The million dollar business

The smell of smoke filled the hallway in the apartments where Ashley Chávez and Miguel Ruvalcaba started their own laser engraving business in 2021.
“Everyone was walking around and saying, why is there smoke? and I just thought, stop looking here,” Chávez said of his neighbors in Irvine.
At that time, the couple did their work at home and what they sold most were wooden supports for shot glasses with personalized engravings.
When the laser burns the wood, the couple says it smells like they are using a smoker for roast meat.
“We received constant warnings all the time about our ‘smoker’ and they really thought we were smoking food,” Rubalcava confesses with a laugh.
Today, the business, called Simply Crafty Customs, is in a warehouse with more than 10 laser engraving machines and has seven workers, including the couple, and is located in the middle of several auto repair shops in Harbor City.

Recently, they launched their own website where they sell a wide variety of products such as: hexagonal marble coasters, key chains, notebooks, wine glasses, jewelry holders and more.
The couple met as seniors at Banning High School in Wilmington and have been together for 10 years.
Chavez earned his degree in human resources from California State University, Fullerton (CSUF), while Rubalcava earned his engineering degree from the University of California, Irvine (UCI).
But in 2020, Chávez, as a human resources worker, had to fire people during the pandemic and in the end she says she had to fire herself.
Shortly after, the couple’s business was started thanks to an advertisement for a small laser engraving machine.
When Chávez showed the advertisement to Rubalcaba they immediately bought the machine, but it was not until months later that they decided to use it.
As Valentine’s Day approached, Chavez thought about making tags with people’s names.
“I said let’s sell one for ten dollars and the next day, we made a sale and I thought, Oh my God, this is great this can pay for my Starbucks,” Chavez explained. “And then we started selling more and more and our first Etsy deposit was about $3,000.”
Over time the couple’s business grew and they had to invest in a larger machine for commercial work.
When the FedEx worker delivered the laser engraving machine, it came in a giant wooden box.
“What is this a lion?” asked the worker.
Chávez remembers having to remove the door to his apartment to be able to get the machine in.
For a time Rubalcava worked by day as a civil engineer and by night he helped Chávez with the business.
After six months Rubalcava left his job and decided to dedicate himself fully to the business.
“The first year we made half a million dollars, so for us it was crazy because we had never seen that amount of money before and we didn’t know its potential,” Chávez explained.
They moved into space in Rubalcava’s brother-in-law’s warehouse, where the couple now took over, and the following year the business sold $1 million.
But the couple says that, although money is important to be able to continue running their business, more than anything what they want to do is be able to support their community.
“Suddenly I realize the impact we are really having on people, because there are people who believe in us or who took the time to start their own business because they saw what we did,” Rubalcava said.
Rubalcava added that taking the leap and trusting yourself is really all anyone needs to launch a business.
“As we grow and I connect with people, I feel like we almost owe it to our community to let people know who we are because we’re from a community that doesn’t really share those stories or have people to look up to that are from the community.” “Chavez explained.
When he started his business instead of continuing in his career, his father asked him when he was going to go back to work.
But now the young woman understands that her father only wanted to protect her because of the risk he took when launching his business.
Although Rubalcava’s family has always had entrepreneurs, Chávez says that she comes from a more traditional family in the work aspect.
While his father doubted the power of the business, Chávez said he was surprised when his grandfather became his main support.
“I feel like my grandfather has changed his mentality as he’s gotten older and I feel like he was probably one of the first to really believe in us,” she said.
The couple hopes to continue growing the business with the goal of opening a new warehouse in the state of Texas.
But they also seek to support their community in Wilmington by connecting more with people and sharing their story.