294 – Using Pinterest to Sell Your Handmade Products with Catherine Tatum of Classic Legacy

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Gift biz unwrapped episode 294.

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I think sometimes you don't know if it's the right choice

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until you try it.

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Attention. Gifters bakers,

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crafters, and makers pursuing your dream can be fun.

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Whether you have an established business or looking to start one.

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Now you are in the right place.

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This is gift to biz unwrapped,

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helping you turn your skill into a flourishing business.

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Join us for an episode,

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packed full of invaluable guidance,

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resources, and the support you need to grow.

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Your gift biz.

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Here is your host gift biz gal Sue moon Heights.

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Hi there.

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Sue. Guess what?

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Next week is the at home craft and gift show.

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This is a virtual event.

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So you can attend from the comfort of your cozy couch

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shop in our vendor village next Sunday afternoon.

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So that's December six.

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And during that time,

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you can meet the makers of the fabulous products that are

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being displayed.

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You can place custom orders,

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pick your own special,

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one of a kind piece or ask questions of the artisans

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from 12 to four Eastern standard time.

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After that vendor village will be open the entire month of

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December. So you can pop in any time to complete your

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holiday shopping list to grab your free ticket to the at

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home craft and gift show.

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Just jump over to gift biz,

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unwrapped.com forward slash at home ticket.

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You're going to find beautiful handmade products,

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holiday designs,

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and special,

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unique gifts that are sure to put a smile on the

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faces of those.

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You love to grab your free ticket again,

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gift biz unwrapped.com

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forward slash at home ticket.

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I hope you had a wonderful Thanksgiving.

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Are you recovered from your food coma?

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It was just my husband and me this year.

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We were supposed to go out to Colorado a couple of

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weeks ago and have an early Thanksgiving with the children because

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we thought that was a really smart thing to do to

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avoid the rush and the holiday traveling crowds.

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But given that there was a huge surge of cases in

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Denver, we decided to be adults about it and cancel the

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trip behind the scenes though.

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I was crying,

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kicking, and screaming.

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I miss my kids.

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I know I'm not alone.

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A lot of you are also encountering similar tough decisions and

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my heart goes out to you for that.

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So on my end,

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I adjusted my mindset.

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I recognized all that I have to be thankful for,

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even though this has been an unbelievable year and there was

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a Thanksgiving feast to be had.

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We had all the traditional dishes and watched it's a wonderful

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life because that's also a family of ours and it put

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me completely in the Christmas spirit and now being cyber Monday,

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it is full throttle to the finish line for holiday promotions,

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gift purchasing and wrapping,

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you know,

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balancing between business tasks and personal holiday activities with all this

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going on.

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I want to remind you that a short time back episode

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two 88,

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we talked specifically about how to manage stress during this time.

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I want us all to be energized and joyful in the

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weeks ahead.

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So the beauty of the season doesn't pass us by look,

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we're all so busy ensuring that our customers get everything they

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need to enjoy the most wonderful time of the year.

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And I want you to have the same.

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So if you're feeling the pressure Mount,

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go back and listen to that episode,

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let's move on to today.

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You're going to hear about the development of Katherine's business,

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how and why she switched and adjusted her products and customer

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focus. Over the years,

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she's always watching,

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listening and applying what's going on around her to ensure she's

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on the cutting edge and enriching her life with her business.

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In other words,

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making sure what she spends time on in her business fuels

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her spirit to being in perfect alignment is key to her

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success. You know what I say,

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our businesses should be part of our life.

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They shouldn't take over our life.

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I also really enjoyed our conversation about Pinterest.

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We just started talking about this platform on the show.

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It seems like Facebook and Instagram dominate our minds,

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but Pinterest may be something to pay more attention to as

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you develop your plans for 2021,

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I think I've said enough at this point.

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Let's get into the show Today.

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I am so excited to introduce you to Katherine Tatum.

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Katherine is the owner and designer of classic legacy custom gifts.

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Her business has always been in her home through the years,

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and Catherine has employed many women to create and help manage

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her growing enterprise.

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The classic legacy wholesale line has been shown in major gift

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showrooms in New York,

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Los Angeles,

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Atlanta and Dallas.

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And this is where major hotels,

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museums, and luxury retailers discovered classic legacy.

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After being chosen to design gifts for the new Orleans tricentennial,

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she added a retail Shopify store to her website.

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The newest collection includes handmade oyster shell dishes,

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the blue and white ICAT oyster shell dish is currently featured

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in the Thomas Jefferson Monticello catalog and website.

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All of this comes from the fact that Katherine loves The

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challenge of learning and designing Catherine,

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welcome to the gift biz on wrapped podcast.

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Thank You.

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So I'm so glad to be here.

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I Am so excited that you're here too,

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and we've known each other for a long time,

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but I don't know the beginning of your business story.

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So I'm excited to get into that.

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But first we are going to start off by getting to

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know you in a little bit of a different way,

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and that is through a motivational candle.

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So if you were to create a candle that speaks exactly

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who you are,

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what would the candle look like by color and quote,

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Catherine, That is a great question.

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And my favorite colors are blue and white.

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I've always loved blue and white.

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I collect blue and white gifts and decor.

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So the candle would be blue and white.

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And I also love chinoiserie,

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which is the Chinese influence.

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So that would be the color of the candle.

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And the quote is a quote that I have loved for

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a long time.

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It's a happy memory is a joy forever.

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And when I create gifts many times,

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I think,

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where are these going to end up?

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Who is going to have them?

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And basically when I create gifts,

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I want it to bring joy,

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whether it's a Christmas present or a birthday present or anniversary

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present. So that would be my,

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yeah, I love it.

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And I think that sentiment is something that we all can

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really relate to because regardless of what we make,

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I mean,

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we're all makers here,

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but we want to share the love of what we've made

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and the product that we've created to bring someone else joy.

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So it's the same thing,

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but I've really kind of never thought about it as it's

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a joy that creates a memory that then is a joy

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forever. So I really liked that.

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I don't even know when Periscope came out,

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but that was when you and I met.

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So what would you say seven,

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eight years ago?

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Yes, I think we met perhaps through Kim Garst and some

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of those events and Periscope didn't last a long time,

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but I am always on the lookout for new technology to

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be able to improve my business and stuff.

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I liked Periscope Pros and cons to it,

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but if you remember,

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we were in that challenge together where we had to be

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on Periscope every single day.

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Do you remember that On video and On video?

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Yeah. And then you got all these people from all over

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the world who almost weren't ever even your potential customer who

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would pop on.

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Right? It was crazy.

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It was like the wild West.

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I think it made me more comfortable being on video is

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the biggest thing that it helped me with.

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Yeah. I agree with you there too.

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And we're going to get into this because I am so

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impressed with what you're doing on social with your lives and

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all that.

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But before we get there,

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take us back to the beginning and tell me too,

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cause I don't know.

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How did you get started in your business?

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As a young mother?

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I had taught first grade before I became a mother and

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I wanted to stay at home,

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but I had always enjoyed being creative and making things.

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And I thought,

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what can I do to add a little income to our

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family? And I started with hair accessories and hair bows for

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little girls.

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And that just became a big business because it was BoomTown

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in the eighties of hair bows for not only little girls,

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but for women.

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I bought ribbon from lots of places in New York.

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I called on department stores.

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I called on small businesses and I did hair accessories for

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little girls.

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And then I had a rep and he said,

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you know,

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these tortoise shell hair accessories.

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And they were embellished with silver.

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He said,

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I think if you did that,

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that, that would be a good thing.

