1 00:00:00,000 --> 00:00:26,480 Hi, good morning. This is Sugar Gay Isper and Jewelry as your side hustle. And today 2 00:00:26,480 --> 00:00:31,760 I have a very special guest who we have some crossover on how we met, which we'll talk about. 3 00:00:31,760 --> 00:00:38,800 So that's really fun. And she's the business part of jewelry making, which is such an important part 4 00:00:38,800 --> 00:00:44,320 of a jewelry person's life because we got to sell this stuff. We can't eat it, right? So welcome 5 00:00:44,320 --> 00:00:51,040 to our podcast today. We have Elizabeth Newboss. Nice hit, right? No, but I like that. It's 6 00:00:51,040 --> 00:01:01,840 Newboss. Because yeah, I'm a boss. Newbauer. Yes. Newbauer. I just put that little boss in there. 7 00:01:03,680 --> 00:01:10,080 And she has a she works with a jewelry maker and they've been teamed up for six years. And she 8 00:01:10,080 --> 00:01:15,040 does all the business parts. She's got some fun things to talk to us about it. And it's the 9 00:01:15,040 --> 00:01:24,960 Astiparis, Austridge or just austridge.com. Oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, so welcome. I'm so glad to meet you. 10 00:01:24,960 --> 00:01:34,080 And we're also friends with Abby, who is the Craft Alliance Council head. I don't know if she's 11 00:01:34,080 --> 00:01:39,680 amazing. Abby is amazing about her. Like she's got it going on like seriously, she's been doing 12 00:01:39,680 --> 00:01:45,120 this for a long time, but she really brings a lot of us together. So you're a member there? 13 00:01:45,120 --> 00:01:52,400 Right. I'm a craft. I'm a CIA person. I'm a CIA person. I would drop that group or anything. I 14 00:01:52,400 --> 00:01:56,080 really love the roundtables. And that's usually where I met. I've always had a lot of people 15 00:01:56,640 --> 00:02:02,960 from that group on my show. So let's get started. Now, let's just talk about you, because this is 16 00:02:02,960 --> 00:02:08,720 really where the fun comes in. And I so tell me who your friend is that you work with. Tell me about 17 00:02:08,720 --> 00:02:13,600 that and how y'all, I would love to have you in my life. Number one, I'm so proud that she 18 00:02:13,600 --> 00:02:18,800 thought to mentor up with somebody who could, while she's doing her part, you're doing your part, 19 00:02:18,800 --> 00:02:25,360 like what a gift you are to her. Like, oh my gosh. So it was really serendipitous. So we were both 20 00:02:25,360 --> 00:02:31,600 working in this factory, this string factory, you know, like, making string, making string. Oh my 21 00:02:31,600 --> 00:02:39,440 God, I want to hear about this. Making parachute cord, making the little string for your blinds 22 00:02:39,440 --> 00:02:45,840 in your house, making cat collar, the stuff you make cat collars. I mean, it's a really, 23 00:02:45,840 --> 00:02:52,080 it's really, it was really interesting. So I started that just to get a little personal. I moved 24 00:02:52,080 --> 00:02:57,600 back to my hometown of Grand Junction, Colorado, about 20 years ago to take care of my parents. So 25 00:02:57,600 --> 00:03:01,920 I was just looking for a job. I didn't want a career, I just wanted a job. And working in a 26 00:03:01,920 --> 00:03:07,120 factory was so amazing because I had no responsibility. I've always been this overachiever, hardworking 27 00:03:07,120 --> 00:03:14,000 person. And I just loved going in and being like, you have 10 pounds of this that you need to make 28 00:03:14,000 --> 00:03:19,200 into this and you have eight hours to do it, have fun. And then was it? I had a whole time, 29 00:03:19,200 --> 00:03:24,480 missing lunch, no working through breaks, none of that. So that was really good. So that's where I 30 00:03:24,480 --> 00:03:30,800 became acquainted with Cindy. She was in the packing department and I was, oh, I worked in 31 00:03:30,800 --> 00:03:36,240 pretty much every department there. I can't remember where I was at the time. So flash forward 32 00:03:37,040 --> 00:03:46,640 about 15 years, 14 years. I'm not, I'm working there in the Bob and winding department, which is 33 00:03:46,640 --> 00:03:53,120 where you put the string on Bob and so it can be braided into other things. And she has been doing 34 00:03:53,120 --> 00:03:59,760 this poor painting for which it is my fault. It is all my fault. She started to become an artist. 35 00:04:01,840 --> 00:04:09,680 I have a degree in art history and I would take Cindy to art exhibitions, local art exhibitions. 36 00:04:09,680 --> 00:04:14,400 We would go up to Aspen to the museum there because it's really great. We would just go to all these 37 00:04:14,400 --> 00:04:23,360 little offbeat things. And one day I was in Michaels of all places and they had paints and 38 00:04:23,360 --> 00:04:27,520 canvases for sale for like just super cheap. It was like eight bucks and you get the paint, 39 00:04:27,520 --> 00:04:31,840 you get the, you get the acrylic paint, you get the canvas, you get the brush. So I gave it to her 40 00:04:31,840 --> 00:04:41,680 and I said, have at it. And a year later, here we are in business. So she got interested in pouring 41 00:04:41,680 --> 00:04:47,760 paint and one of the outshoots of that is to make jewelry out of it. So she brought her jewelry into 42 00:04:47,760 --> 00:04:54,000 work and started showing it to people. She's like, this is what I do. And the first person she showed 43 00:04:54,000 --> 00:05:00,640 it to was like, well, how much? And Cindy was like, sell it. What do you mean sell it? What? So that 44 00:05:00,640 --> 00:05:06,480 day she sold like, I don't know, over 20 pieces. And this is in a factory where people don't have a 45 00:05:06,480 --> 00:05:12,880 lot of money. They're not super arty. They're not really, you know, it's like, they're, they had to 46 00:05:12,880 --> 00:05:18,560 really love it. Right. Whatever she was doing was really resonating with the people there. 47 00:05:19,200 --> 00:05:23,520 So I'm like, you know, I'm kind of looking for a side hustle. I'm looking for a project. I'm kind of 48 00:05:23,520 --> 00:05:30,560 bored. So I was walking to her office as she was walking to my office and we meet in the warehouse. 49 00:05:30,560 --> 00:05:34,480 And I'm like, I could sell these for you. And she's like, would you sell these for me? So we kind of 50 00:05:34,480 --> 00:05:40,800 had a little synchronicity from the start on that. So one thing I want all of you out there to know, 51 00:05:41,520 --> 00:05:48,160 if you are a maker, you do not have to be a seller. It is a very rare artist who can do both. 52 00:05:49,200 --> 00:05:57,200 And don't feel bad if you can't sell your stuff. Find somebody, find an Elizabeth, find somebody 53 00:05:57,200 --> 00:06:02,400 who's like outgoing and loves your work and wants to take it to the world. You have those allies in 54 00:06:02,400 --> 00:06:07,040 your life. Don't think you're all alone. Don't think you have to do it all by yourself. 55 00:06:07,040 --> 00:06:13,760 I think that is the best, biggest message. Bam, we're starting off this new year to say, 56 00:06:14,640 --> 00:06:19,920 partner up with somebody. Like it's, it's actually the smartest thing ever. Like I'm so proud of you. 57 00:06:20,480 --> 00:06:26,160 And now I'm now seriously. So now flash forward, you guys have been doing this for six years. 58 00:06:26,160 --> 00:06:32,400 How are things going? Oh my gosh. Okay. I'm not lying. I'm giving you, as a friend of mine says, 59 00:06:32,400 --> 00:06:37,920 the big T truth, I'm giving you the big T truth about how are you this last 2024 was a dumpster 60 00:06:37,920 --> 00:06:43,600 fire. No doubt about it. And it's because of the type of people we sell to, it took me, 61 00:06:44,720 --> 00:06:49,200 it took me a long time to figure out who our people were because it was so random. So we're 62 00:06:49,200 --> 00:06:55,440 selling in Arizona, I'm selling to a conservative Republican politician and grand junction, I'm 63 00:06:55,440 --> 00:07:01,760 selling to a little trans kid who's trying to figure out her identity. And so like how like those are 64 00:07:01,760 --> 00:07:08,400 very different. Huge. Yeah. And you know, kind of everybody in between. Old people, young people, 65 00:07:09,360 --> 00:07:14,080 babies would grab at our stuff. I'm sure you've had that experience because your stuff is so 66 00:07:14,080 --> 00:07:20,320 visual and color. People gravitate towards the colors that they like. Right. And so 67 00:07:20,320 --> 00:07:26,320 I figured out who our people are, are people who are very confident in themselves, and they don't 68 00:07:26,320 --> 00:07:31,280 care if they're not normal, they don't care if they're mainstream, they're very secure and who 69 00:07:31,280 --> 00:07:36,000 they are and what they like. So they're going to look for something that is as unique as they are. 70 00:07:36,960 --> 00:07:43,280 The other demographic of people that we seem to attract are people who are who have made that 71 00:07:43,280 --> 00:07:47,200 commitment to be themselves. This is another like we're doing this at a good time. I didn't think 72 00:07:47,200 --> 00:07:52,720 about New Year's, but it's people who are committing to I have this secret person inside who I really 73 00:07:52,720 --> 00:08:00,960 want to be. And I want to honor her and or him and become this person. And a lot of times I don't 74 00:08:00,960 --> 00:08:06,880 want to say, you know, our stupid little jewelry has made someone come out or but you know, we've 75 00:08:06,880 --> 00:08:12,240 had a number of people who are like, I'm going to buy a necklace, even though it's like a girly 76 00:08:12,240 --> 00:08:16,400 thing. And then the next time I see them there in a beautiful dress and they're flying, 77 00:08:16,400 --> 00:08:22,480 they're flancing around down and it's just like it's amazing. So those are our people. We're not 78 00:08:22,480 --> 00:08:29,200 the mainstream people. And I think that like, yeah, these are the people who are more sensitive, 79 00:08:29,200 --> 00:08:33,920 they're more skittish. When things get going, you know, I'm not going to get into anything 80 00:08:33,920 --> 00:08:40,640 political, but it's been a very odd year. I think I agree. And our people are just kind of staying 81 00:08:40,640 --> 00:08:46,640 at home, waiting to see what's happening. And kind of like, we don't know, you know, so 82 00:08:47,200 --> 00:08:53,760 anchored down. Yeah, I think that is why we did so bad last year in 2024. 