Tales of a Fourth Generation Textile Executive: More Bits & More Pieces
Today, I am going to do another bits ‘n pieces blog where I briefly discuss some assorted subjects. Here goes.
I am not sure if you noticed, but the Studioe website is now a little different in the way it looks, functions and behaves. Recall that Websites For Quilters got out of the quilt industry website business and this unfortunately left us high and dry without a professional company to manage our sites. Anyway, we found a new company to replace them and are currently working out all the kinks that arose since the conversion. Therefore, if you are having any problems or have any questions about the site, please email me at scott@jaftex.com and I will be sure to help you out however I can. We are working hard to get the site running at full capacity, but as you can imagine new problems and fresh ideas are popping up all the time. So as we push to improve the functionalities of the site and make the site perfect, we thank you in advance for your patience as we get the site up to full speed to improve the customer experience. Existing site users may need to reset password when logging in.
Speaking of the website, you might have noticed that the blogs, including my Tales Of A Fourth Generation Textile Executive blog have moved to WordPress. I still haven’t written a blog on WordPress yet as I am dreading having to learn yet another new system especially as I was really starting to become very agile with the old system. I did hear it is easy though and will jump in soon. This blog was not put on WordPress by me as I am writing this on my Sunday 6 am flight to Chicago on my way to attend the Troy Distributor Fabriganza Show. I am also planning to hit my alma mater at Ann Arbor’s University of Michigan and am really excited for that. Finally, I am heading to our new partner, Air-Lite Manufacturing’s facility in Flint, Michigan to check out their operation. Speaking of Studioe’s batting partner, we plan on having the Air-Lite products available for sale on the website really soon. Stay tuned.
As if the changes to the Studioe website weren’t enough, we are in the process of changing web companies for all our other companies too (The Blank Quilting Corp., Henry Glass & A.E.Nathan). I guess that is the downside of having several different brands under the same umbrella. And if that isn’t enough, we are in the process of implementing a new computer system.
Studioe is the first company to change over to the new system so kind of like the Guinea pig. Another fun process. In any case, you will be happy to know that we are starting to ship our invoices out with all shipments. So keep an eye out for them and make sure you or your staff does not throw them out. Many other additional improvements to come very soon. The long and the short of it is that we are always trying to improve our business, but this year happens to include a lot of large undertakings.
As I mentioned a couple times recently, I had plans to speak at a guild meeting in Wilmington, N.C. I did this last week and we had a blast. There were about 100 people in attendance and they were absolutely intrigued learning some of the inner workings of the quilting industry.
The crowd listened intently as I jumped around covering as many subjects as possible based on the great questions I received. I have really turned the corner on my fear of public speaking (glossophobia).
I guess the solution was just to tackle the fear head on. With that being said, I am putting myself out there to speak at more guild meetings. All you need to do is reach out directly to me or one of the Studioe sales reps and we can work on figuring out a date. My availability is limited, so this will likely be on a first come first served basis, but other factors i.e. location and number of attendees will need to be considered. The nice thing is that I do work for free.
Bring it on!
While speaking about guild meetings, I wanted to mention some of the benefits for the guild members, shop owners and me, the fabric supplier. For the guild members, this is a great opportunity to learn: the inner workings and history of my family business, all about the quilting industry and all about the different Studioe and other company products. It is also an opportunity to put a face to the brands and actually give them some life. Case in point, my local sales rep called one of the shop owners who attended the guild meeting, but the owner couldn’t talk on the phone because several of the guild members were at the shop coming to buy up all the Peppered Cottons. This was all based on my discussion of this product the night before. So there lies the upside for the quilt shops. I was really happy to hear this as I am always rooting for my customers. For me, it helps me get over my fear of public speaking…lol. No really, it is just a great way to gain exposure and be different than everyone else in the industry. I also get to meet tons of great people and see all their amazing works of art.
There you have it folks…it’s a wrap. Have a great week and please don’t forget to email me to set up a quilt market appointment. Until next time, This Is Studioe Scott