Today we’d like to introduce you to Adam Heffner.
Hi Adam, can you start by introducing yourself? We’d love to learn more about how you got to where you are today?
I started my career as an ironworker building large infrastructure projects like high rises, bridges, dams, and subway stations in San Francisco. I learned a lot about metalwork over the years and eventually wanted to work for myself. So, I talked my wife, Stefanie, into selling our house in California and moving to Tennessee where we could afford a house with shop space.
When we first arrived, I worked construction during the day building HCA’s headquarters, Corvette’s new manufacturing facility, and did some retrofits down at General Mills. But every night I was teaching myself how to build a computer-controlled cutting machine called a plasma table and building a website where I could sell my work directly to customers. After 2 years of preparation, it was finally time to quit my day job and go full time for myself.
The first year was hard, I finished the CNC plasma table and started posting live products to the website but nothing really sold at first. I was posting a new product every day and the only people buying were friends and family. So, I fell back on some of the old fabrication skills that I learned in the field. I would drive around town dropping off business cards and talking to people at the gas station until I started to get general fabrication work. I fixed dump trailers for a tree service, made some hydraulic work tables for a precast company, and even landed a job making a steel table base for an office in downtown Manhattan. This whole time, the website was slowly starting to get sales and get traffic. At some point, the online sales started to overtake the fabrication work and my focus shifted. My wife was packaging all of the online orders and I was making them in the garage. We eventually hired my best friend Dillon and I had a crazy idea. What if I did nothing but work on marketing our products online while Dillon made them and Stefanie shipped them?
As soon as I focused on marketing; the business we really took off. Our designs were selling all over the world from Hong Kong to Ireland and the business was spilling into our house. We had shipping in a spare room, a paint booth in our bedroom, and our dining room table became the office. This is when we found a great little shop space in Springfield, TN. Since we moved, we have grown to 20 full-time employees and started to branch out into the construction industry again through architectural and ornamental ironwork. It’s the perfect combination of our design and construction experience. We get to design, fabricate and install work all over Nashville. We got on involved on the 5th & Broadway project and did a little work at Vanderbilt University. Since then, news has traveled fast and the fabrication department is booked for the next 6 months and we are going to break ground on a new manufacturing facility this Spring to keep up with our growth.
Can you talk to us a bit about the challenges and lessons you’ve learned along the way? Looking back would you say it’s been easy or smooth in retrospect?
There’s been so many moments where I thought it wasn’t going to work out and I would have to go back to my job as an ironworker. The first big obstacle was the CNC plasma table that I built using a bunch of random parts that I pieced together using YouTube videos. Over half of our products had to be cut on the piece of equipment and it was very unreliable. I drove down to Texas 3 separate times to have the computer repaired so I could turn around and drive through the night to get back to the shop and ship orders on time.
One Christmas, which is our peak season for personalized signs, our air compressor caught fire and almost burned down the shop. We were able to put out the fire and patch the ceiling back together. But there was no way we could repair the motor and keep up with our order volume so we went down to the hardware store and bought a new compressor on a credit card. We were able to ship out every order in time for Christmas and committed to never ruin anyone’s Christmas with a late order. Regardless of what it takes.
Our current challenge is learning how to keep growing the business. A lot of people have done the same thing as us and built online businesses selling personalized metal signs. So, the market is flooded with great designs and short lead times. We still chase those customers but it’s not growing like it did in the first few years. So, we’ve shifted our focus from wall decor to fabricated products for the home. Now we make mailboxes, handrails, fire pits, and planter boxes. These are harder to make and require really skilled fabricators to complete. Which has brought us a whole new set of obstacles this year. I look forward to figuring it out and training the next generation of metal fabricators.
As you know, we’re big fans of Maker Table Metal Inc. For our readers who might not be as familiar what can you tell them about the brand?
Maker Table Metal is a collaborative workplace where we collect highly skilled makers from all trades. We design, manufacture, finish, ship, and install all of our own work. The goal is to make 100% of our products in-house, no outsourcing or offshoring. We want to make things for real people in our community so we don’t work with distributors or brokers. When you buy something from us it comes from us not a shipping container.
We have two specialties; metal products for the home and high-end architectural metalwork. There are two sides of the business. The online presence that sells everyday home decor and functional furniture or fixtures. Think personalized metal signs that make great gifts and metal garden planters that will last a lifetime. The other side of the business lives in the commercial construction industry where we manufacture and install all of the metalwork that you interact with in a restaurant, bar, or office. We build bars, tables, ornamental handrail, wine racks, transoms, and beautiful gates. If it doesn’t come in a catalogue, we can make it.
The goal is to be known as “The Metal People” if you have a question or a project out of metal we should pop in your head.
We love surprises, fun facts, and unexpected stories. Is there something you can share that might surprise us?
I graduated from a 4-year seminary. I was raised in a very religious household and wanted to form my own opinions. So, I studied several different world religions for years and came to my own conclusion.
Contact Info:
- Email: [email protected]
- Website: www.makertable.com
- Instagram: www.instagram.com/maker.table
- Youtube: www.youtube.com/channel/UCmKtQNVeRTI53LsjgEeKghQ
- Other: www.pinterest.com/makertabl3