83 00:08:53,760 --> 00:08:59,200 And I'm very surprised. I felt the same thing. I really felt like, well, until this election is over, 84 00:08:59,200 --> 00:09:03,520 and then things are going to get better. And it's like, okay, but things didn't get better because 85 00:09:03,520 --> 00:09:09,760 we had this big upset. And so now everybody is still in that same mode. Like we kind of now 86 00:09:09,760 --> 00:09:14,560 we're kind of not waiting for like, okay, gear up for a Valentine's because we know people have to 87 00:09:14,560 --> 00:09:19,200 do Valentine's like that just has to happen. And then the spring will come and then maybe we'll 88 00:09:19,200 --> 00:09:24,720 see that things aren't as horrible as we think they're going to be. But yeah, I totally get you. 89 00:09:24,720 --> 00:09:34,240 Like, the world really affects sales. Right. It just does. Well, I got super lucky when I started 90 00:09:34,240 --> 00:09:44,240 our business. Well, yes and no, we started in April 2019. And April 1st, really great 91 00:09:44,240 --> 00:09:50,480 time to start a business. If you're like, really serious about business, like we are, we are so 92 00:09:50,480 --> 00:09:55,760 serious. Okay, April fools were like, okay, free make out, whatever is gonna be fun. 93 00:09:56,960 --> 00:10:02,800 So that was the 2024 hit or 2020 hit and COVID everybody was getting home. Yeah. 94 00:10:02,800 --> 00:10:09,920 And what we learned from that was when people are at home, everybody's going to open an online 95 00:10:09,920 --> 00:10:16,480 business. So that was hard for us. We got we really got lost with that. Yeah. But the next year, 96 00:10:17,680 --> 00:10:24,400 things were opening up. So I did our local farmers market because it was $20 and I had a 97 00:10:24,400 --> 00:10:29,840 cardboard table with a sheet I bought at Goodwill. And that was my booth. So you don't need to start 98 00:10:29,840 --> 00:10:37,200 with tons of money. You don't have to have like $100 custom made canopy for your $200 99 00:10:37,200 --> 00:10:41,920 and you know, you don't need the bad. Yeah, we had hardly anything. That was it. 100 00:10:43,040 --> 00:10:47,920 And we did so good. But it's because people were happy. I didn't realize this at the time. 101 00:10:47,920 --> 00:10:53,040 I'm glad it happened the way it happened. But people had stimulus money and they were happy 102 00:10:53,040 --> 00:10:58,080 to see people and they were feeling really good. And they were like, Oh, I want this. And it wasn't 103 00:10:58,080 --> 00:11:02,560 even a question about isn't an indulgence. Should I spend money? It was just like, I like it. I'm 104 00:11:02,560 --> 00:11:08,160 speaking to me. I want you know, so that was really good because we could have choked in that first 105 00:11:08,160 --> 00:11:14,640 year. I don't know how many of you watching this know the statistic, but the statistic my business 106 00:11:14,640 --> 00:11:22,880 incubator pervade to me when I was in the beginning business class nine out of 10 business, businesses 107 00:11:22,880 --> 00:11:29,280 don't make it through the first year. Right. So that was really encouraging to us. And that people 108 00:11:29,280 --> 00:11:36,000 are looking at it and they want it. And you know, it's like, I was such a green newbie girl. I didn't 109 00:11:37,280 --> 00:11:40,880 as long as we had more money coming in than going out, I didn't care. He's like, Whoa, we sold 110 00:11:40,880 --> 00:11:46,880 stuff. We made 20 bucks. But I was not counting my time. I was not counting. I was just like 111 00:11:47,600 --> 00:11:52,320 happy that we're moving forward. Just kind of like the girl walking into the forest, not seeing 112 00:11:52,320 --> 00:11:56,480 the bear, not seeing the rose, sorens just going like, Oh, my gosh, this is so great. We're in the 113 00:11:56,480 --> 00:12:00,320 forest. It's beautiful. You know, it's like, Oh, we're making money at our business. Oh, my gosh. 114 00:12:03,280 --> 00:12:09,360 So the next year, I got a little more serious about it. I made a spreadsheet. I put taxes. I put, 115 00:12:09,360 --> 00:12:15,040 you know, vendor like fees. I'm on Shopify. So they charge a fee if you do stuff with their 116 00:12:15,040 --> 00:12:22,160 credit card machine. I put in gas. I put in if I had to have somebody sit at the booth 117 00:12:22,160 --> 00:12:25,760 which is important. And I mean, as a business owner, I don't have to pay myself. And I really 118 00:12:25,760 --> 00:12:31,840 haven't gotten a paycheck yet. But yeah, but I wanted it to, I wanted to know, I wanted to know 119 00:12:31,840 --> 00:12:37,760 how much money was this going to be? And what did we really want to make? We don't want to be 120 00:12:38,560 --> 00:12:44,640 the next big huge thing. We just want to make a certain amount of money a year so we can have 121 00:12:44,640 --> 00:12:51,600 some mad money so I can travel the Cindy, whatever art making supplies you want. So that's what we 122 00:12:51,600 --> 00:12:58,000 want. So that's a lot different from somebody who's like, I'm going to be the next Tiffany's, 123 00:12:58,000 --> 00:13:04,160 you know, it's a totally different thing. So it was really great. We had a lot of conversations 124 00:13:04,160 --> 00:13:12,240 before we actually founded the business. We talked about what we wanted it to be like, we talked about 125 00:13:14,640 --> 00:13:18,720 even, you know, we from the beginning, we're like, we're not going to be serious about this. This 126 00:13:18,720 --> 00:13:25,040 is just a side hustle. This is a whatever. We're not going to be like really businessy. But it did 127 00:13:25,040 --> 00:13:30,000 take us a couple of years to figure out how to do business on our terms because none of us were, 128 00:13:30,000 --> 00:13:36,320 neither of us were business people. Right. And there's a huge, there's another thing, this is 129 00:13:36,320 --> 00:13:40,800 another like if you can highlight, highlight, highlight, there's a huge business out there to 130 00:13:40,800 --> 00:13:45,840 take advantage of people starting businesses. Oh my God, yes. Every time we turn around, 131 00:13:45,840 --> 00:13:51,440 like you have to just filter it all out. Right. Everybody wants a piece of something. Everybody 132 00:13:51,440 --> 00:13:56,240 right. All these, oh, it's just a free thing. And then you click on this and I'll take you to this 133 00:13:56,240 --> 00:14:00,880 and then sign up. And then all of a sudden you're getting emails and didn't you want to do this? 134 00:14:00,880 --> 00:14:08,640 Like, yeah, $5,000. No, right. And it's like, everybody's got their dream. Oh my gosh. And so 135 00:14:08,640 --> 00:14:14,000 I'm here to tell you, do it on your own terms. Do it your way. Not to say that there aren't people 136 00:14:14,000 --> 00:14:20,800 out there that have good advice. And you did have an incubator with you. I don't want to get too much 137 00:14:20,800 --> 00:14:25,760 into it. That beginning class was amazing. But other than that, I didn't get a lot of support from 138 00:14:25,760 --> 00:14:33,040 them, which is, it is what it is. I know, I know. But you know, at the end of the day, we're still 139 00:14:33,040 --> 00:14:40,640 here. And it took me two years to really figure out how to filter out what I thought I was supposed 140 00:14:40,640 --> 00:14:44,960 to do and what I really needed to do. Like, this is a big one. The first advice I got was, oh, 141 00:14:44,960 --> 00:14:50,240 you have to be a brand and an influencer and you have done it. And then so for a year, a year, 142 00:14:50,240 --> 00:14:56,400 I posted pictures of Odette, who was our spokes hostage. And it took me a year to figure out people 143 00:14:56,400 --> 00:15:02,160 don't give a crap about Odette, the people that I want to give a crap about jewelry. So maybe I 144 00:15:02,160 --> 00:15:08,880 should be posting jewelry every day. Then we started getting people signing up and following 145 00:15:08,880 --> 00:15:14,240 and that kind of thing. So it's just kind of like, that is a real big one for me. That was like the 146 00:15:14,240 --> 00:15:20,960 big thing. Yeah. In terms of what people are telling me what to do. I am very lucky because I worked 147 00:15:21,680 --> 00:15:28,880 as a photography assistant for a guy who did, it was boring stuff. It was paint cans. It was for 148 00:15:28,880 --> 00:15:40,320 Unitedson. So it was just, you know, white backdrop, take a picture. And it was just 149 00:15:40,320 --> 00:15:47,440 when digital was starting. So I had experience with Photoshop. I had experience with photography. 