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And so I thought,

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well, I'll figure out how to import the French hair accessories.

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And I did that.

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And then I figured out where to buy the findings and

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I learned how to do plating or had people help me

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do plating of the findings.

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And I embellished the tortoise shell hair accessories like that.

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And then from there that rep was associated with the showroom

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in Atlanta and he recommended a showroom to me.

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So it was just like one step after another.

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So I thought one time when I was on an airplane,

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they had these magazines that had,

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it was basically like a small catalog and there were one

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charms in the back of that catalog.

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And because I had figured out where to buy the findings,

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I thought I know where to get all these pieces.

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I thought I'll do one charms,

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add that.

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And it was completely different from what I had started out

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originally, but they were,

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I'll just say they paid for my daughter's wedding.

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I mean,

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there's just like huge.

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So you went to the wine charms from the barrettes,

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right? Yes.

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And like I said,

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it was completely different,

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but it was because I went to New York.

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I sourced findings at trade shows.

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I love how one thing led to another led to another

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led to another.

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Were you doing that because you weren't feeling like there was

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enough potential at one point or because there was a new

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opportunity or why did you make some of these series of

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changes before you landed on what you're doing now?

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I think a lot of it has to do with being

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creative and wanting to do something different,

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but the hair accessories,

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we're a smaller market as far as like children's stores.

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I just wanted to expand my reach.

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I guess That was your entrance point into having your own

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company learning all of that.

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Yeah. Yes.

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I mean,

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I learned how to do barcodes.

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I learned how to do a lot of things with that.

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And so when I was at market that just opened up

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a whole,

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I got into not only clothing stores,

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but gift stores.

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And when I started doing the wine charms,

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then I met wineries and they said,

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well, can you do a bottle stopper?

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Can you do a wine carrier?

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Can you do a cooler,

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can you do other one accessories?

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And I always said yes,

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But did you then wind down the other products when you

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switched to something else?

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Or how did that progression go?

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Actually, yes I did.

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But some of the stores that I originally sold to don't

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exist anymore,

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but I have sold to one store for over 30 years.

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That's a children's store.

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So I'm actually still doing hair accessories for only for one

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store Because you have to cause you feel indebted to them.

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Cause that's what we do.

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Right? So you're at the wine charms and the wineries we're

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looking for more.

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So you're listening to input from different people.

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Cause you were saying you were listening from your buyer and

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now you're listening from your customers and having them help direct

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you in which way to go.

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But how did you know if it was the right choice?

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I think sometimes you don't know if it's the right choice

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until you try it.

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But I mean,

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there's been lots of times where I've thought,

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what do I do next?

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And I've always just been open to reading and looking at

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magazines, going to art museums,

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keeping up with trends and from the wineries that led to

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doing a lot of custom gifts,

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the wineries in hotels,

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because at first my line was an open line and that

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just means that if I did wine terms,

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they would be for anybody.

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But then I created a custom charm that had the name

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of the winery on the charm or the name of the

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hotel. I've just learned to ask a lot of questions too.

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Like the person that did my plating for the findings,

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I'd say,

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do you know anybody that can create custom artwork for me

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or something like that.

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So I just learned to ask a lot of quick.

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So if you were to define for us what your range

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of offerings is today,

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what would you say apart from the hair bows?

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What I concentrate mainly on are custom gifts and also the

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newest collection is the oyster shell jewelry dishes.

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And that is also another completely different thing than I was

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doing that came about because I've learned that people like handmade

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things that they cannot find in the major department stores or

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big box stores.

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The type of people that I sell to are high-end luxury

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accounts or individuals.

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And I just thought,

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I'm going to try it.

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I'm going to learn how to do this.

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And I use real orchard shells.

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I use designs that are then applied to the orchard shells

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and everything is gilded in gold leaf on the sides in

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the back.

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So the orchard shells are really my biggest current collection,

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But all of this is still focused on a limited audience,

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if you will being hotels,

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museums, luxury retailers,

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right? Yes.

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But now because of COVID,

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those businesses are either closed or very limited.

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Actually. Now what I'm concentrating on is the retail side of

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my business.

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And that started,

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as you mentioned in your introduction when I was chosen to

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do gifts for the new Orleans tricentennial.

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So when was that?

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That was three years.

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Okay. But because of that,

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I learned how to do Shopify and I like selling to

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individuals. When you say retail,

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you're not talking wholesale,

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you're talking your own site and selling directly one-on-one to consumer.

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Got it.

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Okay. So let's take both of those.

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So before that,

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and the thing that I really like,

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and the reason I keep asking you these questions is I

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see you as being very zeroed in on your products.

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It's all customization.

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It's all.

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Well, like you said,

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hotel, museum,

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luxury retailers,

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they're customized around the entertaining industry.

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I feel tourist.

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Would that be right?

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Yes. Okay.

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So Did you intentionally go after that Margaret or did you

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just identify as things went on and as you kept listening

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to people that this is where your product fits Best?

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I think it's that I decided that's where my product fit

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best. Some of the accounts that I sell to or have

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sold to in the past are the Biltmore,

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the Waldorf Astoria,

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the hotel Del Coronado.

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And I live in the Memphis area.

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I sell to Elvis Presley enterprises and the Peabody hotel.

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But just this week I got a call from a new

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store that opened and it's called feelin Memphis.

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And they're all about Memphis,

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but they want to do their own logo on things.

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That's the kind of people I like to work with.

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When you were niching down to that audience,

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were you ever concerned that there wouldn't be enough business there?

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No, not really because I mean,

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it's not only that audience,

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it could.

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I mean,

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like, this is an example of someone that found me and

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I think they found me through Pinterest.

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I'm not sure,

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but they're a technology company.

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And they said,

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we want gifts because we treat our top performers in our

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company to a trip to Spain.

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And this year we can't go to Spain,

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but we want to give them something anyway.

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And they said,

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do you think you could do a bottle stopper that had

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our logo on one side?

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And I wish I was in Spain on the other side.

Speaker: 00:16:59

And I said,

Speaker: 00:17:00

sure. I mean,

Speaker: 00:17:01

I thought that was a great idea.

Speaker: 00:17:02

So that's not a hotel,

Speaker: 00:17:04

a museum or a winery,

Speaker: 00:17:06

but it's someone that needs custom gifts.

Speaker: 00:17:08

And it's a perfect example.

Speaker: 00:17:09

And the reason I kept asking you about that is I

Speaker: 00:17:12

think it's really important that we all define who our audience

Speaker: 00:17:16

is. Not that everybody could have our product,

Speaker: 00:17:19

right. I mean,

Speaker: 00:17:20

clearly everybody could use your product,

Speaker: 00:17:22

but you're targeting down to a specific group of people.

Speaker: 00:17:25

And I think we all find it a little bit nerve

Speaker: 00:17:28

wracking when we consider doing that because it's like,

Speaker: 00:17:31

but wait,

Speaker: 00:17:31

wait, wait,

Speaker: 00:17:32

wait. Like,

Speaker: 00:17:33

there's going to be other people I want to sell to.

Speaker: 00:17:35

But what you just said is a perfect example.

Speaker: 00:17:37

They're still going to find you your core focus and where

Speaker: 00:17:40

you're going to get your business stays laser focused if you

Speaker: 00:17:43

will, but other people will still find you.

Speaker: 00:17:45

And you're not going to say,

Speaker: 00:17:46

Oh, well,

Speaker: 00:17:47

no, you're not my target customer.

Speaker: 00:17:48

So No,

Speaker: 00:17:51

I think people will find you.

