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

Gift biz unwrapped episode 294.

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

until you try it.

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.

Hi there.

Sue. Guess what?

Next week is the at home craft and gift show.

This is a virtual event.

So you can attend from the comfort of your cozy couch

shop in our vendor village next Sunday afternoon.

So that's December six.

And during that time,

you can meet the makers of the fabulous products that are

being displayed.

You can place custom orders,

pick your own special,

one of a kind piece or ask questions of the artisans

from 12 to four Eastern standard time.

After that vendor village will be open the entire month of

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

holiday shopping list to grab your free ticket to the at

home craft and gift show.

Just jump over to gift biz,

unwrapped.com forward slash at home ticket.

You're going to find beautiful handmade products,

holiday designs,

and special,

unique gifts that are sure to put a smile on the

faces of those.

You love to grab your free ticket again,

gift biz unwrapped.com

forward slash at home ticket.

I hope you had a wonderful Thanksgiving.

Are you recovered from your food coma?

It was just my husband and me this year.

We were supposed to go out to Colorado a couple of

weeks ago and have an early Thanksgiving with the children because

we thought that was a really smart thing to do to

avoid the rush and the holiday traveling crowds.

But given that there was a huge surge of cases in

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

trip behind the scenes though.

I was crying,

kicking, and screaming.

I miss my kids.

I know I'm not alone.

A lot of you are also encountering similar tough decisions and

my heart goes out to you for that.

So on my end,

I adjusted my mindset.

I recognized all that I have to be thankful for,

even though this has been an unbelievable year and there was

a Thanksgiving feast to be had.

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

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

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

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

gift purchasing and wrapping,

you know,

balancing between business tasks and personal holiday activities with all this

going on.

I want to remind you that a short time back episode

two 88,

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

I want us all to be energized and joyful in the

weeks ahead.

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

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

need to enjoy the most wonderful time of the year.

And I want you to have the same.

So if you're feeling the pressure Mount,

go back and listen to that episode,

let's move on to today.

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

how and why she switched and adjusted her products and customer

focus. Over the years,

she's always watching,

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

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

In other words,

making sure what she spends time on in her business fuels

her spirit to being in perfect alignment is key to her

success. You know what I say,

our businesses should be part of our life.

They shouldn't take over our life.

I also really enjoyed our conversation about Pinterest.

We just started talking about this platform on the show.

It seems like Facebook and Instagram dominate our minds,

but Pinterest may be something to pay more attention to as

I think I've said enough at this point.

Let's get into the show Today.

I am so excited to introduce you to Katherine Tatum.

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

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

and Catherine has employed many women to create and help manage

her growing enterprise.

The classic legacy wholesale line has been shown in major gift

showrooms in New York,

Los Angeles,

Atlanta and Dallas.

And this is where major hotels,

museums, and luxury retailers discovered classic legacy.

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

she added a retail Shopify store to her website.

The newest collection includes handmade oyster shell dishes,

the blue and white ICAT oyster shell dish is currently featured

in the Thomas Jefferson Monticello catalog and website.

All of this comes from the fact that Katherine loves The

challenge of learning and designing Catherine,

welcome to the gift biz on wrapped podcast.

Thank You.

So I'm so glad to be here.

I Am so excited that you're here too,

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

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

So I'm excited to get into that.

But first we are going to start off by getting to

know you in a little bit of a different way,

and that is through a motivational candle.

So if you were to create a candle that speaks exactly

who you are,

what would the candle look like by color and quote,

Catherine, That is a great question.

And my favorite colors are blue and white.

I've always loved blue and white.

I collect blue and white gifts and decor.

So the candle would be blue and white.

And I also love chinoiserie,

which is the Chinese influence.

So that would be the color of the candle.

And the quote is a quote that I have loved for

a long time.

It's a happy memory is a joy forever.

And when I create gifts many times,

I think,

where are these going to end up?

Who is going to have them?

And basically when I create gifts,

I want it to bring joy,

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

present. So that would be my,

yeah, I love it.

And I think that sentiment is something that we all can

really relate to because regardless of what we make,

I mean,

we're all makers here,

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

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

So it's the same thing,

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

a joy that creates a memory that then is a joy

forever. So I really liked that.

I don't even know when Periscope came out,

but that was when you and I met.

So what would you say seven,

eight years ago?

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

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

but I am always on the lookout for new technology to

be able to improve my business and stuff.

