072 – Being on Project Runway with Marla Duran

Marla Duran

Marla is the owner of Marla Duran, her own clothing line of the same name.

She started making clothes when her son was an infant. She was living in LA at the time and sold pieces to local children’s boutiques.

In 1981 she moved back east and she started selling children’s designs to boutiques throughout Philadelphia. Based on this favorable reaction and sales success, her line evolved into women’s wear as well.

She opened her own boutique and design studio in 2001. Today, Marla is producing and selling her designs to women around the country through boutiques and craft shows.

One of her most memorable experiences was as a contestant on Bravo TV’s Project Runway.

Business Inspiration

From the love of handmade ceramics to the love of clothing design [3:53]

Street vending sparked the entrepreneural spirit [5:53]

Candle Flickering Moments

Overcoming the obstacle of how to turn ideas into reality [26:48]

The Project Runway Experience

How the experience began [7:44]

How it happened [9:01]

Reflections on the interview process [13:07]

Business Building Insights

The decision to add retail to her design studio [16:19]

The value of doing craft shows [19:03]

Tips for success at a craft show [22:57]

Two surprising observations for attracting customer [24:34]

Success Trait

Marla is outgoing and enjoys being around people. She is also not afraid of hard work and calls herself tenacious. [26:16]

Productivity/Lifestyle Tool

TripIt – Organize your travel plans in one place.

Valuable Book

A Fine Balance by Rohinton Mistry

Free Audio Book

Contact Links

Website (currently being updated)

Facebook

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Pinterest

Twitter

LinkedIn

If 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
Transcript
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Gift biz unwrapped episode 72.

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I figured I had nothing to lose.

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This is John Lee,

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Dumas of entrepreneur on fire,

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and you're listening to the gift of biz unwrapped.

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And now it's time to light it up.

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Welcome to gift biz,

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unwrapped your source for industry specific insights and advice to develop

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and grow your business.

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And now here's your host,

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Sue Monheit and welcome fifth unwrapped.

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Whether you own a brick and mortar shop sell online or

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are just getting started,

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you'll discover new insight to gain traction and to grow your

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business. And today I am so honored to have Marla Duran.

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Joining us.

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Marla is the owner of Marla Duran her own clothing line

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of the same name.

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She started making clothes when her son was an infant,

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and while she was living in LA,

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she sold pieces to local children's boutiques in 1981.

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She moved back East and started selling children's designs to boutiques

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throughout Philadelphia.

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Based on this success for line evolved into women's wear as

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well. She opened her own boutique and design studio in 2001.

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And today Marla is producing and selling her designs to women

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around the country through boutiques and frack shows.

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One of her most memorable experiences was as a contestant in

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Bravo TV's project runway.

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And I am sure we're going to get into that story

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a little bit later,

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but first welcome to the show.

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Marla, Thank you.

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Happy to be here,

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just to have to tell all of this nerves,

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that the way I met you was actually at a craft

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show right here in my hometown.

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The way I'd like to start out is by having our

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listeners get to know you Marla in a little bit of

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a different way in that that is by having you describe

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your motivational candle.

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So if you were to have our listeners envision a candle

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that portrayed you the most,

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what color would it be and what would be the quote

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on the candle?

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Well, for this candle,

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I see it being an off-white kind of pure.

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And for me,

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the scent is important and I really love the scent of

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tuberose or Jasmine.

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And my quote would be to believe in myself,

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which I feel is an ongoing challenge and message to myself

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because you get that little imposter theory that says,

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you know,

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why should you be the one doing this or that kind

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of thing?

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Or maybe I have an idea and I don't always realize

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the value behind it.

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I think I tend to think small and I aspire to

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think bigger.

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So you've got the idea,

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but then something starts to hold you back until you decide,

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Nope, I'm going to believe in myself and go forward.

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Exactly. And does it work?

