022 – An Annual Salary Made in 3 months with Lana Horton of Make a Memory

Gift biz unwrapped episode 22 People are buying you.

Hi, this is John Lee,

Dumas of entrepreneur on fire,

and you're listening to the gifted biz unwrapped,

and now it's time to Light it up.

Welcome to gift biz,

unwrapped your source for industry specific insights and advice to develop

and grow your business.

And now here's your host,

Sue Monheit.

Hi there.

I'm Sue.

Welcome to the Gift biz unwrapped podcast,

whether you own a brick and mortar store sell online or

are just getting started,

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

your business.

Today, I'm joined by Lana Horton of make a memory.

Lana is 69 and she looks back and wonders where her

time went.

She has two children in businesses of their own and four

wonderful grandchildren.

Lana started her business at 23,

with $2,000.

It was an all-inclusive bridal shop and became the largest store

in Ohio.

And the only one to carry exclusive designs from Paris.

She sold the store with a large profit when she decided

to move to California,

stay at home and raise her children.

But that didn't last long.

She then started punch connection and invented a tool that was

patented. That business led to infomercials with the first show selling

250,000 kits in one airing over the next 10 years,

Lana sold products on QVC,

HSN, and lifetime.

Then she retired wanting to spend time with her grandchildren and

as little ones always do,

they began to grow up and Lana again,

found herself with time to spare.

She talked with her daughter about a new business idea she

had, and that is how make a memory was born.

They are now in their fourth year of this family business

and she says they quote,

work together like oil.

Welcome to the show,

Lana. Well,

thank you very much.

Do that sounded pretty good.

I didn't realize that was me.

That's all.

What I would love for you to do right now is

tell everybody what make a memory is all about.

Well, make a memory is just that make a memory is

a memory animal that we sell to little cheer girls from

five to 12 years old.

They love everything.

They love bows.

They love animals.

They love earrings.

And so what I did is I invented stuffed animal and

they're 20 inches tall and they are a small mini me.

We're going to get into Your whole story.

As we move on here,

our listeners know we like to align the conversation around the

life of a motivational candle.

The light shines on you while you share your stories and

experiences. So Lana shall we light it up?

Let's light up.

Perfect. Tell us what color is your candle?

My candle of course would be yellow.

Of course.

Why yellow?

Well, yellow is happiness.

Yellow brings you light.

It brings you happiness and it brings you a glow within

yourself. And that's me.

That's my personality.

I'm just a yellow person.

I'll give you a little secret.

That's my favorite color too Shakers.

And the doers were yellow.

There you go.

And what quote is on your candle?

You know,

I debated on quotes because there's a couple that I use.

And I think probably my favorite quote is by Harry Truman.

I say it to my children all the time.

And it's,

he says,

it's amazing what you can accomplish.

If you did not care who gets the credit,

I just live by that because you don't have to be

a me person to get something across English.

Right? You can take your ego out and just go for

the goal.

And do you know how much further you're going to go?

Yeah, you're right.

It's looking at that at the end of that line.

And that's how I've always lived.

I know what I did old Harry and I had that

in common.

Wonderful. And I think that to have that,

you have to be very self-confident if you know these people

who continually need reinforcement and reinforcement,

you know,

they're doing a good job and they take credit because it

was their work.

I'm not sure that in this entrepreneurial world of ours,

those people will go.

As far as someone with the attitude that you're talking about

here today,

I call them attaboys and I don't need them in my

life. I don't have time for them.

I don't need to tap them on the back and say,

oh, you know,

you've just done so well today.

I like the ones that know where they're coming from,

know what they want and go for it.

Let's go back To the beginning of your journey.

But the beginning of your journey with make a memory,

because I have to say,

I've known you for a few years now.

And I had no idea of all the detail of your

past. We've talked some about these things,

but there's a lot going on before you got to make

a memory.

Well, There's a lot of years in there too,

before I got to make a memory.

So home with the grandchildren,

and then all of a sudden they start getting involved in

all their various things and get social and all of that.

And tell us how this idea came to you about what

make a memory is and how the whole company got established.

Well, my daughter's company is fundraisers.

