How Ava Boothe Built Her Longarm Quilting Business in Rural Louisiana

0:00 We are going to go ahead and start.

0:25 We have a very special guest with us today, Ava Booth.

0:31 Ava, you look like you're not exactly the age of a lot of our participants on here.

0:40 How old are you, Ava?

0:42 23.

0:43 23.

0:44 Wonderful.

0:45 Well, we are so glad to have you here.

0:47 Ava, just to start out, where are you located?

0:51 Where is home for you?

0:53 Mangum, Louisiana.

0:55 Mangum.

0:57 And where in the state is that located?

0:59 Is that close to New Orleans or anything?

1:01 We're about three hours from New Orleans, maybe.

1:05 Maybe a little more.

1:07 Okay.

1:08 So you're up kind of more in the northern part of the state, huh?

1:11 I am, yes, sir.

1:13 Okay.

1:14 Okay, great.

1:15 Great.

1:16 So, at the age of 23, how long have you been long arming?

1:23 I started long arming in January, but I have been quilting since 2020.

1:30 Okay.

1:31 So you've been quilting since 2020.

1:34 What kind of, how did you start out?

1:35 Tell us a little bit about how you started.

1:37 I started out with my grandma, and I decided that I wanted to make a quilt.

1:42 So I called her one day, and I said, Nana, I'm going to make a quilt.

1:45 I need help.

1:46 Because she quilts.

1:47 And she said, okay.

1:48 So she came to the house, and she made me sew on some little pieces to get my quarter

1:52 inch right first.

1:53 And then I said, okay, I'm ready.

1:55 She said, okay.

1:56 So we went and bought our fabric, and it turned into a king size.

2:00 My first quilt was a king size quilt.

2:03 And after that, I said, I got this one done.

2:06 I'm going to the fabric store.

2:07 I'm going to get more.

2:08 So.

2:09 And what kind of quilting, how did you do that?

2:12 On like a domestic machine, or?

2:14 It was.

2:15 I pieced it on my sewing machine, and then I sent it off to a long armer.

2:22 And they have a gamel too.

2:24 Okay.

2:25 Very nice.

2:26 Very nice.

2:27 So.

2:28 All right.

2:29 So tell us, your story, I know, has got to be unique compared to a lot of the ones we've

2:38 heard on here.

2:39 How did you decide to start long arming?

2:41 Tell us a little bit about that path, and how you got from then, 2020, to where you

2:47 are now.

2:48 So I helped the lady that I bought the store from, Miss Judy Hebert.

2:54 And I would help her work, and I would watch her, because she has a gamel.

2:57 She had a gamel in the shop too.

2:59 And so I'd watch her, and then I wanted one for a while before that.

3:04 And then the more I started watching her, she showed me how to do it and all that, and

3:07 I fell in love with it.

3:08 So I got online one night, and I started looking at gamels, and I just put in a quote.

3:16 And it was a Saturday night, Holly called me Sunday morning, and she said, I got this

3:20 quote for you.

3:21 And she just started talking to me, and I was like, okay, I want it, I'm ready.

3:26 Okay.

3:27 So you got it from Holly.

3:28 I did.

3:29 Okay.

3:30 Holly Zuber is, yeah, one of our salespeople, she is, was she pretty good to work with?

3:38 She was.

3:39 She was great.

3:40 She didn't give you a hard time, huh?

3:42 No, not at all.

3:43 And I probably stressed her out, because I called her constantly, but she was so good.

3:49 Yeah.

3:50 I think it's impossible to stress Holly out.

3:53 She was actually down here at the headquarters.

3:55 She's based up there in South Dakota, but she was here at the headquarters within a

4:00 week or two ago.

4:03 And she, she shot me.

4:06 I think she shot me with a Nerf gun while she was here, or she instigated somebody else

4:10 to shoot me.

4:11 So, yeah, she's a fun-loving person.

4:14 Okay.

4:15 So, you, and so when did you get that long arm?

4:18 Was that in January, you say?

4:21 January.

4:22 Okay.

4:23 And, and what did you get?

4:24 Is it a Statler?

4:25 It's a Statler.

4:26 Okay.

4:27 And so how's that working out for you?

4:32 Do you, do you like, you still, you still love quilting, or?

4:35 I do.

4:36 I love it.

4:37 Good.

