Shownotes
Tips From Craft Show Pros
In this episode, you'll hear ...- The value in just starting and going from there.
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What you can learn about being a vendor by visiting craft shows as a shopper
- How to really know if a show was a success for you or not.
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Being flexible and why you need to watch trends to stay relevant.
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How to make connections with your customers.
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Which is more important? The big grand thing that you do well or the little daily tasks?
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How to get your big break.
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The key to keeping your products high quality.
- And so much more!
Tune in now to get tons of valuable tips from craft show pros that you can use for your handmade product business!
Resources Mentioned
Grant & Jennifer's Contact Links
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Gift is Unwrapped Guest,
Speaker:episode number 411.
Speaker:People liked it and I added more stuff and then Grant
Speaker:added his stuff and then,
Speaker:yeah, I mean,
Speaker:it just happened.
Speaker:Attention, gifters,
Speaker:bakers, crafters and makers pursuing your dream can be fun.
Speaker:Whether you have an established business or looking to start one,
Speaker:now you are in the right place.
Speaker:This is Gift Biz Unwrapped,
Speaker:helping you turn your skill into a flourishing business.
Speaker:Join us for an episode packed full of invaluable guidance,
Speaker:resources, and the support you need to grow your gift biz.
Speaker:Here is your host Gift Biz gal,
Speaker:Sue Mohe.
Speaker:Hi there,
Speaker:it's Sue and thanks for joining me for the show today.
Speaker:We've covered so many facets of a handmade product business over
Speaker:the course of the years,
Speaker:and today is no exception.
Speaker:We've talked about how to start and grow your business stories
Speaker:from many of you who have done just that.
Speaker:How to choose and use social media sites,
Speaker:build your website.
Speaker:Oh my gosh,
Speaker:there is just so much information here for you,
Speaker:but not necessarily at your fingertips.
Speaker:So I've made a tool for you that categorizes by topic
Speaker:the episodes of this podcast,
Speaker:but only the ones that stay relevant over time because yes,
Speaker:let's face it,
Speaker:there are past shows that just don't work anymore for us
Speaker:today. The world is changing so fast,
Speaker:right? You can use this tool to zero in on whatever
Speaker:topic you need at the moment.
Speaker:Do you wanna hear from others in your specific industry?
Speaker:How about details on Pinterest or setting up an email strategy?
Speaker:You can now easily find the right episodes and create your
Speaker:priority listening roster.
Speaker:Consider this your Gift Biz Resource center at a glance.
Speaker:It's a Google Sheet best viewable on your computer versus your
Speaker:phone. Make sure to look on the bottom where there are
Speaker:five separate sections for easy topic reference,
Speaker:kind of like chapters of a book.
Speaker:It makes finding the shows to help you with what you're
Speaker:working on right now.
Speaker:So much easier.
Speaker:To access this free resource,
Speaker:go to gift biz unwrapped.com/topics.
Speaker:I'm really excited for us to get into today's show.
Speaker:As you saw from the title,
Speaker:this couple has done over 150 in-person shows over just the
Speaker:last three years.
Speaker:That's not a typo given that high level of activity.
Speaker:You know,
Speaker:they have a ton of experience and some great tips to
Speaker:share on many facets of craft show exhibiting,
Speaker:but there's even more.
Speaker:You're going to hear about the unexpected start into their business,
Speaker:how they merged together as a husband and wife team,
Speaker:and what they see for the future.
Speaker:This episode is jam-packed with great stories to learn from and
Speaker:what can happen if you just start and pave the path
Speaker:forward from there.
Speaker:I think Jennifer and Grant even surprised themselves,
Speaker:Grant and Jennifer Anderson are a husband and wife team out
Speaker:of Brownsburg,
Speaker:Indiana and the owners of Uptown Common.
Speaker:Jennifer started Uptown Common in late 2019 selling McElroy products,
Speaker:including plant hangers and wall hangings.
Speaker:Grant began adding leather goods to the business booth early in
Speaker:2020 and shortly after that they also started selling plants so
Speaker:customers could complete their plant hangar entirely in their shop.
Speaker:Uptown Common travels around the Midwest to artisan markets.
Speaker:To date,
Speaker:they've done nearly 150 markets.
Speaker:Can you believe that?
Speaker:150 Grant and Jennifer also hosted their first artisan market last
Speaker:year, which was an exciting undertaking.
Speaker:They leveraged their significant experience as vendors,
Speaker:as well as the relationships with other show vendors that they
Speaker:had to make their show.
Speaker:One that will continue into 2023 and beyond.
Speaker:Grant and Jennifer,
Speaker:welcome to the Gift Biz Unrepped podcast.
Speaker:Thank you for Having us.
Speaker:Hello. Hi.
Speaker:I'm so excited to talk more than what we just said
Speaker:in the intro,
Speaker:but learn more about Uptown Common.
Speaker:But before we do that,
Speaker:I have a motivational candle question for you.
Speaker:This is something that I ask all my guests before each
Speaker:podcast to get to know you in a little bit of
Speaker:a different way.
Speaker:And you guys said you each had your own candles.
Speaker:Jennifer, why don't you start?
Speaker:What would be your motivational candle if it spoke everything about
Speaker:you? A color and maybe a quote or a saying,
Speaker:A color.
Speaker:I would say sage green.
Speaker:Ooh, And a word?
Speaker:Bold. Bold.
Speaker:Okay. Why do you pick sage Green?
Speaker:I think it blends with everything.
Speaker:Well, I'm kinda thinking with your planters,
Speaker:you know,
Speaker:that's where my mind went first.
Speaker:Yeah. Are you a naturey type of a person?
Speaker:And Yes,
Speaker:we do a lot of hiking and we have,
Speaker:I mean,
Speaker:I don't know if you,
Speaker:Ooh, we have lots of plants.
Speaker:We sell lots of plants,
Speaker:so that's a good connection too.
Speaker:Yeah, Perfect and bold,
Speaker:man. You need that for starting a business no matter what,
Speaker:right? Yes.
Speaker:I betcha some of that'll come out in the story as
Speaker:we go.
Speaker:For sure.
Speaker:Okay, grant,
Speaker:let's talk about your motivational candle.
Speaker:So I was also going with green.
Speaker:We didn't discuss our candles with each other beforehand.
Speaker:Oh, I love it.
Speaker:Does it have a different hue or is it also sage?
Speaker:Not so much sage,
Speaker:no. More of,
Speaker:yeah, what you'd see in plants,
Speaker:things like that.
Speaker:Just, and of course,
Speaker:this time of year,
Speaker:central Indiana,
Speaker:everything is brown and gray and not pretty.
Speaker:So yeah,
Speaker:looking forward to spring and the green coming back on the
Speaker:leaves and the grass.
Speaker:So definitely kind of the renewing of life here from the
Speaker:Yeah, and I think for mine,
Speaker:I would have Elroy coming out of Genesis in the Bible,
Speaker:the God who sees me and just something,
Speaker:especially running a small business,
Speaker:we're all fighting for exposure,
Speaker:fighting to be seen on many different social media.
Speaker:Etsy is another one,
Speaker:which we've kind of dipped our toes into a few times,
Speaker:but those are all difficult places to kind of get notice.
Speaker:So kind of looking back to that and knowing that our
Speaker:creator does see us regardless of how we're doing here in
Speaker:the world and the efforts we're making,
Speaker:I really like that.
Speaker:It's a nice overlay mindset to think about when you are
Speaker:struggling getting visibility everywhere else,
Speaker:it is crazy out there trying to get noticed and then
Speaker:you know,
Speaker:have deeper conversations,
Speaker:et cetera.
Speaker:Hence all the one-on-one shows you do,
Speaker:which is great,
Speaker:right? It's way easier.
Speaker:Oh yes.
Speaker:Sounds easier.
Speaker:I think we all kind of thought way in the beginning
Speaker:when technology,
Speaker:like the web came about and all that as makers,
Speaker:oh, well I can just hit home behind a computer,
Speaker:put things up,
Speaker:people will see and buy my products and life will be
Speaker:beautiful. And we all know that is not reality.
Speaker:We've talked to some people who have made that their reality,
Speaker:but it takes a lot of time,
Speaker:lot of focus,
Speaker:lot of efforts.
Speaker:We met a lady last year that was doing jewelry,
Speaker:met her in Chicago,
Speaker:LA Grange,
Speaker:actually outside of Chicago and she was,
Speaker:that was gonna be one of her last shows.
Speaker:So she was gonna do what?
Speaker:Just a couple shows a year after that.
Speaker:So Jennifer ended up buying a necklace from her and,
Speaker:but yeah,
Speaker:she, she hit it online,
Speaker:but took a lot of years of dedication to get there.
Speaker:Yeah, I mean that's the thing.