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Yes. It's an ongoing message to myself that probably,

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you know,

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I just to keep reminding myself,

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Even when we see successes,

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you clearly have,

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there is always that little thing that's saying every point along

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the way,

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right. That saying,

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should I,

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should I all those little kind of hesitancies,

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I liked that you point out that it doesn't really ever

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go away.

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Yeah, exactly.

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Yeah. I have to make a lot of decisions on my

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own because I'm a sole proprietor.

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There've been times when I've had mentors in my life or

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just, I talked to people whose opinions I value and I

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think that's really helpful also for me to overcome some obstacles.

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Some supporters are people that you'll just run things by that'll

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help. Yeah.

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Very important point.

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All right.

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Well, let's jump back away into the beginning.

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When your son was an infant,

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what was this love of making clothes?

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How did that all come about?

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I like to work with my hands.

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My first creative endeavor when I was in college was ceramics

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and I fell in love with making pottery and I had

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moved to California and I was pregnant and started making some

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clothing for myself to wear while I was pregnant.

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And then I started making some baby clothes and I found

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it easier to stop and start sewing rather than stop and

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start working with clients ceramics.

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And I think it was just a medium for me to

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work with to keep myself busy and be creative and express

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myself. And it clicked for me.

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And was it just a feeling there was just that passion,

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you really,

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really enjoyed putting pieces of fabric together and making something?

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Yeah, I think I found some cute fabric at the store

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and I made some little simple garments and I thought that

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they were adorable I guess.

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And I took them to a local boutique and they responded

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to what I was doing.

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And so I really think that that was very helpful.

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Had they not responded?

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I don't know what might've been,

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but they responded positively.

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I should say.

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I liked the fact that you were already a creator,

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clearly a creator by nature.

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You know,

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if you're doing ceramics in college,

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but then maybe that wasn't exactly what you wanted to do.

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Longterm. A lot of our listeners are creators.

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So I would let all of you,

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you know,

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consider and look in yourself,

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you know,

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is this the product that you want to be doing?

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Long-term because you love it so much.

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Or maybe it's something that you want to branch out.

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Like Marla did just to see if there are different areas

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of creativity that would either enhance what you're already doing or

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would be something you'd want to go into business with in

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case you're someone who's listening because you're looking at starting a

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business. So you consciously decided that you were going to walk

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in and see what boutiques thought about when you were in

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LA, you know,

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thought about your designs and all of that.

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Were you nervous?

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Walk us through actually what you did there?

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Well, I want to say back to the ceramics,

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I was making ceramics and living in Washington,

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DC, and I was under an apprentice to a Potter,

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but I was street vending my pottery at that time in

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Georgetown. And it was a lot of fun on the weekend.

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I would meet celebrities that came to town and it was

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just a little way to make some extra money.

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So I guess I had a entrepreneurial spirit way back when,

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right from the beginning.

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Yeah. And then when I started making clothing,

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I had no idea it would evolve into a business,

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but with the baby clothes,

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I guess I don't really remember being nervous.

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I'm sure I was,

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but I think I was kind of naive and it was

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a different time,

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maybe kind of a,

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well, my mind,

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a simple time where I could just go into a boutique

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and strike up a conversation and make an appointment to show

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my clothes.

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But I'll tell you,

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you know,

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it's interesting that you talk about it in that way,

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because you would think that a lot of time has evolved.

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And it certainly has because a lot of the big name

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stores have come up chain stores,

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if you will,

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where no matter what town you go into,

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you walk into a store that's in your town and then

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you go across country,

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walk into the same name store,

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the setups,

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the same,

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the looks the same.

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The product is the same.

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There's a trend now going on in Marla.

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I'm sure you know about it,

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but I just want to bring it up.

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So everyone's aware handmade is becoming the big thing.

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Now, I think we're all over this mass production.

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I'm going to have an outfit that looks just like my

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girlfriends. And a lot of people now are going back to

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what Marla has produced now,

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all along unique designers,

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unique trends and clothing and design and fabrics because it's become

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popular. And also people are really worried right now about the

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carbon footprint too.