150 00:15:47,440 --> 00:15:51,120 So that made it a lot easier for me. Not everyone has those skills. 151 00:15:51,120 --> 00:15:54,720 Yeah, I agree. You gotta be more photographer after stuff, gotta. 152 00:15:54,720 --> 00:15:59,200 Right. Pictures are important, especially if you're going to be doing stuff online. 153 00:16:00,480 --> 00:16:05,920 So I was really lucky that way. I have a fairly quirky sense of humor. I worked at a branding 154 00:16:05,920 --> 00:16:12,960 company for a few years. So it's like, I have these skills that. Yes. Yes. Yes. And you believed in 155 00:16:12,960 --> 00:16:19,680 your friend because you saw how people reacted. Like your peers, how they reacted to it. So you 156 00:16:19,680 --> 00:16:25,680 knew you had a good product. Right. It required that like just learning, well, COVID right in the 157 00:16:25,680 --> 00:16:31,360 middle of everything. Yeah. That's how we always had the election. But that's over. So we are 158 00:16:31,360 --> 00:16:37,120 constantly like reinventing ourselves and moving forward and growing. And that's how we get better. 159 00:16:37,120 --> 00:16:43,200 Right. It's looking around, looking at other people's Instagrams, learning from those Instagrams. 160 00:16:43,200 --> 00:16:51,040 A lot of it has been. We're talking creators, really. Yeah. I do a lot of that. I do a lot of that. 161 00:16:52,000 --> 00:16:56,800 I'm not real good at Instagram or Facebook yet. Same as we're still at like 70 people. I don't 162 00:16:56,800 --> 00:17:02,320 know how to get 70,000. I don't know if we want 70,000. 7,000 might be okay. So it's kind of, 163 00:17:02,320 --> 00:17:07,360 that's one of those things too. It's like, some people want 70,000. I'd be happy with 7. I don't 164 00:17:07,360 --> 00:17:15,120 think we can handle 70. But you never know until you get there. Right. I'm not ruling it out. But 165 00:17:15,120 --> 00:17:19,680 that's it. I always just look forward. It's just like whatever it is forward. It's like, 166 00:17:19,680 --> 00:17:25,280 so when people, so now we're all selling because I'm so curious on this. I mean, I, 167 00:17:25,280 --> 00:17:29,760 I would love to have a partner. You're exactly what somebody needs. Like I'm so proud of you. 168 00:17:30,400 --> 00:17:37,040 Well, I want you to be making money. So I appreciate that. I, you deserve that. So let's 169 00:17:37,040 --> 00:17:42,160 hope that that's your, this is the year of wealth. That's for me. This is what I'm calling it. The 170 00:17:42,160 --> 00:17:46,720 year of wealth. We're all trying to figure it all out by now. We've kind of figured it out. 171 00:17:46,720 --> 00:17:54,160 Now it's all about really like, market, getting that product to people and making them happy and 172 00:17:54,160 --> 00:17:59,680 all that that is required. Like it's so much, but we are content creators. Like at the end of the day. 173 00:17:59,680 --> 00:18:06,480 Right. That's what we become. Unless you're just going out and just doing the markets. And then 174 00:18:06,480 --> 00:18:10,880 you've got this whole audience of people there that can sign up to be on your Instagram with QR 175 00:18:10,880 --> 00:18:16,800 codes and all that kind of stuff. So have you kind of gotten into the QR codes and we've got a QR 176 00:18:18,000 --> 00:18:25,840 I'm a dork. I have a big round magnet on the, on both sides of my car is a stripper's ostrich. 177 00:18:25,840 --> 00:18:32,080 Oh, it has a bit of a circle in the middle. And it has our logo. It has our ostrich running on it. 178 00:18:32,080 --> 00:18:38,560 So what does that point to your website? It goes to the homepage. Yeah. So I've done that. 179 00:18:39,680 --> 00:18:40,720 I have because 180 00:18:44,960 --> 00:18:49,360 so getting a QR code that's like four by five, which is what I needed for the magnets, 181 00:18:49,360 --> 00:18:56,080 I had to buy like 50 of them. So I've been slapping it on our banner. I've got it on the 182 00:18:56,080 --> 00:19:00,720 canopy of the tent. I'm trying to figure out, I wonder if I just slap it up somewhere with it, 183 00:19:00,720 --> 00:19:06,080 just a QR code if people would scan it just out of curiosity. Yeah, girl marketing something. 184 00:19:06,080 --> 00:19:12,640 And I've got these, I've got these, you know, like 40 QR codes I need to get rid of maybe in my 185 00:19:12,640 --> 00:19:16,240 travels throughout my life, you know, I'm out of place where there are a bunch of stickers. I'll 186 00:19:16,240 --> 00:19:22,480 just put one up and see what happens in a bathroom stall. I'll just count the bathroom 187 00:19:22,480 --> 00:19:28,400 stall because you're sitting there and you got your phone and you're like, I'm saying I follow 188 00:19:28,400 --> 00:19:35,440 some people on this right here. Some wonderful things on Instagram. Like I do not poopoo anything 189 00:19:35,440 --> 00:19:40,320 that is on there. I see so much the content is so rich, but definitely the people that are about 190 00:19:40,320 --> 00:19:46,000 guerrilla marketing and you know, just really interesting things that they do. I just, it just 191 00:19:46,000 --> 00:19:52,320 gets me so excited and the kind of people are just really thinking out of the box like you 192 00:19:52,320 --> 00:19:57,920 thinking, well, let's get these stickers and let's put them everywhere. So now your next sticker and 193 00:19:57,920 --> 00:20:03,200 your next order maybe should be for your Instagram. And then they'll go to that's how you grow your 194 00:20:03,200 --> 00:20:07,840 Instagram. So you're getting your business out there and your website out there, but 195 00:20:09,360 --> 00:20:14,800 maybe this works. It's for our homepage. So maybe the next iteration would be doing Instagram, 196 00:20:14,800 --> 00:20:20,320 but what's been most encouraging to me, and this is advice I've been getting from a lot of people 197 00:20:20,320 --> 00:20:26,160 and it's been helpful, has been to grow our email group. So I would like, I don't know, 198 00:20:26,160 --> 00:20:32,320 not even 30 people in our email sign up. And I did try in years past, it's like 199 00:20:33,440 --> 00:20:40,240 Cindy makes these really great like tiny mag, she makes magnets and they cost like 50 cents to make. 200 00:20:40,240 --> 00:20:46,000 They're super cheap. And so I would have a thing of magnets out, sign up for the email, get a free 201 00:20:46,000 --> 00:20:53,440 magnet and no one would sign up. But for whatever reason, this year, this year, I got over people 202 00:20:53,440 --> 00:21:01,920 signing up. And maybe four or five have unsubscribed. And I do an email every week. 203 00:21:04,240 --> 00:21:10,080 Yes, I'm going to really nurture that group and keep them in there. And one of the things, I mean, 204 00:21:10,080 --> 00:21:17,200 do your email group. You can add my name to it. Like for sure. Well, if you would, if you would go 205 00:21:17,200 --> 00:21:23,200 to the website, and sign up on the sign up thing, just so I know it's working well. Okay, I will. 206 00:21:24,000 --> 00:21:29,680 That would be awesome. And you can be the same for me. I would love it. I would love it. I can't 207 00:21:29,680 --> 00:21:33,520 believe I haven't done it already because I go to your website a lot. You're a big inspiration. 208 00:21:34,640 --> 00:21:39,520 It's true. And you know, another thing is I have, so I have, this is one thing I have, 209 00:21:40,480 --> 00:21:46,240 sugar gay is bar, which was kind of late incoming. That's a whole different story. And that I have 210 00:21:46,240 --> 00:21:51,920 pointed directly to my Shopify store. So and then the other one is gay is burn. That's more like 211 00:21:51,920 --> 00:21:59,120 my that juicy kind of all that personal stuff. Okay. So the two, you know, it makes it makes it 212 00:21:59,120 --> 00:22:06,720 where okay, you want to be a shopper, go to the Shopify. And it's very easy to point those things 213 00:22:07,600 --> 00:22:14,320 to different, you know, that right, point it to something. Yeah. So yeah, it's all 214 00:22:14,320 --> 00:22:19,200 like, it's all fun and games until you realize this is all hard work. 215 00:22:19,200 --> 00:22:26,560 Well, that's the big thing. That is the big thing that when we first started, now I can't remember 216 00:22:26,560 --> 00:22:34,880 the name of the author or the name of the book. But it was, it had to do with teens being it was 217 00:22:34,880 --> 00:22:40,080 like a guide to be a teen influencer. So if you're a teen or a tweening, you want it to be an influencer. 