130: How to Build a Drapery Workroom from Day One
Michele 00:00
Hello, my name is Michele and you're listening to Profit is a Choice. Julia Hash of JSH Designs in Raleigh, North Carolina and joins us today on the podcast. Julia owns a full-service boutique drapery fabrication and design studio. She shares with us how her dream started in her attic, moved down to the main living space, and then outside of her home. Listen in to the journey of entrepreneurship that Julia has taken and continues to take to grow the business in a way that accentuates what she and her team do best.
Michele 00:36
Every day empowered entrepreneurs are taking ownership of their company financial health and enjoying the rewards of reduced stress and more creativity. With my background as a financial software developer, owner of multiple businesses in the interior design, industry, educator, and Speaker, I coach women in the interior design industry to increase their profits, regain ownership of their bottom line and to have fun again in their business. Welcome to Profit Choice. Hey, Julia, welcome to the podcast.
Julia Hash 01:07
Hey, Michele, how are you?
Michele 01:08
I'm great. How are you today?
Julia Hash 01:10
Hanging in there, doing well.
Michele 01:12
Good, good. Well, I am so excited to have you on and to chat with you today about your drapery workroom and the business and how you started and where you are and all the good stuff. So why don't we jump in? And I would love to hear you share with me and our listeners, how you started your business. When did you start it? And how did you start it?
Julia Hash 01:34
Okay, I'd love to share that. First of all, thank you for having me. I've been looking forward to this. I started my workroom; I've been sewing since I can remember. I think I was in fourth grade when I first started sewing, and I always had an interest in it. And always made my prom dresses, things like that. But when my husband and I bought our first house, we had a neighbor that asked me I did some window treatments for my own home, I was like I can do that! I can make that. And so, I did some for myself, and then had friends asked me to do some things for them, and thoroughly enjoyed it and started just doing it on the side part-time. I was working full time as an office manager for an insurance company for about 12 years or so. Then, when my children were born, we had to make some changes. My daughter has a very rare health condition, a lung condition. So, we had to make some changes. We had to pivot and change what we decided to do as far as staying home. I needed something with flexibility. I was fortunate enough to have a neighbor who knew a designer that worked at a local furniture company. I kind of got in with her have continued, it was a really good relationship. And we were able to help each other. And it grew from there. I did start when the kids were very little, in the attic of our home, which is not heated or cooled. So, I had very limited time during the day. You know, during the summer months, I had early mornings, late evenings, winter I would do later in the afternoons, or work when they were in preschool. I remember putting my son, who is now 19 in the bouncy seat beside me early mornings because it wasn't too hot. And he slept. Then a few years after that we decided since it was going to be a full-time venture that we had to make a better working situation for myself. So, we moved the workroom downstairs into my sunroom and was there for about 12 years, and at that point have moved out, about six years ago into a separate studio space.
Michele 04:07
And when you started when you were introduced to the designer, and you saw that you could help each other. Did you, I know you'd been sewing since you said fourth grade and Four-H, did you know how to do custom window treatments, though? How did you find your way? Because I had been sewing for a few years. And I know it took me a while to figure out what does it mean to be what does it mean to have that what are the professional standards for what we're creating?
Julia Hash 04:33
Correct. I didn't know all of those things. It was all on the job training kind of situation. I remember I think about some of the things that even though they looked good to the person who may not know any different, I look back on some of them and go oh Lord, I can't believe I actually gave that to somebody, but it was in the very, very early years. They wouldn't have known the difference. I had scoured patterns. I, at the time, I think simplicity had some basic patterns because that's some basic window treatment patterns. I use those to start with. And then I was fortunate enough to find Cheryl Strickland and the academy and was able to go to several of the conferences back in the day and met some wonderful, wonderful people. And the amount of knowledge I gained in those first few years just with conferences, and the online forum was invaluable.
