is another part time job. Since I was already running FunCycled, homeschooling, and helping at church, adding this to my list was a big change in 2021. I’m not 100% sure we will keep the building long term. I’m still torn about it. I’m not sure FunCycled needs a brick and mortar. I’m also not sure I love having another part time job. I’m trying to give it some more time to decide. If any of you have experience in this area and would like to share input, I’d love to hear it.
Goal 3 – Make progress on our Repurposed Idea House
It felt like nothing much was accomplished this year at the house because we traveled some and to be honest, we were tired. Two years of non stop renovations on an old house is a lot. We slowed it down a bit this year and hired out some of the work that we don’t enjoy doing.
Landscaped the front yard this spring.
It made our house look like it turn into a mansion overnight though. I love it so much!
I guess now that I typed all of that up, we did do more than I felt like we did! lol
Goal 4 – Find a Better Life Balance
One thing I knew had to change in 2021 was finding a better balance to life. I was sitting at diner with new friends who asked me all that I do with work and home. As I went down the list, I felt myself twitching inside thinking… there’s no way anyone could do all of this well. I may be making it all happen, but not done the way I wanted it to be. I wanted things to be less rushed, I wanted to have time to be creative again, I wanted time with my kids that wasn’t just when I was telling them what to do (school, chores, house projects). So after a lot of prayer, after talking through it with friends from all different life circumstances who we respect, we made the decision this fall to send our kids to public school. It was a hard choice for me, I felt like a failure. Like it was the first thing that no matter how hard I tried, I couldn’t make work. I could go into 1,000 more reasons why, but that’s for another post. This change has made the biggest impact on our family. The kids are thriving, I have so much more peace because I can actually have the time I need to get my work done and then enjoy my family at night. Such a gift!
John enjoyed camping in our new camper as a highlight of 2021. The kids enjoyed trips, time with their cousins, and go karting around our yard. I enjoyed travel and friends and leading a women’s event for over 350 ladies this fall. It was a beautiful year and we hope you all had beautiful moments you can think back on in 2021.
Here’s to 10 more years together FunCyclers!! You’re the best!
-Sarah
