How Brenda Farris Doubled Her Longarm Quilting Business in Yuma

0:00 All right, what we have with us today, Brenda Ferris, and Brenda, we're really glad to have

0:29 you here. We want to welcome you, and let's just start out. Tell us where you're located.

0:35 Where is home for you? Good, thanks for having me. I'm having a good time. I am in Yuma, Arizona,

0:41 which is right on the border of California and Mexico, right in the corner there.

0:48 You step a little bit farther, and you're literally in California, so we are right on the edge.

0:53 Okay, when you go over the border, is it like different once you cross the border?

1:03 It looks about the same at the beginning, but when you get to a new town, then it looks a little bit

1:06 different. Yeah, well, how long have you been doing this long-arming thing? Tell us a little

1:16 bit about your story there. Yeah, good, good. Actually, I'm originally from the Pacific

1:21 Northwest, from Oregon. We moved to Arizona about 20 years ago, and we lived over in the

1:27 East Valley of Phoenix for about 16 years. Then about five years ago, when my mother-in-law passed

1:34 away, we moved over here to help my father-in-law. He had a long-arm quilting business, which is

1:40 exactly what's in this room right here, same room, same place. He had been doing that for about 15

1:46 years. When we moved over here to help him, he was pretty much ready to retire, and I was excited

1:52 to learn something new and interesting in a town that I didn't know anybody yet. It gave me a

1:59 purpose and a reason. He taught me every day. We lived together in his house, and he taught me

2:06 every day all of the tricks and tips that he knew that he had learned over those years. I've been

2:12 doing this for about five years now, after that time period. Yeah. Okay, so you started around the

2:20 time of COVID, didn't you? We moved over here right as COVID was starting. That's exactly what happened.

2:27 We moved here in April of 2020. Well, that's really interesting because many people, myself

2:34 included, I mean, it's not that long ago that I moved across the country to a new town.

2:40 It was really an odd feeling, and anybody who's done it knows what I'm talking about.

2:46 I mean, it used to be you could go around town, and you would see faces that you recognized, and

2:52 you would go to Walmart and see people that you would know. When I moved to a new town,

2:57 it was completely different. I didn't know a soul except the people at work.

3:01 So tell me how, I mean, when these customers of your father-in-law were coming in and dropping

3:09 off quilts, of course, you didn't know them the first time they came in. How did it help you adjust?

3:15 Yeah, actually, it was amazing. This was a perfect transition because we didn't know anyone when we

3:21 first moved here, but because we were here to help my father-in-law, he knew people. So when they would

3:25 come in as clients, he would introduce me right away. I was involved in the business. I would grab

3:30 the paperwork, and he would have me write down any information. So I was seeing their name. I was

3:37 hearing their name. I was writing down their name. I was interacting with them literally every time

3:42 they came in. So that way, eventually, I made some good kind of instant friends that I could get to

3:48 know because you're right. When you're in a new town, you just don't know anybody, and it's hard

3:53 to know who's going to be your pal, who's going to be your friend, who's going to have something in

3:57 common with you. And what was super interesting is that every single person that came through the

4:02 door had something in common with me because they all loved to quilt, and that's what they were here

4:06 for. So it really did help with that huge transition of moving to a new town, a small town, where you

4:12 don't know anybody. It was a good blessing. How many people do you think come by to drop off

4:20 quilts in a week or in a month? Well, Yuma is a big retirement town, and it is a transition. So

4:33 during the winter, we have about three times as many people as we do in the summer. So in the

4:40 winter, I will get many clients. Maybe that was something I thought. Maybe 15 clients come in

4:49 during the week in the winter, and a lot of them bring in more than one quilt. Maybe 20 different

4:54 clients in the winter. In the summer, I might get two or three people in a week. So it's a huge

5:03 transition. It took a little while to get used to because I just hadn't been in a position to have

5:09 an influx of clients and then hardly any in the summer. So it's an interesting town because that's

5:15 how people function here. How long, Brenda, how long had your father-in-law been doing this

5:23 business? Yeah, he'd been doing it for 15 years before I came here. Now, is it a Statler machine

5:30 or a hand-guided? It is Statler. Yeah, it's a Statler Optimum. Okay. That's our most popular

5:38 machine. When he purchased it, did he get it for business purpose primarily? He did, yes. My

5:49 mother-in-law was making some quilts, and they went around to have them quilted by some other people,

5:54 and it was busy. The other people were backed up with quilts, and my mother and father-in-law

6:02 kind of needed something to do, some kind of a retirement activity to keep themselves busy.

6:07 So they said, this seems like a pretty good activity, and we're going to go invest in our

6:11 own, and we're going to do our own quilts here. So that kind of got him started. So that would have

6:15 been 15 years, so 20 years ago at this point, it was when he started with the same machine that we

6:20 have right now. This is the exact same machine that he got, like I say, about 20 years ago.

