How Trudy Cleveland Built Her Longarm Quilting Business: Real-World Lessons

0:00 My name is Bobby, and I am one of the hosts of Quilting Business Success here.

0:29 I work in tech support here at Gammill, and I have the real pleasure of being able to

0:39 interview different guests here at different times.

0:42 Hi, Trudy.

0:43 Hi.

0:44 Can you hear me okay?

0:48 I can hear you fine.

0:49 Can you hear me?

0:50 Yeah, yeah.

0:51 I can hear you great.

0:53 Perfect.

0:54 We just logged on shortly before you got here, and I was just telling everybody that we're

1:00 having a little bit of technical difficulties tonight, but we're already started on.

1:08 So the good part about this one is we didn't have a chance to have a talk beforehand, so

1:16 we will just start out from the get-go here.

1:19 Sounds good.

1:22 I'm glad to meet you, Trudy.

1:26 So let me ask you, have you seen this podcast before?

1:30 Yes, I have.

1:32 I've watched it several times.

1:34 I've watched it when you have like two or three people on as panelists.

1:39 Yes.

1:40 Okay, good, good.

1:42 Well, we'll just start out from the get-go here.

1:46 Trudy, can you tell us where are you located?

1:49 Where is home?

1:51 Well, I'm in California.

1:53 I'm a native Californian, born and raised in Southern California.

1:58 I'm actually coming to you from a town called Oceanside, which is considered in San Diego

2:05 County, but I'm pretty far from the city of San Diego.

2:12 I'm closer to Disneyland, actually, so that gives you some reference where I'm at.

2:17 Okay, okay, great.

2:20 And where you are now is where you've been for quite a long time?

2:26 Yes, but I come from a history of my husband moved me quite a bit when he was working.

2:33 We're both now retired, retired from our careers, and I'm on to a second career with long-arming.

2:43 He had a job that I got.

2:44 I had the chance to live in Arizona, Northern California.

2:49 I also lived in the LA area, and I also lived in another area of San Diego.

2:54 So it's all kind of up and down the West Coast, and so I made friends in each one of those

3:00 cities, and I was quilting all the time, but not long-arming.

3:06 I was not long-arming until I got my Gammill, and then I started the long-arming business

3:13 at that point.

3:15 Okay, well, since you mentioned that, why don't we start on that.

3:20 How long have you been long-arming, which I guess is the same time you got your Gammill?

3:25 I got my Gammill in 2011, but I had been long-arming one year before that.

3:33 I am really lucky that I have a childhood friend that I sew with.

3:40 It's unusual, I guess.

3:41 We've been sewing together for 50 years.

3:43 She decided we needed to start finishing up more of our quilts ourselves.

3:48 She did the research, and she felt that Gammill was the way to go.

3:53 One of our local quilt stores had a rental option to rent a Gammill.

3:59 You had to take a class, which they called getting your driver's license.

4:04 We did that together, solely with the idea that we would rent their Gammill, and we would

4:11 finish our tops.

4:13 It made sense on paper to rent it.

4:18 After our driver's class is what they called it, the introductory class to how to use the

4:25 Gammill.

4:26 Get your driver's license, yes.

4:28 We realized very quickly, she and I, that this is not going to really turn out the way

4:36 we wanted it to.

4:38 We actually never rented any.

4:40 We just did the class, and we realized, wow, both of us like to sew at six in the morning,

4:47 and the stores not open up at six in the morning.

4:53 I'm still that way, where I like to get up early and get what I need done, and then I

4:58 have the rest of the day to myself.

5:00 I set goals for myself, and once I've reached that goal, then I'm free.

5:05 If I get up at six in the morning, when it's quiet, no one is asking favors of me or anything

5:11 like that.

5:12 At that point, my girlfriend did order a Gammill.

5:16 She ordered a free motion Gammill, and then the idea was I would go to her house and finish

5:23 my quilts.

5:25 That didn't work out either.

5:27 It looked like nothing went according to the original plan.

5:31 It really turned out exactly how it should be, but I was going to her house and finishing

5:37 quilts on Friday, my day off.

5:40 At that time, I was still working full-time, but I had Fridays off.

5:46 Every time I went to her house to finish a quilt top on her Gammill, my husband didn't

5:52 get dinner.

5:55 I can see where this is going.

6:01 We always thought we could get it done.

6:03 We always think we can work faster than we can.

6:06 We talked a lot, too, because we are friends for 50 years.

6:10 There was some chatting going on, but my husband got the text, I'm running a little late.

6:17 You're on your own for dinner.

6:22 About the third time that happened on a Friday night, he finally said at one point, what

6:28 would it take for you not to have to go to her house, and you'd be home Friday night?

6:36 I said, buy my own machine, and he said, then do it.

6:40 Wow.

6:41 Now, I did not wait long, because that could change.

6:45 In one week, it might be like-

6:47 You jumped on that deal, huh?

6:48 Oh, I did.

6:49 I did.

6:50 I bought a Statler.

6:52 My girlfriend had free motion, and she knew me well enough.

6:56 She said, you're never going to be happy with doing it free motion.

7:02 She knows I'm a little bit impatient and a perfectionist.

7:07 I bought the Statler.

7:10 Never looked back.

7:11 I have loved every minute of it.

7:16 You bought the Statler.

7:17 It was 2011 when you bought the Statler?

7:20 Yes.

7:21 Okay.

7:22 All right.

7:23 Let me follow this journey again.

7:26 You were making, you started out, you would be making quilt tops, and your original plan

7:33 was to go to the place where they had the rental gamels, and did you never even do that

7:40 one time?

7:41 No.

7:42 We never rented it.

