How Danielle Butler Built Ritzy Quilting Company From Scratch

0:00 All right, well, everybody, welcome to Quilting Business Success.

0:29 I'm Bobby, working tech support, and Andrew here.

0:35 I was going to come up with something witty, like the place where the show hosts are so

0:41 professional that you'd never know it.

0:44 Yeah, it doesn't quite work, does it?

0:47 Yeah, it's not doing much for me, so.

0:50 All right, sorry.

0:51 Okay, well, we have a very special guest today.

0:54 Danielle, we'll get to you in just a second.

0:58 I want to tell the people that are watching live that you do have the opportunity to submit

1:07 questions or comments.

1:08 If you look at the bottom of your screen, you'll see a place where you can click and

1:12 type in a question or comment, and we'll be glad to go over those and ask Danielle those

1:19 on the air as we go.

1:21 And on the off chance that this is the first episode that you've listened to, I think this

1:27 is actually episode 43, and you can go back and view all of the prior ones.

1:35 The very first episodes were audio only, and then we very quickly started putting them

1:42 on YouTube as well.

1:44 There's actually a page on Gamble.com, and I believe it's Gamble.com slash Quilting-Business-Success.

1:53 But anyway, you can go there, or you can sign up on a podcast app on your phone, and like

2:01 I said, the first few episodes, I think, were audio only.

2:05 But every single person's story has been really interesting, and I think everybody's going

2:11 to really enjoy Danielle's story.

2:13 I've heard little snippets of it, and I can't wait to get into the whole thing.

2:18 So nobody's here to listen to me talk.

2:20 So Danielle, where's home for you?

2:24 Where do you live?

2:26 Home is Crystal Springs, Mississippi.

2:29 It's a little bitty town.

2:30 We got about 5,000 people.

2:32 Occasionally, there's stray goats that turn up at the little local rainies.

2:37 You see it on the walking down.

2:39 Like the goats, seriously, there's a goat that gets around.

2:42 You'll see it everywhere.

2:44 But we're just south of the capital city.

2:47 It's a great town.

2:48 It was at one time the tomato capital of the world.

2:50 So I don't know if it still is or not, but Crystal Springs.

2:54 So is it pretty rural then?

2:56 It's a long ways away from a big city?

3:00 Not at all.

3:01 It's 30 minutes from Jackson.

3:04 We're 30 minutes outside of Jackson.

3:06 So the big city is 30 minutes in either direction.

3:12 You're going to be in a big city.

3:13 I know.

3:14 Okay.

3:15 It's good to have a fellow Mississippian on the show.

3:17 You may be the first.

3:18 So that's good.

3:20 I'm from the Hattiesburg area down there.

3:22 The Pine Belt area.

3:25 Yes, yes, yes.

3:27 So Danielle, how long have you been long arming?

3:32 Since 2019.

3:34 I started on a used machine that was not a gamble.

3:39 It was, I bought it off a marketplace and the motor was shot.

3:44 You could work for about five, 10 minutes at a time and you wouldn't think anything

3:48 was wrong with it.

3:49 The 30 to 45 minutes into it, it would smoke.

3:53 So it just never worked.

3:55 But despite all of that, what I figured out was I really, really like long arming.

3:59 It was like the world's biggest pencil and it was a whole lot of fun.

4:03 And I just enjoyed it so much.

4:05 And so despite all of that, I was like, yeah, I'm going to get a new one of these.

4:10 I'm not going to go with a used one.

4:12 And I looked around and I was like, yeah, I want a gamble.

4:15 So I got a gamble.

4:17 And the gamble I bought new in 2020, the day after Christmas, it was delivered.

4:25 Wow.

4:26 Did you look, did you look, you mentioned that you'd pick the gamble.

4:31 What was the main thing that you saw about it that that made you decide to get that one?

4:38 You didn't really see gambles up for sale.

4:41 Like you would see other brands, you would see a whole lot of baby locks up for sale.

4:48 You would see, you really wouldn't see gambles up for sale.

4:52 I mean, and if they did go up for sale, you could tell that they had been really

4:57 well taken care of because their price point was so close to new that it was just like,

5:02 okay, this is a good brand.

5:05 I'm going to go with this.

5:07 And what type of gamble machine did you start with?

5:12 Um, this is my first one.

5:13 It's a gamble vision 2.0.

5:15 It's a 22 inch head on a 12 foot frame.

5:20 And I thought about the 14 foot frame because my used one had a 14 foot frame.

5:26 And then I decided not to get a 14 again, because there really wasn't that much of a

5:30 demand for something that big.

5:32 It just took up more space, but there really wasn't a whole lot more that 14 would do that

5:37 the 12 wouldn't.

5:38 So, if you're looking at it, the 12 works for pretty much anything you'll ever see.

5:46 I agree with that sentiment.

5:48 It's very rare to find somebody who's had to turn away a quilt because it wouldn't fit

5:54 on their 12 foot frame.

5:57 Men, I can speak for men, I think, sometimes when we will make our first quilt, we always

6:04 think bigger is better.

6:05 And so we'll do a king size quilt and then put an extra border around it.

6:10 But those are not the people that you're doing quilts for all the time.

6:13 But we're, that's just kind of how God wired us.

6:16 What can I say?

6:21 So, did you get this machine specifically to do a long arm business or did you buy it

6:28 for yourself first and then?

6:30 It's kind of interesting how this came about.

6:32 I had originally gotten it because I had toyed around with possibly quilting for the

6:39 public.

6:41 But like a lot of things in my life, I sort of fell into it.