6:26 And it was a Statler machine from the get-go? It was, yeah. He bought it just like it is. It's

6:32 had some upgrades, and we can talk about that, but it was, you know, basically the machine that

6:37 we have right now. It's been a year, you had mentioned that you had spoken with Bobby in

6:43 tech support prior to today, and I was wondering, have we ever been out to service the machine that

6:52 you know of? About, in fact, right after I moved here, my father-in-law was so great, so gracious,

6:58 and he would teach me every day what he knew, and we just jumped on quilts. He had a pile of them,

7:04 and every day we would come out and work on quilts, and he would show me the next activity,

7:07 and the next activity, and then a couple of months into me being here, the entire machine

7:12 just stopped. Now, I didn't know enough about it at that point to really make any kind of

7:16 a personal diagnosis, but we sent it over to the, our Gammill Hospital back over in Mesa, Arizona,

7:23 and they had it for a good period of time to upgrade it, and we can talk about that.

7:28 So, there we had it done, and then they brought it back here with the upgrade and traded out the

7:34 track system, we got the new computer system, we got the new computer, so everything was upgraded

7:40 to that next system at that point. So, that was about four years ago, and then about three months

7:48 ago, I did need some intensive service, and I had one of the wonderful Gammill service people come

7:54 to my house, and they were here for about four hours doing some good service on the controller

7:59 computer to get things up and running and up to snap again. Who did you have Gammill?

8:08 Carl. Yeah, great guy. We had a great time. Yeah, he's fantastic.

8:15 He answered a lot of wonderful questions, and we had a lot of fun with him here.

8:19 Excellent. Yeah. So, do you know, I mean, this is kind of a interesting, normally one of the

8:26 questions that we ask is, you know, how did you know there would be enough business in your area

8:30 to support a quilter, another quilter, and you answered that already. Your in-laws found out

8:37 that it took a long time for them to get a quilt done by somebody else, so they knew that there was

8:43 So, they knew that there was a backlog in the area. Have you found the need to add more customers

8:52 to the business, or has it pretty much just kind of continued on the course that it already was?

8:59 The customers that we already had, that my father-in-law had as customers, were very loyal,

9:04 and I would say that nearly all of them keep coming back over here as long as they're in town.

9:09 When they go back home for the summer, maybe they have something else going, but a lot of times

9:14 they'll save up their quilts, and they'll bring the quilt tops back, and we'll deal with them in

9:18 the winter, which is wonderful, and a few of them have even left them through the summer, which I'm

9:22 okay with doing, and then I kind of catch up with them when they get back here for the winter,

9:26 which is a great activity for us here, but I always want to increase my clientele. To me,

9:34 I love every single thing about the business. I love meeting with the clients. I love chatting

9:39 with them. I love helping them choose a design. I love seeing the quilts. I love ordering new

9:44 designs or new threads, and I love have when they come and pick up their quilt, and so to me,

9:50 I always want to build the clientele because I think it's such a joyous activity to share with

9:55 people. I feel like I do an excellent job for them, and I want them to be able to get their

10:00 quilt back in a fantastic situation. When they bring me a quilt top, it looks really great,

10:07 and when they take it home quilted, it just elevates it up several different notches,

10:11 and I want them to know that and see it, so to me, I'm constantly trying to add to the clientele

10:17 and bring in more people right over here to the quilting studio. To me, that's an important part

10:22 to be able to have more people. How do you do that? I would say that advertising is always

10:31 the hardest part. Advertising and marketing, but I have a very active Facebook page that I set up

10:36 at the beginning. My father-in-law, bless his heart, excellent for what he did, but he didn't

10:40 really do any advertising. It was all word of mouth, and that's fine. He had his business cards

10:44 in the quilt shops that happen to be in town, which is great, and for him, it was working out

10:51 for what he needed to do, so it was wonderful, but I do have my business cards in the quilt shops

10:55 that are here. I go around. We have a lot of RV parks in Yuma, Arizona. That's a lot of the people

11:01 that we have live here, and so I have my business cards there. Many of them have their own little

11:08 quilting group, and they have a little room, and they quilt on, let's say Mondays at two o'clock,

11:13 and that's what they do, and so that's an activity as I take it in there. I offer clinics at my

11:19 quilting studio during the good months of the year. About every three weeks, I have them out

11:24 on the patio, and to the quilt shops and the RV stores, I take a little flyer over there,

11:30 letting them know what we're going to be discussing. It's free. Everybody's welcome,

11:34 and we have a really great turnout. Like 35 to 50 people will show up, a variety of folks, and so

11:40 that's a great way that I advertise is bringing people to the studio while they're here. They can

11:45 see what I'm doing. They're able to come in and look what the options are. I have things available

11:50 for them for sale that they can kind of see that I have a little couple of little offerings with

11:55 that. I've just opened a YouTube page recently, and I post on there every single day, so to me,

12:03 being busy with word of mouth, business cards, taking it around to the various activities like

12:08 RV parks, and being on social media has been a way that I really promote everything that I do here.

12:16 You know, I was thinking, you know, that a lot of the things that you're doing

12:21 seem, to my mind, that they would make it maybe a little bit less scary for somebody

12:28 to drop their quilt off with you because they feel like they already know you.

