WEBVTT - Patching Together a Quilting Empire 0:00:15.316 --> 0:00:23.636 Pushkin. Back in two thousand and eight, Al Done and 0:00:23.756 --> 0:00:28.036 his siblings helped their mom open a quilt shop in Hamilton, Missouri. 0:00:28.156 --> 0:00:30.596 We fixed up the building and we got it all 0:00:30.596 --> 0:00:32.676 set up, and then mom was ready to start quilting, 0:00:32.676 --> 0:00:37.116 and we opened the doors. And there's nobody opening a 0:00:37.156 --> 0:00:39.996 quilt shop in a town of one thousand people. It's 0:00:40.116 --> 0:00:43.356 not It's not as cool as you're imagining. Since then, 0:00:43.396 --> 0:00:46.716 Al's mom, Jenny Done, has become a huge quilting star 0:00:46.836 --> 0:00:50.836 on YouTube. The family has turned Hamilton, Missouri into this 0:00:50.956 --> 0:00:55.156 like Disneyland for quilters, and their quilt shop, The Missouri 0:00:55.236 --> 0:00:58.956 Star Quilt Company has grown to over one hundred million 0:00:58.956 --> 0:01:06.156 dollars a year in revenue. I'm Jacob Goldstein, and this 0:01:06.236 --> 0:01:09.636 is what's your problem. My guest today is Alne. My 0:01:09.756 --> 0:01:12.836 name is Aldone, and I worked for the Missouri Star 0:01:12.916 --> 0:01:15.996 Quilt Company. What are you now, chairman or something? Were 0:01:16.036 --> 0:01:20.236 you trying not to say chairman? Oh? I am the yeah, yeah, Okay. 0:01:20.396 --> 0:01:23.316 My name is Aldone. I'm the executive chairman of the 0:01:23.356 --> 0:01:27.276 Missouri Star Quilt Company. The Missouri Star Quilt Company sells 0:01:27.356 --> 0:01:32.516 quilting supplies on the Internet. Square's a fabric batting zewing machines. 0:01:33.156 --> 0:01:36.196 But the story of the company is not really about quilting. 0:01:36.596 --> 0:01:39.796 It's about how to combine low tech and high tech 0:01:39.916 --> 0:01:45.876 to build a wildly successful brand. So I'll tell you 0:01:45.916 --> 0:01:50.636 that the story starts with me a long time ago. No, 0:01:50.836 --> 0:01:52.716 it actually it started with my mom. And my mom's 0:01:52.716 --> 0:01:56.076 a cool mom, like she's she's great mom's mom's a 0:01:56.116 --> 0:01:58.836 big goofball, right, Like she's the funnest mom to have 0:01:58.956 --> 0:02:02.916 because everything's everything's fun and a game to her, Like 0:02:02.956 --> 0:02:05.036 we're broke our whole lives. But I never knew it 0:02:05.076 --> 0:02:07.836 because it was always let's see what we can get 0:02:07.876 --> 0:02:11.356 for twenty eight dollars. If food for less, We're all right, kids, 0:02:11.436 --> 0:02:13.436 go look and we're gonna find it. Like so we 0:02:13.556 --> 0:02:16.476 come out with like with like nothing. But but for us, 0:02:16.596 --> 0:02:18.436 it was a great adventure and off we were going. 0:02:18.716 --> 0:02:21.196 And so that's sort of mom's style, right, She's just 0:02:21.596 --> 0:02:26.036 everything's a game, everything's fun, everything's an adventure. And and 0:02:26.156 --> 0:02:29.316 so like when when I'm in business with her, now, 0:02:30.556 --> 0:02:32.276 that's a great person to have by your side when 0:02:32.276 --> 0:02:34.476 you're trying to figure it out, right, And when we 0:02:34.516 --> 0:02:38.396 started doing this quilt company, we started this quilt company, 0:02:38.516 --> 0:02:40.636 and it was you know, it wasn't supposed to be 0:02:40.756 --> 0:02:43.396 The quilt company was supposed to be a cute little 0:02:43.396 --> 0:02:46.316 side business to help mom pay for the house because 0:02:46.396 --> 0:02:48.716 Dad was working for the newspaper and we were all 0:02:48.716 --> 0:02:50.756 afraid he was going to lose his job, which which 0:02:51.596 --> 0:02:54.396 if he would have stayed there, he definitely would have. Right, 0:02:54.836 --> 0:02:57.956 Well was he doing at the paper. He's a machinist 0:02:58.276 --> 0:03:01.116 and so he worked. Yeah, he worked for the Kansas 0:03:01.156 --> 0:03:03.956 City Star, just fixing presses and stuff. And like