Meet Brendan Pozsgai | Woodworker & aspiring bartender

We had the good fortune of connecting with Brendan Pozsgai and we’ve shared our conversation below.

Hi Brendan, we’d love to hear more about how you thought about starting your own business?
I work as a digital product manager for a Fortune 500 company in my day job. I started this business as a way to learn more about all the different functions involved in business. I’m the marketing department, customer service team, manufacturing floor, and sales rep. It’s the fastest way to learn and apply some of the concepts I learned back in business school and how they differ between a business with 100k+ employees and 1 person.

I also wanted to get more involved in the community here. I moved to Atlanta about 3 years ago for the job mentioned above and I thought this wood working business would be a good way to meet people and participate in these arts and crafts festivals so I could meet creatives in a variety of different disciplines.

Lastly, I viewed this business as a great way to monetize my hobby and maybe one day become my full-time job as a I ease into retirement later on down the road. I figured if I could get the hobby to pay for itself and I could give friends and family gifts here and there, I would consider it a success. If I could one make a living doing it, it would be next level enjoyment.

Can you open up a bit about your work and career? We’re big fans and we’d love for our community to learn more about your work.
I am most proud of the level of personalization I put into my art and gifts. I take great care to learn from my customers about what they want, how they intend to use something, or what else I can include in my products that can bring them joy. I work with two fantastic suppliers in the Atlanta area that have made this whole experience an absolute delight. Carlton’s Rare Woods & Veneers stocks wood from all over the world so I am able to include accents of rare wood species if I know about a client’s ancestry or affinity for a particular part of the world. Atlantic Fine Woods sources all of my local lumber and I appreciate and empathize with their vision of sustainability and connecting to the trees all around us in the Atlanta area.

I’ve learned plenty about different techniques, jigs, and marketing strategies from various artists both on Instagram and in person through different festivals. I think the biggest challenge has been the blank page in that any day you could go a completely different direction and be working on something so different from the day before. What has helped with this is marking goals one year out, five years out etc and to once in a while reflect and see if my actions for a given week or month are aligning with where I want my business to be in the future. I want the world to know how rewarding it is to follow your passion and to make time for it because it’s absolutely worth it. I took a bartending class because I thought it’d be fun and I bought a bunch of tools during quarantine because I wanted to learn and to practice. Varnish & Garnish was born from these passions and it was started in less than a year. It’s intimidating, both starting a business and putting your art on display for potential judgment, but it has been a wild ride and I’m loving it.

If you had a friend visiting you, what are some of the local spots you’d want to take them around to?
Definitely would have to take them on the Beltline. I’m a pretty active guy and I love walking everywhere so walking from bar to restaurant to bar on the Beltline has always been a highlight of my Atlanta hosting. I love Krog St. Market and Ponce City Market for food because there’s something for everyone. I also love love love the aquarium here. Touristy I know, but I can sit transfixed in front of those tanks for hours and enjoy every single second. Another fun event would be “shooting the hooch”, taking a lazy river tube ride down the Chattahoochee River with some adult beverages. The Botanical Garden is also a great time regardless of the time of year. With the holiday lights set up in the winter or the flowers in full bloom any other time, it’s always nice to walk around the gardens as well.

Who else deserves some credit and recognition?
Big shoutout to my parents & sisters (Tim, Gladys, Raquel & Riana) back in the Boston area as they have supported me and all my passions for as long as I can remember. My dad has a workshop in the basement and I grew up in a house surrounded by products he made (my bunk bed, our garden bench planter, the shelves above my desk where I would do my homework every night). I always figured my house would one day look similar where I would take pride in looking around and knowing I made something specifically for that spot intentionally. I would also like to give a shoutout to my girlfriend, Danielle, for putting up with the mess I make at home as I work off our condo porch until we get a future place with a garage or basement for all my tools 🙂

Website: http://varnishandgarnish.com/

Instagram: https://instagram.com/varnishandgarnish?igshid=YmMyMTA2M2Y=

Image Credits
Brendan Pozsgai