Michele 05:31
Yeah, I remember finding the custom home furnishings Academy with Cheryl, back in I want to say 2003. It was one of those moments where I was like, something's gotta give here I can't keep doing this. Like I was at I had, I had gathered what I could gather, and I felt like I needed more I needed community, I needed to talk to somebody, I needed to work through some things. And I remember finding it one night, like around midnight, and it makes me giggle now, but it was one of those you had to be a professional to join. Well, I didn't know what it meant to be professional. But I wanted to be professional. I was trying to be professional, and certainly not be enough. And so as I submitted to join that night, that was when the forum was free. And oh, yeah, all the extra stuff. But you had to be accepted. I had no idea that Peggy was sitting in the office and was going to accept me the next morning, and I remember all night long thinking, are they going to accept me as professional or not? I've got my business license, I've got all these things, but I'm not professional enough. Like, what does that mean? Right, right now as I just looked back on me and smiled, but I wanted so badly to get it right. I wanted to do it. Right. Yes. You know, not just the business end of it, but I wanted to learn and you know, back in those days, there weren't, it wasn't simple panels. It was no, it wasn't layers and layers of Kingston's and, you know, pull up swags. And it was, it was as complicated as ever. From an entertainment perspective. It wasn't like today. I mean, if you could do today, if you can do Romans and panels, you can just about do 90% of all windows.
Julia Hash 07:21
Isn't that the truth?
Michele 07:23
We've really gotten down to like we sell, you know, specialized rectangles. I'm not diminishing the work in those. There's a lot. But it but the shape is not that different.
Julia Hash 07:35
Correct.
Michele 07:35
What we did back then was a lot more sweeps and swags and layers and for fabrics together with 14 trims and mic recording everywhere. Right? Right. Just a lot more detail. I mean, I remember thinking, Oh, now I gotta go make all my own trim. Now I gotta go apply all my own trims just say much.
Julia Hash 07:57
Right? So many different pieces and parts, so many pieces and parts were not. There are tons of ways to adjust a pattern or, you know, just layers upon layers upon layers of detail.
Michele 08:12
Yes, yes, very much so. And so I remember that. I need to find somebody and find something. And, and that's when I really started realizing, here are the professional standards. And I'm like, you look back at some of the work from that my very first year, some of it if you're far enough away, it looks awesome. Some of it, I don't care how far away you get, it does not look awesome.
Julia Hash 08:37
No, I think about the same thing. And I think about one time like one of my very first ones. Somebody was paying me to do something and get on the board. I'm so excited about it. And then I go back and back to do something for them a few years later. And I was like, oh my Lord, I didn't cover the top of the dashboard. I mean, those were the things that you know, you just didn't know. You didn't know you knew what it looked like he looked good on face value, but it's all the little details that you know, looking back on it. I'm a little horrified about that. But that's OK.
Michele 09:07
So, you've moved out into a studio space outside of your home?
Julia Hash 09:12
Yes.
Michele 09:13
Did you have did you start hiring pretty quickly through this process? Did you hire when you were still in your home working in the sunroom or was your first hire after you moved out of the house?
Julia Hash 09:23
I had my first hire was well, my first hire I was still at home and in my sunroom. And I had a wonderful person, a dear friend who had worked for a large bedding manufacturer as their sample room manager. She came in she was looking for something part-time when the company closed. And she came in and started working with me here and was just a wonderful, a great asset, and still a good friend. When she went back to grad school, I had another friend, another mom that I've met through school, you know, a lot of our connections were that when our kids were younger, and she had she started working with me, first time, she said, I just need you to come and hold something for me. I'll pay you. I just need you to come and help me with something. And she's still with me. So that's amazing. Yeah, she's amazing.
Michele 10:20
Now, Julia, you when you started all of this, I asked this sometimes, but I'm curious about your answer. Did you start with a business plan? Or did you start with just let me meet you? Let's start sewing together. Let's see what happens.
