by Wendy Batten
Listen on: Apple Podcasts |Spotify | Radio Republic | YouTube | PlayerFM | Stitcher | iHeartRadio
Episode Summary:
Hey there friends and welcome to Season 2 of the Creative Shop Talk Podcast. I want to start by thanking each and every one of you for all the support throughout Season 1. We’re jumping into season 2 with a retail success story – meet Melanie Curley from Mango reclaimed. Her story inspires. Being successful is the biggest dream every creative retailer has. But success doesn’t happen within hours or days. Success comes out from hard work, dedication, perseverance, and love for what we do.
Melanie Curley is the owner of Mango Reclaimed, a vintage furniture studio that opened in 2013. Originally a small studio designed to sell reclaimed furniture, Mango Reclaimed has grown and evolved over the past 8 years to encompass a 5,000 sqft studio space that retails multiple paint lines, various DIY products, custom furniture reclaiming, and is host to a variety of hands-on workshops and customer events.
In this week’s episode, I talked about a success story of a creative retailer that started as a photographer but now has a successful retail business, and a new paint line that became highly sought after by retailers across North America. We will discuss how she ended up in the retail industry and I’ll share how Melanie exemplified the proper way to run a retail business. We also talk about what to do when something doesn’t work in our businesses so you can grow and expand exponentially. Melanie discusses the scary business decisions she has made, and how she manages to be a mom of two, fiance, and keep her business up and running throughout a pandemic.
You’re going to love meeting Melanie.
I want to remind you that if you need any support or if I can help you in your business in any way, please reach out. You can always reach out by emailing me at WendyBatten.com. I do one-on-one coaching and host a fabulous group of retailers inside my monthly coaching group Retailer’s Inner Circle. I say fabulous because it’s a space where we support one another and grow together. Click here to learn more.
This week’s talking points on the Creative Shop Talk Podcast:
- Creative retailer success story
- One-on-one coaching
- Diversifying and changing
- Running your own business
- Accidental entrepreneurship
- Choosing the right business model
- Being brave and confident
- 5-Step marketing plan
- Building a community matters
The Big Takeaway:
There’s so much work behind the scenes, you need to just keep moving forward. You can adjust, update, and refine things, but if you don’t put it out there, no one will be able to see it.
Our Favorite Quotes:
- “Things don’t make sense until it makes sense.” – Melanie Curley
- “If it doesn’t work, just do something else.” – Melanie Curley
- “You have to build excitement.” – Melanie Curley
- “Marketing means getting people excited and in love with your business.” – Wendy Batten
- “Even if you can do all the things it doesn’t mean you should.” – Wendy Batten
Our guest:
Mango Reclaimed – A vintage furniture studio established in 2013 by Melanie Curley offering reclaimed, refinished, and restyled furniture. Now offering Mango Paint. Mango Paint is a Canadian made, water-based paint that is specifically designed to reclaim furniture. This paint imparts a beautiful soft matte finish that is incredibly smooth to the touch. With minimal prep work required, you can breeze right through to the fun part!
www.facebook.com/mangoreclaimed
www.instagram.com/mangoreclaimed
www.pinterest.com/mangoreclaimed
www.facebook.com/mangopaintinc
www.instagram.com/mangopaintinc
Subscribe, Connect & Share Your Favorite Episodes
Thanks for tuning into this week’s episode of the Creative Shop Talk Podcast. If you enjoyed this episode, please head over to Apple Podcasts or Google Podcast to subscribe to the show and leave your honest review. For more great content and helpful tips to grow your creative retail shop, visit our website. Follow us on Facebook and Instagram, subscribe on YouTube, and don’t forget to share your favorite episodes with other creative retailers.
by wendy
Are you a DIY workshop leader struggling to fill seats for your DIY Workshops?
Try this…..offer LESS!
Yup. Weird, I know. But it works.
I’m forever being asked to help workshop leaders market their workshops and how to get people to actually book.
When I review their workshops schedule they have tons of workshops listed but say no one is booking.