And so her main person that she works with are the

pop Warners and the All-American football players and so on and

so forth.

Well, to be able to get into those establishments,

you kind of have to have a little door open.

And of course they love her.

She's been in business for 14,

15 years and she stays very busy,

but I saw an avenue where I could go in and

give them something that they don't get.

And what that is is these little girls at the end

of their season,

which they cheer for 10 games.

And then at the end of the season,

they have what they call a cheer off.

the winners.

And then they're the ones.

Of course,

they get the trophies.

Well, we have all these little girls that are going home

with nothing in their hands and they've had all of their

curls and all of their uniforms.

And so I decided they each needed something to make a

memory. And so that's how it was born.

And so to make a memory,

I knew I was dealing with a lot of the same

girls. I would get a new set every year because so

many would graduate,

but then we always would have new ones that would coming

in. And so I've found my largest tool for working was

just listening,

listening to what the girls wanted,

listening to the excitement of,

oh my goodness.

I can hardly hold her.

And they would hug them.

And the mothers would say,

you know,

we're hanging this on the wall and I don't get it

dirty. Or I would see them playing catch with them back

and forth.

So I started out with three animals because I felt that

I could control this.

Now I want you to remember that I started this four

years ago.

Every year we have doubled and the animals are now costing

$29 a piece.

So within this amount of time,

which is 11 shows,

and it's about six weeks as you do the math a

little bit,

you can see,

I sometimes make as much as a person does this working

all year.

And the best part is I'm working with my family.

We go together,

we set up together,

breakdown together.

We all do the math,

my grandson.

He is in charge of doing all of the dollar control

of how much is something is costing us.

And what is our percentage and what are we doing for

this show?

Then I also found out as the children would come,

they would say,

oh, mom,

I've got the Panda and I've got the bear and I've

got the dog.

And so I knew that I would retire them.

So now the people know that after two years something gets

retired. So if you're going to get it,

and I say on their flyer,

this is going to be retired this year.

If you want it,

get it.

Now, now probably one of my largest expenses,

which was one of my daughter's best ideas is we have

what they call a large meeting for all of the cities.

When you do pop Warner up,

these are leaks and these are cities.

I take a sample and give it to free to every

single city.

And I put their names.

I put their colors and that Sue,

this is when you have been a lifesaver for me,

because one of the things I added two years ago was

I added that I could put their on these bears.

Now what child in the world doesn't once something with their

name on it,

what mother in the world doesn't when something personalized with the

child's name and the date and what they did,

and the only way they can go and get their names

on it,

if they presale.

Gotcha. There's a couple of things that I want to point

out here that are really interesting.

First off you talk about that.

You make a salary that could be an annual salary for

someone only in a short amount of time,

given the planning stages,

getting the orders and then producing everything.

How long is your business really op every year I will

start on skirts now,

which is we're in August.

And then I will run August,

September and October.

I have to have everything ready to go.

I would say probably three months out of the year,

I'm giving you my undivided attention.

So three months in you're making pretty much an annual salary.

And then you've got a bunch of time.

I know you just go off down to Mexico or do

some other fun things.

So, Well,

I, I own two condos down in Mexico and I got

them because I love the ocean.

And I wanted somewhere where I could just kick back and

go out in the boat and the ocean and all that.

Well, they've turned out that everyone loves them so much that

they are now rentals.

So whenever they're open,

I go back and scoop up my little bit of paradise.

But that too has turned into something that is a moneymaker.

You have to remember that when a person reaches a certain

age and they go on social security,

that their whole life changes.

It's like all of a sudden you wake up and your

whole life has changed.

And so I learned that I had to reinvent myself.

If I wanted to live the lifestyle,

I had to come up and depend on myself again.

Now, did I have it planned before I retired?

Absolutely. But even though I had that planned,

let's face it.

I like to spend money.

I like nice things.

And so to get those things so security and I were

just not cutting it.

So I had to go back and do a little bit,

but you know,

it's really a work of love.

I absolutely totally love what I'm doing.

And because I've stayed in the craft world,

most craft people,

they don't know how to sell.

They put all of their love and they put all of

that time into an item and they don't take the time

that it's taken to make it.