Julia Hash 10:36
Oh, no, I did not have a business plan. I would love to say I did. And I was that on top of it. But No, I didn't. It was a little bit by little bit. Have I learned what I needed to do? Sure.
Michele 10:48
I didn't start with mine either. The first time. I definitely had a business plan when I started my coaching slash consulting firm. And I had one when I started my podcast. And we had one at CHF. But when I first started all the way back in 2000, no, it was, can you do this for me? Yes, I'll pay you this. Okay. And that was the extent of it.
Julia Hash 11:15
I didn't. At the time, I guess I really wasn't thinking of myself as a business. I was earning some extra money. Okay. Yeah, really, to be honest, I was just earning some extra money to help with the household. At that time. Yep. When I was doing kind of part-time, then when I started doing it more full time. And that was what we were going to do. I did have more plans in place, but I never really had a formal business plan. Okay.
Michele 11:51
When did you start really kind of looking at and digging into the profitability and the planning and the intention behind your business?
Julia Hash 12:03
I wouldn't say I'm probably, with real intention was when I moved out of my home office when I moved out of the space. When I knew that rent arrived, when I knew I had overhead I had to pay, I knew I had utilities that I wasn't paying, you know, that were just, we were taking care of it, you know, out of our house, out of our household budget. That I would really say that was when I became much more focused and intentional with how I was running the business.
Michele 12:44
I was going to ask you what prompted it. And so it was probably like you said, the moving out. And that that does shift things up? Because that's, you also needed help. I mean, I know you had some help, you know when you were in the home, but there's something different to leave your house to go out to an install but to leave a building of a place to get business.
Julia Hash 13:05
You got it. And it was a very scary move. It was on a huge, huge step. I remember, the night, we were packing up to move everything the next day. I remember standing in the kitchen, at my table, it hadn't been totally taken down yet. And we were in tears. I was like, What am I doing? I mean, I was super excited about it. And I was so happy to be able to have more space and to feel like I was doing be able to do more room and get stuff out of my house. And because it has pretty much taken over the whole house. But I was terrified. I was like, What have I done? And I was just in tears. And I mean, looking back on it. It was just it was just stressful. And I knew it was the right thing. I was just scared to do it.
Michele 13:59
How long do you think you planned before you took that leap? And what kind of planning did you do?
Julia Hash 14:06
Well, honestly, probably for the year before I kind of had it in the back of my mind is, do I want to do this? Is it the right step? I started talking to friends who had in the area that I'm friends with, that are in the same business and you know, asking the ones that had separate spaces. When did you start thinking about doing this? How is it affected you, are you scared? You know, you have more expenses? And they were just like, yes, we were all I was terrified, but it was the right thing to do and you will be glad you did it. And I was I have definitely been glad to do I've done it. And I will say that a year before when I was looking for a space. I really wasn't positive what I needed and, you know, ran how much was I going to pay? All of that I had actually saved up enough, I knew that if for some reason I, something happened, and there was no business or something I, you know, I had enough in my savings that would take care of the rent and the utilities for the year. I had enough to do that. After that, No, I didn't. But I knew I had enough that I had that safety net. And the landlord I was working with, because at the time there, there wasn't a lot of inventory, either. So he was like, don't worry about it. He said we'll do it. We'll do a three-year lease, but it's been a year, you can't you don't want he said I can always rent this space. So I knew, you know, kind of like, Okay, how do you have enough money to pay for it? If something happens, and that's, that's really probably the most forward-thinking I had done up to that point.
Michele 16:08
But well, and you know, I'm always a proponent of profit first, know that you do?
Julia Hash 16:14
Yes, I do.
Michele 16:16
Profit first, because we've worked together and coached together over the years. And, and I'm also that huge proponent of making sure that you have a few months in advance of whatever it is you're doing, right, and I have rent, let's go ahead and get three to six months’ worth of rent. If you're going to hire somebody, let's get three months of their salary saved, so that by the time you do it, you have that extra money to keep it going.
