How Alex Wilhelm Built a Longarm Quilting Business from the Ground Up

0:00 What do we have?

0:24 We have Tuesday, April 30th, 2024.

0:27 I've never done the dates on any of them before,

0:29 but it's occurred to me that it might matter someday.

0:33 I don't know.

0:34 So welcome to Quilting Business Success.

0:38 Tonight, we have a very special guest with us, Alex Wilhelm.

0:43 And we're going to give a few minutes for people to come in.

0:48 And so let me introduce myself real quick.

0:51 I'm Andrew Weaver.

0:53 And my co-host today is Bobby Ware, the very famous

1:03 and very notorious Bobby Ware.

1:05 Yes.

1:06 And as we proceed along, and I'll probably

1:09 say this one other time as well, if you are listening

1:12 and if you're listening live with us

1:16 and you would like to ask a question of Alex,

1:19 you can do that with the little Q&A icon

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1:26 And then we will read it when we notice

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1:52 If you've got quilting friends who

1:55 might be really interested in this information,

1:59 share it with them.

1:59 Because it's not the sort of thing

2:01 that people probably even go searching the internet to find.

2:05 But this information can be really, really helpful

2:09 to people who are trying to find their own way in life.

2:13 So let's get started.

2:15 Bobby, do you want to kick it off?

2:16 Yes, I will.

2:18 Alex, we're glad to have you here.

2:20 Let's just start out by getting the basics out of the way.

2:23 Where are you located?

2:25 Where do you live?

2:27 I'm in Eau Claire, Wisconsin.

2:30 Eau Claire.

2:32 So has spring arrived in Wisconsin yet?

2:37 Yes.

2:38 I say that tentatively because last year on April 22,

2:43 we got 16 inches of snow.

2:46 So I think that it's here now, but it's Wisconsin.

2:51 Gotcha, gotcha.

2:53 Well, as most of the people watching this,

2:57 you are looks like in a younger demographic

3:02 than a lot of the people we frequently see on here.

3:06 So tell us how long have you been

3:09 doing this long arming thing?

3:12 So I have actually only, I've been long arming for two years,

3:17 and I've actually only known quilting

3:19 existed in the last six.

3:22 So I, like.

3:23 Only known quilting existed for the last six years.

3:26 Yeah.

3:27 But now you know that it has existed longer than that.

3:30 You do know.

3:31 Yes.

3:31 OK.

3:32 Yeah.

3:32 Now, how did you get introduced to quilting the first time?

3:37 So I've always loved fabric.

3:39 I've always been super crafty.

3:40 I crocheted since I was eight, cross-stitched,

3:43 like did everything else.

3:45 And I love fabric.

3:46 But to me, fabric meant clothes, meant bags,

3:48 and that was not something that I was into.

3:50 But I always loved looking at it.

3:54 And then one of my local quilt shops

3:57 has like a gather and stitch where they used to.

3:59 And you just go in and you do your craft.

4:02 So I figured out how to knit.

4:04 So I was knitting, and the woman across from me was quilting.

4:08 And she was sewing Moda's Village, the little houses.

4:11 And I was like, that's interesting.

4:14 What is this?

4:15 And I just kept staring at it.

4:16 I'm like, I can do this.

4:18 And next day, I stole my mother's sewing machine,

4:21 bought all the supplies, and my first quilt

4:23 was Elizabeth Hartman's Pineapple Farm.

4:27 Not a beginner quilt, but I was like, oh, I got it.

4:29 And I just did it.

4:30 And I was like, yep, here we go.

4:32 I have to confess that my first quilt was not

4:34 a beginner quilt either.

4:36 It had a ton of applique.

4:39 But it was super cute.

4:41 It was awesome.

4:43 Yeah.

4:44 Like, I've always, my biggest thing with all of my crafts

4:47 is like, what do you do with it when it's done?

4:50 Like, what am I supposed to do?

4:52 Like, oh, I can make all these cool little pictures

4:54 of cross-stitch and stuff.

4:55 But like, what do you do with it when it's done?

4:56 I can only have so many scarves, so many gloves, or whatever.

5:00 Blankets, you can never have enough blankets.

5:04 Especially in Wisconsin.

5:06 So you were already had a taste for fabric type stuff.

5:13 What, you just happened to be in this quilt shop?

5:16 Is that?

5:17 Well, it was like a quilt shop that also sold yarn.

5:20 So like, it sold yarn and fabric.

5:23 And they had stitch nights where you could just do whatever.

5:26 So yeah.

5:27 So you kind of accidentally discovered quilting

5:30 at that point.

5:31 Yeah.

5:33 So then four years pass.

5:35 And then at some point, you decided to longarm.

5:38 Tell us how that happened.

5:40 So right away with quilting, I was immediately

5:44 trying to free motion on my domestic.

5:46 Like, very basic singer trying to do stuff.

5:49 And I was like, just could see other quilting.

5:52 And I'm like, it's interesting how something is actually

5:54 square, but it looks like it's circle.

5:56 And I was like, I don't understand.

5:57 And I went to a retreat that a woman who was there

6:02 works for a longarmer.

6:04 And I was like, oh.

6:06 And they're like, yeah.

6:07 Like, but you got to try it first

6:08 because some people don't like it.

6:10 It's a very physical job.

6:11 And sometimes it's not for everyone.

6:14 And kept talking to her more.

6:16 And she was like, hey, maybe you can

6:19 come over and try it out for a few days

6:21 and see what you think.

6:22 And I said, OK.

6:24 So I went to Paige Johnson's shop over in Eagan, Minnesota.

6:29 And that was who my friend worked for.

6:32 I don't even know who this lady is, but this is crazy.

6:35 Five machines there.

6:37 I was there for three days from 8 AM to 6 PM and just going.

6:42 I'm like, this is awesome.

6:44 And it was so cool.

