Start Where You Are: Making What You Have Work

Chace’s Perspective on the Lucky B Journey

Our second garden at our East Helena home.

If there’s one thing I’ve learned through building Lucky B alongside Mackenze, it’s this:

You don’t need perfect conditions to start.You just need to make what you have work for you.

A lot of people see where we are now and assume we must have started with a plan, a shop, or the right setup from the beginning. The truth is a lot simpler than that...

We started however we could!

The First “Leather Shop”

When we were living in Helena, Montana, the leather shop wasn’t really a shop at all. It was a sunroom attached in our small rental house, and most of the time the work actually happened right on the dining room table.

Tools were packed away and pulled out when we needed them. Leather scraps lived in bins. Projects moved around the house depending on what space we had available that day.

Our first project, on the original dining table.

It wasn’t perfect, but it worked.

And that’s really the point. Waiting for the “right” setup can keep you from starting at all. Instead, we figured out how to make the space we had work for the things we wanted to build.

Since then, the leather shop has grown into its own dedicated room in our home. It’s organized, it has a workflow, and it’s a space where Mackenze can focus on creating.

But even that isn’t the final destination.

Chace making custom sunglasses holders for our supportive friends!

The next phase for the shop is to move into its own space. Currently we are working to create a studio in the garage. We are growing each year and the next step is a larger workspace that allows us to expand what Lucky B can create. Just like everything else we’re building, it will grow step by step.

The Garden That Started in Neglected Flower Beds

The garden story started in a similar way.

Back in that same rental house, the only place we had to grow anything was in a set of old flower beds that had been mostly neglected. They were full of grass and weeds, and definitely not what you’d picture when someone talks about starting a garden.

But again, we made it work.

The original set up at the Helena rental house, fenced to keep out the neighborhood bunnies.

We cleaned them out, turned the soil, and planted what we could. It wasn’t perfect and it wasn’t pretty at first, but it gave us a place to start learning.

Over time, that small beginning turned into something bigger.

Today we have six raised garden beds on our homestead. They’re organized, productive, and each year we learn a little more about what works best for us and what we actually use in our kitchen.

Our first garden in the flower beds around our Helena rental house.

And just like the leather shop, the garden still isn’t the final version.

The long-term goal is to expand it even further—more beds, more diversity, and eventually the ability to grow enough food throughout the season that we can rely on it more heavily year-round.

Progress Over Perfection

What both of these stories have in common is simple: progress.

Nothing we’ve built started perfect. Most of it started with whatever space, tools, and time we had available.

When we first started leatherworking, it was just a hobby. Because of that, we were able to move at our own pace and figure things out as we went. There wasn’t pressure for it to be perfect, and that actually helped us progress faster.

As we started enjoying it more and wanting to do more with it, we began sharing our work on social media. That allowed the growth to happen slowly and naturally. Instead of jumping all in right away, we could test things, learn new skills, and see what people responded to.

Chace stamping a belt in our leather shop at the East Helena house.

In the beginning, the workspace wasn’t ideal. It meant constantly moving tools, cleaning up projects, and sharing space with everyday life.

At the time it felt a little chaotic, but looking back it’s one of the things that makes the journey meaningful. It reminds us where we started and how far we’ve come.

Today we have a dedicated space just for leatherwork, but that only happened because we kept moving forward little by little.

Perfect shouldn’t be the goal. Progress should be. The important part was starting anyway.

When you focus on improving a little each time, learning something new, and challenging yourself, the growth happens naturally. When you start small, you learn faster. You figure out what works, what doesn’t, and what actually matters before you invest in something bigger.

That process is what builds confidence and skill over time.

Build What Works for You

For us, building something that “works” means creating systems and spaces that actually fit our routine and lifestyle.

The East Helena house garden area during the build out phase.

A good example of that is our garden. Early on we realized we didn’t have the time to stand outside watering plants every day. Instead of letting that become a reason to stop gardening, we set up a simple irrigation system that waters the beds every morning. It saves time and allows us to keep the garden thriving without adding stress to our day.

That mindset—making things work for your life—has shaped how we’ve built almost everything.

A lot of what we’ve done has happened in phases. Part of that is practical. We can’t always afford to build everything all at once or buy the most polished setup right away. Instead, we slowly create and improve the spaces we’re working in.

Our garden started small, and each year it grows a little more. With every season we learn something new—what grows well, what we actually use, and how to manage it better. As our knowledge grows, so does the garden itself.

The East Helena house garden beds growing our fresh produce.

Starting small has made it sustainable. When you try to scale too quickly, it can become overwhelming. But adding pieces over time allows you to build something that lasts.

For us, the bigger vision is creating a space where we can be more self-sufficient and connected to the lifestyle we enjoy. Right now that looks like a garden and chickens. In the future it might mean raising livestock to help feed our family.

The best part is that we get to decide what that looks like.

We get to experiment, learn, and keep shaping the lifestyle that works for us.

Follow Along

The Lucky B journey—whether it’s leather, the homestead, or our garden—has always been about building a life that works for us.

Not overnight. Not perfectly. But piece by piece.

The current leather shop set up in Otis Orchards.

If there’s anything I hope people take away from our story, it’s this:

You don’t need the perfect setup to begin.

Start with what you have. Make it work. And keep building from there.

The current state of the garden in Otis Orchards.

If you want to see more of how Lucky B continues to grow—from leather projects to homestead builds and garden expansion—follow along on our social media. We share the progress as it happens, one step at a time.

-- Lucky B Brand