Julia Hash 16:39
Right, right.
Michele 16:41
And so that is rather amazing that you had already saved a year's worth of your rent. In case you needed it, to keep the company guide. That's right. That's really awesome. That's fantastic. It probably had to give you a little bit of breathing room as you did it. Because there are also extra expenses that come up in a move just like when we move our home or move anything. It doesn't matter what the business is moving from home outside of your home into some type of a studio or workspace. There are always those things that pop up.
Julia Hash 17:15
Oh, absolutely. Absolutely.
Michele 17:18
What do you think moving out of your home and into a studio workspace, what do you think some of the first benefits were that you saw? What were the first big things that you're like, Okay, this is good.
Julia Hash 17:35
Well, personally, I mean, is the fact that I had my home back. I didn't have completed treatments on the dining room table. I didn't have you know, I felt there was a breathing space in my home. I didn't feel so cluttered. And yeah, I still feel like I work all the time. But when I come home, you know, if I'm working I do paperwork in my office, that type of thing. But, but the rest of it, it just was kind of freeing. So that was definitely a bonus a plus. Second, was I felt like I felt more like, I won't say and I'm not gonna say professional because that's not what I mean. But yes, thank you. I felt more like okay. It wasn't like, oh, I've made it. That's not it, but I just felt more legit. I felt like I would be able to take on additional clients that I may not have appealed to before if that makes sense. Not appeal to but I mean, my presence was more known, having a separate location.
Michele 18:59
And did your business model stay the same? Or did you realize the business model needed to change?
Julia Hash 19:06
My business model has stayed the same. Pretty much for the last while when moving out. I was still wholesale and retail. And until the last year or so. I have done both. But I am moving away from the retail aspect of it. I still do some retail for long term clients and that type of thing, but I really have moved away from the retail aspect of it. I don't really enjoy that aspect. I really enjoy working with the designers and helping them I'd say that's more sweet spot than the retail aspect.
Michele 19:51
And have the jobs that you've been working on being able to be bigger since you're I mean I know I'm I still have a workroom at my home, there are certain limitations to how wide you know, well, these days, they only so I am doing it for myself and maybe my mom, you know, I don't do a lot anymore. But even back in the day there, there was a certain length that felt comfortable and a certain width that felt comfortable. Whereas if I had a much larger studio space, I can move working at the Academy, I could bring to the table it didn't even faze me for how long or how wide something was, other than the fact that I needed help moving it around. But I knew that we had the tablespace and knew that we could find a way to accommodate and it is, you know, the smaller the workroom, the more difficult is to accommodate with ease. Yeah, some of these larger projects, did you feel like you had the opportunity to take on maybe a different depth or breadth of work than you did when you were in your home?
Julia Hash 20:51
Absolutely. Absolutely. I felt like I had the equipment and the space to do the larger projects. Yes, absolutely. I definitely feel that way.
Michele 21:06
And then what about hiring? Did you start looking to hire more was there? Because I can imagine that if I were to move out into a space like that. And I could take on more projects, and I was found by more designers and more was coming. At some point, you also need more help?
Julia Hash 21:24
Correct. Correct.
Michele 21:26
What's that journey been like?
Julia Hash 21:27
That is not a fun journey very often. It can be, you can have some wonderful people. And I'm very fortunate. Deborah, that's been with me for a long time. And then my other employee, April has been with me going almost three years, three years, right, almost. Wow, she's amazing, you don't find you know, you don't find staff like that, very often, she came to me from another workroom that had retired. And at that point, they were looking also for another workroom to take on some of their model home jobs. So at the time, you know, if that had not been in the mix, I may have waited a little bit longer to have hired a full-time person. But I knew the level of work and the amount of work that was going to be coming in, we couldn't handle that. Just the two of us. And for me not to sew all the time either because I as you know, you there's always all the other things that go along with it. And there's just never enough time to do the sewing and all the admin stuff.
