169 – Could an Artisan Co-op Be for You? with Nancy Gissendaner of Queen Bee Artisan Market

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co-op artists,

artisan groups,

something you may not even know about,

but if you have ever thought of wanting to get your

products into retail,

this is a different spin on traditional brick and mortar.

That is very economical.

And may just hold the key for you.

Being able to play that delicate balance between costs and having

a brick and mortar shop.

Nancy has found success with this.

She actually runs her own co-op and I am super excited

for her to tell you everything about it.

She's got the method down,

Pat, we're doing this interview while she's in her second location,

which is a smaller shop that also doubles as her artist

studio. It is a working facility.

So you will hear in the background a little bit of

work going on from time to time.

Oh my gosh.

Why am I rambling on I'm super excited for you to

hear directly from Nancy.

So no more chatting from me.

Let's get on with the show.

I'd like to introduce you to Nancy Gissendaner of queen bee

artisan market.

The queen bee artisan market is an indoor market open year

round in the beautiful tourist town of Lake Geneva,

Wisconsin. Nancy has tripled in size in only three years going

from 22 to now,

75 artisans,

the queen bee artisan market displays products from all over the

USA with many artisans local to the area.

The one requirement is everything must be handmade or upcycled here.

You can find everything from jewelry to pottery to home decor.

Nancy is most proud of how supportive everyone is of each

other. Many of the local artisans,

the bees work at the store.

The environment is cheerful and lively and it sure sounds like

the place to be welcome to the show,

Nancy. Hello.

Thanks for having me.

I am so excited to get into your story because I

don't know I've been to your shop now here locally.

Let's see maybe three times,

four times,

and I'm always intrigued.

I want to spend a ton more time,

but I purposely didn't want to hear all the backstory because

I wanted to save it and find out about it here

on the show.

So As we get started,

one of my favorite ways for people to get to know

you initially is by having you describe yourself in a little

bit of a creative way,

and that is through a motivational candle.

So if you were to share with us what you are

all about,

Nancy, through a color and a quote on a candle,

what would your motivational candle look like?

Oh, my candle would have to be the color of orange.

I think that orange is a very important color in my

life. Especially right now.

It combines the energy of red and the happiness of yellow

it's associated with joy and sunshine.

Orange also represents happiness,

creativity, determination,

success, and encouragement.

Orange is also my favorite season.

Color fall.

I love fall.

Oh, I'm an autumn girl too.

I like that.

And what would be the quote?

My quote I'd have two quotes.

The first one would be for my artisans.

I care so much about them and we are very tight.

I would be,

we rise by helping others.

And another one,

my personal one for me would be those who don't jump

will never fly.

Oh, and what does that mean to you?

Well, sometimes in life things happen and you just have to

kind of live through your experiences and sometimes things don't go

well and you get pushed into a corner and it's like,

now we're never.

And if sometimes if you have that opportunity,

it's just,

just go for it.

Just take that leap.

Because if you don't do that,

then you're just not going to get anywhere.

If you want to move forward.

I think sometimes opportunities come our way.

And if you don't take advantage of them at that point,

they might not come back again either.

Exactly. Yes.

Or the time might not be right or whatever.

So sometimes I think it's also just blind faith or you

just go for it.

Right? Right.

Exactly. And you have to say a little prayer and hope

for the best.

That's right.

That's exactly right.

Okay. So I don't want to wait any longer.

I want to dive in,

tell us,

okay. So first off you have two shops.

You have the queen bee artisan market,

which is the one I think we should really focus on

now. But I met you in your second smaller location,

which is here in Highland park,

my hometown.

So that's how we connected when I was out,

just walking around it lunch hour,

one day I was actually out buying a birthday present and

I landed on gold because I found out all about you.

How about that,

Nancy? Yeah,

it's so true.

Like these things just happen.

It's like,

I do believe in these connections and you just never know

when they're going to happen.

It's so true.

True. Okay.

Queen bee,

artisan market,

where were you before then?

How did this all come about?

Let's hear the whole story.

Well, After many years of doing shows and every weekend schlepping

stuff around,

I do make jewelry.

I upcycle,

I make jewelry out of vintage teacups,

vintage chandelier's vintage keys,

silverware, you name it,

whatever. I can get my hands on.

And I used to slip my stuff around place to place,

not to mention praying for a perfect weather for the outdoor

shows. I started talking to other fellow crafters and came up

with an idea to form a co-op of artisans,

where we rent out sections of a store to artisans that

are trying to pursue their dreams.

It was all kind of a fate thing.

We all started talking networking,

and we found different artisans that did different genres.

Some did pottery,

some did.

So Wayne seemed stress.

We had some people who did jewelry,

actually a few people who did jewelry,

home decor signs.

We just had a whole bunch of different talented ladies.

And so you gathered a group of artisans together who were

all interested.

So you had like your core group,

you started with 22.

Did you actually open with 22?

We Probably opened with more like I'd say about 12.

What was the reason why everyone was so interested in forming

a call?

Well, it was a lot of them had their different reasons.

Some people were retired and they just wanted to do something

on the side as a hobby.

Some people needed to do this as a livelihood.

Some people,

it was their only income and a lot of people just

wanted to pursue their dream.