Speaker:You just don't go online and everyone miraculously finds you,
Speaker:right? You've gotta work the system.
Speaker:So I think that's the fun thing about a maker business
Speaker:too. Well a business for yourself,
Speaker:but a maker business is you can go out to shows
Speaker:and interact with people if that's what you like to do.
Speaker:Or you can stay home and make,
Speaker:I mean,
Speaker:we have a lot of people who are listeners who,
Speaker:for whatever reason,
Speaker:maybe they're taking care of someone who's home bound or they
Speaker:themselves aren't able to get out and be as mobile,
Speaker:then they can sell online or a combination of the two.
Speaker:You can really write your own recipe however you wanna do
Speaker:it, but no matter what,
Speaker:it still takes work.
Speaker:You still have to learn how to do it.
Speaker:Yes. So Jennifer,
Speaker:you kicked this whole business thing off it sounds like,
Speaker:right? With your mcay?
Speaker:I did,
Speaker:yes. Yeah.
Speaker:And I'm guessing you guys were already married at the time?
Speaker:Yes. Okay.
Speaker:All right.
Speaker:So how did you bring this concept home?
Speaker:Tell me that when it was just the initial thought in
Speaker:your head about doing this.
Speaker:It wasn't a thought,
Speaker:It was a stroke of genius maybe,
Speaker:I dunno,
Speaker:what was It?
Speaker:I quit my full-time job.
Speaker:I took a part-time job so I had some extra time
Speaker:and I was like,
Speaker:ah, I wanna learn how to make a mc plant hanger.
Speaker:So I looked at some videos and I taught myself how
Speaker:to do it and then somehow within like eight weeks or
Speaker:so, I was selling them at markets and then,
Speaker:I mean people liked it and I added more stuff and
Speaker:then Grant added his stuff and then,
Speaker:yeah, I mean it just happened.
Speaker:There was no plan.
Speaker:So you started as a hobby just to do it because
Speaker:it looked fun,
Speaker:right? I wanted one That's not the story anymore.
Speaker:And then did friends see it or like where was the
Speaker:jump from?
Speaker:I have one to all of a sudden you're at a
Speaker:show. You just decided that would be fun to try and
Speaker:to do.
Speaker:I mean,
Speaker:yeah, they didn't exist anywhere then.
Speaker:You couldn't buy them in the store.
Speaker:People weren't making 'em.
Speaker:So it was somehow,
Speaker:it just,
Speaker:I mean it was never an actual thought like I'm gonna
Speaker:make this a business.
Speaker:It was like I just taught myself how to do something
Speaker:that probably other people might want.
Speaker:There are lots of plant people around cuz I was thinking
Speaker:plant hangers mostly.
Speaker:And right.
Speaker:I signed up for a market at a church the Saturday
Speaker:after Thanksgiving that in 2019.
Speaker:And then I did three or four more that year before
Speaker:Christmas and we had a whole plan for 2020 and then
Speaker:that got,
Speaker:you know,
Speaker:Well yeah,
Speaker:we know what happened then.
Speaker:Boy we still Ended up eating 25 that year though.
Speaker:So I mean in this,
Speaker:in the last half of the year when at least here
Speaker:in Indiana they were a little different and you could do
Speaker:some gatherings outside with all the rules.
Speaker:But Yeah.
Speaker:So take me to that first show that you did.
Speaker:So it was a church auction or church bazaar and perfect
Speaker:timing cuz if it was right after Thanksgiving,
Speaker:that's going into holiday,
Speaker:right? And it feels to me like 2019,
Speaker:it's really not that long ago,
Speaker:but macrame was starting to come to the forefront again.
Speaker:So I think you also landed it at a good time
Speaker:Somehow. Yeah.
Speaker:Again, there was no point in that.
Speaker:So I'm sure it's definitely not the booth that I saw
Speaker:with you at the one of a kind show,
Speaker:but what did your first table look like at that church?
Speaker:I'm thinking for people who are listening who are thinking about
Speaker:a first show and be like,
Speaker:oh my god,
Speaker:what do I do?
Speaker:How do I display?
Speaker:I mean it's an evolution right from your first table to
Speaker:the booth that you have now described as your first one.
Speaker:Yeah, so I mean it's,
Speaker:it was a 10 by 10.
Speaker:Oh you had a whole section then?
Speaker:Yeah, it was a 10 by 10.
Speaker:That's a lot to fill for your first one.
Speaker:I know.
Speaker:And that's when I'm like,
Speaker:oh my gosh,
Speaker:like what do I do with this space?
Speaker:How do I display things?
Speaker:I don't even know how people,
Speaker:I mean I've been to some markets before like so I
Speaker:wasn't totally clueless but I never ever considered like,
Speaker:should people walk in?
Speaker:Should I just walk by?
Speaker:I didn't have any signage grant cut some wood pieces and
Speaker:I stained 'em and we propped 'em up and it was
Speaker:not good.
Speaker:It did not work very well for like some of the
Speaker:small things I thought.
Speaker:Thought oh I can just lean them up.
Speaker:Like kinda like a jewelry case kind of without the glass.
Speaker:That didn't work very well.
Speaker:But I had a clothes rack which we still use today.
Speaker:The same style and everything we went to,
Speaker:they're actually from Ikea,
Speaker:they break down small,
Speaker:they're black,
Speaker:which fits our brand.
Speaker:And we used those and hung some plant hangers there.
Speaker:I was by myself so I don't know,
Speaker:were you working?
Speaker:I guess you probably were working Yeah,
Speaker:working weekends at the time I was by myself carrying all
Speaker:this stuff in.
Speaker:I had no clue like what to expect.
Speaker:I ended up on a corner which totally was like,
Speaker:Oh that totally messed up your plan.
Speaker:I bet.
Speaker:Because now you have two,
Speaker:I mean I was just,
Speaker:you lost A whole wall.
Speaker:Yeah. But you got more visibility then too cuz people are
Speaker:coming from both angles.
Speaker:Yeah, so back then even people,
Speaker:like other vendors and I,
Speaker:perhaps it was because of the placement I had in the
Speaker:layout, they were like,
Speaker:I've been staring at your plant hangers all day and I
Speaker:just have to buy one before I leave.
Speaker:And I'm like really?
Speaker:So were you shocked,
Speaker:like what happened?
Speaker:Do you remember that first sale?
Speaker:No, not the first sale.
Speaker:Like the whole market thing was overwhelming cuz I mean I've
Speaker:never used Square or any sort of payment thing like that
Speaker:and I had no idea like what people were gonna ask
Speaker:me or what they were gonna say or what I should
Speaker:say. I,
Speaker:it's all kind of blurry.
Speaker:I remember being in the basement and it was kind of
Speaker:dark, like that's where they had their whole event and being
Speaker:really nervous about how am I gonna set this up and
Speaker:what are other people gonna think and is anyone gonna buy
Speaker:anything? And I don't know what happens if I can't access
Speaker:the wifi or something and I can't take payment and what
Speaker:if I don't have enough chain?
Speaker:I mean it was just like all these things but people
Speaker:bought stuff and liked it and not by me asking or
Speaker:them even trying to offer suggestions,
Speaker:but they would just ask questions like what if you had
Speaker:a few plants there cuz you have to display 'em.
Speaker:But we weren't selling plants.
Speaker:It was never even a thought back then.
Speaker:It wasn't even an idea to have,
Speaker:cuz I make my plant hangers now to fit a specific
Speaker:pot so it looks right And most mcara people that I've
Speaker:come across so far in these years don't do that.
Speaker:Well that was partially grant's idea.
Speaker:And then other customers wanting the same thing,
Speaker:they're like,
Speaker:it's really hard to find pots that fit in these things
Speaker:so it doesn't squeeze in at the top or it's not
Speaker:too tight.
Speaker:Yeah so a lot of learning from that first show for
Speaker:sure. Yeah Because everything was new payment systems display.
Speaker:Yes. People actually liking what you're making which had to be
Speaker:so fulfilling.
Speaker:Yeah, I mean it's a little bit of a shock.
Speaker:I probably,
Speaker:anyone who started selling stuff that they make,
Speaker:it's a little bit of a shock.
Speaker:Like wow,
Speaker:people really like this.
Speaker:I always tell people who are just thinking about starting a
Speaker:business is to do exactly what you did.
Speaker:Get it out to people you don't know cuz friends and
Speaker:family aren't a reliable judge,
Speaker:right? They're gonna be nice to you.
Speaker:Right? So,
Speaker:but go out to people that you don't know and validate.
Speaker:Validate the product and just like you did with a church
Speaker:bazaar, perfect situation because number one you can see if you
Speaker:like even doing this,
Speaker:right? Because you were saying you didn't even think really about
Speaker:it being a business yet.
Speaker:But if you like doing it and then what's the receptivity
Speaker:of it?
