Fast 15: James Michael Smith

James Smith talks fast, but his company is growing even faster.

Smith’s speech pattern quickens when he talks about furniture, a subject he knew practically nothing about less than three years ago.

Smith earned a marketing degree from John Brown University in 2009 and did freelance video work for several months after that while trying to find a job.

While trying to make ends meet, in the summer of 2011, Smith hatched an idea to build and sell coffee tables. He spent about $150 on a Skil saw, wood, sand paper and wood stain and, using design instructions from a how-to website, built the items.

He used the garage of a house he and three others were renting in Rogers as a makeshift manufacturing facility to create hand-built, affordable furniture from solid wood.

From humble origins, a burgeoning furniture empire has sprung. James+James did about $250,000 in sales in 2012. With an expanding delivery area and a new shipping component, sales reached $1 million in 2013. Smith anticipates reaching the $1.5 million mark in 2014.

“We didn’t offer shipping at all in 2012,” Smith said. “Halfway through 2013, we began shipping directly to customers. We’ve [shipped] furniture to 45 states and Canada.”

What started out primarily as tables has grown to include bedroom furniture, chairs, lighting fixtures, rugs, table runners and other linens.

And since customers are wild about the James+James home décor brand — the company Facebook page has about 22,000 likes — Smith has been hunting around Dallas for space to open a James+James retail store.

He hopes to have it open by the end of the summer. Currently, everything James+James sells is done over the telephone.

Smith said being well-organized has been a key to managing the rapid growth, as well as having a good team in place at the company’s Springdale manufacturing facility. James+James has about 15 employees.

“Making sure people feel appreciated is the biggest thing,” he said. “I think people here are excited about where we’re going as a company. They know we’re growing.”

Smith and his wife raise chickens at their home and he said a hobby is learning any new skill. He plans to become a certified scuba diver this summer.