Today we’d like to introduce you to Jacob Aune.
Jacob, please share your story with us. How did you get to where you are today?
I always had an affinity towards running a business and was making plans to start a woodworking venture right out of high school. The goals were pretty modest at the time: find some small, wood products that I could make and sell at craft shows for $15-$20/hr. in profit. That never happened since an opportunity to take an apprenticeship at a custom furniture studio fell into my lap. All plans to start a business were shelved and I worked happily for 10 years as a furniture-maker. This detour to self-employment was fortunate as I learned a lot about business and woodworking from being around others in the industry.
It was the 2007 recession that re-sparked the entrepreneur in me. My employer survived it by down-sizing but two prominent cabinet shops nearby went bankrupt within a few years and had their assets auctioned off. All that financial destruction might have scared most would-be business owners but to me, it seemed like a golden opportunity. A lot of good businesses over-extended themselves to expand during the housing boom and they failed only because the money to sustain that growth suddenly vanished. Once the market recovered, who would provide those services to returning customers? A lean, frugal, startup could operate on very little capital and survive where a mature business could not.
During my employee days, I spent a lot of time talking to different business owners both inside and outside the wood industry. Between this and my own experiences building furniture, I had developed a lot of ideas on introducing more technology into the woodshop and leveraging the internet to find new clients. With these ideas in mind, Altare Design launched in 2012 as a two-man partnership.
Has it been a smooth road?
There were definitely some hurdles to overcome. First, there was the recession. High-dollar contracts weren’t easy to find so getting funds to acquire CNC equipment (central part of the business plan) was difficult. So we chose to sign up for a CNC-building class and make our own. Then the rent situation became unstable. Rather than find another low-cost rent option, we leapfrogged into our “permanent” home and purchased a commercial building. That decision made cash-flow very tight for a couple years but in the long run it paid off with increased productivity.
Lastly, a product line that we’d been developing for a client over a two-year period failed to gain market traction and we took a big loss on it. My co-founder chose to depart after that. I kept the business going since our other products and services were a modest success and I could see vast potential. It’s been slow but steady growth since then with 2017 showing all signs of being the most profitable year to date.
So, as you know, we’re impressed with Altare Design – tell our readers more, for example what you’re most proud of as a company and what sets you apart from others.
We are designers and builders of custom woodwork. The opening line on our homepage sums up our approach to this market.
“Rather than create cookie-cutter products, we have built up a diverse set of skills and capabilities. These are combined to provide tailored solutions for each customer.”
This service-based approach is what makes us different from most woodshops. We don’t put a lot of focus on marketing our product lines but choose to market our capabilities instead. We seek clients who need specialized skills or over-the-top service and try to earn their loyalty for life. In practice, this approach ends up with the bulk of our clients being churches, woodworkers, designers and start-ups that need prototyping and manufacturing for wood products.
Churches stand out as a significant portion of our client base. The decorative carving, marquetry and finishing techniques we use are in high demand there. Oftentimes we’ll just get the difficult, labor-intensive portions of a church renovation project that other woodworking companies won’t touch. Two recent examples include a 12-foot tall, oak cross and a wood medallion designed to look like it was built from marble. They shipped to different churches in California and were a small part of much bigger projects being overseen by larger firms.
Let’s touch on your thoughts about our city – what do you like the most and least?
Chicago is one of the best places in the USA for locating goods and services and I love having all this within easy driving distance. Name anything and it’s almost a certainty that it can be found in the city. On that note, the traffic jams can be very frustrating and is one of the things I really dislike. I’ll do my driving during the non-peak hours and make sure I’m outside the city before the congestion starts forming.
Contact Info:
- Address: 206 S. Bridge St.
Aroma Park, IL 60910 - Website: http://altaredesign.com
- Phone: (877) 517-4568
- Email: info@altaredesign.com
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/altaredesign/
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/Altare-Design-LLC-315912918520760/?_fb_noscript=1
- Yelp: https://www.yelp.com/biz/altare-design-llc-aroma-park
Image Credit:
Altare Design
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