Speaker:And then feedback,
Speaker:you know on pricing,
Speaker:on displays,
Speaker:on questions.
Speaker:Can we do different colors?
Speaker:Like who knows what it would look like,
Speaker:right? So I love what you did even by way of
Speaker:just example for anybody else.
Speaker:So what would you say to somebody who is thinking about
Speaker:starting with a little show like that and is super nervous
Speaker:just like you were with all your questions,
Speaker:what would you advise them?
Speaker:I mean you just have to do it perhaps if you
Speaker:have the chance,
Speaker:go visit some before,
Speaker:you know,
Speaker:like pretty immediately before so you can see how other people
Speaker:are displaying their things or just how it flows from not
Speaker:the shopper perspective but from the vendor perspective.
Speaker:I didn't do that but I think that would've been helpful
Speaker:to have some better ideas of what displays could look like
Speaker:or how people flow or it never even occurred to me.
Speaker:I could be on a corner so like if I would've
Speaker:gone ahead of time to some other markets,
Speaker:I might have noticed that that was a possibility.
Speaker:I mean it totally makes sense that it's a possibility but
Speaker:But you're not thinking about that cuz you're thinking about all
Speaker:this other stuff.
Speaker:Right? So I would say going to visit some pretty immediately
Speaker:beforehand and thinking with like vendor eyes instead of shopper eyes
Speaker:and and even ask questions of the vendors.
Speaker:Most of them we've come across are pretty friendly and they'll
Speaker:tell you their experiences and what they've learned or even just
Speaker:So really just do it and if you make a mistake
Speaker:or do something wrong or didn't consider something like a corner
Speaker:in your case,
Speaker:you just adjust and you roll with it and then you
Speaker:can perfect from there.
Speaker:Right? Yeah,
Speaker:I mean there is a level of,
Speaker:you have to just have the mindset of being flexible because
Speaker:I mean we now know and even from that first time
Speaker:you have no clue what might be waiting for you when
Speaker:you arrive.
Speaker:Right, right.
Speaker:Or what's gonna happen or all that.
Speaker:So Okay,
Speaker:well you obviously did something right because then Grant wanted in
Speaker:on the deal,
Speaker:right? Yeah.
Speaker:So how did that all happen?
Speaker:You didn't even give her a full year on your end.
Speaker:You're jumping in.
Speaker:So my job at the time I was working e-commerce operations.
Speaker:I was working weekends,
Speaker:which is why she was going solo to all these shows.
Speaker:But I was supposed to have a three day work week
Speaker:and I had tried multiple hobbies in the past.
Speaker:I had tried some metalworking knife making some woodworking in the
Speaker:past and none of it really stuck and I'm like,
Speaker:you know what,
Speaker:let's give leather a try.
Speaker:So it was,
Speaker:I don't know,
Speaker:probably about five or six years ago I said I had,
Speaker:you know,
Speaker:started buying some what I thought at the time were nicer
Speaker:leather goods have since learned they're not as nice as they
Speaker:were kind of portrayed to me.
Speaker:Oh really?
Speaker:So different qualities of leather.
Speaker:Yep. Different quality and the build quality was great but the
Speaker:material quality Was lacking.
Speaker:I see.
Speaker:But yeah,
Speaker:so I started learning more about this and decided with a
Speaker:three day work week I needed a good hobby that would
Speaker:prevent me from,
Speaker:I don't know,
Speaker:working out for 30 minutes and then sitting around for the
Speaker:other 23 hours in the day watching television,
Speaker:decided to pick up leather working and just,
Speaker:yeah, started with cheap scraps from Michael's maybe or Hobby Lobby,
Speaker:something like that.
Speaker:They just sell a bag of scrap leather and started with
Speaker:that which was really bad leather but it helped me start
Speaker:to learn,
Speaker:helped me stick my thumb the first couple dozen times and
Speaker:learn there are better ways to sell leather by hand.
Speaker:Okay. It still happens but not as often anymore.
Speaker:But yeah,
Speaker:it was just something kind of an interest of mine and
Speaker:wanted to occupy some of my work week when I wasn't
Speaker:actually working.
Speaker:So were you doing that thinking Ah Jennifer has a booth
Speaker:and maybe I can do something.
Speaker:Maybe she'll let me in on the booth biz?
Speaker:I don't really recall how it came about.
Speaker:I mean that was probably it because why So think to
Speaker:the first show that you guys did together.
Speaker:What leather products did you introduce with her Mcma goods?
Speaker:So the first show where leather products were in,
Speaker:she was probably by herself still?
Speaker:Yes. I'm pretty certain of it cause I was still working
Speaker:weekends and it was probably,
Speaker:I had some different actually July,
Speaker:maybe July,
Speaker:2020 Perhaps.
Speaker:And actually have a lady who's been a repeat customer since
Speaker:then that bought one of my first wallets and I am
Speaker:completing another one in a different color for her.
Speaker:I don't even make that wallet anymore but she wants another
Speaker:one in this particular color so we're gonna make it happen.
Speaker:And she is an in with the maker so,
Speaker:So kind of went from there.
Speaker:My first real mass produced wallets are slim wallet,
Speaker:which we're gonna stop carrying in the booth but we still
Speaker:will have available.
Speaker:But yeah,
Speaker:just always,
Speaker:yeah looking into that next thing,
Speaker:I don't know if key chains were part of the early,
Speaker:I could go back and look at pictures but It was
Speaker:you guys,
Speaker:it wasn't that long ago And it was clearly mostly mc.
Speaker:That's what people would've noticed if they yeah,
Speaker:if they didn't stop to talk.
Speaker:Like if I could talk with them they may not have
Speaker:even noticed that there was leather and by then I'm not
Speaker:even sure when he added leather,
Speaker:if we even had like signage or ba I mean it
Speaker:was still like New.
Speaker:Okay. So when did you decide on a name and formalize
Speaker:it? The business was the that after both the products were
Speaker:made and No,
Speaker:it was from the start.
Speaker:Oh from the start.
Speaker:Okay. It was already in my head.
Speaker:The whole brand really was already in my head somehow.
Speaker:Well how did it appear?
Speaker:Like how did you think of the name?
Speaker:Well so this goes way back even like from 2015 I
Speaker:wanted to open a wedding venue and so we had plans
Speaker:drawn up by an architect for this big thing and then
Speaker:an opportunity came along a few years later to perhaps do
Speaker:a smaller one like that would fit like a hundred people.
Speaker:So I needed to come up with a different name than
Speaker:the original one I had.
Speaker:Well that was uptown common for the smaller venue cause it
Speaker:would be more urban and still a gathering place which was
Speaker:common. So that was the name for that business idea.
Speaker:And when I had to come up with one quickly like
Speaker:in a few weeks,
Speaker:that was what came to my mind and stuck And you
Speaker:just rolled with it.
Speaker:Yeah and it has worked really well.
Speaker:I didn't know Grant was gonna add in leather but it
Speaker:still works.
Speaker:Yeah, I feel like the black,
Speaker:it's strong and sturdy like leather,
Speaker:you know,
Speaker:long-term and it has a little bit of a vintagey retro
Speaker:feel to it,
Speaker:which really is macay but also leather.
Speaker:That's quality.
Speaker:Things are not as common to find currently.
Speaker:It's more of a vintage I you know Right.
Speaker:Vintage reinventing itself for today.
Speaker:Yes. So it always existed from the first market.
Speaker:We just didn't have any signage really that people would start
Speaker:recognizing. But the black showed up in the tablecloths,
Speaker:the brass,
Speaker:well I dunno if brass showed up quiet that really,
Speaker:cuz finding brass display pieces is kind of hard.
Speaker:We have some now but they're in their vintage actually vintage
Speaker:pieces. But yeah,
Speaker:I mean it was always there.
Speaker:It was always part of it and it has worked and
Speaker:as far as I can see,
Speaker:we'll continue working when Mac may is kind of,
Speaker:you know,
Speaker:it's a trend so it's gonna decrease.
Speaker:You envision this being a rolling product situation like depending on
Speaker:what's in,
Speaker:what's coming down the pike et cetera,
Speaker:you might integrate in other things.
Speaker:I mean you don't know what the future's gonna hold yet
Speaker:but so it's gonna be fluid uptown common will stay the
Speaker:same but the products might be fluid based on popularity culture,
Speaker:whatever. I mean I would think macro may goes away and
Speaker:it's just leather really.
Speaker:I mean we've seen that happen already and we already had
Speaker:discussed like in 2020,
Speaker:you know how long is mc may gonna be popular for
Speaker:it. You know trends come and go so fast now and
Speaker:it was starting to get popular.
Speaker:You'd see it on HGTV and all those places and then
Speaker:you start seeing like walls of it at TJ Max and
Speaker:Marshalls and you can buy it online now.
