How Robin Jordan Built Her Longarm Quilting Business from Scratch

0:00 I'd like to welcome Robin Jordan.

0:26 She's with us today and so Robin, I want to welcome you with us and why don't you tell

0:35 us where are you located?

0:37 Where's home for you, Robin?

0:39 Home for me is central Ohio, a little town called Mount Gilead, just north of Columbus,

0:45 just south of Cleveland.

0:47 Okay.

0:48 Okay.

0:49 Mid-Ohio.

0:50 Mid-Ohio.

0:51 And is that where you're from?

0:54 Have you been there for many years?

0:56 My husband and I moved here about 22 years ago, so most of my life, yeah.

1:02 He's originally from the area and we wanted to get out of the city and ended up in the

1:07 country.

1:08 We have about 11 acres and it makes it nice.

1:13 So preference, city or country?

1:15 Country.

1:16 Hands down.

1:17 Most people that have been in the country for a while like that.

1:20 People that have had nothing but city, they can't imagine it, but yeah.

1:24 I was city girl before this and I wasn't really sure when I moved out here.

1:31 I went to a football game with my husband and where I lived, it was a social gathering.

1:37 Everybody wore sweaters and you went to socialize.

1:40 The first football game I went with my husband, everybody was in head-to-toe Carhartts and

1:46 I was like, where am I?

1:49 This is not what I'm used to.

1:52 Yeah, it's like two totally different worlds, isn't it?

1:55 Oh, absolutely.

1:57 So Robin, how long have you been doing long arm quilting?

2:03 I think I'm on my 12th year right now.

2:06 Okay.

2:07 12 years.

2:08 Yep.

2:09 I started when my son was getting ready to go into kindergarten and it was either go

2:18 back to work or find a job.

2:22 I had an idea and my husband, he entertained my idea with a little persuading, so it was

2:30 good.

2:31 Okay.

2:32 So you had one of the husbands that you might've had to give a little bit of pushing or?

2:37 Yeah, my husband, he is a CFO and so he is very much about the money.

2:45 He worries about that stuff.

2:47 He wasn't really sure about long arm quilting.

2:49 Could this even make money?

2:52 Were we going to buy an anchor and it just sit and not get used?

2:57 That's what he was afraid of.

2:58 So he made me do a business plan.

3:02 It was 54 pages.

3:04 I hated every minute of it, but, and don't tell him I said this, it was the best thing

3:11 I ever did.

3:13 I hate it when he's right, but he was right.

3:18 I learned a lot about my business and my customers and who I would be serving.

3:23 I had originally thought the business might start in my basement, but looking at my customer

3:30 age, I'm like, they can't do stairs.

3:34 A lot of those customers are older and I didn't want to create a situation where I couldn't

3:39 get people to the space and stuff like that.

3:42 So it made me think a little differently, which is never bad.

3:47 Well, I think that's the first time ever.

3:49 Your husband made you do a 50 some odd page business plan before you started.

3:55 Yes.

3:56 So how long, how long have you two guys been married?

4:00 We celebrated 24 years this year.

4:02 Yeah.

4:03 I figured it had been a while.

4:05 I can just tell by the dynamic.

4:08 He's not even in the picture and I can tell that you guys have been together a while.

4:13 We are polar opposites.

4:14 I'm a little more, hey, let's do fun things and just go and do them.

4:22 He's more, okay, let's stop and plan, figure out what we're going to do and go from there.

4:29 Well, yeah.

4:31 In my experience, opposites, the old saying opposites attract, but they complement one

4:40 another.

4:41 I don't know if that goes on, you know, because I can relate me and my wife are just the same

4:46 as you guys.

4:47 I bet you guys are ribbing on each other and ragging each other all the time, aren't you?

4:52 All the time, all the time.

4:55 That's the kind of relationship we have.

4:57 I could tell.

4:58 I could tell.

4:59 And I have not talked with you any about your relationship with your husband, but I could

5:03 just tell by the little bit that you said that you're the, you poke the bear, don't

5:08 you?

5:09 Oh, absolutely.

5:10 Yeah.

5:11 I'm the adventure, his adventure, whether he likes it or not.

5:15 He had to speak one time at a conference in Reno, Nevada, and I talked him into taking

5:21 our two boys and a pop-up camper cross country and visiting all the national parks.

5:28 And then we were gone like a month.

5:29 It was, it was the best vacation ever.

5:31 And I, he was like at first, no, no way.

5:35 And to this day he'll say it was a lot of fun.

5:38 Spontaneity.

5:39 Yeah.

5:40 Well, that's good.

5:41 Absolutely.

5:42 All right.

5:43 Let's, let's get back on track here.

5:46 You got me off track already.

5:48 Sorry.

5:50 So when you first got your, your first, did you, let me ask you first off, did you start

5:56 out with a Statler or, or another brand?