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You want made in America,

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you want something unique.

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So where you say it was the times it's kind of

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interesting. Cause I think a lot of those times are now

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coming. Yeah.

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I also noticed that after my experience on project runway,

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I think that helped create interest in handmade.

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A lot of young people started taking an interest in making

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their own clothing.

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And since you've Brought that up,

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let's talk about that.

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When was That?

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It aired?

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I think we shot it in 2005.

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It was season two.

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Most of us had not watched the show season one.

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And I think that we didn't really know what we were

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getting into.

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So it shot in 2005 and eroding 2006.

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So you had already at that point opened your boutique and

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I want to go back and we'll talk about that in

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a little bit.

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We're going to just jump back and forth a little bit,

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but we might as well go with this since we're talking

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about it.

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All right.

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At that time,

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I would say that I,

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in the eighties,

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I started making women's clothing and I had various opportunities come

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my way.

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And in the nineties I launched my women's wear line and

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I had a rep in New York and I was doing

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trade shows around the country.

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So there were boutiques carrying my work 2001.

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I opened my own boutique.

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And so how did it come to pass that you approached

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or did you approach them?

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I didn't really know much about the show.

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I had a family member encouraged me to get on a

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mailing list.

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So I would know when the auditions were.

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And so I went to New York city with my samples

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in April of 2005.

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I figured I had nothing to lose.

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I stood in line with a lot of people for our

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interviews and that's how the process began.

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And so with interview after interview,

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they'd bring you in you'd show what you had and then,

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and then it would pass through and,

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or not.

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Right. Did you find out right there?

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No standing in line,

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they were doing these pre-interviews and then they whittled it down

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a little bit in that way.

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And then I did get a face-to-face interview with Tim Gunn

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and some other people from the show and I showed my

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line and they told me I was selected to go on

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to the next round of eliminations.

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So that was very exciting for me.

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So what happened after that continue with the story.

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This is,

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this is exciting.

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Now hearing about it.

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They told me that I had to have a three minute

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video of myself and I had to have it in Los

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Angeles in about 48 hours.

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So that meant that I had to shoot it the next

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day. So I contacted a friend who had a video equipment

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and we did a little story about myself in my studio

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and in my house,

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I talked a little bit about what I did,

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what I was doing at the time.

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And then I sent my video off to Los Angeles.

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And over the course of the next few weeks,

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I got calls from the producers and whoever.

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And I was asked a lot of questions and had to

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go through series of interviews.

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I had to kind of dig up some information for them.

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Then about a week before the show began,

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I was contacted and told that I was going to be

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on the season.

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So it was very exciting and very fast.

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Wow. That is exciting.

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And I want to stop the story for just a second

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right here,

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because I love the word.

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You said a little bit earlier,

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which was,

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you felt like you had nothing to lose.

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You really put yourself out there.

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A lot of people would say,

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well, yeah,

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I have a lot to lose because I'm going to feel

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terrible about myself if I don't get selected,

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but just took the chance and said,

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you have nothing to lose.

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No one needed to know you were doing that.

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But yourself in a small group of friends,

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if you elected not to broadcast to family and everybody that

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you were doing it,

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but had you not done that you don't know where you

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would be today,

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because you said that it's really helped you with your business.

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Yeah. A couple of things on that whole decision to do

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the show.

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First of all,

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I hadn't watched it before I auditioned.

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So I think that was helpful because I think had I

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watched it,

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I might've been intimidated.

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And so this way I really didn't know what I was

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getting into.

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And the other point I want to make is that when

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I was standing in line nearer,

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a lot of people in line with me on,

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I'll say hundreds,

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I don't really know.

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And I remember saying to myself,

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I know who I am.

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I know what I do.

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I know what I've done.

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And it's not going to really hinge on this experience.

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Nothing's going to,

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it's not going to change.

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It's not going to take anything away from who I am.

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So it's a good message for everybody,

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you know,

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no matter where you are and what you're doing,

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it doesn't take away just,

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you know,

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one event either accepted or passed over it.