Speaker: 00:17:52

And I get recommendations for people from other businesses.

Speaker: 00:17:56

And when it's custom,

Speaker: 00:17:57

when it's unique,

Speaker: 00:17:58

I find that the reorders are great because they can't get

Speaker: 00:18:02

that from anybody else.

Speaker: 00:18:03

It's not like they're going to find another vendor that can

Speaker: 00:18:06

do that.

Speaker: 00:18:07

Do you have to make custom molds and such for some

Speaker: 00:18:10

of the products I have done that,

Speaker: 00:18:12

but most of the time I use a setting that is

Speaker: 00:18:15

then basically it has a photographic image in the setting,

Speaker: 00:18:18

Nancy Namel.

Speaker: 00:18:19

So it's not a pewter mold,

Speaker: 00:18:22

but I've done both.

Speaker: 00:18:23

Got it.

Speaker: 00:18:23

Makes sense.

Speaker: 00:18:24

And then do you save that quote unquote file.

Speaker: 00:18:27

I don't know anything about your production,

Speaker: 00:18:29

but then you save it.

Speaker: 00:18:30

So it's easy just to pull it back up again when

Speaker: 00:18:32

you have a repeat order.

Speaker: 00:18:33

Yes. And the thing about using the process and that way

Speaker: 00:18:37

it's easy to enlarge it or make it smaller.

Speaker: 00:18:40

And if it's a mold,

Speaker: 00:18:41

it's one size and that's it.

Speaker: 00:18:43

Oh, good point.

Speaker: 00:18:45

So the advantage of being able to resize it as it

Speaker: 00:18:48

can go on different products,

Speaker: 00:18:49

then yes.

Speaker: 00:18:51

Got it.

Speaker: 00:18:51

All right.

Speaker: 00:18:52

So share with me because this I know is a big

Speaker: 00:18:56

thing to a lot of our listeners right now,

Speaker: 00:18:59

a website,

Speaker: 00:19:00

many people here before COVID hit,

Speaker: 00:19:03

we're a little bit different than you,

Speaker: 00:19:05

but very similar.

Speaker: 00:19:06

There were out at craft shows.

Speaker: 00:19:08

So face-to-face with our customers.

Speaker: 00:19:10

Some of them very intense craft show exhibitors where every single

Speaker: 00:19:15

week I did a show possibly in different States all over,

Speaker: 00:19:18

so serious.

Speaker: 00:19:19

And then to have all of that get pulled out from

Speaker: 00:19:23

under our feet.

Speaker: 00:19:24

What option do you have go online?

Speaker: 00:19:26

Right? So there's been this whole year.

Speaker: 00:19:29

The challenge of,

Speaker: 00:19:30

Oh my gosh,

Speaker: 00:19:31

a website,

Speaker: 00:19:32

what platform?

Speaker: 00:19:33

What do I put up?

Speaker: 00:19:34

How do I do it?

Speaker: 00:19:35

Oh, it's tack and mind you,

Speaker: 00:19:38

most people that gravitate to in-person shows it's because they love

Speaker: 00:19:42

being with people.

Speaker: 00:19:43

They don't love being behind a computer at a desk.

Speaker: 00:19:45

Right. So share with us a little bit about how you

Speaker: 00:19:50

got your website up.

Speaker: 00:19:51

You already saw the need.

Speaker: 00:19:53

I mean,

Speaker: 00:19:53

there really was no choice and it made sense to do

Speaker: 00:19:55

because of the tricentennial,

Speaker: 00:19:57

but why did you choose Shopify?

Speaker: 00:20:00

And what was your thinking and selection process?

Speaker: 00:20:03

I already had a website and it was based on WordPress

Speaker: 00:20:05

and I still actually have that.

Speaker: 00:20:07

And then I write a blog and I showcased product through

Speaker: 00:20:12

that, but I did not have a retail,

Speaker: 00:20:15

a way that people could buy directly.

Speaker: 00:20:17

And I just did a little research and it just seemed

Speaker: 00:20:19

like Shopify was easy to use.

Speaker: 00:20:23

And I am so glad that I chose that because it

Speaker: 00:20:25

also integrates with so many other platforms so easily.

Speaker: 00:20:29

It generates the shipping labels,

Speaker: 00:20:32

the packing list.

Speaker: 00:20:34

It just,

Speaker: 00:20:35

it's very easy and it's easy to add many different photographs

Speaker: 00:20:39

for each product and also integrates with Pinterest.

Speaker: 00:20:42

And Pinterest is my new go-to platform.

Speaker: 00:20:45

I just love it.

Speaker: 00:20:46

Ooh, we're going to talk about that again Later,

Speaker: 00:20:48

too. I want to finish with websites,

Speaker: 00:20:50

but I definitely want to talk about Pinterest.

Speaker: 00:20:52

So I am a huge advocate of Shopify too.

Speaker: 00:20:55

So you're speaking my language,

Speaker: 00:20:56

Catherine and I like you.

Speaker: 00:20:59

My ribbon print company business is on a Shopify site and

Speaker: 00:21:04

gift biz on wrapped is all on a WordPress site.

Speaker: 00:21:06

So I'm intimately familiar with platforms and I think they serve

Speaker: 00:21:11

different purposes.

Speaker: 00:21:12

I actually like both of them,

Speaker: 00:21:13

but WordPress is definitely more cumbersome and more complicated.

Speaker: 00:21:17

And I think Shopify with all the apps and integrations,

Speaker: 00:21:20

as you're talking about,

Speaker: 00:21:22

you couldn't do anything and get up and running,

Speaker: 00:21:25

look differently.

Speaker: 00:21:26

Have all different types of customizations to your website pretty easily.

Speaker: 00:21:32

Yes. And actually it's a sub-domain of my main website.

Speaker: 00:21:36

Oh, it links over.

Speaker: 00:21:37

Yes. It's all under one website.

Speaker: 00:21:40

Someone comes to the website that they can look at in

Speaker: 00:21:42

the show notes,

Speaker: 00:21:43

gift, biz listeners,

Speaker: 00:21:43

you know,

Speaker: 00:21:44

there's always show notes page.

Speaker: 00:21:45

It will go to your WordPress site.

Speaker: 00:21:48

And then if they're interested in purchasing,

Speaker: 00:21:50

it will link over to Shopify.

Speaker: 00:21:53

Yes. On the front page of the website,

Speaker: 00:21:56

there's a shop now button and it's easy to find the

Speaker: 00:21:59

shopping section.

Speaker: 00:22:00

It pops you over there.

Speaker: 00:22:01

Okay. All right.

Speaker: 00:22:02

And so did you set up everything yourself in Shopify?

Speaker: 00:22:05

I did.

Speaker: 00:22:06

Yay. Good for you.

Speaker: 00:22:08

My son-in-law is a computer web person,

Speaker: 00:22:11

so I do have some help.

Speaker: 00:22:13

He's not that familiar with Shopify,

Speaker: 00:22:15

but I do have someone that I can ask for help.

Speaker: 00:22:18

And that's important.

Speaker: 00:22:20

What would you say to someone who's just starting to look

Speaker: 00:22:23

at a website,

Speaker: 00:22:24

building their website out like that.

Speaker: 00:22:26

Do you have any recommendations for them?

Speaker: 00:22:31

We'll get Katherine's recommendation about website development,

Speaker: 00:22:34

right after this quick break to hear from our sponsor.

Speaker: 00:22:38

Yes. It's possible.

Speaker: 00:22:40

Increase your sales without adding a single customer.