It was just something that everybody got kind of tired of

doing every week farmer's market or going to do the craft

shows. It was just such a big ordeal to go and

set up and take down.

And then you're exhausted by the end of the week.

And it was just a great way to just have a

turnkey open business and be able just to walk into your

booth and it's always set and ready to go.

Yeah. So a stable home base,

if you will,

versus always going out every weekend,

here, there,

et cetera.

Oh yeah.

Much easier.

And then we all took turns working a day.

So then that also helped with the salary.

Yeah. And then I think also just thinking back initially when

you were,

I'm still back at the point where it's still a concept

and still an idea.

And so I'm sure it was also attractive because no one

is then footing the full bill of a retail place.

All of the extra costs like that too.

Exactly. So there's the advantage of,

it's a,

home-based, there's a cost advantage because it's a lot less expensive

when a group of people come together and I'm sure also

comradery just,

you're all doing it together.

So it's not just you Nancy against the world then,

right? Yeah.

Everybody Had their responsibilities.

You're the leader,

queen bee artists and market is yours.

Yes. Okay.

And so what were the first types of things you were

do? I'm thinking of listeners who might also be artisans in

different areas of the country?

Like what do you need to do to get a co-op

form? Do you establish a company yourself and then everyone comes

under you?

Or how does that all work out?

Yes. Yeah.

That's exactly what you do.

You just form a company yourself,

you start networking with different artisans.

A big tip is to make sure that they have a

really good personality because especially if there'll be part of a

team, they have to be a team player.

If they will be working in the store,

this will be a face to your customers.

Somebody who's pleasant and very friendly and willing to help others.

Okay. That's really important in terms of how they relate with

other people,

obviously, for the reasons that you just said.

So were you very selective and are you still very selective

as you talk with people to include them?

Yes. Yeah.

At first we were kind of selective.

We're just starting and you got to go through ups and

downs, but we figured out what kind of personalities match and

what kind of art goes and sells.

Well now since we moved to our new location and we

have the,

actually most of the same people with us and we've kind

of formed a tight thing where what if someone's going to

come work at the store,

they have to be all very pleasant team players and willing

to just help out.

Got it.

Okay. I'm still taking you back to the beginning.

So you got a group of people who you felt would

be a good starter group.

You knew you would have to form a company and then

you knew you were going to be a location.

Cause that's the whole premise.

Right? Right.

Yeah. Location obviously is very important to location,

location, location.

Right. Right.

So how did you go out and what were your requirements

for finding a place?

Give us a feel for how that happened.

Yeah. Well we found Lake Geneva because some of the artisans

used to do the weekly farmer's market on Thursdays there.

And we started talking and then next thing you know,

it's we did really well.

We were very successful in like Geneva.

It just happened to be a thing that would work out

for all of us.

So we found a location that was a lower rent.

It was a lower level.

And so we said,

well, let's give that a try and see if that works.

We don't know.

So it just happened to be a huge success.

Was it a success Because there was enough space or because

of the people that were coming in or It was a

mix. I mean,

we had them enough space at the time,

but after two years we needed more space.

Now we have actually,

I told you 75,

but we're actually pushing a hundred no way.

We're really growing fast.

Yeah. Like,

gosh, I went home,

I counted them all.

And I said,

I forgot about all these people.

Cause we have people flying things in now from California,

Arizona, Dallas.

We have a few from Georgia,

so it's a lot of fun.

It's amazing.

Wow. We have one lady from Michigan and she's a really

good artist too.

She's actually in many stores.

She's from Michigan.

She's driving up to Lake Geneva just to meet us this

summer with her husband.

Oh, that's so cool.

Yeah. Okay.

So take us through so that we can really envision what

this looks like and let's just now jump to today.

I think that'll be the best thing.

Take us through,

if you walk into your market,

how does that look and how do you actually go through

and make selections and like,

is there a central checkout point or just talk us through

how that works?

Well, You walk in the first part of the store is

what we call seasonal.

So any of the artisans who make something seasonal like right

now, it's a lot of gardening products,

gardening, home decor candles with sense like flowers and fruit,

anything that's kind of a garden themed items,

sculptures. That's where you walk in.

Then after that we have kind of a,

it's not quite the typical co-op or artisan market that you'd

go into and everybody has their own section.

That's what we used to do at the old place.

This place,

we formed it more like a boutique.

So it's actually really pretty to the eye.

It's not all just like one person after one person after

one person,

it's all blended in.

Anybody who makes things for men is in the men's section.

Anybody who makes items for children's and the children's section home,

a kitchen area,

we have a jewelry section.

We have a women section.

So it's all kind of separated.

And how we know who the artist is is we assign

them all codes.

So everybody has their own department.

So could somebody be in two different departments?

Yes. They can be in multiple departments.

We have many artisans.

And this is the fun thing with this new location.

Some of the ladies who used to just make one thing,

just one type of item,

because they felt they were in their own area.

It had to kind of look nice.

That's all they stuck to.

Now they're able to branch out into many different items.

Like I have one girl she used to just make photos

like pictures that she was a photographer.

Then she made signs.

And now she's making an oven mitts.

She's making really funny cups and mugs and she's doing everything

glasses. She's just expanded into so many different things.

And she's thrilled.