6:45 And so not only was I watching and helping out

6:49 doing Edged Edges, Paige was working on a custom.

6:52 It was this beautiful stained glass applique thing

6:55 that someone did.

6:57 And it was just so cool.

6:59 And it was kind of like in the hopes of like, hey,

7:01 maybe we'll move to Minnesota.

7:02 And I could work there and then work with Paige and do that.

7:05 I'm like, that sounds amazing.

7:08 But it's an hour and a half away.

7:10 It's a different financial bracket.

7:12 My husband had just gotten a promotion.

7:16 And I was like, I don't know.

7:17 And also really big shoes to step into.

7:23 She's already been doing this for 20 years.

7:25 And she already has this amazing clientele and everything.

7:29 So I'm not there.

7:32 I've always been crafty, but I've never been creative.

7:35 So I was like, I need to learn how to do this.

7:40 So then my husband said, why don't you

7:41 make your own business so that way you can grow with it,

7:45 do something that you can do with it.

7:47 And as you get better.

7:49 He's the one who came up with the idea.

7:52 And I was like, OK.

7:53 And he seemed on board with it.

7:54 So then I came up with a plan.

8:01 I'm very thankful.

8:03 I'm surrounded by business people in my life.

8:05 So my dad owned his own business my entire life.

8:07 My mom's an office manager.

8:10 One of my close friends own their own business.

8:12 I know two other people who own their own businesses.

8:15 I'm surrounded by it.

8:16 And I've always been a manager in all realms of life.

8:20 So I came up with costing everything out,

8:27 like thread, batting, time, how much

8:31 should I charge per square inch, what

8:34 is it going to cost for startup, what's the cost of the machine,

8:36 what are materials I'm going to need,

8:38 what's my average yearly cost for rotary cutters, needles,

8:42 bobbins, everything.

8:44 I had it all broken down to a science.

8:47 And after that was all broken down,

8:49 I went to the loan officer.

8:51 And he immediately was like, you're good.

8:53 I got you.

8:54 You got this.

8:55 And I was like, cool.

8:59 And then.

9:00 Business people are extremely helpful, yes.

9:03 Yeah.

9:06 So after that, literally the day it got signed over,

9:11 I booked my flight to Texas and confirmed

9:14 that I was buying a long arm.

9:15 And my husband and I flew to Texas,

9:19 hopped in a U-Haul, drove somewhere past Dallas,

9:24 and packed up the long arm in the U-Haul,

9:28 and then drove it back up to Wisconsin.

9:32 Wow, that's an adventure.

9:34 Yep.

9:35 Yep, so did you guys, so you got one off an ad or something,

9:39 and you took it apart, you put it in the U-Haul,

9:42 drove it all the way?

9:44 Well, we had, because I was debating

9:47 on getting a brand new one.

9:49 So I was talking with Kathy Kleinschmidt,

9:51 but I ended up finding a really good one.

9:55 It was only 2016.

9:57 Gammill Statler, had snappers, had a bobbin winder,

10:01 had a bunch of stuff already with it,

10:06 had the oil, had case, 40 bobbins.

10:09 It was really well set up.

10:10 So I was like, all right.

10:11 Had even the light bar, too, and everything.

10:13 I was like, awesome.

10:15 So yeah, I found that, and I was like, OK,

10:19 we're going to do this instead of getting a brand new one.

10:23 But then we contacted Linda's Electric Quilters,

10:26 and they're like, we don't do this anymore,

10:28 but we can do it.

10:29 So then I paid them to tear it all down.

10:32 And then I had set up an appointment with Gammill

10:35 to have them come set everything back up.

10:38 Awesome, OK.

10:39 But, but, Wisconsin, we were totally fine.

10:44 No snow on the ground.

10:46 And February 22nd, freak snowstorm.

10:50 Completely covered the roads, and the tech

10:52 couldn't come out.

10:53 So they got snowed in, couldn't come.

10:57 So I was stuck.

10:58 And then I was like, well, it already took, like,

11:00 how long for us to schedule this?

11:02 So it might be a while for us to get someone else out there,

11:04 because no one's buying me, because you guys

11:07 are in Missouri, like, you know.

11:09 Well, our tech's in Wisconsin, but.

11:12 Yeah, but he lives, like, farther south, and like, yeah.

11:17 Yeah.

11:18 So I was like, you know what?

11:19 I have the information on how to set this up.

11:22 So I'm going to try setting up and see how far I get,

11:25 see what happens.

11:26 And I did it.

11:27 And it wasn't that hard.

11:28 No.

11:29 And this was that hard, is that right?

11:31 Yes, yep.

11:33 So I got it all set up.

11:35 A lot of times people don't realize that moving a machine,

11:38 like, we can definitely help people,

11:40 and we do it for them all the time.

11:42 But it is like moving anything else.

11:46 The job looks really, really big when

11:48 you look at it from, you know, just,

11:51 like, looking at the whole job.

11:52 But if you just do it one piece at a time, it's not that bad.

11:56 No.

11:57 I mean, there's only one heavy part in the entire machine

12:01 system.

12:02 And it's that main three-tier bar, like, the shelf.

12:06 And we split those into three pieces.

12:09 So we don't even move that all together,

12:12 because it's too much for one person to handle.

12:16 Yeah, no, mine was all together.

12:17 It was really hard trying to get those up the stairs.

12:20 Yeah, no kidding.

12:22 Yeah.

12:23 So how did you end up?

12:28 Why did you go with the GAML to start out with?

12:32 Well, because that's what Paige had.

12:35 I saw her using it.

12:38 I saw the computer system, saw how easy it was.

12:40 I mean, I understood it and just was like, yep, this makes sense.

12:45 OK, cool, all right.

12:47 Let me ask you, when you were working on her machine,

12:50 did you find it?

12:53 Machines, she has five.

12:56 Did you find them?

12:59 Intuitive, I mean, were you able to catch on?

