Today we’d like to introduce you to Brandon and Tiffany Turner.
Brandon and Tiffany, we appreciate you taking the time to share your story with us today. Where does your story begin?
A husband and wife, Christian couple. We own Turners Customs LLC and Drifting Souls Paper Co. both started building together when we first started dating at 17 back in 2011. We would build chicken coops and sell them to people on Craigslist. Over the years, we built for ourselves but working full time took us away from our hobby until our little family we made in Gainesville, FL, really got us back into woodworking. Very dear friends of ours were looking around for a lifting coffee table. So we decided to take on the project. With all of their support, we decided to really think about doing it as a job. At that same time, we opened up our stationary company. Drifting Souls Paper co. Which was a way for us to sell our art. We started out by selling stickers for people who like to decorate their planners or bullet journals and also paintings on Etsy. Slowly but surely, this stationary business became profitable enough to be a full-time job for one of us. Everything is hand-drawn, printed, cut, packaged and shipped in-house by us.
COVID really was the scariest time and our saving grace all at once. We were scared about being layed off, which eventually is what happened. We didn’t know what we were going to do. A lot of what has gotten us through life is our faith. And we definitely relied on it through this time. We prayed and prayed. God certainly answered our prayers. Our Etsy shop was booming to the point where it was hard to keep up with. We definitely could not have made it through without the both of us doing orders and even Brandon’s sister Brittni coming over just to help us.
COVID gave us some time to finally do things that we hadn’t had a chance to do in years. Everything we had done to this point was work 24/7. We finally had time to build ourselves some new things we wanted in our house. Which also brought us back to the love for woodworking.
After returning to work and only one of us running the stationary shop, it took about a couple of weeks to realize that we BOTH wanted to run our own business. Horrible management and people not appreciating the time and effort you put in day after day was something that needed to be in the past for us. It’s all we had done for nine years at this point was bend and flex to every need of who we were working for and not being compensated for it. Not just in pay.
Honestly, without a real plan, we took the leap and launched Turners Customs the very same night after quitting, which was our very own custom woodworking company that focuses on using local resources when we can and all solid wood materials. This is very important to us with store-bought pieces not lasting as long as they used to. We had no clue what or how we were going to make this work. We just knew that these two businesses were going to work as hard as we worked.
We put our items from past builds and ideas up on the Facebook marketplace, and the very next day, we had our first order! We continued to book up and build. Absolutely could not even start to believe that people were paying us to build things for them. With no limits on what we would take on, we kept batching things out. Trying new things and improving our craft along the way. Over a year and a half later, we are still fully working for ourselves with two small businesses. Even when it’s hard and slow, we know this is something we want to do.
We launched our TikTok and other social media accounts, website and our ETSY for Turners Customs LLC. To help us showcase our work, take quote requests, and to sell smaller woodworking items that we are able to ship all over. Such as organization for the home, home decor, cutting boards and so much more. Even apparel for woodworkers! We are still primarily making sales off of our local marketing for larger solid wood furniture.
Over the time, we have grown to almost 30,000 followers on social media and hope to continue to grow our business. Not only in sales but also showing people how to build with real wood. Drifting souls paper co has grown so much since we first launched on Etsy in 2019. We went from selling just paper stickers to selling better quality planner stickers, weatherproof stickers, decals, art prints, paintings, coloring books, memo pads and more! Working together has been great over the past few years. Not always easy but a very good learning experience. We hope to continue to grow the businesses that we are both very passionate about.
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?
This journey has definitely in no way been a smooth road, nor did we expect it to be smooth. It’s hard going out on your own. Starting not one but two small businesses at the same time. Some months are so super busy and booked up, and others are very slow where we only have a few projects. Both of which can be a struggle. Our biggest struggle has been the rising lumber costs. People do not really understand how much just in this last year alone it has raised. That a $2 piece of wood is now almost $10. When you have to buy up near 30 pieces of just that one size alone, it adds up. Because of this, we’ve had to raise our prices to keep up with them. We have definitely have lost our fair share of potential clients because of it.
You have to make sure you are top-notch with your finances. We have definitely also messed up a time or two and had to restart a project. With Drifting Souls Paper Co., We not only have to worry about if we mess up, but we also take the heat for the postal services. Things are being delivered late, not to the right house, etc. When we started out Turners Customs, we were building under a carport! That flooded! If you live in Florida, you know the rain is whenever it feels like it. We’ve also been on opposite schedules since we were 18 with our work schedules. We had to learn to be around each other 24/7 pretty much. Working from home is a huge adjustment. So this journey has definitely been a roller coster. You just have to keep pushing through and understand that good things don’t come easy.
As you know, we’re big fans of you and your work. For our readers who might not be as familiar, what can you tell them about what you do?
We have two small businesses, both on a very creative side. One is woodworking and the other is us selling our art on stationary and more. We primarily build larger solid wooden furniture. Which if you know about what’s in stores these days, is completely opposite. Most big box stores sell furniture that is mass-produced and made of MDF or composite, which isn’t as good or doesn’t last as long as solid wood.
Every single thing we do is by hand. We work and work until it’s perfect or close to it. We build mostly tables, beds and furniture like that. However, we do not limit ourselves. We are most proud of the relationships that we have built with some of our loyal and returning customers. To us, we wouldn’t be doing what we are doing without them.
Our stationary company has a little of everything. Whatever we feel like creating at the time, we do it. We offer so many different varieties of stickers and more. To be honest, it’s so exciting to see people purchase things that you spent hours drawing, building, creating, knowing that someone else takes worth in what you have made.
We love surprises, fun facts and unexpected stories. Is there something you can share that might surprise us?
We are pretty open with the process of how we do things. We strive to be as upfront with our customers as we can. Some people may not know just how much time and effort we really do put into our businesses. Some might not understand why we do it. For instance, one little sticker could take hours and sometimes days to perfect. A tabletop may take up to a week to get everything just right. Sometimes more. For us it’s all about putting in the work for quality because we care about what people are spending their hard-earned money on.
Contact Info:
- Email: turnerscustoms@gmail.com
- Website: turnerscustoms.wixsite.com/turnerscustoms and etsy.com/shop/driftingsoulspaperco
- Instagram: turnerscustomsllc
- Facebook: Facebook.com/turnerscustomsllc
- Twitter: tiktok.com/turnerscustomsllc
- Other: as well @driftingsoulspaperco across all platforms
