Speaking with Adam Kenney, Bridgeway’s Chief Programs Officer, O’Connor realized that his dream was actually very possible. “I was literally shaking in my seat.”
Eisenwood was born. In naming his business, O’Connor incorporated the German word for iron — eisen — as a nod to Pittsburgh’s steel roots. He started out in his basement, offering retail items, special commissions, and business-to-business services. After three years, the business had grown such that, at one point, O’Connor was building two kitchens at the same time in a shop no larger than 400 square feet. It was time to expand.
Working with Bridgeway, O’Connor received a loan for operating capital to move into a building where Eisenwood could stretch to fill 3,000 square feet. That was in February 2020, just before the Covid pandemic. The ensuing months were rocky, but an additional stop-gap loan from Bridgeway helped the business survive, as did a loan to purchase a crucial piece of equipment that autumn. One year later, Eisenwood was doing so well that O’Connor had to move the operation yet again: to a space with more than 7,000 square feet.
Along the way, O’Connor has also worked with Bridgeway’s programs Monmade and the Creative Business Accelerator (CBA), using their business development services to grow the business and network to expand its clients and learn from other creative entrepreneurs. “I can always call and say, ‘Here’s my challenge. What do you think?'” O’Connor said. “I talk to my CBA cohort regularly.”
Over time, Eisenwood’s business has evolved into primarily special commissions, like a recent 40-foot wall of bookshelves for an area restaurant. And now that he’s acquired a trove of metalworking equipment — thanks to another Bridgeway loan — he plans to start putting the eisen in Eisenwood with projects that put even more of a Steel City influence into the craft he loves. O’Connor is maximizing his business growth as a repeat client of Bridgeway’s programming and lending to continue expanding the family business he built.