4:38 And was there a big, was a big learning curve when you got that Statler, or?

4:47 Not really.

4:48 It's easy to work, and once you just have, like, they did the training, and I had already

4:52 watched Ms. Dede do it some, but when they delivered it, they came and trained me on

4:56 how to do it.

4:57 They really did step me in the right way, and it was so, it was easy.

5:02 Great.

5:03 Great.

5:04 So, did you get your, did you get your Statler specifically to, to do a business, or, or

5:13 what was that for?

5:15 It was, but I had my own business before this through my house.

5:19 I made quilts for the public.

5:22 And so it was easier for me to have a long arm that I could use for my personal use,

5:29 and to have my own business from that.

5:32 And then it just grew, and now I have a quilt store.

5:35 So, all right, I've got to ask, how long have you actually, how long have you had a business,

5:42 period?

5:43 I started my own business in the house two years ago, and I did it throughout my house

5:51 for two years.

5:52 Were you 21 at that time?

5:54 I was.

5:55 Okay.

5:56 Wow.

5:57 So, you had, and what was that business, a quilt, like, quilting, making quilts, or?

6:04 Yes, sir.

6:05 Okay.

6:06 Okay.

6:07 And that one, I called that one the Crafty A.

6:11 Okay.

6:12 Okay.

6:13 So, does that one still exist, or have you just merged everything into your, your current

6:19 quilt shop?

6:20 I still have it, too.

6:21 Okay.

6:22 Okay.

6:23 So, you got the Gammill.

6:24 How did, why did you decide to go with a Gammill, and how did that, how did you come to that

6:30 decision?

6:31 We had gone to a quilt show in Branson, got it, it's got to be two years ago now, and

6:41 I had looked at a couple of them, and I test drove some, and there was one that I didn't,

6:49 I didn't not like it, but it wasn't, it still wasn't what I was looking for.

6:53 And so, at the time, I hadn't played with a Gammill.

6:57 Well, from the first time I started playing with it, I was like, okay, I like this one

7:01 way better, and this is, if I'm going to do it, this is going to be what I get.

7:05 And it was just, it's so smooth.

7:09 Nice.

7:10 By the way, Holly said to tell you hi.

7:12 She, she sent over here, so, she's everywhere.

7:17 So, okay, so you, you decided to go with a Gammill, and so what, so you have a statler,

7:26 is that right?

7:27 Yes, sir.

7:28 And is it a, what, what's, is it an optimum, what size is that statler that you have?

7:36 Maybe 22.

7:37 Oh, 22, okay.

7:38 Maybe, I'm not 100% sure.

7:41 22 is the only one that doesn't have a name for the size.

7:44 The 30-inch is the optimum, 26-inch is a classic, 18, which statler doesn't come in as a premier,

7:52 but the 22, you know, it's just a 22.

7:55 Maybe, it may be a classic.

7:58 I'd have to look at my paperwork, I'm not sure.

8:01 Okay.

8:04 Okay, so, you're up there, and what is the name of that town you live in?

8:10 Mangum.

8:11 Mangum, okay.

8:14 So, when you, when you bought this machine, did you, did you know if there was enough

8:26 business in the Mangum area to be able to do a quilting business, or?

8:31 I didn't.

8:33 I knew, I know a lot of people that quilt, but we have a lot of longarmers here, too.

8:41 Okay, okay.

8:42 Holly said it is a 22-inch, by the way.

8:44 Okay.

8:45 She's keeping me informed as we go.

8:48 Okay, so, okay, so you weren't sure if you were going to have enough customers to,

8:55 for the finance of this quilting machine and everything?

9:00 You just kind of were just stepping out on a limb?

9:03 I was.

9:04 I knew I would have some, and I felt like it would cover the financing part.

9:10 But then, at the same time, like, I didn't know for sure, but I was willing to take that

9:15 chance and do what I had to do to make sure I had a gamble.

9:19 Okay.

9:20 Okay, wait a minute.

9:23 I just got a message from Don, who moved Ava's machine, and he says you have a classic, and

9:32 he says three hellos from him, so.

9:36 I don't know.

9:37 We've got conflicting information going on here, but we're going to get to the nuts and

9:44 bolts here.

9:45 Okay, let's see.

9:47 Okay, I wanted to ask you, Ava.

9:50 All right, 23 years old.

