333 – From Firefighter to a Quilting Empire with Brandy Maslowski

Gift biz unwrapped episode 333.

The look on her face just had me hooked.

I just thought quilting is the thing.

This is what I need to be doing.

Attention. Gifters bakers,

crafters, and makers pursuing your dream can be fun.

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

Now you are in the right place.

This is gift to biz unwrapped,

helping you turn your skill into a flourishing business.

Join us for an episode,

packed full of invaluable guidance,

resources, and the support you need to grow.

Your gift biz here is your host gift biz gal,

Sue moon Heights.

I there and happy Saturday,

surprised to see me here instead of on Mondays,

I'm doing a switch up of the air dates of the

show. This is the second week we're publishing on Saturdays and

Wednesdays instead of the traditional Monday,

Thursday. Why to see if this is better for you?

I'm thinking there may be more listening time over the weekend.

Given many of you have nine to five or other part-time

jobs. Of course the shows are available to you already come

Monday. If that's what you prefer,

isn't it nice to have options.

If you have thoughts or comments on this,

I welcome your input.

Just direct message me on Instagram over at gift biz unwrapped.

Within the past week,

the Philadelphia candy show has been canceled and I'm just waiting

for a couple others to fall in line it's because of

the uptick of COVID cases.

Of course,

it looks like we're not through with this pandemic yet.

I think we saw it coming,

but this brings up the question of holiday sales.

Doesn't it?

I mean,

I remember last year,

a number of people had to make changes at the last

minute because holiday craft shows were also canceled.

May be the case this year,

too. So definitely start thinking about alternatives towards that end.

Let me remind you that I sponsor the at home craft

and gift show and it's happening again this year from December

4th through 15th,

to hear more about online shows and why the at home

show is so different.

Reference episode 304 right here on gift biz on wrapped.

Of course,

I'll be talking about this more as it gets closer,

but this is a good time to look at alternatives and

backup plans before you're in a panic about where you're going

to show your holiday product and get those sales for this

year. Today's show is one I'm really excited for you to

hear for a couple of reasons.

Brandy's story is so uplifting and full of twists and turns

and just fabulous feel good moments.

When she started her creative business,

she was an active firefighter.

I know we have a lot of people who listen here

who are in the medical field,

but firefighting,

I believe is a first you'll hear how she merged that

into her love of fiber arts.

It really brings home the point that you never know how

a career you may have today will serve you in the

future too.

The second thing I want to point out to you is

when Brandy talks about creating her business,

her way,

she met with a lot of resistance because she wanted to

do things differently.

Limited thinking came her way in all sorts of directions.

And I'm so happy.

She didn't listen to it.

If she did,

she wouldn't have the quilting empire that she does today.

Let's dive deeper into this by hearing about it from Brandy

directly, Amy today is Brandy Maslowski of quilter on fire.

Brandy is a quilt art teacher speaker,

judge, and author of Christie's quilt.

Her business quilter on fire explores the texture color and boundless

possibilities of fabric with her passionate quilting community.

Randy also travels the world to educate,

speak, and ignite creativity with a tagline,

more joy,

less overwhelmed.

She also hosts her weekly podcast sharing the stories of inspiring

quilt professionals.

Brandy, welcome to the gift is on wrapped podcast.

Hi Susan,

thank you so much for having me.

This is going to be super fun.

This will Be fun.

And I think you're the second quilter I've ever had on

the show of all these seven years.

So that's really exciting before we get started,

I wanted to go into what is a traditional question of

mine and that is your motivational candle.

So if you were to share with me a candle that

you would create that speaks all to you,

Brandy, what color would your candle be?

And a quote or a motto that would be written on

the candle?

Oh, I love that this question,

Sue. I just think that my candle color would be a

pale butter yellow,

and rather than sort of a nice fluffy motivational quote that

would lift me up and bring me joy.

I think I would want something right in front of me

that just hits me in the face.

And so the quote that I think I would choose would

be what are you waiting for?

Because day in and day out,

I tend to gravitate towards things I love or do something

that's volunteer or do something that's for other people when really

there's a task I just need to do in my business.

So my beautiful little fine smelling motivational candle would say,

what are you waiting for?

Do something amazing.

That's going to make your business.

Oh my gosh.

I think the tendency to do things for everybody around us

and then not take advantage of things that are in our

heart. We really want to do is something we can all

resonate with.

Yes. And I think there's something that happens.

I don't know if it's a female entrepreneur thing,

but when I'm about to make waves in my business or

bring in a bit of income for the first time,

I often tend to go over to the side and do

something for someone else volunteer,

sabotage myself slightly.

So the,

what are you waiting for?

Quote is really a good one for me.

It kind of smacks me in the face and says,

Hey, listen,

lady, this is time to take action and make a move

in your life.

So would You say you use it as an excuse?

You stay busy because it's comfortable to do versus doing the

thing that you know,

in your heart,

you'll be so proud of when you've actually accomplished.

Yes, absolutely.

Like I don't know why,

but my house is spotless.

When I have a big thing I need to do in

my business,

I will run and clean a bathroom to keep the busy

work going when really I just have one great big thing

I need to tackle that morning.

So that's something I work on every single day.

I have to forgive myself for going off and doing some

other thing and get right back to business.

But you know what?

You recognize that that's by nature,

what you do.

So recognizing it as the first step to really just overcoming

that and getting done,

what you know,

you really want to do.

Yeah, absolutely.

All right.

Let's dive into your story.

Like I said,

I'm so excited.

I was a quilter.

Well, I still am a quilter,

I guess when to have the skills you always do.

Right. But I have not quilted for quite a while.

