Dumpster Diving

Hey friends! I am loving writing these blog posts. Gives me the opportunity to vent and really paint a picture of who The Pallet People are. I don’t know if anyone is actually reading them but hey you snooze you lose.  

So we have been working extremely hard this week. Putting in those long hours, especially Brian. I get home at 4pm and first I walk our pup then typically start writing on the signs the boys have made for me. I got to bed around 10pm depending how my work is coming out. And believe it or not 10 is late for me. Brian gets home around 5:30/6. Brian puts in long hours, staying up until 12:30- 1am most nights and then getting up at 6:30 am. After work, he typically goes pallet and cardboard hunting. He searches local dumpsters for extra cardboard to ship our work hahaha. And then goes to a few places for pallets. This is on top of going to UPS to ship our orders. In the summer I will be able to at least help with some of these tasks.  So anyways you get the picture, we are busy. 

I really love what we are doing but if you can imagine our entire house looks like a dump site. Cardboard and pallet signs everywhere you look. Brian is definitely not the neatest. Plus, with limited time and space it gets tough. Organization and keeping the house neat is probably one of our biggest challenges. Please send a maid ASAP. 

So what keeps us going? Honestly it’s you guys! It’s all the positive feedback we have been getting. It’s the followers and comments on Instagram .  It’s seeing our piece on the wall of a customer’s home. It’s getting an Etsy sale and then noticing the order is going to Tennessee! We are loving the love. This entire experience is so rewarding and just motivatesand pushes us to work harder every night. So thank you! We appreciate you! Keep following along, we cannot wait to see what’s next! 

Behind the Scenes with thepalletpeople

Family Dinners

Hello friends, Happy Monday!  The weekend sped by quickly per usual. We were busy over here in pallet land. I was battling a cold all weekend and unfortunately that delayed some of the progress but the boys were hard at work. Friday was Cinco De Mayo and we made homemade margaritas and tacos.  I couldn’t really taste anything… but I heard everything was delicious. We got some cool “Cinco “themed photos, so it made it all worth it. Saturday,  I had to work at my other job ( I am a nurse).  During the week I work as a school nurse and occasionally I pick up shifts in the ER. So while I was working, Brian was creating the Mosaic Monday pieces.  

We have learned a lot about the mosaic making process. Mike and Andrew the two other members of TPP prep all the pieces Brian may use during the creation. They sand the wood strips and paint or stain them certain colors. We recently bought 8 thin/ narrow bins, (the kind that slide under beds)  which are the perfect organizers and allow us to sort the different colors and stains. Brian then can pick the pieces he wants to use. The creation process has become extremely efficient.  Brian ended up making three Mosaics. He typically shows them to me when they are finished.  I have three reactions to the products. Either “ eh it’s okay”, “I LOVE IT” or I just scream … “AHHHHHHH” When I scream we both know it’s a good thing.  Let’s just say when he showed me the finished products of this past weekend I screamed 

Sunday Funday was a great day. We had the opportunity to go show some of our work to the owners of The Rustic Barn in Killingworth CT. Brian and I met the owners Lisa and Steve. They were so welcoming and personable. We really enjoyed the experience. We left there excited after they ordered some of our work to put in their store!  How awesome is that! Cannot wait to show you how their orders come out.  The rest of Sunday was filled with household chores, sign making, and eating. For the past few weeks we have been having “Family dinners” on Sunday nights. My parents come and my sister along with TPP members. I think we have all come to enjoy this short time of relaxation. We chat about the business, what the week ahead looks like, and reflect back on the previous week. We laugh and come up with new creative ideas.  It’s hard making time for family while working a full time job and then working all night trying to grow a small business. Family Dinners allow us to spend time with our loved ones while still getting work done. WIN WIN!  Thanks for reading friends, stay tuned for more blogs and even some in VIDEO FORM. Also, hope you all are loving the website, feedback is always welcome! Be positive, be kind, love one another, work hard and just live the life you want! Cheers!

The Funny thing about Flags

Don’t get me wrong I appreciate a good American Flag when I see one, however I am not one to hang a flag in my home. When we participated in the Hartford Flower and garden show we met some pretty awesome makers.  We met a man who has been creating these AMAZING bird houses for 20 years. His birdhouses are all made from repurposed barn wood. They are so rustic and beautiful. We nicknamed him “birdman”. www.birdhousebrokerage.com/ After Birdman saw our booth and material he told us we should make an American flag. At the time, I was totally against the idea. My husband was more open to creating one. However,  we both decided we did not want to become known as the company who makes “the flags.” So we threw the idea out.

Fast forward two months… and we have now created 4 flags and have orders for 3 more. We decided to create the first one after getting a personal request for one. We really love how they are coming out.  Creating the flags provided us with a new challenge and also let us put our own twist on such a traditional piece. The whole experience taught us to be open to all ideas. It taught us to listen to people.   And now I will admit I would hang one of our custom flags in my home !  

The Pallet People are bloggers

Hey everyone out there, or the five of you reading this. Haha!  While designing our website, we were talking, and decided it would be pretty sweet to start a blog on the site. So here it goes. My name is Victoria, and I will be the one providing The Pallet People’s journey in written form.

So, if you read our story you know how TPP (The Pallet People) started, so that’s covered.  In February we decided to get SERIOUS about the business because we signed up to do the Hartford Flower and Garden Show.  Our very first show! How exciting! We had NO IDEA what to expect at all. I’ll reemphasize this… NO IDEA. So we started building signs… and also procrastinated. Two weeks until the show and we needed way more inventory. So thankfully two of our best friends stepped up to help us prep.  My husband (Brian) and his two buddies started creating pallet signs.  I started coming up with designs for them. In the end we had over 200 signs to bring with us to the show. Shout out to my family for helping touch them up and pack them up.  Brian also was working on our very first wood mosaic to bring to the show. 

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He finished the piece and we used it as the backdrop of our display. His Aunt lives out in California and loved the piece, ending up being the first person to buy one of our wood mosaics. So exciting!  We did well at the show, and also learned a lot! We also met some great people during the process.  The whole experience just got us excited. We decided to build our small business and really work on it.

We are excited. We are ready to work, and the journey for us has only just begun. The Pallet People are here to stay. We know building a business is tough but we are so up for the challenge.