12:32 I remember the first time I ever took a quilt in to have it long-armed. I didn't know what

12:38 I was doing, and I think that's a fairly common feeling that people have the first time,

12:44 and then I'm going to this lady's house, and I've never been to her house before,

12:49 you know, so you walk up the driveway and, you know, knock on the door, and it was before ring

12:55 cameras, but, you know, I was just thinking a lot of those things that you're doing makes you

13:03 already familiar to people, so it's not like they're going to some random person's house

13:09 that they don't feel comfortable with. I love that. That's a great comment, and on my business card,

13:15 I actually have my picture on my business card, and to me, that's important because I want people

13:22 to know something about the person they're going to. Frequently, a business card just has the words

13:27 on it, and that's fine, but when I can see the person on there, that makes a difference to me,

13:31 and I might be in my local quilt shop, and I'm just walking around looking for a little something.

13:36 I hear some people on the sideline talking about their quilt. Of course, they have their hands full

13:39 of fabric. You know they're going to be making a quilt, and I say, hey, do you have a long-arm

13:43 quilter? If you'd be interested, then feel free to bring something over to me. I'll give them a card,

13:47 and it's so interesting to me how many people say, oh, you're Brenda Ferris, and so they've already

13:55 heard of me through some kind of word of mouth, or they'll literally recognize me because my card

14:00 with my picture is up in their RV park quilting room, or they've been over to the local quilt

14:07 shop, and they've seen my picture there. Oh, okay, you're Brenda Ferris, and you're right. I mean, it

14:12 makes a little connection right there, and they feel like, okay, we've got a little bit of a friend

14:17 in you. That's a really good point. So about how many hours a week do you figure you spend quilting?

14:24 I mean, it sounds like all of them. Given the option, all of them.

14:31 Given the option, that's exactly right. In the winter, it's totally different than in the summer.

14:37 Right here, it's total feast and famine in Yuma is the way that it is. So I would say that in the

14:43 winter, I'm probably spending 35 to 60 hours a week quilting and meeting clients. The whole gamut,

14:50 start to finish, I would say, and then in the summer, it probably goes down to maybe 15 to 20 hours.

14:59 There just aren't as many quilts to do. You're in the land of snowbirds, aren't you?

15:04 Absolutely. Yeah. People are here, and then they're gone. So I do some locals in the summer. I do

15:10 people that are willing to leave their quilts during the summer. My mom is an avid quilter.

15:14 She lives in Oregon. I do my mom's quilts. I do some of mine that have been waiting. So in the

15:20 summer, I have a lot of that. So it's a way different situation between the two, but you're

15:24 right. Otherwise, it would be all of the hours. Do you just do edge to edge, or do you do any custom?

15:34 How does that look? I do edge to edge, or I do custom. Yes. I do not have hand-guided yet,

15:40 but I am looking into it and chatting with a couple of people that do that almost exclusively

15:47 in my area, and they're looking to have a few more people join. They're just inundated with

15:52 the amount of hand-guided they can handle. So they're going to show me some tricks, and I'm

15:57 going to take some courses on it. So I've done a little bit of that, but I do total custom in

16:03 relationship to the computer work that can do it. You know, blocks, and outlines, and echoes,

16:09 and borders, lots of borders, and such like that. And of course, most of it's edge to edge. I think

16:15 that's the way that it probably is, unless you happen to be an all custom person. But yeah,

16:19 I do custom or edge to edge, either one. Love it.

16:23 So can you give us an idea? It seems like when you joined the business, or took over the business,

16:32 you brought a fresh energy that is probably real similar to the energy that your in-laws had had

16:38 when they first started. And so you kind of reinvigorated the whole thing. What did that

16:44 do for the earning of the business when you came in with your fresh ideas and your fresh energy?

16:51 Yeah, I appreciate that. That's a really good point. Yes. And I would say, yes, you're exactly

16:55 right. I'm sure they had a lot of enthusiasm at the very beginning. Lots of things happened. And

17:00 like I say, my mother-in-law passed away. So just a lot of things that happened to kind of

17:04 change some of the enthusiasm. My father-in-law was pretty much ready to retire. And that's just

17:08 great. That's a wonderful transition. I would say for the first full year, everything was

17:12 intimidating. I'm just taking notes on every single thing he did. And he was there to guide

17:17 me. So it wasn't like I was literally making a mistake because he was going to deal with it.

17:20 But if it was left up to me, I would have made mistakes. So it was wonderful that he was there

17:24 to take care of all of those issues and looking over my shoulder the whole way. But for the first

17:28 year, I would say everything was very tenuous. But the minute somebody came to the studio,

17:34 from the very second I started meeting people, I was enthusiastic. And it wasn't put on. I was

17:40 so excited to meet these people. We're in a totally new area. These people have something

17:43 in common with me. Thank you for coming over and saying hello to somebody who's new here.

17:48 And so I think that really invigorated them to say, OK, now they loved my father-in-law. They

17:52 loved his work. He was very gregarious, easy to get along with. So that's great. But I do

17:57 think they felt like, good, here's a new energy here. Let's continue this enthusiasm. And some

18:01 people come over and they say, oh, thank you, Brenda, for the therapy session, the quilt and

18:06 the therapy session. You do quilting and therapy. A little dual purpose here. No extra charge for

18:14 the therapy. Just come over and share some love with me. That's awesome. Well, Brenda,

18:23 do you know about how many quilts you make in a year? I would say, when you first started?