Business kind of took over and to your point about your

candle, but talk to us about quilting,

how you got interested in it and the very start.

Well, I was 12 years old when I took my first

stitches and it was at a local flea markets.

The rage at that time when I was at young age

was cabbage patch kids.

And so I was at this table at a flea market

and I saw this female creator.

She had cabbage patch,

doll clothes all over her table and I just gravitated towards

it. I wanted to buy some,

but I didn't have the money.

And every week I showed up milling around her table.

And finally she said,

have a seat and let me teach you how to stitch.

So she taught me how to hand stitch.

And I did that every single Sunday for the entire season,

until the end of the season.

She gave me a bunting for my cabbage patch kid.

And I had made a shirt over the season myself by

hand. And that really was my intro to handcraft and the

great feeling that comes from creating something yourself.

And from then,

as I grew,

I was sort of a voracious crafter.

After that I did all kinds of craft shows and stuff.

And one day when I was working at a craft store,

friend of mine came along and said,

you're kind of crafty.

Can you make me a quilt?

I want a quilted wall hanging for my grandmother.

And her 80th birthday is coming up or may have been

a great grandmother.

And I said,

you know what?

Yeah, why not?

I've never made a quilt,

but why not give it a try?

And not only was it a patchwork quilt,

but it was also a photo quilt.

So it had all these elements to it that were difficult

to knew,

but I gave it a try.

It took me forever to do I procrastinated a bit.

I pulled it off at the last minute.

And when I brought it to that birthday party and she

gave it to her grandmother,

the look on her face just had me hooked.

I just thought quilting is the thing.

This is what I need to be doing.

So that's really how my story got started and was the

whole thing.

Hand-stitched back at that point,

I was using my mom's old singer sewing machine and I

was piecing and chopping and turning things and trying to make

them fit.

It was using ribbon and lace and sashing and I was

iron photo transfer.

It was crazy.

And the binding was just a big old wraparound of the

backing to the front because I didn't really know how to

do a binding yet.

So there's all kinds of crazy things going on in that

quilt. But looking back,

I was pretty proud of that.

I really couldn't believe I pulled it off.

It worked out really well.

Talk about A serious challenge as your first project.

It could have gone either way.

You could have been so frustrated and said,

I'm not ever doing this again.

It could be gone very badly,

but she was quite specific in what she wanted.

She wanted floral,

she wanted lace.

She wanted the photos in there and the photos are really

the feature because it was her grandmother,

a picture of her as a child doing the splits in

the center of the quilt and pictures of her and her

family all the way around in a big circle.

So you couldn't really go wrong cause it had such a

heartwarming element.

It sounds amazing.

Oh my gosh.

Okay. And so what happened from there?

So from there where I went to university and I got

an English degree and I didn't know what I wanted to

do. And I ended up seeing something in the newspaper that

said apply to be a firefighter.

And I thought this is active.

This would be different every day.

This would be great for the community.

I think I'm a giver.

And my father is a firefighter.

My uncle is a firefighter.

My great-grandfather was a firefighter.

So it really ran in the family.

And I think I just launched right into the idea that,

yeah, this is a good thing for me.

So I became a firefighter over the next year and I

started to use stitching handcrafts quilting as my creative escape.

Firefighting is difficult as you can imagine.

And there are a lot of things that you see that

you need to deal with.

So stitching ended up being my reprieve from all of that

difficult stuff that you see.

So I really just dove into quilting.

I've been quilting for 30 years now and it has always

been my creative escape.

It's been the thing that has kept me whole and brought

me back to calm my mind and grounded me.

So I've always used quilting as sort of a healing process.

And So what were you doing with your quilts?

Because at some point you run out of friends and family

to give quilts to,

I ended up gravitating into fiber art.

So first of all,

I was selling little holiday Christmas tree quilts,

and I was always making everything up myself.

I've rarely ever bought a pattern.

And so I just kind of was randomly making things.

And I had this one great craft sale where I sold

about 30 little Christmas wall hangings.

And I thought,

oh, this could really be a business.

I could really get into this.

And mostly throughout my quilting career,

I have sold my art quilts at craft sales and in

little coffee shops and art galleries.

And so that's primarily,

but everyone in my family pretty much has a quilt.

I actually just received a call about two weeks ago that

I have a grand niece.

Great-niece a new little great niece.

So my nephew had a baby girl and he has a

new relationship with this wonderful woman.

And they have a little boy as well that his step

son. So all of a sudden I'm making two quilts at

once because I've never made him a quilt either.

So every child in my family has a quilt.

So that's where all my quilts go.

And I do love making quilts for quilts of valor as

well. Quilts of valor is really big up here in Canada

as it is in the states.

And I just really enjoy challenging my listeners to make quilts

for quilts of valor.

And I'm a really big supporter of that organization.

Anyone Who's listening who doesn't know what that is,

why don't you give a little clip for that?

Oh, absolutely.

So quilts of valor is a program that makes quilts for

injured and ill soldiers.

So in Canada,

it's called the Canadian armed forces and when people have PTSD

or injuries,

the comfort of a quilt can just make a huge difference

in their life.

And I had the sort of honor of working with Cozza

valor as on their marketing for a couple of years.

And I was able to listen to,

into some of the meetings and what they do at the

board meetings,

as they read the letters from the soldiers who get these

quilts. And I can just tell you that the tears are

flowing. If you ever want to make something for charity,

quilts of valor is the way to go because the feeling

of giving this away,

the soldiers say things like you have no idea that when

I wrap myself in this quilt every day,

it keeps me here on this planet.

And so it's an amazing thing just to know that someone

made this quilt for you out of the goodness of their

heart, not even knowing who you are,

they just know that you needed it.