Speaker: 00:22:43

How you ask by offering personalization with your products,

Speaker: 00:22:46

wrap a cake box with a ribbon saying happy 30th birthday,

Speaker: 00:22:50

Annie, or at a special message and date to wedding or

Speaker: 00:22:53

party favors for an extra meaningful touch.

Speaker: 00:22:56

Where else can you get customization with a creatively spelled name

Speaker: 00:22:59

or find packaging?

Speaker: 00:23:00

That includes a saying whose meaning is known to a select

Speaker: 00:23:02

to not only our customers willing to pay for these special

Speaker: 00:23:05

touches. They'll tell their friends and word will spread about your

Speaker: 00:23:08

company and products.

Speaker: 00:23:10

You can create personalized ribbons and labels in seconds,

Speaker: 00:23:13

make just one or thousands without waiting weeks or having to

Speaker: 00:23:16

spend money to order yards and yards print words in any

Speaker: 00:23:20

language or font,

Speaker: 00:23:21

add logos,

Speaker: 00:23:22

images, even photos,

Speaker: 00:23:24

perfect for branding or adding ingredient and flavor labels.

Speaker: 00:23:27

To for more information,

Speaker: 00:23:28

go to the ribbon print company.com.

Speaker: 00:23:31

I would definitely choose Shopify.

Speaker: 00:23:33

I mean,

Speaker: 00:23:33

they have an option for a blog within Shopify and I

Speaker: 00:23:38

already had a blog somewhere else.

Speaker: 00:23:39

So I didn't want to use that part of it.

Speaker: 00:23:41

And there's tons of,

Speaker: 00:23:43

they have a YouTube channel,

Speaker: 00:23:45

can watch videos for training.

Speaker: 00:23:47

There's just a lot of help available for that.

Speaker: 00:23:50

If you're interested in checking out Shopify,

Speaker: 00:23:52

go over to my website,

Speaker: 00:23:54

gift biz,

Speaker: 00:23:55

unwrapped, and click on the tools tab.

Speaker: 00:23:58

And there you'll see a Shopify link that will give you

Speaker: 00:24:01

a 14 day free trial.

Speaker: 00:24:04

If you're just starting off with your website or making changes,

Speaker: 00:24:07

like I've heard a lot of people right now making changes

Speaker: 00:24:09

because one of their sites just isn't either giving them now

Speaker: 00:24:13

what they need because they've built up their business or it's

Speaker: 00:24:16

just too cumbersome and too hard to work through.

Speaker: 00:24:19

So you were still obviously doing communication with other people who

Speaker: 00:24:24

you're already doing business with,

Speaker: 00:24:26

but now that we're shut down,

Speaker: 00:24:27

we weren't able to be out at shows as much.

Speaker: 00:24:29

And you had your Shopify store up and running.

Speaker: 00:24:32

What did you see happen?

Speaker: 00:24:33

I saw that people were still buying gifts,

Speaker: 00:24:36

Surprise, surprise,

Speaker: 00:24:38

Having birthdays and still,

Speaker: 00:24:40

but there was a time where I don't know,

Speaker: 00:24:42

March and April very slow.

Speaker: 00:24:44

During that time.

Speaker: 00:24:45

One of the things I did was I told myself I

Speaker: 00:24:48

was going to try to learn more about Google analytics,

Speaker: 00:24:51

Pinterest advertising.

Speaker: 00:24:52

And I didn't reach out to any of the retailers that

Speaker: 00:24:56

I sell to because they were just having a hard time

Speaker: 00:24:59

in many of them were closed,

Speaker: 00:25:00

but I used that time to educate myself to basically how

Speaker: 00:25:06

to reach individual buyers and learn more about Google analytics and

Speaker: 00:25:12

Pinterest advertising.

Speaker: 00:25:13

Okay. And so Pinterest makes sense because you have a lot

Speaker: 00:25:17

of blog articles and it's great to put blog articles on

Speaker: 00:25:20

Pinterest. So you were already on Pinterest and active on the

Speaker: 00:25:23

account at that point.

Speaker: 00:25:26

Yes. I've been on Pinterest since about 2007 or something,

Speaker: 00:25:30

but it's changed a lot recently.

Speaker: 00:25:32

And I used to just pin things from my blog articles,

Speaker: 00:25:35

but I actually don't do that too much anymore.

Speaker: 00:25:37

I pin things from Shopify and that will go directly to

Speaker: 00:25:43

someone being able to buy it And blog articles up on

Speaker: 00:25:47

Pinterest. And then also just direct product purchasing photos up on

Speaker: 00:25:51

Pinterest, both,

Speaker: 00:25:53

Both, but I'm concentrating more on direct product photos.

Speaker: 00:25:58

And I'm also creating a landing page for those products.

Speaker: 00:26:03

Like for instance,

Speaker: 00:26:04

the worst,

Speaker: 00:26:05

your shell dishes.

Speaker: 00:26:06

I have several products that show them on a little easel,

Speaker: 00:26:09

online mantle of my fireplace and like how to decorate for

Speaker: 00:26:12

Christmas. But if they go to that landing page,

Speaker: 00:26:16

they'll not only be able to buy the product,

Speaker: 00:26:18

but to learn a little bit more about how they're handmade

Speaker: 00:26:23

and kind of different options.

Speaker: 00:26:26

And if they don't want to buy it right away,

Speaker: 00:26:28

I offered them a free book and therefore I'm able to

Speaker: 00:26:32

get their email address,

Speaker: 00:26:34

then be able to get them in my funnel and be

Speaker: 00:26:38

able to communicate with them further down the line.

Speaker: 00:26:40

So that's really what I'm doing more Pinterest is making sure

Speaker: 00:26:44

that it either goes to a product where they can buy

Speaker: 00:26:47

it or to a landing page that is going to educate

Speaker: 00:26:51

and give them a free gift if they are not ready

Speaker: 00:26:54

to buy.

Speaker: 00:26:55

Oh my gosh,

Speaker: 00:26:56

that's genius.

Speaker: 00:26:57

And so if I understood you correctly,

Speaker: 00:26:59

it all starts with a lifestyle type photo.

Speaker: 00:27:03

Yes. I've found that the lifestyle photos work the best and

Speaker: 00:27:07

some of the views on Pinterest are in the thousands.

Speaker: 00:27:11

And I've also discovered that video,

Speaker: 00:27:13

you can do videos on Pinterest.

Speaker: 00:27:15

Now one time,

Speaker: 00:27:16

about two months ago in the middle of the summer,

Speaker: 00:27:18

I turned my dining room into a Thanksgiving table.

Speaker: 00:27:23

I showed people how to decorate for Thanksgiving,

Speaker: 00:27:26

and this was all for Pinterest,

Speaker: 00:27:27

but taking pictures of the dining room table.

Speaker: 00:27:30

And I showed the steps of making arrangement for the dining

Speaker: 00:27:34

room table and at the base of this arrangement where or

Speaker: 00:27:37

shell dishes.

Speaker: 00:27:40

And so it's federal ways of just getting your product in,

Speaker: 00:27:45

but also how it can educate or entertain or inform someone

Speaker: 00:27:50

that so that they can do something similar in their house.

Speaker: 00:27:53

Perfectly examples,

Speaker: 00:27:54

both the lifestyle photo,

Speaker: 00:27:56

leading to what you're talking about with additional information,

Speaker: 00:27:59

free download or right away a direct purchase.

