Focus On: Katy Keene of Keene Lane Co.

I believe in a world where we cheer one another on and we don’t see any other entrepreneur as a competitor. (It’s why I love the Rising Tide Society so much!) I love when I see other business owners support one another and I can’t possibly count all of the times I’ve been inspired or motivated by another business owner. It can be a lonely world, sitting in a corner of your home, balancing the roles of parenthood, wife, photographer, creative and just overall human with obligations to friends and the house and hobbies and passions. It feels a lot less lonely when you celebrate all the other people who get it.

Today’s Focus On is a spotlight on Katy Keene, the owner of Keene Lane Co. in Atlantic Beach, FL. Enjoy this peek into her business, her balance and her dreams. Be sure to follow her, cheer her on and stay tuned for more entrepreneur spotlights every two weeks.

Katy Keene of Keene Lane Co., female entrepreneur, rising tide society, female woodworker, business owner, Atlantic Beach Florida

Introduce yourself!

My name is Katy Keene, I live in Atlantic Beach, FL. I own Keene Lane Co. –where I design and create custom handmade furniture and home décor, and make small batch products sold online.

When did you start your business? What inspired you to do this?

I formally started my business, Keene Lane Co., in 2016. I have been creating my whole life, influenced by my family of talented artists. Although, my skills came out a bit different with being interested in sewing and building. I had been sewing since I was a teenager, learning from my Granny, and later learned to build furniture from various mentors. I’ve always had an entrepreneurial spirit and had ‘side hustles’ outside of my corporate jobs over the years. Then I really found passion in creating custom furniture and home décor specifically. The concept really hit me when I personally couldn’t find something specific for my home and decided to build it myself.

About how many hours a week would you say you spend on your business? What are some of the behind-the-scenes things that your business requires that people may not realize?

My business time is very blended in with all my day-to-day, so it’s hard to tell how much time exactly. I will say I am a very busy lady and wear a lot of hats like most entrepreneurs. Having a background in Business Management and Marketing I do everything from setting up my bookkeeping, invoicing, building my website, creating marketing plans, consulting clients, making the products, managing supplier relationships, networking and more. I design, build and sew, and do all the product creation in addition to all the day-to-day business management.

On a scale of 1-10, how balanced would you say you are between your work and family/personal life?

Oh, that’s tough to answer directly. Lol. I’ve actually shifted my perspective on ‘work- life balance’ into more of finding harmony. It’s almost impossible to completely shut one off to then move to another, they are blended. Some days are definitely more trying than others with meeting deadlines, finishing tasks, client calls, etc. but recognizing time for creating space helps balance those exceptionally busy times. So for me, these are blended daily.

General concept of prioritizing – I focus on what’s going to be the most helpful for the whole, business and personal. I do implement daily time blocking to schedule things needing to be completed.

Managing ideas – I have A LOT of ideas. Lol. So it helps me to write them down to get them out of my mind and revisit them when I’m able to either incorporate them or let them go if they’re not productive. This has actually been amazing at how natural an idea comes back around at the right time to implement.

Entrepreneurial group and/or organization to help with brainstorming ideas, gathering information and, at a minimum, to not feel alone as a small business. I have a group of ladies that are entrepreneurs that I meet with regularly who have been unbelievably supportive and foundational in helping me progress.

Tools I use to help streamline processes:

Email calendar – use it daily for time blocking and my to-do items

Canva – for marketing to create content for social media, promotional material and simple photo/design edits.

Team Gantt – to manage project schedules and timelines.

Classpass – I believe strongly in health being a part of the whole harmony perspective (I used to work in corporate health and wellness). I personally am in a place in my life where I need variety so I use classpass to schedule my workouts week by week to make sure it’s part of my day and varies on activity.

Small Business Development Center (SBDC) – free funded program to assist business owners and help them thrive.

What would you say is the biggest challenge in owning your own business?

In addition to wearing all the hats – Changing my perspective on what ‘success’ means. From my corporate days, I always had to accomplish goals, get to the next level, work harder, get the certification or award or recognition, etc. And nothing is wrong with that, but as an entrepreneur there isn’t always an award or next level up the chain of command or bonus at the end of the day. It’s been a transition from my ego driven mentality of ‘achieving success’, to ‘seeing success’ in each day as I move forward in something new that’s being built to create more meaning. Success now looks different for me and I have to remind myself that just because my name isn’t on a wall somewhere it’s ok, I’m working towards something bigger. I want peace in my life while having a financially stable and fulfilling lifestyle. I want to help others and give opportunity to others through my business to help them achieve.

What has been your proudest moment/greatest victory as an entrepreneur?

There have been a couple of times where clients that I built custom products for were selling their home, and as part of their sale the buyer asked to keep the product I made as part of their purchase of the home. Such a huge compliment to my work.

What is the hardest part of being a business owner?

Helping those around you and close to you understand what you’re doing. I left a great career to become a business owner and start from the ground up. From the outside looking in, it may not make sense for some and that can be hard to accept.

How important is it to you to support other entrepreneurs and business owners? What are some ways that you try to do this?

Supporting other entrepreneurs and business owners is very important to me. I do my best to shop local, promote and tag other small businesses on social media and collaborate when I can to help each other.

What are your one-year and five-year goals for your business?

I’m actually doing some new year planning with a group tomorrow, so I don’t have all those specific answers yet. However, generally I’d like to expand my product reach, increase small batch products online and grow into a larger business so I can offer opportunities for others to work with me. I’d like to do more giving back to the charities I’m passionate about and have a charitable element formally connected to my business. I’d like to be a part of speaking opportunities to help others, whether that be business related, skill related or well-being related.

A little bit more about Katy…

As a female business owner and woodworker I hope to inspire other women to try something different that’s not necessarily traditional for women or maybe even a hobby for women. There’s just something so fulfilling about creating in general, and of course, using power tools. I have a twin sister who’s an artist. We’ll occasionally work together to create products using her original artwork, which is a blast. I’m a native Floridian and love promoting and supporting my home state and history.