7:43 We can see that, well, for one thing, when you rent it, you have to take it off, so you're

7:50 always loading it, and that is the most uncreative part of quilting, is loading it, and you just

7:58 want to get on with sewing and creating, and we can see we'd be spending the first 45 minutes

8:03 of your time reloading the quilt, and we didn't like that idea, and we also laughed when we

8:09 said, you know what?

8:10 I really enjoy sewing it early in the morning, and they don't even open till 10 o'clock,

8:16 so I don't think this is, it's not going to work for us.

8:20 We could see it right away that we probably wouldn't save any time or money on this.

8:26 It would probably actually cut into our days, so once my husband said bye, we rented it.

8:33 Did they have zipper leaders at that time?

8:35 I had zip leaders.

8:36 We had the, well, I'm not sure on the rental.

8:39 Yeah.

8:40 We, I do.

8:41 I have a zip leader now.

8:42 I can take off what I'm working on and put on a customer's quilt, finish it, and then

8:47 put mine back on, so I have that.

8:50 Very much, I have that, but my husband did say, could you start a business?

8:55 And I said, yes.

8:56 That's what I want to do.

8:57 I want to start a business.

8:59 I started right away saying I wanted a business, yeah.

9:03 And that's what you were saying in the very beginning when you were talking about doing

9:08 the rentals, right?

9:10 I didn't think of business then at all.

9:12 We were just going to use the quilt stores, Gamel, and when you do that on paper, that

9:19 makes sense until you really get into it and you realize this is very creative, and some

9:26 things take a little longer than you thought, and some things go quicker than you thought,

9:32 and you want to be working in your own home so that you don't have people asking when

9:38 are you going to be done?

9:39 We need the machine, that kind of thing, and you have a certain amount of time, and

9:44 then you have to stop.

9:46 I also have found afterwards that I realize you get into a role and motivation, and you

9:54 don't want to stop.

9:56 The biggest problem is somebody at home saying when are you going to be done, and I'm like,

10:02 I will in a minute.

10:04 You want to get this one row done.

10:05 Just let me get this one row done, and then we'll, yeah.

10:08 It's very addicting, that's for sure, in a very fun way, addicting, yeah.

10:13 Okay, so how long was it?

10:20 Was there a long period of time between the rental fiasco and the actual getting your

10:26 machine on the 11th?

10:27 No, no, I don't think so.

10:30 Road to California was here in January, and we took that class in November, and by January

10:36 we were at Road to California, and my girlfriend bought the first one, and I was using her

10:42 freehand one.

10:44 So that was three months, and like I said, we never did any rental time on the machine

10:50 at all.

10:51 And my husband began to realize then, he saw a return on the investment with a business,

10:58 and that's, I know how my husband thinks, so eventually when I started the business

11:05 and started moving along, the one part of the business I hated doing was the invoices.

11:11 Again, that's not my, brain doesn't work that way, and I find that a chore, and I don't

11:17 really enjoy it, so my husband took over my invoices.

11:21 He does all that.

11:23 He keeps track of that on a spreadsheet, and I give him the information, and I tell him

11:27 when it's going to be done, so he has the invoice ready for me.

11:31 And he loves doing that part, and he analyzes them, and tells me, do you know you did 10%

11:37 more this quarter than you did last quarter, or he looks last year, and I'm like, oh, okay.

11:47 So he's the numbers cruncher in that.

11:51 Absolutely.

11:52 He is the number cruncher.

11:53 So I would have to say, anybody I know starting a business, it's wise to get somebody that

11:59 likes to do that, because if you're quilting, you like to create.

12:04 You don't like to do the numbers.

12:08 To me, that was taking time away from me when I could be putting on a new pattern and seeing

12:14 how it's going to work, and it was just a chore to me.

12:18 He doesn't find it a chore, so if there's anyone in your life that actually likes to

12:22 do spreadsheets, that's the person you need.

12:27 Actually, the invoice, we have a template for it, and he has it just put the numbers

12:31 in, and boom, boom, it's done.

12:33 Yeah.

12:34 Well, that's something that I've heard touched on in the podcast that we've done in the past,

12:42 but I think you've emphasized it more than anybody, the fact that a lot of people who

12:50 are doing quilting and who are looking at starting a quilting business have an artistic

12:57 mindset and not so much a numbers mindset, and the fact that your husband jumped in there,

13:04 so he had more motivation than just getting a supper at night.

13:07 Oh, yeah.

13:08 Well, he likes doing that part, but he still likes to be able to.

13:13 He's retired, and now he actually tells me dinner is ready, so that's a good thing, yeah,

13:19 Yes, again, I like quilting more than cooking, really, so if you leave it to me, it's going

13:24 to be not very creative, so he's taken over that part with his retirement, and I run a

13:31 business quilting, and he tells his friends that, that that's what I do here is I run

13:37 this business quilting, and it's been fun, absolutely fun to see it flourish.

13:43 For 35 years, I was a dental hygienist, so I worked for someone else, and all of a sudden

13:51 now I'm working for myself, and it's just a whole different mindset, that if I work

13:56 for 10 hours in a day, which is a lot, I normally wouldn't do that, then I reap the rewards

14:03 and not someone else.

14:05 It took me 35 years to find what I wanted to do, but I did.

14:10 That's awesome.

14:11 That is awesome.

14:13 All right, let me get, the place that you live right now, is it fairly rural, or is

14:20 it more in the boondocks, or what?

14:23 No, no, we are not rural.

14:26 You might think as you look out some of my windows, but I actually bought up to Camp

14:32 Pendleton, which is a marine base, so we have rolling hills, but I would not call it rural

14:40 at all, but we do have rolling hills that you can see in land, but it's, the marines

14:46 are working there, so we don't see the marines, but it's some land that's set aside for them,

14:53 so it's not rural.

14:54 I am in very much an urban area.