5:59 I started off with a Statler.

6:02 There was a, there used to be a cool shop in Columbus called the Glass Thimble where

6:05 you could go and rent a gamble.

6:08 You took their class, then you could rent it.

6:11 And after I took the class, the lady, the instructor goes, wow, you're, you're kind

6:16 of good at this.

6:17 And it wasn't a Statler.

6:19 It was just the, the basic hand guided.

6:24 And I, I think I rented that gamble two times and I told my husband, I'm going to buy one

6:29 of these things.

6:31 So coming out of it at a bank, I told him, I, I knew there was a learning curve with

6:39 doing some hand guided stuff.

6:41 I said, if I get the Statler, I think my learning curve and ability to help customers and be

6:49 able to do work for customers would be a little shorter because it's programmed, like, you

6:57 know, the machine is driven, driving it essentially.

7:01 And so that's, that's where my thinking was.

7:04 And I also knew in the area, there wasn't anybody that had anything that was computerized.

7:09 So it's kind of giving a little bit of an advantage in the market that way.

7:13 Consistency.

7:14 Okay.

7:15 You froze up for just a second there.

7:20 We both have a weather that's going through our areas, but let me ask you this, Robin.

7:27 You got your first machine specifically for doing a business or was that strictly what

7:36 it was for?

7:38 Strictly what it was for was to start a business, see if I could be able to take care of my

7:44 kids, help with homework, do all the things that, you know, if I needed to run and pick

7:49 somebody up from soccer practice, I could, if I needed to pick somebody up from school

7:54 because they were sick, I could.

7:56 It gave me a lot of that flexibility and, and I liked that I could do customers by appointment,

8:03 give them my, my attention and make sure, you know, everything in the house was still

8:12 good and the business is good.

8:13 It all worked really well together.

8:16 Okay.

8:17 And the fact that you were getting it specifically for a business, probably there was, that had

8:23 a lot to do with why your husband had you do that 50 some odd business plan.

8:28 Yes, it was.

8:32 They're a chunk of change, they're an investment, but they are workhorses.

8:38 I did my research on different machines and it helped that I learned on a gamble, but

8:45 the machines, they are tanks.

8:48 They are very well designed.

8:52 They are great.

8:53 I just love them.

8:56 And so your decision to go with a gamble at first was just because of basically your own

9:03 experience with working with one, right?

9:06 Yeah, that was definitely a key factor.

9:10 I would say I did look at other machines, but having already learned and taking classes

9:17 on them helped, I think sway my decision and the fact that they are designed to be

9:23 a 30 year industrial machine because being a business.

9:29 And at the time, I think I was late thirties when I started, I knew I wanted to be able

9:36 to have a machine that would go the distance with me.

9:39 Gotcha.

9:41 And so when you first started, how did you come up with the money to buy your first machine?

9:51 Did you have savings or?

9:53 I used a little bit of savings and-

9:56 I'm sure there was some discussion with the husband on this part also.

9:59 Oh yeah, that definitely was part of it.

10:03 I had some savings and my parents were very big supporters.

10:08 They lent me the money to get started and they believed in me and away I went.

10:16 My dad actually, I found a machine in Canton, Mississippi, my first one.

10:23 I know where that is.

10:25 And we did a road trip with a trailer and went and picked it up.

10:31 So-

10:32 Okay.

10:33 And do you still have that one today or?

10:37 I do.

10:38 It is my smallest machine.

10:40 It is a Vision, I think it's a 22 inch head.

10:48 It was a great machine to get started with.

10:51 It wasn't too big.

10:53 It's only a 12 foot frame, so it would fit in my dining room since that's where I started.

11:01 It was the perfect size, perfect everything for me.

11:05 Okay.

11:06 And the Vision, is it still a Vision?

11:08 Have you upgraded that one or?

11:10 It is still a Vision.

11:11 Okay.

11:12 And yeah, so I gather that you got some other machines on down the road.

11:19 Tell us about that.

11:20 I did.

11:22 So I would be working on the Vision and anytime you get a custom project, you're not turning

11:30 them around the way you are anything that's edge to edge or pantographs.

11:35 One day my husband came, yeah, they just, they're time, they take time.

11:41 And so my husband said one day, I could see why you might want a second machine, buddy.

11:47 That was like opening the door.

11:50 So he said that?

11:51 He said that.

11:52 So-

11:53 Okay.

11:54 He turned a corner there at some point.

11:56 He did turn a corner.

11:57 He saw that there are quilters out there that need long armors.

12:02 And so I bet it wasn't two weeks later, we were on our way to Virginia to pick up machine

12:10 number two.

12:11 So-

12:12 Okay.

12:13 Okay.

12:14 Machine number two.

12:16 And was there another one after that?

12:19 There was one more after that.

12:20 So then my first machine, I had planned to get rid of it, the Vision, because it only

12:26 has that 22 inch throat.

