I consider myself the luckiest man on the face of the earth. How many people can honestly say that they spend their days truly living their dream? Designing and building custom furniture has been a dream of mine since the first time I built a chessboard back in high school. Like most people who find a passion for something they love, life seems to get in the way and we find ourselves trapped in a job we call a career rather than following that elusive dream.
It was a Friday afternoon and I was sitting at my desk in my engineering office when a good friend of mine and coworker Travis walked into my office and changed my life. Travis was an avid poker player. He was spending more and more time playing poker and he wanted me to build him a poker table for his new home so he could host games. He even had examples of poker tables he was thinking about. I listened to his ideas and concerns and told him I would do some research. I looked at countless tables on the internet and found that there were literally thousands of tables available. Most tables that were available were poorly designed or cheaply built. So I decided to build a table for Travis and surprise him on Monday. I worked all weekend to get the table designed and built so that I could bring it to work with me. It took a few attempts before I was satisfied with the results but with determination I managed to finish the table in time to unveil it at our office on Monday morning. Everyone who saw the table seemed impressed. Travis was shocked and even accused me of going out and buying one to trick him. He made a statement that I can still hear to this very day. Travis said “If you can build a table this nice in a weekend, then you need to build these for a living.” That was the Ah-ha moment that changed my life.
It started small and I worked nights and weekends to build my business all the while still working at my current job. I started a website to show my work to customers that had seen me at home shows. Once the calls started coming in from all parts of the world asking about my tables from my website, I realized it was time and I left my engineering job and began living my Dream!
One of the greatest benefits I discovered about not having to rush out of the house every morning to commute to my job was that I had time to spend with my kids. My daughter has become my little helper in the shop. She has been by my side since she started walking and she kind of takes the casual Friday approach to the extremes every day of the week. Her youthful energy is infectious and she really loves traveling all across the US delivering tables with me. She loves to tell people about what we build in the shop. Getting to spend more quality time with my kids is an added benefit to this dream I am living.
I enjoy talking to the new clients and look forward to hearing from you. I treat each customer like they are my first and the excitement of seeing your designs come to life is as exciting today as it was on the very first custom poker tables I built almost a decade ago. Give me a call or send me an email and together we can make your ideas and dreams come to life.
Sincerely,
Dave Rodda
Regal Custom Woodworking
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