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If you have read any of our previous posts, you know that Trouble Free Keys is a family businesses in our home. We are not super fancy or hi-tech. But we do have quality machines, good organizational skills, and the software needed to assure exact precision cuts on your key order.  This blog will give you an insight into how we process your order when we get it here at our home. I think it's fun to see how small businesses, and actually larger manufacturing as well, creates a product so hopefully you do too.  We sell thousands and thousands...

The transmission went out. In the Smoky Mountains. But then again, it is 2020.

Our family read recently about a house in our area that really goes ALL OUT for Halloween decor. Their yard is filled with handmade figures from fairy tales that have been, "zombie-fied," grave stones, dragons, ravens, owls...and right next to their front door is an elaborate display of old looking keys and the spooky words, "SKELETON KEYS." So what exactly is a skeleton key and where did that term come from? If you Google it you will find images of antique looking keys that are ornate on top, smooth through the main key area, and have a small lip toward...

As a small business, how might you take your products online to reach more customers? In this Blog Post, I'll tell you a bit about what we do, why we do it this way and some of the other options out there.  All businesses are different. During the day, I work at a small local children's consignment shop. We post some items on Instagram and Facebook as well as do virtual shopping with people. For us, an online store would not work. On the flip side, I help manage and run Trouble Free Keys with my husband and our sales...

An 18 year-old clerk named DJ Depree was hired to work in a small office. Little did anyone know that this young man go on to become so much more.  In 1905, Star Furniture started as a small company in Zeeland, Michigan making wood furniture for homes. In West Michigan, lumber was plentiful and the area was a popular spot for furniture companies to settle in. They hired DJ Depree in 1909 to work in the office and 10 years later he was President of Star Furniture. Bu 1923 Depree had convinced his father-in-law, who was a successful businessman, to purchase the...