12:29 And as the business started to grow, the 30 inch heads there, it's a big change.

12:37 You don't think that that's a big difference, but it is.

12:40 So I found the third machine up in Michigan and we did yet again, another road trip, went

12:48 up there, picked it up.

12:50 And the intent was to sell the Vision, but about that time I decided I was going to do

12:56 a project for Quilt of Valor.

12:58 I'm part of a program called the Buckeye Boy State that's run by veterans.

13:04 It teaches leadership to high school seniors.

13:08 And all of these veterans were there and none of them had ever heard of Quilt of Valor.

13:14 So I told my husband, the next year we went back to work at Buckeye Boy State, I was going

13:18 to take a quilt for every single one of those servicemen, which ended up, there's over a

13:24 hundred there that run that program.

13:27 So that Vision for that one year ran nothing but Quilt of Valor.

13:32 I talked to my guild friends and I said, here's what I need.

13:37 Can you help me out and make this project happen?

13:40 And they came through in spades.

13:42 I actually started to get quilts from people I didn't even know that weren't in guilds

13:47 and it was a lot of fun.

13:48 So after that year was done, it was already in the shop and we had started to, you know,

13:57 increase business and the need for it to stay was there.

14:00 So that's how we ended up with three machines.

14:04 Okay.

14:05 Okay.

14:06 And I do want to tell the people who are watching live right now, I forgot to mention this at

14:12 the beginning.

14:13 If you have a question for Robin or a comment or anything, feel free, you can look at the

14:19 bottom of your screen and you'll see where you can do that.

14:23 So feel free to ask a question if you're watching this live.

14:28 So Robin, back to when you first started there, when you were beginning, did you know that

14:38 there was enough business available in your area?

14:43 I did do research and looked for other long armers in the area.

14:51 I only knew of two or three, I think three was the max, none were computerized.

14:58 So I felt like I maybe had like a different thing to offer the area.

15:05 And I've always worked in customer service and one of the things that I believe, I love

15:10 talking to the customer and helping the customer.

15:14 And I want to make all of my customers feel important.

15:20 I want them to all do, I want to give them what they see in their quilt.

15:26 You know, everybody's at a different stage of their quilting.

15:29 And I felt that I could help all quilters, you know, whatever you bring me, whatever

15:36 stage of quilting you're in.

15:38 I'm not the quilting police and I don't ever want to pooh pooh anybody's idea or creative

15:44 vision.

15:47 So I try to really listen to what people say and what people bring me and I'm not over

15:53 picky.

15:54 I try not to turn anybody away.

15:57 I think I've only ever turned one quilt away.

15:59 Oh yeah?

16:00 What was the story with that one?

16:05 I loaded it on the machine and the first border was probably like an eight inch border.

16:11 And as I started to base it down, like we call those sexy quilts where they have a little

16:17 bit of a curve to it.

16:20 This quilt had a big curve to it.

16:23 The next row of quilting below that border was six inches bigger.

16:29 And I was like, I kept looking at it and I'm like, I can't quilt this.

16:33 And it was spectacular applique.

16:36 And I told the customer, I said, this quilt is totally worth saving and taking apart and

16:41 doing it.

16:43 I think you should take it home and square up these blocks, put it back together.

16:48 She's like, I got this at a garage sale.

16:50 I'm not doing that.

16:52 She goes, you want to buy it?

16:53 And I said, sure, I'll buy it.

16:56 So during COVID I bought that quilt for 50 bucks.

17:00 I took it apart, put it back together.

17:03 And I've got to finish quilting it.

17:04 It's about halfway done.

17:06 Wow.

17:07 That's an interesting story.

17:11 I don't know how I ended up with it, but she wasn't willing to put the work into it.

17:16 But if you don't know what to do and how to go about deconstructing a quilt and putting

17:21 it back together, it totally can be overwhelming.

17:24 Yeah.

17:25 Yeah.

17:26 We can look insurmountable to a person who doesn't know what they're doing.

17:30 Absolutely.

17:32 So did you start out with having some customers already in the kitty or?

17:40 I had zero customers.

17:42 You had zero?

17:43 Zero customers.

17:44 Zero.

17:45 So how'd you get them?

17:47 What'd you do?

17:48 I did lots of things.

17:51 One of the ones that kind of sticks out most to me is I would go to dry cleaners, Panera,

17:58 put up business cards everywhere.

18:01 I started on social media.

18:03 I went to the library.

18:05 I opened every quilting book and put my business cards in it.

18:09 And that way, if a quilter went to the library and picked it out, they'd have my contact

18:13 information.

18:14 Is that legal?

18:15 Can you do that?

18:16 Have you looked at the laws about that?

18:17 I don't know.

18:18 Spray area.

18:19 Yeah.

18:20 Yeah.

18:21 I can see.

18:22 I don't know that anything's wrong with it.