I liked Periscope Pros and cons to it,

but if you remember,

we were in that challenge together where we had to be

on Periscope every single day.

Do you remember that On video and On video?

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

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

would pop on.

Right? It was crazy.

It was like the wild West.

I think it made me more comfortable being on video is

the biggest thing that it helped me with.

Yeah. I agree with you there too.

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

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

all that.

But before we get there,

take us back to the beginning and tell me too,

cause I don't know.

How did you get started in your business?

As a young mother?

I had taught first grade before I became a mother and

I wanted to stay at home,

but I had always enjoyed being creative and making things.

And I thought,

what can I do to add a little income to our

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

little girls.

And that just became a big business because it was BoomTown

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

but for women.

I bought ribbon from lots of places in New York.

I called on department stores.

I called on small businesses and I did hair accessories for

little girls.

And then I had a rep and he said,

you know,

these tortoise shell hair accessories.

And they were embellished with silver.

He said,

I think if you did that,

that, that would be a good thing.

And so I thought,

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

And I did that.

And then I figured out where to buy the findings and

I learned how to do plating or had people help me

do plating of the findings.

And I embellished the tortoise shell hair accessories like that.

And then from there that rep was associated with the showroom

in Atlanta and he recommended a showroom to me.

So it was just like one step after another.

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

they had these magazines that had,

it was basically like a small catalog and there were one

charms in the back of that catalog.

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

I thought I know where to get all these pieces.

I thought I'll do one charms,

add that.

And it was completely different from what I had started out

originally, but they were,

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

I mean,

there's just like huge.

So you went to the wine charms from the barrettes,

right? Yes.

And like I said,

it was completely different,

but it was because I went to New York.

I sourced findings at trade shows.

I love how one thing led to another led to another

led to another.

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

enough potential at one point or because there was a new

opportunity or why did you make some of these series of

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

I think a lot of it has to do with being

creative and wanting to do something different,

but the hair accessories,

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

I just wanted to expand my reach.

I guess That was your entrance point into having your own

company learning all of that.

Yeah. Yes.

I mean,

I learned how to do barcodes.

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

And so when I was at market that just opened up

a whole,

I got into not only clothing stores,

but gift stores.

And when I started doing the wine charms,

then I met wineries and they said,

well, can you do a bottle stopper?

Can you do a wine carrier?

Can you do a cooler,

can you do other one accessories?

And I always said yes,

But did you then wind down the other products when you

switched to something else?

Or how did that progression go?

Actually, yes I did.

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

exist anymore,

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

That's a children's store.

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

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

Cause that's what we do.

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

looking for more.

So you're listening to input from different people.

Cause you were saying you were listening from your buyer and

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

you in which way to go.

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

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

until you try it.

But I mean,

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

what do I do next?

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

magazines, going to art museums,

keeping up with trends and from the wineries that led to

doing a lot of custom gifts,

the wineries in hotels,

because at first my line was an open line and that

just means that if I did wine terms,

they would be for anybody.

But then I created a custom charm that had the name

of the winery on the charm or the name of the

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

Like the person that did my plating for the findings,

I'd say,

do you know anybody that can create custom artwork for me

or something like that.

So I just learned to ask a lot of quick.

So if you were to define for us what your range

of offerings is today,

what would you say apart from the hair bows?

What I concentrate mainly on are custom gifts and also the

newest collection is the oyster shell jewelry dishes.

And that is also another completely different thing than I was

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

things that they cannot find in the major department stores or

big box stores.

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

accounts or individuals.

And I just thought,

I'm going to try it.

I'm going to learn how to do this.

And I use real orchard shells.

I use designs that are then applied to the orchard shells

and everything is gilded in gold leaf on the sides in

the back.

So the orchard shells are really my biggest current collection,

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

if you will being hotels,

museums, luxury retailers,

right? Yes.

But now because of COVID,

those businesses are either closed or very limited.

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

my business.

And that started,

as you mentioned in your introduction when I was chosen to

do gifts for the new Orleans tricentennial.

So when was that?

That was three years.

Okay. But because of that,

I learned how to do Shopify and I like selling to

individuals. When you say retail,

you're not talking wholesale,

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

Got it.

Okay. So let's take both of those.

So before that,

and the thing that I really like,

and the reason I keep asking you these questions is I

see you as being very zeroed in on your products.

It's all customization.

It's all.