6:45 In 2020, the whole world sort of got put in timeout.

6:50 I mean, we all know that.

6:52 At that point, I was a wastewater operator and I had been for a couple of years.

6:58 And I had been for a very, very long time.

7:02 And I'm a United States Navy veteran.

7:04 So that should let you know that I don't really brighten off from a lot of challenges

7:11 easily or at all.

7:13 But in 2020, where I was at had sent out an email and they accidentally included me in

7:21 this email.

7:22 My name first and last was about three letters different from somebody else in the company.

7:28 And he was much higher up in the company than I was.

7:32 And so when that email came out and I got it, the email was is that by December of 2021,

7:38 everyone would have to take a vaccination that was out.

7:43 In 1996, I had taken an anthrax vaccine and developed Bell's palsy from it and it cleared

7:50 up.

7:50 But the United States Navy at that point put me on a no vaccine list.

7:55 I was told very, very clearly at 21 years of age that I was not allowed to take any

8:00 vaccines, any kind ever, ever again, because once you've had one reaction, they say the

8:05 potential for death is very, very high.

8:08 So my mind going into 2020, regardless of the politics or anything about it, I already

8:15 knew what my medical choices would be.

8:17 And so the company had put out that to continue working there, everyone would have to have

8:22 this.

8:23 So that was, and I went to the company and I said, Hey, look, I can't do this.

8:27 And they said, we'll talk to your doctor and see if your doctor will admit you to the

8:31 ICU before you take it.

8:35 And I went, so you want me.

8:38 That's interesting medical advice from a non-medical person, but okay.

8:44 And I went, I'm sorry.

8:47 I went, no, no, no, we're not doing that.

8:49 And when this email came, I promptly started looking around and I'm like, okay, I already

8:55 know I like long-arming, maybe this is something that can get me through.

9:00 And so I went to, at that point, Gamma was still selling through local dealers.

9:05 And so I went over a couple of towns over and I bought the Gamma and they delivered

9:11 it the day after Christmas.

9:13 And I'm very, very partial to that long arm.

9:15 I will probably never get rid of it ever because it saved my life.

9:20 Because I want to follow your timeline.

9:22 So you got the email letting you know that you had a problem at work.

9:31 How many months before you got your machine?

9:33 Was that eight months?

9:35 No, I went two days after that email came and bought the Gamma.

9:42 Oh, okay.

9:42 It was right away.

9:43 Okay.

9:44 All right.

9:44 I was like, we're going to have to find another, we're going to have to pivot and find another

9:48 thing, find some way to do this.

9:50 Because everything coming at you so quickly was, well, everyone's going to have to take

9:55 this and you won't be able to get a job and you won't be able to do this and you won't

9:58 be able to travel.

9:59 And I'm like, okay, so I'm going to be forever outcast in society.

10:03 And that was what I was thinking was going to happen at this point in time.

10:08 So I went, all right, we'll just make quilts.

10:11 You know, even if I'm selling quilts that are completely made or I'm just quilting for

10:15 myself, whatever it is, we'll figure it out.

10:19 And so I bought the Gamma and now we're into 2021 and they finally make it public to the

10:26 rest of the company.

10:27 What I had known about since December, accidentally.

10:32 Only they sped up the timeline because in their initial email, they had said that it

10:36 was going to be December of 2021 to have this happen.

10:39 On August of 2021, August the 24th specifically, they called everybody in and said, if you

10:47 do not, this was on a Tuesday, if you do not have this first dose by Friday, you no longer

10:54 have a job.

10:56 And so I tried talking to them and that was when they suggested I get my doctor to admit

11:00 me to the ICU in case I had problems to, you know, take the first dose.

11:06 And I went, no, that's not going to work for me.

11:08 So I don't know where you are in terms of higher powers or God or whatever that I do

11:16 believe in God.

11:17 And so I was like, okay, God, here we go.

11:21 So I handed them everything.

11:22 I handed them back their company car.

11:24 I handed them their uniforms, their keys, everything.

11:26 And I went, all right.

11:28 And on the way home, I get a phone call.

11:31 I had kept a little Facebook page where my quilts that I'd been doing for myself on the

11:36 Gamma were posted.

11:38 And I get a phone call and a lady named Ms. Charlotte was on the other phone.

11:43 And I love Ms. Charlotte to this day.

11:45 Like Ms. Charlotte gave me hope that day.

11:48 I don't know if she knows she was the answer to a prayer.

11:51 But Ms. Charlotte calls and she said, I saw your Facebook page and I would like to know

11:55 if you do quilting for the public.

11:57 I never quilted for anybody but myself.

11:59 And I said, yes, I do.

12:01 She said, can I see you this afternoon?

12:03 And I said, yes, ma'am, you can.

12:05 And she comes over and she comes into my studio because my Gamma was in a studio all

12:10 by itself.

12:11 She drops off the most beautiful quilt I've ever seen in my whole life.

12:14 It was like far superior to anything I've ever pieced myself.

12:18 And I was like, oh my gosh, she wants me to quilt this.

12:20 So I quilted it and I put the little flowers and stuff she wanted on it.

12:24 And she was so excited when she got it back.

12:26 And she's like, told some friends.

12:29 And then some other people showed up.

12:30 And this was just slowly.

12:33 And then those people told people.

12:34 And then these people told people.

12:36 And then somebody was like, you know, I really hate piecing bats.

12:43 And I was like, we can do something about that.

12:45 So flash forward to late 2022, I get an LLC.

12:51 And I have my studio.