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Doesn't define you and your business.

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It's so great Marla that you were saying that already to

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yourself, you know,

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before you really knew one way or another.

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So often we'll say that afterwards.

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Right. You know,

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like you want to feel better,

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so, or someone will say it to you,

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but that gave you the confidence just to do the very

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best that you could,

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your product was your product and it stands and speaks for

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itself. For sure.

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And you're also a great representation.

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We can all hear just by the way you speak,

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where you helping support people supporting each other in line.

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Were you guys talking with each other or was everyone in

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that kind of silent?

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Well, it was really interesting.

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I think that,

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you know,

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we were all talking and then people from the show were

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interviewing us in line.

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We have to fill out forms and they started asking us

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questions and taking pictures.

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I mean,

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the whole thing starts right off the bat,

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but I remember filling out some forms and one of the

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questions were like,

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what designers do you like,

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what designers don't like.

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And as I remember putting Michael Kors down as a designer,

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that wasn't one of my favorites not to take anything away

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from him.

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I think he's really good.

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But you know,

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I, I wasn't as drawn to his work as I am

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some of the other designers.

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And I didn't realize that he was a judge on the

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show. I'm sure they love that because they,

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I think they like anything that's kind of not safe.

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Yeah. Well,

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and creativity.

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I mean,

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that is a little bit scary as an artist because you're

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putting your personal work on display for critique,

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but creativity and write is very subjective.

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Some people are going to love it.

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And some people won't like it as much.

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I mean,

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that's just the way it is.

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That's the name of the game with creativity.

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Yeah. And I think also I tend to most admire some

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of the designers that are a little bit more beat.

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I mean,

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I like lots of designers for lots of different reasons,

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but probably some of my favorites are a little bit quirky.

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Gotcha. All right.

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I want to go back a little bit now and talk

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about when you made the decision to open a boutique and

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a design studio.

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I've had a design studio for most of my career out

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of the home.

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I always had really great spaces.

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I've just kind of lucked out,

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but this particular space I had looked at because there was

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an area in a town next to mine that starting to

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kind of blossom,

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then, you know,

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had some interesting little businesses opening up.

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And this one particular space caught my eye,

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but it was spoken for a national company,

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a woman who had a company called bluefish,

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which was opening a store in my area.

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And so she claimed the space and I met with the

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landlord and he said,

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he was sorry,

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but he couldn't rent it to me.

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I don't know.

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Sometime after they opened,

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they were having some kind of difficulties and she ended up

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having to close her business.

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And I walked in there one day on a whim.

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And the women working in the store said,

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well, you know,

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we're closing the store in about two or three days.

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And so I immediately went to the landlord and said,

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I want this space.

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And I feel,

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again, that I got really lucky.

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Here's something that I think our listeners would be curious about

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clearly starting to work out of your home,

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where you don't have all the overhead and all of that.

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And then making that first initial jump to have a space

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outside adds a lot to your costs.

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I'm really cautious too.

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I just want to say that I am extremely cautious in

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the decisions I make financially with my business,

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Where you feeling that your business had grown to a certain

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level, or were you feeling that your business would jump up

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because you were more visible?

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What was your thinking of saying,

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okay, this is a good idea.

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And I'm really asking you more in line for direction for

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people who might be considering something like that.

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Right now,

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I had a design studio that was pretty inexpensive in a

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space I liked,

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but I wasn't crazy about the neighborhood.

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And I think that I was feeling like it was time

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for change.

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And when I saw this neighborhood blossoming in my area,

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I think I was attracted to being part of a neighborhood.

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And I was very cautious and I did the numbers and

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I talked to one of my mentors and I realized that

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I could take on this responsibility that it was not going

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to, I mean,

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barring any terrible unforeseen circumstances that it would be something I

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could manage.

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Well, and it sounds like because you were recognizing that it

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was an up and coming neighborhood.

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And a lot of people are curious about something new.