218 00:22:40,080 --> 00:22:47,680 This is what you do. Every chapter was a, this is what you do. Okay, one chapter was this is how 219 00:22:47,680 --> 00:22:54,320 you post. And another chapter was this is what you post. But at the end of every chapter was a 220 00:22:54,320 --> 00:23:02,640 little synopsis of someone who was an expert in that thing. So like, we're an expert at Instagram. 221 00:23:02,640 --> 00:23:06,640 So for my success on Instagram, and it was somebody who's huge, I mean, it wasn't like some 222 00:23:06,640 --> 00:23:13,760 little person was, you know, like the Kardashians or someone, and every single person in that book, 223 00:23:13,760 --> 00:23:19,920 and there must have been, I don't know, eight or nine chapters to it. Every single one said, 224 00:23:19,920 --> 00:23:25,840 you have to do the work. It seems like you can just have an XE store and people will come or put 225 00:23:25,840 --> 00:23:32,160 it on Instagram and people will buy it. But to get to that, you are correct. It's a lot of work. 226 00:23:32,160 --> 00:23:36,880 Yeah, my husband, of course, I've been doing this for a really long time. My husband's an engineer 227 00:23:36,880 --> 00:23:43,040 and has zero interest in entrepreneurial things. And if I asked him to like do anything, he would 228 00:23:43,040 --> 00:23:54,240 physically vomit. He'd be like, I cannot do that. Because he sees me, I think about it, 229 00:23:54,240 --> 00:24:00,320 working on it all the time, all the time, just like, you know, because you have to. And it's fun 230 00:24:00,320 --> 00:24:05,600 and it's what I love and I branch off into other things. And now I'm a little, you know, enterprise, 231 00:24:05,600 --> 00:24:13,120 but it's all me. There's nobody behind me. And it is my word and I need to kind of stop this word 232 00:24:13,120 --> 00:24:21,280 because maybe it's like bad, I don't know, the word is slog. It's a slog. I don't know if that's 233 00:24:21,280 --> 00:24:27,360 like a very good word or not. Like, I think it's perfect. Because it's like behind the scene stuff, 234 00:24:27,360 --> 00:24:34,320 behind the scene stuff, it is a slog. It's not glamorous. Unless you're really into administration 235 00:24:34,320 --> 00:24:42,400 work, it's not fun, you know, dealing with taxes, holy crap, taxes in Colorado are insane. Because 236 00:24:43,760 --> 00:24:48,800 every town has it has homeroom, which means you can't just send all your money to the state and 237 00:24:48,800 --> 00:24:57,600 then dole it out. Right. So that's horrible. Yeah, it's really hard. So I don't get into that. 238 00:24:57,600 --> 00:25:04,160 Because that is a slog. That is, I agree. It's like SEO is a slog. Like, oh my God, 239 00:25:04,160 --> 00:25:10,880 you're trying to learn Facebook ads and, you know, Amazon ads and Google ads. That's a slog. Like, 240 00:25:10,880 --> 00:25:17,680 those are really like, it's almost as I, okay, I remember when I first started, there was none of 241 00:25:17,680 --> 00:25:23,680 this. And back before COVID, I was actually teaching social media at the college level. 242 00:25:24,240 --> 00:25:30,720 And then that COVID break kind of happened and then it exploded. All the different things that 243 00:25:30,720 --> 00:25:36,720 they were making us do. And now all we're doing is creating free content for these giant companies 244 00:25:37,760 --> 00:25:44,800 to promote themselves because that's what it's become. So I get it. Like, it's not like anything 245 00:25:44,800 --> 00:25:51,200 I can even, I don't feel comfortable even teaching it anymore because the layers of how you can go 246 00:25:51,200 --> 00:25:58,720 are so deep that, I mean, it really is a college degree now. Like, I know you can get an influencing 247 00:25:58,720 --> 00:26:07,520 degree on social media like crazy. It is crazy. And it's like, you know, I'm always like, gosh, 248 00:26:07,520 --> 00:26:11,680 I wish I had like a 12 year old niece who could just do this for me, you know, because 249 00:26:11,680 --> 00:26:17,920 yeah, it's just hard. There are so many segments of the population that you can get in touch with 250 00:26:17,920 --> 00:26:24,800 and everybody has their own way of doing it. And I am so out of touch with anybody from like 251 00:26:26,080 --> 00:26:31,760 six to 26. Right. Yeah. And it's like, and there that's like three demographics and just in 252 00:26:31,760 --> 00:26:39,920 those years. I love it how you're thinking about that though, about them. Yeah. Because they are 253 00:26:39,920 --> 00:26:44,320 kind of a really good market for you. But I don't even know how, I mean, do they go to 254 00:26:44,320 --> 00:26:48,320 farmers markets? Like, I don't know where you would go to reach those people. Right. Well, 255 00:26:49,520 --> 00:26:55,760 this is what we're trying. We're going to try this thing. So one of our most successful event 256 00:26:55,760 --> 00:27:05,200 is our local Comic Con. Yeah, no, it is. It's normal Comic Con. Yeah. Comic Con is where the 257 00:27:05,200 --> 00:27:11,120 people who have been ostracized, the people who don't fit in, the people who may be on the 258 00:27:11,120 --> 00:27:19,200 autism scale, like these are our people. And they show up there and they like, it is so it's like, 259 00:27:19,200 --> 00:27:23,360 we love doing it. We love seeing the costumes. We love seeing the originality. We love seeing 260 00:27:23,360 --> 00:27:32,560 people be themselves. It's been really great. And so as a thank you to this segment of the 261 00:27:32,560 --> 00:27:37,520 population, and to celebrate our six, because I forgot, we were in business already for five years, 262 00:27:38,080 --> 00:27:45,520 to celebrate our sixth anniversary, we're doing a short story writing contest. And it's called 263 00:27:45,520 --> 00:27:52,880 Flash Forward Fables and it's science fiction. And it's a mashup of flash fiction, which is 264 00:27:52,880 --> 00:28:00,080 very quick, very short fiction, flash forward fiction, which is something here, I moved to 265 00:28:00,080 --> 00:28:04,640 Grand Junction, take care of my parents, flash forward 20 years, I now own a jewelry store. So 266 00:28:04,640 --> 00:28:12,640 it's that kind of. I have never heard this before. And then we're going to do. And I've gotten some, 267 00:28:12,640 --> 00:28:16,960 I hadn't realized that heavy hitters, the little Grand Junction Colorado has in the 268 00:28:16,960 --> 00:28:21,920 science fiction world. We have James Van Pelt, who is an amazing, amazing writer who coincidentally 269 00:28:21,920 --> 00:28:27,760 happened to be my swing coach when I was in high school. Oh, love it. Love that. 270 00:28:27,760 --> 00:28:38,240 Hendrix is a well renowned science fiction critic. She liked write book reviews. That was her career. 271 00:28:38,240 --> 00:28:44,480 Yeah. Oh, wow. Our local library is astounding. And they have a really great librarian, teen 272 00:28:44,480 --> 00:28:51,840 librarian who's super on board with helping us out with this. So that is how, you know, not that 273 00:28:51,840 --> 00:28:55,360 I mean, see how excited I am. I just want to do the contest. I think this contest is going to be 274 00:28:55,360 --> 00:29:01,840 really cool. But one of the perks of doing it is we're opening it up for teens only. So you have 275 00:29:01,840 --> 00:29:10,320 to be 13 to 18, 19, 13 to 19 to be in it. And so we're hoping we can maybe reach out to this community 276 00:29:10,320 --> 00:29:16,480 that I can't think of any other way to reach. What a brilliant, brilliant marketing strategy. 277 00:29:17,040 --> 00:29:23,520 Yeah. So it's going to be really fun. And, and what will you do with all this kind of, and I have to, 278 00:29:23,520 --> 00:29:28,400 I have to put up parenthesis, I just published a Clify book. I saw that. 279 00:29:31,440 --> 00:29:37,520 Because writing is my first genre. I mean, I have a degree in journalism. I've been, I'm a professional 280 00:29:37,520 --> 00:29:44,560 writer for a big company right over there. You just can't see it from here. But it's within my home. 281 00:29:44,560 --> 00:29:48,640 You don't have to answer this question. And if you don't want to do it, not going to hurt my 282 00:29:48,640 --> 00:29:54,160 feelings, but we are looking for six judges, if you would like to judge. I would love to judge. 283 00:29:54,160 --> 00:30:00,400 I was about to say like, what do you do with all that amazing content? Because that's a lot of 284 00:30:00,400 --> 00:30:07,040 content. And then you, then you kind of have it. And like, now how do you like, get other people to 285 00:30:07,040 --> 00:30:12,240 read it? Yeah, you get me to judge and I talk about it and do all that kind of stuff with you. Of 286 00:30:12,240 --> 00:30:18,800 course I will help you. Right. Or I will do this. I, I love writing and I love seeing other people's 287 00:30:18,800 --> 00:30:25,200 work. And I'm so encouraging of that age group. It's definitely who my audience was when I did 288 00:30:25,200 --> 00:30:31,120 this. It's more of a young audience book that I wrote, no sex and really customer's inning. 