Today we’d like to introduce you to Tom Velure.
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?
Bored in the Basement unofficially started when I was in high school. My basement was a meeting place for most of my friends, where we would congregate after school. At one point, I had painted “Bored on the Basement” on the wall down there, and stated to my friends that if I ever started a business, this would be the name of it. Fast forward to 2010 when I officially opened an LLC with my brother Anthony, where we did screenprinting on shirts. We did the screenprinting until 2017 when my family moved from Roberts, WI to Cottage Grove, MN. It was at that time that I had grown bored of the screenprinting and the chemicals and mess that come with the hobby. I decided to take on woodworking in a much more creative venue than most of the woodworkers I know, board gaming.
Honestly, I bought a laser cutter because I wanted to upgrade components for my board games, which is another hobby of mine. As fate would have it, other people heard that I bought a laser and jobs started rolling in. Anything from simple engravings of logos, like a pizza paddle for Bella’s Pizza in Cottage Grove, to memorial boxes and urns for people that have lost loved ones. The most popular request by far though, are our lake maps. The lake maps are unique to every order and every person. The final pieces invoke a personal connection with the person that orders one because it’s a map of their lake. I still take on lots of one-off projects, but the lakes are what I’m probably best known for.
Can you talk to us a bit about the challenges and lessons you’ve learned along the way. Looking back would you say it’s been easy or smooth in retrospect?
I’ve always run the business from equity within the business, not having to take out any loans for equipment, I would say that this has given the business slow growth in the beginning, but I like having a business that is already paid in full. This really is more of a glorified hobby. A hobby that pays for itself. I still have a full time job and a family, so this business eats up any other time I have in the measly 24 hours a day has to offer. Smooth has definitely been the majority of the journey. With a full time job and a family, I can pace BitB (Bored in the Basement) however I would like. The holiday season always throws me more business than I can normally take on.
When covid hit, I actually thought things would slow down and I could actually make some gaming components, but as my luck would have it, BitB started getting slammed with orders. You would be surprised how many people went to their cabins to try and wait out covid in 2021. When those people got to their cabins, they jumped on their phones and found us, likely through our Instagram or on Facebook, and asked to have a lake map made. I ended up hiring a friend of the family, Marie Clipson, to help with the lake map orders, retail space management, and creative direction. She’s been a huge help in managing the workload whenever we have large influxes of orders. The only hardship I can think of is the skyrocketing price of the plywood I use for the lake maps. What used to be a $13 sheet of plywood now can’t be found for less than $150.
Thanks for sharing that. So, maybe next you can tell us a bit more about your work?
I have spoken a bit on what it is BitB does, but on a broader sense, I just really like art. Art comes in so many forms, it’s always hard to narrow it down, but I love music, painting, woodworking, writing, baking, cooking, drawing, digital design, and sometimes we even have dance parties after a work night to blow off some stress and slivers. Professionally, I’m in a software position for the healthcare industry, but I have a 3D animation degree that I earned by accident. Long story short, I checked the wrong box for my major on the first day, and didn’t question it until the final semester. Oh well, I get to put the degree to use with my CNC router and laser in my shop.
I also enjoy pushing others to be creative, and being a patron to people that I am inspired by. I will regularly use the money I’ve earned from BitB and put it right back into other artists. I like to support art that I find locally, online, or seek out. I will find artists on Reddit, Instagram, Etsy, or Facebook and commission artwork that we can integrate into a woodworking project. I’ve made a lot of good friends this way, and like that the money is used to make other people’s creative sides flourish.
The crisis has affected us all in different ways. How has it affected you and any important lessons or epiphanies you can share with us?
I’ve always been an introvert, so my lifestyle hasn’t changed much. The biggest change was that instead of working from home half time, I am here full time. We have always shipped our maps, but with covid, we needed to triple our efforts. We still offer contactless pickup, but shipping is fairly affordable and most people enjoy the comfort of reviving their maps rather than a local pickup.
Covid has also put an odd crimp on my supply chain. I use mostly reclaimed wood, but I need a specific type of plywood for consistency in cutting my lake maps. I thought for sure I was going to have a hard time finding older wood since people likely were not going to take on home improvement projects during a pandemic, but I was way wrong. I have almost an entire barn full of reclaimed wood, and only 2 sheets of plywood for lake left! Hoping that the market will stabilize on my materials soon, or I’ll have to start my own plywood business!
Pricing:
- Lake maps start at $150
- Cribbage boards start at $99
- Laser engraving services start at $40/hr
- Referrals to other great artists Free!
Contact Info:
- Email: [email protected]
- Website: Www.boredinthebasement.com
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/boredinthebasement/
- Facebook: https://m.facebook.com/BitBDesign/
- Youtube: https://m.youtube.com/channel/UC55vFUUv3R54pwLqqzSvQTQ
- Other: https://boardgamegeek.com/boardgamepublisher/25859/bored-basement-llc
Image Credits
Tom Velure