18:24 I've never heard, but I don't even know if anybody checked those books out, but I was

18:29 really, I was hungry at the beginning.

18:31 So I was willing to try anything to get my name out there.

18:36 The biggest thing that got my name out was joining a quilt guild.

18:40 And like I said, when I started, I was 38.

18:44 So I brought that median age way down and, and I didn't know what to expect at a quilt

18:52 guild.

18:53 Will they be nice to me or do they already have friend groups?

18:57 You know?

18:58 What was your experience there?

19:00 Did they get down the nose at you at first?

19:03 No, they did not.

19:04 They, I think I was way more scared than, than anything.

19:09 They are, in my experience, quilters are the best people.

19:13 They are very friendly.

19:14 They are very loving and just genuine, wonderful people.

19:19 I have, just everybody I meet, I mean, my customers are my friends too.

19:26 They, they're wonderful.

19:27 I go to quilt guild, I don't, I don't miss very often because it's, it's what I love.

19:34 So when you, when you got involved with the quilt guild, I have questions from people

19:41 a lot of times about, they, they worry if people are going to see them as a, like a

19:47 business threat or anything.

19:49 Did you, you have any sense of any, anything like that?

19:54 I think anytime you join a guild and you are doing a business.

20:00 it is a tight there is a little bit of a tight line you have to watch if there are established

20:06 quilters in there I mean you have to know you're not going to just sweep in and take all the

20:12 business or you know quilters are very loyal to their long armors unless you know something

20:19 happens that maybe they don't like your prices or something didn't go quite the way they like

20:24 that they're very loyal so um but I recently joined a new one and there was a quilter in

20:32 there and the reason I joined the guild is they actually sew during their guild meetings which I

20:38 had never heard of and I'm like anytime I get to work on a project that sounded super fun to me

20:44 so when I started that guild they had um they had an established long armor in there and

20:51 it was a little awkward but I'm not pushy at all about my stuff I am you know I show my work and

20:58 if you like what I have to offer what I'm doing you know I'll wait I'm patient so but usually

21:07 people will people will try different things or if they're looking for someone they'll see

21:13 I'm sorry go ahead they'll seek you out if they're looking for a long armor

21:17 and you let it be known that you are one and you are available to take new customers absolutely

21:24 okay um when you first started did you um were you working another job or oh I was I was I was

21:33 a librarian at our local library that's how you knew about the books okay I got you that's the

21:41 reason for the books exactly get away with it okay yeah I uh I love people and I love working

21:49 with people and and that library was very creative or they let me be creative um I did a lot of

21:56 making displays and things like that for the children summer reading programs and

22:02 and creative people we we need that outlet so right and how long did you uh were you doing

22:10 both the jobs at one time for a period I did until I got going it took me about two years

22:17 um before I really got to the point where okay I need to stop and focus on this I've got enough

22:25 business coming in now that that needs to be my main focus okay the library some days

22:34 gotcha gotcha so oh let me ask you is uh your your shop right now is it uh

22:42 you don't have three machines in your home do you no they're all in my so uh about eight years ago

22:48 we built a barn uh with a space for my quilt shop um when we were kind of designing and drawing it

22:57 out you know how how big do you want it I I have no idea I'm I'm in a dining room now anything

23:03 bigger than this and and at that time I never dreamed there would be two let alone three

23:09 machines um but the space the space is enough for three I don't I don't think we could do one more

23:16 no um but it's right across my driveway so it makes it very convenient for my commute is pretty

23:23 short uh you know if a customer needs to come after hours or early in the morning I'm able to

23:32 bounce out even on weekends I don't I try not to sew on weekends um so I can have that time with

23:38 my family but if somebody needs a needs to drop off one of those days it's it's easy doesn't

23:44 usually take much of my time it's right here do you have a do you have like a big sign out front or

23:52 I have a sign at the end of my driveway and I have a sign just outside of my door but nothing

23:59 really big that's on the road or anything most people find me word of mouth I would say um

24:08 social media I have a decent following on social media uh I did a post on something and it was one

24:16 of those that kind of blew up I could sit at lunch and watch my social media like explode kind of

24:22 thing it was a little crazy gotcha gotcha I have I have a question from from one person here Robin

24:30 oh Jennifer is asking I'm just starting my business I was wondering how to find a good

24:37 supplier for wholesale batting thread other supplies to keep my overhead costs down do you

24:43 have any advice um I would look for distributors in different areas I'm not sure where you're

24:50 located for me I will say I'm in Ohio and we have a checker distributors here um so I make a run

25:00 to Toledo about once a month and um because shipping those rolls of batting can get expensive

25:08 um and that's how I keep my costs down I'm able to go straight to the distributor once a month

25:15 we come home with like five rolls of batting and whatever we need uh and so that definitely

25:21 helps me so I guess it kind of depends on where you're located then you kind of found a distributor