Speaker:So it's eventually and maybe sooner rather than later gonna lose
Speaker:it's in for people.
Speaker:But leather has already picked up,
Speaker:like it's already switching.
Speaker:So mc may got us here,
Speaker:leather's gonna get us forward.
Speaker:Right. But really good point to watch what's happening around you.
Speaker:So many of us will just think,
Speaker:you know,
Speaker:what we're making is so beautiful,
Speaker:people love it so much.
Speaker:And then a second later it's not,
Speaker:I mean and even big brands like look at Blockbuster,
Speaker:you know like one minute they were,
Speaker:everyone was going every single weekend or night or whatever and
Speaker:then the next couple years,
Speaker:I know it took a little bit of time but all
Speaker:of a sudden they were caught unaware and shut everything down.
Speaker:Right? So it's really smart of you guys to be watching
Speaker:trends and what's going on and staying relevant and as makers
Speaker:you can do that cuz you can adjust your products.
Speaker:Yeah we can adjust quickly.
Speaker:Yes. Notice.
Speaker:Yeah, You know certain things Mc may,
Speaker:things haven't sold as well.
Speaker:Plant hangers still sell well so we,
Speaker:you know,
Speaker:I make more of those or this year we are gonna
Speaker:have like a hybrid kind of booth option.
Speaker:So some markets we might apply for will be only leather,
Speaker:some would be mcma and leather,
Speaker:some would have a higher percentage of plants like around us
Speaker:there's some plant markets so we have access to plants and
Speaker:plant hangers fit and a lot of those people like leather
Speaker:stuff so we can increase the amount of plants we have.
Speaker:So somehow like we can adjust.
Speaker:Yeah, very flexible.
Speaker:Yeah. And fit the need of the market or like the
Speaker:individual market or the trends,
Speaker:you know as I,
Speaker:but I don't macro,
Speaker:I mean there's not a better way to hang a plant
Speaker:than a plant hanger.
Speaker:So I think that will always be true but people aren't
Speaker:gonna want so many of them in their house and it's
Speaker:not gonna be while hangings.
Speaker:Yeah I do classes,
Speaker:which is kind Of definitely wanna talk about that too.
Speaker:But let's stay with the core business development first.
Speaker:150 shows in,
Speaker:let's call it two and a half years given we had
Speaker:some downtime.
Speaker:Yeah. Talk to me about how that's affected your life and
Speaker:what you love about it,
Speaker:what you don't love about it.
Speaker:Any comments either of you wanna give me on these shows?
Speaker:Cuz that's a heavy schedule no question.
Speaker:Yeah, we don't find too many people who do as many
Speaker:as we have done.
Speaker:So it is apparently unusual.
Speaker:That part wasn't necessarily accidental.
Speaker:Like some of the other things as I'm looking at all
Speaker:these markets and they keep coming to us as we were
Speaker:going places,
Speaker:So they're approaching you,
Speaker:Right? And that only happened from the beginning and again,
Speaker:I don't know,
Speaker:I mean it just happened but I was like,
Speaker:I don't know how we can pick,
Speaker:how do we know which ones are good?
Speaker:How do we know since we're new,
Speaker:which cities we should be in,
Speaker:which types of markets we should be at?
Speaker:We just don't know.
Speaker:And the only way you can know is to do it.
Speaker:So Right.
Speaker:We did I think in 20 21,
Speaker:60 some markets,
Speaker:64 in 2021 on purpose.
Speaker:Like that was intentional,
Speaker:Not necessarily to carry on that way just for discovery of
Speaker:what markets were the best.
Speaker:Yeah. So we could have something to go on because how
Speaker:do you know?
Speaker:Okay, so that's more than a market a week.
Speaker:Yes. And were some of these like just single day events
Speaker:versus several days?
Speaker:Like the one of a kind show that's you know,
Speaker:a few days?
Speaker:Yeah, they were both.
Speaker:They were both.
Speaker:I mean that one is probably the,
Speaker:well that's not even the longest one we've ever done.
Speaker:We've done 10 day once,
Speaker:10 day markets.
Speaker:The one up in Milwaukee maybe Covered bridge.
Speaker:No. Oh there's another show for you to look at All
Speaker:sort. I mean they just keep coming.
Speaker:People just keep mentioning all these things and it,
Speaker:I mean you have to do it to know but you
Speaker:also have to do it to know.
Speaker:So how did this affect your lifestyle?
Speaker:What did it look like that year of 61 shows Pretty
Speaker:much every weekend I was at a market and Grant was
Speaker:at a different market.
Speaker:Oh so you divided and conquered?
Speaker:Yeah, so we would split up and go wherever and so
Speaker:we had to get double everything to booths that were a
Speaker:good representation of our brand,
Speaker:our things,
Speaker:I mean,
Speaker:yeah, have the help of family.
Speaker:Vast majority of our markets are one or two day markets.
Speaker:So we do have the three days or hit a little
Speaker:more common four days.
Speaker:We've just done a couple of those and then yeah,
Speaker:we've had a nine day and a 10 day market as
Speaker:well. So yeah,
Speaker:most of 'em though were just Friday,
Speaker:Saturday or Saturday and Sunday occasionally all three of those days.
Speaker:But yeah,
Speaker:it was definitely a lot of divide and conquer.
Speaker:It was,
Speaker:we did think it out that hey it's gonna be a
Speaker:tough year but definitely some long days involved driving a couple
Speaker:hours, setting up a booth,
Speaker:working all day,
Speaker:packing up a booth and driving a few hours home and
Speaker:being outta the house for 18 or 20 hours.
Speaker:It will wear on you after a little while but definitely
Speaker:worth it.
Speaker:Especially when you find a good show.
Speaker:Some of our last year especially,
Speaker:we had two shows that we both one day shows and
Speaker:we did that and they became two of our best shows
Speaker:that we've done in 2021.
Speaker:And it was despite the long hours,
Speaker:there's a little more energy driving home after you've had a
Speaker:great day,
Speaker:sold a lot of good connections with people.
Speaker:Were the majority of your shows then ones that you could
Speaker:get home to.
Speaker:So you have a radius then around where you live,
Speaker:kind of looking at the shows versus going coast to coast
Speaker:cuz there are so many shows you can do,
Speaker:Right? Yeah,
Speaker:I mean usually we three hours but sometimes that still requires
Speaker:a overnight stay if it's a two day or three day
Speaker:market you have to look at the logistics of it.
Speaker:But yeah,
Speaker:I mean basically we're at markets or making stuff.
Speaker:Okay. And then how do you judge whether a show's been
Speaker:a success?
Speaker:Us hold tight.
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Speaker:Multiple things go into it.
Speaker:So I know back early 2021,
Speaker:I wanted to have basically the booth fee.
Speaker:I wanted to get 10 times the booth fee and that
Speaker:was kind of a marker that I had in my head
Speaker:for whatever reason.
Speaker:As we've gone through time,
Speaker:it's obvious that paying $200 to get into a show and
Speaker:making a thousand is better than paying $75 to get into
Speaker:a show and making 750 if you make more money that
Speaker:way. Or maybe my math didn't work out in that instance,
Speaker:but the 10 times rule doesn't necessarily Yeah,
Speaker:play out all the way.
Speaker:So that was something early on.
Speaker:Obviously sales are a big deal.
Speaker:We can't go to these shows,
Speaker:pay the booth fee,
Speaker:pay possible hotel fee,
Speaker:travel everything else and come away losing money.
Speaker:Can't do that too many times before you're no longer a
Speaker:business. But we do have residual sales so as we get
Speaker:into especially some custom leather work,
Speaker:so I'll leave a lot of shows and one of a
Speaker:kind was a prime example of that with some orders to
Speaker:do and I've still got a couple to fulfill on that.
Speaker:Just got some leather in yesterday to fill one and waiting
Speaker:on leather to come back in stock for one more.
Speaker:But yeah,
Speaker:we had calls for other belts to be made and just
Speaker:those residual sales,
Speaker:those connections you make having those business cards and just being
Speaker:welcoming and making an impression on people.
Speaker:So when they see the booth and they're like,
Speaker:hey really like what you're doing and the makers in front
Speaker:of you and you can talk about your product and they
Speaker:love it.
Speaker:People like having that connection Now you've only been able to
Speaker:repeat maybe one,
Speaker:possibly two years depending on which shows they were.
Speaker:Are you seeing people coming back already knowing you at this
Speaker:point? Even brand new shows.
Speaker:We know people,
Speaker:it's amazing Because people like to go to these shows,
Speaker:right? Like if it's a lifestyle that they like to go
Speaker:to craft shows or farmer's markets or whatever,
Speaker:then they go to multiple ones too.