18:30 Yeah. No, that's a good question. I would say probably when I first got here, we were probably

18:34 doing about 200 a year, maybe. But right now, I do 400 a year. I mean, obviously, that's give

18:42 and take. It's not like we do exactly 400. Some of them are bigger and some of them are smaller.

18:47 I mean, they all vary. You're right, right, right. But I would say on average, you know,

18:52 probably about 400 quilts a year, if I could just put a big ballpark on it. And you're right,

18:59 that's a lot to be doing with one machine. You are busy. So have you done any of these other

19:07 things like offering binding or piecing a t-shirt quilt for somebody who doesn't know how to do it

19:12 or any of that other stuff? Yes, yes, yes, absolutely. I made, even when we lived in the

19:18 East Valley, I told you that I lived in the East Valley of Phoenix for about 16 years before we

19:23 moved here. So my father-in-law had this business and I knew that was the case. So I majored in

19:28 custom tailoring like 35 years ago when I was in college. And so I already had a lot of sewing

19:34 skills. And my kids, when I came here, they said, oh, mom, this should be easy for you. You sew all

19:39 the time. Well, you know what? There's not that much sewing on the Gamo machine. It's computer

19:44 work, it's gears, it's changing, it's oiling, it's the machine's doing all the stitching on it.

19:53 But I would say that knowing the difference between a good stitch, a pretty stitch, and a stitch that

20:00 Isn't good. I mean that that holds true no matter what you're doing

20:04 Absolutely. Yeah, and I can certainly put all of that skill

20:08 Into what I was doing. Yeah, but I wasn't literally doing the work on it like that

20:13 But when I was over in the East Valley

20:14 I had quite a few people asked me to make sure t-shirt quilts over there and I wasn't doing anything in regards to

20:21 The actual quilting process here

20:23 So I would make the t-shirt quilts send them to my father-in-law here and he would do the quilting on them

20:29 So I had already made quite a few before I got here

20:32 So I have made t-shirt quilts other types of quilts for people. So I offer full service. I am passionate about beautiful bindings. I

20:41 Offer a couple of different styles of bindings

20:43 I have several quilts right here that I've actually just finished the bindings on that's a very big

20:49 Activity that I do. I do teach a couple of clinics. All the clinics are free

20:53 I teach a couple of clinics here every year on bindings because I want people to see that they can do great bindings as

20:59 Well, but they're totally welcome

21:01 I'm so happy to do bindings for people and I do have a decent amount of people take me up on it. I also

21:07 Will trim the quilt if that's something that they would like me to I do not do that without them

21:12 Suggesting it because I don't want to come to any issues with that part of a thing

21:16 So if they would like it trimmed

21:18 I will absolutely

21:19 lots of people with a big quilt or with a minky quilt would like me to trim it because again a lot of people here live

21:25 In an RV or a very small unit and they just don't have room to trim a queen or king-sized quilt

21:31 So I go outside. I have a patio

21:33 I put up some of my tables and I will turn them out there and that works out great for me and for them

21:39 So love to be all all services in one spot

21:43 You sound like you enjoy most aspects of what you're doing

21:48 My next question was

21:51 If you you basically

21:53 Doubled the amount of business that you've had from the time you first started and if you had to pick out

22:01 Hard

22:02 What may be some of the hardest part of growing the business?

22:06 Would what would you say about that or has there been anything hard?

22:11 Well, yeah. Yeah

22:12 I would I would always say in my opinion that for any business that you've got going and my husband and I have always been

22:18 entrepreneurs all of our lives

22:19 So we're always like trying a different business in the past and I would always say advertising marketing getting yourself out there

22:27 Getting your name known getting clients. I think it's always the hardest part

22:32 There's certainly a huge curve in learning how to use something new like your machine

22:37 Yes, that is true. Once you've learned it, then you can learn new things to go with it

22:42 So yes, that is very challenging and I would say at the beginning that was a new project for me to learn

22:46 But I think overall if you're trying to do it as a business

22:49 Then I would say advertising marketing getting yourself out there getting your name getting clientele

22:55 That parts the hardest of that if you're trying just learn the machine you're going to do it for yourself

22:58 You're going to do for family members

23:00 You're going to do it for a small amount of money for friends type of a thing

23:04 Then I would say just learning the machine itself is probably the most challenging part of it

23:09 And I had an excellent very patient teacher that was here full-time and could help me learn what he knew and then I went from there

23:17 So let me drill down a little bit into what you said

23:20 Because earlier when we'd asked about it

23:23 You had talked about your marketing that you do and you rattled off quite a few different things that you're doing

23:30 for market

23:32 Business or thinking about just starting out

23:35 What would your be for the number one thing that really would seem to make the difference would it be the business card with the

23:43 Picture on it and getting out those cards or would it be Facebook or or the YouTube videos?

23:49 There's a variety of different things. But if somebody was going to pick one to start with where would you start again?

