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