Here’s the problem, your customers get overwhelmed and can’t decide, so they just don’t. It’s like too many items on a menu.
Secondly, there is no sense of urgency, if you offer the same workshops over and over and tons of them, they are always available, there really is no urgency to them booking today, so they think “aw, I’ll book next time”.
Try cutting back on when you post workshops and how many, and changeup rotation of what you offer as workshops, it works for many retailers.
Bottom line: don’t overwhelm your customers and they will book the workshops you offer.
Less is more.
Give it a try and let me know how it goes!
For more workshop tips, grab my free workshop tip guide HERE and be sure to join my FREE creatives group, where we share tips and tricks with other creative brick and mortar store owners and DIY workshop leaders.
Xo, Wendy
Love the thought of getting paint advice from Miss Mustard Seed and other top Paint Retailers and pros? Get the best paint sales advice for Creative Retail Businesses in my free sales success guide here!!!
Pin me!
I’d love it if you shared my pin below on Pinterest! Find me on Pinterest @FrontPorchMercantile for more Creative inspiration and Creative Biz Tips for your brick and mortar store.
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by wendy
I recently attended an amazing Creative Retreat in Italy. I was excited to go, to connect with other and rekindle my creativity.
If you have known me for awhile, I am a go go go person and stopping and relaxing is not in my DNA. I’ve been an entrepreneur for many ears, this was truly my first vacation, I didn’t know how to stop working.
But I did. And I needed it. And it was wonderful.
I always love being around other creatives but this was special.
The group was a lovely mix of creative shop owners, creatives just expanding their creative side, painters and a few wanting to start up a creative business. It was pure pleasure to finally meet some of my coaching clients face to face with a hug, renew some long time friendships and make so many new friends. We were in a tiny beautiful hillside Italian town, and our creative sessions took place in an amazingly beautiful villa. It inspiring just being there.
My mentor and very good friend Miss Mustard Seed was there with us, along with a lovely and amazing group of creatives from all walks of life and locations.
As a creative retailer coach and mentor, I loved listening to and hearing the common threads of challenges they face as they navigate the balance of being a creative and running a business, and equally of the pure joy they get from their beautiful shops and using their creativity to make a living. There were some wonderful conversations that took place.
There is no way to explain the magic that happens with a group of like-minded creatives spend time together. In person, over dinners and walks through the old towns and bus rides. Sharing new fresh thoughts, fears, joys and inspiring ideas. Connecting.
As a creative, I can’t tell you how nice it was to step outside my normal creative “rut” and try some new techniques and be ok with failure and be surprised by successes, to listen to the others talk about their work, to share pictures and ideas and come home excited and eager to try my hand at new creative ideas.
The creative world is a solo endeavor usually, if you are running a business using your creative talents it can feel isolating. I loved the connections made with fellow creatives, connecting and my brain loved it too.
If you ever have an opportunity to get together with creatives, do it. If not a creative retreat in Italy, then organize a meet up in a local art gallery, or park, or coffee shop, find a group and make some connections.
There are online forums too, I have started a group for creative retail business owners on FB: JOIN US HERE! We can still network, share ideas, help each other and plan to meet up in the future!
Have you ever attended a creative retreat? I’d love to know where you went and what it was for.
If you haven’t been on one, but think it could be good for YOUR creative soul to take a biz break (kind of) … stay tuned. I had so much fun I’m thinking of gathering creative retail owners for stateside retreat!!
So the next question I’m asked, is when I’m planning my next creative retailer’s retreat…
Our Next Creative Retailer Retreat is March 24-26, 2020
That’s right! Back by popular demand, we are meeting again this year in Orlando in the early spring. This is where the magic and business-building happens. Click here to read more about this rate opportunity to meet with other creative retailers IN PERSON.
Wendy
Love the thought of working with Miss Mustard Seed and other top Paint Retailers? Get the best paint sales advice for Creative Retail Businesses in my free guide here!!!
Pin me!
I’d love it if you shared my pin below on Pinterest! Find me on Pinterest @FrontPorchMercantile for more Creative inspiration and Creative Biz Tips
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