Shownotes
Motivational Quote
Business Inspiration
“Is this a thing?” [7:08] Her children identified an opportunity [11:13]A Candle Flickering Moment
The hurdle of adding that first employee [14:09] Clues on the identifying the best people and the to hire [16:20]Business Growth Insights
Love what you do [12:20] You Tube and overall internet impact [18:20] From a customer’s mouth [20:52]Success Trait
Cheerful and nice sounds small but has huge imact [23:55]Productivity/Lifestyle Tool
Reading … why it’s important for her [27:21]Valuable Book
No One to Trust by Iris Johansen
Contact Links
Website Facebook Twitter InstagramIf you found value in this podcast, make sure to subscribe and leave a review in Apple Podcasts or Google Podcasts. That helps us spread the word to more makers just like you. Thanks! Sue
Transcripts
Gift biz unwrapped episode 20.
Speaker:When you teach a person a skill,
Speaker:it changes their life.
Speaker:Hi, This is John Lee,
Speaker:Dumas of entrepreneur on fire,
Speaker:and you're listening to gift to biz unwrapped.
Speaker:And now it's time To light it up.
Speaker:Welcome to gift biz,
Speaker:unwrapped your source for industry specific insights and advice to develop
Speaker:and grow your business.
Speaker:And now here's your host,
Speaker:Sue Monheit.
Speaker:Hi there.
Speaker:I'm Sue and welcome to the gift biz unramped podcast.
Speaker:Whether you own a brick and mortar store Sell online or
Speaker:are just getting started,
Speaker:you'll discover new insight to gain traction and to grow your
Speaker:business. After you listened to the show,
Speaker:if you like what you're hearing,
Speaker:make sure to jump over and subscribe to the show on
Speaker:iTunes. That way you'll automatically get the newest episodes when they
Speaker:go live.
Speaker:And thank you to those who have already left a rating
Speaker:and review by subscribing rating and reviewing you help to increase
Speaker:the visibility of gift biz unwrapped.
Speaker:It's a great way to pay it forward.
Speaker:To help others with their entrepreneurial journey as well.
Speaker:Today, I am thrilled to have with us,
Speaker:Jenny Doan,
Speaker:Jenny donut,
Speaker:and her husband,
Speaker:Ron live in a small Missouri town and absolutely love the
Speaker:rural life.
Speaker:She has seven children and 21 grandchildren.
Speaker:She also has an infectious smile and a knack for breaking
Speaker:down. Even the most challenging quilt projects into quick and easy
Speaker:steps. Jenny started her business,
Speaker:the Missouri star quilt company in 2008,
Speaker:and then she began producing weekly tutorials on YouTube.
Speaker:Since then she's been featured in numerous articles and is the
Speaker:subject of a wildly popular quilting magazine called block with more
Speaker:than 300 YouTube tutorials that have been viewed by get this
Speaker:over 50 million times.
Speaker:It's no wonder that Jenny Doan has been called the most
Speaker:famous quilter in the world and we have her with us
Speaker:right now.
Speaker:Welcome Jenny.
Speaker:Good morning.
Speaker:Do you have anything you'd like to add to your book?
Speaker:No chips make me sound pretty amazing,
Speaker:pretty amazing.
Speaker:I'm like,
Speaker:wow, I'm all bad.
Speaker:That, And you're going to share everything with us in about
Speaker:a second here.
Speaker:Alrighty, let's get to it.
Speaker:As our listeners know,
Speaker:we like to revolve the conversation around the life of a
Speaker:motivational candle.
Speaker:The light shines on you while you share your stories and
Speaker:experiences. So Jenny,
Speaker:are you ready to light it up?
Speaker:Of course let's light it up,
Speaker:right? Well,
Speaker:Let's look at your motivational candle just to get a feel
Speaker:for you.
Speaker:What color is your candle?
Speaker:It's blue.
Speaker:What? Shade of blue?
Speaker:It would be probably a medium blue.
Speaker:And why do you like blue?
Speaker:It's just comforting.
Speaker:It's cool.
Speaker:I love the ocean.
Speaker:I love serene colors.
Speaker:I guess it represents a of serenity to me.
Speaker:I Got to tell you,
Speaker:I was very curious about what your answer was going to
Speaker:be because being surrounded by all those fabric colors,
Speaker:it's like,
Speaker:what's she Going to pick?
Speaker:Yeah. And it's interesting because different colors that appeal to me
Speaker:at different times,
Speaker:but as far as the color,
Speaker:I always go back to it would be blue.
Speaker:So that's your core color then for it?
Speaker:Yeah. And What is the quote that would be on this
Speaker:camera? When I was a young girl,
Speaker:I saw this quote and I used to,
Speaker:I mean,
Speaker:I was,
Speaker:I've always been a big journal keeper and I I've written
Speaker:things down for years.
Speaker:And this was a quote I wrote as a very young
Speaker:girl and I've tried to live my whole life by it.
Speaker:And it says,
Speaker:do a thing as best as you can and rejoice with
Speaker:him who can do it better because I've kind of believed.
Speaker:We were just always on a journey.
Speaker:However you do this today.
Speaker:You know,
Speaker:maybe tomorrow you'll do a little better,
Speaker:but today you do the best you can.
Speaker:And there's always going to be somebody who's better than you.
Speaker:So be happy for them.