Michele 22:40
Right. And you needed to be the one running the business and being designers and going to the other pieces and parts.
Julia Hash 22:46
Yes. And that's, that has been kind of my, my goal with it is to, to handle that aspect of the business. And to get out of Actually, I mean, sewing on a daily basis. Right now I'm having to sell on a daily basis because I've lost one of my employees. But um, you know, my goal is not to be in that situation is just to hire for that. So, okay, but yes, but it is it hiring is definitely not an easy thing. And finding the right fit is always hard.
Michele 23:25
Especially when it's a drapery workroom, upholstery workroom. We're trying to hire skilled labor. And that that is absolutely a challenge. Because as much as we all enjoy the benefits of having things sewn. You know, it's not something that is taught in our schools. It's not something that is looked upon or even offered at the same level that it was even when we were growing up. No. I mean, my grandmother sewed my mother sewed my aunt sewed everybody in my family sewed. My sister and I were probably the first generation that came up that didn't necessarily act like I didn't learn how to sew in school. I learned how to sew. My mom sewed and I would ask her and I watched her and her mom. So my mother, my grandmother, they sewed all the time. And I would watch, but they never really sat down and taught me how to sew on their sewing machine by and large, because I didn't want to learn.
Julia Hash 24:34
Right,
Michele 24:34
Right. At the time. I lived in a Milltown and so at the time, I saw that as a way of perhaps entrapment.
Julia Hash 24:44
Right, right. I could see that.
Michele 24:46
I didn't want to do that. And so then later, through a nesting phase and pregnancy with my firstborn, I was like, Oh, I think I want to learn how to sew and so you know, got a sewing machine while I was Gosh, as 7, 6, 7 months pregnant, my husband bought me one for my birthday. And I started sewing and, you know, small things and never looked back. But I would say kind of my age group, that generation is that one of the first generations that unless you were intentional about sewing, it was starting to move out a little bit of the school systems where we were learning, you know, typing, and everything was about going to college. And the conversation was just different around what you could do or be and I'm sure that it was there, but I don't remember it being offered. I never remember hearing about go take a sewing class because most people learn to sew at the knee of their mother or their grandmother. Right?
Julia Hash 25:45
Yeah, that's true. That's true.
Michele 25:46
With that, and seeing this overall shift, you know, what I think has been kind of fun as who we are not teaching it by and large as a society in the US anymore. Yet you watch Etsy, a new white are these things popping up? People are just craving the craftiness of making and doing things and so it is something that I think we need, I mean, my goodness, watch what just happened in COVID, the mask making, pulled out sewing machines that had been collecting dust in their attic. They could just a few short months ago, you know, create these masks that allow them hopefully to be able to leave their home or go do something. So you know, there's a need, but finding that really skilled labor that can come in and listen, this is gonna sound really crazy. But I'm talking about people that can sew a straight line. Yeah. Right. And you know what I mean by that, because there are some people that I have seen tried to come in to apply for a job and they couldn't even sew a straight line, let alone, you know, anything else. There's so much math, so much decision making that goes into the stitching and the sewing of what we do. When I I think in some ways, it's highly skilled labor. It's not.
Julia Hash 27:12
I agree, completely agree.
Michele 27:14
It's not just I can pull out my Kenmore and put a couple of stitches in something the minute you sit down on these industrial machines, they can get away you can look we've got friends that have sewn through fingers. So yeah, these things and staple through fingers and everything else. Yes, I have. Yep. Yeah, they can get away from you really, really fast. So to be able to do it with confidence and precision. It takes the right person and me and our, our employee pool, if you will, potential employee pool is getting smaller and smaller and smaller.
Julia Hash 27:49
It is and we were actually having this discussion with my other employees the other day, because, you know, we actually are in the process of trying to hire again, I had hired somebody and it just didn't work out. It wasn't the right fit. And then it happens. But it's what we were discussing. We were discussing what skills we needed. And we were talking about the fact that it's very, it's not it, there's a lot of engineering that goes and gets involved in this. It's not just putting pieces of fabric together. It's not all assembly line work, especially in a workroom, you have to have someone who can, can really understand how everything goes together. And what the next step is that if you don't do this step first. The next, the third step down the road is not going to be right. And there's just a lot of math, there's a lot of...