So it's a wonderful organization.

That's amazing.

And I know,

you know,

this working so intimately with the community,

but anyone who's a maker is such a giver.

And so to be able to do that for somebody where

it's so important is so significant.

So thank you for sharing that.

All right.

So you started and like,

I'm looking at the evolution of how everything merged into a

business. So as a child,

and isn't it interesting how lots of times the things that

bring us joy when we're so innocent are things that we

gravitate back to,

or hang on to as we get older.

That's what I'm hearing within your story here too.

So then you started selling at craft shows,

which is awesome because you're seeing that people are really interested

in what you're making.

So how great does that feel?

Right. And then did you have a formalized business at that

point? I started my business in the early two thousands and

it was called Brandy Lynn designs.

And one of my struggles at the beginning was I really

wanted to start teaching.

I really wanted to start doing lectures and trunk shows.

We call them in the quilting industry.

So I started to do that,

but I started to run into some struggles with the sort

of who do you think you are?

Mentality? Because I was young.

I happened to be maybe a decade younger than the average

quilter at the time in my thirties.

And I would even just bring in three different color ways

into a Guild meeting.

And someone would be like,

you can't put red with pink,

with orange.

Who do you think you are?

Was kind of like this overriding notion.

And I was thinking,

I love this.

I want to do this anyway.

And so I really started to think,

well, you know what,

I can do this.

I'm going to start a business.

I'm going to start teaching and I'll start with the basics.

And it really moved into fiber art.

And it was kind of a different thing than the average

quilter is doing.

So I was taking people a little outside their element.

So I started to teach and I really found a passion

for teaching.

I love catering to my students and lifting them up.

And I had this sort of ideal in my business that

no one suffers in silence.

And so I really started to have some fun with the

teaching and I just went for it.

You Weren't worried about the opinions of others that didn't affect

you. You just decided,

okay, well,

if they have different thoughts than me,

that's okay,

I'm going to still go and do my own thing.

Well, I can't really say that it didn't affect me,

but over the 30 years,

I grew to understand why people might do that and how

to sort of overcome it.

And that is one of the biggest struggles I've had throughout

my quilting career is encountering the naysayers.

And there's all kinds of different reasons why someone may say,

oh, that's not really that great.

Or who do you think you are being a quilt judge?

Or who do you think you are putting your stuff in

an art gallery or anything that you might do?

Who do you think you are teaching precision piecing when art

quilter earth,

there's all kinds of things that people,

I don't know if they accidentally say it out loud and

don't realize what they sound like,

but they actually do it.

And so you want to sort of like everything that I

do when I do my lectures,

I'm talking to women about who do you think you are

in a positive way,

let's turn that saying,

or that notion on its head.

And instead of saying,

oh, I'm not really a quilter.

I'm just kind of try and say,

I'm a quilter because I'm doing it.

I'm an art quilter because that's what I love.

And even if I've only tried it or I'm making my

first one,

or I'm just diving into it,

that's who I am and I can be whatever I want

to be.

And so this is sort of the theme through my trunk

show. I talk about firefighter to fiber artists and all of

the struggles in firefighting,

all the struggles in the quilting world,

along the way,

there was a time in the quilting world.

And when a few quilters really came down on me in

a harsh way,

and I was kind of booted out of a little sort

of guilt that I was in because I was like starting

a business.

And like,

you're doing a business,

like we're just doing this because we love it.

And we think quilting should be,

if you're doing your passion,

you should do it for free.

And so I was kind of missing them because I loved

them in the first place.

They were amazing mentors,

but then they didn't believe in what I was doing.

And so I didn't quilt for a whole year after that.

And I backed away and it was a really harsh challenge.

And I just really let them define me for a while.

And I was sad about the whole thing.

And then I kind of realized I'm missing my passion.

I'm missing what heals me,

what lifts me up.

I'm just going to dive back in and go for it

in that whole process of forgiving them and moving on from

that and defining myself and taking my own path.

I realized that other people don't have a say in what

I'm going to do in the future.

And it's up to me and I can be a quilt

judge. If I want to be a quilt judge and I

can charge my patterns and my lectures,

if I want to charge and I don't have to have

it really cheap either.

I can really value myself and charge what I deserve.

So I really learned along the way,

if there was a lot of lessons and a lot of

trials and tribulations,

but I really stood up for myself in the end.

And now I try to bring that notion to all the

cultures who listened to my shows.

Well, it's a powerful message,

just claiming your course.

And I see this a lot that people feel like if

a certain way,

it's not done the right way,

but what you're talking about is paving your own path,

which makes you different.

Number one allows you to fulfill whatever your vision is,

and it doesn't have to be the same vision as the

person that's next to you.

In fact,

it's probably better than if that it isn't because then you're

different and you're special and you are sharing with the world,

something new that they may not have seen before.

And isn't that what art is all about onto itself in

the beginning?

Yeah, absolutely.

Okay. So talk a little bit more about how you formed

the different elements of your company and like you had your

quilt. Was it always teaching or were you also selling supplies?

It started off kind of really spread out in different directions.

And this is probably a good message for people new to

starting a business.

I started as Brandy Lynn designs and I had the Canadian

quilt talk podcast back then,

I started that.

And then I had my explore fiber blog and it was

brand new and designs.

I had all these different names,

all these different business parts and directions.

And I think I was confusing my audience.

And then as I grew in the business and I started

to bring in some products that went with my patterns and

I created a few patterns and I started to bring in

products that went with my workshops and I had three lectures

now instead of just one.

And I had a dozen workshops now instead of four or

five. So it was growing quite well.

I really realized that I needed to rebrand and be consistent

across all platforms and just be one thing.