Speaker:Absolutely. And I'm not sure there's that much of that in
Speaker:the world right now.
Speaker:Everyone wants to kind of hang on to their secrets And
Speaker:there's a bit of competitiveness out there.
Speaker:Oh, for sure.
Speaker:But you know,
Speaker:I keep hearing all the time that you give out your
Speaker:best stuff,
Speaker:you know,
Speaker:a lot of in the marketing world,
Speaker:they say,
Speaker:you know,
Speaker:you give out your best stuff for free.
Speaker:You doing all of your tutorials and all that.
Speaker:And I think when you do that,
Speaker:it does come back.
Speaker:It does.
Speaker:My mom always said,
Speaker:if you cast your bread upon the water,
Speaker:it comes back better.
Speaker:Oh, there you go.
Speaker:I just feel that way.
Speaker:I feel like the more you give,
Speaker:the more you get absolutely.
Speaker:I'm on that path with you.
Speaker:For sure.
Speaker:There's another quote.
Speaker:Maybe You'll have to have to.
Speaker:I'm not sure.
Speaker:There we go.
Speaker:Well, let's go back now to the beginning of your journey.
Speaker:Talk to us about how the whole Missouri star quilt company
Speaker:started. Where did that spark come in?
Speaker:How did it all?
Speaker:Well, I think it basically came because my children all grew
Speaker:up and left home.
Speaker:Honestly, the first 50 years of my life raising children that
Speaker:just felt crucial and important.
Speaker:I loved every day of it.
Speaker:I mean,
Speaker:I just really enjoyed that part of my life and it
Speaker:felt really important to me.
Speaker:And all of a sudden I was home alone and I
Speaker:thought, what am I going to do with the rest of
Speaker:my life?
Speaker:And I'm not sure I was really content to just fill
Speaker:time. I wanted it to matter.
Speaker:I had as many years ahead of me as I had
Speaker:behind me,
Speaker:I just thought that that should be something important.
Speaker:And while we were looking for something important,
Speaker:one of my kids asked if I would be interested in
Speaker:learning how to quilt on a quilt machine because I had
Speaker:been quilting for about 20 years and I sewed my whole
Speaker:life. But when we moved to the Midwest,
Speaker:I mean,
Speaker:quilting is what you do here.
Speaker:So I took a class that was really fascinating to me
Speaker:and just grabbed my creativity gene.
Speaker:So the children asked me if I would be interested in
Speaker:doing that.
Speaker:And I'm not sure what their motivation was,
Speaker:whether it was just to keep me from living in their
Speaker:basement because now I'd have retirement money.
Speaker:I'm not sure,
Speaker:but I think they were also,
Speaker:you know,
Speaker:they were a little concerned about what I was going to
Speaker:do for the rest of my life.
Speaker:And my first thought honestly was,
Speaker:well, that is a hobby,
Speaker:a bit of a hobby.
Speaker:And I'm not sure.
Speaker:I just want to fill time with that.
Speaker:What I didn't know at the time was that when you
Speaker:teach a person a skill,
Speaker:it changes their life.
Speaker:And so that is something that I've learned along the way
Speaker:that quilt machine came.
Speaker:And I mean,
Speaker:that was just,
Speaker:it just changed everything for me.
Speaker:Absolutely. Everything.
Speaker:Well, Let me back you up for a second and clarify,
Speaker:you were saying that as the kids were growing up,
Speaker:you were already quilting.
Speaker:Yes. Right?
Speaker:So, so you had a machine and you were just giving
Speaker:It. No,
Speaker:no, no,
Speaker:no, no.
Speaker:So, okay.
Speaker:So that's a completely different part of it.
Speaker:When we lived in California,
Speaker:I was a costumer and had costumed and did theater productions.
Speaker:And so I also sing,
Speaker:so I did musical comedy.
Speaker:Well, when we moved to the Midwest 20 years ago,
Speaker:nobody needed to costumer in this little town.
Speaker:And when you love something,
Speaker:when you're passionate about doing something,
Speaker:creating something,
Speaker:you can't just stop doing it.
Speaker:So my creating was sewing and I sewed all the time
Speaker:and all of a sudden I needed something to sew.
Speaker:So I took this class on quilting.
Speaker:Now, when I talk about quilting,
Speaker:I'm talking about piecing pieces of fabric together.
Speaker:I'm a piecer.
Speaker:And so I would make the tops of the quilts and
Speaker:I would send them off to be quilted.
Speaker:And one day I said to Alan,
Speaker:Hey, I'm going to go get a quilt today.
Speaker:And he said,
Speaker:oh, what one is it?
Speaker:And I said,
Speaker:I don't know,
Speaker:it's been over a year that it's been there.
Speaker:And he goes,
Speaker:is this a thing?
Speaker:Do people like,
Speaker:do we need more?
Speaker:Long-arm quilters?
Speaker:You know,
Speaker:is this something,
Speaker:you know,
Speaker:you should look into?
Speaker:And I said,
Speaker:you know what I said,
Speaker:there's never enough.
Speaker:Long-arm quilters because pieces,
Speaker:the people who,
Speaker:so the tops together,
Speaker:we are like obsessed.
Speaker:We have to keep doing it.
Speaker:So that's when I started looking into the quilt machine for
Speaker:me to seeing if that was something viable I could do
Speaker:to make money.
