“Celebrating craft, celebrating what you're good at, is what I wanna spend my life's work on.”

– Adam McKee

I had the opportunity to speak with Adam McKee, the owner of Contemporary Woods, a family-owned small business that serves its local community by delivering fine craftsmanship with integrity and creativity.

We discuss: 

• The concept of celebrating craft and its impact on personal and professional life
• Strategic and tactical learning in business development
• The importance of culture and core values in a business setting

The concept of celebrating craft and its impact on personal and professional life

Craft is more than woodworking or sculpting. From painting to singing, whatever you pour your energy and time into in the pursuit of improvement, from a place of dedication and passion, is a craft.

“Celebrating craft is—when I boil it down—I get to stand back and look at the physical, tangible results of what's been built. It doesn't matter if you're building something for a client or if you're building your child's play fort in your backyard,” Adam says. “You get to stand back and see those physical, hand-worked results of your craftsmanship and of putting the pieces together. It gives me goosebumps.”

Think of a time you worked really hard on a project. How did it feel when you got to that last step and could look at the outcome of your dedication? 

Adam says that’s his version of euphoria. Just as it’s important to take the time to invest in the things we care about, it’s critical to stand back and celebrate those same things, to let ourselves be proud of our accomplishments. 

Each craftsperson understands the satisfaction of a job well done, knowing it was you who brought that project into existence and saw it through. 

Taking pride in our work helps us recognize our progress as well as how much there still is to learn.

Strategic and tactical learning in business development

It wasn’t all sunshine and roses when Adam first bought his company, Contemporary Woods—he had to level up in a serious way to succeed in his new pursuit.

“It started almost 12 years ago. I told my pregnant wife I was gonna quit my job with benefits and insurance. I was gonna get a loan for 6 figures and buy this existing business, and it'd be great,” Adam says. “6 months later, we had to borrow more money. We had to do this, had to do that, ups and downs, all the learning.”

About 5 years ago, Adam hit a brick wall, burnt out from all the mundane realities of getting a business off the ground, the hills and valleys. 

“I got a lot more serious about learning, reading, joining coaching groups, masterminds—all these great opportunities out there to learn. And that's when those ups and downs have started to level out a little bit more,” he says. “Instead of having this roller coaster, we're trying to make it more of an uphill straight incline, that's more steady and consistent and can get us where we need to go.”

Investing isn’t only a monetary choice. It also applies to how we invest in ourselves to give ourselves the best chance at succeeding, seeking the proper tools to equip us with what we need to move forward.

The importance of culture and core values in a business setting

Investing in ourselves eventually tickles over into those around us. For Adam, that meant imparting a standard of high-quality customer service and craftsmanship and sticking to it.

“That's been some of the biggest groundwork we've laid in the last 3-4 years—when we get a new client, what do we say to them? How do we onboard them?” he says. “When we get a new employee, how do we onboard them? We've made a lot of onboarding checklists and other documents that were not perfect every single time.” 

Business is, in its own right, a craft. The business of people is another one. Prioritizing both is an essential element to successful operations. 

Adam’s grandfather was a homebuilder and his father was an electrician—they were great technicians, but not such great managers or entrepreneurs. Adam seeks to pave the way with a more structured and sustainable approach, considering all sides of the business, not only the front end.

“There's the back office, admin, accounting—all the other things that make a business well run. It's not just about celebrating craft once the job's done,” he says. “It's ‘Did you leave it better than you found it? Did you fail forward in your training and learning? Did you teach the next generation that there's more to it than just swinging the hammer?’” 

Forging a path for the next generation is a beautiful part of having an impact in an industry—without the next folks to step into our shoes, we lose progress.

“When we show that we can have systems and can celebrate the simplicity of moving a project forward one step at a time, we make it easier for others to come into our industry, into our craft.” 

Legacy is part of what makes pursuing a craft—in any form—as magical and fulfilling as it is, and all it takes is a little extra grit.

What is your craft? How have you leveraged it in your life and career?

Be sure to check out Adam’s full episode for further insights into craft and learn more at ContemporaryWoods.com!