Today we’d like to introduce you to Tom Blette.
Hi Tom, so excited to have you on the platform. So before we get into questions about your work life, maybe you can bring our readers up to speed on your story and how you got to where you are today.
I have always been a creative person. As a child, I was always drawing, painting, or making something artistic. I had all the regular amazing toys of the ’80s and 90’s kids, Legos, GI joes, action figures, and Nintendo. But my favorite thing to play with was the milk crates under the table saw filled with all the scrap woodcuts.
The End cuts, the triangles that transformed into rooftops, the hole saw cuts that became wagon wheels, the dowel rod chunks that became columns inside a great hall. I would build castles, my GI Joes would be transformed into Knights, and my dinosaur into a dragon. I would build a small town on a western frontier and my Lego people would fill the streets and buildings hunkered down prepared for the outlaw raiders about to attack their small town.
These homemade blocks that were born of countless wood projects by my father or grandfather were my building blocks. Playing with those blocks taught me about Geometry, engineering, and construction. To Build something from nothing, to build from scratch the unwanted remains of another project and turn them into hours of play time helped my young brain thrive and develop.
My family’s woodshops were my childhood hardware stores. I just never paid for any of the supplies. I would “borrow” or not put the tools back away where I got them from. This was a real pet peeve of my grandfather as everything had a place and almost every nail was accounted for. I would come up with a project for myself and go seek out the supplies. I would grab a pocket full of nails, a handful of screws, an old wood saw like the ones you see people playing music with, a hammer, and a screwdriver and off to the woods I would go.
I would build forts in the trees, make homemade Bow and Arrows with my grandpa, and became a master marksman with my homemade slingshot. As I grew older, I would be included in more difficult or dangerous projects helping my dad or grandpa. Tool Go-fer was my first job. Nothing like the panic of grabbing a Philips screwdriver when my dad needed a flat head, I learned quickly that if you don’t know what they are asking for you need to ask for clarification. I would get to use power tools; I was even trusted using a chainsaw!
All dangerous things are done carefully and with proper instruction, I was expected to listen, because the consequences of not paying attention could bring serious injury. I was taught the proper way to use tools for their designated purpose. I no longer would walk aimlessly through my family’s “hardware stores” and grab random supplies.
I was beginning to have a foundation and understanding of what things did and the different functions they were used for. I am reminded of these fond memories every day. But instead of milk crates, I have Home depot buckets full of all the scrap woodcuts that my children play with. As I smile at them using their imaginations, I hope those random shapes will be the building blocks for their futures as well.
Would you say it’s been a smooth road, and if not what are some of the biggest challenges you’ve faced along the way?
I started making birdhouses and feeders as closing gifts for my wife’s real estate clients. These early models were very basic and built using the materials I had on hand. Kind of like when I was a child, I didn’t know exactly what I should be using and was grabbing random screws and nails. The end products came out nice but the process was not refined or professional.
My original Bird feeder design was built around the idea to use some old license plates for roofs. I wanted to customize them so I would use a manual wood burner and paint to decorate the feeders and birdhouses. These designs did not meet my high personal standards. I was out of practice with my sketching and painting and was not happy with the way the designs were coming out.
On Father’s Day 2020, my wife gifted me my first Laser Engraver! What a game-changer for me. I was able to create my designs in a digital format and watch them come to life with my CNC laser as it engraved them onto cedar. The smell of cedar smoke and sawdust has become my cologne of choice. I just hope that when someone receives one of my builds in the mail when they open it, they are hit with some cedar aromatherapy. I have since upgraded to a newer laser and run both simultaneously for hours of burn time each day. My process has become more streamlined and efficient.
Alright, so let’s switch gears a bit and talk business. What should we know about your work?
The Avery Veronica Memorial Birdhouse.
I opened my business in July 2020 to the world through Etsy. To date, I have made 638 sales, and I have shipped to 46 different states, Canada and Ireland. The only states I have yet to ship to are Hawaii, Wyoming, South Dakota and Idaho. If you know anyone in any of these states that is a bird lover, the first order to each of the remaining states gets their feeder or birdhouse for free. I want to be in all 50 states. While I am very proud of these accomplishments there is one listing that I am the proudest of.
The Avery Veronica Memorial Birdhouse was created in July 2021. I was approached via email by a gentleman about wanting to order a custom memorial birdhouse to memorialize his young niece who passed away. He wanted to order multiple Birdhouses to send to his family to honor his niece. We worked closely together and after many revisions, we created the design that is now the Avery Memorial birdhouse “It is no coincidence that birds and angels both have wings”.
I became emotional while working on this project as I have small children of my own and his family’s story touched me. Usually, for bulk orders, I am willing to give a discount for the repeat business, but I felt this wasn’t enough. I asked the family if they would rather have the bulk order discount donated to any specific cause in Avery’s honor and memory. The family was touched that this was an option and told me they would like the donation to go to the Ronald McDonald House in Orlando.
Visit the site if you wish to make additional donations.
I completed the orders, made the donations, and sent the family copies of the donation confirmation. At this point and time, Memorial birdhouses had become a large part of my business. When I started building bird feeders and birdhouses, I thought they would be sold as housewarming gifts to bird watchers. I did not anticipate the number of people I would come into contact with that was looking for a special way to memorialize family friends and loved ones that they have lost.
I have a very personal relationship with each buyer, from the time I receive an order, we have back and for correspondence, designs are created, design drafts are approved and I build and ship the order, this is all done in about 1-2 weeks processing time. I had posted on social media a few images of the Avery Memorial Birdhouses I built but didn’t think much about it. Until I started receiving requests for that design to be used on other orders.
I pride myself in selling truly custom one-of-a-kind products and even tell that to my clients. I felt as if I needed to ask Avery’s family if they would be ok with me using that design for other people. The only thing I would change would be the wording as to whom it was in memory of. Avery’s family agreed! Once that happened, I realized that I needed to continue to make a 20% donation of each Avery Memorial Birdhouse sold to the Ronald McDonald House in Orlando and that’s what I’ve done.
To date out of the 638 orders I have completed, 179 have been Avery Memorial birdhouses. Shipped all over the country. TBTimelessBirdHouse has donated a total of $2,097 Ronald McDonald House in Orlando. This amount has given families that are staying at the Ronald McDonald House in Orlando 20 nights of their care treatment room and board covered. I plan on continuing to donate for each of these listings for as long as people keep ordering them. I have never been one to make charitable donations in the past, but will always make them moving forward.
What does success mean to you?
I define success by the number of people I have interacted with.
The fact that I have impacted so many clients that were strangers with countless stories of loss and Joy. I now get repeat business from many of them. It feels more like we are old friends and family. We pick right back up where we left off the last time we spoke and are no longer strangers. Feed the Birds and they will Sing for you.
Contact Info:
- Website: https://www.tbtimelessbirdhouse.com/
- Instagram: @timeless_birdhouse
- Facebook: @Timelessbirdhouse
- Other: https://www.etsy.com/ca/shop/TBTimelessBirdhouse
Image Credits
TBTimelessBirdhouse