12:52 And then I have a she shed, basically, that was really nice.

12:57 And I turned it into a store.

12:59 And the studio was already separate from the house.

13:02 And so all this is in the backyard.

13:04 Let me ask you, during the early time of that, Danielle,

13:07 when that first started, you did that first quilt.

13:11 For Miss Charlotte.

13:12 For Miss Charlotte.

13:14 Did you, at that time, begin doing any type of reaching out advertising or?

13:21 Nope.

13:23 Just the Facebook.

13:24 Facebook and word of mouth really traveled.

13:27 I was already in some quilt, you know, like I joined some quilt guilds.

13:30 But I started going, you know, when they would let me.

13:33 I wonder, can I can I ask this too?

13:38 You had only done your own quilts.

13:40 And then Charlotte brings you a beautiful quilt.

13:48 Like people listen to us partly because we keep it real.

13:52 Were you terrified?

13:54 I was terrified.

13:57 Tell us about that.

13:58 I mean, what were you thinking if you were putting it on the frame?

14:02 I can't remember.

14:03 My hands were shaking when I loaded her quilt in the frame.

14:08 Like, it must have been like every six, eight inches.

14:12 I was like crawling under the frame to check the back

14:15 because I was so terrified it was going to mess her quilt up.

14:19 Like choosing thread had never become as hard as that was.

14:24 It was like, OK, we have to have the right shade of blue.

14:28 And I was like, oh, OK.

14:29 You know, where you get the phone out and you did a little grayscale.

14:32 And you're like, OK, that looks good.

14:34 And then you send a picture and you get a yes, no.

14:37 And it was like, but it was scary.

14:39 It was so scary to quilt on somebody else's quilt.

14:45 But the dealers I had bought it for, she long armed for the public.

14:50 And she gave me some really good advice when I first got the machine.

14:56 She said, if you want to get good at this, this is what you got.

15:00 She said, especially if you ever think you might want to quilt for the public.

15:04 She said, I want you to go home and pull out your scrap bin.

15:08 Forget about your rotary and your ruler.

15:10 She said, just sew stuff together and don't measure anything.

15:15 And when you get a rough quilt, cut it into a square like a panel

15:19 and then start bordering it out.

15:21 She said, don't measure anything.

15:22 Just sew it on there.

15:24 Stretch it to fit if you have to.

15:26 You know, make that bias real ruffled.

15:29 Her advice was to make it more ruffled than a head of lettuce.

15:32 And she said, if you could make that flat, then you could do anything.

15:37 And I found that to be pretty good advice was if you could do that.

15:43 And so then you start looking at how to get that to work.

15:46 And what I found was some people say soup cans,

15:50 but I got real nervous about anything food related around a quilt,

15:53 especially my gammon because vixen is kind of special to me.

15:57 So what I found was the spools of omni-thread or glide thread

16:01 that still have the paper, the plastic around them.

16:05 If you lay those on the quilt, you can kind of make the quilt

16:11 feel like somebody's holding you up with water bottles.

16:14 But I like to use the soda pop ones because they're stronger.

16:18 And then you put water in when they're empty, you know.

16:21 And that way, if it hits the floor,

16:24 you don't have the problem of like a metal soup can.

16:27 I think soup cans were version one.

16:30 I use thread. I use the thread spools that are still in their plastic.

16:34 Yep, yep.

16:37 And it takes the, it makes it enough to get the fluffy out.

16:44 So you found your customers through Facebook and through,

16:50 did Miss Charlotte, did she help find you more customers?

16:55 Oh, she did. Miss Charlotte told friends, showed friends.

16:59 Those friends showed friends.

17:00 So I think I'm on like five or six people out from Miss Charlotte at this point that

17:06 if you did a little string diagram, they would all point back to Miss Charlotte.

17:10 Did you tell her that she was an answer to prayer?

17:14 I have several times. And I don't think she believes me.

17:17 I don't think she really truly understands how much I love her for showing up that day because

17:26 that particular day I was so scared.

17:29 Yeah.

17:32 I was so scared. I thought we were going to lose the house.

17:34 I thought, I thought so many things like it.

17:39 It's very, very scary to face the possibility that no one will ever hire you again,

17:46 just because you don't want to risk dying.

17:53 So when, when this first, you say you,

17:56 did you say you purchased the machine like right after?

18:00 Right after that first email.

18:03 And how were you able to afford that machine? Or how did you,

18:07 how did you purchase that machine?

18:11 I had saved up and I took out a loan.

18:14 I took out a small loan from the bank.

18:19 I had saved up and then there was a trade in on the dead machine.

18:22 So that was actually really cool that they gave me a trade in on that.

18:26 And just to get it off the market, I guess, I don't know what they did with it.

18:30 Don't care. May it rest in peace.

18:33 But it was amazing. It was so amazing.

18:37 Like it was, I took out a four year loan and I paid it off in a year.

18:41 So I actually paid off Vixen in just shy of a year.

18:44 You were able to do that with the revenue you earned from the machine itself?

18:49 Yes. I sat down and calculated it up. It took 85 quilts to pay off Vixen.

18:58 The only ones that started in snowball.

19:00 Hate to be in debt.

19:03 I hate being in debt. I hate it. Hate it.

19:05 Yep. Yep.

19:07 Yep. Yep.

19:09 So do you do custom quilting as well as edge to edge or?

19:15 I do a lot of edge to edge, not so much custom.

19:18 I do what I call modified custom, which is

19:22 sometimes people will come in with like panel quilts or stuff where there's a lot of

19:27 decorative in the center.