The fun thing is since we made the move and made

these changes,

every single one of our artisans is flourishing.

They're doing so good.

Much better than they were before.

No kidding.

Yeah. We're still proud of them.

Was the turning point in where was the light bulb that

came on to say,

let's change the whole layout of how we're doing this?

Well, because You,

in a lower level,

it's the basement for two years,

we had actually had a lot of traffic.

So now it's so different because the artisan is a different

areas of the store and it's merchandised really well.

And they have such a better opportunity to make a sale

because it's so easy to just walk by someone's booth.

If it's not what you're kind of looking for,

you might overlook something that you might want.

But then if you're walking around the store in our new

location, that artisan has a chance to sell something in maybe

five, six different areas of the store.

Right. And so who's merchandising the store.

Then I do most of it.

I do like 99%.

Oh my gosh.

That is a huge job unto itself,

Nancy. Yeah.

But I love it.

It's something I actually look forward to.

And so I'm envisioning it looking more like a department store.

Yes. It's kind of,

if you can imagine an Artism market slash department store,

because you have a feeling wherever you're walking,

there is a feeling of where you're standing.

Like if you're in the children's area,

it's all like kids and babies and wooden toys and pen

painted signs.

We have a mixed media lady who has beautiful rightly paintings

with inspirational sayings right next to it.

So everything kind of blends in like the colorful things are

on one side and we have a lot of rustic,

like in the man-cave we have upcycled industrial pipelining,

koozies, and it's just,

everything has its own feeling.

Every section of the store,

How long do people stay in your store?

I'm thinking like,

it could be a whole day,

just do your place.

You know what?

It's funny?

You asked that because before they used to come down the

stairs and they say,

Oh, this is cool.

It's downstairs.

This is so neat.

And then they walked to the back and they'd walk out.

Like they buy stuff sometimes obviously,

but it wasn't that interaction.

And it was very narrow downstairs.

So they'd walk to the back,

they'd walk out and they'd have buy a few things.

And I found they would just walk by a lot of

the booths.

I wondered why they wouldn't just take a second to go

take a look.

But now the place is so much bigger.

It's wider people spend,

Oh my gosh.

Sometimes they'll spend even 20 minutes,

half an hour in the store just looking around because there's

so much to look at and it's a lot more interesting.

Oh, it sounds awesome.

I cannot wait to get there.

Not to mention that it's all windows now in the front.

Oh my gosh.

So it's very exciting.

So we have the lights.

Yeah. Now the other thing that I thought was really interesting

is you have a lot of the artisans,

especially if they're local actually working there With you.

Yes. A lot of them work once a week,

some come in,

even extra just because they love it.

We try to have on weekends,

always have like,

we call it,

you know,

a trunk show,

but it's where you could meet and greet the artists.

We have a bird Felter,

she pelts birds.

She felt so magnetic,

broaches, all sorts of cool stuff.

And she'll be there to display.

Sometimes we also have a lady who does silk scarves and

she shows you how to do the process.

And you can meet and greet and ask questions about the

craft. I'm always there making jewelry.

So people are constantly asking me questions.

I always have my pliers in my hands and I'm more

than excited to give them tips and tricks.

We also have a henna lady she's there.

She does amazing work.

We have people who come just for the HANA and she's

there usually in the summer most of the week.

And she has a huge following.

And it's such an artistic feeling when you walk in there,

cause there's always something going on.

Were you able to have all the artisans in there in

the other location?

No, I think that's probably why it's such a big draw

to that human interaction.

It's almost like a show because you're able to watch people,

the product you're able to chat with them.

It's a whole engagement there.

Yeah. And I find what's fun is because we used to

be downstairs now being upstairs,

we're meeting so many customers that have kids,

children, babies,

strollers, we're meeting elderly.

And they come in and I love when the kids start

asking questions about a certain artist or they point something out

to their parents.

It's just really nice.

It's a very different atmosphere.

So the artisans are also,

are they working for pay or are they working to help

or how is that structure set up?

We have some of the local ones.

We have different structures.

There's some things we do on consignment,

but we also have a lot of the local ladies.

They volunteer their time and then they have a really small

percentage. We take of their sales and they love that it's

working out really great for them.

And it works out great for us because then we have

a lower salary.

We do have some hired help for the busier days.

But other than that,

and a lot of the people who are actually all of

them who work for paid work for busier days are actually

artisans who also work a day for the store for free.

Okay. Okay.

So that is a really interesting structure,

regardless of whether you are selling artists and type products,

gift biz listeners is if you have you take something on

consignment, I think this is what you're saying,

Nancy. So correct me if I'm wrong.

But if you're taking a product of theirs in on consignment,

and if you were to set up something like this,

where that particular person came in and worked a little bit

of time in the shop for you and you just got

a little less commission off the sale,

if you will,

because they're also taking their time.

That's a way not to have to pay overhead you as

a shop owner,

let's say it's just like a small shop where it's only

a one person shop are able to get a little bit

of relief where you can leave for maybe a few hours

a week or a couple hours a day,

whatever it is,

but you're not directly having to pay money out of your

pocket. Yeah,

exactly. And it's just such a great group of,

we call the bees and they're all really close to each

other and everybody's been very helpful to each other and they

all enjoy coming in.