289 00:30:31,120 --> 00:30:37,760 But that was just because that was who I wanted my audience to be. So I get it. Like, good for you. 290 00:30:37,760 --> 00:30:44,800 Yeah. Great. So the, it's kind of like, it's coming up because, you know, April 1st is our 291 00:30:44,800 --> 00:30:51,360 sixth anniversary date. And I have no idea how many people are going to respond to this. We had 292 00:30:51,360 --> 00:30:58,880 a lot of people doing our QR code at Comic Con this year. There's this really great writing 293 00:30:58,880 --> 00:31:06,080 workshop in Utah called Life, the Universe and Everything, based after the famous, now I can't 294 00:31:06,080 --> 00:31:13,360 remember his, now I can't remember the name of his book. But the meaning, the meaning of life is 42. 295 00:31:13,360 --> 00:31:16,080 And if you know what I'm talking about, you know what I'm talking about. And if you don't, 296 00:31:18,640 --> 00:31:25,920 so there are these conventions for people who write science fiction, which I didn't know. 297 00:31:25,920 --> 00:31:31,360 And like fan fiction and like that kind of thing. So I'm hooking up with a couple of those people 298 00:31:31,360 --> 00:31:36,640 to advertise it and to find people who want to write. And I'm hoping it'll be a little bit of 299 00:31:37,200 --> 00:31:42,720 word of mouth through people, people sharing and sharing and sharing. And that is what I'm hoping. 300 00:31:42,720 --> 00:31:47,840 I'm going to, I want to do a visual party on April 1st for everybody because I'm hoping we'll get 301 00:31:47,840 --> 00:31:53,360 people not just from Grand Junction, but from other places. I have my eye on another librarian 302 00:31:53,360 --> 00:31:58,960 in Sioux Falls where we did a thing this year so that we can like branch out to other places. 303 00:31:58,960 --> 00:32:04,240 You'll have Texas covered. So we love that. Okay, love it. I'm in charge of Texas. 304 00:32:06,000 --> 00:32:08,880 No problem. No problem. You got it. You got it. 305 00:32:11,680 --> 00:32:16,720 So that's, it's a hundred dollars first place, $50 second place. And then we're going to have four 306 00:32:16,720 --> 00:32:21,200 runners up because it's six years. We have to have six prices. They'll all get one of our bookmarks, 307 00:32:21,200 --> 00:32:25,920 which you know, is my job to whip it up. Our bookmarks are amazing. 308 00:32:25,920 --> 00:32:27,200 That's all of my life. 309 00:32:27,200 --> 00:32:29,280 I'm sure you can see them on the website. 310 00:32:29,280 --> 00:32:35,600 Yeah, I can see them. Now, do they, when they give you their work, does it have a front cover, 311 00:32:35,600 --> 00:32:38,240 or some kind of an image or anything like that? 312 00:32:38,240 --> 00:32:45,360 No, it's just going to be words. So it's, because it's flash, because it's flash fiction. 313 00:32:46,640 --> 00:32:50,160 Oh, I can't remember right off the bat. I think it's really short. It has to be like 314 00:32:50,160 --> 00:32:51,760 2,000 words or less. 315 00:32:51,760 --> 00:32:52,080 Okay. 316 00:32:52,080 --> 00:32:56,080 And that's to make it easy on you guys. Plus, I love it. I love alliteration, 317 00:32:56,080 --> 00:32:57,760 obviously, of stripper and sastry. 318 00:32:58,640 --> 00:33:04,960 Flash, forward fables, like, yeah, but I do want to make it easy on all the judges. So they're not 319 00:33:04,960 --> 00:33:10,160 going through like, you know, your Romano club and it's like 500 pages long. No, I want it to be 320 00:33:10,160 --> 00:33:13,280 short and fun and yeah, interesting. 321 00:33:13,280 --> 00:33:16,000 I think that would be very inspiring stories too. 322 00:33:16,000 --> 00:33:22,560 Yeah, I hope so. I hope so. I'm really curious to see what happens. So I'm gearing up for that. 323 00:33:22,560 --> 00:33:27,040 I've got the web page ready to put out there. I got it out there earlier, but then I wasn't sure 324 00:33:28,240 --> 00:33:32,560 the timing was going to work out, but I'm going for it. I'm saying who cares about the timing? 325 00:33:32,560 --> 00:33:33,520 Yeah, we're doing it. 326 00:33:33,520 --> 00:33:36,320 And then what about that local high schools? Do you work with them? 327 00:33:37,040 --> 00:33:42,560 Right. So Jim M. Pell also worked in the Grand Junction High School. I think he's out of Fruta, 328 00:33:42,560 --> 00:33:47,680 which is the next count over. So I've got, he gave me a connection for that. He gave me a 329 00:33:47,680 --> 00:33:54,640 connection for Mile High Con, which is our science fiction, Colorado science fiction writing convention 330 00:33:54,640 --> 00:34:00,000 that they do every year. And I'm hoping I'll get more from that. There will be the people at the 331 00:34:00,000 --> 00:34:07,760 LTUE thing in Utah. So, you know, getting on these people's email lists or Instagram pages or whatever 332 00:34:07,760 --> 00:34:13,200 we'll just be getting the word out. A lot of people at Comic Con were like, Oh, I know somebody 333 00:34:13,200 --> 00:34:18,880 here. This would be perfect for. And it did kind of, I kind of got one of those like, but you have 334 00:34:18,880 --> 00:34:25,280 to stay true. Yeah. You know, it's like, well, I'm only 12. It's like, Oh, I know. Or like, I'm 20. 335 00:34:28,240 --> 00:34:33,360 Yeah, I'm proud of you for holding firm on that. But that is the other carving point. Yeah. 336 00:34:33,360 --> 00:34:39,200 But those people want to have their work seen too. And they're young. And so it's such a great 337 00:34:39,200 --> 00:34:45,920 opportunity for somebody. Right. And it's low stakes. You know, not charging you. Yeah, that's 338 00:34:45,920 --> 00:34:51,200 the way to do it. Don't charge anybody to get it. Yeah. Get them excited about writing. And, you 339 00:34:51,200 --> 00:34:57,440 know, like, what a gift that you're giving some young person that like have their story read. 340 00:34:57,440 --> 00:35:02,960 Like, well, up there. Because one of the things I really want to do, depending on how many entries 341 00:35:02,960 --> 00:35:11,840 we get, is to just get it out for one day on the Instagram or get it out one day. I don't know, 342 00:35:11,840 --> 00:35:15,840 maybe I have to go to a different platform on Twitter, but no, because that's too many. I think 343 00:35:15,840 --> 00:35:19,680 it's a local media. I think you need to go to your local media. Oh, yeah. No, we've got that. 344 00:35:19,680 --> 00:35:26,560 That's easy. Those people are easy. We don't have a lot. What I'm looking for is statewide media. 345 00:35:26,560 --> 00:35:31,840 I'm like setting my sights a little higher. Yeah. Because that's where you should like. 346 00:35:31,840 --> 00:35:39,760 Yeah. Yeah. So, and then do you say, because AI is a really big part of all this now, 347 00:35:40,320 --> 00:35:46,240 do you tell them no AI? Yeah, no AI. It has to be an original work. We don't care if it's fan fiction. 348 00:35:46,240 --> 00:35:51,280 We don't, we don't care if it's been like that. We want something preferably that hasn't been 349 00:35:51,280 --> 00:35:58,400 published. An original work to you, like 2000 pages, I'm hope, or 2000 pages. 2000 words. 350 00:35:58,400 --> 00:36:04,480 I hope anybody can do 2000 words. It's not a lot. It's like a page. Yeah. It's nothing. That's, 351 00:36:05,200 --> 00:36:09,280 I mean, I think it's such a, since that's kind of my audience, I kind of 352 00:36:10,080 --> 00:36:16,640 totally feel what you're doing. Like I'm so proud of you for really creating this whole experience 353 00:36:16,640 --> 00:36:20,960 and then tying it somehow another all back to jewelry because, you know, first prize needs to 354 00:36:20,960 --> 00:36:27,440 get a piece of jewelry, right? Like, what about that? I think everybody probably will get a bookmark 355 00:36:27,440 --> 00:36:34,160 because there are men that will wear jewelry, but there are a lot. Right. And we didn't want boys 356 00:36:34,160 --> 00:36:39,280 to feel excluded because it's a jewelry company. So bookmarks we got, maybe key chains too. 357 00:36:39,280 --> 00:36:44,480 Cindy's key chains are great. Yeah. They're really cool. Yeah. So something that's 358 00:36:45,440 --> 00:36:48,240 more gender neutral is kind of what we're counting for. 359 00:36:51,280 --> 00:36:55,280 Oh, well, I'm very proud of you. You know, I have a, I have a son that's gay. I'm very much 360 00:36:55,280 --> 00:37:01,760 of that's part of a community I've been with for my whole life. So I totally understand all that. 361 00:37:01,760 --> 00:37:06,000 And, you know, I live through all that and I love all that. My name is gay. So, you know, 362 00:37:07,440 --> 00:37:13,120 I'm all part of that. If you put in sugar, there's a lot of you put in gay, there's a lot. So that's 363 00:37:13,120 --> 00:37:21,280 why it is one sugar gay. That's really smart. Yeah. I don't know about that, but it's just how it 364 00:37:21,280 --> 00:37:26,560 actually happened because Facebook wouldn't let me use the name gay when I first signed up in 365 00:37:26,560 --> 00:37:33,120 2007. They said it was not part of the community standard. So no. So then later they came back 366 00:37:33,120 --> 00:37:39,760 and said, okay, well, you can use your name now if you want. Thank you. So then I have had to rebrand 367 00:37:39,760 --> 00:37:44,800 myself. Now that was probably like 10 years ago, but where they came back and said I could use it. 368 00:37:44,800 --> 00:37:52,080 But now it's just too many names. I