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So if by development,

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in terms of residents and then also a new partial area

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with new shops coming up,

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my guess is that there was a lot of traffic.

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A lot of people wanted to check it out.

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Exactly. And I had my wholesale business and I was doing

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a few craft shows,

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not that many.

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And I had a lot of merchandise.

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And so when I opened the store,

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I had a lot of stock and I had a sale

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rack that people love a sale rack.

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So that was a great thing.

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And then I started shopping for the store and buying things

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that I thought were interesting.

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I had a great experience.

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I will say that in September was nine 11.

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And so retail businesses took a bit of a hit,

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but I always managed in that space.

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I'm still there today.

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15 later.

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That Is a great endorsement for sure.

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Are there any other tips,

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if someone is looking to turn now to go into a

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brick and mortar retail shop,

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not just a design studio,

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is there any tips,

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any suggestions,

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any advice for them?

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Well, I want to also add that.

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Yeah, the it's also my design studio and I don't depend

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on the retail to make a living.

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I think that's a whole nother thing onto itself and you

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really have to just be devoted to retail if you want

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to survive in a retail climate.

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So now you are also at craft shows.

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Talk us through a little bit about how do you decide

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what shows you're going to do.

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Give us a little bit of that in terms of how

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you work a show as well.

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I started by doing a couple shows in New York city

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where I developed a very loyal clientele.

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And for me,

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the craft shows were just kind of a bit of extra.

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My wholesale business was what I was focused on.

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Wholesale started to get a little trickier.

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Some of the stores were closing and I'd like doing the

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craft shows because I really liked being in touch with my

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customers rather than just putting my clothes in boxes and shipping

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them off.

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I find that I get a lot of immediate feedback from

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the women I sell to with craft shows.

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So I would say that it's been word of mouth from

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other artists who make recommendations and also customers who make recommendations

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on what shows they like to go to.

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And that's helped me decide where I want to apply.

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And it was really just a process of growing into these

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craft shows and discovering which ones were the ones that brought

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in the kind of women I typically sell to.

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And then there are shows that have prestige and shows that

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I aspired to be in,

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that I eventually became part of.

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And so it's been a process,

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but now I'm pretty entrenched in the craft show world.

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It's a lot of fun.

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Everyone helps each other out.

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They're intelligent,

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they're savvy and it's also very social.

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That's been working.

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That's Fabulous.

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How many shows do you do a year?

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The crashes I do about 15 to 20 shows a year.

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Wow. That's a lot.

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It's a lot.

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Is it concentrated into the summer?

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No, it's all year round.

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Actually. One of my favorite shows is in Chicago in December.

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The one of a Concho.

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I love that show.

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Oh, I didn't know you were there.

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I'll come say hi.

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It's awesome.

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They do that shot.

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It's huge.

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And it's really not one of a kind,

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but the people that produce the show are fantastic.

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Well, any of you who follow me on scope,

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if I go to one of the kind show in December,

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which is right around my birthday,

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by the way.

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So I love going with my girlfriends drop little hints here

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and there.

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Right. But maybe I'll just get Marla on a scope.

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So we see her in person.

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You never know.

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All right.

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So let me just clarify,

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because I wasn't sure as you were talking,

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I understand post-sale you wanted to do something to enhance that

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side of the business in terms of something additional.

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And so the craft shows have been really valuable and I

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love hearing this,

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and this is a note for all of us feedback from

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your customers,

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what they're liking,

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what they're using,

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really a lot of help with the different types of shows

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that you go to do different shows,

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serve different purposes.

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So some might be because you're going to get direct to

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consumer input.

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And do you also get visibility for wholesale then from a

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lot of the shows as well?

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Some of the shows have a wholesale component.

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It's primarily retail though.

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I think that there's probably different areas of the country where

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women respond to different pieces of my line,

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but all in all,

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it's probably a very similar kind of customer that buys my

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clothing or is attracted to my,

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Do you bring different pieces then for different shows or different

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areas of the country?