13:02 Do you think that it's something that people can catch on

13:05 to with those machines?

13:08 I mean, I think so, but there are a lot of things

13:15 that I think are really easy and some people don't.

13:18 And I think part of the computer aspect of it,

13:22 because I'm the younger generation,

13:23 I understand computers.

13:24 I understand a CAD system.

13:26 Like, I already know Control-V is Control-C and Control-V.

13:30 I know that's copy and paste.

13:31 I can do those shortcuts.

13:32 And I know those little things already

13:35 that make my life easier.

13:37 And I can just pick up on those things a little bit faster.

13:43 Yeah, with your generation, computer things

13:46 tend to be more intuitive, second nature,

13:50 because you kind of grow up with them.

13:53 Yeah, that's an important thing where new owner training

13:56 that we have available can come in handy for people that

13:59 don't have that second nature like you do.

14:02 Continue with your story there.

14:04 So I was going to ask you, how did you

14:08 know there was enough long-arm quilting

14:10 business in your town to support a new long-arm quilter?

14:14 Because this was a big investment.

14:16 It was money that you didn't actually have.

14:17 You had to borrow it.

14:19 So.

14:21 I didn't, really, actually.

14:24 So I had never actually gotten anything long-armed before.

14:28 I actually had only gotten one thing long-armed.

14:33 And I kind of knew that there were long-armers around,

14:36 but didn't know any of them, kind of saw cards,

14:39 but didn't know anything about it.

14:41 And I was not worried about just here.

14:47 I actually, and I'll go into it a little bit later,

14:51 but I actually marketed the entire state of Wisconsin.

14:55 I was not just focused on here.

14:57 How did you do that?

15:00 So I Googled every single quilt shop

15:04 that I could find in Wisconsin, had it listed by city,

15:07 phone number, everything.

15:09 Then I called every single one of them and said, hey,

15:13 do you have a long-arm quilter?

15:15 OK, who does your shop samples?

15:17 What's their price?

15:18 What do you do?

15:19 Who do you normally recommend?

15:21 And I just got their information from them.

15:24 If someone had a designated long-armer or a long-arm system

15:27 in their area, I crossed them off.

15:29 So anyone who didn't have a designated person

15:32 that they went to, I wrote them on my list and said,

15:36 I'm going to visit the shop and say, hey, here are my samples.

15:40 Here are some of my cards.

15:41 Would you please recommend my business?

15:43 Because you have actually seen my work.

15:45 And then a couple of them, whoever

15:47 had like five shops who had really big online presence,

15:52 I said, hey, I am offering you a free quilt

15:55 to do for you, to show you my work, to hang in your shop,

15:58 and for you to post online saying that I did this for you.

16:03 That seems logical, doesn't it?

16:05 Logical and yet very impressive.

16:08 Yeah.

16:09 So how did it turn out for you?

16:15 I mean, honestly, it was really cool

16:17 because I had visited so many shops

16:19 that I didn't know existed.

16:20 So that was really cool.

16:22 I would imagine you would have had several good connections

16:26 out of that, right?

16:28 Some of them, like the shop that is back home

16:31 from where I grew up, that one I'd visited a couple of times.

16:35 So they knew me, and they were very excited about all of it.

16:38 And then even just one lady, she was just so excited for me.

16:42 I was like, you know what?

16:43 I want to do a quilt for you.

16:44 Like, I like you.

16:46 Let me do one for you and stuff.

16:49 Like, let me do one for you and stuff.

16:51 So honestly, I probably haven't really gotten much

16:57 from all of that.

16:58 But I right away was like, I want my reach

17:01 to be bigger than just here.

17:03 And then it also helped with quilt shows.

17:07 I'd never actually gone to a quilt show

17:08 before until I was a vendor at one.

17:10 So I'd go to quilt shows, have quilts all around me,

17:13 and show pictures of quilts that I've

17:16 done on a computer, on a TV screen, and just be like,

17:20 yep, here's stuff that I've done.

17:21 And they're like, what do you?

17:23 First, I actually had to very clarify being like,

17:26 I'm not selling the system.

17:27 Because people would side-eye me and totally walk away.

17:30 And I'm like, nope, I'm not selling the system.

17:32 I'm selling myself.

17:33 I'm selling my business.

17:34 So having to get past that and just being like, yep,

17:38 I'm just here.

17:39 I'm selling me, just me.

17:43 So have you got an idea of how you're

17:48 doing with paying off your machine?

17:51 Because a lot of times, people keep

17:54 track of how they're doing.

17:57 Well, mine's a little bit rocky.

18:03 So back to the story of first getting my long arm.

18:07 Set it up myself.

18:08 Got it all going.

18:09 Got my first quilt on there.

18:12 Did the whole first quilt.

18:14 Was checking over the back of it.

18:16 And my knee nudged the controller,

18:18 like literally just the lightest tap.

18:20 And it shut off.

18:22 I went, that's weird.

18:24 Wouldn't turn back on.

18:25 Wouldn't turn back on.

18:27 Kept getting an error message.

18:29 So contacted Gammill.

18:31 And took a while.

18:33 Eventually, the guys came out.

18:35 And you guys went, we don't know what's wrong.

18:40 And I was like, well, what's that light shining right there?

18:42 And you said, what?

18:43 And every time you turned it on, one

18:45 of the rectifiers in the controller was dislodging.

18:48 And when I bumped it, fully dislodged it and sent

18:50 an arc through the entire system and fried it.

18:56 That is extremely special.

18:59 Yes.

19:00 So brand new Galil motor rectifier, Z encoder,

19:04 Y encoder, thread break sensor, needle up bar,

19:08 brand new computer.

19:11 That added up to the cost of the system.

19:14 Yes.

19:16 So that was not fun.

19:20 So it was like.

19:21 Would that have been about $5,000?

19:23 Seven.

19:25 Oh, the computer, that's right.

