Today we’d like to introduce you to Israel Deutsch.
Hi Israel, thanks for sharing your story with us. To start, you could tell our readers some of your backstory.
My full-time career is in law enforcement. A widow of an officer who died in the line of duty asked if I could build her a flag out of a used fire hose that she had. After building that fire hose flag, a local fire department saw the flag and wanted one. This is where Crafty American was born. We evolved our products based on customer needs or requests. Since starting our company in 2018, we have over 10 products and a whole candle line.
Can you talk to us about the challenges and lessons you’ve learned? Looking back, has it been easy or smooth in retrospect?
One of the struggles is outsourcing materials. We once ran out of fire hose couplings because the fire hose coupling candles were so popular. We also have to find fire hoses or used fire hoses in “season.” usually, departments test their hose every spring and fall. We will start to look for deals on used fire hoses during those seasons.
I appreciate you sharing that. What else should we know about what you do?
My full-time job is as a police officer in Wisconsin. I always dreamed of becoming a police officer since I was in elementary school. I got into firefighting because I would get frustrated over volunteer firefighters causing problems on fire scenes. For example, I was parking their vehicles all over the highway in the winter during a crash. I started to attend the local volunteer fire department meetings and explained my role as a police officer on scenes where firefighters are also there. After a few years, I taught those firefighters some things, and they taught me some things. I am now a certified firefighter in Wisconsin.
Where do you see things going in the next 5-10 years?
We are using our success with arts and crafts and transitioning our business into a short-term rental plan. We purchased a historical downtime building in Sheboygan Falls, Wisconsin. We converted the upstairs into an AIRBNB/VRBO short-term rental, and a family rents the business space below. We hope to find other unique rental properties soon.
Pricing:
- Fire Hose Can Coolers $10-13
- Fire Hose Coupling Candles $35
- Fire Hose Flags $600-1,000
- Fire Hose Dog Toys $35
- “Man Candles” $17.50
Contact Info:
- Website: www.craftyamerican.com
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/craftyamericandesigns/
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/CraftyAmericanDesigns/
- Twitter: https://twitter.com/Crafty_American
- Other: https://www.pinterest.com/CraftyAmericanDesigns/
Image Credits
Israel Deutsch