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Somewhat. I do.

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And I also think about the season,

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you know,

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in the summer I have maybe more short sleeves than in

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the winter,

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that kind of thing.

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Right. All right.

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Let's just talk really briefly because you are such a professional.

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Now you have so much experience with craft shows,

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any suggestions for people in terms of how to work their

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space. You know,

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when they're actually there.

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One of the things that I think serves me well is

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that I try to really pay attention to the customer and

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listen to them and look them in the eye.

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And I never take for granted that they're looking to spend

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their money on my product and I value that.

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And so I really try to treat them with respect and

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make the process of trying on my clothes and find my

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clothing, a very pleasant experience and professional experience.

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Wonderful. So a lot of respect for the customer.

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Yeah. And do you try to capture their information,

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this isn't business to business?

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So they're not walking around with business cards.

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Do you try to do anything to be able to stay

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in contact with them after they leave your space?

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I try to get their email addresses and I don't send

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out a lot of mailings,

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but I like to do a mailing if I'm coming back

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to the area.

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So do you separate the emails then by event where you

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were captured?

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Yeah, I have weighted by,

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by location.

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Gotcha. And then at every show I meet a few customers

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that I really hit it off with and I learn a

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lot about them or I make it information.

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Net is something I aspire to do.

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And there's always something exciting that goes on at a show

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that I take with me.

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So they energize you.

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Like they energize me.

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It sounds like completely.

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I love craft shows,

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but I,

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for my other business do a lot of business to business

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trade shows and I love interacting with people.

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That's just the way it is.

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So it sounds like you're the Same.

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I do.

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I feed off the energy from my customers and I also

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enjoy the time I spend interacting with other artists.

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You know,

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we learn a lot from each other and I value that.

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Absolutely well.

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So that's something else that you get from doing the shows

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as well.

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And I also like,

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I really like what you talk about where you don't automatically

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assume that people are going to spend the money on your

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designs and you're very respectful.

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And you also,

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because I've been in your space that you're not pushy salesperson

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either. Don't you hate that when you're at any type of

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a show,

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whether it's a craft show or whatever you want to be

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acknowledging customers and let them know you're seeing them.

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And you're there to,

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you know,

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you don't want to be sitting in the back on a

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chair, reading a book and let people just look at your

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stuff, which so many people do,

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but you also don't want to be in their face.

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I noticed that I'm often alone in my booth,

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but occasionally I hire somebody to help me.

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And when there two of us in my booth,

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for example,

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at Highland park,

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I think when you were in my booth,

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I find that customers are more willing to approach my booth

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because maybe they don't feel so.

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I don't know.

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I know.

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Yeah. They're a little more relaxed when there's two of us

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in my booth.

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It's a funny thing.

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That's interesting.

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Very interesting.

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And then the other thing I noticed is that if there's

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a woman in my booth trying on clothing,

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it seems to attract other women.

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Yeah. Interesting points.

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I'd never thought of before,

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because sometimes,

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especially when you're looking at crafts and arts,

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you want to look at things and things,

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you know,

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so you don't really want somebody.

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I mean,

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I've walked out of shops before where they're being nice.

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Can I help you today?

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Are you looking for something special?

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It's like,

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okay, acknowledge me.

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But then let me just look and,

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and enjoy what I'm looking at.

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And some people just want to look,

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they have no intention of spending and I don't mind that

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at all,

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but I do want to give women a heads up about

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what my work is about.

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I give them a little info and then I back off

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so that yeah,

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they have the freedom to look around.

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And I also like them to feel like I have no

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expectations. Great advice have not heard that before.

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Really interesting insight there,

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Marla, thank you.

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Sure. I want to spend now over into the reflection section,

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there's just a couple of questions,

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just little tips and things like that for our audience to

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learn from you.

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What is one natural trait that you call upon regularly that

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helps you be such a success?

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Well, I think I'm pretty outgoing.

