Joe Of All Trades with Joe Clark of Architectural Elements

 

“As a business owner, if you create the conditions for improvement and encourage your team to improve the business. They’ll do it.”

• Joe Clark

 

Hello, and welcome to Building a Furniture Brand with Ethan Abramson, the show that talks about the business behind the furniture business. In this episode, Ethan sits down with Joe Clark, owner of the Bellingham Washington company, Architectural Elements. As you will hear, before Joe started his company, he tested many different waters to find out what was right for him. 

 

His path was winding, full of good and bad experiences, which shaped what his company would become. Today, his company employs over 50 people and produces projects for some of the most well-known names globally, a far cry from where he started. But that is the beauty of the journey. It’s not where you start but where you take yourself. 

 

Follow along as they talk about building your media portfolio to capture more business, growing your company on your own terms, managing employees, and much more. 

 

 

 

 

Needed Something Bigger

 

“I suppose the journey started with my parents. I grew up in a house, and my dad was always a tradesman. He started as a locksmith and did a few other things but spent most of his career as an electrician. My dad was the kind of guy who was definitely a do-it-yourself-er; he would do most anything on his own. He always had a garage and tools, never afraid to take something on, so I grew up in that environment and didn’t really think much of it. 

 

When you’re a kid, you don’t realize that being around somebody who can do things is actually somewhat unusual. It was interesting, though, because I didn’t really take to electrician work, trades work, or anything like that. I didn’t think it was a goal of mine, and I didn’t really know what I wanted to do. So I got out of high school and worked at a window factory, which was pretty interesting. I learned all aspects of window manufacturing, from cutting glass to shipping, all the way through.”

 

• Joe Clark

 

Working at the window factory, Joe thought he would work his way up to become a supervisor. He went through the training and learned all the aspects of working in that capacity, but then he realized he didn’t want to do that for a living. After he went through the training program, Joe recalls that his general manager told him that line of work wasn’t really for him. That manager recognized early on that Joe needed to do something a little bit bigger.

 

 

 

 

Learning from Somebody Who Really Knows

 

“From there, I just went to deliver pizza as many people do at that age and worked a couple of menial jobs, but eventually started at an electrical sign shop owned by a friend of my good friend. They hired me as an apprentice, and it was a super small shop, so it was cool that I got to work very closely with a guy who taught me all about metal fabrication. It’s a super diverse trade; there’s electrical, lots of wiring, high voltage with neon signage, fluorescent lamps, and things of that nature. 

 

It was a really interesting experience. I was working with him for quite some time, and then he got a job at a higher-end sign shop in Seattle, and they were doing cool stuff for Disneyland and Universal Studios and stuff. As soon as he could, he got me hired there, so I went and worked there for a while and did some really cool work. It was cool to refine my skills. You’ve probably run into this before where you think you know how to do something until you learn from somebody who really knows how to do it.”

 

• Joe Clark

 

Joe got an education in so many disciplines throughout his time working in such a specialized field. Over time, Joe and his then-girlfriend turned wife moved up to Bellingham so she could get her teaching certificate. At first, Joe commuted for the first year and a half while she was going to school, and after her graduation, the couple decided to make their life in Bellingham. 

 

At that time, Joe worked at a couple of shops doing sign work and later at a structural steel shop that did high detail work for Boeing. After developing his metalworking skills further, Joe moved into high-end carpentry for home builders in his local market, which allowed him to become incredibly proficient at that side of building things as well.

 

 

 

 

Just Stick With It

 

“In terms of advice, it has everything to do with just sticking with it. You can take a moderately good idea or even a bad idea and just work at it and be successful. It’s just about how much effort and time you’re willing to put in. I don’t want to say not to be afraid of failing, but don’t be afraid to start again if you fail. 

 

An interesting thing about my business is that I had it for a year before its current iteration, and it was sort of a dismal failure. I did some cool work and had some cool projects, but it was probably one of the most stressful times in my life. A lot of it was bad timing, things you don’t know until you know, like not having health insurance, having a single income, having a new child, or all three of those combined. 

 

My bigger point is you may fail, and that’s okay. I’m not one of those people that preaches that you have to fail. But the point is just to try again. I tried Architectural Elements again, and the second time, I came back into it after working for years for other people. I knew what to do by then, and I’d made many mistakes. I didn’t make them all, but I learned enough going back to work with other people and trying to learn more appropriate to what I wanted to do that I made another run at it. I guess my message is just stick to it, and if you fail, just keep trying. You’ll get there eventually.”

 

• Joe Clark

 

Website: https://arch-elements.com

 

Instagram: @architectural_elements