19:26 Seven.

19:27 Yeah.

19:29 Yeah.

19:30 And it really sucked.

19:31 Because it took eight hours the first day

19:34 and eight hours the second day.

19:36 Which then, it took another two weeks after the first one

19:39 to have time to come back.

19:41 That's a lot of parts to replace.

19:43 Yeah.

19:43 Oh, yeah.

19:44 And I mean, it sucked.

19:46 Because I originally was like, I'm

19:48 going to get these quilts done.

19:49 I'm going to go on my marketing tour.

19:51 I'm going to do all this stuff.

19:52 But then I didn't even have a quilt done.

19:55 I couldn't do anything to show anyone my work.

19:59 I couldn't even do anything.

20:00 advertising I couldn't practice I couldn't do anything so then I'm like

20:02 what the heck am I gonna do like my loan already started like I'm you know and

20:09 like I did my loan where I would have you know the costume machine I bought

20:16 mine for 27,000 and I got my loan for what like 32,000 or something like that

20:26 um and I did that so that way I could have six months of payments in the bank

20:32 like backup just in case if anything happened and sure enough something

20:37 happened so once my machine finally got fixed and was able to run I that's when

20:46 I like quick knocked out my samples and then I spent a week traveling Wisconsin

20:51 showing everyone everything that I had yeah I would have been panicked oh yeah

20:57 yeah yeah that's a that's a tough what is that Murphy's Law there's something

21:02 wrong it will happen it will yeah right that's the way it goes sometimes yeah it

21:09 was it was a lot of times you buy something without a warranty and it

21:15 turns out just fine like lots of times dang that sure taught you yeah well

21:22 then the next part that's up to is so obviously freak accident whatever

21:29 happened well then I was trying to do a quilt and I couldn't get my tension to

21:36 be right for the life of me and it wasn't working wasn't working well then

21:42 eventually I found out I had the old-style bobbin winder and she had the

21:47 tension set so tight on the bobbin winder it was not only stretching my

21:52 thread it was warping my bobbins setting inconsistent tension in the machine and

21:57 not only that my needle height was wrong so then my hook timing was wrong so then

22:01 my hopper and timing and hook it was all wrong it sounds like you've learned a

22:06 lot in these last couple years yes yeah yeah like I mean I've had to I know

22:12 every inch of my machine now everything I bet you wouldn't get caught off guard

22:17 by your needle height being an offer anything like that yeah I mean it it was

22:24 frustrating you know it's like I thought getting this machine you know I thought

22:29 it would because she used it it was fine but then just having to learn how my

22:33 machine is and taking it brand new and essentially just starting over from

22:37 scratch I was like it we're in back at base zero we need to figure out what

22:43 they like he likes he's a man his name is Studley this is your machine's name

22:52 yeah Studley so at this point when you first started

23:02 were you was quilting your your sole occupation then at that at this point

23:08 nope I still have another job so I'm a waitress on the weekends and sometimes I

23:16 pick up more shifts and like last year I had a third job to where I was you know

23:23 worked at Target for a little bit because you know I am still just getting

23:28 people it's not always consistent and the other part that makes it really hard

23:33 is you know we were talking you're talking about before we started like oh

23:36 you could have less sleep I have a sleep disorder so I can't do that so like I'm

23:43 always tired and then it's so it's hard trying to work and be productive and

23:49 being at home and stuff like that so it's sometimes a weird balance to try to

23:53 find if you had to guess how many hours per week you've spent doing customer

24:00 quilts what would you say that's at right now right now I'm pretty good

24:07 where I I spend probably like I want to say 20 to 30 hours a week I think I want

24:21 to say that that's a good place to be in yeah like it life has been crazy

24:27 recently but like now I'm finally back to having a full open schedule so like I

24:32 was in my room working all day today bright and early 9 a.m. never do that

24:37 notice of the grindstone yeah so so do you do mostly edge-to-edge or do you

24:44 also do custom quilting I do edge and I do custom custom has been a lot of fun

24:52 and that that has actually been incredible because so first year of me

25:00 starting I had a friend a friend was like oh you long I'm like my friends

25:04 into quilting again so let me get you information you know another young

25:07 millennial like me so she had done nebula jaybirds nebula you know beautiful

25:14 and she's like I want to do something custom I want you to go all out I want

25:18 it to be awesome and said cool so I got the sweet dream studio like design kit

25:24 and I was like okay and it turned out really great and then she was like oh

25:33 I'm gonna put it in the Marshfield show because that's where I used to go with

25:37 my grandma when I was younger and I was like okay ask if it was gonna go in a

25:40 show yeah okay well yeah so I mean I so the first I've never gone to a quilt

25:48 show so we had a show here in Eau Claire at Chippewa and it is just a voters

25:54 choice and you just put up your quilt and you can vote on whichever one you

25:58 liked and whatever well the Marshfield show you had to pay like five dollars

26:03 and I was like okay like whatever just figured normal entrance fee stuff and

26:06 just whatever I was like oh well I'm there you know while the quilts there I

26:11 might as well be a vendor there so I signed up to be a vendor and I remember

26:15 setting up my booth and getting everything all set and I was like oh I'm

26:19 gonna go try to look at nebula and just see it hanging up because it's so cool

26:22 and I turn the corner and look straight down the hallway down to like where all

26:27 the quilts were and there was the nebula there with ribbons on it I was like what

26:34 so I ran over and we won second in our category of a two-person quilt and then

26:40 I won best machine quilting oh wow nice this was October of 2022 when I got my

26:48 machine in February of 2022 and you'd shed a lot of tears already by that

26:54 point over your oh yeah yeah I mean your story is about as rough as I've ever

26:59 heard yeah yeah and I was just like I was like oh my god like I want to know

27:06 like yeah like this is super awesome I was like cool and then I was like I

27:11 didn't know this was the judge show and they're like oh yeah I was like so who