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I sincerely enjoy people,

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but one thing I'd like to say is that I'm not

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afraid to work hard and I hope I'm not jumping the

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gun in this comment,

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but I'm tenacious.

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I think that is one thing that's really been helpful,

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Working hard and being tenacious and going for what you want,

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I think is a quality you have to have as a

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business owner because you're going to run into obstacles,

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challenges, and you have to,

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you have to pull from within.

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And another thing in making clothing,

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it's one thing coming up with the design,

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but then in the process of making them or getting them

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made, inevitably there's going to be occasional problems or obstacles.

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And I remember learning early on that kind of business is

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equates to obstacles.

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And so you can't let the obstacles get in your way.

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You have to think of it as a challenge and how

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you're going to get through the obstacle.

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Don't let it stop you That advice.

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Do you have one obstacle you'd be willing to share?

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Well, I think occasionally one of the things that I bump

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up against is I have more ideas and not enough resources

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to create them.

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And that might mean working with more people.

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And sometimes it takes me a while to realize what the

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problem is and how to solve it.

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So what do you do put your ideas,

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like in a little idea bank until you have the resources

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or personal or money or whatever it is to realize those

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ideas. Yeah.

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And I think that,

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for example,

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just maybe I'm wearing my one worker thin because she can't

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keep up with my ideas and it's occurring to me that,

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well, maybe I need to kind of reach out and find

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somebody else to help to pitch in,

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you know,

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nothing against the first one.

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She's fantastic,

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but maybe owe it to myself to allow myself to maybe

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spend more money,

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to see where these ideas go.

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So at first your challenges that you're maybe a little bit

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resistant to do that,

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or you're recognizing that you have so many ideas that you're

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limiting your resources and personnel to the point you just said.

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Exactly. Yeah.

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Like sometimes I think I can't always recognize when I'm limiting

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myself. And what tool do you use regularly during your day

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to help you keep productive or to attempt at this hard

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thing of creating balancing?

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Well, I try to make lists all the time,

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so I stay on task because I get distracted and paperless.

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It is actually although more and more,

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I'm putting notes in my phone,

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but I like the feel of paper.

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It's kind of like cloth.

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Yeah. They're pen and paper lists.

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So are they lists of things you need to do during

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the day or lists of,

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I have the list of the day-to-day things.

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Maybe like in the morning when I go into my studio,

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I just make a little list of simple things that I,

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I know I want to accomplish that day.

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And so then I can see the progress and then I

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maybe have a list of things I aspire to just kind

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of a broader category.

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It's something that takes more time.

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Right. And you're on the road a lot.

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Now, obviously with the shows,

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is there any app or anything that you're using to keep

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yourself organized?

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When you're traveling?

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I was using an app called TripIt,

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which would store a travel information.

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Generally try to put things on my calendar,

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on my phone.

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And then I also have a notebook where I keep track

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of various hotel reservations and things like that.

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Got it.

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It's amazing because there's so much technology now.

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And so many people answer this question similarly,

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and that is still the physical pen and paper,

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you know,

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having that accessible.

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Yeah. A lot of people say that Because the act of

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actually physically writing that imprint something in your brain.

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Yeah. I agree.

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Have you read a book lately that you think our listeners

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would find value in?

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I was thinking about that question.

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I love to read.

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I tend to read fiction.

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I love to hear stories about how people overcome the odds.

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You know,

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Malcolm Gladwell has written a lot of interesting books.

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There's sociology books,

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but I love to hear stories and read stories about how

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people overcome the odds.

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But also a book I read that I loved was called

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a fine balance.

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And it's about life in India.

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It made me realize living in the United States,

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most of us had it really good.

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The things that we take for granted at our fingertips is

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amazing. And that in some countries,

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especially in third world countries,

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a lot of people don't have the same human rights we

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do. And it's painful.

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We have a long way to go in some countries before

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we can consider ourselves civilized.

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Anyway, I'm not getting too political here,

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but No,

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I think you're right.

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I mean,

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I've been fortunate enough to travel to a lot of third

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world countries.