So I kind of gathered up the people who are closest

to me,

my friends,

my family,

and I chatted with each of them about how this could

look and my best friend I was talking about,

you know,

I just have this passion for quilting and I just really

want to make a transition from the fire industry over to

I left with fire career after 15 years,

but I became a private consultant here.

So I still teach fire safety.

I help people prepare their properties for wildfires,

so they don't lose their home.

And so still,

I actually have an exit plan coming up for next spring

that I'm going to be quilting full-time.

But I was talking to these people about what should I

do in my business?

What should I call it?

And my best friend said,

you just have this fiery passion.

You're like the quilter on fire.

And I'm just like,

oh my gosh,

I can't believe that that is such a great,

perfect name.

And I had heard of the entrepreneur on fire and I

had listened to all of his podcasts.

I absolutely love him.

And he actually did a podcast where he was talking to

someone who I think was a accountant and he encouraged him

to be the accountant on fire.

And he had this notion that there's true for everyone in

the world.

It doesn't matter how many people are on fire.

They should all be on fire.

And I just thought he likely gave me permission there to

use that name and not worry that similar to his name.

And it worked out really well.

So now every platform everywhere I am,

it's all quilter on fire.

It's easy for everyone.

And it really has made my business more visible to the

public. I think JLD is so generous.

He's the one who got me into podcast.

Yeah. And I actually got the opportunity to speak to him

on clubhouse once.

And I told him that story.

I said,

I've been following you forever.

I've been listening forever.

Here's my little story about why my name is that name.

Thank you for giving me permission.

And he's like,

you go into the world there's room for everyone.

Lily, I'm really enjoying your story because it is different than

what I often hear.

Someone who's a quilter could have the tendency to start by

selling the quilts that they make versus helping people develop a

passion or an elevated skill within quilting itself.

Did you ever think about doing it the other way first?

Well, I've thought of selling like large quilts and quilts that

I made.

I gradually went into fiber art,

but you know,

I kind of found that it's not that lucrative to sell

a quilt because there's so much cost involved in the product

and the time you put into it can be six months.

So you're going to be having to sell a king-sized quilt

for 40 just there's so much time that goes into it.

It's ridiculous.

So I kind of really felt that how can I bring

my value across to people?

The thing I love in my business right now that I

do it for content is I bring my podcast to people

and that's how I bring value to my community and the

teaching and speaking and judging is just an extension of that.

It brings me so much joy to travel and see quilting

all over the world and do these things at events and

meet the people that are in my community.

Sometimes I'm giving away a prize to someone who lives in

Peru and I'm connected with people all over the place that

are just,

they might even speak a different language,

but we're watching the same YouTube video.

So it's really a lot of fun to connect with everyone.

So has the evolution,

well, I know you sold products in the very beginning when

you were younger and the craft shows,

et cetera.

And then you started more providing information and sharing what you

love about the quilting industry through your podcast and your blog.

Yeah. Then you started with your pattern.

Yeah. I started with my patterns when it was still Brandilyn

designs. And I really only have a few patterns because I

am an art quilter through and through.

So the patterns that I've created are generally for a purpose.

So the first big pattern I created was four quilts of

valor. And that's been my best selling pattern of all time

because I challenged my followers to create a quilt of valor.

And then a friend of mine said,

oh, I can't wait to see what you're going to make

it. And I thought,

oh my goodness,

if I'm challenging thousands of people to make a quilt of

valor, I guess I better make one myself.

So I ended up making this pattern and it has been

such a best seller.

It selling well for two or three years.

And then it was Canada's 150th birthday.

And this pattern is a huge contemporary maple leaf.

of weeks,

and then I Republic and I've sold that out as well.

So I've sold over 2,500

of that pattern and it's just such a wonderful Canadian vibe.

I feel so honored to be associated quilts of valor because

some of 10% goes to them.

And so that was my first pattern and I got a

taste for it.

So I created a couple other patterns that introduced fiber art

and art quilting into pattern.

And then the recent patterns that I've made have been because

I teach on cruises as well.

So every time you teach on a cruise,

you need to make an original project for them to do

on the cruise.

So the last one is called Zen ocean waves,

and it's a big ocean quilt.

So my patterns tend to be big quilts,

but my own personal work is smaller works of arts that's

for the walls.

Oh my gosh.

It sounds amazing.

And these cruises,

are they coming specifically to make a quilts?

Is that the theme of the cruise?

Absolutely. So if the quilting cruises are like,

so the first cruise I did was to Hawaii and it

was a 15 day cruise and I took 50 women with

me and it was so fun.

We did eight full days of workshops at sea and it

was overwhelming and a lot of work,

but it was really,

really fun.

And the last cruise that I did,

Zen ocean waves sword was actually canceled due to the pandemic,

but that cruise was going to be so fun.

It was going to be to the Caribbean and we were

making this beautiful ocean gorgeous Aqua quilts to go with just

sort of as a memory of the wonderful trips.

So we're planning to do that cruise again,

coming up.

I'm not sure if I'll be able to pull it off

we'll see how the company goes.

And it might be a 20,

23 trip,

but I do definitely want to use that quilt for that

cruise because Caribbean is kind of ocean.

And you just want to have that memory.

Yeah. Oh my gosh.

That sounds absolutely amazing.

I remember when I was part of a quilting group,

we would go away for weekends,

but not a whole cruise.

And I would be so up for that,

for sure.

My quote,

travel destinations are just such a blast.

You connect with people in a way you never imagined we

all have the same passion and you're seeing another part of

the world,

you know,

it opens your eyes to the textiles and where they come

from. And yeah,

I love quilt travel.