27:14 judged it like are they here like can I talk to them and they're like oh well it

27:17 was Allison so-and-so I was like oh like is she here no like no she's back in

27:20 Madison I was like what and they're like well like the judges just come up and

27:25 they judge it and then they go home like what are you talking about she's like

27:27 the you know National Quilt Show judge I'm like excuse me what like it was

27:32 actually judged by like a not just like some Joe Schmo like it was actually

27:36 judged by someone who knew like this and they're like yeah and you won money like

27:40 excuse me what so I'm like you know I'm just didn't understand any of this world

27:47 at all yet and then the craziest part too so I'm there looking at my quilt on

27:52 the wall and I'm freaking out right next to mine that one bestest show was the

27:57 custom stained-glass quilt that I saw Paige Johnson working on and I was like

28:06 like they're right next to each other like what like what just I couldn't did

28:14 you turn a corner right at that point and somewhere inside yourself well I was

28:19 like I I mean I I've been barely doing it for six months like I what she's

28:26 flummoxed she has no words yeah yeah I mean it was it was incredible I I still

28:34 I mean obviously I can't even like fully explain what I was feeling because it's

28:39 like I'm this new person like I didn't even know it was judged I just made this

28:43 quilt and sure okay didn't know it was judged you know if there's anything and

28:48 then not only did I win best machine quilting go right next to mine the woman

28:52 who taught me one bestest show and my quilts next to hers because it also won

28:56 best machine quilting and I'm just like I don't understand what's happening to

29:00 me like you're both very lucky in some ways and extremely unlucky in other ways

29:07 but together with that you have a lot of hard work and in life there's people

29:15 that do get lucky and that's all they have going for them but the person who

29:22 works hard will always get farther than the person that doesn't so I think you

29:28 have to you know you have to you have to give yourself credit where you've earned

29:35 it yeah I mean it's hard on that quilt like yeah I'm like yeah it took a lot of

29:42 work it was cool like you know doing this and then it was right but it was so

29:47 funny because people would walk by and they'd be like oh they're like wait

29:50 weren't you didn't you do one that quote there and like uh-huh no like you did

29:55 I was like mm-hmm like but how long you been doing this like six months like but

29:59 you you've done this before right I'm like no no but it's like I mean it's

30:11 completely just like all right I guess you know you're always so critical of

30:16 yourself and being a perfectionist like I'm always been super type a and it's

30:20 like okay I guess this is actually like legit I you know this is something real

30:26 and it sounds like the the hardship that you had starting out you you didn't let

30:35 that just knock you down it sounds like you in a lot of ways you just double

30:41 down and just continued on doing what needed to be done it's not like I really

30:46 could do much after that like I had I mean it's like I have this giant loan

30:49 now too that I need to pay for so there I have no choice but to go forward and

30:56 keep working and yeah so I'm looking over some of the other questions that we

31:04 ask and like some of them are are not a little bit off the story of what your

31:11 story is on your custom and your edge-to-edge you got some attention

31:17 right away for some of the custom work that you did because of the ribbon I

31:21 imagine some customers would seek you out for that custom work are you doing

31:27 like half your time is edge-to-edge and half is custom or how would you say that

31:32 balances the balances whatever happens what so in the last the last couple

31:46 months I've actually had like I stepped back from serving a little bit where now

31:50 I'm only on the weekends because I've actually gotten more business and

31:54 getting lots of edge to edges actually after after my wedding so in September I

32:00 think at one point I had 13 quilts at my house and I was like I was like what

32:06 the heck am I doing making money is what you're doing I have like yeah but I'm

32:12 like okay guess I need to buckle down and yeah I'm so like right now I'm

32:20 working on some customs but it's kind of like like the whole last week before it

32:26 was like all right well I'm gonna knock out a couple of edge to edges and then

32:29 I'm gonna work on some custom and like it's also trying to multitask because as

32:35 a server you obviously have to multitask and everything that you do so trying to

32:39 be like okay while this edge to edge is running I'm prepping up my next quilts

32:43 and making sure I have the design picked out I have a thread color picked out I

32:46 designing my custom one figuring out what I'm doing and trying to keep it so

32:51 I'm constantly moving and because you have just one machine you have to be

32:55 cognizant of being ready to move it forward when it's ready to advance the

33:00 keep that machine running get a new bobbin or whatever that is yeah yeah I

33:05 would love to have two machines one just for edge to edge and one for custom so

33:09 that way I can be doing it simultaneously let's get you one with a

33:12 warranty this time yeah so do you what's your edge to edge rate your basic per

33:24 inch rate so I have two prices based on if they supply the batting or if I

33:30 supply the batting so if I supply the batting it's 2.25 cents per square inch

33:35 and if they supply the batting it's 2.1 cents per square inch but but I have

33:41 like a thing for like marketing that if you're a new customer you get 15% off

33:47 your first quilt and then if you recommend someone like Bobby if you

33:53 recommend Andrew and Andrew comes to me then I go great Andrew who recommended

33:57 you Bobby all right Bobby you get another 15% off your next off your next

34:01 quilt very nice yeah try to get that spiderweb going and recommending people

34:06 and right and what about the custom do you have a per hour rate that you target

34:14 for or it is so hard to figure out you're pretty at this and so it's hard

34:24 to know you probably have sometimes that you vastly underestimate how many hours

34:29 are gonna go into a quilt oh yeah like I I mean I just did a quilt and I you know

34:37 I was like oh I can charge this per square inch and then I was like that is

34:41 not what my brain was saying this is worth and then what I calculated by

34:47 hours then that more so made sure made it what I was thinking it was worth and

34:52 then like I talked to other long armors and being like what would you say for

34:57 like what would you charge for this quilt you know and it it's obviously

35:04 being new it's hard to find line but just trying to no kind of gauge an idea

35:13 of like how much but there are some people were just like yeah do whatever

35:15 like cool sounds good you you try to figure out how many hours you think or