Michele 28:57
it's an engineering role.
Julia Hash 28:58
It is definitely an engineering role. It's not even just you know, sitting down and sewing up the machine, it's you have to think about the next step. And you have to have an employee or a hire that is willing to learn those steps and have the ability to do them. And in this day, today's age right now it's finding somebody who has those skills that have the work ethic that wants to come in and do get the job done.
Michele 29:30
Oh, gosh, isn't that so hard?
Julia Hash 29:32
Yeah, it is. It is. I mean, I'm very fortunate with the staff I have right now. But it's um, it's just hard because it is not. And I want to it's not. Maybe it's not glamorous, I don't know, but I find a lot of personal satisfaction in what we do. Oh,
Michele 29:49
Yeah, making beautiful things. You know, you're absolutely right. I know the upholstery industry has the same issue and you years ago, I sat in on a I was gonna say a conference call, but it was an in-person conference, it was a workshop that we had. And we had members from the trades all over the interior design industry. We had people from the building aspects. So we had like a representative from tile, masonry. So we had a representative from, you know, electricians and plumbing and steel on the concrete just all over the place. And everybody kept talking about a shortage of labor, shortage of labor. It's coming, it's coming. And so it was interesting to me to see some of the challenges that we were facing and hiring for drapery workrooms or post rework rooms, that very skilled labor that that like you said, they didn't just show up this, were not an assembly line, you've had to be able to have some strategic thinking within the job, you had to be able to engineer things think outside the box, but also take lessons learned from somewhere else and apply it. And I remember them talking about doing some really intricate detailed stonework. And they were talking about that just like an apprenticeship could be three to five years to be able to understand what to do, when to do what corners to cut, when not to cut, how to adjust. And all of us talking about you don't just walk in and have those skills it takes a while to grow them. And so finding somebody who's willing to pour in the time on the apprentice and to learn it, really be a master at it. I know Cynthia Bleskachek talks about a lot know the upholstery side, it's yours to be a master upholsterer. And just like InDesign, meaning full-on, you know, home design, room design, window treatment, design, furniture design, not no two things are ever exactly the same. So you are constantly adjusting and taking lessons learned from one area and trying to apply them to the next area. And finding people that want to think that way and earn that way. When sometimes you have to be okay with getting it wrong, sometimes. That's part of the learning. And it's also one of those things that if you're not getting the same cookie-cutter, requests day in and day out, you may do something, it could be six to eight months before it ever rolls back through the workroom to do again. So it is a little bit more difficult to learn in those cases, right? When you're not doing well. It's not like we're doing a knife-edge pillow, please make 58 knife-edge pillow, right? This is we're gonna you know, do a Kingston, and then in a year another Kingston's gonna come through. And we almost got to rethink it relearn it, you know, it just doesn't become rote at that point.
Julia Hash 33:03
Right? Absolutely. And I find that you know, having somebody that's willing to also be a problem solver. Yes. You know, have somebody say, well, let's figure out how we can make this work. Not Oh, gosh, it's not going to work. We can't do it.
Michele 33:17
Right. Sorry. That's too hard. Don't want to think about that.
Julia Hash 33:20
Yeah, exactly. Exactly.
Michele 33:22
So as your business has shifted from being in a cold, hot attic, moving to a sunroom to being in a space outside of your home. When and how have you seen your profitability journey shift and change through all that? And what would you say have been some of the two to three things that you've done that have really impacted your profitability?
Julia Hash 33:50
I would say my profitability journey definitely has had its ups and downs. I'm getting much much better at really laying the groundwork, and I am doing profit first, profit is a choice, of course. The years we've worked together certainly have been. They were game changers for me. And it really helped me a lot and we set the groundwork to get me going in that aspect.