23:56 You need to be dealing with your local people because they're the ones that are going to come to your to your location first

24:03 You know YouTube is going to be out going out to the masses and so

24:08 Yes, you will meet some of your local people that way but YouTube is for everybody. It could be even international

24:14 So that's going to be an audience. It's going to be a lot broader

24:16 But if you want to meet your local people

24:18 Then I think exactly getting I just I love the idea of the picture on the business card

24:24 I know my business card

24:26 It does not have a picture of a quilt on it

24:28 but it has a picture of the person who's doing whatever they're going to do and again to me that's very important if I was

24:34 Going to be doing landscaping or doing plumbing or or doing horse that you know, I would I would want my picture there

24:40 I want to see what the person is on it

24:42 And then you can put the words on top of that and then I think the next activity would be to your local

24:48 Area, so in my case going to quilt stores going to RV parks

24:53 You may live in a place that doesn't have RV parks

24:56 Maybe it's a different situation finding out what the guilds are and going there figuring out where the people are that tend to do sewing

25:02 Maybe there's a little group of gals that even just don't even do quilts necessarily, but they get together and they do sewing

25:08 They might be interested in that and then you can have a little gathering after that and gather some people together

25:13 but I think initially getting something out to those quilt shops and getting them out to guilds or

25:19 Locations where people are doing the activities that you're interested in

25:24 It's all local as I'm as I'm listening to Brenda she just

25:29 Even when she talks about the the difficult parts. Oh, you can see a lot. He's just encouraging me

25:36 She's she's wanting me to go do this myself

25:39 No, you have to stay here

25:42 We need you right where you are Bobby. You're doing great

25:46 Brenda we have Tricia is

25:50 sent a question

25:52 She's asking. What is your charge for binding and trimming quilts? Oh good trimming a quilt is

26:00 Just a nominal fee. It's usually five to ten dollars depending upon the size of the quilt

26:04 So, you know baby quilt like five dollars. So if it's something really difficult, maybe I have a minky quilt

26:11 That's a big quilt, which I did have the other day and it was a really interesting and strange minky

26:15 that's a little bit different you got a haul that little puppy outside and set up the tables and

26:20 Deal with all the fluff that comes off with it, but normally it's five to ten dollars

26:25 depending upon the size of that and

26:27 My binding is about 23 cents a linear inch and of course that's going to include everything

26:34 It'll include trimming the by, you know, making the binding strips attaching them together getting them prepped trimming the quilt itself

26:40 I attach it on the back and then I attach it on the front by machine only I don't do the hand binding thing

26:48 You want hand binding that's nine hundred dollars I just I just don't do that

26:53 Some people love hand binding and that's great. I just got other things to do and I do an amazing top stitch

27:00 Binding it's it's very beautiful. So that's what I it's 23 cents a linear inch and it includes it start to finish

27:07 well, I I

27:11 Resonated when you when you said how you're kind of a fanatic for perfectly done bindings

27:18 Because I've seen quilts that were stunning except for the binding. Yeah

27:24 it's it's

27:26 You can kind of wreck a quilt by not doing a good job on the binding. So yeah, it was important

27:33 So it's like I know well, the great thing is you can always pull the binding off and do it again

27:39 Absolutely true

27:41 So you get the the question that I'm up against right now

27:46 and I love the fact that we do have a format and we ask a lot of the same questions to everybody and I

27:52 Think it really helps us to make sure that we pull out the story

27:56 And you've had you had mentioned

28:01 Some of the different things that have been done on the machine that you had service recently, etc

28:07 This question is about

28:09 What's been a change in technology that makes it easier today than when you started?

28:13 Have you have you upgraded software since you started or is there anything there?

28:19 That has has made it easier maybe social media or other things

28:26 Yes, um, I always do the software

28:30 Updates every time they come I always grab a hold of that and I find that it just helps things to run smoothly

28:36 So right from the beginning I started doing that and I do think it's made a difference

28:41 When I first came here, we had the old format. Does that have a name that old computer screen that they had?

28:49 Before the creative studio. Yeah before creative studios. So whatever that's called. Yeah, I call it prison stitch

28:56 But it was

28:59 Okay, yeah, no, I appreciate I call it prison stitch because if somebody's still using that they have no idea the freedom that they could

29:07 Have that they can have by doing this just upgrade just upgrade people. I'm telling you what you'll be so

29:14 free

29:15 So happy you did so I beat it

29:17 But when we first came we were doing that precision stitch and it was confusing to me one because I just had never even used

29:24 The gamble at all like everything was new to me

29:26 So I was trying that system, but it wasn't terribly intuitive even for someone who didn't know anything about it

29:32 My father-in-law was trying to show me

29:34 so once we got that upgrade which I said was like four or five months into me being here and it took

29:41 Like it was down for five or six weeks and when they came back. I had the new tracking system

29:46 We got the new computer. We had the creative studios at that point and that's about when my father-in-law kind of bowed out

29:53 For 15 years. He had used the persistent precision stitch and the creative studios was just something totally new for him

29:59 But to me it was so much more intuitive. I felt like oh, yeah this now this finally makes some sense

30:06 I can see what's happening. So when I do go visit someone and they still have that precision stitch

30:12 It is a little bit awkward there

30:14 But getting that upgrade

30:18 I'm having trouble with it. Now. I mean, I'm gonna have to use that from now on