my 0:03:03.996 --> 0:03:07.236 parents were terrible with money. Uh they well I don't 0:03:07.276 --> 0:03:08.716 know if they were terrible with money or they just 0:03:08.796 --> 0:03:11.116 never add any money. But it sort of went hand 0:03:11.116 --> 0:03:14.236 in hand. And so we started this company just thinking, hey, 0:03:14.316 --> 0:03:17.276 it'll help mom. Mom can chip in a few bucks 0:03:17.316 --> 0:03:19.276 to help pay for the house. And because it was 0:03:19.356 --> 0:03:22.996 such a low impact effort, we were actually able to 0:03:22.996 --> 0:03:26.916 start it. Otherwise, like if we needed revenues and monies 0:03:26.916 --> 0:03:28.796 and stuff I'll put together to get into this, we 0:03:28.836 --> 0:03:31.036 would have never done it. We shouldn't have done it. 0:03:31.436 --> 0:03:34.276 Two questions, what were you doing for your day job 0:03:34.316 --> 0:03:37.756 at the time? End, Like why quilts? So I came 0:03:37.796 --> 0:03:40.356 out of college and took a job with the Semantic Corporation. 0:03:40.396 --> 0:03:43.036 So I'm like a nerdy tech guy. I really liked 0:03:43.036 --> 0:03:45.956 that space. And then in two thousand and eight they 0:03:46.596 --> 0:03:49.276 fired or laid off me and twenty thousand of my 0:03:49.316 --> 0:03:51.916 closest friends, and for the first time in my life, 0:03:51.916 --> 0:03:55.236 I was without a job. And then why quilts? So 0:03:55.516 --> 0:03:57.916 my mom took up quilting when all us kids left. Right, 0:03:57.916 --> 0:04:00.036 when you're used to seven kids at home, you got 0:04:00.036 --> 0:04:01.356 a lot on your plate. And all of the sudden 0:04:01.396 --> 0:04:05.476 she found herself with nothing to do. And mom went 0:04:05.516 --> 0:04:08.316 over to the Votech College, you know, a next town 0:04:08.356 --> 0:04:10.196 over from us. They were doing a class on like 0:04:10.276 --> 0:04:13.116 making a log cabin quilt, and she just fell in 0:04:13.156 --> 0:04:15.836 love with it. It's an art form, right, it's an expression. 0:04:15.916 --> 0:04:18.236 It's all the great cool stuff, and then at its 0:04:18.276 --> 0:04:20.636 core you're making something to keep you warm, which is 0:04:20.636 --> 0:04:24.636 this very practical thing. And so I called her one time, 0:04:24.756 --> 0:04:26.556 and she had been making these quilts and she had 0:04:26.596 --> 0:04:29.796 taken one into our local quilters. And when I say, 0:04:29.956 --> 0:04:32.316 when I say a quilter, this is the person. When 0:04:32.356 --> 0:04:34.036 you make a quilt, you sew a bunch of pieces 0:04:34.036 --> 0:04:36.756 of fabric together and you have a very thin, big 0:04:36.796 --> 0:04:39.516 piece of fabric now, and the quilting, the process of 0:04:39.556 --> 0:04:42.556 quilting is taking that fluffy middle stuff we call it batting, 0:04:42.636 --> 0:04:45.036 and then the backing and you sandwich all that together 0:04:45.076 --> 0:04:47.396 and stitch around it so it doesn't come part that 0:04:47.996 --> 0:04:51.076 process we call quilting. And so she took her quilt 0:04:51.116 --> 0:04:54.036 in to get it quilted, and just like the last step, 0:04:54.196 --> 0:04:56.396 and you need a machine or something that your mom 0:04:56.436 --> 0:04:59.156 didn't have for that. Yeah, it's a big, like forty 0:04:59.196 --> 0:05:02.916 thousand dollar sewing machine. It's got a big throat on it, 0:05:02.956 --> 0:05:04.796 so we can get all the way into the quilt 0:05:04.796 --> 0:05:06.636 and do all that stuff. Okay, And so she took 0:05:06.676 --> 0:05:08.596 it into this lady and the lady said, great, I'm 0:05:08.596 --> 0:05:11.236 backed up about a year. I'll get it back to you. 0:05:11.436 --> 0:05:13.476 Let s see it a year. And I was like, man, 0:05:14.316 --> 0:05:17.276 there's nothing on this planet Earth that needs to take it. 0:05:17.356 --> 0:05:19.196 You can build a house in eight months if you 0:05:19.236 --> 0:05:22.236 want to. So she she was relaying this story to me, 0:05:22.276 --> 0:05:24.516 and I said, if I bought you the machine, could 0:05:24.556 --> 0:05:26.116 you do this? She said, yeah, I think I could 0:05:26.116 --> 0:05:29.116 figure it out. And called my sister and the like. 0:05:29.276 --> 0:05:31.916 That was my market research and so you bought your 0:05:31.956 --> 0:05:36.396 mom the machine? Did it work? Was that? Oh? Yeah, yeah, okay, 0:05:36.716 --> 0:05:39.476 Uh yeah we did. We bought mom the machine. Uh 0:05:39.956 --> 0:05:42.556 you know, took out a second mortgage on my sister's 0:05:42.636 --> 0:05:45.556 house because she had she had assets. I was still 0:05:45.556 --> 0:05:47.436 single and had nothing to my name at the time. 0:05:47.876 --> 0:05:49.916 And because we're in the middle of nowhere, right Like 0:05:50.116 --> 0:05:52.916 your world doesn't have this up in real cities, but 0:05:52.956 --> 0:05:55.836 out here, we bought an old five thousand square foot 0:05:55.876 --> 0:05:59.196 auto showroom for twenty four thousand dollars and then a 0:05:59.276 --> 0:06:01.556 quilt machine for thirty six thousand dollars. So for a 0:06:01.556 --> 0:06:04.836 total mortgage payment of like four hundred dollars a month, 0:06:04.876 --> 0:06:07.316 we had a full business ready to go. And uh 0:06:07.756 --> 0:06:09.436 we all all the kids chipped in and like we 0:06:09.516 --> 0:06:11.756 fixed up the building and we we got it all 0:06:11.756 --> 0:06:13.836 set up, and then mom was ready to start quilting. 0:06:13.836 --> 0:06:18.476 And we opened the doors and there's nobody right there's 0:06:18.956 --> 0:06:21.836 it's it's sort of a very underwhelming opening a quilt 0:06:21.836 --> 0:06:24.396 shop in a town of a thousand people. Uh it's 0:06:24.836 --> 0:06:28.756 it's not as cool as you're imagining. But uh, but 0:06:28.876 --> 0:06:31.436 we we launch and and so we had this qute 0:06:31.436 --> 0:06:34.076 little quilt shop on the side, and then I lose 0:06:34.116 --> 0:06:37.156 my job shortly thereafter, right, and uh, And I had 0:06:37.196 --> 0:06:38.756 this idea in the back of my head that I 0:06:38.796 --> 0:06:42.236 loved around a daily deal for quilters, right and so 0:06:43.036 --> 0:06:45.876 and so daily deals was it was a thing back 0:06:45.876 --> 0:06:49.276 then more than now right like what today. Right, It's 0:06:49.356 --> 0:06:52.956 like the dailiness of it is right now one day 0:06:53.036 --> 0:06:56.716 only get this great deal on this thing. I'm twenty 0:06:56.756 --> 0:06:59.116 five and I was super hooked, like I loved them 0:06:59.556 --> 0:07:02.116 and uh, but nobody had ever built one for my 0:07:02.196 --> 0:07:04.636 mom's demographic. There was no one that was doing this 0:07:04.796 --> 0:07:07.636 for forty to seventy year old women that were into quilting. 0:07:07.636 --> 0:07:10.716 It was all like outdoor gear. Tech gear is basically 0:07:10.756 --> 0:07:13.836 like the tech kids, tech bros who would build these 0:07:13.836 --> 0:07:16.796 sites are selling stuff essentially to themselves. That's right. And 0:07:17.076 --> 0:07:19.596 nobody had built and marketed and message to that to 0:07:19.716 --> 0:07:22.076 that group. And so I was like, man, this would 0:07:22.076 --> 0:07:24.156 be cool to try. When I lost my job, I said, well, 0:07:24.156 --> 0:07:26.356 we got this cute little quilt shop at home. I 0:07:26.396 --> 0:07:28.396 wonder if I could take it online. So we built 0:07:28.716 --> 0:07:31.236 we built an e commerce store for it, and uh, 0:07:31.276 --> 0:07:34.356 and we did. We we put it all together, launched 0:07:34.356 --> 0:07:38.196 this daily Deal site. Uh and again just crickets, right, 0:07:38.196 --> 0:07:41.676 Like I didn't launching a Launching a site to nobody 0:07:41.836 --> 0:07:44.236 is hard. We didn't have an audience, we didn't have 0:07:44.276 --> 0:07:46.116 we didn't have a customer base yet. But we got 0:07:46.156 --> 0:07:49.956 it out there and just started building this email cadence 0:07:50.516 --> 0:07:53.636 to our list of people that were that were, you know, 0:07:53.996 --> 0:07:56.516 growing it to one hundred people and a thousand people 0:07:56.596 --> 0:08:00.556 slowly and uh and marketing this daily deal that was 0:08:00.556 --> 0:08:03.436 happening every day and leading into that as our sort 0:08:03.436 --> 0:08:08.196 of commerce hook and uh. And it started picking up steam. 