It seems to be,

what's like a family was turned into a family.

It's a beautiful thing.

You said that Even the very first time I met you,

how much you just love watching how supportive everyone is of

each other.

Yeah. Is that,

do you think because of the people that you attracted in

the beginning,

you were talking earlier about personality and making sure there was

always a fit.

Yeah. A lot of these ladies,

it just happened to fall into place.

I mean,

they're all just really good people when it comes down to

it and I get so excited,

I just see how well they're all flourishing and it makes

me so happy to see how far they've come from just

a few months ago,

because we've only been in our new location for 11 weeks.

Oh my gosh.

Crazy. And they have done so well.

I'm just so excited for them and I can't wait to

see what they do next.

Sure. And you've got the whole summer coming up still.

Yeah. We're just starting.

Yeah. Phenomenal.

Doesn't the queen bee artists in market sound spectacular.

Nancy's going to share more with us right after a word

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They trying to plan out the seasonal area when you walk

into the store to the fall,

because we had this one girl she does so well.

She makes these pumpkins out of recycled sweaters and they're so

cute. So they sold like hotcakes over at the old location.

I can't even imagine how they're going to go here.

Oh my gosh.

You may have to put this on the side for me.

Oh, they're so cute.

We'll be talking about that for sure.

Did you have any,

or have you over the course of these three years had

any challenges with someone who's an artisan who just isn't the

right fit.

I'm kind of looking for just a learning of what to

look for or how to handle a different situation.

Something like that.

Yeah. Yeah.

It's hard.

It's tricky.

It is.

It's hard.

Everybody who's come with us,

have all been nice.

Life happens.

Some people have just found some problems where maybe somebody loses

a job or they can't fulfill their artisan requirements or they

just aren't doing as well.

And we try to move them,

try to encourage them,

but it doesn't always work and it's sad.

But here's another thing.

There's some fun things that are happening because a couple of

those girls who I still don't understand why it didn't work

out at the old place,

they came into our new place and they're going to be

trying it out at our new place.

And I have a feeling it's going to work out better

because we have more space.

We can move them around.

We can make it look more attractive.

So they still want to come back.

Well that says a lot about you Nancy,

but in terms of the situation and whatever happened,

we don't need to go ahead and do any stories.

But if it just the product wasn't moving,

of course they need to try something different.

But clearly you handled the situation well for them to want

to come back and give it another go.

Yeah, no,

exactly. And like I said,

they're all good people nobody's been mean or unpleasant.

Everybody's been wonderful,

but I think we've been very blessed and lucky with who's

come through the door.

That's fabulous.

You are lucky.

Let's talk a little bit about your inventory now.

So it is really different if they don't have individual areas,

your inventory has to be right on because do they then

check out at a central location?

I forget if you said that.

Yeah, No,

they do it.

There's a cash register and everybody has a number.

They have a category department,

all their items are entered.

We have a skew system,

so it's all by scanner.

So each person has a number.

And then when it comes to the counter,

we scan it and it just goes underneath their name for

the reports.

And then at the end,

because we get,

they get paid once a month.

We always pay them,

everything that sells until the first of the month,

they get a check on the 15th of the following month.

So they get paid monthly.

Do you have someone helping with all the product when it

comes in and assigning them skew numbers and all of that?

Yeah. So my husband does a lot of that.

He does a lot of the back office.

He does the checks.

He takes care of all that.

Like that's its own beast.

I Was going to say.

Yeah. And I can only imagine too,

for everything that you have under the whole artist and market,

because a lot of them I'm thinking are one of a

kind. Yeah.

But they have like categories say the pumpkin sweaters when she

brings them in,

they might be different prices.

So she'll just label if it's a $12 one,

a $7 one,

a $18 one,

and it just goes under sweater pumpkin's but then it's always,

when it gets to the cash register,

it just realizes,

Hey, it's Lisa.

So it's going to go under her name.

Got it.

And did you create the program yourself?

You and your husband,

or was there something out there that you were able to

access? Yeah,

My husband did it.

He uses,

I think it's square,

but it does have a little few quirks here and there,

but we've been really happy with it so far what it's

done. So you're using square for credit card processing and then

also your inventory management?

Yes. Interesting.

I didn't know they had that capability,

so that's really interesting.

They do.

Yep. Okay.

What types of challenges did you have as you're increasing in

size, going to a new location,

you changed your whole layout,

the whole floor format,

but are you seeing any differences in managing the business as

it was when you first started,

when you had,

let's say just the 22 to now over a hundred?

Well, No,

not really.

It's the same group of people.

It's the same system.

It's just the biggest challenge.

I think for all of us was the space.

It was just so airy and sometimes we get so many

people in there it's you have to kind of walk around.

We weren't able to do that in the old space.

So we were kind of confined to our own area because

it was so small and it's just been like more like

to move around and get used to the whole atmosphere and

being able to talk more to customers.

Cause before like it was so tight sometimes that you couldn't

really have a good conversation with a customer and engage with

them enough.

Yeah. I would suggest that that's also why you're seeing more

success. Yeah.

It's seriously all about giving that customer,

the experience.

When they walk in through the door,

you greet them,

you tell them where they are.