Speaker:So then the quilt machine actually takes the top of the
Speaker:quilt and the bottom of the quilt and puts a cotton
Speaker:batting in the middle.
Speaker:And then the machine actually stitches all three of those layers
Speaker:together. And so that was the quilt machine that came.
Speaker:I was already piecing quilts.
Speaker:I wasn't actually doing the on top quilting until I got
Speaker:a quilt machine.
Speaker:I had generally quilted by hand.
Speaker:Oh my gosh.
Speaker:That's Time intensive.
Speaker:I know that for sure.
Speaker:It is time intensive,
Speaker:but it's very rewarding as well.
Speaker:Yeah. I mean,
Speaker:there are two different results,
Speaker:the quilter versus doing it by hand,
Speaker:for sure.
Speaker:Right. Right.
Speaker:Okay. So you get this quilt machine,
Speaker:but was this before or after your daughter had suggested maybe
Speaker:you want to go into business?
Speaker:No, it was way before.
Speaker:So the machine came and it was too big for our
Speaker:house. So then we had to buy a building to put
Speaker:it in.
Speaker:So the building actually costs less than the quilt machine did.
Speaker:But now that we had a quilt machine in a building,
Speaker:we had a business.
Speaker:And the reason I liked the idea of the building is
Speaker:because a lot of long armors and long arm is the
Speaker:name of what they call people who quilt on a big
Speaker:quilt machine.
Speaker:They're called long-arm machines.
Speaker:And, and it's not because anybody has the long arms,
Speaker:but it's just because they're,
Speaker:you know,
Speaker:they're long on the table.
Speaker:There's a big throat in the machine and you have to
Speaker:have a reach to be able to move that machine back
Speaker:and forth.
Speaker:So I guess you do need a little bit of long
Speaker:arms. So the machine came too big for my house.
Speaker:We had to buy a building and once we had a
Speaker:building, then we had a business.
Speaker:And the reason I liked that was because when I would
Speaker:take my quilt to somebody's house,
Speaker:if they smoke,
Speaker:that was a problem for me.
Speaker:If they had pets,
Speaker:that was a problem for me.
Speaker:But now for us to have a business,
Speaker:people would be safe from that.
Speaker:You know,
Speaker:it would be a more conducive environment because fabric soaks up
Speaker:everything, you know,
Speaker:soaks up all kinds of smells and you know,
Speaker:things like that.
Speaker:And here's your quilt.
Speaker:And if you're not a smoker,
Speaker:then that's something that it's a little bit of problem for
Speaker:those of us who aren't,
Speaker:or are either way for me to having it in a
Speaker:building. You know,
Speaker:it offered an environment that people wouldn't be worried about pets
Speaker:or personal habits or things like that.
Speaker:And so I was really excited about having a building.
Speaker:So we put it in a building and we put a
Speaker:little sign on the window that said machine quilting.
Speaker:We decided that we were going to have a business and
Speaker:people would bring their quilts to this little building and,
Speaker:you know,
Speaker:trying to support us.
Speaker:You know,
Speaker:I had probably 20 quilts made that I practiced on until
Speaker:I felt comfortable enough quilting on someone else's quilt.
Speaker:And so we just started with the business with that,
Speaker:and that was just going along fine.
Speaker:And we thought we'd do a little quilt shop.
Speaker:Maybe we'd get a little fabric.
Speaker:And all of that was such a learning experience for us
Speaker:because we knew nothing.
Speaker:And Sarah and Natalie would come down and we'd work on
Speaker:it together.
Speaker:And they each had little kids and corralled them in a
Speaker:back room so that we could keep doing this.
Speaker:So the whole beginning of it was very organic.
Speaker:When my son Allen came in and said,
Speaker:mom, are you interested in doing tutorials online?
Speaker:When we made the jump to that?
Speaker:That's when things really exploded because now we're not just dealing
Speaker:with whoever knocks on our door.
Speaker:It's whoever happens to click on that channel that moved us
Speaker:into a whole different place for our business.
Speaker:And What does your business look like today?
Speaker:Just give our listeners a feel for it.
Speaker:Let me just tell you that every day I wake up
Speaker:feeling amazed and blessed.
Speaker:This business is huge.
Speaker:It is,
Speaker:we have PR pretty close to 200 employees.
Speaker:We ship loads of stuff.
Speaker:Every day,
Speaker:we have a warehouse,
Speaker:whoever thought we would have a warehouse,
Speaker:we have six stores open in the little town that we
Speaker:live in and all those stores are fabric specific.
Speaker:So we would have a boutique shop and a solid fabric
Speaker:shop and a Christmas fabric shop.
Speaker:We bought the old abandoned buildings downtown.
Speaker:So it's revitalized our downtown area.
Speaker:People are bustling through the town.
Speaker:I mean,
Speaker:it was just amazing,
Speaker:absolutely amazing.
Speaker:Mind-boggling the things that are happening.
Speaker:You know,
Speaker:it's just,
Speaker:it's huge.
Speaker:It's a big business.
Speaker:Now, You know,
Speaker:the thing that jumps out at me is you took an,
Speaker:and I don't know that you even identified it.
Speaker:You know,
Speaker:one of your children did,
Speaker:is you took this passion that you had kind of just
Speaker:a hobby sewing,
Speaker:and one thing evolved into another.