Well, like you said,

hotel, museum,

luxury retailers,

they're customized around the entertaining industry.

I feel tourist.

Would that be right?

Yes. Okay.

So Did you intentionally go after that Margaret or did you

just identify as things went on and as you kept listening

to people that this is where your product fits Best?

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

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

sold to in the past are the Biltmore,

the Waldorf Astoria,

the hotel Del Coronado.

And I live in the Memphis area.

I sell to Elvis Presley enterprises and the Peabody hotel.

But just this week I got a call from a new

store that opened and it's called feelin Memphis.

And they're all about Memphis,

but they want to do their own logo on things.

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

When you were niching down to that audience,

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

No, not really because I mean,

it's not only that audience,

it could.

I mean,

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

I think they found me through Pinterest.

I'm not sure,

but they're a technology company.

And they said,

we want gifts because we treat our top performers in our

company to a trip to Spain.

And this year we can't go to Spain,

but we want to give them something anyway.

And they said,

do you think you could do a bottle stopper that had

our logo on one side?

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

And I said,

sure. I mean,

I thought that was a great idea.

So that's not a hotel,

a museum or a winery,

but it's someone that needs custom gifts.

And it's a perfect example.

And the reason I kept asking you about that is I

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

is. Not that everybody could have our product,

right. I mean,

clearly everybody could use your product,

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

And I think we all find it a little bit nerve

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

but wait,

wait, wait,

wait. Like,

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

But what you just said is a perfect example.

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

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

will, but other people will still find you.

And you're not going to say,

Oh, well,

no, you're not my target customer.

So No,

I think people will find you.

And I get recommendations for people from other businesses.

And when it's custom,

when it's unique,

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

that from anybody else.

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

do that.

Do you have to make custom molds and such for some

of the products I have done that,

but most of the time I use a setting that is

then basically it has a photographic image in the setting,

Nancy Namel.

So it's not a pewter mold,

but I've done both.

Got it.

Makes sense.

And then do you save that quote unquote file.

I don't know anything about your production,

but then you save it.

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

you have a repeat order.

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

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

And if it's a mold,

it's one size and that's it.

Oh, good point.

So the advantage of being able to resize it as it

can go on different products,

then yes.

Got it.

All right.

So share with me because this I know is a big

thing to a lot of our listeners right now,

a website,

many people here before COVID hit,

we're a little bit different than you,

but very similar.

There were out at craft shows.

So face-to-face with our customers.

Some of them very intense craft show exhibitors where every single

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

so serious.

And then to have all of that get pulled out from

under our feet.

What option do you have go online?

Right? So there's been this whole year.

The challenge of,

Oh my gosh,

a website,

what platform?

What do I put up?

How do I do it?

Oh, it's tack and mind you,

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

being with people.

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

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

got your website up.

You already saw the need.

I mean,

there really was no choice and it made sense to do

because of the tricentennial,

but why did you choose Shopify?

And what was your thinking and selection process?

I already had a website and it was based on WordPress

and I still actually have that.

And then I write a blog and I showcased product through

that, but I did not have a retail,

a way that people could buy directly.

And I just did a little research and it just seemed

like Shopify was easy to use.

And I am so glad that I chose that because it

also integrates with so many other platforms so easily.

It generates the shipping labels,

the packing list.

It just,

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

for each product and also integrates with Pinterest.

And Pinterest is my new go-to platform.

I just love it.

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

too. I want to finish with websites,

but I definitely want to talk about Pinterest.

So I am a huge advocate of Shopify too.

So you're speaking my language,

Catherine and I like you.

My ribbon print company business is on a Shopify site and

gift biz on wrapped is all on a WordPress site.

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

different purposes.

I actually like both of them,

but WordPress is definitely more cumbersome and more complicated.

And I think Shopify with all the apps and integrations,

as you're talking about,

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

look differently.

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

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

Oh, it links over.

Yes. It's all under one website.

Someone comes to the website that they can look at in

the show notes,

gift, biz listeners,

you know,

there's always show notes page.

It will go to your WordPress site.

And then if they're interested in purchasing,

it will link over to Shopify.

Yes. On the front page of the website,

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

shopping section.

It pops you over there.

Okay. All right.

And so did you set up everything yourself in Shopify?

I did.

Yay. Good for you.

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

so I do have some help.

He's not that familiar with Shopify,

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

And that's important.

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

at a website,

building their website out like that.

Do you have any recommendations for them?