35:26 go by the inch square inch or what so like one custom I did I feel like it's

35:31 still a work in progress there oh yeah like I mean it definitely is like it

35:36 because what the first one I did I did five cents per square inch but it was a

35:42 lot more open space it was all computerized and very easy and then I

35:46 had the nebula and then that one I was like okay this one's a lot more dense

35:50 and a lot more stitching so I did seven cents per square inch then I just did

35:57 another custom where it was a lot of free motion a lot of ruler work a lot

36:04 of stuff so I I did that one by like 10 I think I did 10 cents per square inch

36:12 or something but like that one ended up being like a thousand dollars and that

36:16 she kind of was like I was not expecting this so then I kind of had to be like

36:20 alright I have to figure something out and then I just had another I mean then

36:24 the other one it was a 56 by 56 quilt and I was like took me a while because I

36:30 did free motion I did some computer work but like you know it still took me a

36:35 while so I was like that one's 450 but even though it's like it's tiny compared

36:41 to like the other one that I did but it yeah so like I'm doing one right now and

36:45 I'm I don't know what I'm even gonna charge I will I will comment that in all

36:51 lines of work not just long-arm quilting young people in general are

36:57 never the estimator like if you're having a contractor come out to do

37:02 something and they've got a crew of a bunch of young guys they always send the

37:05 old guy to estimate because it's something that it's just really hard to

37:10 do accurately you have to you know foresee all the things that are gonna go

37:15 wrong so you're doing fine you'll be fine yeah I mean it's these it's these

37:21 learning experiences then the scars that build up the calluses well yeah and

37:27 like I mean it's like the first two quilts that I did those were all

37:31 computer and that can be sometimes easy like yes the nebula was very dense and

37:35 it took me three weeks but it's like you program the computer you let it go it

37:39 runs for a little bit you program the computer you let it run and it's good

37:41 then it's like the free motion the quilt that I have going and shows this year

37:46 it's like at the beginning there are 42 stars and at the beginning one star took

37:51 an hour to do and by the end of the quilt it took me 20 minutes like I mean

38:00 it's still something I'm learning it's still something that I'm getting better

38:03 at getting more proficient at and it's learning how like learning what to do to

38:11 because it's like with with the last quilt that I did it was like I could

38:16 have done it this way in this way in this way and then it would have been a

38:18 lot faster and easier but then I didn't because I was like I don't know what

38:22 I'm doing I'm just kind of making it up and then hindsight I'm like oh yeah that

38:26 would have been a lot easier a lot less ties with every one of these experiences

38:32 that goes by you're gaining valuable experience yeah you know then it's hard

38:37 when someone's like can you tell me a price on what this will be and I'm like

38:40 no not really we actually had somebody writing that question on the Q&A about a

38:49 price for a type of quilt but I had to ask her to clarify the question I was

38:53 gonna ask you Alex tell me about your I mean you you had quite a set of

39:00 challenges and a very exciting last couple years tell me about the people

39:04 that are supporting you who who do you really need to mention here who has made

39:09 a difference um so obviously my husband he drove the U-Haul like most of the

39:16 time and I was terrified at one point I remember being like honey like why are

39:21 you driving like this and he's like I have a $40,000 machine back here and I

39:24 went you're doing great good all right yep you're fine right now but he's I

39:31 mean he's been great supporting me and like especially when like the machine

39:34 broke down like obviously that's a giant chunk of cash like but he he

39:41 understands like this is my business and I need to work hard and he I'm like

39:45 well I don't want to do things like should you though should you really be

39:48 working and I'm like yeah he's like okay then you go you go do that um Christine

39:54 Nelson from Frogfoot Quilts uh she it was so like when my machine broke

40:00 down was March which is like Instagram's quilt fest you know and I had posted something about

40:06 like my machine being broken so she reached out to me and we hit it off immediately and we're like

40:11 I mean we talk all the time and she helped me with so much of like my tension issues and

40:17 just like how do I do this one of my first customer quilts was like a horrible sideways

40:24 all on the bias mess and needed to be eased and everything and she walked me through it and

40:30 it was like all bias all mishmash had pleats in it had quarter inch thick

40:34 batting and it had minky backing and it was like a king size quilt I was like what am I doing

40:42 um obviously like Paige Johnson like amazing that I got to learn from her and just I still

40:50 go to retreats with her and just picking at her brain and asking her questions and stuff like that

40:56 um and honestly like anyone that I have talked to like um like one of the questions I got the

41:05 thing is like who like what's your biggest thing and it's like one learn your machine because

41:10 thank god I know my machine now but um and the other thing is literally talking to everyone

41:15 because I have made so many connections from from serving being a server and just somehow like

41:22 weaseling it in there being like oh yeah by the way I own my own business and turns out the

41:27 regulars that came in every Friday night got the same food every time they own a website company

41:32 so they built my website for me like you know and just then turns out that they're actually

41:39 best friends with the loan officer that I had and he's like yeah continue to bring your quilts in

41:44 I want to see them I want to show everyone else like he's like I'll be like yeah you know just

41:51 talk about it has been really big for you yeah I I just looked up in case anybody wants to

42:00 check it out I do believe that the episode that Christine Nelson was on is episode 26 if I'm

42:07 not mistaken so if somebody wants to go check out um her story it's there so um

42:18 and I was wondering could you what's your I checked out your website earlier but I forget

42:23 what the url was what's the address of it captivatingthreadscaptivatingthreads.com

42:30 that's right yeah and uh so the question that I had oh gosh I don't know if I can see it okay

42:38 here it is so uh Marcia asks um how much would you charge uh for a double wedding ring quilt

42:47 104 by 94 and then I asked the clarifying question and she said custom using digital

42:54 four different digital patterns and so that is that's a good question after you had just told us