Speaker:And clearly you really enjoyed it because you did it for
Speaker:years. And then they were the ones who pointed out to
Speaker:you that,
Speaker:you know,
Speaker:why don't you look at doing this?
Speaker:Why don't you look at Quilts?
Speaker:Absolutely. Yeah.
Speaker:I would have seen that.
Speaker:I wouldn't have made that jump really Interesting.
Speaker:So gift biz listeners.
Speaker:Think if you're in a position where you're looking at,
Speaker:what could you do or what do you want to do
Speaker:next? You're in that life stage where your kids are gone,
Speaker:you want to do something new.
Speaker:What have you already been doing all of your life?
Speaker:And you might think that it's not anything that could develop
Speaker:into something,
Speaker:but look at what Jenny did was one step after another,
Speaker:you bought the quilting machine and then you had a little
Speaker:place for it.
Speaker:And then one thing led to another.
Speaker:And then you took advantage of the technology that's available today
Speaker:with YouTube,
Speaker:but all of it goes back to what you personally are.
Speaker:So passionate about.
Speaker:Number one,
Speaker:and number two,
Speaker:clearly have the talent and do so well.
Speaker:Well, and that's the thing.
Speaker:If you love what you're doing,
Speaker:you're going to love it.
Speaker:You know,
Speaker:you never want what you do every day to feel like
Speaker:work. You know,
Speaker:you want it to be something that you enjoy,
Speaker:that you want to sync your time and do like for
Speaker:some people like for me,
Speaker:for instance,
Speaker:my love is the creating and the piecing.
Speaker:That's my love.
Speaker:I have no love for the business end of things,
Speaker:you know,
Speaker:or you know,
Speaker:or the construction end of things.
Speaker:But if I can create something that is gonna make life
Speaker:easier for somebody or make a pattern,
Speaker:come to life or something like that,
Speaker:for me,
Speaker:that's the love.
Speaker:And it took me a while to actually hone in on
Speaker:that and really find that that wasn't something I wasn't used
Speaker:to that kind of introspective thinking.
Speaker:And I actually noticed that when that kind of part was
Speaker:removed from what I did on a daily basis,
Speaker:and I found,
Speaker:I just wasn't as happy as I had been.
Speaker:And I thought what is missing?
Speaker:And I'm like,
Speaker:it's the creative part.
Speaker:And so,
Speaker:you know,
Speaker:it takes a little bit of introspection on your part,
Speaker:but also the whole thing came about because there was a
Speaker:need, you know,
Speaker:my son said,
Speaker:well, why is this quilt been at the quilters for a
Speaker:year? And it's because there's a lot of work for them
Speaker:available. So obviously there's a need for more people to do
Speaker:that sort of thing.
Speaker:Two good points.
Speaker:You just brought up the introspection and then the need what's
Speaker:around in your immediate environment that people Need and who would've
Speaker:thought sowing thought,
Speaker:you know,
Speaker:really, it's amazing to me,
Speaker:it's A really happy story.
Speaker:It's a great story of growth.
Speaker:I know you've done a lot for the town in terms
Speaker:of being able to employ people and bringing a lot of
Speaker:people into the town because they're now visiting.
Speaker:But you know that the road isn't always nice and smooth.
Speaker:I'm sure as you were going through one path to another,
Speaker:you did encounter some problems.
Speaker:Tell us a moment or a time when you really had
Speaker:a challenge and how you overcame that For us.
Speaker:The first big challenge was when we could not the three
Speaker:of us,
Speaker:Natalie, Sarah,
Speaker:and I,
Speaker:we could not physically do it all ourselves anymore for us.
Speaker:That was the hugest hurdle because now we had to hire
Speaker:somebody, but we weren't even paying ourselves yet.
Speaker:And so now you have somebody you have to hire that
Speaker:you have to really pay,
Speaker:you know,
Speaker:they're not going to just do it for free and it's
Speaker:your reputation.
Speaker:Now you're letting someone else kind of have control over that
Speaker:area. So it was so bizarre,
Speaker:but we like checked over everything.
Speaker:We thought we could have somebody else do without affecting our
Speaker:business or our reputation.
Speaker:So the first hire we made,
Speaker:we hired a high school girl to come in and clean
Speaker:for us.
Speaker:I know that sounds crazy,
Speaker:but that freed us up to keep focusing on the business
Speaker:part and the creative part and that stuff was all done.
Speaker:So you wouldn't Let her touch any sewing or anything,
Speaker:but she could,
Speaker:No, it didn't affect our business directly,
Speaker:except that it freed us up for us.
Speaker:Actually, the employee thing has always been one of the most
Speaker:difficult things,
Speaker:but the minute you make that leap and you hire somebody
Speaker:to take care of those things in your life that are
Speaker:time consuming and necessary,
Speaker:but it's not what feeds you or builds your business.
Speaker:It enables all that creative energy to then be just,
Speaker:you know,
Speaker:you don't even have to think about what your baseboards look
Speaker:like, because you can just go.
Speaker:So, you know,
Speaker:you can just do this because you know,
Speaker:they're done.
Speaker:And so for us,
Speaker:that was the first big challenge hiring someone.
Speaker:And the next hires we would look seriously at what can
Speaker:we release from us so that we can keep doing what
Speaker:we love.
Speaker:The Only way you're going to be able to expand and
Speaker:grow is if you do end up bringing people in it's
Speaker:so true.
