Fairport Business

Built for Success: Megan November’s Business Story

By Fairport Wealth

Making Cool Stuff* for People We Really Like

Last month Luma Wealth hosted local women business owners at Cleveland’s Rustbelt Reclamation to hear President Megan November’s success story. Megan graciously shared her journey, her insights, and her passion for Rustbelt Reclamation, a nationally known custom furniture design and production business. With clients like Amazon, Jim Beam, The Ritz Carlton and Waldorf Astoria, there is a lot to celebrate! 

While guests noshed on appetizers catered by Cousa Mamas, Fairport Managing Director and Chief Business Development Officer Andrew Connors gave a warm welcome and set the stage for an engaging conversation with Megan.

Tell us your story, including how breaking your leg put you on the path to Rustbelt Reclamation.

I am Cleveland born and moved to Colorado to study at Colorado State. My degree is in natural resources and during my college years, I took a part time job building furniture at a big box store. Honestly, I learned a lot and eventually moved on to another more customized building company.

I love the outdoors and Colorado seemed a perfect fit for the furniture building work I love. However, I broke my leg and couldn’t build furniture. Instead, I took a job with an architect where I learned a lot about design and process. In 2012, I moved back to my hometown of Cleveland and found my way to Rustbelt Reclamation. I knew immediately that I’d found my people!

In 2012, Rustbelt Reclamation was owned by two brothers. They took me under their wing and when they decided to exit the business, they approached me to buy the company. With their help and some creative financing, in 2018 I became the new owner of the company.

We love your story, Megan and clearly, you’ve built a successful company. During the last five years, what was your “never quit moment?”

There have been a lot but the biggest decision point for me was during COVID. I had to decide if we were going to survive or not. Luckily, the government incentives helped but it was the team here that kept me motivated to keep going. The people here are everything to me.

Your business is custom furniture. How do you balance growing the company with staying custom and delivering the high quality and uniqueness Rustbelt Reclamation is known for?

Everything we do is a guess at the beginning. That’s the fun for us. It all boils down to the people. We have overqualified team members who are part of our company because they love what they do. Together, we make it happen.

How has your business changed since 2018?

We learned to say no. We don’t take every job. We don’t outsource. We keep a narrow focus on a defined niche. We design and produce high quality, highly customized furniture that comes with its own story. As an aside, the wood we use is locally sourced live trees. We don’t pay for trees. They seem to come to us.

Where do you see the business in five to ten years?

We are in a slow growth mode to maintain quality. We foresee 150% growth and don’t want to get any larger once we hit that target. The same is true for the size of our team. We currently have 17 team members and will cap that at 30 to maintain our culture and our incredible dynamics.

Finally, what is your mantra?

I like to say we bring joy to people’s spaces. As I mentioned earlier, my biggest motivation is our people. I guess my mantra and what I really love is “to make cool stuff* for people we really like.” 

Megan’s graciousness and openness and the involvement of the Rustbelt team made the evening a resounding success. Luma Wealth’s events are designed to inspire women to succeed and are held throughout the year. If you’d like to be part of our next event or learn more about Luma Wealth, please visit Luma Wealth or contact Andrew Connors or any of our Luma Team.  

*Author’s note: Megan used slightly more colorful language. And we love her for it!