Peering into my rearview mirror at 2013 I’m reminded at what almost wasn’t.

January 2013 was a time of rest as the last quarter of 2012 was very eventful; it saw me quit my government job to take on VersaTile full time, right in the middle of “busy season” no less. A restful January turned into a restful February and that bled into a restful March. Before I knew it we were a quarter of the way through 2013, VersaTile just went through “dead season” and I had burned through all my reserve funds.

April 2013 was a little better, but VersaTile was still not bringing in enough to justify being my full time gig. Add the fact that my wife and I were expecting our 2nd son a few months down the line in August and the writing was on the wall. I did everything in my power to ignore that writing, but ultimately after much deliberation, I had to come to a very humbling decision: get a part time job.

This killed me. I felt like I had failed, not even a year in, and I couldn’t hack it on my own. Never-the-less I did what was necessary, and in late May 2013 I found a good part time job. I lucked out with a local business owned by good people that allowed me to work only 3 days a week, leaving 2 full days for VersaTile.

When I took this job I decided that I did not want to be there for more than 4 or 5 months, so I had that amount of time to figure out how I could make enough money and still work on my own. I came up with all sorts of ways for extra revenue. I opened WoodPosters.com, launched a couple of money making initiatives through a side project I’m involved in called Small Town Thinking and also started pursuing some freelance design and consulting work.

All these additional revenue streams were great but with only 2 days a week to work on my own- which we’re supposed to be spent on VersaTile I had no time (and we hadn’t even welcomed our new baby yet!).

Truthfully I had grown tired of making coasters- at least using the method I was employing to do so. It was a very manual and inefficient process, and in actuality, I had my mom making them for me for a majority of the time while I did deliveries, met with clients or tried to rustle up business.

The cold hard truth that I realized was that it was not sustainable or feasible for VersaTile to be my full time job while making coasters in the manner that I was.

I knew the solution to my problem: I needed to automate how I made the coasters but I could not afford the equipment. Getting a loan was out of the question, at least without a big order in place. So I needed a big purchase order to fund the equipment — and those don’t just appear out of thin air.

In August 2013 I began to contemplate packing it in. Even with the holiday busy season coming up in a few months, where I knew I would do very well, I just didn’t think I had it in me and it wasn’t fair to expect my mom to keep working pro bono. And so I began to think about what I would do next. Do I fully close down and get a “real job” or keep slugging away part time on VersaTile and keep this part time job I had. With the arrival of our 2nd son Hudson in mid August, I felt like I needed to decide.

Then, out of thin air, I got the big purchase order I needed. Six thousand (6,000) coasters to be given out as promotional items by The National Arts Centre. I couldn’t believe it. This is something that found me, I was not pursuing this job or bidding on it- it was an opportunity that I didn’t even know existed but it was now mine to seize. I certainly could not do this order by hand, I needed to get that tile printer! Amazingly, the P.O. was mine to accept or decline while I figured out if I could get everything in place, and there was a lot to get in place.

I needed to write a business plan. Apply for and be approved for a loan. Apply for and be awarded a grant. Find a business advisor. Buy the tile printer. Find a commercial space for the printer. All within about 6 weeks.

In September-October I did it. All of it. And then everything changed.

I left my part time job and took delivery of my tile printer at the start of November- just in time for busy season. Things started to really pick up and I was able to produce my coasters quickly and more efficiently than ever before (even if the printer broke down for a very tense 6 days right before Christmas).

After all was said and done, November and December saw record sales online, at craft shows, and in retail. Records that would not have been set without my tile printer. A tile printer I would not have if I decided to quit a few months earlier.

So now as we begin 2014 my vision drifts from the rearview mirror to straight at the road ahead. I do not know how many twists, turns, hills and valleys exist over the horizon, but I do know they will be there and that excites me.

The new equipment allows me to pursue a very lofty goal I’ve had from the very start of creating VersaTile and I’m happy to say that I’m working hard at realizing that goal and hope to be able to share some amazing news very soon.

I must acknowledge that absolutely none of this would have been possible without the love and support from my family, friends, fellow vendors and customers.

Thank you to my wife Kelly for standing behind me through all these ups and downs, you didn’t sign up for this when you married a civil servant almost 5 years ago and I know the adjustment has been tough. I love you.

Thank you to my two boys Henry and Hudson, who keep me feeling young while I continue to look progressively older.

Thank you to my mom for making over 4,000 coasters for free and never once complaining or asking for anything.

Thanks to my dad and sisters for their support, leads, sales and ideas.

Thank you to our customers, who support me every day as I continue to pursue this crazy dream in 2014.