0:08:08.196 --> 0:08:11.996 And it wasn't uh, not almost any fault of our own, 0:08:12.476 --> 0:08:14.796 but you know, it started picking up steam. And the 0:08:14.796 --> 0:08:17.756 things that we were trying to do were figure out 0:08:17.796 --> 0:08:20.796 where we could find this audience, because I mean, it's 0:08:20.836 --> 0:08:23.796 funny that the market researches there's twelve million quilters in 0:08:23.836 --> 0:08:27.436 America and uh and on Facebook, with all of my 0:08:27.836 --> 0:08:30.276 parameters wide open, I could find about two million of 0:08:30.316 --> 0:08:33.156 them right, which which you go back to two thousand 0:08:33.156 --> 0:08:35.276 and eight, they just weren't even like they didn't have 0:08:35.316 --> 0:08:36.916 an email address. That was something a lot of my 0:08:36.916 --> 0:08:38.916 customer service people would have to help with. You had 0:08:38.916 --> 0:08:42.676 to have an email address to order from us. They're like, well, Judith, 0:08:42.796 --> 0:08:44.836 let me sign you up for a Gmail account. This 0:08:44.876 --> 0:08:46.396 is what it's gonna do, and we can get y'all 0:08:46.436 --> 0:08:49.836 set up, right, Yeah, yeah, right, Like finding finding those 0:08:49.836 --> 0:08:51.676 people was was a little bit of an art form 0:08:51.796 --> 0:08:53.756 and uh and so that's where a lot of my 0:08:53.836 --> 0:08:57.356 attention and interest went after that, because we knew if 0:08:57.356 --> 0:08:59.596 we could get them to our site, like they love 0:08:59.676 --> 0:09:02.156 a deal, they love a deal, and uh, and if 0:09:02.196 --> 0:09:04.116 I could put them in here and show them the 0:09:04.156 --> 0:09:06.716 experience we'd built, that we'd win. I mean, at some 0:09:06.996 --> 0:09:09.356 like the simple abstraction of it is like there's all 0:09:09.356 --> 0:09:13.236 this stuff happening daily deals and e commerce and it's 0:09:13.316 --> 0:09:17.316 growing and Facebook ads, but it's not happening for this 0:09:17.476 --> 0:09:20.276 giant segment of the population, right, It's not happening for 0:09:20.876 --> 0:09:24.836 basically older women. Right. Is that essentially your customer base? Yeah, yeah, 0:09:24.916 --> 0:09:29.716 that's that's exactly right, right, Like, like I mean, and 0:09:29.796 --> 0:09:32.476 there's a bunch of demographics that still live in these 0:09:32.476 --> 0:09:34.876 spaces where like nobody has bothered to build a great 0:09:34.876 --> 0:09:38.036 experience for them. And you know, I was I was 0:09:38.076 --> 0:09:40.996 plunking around with like stained glass window making my Grandpa 0:09:41.076 --> 0:09:43.636 makes stained glass windows, but he's he's too old to 0:09:43.636 --> 0:09:46.516 teach me. And like, nobody's sat down and said, how 0:09:46.516 --> 0:09:49.676 can I make this experience amazing for a beginner and 0:09:49.836 --> 0:09:52.476 great to get into, and how how do I continue 0:09:52.516 --> 0:09:54.836 to support them as they keep going? And like, I mean, 0:09:54.876 --> 0:09:58.716 you can go industry to industry, and so many of 0:09:58.756 --> 0:10:00.996 these have been overlooked. If you just sat down and said, 0:10:01.116 --> 0:10:03.596 can I make a great experience around this, you would 0:10:03.596 --> 0:10:06.796 be ten times better than the incumbent sitting out there 0:10:06.876 --> 0:10:08.676 making most of the money. Well, in terms of the 0:10:08.676 --> 0:10:12.036 great I mean, it seems like one big early move 0:10:13.836 --> 0:10:19.396 is getting your mom on YouTube. Yeah yeah, so well, well, 0:10:19.516 --> 0:10:22.036 