Michele 34:26
I remember teaching pricing without emotion in your work. Yes.
Julia Hash 34:30
Yes, you did. You did. I took it twice. I took it one time. A few years earlier when right before you got sick right before then. And then the one we had at the studio and really truly it really changed my outlook. My aspect my we were well worth what we were asking. You know what we were charging actually more than what we were charging, probably, but it was really, definitely a game-changer. And then profit is a choice I…
Michele 35:11
The Profit First.
Julia Hash 35:13
I keep saying profit is a choice because that's your podcast. That's okay. Um, please cut that out, um, from Thank you, um, profit first, in coaching with you. We set that up several years ago, and that has been very beneficial for me, I set up my accounts, I put money in every, every month. Is it to the tee? Probably not.
Michele 35:42
But it's better than it would be if you didn't.
Julia Hash 35:45
Absolutely. You know, and I pay myself, I, I have a tax account, I have a Yeah, I have an owner's pay and a tax account. And then I pay myself since I'm an LLC and an S-Corp, I actually take a salary, I take a paycheck every two days, every two weeks. You know, those are the things that I've been very proud to be able to continue to do.
Michele 36:16
How do you think that positioned your company to weather, this last year of the ups and downs that were brought to us via the pandemic?
Julia Hash 36:28
Um, I felt better knowing that I had some funds, you know, in, I won't say I had, at this point in time, you know, six months of funds there. But I certainly had some buffer, and I didn't panic completely, you know, we all little panicked a little bit, we did not know what the road was going to hold and how things were going to play out. Certainly didn't know we'd be busy. But I didn't feel quite so, so stressed and scared.
Michele 37:01
One bad month was going to shut the doors. Like, I think that's the has been the beautiful thing about profit first is it gives you I think you called it a buffer. So, while it may not have been 3, 6, 9 months, is enough that you knew that one bad month wasn't going to crush your business.
Julia Hash 37:22
Yes, it was very reassuring that you know, we didn't know what was going to happen, definitely. But it was reassuring not to feel like, Okay, if I have to shut down for this month, you know, I can still make my payroll. Still have a little bit, you know, we're okay.
Michele 37:39
Now that we're in 2021, and entering a whole new year, you know, right, right, where we are? And what are some of the big goals that you have ahead, knowing all the lessons learned everything you've been through? What do you have four goals for your company for this new year?
Julia Hash 37:56
I think my goals, really, I'm trying to pivot away from the retail aspect of it and move into more of the wholesale to the trade to be an asset to the designers in the area to help them the window treatment aspect is if there's a lot of little details that can get can trip you up sometimes if it's not something you do on a regular basis. And the designers are no, most of the designers I know have so many things on their plate. I mean, I don't know how they handle everything that they have to handle. I have a very small part of the hat. But I like being an expert in that part. I like knowing that I can help them and hopefully make it as seamless for them as possible. And be a good resource. Yeah, and that's I mean, I'd like to continue to grow that aspect. You know some just some quick little videos and some method share type of information on social media developed a working product that I'm trying to expand some.
Michele 39:00
Tell us about the workroom product that you've created.
Julia Hash 39:03
I created a couple of years ago I was in such search for what I needed was a very large acrylic ruler, couldn't find one. You know, I wanted something eight inches by 60 inch, I wanted it to be able to put in a hem with it, you know just had so many different things want to do with it. And I I found somebody who could make it for me essentially, had a couple made for myself and use them for about four years and then started having people see it and they were interested in it. I was like okay, well let me just see if I get it out to the market and I've been very pleased with the interest that I've had in it. It makes me feel good. Somebody else would enjoy using it like we do because we use it all the time.