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I've been to India,

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I've been to Africa and you know,

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you come back and not all of our listeners are from

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America. In fact,

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I interviewed Katie leaky who makes those Zulu grass bracelets.

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Oh yeah.

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That was just a few episodes ago.

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You guys,

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and she lives in the rift Valley in Kenya and those

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bracelets are made by the Mussai women.

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And you know,

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you get an insight into life everywhere else.

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When you live in America,

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all of this seems very standard and regular because we've known

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it since we were young,

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you know,

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our whole lives really.

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But I love that you selected this book because I'm makes

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me interested in reading it too,

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because you know,

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it makes us appreciate what we have.

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And it also makes us appreciate how much further we have

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to go for all of humanity.

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Right? Yeah.

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Something as simple as having like clean water coming out of

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the tap that we just take for granted,

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Give biz listeners just as you're listening to the podcast today,

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you can also listen to audio books and I'm curious,

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maybe a fine balance is on audio books,

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but I've teamed up with audible and you can get your

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first audio book for free.

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If you haven't done so already on me,

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all you need to do,

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go to gift biz,

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book.com and make a selection of a book you'd like to

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listen to.

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That's cool.

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Yeah. All right,

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Marla, I'd like to invite you now to dare to dream.

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I would like to present you with a virtual gift.

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It's a magical box containing unlimited possibilities for your future.

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So this is your dream or your goal of almost unreachable

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Heights that you would wish to obtain.

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Please accept this gift and open it in our presence.

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What is inside your box?

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I would love the gift of working in a creative environment

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around other creative people.

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I love to take workshops because the energy,

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my dream is to maybe work on a day-to-day basis,

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working in the midst of other creative people.

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Along with that,

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I really admire people who go to foreign countries to get

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the products made and work with local people.

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And so in my adventure,

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I would maybe travel to Bali,

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Vietnam, and work with local people to create some product.

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I love that.

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That goes back to your book because it's kind of like

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let's lift everybody a little bit higher in this world.

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If our listeners are interested and they see some of your

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designs online.

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Well, I have some things that you can find online if

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you Google me.

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But right now my website is being redesigned.

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So my Facebook page,

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Marla Duran design has some images.

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And what can I say?

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You can email me.

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And I'll announce when my website is complete.

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Well, you know what?

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Your website is going to be on the show notes page

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it's Marla duran.com.

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Yes. And the nice thing Marla about these podcasts is people

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will listen the week that it goes live,

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but they're on for forever.

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So people like to go back and listen to other episodes.

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So there may be someone who's listening a year from now

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and by then your website should be up maybe even sooner.

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Exactly. All right.

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Wonderful. Thank you so much.

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I really appreciate your joining us today and interesting information in

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terms of your insights on how to work a craft show

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booth and how to interact with customers.

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That's stuff that I haven't heard before.

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So great information for our listeners and the thing that I

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really, really liked.

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And I appreciate you sharing besides your whole story is just

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the confidence you have as a creator and your willingness to

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take risks and nothing to lose that your mindset.

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I really appreciate it.

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I look forward to seeing you.

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I might see you at the one of a kind show

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here in a couple of months.

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You never know.

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And I wish for you is always continued success.

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May your candle always burn bright,

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Learn how to work smarter while developing and growing your business.

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Download our guide called 25 free tools to enhance your business

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in life.

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It's our gift to and available at gift biz,

Speaker:

unwrap.com/tools. Thanks for listening and be sure to join us for

Speaker:

the next episode.

1 Comment

  1. Laura Hausmann on December 7, 2017 at 9:07 pm

    I have several pieces by designer, Marla Duran. As a New York City working professional dancer and academic, I find Marla Duran’s designs to be ideal and practical. They are as casual or as traditionally professional, with a twist, to wear in the city or internationally. They remain reliable year after year; put on black pants, good black shoes, a Marla Duran shirt/jacket/top and you look polished, cool, and professional.

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