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

right after this quick break to hear from our sponsor.

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I would definitely choose Shopify.

I mean,

they have an option for a blog within Shopify and I

already had a blog somewhere else.

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

And there's tons of,

they have a YouTube channel,

can watch videos for training.

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

If you're interested in checking out Shopify,

go over to my website,

gift biz,

unwrapped, and click on the tools tab.

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

a 14 day free trial.

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

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

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

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

just too cumbersome and too hard to work through.

So you were still obviously doing communication with other people who

you're already doing business with,

but now that we're shut down,

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

And you had your Shopify store up and running.

What did you see happen?

I saw that people were still buying gifts,

Surprise, surprise,

Having birthdays and still,

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

March and April very slow.

During that time.

One of the things I did was I told myself I

was going to try to learn more about Google analytics,

Pinterest advertising.

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

I sell to because they were just having a hard time

in many of them were closed,

but I used that time to educate myself to basically how

to reach individual buyers and learn more about Google analytics and

Pinterest advertising.

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

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

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

account at that point.

but it's changed a lot recently.

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

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

I pin things from Shopify and that will go directly to

someone being able to buy it And blog articles up on

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

Pinterest, both,

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

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

Like for instance,

the worst,

your shell dishes.

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

online mantle of my fireplace and like how to decorate for

Christmas. But if they go to that landing page,

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

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

and kind of different options.

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

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

get their email address,

then be able to get them in my funnel and be

able to communicate with them further down the line.

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

that it either goes to a product where they can buy

it or to a landing page that is going to educate

and give them a free gift if they are not ready

to buy.

Oh my gosh,

that's genius.

And so if I understood you correctly,

it all starts with a lifestyle type photo.

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

some of the views on Pinterest are in the thousands.

And I've also discovered that video,

you can do videos on Pinterest.

Now one time,

about two months ago in the middle of the summer,

I turned my dining room into a Thanksgiving table.

I showed people how to decorate for Thanksgiving,

and this was all for Pinterest,

but taking pictures of the dining room table.

And I showed the steps of making arrangement for the dining

room table and at the base of this arrangement where or

shell dishes.

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

but also how it can educate or entertain or inform someone

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

Perfectly examples,

both the lifestyle photo,

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

free download or right away a direct purchase.

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

designing the table layout,

where you also giving a freebie of how to do it

in written form,

or was that just a video?

It was just a video.

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

I haven't done it yet,

but I did several different lifestyle things.

I did one for Thanksgiving.

Then I switched everything.

I did one for Christmas.

And then somehow I found out that you can order peonies

from Alaska in August.

And I love peonies,

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

do one with PMs.

So you're ready for the spring.

Right. So I have all this spring stuff,

So smart.

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

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

of in the zone of filming,

Right? I mean,

I got out my best China and my silver,

my crystal.

And I thought,

if I'm going to do this,

I'm going to do several things.

Yeah. Too bad.

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

right? Not this year.

I know I would have been invited,

but since we can't come,

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

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

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

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

Well, when you do it in that way,

you make it really fun.

You're adding additional value.

And by the way,

here's the product.

If you're interested in having one for yourself.

Right. I think people love lifestyle.

Absolutely. So Pinterest is your major social media platform.

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

And it's just a search engine.

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

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

But I think a lot of major players are on Pinterest

now. Absolutely.

And give biz listeners,

if you have never considered Pinterest before,

go back.

I'm not exactly sure what episode it is.

I'll put it in the show notes,

but we talked with Kate all and she told us exactly

how to set up your account,

how to use Pinterest.

It's one of our best listened to shows.

So definitely reference back and consider this platform.

I think this is what Katherine is saying now is great

confirmation that everything that Kate was saying is right on.

We keep hearing it.

But I also know Catherine,

you're pretty active on Instagram.

So what are you doing over there?

What are you doing over there?

I do.

Well, I try to do Instagram.

I started to say every day,

but it doesn't happen every day.

You're good though.

I keep her following.

I try to do lifestyle photographs there as well.

And when I go to an account like I did in

Memphis this week,

I take a picture of where I am.

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

You just have to keep feeding it.

It doesn't last for me as long time.

Are you doing images in your feed?

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

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

me, but I still do both.

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

post and you can also post and then send a post

to your story.

But most often the people who see the stories are the

people who already are following you.