Speaker: 00:28:01

And then also what you're talking about here now with the

Speaker: 00:28:05

designing the table layout,

Speaker: 00:28:07

where you also giving a freebie of how to do it

Speaker: 00:28:11

in written form,

Speaker: 00:28:12

or was that just a video?

Speaker: 00:28:13

It was just a video.

Speaker: 00:28:14

Okay. I should have written a blog post about that.

Speaker: 00:28:17

I haven't done it yet,

Speaker: 00:28:17

but I did several different lifestyle things.

Speaker: 00:28:20

I did one for Thanksgiving.

Speaker: 00:28:21

Then I switched everything.

Speaker: 00:28:23

I did one for Christmas.

Speaker: 00:28:25

And then somehow I found out that you can order peonies

Speaker: 00:28:28

from Alaska in August.

Speaker: 00:28:30

And I love peonies,

Speaker: 00:28:31

but at the time they weren't blooming and I thought I'll

Speaker: 00:28:35

do one with PMs.

Speaker: 00:28:37

So you're ready for the spring.

Speaker: 00:28:38

Right. So I have all this spring stuff,

Speaker: 00:28:41

So smart.

Speaker: 00:28:42

And all you had to do is change out the tablescapes.

Speaker: 00:28:44

Right. And you had everything ready to go and you're kind

Speaker: 00:28:47

of in the zone of filming,

Speaker: 00:28:49

Right? I mean,

Speaker: 00:28:50

I got out my best China and my silver,

Speaker: 00:28:52

my crystal.

Speaker: 00:28:53

And I thought,

Speaker: 00:28:53

if I'm going to do this,

Speaker: 00:28:54

I'm going to do several things.

Speaker: 00:28:57

Yeah. Too bad.

Speaker: 00:28:57

You couldn't have invited people over for a pet,

Speaker: 00:29:00

right? Not this year.

Speaker: 00:29:01

I know I would have been invited,

Speaker: 00:29:02

but since we can't come,

Speaker: 00:29:04

I know that's why you didn't invite me.

Speaker: 00:29:06

Right. But I love these examples because it's a way of

Speaker: 00:29:10

being able to direct people to your product without feeling salesy,

Speaker: 00:29:13

because that's what we're always worried about.

Speaker: 00:29:15

Well, when you do it in that way,

Speaker: 00:29:17

you make it really fun.

Speaker: 00:29:18

You're adding additional value.

Speaker: 00:29:20

And by the way,

Speaker: 00:29:21

here's the product.

Speaker: 00:29:21

If you're interested in having one for yourself.

Speaker: 00:29:24

Right. I think people love lifestyle.

Speaker: 00:29:26

Absolutely. So Pinterest is your major social media platform.

Speaker: 00:29:30

Yes. It drives the most traffic to my website by far.

Speaker: 00:29:33

And it's just a search engine.

Speaker: 00:29:35

Pinterest went public in the past six months and they've really

Speaker: 00:29:39

changed a lot from where they were when I first began.

Speaker: 00:29:42

But I think a lot of major players are on Pinterest

Speaker: 00:29:46

now. Absolutely.

Speaker: 00:29:47

And give biz listeners,

Speaker: 00:29:48

if you have never considered Pinterest before,

Speaker: 00:29:51

go back.

Speaker: 00:29:52

I'm not exactly sure what episode it is.

Speaker: 00:29:54

I'll put it in the show notes,

Speaker: 00:29:55

but we talked with Kate all and she told us exactly

Speaker: 00:29:59

how to set up your account,

Speaker: 00:30:00

how to use Pinterest.

Speaker: 00:30:02

It's one of our best listened to shows.

Speaker: 00:30:05

So definitely reference back and consider this platform.

Speaker: 00:30:08

I think this is what Katherine is saying now is great

Speaker: 00:30:10

confirmation that everything that Kate was saying is right on.

Speaker: 00:30:15

We keep hearing it.

Speaker: 00:30:16

But I also know Catherine,

Speaker: 00:30:18

you're pretty active on Instagram.

Speaker: 00:30:20

So what are you doing over there?

Speaker: 00:30:22

What are you doing over there?

Speaker: 00:30:23

I do.

Speaker: 00:30:24

Well, I try to do Instagram.

Speaker: 00:30:27

I started to say every day,

Speaker: 00:30:28

but it doesn't happen every day.

Speaker: 00:30:30

You're good though.

Speaker: 00:30:32

I keep her following.

Speaker: 00:30:34

I try to do lifestyle photographs there as well.

Speaker: 00:30:37

And when I go to an account like I did in

Speaker: 00:30:41

Memphis this week,

Speaker: 00:30:42

I take a picture of where I am.

Speaker: 00:30:44

Well, Pinterest stays on for a long time and Instagram.

Speaker: 00:30:48

You just have to keep feeding it.

Speaker: 00:30:49

It doesn't last for me as long time.

Speaker: 00:30:52

Are you doing images in your feed?

Speaker: 00:30:54

And then also I see you in stories all the time.

Speaker: 00:30:56

So you're doing both Stories can get the most viewers for

Speaker: 00:31:00

me, but I still do both.

Speaker: 00:31:02

Yeah. That's what I'm seeing too now is you want to

Speaker: 00:31:06

post and you can also post and then send a post

Speaker: 00:31:09

to your story.

Speaker: 00:31:10

But most often the people who see the stories are the

Speaker: 00:31:14

people who already are following you.

Speaker: 00:31:17

So you're able to build a deeper relationship with people who

Speaker: 00:31:20

are already following you on Instagram,

Speaker: 00:31:22

although, and I'm wondering if you've done this.

Speaker: 00:31:24

I am just now playing around with it is adding more

Speaker: 00:31:28

hashtags and kind of hiding those hashtags behind an image to

Speaker: 00:31:32

get more people,

Speaker: 00:31:33

to see my stories who may not also be following me

Speaker: 00:31:37

on my account yet.

Speaker: 00:31:38

Are you doing that already?

Speaker: 00:31:40

I do that.

Speaker: 00:31:41

I keep the hashtags in my notes,

Speaker: 00:31:42

on my phone in a folder.

Speaker: 00:31:44

So I have hashtags related to different things.

Speaker: 00:31:48

And the other thing that helps a lot and I don't

Speaker: 00:31:51

do it as often as I should,

Speaker: 00:31:52

but it's going to other accounts and commenting I've found that

Speaker: 00:31:55

that works.

Speaker: 00:31:56

I mean the hotel Del Coronado,

Speaker: 00:31:58

for example,

Speaker: 00:31:58

I mean,

Speaker: 00:31:59

if I comment on their posts,

Speaker: 00:32:01

it seems like the next day they're looking at my posts.

Speaker: 00:32:03

So I think it is social it's being friendly.

Speaker: 00:32:08

So what you're suggesting then is to go to someone who

Speaker: 00:32:12

you would want to be a customer,

Speaker: 00:32:14

or is already a customer and genuinely commenting,

Speaker: 00:32:18

right? Like interacting with them in a genuine way,

Speaker: 00:32:20

not to go to 7,000

Speaker: 00:32:22

million accounts and comment on two pictures because you want followers.

Speaker: 00:32:26

All right.

Speaker: 00:32:26

Not that kind of thing.

Speaker: 00:32:27

Genuine. Yeah.

Speaker: 00:32:29

And I think if I'm following along with the real value

Speaker: 00:32:32

of that is it keeps you top of mind if they're

Speaker: 00:32:35

getting low on stock or they've never used you before then,

Speaker: 00:32:38

they're you and seeing what's available.

Speaker: 00:32:40

So that would be the reasoning behind doing that.