30:24 But that creative studios made a huge difference to me. It's so much more intuitive. So we had that for the upgrade on it

30:30 and then I did do the

30:34 quilting with confidence two years ago

30:37 huge benefit I

30:39 Took you like that. I really did

30:41 I really did was over in Phoenix and I took the basics and then I went ahead and took the advanced and even though the

30:47 Basics were a lot of things. I already knew because I knew everything only from my father-in-law

30:53 I felt like there might be something new there that he bless his heart. Just maybe hadn't learned he hadn't taken any classes

30:58 He kind of just self-taught and so there was a lot of things there that were just

31:02 Interesting to figure out. Oh, that is a little better way to try that system

31:06 and then then I did the advanced and that really got me up to a place where I felt like I could

31:12 move forward in my own journey and

31:16 Taking some more classes

31:17 I've taken some more classes since then signed out from a few of the people that offer classes that you can sign up for

31:22 And that's made a big difference. I think as well. I

31:25 Found with people that oftentimes it's beneficial to even if there's something, you know how to do

31:34 Seeing some a different person showing you how to do it. A lot of times you'll pick up little

31:40 Little ways that they do things that can teach you something that you didn't know about something that you already did know

31:49 Little nuances I had one of the gamble

31:53 professionals teachers come here and

31:56 was here for a few hours and I paid her to come and teach me things and I wanted her to come right from the

32:02 Beginning and watch me load it because there could be things that I was doing that she might say

32:08 Here's an option you may want to consider or that looks really great

32:11 I had that maybe that's going to work well for you

32:14 And so to me I wanted to start right from the beginning and show her all the systems

32:17 I was doing and get all of her input and she stayed for several hours

32:21 I paid her for that and she showed me a lot of new things that just little tiny things like you're saying Bobby that you just

32:27 Didn't realize if somebody wasn't there to say here's another way to consider doing it

32:33 Yeah, a lot of ways you were in those similar situation to somebody who had just purchased a machine or inherited a machine

32:41 And you didn't you didn't get the benefit of direct training other than whatever your father-in-law remembered

32:48 Yeah, yeah, we've with in recent years

32:52 Now that we have a new owner training program

32:55 it it

32:57 Systematizes a lot of that is yeah

32:58 There's like multiple ways to load and in the in the video training you actually get taught

33:05 You know one methods, you know start to finish and then oh, well, here's this other way as well start to finish

33:11 And so you get the opportunity to learn from different teachers who?

33:15 Like sometimes it's like there's not a wrong answer

33:17 There's just like like for example the way that I like to load the quilt

33:22 takes advantage of the fact that

33:24 my

33:26 starting to get a little arthritis in my fingers and

33:29 Certain things aren't as easy as they used to be, you know, and so the method I used to load

33:35 Is easier for me, whereas other people might not care

33:39 And what does that learn in general?

33:42 I've found that there's more than one way to do almost everything in there

33:49 Usually four to six. Yes. Yes multiple ways. Yeah. Yeah. Well said so as you were doing this

33:59 You know, we've we've mentioned your father-in-law a number of times throughout

34:03 I wonder was he your biggest cheerleader and your support system as you were doing this or did somebody else deserve that?

34:11 Yeah, yeah, and I would say at the beginning

34:14 Absolutely a very supportive person that was extremely patient in teaching

34:18 I will say that if I have to say who my biggest supporter is though would definitely be my husband

34:24 He's he's here all the time. He also works from home

34:27 We have a tax practice that he does which is also feast and famine

34:31 So my busy time of year is also his busy time of year. So during those months

34:37 It's just really busy around our house in the in the office and in the quilting studio

34:43 And then it kind of wanes in the summer

34:45 But he's but he's the one that's given me so many ideas like years ago putting like I say the picture on the business card

34:51 That was something I've done years years ago when I had my alterations business over in East Phoenix

34:58 Starting the clinics and having people come over here and me teach them something and demonstrate an activity to them. That was his idea

35:05 He's so great with marketing thoughts and ideas starting the YouTube channel and putting up activities over there

35:11 And he's always talking to me about who was your clients that was here today and how to go out in the quilting studio

35:18 And so I would have to say definitely goes to him in the long run

35:22 He's a great guy great great supporter great business helper

35:27 and what kind of a impact has

35:30 Of course the money that you make and the control of your your own personal schedule

35:35 What what kind of impact does that have in your life?