have a lot of names. Yeah. It's just what it is. Sugar gay. 369 00:37:53,760 --> 00:37:58,720 So what else? So besides this, so this is going to be April 1st. You're going to be doing, you know, 370 00:37:58,720 --> 00:38:03,280 the whole thing and I'm excited to get to pair up with you. Elizabeth, that's what I said. We're 371 00:38:03,280 --> 00:38:07,440 going to be friends. It's going to be great. Yeah. And then you're going to do something maybe for 372 00:38:07,440 --> 00:38:15,520 Abby for, right? Okay. So you way back when in our conversation, you were asking more about 373 00:38:17,280 --> 00:38:21,680 how we make our money because we're not making it online. So yes, what how I do, 374 00:38:23,040 --> 00:38:26,560 what the only thing I know how to do because online is really hard to get people to your 375 00:38:26,560 --> 00:38:32,640 website and to get people to buy. It's hard. I want to see it in their hand. Right. So, you know, 376 00:38:32,640 --> 00:38:38,480 that first year at the local farmers market, I was like, I'm going to do more of these. So the next 377 00:38:38,480 --> 00:38:44,160 year I started doing every farmer market I could find in our area. And then I started doing more 378 00:38:44,160 --> 00:38:49,440 craft fairs and I just kind of have expanded. This was the first year where we went outside of 379 00:38:49,440 --> 00:38:54,560 Colorado. I went to Arizona. I did the front range, which is still Colorado, but those mountains, 380 00:38:54,560 --> 00:38:59,920 that Rocky Mountains kind of divides us into two different communities. Yeah. And I went to go visit 381 00:38:59,920 --> 00:39:06,320 my friend in South Dakota. So it was really great to see how we did in other places. So that's how 382 00:39:06,320 --> 00:39:12,080 I did it. There were a lot of things I wish I had known when I had started because here I am. Here 383 00:39:12,080 --> 00:39:18,480 I got my card table. I got my sheet. I got my stuff. And that's what I got. I did. I didn't even have 384 00:39:18,480 --> 00:39:23,760 a credit card reader. I did all my sales through my website, which I don't know how legal that was 385 00:39:23,760 --> 00:39:30,960 because I don't know because one of my things and I'm not doing this, but I wish I could find a 386 00:39:30,960 --> 00:39:37,120 tax person who could tell me because the taxes, I just want to tear my hair out. taxes, Arizona is 387 00:39:37,120 --> 00:39:42,800 the worst for state taxes. It was just so difficult to deal with them. And I'm like, if I ran everything 388 00:39:42,800 --> 00:39:49,440 through my website at these local events, but I have to pay state taxes, right? Yeah. Is that a way 389 00:39:49,440 --> 00:39:53,920 of getting around it? And I can't get anybody who's going to go on the record and be like, yeah, 390 00:39:53,920 --> 00:39:59,760 that's totally legal. Or no, don't do it. I don't have any problem paying the local taxes to the 391 00:39:59,760 --> 00:40:06,480 local community. Like that's fair. And I wouldn't even mind paying the state taxes if it weren't such 392 00:40:07,200 --> 00:40:16,080 a complete cluster. It's I've only had to do it in four states and all four states that I've done 393 00:40:16,080 --> 00:40:21,680 in South Dakota was the best. If you have to pay taxes in South Dakota, those people are so nice 394 00:40:21,680 --> 00:40:29,840 and so accommodating and so helpful. But taxes are a thing. So it's a hard thing. I know I did the 395 00:40:29,840 --> 00:40:36,800 Tucson gym and mineral show last year. And and it was like, just talking to the tax people and just 396 00:40:36,800 --> 00:40:41,440 getting it all down. They really couldn't give me an answer. I'm like, well, wait a second, like, 397 00:40:41,440 --> 00:40:46,480 so at the end of the day, I really didn't sell that much to even make it work. Like, just go home. 398 00:40:46,480 --> 00:40:56,880 Like, they had they made it so hard to get a sales tax license for the correct one. Yeah. Yes. Yes. 399 00:40:56,880 --> 00:41:02,800 Yes. Because it's all those, you know, I'm just a little business and yeah. So they were not very, 400 00:41:02,800 --> 00:41:06,320 they were not very accommodating. They didn't really know what to do with me. They're like, 401 00:41:06,320 --> 00:41:14,240 okay, well, okay, well, that's what I'm going to do. Yeah. Yeah. So whatever. Yeah, it's hard. You 402 00:41:14,240 --> 00:41:20,320 are such a good business person. Well, I'm proud of that because, you know, everybody has the same 403 00:41:20,320 --> 00:41:26,720 issues we have to deal with taxes. So yeah, it's a big one. But to get back to your original question, 404 00:41:26,720 --> 00:41:33,680 what I'm doing for Abby was, I've been working on it for the last month, things that I have learned 405 00:41:33,680 --> 00:41:39,600 from my experience. I'm not going to say I'm an expert, you know, School of Hard Mox is where I went 406 00:41:39,600 --> 00:41:46,240 and I have a very specific experience with local farmer markets and craft fairs and those kinds 407 00:41:46,240 --> 00:41:51,280 of things and even more specific if you want to just keep it to Colorado because things are somewhat 408 00:41:51,280 --> 00:41:57,760 the same in other places and somewhat different. Right. And so, Abby said, if I wanted to do this, 409 00:41:57,760 --> 00:42:06,320 have at it. So what I am going to be doing is presenting like speaking of Elizabeth Newboss, 410 00:42:06,320 --> 00:42:16,640 I love this. So it's be a booth boss is what I'm going to do. And I'm going over the pros and cons of 411 00:42:16,640 --> 00:42:26,480 doing in person events. I'm doing the things you need to do for them. And then just maybe a few 412 00:42:26,480 --> 00:42:30,880 stories about my experiences there. But I think the first two things are going to be enough. What's 413 00:42:30,880 --> 00:42:36,720 really important for me because I am the business person is hopefully I can help people who aren't 414 00:42:36,720 --> 00:42:43,120 so business savvy to not get taken advantage of not get this letter in the mail that says, 415 00:42:44,480 --> 00:42:50,240 you owe a $12,000 tax bill because you haven't paid this bill for a year and it's compounded, 416 00:42:50,240 --> 00:42:54,560 compounded, compounded. And it was like, this is not my, you know, it's like it was a, 417 00:42:54,560 --> 00:43:00,400 it was something on their end that was the problem. But it's just like how to be proactive about 418 00:43:00,400 --> 00:43:08,320 keeping your money correct, which is really important, how to be mindful of making money. So 419 00:43:08,960 --> 00:43:14,240 a lot of times people are like me my first year, it's like, I sold stuff. But it was like, 420 00:43:15,120 --> 00:43:24,240 I had to be sell enough to actually cover our costs. Right. And thank you, COVID. I mean, 421 00:43:24,240 --> 00:43:29,840 I was supposed to say that, but thank you, COVID for having that year after COVID when everyone 422 00:43:29,840 --> 00:43:36,320 was spending money and super happy gave me the capital to buy a custom made tent to get tables 423 00:43:36,320 --> 00:43:42,400 of my own to get tablecloths. So I was able to take what we had made that year and put it into 424 00:43:42,400 --> 00:43:46,960 the business for the next year. So we could be more professional and the more professional I was, 425 00:43:46,960 --> 00:43:51,680 the more I learned about how to pick a good show, how to prepare for a show, 426 00:43:51,680 --> 00:43:57,760 like how to spot not foolproof, many of these things are foolproof, but how to spot a nefarious 427 00:43:57,760 --> 00:44:05,200 organizer because there are a lot of people out there wanting to fleece people, which is in Colorado, 428 00:44:05,200 --> 00:44:09,920 I guess it's a huge thing. I haven't run into it yet, but I have heard from some of the Facebook 429 00:44:09,920 --> 00:44:16,480 groups that I'm on that there are people who will take your money and then you show up to the 430 00:44:16,480 --> 00:44:26,160 parking lot in the shopping mall and no one is there. Yeah. So there are things and that's what 431 00:44:26,160 --> 00:44:34,720 I'm hoping to cover for the craft industry, no, yeah, craft industry alliance people. And again, 432 00:44:34,720 --> 00:44:40,640 for those of you out there, I cannot recommend this group enough. I've got more real help, 433 00:44:41,280 --> 00:44:46,160 not just like, Oh, I heard this or Oh, I want to sell you this, so sign up for my program and do 434 00:44:46,160 --> 00:44:52,320 this. Her workshops are good. I love those craft nights. I've been missing you because 435 00:44:53,520 --> 00:44:58,640 I've had to do the one at night and not the one in the afternoon because I've been doing stuff 436 00:44:58,640 --> 00:45:03,600 during the day, right, either traveling to a show or coming back from a show for the last few months. 