And sometimes you got to point out because there's some beautiful

pieces and art in our store that people don't realize it's

all handmade.

It's very talented people who make these items and they really,

some people don't realize it until we tell them.

And they're like,

are you serious?

I would have never guessed that.

So it's a whole experience.

Yeah. Well,

and I also think that now that you have the space,

people can actually appreciate it too,

because seeing something when it's right up against your face,

if you're really cramped versus being able to see it and

approach it and walk up to it,

it's a whole different experience of the products.

Oh, absolutely.

It does make a huge difference.

Yeah. We've been talking a lot about the value of the

environment that you have now,

the fact that the artisans are there,

so people can come in and actually talk with them and

see them actually creating their art,

which is always so interesting.

You don't have to people who are creative.

It's like,

how could you possibly make something like that?

Right. Yeah.

It's funny.

A lot of people say that they're like,

I can never do this and I can't believe this.

I give it to you guys.

And I actually believe that everybody's creative.

They just need the time to figure out what it is

because some people are so wrapped up in their day-to-day job

or just doing mom duties and living life that they don't

sometimes have that time to figure out what they're creative at.

But I do believe everybody's committed of something.

Great. I would agree with that,

but it might not be tactical,

like creating a product like it might be writing or it

might be music or whatever.

Exactly. One of the things I talk about a lot with

our community here is when something comes so naturally to you,

you think that it does for everybody and it's not true.

So your artisans when,

or like you,

when you're making your jewelry,

whatever, and people are looking and fascination like,

Oh my gosh,

like how in the world does that even happen?

Right. And you're here thinking,

you know,

it's just easy.

I can do it all the time.

But most people aren't,

they're fascinated by it if they don't have that type of

a skill.

Yeah. True.

Alright. So we've got the artisans in there.

Is there anything else that you found helps draw?

The crowds in It's having,

especially on weekends is having some activity in the store,

having a live artisan,

something happening because people walk in and if you have someone

doing HANA,

someone doing a demo like us every day,

we have the make your own charm bar that we call

the charm bar,

where customers come in and they get creative on the spot.

They pick out their charms,

they pick out their chain,

they pick out,

they can make anything from a bracelet to an anklet.

And we put it together for them on the spot.

And they love that because they get to be creative.

They get to pick out their personal pieces.

So it's some kind of activity,

something that engages with the customer.

And do you have something then outside the door that draws

them in so that they know there's something happening inside.

Our windows are so big.

Now they're huge.

It's like the whole storefront is all window.

So we're able to product in the window and people stop.

And they point and they laugh.

We put some funny stuff in the window and the next

thing they come in,

we'll have like a sandwich board out.

Sometimes if it's not too windy,

but I don't believe that's all that brings them in.

It's the windows,

put something funny in the window and they'll come in.

So I really love that we're talking because I haven't talked

with a lot of people who are in more of a

tourist community.

So talk a little bit about the mix of customers that

you have,

how many people are tourists and how's that all working.

Most of the people on weekends are tourists.

They come from all over.

Most of them are actually from Chicago.

The surrounding States.

They drive in and they'll rent boats because there's this huge

boat cruises they're like to go around the Lake and you

could do anything.

Rent, jet skis.

There's tons of resorts.

And like getaways,

horseback, riding golf,

you name it.

It's amazing.

It's like a little destination area.

We have people that come in from Arizona,

California. We meet people from all over Europe,

even in little Lake Geneva.

It's, it's shocking,

but it is a very different diverse crowd.

You have people come in,

dressed to the nines and their best dress.

And then you'll have the next person come in with no

shirt off the became right off the beach.

You never know what's going to walk in next.

It's really exciting.

It's like an airport It's like in the airport.

It's A lot of fun.

Yeah. And you meet some great personalities.

Cause we play music in our store at all times.

And it's usually upbeat,

which I do think is really important too.

And a lot of times people will just break out dancing

and singing.

They're happy people talk to each other.

I just love when other customers just connect with each other

and they start talking then,

but you think they came in together and they didn't.

It's quite amazing.

Well, and I think the whole tone just being there's so

much to do,

there's so much fun.

People are clearly coming to be entertained.

So they've already got that mindset when they first come in.

So then you just play off of that with the music

and all the artists and demos and all of that,

it just enhances,

it just builds on top of what they're already there to

do. Oh yeah.

And sometimes we'll have snacks.

We even have dog treats was we were dog friendly for

the friendly ones.

Like sometimes we'll have,

if it's a Cinco de Maya,

we had like a nice punch.

We have different snacks for our grand opening.

We had a big draw was we did something really fun,

was a promotion to get people in the door.

It turned out so good if we gave out 50 gift

cards and they were all loaded up with money,

everybody was a winner.

So some of the gift cards were like $5.

Some were 10,

some were 20,

some were 50.

And there was 50 of them.

And the first 50 people who walked through the door all

received a gift card.

So everybody has money in their hands,

even if it's $5.

So they're going to spend something.

So they all came in,

they're all excited.

And it was a huge success.

We had the winners,

the big grand winners.

There was a few of a $50 in there and they

were so excited.

So you have to keep on being creative.

Well, I really liked that idea because even though you're giving

away true cash,

right? So it's $5 for $5,

which is different than if you're giving away a product because

your cost is only a portion of that product.