Speaker: 00:32:43

How much time of day do you spend on social media?

Speaker: 00:32:46

Honestly, I don't know.

Speaker: 00:32:51

Probably about 30 or 45 minutes.

Speaker: 00:32:53

So not long at all.

Speaker: 00:32:55

I don't ever sit down and spend that time all in

Speaker: 00:32:58

one stretch,

Speaker: 00:32:59

but like to get the pictures done for Pinterest,

Speaker: 00:33:03

I use Canda and I tend to probably do two or

Speaker: 00:33:07

three hours at a time,

Speaker: 00:33:09

but that might take care of everything for a month.

Speaker: 00:33:12

Right. And I also use tailwind to schedule,

Speaker: 00:33:15

which is a Pinterest scheduling tool.

Speaker: 00:33:17

Right, right.

Speaker: 00:33:18

Yeah. Let's switch gears a little bit.

Speaker: 00:33:20

You sound so buttoned up.

Speaker: 00:33:22

So in control and I would love to just get reality

Speaker: 00:33:28

out here that it's not always going the right way.

Speaker: 00:33:32

Can you share with us something that's happened in your business?

Speaker: 00:33:35

That was a real challenge for you?

Speaker: 00:33:37

I think that it's so important to realize that there are

Speaker: 00:33:40

hard times for everybody,

Speaker: 00:33:41

even the most top people that have had hard times that

Speaker: 00:33:45

they've had to overcome.

Speaker: 00:33:46

When we moved to Memphis,

Speaker: 00:33:47

my husband had started a company that didn't turn out.

Speaker: 00:33:50

Right. And he got a new job and I thought,

Speaker: 00:33:52

well, that's the end of my business because I started in

Speaker: 00:33:55

Alabama. You're thinking you have to go back to teaching,

Speaker: 00:33:58

right. Yeah.

Speaker: 00:33:59

Which I didn't want to do,

Speaker: 00:34:00

but it really just opened the door to a bigger metropolitan

Speaker: 00:34:03

area, maybe new people.

Speaker: 00:34:05

And then another challenging time was the showroom that I was

Speaker: 00:34:08

in, in Atlanta closed.

Speaker: 00:34:10

And I was like,

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what am I going to do now?

Speaker: 00:34:12

But I got in another showroom.

Speaker: 00:34:14

And then in Dallas,

Speaker: 00:34:15

the same thing happened this stroke.

Speaker: 00:34:17

Remember that I was in closed now.

Speaker: 00:34:19

I'm so glad that I'm not dependent on a showroom.

Speaker: 00:34:24

I'm really glad that e-commerce side of my businesses built up

Speaker: 00:34:27

and the website.

Speaker: 00:34:28

So sometimes things are a blessing in disguise that happened.

Speaker: 00:34:32

Yeah. It just doesn't feel like it when you're in the

Speaker: 00:34:34

middle. Cause you don't know what next you're going to do.

Speaker: 00:34:37

Exactly. But you just have to keep on going.

Speaker: 00:34:40

Yeah. Keep on going.

Speaker: 00:34:41

And then I'm sure there were some things that you tried

Speaker: 00:34:44

that didn't work,

Speaker: 00:34:45

but you keep trying then other things until you find something,

Speaker: 00:34:48

not only that works,

Speaker: 00:34:49

but that fits your lifestyle and how you want to be

Speaker: 00:34:53

running your business.

Speaker: 00:34:55

Right. Because you just explained to us how you're using social

Speaker: 00:34:57

media. I know people who are on social media for eight

Speaker: 00:35:00

hours a day and they just say,

Speaker: 00:35:02

if I don't do this,

Speaker: 00:35:04

my business is going to go away and they don't look

Speaker: 00:35:07

at another way.

Speaker: 00:35:07

Cause they're so busy doing what they're doing on social media

Speaker: 00:35:10

and it's exhausting them.

Speaker: 00:35:11

Yeah. If I have product to ship,

Speaker: 00:35:13

I can't spend that much time on social media,

Speaker: 00:35:15

but I do enjoy learning.

Speaker: 00:35:17

And I just think that's important too.

Speaker: 00:35:20

Yeah. I guess the point with all of that too.

Speaker: 00:35:22

I think Catherine,

Speaker: 00:35:22

tell me what you think is there are a lot of

Speaker: 00:35:25

different ways to get to an end goal.

Speaker: 00:35:28

Your end goal is selling your product,

Speaker: 00:35:29

which let's face it.

Speaker: 00:35:30

That's why we're in business to sell our products and to

Speaker: 00:35:33

make money.

Speaker: 00:35:33

There are a lot of different ways to get there.

Speaker: 00:35:36

I interviewed probably about six months ago.

Speaker: 00:35:39

They aren't on social media at all.

Speaker: 00:35:41

They don't even have an account there,

Speaker: 00:35:43

Rick and mortar shop.

Speaker: 00:35:44

Now they might now after COVID.

Speaker: 00:35:46

So maybe it's been a year,

Speaker: 00:35:48

but they've been doing just fine and growing at a huge

Speaker: 00:35:52

rate that whole time,

Speaker: 00:35:54

not even having accounts there you're,

Speaker: 00:35:56

you're showing or you've narrowed in your audience.

Speaker: 00:35:58

You have certain platforms that are your priorities.

Speaker: 00:36:01

Most people say Facebook and Instagram,

Speaker: 00:36:04

but like we just started our Pinterest account for gift biz

Speaker: 00:36:06

on wrapped.

Speaker: 00:36:07

So ours is starting to gain traction now,

Speaker: 00:36:10

but there's lots of different ways to do this Instagram stories.

Speaker: 00:36:13

Are you doing any IETV?

Speaker: 00:36:14

I have done a GTV.

Speaker: 00:36:16

Not a lot recently,

Speaker: 00:36:18

but yes,

Speaker: 00:36:19

I have done that.

Speaker: 00:36:20

You are a great example of a tester.

Speaker: 00:36:24

I mean,

Speaker: 00:36:24

you get on stories and talk about when you're on the

Speaker: 00:36:27

farm and your family's place and just chat.

Speaker: 00:36:30

And so people get to really know who you are behind

Speaker: 00:36:33

the scenes.

Speaker: 00:36:35

Are you ever uncomfortable doing that?

Speaker: 00:36:37

I've gotten more and more comfortable,

Speaker: 00:36:39

but yes,

Speaker: 00:36:39

I am somewhat uncomfortable for a long time.

Speaker: 00:36:42

I didn't want people to know.

Speaker: 00:36:43

I had a business in my home.

Speaker: 00:36:45

I had a thing about that.

Speaker: 00:36:46

I didn't want to tell people that that's where my business

Speaker: 00:36:49

was, but now a lot of people have their business in

Speaker: 00:36:52

their home.

Speaker: 00:36:53

It's also changed even over the last,

Speaker: 00:36:56

maybe not 10 years,

Speaker: 00:36:57

but five,

Speaker: 00:36:58

six years now it's become much more Acceptable.

Speaker: 00:37:01

And so I have a large storage area.

Speaker: 00:37:04

I have a room dedicated to my office.

Speaker: 00:37:07

I don't show my husband a lot.

Speaker: 00:37:09

I think I'm a little bit more private than some people,

Speaker: 00:37:12

as far as being,

Speaker: 00:37:13

have their family,

Speaker: 00:37:15

I tend to stick to be more business things.

Speaker: 00:37:18

So you have your limits,

Speaker: 00:37:19

but you share a little bit of family,

Speaker: 00:37:21

right? Yeah.