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

are already following you on Instagram,

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

I am just now playing around with it is adding more

hashtags and kind of hiding those hashtags behind an image to

get more people,

to see my stories who may not also be following me

on my account yet.

Are you doing that already?

I do that.

I keep the hashtags in my notes,

on my phone in a folder.

So I have hashtags related to different things.

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

do it as often as I should,

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

that works.

I mean the hotel Del Coronado,

for example,

I mean,

if I comment on their posts,

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

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

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

you would want to be a customer,

or is already a customer and genuinely commenting,

right? Like interacting with them in a genuine way,

not to go to 7,000

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

All right.

Not that kind of thing.

Genuine. Yeah.

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

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

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

they're you and seeing what's available.

So that would be the reasoning behind doing that.

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

Honestly, I don't know.

Probably about 30 or 45 minutes.

So not long at all.

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

one stretch,

but like to get the pictures done for Pinterest,

I use Canda and I tend to probably do two or

three hours at a time,

but that might take care of everything for a month.

Right. And I also use tailwind to schedule,

which is a Pinterest scheduling tool.

Right, right.

Yeah. Let's switch gears a little bit.

You sound so buttoned up.

So in control and I would love to just get reality

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

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

That was a real challenge for you?

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

hard times for everybody,

even the most top people that have had hard times that

they've had to overcome.

When we moved to Memphis,

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

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

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

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

right. Yeah.

Which I didn't want to do,

but it really just opened the door to a bigger metropolitan

area, maybe new people.

And then another challenging time was the showroom that I was

in, in Atlanta closed.

And I was like,

what am I going to do now?

But I got in another showroom.

And then in Dallas,

the same thing happened this stroke.

Remember that I was in closed now.

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

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

and the website.

So sometimes things are a blessing in disguise that happened.

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

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

Exactly. But you just have to keep on going.

Yeah. Keep on going.

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

that didn't work,

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

not only that works,

but that fits your lifestyle and how you want to be

running your business.

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

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

hours a day and they just say,

if I don't do this,

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

at another way.

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

and it's exhausting them.

Yeah. If I have product to ship,

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

but I do enjoy learning.

And I just think that's important too.

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

I think Catherine,

tell me what you think is there are a lot of

different ways to get to an end goal.

Your end goal is selling your product,

which let's face it.

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

make money.

There are a lot of different ways to get there.

I interviewed probably about six months ago.

They aren't on social media at all.

They don't even have an account there,

Rick and mortar shop.

Now they might now after COVID.

So maybe it's been a year,

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

rate that whole time,

not even having accounts there you're,

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

You have certain platforms that are your priorities.

Most people say Facebook and Instagram,

but like we just started our Pinterest account for gift biz

on wrapped.

So ours is starting to gain traction now,

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

Are you doing any IETV?

I have done a GTV.

Not a lot recently,

but yes,

I have done that.

You are a great example of a tester.

I mean,

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

farm and your family's place and just chat.

And so people get to really know who you are behind

the scenes.

Are you ever uncomfortable doing that?

I've gotten more and more comfortable,

but yes,

I am somewhat uncomfortable for a long time.

I didn't want people to know.

I had a business in my home.

I had a thing about that.

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

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

their home.

It's also changed even over the last,

maybe not 10 years,

but five,

six years now it's become much more Acceptable.

And so I have a large storage area.

I have a room dedicated to my office.

I don't show my husband a lot.

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

as far as being,

have their family,

I tend to stick to be more business things.

So you have your limits,

but you share a little bit of family,

right? Yeah.

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

there. Right.

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

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

don't know how to do.

Do you Google for answers?

How do you figure things out?

Where do you go for your resources?

I guess I would say,

cause I don't know,

making that oyster shell dish,

when you were explaining that a few minutes ago sounded really

intimidating. I do use Google.

I use YouTube and I ask people questions.

One of the examples is the guy that does the plating

for me.

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

do you know where I can find a tiger charm or

just something that somebody else is looking for?

And he'll go,

well, you should call X,

Y, Z he'll look five different companies.

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

bead or a certain ribbon or a certain color or something

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

said, no,

we don't have that.

And I'll just say,

do you know anyone else that I can call?

And a lot of times people are up into that if

they don't have it,

they're glad to share who might,

I think Google and YouTube.

And then I come back to Pinterest again,

Pinterest again is a engine.

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

things like that on there.

Yeah. I'm learning that more and more.

You clearly know way more about Pinterest than I do,

but I'm learning.