Michele 39:49
I can absolutely say that having made quilts using acrylic rollers back and forth and things like that. And then being able to have one that is wide enough, eight inches for the hem. Yet also, you know, that type of length where you can go down, like a whole width of a panel or something that means that could just that could be a huge game-changer. So, I love that you have some other cool things in your work room that just might show up one day. I hope I love the way that you hang your panels. Oh, yeah. All kinds of other little ingenious things around your workroom. And I think that's what's so interesting. Julia is you made the acrylic ruler for you because you need it right. And then people see it, you know, and I think we don't, sometimes we underestimate how we solve the problem for us, and other people see it. You know, I've talked to software developers who were like, we solved the problem for us, and then everybody else saw it. And it's true, right? That's, we solved the sewing problem for our own home and other somebody else saw it and wanted us to do it. Right. That's how things get started. Exactly. Yeah. Well, let's make sure that we add a link into my show notes for your workaround, okay, a ruler because I would love to make that you know, available for everybody to find easily. So, do you have any thoughts about creating any new workroom products? Is that? Did you enjoy the process?
Julia Hash 41:26
I did enjoy the process, it is a lot of research, a lot of work on different things. The way I would use something just personally, my workroom. The basics may be the same, but you have to do things differently, you know, or you have to in manufacturing and finding vendors and things like that. But, you know, at this point, I don't have anything else down coming down the pike. I may make some different sizes and those rules I don't know yet. But um, but yeah, I did have enjoyed the process. I have.
Michele 41:55
That's awesome. So, what are your, outside of getting rid of the retail or reducing it greatly? And just maintaining profitability? Do you have any other big goals for this year?
Julia Hash 42:11
I'd really yeah, as I mentioned before, I'd really like to have another person, a person that's working sewing so that I can concentrate on working on processes in my business. That's bad. That sounds like a profitability goal. Actually, it is. Because if you're not, don't have good processes, you're profitable, your profitability goes down the drain. So, I'm working on processes, ways to streamline how we do things. get a better handle on workflow, that type of thing. That's not necessarily a monetary goal, as far as growing, I really need definitely need to work on some of those aspects.
Michele 43:05
They are going to result in a financial uptick if done well. So, you may not say I'm going to grow my business by you know, $200,000. But you can easily say, I hope to have X percent reduction in this or an increase in this by percentage. But all of the things I mentioned are definitely the way I think about profitability. These are the items that are going to write closer to where you want to go and what you want to do. So, I think right, right, I think those are awesome. So, Julia, you were on social media? are you hanging out where people can find you?
Julia Hash 43:40
My website is www.jshdesigns.com That is my website and also has the ruler is on the website, you can purchase directly from the website. And then my Instagram @jshdesignsraleigh, so my daughter actually handles my Instagram account, and she's done a great job with it.
Julia Hash 44:06
Yeah, I am on Facebook.
Michele 44:08
Thank you so much for being on the podcast. It is encouraging to me to hear your journey and to hear the different things that you've gone through, moving all the way from your attic to the sunroom to a space from working along to hiring to changing up your business model to implementing good policies and procedures and even money management systems like pricing without emotion and profit first, weathering COVID. I mean, look how far you've come like how much you've done; you have a lot to be really, really proud of. And I'm certain that this new year of 2021 is going to be amazing for you and your team. And now we just focus on hiring those right people and finding them out there and I'm excited to keep watching you grow.
Julia Hash 44:56
Well, thank you very much. I appreciate your encouragement. And your hope and your guidance over the years. I couldn't have done it without you.
Michele 45:04
You're sweet. Well, you have a great year. And thank you for sharing your time with us today.
Julia Hash 45:10
Thank you so much for having me.
Michele 45:12
I'm so thankful for Julia for joining us today. growth can take time and smart growth can be a continuous string of small steps that add up. If you want to know what your next step might be, or how to take it. Reach Out and let's chat to see if my coaching can assist you. You can find out more by going to scareltthreadconsulting.com and signing up for a discovery call. Let me help you be profitable in your next step. Because profit doesn't happen by accident.