getting mom on YouTube. So this was this was two 0:10:22.036 --> 0:10:24.236 thousand and eight that we started going into this, right, 0:10:24.276 --> 0:10:27.836 and we started putting together tutorials that were just like 0:10:28.516 --> 0:10:32.036 how do you make a quilt and putting them up 0:10:32.076 --> 0:10:34.516 on YouTube. And I was recording mom and I'm a 0:10:34.596 --> 0:10:36.796 thirty year old bearded man at that point, so I 0:10:36.836 --> 0:10:39.716 knew nothing about quilting still, and she would she would 0:10:39.756 --> 0:10:43.796 try and record these these tutorials, and because I'm behind 0:10:43.876 --> 0:10:45.476 the camera, I got to be like, Mom, I have 0:10:45.556 --> 0:10:48.236 no idea what you're trying to say, like, I know 0:10:48.356 --> 0:10:50.876 you think you're teaching how to quilt, but like I'm 0:10:50.916 --> 0:10:53.676 your audience, explain it to me. And so she got 0:10:53.796 --> 0:10:56.876 making these tutorials. She had this very approachable feel to her, 0:10:57.276 --> 0:11:01.436 which which even today, man, very few people are teaching. 0:11:01.876 --> 0:11:04.516 Like the instinct is to go and teach the quilter 0:11:04.596 --> 0:11:06.476 that already knows how to quilt, because that means you're 0:11:06.476 --> 0:11:10.036 a good quilter. And so to teach in an approachable 0:11:10.076 --> 0:11:12.836 way that anybody can pick up and watch this and 0:11:13.156 --> 0:11:16.796 uh and then join into the clan is is a 0:11:16.876 --> 0:11:18.996 very rare thing. And so she started going. In the 0:11:18.996 --> 0:11:23.676 early days of YouTube, that became our entire messaging lever. Right. 0:11:23.716 --> 0:11:26.996 We we started an email list that was just sending 0:11:26.996 --> 0:11:31.356 out this video and saying, hey, we released a tutorial, 0:11:31.556 --> 0:11:33.996 you'll love it, and that was that was it, right, 0:11:34.076 --> 0:11:36.316 Like they already they knew, we had the daily deal, 0:11:36.356 --> 0:11:38.276 they knew, and we'd put some of that in there. 0:11:38.636 --> 0:11:41.356 But but like it was very little bye bye bye 0:11:41.396 --> 0:11:43.756 and and a lot more like hey, we did this 0:11:43.796 --> 0:11:45.916 thing for you, we think you'll love it. And it grew, 0:11:45.996 --> 0:11:50.356 like our our marketing list grew to hundreds of thousands, 0:11:50.476 --> 0:11:53.516 now it's millions of people. And back in the early 0:11:53.596 --> 0:11:55.156 days when I was running the day to day, it 0:11:55.196 --> 0:11:57.916 was like seventy three percent open rate. Right today it's 0:11:57.916 --> 0:12:02.636 like fifty six percent open rate. It's still an ab surgery. IM. Yeah, yeah, 0:12:02.876 --> 0:12:06.196 Is it right that your mom broke her leg when 0:12:06.196 --> 0:12:10.556 you were making a first videout? It out a video? No, no, no, 0:12:10.636 --> 0:12:12.956 So this is definitely real. And so we pull out 0:12:12.996 --> 0:12:15.076 this camera and I'm like, mom, just give me, give 0:12:15.116 --> 0:12:17.396 me a tour of the of the shop. She's like 0:12:17.636 --> 0:12:20.196 way over the top and doing like little leg kicks 0:12:20.196 --> 0:12:22.716 and song and dance, and she goes by the quilt machine, 0:12:22.756 --> 0:12:24.516 which has a big chord that runs from the machine 0:12:24.516 --> 0:12:26.796 down to the computer that runs it, and got her 0:12:26.876 --> 0:12:30.476 leg tangled and just like I'm recording data and then 0:12:30.556 --> 0:12:34.436 just boom, she's down, And like I thought she was 0:12:34.476 --> 0:12:37.316 just being overly dramatic, right, And so me and my 0:12:37.356 --> 0:12:39.316 sister are like, get up. Mom. She's like, I think 0:12:39.316 --> 0:12:41.236 I broke my leg. And I'm like, you did not 0:12:41.796 --> 0:12:45.316 break your leg, You're fine, and she's like, no, I really, 0:12:45.476 --> 0:12:48.596 I really did. And uh, And so I was I 0:12:48.836 --> 0:12:51.876 refused to let an ambulance come to our new little shop. 0:12:51.916 --> 0:12:54.636 I just thought that would be bad for business. And 0:12:54.756 --> 0:12:57.716 so finally we load her up into the car and 0:12:57.836 --> 0:13:00.516 drive her to the clinic and they're like, yeah, it's broken. 