25:27 that's in a big city uh close to you how far away is Toledo yeah it's about an hour and a

25:35 half hour 40 so I mean it ends up being a whole day for me we're down for a whole day but you

25:41 figure a roll of batting to ship I think it's like 50 bucks or something like that yeah and

25:49 so it makes it worth it to be down one day a month um my my niece also lit or goes to college

25:55 at Bowling Green so sometimes I bribe her with uh gas money and she'll stuff her car and bring it

26:01 home for me there you go there you go okay so Robin um uh how many how many hours a week would

26:10 you say you put into your business these days um I work on average about 35 hours a week

26:17 um we run all three machines most every day um we average are you the only one that runs them or

26:26 you have people working with you or no I have a I have a friend that comes in and works with me

26:31 she's awesome Susan um I definitely don't think I could run three machines as efficiently

26:39 without her she's great okay and um so you do you do some custom and uh and some edge to edge both

26:52 yes uh for the most part the the two bigger machines with the 30-inch heads they run

26:59 pantographs non-stop and I use that smaller vision for all of our custom work because

27:05 that way I can load something on there um and run them back to back so I have two machines that

27:14 I can turn back and forth between the two make sure the edge to edge is running here and then

27:19 work on the custom as I'm going and if it sits on that machine for maybe a week I don't feel so bad

27:26 about it okay and um while I'm thinking about it uh what uh what is your feeling about the

27:35 the size of the machine the optimum versus that 22-inch you have uh what input do you have about

27:42 that I think it depends on what you're doing it for if you're getting a machine for home use

27:49 and you're not going to be a not do it as a business that smaller size is great I it would

27:57 have been perfect for me but for a business I would highly recommend get the 30 you will not

28:05 be disappointed it opens up so many avenues with patterns and possibilities as what you can do what

28:14 you can't do um there's more can do's with those okay and yeah and I thought that would be I thought

28:22 you would have that type of answer because most of the people that I've talked to they like if

28:28 they have a classic a 26 inch or something maybe they wish they had the biggest one so uh yeah

28:34 there is one size bigger than the 30 isn't there well in in the old days there used to be the uh

28:41 supreme which is the 36 which is a humongous machine but but that's not in production anymore

28:46 I wasn't sure I wouldn't I don't know that you'd be able to reach it I'm a pretty tall person

28:53 and the 30 is is perfect for me but uh my friend Susan she's a little bit shorter than I am

29:00 and she struggles a little bit sometimes she just loads it a little differently I should say

29:06 gotcha um so as far as the edge to edge versus uh custom what would you say your your ratio of

29:15 production is uh I would say 95 edge to edge and maybe 5 custom okay and um uh do you charge by the

29:28 hour by the square inch tell us about that I charge by the square inch we are um our edge to

29:35 edge starts at two cents a square inch and depending on how dense you want your quilting

29:41 kind of goes up from there um I'm very generous with my quilting I would say I I don't like to

29:50 go to quilt shows where I see um a quilter has paid for quilting and the quilters are expanding

29:59 the stitch length they aren't giving as you know they get a little chintzy sometimes I feel with

30:06 the quilting part of it um yeah quilting is not it's not cheap and and I feel that you should get

30:14 your money's worth and uh the your picture froze up just a minute while you're saying that tell us

30:20 again how uh how much you charge for you by the square inch for both I charge uh two cents a

30:26 square inch okay and it goes up depending on how dense you want it so more dense more expensive

30:34 okay okay gotcha um all right so uh do you know about how many quilts you're doing per year these

30:44 days a lot uh you know I honestly don't know uh hundreds it's it's hard to say yeah um I would

31:01 definitely say we're in the hundreds um okay yes that's a that's a great question yeah you should

31:11 have known that answer but coming on I you know I apologize that's I should know that that's okay

31:17 I'm gonna let you slide because okay a few more questions but but you're skating on thin ice now

31:22 as it is so um so do you oh do you have any other services binding piecing backings t-shirt quilts

31:32 anything we do everything that is quilt related t-shirt quilts bindings we sell batting we sell

31:42 backing we sell minky batting we repair or backing I should say we repair quilts if it's quilt related

31:50 we do it we do not hem pants or alterations that people try to get us to do all the time

31:57 if it's quilt related I'll do it people people try to get you to hem pants

32:04 stuff I mean I I do it occasionally for friends and family but you better expect if I'm hemming

32:10 your pants I'm probably so in your pocket shut because I don't want return customers

32:17 nice nice okay so

32:21 so let's see I have another question I was thinking about asking and it's left my mind now

32:29 um let me ask you uh as far as knowing how to uh run these machines

32:38 um the statler was it do you think it's an easy thing to learn or

32:47 tell us about gaining knowledge about that uh how are those operating I can tell you in my

32:54 experience I am all self-taught so when I knew I was getting the machine I just started doing

