Last summer I sat around the conference room table casting the vision for the next ten years of my life. I hoped the vision would not fall on deaf ears.
I envisioned creating a sauna company that began with a flagship space, North America’s best mobile sauna. I had a decade’s worth of vision for the company that started with a beautiful custom creation like few had ever seen.
The dream was a combination of the communal spas of the Nordic countries, my family’s heritage with Finnish sauna, and the tiny home movement that had been sweeping the USA. It would be a Nordic modern way to relieve the stress for anyone coming to our city.
On the other side of the table was Andrew Knutson and his team from Knutson Custom Construction.
I hoped they would be able to see the vision.
Knutson Custom Construction
Luckily they did, their design-build company focuses on commercial spaces, homes, kitchens, and well, apparently mobile saunas. Really anything you would have a vision for they could make it a reality.
I had a very specific vision, and plenty of know-how as I grew up building saunas. Yet, what I lacked at the time was a team of people to create something so large. It was a dream bigger than I could do alone.
Have you ever had one of those dreams? One that you needed others to help you achieve.
Andrew and his team worked together with me to envision, engineer, and create something as beautiful as it is functional. The space that is now in operation helping people relieve stress one session at a time in Duluth’s historic Canal Park.
Finding Those who Share your Vision
In business one of the most important things I’ve learned is that you need to find people who share your vision. If there isn’t shared vision, any problem can become a roadblock—a barrier to moving forward.
If there isn’t shared vision, any problem can become a roadblock—a barrier to moving forward.
My experience with Andrew was with someone who understands both the vision and the steps it takes to make it happen. Creating something unique means you need both skill sets.
Custom building means you are willing to work through numerous challenges.
Saunas are difficult design problems as is. You have to solve for heat, fire safety, water, moisture, and ventilation all in extreme conditions. If you mess up with any one of those you have problems. At best you have a dank musty room nobody wants to be in, and at worst you burn the place down. And that doesn’t even account for our vision of putting the sauna on a massive hydraulic trailer so we can move it down the road.
We worked together solving each design problem as we went. And brought a big vision into reality together.
What’s your Vision?
Since then our company at Cedar & Stone has grown to produce custom saunas in-house with our team of craftspeople.
Yet, we owe it to the team at Knutson Custom Construction for their willingness to share a vision for something great.
What’s your vision? A new kitchen? Your dream home? The new office space for your company? Whatever it is, we trust their team will help you make your vision a reality.
Build your vision: http://knutsonbuilds.com/