Right. Right.

But for you to do that,

I've never heard that this is a really creative idea because

people are going to feel kind of indebted.

Like they have to spend even the $5 in the shop.

Right. Exactly.

And more than likely,

they're not just going to spend $5,

they're going to maybe spend 20,

but they only had to pay 15.

So you're still making out.

Exactly. Yeah.

It really worked out really good.

I was actually really excited because I did not expect this,

but we had a lineup on our grand opening of about,

I think about 20 people.

And I was just so overwhelmed to see them standing there.

Oh, did you get a picture?

No, I wish I kicked myself because we opened up the

doors. I didn't expect to.

Cause it's this big roll down door.

You can't see through it.

And then when we opened up the doors,

so they were,

and they all came in,

so, Oh my gosh,

how cool.

It was so much fun.

Oh, it was a great kickoff.

Yeah. And we had food music.

And I also think that as people started lining up,

other people probably,

you know how it is when crowds start to form,

everyone's like,

what's going on there?

What am I missing?

You know,

the whole FOMO thing.

Yeah. It was exactly that probably then other people,

more people,

more people that's so cool.

Yeah. It was fun.

Great ideas.

So now you've also opened up a location here,

right by me,

which I had said in the beginning is how do you

and I met,

what's the reasoning behind vintage bliss,

which is your store here?

Yes. Okay.

Vintage bliss and company is my brand name for my jewelry.

So this store here in Highland park is my studio.

It's my studio slash boutique in the back is where I

make everything.

I used to make everything over in Lake Geneva,

but it was way too busy at the old location.

And then I said,

you know what?

I got to get my own little spot.

I'm just growing too fast.

I need more space.

I have to take it out from the home because that

was taken over my whole house.

My kitchen,

my dining room,

no room was untouched without my things.

It looked crazy.

So we found this location here in Highland park and the

rent was a little high.

And I didn't want to go to one of those industrial

places where there's no windows or let's just kind of like

I needed some sunshine.

This place had a little sunlight in here.

It had a little sunlight in the ceiling and it was

just really pretty.

And I just had a good vibe and we were thinking

to make up the rent.

It's not too cheap here in Highland park is to maybe

form a boutique in the front and maybe have something to

try things out if they work.

Like I sell also clothes here,

but I have mainly jewelry because here for my studio,

it's more of a wholesale business for my jewelry because I

think I'm up to a hundred stores now just for my

wholesale, my jewelry line.

So I had to have a place where we can sort

send things out,

ship things out,

invoice customers,

and some boutique owners even come here to design things with

me on the spot for their own shops.

Oh, no kidding.

Yeah. They'll come in and cause a lot of these boutique

owners, they all want to have their own look or their

spin on something.

So they'll take one of my designs and say,

you know what?

I love this,

but I want it a little different.

Can we put a tassel on that or take off the

tassel and they can design their whole jewelry line for their

store. Were you expecting that when you moved up here?

No, I was expecting some,

but it's been very good.

Like I've have also now a rep.

Who's fabulous.

And she goes to all these boutiques.

She goes to style max.

She's got me a lot of accounts and it's been busy.

We there hasn't been a day where there's no action.

So she's keeping me.

Yeah. Well,

when I was in just a couple of days ago,

you'd also made the comment because we've talked about that,

that you're there and you're working really because it's your studio

now, but you were also mentioning how much traffic you're getting.

Even on Sunday when the majority of our local downtown stores

are closed.

That's crazy.

I was shocked.

The last three Sundays have been better than my Saturdays.

I don't even know.

Maybe it's because I'm on second street where there's a lot

of restaurants and people walking around the movie theater.

I have no clue,

but we're definitely going to be open every Sunday from 11

to four.

That's for sure.

So people who are in the area can take advantage of

that, but people who aren't in the area,

I think it's something just to recognize that,

especially if you have a brick and mortar,

it might be some of those out of the way,

times that could be really fruitful for you.

I mean,

you weren't even thinking that.

I think the way you told the story,

Nancy is that you were there and you saw people walking

around, so you thought,

Oh, what the heck?

I'll just open the door.

And then all of a sudden you saw that it was

working. Yeah.

I had some stuff to finish for some stores.

I was trying to catch up on some of my orders.

So I came in and I saw all these people walking.

So I said,

well, I'll just open up the doors.

And if they come in,

I'll just get up from the back and go to the

front and serve them.

And I ended up on my feet all day.

I didn't get anything done,

which I guess it's like a,

I don't know You got other things,

But you know what?

It's always good to sell things too,

so, Right.

Yeah. Wow.

Yeah. I think just keeping your eyes open and your mind

open and then seeing what's happening in front of you and

reading what it is,

reading what that means,

what that messaging means.

Yeah. You're going to have to get someone to work on

Sundays. Pauline Nancy.

I know I do.

So if anybody knows anybody on,

I'm definitely looking for some weekend help.

Oh my gosh.

Okay. So what would you say to someone who is an

artist and maybe they're going out and they're doing the flea

markets or the craft shows already,

or maybe they're not,

maybe they're even a step even further back than that.

Like when you first started making jewelry and I'm thinking they

might have questions about I'm doing this just as a craft,

can I really make this into a business?