15:00 I belong to two different guilds, and one is north, and one is south of me, so I have

15:07 found then I cover two areas for customer, potential customers.

15:15 I have found the guild has been the boom of where I get all my customers from is the guild,

15:24 because I go to it once a month, and I talk it up and talk to people.

15:30 I make sure I have something to show at show and tell at the guild meeting every month.

15:38 Maybe two quilts that I did.

15:40 They're my quilts, not my customers.

15:43 It's possible that some of the people standing up are showing my quilts because they're my

15:48 customers, but I make sure I get up there, and if I don't have anything, because I haven't

15:55 done anything new for me, I pull out an old one.

16:00 There's always a holiday, and so if it's the 4th of July or our July meeting, then I bring

16:06 in a patriotic one, and I say I did this a long time ago, but it was a favorite of mine,

16:12 and I talk it up of what I did.

16:14 I just think that my face needs to be up there all the time that I am a quilter.

16:20 Okay, well, and I've heard one of your claims to fame is your photographing of your quilts.

16:27 Can you tell us a little bit about that?

16:29 Well, what I found is a lot of my non-quilting friends would hear I was so busy, and I couldn't

16:37 go out to lunch, and I couldn't do because I had to get something done, and they would

16:41 come over and go, where are all these quilts that you say you're doing?

16:44 I don't see any, because they went out the door as fast as they came in.

16:50 But I realized then I needed to get photographs of these.

16:54 Another thing I didn't realize is how attached you get to a quilt that maybe you custom quilted,

17:00 and then you let it go, and you never see it again unless you take photographs.

17:06 And my first photographs were not what I wanted.

17:09 It didn't show off my quilting.

17:12 In fact, I had people ask me, is that even quilted?

17:18 So that's what you want to show, and I needed to figure out how to photograph it where the

17:22 first thing you saw was the quilting lines.

17:26 So I took photography classes to learn that, and I did, and I learned how to do it with

17:31 my iPhone.

17:32 I don't use a DSLR, what we call a fancy camera.

17:36 No, I took classes in that, but I use the iPhone, and I take pictures of all of my quilts,

17:44 and especially my customer quilts.

17:47 I frequently send that to them at Christmas in a Christmas card.

17:51 I'll have it printed.

17:52 It's a great marketing thing when they open up a card, and they see theirs in the little

17:58 slot where you can put a picture, and then a Merry Christmas to them.

18:02 So I try to do that for each customer, and I've gotten so many thank yous.

18:07 They've often given the quilt away as a gift, and they don't see the quilt anymore either,

18:12 and oftentimes they never took a photograph of it.

18:15 And so when my picture arrives at Christmastime, they're like so pleased, and I've gotten thank

18:20 yous for it.

18:21 They say they're on their refrigerator at times, that kind of thing.

18:25 So I started this where I started photographing all my quilts, and I got into doing as much

18:32 photography as quilting.

18:34 I kind of started a whole other business of opportunity quilts need photography, and so

18:40 the local guilds here will call me and get some images of it.

18:45 One thing I learned is that you don't just take a picture of the quilt as a rectangle,

18:50 but then there's the close-up images, and sometimes those close-ups really show the

18:56 detail of what the person went through quilting, and also the embroidery and the embellishment

19:02 and the piecing, things like that.

19:05 So I think it's the close-ups are important, and the whole quilt is important too, the

19:10 two together.

19:12 Wow.

19:13 See, that is a whole different angle that I don't know that I've heard in all of these

19:22 podcasts that we've done, and I think, yeah, I think the people that are watching this

19:27 will, that'll be something, a real inspiration to them.

19:36 Before I move on, I want to, the fact your husband is the numbers cruncher, and you're,

19:45 which kind of freed you up to be able to just focus on, you know, the creative aspect of

19:52 making the quilts, and I know that a lot of, you know, our target audience in this podcast,

20:00 is people who are either starting a business

20:04 or thinking about going in that direction

20:07 in the quilting business.

20:11 And you're talking about your husband crunching the numbers.

20:15 And I think there's probably some people out there

20:17 that may not have somebody in their life

20:19 that has that aptitude,

20:22 like you're lucky to have your husband.

20:25 And I know the Accelerate program

20:27 that's available from GAML

20:29 kind of helps you get people in touch

20:32 with all the things that they need.

20:34 I think we just lost our guest.

20:37 Maybe she'll come back in a moment.

20:39 Okay.

20:40 Okay, back to photography of quilts,

20:42 because that's my thing.

20:44 Okay.

20:45 Yeah, you got some more to add about the photography?

20:50 I just think that that's a huge part

20:52 of marketing our business,

20:54 because you can't take the quilts around with you

20:56 and show people.

20:58 And when I go to my guild,

21:00 I can't always have that,

21:02 but I always have them on my camera, my iPhone.

21:05 I always have the photos there to show people.

21:09 That is awesome.

21:11 So let me ask you about your,

21:13 you got your, you got a Statler in 2011, is that right?

21:18 Yes, I did.

21:19 And do you still have the same one today or?

21:22 Yes, I do.

21:23 I have the same one.

21:25 I would have to say here in California,

21:29 we don't have basements.

21:31 And most people I know with a long arm, it's in a bedroom.

21:35 We're very space limiting.

21:38 And so I'm doing fine with what I have,

21:42 but I don't have any space to increase my size.

21:47 I would have to rebuild a house.

21:49 Things are more compact in California, huh?

21:52 Yes.

21:54 A lot of my friends use the garage.

21:57 I just didn't want to do that.

21:58 There's no air conditioning or heating.

22:00 So you find out really quick how hot it can get

22:04 and how cold it can get.

22:06 Yeah, well, I know in working tech support,

22:10 a lot of times I'm doing,

22:12 I'll do Zoom meetings with people.