9:53 Are you like one of those OCD-type people who just wants to make sure you have every

9:59 little detail taken care of?

10:02 You plan things out for months ahead of time before you do them?

10:06 Or are you one of more of those fly-by-the-seat-of-your-pants type people?

10:09 I fly by the seat of my pants.

10:12 Because we have both that I interview, and I can usually nail, I can tell which type

10:20 they are when I first start talking to them.

10:22 I can tell right off the bat that's the type that you were, because I'm that way, too.

10:29 So, I guess, and you know, as we're doing this podcast, the people that are watching,

10:37 you guys, since Ava is the age that she is, you guys are also welcome to submit pieces

10:47 of advice as we go, too.

10:49 Of course, they'll have to come through me, and I'll decide whether I'll air them or not.

10:55 Okay.

10:56 So, you started out right off the bat with a computerized, and you felt like that Statler

11:02 and the Creative Studio software, you felt like that was pretty, you were able to latch

11:11 onto that pretty easy?

11:13 I was.

11:14 Okay.

11:15 See, I'm not surprised, you know, because computer-based stuff, whenever I have questions

11:21 about computerized stuff here in the office, because I work in tech support, you might

11:25 end up talking to me sometime down the road for, you know, something's not working quite

11:30 right.

11:31 But yeah, anytime I have computerized questions, I'll holler at one of the 20 or 30-somethings

11:36 in the audience.

11:37 You guys have, it comes second nature to you.

11:41 You just, you grew up with it.

11:43 Us, anybody who's over 50, you know, you didn't grow up with computers all the time.

11:48 So yeah, you have an advantage there.

11:51 So, started in January.

11:57 Have you been building your customer base any, or how's that part of it going?

12:03 I have.

12:04 So, before I moved it from my house, I was doing good.

12:09 I had built it up a lot, and I was getting quilts sent in from North Dakota, and then

12:13 I had a lady in Baton Rouge.

12:15 I would have a couple from the house, and just different people, and it had gotten really

12:20 good.

12:21 And then, when I bought the shop, I actually moved my machine from the house to the shop

12:26 to continue quilting through here.

12:29 And last week, I did 14.

12:31 Wow.

12:32 Through here.

12:33 Very nice.

12:34 All right, I gotta, so how, at 23, I just gotta ask, how'd you come up with the funds

12:44 to, A, get a Statler, and B, get a business?

12:47 You're 23 years old.

12:48 Credit.

12:49 How did this happen?

12:50 Good credit.

12:51 That's about it.

12:52 Credit?

12:53 Okay.

12:54 Good credit, huh?

12:55 All right.

12:56 So.

12:57 I cleaned, I have a cleaning business, too, and, well, I clean the dentist's office locally.

13:05 So, I do that every Sunday, and that has a lot to do with it, and then, like I said,

13:10 I have my own business on the other side, the Craft EA, and that helps a lot.

13:17 And the Craft EA has been since you were 21 years old?

13:22 21.

13:23 Okay.

13:24 Wow.

13:25 So, what about before, have you always been kind of a driven person, like, to get things

13:32 done, or?

13:33 Not necessarily.

13:35 And since I was probably 20, I have.

13:40 Did somebody make you do this?

13:42 Not at all.

13:43 This was all me.

13:44 Everybody asked me, am I crazy?

13:47 Yeah.

13:48 Well, I'm just trying to figure out what makes you tick and how all this started.

13:52 Somebody, you know, starting out so early with a business and everything.

13:57 So, there was no gun to the head making you do anything, and you just came up, you feel

14:03 like this was just natural, it just all came up naturally, huh?

14:07 It did.

14:08 I had no idea what I wanted to do.

14:10 I woke up one morning, said I wanted to go to college for a business degree.

14:14 I went, got my associates in business administration.

14:18 I now have two semesters left until I graduate with my bachelor's in business administration.

14:23 Wow.

14:24 And then, everything's just kind of fallen into place, and I never hesitated on any of it.

14:31 And I was like, this is what I've always waited for, and this is my passion, and this is my

14:35 dream, and I'm ready.

14:38 So, do you really and truly feel that quilting is a passion for you?

14:44 It is.

14:45 This is my life.

14:47 Like, I wake up sewing, I go to bed sewing.

14:50 I dream about it all night.

14:53 Wow.

14:55 And so, you do the quilting.