Speaker: 00:37:22

And I think everyone has to decide for themselves what's right

Speaker: 00:37:24

there. Right.

Speaker: 00:37:25

Okay. I think it would be really interesting for people to

Speaker: 00:37:28

understand what your mindset is when you're met with something you

Speaker: 00:37:32

don't know how to do.

Speaker: 00:37:33

Do you Google for answers?

Speaker: 00:37:36

How do you figure things out?

Speaker: 00:37:37

Where do you go for your resources?

Speaker: 00:37:39

I guess I would say,

Speaker: 00:37:40

cause I don't know,

Speaker: 00:37:41

making that oyster shell dish,

Speaker: 00:37:42

when you were explaining that a few minutes ago sounded really

Speaker: 00:37:46

intimidating. I do use Google.

Speaker: 00:37:49

I use YouTube and I ask people questions.

Speaker: 00:37:52

One of the examples is the guy that does the plating

Speaker: 00:37:55

for me.

Speaker: 00:37:56

He works with a lot of other companies and I'm like,

Speaker: 00:37:59

do you know where I can find a tiger charm or

Speaker: 00:38:02

just something that somebody else is looking for?

Speaker: 00:38:05

And he'll go,

Speaker: 00:38:06

well, you should call X,

Speaker: 00:38:07

Y, Z he'll look five different companies.

Speaker: 00:38:10

And then sometimes like if I'm trying to find a certain

Speaker: 00:38:12

bead or a certain ribbon or a certain color or something

Speaker: 00:38:16

and I'll call the resource that I usually use and they

Speaker: 00:38:19

said, no,

Speaker: 00:38:20

we don't have that.

Speaker: 00:38:21

And I'll just say,

Speaker: 00:38:22

do you know anyone else that I can call?

Speaker: 00:38:24

And a lot of times people are up into that if

Speaker: 00:38:26

they don't have it,

Speaker: 00:38:27

they're glad to share who might,

Speaker: 00:38:29

I think Google and YouTube.

Speaker: 00:38:31

And then I come back to Pinterest again,

Speaker: 00:38:33

Pinterest again is a engine.

Speaker: 00:38:35

And it's a lot of times you can find tutorials and

Speaker: 00:38:38

things like that on there.

Speaker: 00:38:40

Yeah. I'm learning that more and more.

Speaker: 00:38:42

You clearly know way more about Pinterest than I do,

Speaker: 00:38:45

but I'm learning.

Speaker: 00:38:46

I really want to emphasize what you just said,

Speaker: 00:38:49

which was,

Speaker: 00:38:50

it's not just your vendors or suppliers or potentially even customers

Speaker: 00:38:55

that you're close with who only know what they do.

Speaker: 00:38:58

They also have a network of people.

Speaker: 00:39:00

So just like how LinkedIn will work.

Speaker: 00:39:02

Right. So I love what you're saying there,

Speaker: 00:39:04

where if they might not know asking that extended question,

Speaker: 00:39:08

do you know anybody else who might?

Speaker: 00:39:10

So that's wonderful.

Speaker: 00:39:11

And speaking of that,

Speaker: 00:39:12

what about LinkedIn?

Speaker: 00:39:13

Where does that sit in your land of opportunity?

Speaker: 00:39:17

I have used LinkedIn for quite some time and I'm on

Speaker: 00:39:20

the pro plan or whatever.

Speaker: 00:39:23

And I probably post there,

Speaker: 00:39:26

I don't know,

Speaker: 00:39:26

six times a month or something like that.

Speaker: 00:39:28

And I should probably do it more.

Speaker: 00:39:30

But I think to have a completed profile is very important.

Speaker: 00:39:34

I don't even know how many contexts,

Speaker: 00:39:35

it just says over 500,

Speaker: 00:39:37

but I think a lot of people,

Speaker: 00:39:38

when they're looking for the name,

Speaker: 00:39:41

Catherine Tatum,

Speaker: 00:39:42

it goes to LinkedIn and you should definitely have,

Speaker: 00:39:45

or I've found for me having a complete profile with lots

Speaker: 00:39:49

of photographs and I even write articles on LinkedIn.

Speaker: 00:39:53

And basically they're just my blog posts that I turned into

Speaker: 00:39:57

an article for LinkedIn Upload it natively to LinkedIn instead of

Speaker: 00:40:02

linking it back to you.

Speaker: 00:40:04

Yes. Having it native it's important.

Speaker: 00:40:07

I think having a lot of information on LinkedIn is good.

Speaker: 00:40:11

Well, and I would imagine based on who your customer is,

Speaker: 00:40:14

that that could be a huge opportunity for you.

Speaker: 00:40:16

If you were targeting a certain museum or certain hotel in

Speaker: 00:40:20

a city that you were going to just to see who

Speaker: 00:40:21

the contacts are.

Speaker: 00:40:23

Yes. And on the pro thing.

Speaker: 00:40:25

I mean,

Speaker: 00:40:25

if you look up a certain corporation,

Speaker: 00:40:27

they'll have all the people that are associated with that corporation

Speaker: 00:40:31

on LinkedIn.

Speaker: 00:40:32

It's a really good way to figure out who you need

Speaker: 00:40:34

to ask for.

Speaker: 00:40:35

Because if you just call up a hotel and you don't

Speaker: 00:40:38

know who you want to talk to,

Speaker: 00:40:39

you don't get very many.

Speaker: 00:40:40

You don't get very far I'm sure.

Speaker: 00:40:42

But if there are a connection through somebody else you already

Speaker: 00:40:45

know that also helps.

Speaker: 00:40:46

Right. Do you have some type of a structure?

Speaker: 00:40:49

So you remember,

Speaker: 00:40:51

okay, I'm going to post six times on LinkedIn.

Speaker: 00:40:54

I'm going to do four stories a week.

Speaker: 00:40:57

I'm going to have post on Pinterest.

Speaker: 00:40:58

Do you have like a whole big calendar method?

Speaker: 00:41:01

I'll be honest.

Speaker: 00:41:02

No, I don't.

Speaker: 00:41:03

Okay. I want you to be honest because we all are

Speaker: 00:41:05

learning from each other how to do these things.

Speaker: 00:41:07

Okay. So you just like,

Speaker: 00:41:08

remember, Oh,

Speaker: 00:41:09

I need to do it.

Speaker: 00:41:09

Or you'd create an article and you say,

Speaker: 00:41:11

okay, well,

Speaker: 00:41:12

every time I create an article,

Speaker: 00:41:13

I'm going to adjust it a little bit,

Speaker: 00:41:15

upload it to LinkedIn.

Speaker: 00:41:16

You have a system then when You do that.

Speaker: 00:41:20

Got It.

Speaker: 00:41:20

So how has business changed for you?

Speaker: 00:41:23

You would say over these last 30 years.

Speaker: 00:41:27

Oh my goodness.

Speaker: 00:41:27

It's changed so much.

Speaker: 00:41:29

The entrance of the internet was one,

Speaker: 00:41:31

right? I mean,

Speaker: 00:41:33

used to have a fax machine.

Speaker: 00:41:34

I don't have a fax machine anymore.

Speaker: 00:41:36

I just thought I don't need to pay for another phone

Speaker: 00:41:38

line for that.

Speaker: 00:41:39

Is it better now?

Speaker: 00:41:40

Is business better or just the system?

Speaker: 00:41:42

I think the systems are much better.

Speaker: 00:41:43

I mean,

Speaker: 00:41:44

I use Infusionsoft as my contact information and I tag people

Speaker: 00:41:50

every time someone buys a product,

Speaker: 00:41:52

they get a tag on my CRM,

Speaker: 00:41:55

my contact.