33:02 research and I read the manual I I didn't know what the heck I was reading um there definitely

33:11 is a learning curve there's um I think the hardest thing for me when I started with the

33:16 statler was learning the primary secondary selection things like you can have something

33:24 selected and then have you can technically have two things selected at once whether it be the

33:30 boundary or the quilting pattern I didn't necessarily understand that fully that okay

33:36 right click left click on you know unselect the primary and the secondary that that was

33:43 a little different because that was nothing like I had ever experienced but once I the more I did

33:50 it I still learn things every day about it um you know different ways to do things that's the

33:57 nice thing too I think about the gamel statlers you can do things probably three different ways

34:05 you know whether it be the the keypad the fast keys the mouse or directly on the sewing head

34:14 there's lots of different ways to go about it so sometimes when I'm teaching someone how to do that

34:21 um I try to tell them to get used to doing the keypad actually on the machine because if you

34:28 can get it in your mind how to do it it will make your life easier rather than switching back to the

34:34 mouse and things like that takes a little while but yeah and I've I've uh I've heard that from a

34:42 lot of different people the same thing that you're saying um even if you if there's something you

34:48 don't know how to do if you you just kind of develop the basics and as you go on learning

34:54 um if there's something you don't know how to do there's probably at least three different ways to

35:00 do that and uh you there's several different workarounds to do to do most anything um let me

35:08 ask you Rob have you ever been to uh quilting with confidence I have not um my my lady Susan that

35:17 works in the shop with me she's getting ready to go this I think June so she's very excited about it

35:24 and I I told her I go well you you should go maybe I should go okay okay well yeah everybody

35:31 looking to yeah I'm sorry you froze up for just a second there but I was saying that uh everyone

35:37 that I've spoken to that's been to uh quilting with confidence has absolutely loved it and uh

35:42 and I would encourage anybody that's watching this um if you you know if you don't feel secure

35:49 in your knowledge of creative studio or even hand-guided quilting in general um this will

35:57 give you loads of confidence and also the just the experience I hear that just as much as the

36:03 learning the experience of getting together with all these quilters it's it's just one big family

36:09 and yeah I'd encourage you Robin to go sometime you you would really love it no matter how much

36:13 experience you have or how long you've been in business um I have people that have been in

36:19 business for for years and they will go like to several different quilting with confidence

36:24 during the year they're they're that uh addicted to it but but yeah now you're making me want to

36:30 go sign up and go yeah I promise you you would not regret it and I'm I'm not just saying that

36:36 because I'm trying to sell something but uh quilting with confidence is has been a game

36:42 changer for so many different people that I've talked to and and while I'm talking about uh

36:48 Gammill stuff um you talked about your your 552 page thing that your husband uh but it's longer

36:55 every uh but yeah the accelerate program the Gammill accelerate you can look that up on the

37:03 on Gammill.com the accelerate businesses program it will uh put you in touch with everything you

37:10 need to start a business those of you who are watching that uh you know you're not sure what

37:15 you need uh to to start the business uh there's a lot of those resources in there and also um

37:23 as far as your knowledge of quilting itself check out the new owner training you can find that on

37:29 Gammill.com also and that'll go through all the um there's full length uh hours upon hours courses

37:37 that you can uh purchase uh it'll train you with the uh creative studio and all that so I just I

37:44 just wanted to put a plug in for those as as a benefit for the people that are watching um you

37:50 know those are things that will really help you along in your business so let's get back to your

37:55 path here Robin um what do you think uh has been one of or more than one of the hardest things

38:04 about growing your business what are some difficulties maybe that you I I gotta stop

38:14 buying machines so I can have these things paid off I think I think that's the hardest part for me

38:20 you know I the third machine was supposed to go and I I would have been good but

38:27 this year everything is going to be paid off the right that that's yeah

38:36 um but a lot of my business is to also to support my habit I'm a quilter I like quilting things I

38:45 love everything quilting and so it's admitting you have a problem so that's right I I have a

38:51 problem uh my biggest hurdle man um let me ask you what um you say uh here lately you you're doing

39:04 hundreds of quilts a year probably um would you say that that amount has has that like increased

39:12 like incrementally all the time or have you had ups and downs every year I have done I think I've

39:19 doubled my business every year wow so obviously when I started off it it was it was not big I

39:26 think I made like six thousand dollars my first year and every year is doubled doubled and and

39:34 I'm to the point now where I don't even know where people are getting my information from

39:40 you know a friend of a friend of a friend and when you get to a point where it starts to

39:45 grow exponentially um I call uh I call them like uh

39:52 they're they're people who tell somebody and then this person tells somebody else they're

39:58 they're like connector people as well

40:00 I say. If you get a good couple of really good connector people, it can grow your business huge.

40:07 But I think it all comes down to how you treat people, too.

