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Featured Business
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Roxanna Rumple of Here's My Signs
How does Roxanna describe her work and line of business?
Here’s My Signs is my wholesale website devoted to bringing my handmade-in-America primitive rustic wood signs and block sets to qualified buyers. I offer quality made signs and block set to the retail industry. Be that a retail store looking for made in America handcrafted items, website owners wanting to supplement their inventory or to the professional crafter to sell at their shows.
The whole mission and purpose of Here’s My Signs is to make affordable American made products available to American businesses and make handmade in America mean quality, affordability and access to American made products not a thing of the past but hopefully of the future. With our sinking economy and the majority of business moving their manufacturing off shore it is sad that a great American tradition became almost extinct. I want to do my part not to let that happen. My business will never be mass produced in another country nor be machine made in any way. All my signs and block sets are made by hand from beginning to end and proudly so. I make sure of that. I buy the wood, cut and sand the wood then paint and stencil all my signs and block sets myself.
How did you get started or interested in your line of work?
My interest in stenciled signs began a few years ago when I purchased my first stencils to make primitive signs. There are literally thousands of wonderful sayings out there for signs and I wanted them all.
I made a major purchase of 600.00 in stencils and started making my signs for my website and for the few shows that I do.
I am still adding to my stencil collection to this day. There are so many designers out there that offer wonderful work so I just keep buying.
Hence the need to find another venue for them. So it was natural to consider wholesale because for the past 5 or 6 years many of my customers have been asking for made in America products and saying how disappointed they had become that so many had turned to resale. So I feel this fills a need for shop owners and professional crafters alike.
They can purchase my handmade in America products for resale in their stores and shops and even at craft shows if they like.
My block sets have really turned into a wonderful primitive home decorating trend you could say and sell very well. So I decided that I would offer them as wholesale also and added them to my wholesale website.
That was a pivotal point as it gave me many satisfied repeat customers that love to sell my products in their stores.
Not all my products from my home website Country Quackers are offered wholesale------ only my wood signs and block sets at this time are offered wholesale.
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Where do you sell your work?
I first opened my regular website Country Quackers and all my products are offered there at retail. When I opened Here’s My Signs as my wholesale site it was just for my wood signs and block sets but I also sell my products at several shows here locally in southern Idaho.
I do a huge show in the fall at the College of Southern Idaho. It is called the CSI Fall Festival and I have been doing it for over 23 years very successfully.
I do a show here in my home town of Shoshone, Idaho the second full weekend of July called The Junction City Arts Council /Arts Festival. I have done this show for over 20 years as well off and on. I have regular customers that call me to make sure they will find me at these shows and they return and buy every year from me. Loyal repeat customers are the basis for a successful website or store and listening to their needs and wants keeps me on my toes at to how to grow my business.
Back in the day before my websites I was in 15 craft malls in 6 different states and I traveled a lot to stock and maintain those stores. Well that trend has more or less died and times have moved on so I did too. That’s why even though I didn’t know a thing about selling online I moved my business online and was quite surprised at it’s almost immediate success. That is a decision I will never regret making and the time and effort put into learning how to build and maintain a website was time well spent. Today with things the way they are with our economy I would never go back to a brick and mortar store or craft malls for the simply reason that your overhead is very high in that situation. However your money can be spent very wisely and go so much further working your business online giving you plenty of room for expansion and growth.
I have also branched out and have bought 2 advertising websites/resource websites. I have found it very beneficial to advertise my websites at many different directories and marketplaces and so have wanted to build my own for about 4 years now and never got around to doing it so I bought Primitive Crow Marketplace last year and Faithful Friends Online earlier this year.
I have sold on eBay and etsy but have never really did that well and I feel the fees are more than I want to pay so I have not done that for a while now.
I am nervous about starting a blog or doing any of the other type free things out there like tweeter, my space and the like. I just feel I have enough on my plate right now as it is without trying to keep up with all those type websites also. But maybe in the future I will get around to trying that as an advertising venue also.
Here are Roxanna's websites where you can find her work:
www.heresmysigns.com
www.countryquackers.com
www.primitivecrowmarketplace.com
www.faithfulfriendsonline.com
What can your customers expect if they order from you?
My customers can expect a quality handmade in America product foremost and most importantly. I have listened to them and produce a product that they are proud to sell and promote in their store. When they succeed and do well then I have done my job and in return my business does well.
I do not mass produce my product or outsource it. It is my business and therefore I should be the one that makes the product. Because of that each order placed with Here’s My Signs is made to order just for that client’s business. I brand my signs with my parent business name Country Quackers and the date it was crafted. I hand sign and date all my block sets.
My biggest challenge is the cost of shipping my products. Therefore I charge only exact shipping and look for the best deal on getting it to them. Since I can’t control what the shipping companies charge I do the best I can and many times include free samples or gifts as a thank you for their business. I also offer them special discounts on my products thru my newsletter and special sales that I might promote from time to time.
My customers are the best and are always letting me know how well an item sold for them by placing additional orders for that item. One client loved the fact that the products are signed and dated showing that they are made in America. I love what I do and I love my loyal customers that come back time and again for more. Without them I would not be in business and I am proud to offer a product that they love and sells well for them. Because like I said if they don’t do good then I don’t do good. So I am constantly searching and adding new stencils to my line to off a wide variety of new and attractive products that will keep their customers coming back.
How do you see your business growing in the next year? 5 years? Is there anything special you are planning and would like to share?
Since starting Here’s My Signs I have decided that it will need to grow and become our income source for my husband and myself since it is now clear that with the state that our economy is in neither one of us will be able to retire and live on social security entirely.
I had already reasoned that my youngest daughter would need a source of income since she is physically challenged and can only do minimal work. Not being able to hold down a high enough paying job and not being disabled enough to get assistance it was the only way I could see to help her and her baby daughter was to employ her myself.
Well now with my husbands work hours being slashed and his supposed retiring next year if his job does make it that long coupled with my emergency surgery that I had to have at the end of last year it is clear that we won’t survive unless we do something for ourselves. Being strong willed and a work at home mom most of my life it just stands to reason that my business would have to pick up the slack. So hopefully with the success of Here’s My Signs I will be able to generate the creation of 3 new jobs for my families income and well being.
I never figured I would ever retire any ways because I just can’t sit still that long. I always have to be creating and doing something or I just can’t stand it.
So it’s not really a bad thing just a bit scary to know that things are hanging in the balance right now of either succeed or possibly become homeless. But I am not really worried things will always work out one way or the other. A positive attitude goes along way in keeping the stress levels down. I never wanted to be rich because riches don’t necessarily bring happiness. I just want to make a living doing what I love and if that pays the bills so be it.
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So if your in need of some wonderful handmade in America products for your store, website or shows stop on over to Here’s My Signs and check out our HUGE selection.
We have something for everyone. We carry seasonal, primitive, country, lodge, sports/hobbies, family and friends, down on the farm and just about any category you could ever want with something sure to please or tickle your customers fancy and we are adding new designs all the time so make sure and book mark us and visit often.
Be sure to visit Roxanna at her wonderful websites; tell her you saw her featured in BTWT!
www.heresmysigns.com
www.countryquackers.com
www.primitivecrowmarketplace.com
www.faithfulfriendsonline.com
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