Speaker: 00:41:56

Right. Which is done automatically with,

Speaker: 00:41:58

through Shopify.

Speaker: 00:41:59

Yeah. We are doing the same.

Speaker: 00:42:00

Yeah. And so I just feel like 30 years ago,

Speaker: 00:42:03

I didn't have those systems in place.

Speaker: 00:42:05

And now I have a whole group of people that just

Speaker: 00:42:09

bought orchard shells or a whole group of people that are

Speaker: 00:42:11

hotel people.

Speaker: 00:42:13

And I can email them really specific email information that is

Speaker: 00:42:18

beneficial to them.

Speaker: 00:42:19

And it's,

Speaker: 00:42:19

well, I wouldn't email the Wurster shell buyers information about hotels.

Speaker: 00:42:24

Right. You can really send them emails that then specifically apply

Speaker: 00:42:29

to what their concerns and their interests are.

Speaker: 00:42:31

Yes. I mean,

Speaker: 00:42:32

30 years ago I literally traveled to New York or traveled

Speaker: 00:42:36

to places to find vendors.

Speaker: 00:42:39

And now it's so easy to find somebody via Google.

Speaker: 00:42:43

And I also have found that initially,

Speaker: 00:42:46

I mean,

Speaker: 00:42:47

people would say,

Speaker: 00:42:47

well, the opening order is a thousand dollars and I'd go

Speaker: 00:42:50

gold. And I did it,

Speaker: 00:42:52

but now I've learned to say,

Speaker: 00:42:54

okay, I want to buy just a sample.

Speaker: 00:42:56

And many times vendors are open to that,

Speaker: 00:42:59

but you want to see the quality of the work?

Speaker: 00:43:01

Well, I think you can also do it because all you

Speaker: 00:43:03

need to do is show your list of customers or where

Speaker: 00:43:06

things are placed or all of that.

Speaker: 00:43:08

And they definitely would want to be providing product to you.

Speaker: 00:43:10

Yeah. What do you see as you move forward?

Speaker: 00:43:12

I'm afraid.

Speaker: 00:43:15

You're going to say,

Speaker: 00:43:16

I'm quite sure that oyster shell dish is sticking around.

Speaker: 00:43:19

Yeah. Yes.

Speaker: 00:43:20

Actually I'm working on spring designs.

Speaker: 00:43:23

I've learned that my customers buy almost a year in advance.

Speaker: 00:43:27

I mean,

Speaker: 00:43:27

they're currently planning many of them for 2021 Christmas.

Speaker: 00:43:33

No, this is your more corporate clients.

Speaker: 00:43:35

Yes. Now you're juggling because you have your direct to consumer

Speaker: 00:43:38

clients too now.

Speaker: 00:43:39

Right? I don't think anybody knows what's coming as far as

Speaker: 00:43:43

our world,

Speaker: 00:43:43

but it's true.

Speaker: 00:43:44

I want to stay on the positive side.

Speaker: 00:43:46

I want to keep learning and I want to be able

Speaker: 00:43:50

to create gifts that bring people joy,

Speaker: 00:43:52

kind of go back to my thing about a happy memory

Speaker: 00:43:54

as a joy forever.

Speaker: 00:43:56

Absolutely love it.

Speaker: 00:43:57

Where can our listeners go and see more about you online?

Speaker: 00:44:01

I bet.

Speaker: 00:44:01

I know,

Speaker: 00:44:01

but you tell them Go to classic legacy.com.

Speaker: 00:44:05

Okay. And is your Pinterest account the same?

Speaker: 00:44:07

Yes, It is beautiful.

Speaker: 00:44:09

And I just became a verified Pinterest merchant.

Speaker: 00:44:12

So that means that when you see my products,

Speaker: 00:44:14

you can also see the price.

Speaker: 00:44:16

It took a while to do that.

Speaker: 00:44:18

That's cool.

Speaker: 00:44:19

Okay. Give his listeners so you need to go and take

Speaker: 00:44:22

a look at classic legacy.

Speaker: 00:44:23

It'll be interesting,

Speaker: 00:44:24

especially those of you who are looking at setting up a

Speaker: 00:44:27

Shopify account.

Speaker: 00:44:28

Don't just go to the first part,

Speaker: 00:44:29

but click on the shop now button,

Speaker: 00:44:31

and then you'll be able to go and See what she

Speaker: 00:44:32

set up on that.

Speaker: 00:44:33

And that could be interesting and help you as you're making

Speaker: 00:44:36

your choices.

Speaker: 00:44:37

So Catherine,

Speaker: 00:44:38

it has been a joy having you on.

Speaker: 00:44:40

I loved hearing more about classic legacy and I wish you

Speaker: 00:44:44

much success in the future.

Speaker: 00:44:45

Thank you so much.

Speaker: 00:44:49

Oh my gosh.

Speaker: 00:44:50

So many excellent business takeaways that Catherine reinforced for us,

Speaker: 00:44:56

but it all starts with being clear on who your customer

Speaker: 00:44:59

is. Catherine defines hers as high end luxury accounts or individuals

Speaker: 00:45:06

and everything spins off of that.

Speaker: 00:45:08

If she didn't have this clear customer focus,

Speaker: 00:45:11

her activity would have been haphazard and probably resulted in lower

Speaker: 00:45:15

performance. Instead she is right on with her messaging and her

Speaker: 00:45:20

products that hit the Mark for her customers.

Speaker: 00:45:24

It's really worth figuring this out right now,

Speaker: 00:45:27

no matter where you are on your business journey next week,

Speaker: 00:45:31

I'm lighting it up.

Speaker: 00:45:33

Sue style,

Speaker: 00:45:34

brilliant yellow candles will be the highlighted product.

Speaker: 00:45:38

And we're going to get an inside.

Speaker: 00:45:39

Look at a young business.

Speaker: 00:45:41

That's all ready,

Speaker: 00:45:43

glowing. Thanks so much for spending time here with me today.

Speaker: 00:45:47

If you'd like to show support for the podcast,

Speaker: 00:45:49

please leave a rating and review.

Speaker: 00:45:51

That means so much and helps the show get seen by

Speaker: 00:45:55

more makers.

Speaker: 00:45:56

It's a great way to pay it forward and for now

Speaker: 00:45:59

be safe and well.

Speaker: 00:46:00

And I'll see you next week on the gift biz unwrapped

Speaker: 00:46:03

Cast. I want to make sure you're familiar with my free

Speaker: 00:46:07

Facebook group called gift is breeze.

Speaker: 00:46:10

It's a place where we all gather and our community to

Speaker: 00:46:14

support each other.

Speaker: 00:46:16

Got a really fun post in there.

Speaker: 00:46:18

That's my favorite of the week.

Speaker: 00:46:19

I have to say where I invite all of you to

Speaker: 00:46:22

share what you're doing to show pictures of your product,

Speaker: 00:46:25

to show what you're working on for the week to get

Speaker: 00:46:29

reaction from other people and just for fun,

Speaker: 00:46:32

because we all get to see the wonderful products that everybody

Speaker: 00:46:35

in the community is making my favorite posts every single week,

Speaker: 00:46:40

without doubt.

Speaker: 00:46:42

Wait, what,

Speaker: 00:46:44

aren't you part of the group already,

Speaker: 00:46:46

if not make sure to jump over to Facebook and search

Speaker: 00:46:50

for the group gift biz breeze don't delay.