0:13:00.596 --> 0:13:03.276 And so about I don't know, four or five months 0:13:03.316 --> 0:13:07.036 into this business, Mom's hold up in her bed and 0:13:07.676 --> 0:13:10.356 my sister Natalie, who was also working for no payment 0:13:10.396 --> 0:13:12.196 at the time, I was like, well, you got to 0:13:12.276 --> 0:13:14.356 learn how to run this because we've got to be 0:13:14.436 --> 0:13:18.636 putting out this product. So okay, so you got your 0:13:18.676 --> 0:13:22.276 mom on YouTube, you got the daily deals. I mean, honestly, 0:13:22.436 --> 0:13:25.356 things things start going and like we're growing at about 0:13:25.356 --> 0:13:28.316 two hundred percent a year um. In the early days 0:13:28.356 --> 0:13:31.076 we went we went one hundred thousand to a million 0:13:31.556 --> 0:13:37.436 to four million to eight million. Yeah, it's just it's 0:13:37.476 --> 0:13:39.876 just going up, right, and uh and it's going up 0:13:39.916 --> 0:13:42.556 because like, I mean that sounds great. Is it super hard? 0:13:42.636 --> 0:13:44.196 I mean, is it hard to even to finance? Like? 0:13:44.196 --> 0:13:46.516 Are you have to buy the fabric before you sell it? 0:13:46.596 --> 0:13:49.876 Is it? Are there moments when you're jammed up in there? 0:13:49.876 --> 0:13:51.796 Like are there particularly? Yeah? No, the I mean the 0:13:52.596 --> 0:13:56.436 tough parts about this are are definitely the finance. We're bootstrapped. 0:13:56.476 --> 0:13:59.396 Nobody was putting money into a quilt company. Um, and 0:13:59.436 --> 0:14:03.316 so we're we're like financed off of the very safe 0:14:03.356 --> 0:14:05.716 space was was when we were buying things and I 0:14:05.756 --> 0:14:07.556 could just pay it off with my credit card if 0:14:07.596 --> 0:14:10.876 things went bad, right, But pretty soon we outgrow that. 0:14:10.996 --> 0:14:13.996 We're starting to talk millions of dollars of inventory that 0:14:14.036 --> 0:14:16.956 we need to hold. And the way my industry works 0:14:16.996 --> 0:14:19.756 is you've got to buy fabric six months before you 0:14:19.796 --> 0:14:21.836 get it. So you look at it and they say, 0:14:21.836 --> 0:14:23.556 we're going to print this, we'll have it in six months. 0:14:23.556 --> 0:14:25.676 How much do you want? And you place your order 0:14:25.716 --> 0:14:28.676 for say a million dollars worth of fabric. Right, So, 0:14:28.716 --> 0:14:30.956 when we would get the product, we owed the money 0:14:30.956 --> 0:14:33.756 and we had to turn that product into dollars in 0:14:33.756 --> 0:14:36.076 that first thirty days because we couldn't afford to pay 0:14:36.116 --> 0:14:38.796 for it otherwise, right, And so we have to immediately 0:14:38.836 --> 0:14:41.796 turn that inventory into money. It's to cover our cost. 0:14:42.116 --> 0:14:44.996 And all the while you're growing at two hundred percent 0:14:45.116 --> 0:14:47.436 year over year. And so when I placed the order 0:14:47.516 --> 0:14:50.636 to when I'm gonna sell the fabric, I need to 0:14:50.676 --> 0:14:53.396 plan for hopefully double the amount of customers I think 0:14:53.796 --> 0:14:56.156 I think they're going to show up. And then as 0:14:56.196 --> 0:14:59.396 you're holding it, double the customers again, and I hope 0:14:59.436 --> 0:15:02.036 they show up because if not, I'm stuck with all 0:15:02.076 --> 0:15:04.556 this inventory, nobody to buy it, and I've killed my 0:15:04.676 --> 0:15:07.196 entire business. We literally it felt like we were bet 0:15:07.196 --> 0:15:11.196 in the farm every three months. So when do you 0:15:11.276 --> 0:15:14.396 buy the town where you started? Somewhere along the line, 0:15:14.436 --> 0:15:17.236 you wind up sort of buying up most of the 0:15:17.276 --> 0:15:20.956 downtown in this town where you where you live. Right, Yeah, 0:15:20.956 --> 0:15:22.956 I feel like I maybe buried the lead here. We 0:15:22.956 --> 0:15:27.236 we did buy the town. Yes, that's such a fun 0:15:27.276 --> 0:15:29.436 part of the story because we're in this small town 0:15:29.476 --> 0:15:34.036 where where we grew up, Hamilton, Missouri. And we bought 0:15:34.076 --> 0:15:36.516 just this old auto show room off the off the 0:15:36.556 --> 0:15:39.236 main street to start. And then about a year or 0:15:39.236 --> 0:15:43.716 two in this family in town was selling. They had 0:15:43.756 --> 0:15:46.036 an old antique shop there and it was right on 0:15:46.076 --> 0:15:47.916 the main drag, and we said we should get that. 0:15:48.396 --> 0:15:50.596 Um actually she came to us and said, you should 0:15:50.596 --> 0:15:54.316 get this location. Location location. So we we go in 0:15:54.356 --> 0:15:58.676 and we buy this old antique store and uh, you know, 0:15:58.676 --> 0:16:01.636 it's like paneling on the walls and eight foot ceilings, 0:16:01.636 --> 0:16:04.156 and we we remodeled it. We pulled everything out, all 0:16:04.156 --> 0:16:08.076 the asbestos siding, and uh, but like we we remodeled 0:16:08.116 --> 0:16:12.956 this into this great cool space and then turned that 0:16:12.996 --> 0:16:14.796 into our quilt shop. And now we had this quilt 0:16:14.796 --> 0:16:18.316 schop on Main Street. But as we kept growing our inventory, 0:16:18.556 --> 0:16:22.956 we had more and more need for space, and so 0:16:22.996 --> 0:16:25.596 we bought another small building, an old salon, a hair salon, 0:16:25.996 --> 0:16:29.356 and turned that into a quilt shop and split out 0:16:29.396 --> 0:16:32.156 a theme of fabric. It was like Christmas and holiday 0:16:32.196 --> 0:16:34.636 stuff went over there, and then we filled up again, 0:16:34.916 --> 0:16:37.516 right this five thousand square foot shop of ours, It 0:16:37.596 --> 0:16:39.316 just builled up with fabric again, and then we bought 0:16:39.316 --> 0:16:41.676 the next one and moved batique fabric over there. And 0:16:41.716 --> 0:16:44.476 so that's why we started and continued to lean into it, 0:16:44.676 --> 0:16:46.436 even to the point where once we got three or 0:16:46.436 --> 0:16:50.756 four quilt or different shops open, I was googling around, 0:16:50.796 --> 0:16:52.836 like I want to know who had the most quilt 0:16:52.916 --> 0:16:55.156 chops of any town in the world, And it was 0:16:55.196 --> 0:16:58.116 like some town in Germany had four, right, and like 0:16:58.196 --> 0:17:00.436 it's not a lot. And I was like, man, what 0:17:00.556 --> 0:17:03.356 if we got to say, what if our marketing stick 0:17:03.596 --> 0:17:06.036 was we have the most quilt chops of any town 0:17:06.076 --> 0:17:08.636 in the world, Like that's worth pulling off the highway 0:17:08.676 --> 0:17:11.916 for let's be that. And so we we leaned into this, right. 0:17:11.956 --> 0:17:15.196 It was sort of happened by happenstance, and then we 0:17:15.236 --> 0:17:17.716 realized that we had this really great thing on our hands, 0:17:18.116 --> 0:17:20.596 and uh and leaned into it. Now we're fourteen quilt 0:17:20.636 --> 0:17:24.556 chops and we have three restaurants. We have a sleep 0:17:24.596 --> 0:17:27.076 and so sort of retreat center that you come with 0:17:27.116 --> 0:17:29.516 your girlfriends for a slumber party and spend a week. 0:17:29.956 --> 0:17:32.676 And we have we have a man's land where you 0:17:32.716 --> 0:17:35.876 park your husbands they sit and watch, you know, sports 0:17:35.876 --> 0:17:38.956 and playpool while your wife's shops and like, we have 0:17:39.076 --> 0:17:41.996 all we built this entire experience around it. That sort 0:17:42.036 --> 0:17:44.836 of stemmed from the fact that we had cheap real 0:17:44.956 --> 0:17:50.396 estate here because nobody's opening commercial enterprises and two that 0:17:50.396 --> 0:17:53.516 that like we were willing to go through and like 0:17:54.036 --> 0:17:57.756 build an experience that nobody had ever really done before. 