14:58 Did you say 14 last week?

15:00 We did.

15:01 Through the shop.

15:02 Okay.

15:03 Do you have other people that do the quilting also in the shop?

15:07 It's just you?

15:08 Just me.

15:09 Because you did 14 yourself.

15:10 Okay.

15:11 I was up here Sunday, Monday, all week, averaging about five a day.

15:16 Most days, on hit or miss, some will be two.

15:20 Just depends on the size.

15:24 So, do you do anything besides the quilting?

15:28 Is it all together?

15:30 We have fabric in here too, so when people come in, we greet them and help them with

15:34 whatever fabric they need.

15:36 Okay.

15:37 I just keep it running.

15:39 If it stops, I'll break away and go start it back and get the other lady that works

15:43 with me to help, and then I'll come back.

15:46 So, how many hours a week do you put in doing this quilting passion of yours?

15:53 A lot.

15:54 I don't really know.

15:56 You don't know?

15:58 How many hours a day do you...

16:00 Like if you had to average, how many hours a day do you think you...

16:03 I get here at 7 and I leave 6, 8 o'clock at night.

16:09 Wow.

16:11 So, do you have a life besides quilting?

16:15 I have a one-year-old.

16:17 Oh my gosh.

16:18 Oh my...

16:19 Are you crazy?

16:22 Good Lord.

16:25 You've got your hands sure enough full, don't you?

16:28 I do, but I wouldn't have it any other way.

16:32 Okay.

16:33 So, you're not going to have a nervous breakdown or anything with your workload that you've

16:37 got?

16:38 No, sir.

16:39 I hope not.

16:40 Well, I hope not too.

16:42 I hope not too.

16:44 You've got a great personality, and I can tell that you're a person that's going to

16:49 be good with customers.

16:52 Thank you.

16:54 Somebody gave me a comment that said, Ava has a great shop with lots of fabric.

17:01 Oh, thank you.

17:03 Yeah.

17:04 Okay.

17:05 All right, let's move on here.

17:07 I'm trying to get over the shock of you putting so much into this, and you've got your hands

17:16 full.

17:17 Okay.

17:18 So, now your quilts right now, do you just do edge-to-edge?

17:23 Yes, sir.

17:25 And so, somebody comes in, do people bring their quilt tops that they've already put

17:34 together in?

17:35 They do.

17:36 Okay.

17:37 And so, how do you charge?

17:41 By the hour, by the square inch?

17:44 It's by the square inch, but I really don't know how much I charge the square inch.

17:49 All I know is the formula.

17:52 Okay.

17:55 So, what is the formula that you use?

17:58 Length times width divided by 36 divided by 3 times 1.75 plus 8.

18:08 Okay.

18:11 How did you do in algebra when you were in high school?

18:13 Not good.

18:14 I was close to failing.

18:17 So, do you think you've, have you ever made a mistake on what you're charging somebody

18:27 or you probably may not even know?

18:30 I have.

18:32 Okay.

18:36 Before the shop, whenever I bought the shop, I talked to Mrs. Dadey and she was like, what

18:41 is that?

18:42 And I was like, I don't know.

18:43 And she's like, you're working yourself to death for nothing.

18:45 And I was like, I don't know.

18:46 I just found this formula and I ran with it.

18:49 So.

18:51 Okay.

18:53 So, you don't know what, how many, how many cents per square inch that figures out to,

18:59 do you?

19:00 I don't.

19:01 I'm sorry.

19:02 Oh, that's okay.

19:03 I've been telling myself I was going to figure it out, but I haven't actually had time to

19:07 sit down and do it yet.

19:09 Well, in your defense, I will say that we kind of called you last minute.

19:15 We didn't give you a lot of lead time.

19:18 So, I want to just tell you, you're doing great, but you're doing fantastic.

19:23 Thank you.

19:24 We're glad to have you on here.

19:27 Okay.

19:29 So, do you know, do you know how many quilts you've done since you started in January?

19:37 About?

19:38 Or, you know, how many you've been doing every month about?

19:42 I don't.

19:43 I personally, for myself, last year, I think I did 28.

19:50 And then I had, no, that's not last year.

19:54 That's going to be, start to finish was 28.

19:58 I don't know how many I've done this year.

20:00 I keep it all in a folder, but I don't, I haven't counted it yet.