35:38 Absolutely, that's the very best part of it right there

35:41 The very best part is that you have control of your time and you can fit things in in your schedule for the most part

35:47 I mean if a client needs to come and bring a quilt

35:50 Obviously you need to be here if the clients coming to pick up the quilt you need to be here if you need to finish

35:54 The quilt for the client you need to be here

35:56 but for the most part you can maneuver your day so that you could start at at

36:01 5 in the morning if you can get some quilts done at that time and you happen to be up

36:05 That's great

36:06 If you want to work late into the evening you can to me

36:09 My eyes start shutting down in the evening and I can't afford to mess up somebody's quilt

36:14 So I know that I have to shut things down by a certain time in the evening and I'm so much more fresh in the

36:20 Morning, that's just me

36:20 So I would much rather get up in the morning and do it then if I have to but I can maneuver it and my

36:25 Husband has some physical disabilities from some surgeries and injuries in the past

36:29 So I can be here to help him and he needs he just needs a lot of physical help all day

36:35 I can get a quilt started. I can set it up

36:37 I can get it

36:38 Processed and moving forward and I can go in and help him with what he needs as well with his activities to me

36:45 That's very important. I need some kind of an income that I can do that can support him

36:51 Timewise with all the things that he needs. I also do accounting

36:56 for our tax clients and so I can mix and maneuver that in relationship to the quilts and

37:04 Figure out when that's going to work out best for me

37:07 So I can be doing this for a little while and then zip in and do accounting for a little while

37:11 The time is just very very important to be able to decide what's going to work for you time wise on it

37:17 And I tell you Brenda you saying that

37:21 Resonates because I cannot tell you how many people that we've talked to on this podcast alone

37:27 who

37:28 one of the most valuable parts of what they have with their business is

37:34 They have a family member or somebody that it, you know

37:38 Needs need them to be there for them during the day and that's that's valuable thing

37:43 You've reflected what a lot of the other people that we've had on here have said also

37:48 And I think the personal time is just very important and that to me

37:52 That's more important than any of the rest of it because I can maneuver things around as best as I possibly can

38:01 Brenda what's what's something that you wish somebody would have told you when you were first getting started?

38:09 I

38:11 Really appreciated

38:13 learning more along the way

38:15 And again, I learned a lot from the beginning

38:18 From from my mentor uniform father-in-law. He did a great job of teaching me what he knew, but I was just eager

38:24 I was just like a sponge. I wanted to know more and I didn't really know how to do that with the

38:31 precision

38:32 System that was before

38:34 Just wasn't very intuitive to me. So I was very glad when we moved up to the new one and I could

38:40 Challenge myself and learn some new things and I just started reaching out to groups and saying where do you learn?

38:44 I mean, I do I don't even know I have no idea where to go to learn

38:47 so people told me about a variety of groups that you could sign up for or classes that you could take or

38:55 Activities that you could do and so I started learning about that. So to me

38:59 Taking classes learning from other people asking questions along the way wherever you can to me

39:04 That would probably be what I would like to have known right from the beginning and it not that I didn't jump into that

39:11 Fairly soon, but I kind of had to learn that I kind of learn on my own

39:14 That that would be a good thing to do

39:16 So if I was going to tell somebody else what I would say is start right away as soon as you're comfortable

39:21 with a little bit start jumping into the next little activity and take a class or

39:26 chat with somebody who knows something that can share with you or

39:30 Go to a quilting with confidence if it's near your place that you can get to

39:35 well, and along those same lines, I guarantee you there's somebody watching this that is

39:42 wondering if they can

39:45 Follow a similar path as to what you've done

39:48 You know, they're thinking about starting a business and it was it can be overwhelming

39:54 Well, what advice would you give to somebody who is thinking about?

39:57 Following a similar path

40:00 of what you have. And starting now with it, kind of? Yeah. Kind of starting now. So the things that

40:07 we talked about I think are going to be important. One is getting some classes behind you, getting

40:14 some information, learning something new. I got onto some GAML Facebook sites and I can ask

40:20 questions there. If I have an issue, I had a couple of things before, which may be what I called you

40:24 about, Bobby. And I had some challenges come up on the screen. I took a photo of him with my phone.

40:33 I put him up there on the Facebook and I said, hey, who's come across this? What does this mean?

40:37 Who can help me? And a few people wrote in. Eventually we found out what the problem was.

40:42 So I would say certainly get onto a couple of sites where you can be reading what other people

40:47 are doing and read those because you might have the same issue and think it's not a big deal right

40:52 now. But when you have that issue, you're going to be glad you read what they had written. And

40:57 then pop some things up there and have people write them back to you. So I do think that's

41:03 going to be a great way for people to get the help that they need. Take the classes, sign up for

41:08 things. If you can get the new training, that's probably excellent. I didn't have that. So I'm

41:14 sure that would be a wonderful thing to be able to do. You can actually, anybody can order that

41:21 training because a lot of times people, because the machines outlive us, the machines are

41:29 considerably more long lived than people are. And so what happens is the machine goes from person

41:36 to person and the new owner doesn't have the training that the first person got. So we built

41:44 that new owner training program so that anybody can sign up for it and register. And it's a year

41:50 long deal where you're having your hand held by our education team all the way through for

41:57 that first year. And even after the year has expired, you have lifetime access to all the

42:01 classes. But in particular, we intensively coach people for that first year because there's a lot

42:08 to learn. And I have had fantastic feedback from people who have purchased or gotten the new owner

42:15 training with their new machine. They just love it. Good. I think that's great. And that's what

42:23 we need because we really want these machines to be able to keep going to the next generation and

42:27 to the next person. They're an awesome machine. I wouldn't trade that one for anything. I've seen a

42:31 lot of them and tried a couple of them over at the quilt fairs that have been around and just kind of

42:37 handheld them and moved them a little bit. And that's fine. That's fine. But I mean, this little

42:41 gal, you know, she's pretty indestructive. She's she's a little honey girl and she works hard.