40:12 Yeah, okay. Let me ask you, there's a couple of things all around that.

40:18 Now, you live, did you say you live out in the country?

40:22 I live out in the country.

40:24 You're not real close to a super city area?

40:29 Nope. I am 45 minutes north of Columbus and about a half an hour south of Mansfield.

40:40 So in order for me to even go to the grocery store, it's like 20 minutes to get to the grocery

40:46 store. So there are little ways. Most of my people are probably within an hour of me.

40:55 So I do get some Columbus traffic. I get a lot of Mount Vernon, Mount Gilead,

41:03 Marion, Mansfield. It just kind of just depends where they're here about me

41:11 and if they have a long armor in their area.

41:15 Okay. So you talk about this, the way you treat people. Tell us a little bit about that.

41:25 When you meet people or just tell us about that. How's your interaction with people go and

41:31 how's that related to you gaining customers and things?

41:35 Well, when I started the business and I had to come up with like a title for myself,

41:42 I decided to call myself a creative guide. And so I kind of embraced that when a customer walks

41:50 in the door, it's their quilt and I feel it's my job to help guide them through that process.

41:58 I let them be as hands-on or as hands-off as they want to. If they want to hand it to me and say,

42:04 make it look pretty, I can do that. But they put so much time into it. I let my customers

42:10 pick thread colors. They pick patterns. We talk about the different choices in thread,

42:16 the different weights, how they affect the overall look of their quilt, how the pattern

42:24 they choose will compliment or distract from what they have going on. So I try to make them think

42:32 outside the box a little bit, and I'm willing to do whatever they want to do, but I try to keep

42:40 them in the guardrail so I know what's going to look nice. If you've got this quilt and it's got

42:48 a lot of white on it and you're going to pick a super bright purple thread for it, that thread's

42:54 going to stand out like a sore thumb. And I want to let them know, hey, we can totally do that,

43:00 but this is what you need to consider. And so we have a lot of options on the walls,

43:08 as you can see in the background, and we talk about different things. So I feel like it's my

43:14 job to guide them through. And I also give tips and feedback too. If they bring in a quilt that

43:21 maybe has the backing is pieced together and it's a quarter inch seam, I might suggest to them, hey,

43:30 next time you bring one in, try do a half inch seam, press it open. It gets a better result

43:36 in quilting. And I always tell my customers, if we work together, we're going to get a great

43:41 product. You're going to be happy. I'm going to be happy. And you're going to get the best possible

43:47 quilt out of here that you can. So I try to give suggestions and helpful hints without being like,

43:57 you did this wrong. You need to take this back and fix it. Because like I said before,

44:03 everybody's on a quilting journey. You don't start out being great. First quilt I have,

44:10 it is a dumpster fire, but I still have it to look back. And when people come in and they're

44:16 not very confident, I pull it out and I show them like, this is where I started. It's not good.

44:23 So it sounds like you've really embraced that role of a creative guide. Sounds a bit Gandhi-esque.

44:30 Yes. Yeah, but that's good. Creative guide. You're telling them that, yeah, we can definitely

44:38 do that, but you consider this. So that's great. And I think, and just talking to you tonight,

44:46 I think the people that are listening and watching will be able to see that

44:53 you have the, you have embraced that role that you're talking about, creative guide. And that's,

44:59 I think that is one of the things that a lot of the people watching and listening,

45:04 worry about is, how should they, or can they interact with customers? And everybody has

45:13 their own personality and their own style and everything. You have any more to add to that,

45:20 or you just think own your role? I just think a lot of times you also need to listen to your

45:27 customers. I try to never schedule, we are all by appointment only. I try to not schedule more

45:36 than one customer at a time. When they're here, I try to devote my entire attention to them.

45:43 Because sometimes just taking that extra five minutes to talk to them about their day or what's

45:51 going on in their life, not only are you helping them out through your business, but you're building

45:57 a relationship with them. Little things too. I'm not a nickel and dime kind of person. My fees

46:06 include thread. I don't charge extra for thread. I don't charge extra for bobbins.

46:11 There are a couple of things, like if you use variegated thread, that's one of the few things

46:15 I charge extra for. We trim our quilts for free. A lot of the people that come in and get quilts

46:22 done with us, they don't have the space at home to trim their quilts. That's a really easy thing

46:30 we can offer our customers. It doesn't really cost anything. It maybe takes us two minutes

46:35 to trim a quilt. I just think paying attention and actually, if you take the extra time to spend

46:48 with a customer and talk to them and encourage them on that journey. I also tell customers,

46:55 if you are working on a quilt and you're stuck or you have a question, just call me. I will help you.

47:01 I will try and guide you as best I can. I'm not going to do it for you, but I'm willing to answer

47:06 questions. Those kind of little things where you're going out of your way and you're doing

47:12 little things, those are big for people. I have another question that somebody put in.