22:15 You know, if they're having an issue,

22:16 they need me to help them with.

22:19 And very often I'll see the machine in the garage,

22:24 in an unfinished basement, you know, stuff like that.

22:27 And yes, a few in the bedroom, like you're talking about.

22:32 Let me ask you about,

22:34 when you were starting out your business,

22:37 did you know that there would be

22:42 enough long arm business available in your town

22:45 at that time?

22:46 Or tell us a little bit about that, customers.

22:49 I suspected there was,

22:51 because we had a six month turnaround.

22:54 So right away that tells you that there's room.

22:58 But I do have to say,

23:00 and this is coming from the quilting community,

23:03 quilters are the most loyal people you'll ever meet.

23:07 Yes.

23:08 And that's the good and the bad.

23:12 And so they take their work to the same quilter

23:16 over and over and over, the same long armor.

23:20 And when you come in new,

23:22 you've got to have something that makes them want to

23:25 at least give some of the business your way.

23:29 I never undercut another long armor.

23:33 I never talk disparagingly about another long armor.

23:40 Or also their machine,

23:42 whatever brand machine it is,

23:44 I make it very,

23:45 I don't say anything positive,

23:49 but I make sure I do not say anything negative about that.

23:53 But I try to offer something that they don't offer.

23:59 That's what I have found has been the best.

24:02 And I just want to say really quick,

24:04 as I've heard it over and over,

24:06 is that to do something like in a fast turnaround,

24:11 logic says if you take something

24:13 and get it done in 24 hours,

24:16 that that person will now be your customer.

24:18 And I have found that's not the truth.

24:20 It doesn't work that way.

24:22 So that is not something I offer to someone

24:25 who I've never done any work for ever.

24:28 I will not get something done

24:30 like a week before Christmas for them,

24:32 when I have not done any other quilting for them.

24:35 I tried it once or twice,

24:36 and I just found their loyalty was still

24:38 with that other long armor.

24:41 So I decided I had to do something else besides that.

24:45 One of the things I have found that our Statler,

24:49 we can personalize things so easily with a text feature.

24:55 And so I put names on quilts.

24:58 I personalize them at no cost

25:02 because it doesn't really take much time

25:04 with our creative studio.

25:06 It's so easy to put in the corner a baby's name.

25:12 And no one else in my area has really offered that.

25:15 And all of a sudden the business boomed and they asked,

25:19 could you please put the name of who this is for

25:23 down in the corner?

25:25 And I also, a friend of mine asked me to hide it.

25:30 And I found that became huge

25:32 when we started putting Easter eggs in quilts.

25:36 Okay.

25:37 So I would put dates in, names in,

25:41 and then we'd look for them and find them.

25:44 And then they would give them as a gift

25:46 and say, find the Easter eggs in there.

25:49 And so I became known as the quilter that will do that,

25:53 will personalize it.

25:54 And also I kind of camouflage it in the quilting,

25:58 so it's not in your face.

25:59 And as soon as I started doing that,

26:02 people would come up to me,

26:03 are you the one that can put the name in it?

26:07 Yeah.

26:08 And then I realized I had an epiphany

26:12 that it's not fast turnaround that they want.

26:15 They want something special.

26:17 Yes.

26:18 And something that's different.

26:20 And that's what did it.

26:21 Then I started getting request after request for that.

26:26 Wow.

26:27 So when you first started out,

26:32 so these creative things,

26:34 these are unique creative things that you are sharing

26:36 that I haven't heard before.

26:38 So I'm very impressed here.

26:41 But I do want to hear about the beginning of your path,

26:47 getting customers at the beginning.

26:49 You talked about not wanting to undercut other people

26:52 and not disparaging other quilters or other machines,

26:56 which I have 100% behind you with that.

27:00 But so how did you grow your customer base?

27:04 Is it just some of the stuff

27:05 that you're sharing with me right now,

27:06 just the quality and creativity of what you did?

27:10 And you have to be almost relentless.

27:13 And I think anybody in the creative business

27:15 knows that it's not a straight line.

27:18 It's like you get a couple of customers

27:21 and you're doing some, and then it gets quiet

27:23 and then it goes this way.

27:25 And you don't get discouraged in those quiet times.

27:29 And in fact, now, if I have a week where I have no customers,

27:34 I don't have anything that's lined up,

27:37 I don't get nervous about that.

27:39 I take that as a gift.

27:41 That is a whole week that I do something very special

27:46 that I'm going to be able to show at Guild.

27:48 I'm going to be able to enter into a quilt show.

27:52 If I had customer quilts every day

27:55 and I did a customer quilt every day,

27:57 Monday through Friday,

27:59 I would never have time to really grow the business,

28:01 basically.

28:03 And I want the business to grow.

28:04 So I find those times that it's quiet,

28:08 it's like a gift that it's giving you to try something new.

28:12 I've experimented with things.

28:14 I love to do quilt challenges.

28:17 So oftentimes that's when I'll try something new

28:20 that I've never done before.

28:22 Quilt challenges, what is that?

28:24 A quilt challenge is like a Guild or a group will say,

28:29 we're all going to make a quilt that's the same size

28:32 out of these three fabrics in five months,

28:35 see what you think.

28:36 There's a really famous one, Sherrywood has one

28:40 and they've been at all the big shows with Diana,

28:43 Prince, that kind of thing.

28:45 So doing one of theirs, they really look for creativity

28:50 and we can do so much with our GAML that's so creative

28:54 with the echoes that we can do, things like that,

28:59 that it really pops out different.

29:01 They're looking for something different.

29:03 If every day I did edge to edge Monday through Friday,

29:08 I would never have time to play

29:10 with some of the really unique things that our GAML can do.