They don't take the time of how much it's cost them,

you know,

to put it on.

And that's what a craft person is.

And they usually cannot sell anything.

If you go to a craft show,

oh my goodness,

what they're charging for something that should be $50.

You're going to pick it up for 10 and $11 because

of their self-worth.

They think,

oh, I made that by hand.

It's not worth anything.

This is A really good point.

Liner and gift biz listeners.

If any of you are in the craft industry,

take heat of what Lana is saying,

because what she's talking about is number one,

she's able to integrate really a lifestyle business since it's only

several months of the year.

And by applying business sense,

such as how to price your product.

A couple of other things that I want to point out

that you've talked about Lana,

but by doing some specific things,

she's been able to continue to grow her business year after

year from what is in essence,

starting out as a craft,

which some of you might be doing right this very minute.

The two things that she was talking about,

number one is,

do you remember when she was just talking about how she

shows the bears or the animals and retires them at some

point every couple years,

you know,

every year,

some animal retires.

So that particular style is only around for a certain amount

of time.

When you do things like that,

that create exclusivity.

People will buy those up because if they don't get them,

they're gone.

And then,

you know,

all of us want what we can't have.

Right? Absolutely.

So that's one thing.

And the other thing you were doing is by sending samples

prior to the villages,

you're getting people to register in their mind.

Oh, the time is coming up and getting a sense of

anticipation of the events and then being able to place the

order. So a couple of good points for those of you

who are thinking about where you can take the crafts that

you're making and what you can do to take it to

the next level.

You know,

I have found with my business,

with my bears,

I not only have a bear,

but I make that bear into something that is tangible to

them. For instance,

every cheerleader has to have a bone in their hair.

They have to.

Now they have to have that bow all through practice.

Anytime they go to practice,

they have to have some kind of bow in their hair.

So when they're practicing,

they know how to go and do their twist and their

turns with the boat.

So they get a cheer boat.

The cheer bow matches their uniforms to a tee.

And then under the bear's neck is another cheer bow.

So they're already on the clip.

All they have to do is clip it off the bear,

put it on their head and they have a cheer bow.

So not only are they getting an animal,

they're getting something that's tangible that they can use.

So then we come down further and what does every little

girl love earrings?

So now I put every year a different set of earrings.

And so they might get a set of pompoms one year.

Now this year,

they're getting a cheerleader doing this splits,

but I make them that they can take them off and

they can wear them.

So this is another thing where they're $29 is going,

gee, I'm not just buying a stuffed animal.

I'm getting a pair of earrings that my daughter is going

to love.

Then when I get down to the skirt,

that waist,

I put a headband on a sequent headband.

Now I had to raise my prices this year.

Everyone knows that not everything has gone up.

And my rule of thumb is if it goes up a

dollar, I have to go up $2.

So I have to give them something back.

So this year I'm giving them a headband.

Well, every little girl loves sequent headbands.

So I get for 30 or 40 cents a piece.

But on the other hand,

I have raised my prices $2 and they're still getting something

more. So this has been a really good selling point.

It's not just an animal when you break it down and

you put the cost to it,

my heavens,

what type of price are they getting for it?

You've Just now described how these animals look.

They're absolutely gorgeous.

And I am going to get a photo of one and

put it on the show notes page.

So when you get back to your computers,

anyone who's listening while they're jogging,

walking their dog,

whatever, go back to your computer and go to gift a

biz unwrapped at Tom Lana's,

show notes page,

and I'll have a picture posted for you of one of

these bears or whichever animal picture she gives me.

I'm not sure.

Well, I will tell you the hot animal this year is

the Husky.

Everybody's wanting the escape.

Oh. And when that happens,

when I was talking a pre-orders of course fear the amount

that I do,

the reason I push pre-orders is there is no way that

day I can get the amount of animals out that I

need to make.

So on pre-orders I set them up all week and I

have their name on them.

I have them in their boxes.

Everybody's lined up.

I don't have anyone prepay.

So they're bringing their money with them.

The reason I do that is I also have bracelets and

I have necklaces and I have things that they might want

to add on where if they've already pre-ordered and paid,

they're going to take their animal and they're going to leave.