And did I see you're going to Japan next year?

Yeah. Yes.

I am going to Japan in June,

2022. And then we're also doing the Birmingham England show in

August and yeah,

I love cult travel destination.

So I'm doing all these trips.

I love these ones even more than the cruises and only

because I'm not having to teach,

I love teaching,

but I'm more like the happiness factor on these ones.

So it's really a tour.

There is a tour guide in Japan,

obviously, because I don't speak the language,

but we go to a show.

If there's a show at that time,

we have our fingers crossed that there will be a show,

but yeah,

it's so much fun because it's really comforting to have someone

plan your trip for you and then you just get to

show up.

And then there's a leader who makes sure everything's going well.

And you have a lot less stress.

I'm sure.

Also with the cruises,

you feel somewhat responsible for making sure that their project turns

out well,

too. So there's that extra layer there.

All right.

So, oh my gosh,

you're doing so much.

I could dive into any of these with a million questions,

but let's keep it really relevant to the people who are

listening with us right now,

too. I love the honest point that you bring up and

this isn't just for quilting.

There are other types of products that are the same way

that if you wanted a business out of something that you

make and the product that you make takes a long time

or the elements to the product are really,

really expensive.

So you're limiting your audience,

which there's no problem with that at all.

That's what you love to do.

You should be doing that.

But if you are trying to make it like a life

supporting business,

possibly these types of things that you add on top of

it, Brandy are what others could do to fulfill their dream

of still doing what they love to do in their passion,

but taking it in different angles that can be financially rewarding.

So what would you say to someone who's now thinking about

that? How would you get started?

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Well, I would say the thing It's worked best for me

in my business is to just take one step.

So just take one step forward.

So about getting over that fear,

right? So if you're thinking,

okay, I have a business and I have an idea of

what I want to do instead of just doing the one

thing you want to do,

think about what are 5,

10, 15 ways that I can bring in income doing that

one thing I want to do so I could do a

course and I could have a membership and I could be

an affiliate for the wonderful companies that I love and use.

And you want to have all these different ways that the

same thing can bring value in multiple different ways.

It's like using your content in multiple different ways.

You want it on your blog.

You want it on your podcast.

You want it on your social media.

You're doing one solid thing that brings great value,

but you're spreading it out in different areas.

So there's a couple of different elements there and I'm trying

to do it all I'm growing as I learn.

The other thing I would mention if you're starting out that

has really worked well for me in the last year is

to put yourself out there on video because I did a

three minute video that changed the face of my business.

I put out a three minute video.

This is what I offer on zoom and it exploded.

And I have done over 36 lectures.

I've done over 40 workshops and I've done two hour workshops,

half day workshops,

full day workshops,

all on zoom.

And it created a business for me that now had the

income where I beat that income threshold,

where I can now apply for grants.

So I recently received a grant because I made over 30,000

in one year,

for instance,

you can apply for a new level of grants.

So I got a $10,000

grant for my website.

So you really want to bring in lots of multiple streams

of income.

Like just try all the things and see what really works

well for you.

You might love Patrion,

or you might like to have a membership and really connect

with your audience,

or you might like to do the podcast,

but have advertisers,

or instead if you don't want advertising on your podcast,

then have affiliates and things like that.

So just explore everything and really see what works for you.

And that is what I'm in the process of doing right

now. And so that one video really made a difference for

me and the grants also,

I mean,

grants are a big deal because if you're a female,

small business types of different grants out there in the U

S and Canada,

just for you,

and if you don't apply for them,

you don't get them for sure.

But if you do apply,

you're opening up the possibility that for instance,

my grant for my website,

it's a $10,000

project and I'm going to have a new website in the

middle of August.

And so 7,500

comes from the grant and I need to invest 2,500,

but it's a win for everyone because my e-commerce has been

And now I'm actually solving that problem just because I took

a chance.

I put myself out there and I applied for that grant.

So if there's any advice I would give,

it would just be,

take that one step forward,

especially if you're afraid,

because that fear probably means that you're going in the direction.

That is really exciting.

And So the video that you put it on YouTube and

talked about your zoom classes,

is that Right?

Yeah, it actually is on YouTube,

but I just want to tell you about this unique opportunity

I had in the quilting world and any quilter can do

this. There's a new company in the U S called global

quilt connection.

It started by lyric canard and Sue BLI Weiss.

And they created this online,

I guess,

website to connect quilt teachers with quilting guilds.

And I just thought it was such a great idea.

And I dove in head first when it was still free.

And I said,

yes, I'll do a video.

I tried it out.

And I was one of the very first people to get

my video in there.

And now it's probably like maybe $50 a year.

It's really no big cost.

It's so worth it.

And you can get your information out there to the masses.

It's just such a wonderful opportunity.

And I really appreciate those guys for doing that.

So that made a big difference for me and my business.

And it's on my YouTube channel now.

So The YouTube video went to a quilting viewership,

so it was a very directed,

oh my gosh,

that's fabulous.

And I would imagine that other types of creative industries have

something similar because we often talk about doing video and how

you should put it up on your website or jump over

and start a YouTube channel because there's so much you can

share in terms of training and teaching and all of that,

but you've taken it one step further and really directed it

specifically through quilters through this global quilt connection.

Yeah. And you can do that in knitting or crocheting,

any industry that you're in,

you can find a local magazine that has a blog,

or if you can find someone that has that audience first,

you want to figure out how can I bring them value

and then see if they're willing to do something for you

in the end.

And I found that once I created that video,

now every time I get a request from a quilting Guild,

like, oh,

I like your podcast.

And I would love to hire you.

I send them that video and they instantly know,

oh, this is the 12 courses she has available.