29:16 So when I have five days that people have promised me

29:20 this quilt's going to get done,

29:22 what you find is you make openings in your queue

29:25 and you have people saying,

29:26 I want you to do this quilt in a month

29:28 and they're not done yet.

29:30 They still haven't finished the quilt

29:32 and now you have a gap in your schedule.

29:36 That's to me is a present that someone has given me

29:40 that now that pattern of quilting

29:45 that I've always wanted to try, now's the time.

29:47 I'm going to get to use that.

29:49 I'm going to get to do that.

29:51 And I usually do something that looks very different

29:54 and I make sure it gets put on Facebook and Instagram.

30:01 That has been free marketing for me.

30:05 Absolutely, absolutely free.

30:07 You put it on there and people,

30:08 you start getting followers that you don't even know.

30:12 And that's when it starts growing and growing like that.

30:15 So what I'm hearing from you is growing your business

30:20 is much more than just producing the output.

30:24 Keep on getting the quilts done.

30:27 You see an opportunity in downtime

30:32 to develop your creativity

30:36 or new techniques and different things

30:40 and to hone your own brand basically is what I'm hearing.

30:45 One time I got used to using metallic thread.

30:47 I was kind of scared of metallic thread.

30:50 I was mostly scared of the tension

30:53 and what changes I would have to make.

30:56 And that worries any long armor

30:59 as if I switch up the tension,

31:01 will I be able to go back

31:03 and use another type of thread easily?

31:08 But I had a week, so I thought, you know what?

31:10 I'm going to master this metallic thread.

31:14 And then I showed off at the guild what I had done.

31:17 And they were like,

31:17 now I had people asking for metallic thread

31:20 because they saw what I had done.

31:22 And they were like, you can do that.

31:24 And I got over my fear of using metallic thread.

31:27 At that point, it was like,

31:28 oh, I don't want to start that

31:30 and have customer quilts in the queue

31:33 while I'm playing with this.

31:34 But I was given a week of time and I said,

31:38 you know, I'm not going to be sitting around here waiting.

31:40 I want to see how this quilt,

31:43 I had a cone of thread that was silver metallic

31:48 and I wanted to see how it would work.

31:51 Yeah.

31:52 And so I got to know it really well.

31:54 And then I was confident.

31:55 Then I could tell customers,

31:57 I'm ready to use it on your quilt

31:59 because I knew how it was going to act.

32:00 That's an example of doing that.

32:02 Yeah.

32:03 I got you.

32:04 Wow.

32:05 I don't even need to ask you any questions.

32:06 You're just boom, boom.

32:08 You're like a machine gun here,

32:11 which is great.

32:12 Fantastic.

32:13 Man, Shandy and whoever's helping me behind the scenes here,

32:17 if we could,

32:19 if I could do a little piece,

32:22 just encouraging the people to,

32:24 if you want to see some creative ideas,

32:27 watch this particular podcast.

32:29 Maybe I can do that.

32:31 That would be interesting.

32:32 Yes. Yes.

32:34 All right.

32:35 Well, Trudy, let me move on before we run out of time.

32:37 When you first got the machine,

32:41 how'd you come up with the funds

32:43 to purchase your machine in the beginning?

32:45 I did not finance it.

32:47 And it was a move that my husband had been transferred.

32:53 And anybody who's been transferred with an executive move

32:57 knows that they give you some money,

33:00 some bonus money for moving.

33:02 And I was like,

33:03 and my husband said,

33:04 use that money and get yourself a long arm.

33:08 So I had a windfall.

33:10 I had a windfall that I could use.

33:12 Okay. Okay.

33:14 And so that's what I did.

33:16 But my husband said,

33:17 let's try to make it a business.

33:19 Made sense to him.

33:22 And that's what I wanted to do.

33:24 And...

33:25 Okay.

33:27 And when you started,

33:31 were you still working your other job

33:33 or was there any overlap there?

33:35 What about that?

33:36 There was overlap.

33:38 And I was, as I said,

33:39 I'm a retired dental hygienist.

33:42 So when you go to work as a dental hygienist,

33:45 you're eight to five,

33:46 there's no downtime whatsoever.

33:48 You're go, go, go.

33:49 Yeah.

33:50 And then when I found myself sitting there dreaming about,

33:52 I wonder if that thread would go with that fabric,

33:57 what would it look like if,

33:59 and I do have to tell you,

34:00 I had a patient say,

34:03 you're scowling,

34:04 there must be something wrong.

34:08 And I couldn't tell her,

34:09 oh, I was thinking about quilting.

34:10 I wasn't even thinking about this.

34:13 I wasn't even thinking about your teeth right now.

34:15 Yeah. Exactly.

34:17 And so I said to myself,

34:18 I think I need to move on.

34:21 You know, everyone said,

34:22 you'll know when it's time to retire

34:24 when the fire starts going out.

34:25 And I came home and I said,

34:26 you know what?

34:27 I care more about my quilting

34:31 than I care about,

34:33 and it had been 35 years.

34:34 So you know what?

34:35 It's time.

34:36 It's time to say, I'll move on.

34:39 And you know,

34:39 I've heard from people that

34:41 whatever you find yourself meditating on

34:44 or your mind always going back to,

34:47 back to, through the day,

34:50 many times is an indicator of

34:53 maybe you need to be taking a new direction in your life.

34:56 So. Interesting.

34:58 Let me ask you,

34:59 these days,

35:01 how many hours a week would you say

35:03 that you spend quilting?

35:06 I try to limit it to six hours a day

35:11 because even with dental hygiene,

35:14 I probably have damage to my shoulders.

35:17 And if you try to do 10 and 12 hours in a day,

35:20 in which I've done it,

35:21 and the next day I,

35:23 you're sore.

35:24 And I really work on taking breaks.