43:02 how hard it is to estimate what do you say 104 by 104 by putting her on the spot 94 I know I know

43:13 well you know customers do that you'll be bringing them their dessert at the table and they're like

43:17 hey so how much would it be to do a double wedding ring yeah like with four different

43:25 digital patterns that's that doesn't sound too bad four different no um she's figuring it up

43:32 on the show as we talk here and then actually so I actually do have a double wedding ring

43:37 quilt that I have in my closet that I have to do a custom on but she wants

43:41 super intricate like fun floral big bold like stuff so that I'm still like working on designing

43:49 but I feel like if it was just a double wedding ring like doing yeah like just doing that custom

43:57 and having that like probably depending on like how dense like maybe I don't know maybe seven

44:07 cents per square inch my gut was telling me 500 bucks but that might be a little low

44:15 like I mean I don't know I like I guess I'd have to like

44:20 see the design see how dense it is and like what actually is it but if it's not that

44:24 hard or like I can see like that's that would come up to be 684 but like I mean

44:35 if it's not like if it's not something super crazy you know then I mean it usually could be

44:43 uh 104 by 94 times 0.05 yeah if it was 0.05 it would be 488.8

44:51 yeah giving you some on-the-go training here that's you know not everybody can even figure

44:58 out how to count change back these days so you're doing good yeah exactly yes oh yeah no

45:04 I think she is the first person we've had on the show that's actually figured out the price

45:09 while on the show yeah that's pretty interesting yep and just to clarify a comment I made earlier

45:15 so you had mentioned the people that had helped you out and one you mentioned was

45:19 um was uh frogfoot quilts which was uh christine nelson nelson yeah and um all the different

45:28 episodes of this show are on youtube and also you can get them on a podcast program if you know how

45:35 to use clothing business success so if you go to youtube and you search quilting business success

45:40 it'll come up and it's a whole group of episodes and so that's what I was referring to was episode

45:46 26 um and uh so the next thing I was going to ask you is um what what do you see happening with

45:59 your you know with with the income and the so things are shifting for you right now basically

46:06 you told us that you're decreasing how many hours you do serving uh at restaurants uh and you're

46:14 cutting back basically to the best times of the week which is weekends and so do you so the

46:23 question that I would normally ask somebody is what kind of impact does the quilting money and

46:27 the control over the personal schedule have what are you seeing that you're able to do now that

46:32 you couldn't do before or just tell us how that's working um I mean it like I try I try to keep it

46:44 as like a normal work day as possible like I try to work like nine to five and try like I try to

46:50 keep normal hours and like I would love to have my machine actually out of my house I would love to

46:55 have its own spot just because being at home like I'm gonna sit down on the couch oh I've been there

47:01 for an hour oh I'm just gonna take a nap like whatever like that happens so easily to me I've

47:06 got to just check what's on instagram here yeah the other part too is I have cats and a lot of

47:13 people have issues with that um and like my cats don't go in my room I have like the door always

47:18 closed and everything but still cat hair gets in because it lives on you um but I don't know like

47:28 I mean this morning it was nice I could have all the windows open and have the cats outside a little

47:33 bit and it is nice to be able to go to work with your slippers on yeah at this point uh if you if

47:41 you could have like if you could see you know five years down the road would you rather have

47:48 a on your own property uh shop or would you rather have something in town um

47:59 I I probably would want something that I'd have to commute to like I probably wouldn't want

48:04 like a like a shop that's on my property because I could easily just go inside and do something

48:09 like I would love I'm a social sewer I don't know if you could tell but I like to talk a lot

48:15 I picked up on that a little bit but and like my room is so tiny here that I can't have anyone hang

48:22 out with me while I quilt and then especially any of my friends that I do have they're allergic to

48:27 cats they can't come over so I would love a space that I could play around have fun do my quilting

48:34 and stuff where they also just sit and sew and we just hang out and do that together personality

48:40 wise I could totally see you thriving in some little uh old-fashioned downtown area where

48:46 there's little cafes and bistros and a bookshop and and the quilting shop you know yeah yep I could

48:55 see you loving that yeah yeah like I that's one of the hardest things probably about being at home

49:01 and working from home is the isolation part because I do not I like I just like talking to

49:09 people and doing things like I've been on the phone for someone once for like five hours and

49:13 just we just talk and I we're both working and doing our stuff and then it's like cool we had

49:18 a very productive day but otherwise it would not have gone that way well um what's something that

49:27 you wish someone would have told you when you first got started um each machine is its own

49:34 thing and you need to learn it for itself like I I mean obviously I had problems with my machine but

49:41 I didn't know that there was so much that could be wrong that was something that I was going to

49:47 need to fix like I didn't I just figured it worked before so it's got to work now like it's you know

49:52 gonna be fine but it got transported yeah well then I also like from being at Pageshop for

50:01 three days she has five machines and all of them run with TOA gauge at 200 which is like

50:08 crazy to think about but all of them run at 200 all of them they all leave here running at 200

50:14 also right so it's like what my machine likes is 175

50:22 and like that took a while to accept because I was like I don't know

50:26 and also like when I was having so much like tension issues and I was like I don't know what's

50:30 going on someone was like well why don't you change your thread like I just bought $300

50:34 worth of thread there is I am not changing my thread I'm using this one it's gonna like it

50:39 I gotta figure out why

50:43 yeah yeah if if anybody listening to this episode find them finds herself in the same

50:50 situation as Alex I would just highly recommend getting the GAML new owner training now that's

50:57 not going to fix your machine if your machine needs adjusting or fixing but the new owner

51:01 training is like to not have that yeah is um is is a serious challenge there's there's so much

51:11 value in in knowledge and knowing yeah and the thing that's hard is when you've got mentors

51:18 and you have some phenomenal mentors but the lessons that they learned 20 years ago I'm not

51:24 saying they didn't go through similar challenges but those lessons were so long ago that it's hard