Speaker:Yes, they'll go to multiples and from a vendor perspective they
Speaker:will follow you and see what shows you're going to.
Speaker:Ah. And we've got some of those customers,
Speaker:they come and find us and they just,
Speaker:hey, if you're doing this show it's gonna be a good
Speaker:one. And when you hear that from a customer like that
Speaker:definitely lists your spirits and it's like,
Speaker:hey we're doing something right here.
Speaker:Every time someone buys something of mine,
Speaker:I feel a little humbled like they're spending their hard-earned money
Speaker:for something that I made by hand,
Speaker:Right? So It's definitely something humbles me every time.
Speaker:I'm thankful for them trusting in me stand behind my product.
Speaker:I don't think they're making a bad choice ever,
Speaker:but it's still just something that kind of catches me off
Speaker:guard every time.
Speaker:Well I have to say like you two work the booth
Speaker:so wonderfully because it's such a joy to go in and
Speaker:chat with you.
Speaker:I don't know if you remember my interaction with you guys
Speaker:in the booth.
Speaker:I was the one who sat around that coaster spinning thing
Speaker:for like 45 minutes deciding.
Speaker:Cause I had to have the right colors.
Speaker:Absolutely. And you also offer customization in your booth.
Speaker:You might remember this now.
Speaker:I had the dog print with the heart coasters and I
Speaker:had the dog names.
Speaker:You engraved the dog names on them For my daughter.
Speaker:For her it was one of her Christmas presents.
Speaker:Yes. The dog names were Ladybug and Oscar.
Speaker:Does it ring a bell?
Speaker:Yes, rings a bell.
Speaker:Yes. Yes you're right.
Speaker:But that's so fun too that you can do that right
Speaker:on site there.
Speaker:And it took literally seconds for you to do.
Speaker:And then of course I bought more cuz that's when I
Speaker:got around figuring out all the colors and all of that
Speaker:going on on.
Speaker:Yes. But you guys have great interaction together and then also
Speaker:it's just very friendly and comfortable in your booth.
Speaker:Has that evolved over time or Yeah,
Speaker:I think it speaks more to both of our nature.
Speaker:We're both introverted by nature.
Speaker:We want you to feel welcome but not us hovering over
Speaker:you saying don't wanna be pushy,
Speaker:not trying to do hard sales or anything like that.
Speaker:Just hey,
Speaker:take a look around if you have any questions,
Speaker:let us know.
Speaker:Right. Also,
Speaker:I think we both view it,
Speaker:we would rather build a relationship than make a sale too.
Speaker:You know like relationships will lead to sales.
Speaker:It's true,
Speaker:you're right.
Speaker:We both think like we would just rather know this person
Speaker:and see what they're interested in.
Speaker:May not be our stuff or it might be,
Speaker:or it could be a custom piece or we could direct
Speaker:'em to somebody that we know who can do better,
Speaker:what they're looking for.
Speaker:You know,
Speaker:like it's more of a relationship.
Speaker:Yeah. Like we lead with that first,
Speaker:which maybe makes it more friendly.
Speaker:Yeah, no it's a very comfortable vibe.
Speaker:Every booth feels a little different and that's something I'm always
Speaker:looking at is you know how welcoming and comfortable.
Speaker:Because if someone,
Speaker:like you were saying Jennifer,
Speaker:if someone's hovering over you,
Speaker:like even if I like their product,
Speaker:I might leave because it's too much already.
Speaker:Like I don't want that pressure.
Speaker:And I think sometimes too,
Speaker:and your products fit into this,
Speaker:people need to think for a second.
Speaker:Like they like what they're seeing but like will I use
Speaker:it if I will,
Speaker:what color is the right one?
Speaker:Or if it's a gift,
Speaker:like is it right And you need that quiet time for
Speaker:yourself to think,
Speaker:you know,
Speaker:versus someone asking you or trying to sell you on all
Speaker:the colors or Right.
Speaker:That it's like okay,
Speaker:too much I gotta go.
Speaker:Well yeah cause it's not better for people to buy our
Speaker:stuff and it just gets stuffed in a closet.
Speaker:That's not the point,
Speaker:you know like Right.
Speaker:That's not the point at all.
Speaker:We want them to use it or hang it or put
Speaker:their card cash in it and carry it around,
Speaker:you know,
Speaker:their wallet in their pocket and that's how I would wanna
Speaker:shop too.
Speaker:You know like I wanna think about it,
Speaker:I wanna have time and Yeah,
Speaker:you're there to answer questions if they want.
Speaker:You acknowledge people,
Speaker:you chat with people if you kind of intuitively feel they're
Speaker:interested in talking,
Speaker:but then otherwise you let them just look and see.
Speaker:So we've been talking a lot about face-to-face and I do
Speaker:wanna get to a couple of other things on that end.
Speaker:But where in everything did online e-commerce come in?
Speaker:You know,
Speaker:you'd referenced Etsy a little bit,
Speaker:but I know you have a Shopify website cuz I've been
Speaker:snooping. Tell us about the evolution of that.
Speaker:So Shopify,
Speaker:I think we set it all up in like spring of
Speaker:2020 Because you had the time time cuz you couldn't go
Speaker:out to shows.
Speaker:Well not even that but yes,
Speaker:I mean that gave us more time to spend on it,
Speaker:but it's kind of hard without,
Speaker:we had only done,
Speaker:I had only done what,
Speaker:maybe 10 or less markets so we didn't even know what
Speaker:we should have on there.
Speaker:So we had this site and time to do stuff with
Speaker:it, but we didn't know what people would want.
Speaker:I mean even what is the behind the scenes thinking about
Speaker:creating a good website,
Speaker:Shopify was really good and really helpful.
Speaker:They have a whole lot helpful.
Speaker:So you did this site yourself?
Speaker:Yes. And why did you choose Shopify as you were just
Speaker:starting? Why did you gravitate to that one?
Speaker:Because it seemed like it had the best growth options.
Speaker:Use the point of sale for the markets as well.
Speaker:Okay. And were you doing that already before you did the
Speaker:website or you just saw oh this is a good opportunity
Speaker:to do both things at the same time?
Speaker:Yeah, so we were using Square beforehand.
Speaker:I think Shopify is the one I recommend always anyway.
Speaker:But I'm just curious about your experience.
Speaker:So yeah,
Speaker:there's pluses and minuses,
Speaker:but so far as far as I can tell still Shopify
Speaker:has the best growth potential for like if you wanna increase
Speaker:your online sales,
Speaker:if you wanna attach,
Speaker:you know,
Speaker:your point of sale to your inventory and you know,
Speaker:there's just the most and they have the most helpful things
Speaker:like resources out there.
Speaker:So that's what made me pick them because I didn't want
Speaker:to have to do this all over again.
Speaker:Sure, Yeah.
Speaker:And the price was,
Speaker:I didn't think that much more for the potential benefit long
Speaker:term. So let's just get it set up the way we
Speaker:think we need it and have room to grow into it.
Speaker:And you know,
Speaker:the things that we need,
Speaker:you can add the apps if you want to like grant
Speaker:personalization of his stuff,
Speaker:that's an app you can add on and you know,
Speaker:there's things that you can add in to make it more
Speaker:of what you need it to be for whatever you're doing.
Speaker:But that was it.
Speaker:How did you find support services for,
Speaker:I mean were they helpful or did they have documentation that
Speaker:you could resource if you were unclear about how to put
Speaker:do something?
Speaker:Yeah, they're actually really good.
Speaker:There's videos,
Speaker:there's written stuff,
Speaker:there's a whole help thing.
Speaker:You can chat with somebody if you need to and you,
Speaker:sometimes it's more complicated and you'll have to hire somebody to
Speaker:help you if you have something more complex that you need
Speaker:to have happen.
Speaker:But everything we've done,
Speaker:we've done ourselves.
Speaker:Well The site looks great,
Speaker:I have to say.
Speaker:No it it does.
Speaker:It looks really nice.
Speaker:It's very clean,
Speaker:it all looks unified.
Speaker:It's definitely got your branding so I think it looks great.
Speaker:But I love the fact that you did it all yourself.
Speaker:I was telling you a little earlier before we started recording
Speaker:that I was talking with someone yesterday,
Speaker:she had someone build her whole Shopify site.
Speaker:But now anytime she wants,
Speaker:nope, I can't say that it's Shopify,
Speaker:she had someone build her website but because she didn't create
Speaker:it herself,
Speaker:anything that she wants to add or put in,
Speaker:she has to go through somebody else.
Speaker:Which that's okay because she says,
Speaker:you know what,
Speaker:I wanna spend my time doing something else.
Speaker:I mean it's just,
Speaker:it's another decision point,
Speaker:right, of what you wanna be doing and how you wanna
Speaker:work your business,
Speaker:right? Yeah.