19:29 And so what I mean by that is there's like edge to edge and then I stop, break the pattern,

19:35 finish out the row.

19:36 And then there's this area where there's like some free hand around stuff that they don't want.

19:42 You may not want it over the monogramming.

19:44 You may not want it over certain applique.

19:47 So we'll break the panel, pick up the panel and then just custom around it.

19:55 I don't really know what that's called, but I call it modified panel.

20:00 And how, how much time do you spend these days quilting and is this your primary job that you do?

20:09 This is my primary job. In fact, since 2020, I now own a fabric store and I do custom, I do

20:21 long arm services. So, Vixen, she's the heartbeat and she made everything else around me possible.

20:29 That gamble saved my life in so, so many ways.

20:36 Is that the name of your, your machine, Vixen?

20:38 I call her Vixen. I figure anything that costs that much, that needs this much, you know,

20:43 love and care, like she gets a little oil here and there. Anything that gets her nails done that

20:48 often, needle, that's her nails. She's got to have a name. So, she's beautiful. So, that's Vixen.

20:57 I don't really hear you pining for your old job back.

21:02 No, not at all. I was good at it. I was very good at it, but it never made me happy. I didn't

21:11 wake up going, oh my gosh, I just want to go there today. I wake up for my long arm and I think, oh,

21:18 I get to do this today or I get to do that today. I'm surrounded by fabrics. I'm in a happy place

21:25 all the time with the machine. It's like a giant pencil.

21:29 That is the best thing. If you can think it, you can draw it.

21:34 Yeah, I bet you didn't have the smile on your face when you were going to work at 6am for the-

21:40 4.30.

21:42 4.30.

21:45 So, do you, about how many quilts would you say, you said you paid off your machine with 85 quilts.

21:55 And you got the loan paid off in a year, which is really, really, I mean, for anybody who wonders,

22:05 she was working hard. Danielle was working hard and she was not sitting around on the quilts. She

22:13 was getting busy and getting them done because that's, you worked hard to do that. How many

22:18 quilts would you say now it would be a yearly kind of number for you?

22:26 I've done seven in the last eight days.

22:31 So, a couple hundred a year.

22:34 It would, it would be up there.

22:36 Yep. Let me ask you one thing. When you started out, you were terrified when you did the first

22:45 quilt for Miss Charlotte.

22:49 After you got a few quilts in, did you, did you start to get a rhythm with it? Did you start to

22:57 feel more comfortable with it?

22:59 You do. You do feel more comfortable, but I don't think you ever lose that, that terrified feeling.

23:05 You got somebody else's stuff you're dealing with.

23:08 Right, because once you, once you do this, you, you realize people tell you about their quilt.

23:16 They'll say, oh, this was my brother's clothes. He just passed away and I'm making this for my

23:24 nieces and my nephews. Or you get, I'm making this quilt for a friend of mine who just, her daughter

23:38 lost the baby.

23:42 And this is the receiving blankets and the pieces and her maternity clothes. And

23:50 a quilt is never, ever, ever just a quilt. You know, some people may be putting them in a show

23:57 and then some people make them and they want them dragged through the park, the dirt, the sand,

24:02 wherever it's, it's a blanket fort waiting to happen. But at the end of the day, that quilt

24:07 has a life and it's going to have memories and it's made this comfort and it's so comforting

24:14 to people when they get that quilt. And what makes it so special is you see a smile come across their

24:21 face when they get it. And I still get people saying, oh, you made my quilt beautiful. No,

24:27 I didn't. I made your quilt beautiful. Your quilt was already beautiful. You just let me

24:34 put the little tacks in it that hold it together. But the real work they did, that, that's not my

24:40 work. That's, that's theirs. I just get to do little sparkly stuff at the end.

24:46 There was, there was a story of, I don't know if it was a sculptor or something, but the idea

24:55 it being that they start with a rock or whatever they're sculpting and, you know, they, they chip

25:02 away all the parts that don't belong and then what's unveiled at the end is a majestic sculpture,

25:08 you know. But, you know, it's interesting that you, that the way you, the way they look at it

25:16 is they just brought you a flat top and you brought it to life. That's how your customer sees it.

25:23 But you see it as, oh, you brought me this beautiful quilt top and all I did was finish

25:29 what you had already done, you know. Right. But it, it really is interesting how your perspective,

25:35 it really affects how, how you see that. And we do have a, Lisa has submitted a question

25:43 asking, do you use any business software? What do you mean business software?

25:51 Well, there, there are some software out there for tracking quilts in particular,

25:56 like what color thread the customer wants and what pattern you're going to use. But you may

26:02 use software like that or you might use something like QuickBooks or something. I don't know what

26:06 the answer is, but I think that's. I use Excel. You use Excel. I use Excel. I use Excel spreadsheets.

26:12 I did a lot of spreadsheets in my former career. So Excel and I became really good friends. So

26:18 I use a lot of Excel. And then when the intake comes in, I have invoices that are, have carbon

26:24 copy, like, you know, they'll tear apart and that just one copy will always stay with me. And one

26:30 copy will always go with the client. So I can actually look back through and see what I've

26:36 done for someone else without having to pull up Excel. Do you consider yourself one of those

26:42 type A personalities who keeps every, all the T's crossed and I's dotted and organized,

26:49 or are you more of a laid back? I'm very OCD. Okay. I spent a lot of years between the military

26:57 and dealing with the EPA and the MDEQ for water results. So you don't work in a lab for a lot of

27:05 years without picking up a hand, wash my hands like still a hundred times a day, but I don't

27:12 think that habit will ever go away, but you just, you just pick it up. And so you're always just

27:17 keeping notes. It's there. How many hours in a regular week, and I know every week is going to

27:26 be different, but how many hours do you spend quilting to get, because you said you did seven

27:33 quilts in eight days or something like that. That's, is that full time pretty much or? Pretty

27:39 much. And is that seven quilts in eight days? Is that pretty much typical? That's, that's typical.