42:45 And so I wouldn't trade that over. I think that it's just the best system that's out there.

42:50 And we want it to be able to continue. Something else that I always say is like be the go to person

42:56 in your community, like become somebody that people will come to and want to ask questions

43:03 and want to find out what you know and what you've learned. And so when I do my clinics, that's what

43:08 I hope for is that I am the person that people would come to with a question in regards to their

43:15 quilting. And if I don't know what the answer is, I'm going to go find it out and share it with them

43:19 because I want them to come back. I want them to think that I and not that I'm not the expert, but

43:23 I want them to think I am and I'm going to go find out the answer to that so I can bring it back to

43:27 them and let them know. You know, something that I picked up from your demeanor, and I'm sure it's

43:33 very helpful for you in your business, is that you're the opposite of condescending.

43:41 You know, if you know something, you will share it, but that's exactly it. You will share it.

43:46 And I've often thought of all the different tips that I've learned about quilting, you know,

43:52 tension and checking your bobbins before you put them in the machine and how to just all the

43:59 minor little P's and Q's that really make a difference and how all the things that I've

44:03 learned, most of it I've learned from quilters just like you, you know. And, you know, like

44:10 there's a doodad called a bobbin genie and every now and again you run across somebody that uses

44:17 a bobbin genie and you can live with them or you can live without them. There are certain

44:22 places where they can be helpful and other challenges with using them. But I had a lady

44:26 one time who told me something that I didn't know. She said, you know, they work a lot better

44:31 if you keep them oiled on both sides, just add a little oil every now and again. And I tried it and

44:36 gosh darn if she wasn't right. But, you know, the so many little tips and tricks from different

44:42 quilters and, you know, you start looking like an expert because you have all the answers to all

44:48 the questions. But a lot of times all it is is that you've been open to learn from the people

44:52 around you and you're just excited to be able to share it with them because it's like, oh I know

44:57 there's a trick for this, you know. And I feel like your demeanor, how you come across to people

45:06 is that you really want to help. You want to help them get the, turn that flat quilt into something

45:12 beautiful. Exactly. And I think you'd asked also about, I appreciate that, and you'd asked something

45:19 about what you think that people could do in this day and age. And I think enthusiasm. Like I want

45:27 to be very, I want to be very personable to the person who comes here and I want to be relatable

45:33 and I want to be enthusiastic. And the other thing is I always want to be gracious. Like the quilter,

45:40 some people come in, oh I didn't do a great job or my points aren't meeting or this is one of my

45:45 first quilts. It's fine. It's all fine. We're all starting where we're starting. And I want to be very

45:51 gracious to every person and give them all the credit for the quilt. They chose a great design.

45:59 They chose a great color. Their quilt looks amazing because of the color of thread they chose

46:04 to put on it. And I want them to realize that this is a product they're going to take home, not me.

46:10 And so I always want to be gracious to them and let them know this was something they chose.

46:16 Well, and she's going to be all tore up over her points not meeting. What's the purpose

46:22 in pointing out that her border is also ruffled? It's like, you know, there's

46:30 like you said, you know, beautiful fabric choices, you know, beautiful pattern.

46:36 What a great first quilt. What a great second quilt, whatever. I'm sure your niece is going to

46:40 love it. Let's get it, you know. And hopefully, occasionally, I'll have people that are open

46:47 to suggestions and I will graciously offer them the suggestion on how to make their border not

46:56 so ruffly next time. But I always want to couch it in the positive and not in the negative of their

47:02 challenge that they've had. There's a really cool effect for getting your borders on where they're

47:07 flatter. Well, Brenda, speaking of graciousness, I know that I'm accurate when I say your

47:19 graciousness has exuded through this whole interview and we really appreciate having you

47:26 with us. I do want to, before we let you go, if anybody would like to get a hold of you,

47:35 or do you have a website? Well, I know she has a YouTube channel and a Facebook. Yeah,

47:40 I think she mentioned both of those. Can you share those with our audience?

47:44 Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. I would love to do that. I always love to share with new people,

47:48 so please, please, please, please check out my Facebook and everything's the same. Facebook,

47:52 Instagram, website, YouTube, all has the same name. Super easy that way. Everything's the same.

47:58 Please check it out. I would love to share with people. It's Brenda's Quilting Studio.

48:05 There you go. Like my name. Brenda's Quilting Studio. I would show you on my business card,

48:11 but technically it's probably backward for you there. It would be backwards, yeah.

48:16 Just easy. Brenda's Quilting Studio. Yeah, fantastic. Excellent. Well, thank you so much

48:22 for being with us, and I want to also say thank you to everybody who's joined us live,

48:28 and asked the questions, and that sort of thing. If you want to check out more of these episodes,

48:36 they're obviously available on YouTube, or on a podcasting platform, or on demo.com,

48:41 and we'll see you guys all in two weeks. Thank you so much, Brenda.

48:45 Go have fun. Enjoy your quilting day, my friends. Thank you.

48:48 Thank you so much. Bye-bye.