So I'd like you to answer that question.

And then also I'm thinking you're going to answer in the

affirmative, but then what would they do?

What would be their very first steps to take?

Well, the very first steps to take is figure out,

see if your craft is unique.

Like something like jewelry.

That's so saturated,

but if you have a little spin on it,

some ideas of the unique go walk around,

go to different craft,

shows art festivals and see what's out there.

And see also per price point.

If it's something kind of close to what you're thinking of

doing and see what the price points are,

the biggest,

biggest, I can't stress this enough.

Important thing is your margins.

Make sure that you're not giving your stuff away.

Amen. Make sure that you,

I mean,

I see so many crafters like even come in and I'm

like, no,

we can't price it that low.

You're not making anything unless you want to do this as

a little giveaway in a hobby,

whatever. But if you want to make money,

you have to make sure your margins are there.

That is like,

step number one.

You have to make sure,

you know,

every single piece,

what your cost is your time,

put your time in there and then you price it because

without doing that,

you'll never make it.

You have to make sure that you're watching your bottom line.

I preach that all the time.

Nancy. So I'm so glad that you're reinforcing that so important.

And do you think it's a good idea then to start

like have someone test out their product at a craft fair?

Yes, absolutely.

You know,

get yourself a spot and see what the receptivity is.

Yes. And I would suggest trying different types of shows.

You can try even little church craft shows around the holiday.

Some of those used to be my best ones,

the rotary club.

That's where I started those little ones like that.

Those were sometimes the best ones.

Or then if you start being successful at some of those

and you can move on,

try some where you have to apply for.

And, but sometimes there's a waiting list and it's frustrating,

but one day you get that phone call and you're in.

And I mean the biggest one that I loved to death

is the step-by-step it's by Donna Hanson.

I do all her shows as many as I can.

That's the only show to this day that I will still

do. It's just really good.

And is that a local show only or?

Well, yeah,

she does it.

There's Harper college.

Once a year,

they moved at a bit because of construction.

She does a lot of them at the Lake County fairgrounds.

There's usually in the spring and in the fall,

she has a few,

she has one around Christmas,

somewhere out by St.

Charles, the pheasant run.

She does about five,

six of them.

Okay. So gift biz listeners,

you may have somebody in your area who does a similar

thing. She's very selective.

She makes sure there's only a certain amount of jewelry,

only a certain amount of signs.

So that's another thing it's like when you can get that

step of a show,

that's where there's a good traffic.

That's where you'll get a good vibe on.

Are they looking at my stuff?

Then you have your whole presentation of your booth.

Like what's working.

What's not,

you got to watch how they walk into your booth,

what they touch,

what they don't touch.

It's an art.

It really is.

It's a lot of visual art.

You have to really watch where they go and what they

touch, Observing,

and then understanding what that means.

And you can talk with them.

It's almost like you can ask them.

Well, what do you think about this?

What are the favorite colors?

What do you think of this new design?

I have,

I mean,

it's a perfect,

perfect ground for asking any questions that you have and getting

feedback from people.

Yeah. Just like you said,

open-ended questions.

That's number one,

always ask them a question.

Whether it's an,

it has to be an answer.

When you ask an opinion,

they're always going to talk.

Absolutely wonderful.

Any final words for someone who is really interested,

but a little timid because let's face it,

especially as an artist and when you're making your product,

you're putting something that's so personal to you out in the

world. So people I think can be hesitant.

You know,

they're not sure her stuff is really great.

So it was her.

So is hers.

But what about mine?

Yeah. You know what,

it's funny,

you're saying that you just reminded me of something.

I used to have the biggest fear of selling anything that

I made.

It was so emotional.

It was so scary.

I just used to remember that it used to be so

scary. I mean,

I used to be able to sell anybody else's stuff.

I mean,

anything. I was in retail,

my whole life.

You give me anything else,

I'll sell it.

But my own things,

it was so hard to promote myself,

to be proud of what I made.

It's a deep feeling and it's hard.

But I think with practice and do little shows,

even I even remember,

I used to do these little home shows like with friends

that I felt comfortable with family set up a bit of

what and get their feedback and their ideas and on your

price point.

And a lot of times you get really good ideas from

friends, family,

customers, and how to grow your own line,

how to grow your own business,

things that you wouldn't even think of.

So to start number one,

I'd say,

start with your friends and families,

have a little home show and see what the feedback is

there. Then go onto the little schools and craft shows and

try a few of those.

And you'll find the ones that work and the ones that

don't work.

Cause I mean,

none of them always worked for me.

That's for sure.

But the next year,

you know,

which ones to apply for,

Like you said,

I'm so glad you brought it up because it's a matter

of just going ahead and doing it.

Not letting yourself talk yourself out of it.

Oh it is.

It's scary.

It really is.

I had anxiety about it.

So it's like,

Oh my gosh,

am I going to do well all this time,

the setup it's a lot.

It's like I said,

you just got to jump.

You just got to do it,

get over yourself and just do it.

If you really want to try it,

just go for it.

Yeah. It's better to live with the success of having done

it than the regret of wondering what would have been.

Yeah, exactly.

I agree.

Cause that's worse.

That's much worse.

