Today we’d like to introduce you to Maurice (Mo) Sneed.
Alright, so thank you so much for sharing your story and insight with our readers. To kick things off, can you tell us a bit about how you got started?
As a child, I’ve always loved building things and working with my hands. I was the kid with every Lego set, the small ones, not those jumbo kind lol. When I was about eight years old, we had this neighbor right across from us who would always build things, he would leave us out wood for whenever we wanted to build a fort or make play toys. Of course, I was that pesky one who would just go and watch him and ask questions. At the time, I had no idea what he did, I just loved watching him do it. Once I got to high school, I took wood shop. I wasn’t a great student academically, but I took that class very seriously lol. One of the things I built was an end table. My mom still has that table. It’s been about 17 years. I’m proud of that table. And a huge shout out to my woodworking teacher Mr. Burgoise. Fast forward, after my six years with the United States Air Force. I was trying to find my path. I think I’ve taken every trade there is, lol. But I ended up in welding (another class I took in high school). I loved welding, I loved the challenges, the traveling, and the money was great. But once you have a family, those things don’t really compare to being present. I was about eight years in and the pressure of constantly being away from my family was really getting to me. I worked on the road a lot. I quit my job to go back to a local shop and after getting my first check there, I was back on the road.
But at that point, I realized my passion for welding was gone. I felt like a prisoner in my field. I was determined to be at home every night with my family…. I remember telling my wife that I would build our dining table once we got our home. Everything we looked at just seemed so overpriced or wasn’t what we were looking for. So one long weekend Home, and that’s exactly what I did. A few months later we had a Friendsgiving. Everyone loved the table. I ended up making a couple for some close friends. A little time and a few posts later, a few more people reached out. Doing woodwork for a living was never something I thought to do as a career path. I just loved doing it. A few more people reached out for things. And something in my mind told me to quit my job and give it a shot. I’ll save all of the boring details, but I failed miserably. When you have a safety net, a few clients here and there are great. But when it’s your sole means to provide, not so much. We almost lost everything. EVERYTHING! So back out to the field, I went. I kept building things for people on weekends/days off. But this would always just be a hobby/ side gig for me. About two years passed doing this. There was one client she wanted something fairly simple/small. But she was extremely difficult, or particular, some may say. For a project so simple, it was to the point that it wasn’t worth the headache to me.
After much-needed advice from people I consult in, I ended up doing it. It turned out great, so much so, if you could see her house today, it could almost serve as a Just Ask Mo model home lol. She ended up creating a post praising all of her projects I had done. Turns out she was an interior designer with A LOT of friends. Since that day, my phone has not stopped ringing with requests. I was working in Corpus, TX and the plan was just to come home every other weekend to deliver projects to clients. That turned into every weekend. And every weekend turned into random days through the week plus weekends. It got to a point that I was literally losing money driving back and forth, living on the road, and basically having two full-time jobs. Me and my wife decided to give it another try. This time with a game plan, lol. We chose a date. I think we gave it another year. A couple of months into coming up with that plan, Covid hit. They were getting rid of people left and right so we thought that would be the perfect exit. A couple more months went by and I was still employed lol. Fourth of July 2020, the family came down to corpus to spend the weekend with me. It was hard to let go of that feeling. That was my last time sleeping away from my family. Just Ask Mo custom woodworking was no longer a dream or side gig, it was reality. None of this could have been possible without the support of my beautiful wife Brittany.
Alright, so let’s dig a little deeper into the story – has it been an easy path overall and if not, what were the challenges you’ve had to overcome?
Not at all. One of the biggest challenges for me is that I’m not a customer service person. At all lol. I love people though. So learning different ways to say what I need to without coming of rude was/is a big learning curve. Learning my value was also huge, the goal was always to give people a quality product without charging them an arm and a leg. At one point, I was nearly paying clients to do projects for them because I charged so little and I myself didn’t fully understand everything that went into even making a small quality project.
Alright, so let’s switch gears a bit and talk business. What should we know about your work?
Just Ask Mo does custom woodworking for residential and commercial areas. We are not a handyman service, lol. We build custom furnishings and specialize in built-in closets and entertainment centers. I’m most proud of the growth right now. The fact that it’s been a full two years and I’ve been able to see my family every day of it. Every day and every project has its very unique and different challenges but persistence has kept us here. I think what sets us apart is our presence and accessibility. A lot of times when you get someone to do work in your home, if they aren’t big business, you typically don’t know who they are or how to find them. Being present in the community and transparency with clients so that they feel comfortable is always the goal. What I would like to set us apart is our customer service. We aren’t perfect, whether it’s an off day, something got missed, or we just weren’t on the same page, mistakes happen. We want you to know that we aren’t running from owning up to that.
Have you learned any interesting or important lessons due to the Covid-19 Crisis?
Honestly, Covid was a blessing for us. So many people were home realizing how much they spend a month on all of this unused or poorly designed spaces. It really opened the door for us. If I had to pick one lesson learned, I’m no longer doing this as a hobby or for fun. It’s how my family eats every day. Especially now that my wife Brittany is on full time. What we do is a luxury for our clients, it’s a necessity for us.
Contact Info:
- Website: Justaskmo.net
- Instagram: _justaskmo_
- Facebook: @justaskmoservices
- Youtube: Justaskmo
