Whiskertin Lighting: Q&A with Glenn Miller
What is the background story of your business? When/how was it created?
In 2015, we made our first light and posted a picture on social media and got a great response from it. From there, we decided to start creating different types of lights. The business expanded from there and is still continuing to evolve.
How do you expect to see growth?
We’ve acquired more equipment to get more into the fabricating side of things. We’re looking to expand our shop to do more custom and complex work for commercial and residential. We look forward to helping restaurants increase the atmosphere of restaurants once the pandemic eases up.
How has the pandemic impacted your business?
A majority of our sales come from art shows and vendor sales so with the pandemic,
they have been closed or switched to a virtual model. Our sales have gone down so
we’ve had to restructure ourselves and learn to sell online since that’s where everything is happening right now. It has forced us to work through something that we have struggled with in the past. We’ve had decent success with it, recently!
Once we are able to travel, I still think our digital presence will enhance our efforts as vendors are able to look us up easily online and on social media.
What was the biggest obstacle with going online?
The biggest obstacle was just finding the time as small business owners. With the
pandemic, we now have a few people helping us out. Without doing the shows every
weekend, we also have more free time from traveling as well.
How has the Greater Akron region played a role in the evolution of your company?
With the art community, we all love to help each other out. We will bring skills of different artists and work together in collaboration. We’ve collaborated with Akron Glass Works and Rustbelt Rebirth which highlights both of our companies and broadens our product range.
It’s a community I knew existed, but didn’t know how close-knit it was until now. It’s something that I really cherish about Akron.