Speaker:But I love your story about Shopify.
Speaker:I recommend Shopify to everybody for exactly the reasons you said.
Speaker:Yeah and we do too when people ask or what do
Speaker:you, how do you guys,
Speaker:how did you do this?
Speaker:And it's like you just have to put the effort in,
Speaker:you know?
Speaker:I mean,
Speaker:but yeah,
Speaker:right. If you don't have the time to put the effort
Speaker:in, there are options you can Hire before.
Speaker:Yeah, absolutely.
Speaker:And I also like that you started your website after you'd
Speaker:been out to shows for a little while cuz even if
Speaker:you didn't know everything,
Speaker:you already were feeling okay,
Speaker:I'm getting some traction,
Speaker:people are buying the product.
Speaker:I think that makes you feel better about investing in an
Speaker:online platform regardless of what it is.
Speaker:Yeah. And it also seemed like it would make us more
Speaker:official. Yeah.
Speaker:Like when you have a website you can direct people to,
Speaker:it seems more real.
Speaker:You know,
Speaker:just, hey we set up a table in this church basement
Speaker:this one time and now we're trying,
Speaker:you know,
Speaker:it seems more professional.
Speaker:Well so you've already started answering my question,
Speaker:how did business change after?
Speaker:So it's a great resource for people when you're not in
Speaker:person, right?
Speaker:For sure.
Speaker:You can also collect emails on your website.
Speaker:I'm not sure if you're doing that or not.
Speaker:Are you collecting emails?
Speaker:Okay. Do you collect emails at the booth too in person?
Speaker:We've had a struggle with that figuring out the best way
Speaker:to do it.
Speaker:And I actually just,
Speaker:I don't know,
Speaker:a few weeks ago,
Speaker:got some advice from Shopify when some of their videos,
Speaker:they're really good at responding like YouTube videos.
Speaker:So I was watching some like how can we do this
Speaker:better? How can we get more people there to sign up?
Speaker:And they gave me some helpful tips because most of our
Speaker:interaction with people is in person,
Speaker:not through our website.
Speaker:So if we're just waiting for people to show up on
Speaker:the website,
Speaker:that's not really gonna happen,
Speaker:Right? Because the way you're set up in person is everything.
Speaker:So huge opportunity there.
Speaker:How can we do that without like writing names down and
Speaker:like to get much more streamlined for people and not be,
Speaker:they just want a real quick,
Speaker:yeah. So you're developing that.
Speaker:When I see you again in a show,
Speaker:I'm gonna see,
Speaker:I'm gonna be what you got there.
Speaker:So let's carry on cause there are so many things I
Speaker:wanna talk with you about.
Speaker:But, so it sounds like you dabbled in Etsy a little
Speaker:bit, but then you gravitated to Shopify right away.
Speaker:Is that kind of the story?
Speaker:Do you still have an Etsy site shop?
Speaker:We have an account,
Speaker:but I don't think there's anything on there right now.
Speaker:There's so much noise,
Speaker:it's just fine.
Speaker:Traction at some of the shows,
Speaker:actually one of a kind,
Speaker:we saw someone from Michael's who is,
Speaker:they're launching something in at Small Makers and so we haven't
Speaker:heard any follow up on that,
Speaker:which I was expecting to hear by now.
Speaker:So I don't know what exactly they're doing.
Speaker:But we met representative in Glen Ellen College of DuPage.
Speaker:We did a show and then at one of time he
Speaker:was back.
Speaker:So that was just another connection and just one of those,
Speaker:you know,
Speaker:we're at this show in Chicago,
Speaker:we haven't been here before,
Speaker:huge show and here comes song we know.
Speaker:There you go.
Speaker:Yeah. And it was kind of of cool seeing people again
Speaker:and yeah,
Speaker:we saw a handful of people again up There.
Speaker:Nice. Macrame was never on Etsy.
Speaker:It was leather.
Speaker:Yeah, just leather that you tried To,
Speaker:I think that's smart too,
Speaker:because if you were gonna put both up,
Speaker:you should actually have two shops,
Speaker:you know,
Speaker:for Etsy,
Speaker:you know,
Speaker:cuz people,
Speaker:that's a whole nother story.
Speaker:We're not gonna go all the way there.
Speaker:Okay. Social.
Speaker:Where does that fit into your plan?
Speaker:Or does it since you're doing so much in person?
Speaker:Yeah, we do a lot on social media.
Speaker:I think.
Speaker:I mean,
Speaker:if it's hard to come up with something every day or
Speaker:most days,
Speaker:you know,
Speaker:you gotta have good pictures,
Speaker:you gotta say something smart or something funny.
Speaker:And there's always new like stickers and new things that you
Speaker:have to learn and people pay attention different ways.
Speaker:And so it seems like a lot,
Speaker:But what's your platform of choice that you focus on the
Speaker:most? We get the most engagement on Instagram.
Speaker:I was thinking you'd say that,
Speaker:yeah, We have it linked with Facebook,
Speaker:so everything goes over there.
Speaker:But yeah,
Speaker:Instagram is definitely where we see mostly back and forth.
Speaker:Yeah, Yeah.
Speaker:Well and you guys do have a lot of content because
Speaker:even just pictures,
Speaker:it shows,
Speaker:you know,
Speaker:I mean now that Instagram doesn't have to be the formal
Speaker:staged, beautiful magazine type photos anymore,
Speaker:you know,
Speaker:you could do stories or reels or whatever.
Speaker:You've got so much with shows too.
Speaker:Yeah. And we just started doing some more videos,
Speaker:I don't know,
Speaker:the last half of last year.
Speaker:And that has helped.
Speaker:It's kind of scary.
Speaker:Doesn't have to be scary.
Speaker:I mean,
Speaker:once you start doing it a bit,
Speaker:you know,
Speaker:it's, I mean it seems like a scary thing to start
Speaker:doing, but once you start doing it,
Speaker:it becomes less of a big deal.
Speaker:Although you just don't wanna say something stupid,
Speaker:But, and if you do,
Speaker:you do.
Speaker:Like, it doesn't even,
Speaker:well you're talking me live videos too,
Speaker:you know,
Speaker:like you can do video and then place it up.
Speaker:But I'm thinking like Grant,
Speaker:when you do the lettering for the coasters or other things,
Speaker:that would even be cool just to see how that's done.
Speaker:Yep. Placing the letters,
Speaker:doing the stamping,
Speaker:showing the finish.
Speaker:I mean,
Speaker:that's a reel right there,
Speaker:you know,
Speaker:at any show you do.
Speaker:So social media as well.
Speaker:Okay, let's talk about your classes.
Speaker:How did that start?
Speaker:At the end of 2021,
Speaker:I was on a market and a woman asked me if
Speaker:I do classes.
Speaker:I, and previous to that,
Speaker:people have asked if I did classes and I was like,
Speaker:no, like what do I know?
Speaker:Why could I teach you?
Speaker:What do you know you make these beautiful Mac For just
Speaker:like a few months it seemed like.
Speaker:But she asked me and I said no,
Speaker:and she kept asking like she got my phone,
Speaker:which, or you know,
Speaker:it's okay that she did this,
Speaker:but she was texting me like,
Speaker:when are you gonna do classes?
Speaker:I really think this is a good idea.
Speaker:And I'm like,
Speaker:who is this lady And why is she so sure that
Speaker:this is gonna work?
Speaker:I kept telling her no.
Speaker:And then I said fine.
Speaker:Okay. And probably because of the full-time job I left was
Speaker:traveling around and setting up events in other people's spaces.
Speaker:So that's just what came to my mind.
Speaker:And I was like,
Speaker:like, okay,
Speaker:you gather people,
Speaker:I'll come to your house.
Speaker:And it worked really well,
Speaker:like really well.
Speaker:So then those same people did another class,
Speaker:like they got together and did a second class,
Speaker:and then some of those individual people got their friends,
Speaker:you know,
Speaker:separate friends or family together and did classes and then it
Speaker:just kept going.
Speaker:It kept going.
Speaker:And now you do leather classes too,
Speaker:and you have a central location where you conduct the classes.
Speaker:Is that what I'm understanding?
Speaker:That's what I'm getting from the website.
Speaker:No, we occasionally do public classes.
Speaker:So sometimes like a coffee shop or a,
Speaker:the one we're promoting most right now is a,
Speaker:it's actually a market,
Speaker:three-day market in nearby us that is allowing us to do
Speaker:classes in our booth space.
Speaker:So we got a double boost space,
Speaker:so we'll have half of it for classes and half of
Speaker:it for no normal booth.
Speaker:And we're trying to sell tickets for that.
Speaker:But usually it's on the person who wants to host the
Speaker:class to get all the people and to have the space
Speaker:and to do so we just show up with our stuff
Speaker:and the equipment needed and teach them and we pack it
Speaker:all up and go home and they can continue on.
