Template for Success

For Day 18 of the Cornerstone Content Blog Challenge the topic is a template for success. This is what my hubby and I did to have a successful interior decorating business for over 50 years.

I always had a domestic sewing machine that was perfect for alterations and dressmaking but for window treatments we needed commercial machines. A local clothing store was going out of business so we were able to purchase an industrial straight stitch sewing machine, a blind hemmer and a serger for finishing the seams for next to nothing. We checked with our state and county for any licensing requirements, opened a business bank account and came up with a record keeping plan. The next step was to open fabric and drapery supply accounts. After everything was set up all we needed was clients. But that wasn’t hard because I had been doing dressmaking for years prior and many of my clients had already asked about draperies.

We started a workroom in our basement in a small upstate New York town and had great success for years. In 1994 when we moved to South Carolina to help care for my parents we made a major decision. We opened a retail location without doing any research in the area as to what the competition was, would there be clients that needed our services and would our suppliers still be willing to ship us the fabrics and supplies needed.

We found a 1500 square foot retail location right of the main highway for a reasonably monthly rent. We had plenty of room in the front to display fabric samples, decorative trimming and a few tables to set and discuss the treatments with clients. The back of the store was where we set up our drapery workroom. Rich built a huge 60″ x 144″ work table with storage under the top for storing the fabrics we would be working on. This was a major improvement from our 48″ x 96″ piece of covered plywood set on dressers in our basement!

Before we moved permanently we made a few trips down to set up our store. While we were doing this we actually had people stop by to see what time of business was opening up.

Our very first client was the owner of a condo rental agency and needed a drapery rod installed in a high rise condo. That was the beginning of a long term relationship with a wonderful family owned condo rental agency where we created many window treatments in condos that were just being constructed. Through the years as styles changed or new owners purchased the condos we redecorated the same ones that we had done when the condos were being built!

The one think that was unique about our business is we didn’t advertise at our new location either! We did have a photo in the paper when Alexandra was about 18 months old with the caption, “I’ve been doing this all my life!” The first picture is Alexandra (Lia’s mommy), the middle one is Lia with me helping her sew about 20 months old and the last is Lia making a pillow for a friend. Word of mouth, referrals and repeat business kept us going until we decided to scale down in the fall of 2018. Notice I said scale down, we will never be able to retire from sewing because it’s in my blood and I love being creative. We closed our storefront but kept our workroom. When people saw were were closing many called or stopped over and wondered who would make their window treatments now. We told them as long as they had our mobile number they were set with us! The art of drapery making is becoming a lost art and I have a feeling that when the few shops that are still around close, the custom window treatments will be a thing of the past.

My template for success is in my motto….. “If you want to explore deeper oceans, you first have to leave sight of the shore.” From sewing alterations and dressmaking we expanded into window treatments and bed and bath ensembles. Without having a positive attitude and following my motto I’m not sure our business would have been as successful as it was for over 50 years. This is a blog I wrote 4 years ago about how Mar-C’s Interiors was born. http://themarthareview.com/how-mar-cs-was-born/

So there you have my template for success…the drive to do what I love, planning things out to have a successful business, work hard to accomplish the projects and enjoy the type of business we have.