27:51 How long was it, was it maybe a year or how long was it before you realized that you had a

28:00 going concern that could replace your job? I mean, you didn't realize it on the first day

28:06 with Ms. Charlotte. No, it hit when I was looking back through the Excel, getting ready for taxes

28:15 that would come up in 2020, January of 2023. So around October, I started looking at it

28:22 and I kept track from 2021 to current. And I went, there's a clear trajectory. And I'd had a lot of

28:30 people say, Hey, you know, what you should have is some wide backs here. We need a lot of wide

28:35 backs. I hate putting the seam in. And I went, no. So I sat down in October of 2022 and I filled

28:44 out the paperwork and I LLC, and the name of my business is Ritzy Quilting Company.

28:51 And no, I don't think I'm that fancy. Ritzy was my grandmother's given name.

28:59 I named my business for my grandmother. She was the one who taught me to quilt.

29:04 And she would have been, she would have thought that longarm was the coolest thing

29:09 that she had ever laid two eyes on because she quilted the old fashioned way with hands

29:15 on the frame over the bed or in the living room that dropped down from the ceiling. And when you

29:19 got ready to put it up, it went back up to the ceiling with some ropes tied in all four corners.

29:24 And that was how I had initially learned to quilt. And so I didn't know what else to name the

29:32 company. And then it occurred to me that if she had never taught me to quilt, there wouldn't have

29:38 been a longarm sitting in the studio. There wouldn't have been something to fall back on.

29:43 So my grandmother thinking she was just passing down this family thing without even knowing it

29:50 when I was a child and teenager, she was teaching me something that in the whole world felt like

29:56 it was falling apart for me. Those stitches she had taught me would come back in a different form

30:02 and they would put me back together one little piece at a time. So I named the thing that I was

30:10 creating because I wouldn't have known to create it without her. I named it for her. So we're Ritzy

30:17 Quilting Company. And I LLC'd. And so then I was like, OK, what next? I was like, OK, I'm just going to

30:26 carry some wide back fabrics for people. Anybody, whether they use me or not, come in, get some fabric.

30:32 Hey, cool. And then this funny thing happened. I was like, I think I'm turning into a fabric store.

30:41 And so last year in November, we went to the bank and I said, hey, I found this great little building.

30:51 I see. Will the bank give me a loan? So the bank went, hey, OK, cool. We'll give you this loan.

30:58 And so I bought the building.

31:02 And now it's a fabric store and Vixen is still the heartbeat.

31:07 She just moved from a studio to a commercial space, but she's still the heartbeat back there.

31:14 You've had this amazing path from the starting out with a lot of uncertainty,

31:21 hardship, stress. And then it's like the Lord has had his hand in this situation

31:28 through the whole path. And as with any path that we take, like you have been through,

31:37 there has to be some, it's not all just roses and everything easy.

31:43 Can you tell us what are some of the hardest

31:49 parts of building this business or growing this business that you have encountered?

31:57 The hardest things that I've had to learn is it doesn't come when you want it to.

32:02 It comes when it has to. Before I bought the building, I sat down and I prayed just like

32:10 I had done the day I quit, you know, handed over and said, I'm not doing this.

32:14 And I said, all right, God, I am not the brightest child you have in your garden.

32:21 And you've got to give me this sign that lets even those of us that are prone to possibly

32:27 talking to walls or licking a window know that this is what you want me to do. And this is before

32:33 I got the loan. This is when I was like, OK, well, the bank even give me a loan.

32:37 I said, God, if this is not what you want me to do, give me a sign. If it is what I'm supposed

32:41 to do, give me a sign. And so by this point, I had a website where I was listing the widebacks

32:46 and I paid. We paid for like so to build the website straight out of the gate. I was like,

32:52 OK, if we're going to do this, might as well do it right from the beginning.

32:56 And so I'm sitting at home with my little long arm doing some quilt and my phone rings.

33:02 And there is a lady on the other end and she goes, I see that you have your only online,

33:10 she said, but you're not far from where we're going to be passing through on our way to a

33:14 quilt retreat in Texas. But we'll get there a little after you close. Do you mind if we shop?

33:18 And I said, well, you kind of need to understand that the store is not really a store at this

33:24 point. It is an insulated, heated and cool building in my backyard in a residential area.

33:32 And if you don't mind going through my backyard into this building, I said, it's very nice. It's

33:38 cool. It's heated. It's pretty. We've got antique hardwood floors on the ground,

33:42 you know, on the floor in there. I said, but if you don't mind that, come on and shop.

33:47 And so her and her four friends stop and I'm just like, OK, I have weird people in my yard,

33:52 but the neighbors are going to think we're doing drug deals or something. I don't know.

33:57 They kind of like watched all these quilts and baskets and bags leave for years. And

34:02 they've actually what one of them has actually walked over and said,

34:05 what are you doing? You have more women stopping by. How many grandmothers do you have?

34:12 And I went, we don't have grandmothers. And she's like, OK. And they left it at home. But

34:20 these four ladies that night decided decided to spend close to fifteen hundred dollars in

34:28 widebacks purchase. So I stood there and cut fabric for a couple of hours. And when they

34:35 left, I went, OK, God, I got what you were trying to tell me. That was the sign.

