Get Stowed, the range of vehicle storage solutions, was created by husband and wife team, Wayne and Kerry O’Connor. Meet the dynamic duo who run the business and find out more about what they do behind the scenes.
Name: Kerry O’Connor
What do you do at Get Stowed?
I look after our social media and the financial side of things, health & safety, write instructions, liaise with clients, order stock and book in fittings. Everything apart from the building and installing of the drawer units! Every day is different.
What do you enjoy most about your role?
I really love having my own business and being my own boss. We have school age kids so it really helps that I can be flexible with working from the office and working from home. It’s great that I can decide how to spend my day. It’s also incredibly stressful at times, but luckily we are a bit addicted to stress after our years in the events and exhibition industry!
No two days are ever the same: one day I could be wrestling with writing a blog and the next day I could be sourcing new coverings for the units, I really like the variety.
What did you do before this?
We ran a successful exhibition stand building company for 14 years, then the pandemic struck and we realised we needed to diversify pretty rapidly to keep going. Get Stowed is totally different to making exhibition stands – before we were realising a concept and every stand was unique, and now we are designing and selling a standard product, although there still is an element of concept realisation when we make bespoke units for clients. There’s much more emphasis on our website and social media, which is new for us, but it’s lots of fun learning new skills and engaging with our new customers in a different way than before.
What do you enjoy doing in your spare time?
As a family we’re quite busy in our spare time, so as well as being ‘Mum’s taxi’ for the kids, I keep fit by playing netball in my local league and also do weekly boot camp sessions. Under normal circumstances I love going to concerts; both big stadium gigs and little intimate gigs down the local pub. We get out and about a lot with our dogs, and we take them with us when we go camping a few times a year. We are strictly fair weather campers though, and have been known to abandon ship the moment the weather turns!
What’s top of your bucket list?
Seeing the Northern Lights is right up near the very top. And doing the Scotland North Coast 500 route in our old Devon Campervan, just me and Wayne. And maybe the dogs. But no kids. (Sorry kids! XD)
Name: Wayne O’Connor
What do you do at Get Stowed?
I look after the design, the manufacturing and fitting of the drawer units for vehicles, and liaise with clients on their bespoke storage solutions. I’m always thinking up new ideas and different directions we can take the products in.
What do you enjoy most about your role?
In the past I got the ‘buzz’ from meeting strict deadlines – exhibition stands have to be finished on time, with no exceptions, no matter what has gone wrong on site – they won’t delay the opening of an exhibition for us to complete a build!
Nowadays the pace of my worklife is different, and I get the ‘buzz’ when I open the back of a vehicle to reveal a customer’s new unit, and hear them say, ‘Oh wow, I love it’.
What did you do before this?
I’m a cabinet maker by trade, but worked in the exhibition industry off and on for 25 years, running my own exhibition stand building company for the last 14 years. I have also worked as a window fitter, boat maker and a chippy, as well as owning a couple of shops along the way! It was as an exhibition stand installer that all my tools were stolen on site and the initial seed for the Get Stowed range was planted.
What do you enjoy doing in your spare time?
In my spare time I’m keen on martial arts, and do karate at least three times a week. It’s a great way to de-stress as when I’m at karate I can’t think about anything else! I also enjoy doing a bit of fitness down the gym. I’m interested in vintage cars and camper vans – one day I want to own an original VW split screen and go off touring in the UK and Europe. I’d take my guitar and the wife.
Which celebrity would you like to meet?
If I could meet anyone living or dead, I’d like to meet Bruce Lee and have a sparring lesson in the morning. Legend! Then, if I’m not too battered, I’d like to play it cool and meet Jimmy Hendrix for a jam session in the afternoon.
If you want to chat to Kerry and Wayne about storage solutions for your vehicle, or tell them which celebrity you’d most like to be beaten up by, drop them a line at sales@getstowed.co.uk.