Yeah. Cause it,

so you might as well know.

And honestly,

I just want to take that one step further.

Let's say you put something out there and it doesn't work.

And I don't know if that's happened to you,

Nancy. There's one style.

That's just not that great that you think it's awesome,

but it's just not selling for whatever reason.

That doesn't mean you're a bad designer.

It just means that's not what the market is looking for

right now.

Exactly. And it could be hurtful when you put all your

work into this one piece where you think it's a masterpiece

and then all of a sudden this little thing that you

just put on a chain and added a crystal,

people are flocking to it's crazy,

but you just got to keep on going and trying.

And if it doesn't work a lot of times you can,

up-cycle your item and do something else and you'll learn.

That's how you learn is what works and what doesn't.

But you have to try and don't be scared to try

new style because sometimes they're very successful.

Right? Okay.

So we're talking about trying Nancy and now I'm going to

invite you to dare to dream.

So this is kind of trying to,

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

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

So this is your dream or your goal of almost unreachable

Heights that you would wish to obtain.

Please accept this gift and open it in all our presence.

What is inside your box?

Okay. Okay.

Being able to forecast the next big jewelry trend is always

a plus.

Getting into a major retailer would be such a bonus,

finding a trustworthy,

strong assistant and a reliable team who wants to grow with

us on this journey.

I also wish for our wonderful,

talented queen bee artisans,

that they are able to achieve on their own goals and

dreams. So I have a few,

I could also,

You know,

what I love though,

is you list them out.

Like, you know,

you know the answer to that question already,

which is fabulous.

I think of it every day.

Those are the big dreams.

I have a dream board.

I put of goals where I want to be like,

even though it's scary,

like we're about to take a big jump.

Like this is another thing I don't know.

What's up with us whenever we get situated and do something

new, we always seem to do this next jump.

And it just seems to be something we are used to

doing now.

But we're about to,

we just signed up for Las Vegas.

We're doing for my wholesale jewelry line.

We just rented out a permanent showroom in Las Vegas.

So we're going to be part of a show,

every what is it?

Three to four times a year where we go out to

Las Vegas and all the boutique owners from all over California,

even we're going to be tapping into retailers that we've never

met before.

And hopefully it goes well,

Oh, you know,

it's going to go well,

and I know we have listeners from Vegas to Nancy's.

Oh, okay.

Yeah. I'm a little nervous.

How are they going to find you there?

We're going to be in the world trade center.

I'm not sure what floor,

but we're going to be in the wild rumpus room with

a lot of other artisans.

A lot of these artists are very talented.

They upcycle items.

There's some home decor.

There's some kitschy items.

There's people who do kitchen things.

They have a Facebook page too.

It's the wild rumpus room.

And I'll be in there a Las Vegas show.

It's crazy bunch of artisans under vintage bliss.

Actually, no,

we have to change the name because we weren't able to

incorporate under that.

So vintage bliss and company is going to be changing over

to VB and co.

So it's gonna be under VB and co.

Perfect. Okay.

And you know what,

we'll talk about this,

but I was going to mention gift biz listeners,

you know,

as always with every show,

there'll be a show notes page that will give you websites,

social media sites,

et cetera.

So Nancy,

if there's some other links I should have,

I'll put those into the show notes page too,

as you're making the changes.

But I also want to put the physical locations of both

the shops too.

Sure. Another thing is if you have listeners from all over,

we are always looking to accept items from on consignment,

from all over the U S you think you have something

really special.

We would love to see it so you can shoot us

an email.

There you Go.

But only us,

correct? Yeah.

Us Canada,

something within North America.

Sure. All right.

We're listened to in the last I counted.

I think we were just getting close to a hundred.

I think it was like 96 countries.

So kind of crazy.

Wow. Crazy.

So us Canada.

Well, eventually it'd be nice to get things from all over.

We do have some skirts from Amsterdam,

which are wild,

but that's through a U S distributor.

Wonderful. Well,

I want to round out the story here,

which was,

and this is also part of my book and that's why

Nancy, we wanted to do this interview so quickly is there

is a little bit of a story in my book about

the afternoon.

I decided to leave my office here and walk out and

go find a birthday present for my girlfriend.

And that was when I walked into vintage bliss,

met Nancy.

And we talked about everything that I have going on.

We talked about what you have going on.

We talked about the podcast.

We talked about my book and you invited me to do

a book signing.

Yes. I'm so excited.

I'm so excited.

And this show is going to go live the Monday after

the Saturday book signing.

Oh, cool.

Yeah. So gift biz listeners,

any of you who are listening,

I know there's going to be pictures up on social media.

You might've already seen them,

but if not,

if you're listening to this show live,

you'll be able to jump back and take a look.

And I'm going to take a ton of pictures of Nancy's

place. So you'll be able to see those two right in

conjunction with this episode.

And I'm sure you and I will grab a shot together

too. Oh,

definitely so much fun.

I can't wait.

Yeah, me too.

Yeah. I've been telling everybody about it.

Everybody is so thrilled.

Yay. I'm really excited too.

So thank you so much,

Nancy. So much fun.

Thank you for getting this together kind of quickly so that

we can turn it around pretty fast here.

Yeah, no,

it was fun.

Thank you so much for having me.

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