0:17:57.876 --> 0:18:00.756 It's not a big box. It's like a town that 0:18:00.836 --> 0:18:03.316 we sort of cobbled together into this thing. It's cool 0:18:04.156 --> 0:18:07.036 and how much of well, how big is your company now? 0:18:07.076 --> 0:18:10.796 In terms of revenue, we're north of one hundred million. 0:18:10.836 --> 0:18:12.916 We uh, we we get up there a little bit. 0:18:12.996 --> 0:18:17.676 It's fun it's about four hundred employees. Uh, we're yeah, 0:18:17.716 --> 0:18:19.956 it's full time. How much how much of the revenue 0:18:20.036 --> 0:18:25.036 is from people coming to your town? About eight about 0:18:25.076 --> 0:18:28.196 eight million, I'd see, Yeah, it's it's not it's not 0:18:28.356 --> 0:18:30.676 like it's it's somewhere around five percent. It's not a 0:18:30.676 --> 0:18:34.956 ton and uh but like it's it's media enough that 0:18:35.076 --> 0:18:38.636 like it represents such a small check of revenue, but 0:18:38.636 --> 0:18:41.316 it's like an outsize, like ninety percent of our marketing 0:18:41.316 --> 0:18:45.596 message is built around this town and the people here 0:18:45.596 --> 0:18:49.076 and the customers coming right right, well, and your mom right, 0:18:49.076 --> 0:18:52.476 So instead of being just some like random place where 0:18:52.476 --> 0:18:54.716 the fabric is cheap, You've got like your mom, who's 0:18:54.756 --> 0:18:57.556 an actual person in this actual town, in a real shop. 0:18:57.756 --> 0:19:00.756 Like it seems like that is a huge part of 0:19:00.796 --> 0:19:03.396 the of the the town that you have bought and 0:19:03.476 --> 0:19:05.916 of your mom. Right, it's like a real place and 0:19:05.996 --> 0:19:09.356 real people. Yeah, I mean mom, Mom is our key 0:19:09.436 --> 0:19:11.796 for sure, right, which is which is tough because like 0:19:12.516 --> 0:19:14.676 I mean, I always talked to her. I'm like nobody 0:19:14.796 --> 0:19:17.916 lets you know, sleeping Beauty have a bad day at Disneyland. 0:19:17.956 --> 0:19:21.316 You've got to be on You're smiling, you're happy, you 0:19:21.356 --> 0:19:24.676 know for thirteen years, you've got to really shine keep going. 0:19:25.796 --> 0:19:28.436 I mean, we get such distance out of this online 0:19:29.076 --> 0:19:32.316 because you're not buying from a faceless warehouse. You're buying 0:19:32.436 --> 0:19:35.036 from us. You know us. You can come and talk 0:19:35.076 --> 0:19:36.356 to us, you can come and give us a hug, 0:19:36.396 --> 0:19:39.196 you can come out and visit. And you got a 0:19:39.276 --> 0:19:42.076 question like we'll come and chat with you about it, 0:19:41.716 --> 0:19:49.716 which which you don't have in most businesses. Amazing story 0:19:49.836 --> 0:19:52.276 and so fun. We didn't even get into any problems, 0:19:52.836 --> 0:20:04.956 but we will in a minute after the break. Now 0:20:05.196 --> 0:20:08.716 back to the show. So, okay, So congratulations on all 0:20:08.716 --> 0:20:17.276 your six um. But I'm right, it's interesting. It is cool. No, 0:20:17.436 --> 0:20:19.836 it's a it's a wonderful story. It's a happy story. 0:20:19.876 --> 0:20:23.116 I'm happy for you and your family. But I'm also curious. 0:20:23.156 --> 0:20:26.316 I mean, like, what are you pushing on now? So 0:20:26.436 --> 0:20:28.756 what we're working on now, let's see, there's probably two 0:20:28.836 --> 0:20:31.836 or three things that I think are super interesting. One, 0:20:31.916 --> 0:20:35.396 we we bought a second town, because once you have one, 0:20:36.036 --> 0:20:39.196 the first thing you want is a second town. So 0:20:39.276 --> 0:20:41.956 seven miles to the south of US is a town 0:20:41.996 --> 0:20:44.836 called Kingston, and it's population three hundred people and they 0:20:44.916 --> 0:20:47.956 literally have no revenue, right, there's no budget for the town. 0:20:47.996 --> 0:20:51.276