20:05 So, tell me about your organization of your, like your paperwork and your business and stuff.

20:13 Do you have any, what do you throw everything in a manila folder?

20:17 I don't, I keep my quilting for the month in a manila folder, and then at the end of the month,

20:23 I'll put it in a different file and put it in a little tote box, so it'll be labeled.

20:28 And then, everything else, I have a filing cabinet for.

20:33 Okay, okay. So, everything, all your record keeping is on physical paper

20:42 records? It is. You don't keep it, anything on the computer, really?

20:47 Well, we have a online system, so when we wring it out, we put it in under quilting or batting

20:53 and stuff like that, so I could go back in and look at it and see exactly how much it was for

20:59 quilting and all of that, too. Do you have something that was set up,

21:02 probably, with Miss Dede, when Miss Dede had the shop and already kind of in place?

21:08 Well, that's good. That's beneficial. That's beneficial. Okay, we need to have you back

21:15 again, like in five years and just see what the journey has been like. I would love to be able

21:21 to jump five years down the road and see how you have evolved, because I have a feeling that you're

21:27 going to evolve in some of your organizational skills as you go on. Thank you. I'd love to come

21:34 back. Yes. Okay, let's see. What else do I need to ask you? So, okay, tell us about your shop.

21:43 What's the name of your shop now that you have? Stitched in Faith Quilt Shop.

21:49 Stitched in Faith in Mangum, Louisiana. Yes, sir. Are you close to the Mississippi border up there?

21:58 I am. Okay.

22:03 My home folks are from right across the border from where you are, around the delta of Mississippi,

22:09 you know. The delta is not very far. The delta is probably like 45 minutes, an hour.

22:14 Yeah, yeah. Yeah, we might know some of the same people. Okay, Stitched in Faith in Mangum, Louisiana.

22:25 So, at your shop there, do you have like batting, wide back fabrics?

22:32 We have batting, wide back fabrics, Moda, QT,

22:38 Cave, Ruby Star. We have a little bit of it all. Okay, and do you do any other services

22:51 besides quilting? Do you do like binding of the quilts? We do. Okay.

22:58 Have you done any t-shirt quilts? I do. I actually just added that to my business

23:09 probably a month and a half ago. And what do you think about, are they hard to do?

23:16 How do you like t-shirt quilts? They're not hard. It's just time consuming. It's time consuming to

23:21 press all of your stabilizer to it, but other than that, it's super easy, super fast once you get that

23:27 done. Yeah, from what I hear from everyone, the key is that stabilizer. Yes. Man, I've talked to

23:34 people in tech support that try to do it without stabilizer. I found the easiest way to do it is

23:42 to cut your stabilizer into your square, the size of your square you're going to do your t-shirt,

23:47 and then once you press it, go back in and square it up again because your shirt's going to stretch

23:53 once you start pressing it and everything. So that's the easiest way. And then all of your

23:58 points will match and your seams will nest. Okay. Awesome. Awesome. I have a question. I

24:07 think her name is Georgiana. Georgiana at whymail.com. Anyway, she's asking how do you

24:15 choose your fabrics for your stock? We have reps that come and they'll show us like what's coming

24:23 and we'll look at it and you can't get everything that you like, so you have to have other people's

24:31 opinions too. I have some ladies that sit in the back and sew because we all we just let them sit

24:35 back there and sew and I'll if I like it then I get their input on it and we just tally it up.

24:41 Okay. So at this point, you're still quite new on your journey compared to a lot of the people.

24:54 Although you've been had experience doing business since what, two years ago, three years ago?

25:05 Do you have what what's been the hardest part of the journey that you've had up until now?

25:11 Can you think of anything that's been like a difficulty for you for the people that are watching?

25:19 Or has it all just been sunshine and rainbows? It hasn't been sunshine and rainbows but it hasn't

25:26 It hasn't been sunshine and rainbows but it hasn't been bad either. The only thing that I will say is

25:35 it gets stressful. You get nervous but it'll get better.

25:45 If you get a little bit stressful. Yeah. Okay. But if you love it, I mean and like I said this

25:54 is my passion. It just pushes you to keep doing it and to tell more people about you and

26:01 don't let the stress get in the way and don't let the fear. Just step out there and do it.