51:29 for them to put themselves in your shoes and realize what you might not know yeah I uh like

51:38 it seems way overly elementary but like when you go through the new owner training it shows you

51:44 how to take the bobbin case after you've wound the bobbin and tested it to make sure that it's not

51:49 wound too tight because it has that in there like how to tell is it wound too tight or too loose

51:55 or just right and then when you put it in the bobbin case and how to take the thread

51:59 through the little thing and how to test it on the doha gauge you know and you know anybody who's

52:04 been sewing for years just like ah that's you know let's just skip those videos but not everybody

52:11 knows that stuff you know yeah like I yeah none of that stuff I knew then it didn't help it didn't

52:18 help that once my machine was fixed I didn't know what a good machine sounds like so I was like

52:25 is something broken is something wrong so I was constantly freaking out the entire time because

52:30 it's a industrial machine it's a loud machine it always makes loud noises so like is this a good

52:36 loud noise is this a bad loud noise so um Alex we're getting ready we're getting ready to wind

52:46 up things here but um for the people that are listening or watching um based on your

52:56 couple of years of being a long armor um do you think if somebody is trying to get into

53:03 to begin a quilting business themselves or is already in a long arming business

53:12 do you think this is a sustainable just kind of give us your your honest feeling

53:16 is it a sustainable thing that anybody can do nowadays uh kind of give us your thoughts about

53:23 that um I mean yeah like I think that it can be because I mean now that things have started to

53:32 pick up like I I'm like I'm actually getting savings back like backup good you know instead

53:38 of paying month to month like I'm actually getting my backup going again um so it's like

53:44 okay this is actually working I am actually making money um I mean I remember the first

53:50 month that I paid my machine bill with my business money just purely from my business money I was

53:55 like that felt amazing didn't it yeah I mean it was sad because it just went away but you know yeah

54:02 um I mean it it took a lot of I mean with my dad owning his own business and my friend

54:10 having them own their own business and like uh they recently just sold it and now he just does

54:15 um like he looks at people's books and tell you what you're doing wrong and like how to fix it and

54:22 how to clean things up and he just micromanages though that kind of stuff I had both of them

54:27 down to a science and it was like there's an irreputable fact like this is what I need to do

54:32 in order to make this work and I had a clear game plan um I mean it broke my heart like this was a

54:39 while ago but someone on like the gamble facebook page was like I've been doing this for a couple

54:43 years and I've done some charity quilts but I still haven't had anyone give me an actual quilt

54:47 to like do and I was like I don't want to do this I don't want to do this I don't want to do this

54:52 I've done some charity quilts but I still haven't had anyone give me an actual quilt to like do

54:58 I was like how have you how have you not marketed like how like what sometimes people don't have the

55:07 they don't have the panic so because I I've helped hundreds maybe even thousands of people

55:14 get machines and the deliveries and the training and all that stuff and one of the things that

55:20 often happens is a family household they'll have the money to be able to just buy the machine

55:26 without a loan and when you don't have a loan payment that is putting a crimp in your household

55:32 finances there's really no urgent need to find customers which is fine because you probably just

55:40 bought the machine because you wanted to play with it and do your own quilts but the situation that

55:45 you found yourself in lit a fire under you to go out and make it happen and there is so much power

55:53 to having a fire lit under you you know in all kinds of aspects of life and I think part of it

56:00 too was just wanting to be creative and wanting to play around with it because there's so much that

56:06 like I see and I watch videos I'm like I want to do that I want to learn how to do that how

56:11 how did they do this oh that makes sense I can try that and just doing more with it and learning

56:16 more of that creative process because it is just it's different and having your own style

56:25 that's another thing too if you like people will come to you if they like your style don't try to

56:31 fit yourself in a bubble I have I had like 11 quilts at um at a show at the local show last

56:39 year you know so funny how many times people feel like oh I like that quilt oh it's by Alex

56:43 yep all right oh I like that quilt oh also by Alex okay cool like just they recognize your

56:49 style and every single one that they liked was mine so like people will come to you if they

56:55 like your style regardless of what you've done because I haven't been doing this a long time

57:02 but people go I like what she's done so I want her stuff I will agree with that 100 one of my

57:08 quilty friends is loved for the quilts that she does and she's got a never-ending backlog of

57:16 customers and the people that don't like the work she does complain that she quilts them to death

57:21 and they're as stiff as a board but those aren't her customers her customers are the ones that love

57:29 the work that she does so your customers begin to reflect you know the ones that like the

57:37 style that you impart to the quilt they will be your customers and you can steal them away because

57:44 they like the work yeah I think there's so much truth in what you said each person has their own

57:49 style Alex and uh you know I'm sure there's a certain portion of the population out there that

57:57 would not prefer your your quilts but there's a certain portion that yeah they'll they'll even

58:02 give you a ribbon that's right that's right so Alex uh as we wrap up here let me just get from

58:09 you one more time if people wanted to visit your website and I I think it's a beautiful

58:14 example of a quilter's website there's yes uh it's it's very nice and again the url for that was

58:22 captivatingthreads.com captivatingthreads.com awesome do you have a Instagram or Facebook

58:28 where people can find you yep same thing captivating threads captivating threads

58:33 awesome yep awesome well Alex thank you so much for sharing your story and uh um

58:44 it's been inspiring it has it has been having a youngster on well we've had a few youngsters uh

58:50 but uh the uh the the grit that you have um shown as you've overcome some challenges

58:58 I hope it uh inspires some other people to uh put on their big girl pants and go out and make

59:06 things happen so awesome we're we're very impressed well I don't know if anybody can

59:11 hear us or not but it was a pleasure to have you on our program tonight Alex and we look forward

59:17 to seeing great things from you in the future yeah I'm excited I have a show I have a quilt

59:24 going into the Minnesota show and uh in the Madison show this year so hoping for more all right

59:31 excellent thank you so much Alex thank you