These are the three lectures she could do.

And then they're able to choose from looking at the video

rather than trying to go to my website and find what

I do.

They don't have to do any work.

They just click and they've got three minutes and they've got

it all there.

Love it.

And The thing that stood out to me from your story

is that when you saw the opportunity,

you said,

yes, right away,

you didn't think about it.

You just said yes.

And then you figured out how to get that video done

and what you were going to put in the video afterwards,

but you committed yourself right away.

Oh, it goes back to what are you waiting for?

Right. All right.

So this is a great tip in terms of making sure

that you put your message in the place where the most

people who would be receptive to it,

hang out.

So for you inside a quilting community,

but how else are you getting attention and visibility to the

things that You offer?

But when I do my podcast,

I invite guests and whether they're famous or not,

doesn't really matter to me.

It's their story that I want to share.

So I'm sharing the story of quilt professionals and superstars in

the quilting industry,

all the way down to the mom who made a coat

of many colors for her two year old,

because their two-year-old loves Dolly Parton.

So I treat the average quilter like a superstar,

and I treat the superstar like my best friend.

I kind of try to really just focus on the story

and how am I going to bring the listener from here

to there what's the value for them.

And so this is sort of the unique thing that I

bring to the table is that you can go ahead and

throw your earbuds in and start quilting away and listen to

my podcast.

And all of a sudden you've made like five blocks in

a quilt and you've listened to the whole podcast and you're

just in your zone.

And so that's my goal for people.

That's how I bring them the most joy,

I think.

And even when I'm in the classroom,

I tell my students,

no one suffers in silence.

This is just not something that happens in my class.

So you need to reach out to me if you're struggling.

I once a quilter who we were taking apart shirts,

and we were quilting all over the front of the shirts

and putting the shirt back together.

It was a super fun class.

And she was sitting there struggling and struggling.

And I came over and she couldn't see the black and

black stitching just to rip the stitches on the side.

So you always really have to stay connected with your community

and your audience and your students in a way that really

supports them.

And it makes them think,

okay, I can ask her,

this is not too dumb of a question.

No, question's too small.

I can just go ahead and say,

listen, I'm struggling with this and I want to keep up,

well, that's the nature That you bring to the brand,

to the feel and the community.

And all,

I also think a lot of quilters quilt on their own

either they're confined to their homes.

So could never unfortunately do a cruise or go out to

weekend groups or whatever,

but having the podcast brings in a sense of community for

them within what they're able to do as well.

And let's face it.

We all can't go out on a cruise every week either,

but we might be quilting at home many nights a week

too. So if that's our passion,

take us a little bit behind the scenes.

You probably have a team now with all the things that

you're working on.

Well, I am for the first time getting podcasts editors.

So I'm really excited about that.

Actually, I have a meeting with him,

oh, it's a game changer.

Brandy. You could probably give me some advice on that.

I've been spending four hours on every episode,

editing myself in the past.

So now I am ready to move on.

I have an accountant and bookkeeper.

This is the most important part of my team.

I swear.

I struggled for years and years.

And then I finally bit the bullet.

I also have sporadically hired virtual assistants,

which has been just a godsend,

but I just hired them once in a while to help

me get back on track.

Sometimes my email gets out of control or certain things,

and then they help me or they help me batch create

some content and things like that.

So that has been really good.

But for the most part,

I do almost all of it myself.

And to be honest with you,

because I have a day job in the fire industry,

I've got my fire job down to four hours a day.

So I'm thrilled about that.

I'm moving into a plan to leave my fire job altogether

in the spring,

but I spend long hours in my studio.

And the thing that kind of keeps me grounded there,

like sometimes I'm in my studio from 9:00 PM till midnight

is because I love it so much.

And I'm the kind of person who can accidentally quilt all

night. And my husband will come down in the morning and

say what's going on,

but I know that it's okay because I'm still building.

And once I'm done with the fire,

I'll be able to keep much more regular hours.

And I really can tell when I'm exhausting myself too much,

I love to spend after work an evening time with my

husband and son.

So that's why I'll do like the 9:00 PM till midnight,

little stint there.

And I love to get up early in the morning too.

So I have to be very careful because I'm an early

bird and night owl at the same time.

So sometimes I only get four or five hours of sleep,

but I know that I'm getting really exhausted when I start

to feel depleted and my energy gets low.

And then I just make sure,

okay, I've got a plan a little better and get a

lot of sleep for a while.

And then I'm back on track.

So my sleep and my energy really kind of dictates if

I'm a little too much.

Well, It sounds like,

I mean,

you're living your dream,

which is,

if you love what you're doing,

you don't work a day in your life.

You know,

there's a quote,

some spin off of what I just said there,

but you also have so many variations,

right? From speaking to judging,

to traveling and teaching and designing and quilting.

So it's all these different facets that all spin off that

nucleus of your love,

which is quilting.

Are there any systems or programs that you're using that you

would suggest to everyone who's listening here?

I Think,

I don't know if I would be able to live without

Trello. Trello is it's like my organizer.

I use Trello for business and I have a quilter on

fire sales funnel,

for instance,

in Trello,

where every time a Guild reaches out to me,

I create a card for them.

And it goes from new leads to pending,

to contract in place,

to booking and then complete and paid and that kind of

thing. So I can have,

like right now,

if I just take a glimpse at my Trello for my

bookings, I literally have probably 83 bookings in different stages of

completion. And can actually look in there to count if I'm

applying for a show or something,

they'll say,

how much have you taught in the last year?

I can say,

oh, 87,

whatever. I can count how many I know who's paid and

who hasn't paid.

So Trello has really been wonderful for me.