26:07 So what are you doing right now to try to get more customers or

26:18 or build your business? What are you doing right now? So we recently went online so I'm trying

26:27 working really hard to build it right now. We have a Facebook group. I'm trying to make posts on it.

26:32 I actually went and spoke to a group of it was supposed to be I think 30. It was like 10 of them

26:38 this morning maybe. I went and spoke to them at lunch and just kind of told them about us and let

26:43 them know where we were and what we had to offer. And then now I'm talking to y'all and when Holly

26:49 messaged me I was so excited. I was like this is it. Well so this Mangum, Louisiana is there

26:59 are there some quilt guilds in that area or? We have a like one in Monroe which is about

27:09 30 minutes away from us but we don't actually have a guild in Mangum. We have little groups.

27:15 We have some groups in like Winsboro which is 10 to 15 minutes but we don't have a huge guild.

27:22 Not that I mean I don't think so. I think we mostly have groups beside Monroe. Okay so you're in a

27:29 fairly rural area not a big city area right? No we are very small in the country.

27:39 I can tell by listening to you. Me and you are from some of the same type areas.

27:45 Mangum doesn't even have red lights. We just have stop signs. That's how small we are.

27:49 Yeah I can relate. I can relate yes. Okay so in the last since January

28:03 you say you feel you have been growing your customer base? Yes sir.

28:10 And what do you think has been your what's causing it to grow? Just all that stuff you

28:17 just told me or? Yes sir. What do you know can you pick out out of that stuff you said is

28:25 any any of that that you think is the most you've had the most success with?

28:34 I don't. Just all of it kind of? A little bit of all of it. Okay okay and I'm yeah and I'm not

28:41 trying to put you on the spot. I'm just I'm just asking different things because a lot of the

28:45 people that we talk to are you know we talk to some people that are in the middle of giant cities

28:52 and they you know within a few blocks of where they live they have you know five different quilt

28:58 guilds you know and so your situation is totally different because you you are spread out and

29:04 spaced out. Have you done any communication with customers by mail or shipping any of your quilts?

29:16 We've shipped some out. We actually like I said we just went online so we have online orders that

29:23 come and we love to ship out that's with us being so small that's what whenever the bail our system

29:29 has a little bail and so it'll have a red dot if we get an online order and like me and my other

29:34 employee. You're saying a bail right? Yes it's a bail and it'll just have a red dot on the top of the iPad.

29:42 We'll start yelling and we'll say we got an order we got an order and we get so excited.

29:51 Okay awesome awesome and I will tell you that I've talked to a lot of people that

29:57 they've been able to capitalize on a lot of the shipping and and by mail

30:03 business so you know you might being in your area where you don't have as many

30:09 concentration of people right around you that might be something that you can look at too and

30:14 concentrate on that. So most of the time when you have customers when you're doing a quilt for

30:21 somebody do they do they normally just come in personally and bring it to you? For my long garment

30:30 they do or you can mail them. We do have some people that mail them and we'll mail it back to

30:35 you when we get it ready. Do you normally have to do you spend any time like sitting down with

30:45 the customer when they bring it in or they pretty much know what they want and they can just drop it

30:50 off or? We have a book and it's a little blue binder and we have our patterns printed out so

30:56 they can flip through them and see different patterns that they like and if they are looking

31:00 for something specific I get on my phone or my iPad and I'll pull up the store and I'll type in

31:07 what they're looking for and if we find one they like then I'll get it for them. Okay, do you

31:15 have any difficult stories yet at this point like you've had a tough time with a customer or dealing

31:22 with anything for a customer? Not yet. Okay, you probably will at some point in as time goes on.

31:31 I hope not. Well, the fact is there's difficult people out there in the world and eventually

31:40 some of them are going to cross your path so just be ready for it and okay.

31:49 So, let me ask you Ava, who would you say has been your biggest cheerleader or support system

31:58 through this journey? Miss Dede and my family. Nobody hesitated. They've all been there and

32:07 they've all been one phone call away. Awesome. So, does your family live there?

32:15 You live there around you in the same area? They do. We live right next door to each other.

32:22 Okay, so prior to when you're 21 you started your business. I'm assuming that you

32:35 have you had experience in the past like working for other people? I did. And so now you're pretty

32:43 much working for yourself, right? Yes, sir. So, tell us a little bit about what's different.