35:27 And all of this came from dental hygiene.

35:29 I couldn't be a dental hygienist for 35 years

35:32 unless you follow some ergonomics

35:35 and take,

35:35 you need breaks for your eyes

35:37 because you're focusing on such a small area.

35:40 So you need to watch that

35:42 and be able to walk away

35:44 and focus on a far away.

35:46 You need to not use repetitive motion,

35:48 which you will tend to do.

35:50 So you need to break that up with other motions

35:53 and using other muscles,

35:54 things like that.

35:55 But so that's why I do limit myself.

35:58 And when I retired,

36:00 I did not want to ask anyone for time off.

36:04 I'd had 35 years where I had to say,

36:07 can I have this day off

36:09 to go see my grandson's,

36:11 you know, a play.

36:14 And then it would be maybe.

36:17 And I thought,

36:18 so my quilting does not get in the way of my retirement.

36:23 And there's a balance there.

36:26 And I, and my kids have had to remind me though,

36:29 remember mom,

36:29 when I say I've got a customer's quilt,

36:31 I've got to finish.

36:32 I think I can come.

36:33 And they're like, mom, remember?

36:35 Yeah.

36:36 And I said, yeah,

36:37 that's the most important thing to me

36:40 is that I am in their lives,

36:42 but they don't want me there all the time.

36:44 That's for sure.

36:46 So I am,

36:47 they say they're so thankful

36:48 that I'm busy with something else.

36:50 I'm not always in their business.

36:52 So I have something else I'm doing.

36:54 And so they don't have to take care of me

36:57 and they don't have to worry about what I'm doing.

36:59 I'm busy.

37:01 You are not retired.

37:02 You said when you retired,

37:04 you are not retired.

37:05 You're.

37:06 I just changed to another job.

37:08 Right.

37:09 I've had friends that say they're retiring

37:11 and I say, what are you going to do now?

37:13 And they say, we don't know.

37:14 And I'm like, ooh,

37:16 I don't know.

37:17 I just went straight to quilting

37:19 and I'm just as busy as I was,

37:22 but fun.

37:23 It's fun busy.

37:24 There's something about doing something

37:28 productive,

37:29 creative.

37:31 I've heard of and seen many people over the years

37:34 who have retired

37:37 and didn't have,

37:39 you know,

37:40 they ended up spending their days watching TV

37:42 or doing, you know,

37:43 and they,

37:45 many times they're not around much longer

37:48 after they retire.

37:49 Yes.

37:50 Something life giving

37:51 and life sustaining

37:52 about continuing with creativity

37:55 and productivity like you're doing there.

37:58 So, all right.

37:59 I gotta move on.

38:00 A question I wanted to ask you was

38:05 turnaround time on a quilt.

38:07 What does that look like for you?

38:09 I know you say you don't,

38:12 you know,

38:13 want to tell somebody you'll have it in a week

38:14 or something,

38:15 some new customer,

38:16 but what is your turnaround time?

38:18 I usually give a two week.

38:20 That's what I say.

38:21 And to tell you the truth,

38:23 and I have a lot of quilts here

38:24 and I have to say,

38:25 I'm not going to get to it.

38:27 I'm honest.

38:28 I'm really not going to get to it for a month or two.

38:31 And the customers still give it to me

38:33 and I have it here

38:35 and I have it in the queue

38:36 and I like having it in the queue.

38:38 So I know if I have some time to get ahead,

38:40 but then, you know,

38:42 if I get busy with family stuff,

38:44 but I always try to get a quilt done within two weeks.

38:47 I think that's fair.

38:48 Go ahead.

38:49 It's not fair to hold somebody's quilt for six months.

38:53 Gotcha, gotcha.

38:56 Edge to edge versus custom.

38:59 How much time?

39:01 Give me the ratio there

39:02 and tell me a little bit about that.

39:04 I'd have to say I'm about 50-50,

39:06 but I have to say I'm one of the only people

39:08 that will take on custom.

39:12 A lot of people around me will not take on the custom.

39:15 And when I heard that,

39:16 I realized that's another niche.

39:19 I was very fearful of custom.

39:21 I don't know why, but I was fearful of it.

39:23 And then I kind of had an epiphany

39:25 because I did placemats for the guild for Meals on Wheels.

39:32 Again, another thing you can practice and it's little,

39:35 but it dawned on me, this is just my custom.

39:38 If you look at a quilt and say,

39:41 I'm going to do a 12-inch block right here, that's it.

39:44 And then I'm moving on to that.

39:46 All of a sudden, when you break it into smaller pieces,

39:48 it doesn't look as overwhelming.

39:51 And then when I did that for somebody's sampler quilt,

39:54 where every block was 12 inches,

39:57 then all of a sudden it was like every block.

40:00 I did something different.

40:01 It was really fun.

40:01 What should I do here on this 12 inch square?

40:04 That's it.

40:05 I didn't worry about the rest of it.

40:07 And then I said, wait, I'm doing custom here.

40:11 And then I realized there is no fear in custom, no fear.

40:14 I kind of like it better actually.

40:18 And it sounds like sometimes you do,

40:19 you might do some,

40:20 do you do some blending of like edge to edge

40:24 and work some custom into that also?

40:27 Well, my idea of that is when someone says,

40:29 will you do a border?

40:32 And then the inside is edge to edge.

40:35 And so that's probably the lightest custom I do.

40:37 And that's at a different rate, obviously,

40:40 but I'll put a custom border on it

40:43 where it fits maybe the theme of the quilt,

40:47 but on the inside, they just want leaves maybe.

40:49 So there's a perfect edge to edges leaves.

40:53 And that is very, a light custom doing that.

40:58 And then we add a name in the leaves,

41:00 some name of the person where it's going to

41:02 or something like that.