But why I have their credit card out,

they might see something else they want to add on.

That's A good strategy.

That's a really good strategy.

Add-ons is that extra money that you don't plan on?

You know,

and they're just exactly that they're an add on.

And so if I can take my ticket from a $29,

which is what I budget on and I can bring it

up to $35,

then I'm starting to make some extra money.

What I call ad-ons.

It's just kind of the cream off the top.

Sure. Lana,

I'm going to take this in a little bit of a

different direction.

Now we're talking about all these things that you've done and

all of them have been so great for growing your business,

but there had to be a point along the way,

when there was a rough spot,

something caused trouble and you had to figure out a way

and struggle and overcome to be able to continue going on

this path.

An entrepreneurial journey is never a smooth road.

Can you bring us to one of those times,

tell us something that's happened and how you overcame the situation?

Well, you know,

I think the largest thing that happened to me and it

went straight to the heart because as I said,

crafters do things out of love.

And I had invented the punch connection,

which is a punch needle.

And I'm sure if anyone is into my age,

they will remember it because it was a rage.

And I put it on one of the first infomercials.

Now I had a patent on it.

I knew no one could knock me off.

I know it.

I had not a doubt in my mind.

Well, within three days they had another person on television that

looked very similar to me.

She had needles that were similar and I was crushed.

I thought,

how could they do that?

Well, you know what?

A patent is only as good as that piece of paper.

I thought I was so covered.

I paid all of that money.

I was so far down.

And what I learned out of that is pick yourself up,

keep going forward.

People are buying you.

They're buying what you have,

they're buying your personality.

And if you're able to make that contact with them,

which I had the advantage of being able to do it

on television,

forget about what anyone else is doing and keep going forward.

When I had the bridal shop,

I opened it with $2,000.

Anyone in their right mind,

after the first year would have gone under,

I was too stupid not to realize that I should have

closed the doors and I just kept going.

So don't let anything stop.

You don't go.

And because of that first little hitch in the road,

make yourself close the doors,

just look at what it was and then keep going forward

with it.

You'll make it,

you'll make it work.

I have made every single endeavor pay for itself.

And then some,

and it's not so much the taller,

but do you know what it is to have the pride,

to know that my children all worked for themselves.

If they're going to make a mistake,

then no one else to blame,

but themselves,

if they're going to have the pride,

they're going to be able to look and say,

I did this.

I think the biggest thing that I have accomplished in this

world is making my replacement in this world worthwhile.

And my children are amazing.

So might be corny,

but that's how I believe.

Yeah, but You make a good point here in that.

A lot of people feel like,

okay, my business is going to be perfect.

You know,

before you start out and reality hits and everyone who is

successful, kind of gives the appearance that it's been easy and

they could do.

And now it's just been a smooth road and here they

are. But for people to know that there are going to

be struggles,

there are going to be times when you go to bed

at night and say,

why did I start this?

But you get up the next morning re-energized and you figure

out how to overcome.

That's why so many businesses fail because people just go to

the wayside.

They don't fight through their challenges.

Absolutely. And that's the big story that you're presenting.

Well, you know what I think is always so funny.

So as people will say to me,

oh, you're so lucky.

You can choose your own hours.

You can go and do what you want to do.

And I'm thinking,

oh yeah.

Would you like me to tell you how many nights I've

set up all night?

There is no such thing as a 40 hour week when

you own your own business becomes your life.

But I love it.

I call my own shots and I would suggest everyone try

it. It's wonderful on The customer service end.

What do you do to make your customers feel unique and

valued? I talked to them.

I make them feel they are a special friend.

So how Do you do that?

I mean,

I know that you are selling mostly at the cheer competitions.

So people are probably hovering around the table.

They're looking at everything and you probably have a lineup because

there's the pre-orders and people are looking.

And how are you able to focus on just that person?

I don't know if you guys can all hear,

but we have a huge thunderstorm going on here right now.

So if you hear some big bolts,

then you're going to know what it is.

I haven't like slipped off my feet or something,

but, but you also will do multiple shows in a week.

So you have different people within the,

make a memory business,

which are your family members going off to different shows.

Right? So how do you do that at the table?