32:51 Is it better working for yourself? Tell us a little bit about the transition

32:57 between those two, working for yourself versus working for somebody else.

33:02 I worked for a big company before and I didn't really like it because you was just a number.

33:14 Like they didn't care how you felt and what all you went through. You could do as much as you could

33:22 but it still at the end of the day it didn't matter. And so, whenever I decided to do this I

33:28 decided to do this. I actually said some of the ladies down and I was like,

33:32 I don't want you to feel like that. Like if there is something that I need to work on,

33:36 I want you to let me know because I want to be the best person that I can be for you. And I

33:42 want you to love coming up here. I don't want you to dread coming to work.

33:45 So, is there anything, I mean you are into this into the long arming, you're

33:59 what are we not you're nine months into it now. Is there anything that you wish you would have

34:05 known when you first started out that you know now that you didn't know then?

34:09 I wish I would have known more about like the custom part of it on the computer.

34:20 And because I had no idea about that until just recently. And that's the only other thing. But

34:26 then at the same time if you're new to it that would you would get scared with all of it thrown

34:31 at you. Yes. Did you get the new owner training with your machine? I did. Okay.

34:46 Have you felt like that's been a big advantage for you? It has. Because that's something that

34:52 they didn't have in years past. That's relatively new. Just all the video courses.

35:00 Has that been the primary way that you've learned? Or has it been like through your own experience?

35:10 How have you learned and gotten better at your while working on your Statler?

35:17 Just people showing me ways and watching videos on it.

35:23 Okay. And of course with that new owner training it comes with

35:36 a one-on-one session. You can have the Zoom calls with some of the educators. Did you avail

35:43 yourself of any of that? Ever do like a one-on-one? No sir. Yeah. I would recommend you do that.

35:49 People that get the new owner training, a lot of times I'll tell them just

35:54 anytime you have something they have a question about that while you're working on the

35:58 Statler, write it down. And you get a few things written down on a list. And then just call for

36:05 your free. It's already paid for. Your one-on-one session. They'll meet with

36:10 you on a Zoom meeting like we're doing here. And you can go over a lot of stuff.

36:16 All right. Well, Ava, so it's been a long nine months ago that you've started on this

36:26 GAML long-arm journey. Somebody that would be thinking about doing this right now,

36:36 do you have any advice or anything that you could think of? Somebody is thinking about doing the

36:41 same thing you're doing? Do it. I was so scared I would regret it. I have no regrets. I love it.

36:50 I'm so happy I did it. And I wish I would have done it years before. Not too many years before.

37:01 That's good. So you really do. You have no regrets. And you are really glad that you've

37:07 taken the journey that you're on right now? I am. Great, great. Well, great. I'll tell you,

37:15 it's been inspiring to talk to somebody as young as you that really is happy in what you're doing

37:24 in this quilting with your GAML machine. Ava, I do want to give you a chance to share

37:31 how people can either get in touch with you. Can people contact you and maybe do a shipping

37:41 job with quilting? Tell us all the ways that we can get in touch with you. Or if somebody wants

37:48 to contact you or get more information about you, just tell us all the ways we can and take your

37:53 time. So like I said, we have our own website now. And our website is stitchedinfaithquiltshop.com.

38:03 If you do Facebook, you can follow us on Facebook at Stitched in Faith Quilt Shop.

38:08 And you can private message us or anything like that. Our phone number is also attached,

38:13 but I'll say it now. It's 318-248-2505. And if you have any questions or can't figure out the

38:21 website or anything else, then you can just reach out and give us a call and we'll help you in every

38:26 way that we can. Okay, so stitchedinfaithquiltshop.com, right? Yes, sir. And on Facebook,

38:36 it's what is the same thing? Stitched in Faith? It is. Okay, and share that number one more time.

38:43 318-248-2505. All right, so contact Ava so they'll see that bell and be all happy.

38:56 Ava, thank you so much for joining us. It's been, I really appreciate it. Do you have anything else

39:01 you need to share before you go? That's it. I appreciate y'all and I thank y'all for letting

39:06 me be on here. Well, thank you so much. It's been a pleasure having you on here. And if anybody has

39:14 any questions, I'm sure they'll be contacting you. And until next time, we're going to say goodbye for

39:20 Quilting Business Success. Ava, thank you very much. Thank you. And those of you who are watching,

39:25 thank you. Have a great day.