Speaker:I remember the first time I had to hire someone,
Speaker:it was like,
Speaker:I, cause I had this idea,
Speaker:you know,
Speaker:I am super woman and I can do everything myself.
Speaker:At some point,
Speaker:you're going to max yourself out.
Speaker:There's only so big.
Speaker:Your company can grow.
Speaker:If you're just going to keep it within just the confines
Speaker:of yourself or you and one other person or a family
Speaker:as was your case.
Speaker:Jenny, It's absolutely true.
Speaker:And now we're to the point that the people we have
Speaker:to hire are people who are smarter than we are.
Speaker:So we've gotten it as far as we can go.
Speaker:And then you have to hire somebody who really you like,
Speaker:for instance,
Speaker:we haven't,
Speaker:we just,
Speaker:we hired an HR person and this can't be a person
Speaker:who's just nice to people.
Speaker:It has to be somebody who knows the law,
Speaker:somebody who knows,
Speaker:but all of a sudden we're like,
Speaker:we need that.
Speaker:You know?
Speaker:And it's like,
Speaker:we really need that.
Speaker:So it's interesting to me how those hires are going now,
Speaker:because you know,
Speaker:as a person,
Speaker:you have to recognize your limitations as well.
Speaker:And again,
Speaker:you want to keep yourself free to do what you do
Speaker:best because that's what the business is based on.
Speaker:Good Point.
Speaker:Would you say that after your first hire though,
Speaker:these, the second,
Speaker:third, fourth started coming easier?
Speaker:I would say so.
Speaker:Was that first fleet?
Speaker:That was just so frightening,
Speaker:you know?
Speaker:Yeah. It's That mental hurdle,
Speaker:cause this is your baby.
Speaker:You're gonna let someone else have their hands On it.
Speaker:Well, and not only that,
Speaker:but you have to pay them.
Speaker:If you don't have money and you want to keep your
Speaker:lights on in your business and you just want to sit
Speaker:and so whatever you can do that,
Speaker:but all of a sudden you have this person you're responsible
Speaker:for. That was huge for us because when you're in a
Speaker:retail business,
Speaker:you don't know if one person or 20 people are going
Speaker:to walk through the door.
Speaker:Then From your experience,
Speaker:is there any guidance you would give about when you feel
Speaker:the right time is to make that first hire?
Speaker:Well, for us it was the overwhelm factor.
Speaker:We were just so overwhelmed.
Speaker:Everything else in our life was getting neglected.
Speaker:You know,
Speaker:our families were neglected,
Speaker:our homes were neglected and we just,
Speaker:I think you have to do that.
Speaker:It's like,
Speaker:you have to do everything,
Speaker:you know,
Speaker:you possibly can before you go,
Speaker:okay. You know what I need some help,
Speaker:I think is your frustration level pills,
Speaker:you know,
Speaker:and you find your family going,
Speaker:oh mom,
Speaker:can I make an appointment to,
Speaker:for, with you for,
Speaker:you know,
Speaker:I'm like,
Speaker:oh yeah,
Speaker:that's not a good time.
Speaker:And it could lead to you just burning out and shutting
Speaker:down the whole business to really good conversation about hiring.
Speaker:I appreciate that.
Speaker:Yeah. Let's talk a little bit now about a promotion or
Speaker:an event that you might've done that made a difference either.
Speaker:You know,
Speaker:you've talked about starting in with YouTube and maybe that's where
Speaker:you want to go with this,
Speaker:but I'll let you decide what really started moving the needle
Speaker:in terms of people coming in and knowing your Business.
Speaker:Well, that would have to be our YouTube channel.
Speaker:One of the things that has always surprised me is how
Speaker:many people are visual out there.
Speaker:I'm a visual learner.
Speaker:I'm also an avid reader.
Speaker:I mean,
Speaker:I consider myself a pretty well-rounded learner.
Speaker:It wasn't,
Speaker:nothing was like super difficult for me as far as this
Speaker:type of learning or that,
Speaker:but I've taught a lot of my children and they're all
Speaker:different types of learners.
Speaker:But what surprised me was that I have known all my
Speaker:life. If I could just see you do something,
Speaker:if you could just show me that I can replicate that
Speaker:I can do it in a heartbeat.
Speaker:But if I read the directions,
Speaker:I'll read them and reread them several times before they really
Speaker:sink in or I'll have somebody else read it and say,
Speaker:okay, just tell me what to do.
Speaker:And so I was so surprised when we started doing the
Speaker:tutorials. There were women that just,
Speaker:it was crazy how many people were like,
Speaker:oh my gosh,
Speaker:thank you so much.
Speaker:Cause if I can just see it,
Speaker:I can do it.
Speaker:And so for us,
Speaker:that was huge.
Speaker:Also the internet.
Speaker:I mean,
Speaker:you can put an ad in every paper in your local
Speaker:area, but the internet is everywhere in my mind.
Speaker:And I think it's probably my generation across the board.
Speaker:We don't think in the terms of this huge,
Speaker:you know,
Speaker:that the world is our audience.
Speaker:We're thinking let's put an ad in the newspaper.
Speaker:That was all Alan steel,
Speaker:Allen's over everything that happens to online with our business,
Speaker:my son,
Speaker:Allen, he's very aware of what's happening out there and how
Speaker:it's working and the direction it's going for us.
