LIVE from HAVEN 2022: Alex, Real Life Renovation (Organization Conversation, Episode 51)
Alex of Real Life Renovation joined Richard Grove in the Wall Control booth at HAVEN Conference 2022. Alex talked about how he got into DIY, why he decided to begin sharing his projects, his perspective on being authentic, why he chose to make it a business, his experience at Haven, and more.
This show was originally broadcast live from the 2022 HAVEN Conference held at the Grand Hyatt Buckhead in Atlanta, Georgia.
Organization Conversation is broadcast from the North Fulton studio of Business RadioX® inside Renasant Bank in Alpharetta.
Alex, Owner, Real Life Renovation
Alex lives in Baltimore Maryland with his wife who was his high school sweetheart.
They bought a home in the summer of 2020 that is 150 years old and they have been doing the DIY thing it ever since.
Alex had zero intentions of becoming a paid influencer, but he felt like he had a different voice to share. He was incredibly frustrated with the DIY space from the outside looking in.
He felt like every creator was skipping over the real-life renovation part of it where they would use certain angles to make their picture perfect. They would skip the parts where they make mistakes and they just act like everything went perfectly in the renovations and in their projects.
Alex didn’t know how to use tools and didn’t have any experience with construction, but when they bought their house it needed a lot of work.
Alex decided he was ready to learn, so he started working on projects little by little and now likes to show the entire process, including mistakes, to keep it real and inspire others who are also new at DIY.
About Organization Conversation
Organization Conversation is hosted by Richard Grove and broadcast and produced from the North Fulton studio of Business RadioX® inside Renasant Bank in Alpharetta. You can find the full archive of shows by following this link. The show is available on all the major podcast apps, including Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Google, Amazon, iHeart Radio, Stitcher, TuneIn, and others.
About Richard Grove
Richard Grove‘s background is in engineering but what he enjoys most is brand building through relationships and creative marketing. Richard began his career with the Department of Defense as an engineer on the C-5 Galaxy Engineering Team based out of Warner Robins. While Richard found this experience both rewarding and fulfilling, he always knew deep down that he wanted to return to the small family business that originally triggered his interest in engineering.
Richard came to work for the family business, Dekalb Tool & Die, in 2008 as a Mechanical Engineer. At the time Wall Control was little more than a small ‘side hustle’ for Dekalb Tool & Die to try to produce some incremental income. There were no “Wall Control” employees, just a small warehouse with a single tool and die maker that would double as an “order fulfillment associate” on the occasion that the original WallControl.com website, which Richard’s grandmother built, pulled in an order.
In 2008, it became apparent that for the family business to survive they were going to have to produce their own branded product at scale to ensure jobs remained in-house and for the business to continue to move forward. Richard then turned his attention from tool and die to Wall Control to attempt this necessary pivot and his story with Wall Control began. Since that time, Richard has led Wall Control to significant growth while navigating two recessions.
Outside of Richard’s work at Wall Control he enjoys helping other business owners, operators, and entrepreneurs along their own paths to success by offering personal business coaching and advising through his website ConsultantSmallBusiness.com. Richard has developed an expansive and unique skillset growing and scaling Wall Control through a multitude of challenges to the successful brand and company it is today. Richard is happy to share his knowledge and experience with others who are looking to do the same within their own businesses.
Connect with Richard:
Instagram | Twitter | LinkedIn | Richard’s Website
About Wall Control
The Wall Control story began in 1968 in a small tool & die shop just outside Atlanta, Georgia. The first of three generations began their work in building a family-based US manufacturer with little more than hard work and the American Dream.
Over the past 50+ years, this family business has continued to grow and expand from what was once a small tool & die shop into an award-winning US manufacturer of products ranging from automobile components to satellite panels and now, the best wall-mounted tool storage system available today, Wall Control.
The Wall Control brand launched in 2003 and is a family-owned and operated business that not only produces a high-quality American Made product but sees the entire design, production, and distribution process happen under their own roof in Tucker, Georgia. Under that same roof, three generations of American Manufacturing are still hard at work creating the best tool storage products available today.
Connect with Wall Control:
Company website | Facebook | Instagram