When there's a number of people there,

how do you make each person feel like you're taking the

time for them and still then making sure the other people

don't feel ignored?

One thing we do not work tables.

Anyone in the family do not work tables.

So when we bring in our crew,

which of course,

again, it's like family,

they all have their positions.

We have someone that just does prayers.

We have someone that is selling to people that have not

pre-ordered. Then for instance,

if I'm at a show,

the most shows you're going to have,

that will accept as three.

So I'll take one.

My daughter will take one and my grandson will take one.

And what we do is I work the line because the

line sometimes can be as long as 40 people and I'll

go up and down the line and thank them for coming.

And it'll just be a few more minutes.

And gee,

you know,

your colors are there and oh,

they love to know who is the person that makes all

these things.

They love it.

They love to go and give you a hug.

And thank you so much for making these for my daughter.

And I love it back.

I love it back because I know I'm giving something that

they want.

My daughter does the same thing and she's much more well-known

than I am because they see her not only through the

bears, but they see her delivering all the fundraisers.

And she's working with these people sometimes two and three times.

And then they're amazed by my grandson.

The women love him.

And you know,

if they want a different skirt or they want something different

on it,

we'll do it.

If they want it come hell or high water,

we will make it.

If the little girl has lost her bow,

am I going to charge her $3 for another bow?

Absolutely not.

I'm going to say here,

darling, let me put another one on.

And there you go.

And they are happy.

The mother is happy and she's going to go back and

tell five of her best friends.

What wonderful people we are that we did not even charge

them for another bow.

That type Of conversation is priceless.

Oh, it's a selling point.

It's what should you do?

And that's why I say I'm a yellow candle.

There you go.

One thing I want Everybody to take note of is a

little bit different way of working a table at a trade

show or at a booth there's positions.

I think I heard you talk about three pre-orders then people

who are doing new sales and then you or your daughter

or your grandson working the line.

So everyone's feeling like they're being recognized.

They're important.

And I think when you do that,

people understand that there are other people who need to be

helped as well.

People just don't want to feel ignored.

No, because the worst thing that can happen is they walk

away. Exactly.

You know,

if you just even go and give them a nod or

say, I'm working a trade show that I'm selling a product

for my daughter and she is trying to get the leagues

in. And so she and I will work it together and

we might be having three or four cookies and different things.

I always,

and she does the same thing.

We'll divide the booth.

And we always acknowledge,

even though we're speaking,

we always have that eye out to the outside where I

give them a nod of the head or I,

you know,

give them a little wave of the hand or something that

they know they're part of it.

Oh, do you have a great school too?

Hey, come on in and listen to this because you guys

are gonna love this.

This is a no brainer.

That type of thing.

Yeah. That keeps them there.

Absolutely. And we are always the largest and the busiest booth,

no matter where we go,

That's a sense of pride.

It's a long time to get there a long time to

get there.

Darn. You're going to have to work really hard.

Then I do.

By the time we're out.

That's when you know you're 69.

I come home and my daughter's up in the morning just

going and I'm laying in bed thinking,

oh, I might be dead today.

Love the damn candle out.

It's gone.

Oh gosh.

All right,

we're going to roll into the reflection section.

Now I think I already know the answer to this,

but what is one natural trait you have that has helped

you to succeed?

My Laughter,

I see laughter in everything.

I love people and I love to be surrounded by people

that have joy and I don't have time in my life

for downers.

And so probably the thing that has made me succeed the

most is my outgoing personality.

Laughter and your outgoing personality.

And sometimes It's fake,

you know,

sometimes I'm so tired that I think,

oh gosh,

I can't talk to another person,

but you know what?

Yeah. Put that smile on your face.

You go back out there and they never know.

Right. And you've got to do it because they deserve that

type of interaction.

Just like the very first person of the day does.

Absolutely. And you never know,

they might be your largest order.

Yeah. You just don't know that.

You know,

what tool do you use regularly to help you keep productive

or to create some type of balance in your life Vacations.

I make sure that I take time out to just get

away. For instance,

the family just came back from having a week,

all inclusive vacation.

Now I'm getting ready to leave,

to go back home,

to see my girlfriends back in Ohio.