41:03 But I've also done ones where every square I did different,

41:09 every 12.

41:11 And it was fun to go through all of my blocks I had.

41:16 Of course the gamel lets me pull up blocks and then stars.

41:21 So I'm only looking at those and I'm plopping them on there

41:24 and seeing what they look like and going,

41:26 oh, look at how those lines are gonna match up right there.

41:29 I can just see it perfectly.

41:31 And then I stitch it and it's like seeing a flower bloom

41:34 right before you're like, oh, that's cool.

41:36 And then I go on to the next block and that's fun.

41:40 It's actually fun.

41:42 Wow.

41:43 Okay.

41:45 And you mentioned charging.

41:46 How do you charge by the hour, square inch?

41:49 Tell us.

41:50 I'm trying to estimate how many hours it's gonna take me.

41:54 We always think we can do it faster than we can.

41:57 Do you still find that you still find yourself

42:01 underestimating?

42:01 Underestimating, so I add some.

42:03 I just pad it.

42:05 Yeah.

42:06 And it's hard sometimes to say the price.

42:09 I have to tell you, it's hard.

42:11 And I look back, I actually learned a lot in dentistry,

42:16 how to do that.

42:17 Yeah.

42:18 How to say it's this amount of money and not flinch

42:21 and not say, but we could do it for cheaper,

42:24 that kind of thing.

42:26 No, it's this amount of money.

42:28 And if they want it done,

42:29 they will get it done for that amount of money.

42:31 If not, if they say, well, that's just too expensive.

42:34 Okay.

42:36 Then, you know, I'm not gonna go less than that.

42:39 So usually they say, you know, come around

42:43 and they're like, now I have the money, I'm gonna do it.

42:46 Okay.

42:47 Can you say a light duty queen size quilt

42:52 versus a heavy duty queen size quilt?

42:54 Can you estimate what about how much

42:58 something like that would cost?

42:59 Well, I usually get my calculator out

43:01 to see what it would be edge to edge,

43:03 make sure I don't undercut me totally.

43:05 But I mean, a heavy custom queen

43:10 would be $500 starting, I would say.

43:14 Okay.

43:14 In the time.

43:15 I have also considered charging per bobbin.

43:20 I haven't done it yet, but it's kind of interesting

43:23 in that that's the amount of time I take.

43:26 So if I'm going slow or I'm going fast,

43:29 it's how many bobbins I use.

43:31 And I have found I'm considering going to that.

43:36 And then I will know,

43:37 but $500 has been a heavy custom queen.

43:41 And I would say a light one would be 200 to 250 queen size.

43:46 Yeah.

43:47 Okay. Okay.

43:50 Growing the business.

43:51 Can you think of anything that would be

43:53 some of the hardest parts about actually growing a business

43:57 for the people that are watching?

43:59 Well, maybe being patient.

44:00 It'll come, you know?

44:04 Also, I'd have to say,

44:05 I don't think quilters self-promote themselves very often.

44:12 If you listen to quilters,

44:13 when you say that's a beautiful quilt,

44:15 they point out the four areas that have mistakes.

44:19 And I have tried never to do that.

44:21 I try to zip my mouth.

44:23 It is also very difficult to self-promote.

44:27 I am very proud of myself to say that.

44:30 And I have had to really talk in my brain

44:33 that there's nothing wrong with promoting my quilting

44:36 and being proud of it.

44:38 And I've gotten way better at it now.

44:40 But I think that's something ingrained in us in life.

44:43 Wow.

44:44 To not be boastful.

44:47 And yet you have to be a little bit here.

44:51 That's, yeah, you're giving us so many jewels here.

44:55 That's great.

44:57 Biggest cheerleader, who is it?

45:00 Oh, my husband.

45:03 But I do have to say at a social gathering

45:06 and someone goes, I'd like one of those quilts.

45:08 And I heard him say,

45:09 go just talk to her, she just knocks them out.

45:11 And so we had to stop that.

45:13 We're not saying that anymore.

45:17 So I don't just knock them out, okay?

45:20 It might seem that way.

45:21 But my husband, and I have to say,

45:24 I have two son-in-laws that are very creative

45:29 and have gotten awards for creative parts in their life.

45:33 And they see the creativity.

45:35 Yeah, they are amazed at what I do.

45:39 My daughters have lived with it.

45:40 They're kind of, oh, another quilt.

45:46 Okay.

45:51 Is there anything that you wish somebody

45:54 would have told you when you first started?

45:56 Can you think of anything?

45:58 Hmm, didn't think.

45:59 Oh, I'd have to say that it always takes you longer

46:02 than you think.

46:03 Just because you can do it,

46:05 doesn't mean that you should charge lower,

46:10 if I may say, that is cheap.

46:12 Yeah.

46:14 That's one thing I learned in dentistry,

46:16 that it doesn't matter how much time it takes,

46:18 it's what you're doing.

46:20 If I've quilted a baby quilt and it only took me an hour,

46:25 the fee should still be the same at what it is.

46:29 It should not be,

46:30 it should be that your time is worthwhile

46:33 and you should be compensated accordingly.

46:38 Excellent.

46:40 So, last question.

46:44 For the people who are watching,

46:47 who are either in the early stages of a business

46:51 or thinking about getting into it

46:53 and haven't even started yet,

46:57 what would be something you would tell them about,

47:02 do you think it's possible to build a business

47:06 in this day and age, starting out in 2024?

47:10 Just throw a little bit of wisdom on us with that.

47:13 Well, one thing I learned that I haven't brought up yet

47:17 is that my guild has workshops

47:20 and I would go and take one of the workshops

47:22 and do the project

47:24 and then get the project done quickly,

47:26 that's hard for me,

47:28 and get it quilted and at the next show and tell.

