In 2020, Michael Gant was laid off from his job because of the COVID-19 pandemic and joined millions of Americans facing financial uncertainty that year.
At the time, Gant had been working in corporate athletic sales — specifically, custom locker and equipment rooms. But he always wanted to open his own woodworking shop. He and his wife, Shannon, a real estate agent, had even determined a timeline for opening a woodworking business, and had decided Gant would quit his job in 2022 to do woodworking full-time.
His unexpected layoff accelerated that timeline, but he was able to launch his own Fishers-based company — The Gant Collective — producing high-quality, handcrafted wood products. And six years later, he’s still at it…