34:41 We'll go through with it. So I went through with it and.

34:47 As terrifying as Miss Charlotte's quilt was, I was shaking the day I saw that paperwork for the

34:53 building. It's shaking just. I took my grandmother's picture with me. And I was like, OK, we're doing

35:01 this. And then grand opening day. Oh, my gosh, it was amazing. It was like.

35:10 It was surreal. It was so surreal. It was like the day they delivered Dixon.

35:16 I just saw hope, you know, I knew that it wasn't going to happen overnight.

35:21 And we're still in that one beginning of the year. We haven't even hit a year in the building yet.

35:28 And so it's still scary. Every day is scary. But I pray a lot and it happens and I don't

35:35 know how it happens and I don't question how it happens. It just does. I think the biggest

35:42 takeaway is faith. I have faith that God is not going to drop me. I have faith that the building

35:52 that is named for my grandmother. I like to think my grandmother is my guardian angel,

35:58 and she's up there going, give her a little bit of help.

36:06 It's still terrifying, but I do know this. You don't build something like this for yourself.

36:14 It's like planting a fruit tree. You're not planting that fruit tree for you because you're

36:18 not going to see the apples that come off of it or the peaches. You're not going to live long

36:22 enough to see the full orchard effect. What I'm building right now is for my daughter and whatever

36:30 children she may have at some point. And that next generation, like my grandmother, didn't

36:35 get to see this. I will not see where this goes. And I know that. But this is my fruit tree for

36:43 whatever my family tree comes next. And I'm okay with that. I'm so totally okay with that.

36:52 My faith says that this is not my fruit. I'm just a little piece. My grandmother started it.

37:03 I put a little in and I'm pretty sure my daughter and whatever children she has,

37:08 she's going to be what sees the full magnification of this. And that keeps me going is that my

37:15 daughter will never have to work as hard or be as scared as I have. And that whatever children she has,

37:23 I will be able to have done my part to make their life better. And that's what this is to me,

37:32 is an investment for the future.

37:39 I believe that there's a long ways for your business and your ministry to the people around

37:48 you. There's a long ways for that to go. And like you said, you don't know how it's going to develop.

37:55 Because if you had to look forward four years ago, three years ago, you would never have

38:04 imagined where you are today. You don't know where you're going to be four years from now.

38:10 And I use that word ministry because when people come in with their quilt tops,

38:16 that sometimes they are negative on their own piecing ability. And they kind of fell out of

38:26 love with it before they even finished it. You know what I'm talking about. They come in and

38:32 they're like, well, I hope you can make something decent out of this. And then you give it back to

38:38 them as a completely transformed piece. I'm sure that you do a lot to raise the spirits of the

38:48 people who come to you for your service. So long arm quilting is a people business. But every

38:58 business is a people business. If you're a hair stylist, it's a people business. If you're running

39:05 a restaurant, it's not all about the food. So anyway, I can see why everybody wants to bring

39:12 you their quilts. What, no, it's not what, it's who. Who has been your strongest supporters and

39:24 your cheerleaders? And we already know about Miss Charlotte. We'll never forget her. Who else has

39:30 been there for you? My daughter picks on me. She says, Mom, it was such a harmless hobby.

39:36 I'm like, what do you mean? She goes, well, you used to just sew and putter at the dining room

39:42 table. She said, I don't think anybody realized this was going to come out of that.

39:49 But no, she's not wrong. They used to pick on me. So are we going to have pins in the dinner

39:55 tonight? You know, because I'd have to move everything off the dining room table. And so

39:59 it's part of literally.

40:00 really the dining room table. And then here it is. But my

40:04 family, my family is my rock. And my daughter, like I said,

40:09 she does pick on me a lot. And I think that is so cool. I did

40:14 teach her to sew. And she's put it down because she's in nursing

40:17 school right now. So but I have a feeling it'll be like my

40:21 quilting. It'll come back when she realizes it. You teach

40:25 somebody when they're little, and they're gonna come back to

40:28 you. And anybody that may wonder if their grandchildren

40:34 are going to love that quilt, or even remember, I promise you,

40:40 they may not tell you. I didn't get to tell my grandmother.

40:47 Like,

40:51 I think she knows. Those quilts are my treasure. Like if my

40:56 house caught on fire, Vixen would have to like fend for

40:59 herself. Because I'm going in to get my quilts and my cat. But

41:06 those quilts are so special. And ones made by your

41:10 grandmother are just irreplaceable. And to me, that's

41:14 a fun part of what I do. I cannot tell you how many quilts

41:18 have been left undone that people have brought to me and

41:22 said, my grandmother didn't get this finished. And I'll finish

41:25 it for them. So just a hint, if you have some stuff that you

41:31 aren't wanting people to take as your family heirloom, you

41:35 should probably finish it up and donate it or put it on the free

41:38 table at your guild now. Because your grandkids might find

41:42 another long armor and think that that is the quilt that you

41:45 want them to be remembered by. And if it's not your favorite

41:50 one, and that's why it was in the bag, hide it now. Hide it

41:54 now.

41:57 I'm curious, I don't know if you actually told us, how many

42:02 what kind of how many hours a day do you spend quilting and

42:06 doing this, this stuff?

42:08 Five to six.