47:32 Because guess what?

47:33 There's 20 people who have that project

47:37 that if they see it done,

47:38 they will come to you to get it done, to quilt.

47:42 It's like already set.

47:43 There's 20 people doing that project.

47:46 Now, 10 of them might not get it done,

47:48 but 10 of them might see it done, be motivated,

47:51 and they come to me and they say,

47:53 I want it done exactly like what you did.

47:56 This is another thing I found with quilters

47:59 is they always want it exactly like how they saw it.

48:03 I'm kind of different.

48:05 I'm the one that wants to try something new,

48:06 so I'm always shocked at this.

48:09 I'm always like, what do you want to do?

48:10 A twist you can put in there.

48:12 Yeah, exactly.

48:13 So no, I have a customer that always wants exactly

48:17 what's on the picture of the pattern.

48:21 So I have to call up people and ask them,

48:23 what did you use?

48:25 What pattern did you use for that?

48:27 And I do research on it and figure it out,

48:30 and she's amazed at it,

48:31 but she has to have it exactly

48:33 like what the quilt pattern looked.

48:37 And I always think,

48:38 don't you want to try something different?

48:40 So I accommodate her.

48:41 I don't try to change her into what I like.

48:44 I do exactly what the customer wants.

48:48 Yeah, and I'm kind of bored with it at times,

48:50 but she's thrilled that I researched it.

48:55 And let me tell you, research is on Gammill's Facebook.

49:00 Has anyone seen this pattern?

49:03 And then you have 10 answers within 10 minutes.

49:06 Like that's it.

49:07 Yeah, yeah, exactly.

49:08 That's the extent of my research.

49:09 I see that question all the time on Gammill's Facebook.

49:13 And then the customer is just amazed

49:15 that you did exactly what was on the book

49:20 or on the picture.

49:23 Trudy, I have one more question

49:25 that somebody has submitted last year.

49:29 Annual revenue slash profit from the old days until now.

49:33 Can you tell us about that?

49:36 Well, my best year, I brought in $10,000.

49:40 Not my best year, my first year.

49:42 My first year was $10,000.

49:44 Yeah, and my husband told me that.

49:47 I have to say my best year was during COVID

49:51 for a lot of reasons.

49:52 All my friends were at home finishing things up

49:57 and I had a lot of time.

49:59 Grandkids weren't in sports, so I had a lot of time.

50:03 So that one, we went up to 22,000 in one year, yeah.

50:08 I was busy.

50:10 I don't know if I get to choose how busy I want to be

50:13 and that's why I love this job.

50:16 And I don't really want to be that busy again, really.

50:19 Yeah, I can tell from talking to you

50:21 that as valuable as the money is,

50:26 the freedom and the time that you have

50:30 is every bit, if not more, valuable to you.

50:33 And that comes through in everything that you're saying.

50:36 Well, listen, we're about out of time here, Trudy.

50:39 I want to thank you so much for joining us.

50:43 I mean, you have just,

50:45 you have thrown a lot of nuggets of wisdom at us,

50:50 a lot of jewels.

50:51 And let me just tell the camera,

50:56 people who are just, who may be tuning into this,

50:58 you can put this at the beginning of the program.

51:02 If you have not watched any of these programs before,

51:05 watch this one because Trudy is truly going to give us

51:10 a lot of nuggets of wisdom in this one.

51:14 Thank you.

51:14 Trudy, let me, do you have,

51:19 how can people find you or get in touch with you?

51:22 What kind of information you got there?

51:25 Well, I have a website.

51:26 That's another thing I would recommend for people.

51:28 But anyway, my website is my name, trudycleveland.com.

51:34 And on there, I have information of what I'm working on.

51:37 I do speak to guilds about how to photograph your quilt.

51:42 And that's why I'm pretty familiar with talking like this.

51:45 I do workshops on Zoom where people work

51:48 on the photography of their quilts.

51:51 And I do it on Zoom like this.

51:54 So you can reach me through my website.

51:57 I also, I'm on Facebook with T Cleveland

52:02 and on Instagram, I'm tclevelandrbh,

52:06 as in registered dental hygienist.

52:08 And so I have pictures on there and what's going on.

52:11 And I post when I'm going to have a workshop

52:14 and we're going to work on photography and things like that.

52:17 But again, my website trudycleveland.com.

52:22 And can people who are watching this podcast

52:26 or listening to it, can they contact you maybe

52:30 if they have any additional questions

52:32 or anything like that?

52:34 Sure, and I watch Gammill, Statler Facebook page.

52:39 I answer for some people that ask questions

52:42 about starting a business.

52:44 I especially get kind of itchy when I see people saying,

52:47 oh, I think that won't work, don't do that.

52:51 And I answer, I'm like, I found that didn't work,

52:54 don't try that, do something else.

52:56 So you'll see me popping up there.

52:59 And also through my website, you can ask questions

53:03 because I have people that ask questions

53:05 about photography all the time.

53:07 And I will get it as an email and I'll answer it.

53:09 But by all means, reach out to me,

53:13 ask me what I've done in certain cases

53:17 and I'll give you my opinion

53:18 or I'll send you to someone else that will.

53:21 Thank you.

53:23 Excellent, well, Trudy, again,

53:26 thank you so much for joining us.

53:28 It's been a real pleasure and I'm serious.

53:33 You have really blown me away tonight

53:35 and the wisdom that you've given us,

53:39 I think has enriched all of us.

53:40 So thanks a lot for that.

53:43 And maybe we can see you again sometime.

53:46 You think we could do that maybe?

53:48 I'm all for it.

53:51 All right, well, Trudy, thank you.

53:53 And thank you guys all for joining us again

53:56 on Quilting Business Success.

53:58 And we'll see you next week.