Speaker:It was that internet thing that,
Speaker:you know,
Speaker:getting us out there,
Speaker:getting us online,
Speaker:making a scene.
Speaker:Now the thing that surprised all of us is that once
Speaker:we got our site together and opened our online business for
Speaker:business, you think everybody's going to know about that.
Speaker:And that really,
Speaker:I think is a word of mouth thing that happens a
Speaker:little more slowly than we thought,
Speaker:as far as,
Speaker:I mean,
Speaker:you, you launch your site and you think everybody's going to
Speaker:be knocking on the door.
Speaker:And I think by the third day we had eight people.
Speaker:But if what you're doing is good.
Speaker:When eight people see that they're going to tell eight more
Speaker:people, it very quickly gets bigger from that point,
Speaker:Jenny, how Long after that first YouTube video,
Speaker:did you start seeing some traction?
Speaker:Well, the videos originally were just to teach people how to
Speaker:quilt. We were not selling fabric.
Speaker:We were doing machine quilting for people.
Speaker:And I just wanted to share my knowledge with people.
Speaker:You know,
Speaker:how it worked for me,
Speaker:how it was easier for me.
Speaker:We were doing a lot of classes and things like that.
Speaker:And I thought if we can do,
Speaker:because here's the problem with taking a class.
Speaker:When you take a class with somebody,
Speaker:when you walk out the door,
Speaker:you forget like three quarters of everything you learned in their
Speaker:doors, like suck the knowledge out of us or something.
Speaker:I don't know what it is,
Speaker:but the fact that they could go online and they could
Speaker:it and pause it and watch it again and watch it
Speaker:again and watch it again was huge for these people.
Speaker:I'll never forget the day when a lady called and she
Speaker:goes, well,
Speaker:I would like to buy some of that green fabric you're
Speaker:using. And I said,
Speaker:oh no,
Speaker:no, I'm not selling fabric.
Speaker:I am just showing you how to sew.
Speaker:And she goes,
Speaker:well, I want that green fabric.
Speaker:And I said,
Speaker:well, this is my own personal fabric.
Speaker:This is a stash,
Speaker:my stash.
Speaker:It's not for sale.
Speaker:And she goes,
Speaker:well then where did you get it?
Speaker:And I was like,
Speaker:gosh, where did I get that piece?
Speaker:You know,
Speaker:20 years ago?
Speaker:You know what I mean?
Speaker:It's like,
Speaker:when did we get that?
Speaker:I don't know.
Speaker:You know,
Speaker:nobody knows we've had it forever and we're just using it.
Speaker:And so I can remember going to Allen and saying,
Speaker:Alan, we should think about buying fabric,
Speaker:but that was also another huge floodgate of stuff,
Speaker:because there's so much stuff out there then what do you
Speaker:buy? Do you buy the stuff I like do buy the
Speaker:stuff Sarah likes.
Speaker:I mean,
Speaker:what do we buy?
Speaker:And we didn't want to go into debt.
Speaker:We don't want to invest any money.
Speaker:And that was the same time that one of the fabric
Speaker:companies came out with what we call pre cuts,
Speaker:which is an entire line of fabric in one pack.
Speaker:So then we could buy these packs of fabric or a
Speaker:bolt of fabric to go with them so they could do
Speaker:their borders and finish their quilt.
Speaker:And so then we started doing that and teaching to that,
Speaker:that was when the selling part started happening.
Speaker:And we thought,
Speaker:oh, this is nice.
Speaker:You know,
Speaker:and people are buying things and you know,
Speaker:still at the time we didn't realize it was going to
Speaker:be this huge thing where we'd have to really employ people.
Speaker:You know,
Speaker:we were just,
Speaker:oh, this is nice.
Speaker:We'll sell a little fabric,
Speaker:you know,
Speaker:a little did you know?
Speaker:Yeah. We just,
Speaker:didn't. The big Point here is you were listening to your
Speaker:customer and then really hearing what they were satisfied in terms
Speaker:of the fabric.
Speaker:And then that led into a whole nother big avenue for
Speaker:you for the business.
Speaker:Absolutely. What do you do with your customers once they place
Speaker:an order or on the customer service end so that they
Speaker:keep coming back?
Speaker:My generation kind of was the big retail generation and they
Speaker:had the motto.
Speaker:The customer is always right.
Speaker:We really believe that.
Speaker:The other thing that we do is we know that it's
Speaker:way easier for you to go to a brick and mortar
Speaker:store, close to you and purchase something.
Speaker:So we have to make your experience at least as good,
Speaker:if not better than that experience.
Speaker:One of the things we do is every order is personally
Speaker:signed. And I can remember when we had to start hiring
Speaker:people to help us ship.
Speaker:There was a boy who was there and he's like,
Speaker:well, I have messy handwriting.
Speaker:I'll have somebody else sign it.
Speaker:And I said,
Speaker:no, no,
Speaker:no, no,
Speaker:you packed this.
Speaker:You're going to sign this.
Speaker:They don't care.
Speaker:If you have messy handwriting,
Speaker:they care that you took the time to thank them.
Speaker:And so somebody signs every individual order,
Speaker:whoever packs that order.
Speaker:Thanks you and signs that order.
Speaker:And I think people love that.
Speaker:I think they like that.
Speaker:That's very personal.
Speaker:Yeah. And then different people possibly with different orders.
Speaker:So they start seeing kind of seeing who's there.