I just,

I got into it quite early on.

I fooled around with it and had fun with it.

It's so easy.

A monkey could use it.

And so it's perfect for me.

I just have a lot of fun with it.

So that's a good organization tool that I love.

It's also perfect because now you're set up if,

and when you add team members,

they can jump in and work on the processes you already

have. I haven't often heard people starting with either Trello or

I use a sauna when they're the only person doing it.

But I think that that's brilliant keeping track of everything and

knowing where everything is at any given point,

et cetera.

Yeah. And I mean,

you can even go in there and like,

let's say I'm doing a holiday cause my son just graduated

and we're going to go to Bali.

I can jump into Trello and I can plan the entire

trip. Everything goes in there from the flights to everything that

you're planning.

It can be used for business and home and everything.

So it's great.

Oh, that's Fabulous.

Love it.

Okay. Talk with us a little bit about your book.

This is such a fun story.

So my book is called Christie's quilt and the whole goal

of this book is to share the heritage of quilting with

children. And so back when I lived in the prairies of

Canada, before I moved to the coast here,

I went to a quilting retreat every year for about six

years in a row.

And the last time I went to that quote retreat,

before I moved away,

we really noticed Christie.

There she's a young,

she was 10 or 11 at the time.

And she was always wandering through the tables,

looking at her quilts.

And she was the daughter of the lodge owners.

So she really got involved in just enjoying the process of

what we were doing.

And the next year we came back and she had a

sewing machine set up and she was all ready to go

and make her own quilt.

It's the,

we were so excited.

It was such a heartwarming story.

But the thing that happened was that the person who had

promised to teach her to quilt was ill that year.

And she wasn't able to come.

So Christie said,

where's Wendy.

And we said,

oh, Wendy's not coming.

And so she was devastated because she didn't have fabric or

thread or anything.

And we were in a very remote lodge in the wilderness.

And so everybody banded together and we all pulled any fabric

that looks like children's fabric.

And we all gave her thread and everyone took turns,

teaching her a different element of how to quilt.

And in one weekend,

in four days,

she created a quilt from start to finish.

She did the entire thing herself from cutting to piecing to

quilting. She even applicate raw edge butterflies on top and she

bound the quilt herself.

So it was such an inspiring feat.

I mean,

she just took on the challenge and went for it that

I just had to write a book about it.

And I got her family's permission and I did a great

big Kickstarter project back then,

that was so fun.

And I sold all the copies I needed to make the

project successful and I've been selling it ever since.

And my illustrator actually did a really fun thing in the

book where she added a little mouse on every page.

So when you're reading the book,

the children have to find the most and she secretly put

me in the book.

So there's this curly haired quilter in there that looks just

like me.

And so it was a lot of fun.

The project was so fun.

I've been selling it ever since.

And I just think it's such a great way for quilters

to connect with their children or grandchildren.

When you give a quilt to a child,

of course they absolutely love it,

but they might not really understand what goes into the making

of the quilt.

So this is what they read through in the book.

Do you know where Christie is now?

Yes, I do.

I actually had her on my podcast,

which is so exciting.

She is in her twenties now.

And she's a nurse at such a little inspiring story.

It was so nice to have her on the podcast and

all of those quilters who are at the original retreat,

they all reached out to me by email saying,

oh, it was so nice to hear where she is now

and hear the story after the fact.

So yeah,

I definitely,

I jumped at the opportunity to have her on the podcast.

I've got to go listen to that one.

I mean,

I can just imagine,

cause she probably reflects back like the feelings that she had

at the time and then the whole experience and then having

a book written like,

oh my gosh,

that's a dream in and of itself.

Yeah. And she's been so busy getting educated,

but she still has made a few quilts since then.

So it's nice to see that she's kept going.

For Sure.

So do you use this book as you're marketing your business

or has it helped In that way?

I actually was on clubhouse the other day and I asked

in a room,

do you think I should relaunch my book?

And the resoundingly answer in this book publishing room on clubhouse

was yes.

Oh my goodness.

You should be launching your book multiple times per year.

And I kind of had the notion that I did the

book, I had the book and it's just always available on

my website,

but I've learned that lesson that if you don't put it

out there and use it in your business,

it's just going to sit there.

So I absolutely that's the next step I need to take

is to kind of relaunch that book and have some fun

with it.

I can use it as a draw.

You know,

people will come for the book and then they'll see all

the other stuff that I do.

Absolutely. That's giving me some ideas for my book then too.

I did the same thing.

It's like that big launch when it first comes out.

And then if I'm out of shows or something,

I'll have it with me.

And of course it's available for sale,

but I never really thought of it in that way.

You kind of think all my audience has seen this already,

but my audience has doubled and quadrupled over the years and

all these new people haven't seen the launch of the book

and they don't really,

this might see it on my website if they're going to

look for it,

but that's not a good way to do business.

So you definitely want to get it in front and center

so that they're seeing what it is.

Sounds fabulous.

Perfect. What would you say to somebody who's listening here who

is in the textiles,

dealing with fabrics and has the potential to do more,

but they're like,

I know,

you know,

I'm listening to what Brandy's saying,

but I just don't know if that's me,

if I could do something like that,

they have the spark of interest,

but they're just at that line of,

ah, do I cross it?

Do I not?

I would say to find your zone.

So when you're creating something,

whether it's crocheting,

knitting, quilting,

whatever it is,

find that thing that is in your zone,

when you could accidentally quilt all night or you could accidentally

four hours later be thinking well,

that time went fast,

find that thing and do more of that and find your

passion, what you love the most about it and throw that

up on Tik TOK or something and try it out,

like get out there and get involved in the community for

what you love to do most,

if you love quilting,

but there's this specific one thing like English paper piecing that

really is your jam.