I really want to emphasize what you just said,

which was,

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

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

They also have a network of people.

So just like how LinkedIn will work.

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

where if they might not know asking that extended question,

do you know anybody else who might?

So that's wonderful.

And speaking of that,

what about LinkedIn?

Where does that sit in your land of opportunity?

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

the pro plan or whatever.

And I probably post there,

I don't know,

six times a month or something like that.

And I should probably do it more.

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

I don't even know how many contexts,

it just says over 500,

but I think a lot of people,

when they're looking for the name,

Catherine Tatum,

it goes to LinkedIn and you should definitely have,

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

of photographs and I even write articles on LinkedIn.

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

an article for LinkedIn Upload it natively to LinkedIn instead of

linking it back to you.

Yes. Having it native it's important.

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

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

that that could be a huge opportunity for you.

If you were targeting a certain museum or certain hotel in

a city that you were going to just to see who

the contacts are.

Yes. And on the pro thing.

I mean,

if you look up a certain corporation,

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

on LinkedIn.

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

to ask for.

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

know who you want to talk to,

you don't get very many.

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

But if there are a connection through somebody else you already

know that also helps.

Right. Do you have some type of a structure?

So you remember,

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

I'm going to do four stories a week.

I'm going to have post on Pinterest.

Do you have like a whole big calendar method?

I'll be honest.

No, I don't.

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

learning from each other how to do these things.

Okay. So you just like,

remember, Oh,

I need to do it.

Or you'd create an article and you say,

okay, well,

every time I create an article,

I'm going to adjust it a little bit,

upload it to LinkedIn.

You have a system then when You do that.

Got It.

So how has business changed for you?

You would say over these last 30 years.

Oh my goodness.

It's changed so much.

The entrance of the internet was one,

right? I mean,

used to have a fax machine.

I don't have a fax machine anymore.

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

line for that.

Is it better now?

Is business better or just the system?

I think the systems are much better.

I mean,

I use Infusionsoft as my contact information and I tag people

every time someone buys a product,

they get a tag on my CRM,

my contact.

Right. Which is done automatically with,

through Shopify.

Yeah. We are doing the same.

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

I didn't have those systems in place.

And now I have a whole group of people that just

bought orchard shells or a whole group of people that are

hotel people.

And I can email them really specific email information that is

beneficial to them.

And it's,

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

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

to what their concerns and their interests are.

Yes. I mean,

30 years ago I literally traveled to New York or traveled

to places to find vendors.

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

And I also have found that initially,

I mean,

people would say,

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

gold. And I did it,

but now I've learned to say,

okay, I want to buy just a sample.

And many times vendors are open to that,

but you want to see the quality of the work?

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

need to do is show your list of customers or where

things are placed or all of that.

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

Yeah. What do you see as you move forward?

I'm afraid.

You're going to say,

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

Yeah. Yes.

Actually I'm working on spring designs.

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

I mean,

No, this is your more corporate clients.

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

clients too now.

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

our world,

but it's true.

I want to stay on the positive side.

I want to keep learning and I want to be able

to create gifts that bring people joy,

kind of go back to my thing about a happy memory

as a joy forever.

Absolutely love it.

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

I bet.

I know,

but you tell them Go to classic legacy.com.

Okay. And is your Pinterest account the same?

Yes, It is beautiful.

And I just became a verified Pinterest merchant.

So that means that when you see my products,

you can also see the price.

It took a while to do that.

That's cool.

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

a look at classic legacy.

It'll be interesting,

especially those of you who are looking at setting up a

Shopify account.

Don't just go to the first part,

but click on the shop now button,

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

set up on that.

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

your choices.

So Catherine,

it has been a joy having you on.

I loved hearing more about classic legacy and I wish you

much success in the future.

Thank you so much.

Oh my gosh.

So many excellent business takeaways that Catherine reinforced for us,

but it all starts with being clear on who your customer

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

and everything spins off of that.

If she didn't have this clear customer focus,

her activity would have been haphazard and probably resulted in lower

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

products that hit the Mark for her customers.

It's really worth figuring this out right now,

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

I'm lighting it up.

Sue style,

brilliant yellow candles will be the highlighted product.

And we're going to get an inside.

Look at a young business.

That's all ready,

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

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

please leave a rating and review.

That means so much and helps the show get seen by

more makers.

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

be safe and well.

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

Cast. 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 posts 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.