I make myself get away and there's things on my bucket

list I want to do.

I haven't done everything yet.

And I Would say at any age,

I mean you have to take the time to get away

because if you don't,

you're going to totally burn yourself out.

Absolutely. You'll burn out so fast that you'll get to the

point that you hate what you're doing.

And once that happens,

it's time to say.

I also think that to put a little bit of distance,

you know how when you go on vacation,

it takes like a day or two just to get everything

out of your mind or as much as you can.

But many times when you create that distance,

that's when your new ideas come up.

Oh my Heavens.

Yes. When you clear your mind,

you just blank it out.

You would be surprised now.

Not necessarily why I'm there,

but as the week wears on and I know up my

blue Hawaiian is just about drank its last drink here.

Then my brain starts clicking over.

Yeah. Then I'm thinking,

oh, I've got to go home and I've got to do

this and this and this.

And if I add that it's like a recharge.

It's like charging your battery back in.

That's what vacations do for me.

They give me a chance to come all the way down

and then I go all the way back.

And by the time I hit the ground off that airplane,

I'm running again.

Sounds Great.

What book have you read lately that you think our listeners

would find value In my favorite book and I have probably

read it four times as the Alchemist and the Alchemist is

a book.

I think everyone should read.

It was written by a pallet Cole.

It's been translated.

I don't know,

into 27 or 28 different languages around the world.

It's kind of a fable of how he reaches his goals.

You can put yourself into every single thing that he's doing

and think,

well, gee,

if I would have done that different,

maybe this goal would have happened or that goal.

So if anyone wants to read a book,

that's not a self-help book.

It's not a gee.

If you do these 10 steps,

this is an actual book that you become part of.

And so it's just a wonderful book.

It sounds like it you've never read it.

No I'm going to have to check it out.

It's a very small book.

I've read it over and over.

Both of my children ever edit my grandchildren have read it.

We discuss it.

He was a brilliant author.

Just brilliant Gift biz listeners,

just as you're listening to the podcast today,

you can also listen to audio books with ease.

I've teamed up with audible for you to get a free

audio book.

Just like the one that Lon is recommending.

All you need to do is go to gift biz,

book.com and make a selection.

That's gift biz,

book.com. Okay.

Lana, our time is starting to wind down and we are

coming to my favorite question of all,

which is the dare to dream question.

I'd like to present you with a virtual gift.

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

This is your dream or your goal of almost unreachable Heights

that you would wish to obtain.

Please accept this gift.

Open it in our presence.

What is inside?

Okay. I'm going to open this box very,

very slowly because this gift means so much to me.

And my gift is health.

If I can just have my health,

you know,

I'm going on 70.

I have been very,

very active and knock on wood.

My health is fine,

but I,

more than anything in the world want to keep my health.

I want to stay active.

I want to do my exercises.

I want to watch my weight.

I want to stay healthy.

That's what I want.

Well, You know what I like about your gift?

What's that for the majority of time you have control over

a lot of those elements.

Oh, absolutely.

And I just want to stay healthy.

I just,

without help,

what do you have That old saying?

If you don't have health,

you don't have anything.

That's right.

And boy,

I'm not giving mine up.

Love that.

So give biz listeners,

remember you can jump over to our show notes page and

you'll see a lot of detail of the conversation that we've

had here.

Also I'll have a picture of that adorable bear or the

Husky or whoever you're going to send me a picture of.

I'm not sure I'll get Somebody out to you.

All of that will be over on the show notes page

and you can find that at gift biz,

unwrapped.com. Thank you so much Lana for taking your time today

in sharing all this valuable information with us,

it's truly been a gift and may your candle always burn

bright And you have a great great day today.

You too Learn how to work smarter while developing and growing

your business.

Download our guide called twenty-five free tools to enhance your business

and life.

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

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

the next day episode.

Would you like to be on the show or do you

know someone who can provide valuable insight from their experiences?

If so,

we'd love to hear from you.

All you need to do is submit a form for consideration.

You can access the form at gift biz,

unwrapped.com forward slash yes that's gift biz,

unwrapped.com forward slash G U E S T today's show is

sponsored by the ribbon print company.

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