Speaker:It worked really well.
Speaker:So you don't have to do all the promotion with that
Speaker:then. Right.
Speaker:And it's a good feel because they all know each other
Speaker:and they wanna hang out together,
Speaker:which there's nothing wrong with public classes,
Speaker:clearly we're doing some,
Speaker:but it is easier because they know each other.
Speaker:There's less awkwardness in the beginning when you're trying to get
Speaker:people to know each other and feel comfortable when you do
Speaker:it in someone's home.
Speaker:They have the food they like and they have the drinks
Speaker:they want and they have all the things that they feel
Speaker:comfortable with.
Speaker:Right. And people have thought,
Speaker:oh, it's weird that you go into people's homes.
Speaker:And I'm like,
Speaker:it's never been weird for me.
Speaker:Never not once been weird or awkward.
Speaker:People are excited.
Speaker:Well, yeah,
Speaker:and it's a much more comfortable environment and we're used to
Speaker:that from all the old,
Speaker:you know,
Speaker:pampered chef parties and all the things from the past.
Speaker:But I have a question for you.
Speaker:I've had conversations with Makers before because I feel that they're
Speaker:at the point where they should be doing classes and their
Speaker:comment to me is,
Speaker:no, why am I gonna share how I make this?
Speaker:Because that person is gonna go and start a company and
Speaker:then be my competitor.
Speaker:No, like,
Speaker:I mean all these people,
Speaker:and I don't even know how many hundreds of people have
Speaker:been in a class,
Speaker:like they're there to have fun and really if they wanted
Speaker:to compete with you,
Speaker:they could go look up,
Speaker:like with mce you can do what I did and teach
Speaker:yourself from YouTube videos.
Speaker:Like it's not,
Speaker:what's the word,
Speaker:top secret proprietary.
Speaker:Like there's nothing,
Speaker:right? It's just putting in the effort.
Speaker:And most people are not interested in putting in the effort.
Speaker:And if they weren't,
Speaker:I would say go for it.
Speaker:If you think you wanna do this,
Speaker:there's places you can do it and I'm glad to help
Speaker:you if you want to.
Speaker:But The other thing is they see the intricacy in that
Speaker:it's way more difficult than it looks.
Speaker:And that's what a lot of people say.
Speaker:They're like,
Speaker:oh, now I see why the prices are what they are,
Speaker:because now I've experienced it and I understand to make well
Speaker:hanging straight,
Speaker:you have,
Speaker:I mean,
Speaker:it's not just something you throw together from a kit,
Speaker:you know,
Speaker:like you have to have practice,
Speaker:then you have to put the effort in to actually make
Speaker:nice looking things that people would wanna buy.
Speaker:You know,
Speaker:if you're just gonna hang in your house because you wanted
Speaker:a plant hanger and some some way to hang it,
Speaker:then maybe it doesn't matter.
Speaker:But if you're trying to sell it,
Speaker:it's a whole different level.
Speaker:And no one's ever even said that.
Speaker:Some people are like,
Speaker:oh, I wanna try and remember how to do this,
Speaker:not so I can make another plant hanger for this other
Speaker:plant I want.
Speaker:I don't even know if they ever end up doing that,
Speaker:you know?
Speaker:Right. Well so it's the quality and the skill that you
Speaker:attain over time.
Speaker:Right. But it's also,
Speaker:I mean,
Speaker:starting a business is a whole different thing than making a
Speaker:product. We've been talking about that this whole time.
Speaker:Right? There's so much to it.
Speaker:You putting yourself out there,
Speaker:all of the hard work,
Speaker:figuring out website,
Speaker:like there's so much to it that it's nice to look
Speaker:from the outside in,
Speaker:but when you're in it's way more complicated.
Speaker:Yeah. It's never been an issue.
Speaker:And really,
Speaker:I think most people are doing classes because it's an experience,
Speaker:it's something to do with their friends.
Speaker:They're, most of 'em aren't even thinking,
Speaker:I wanna remember how to do this so I can repeat
Speaker:it myself.
Speaker:They're just having fun.
Speaker:They're just wanting the experience.
Speaker:Yeah, Right.
Speaker:Do you think you'd ever take your classes virtual?
Speaker:That was suggested a while ago,
Speaker:but it's really hard and several times since it's really hard
Speaker:for a lot of people to learn that way.
Speaker:So many people say that come to a class that I'm
Speaker:doing and they're like,
Speaker:well, I have this kid,
Speaker:I got off of Amazon,
Speaker:or I got for a gift for Christmas and I got
Speaker:frustrated because I couldn't figure it out from the video or
Speaker:from the paper that came with it or whatever resources were
Speaker:provided. Like I couldn't figure it out,
Speaker:so I just tossed it in the closet and I haven't
Speaker:thought of it since.
Speaker:But when you're here looking at it the same way I'm
Speaker:looking at it,
Speaker:instead of looking at it kind of backwards.
Speaker:Yeah. Like I can help them say,
Speaker:no, here's where you're going wrong,
Speaker:here's how it's hard.
Speaker:You can provide in the moment assistance to different people.
Speaker:Yes. And then they're like,
Speaker:oh, I get it.
Speaker:And it clicks and then they can keep doing it and
Speaker:maybe they'll go back and finish their kit or maybe they
Speaker:don't. But yeah,
Speaker:it just,
Speaker:and maybe there's other things that are easier to learn virtually
Speaker:than mce,
Speaker:but it,
Speaker:it's really hard to see it in a video or especially
Speaker:on paper.
Speaker:Yeah, that makes sense.
Speaker:All right.
Speaker:As we circle in and and close,
Speaker:I can't end everything without talking about the artisan market that
Speaker:you're hosting.
Speaker:Like, don't you have enough on your plate already?
Speaker:You're hosting a market.
Speaker:It was a heavy lift,
Speaker:that's for sure.
Speaker:It's a lot,
Speaker:but it's good.
Speaker:I think.
Speaker:Do you do it right in your community?
Speaker:Somewhere close,
Speaker:I'm hoping.
Speaker:Yep. Yeah,
Speaker:there's a,
Speaker:it's a raceway for the N H R A.
Speaker:Just they have a building that we can use that's pretty
Speaker:well known around here and we know lots of vendors and
Speaker:we know what vendors are looking for to make it a
Speaker:good market for them.
Speaker:And we kind of have a pretty good sense of what
Speaker:shoppers are looking for,
Speaker:you know,
Speaker:with vendor mix and getting tired of the,
Speaker:seeing the same stuff.
Speaker:And I mean,
Speaker:so it wasn't as hard as you might have thought it
Speaker:could be,
Speaker:but it was certainly a lot of effort.
Speaker:Well, and totally different skills too.
Speaker:Now I organize our community sidewalk sale.
Speaker:At that time we had quite a few people participating and
Speaker:I remember the drama and the comments and like everything that
Speaker:went behind all of that.
Speaker:Who wants to be with who and where,
Speaker:and set up and licensing and you know,
Speaker:like all that crazy stuff.
Speaker:There were surely new things that you hadn't thought of when
Speaker:you first envisioned hosting an event.
Speaker:Just a few.
Speaker:I mean,
Speaker:and they were minor again,
Speaker:somehow it just all was not as hard as it seemed
Speaker:like. You've done one now And what was your overall reason
Speaker:for hosting and adding this on to an already very full
Speaker:plate? Was it more income for you or,
Speaker:Oh no,
Speaker:not more income.
Speaker:Ok. Especially Not year,
Speaker:not yet One.
Speaker:Not Yet.
Speaker:Get to that.
Speaker:Cause let's nix the fallacy that this is a money maker,
Speaker:a huge money maker anyway.
Speaker:It is not a huge money maker.
Speaker:Especially year one.
Speaker:We did talk to someone who does bigger scale shows,
Speaker:actually the show where we're gonna be doing the classes coming
Speaker:up in Westfield and she said,
Speaker:your first three to five years you're expected to lose money
Speaker:hosting a show.
Speaker:So we were not surprised to lose money.
Speaker:But yes,
Speaker:we certainly lost money last year.
Speaker:But gave us something really solid to build upon.
Speaker:I think,
Speaker:I mean we saw some small things we would change,
Speaker:but overall was pretty predictable.
Speaker:We've been at enough shows that we kind of knew,
Speaker:hey, where are pain points for a vendor that we can
Speaker:take care of?
Speaker:And that was one of the top feedback that we got
Speaker:from our vendors was something that we addressed,
Speaker:which one of a kind does.
Speaker:So they do have the porters to take everything up to
Speaker:your booth and we had people help unload cars and get
Speaker:everything into the booth,
Speaker:which it was less of a headache for us cuz we
Speaker:could get traffic out of the way.