Speaker:It also gives you a lot of credibility as a business
Speaker:is if you need any more after all the YouTube videos
Speaker:in your press.
Speaker:But in terms of that,
Speaker:there are a lot of employees there too.
Speaker:It's very important to us.
Speaker:We want you to have the same experience you have online.
Speaker:We want you to have,
Speaker:when you come,
Speaker:we want you to have that Disneyland experience.
Speaker:We want you to have a good experience on the phone.
Speaker:So do whatever we can to make it right.
Speaker:Well, let's Move now,
Speaker:Jenny, into our reflection section.
Speaker:What is one trait that you have that you think has
Speaker:helped you to be success?
Speaker:The fact that I'm cheerful and that I'm nice.
Speaker:That sounds so small,
Speaker:but it is huge.
Speaker:I mean,
Speaker:this is not always a really happy pleasant world we live
Speaker:in and the fact that I have a cheerful personality and
Speaker:I joke,
Speaker:I, I admit it when I make a mistake,
Speaker:I tease with people and I think that they just really
Speaker:enjoy that.
Speaker:They really enjoy that.
Speaker:They sometimes,
Speaker:I think in our daily lives,
Speaker:we forget how good it feels to laugh.
Speaker:And I handle everything with humor.
Speaker:So it really helps people to relax.
Speaker:Nothing I do is stressful.
Speaker:Like if I'm teaching a class or something like that,
Speaker:my whole goal is that you enjoy this process.
Speaker:If you're not enjoying it,
Speaker:we're doing something wrong.
Speaker:Right. I think that's definitely a trait that's led to your
Speaker:success. I had another guest that we interviewed and her comment
Speaker:was people are attracted to happy.
Speaker:Oh, I,
Speaker:I agree.
Speaker:And you,
Speaker:especially with YouTube,
Speaker:I mean,
Speaker:you're out there and you're showing your presence and all of
Speaker:that to the world and to be cheerful and happy.
Speaker:And it comes across so much in the YouTube videos.
Speaker:I watched a couple of them before we spoke and people
Speaker:know that they can expect it to be uplifting and interesting
Speaker:and easy and very educational,
Speaker:you know,
Speaker:when you're putting all the pieces together and teaching people how
Speaker:to do things.
Speaker:So it's not just that you're teaching them.
Speaker:It's also a fun experience.
Speaker:Just like you were saying earlier,
Speaker:when we were talking about customer service.
Speaker:Absolutely. What tool do you use regularly that either keeps you
Speaker:and your staff productive or allows you to keep balance In
Speaker:your life?
Speaker:Probably that is the hardest thing I have to do.
Speaker:I have a hard time balancing things.
Speaker:I tend to get into everything a hundred million,
Speaker:10%, you know,
Speaker:and I put everything into that.
Speaker:And then other things kind of fall by the wayside.
Speaker:And I'm actually been working a lot on balance because I
Speaker:don't, for instance,
Speaker:I'll spend 10 hours at work,
Speaker:but I have a hard time giving myself an hour to
Speaker:take a walk or to exercise or things like that.
Speaker:It's not a priority in my life and my health suffers
Speaker:because of that.
Speaker:So I,
Speaker:I'm not sure I would know the tool,
Speaker:you know,
Speaker:that, that helps you create balance for me,
Speaker:it's generally somebody,
Speaker:you know,
Speaker:it's like how the whole business went from one part to
Speaker:the next,
Speaker:where you realize that you're so overwhelmed and overworked that you
Speaker:have to do something.
Speaker:And that's kind of the tool I'm using now.
Speaker:It's desperation,
Speaker:I guess,
Speaker:Desperation that leads to change,
Speaker:But I don't recommend it if it's not a nice tool.
Speaker:So I'm working on that.
Speaker:Well, you Know,
Speaker:I think it's hard because you clearly love your business as
Speaker:well. So you're not necessarily saying,
Speaker:okay, now I'm going to work.
Speaker:It's that.
Speaker:Now I am spending my time with something that I like,
Speaker:and you're not thinking necessarily work.
Speaker:Right. I've just started walking at lunchtime because I also,
Speaker:I got a Fitbit for Christmas and I saw how little
Speaker:I was walking.
Speaker:Cause I'm always at the desk or at the computer.
Speaker:And boy that's got me out and going,
Speaker:cause I saw how little I was moving around.
Speaker:I haven't been it.
Speaker:I'll just have to see if I can find it somewhere.
Speaker:There you go.
Speaker:There you Go.
Speaker:I might have to start calling you.
Speaker:Are you out there yet?
Speaker:10,000 steps a day.
Speaker:And that's one of those things that I keep waiting for
Speaker:somebody to say,
Speaker:Hey, Jenny,
Speaker:let's go take a walk.
Speaker:You know?
Speaker:And it really comes down to do I want to do
Speaker:that. And I keep waiting for somebody to kind of take
Speaker:over that part of my life and it's not happening.
Speaker:So I really do need to take charge of that.
Speaker:Here's what you do.
Speaker:You get your Fitbit on and then you have your phone
Speaker:available and then you listen to this podcast while you go,
Speaker:Go, there you go.
Speaker:Perfect. There you go.
Speaker:Is there a book You've read lately or some resource that
Speaker:you would think our listeners would find value in?
Speaker:So let me just tell you how I'm a voracious reader.