42:10 Okay, you put out you put out enough volume that it's close to

42:17 the

42:19 close to the statler. Yeah, yeah, you're doing I started

42:22 thinking about that. So yeah, that's the numbers we hear from

42:25 the people have the computerized systems. The thing though, is

42:28 that the pantograph style quilting is actually pretty

42:32 quick. It is more one custom where you can spend, you know, I

42:40 mean, there are people that will spend six months on a quilt to

42:43 any customer. So

42:46 that's why you get the zipper leaders.

42:48 Yeah, so you can zip it off. That's right.

42:52 So

42:54 what kind of impact has the the money from quilting? Although

43:00 that question has more to do with people who do it as like

43:02 additional income, this is your job. But I'll just ask you the

43:08 question we ask everybody do the best you can with it. What kind

43:11 of impact has the quilting money and the control of your personal

43:15 schedule made in your life?

43:17 Well, it's made a huge difference. My stress level is

43:21 not as high as it was when I was testing water samples or other

43:26 things.

43:29 Quilting let me feel like I was in control of my day. It's let

43:34 me feel like I'm in control of my future. And especially after

43:38 2020 I don't know if I would ever want to depend on the

43:46 on somebody that can just walk up one day. No matter how good

43:51 you are and you haven't done anything wrong and say that. Oh,

43:55 if you don't do X, Y or Z, we know that this was never part of

44:00 your job description. But this thing from your personal life

44:04 or because if you can try and say that somebody is supposed to

44:08 take XYZ medicine. What's to stop them from walking up and

44:14 saying, hey, you're a diabetic and we don't want somebody with

44:21 insulin. If they can start basing all of this off of one

44:25 thing, it's not a far leap to think that they could at some

44:29 point base it off of other things. And that's a really

44:33 scary, scary, scary thought for me is that at some point

44:37 somebody can just walk up and effectively not only take the

44:41 food off the table, but take the whole table too. And

44:45 quilting has given back a lot of control. I've never seen an

44:49 ugly quilt. I promise you, I've never seen an ugly quilt.

44:55 Every day I get to see the most beautiful hearted people come

45:00 in here and say, oh, this is a donation quilt for the Petal

45:04 Fire Department or the Brookhaven Fire Department or

45:10 the police officers are going to put these in their car and

45:12 they're going to give them to kids that they find in trauma

45:14 situations. Or, oh, we're doing these quilts and they're going

45:18 to the VA nursing home. And that to me is so cool that these

45:22 quilts are going to go take on a life and comfort somebody or

45:26 give meaning and let somebody know at the end of the day that

45:29 they're not forgotten and that they are loved. And nobody will

45:33 know who put the stitches there. They'll never know who made the

45:35 quilt. All they'll know is somebody loved them enough to

45:39 be with. Sounds like this career has not only added more

45:46 self-actualization, being able to be your own boss, but I can

45:53 just tell by listening to everything that you're saying,

45:55 it has added a lot more meaning to your career than you would

46:02 have ever had in your old life. Yes. It's amazing.

46:10 We're getting ready to, we're getting closer to wrapping up. I

46:13 wanted to ask one thing. Is there anything you can think of

46:18 when you started actually the business, what's it been, five

46:24 years ago now, four or five years? Is there anything that

46:29 you wish that somebody would have told you at that time or

46:34 something that would have been valuable for you to know at that

46:38 time that you don't know now that you wish you would have

46:42 then? Yes. Even if you never intend to do much more than

46:51 quilt for other people, if you're going to quilt for

46:54 people, make friends with your local quilt shop because they're

46:59 going to be a valuable resource. They can get you thread.

47:02 They can do all of these things, but the thing I wish that

47:05 somebody had told me from the start was LLC pretty quickly

47:12 because you can get batting a little bit cheaper. Having a

47:16 wholesale license, you can get thread a little bit cheaper.

47:19 Even if you never plan to sell the first piece of fabric, just

47:24 being able to get your thread wholesale will mean a whole lot

47:28 more in your, it just means a whole lot more profit in your

47:37 pocket because you're looking at wholesale thread and that's

47:41 like $8, $9 a spool versus $14 to $17 for the same one. You can

47:50 get a little bit more thread quicker. One of the things that

47:56 if people are interested and want to know, one of the

48:01 products that we have here at GAML, everything that we do is

48:06 orientated towards making sure that quilters have the tools

48:11 that they need to be successful. This free program is part of

48:16 that. We want people to know these things so that they can be

48:20 successful in what they've chosen to do. One of the

48:23 products that we have is a coaching program. It's a 12

48:27 month long coaching program called Accelerate. It's for

48:32 people who are starting a quilting business. It has all

48:37 these different sections in it, including how to set up your

48:42 LLC. There's got to be a hundred different topics in

48:48 there, but a lot of times people who've never done it

48:53 before, they don't know where to look for good practical

48:57 information. If you Google it, you can find loads of

49:01 information. Sometimes it's just like too much. It's like too

49:09 much to sift through. We have that Accelerate program that

49:14 people can, you don't even have to own a GAML to sign up for

49:17 it. It coaches people through the first 12 months of their

49:21 business. You have actual meetings with your coach every

49:25 month to solve your problems and help. I know you mentioned

49:31 some people along the way that it really helped you. Those

49:37 supportive relationships are so valuable. The people that you

49:43 know you can go talk to. It sounds like you probably had

49:47 some, like it was a while before. How did you decide?

49:52 What made you decide that you needed to set up the LLC?