437 00:45:03,600 --> 00:45:10,480 So but they're, they're great sources of real life experience, people who are not being sugar 438 00:45:10,480 --> 00:45:15,600 coating and being like, Oh, yeah, I'm doing this year. You know, they're like, Wow, I did really 439 00:45:15,600 --> 00:45:21,760 bad at this. And this is why, right? Just that's the important thing. It's how we learn really, 440 00:45:22,320 --> 00:45:29,200 is that we're sharing our information. Right. Or like, this work, great, this you should do this, 441 00:45:29,200 --> 00:45:34,800 it's none of this like, if I share my idea, my business is gonna go down the drain. So I'm not 442 00:45:34,800 --> 00:45:40,880 gonna tell anybody it's more like, right, if I do good, you do good. If you do good, I do good. 443 00:45:40,880 --> 00:45:47,520 We support each other, right, which I think is how it how it works. Yeah. Now, I don't know anything 444 00:45:47,520 --> 00:45:52,720 about I know they're really big on the H and H, I guess Abby and then we're all kind of like tied 445 00:45:52,720 --> 00:45:58,640 to that somehow. Well, I haven't been. I wanted to go this year, but it did like the timing. 446 00:45:59,440 --> 00:46:03,040 I think it was like in May, and I was going to be here till August and I didn't want to. 447 00:46:03,040 --> 00:46:11,200 And one personal thing about me is that I live most of my time in Mexico. I have a house 30 448 00:46:11,200 --> 00:46:18,320 miles from Mexico City. Yeah. Really? And so I do a lot like it's great. It's I can afford to live 449 00:46:18,320 --> 00:46:23,760 there. I love being there. I have a huge garden, which is a personal passion. I can do all my stuff 450 00:46:23,760 --> 00:46:28,080 online I need to do down there. And then I come back to the United States for a few months to 451 00:46:28,080 --> 00:46:34,560 do the in person things. So I'm hoping to gradually do less in person and more online. But 452 00:46:36,000 --> 00:46:40,240 well, okay, you have to tell me like what city in Mexico City? What city? 453 00:46:41,760 --> 00:46:47,360 San Vicente, and it's like what wait, what? I was in today's chocolate pond. 454 00:46:48,800 --> 00:46:55,520 Well, it's 30 miles south of Mexico City. I just find this place like that is like such a hook to 455 00:46:55,520 --> 00:47:04,960 me like tell me okay it's a 30 five on my Duolingo learning Spanish. So it's a passion with me. 456 00:47:04,960 --> 00:47:10,720 Way to go. I do like six apps because I took classes and they were not I couldn't get the 457 00:47:10,720 --> 00:47:18,240 Wi-Fi at my house. And so now I have a tutor and I do a Duolingo, jump speak, talk, pal, I do a 458 00:47:18,240 --> 00:47:22,560 bunch of these different things because they'll come at Spanish from a different way. So that's 459 00:47:22,560 --> 00:47:29,040 what I do. So I was taking care of my parents and my father finally passed. And I had ruined my career 460 00:47:29,040 --> 00:47:33,840 because I moved to Grand Junction and my focus was taking care of my parents not having a career. 461 00:47:34,720 --> 00:47:39,040 And it was like I could go anywhere in the world. Where do I want to go? And for two years I've 462 00:47:39,040 --> 00:47:42,400 fretted. Well, probably more like 15 years. Where am I going to go? What am I going to do? 463 00:47:43,280 --> 00:47:46,640 And a friend of mine said come down for a day of the dead in Mexico City. 464 00:47:46,640 --> 00:47:53,520 He's like it's month long, come stay for a month, we'll have fun. It's you know, it's tons of stuff. 465 00:47:54,160 --> 00:47:57,680 So he said I have this friend who has a house out in the country. Let's go there for a weekend. 466 00:47:58,320 --> 00:48:02,960 So we went down there and I kid you not, I opened the gates up right there. They opened the gates. 467 00:48:02,960 --> 00:48:08,000 There's this beautiful garden, this cute house, this little casita. And I felt like I was walking 468 00:48:08,000 --> 00:48:12,960 home. I was like, wow, I feel so comfortable here. And it was a little ramshackle like nobody 469 00:48:12,960 --> 00:48:18,880 had really been living in it for about 15 years. And I was just like, wow, this is amazing. 470 00:48:18,880 --> 00:48:27,600 So when we were leaving, my friend says, you know, it's for sale. And it was like, this is it. 471 00:48:27,600 --> 00:48:31,440 Mexico wasn't even on my list of places to think about. I was thinking like friends, 472 00:48:31,440 --> 00:48:37,360 you know, some island somewhere, or maybe Sweden, or you know, this was not even. 473 00:48:37,360 --> 00:48:43,360 But the moment I saw it was like, okay, this is my home. And that was, and it was it. That was it. 474 00:48:43,360 --> 00:48:48,160 I love Mexico. Well, you're welcome to visit anytime. 475 00:48:50,000 --> 00:48:57,040 I have some friends that live in Aji, south of Guadalajara. And my son used to work in Guadalajara. 476 00:48:57,040 --> 00:49:03,840 He went there every week. And now he's not there. But so we went down to go visit him. And I was like, 477 00:49:03,840 --> 00:49:08,560 of course, because Spain, like Spanish is in my heart. I used to live in Seville. But the short 478 00:49:08,560 --> 00:49:14,240 of it is, is my husband's like, no, not me there. Because he doesn't speak a word in Spanish, not 479 00:49:14,240 --> 00:49:23,280 even Ola. So but to me, you're living my dream. Oh, well, thank you. Like seriously, like, it's 480 00:49:23,280 --> 00:49:30,880 such a great, like number one, the people are so warm and inviting. And I'm so in love, you know, 481 00:49:30,880 --> 00:49:37,680 I'm a border person, I'm on taxes. So I'm with people all over. And since I was a little girl, 482 00:49:37,680 --> 00:49:44,560 we had people come in from Mexico that work for on our ranch. So I've known about Mexico and the 483 00:49:44,560 --> 00:49:51,760 people there for my whole life. And I love them. And I would live there tomorrow. Couldn't take me 484 00:49:51,760 --> 00:49:58,480 away if I got there. Well, it was just a it was like a whim. And I am the only person from the 485 00:49:58,480 --> 00:50:02,800 United States living in my town. I'm pretty much the only one that speaks English. So it's been 486 00:50:07,360 --> 00:50:12,320 I've been working and working. And I continue to work and work on it. And it's really hard too, 487 00:50:12,320 --> 00:50:17,120 because it's like, I just I love my little house, I don't want to leave it. And so I don't have the 488 00:50:17,120 --> 00:50:23,600 opportunity to speak with people all the time. But I get by, as you say, people, I think about 489 00:50:23,600 --> 00:50:29,360 how we treat people from Mexico. I know, don't even go there. I might be crying. And then I think 490 00:50:29,360 --> 00:50:37,520 about how incredible, can I tell you a quick story? Yes, I wanted lunch. And so I followed my 491 00:50:37,520 --> 00:50:42,240 nose, because that's what I do. I'm at the market, you know, I follow my nose. I'm like, Oh, my God, 492 00:50:42,240 --> 00:50:46,160 just smells really great. There are a ton of people eating here. So you know, it's good. 493 00:50:47,040 --> 00:50:51,120 I sat down, I was feeling really awkward, because I didn't like I didn't know how to eat the food. 494 00:50:51,120 --> 00:50:57,120 It sounds stupid, but because they have these suits, and then they have tacos. And I and I'm 495 00:50:57,120 --> 00:51:01,600 like, Oh, I'll get both soup, and then I'll get some tacos, because I'm American, we have soup, 496 00:51:01,600 --> 00:51:07,360 and then we have our main meal. And I'm sitting next to this family, grandma, grandpa, you know, 497 00:51:07,360 --> 00:51:11,920 the daughter and the grandson. And I'm eating my soup. And they're like, Don't you want to 498 00:51:11,920 --> 00:51:17,200 talk on them? Like, I'm gonna have a taco after. And the mom and the daughter just exchanged this 499 00:51:17,200 --> 00:51:24,960 look that was like, that pretty dip it or mother never taught her how to eat tacos with soup. 500 00:51:24,960 --> 00:51:29,840 So all of a sudden, there's a taco in my hand, which was amazing, because it was 501 00:51:30,880 --> 00:51:38,080 barbacoa. Yeah, my favorite. Yeah. And so then it was like, you dip it in the soup, you put it in 502 00:51:38,080 --> 00:51:44,240 your mouth. And so I learned how to do this. No, not just one taco. I finished half my soup, 503 00:51:44,240 --> 00:51:51,760 finished my taco. I'm like, thank you. And another taco right in my hand. Yeah, totally great. So 504 00:51:51,760 --> 00:51:56,240 then we get to talking. And they're from a little farming town outside of where I live. And I had 505 00:51:56,240 --> 00:52:01,600 been there because exploring, right? And they were amazed that I'd been to their town. It was just 506 00:52:01,600 --> 00:52:08,800 this beautiful thing. And then when they left the table, everybody who was eating there said goodbye 507 00:52:08,800 --> 00:52:16,560 to them. So it just was, it was this beautiful experience. And like the food is amazing. And 508 00:52:16,560 --> 00:52:24,160 the people were super cool. And that is, that is the food that they that they're eating is not 509 00:52:24,160 --> 00:52:30,000 all this process crap. Like here, like it's all just made right there. Somebody's sitting there 510 00:52:30,000 --> 00:52:36,240 making, go and there might be a rooster walking around and then matter. Like, and the food is 511 00:52:36,240 --> 00:52:42,480 not this process. We're not going through the line in our car to go grab a burger and fries. 