47:21 How did you know that it was time to hire a helper and how did you advertise or find her?

47:30 I can say I didn't really. Susan just kind of showed up one day. She showed up uninvited, huh?

47:40 Yes. I mean, I invited her. She was retiring. She was a quilter. We have really good rapport

47:48 together. She was kind of looking for something to do too. With retirement, she always says it's

47:56 so she doesn't kill her husband. I'm here to protect him. Something about us working together,

48:06 we have a really fantastic working relationship. You get to the point where she would come in

48:14 maybe once or twice a week. I looked forward to those days because I could get more done.

48:23 She learned how to wind bobbins one time. Those little things add up. Being able to help pull

48:30 a quilt off a machine or cut some batting, those kind of things, you don't realize how much time

48:38 they take in a day, but they do add up. I struggle a little bit now with

48:48 the phone calls. That's where I'm struggling now is how do I manage my phone calls

48:55 so I am getting the appointments going but still running the machines.

49:02 I'm open for suggestions. Okay. I was about to ask, how do you? You're still in the process of

49:09 working that one out, huh? Yeah. I mean, I try to. I don't always answer calls during the day.

49:16 If I can, I try to. Lunchtime, I definitely sit down and I answer emails. That's the other

49:24 problem. Social media is a good thing and a bad thing because not only do I get phone calls,

49:31 I get text messages, I get emails, I get Facebook messages, Instagram messages.

49:39 Sometimes managing, talking on all of those different platforms and remembering which

49:46 customer and which platform I was talking to them on, I do struggle with it a little bit.

49:52 I do the best I can, but there's a lot. It can be a lot.

49:59 Yeah. You can think about whether you want to give your contact information at the end here

50:05 because it sounds like you're almost out of control with people contacting you.

50:11 All right. We got to finish up. Sorry, I'm a talker. No, that's good.

50:23 I love it. I just have to sit here and listen, so that's great.

50:27 Who would you say? It just froze up on me. Who is your biggest cheerleader or support system?

50:34 I would say my family, definitely. My parents and my husband, reluctantly.

50:41 Once he saw... He had to come around that corner, didn't he? He did. It was nice to hear him say

50:47 that I was right, that the business would be good and quilters would come.

50:57 I was what? I was what? He does the, I was what with the business plan. Yes.

51:04 Yeah, it sounds like that. It turned out to be a joint venture because I've been ragging the

51:13 1,052 page report, but I suspect that that was probably a valuable learning experience for you

51:22 also, starting out. It was. All right. One more question here.

51:31 Can you think of anything that maybe you wish somebody would have told you at the beginning

51:37 that you don't know now? That you know now that you wish somebody would have told you at the

51:43 beginning? Put you on the spot. I would say, go with your gut a lot. Don't be afraid and

51:57 go with your gut. I mean, plan ahead. Definitely planning is good, but there's always that little

52:03 voice in you that kind of tells you what you should do. A lot of times I listen to that voice

52:10 and it's been pretty good to me. I really feel like you just have to have some confidence in

52:17 yourself too. I did, but I think I wish I would have had maybe a little bit more to try some

52:25 different things out of the gate. I was nervous. You're scared. You don't know. You just don't know

52:32 what you don't know. Go with your gut. Don't let the fear overtake you. Yes. Okay.

52:42 So, you live out in the country. We're in the year 2024 and you're being very successful.

52:50 Do you think that other people can take up a quilting business and be successful

52:56 in this day and age? Quick thoughts about that. Absolutely. I think my big thing,

53:05 I'll come back to it. It's how you treat your customers. You want to be successful,

53:10 be reasonable, be honest. Don't try to hide things. These are machines and sometimes we

53:17 have accidents and we have to make calls we don't want to, but if you're honest with people

53:23 and up front, they will be honest with you. Like I said, quilters are great people.

53:32 Awesome. I think what you just said is probably a good lesson for life in general. Just be up

53:38 front and honest. Yep. All right, Robin. We're about to wrap up. Would you like to share

53:46 where anybody might be able to get in touch with you or see your stuff? Sure. I will say my website

53:53 is not great right now. We're in the process of redesigning, but my Facebook page, my business

53:59 name is Thread White and Blue. We're on Facebook. We're on Instagram. ThreadWB at gmail.com if you

54:11 want to email me, that's a good way to get a hold of me. Say that email again. ThreadWB

54:21 at gmail.com and Thread White and Blue on Facebook. Those are probably the two best

54:28 ways to get a hold of me. Okay. Excellent. Well, Robin, thank you so much. It's really been a

54:35 pleasure listening to everything you have to share. I'm serious. Thank you very much for

54:42 inspiring us and encouraging all those who are watching. We will keep an eye out for more of

54:49 your stuff. Okay. Well, thank you. I've enjoyed my time here. Okay. Thank you very much and good

54:55 night, everybody. Have a good evening.