Speaker:And I read,
Speaker:I'm going to have several things going all the time and
Speaker:I read like crazy,
Speaker:but I read for a purpose.
Speaker:And the purpose is,
Speaker:is that my brain never stops churning.
Speaker:It turns out ideas.
Speaker:I fix things in my brain.
Speaker:I mean,
Speaker:it's going all the time,
Speaker:new ideas in new ideas out how to do this,
Speaker:how to do that.
Speaker:I can't shut it off.
Speaker:So the books I read have to be stimulating enough so
Speaker:that I'm thinking about somebody else's problems instead of mine.
Speaker:And so then I can think about their stuff and it
Speaker:actually allows me to sleep and not think all night long,
Speaker:you know,
Speaker:not wake up tired in the morning.
Speaker:So for me,
Speaker:reading is a tool to enable me to turn my,
Speaker:shut my brain off from all the things,
Speaker:you know,
Speaker:all those creative wheels.
Speaker:And I think a lot of us in the creative circles
Speaker:have that problem.
Speaker:We have a really hard time shutting our brain off and
Speaker:actually resting books helped me do that.
Speaker:So at night I'll read something that is generally very intense.
Speaker:You know,
Speaker:I like John Grisham.
Speaker:I like James Patterson.
Speaker:I like those kinds of mystery,
Speaker:things like that,
Speaker:that I'm.
Speaker:So what are you reading right now?
Speaker:I am actually reading a book about a woman who was
Speaker:kidnapped down in.
Speaker:She was raised by rebels in the Colombian forest from the
Speaker:time she was 12 and now somebody wants to kidnap her
Speaker:child. And I can't remember the name of it or the
Speaker:author. It's just something to keep my brain busy.
Speaker:So I'm thinking about something else.
Speaker:Well, There's a lot of drama in that book that's for
Speaker:sure. Will you,
Speaker:will you email me the name and the author of that
Speaker:Bush Or?
Speaker:Sure. Wonderful.
Speaker:So gift biz listeners.
Speaker:I talked with Jenny after the show and the book she
Speaker:was referencing here is called no one to trust by Iris
Speaker:Joe Hansen.
Speaker:Just as you're listening to this podcast today,
Speaker:you can also listen to other audio books with ease.
Speaker:I've teamed up with audible for you to be able to
Speaker:get an audio book.
Speaker:Just like the one that Jenny has recommended for free.
Speaker:All you need to do is go to gift biz,
Speaker:book.com and make a selection.
Speaker:That's awesome.
Speaker:Time is starting to run down,
Speaker:but we do have one final question here,
Speaker:Jenny, I'd like to present you with a virtual gift.
Speaker:It's a magical box containing unlimited possibilities for your future.
Speaker:This is your dreamer goal of almost unreachable Heights that you
Speaker:would wish to obtain.
Speaker:Please accept this gift and open it in our presence.
Speaker:What is inside Better balance and better health would be inside
Speaker:better balance and better health just taking care of myself more.
Speaker:Perfect. And that's something you have total control over,
Speaker:right? It really is.
Speaker:I don't know where I'm getting to control yet,
Speaker:but, but I,
Speaker:I know it's my job.
Speaker:It's got to jump to the top of the priority list,
Speaker:right? How can our listeners get in touch with you?
Speaker:We have Missouri quilt company.com.
Speaker:We have Facebook pages.
Speaker:I have a personal page called Jenny Jone quilts.
Speaker:Obviously you can watch tutorials on YouTube and comment there.
Speaker:There's just all kinds of way to get ahold of us.
Speaker:If you put,
Speaker:start typing in Missouri star quilt company,
Speaker:you'll have a whole list of things to get in touch
Speaker:with us.
Speaker:Fabulous and give biz listeners.
Speaker:You can also jump over to gift biz,
Speaker:unwrapped.com, where you'll find the show notes page,
Speaker:and they're all have a list of all of the different
Speaker:places that you can get in touch with Jenny or her
Speaker:business. That's awesome.
Speaker:Thank you so much for the valuable gift that you've shared
Speaker:with us today.
Speaker:Your journey,
Speaker:your insight,
Speaker:one fabulous story.
Speaker:That's for sure.
Speaker:I really appreciate your taking the time Jenny and may your
Speaker:candle always burned.
Speaker:Thank you so much.
Speaker:I appreciate you having me Learn how to work smarter while
Speaker:developing and growing your business.
Speaker:Download our guide called 25 free tools to enhance your business
Speaker:and life.
Speaker:It's our gift to you and available@giftbizonrap.com
Speaker:slash tools.
Speaker:Thanks for listening and be sure to join us for the
Speaker:next episode.
Speaker:Today's show is sponsored by the ribbon print company,
Speaker:looking for a new income source for your gift business.
Speaker:Customization is more popular now than ever grant your products with
Speaker:your logo or print a happy birthday,
Speaker:Jessica ribbon to add to a gift,
Speaker:right? A checkout it's almost done right in your shop or
Speaker:cross studio in seconds.
Speaker:Check out the ribbon print company.com
Speaker:for more information.
Speaker:Would you like to be on the show or do you
Speaker:know someone who can provide valuable insight from their experiences?
Speaker:If so,
Speaker:we'd love to hear from you.
Speaker:All you need to do is submit a form for consideration.
Speaker:You can access the form that is unwrapped.com
Speaker:forward slash guest guest gift biz,