50:00 People kept bringing me backings. I kept hearing, oh, I

50:05 don't like this seam down the center of my back. They would

50:09 get creative to make it look like an artistic part of it,

50:12 but the fact remains is you have all these seams for piecing

50:15 the back. People were like, oh, well, I wish there were more

50:21 choices because a lot of times quilt shops or even Joann's or

50:25 whatever is local to you, their wide back choices are like,

50:29 there's a white, there's a blue, there's a red, there's a

50:33 black. You might have a yellow that's kind of orangish and

50:38 that's it. There's no pattern. It's just pick one or else get

50:44 your 45 fabrics and put it together. I was like, there's

50:50 got to be more fabric out there. I've seen these at quilt

50:53 shows. I know it exists. I was like, yeah, I can do that.

50:57 When I got the LLC, I got it with the aim of getting my

51:02 thread a little bit cheaper and my batting a little bit

51:05 cheaper because I realized I was going through a lot of

51:07 batting. It's like, okay, we'll just bring in a few. People

51:12 really responded to the wide back fabrics and that's kind of

51:17 the big thing. I probably have like 100, close to 100 wide

51:21 back choices in the store and there's more coming in all the

51:24 time. The back of your quilt shouldn't be boring. It can be

51:29 just as pretty as the front of your quilt. Life's too short to

51:34 be boring. Use all the colors.

51:43 There's something that I like about wide backs in the fabric

51:47 business and that's because I have a little, I used to have

51:53 fabric for sale and wide backs and in a life long, long ago

51:59 in a store long, long ago and far, far away.

52:04 There's a lot of times that you'll have bolts of 45 inch

52:11 fabric that just sit there and nobody wants it. It happens all

52:16 the time, but the wide backs, I never had a problem with

52:22 because they were designed to be wide appeal. They're not a

52:30 specialty that has canoes and bears on it. If you find the

52:36 right person, they'll want three yards of it, but if you don't

52:39 find the right person, nobody will buy it. The wide backs are

52:43 designed to be of general appeal. I do feel like it's a

52:50 investment to have wide back fabrics, editorializing there.

52:56 We are down to our last question, Bobby, but you'll have

53:03 to ask her about her Facebook and website and where people

53:07 can find her, but let me ask the last question first and then

53:10 he'll get to the last, last one. What advice would you give to

53:16 somebody who's heard your story from 2020 and heard of all the

53:25 things that you've gone through to get to where you are today?

53:28 If some person like Danielle is sitting out there and she's

53:33 thinking to herself, I want to do it, but I'm scared. What

53:38 would you tell her? What's your advice to her?

53:43 Well, kind of like riding a bicycle, getting married, having a baby,

53:49 starting a business. There is no perfect time. You just sort of at

53:55 some point have to take it on faith and make that leap, and

54:00 you're going to bounce a couple of times while you learn to fly,

54:03 but it's going to be so amazing when you do. To give you

54:10 context, I never at any point in my career made over $100,000 a

54:17 year. As a wastewater operator in the state of Mississippi, you're

54:20 doing really, really well if you make $52,000 to $55,000 a year.

54:26 My husband works for the state and he doesn't make a whole lot

54:32 either, so at no point have I ever cleared $100,000 a year

54:37 prior to long-arming and the quilt store. I also didn't come from

54:44 money. My dad was a cop and he passed when I was a teenager.

54:47 My mom is in her 80s and she was a secretary, so I didn't come

54:51 from money. I certainly didn't have that kind of money, but it's

54:57 possible. With a whole lot of faith, it is absolutely possible.

55:02 I was 22 when my daughter was born, so when I say that there is no

55:11 right time to have a baby and there's no right time to do all of

55:14 these things, there really isn't. It's just a matter of I used to

55:20 keep a sign on my desk that said, you have two choices. You can

55:28 live your fear or you can live your dreams. Choose wisely, but

55:32 you don't get both. If you're living your fear, that's putting it

55:36 off. If you're living your dream, you find a way to do it and make

55:40 it happen.

55:43 Wow. Well, Danielle, we want to thank you so much. Your story has

55:49 been inspirational and entertaining. Inspirational, not only the

55:55 physical journey that you've taken, but the parallel internal

56:00 journey and transformation that you've been able to share with us

56:06 so powerfully. We really appreciate that. Our time's come to an end,

56:13 but before we go, do you have any place where people can get in

56:19 touch with you?

56:21 I do. I have a website. I have a website. You can shop with me.

56:27 There's a contact button on there as well, so you can send me an email

56:31 through it. It is www.ritzyquilting.com, R-I-T-Z-Y, quilting.com, like

56:40 putting on the Ritz, but Ritzy. When you get there, you'll see there's

56:47 a greeting on the front page. It says, hi, darling. That was my

56:49 grandmother's personal greeting for me. This is named for her. Y'all

56:55 are all darling now. Welcome to the Ritzy family. You can read about

57:01 it. You can see it. You want to shop, I do fast shipping. We just

57:06 became a Janome dealer, so I'm really excited about that, but I

57:11 wouldn't give anything for my Ritzy back there. Gamble, y'all

57:16 changed my life. You really did, and you saved my life. That machine

57:21 back there is amazing. There's no robotics on it. I don't want

57:27 robotics, but I wouldn't give anything in the world for my Gamble.

57:35 Thank you so much. I have nothing to add. Thank you so much. Your story's

57:42 amazing. I believe you have encouraged a lot of people, both the ones

57:48 that are here with us today, and there will be hundreds or thousands

57:53 more who listen to it over the years. Each one of them, I certainly

57:59 hope, will take to heart your words because I think they come from

58:03 your heart. Thank you so much, everyone, for joining us. We will be

58:08 back next week with another episode. Thank you so much, Danielle.

58:13 Have a nice night. Good night.