Speaker:But vendors definitely appreciated also cause their cars unloaded in five
Speaker:minutes instead of 30 minutes when you're carrying stuff yourself.
Speaker:And let's face it,
Speaker:a physical show is a lot of work just being in
Speaker:the booth during the show,
Speaker:not even the setup and the tear down part.
Speaker:So your,
Speaker:would you say that you know what you got out of
Speaker:it was being able to put on a show that addressed
Speaker:some of the issues that other shows,
Speaker:you know,
Speaker:pain points of other shows to see if you could create
Speaker:a show that became all the more valuable to its participants?
Speaker:Yeah, and also there's nothing like that in our area.
Speaker:So like we travel all over,
Speaker:we could see that like there's this empty space around us
Speaker:where there's nothing like what we envision or the places we
Speaker:even go happening of the quality and of the type of
Speaker:shopper that we need to be successful.
Speaker:It just doesn't exist nearby us.
Speaker:And so we thought we could do it.
Speaker:So we Did.
Speaker:And you did and you did,
Speaker:to your point about being bold,
Speaker:right? Yeah,
Speaker:It was really,
Speaker:the market was very much in line with running the business.
Speaker:So it's not the big grand thing that you do well,
Speaker:it's the daily tasks that you do day in and day
Speaker:out that keep it on pace.
Speaker:And that's the same thing with running a small business like
Speaker:this. It's not the new product,
Speaker:it's making sure that every wall that I make has that
Speaker:same quality and paying attention to those small details all the
Speaker:time. I'm currently in project management,
Speaker:it's the very much the same thing there.
Speaker:It's everyone's looking for that home run,
Speaker:what's gonna be my big break.
Speaker:And your big break is just doing the same thing over
Speaker:and over with quality,
Speaker:with intention and just kind of setting a course and sticking
Speaker:to it.
Speaker:Yeah, so we were talking a few minutes ago about people
Speaker:stealing, oh well I'm gonna build a business and be a
Speaker:competitor. And one thing I saw at a show that we
Speaker:did, 2021,
Speaker:I went around was gonna promote some other booths on our
Speaker:social media,
Speaker:just kind of promote the show in general and went up
Speaker:to a booth and I said,
Speaker:Hey, do you mind if I take some pictures?
Speaker:And he was like,
Speaker:oh, I don't mind.
Speaker:No one's gonna copy my work.
Speaker:It's too hard.
Speaker:It was,
Speaker:that mentality is a good one that no one wants to
Speaker:do what I'm doing.
Speaker:Like, yeah,
Speaker:it looks cool,
Speaker:sounds like a good idea.
Speaker:But even if they try it,
Speaker:they're gonna get a couple pieces in decide,
Speaker:eh, I'll let him continue to do it.
Speaker:This is too much work for me.
Speaker:So hearing that perspective was definitely a different one that you
Speaker:don't usually hear of those shows with a lot of artists
Speaker:that are very protective of their work.
Speaker:Yeah, and I feel like even if you made the exact
Speaker:same thing,
Speaker:it's the personality you bring to the booth,
Speaker:like we were talking about before,
Speaker:it's the way you do emails or you process your branding,
Speaker:your website,
Speaker:like it's all of this together.
Speaker:Of course you gotta start with a good product but all
Speaker:of it together,
Speaker:which is why No,
Speaker:especially with handmade creators,
Speaker:no business can be exactly the same.
Speaker:It just can't.
Speaker:All right.
Speaker:I lied to you guys cuz I told you I was
Speaker:gonna finish with the artist in market question,
Speaker:but I do have one more question.
Speaker:As a husband wife team,
Speaker:how do you integrate the business into your life?
Speaker:So it's not always all business,
Speaker:It's Pretty much always all business And you play off each
Speaker:other so well.
Speaker:I mean,
Speaker:you can just see the fun joy you're having in it.
Speaker:I'm sure not every minute of every day,
Speaker:it's reality.
Speaker:But there aren't certain times where you're just like,
Speaker:we're not talking work like,
Speaker:or we're only working just this time of day or it
Speaker:just free flows as it will Kind of free flows.
Speaker:Yep. As things need to get done,
Speaker:we try to go up there and get 'em done.
Speaker:So our,
Speaker:our workspace is all upstairs at our house,
Speaker:so it's a little bit separate,
Speaker:not really working in the dining room,
Speaker:but we don't eat in here either,
Speaker:so. Okay.
Speaker:All right.
Speaker:Well I thought that would be a curious question because you
Speaker:know, there are some people who think of going into business
Speaker:with their significant other and I'm guessing sometimes it works and
Speaker:sometimes it doesn't.
Speaker:So, but for you guys,
Speaker:what you're doing right here is working beautifully.
Speaker:We we've heard both sides of it.
Speaker:Yeah. Yeah.
Speaker:We've heard people that it's worked and others that it,
Speaker:it's not a good thing for them.
Speaker:So yeah,
Speaker:for us it's worked.
Speaker:But definitely,
Speaker:yeah, it,
Speaker:it can be trying at times.
Speaker:It's a lot going on and we have stresses from our
Speaker:individual work that needs done and those can roll open to
Speaker:the business and everything else.
Speaker:So it can,
Speaker:it can be challenging but definitely rewarding at the same time,
Speaker:we do try to maintain,
Speaker:you know,
Speaker:some things outside of the business as well,
Speaker:trying to,
Speaker:getting more involved in our church,
Speaker:things like that.
Speaker:So it's not just work all the time,
Speaker:try to keep some things,
Speaker:Try to do some balance one way or another.
Speaker:Yes, absolutely.
Speaker:All right.
Speaker:We've talked about your gorgeous products.
Speaker:Where can people go and see them?
Speaker:What's the best place?
Speaker:Best places to come see us at a market.
Speaker:And on your website,
Speaker:do you have a list of the markets that you're at?
Speaker:You do?
Speaker:Yes. So uptown common handmade.com
Speaker:and you can see most of our products on there.
Speaker:We do try to keep that updated,
Speaker:but we do run our markets from Square right now,
Speaker:so the inventory's not tied.
Speaker:We can talk to any vendor about the positives and negatives
Speaker:with Shopify versus Square.
Speaker:We found that Square is really great for in-person markets,
Speaker:so that's why we do that right now.
Speaker:But yeah,
Speaker:visit our website,
Speaker:leather stuff,
Speaker:even Mcma,
Speaker:we're fully customizable.
Speaker:Beautiful. And the website is Uptown common handmade.com.
Speaker:Okay. And over to Instagram at the same name if they
Speaker:wanted to check that out.
Speaker:Instagram and Facebook just at Uptown Common.
Speaker:Okay, perfect.
Speaker:No handmade After it.
Speaker:Yes. Wonderful.
Speaker:Well, you guys have been so much fun to talk to.
Speaker:I've loved hearing your story.
Speaker:I hope my questions weren't too deep,
Speaker:but you've really brought up like some really important points about
Speaker:a journey on the way as a handmade business.
Speaker:And the fact that you're doing as many shows as you
Speaker:are clearly makes you professionals even within just like two and
Speaker:a half,
Speaker:three years.
Speaker:Jennifer and Grant,
Speaker:thank you so much for coming on the show today.
Speaker:Thank You.
Speaker:So it was great talking to you.
Speaker:I love this startup story so much because they didn't have
Speaker:everything figured out before they passed.
Speaker:Go. As Jennifer said,
Speaker:it just kind of happened.
Speaker:They obviously went all in on one person shows as their
Speaker:sales strategy,
Speaker:which fits their style and is paying off nicely.
Speaker:That's what's so great about having your own business.
Speaker:You can make the decisions and do what you enjoy and
Speaker:what fits for you.
Speaker:But still,
Speaker:I say wow,
Speaker:150 shows is amazing.
Speaker:One other thing I wanna point out is how they're keeping
Speaker:an eye on changing trends and are open to adjusting their
Speaker:products accordingly.
Speaker:Wise advice for all of us,
Speaker:I wanna make sure you're familiar with my free Facebook group
Speaker:called Gift Biz Breeze.
Speaker:It's a place where we all gather and are a community
Speaker:to support each other.
Speaker:I got a really fun post in there that's my favorite
Speaker:of the week,
Speaker:I have to say,
Speaker:where I invite all of you to share what you're doing
Speaker:to show pictures of your product,
Speaker:to show what you're working on for the week,
Speaker:to get reaction from other people.
Speaker:And just for fun,
Speaker:because we all get to see the wonderful products that everybody
Speaker:in the community is making.
Speaker:My favorite post every single week.
Speaker:Without doubt.
Speaker:Wait, what?
Speaker:Aren't you part of the group already?
Speaker:If not,
Speaker:make sure to jump over to Facebook and search for the
Speaker:group Gift Biz breeze.
Speaker:Don't delay.