512 00:52:42,480 --> 00:52:49,520 There's not that like, it is my, I'm going to come live with you. Like, let's just do. 513 00:52:49,520 --> 00:52:54,960 I have a desk house. It could be someone living in it. So please feel free anytime. And I'm not 514 00:52:54,960 --> 00:52:59,600 just joking. If you would like to come down, I would love to have you. Seriously, like, 515 00:52:59,600 --> 00:53:05,440 you don't even know that's my world. Like, my heart is in Spain still, that's Spanish is in 516 00:53:05,440 --> 00:53:14,240 my heart. Nice. You know, I get it. Like, it's, I'm so proud. I'm so glad we got that out. Like, 517 00:53:14,240 --> 00:53:18,640 look, I told you at the end of this, we were going to be friends. But look, I'm now going to be like 518 00:53:18,640 --> 00:53:23,120 judging your competition. And I just wrote a book. Like, I'm too old for the competition, 519 00:53:23,120 --> 00:53:31,120 but I get the genre. Get it. Right. Love it. Yeah. We both have CIA in common. Love that group. It's 520 00:53:31,120 --> 00:53:36,480 been life affirming. And I love her newsletters. And I always go through and look at all those 521 00:53:36,480 --> 00:53:44,640 guys. Anything relates me on this. What can I do to be part of this group? Like, so, yes. And Abby's, 522 00:53:44,640 --> 00:53:50,480 let me write an article before for the harm. Like, so we're bonded on that. And then the Spanish came 523 00:53:50,480 --> 00:53:57,040 in. Bam, like a thunderstorm. I can't. We're going to get to the Austin part because I spent my 524 00:53:57,040 --> 00:54:06,080 terrible 20s in Austin. Yeah. And I still have a very good friend there. She does news caps, news boy 525 00:54:06,080 --> 00:54:12,880 caps is her specialty. And I usually get down there once or twice a year. And I so wanted to hook up 526 00:54:12,880 --> 00:54:17,920 with you the last time I was there. But it, I was only there for like two days, because my dog got 527 00:54:17,920 --> 00:54:22,720 sick. It's a whole story. We're not going to get into it. But Austin's a cool place. Like, it's 528 00:54:22,720 --> 00:54:30,000 cool place. Yeah. And we have a ranch about 70 miles from here that we go every weekend and we 529 00:54:30,000 --> 00:54:35,680 work on the ranch. Your kids exercise and then, and I feed the vultures. I don't know if you 530 00:54:36,880 --> 00:54:43,440 the Mexican Eagles. Now I got two of them. Like, we're just, we're in our little bubble there. 531 00:54:43,440 --> 00:54:47,600 It's just like we've made a little bubble. When we first got there, there was no animals at all. 532 00:54:47,600 --> 00:54:53,280 We couldn't even find a squirrel on this beautiful property with hundreds and hundreds of trees. 533 00:54:54,080 --> 00:54:59,840 Where is everybody? Now we've called them in. Just call them in, you know, like it's the joy of 534 00:54:59,840 --> 00:55:07,200 we have a flock of seven herd of seven deer and these vultures that come and they know me. 535 00:55:07,200 --> 00:55:11,360 Like they'll come right up to the house like they're and they ate like a bag of 536 00:55:11,360 --> 00:55:19,040 organic soil. It must have had like some good stinky stuff in it. They attacked those plastic 537 00:55:19,040 --> 00:55:25,920 bags like like the birds in Alfred Hitchcock. It was crazy. So, you know, we're just, my husband and 538 00:55:25,920 --> 00:55:32,800 I said there's always food that doesn't get eaten. So, you know, unfortunately that's how it is. But 539 00:55:32,800 --> 00:55:39,200 at least I don't, yeah, it goes to some Mexican Eagles now are fighting over some old tamales I 540 00:55:39,200 --> 00:55:44,720 had that's a neighbor made. I'm like, look at that. Like one of them walked over here. Aida's 541 00:55:44,720 --> 00:55:48,080 tamale. One of them walked over there. Looks at that tamale. Walked back and got the other one. 542 00:55:48,080 --> 00:55:51,360 It's like we're both eating tamales. They were Mexican Eagles. It's like, yeah. 543 00:55:53,360 --> 00:56:00,720 So, they were so happy. I wish you were, I wish you did live closer. But you know, 544 00:56:00,720 --> 00:56:05,040 because we have four more minutes and then our time is coming to an end. But number one, 545 00:56:05,040 --> 00:56:13,520 I have learned a lot from you, you know. And I think that Cindy is very lucky to have you. Like 546 00:56:14,160 --> 00:56:19,600 seriously, it's nice to have somebody that appreciates the arts like you obviously do. 547 00:56:19,600 --> 00:56:24,720 You understand that handmade. I always tell people my jewelry is it's interesting jewelry for 548 00:56:24,720 --> 00:56:29,600 interesting people. Yeah. You know, I kind of think that that's true. It's not just the little 549 00:56:29,600 --> 00:56:33,760 dot necklace. Like how boring is that if I would have had to have made those, I would have been 550 00:56:33,760 --> 00:56:38,000 bored by the second one and be like, okay, I'm done with this. Like, I did that in two seconds. 551 00:56:38,000 --> 00:56:44,080 That's not going to help me. Give me something I can sink my teeth into. So, you know, I, and you 552 00:56:44,080 --> 00:56:52,400 know, maybe it's something, even though it's a guy thing, you know, I'm rich in my supplies. I have 553 00:56:52,400 --> 00:56:57,360 an entire room of supplies. I have another room of supplies. I have another room of just finished 554 00:56:57,360 --> 00:57:04,320 jewelry. We could make a unisex necklace. Like I could do that for y'all. Like, you know, a lot of these are unisex. 555 00:57:04,320 --> 00:57:09,200 Yeah, definitely. Definitely, definitely. But you know, it could have something even just like 556 00:57:09,920 --> 00:57:14,240 that, you know, grand prize winner. So it could have something within that piece. And if you don't 557 00:57:14,240 --> 00:57:19,840 know how to do it, I do. That we could put the words in there. Because you know, that's what I do. 558 00:57:19,840 --> 00:57:24,400 That would be cool. I'm looking forward to this collaboration. I think it's going to be really 559 00:57:24,400 --> 00:57:29,840 fun. I am too. So now, seeing you are all like, Oh, this is going to be great. We're not, we 560 00:57:29,840 --> 00:57:36,160 seriously are friends forever now. I feel it. I feel it. I do too. It's like, Oh my God, you're 561 00:57:36,160 --> 00:57:44,480 living my dream. And we have so much crossover. So it really has been a pleasure. Okay, let's talk 562 00:57:44,480 --> 00:57:51,040 about how people can find you because that's the great way to end a show is let's recap all of your 563 00:57:51,040 --> 00:57:57,360 links. So you give it to us. And then it's also going to be the bottom in the description will be 564 00:57:57,360 --> 00:58:02,560 everything that you're talking about. You can find that. Of course, I want you to go to the website. 565 00:58:02,560 --> 00:58:08,000 That's the first place I want all of you to go to. It's easy to remember. It's Oostrich.com. 566 00:58:09,040 --> 00:58:16,880 Oh, it says 00. O and then ostrich, regular spelling ostrich.com. A lot of people are like, 567 00:58:16,880 --> 00:58:25,760 what? Oostrich? It's like, I don't like that. But no Oostrich.com. 00. It's on Instagram. 568 00:58:27,120 --> 00:58:32,160 I think we're under obstreperous ostrich. I think I'm making spell it out on Instagram, 569 00:58:32,160 --> 00:58:40,160 but you can find all of this on the on the homepage. Okay. And oh, on Facebook, Facebook were 570 00:58:40,160 --> 00:58:46,880 on Facebook, I think were obstreperous ostrich on Instagram or wild ostriches, because I did have 571 00:58:46,880 --> 00:58:55,280 obstreperous ostrich, but I screwed it all up. And so, okay, that's been talking so much. My throat 572 00:58:55,280 --> 00:59:00,160 is getting dry. I know, I know me too. That's because it's the end of the hour. We have one more 573 00:59:00,160 --> 00:59:07,280 minute. And it has been a pleasure to be spending an hour with you. Oh my God, what a great time, 574 00:59:07,280 --> 00:59:14,000 Elizabeth. I look forward to meeting Cindy down the road. I think that's something I'd love to 575 00:59:14,000 --> 00:59:21,040 have her on my show too. But you and I, we're forever friends. So that just makes my day perfect. 576 00:59:21,840 --> 00:59:25,520 I feel like giving you a big hug. So here's my little hug for you. 577 00:59:29,040 --> 00:59:33,280 Okay. Well, you know how to get a hold of me and we're friends. And everything I said is for 100%. 578 00:59:33,280 --> 00:59:40,720 I will help you out. I would be honored to be a part of your, for your judging and everything else 579 00:59:40,720 --> 00:59:46,640 that I can do to help 100%. Like it's, it's that's in my heart. So, well, right back at you, sister. 580 00:59:46,640 --> 00:59:51,360 I don't know how I can help, but if I can, let me know. Okay, well, I'm looking forward to our 581 00:59:51,360 --> 00:59:56,640 collaborations. And thank you so much for making my day. And this has been Sugar Gay is for on 582 00:59:56,640 --> 01:00:02,880 jewelry as your side hustle. And there's always something new on this podcast. So keep listening. 583 01:00:02,880 --> 01:00:10,320 And we will see you later and welcome to 2025. You're my first one. Season two, Episode one, 584 01:00:10,320 --> 01:00:28,960 check done. Thank you very much. Thank you.