Go for it.

And just dive right into that specific thing.

I really think the more you niche out the better,

and this is where I'm moving in my own business,

I've always done quilting and art quilting and such a wide

variety, trying to please everyone.

I decided to become a judge because I wanted to learn

more about traditional quilting.

Cause I'm so artsy,

but my niche moving forward is art quilting and fiber art.

And this is the direction I'm going in my business.

And it's just what brings you the most joy is what

you really need to do.

It's the end of the time to start pleasing everyone.

And it's the beginning of the time to do what you

love and just make a difference in that niche.

Yeah. Become the expert too,

when you niche down.

And so when you say you're moving in that direction,

what does that mean specifically?

I'm really excited about the launch of my new website in

August. And I'm creating my first online course,

which is called fiber art fundamentals.

And from there I'm moving into a huge fiber art project.

That's going to last a couple of years.

So I'm really excited about niching out into that because I've

always spread myself a little thin trying to do scrap challenges

and blog hops and all kinds of different things that are

Quilty, but not my specific niche.

So I'm really getting into art quilting now and I'm going

to go crazy.

That sounds exciting.

But would you say that testing the waters in different areas

helped you really define where you want to Do?

Oh yeah,

absolutely. And I'm balancing over people saying,

who do you think you are?

And I realized over the years that I shouldn't really be

teaching precision policing when my passion is messy,

you know,

that kind of stuff.

So I can do it all.

And I've become a cook judge.

When I was learning to be a quick judge,

I would find something like a cathedral window block in quilting,

and I've never made it.

So I would have to dive in and learn how to

make that so that I would be able to judge it

one day.

But really that wasn't my passion.

Like I like quilting and all the different blocks you can

do, but traditional is not the thing that I would create

as a pattern or do for a friend.

I would make an art quilt or even a modern quilt

is more my style.

And so I've realized over the years that even though I

want to learn everything and learn all the rules and know

how to do everything properly now it's time to break the

rules and do what I love.

Yes. Break the rules.

Brandy. All right.

Well, hi,

guest episode is going to be going out in August.

So your website might very well be up at this point.

If people are listening right the week that it goes live,

what is the website?

It's Www.quilteronfire.com.

Okay. So same name.

What are you doing?

Just moving the domain over when the website gets done.

Yeah. I have a perfectly good website right now,

but my struggle is e-commerce.

So my e-commerce is going to be amazing and it's going

to be a brand new look.

It's going to be just entirely new.

So I'm really excited about it.

It will be the same domain in everything.

You can find everything there right now,

but it'll just be a brand new look.

Wonderful. Well,

so everyone needs to go over there right now and then

go over again in a couple of weeks,

because depending on when in August it happens,

you might see something new,

but that would also be interesting to see the transition.

Yeah, absolutely.

From one to another.

So fabulous and fiber art fundamentals.

What's that going to be about when it actually happens?

Yeah. Fiber art fundamentals.

I've designed the whole course.

I've made all the samples.

I'm ready to record my video.

So what this class is about is it's a small little

art project where you learn about color.

You learn a little bit about design and switching it up.

So you have a focal point.

And then you also learn how to create a facing on

the back of a quilt,

which is not a common thing that traditional quilters do.

So you're learning how to create a little art piece.

It's maybe 12 by 18,

and you can actually put any kind of fiber art on

the front of it.

So it's fiber art fundamentals.

So you're creating a base for your fiber art project.

So this will be kind of like the first course anyone

would take before they start diving into all the different types

of surface design and fiber arts that you can do.

Sounds Wonderful.

And I believe that that seems to tell me there'll be

extensions to this as well.

This is course number one.

Yeah, absolutely.

So your future Is kind of getting laid out before our

very eyes here.

Thank you,

Brandy. I so appreciate you spending time with us giving a

peek behind the scenes of what quilter on fire is all

about all you guys have to go listen to the podcast,

quilter on fire,

sit and hear the stories of these wonderful quilts.

If you're not part of the quilting community,

it's just always so fascinating to hear what's motivated individual makers

to create what the story behind the quilts are.

There's always some story.

So I'm sure the stories have to be there are plus

Christie's is there,

so you got to listen to Chris days.

Yeah, absolutely.

Brandy, thank You so much.

I appreciate you being on the show.

I love how heartwarming and genuinely caring you are about the

people that you come in contact with and bringing everybody together

through the world of quilting.

So this has been so fun.

Thanks for letting me share my story.

One of my favorite things about this podcast is discovering how

business forms from nothing into a beautiful enriching endeavor.

Brandies is one such story from firefighter to quilter,

to pattern designers,

store owner,

and traveling workshop director.

This is what's possible for you and your business to if

it's your desire,

that's the best part of all.

You can create your business to serve your life.

However you want it to be.

We're moving from fiber art to leather next week,

where we'll hear from another fast track business owner as always.

Thanks for joining me here today.

If you enjoyed the show,

make sure to follow the podcast on your app of choice.

That way you won't miss a single episode,

especially right now during this air date test,

also a rating and review would be greatly appreciated.

It's a way for the show to be seen by more

makers. And it's also a wonderful way to pay it forward

and now be safe and well.

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

unwrapped Podcast.

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

group called gift is breeze.

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

support each other.

Got a really fun post in there.

That's my favorite of the week.

I have to say where I invite all of you to

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

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

reaction from other people and just for fun,

because we all get to see the wonderful products that everybody

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

without doubt.

Wait, what,

aren't you part of the group already,

if not make sure to jump over to Facebook and search

for the group gift biz breeze don't delay.