Key Takeaways
- How Tamara’s in-home crafting parties helped her organically build a strong Facebook presence – and how she discovered her gift for teaching painting when she struggled to keep up with the volume of orders coming in.
- Why Tamara’s Facebook Live streams opened up an entirely new revenue stream for her business and led to creating a membership site.
- The reason Tamara’s business model lent itself so naturally to the membership model – and how she solved the major problem she realized she had in the first six months.
- Why Tamara believes you should never discount what you do – and why she believes in the power of a single, simple compliment to change your life.
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“Do not discount what it is that you do. Do not take it for granted. So many times, the thing that we think comes so easy to us, that is just second nature to us … we don’t realize how many people out there are interested in that, and would love to learn how to do what comes so easy to you.” – Tamara BennettEpisode Resources
Southern A-DOOR-nments Décor Painter’s Clubhouse SouthernADOORnmentsDecor.com Southern A-DOOR-nments Décor on Facebook Southern A-DOOR-nments Décor on InstagramTranscript
Read The Transcript
Shelli: Tamara Bennett, I am super stoked that you’re joining us on the It’s a TRIBE Thing Podcast. How are you?
Tamara: I’m wonderful. How are you?
Shelli: I’m awesome. I’m pretty stoked to share what you’re doing in the world because you are in a very specific niche and I know that what you do, how you do it, and the fact that you are doing it is going to be super inspirational for so many people. And as always, I’m going to start with asking you if you would please share your story starting at the beginning before you were doing the thing you’re doing now and if you can tell us how you came to be who you are, who you serve, and how you serve them.
Tamara: Absolutely. Well, it all started out back when my husband was deployed to Afghanistan. I was a stay-at-home mom with two little boys and I was struggling to have some adult interaction. I’m just with two little boys all day long and so I wanted to spend some time with other women and just socialize. And so, I started having parties in my home where I would invite women to come and craft in my house once a month. And so, I would think a project each month off of Pinterest and we would create whatever it was that I had found on Pinterest. And it ended up that my most popular parties were always door hanger related. And for those of you who are not from the South, you may be like scratching your head wanting to know what a door hanger is. It is essentially a piece of wood that is cut to a certain shape whether that be the shape of a snowman or an Easter bunny or even just a circle or something like that. It is a piece of thin wood that is cut out and painted and you hang it on your door as a replacement for maybe a wreath or something like that. But they can also be made on a smaller size and added to a wreath as a wreath attachment.
So, we did these parties once a month at my house and when my husband returned home from Afghanistan, I began to miss that interaction with those women, not to mention we decided that we needed some more income and I was going to have to get a job but that was a problem because both of my children at that time were not in school and so I started having these parties more often but outside of my home and I would have them in other women’s houses and there would be a hostess and as the hostess, they would get to paint for free and all of their attendees would pay to paint these door hangers. So, we did this for about two-and-a-half to three years and then I was always posting pictures on Facebook, my Facebook page, Southern A-DOOR-nments Décor and we would post photos of our parties and so people started asking more and more about how to make these. And I was taking orders at the time for painting them and selling them individually to people but the problem was that there’s only so much of me to go around and there wasn’t enough time in the day to paint enough of these. So, I needed a way that I could sell more without having to make more and so I did start to play around a little bit with Facebook live and I would paint these, I would paint my orders online on Facebook live.
Shelli: Oh, no wait. That’s really clever actually.
Tamara: Yeah. And well, that became a way for me also to interact with other people outside the home. Like I said, I began missing that interaction with other women and so I found if I was painting and talking to other women, for comments on Facebook live, I felt like I was getting that social aspect of it again and they really enjoyed watching me paint. So, I ended up through doing the Facebook lives not only was I getting more orders for the door hangers but I was also starting to develop a crowd of people who not only wanted to buy my door hangers but another crowd of people who wanted to learn how to paint these door hangers and that was not my original intention. It just kind of naturally happened that way.
Shelli: I was going to say that’s so interesting. So, you didn’t start out with the intention of teaching at all. You just listened to what your community was saying and thought, “Wow. I’m noticing a need here. Let’s see if we can maybe find a way to fill it.”
Tamara: Well, the funny thing is I have a degree in teaching elementary education. And so, I feel like naturally, I’m a teacher and so that just started to kind of spill out on Facebook naturally without me really even realizing what was happening. I just thought that while I was painting, I was rambling and talking too much. So, what I was doing was I was giving tips as I was painting. And I really didn’t see it as teaching so much as just socializing. And so, I eventually started to notice that everybody was coming back to the page and saying, “Could you paint this kind of door hanger and could you show us how you do this or that?” And so, they began asking for more and more tips and more videos and I just realized that all of a sudden, my audience had shifted. I was no longer serving people who are necessarily buying and painted but more so, serving the creative community who wanted to learn how to do this as a craft.
Shelli: That’s so insightful that you not only noticed that but then you went on to act on it. So, how did your situation transformed from going online Facebook lives, showing people what you are doing then to now people want to know how do I do that? How did that turn into a membership site?
Tamara: Well, back then I didn’t even know what a membership site was but I knew that I wanted to do, I was doing the paint parties locally still but I wanted to do them virtually as well. And so, I thought what is a way where I could teach people how to paint it and then have them buy the blank cutout from me and we teach them. So I started what I call a virtual paint party and I would mail them a blank each month and we had initially about 50 members. We never really did get over 50 members. And the thing was is so many people were interested in this but they would ask, “Do I have to have the blank mailed to me?” And I think it was is that what I found out to be the problem was that a lot of these women who are watching me already knew how to use a jigsaw or a scroll saw or something like that and cut out their own blank shapes. They just wanted to be taught how to paint that shape. And so, at the time I was also selling the templates online where they could just download it on my website, print it out and then cut around that on their own wood at home. So, if they’re paying only $5 to get the digital template, and then they were using it to cut their own wood so they were saving money doing it that way rather than having each blank shipped to them.
So, we did the virtual paint party thing for about six months and when I realized what the problem was, I decided I needed to make another shift and so I started, let’s see, we started the virtual paint party group in September of 2017, and that lasted until April of 2019 so this year. But in January this past year was when I kind of noticed the problem of people not wanting to pay the shipping for the blanks. So, I started asking online. I kind of knew what I wanted to do but I kind of wanted to make sure before I launched it that this was going to be a good idea for my community. So, I started asking during my Facebook lives while I was painting, “Would you guys be interested if I started like a virtual, it’s almost like a virtual paint party membership but instead of mailing me the blanks each month, I would just give you the template and teach you in a video? We might even have guest painters come on each month.” And so, I started kind of giving them the idea and putting in their head. Everybody was really receptive to it. And so, for four months, well, three months leading up to the launch, we talked about it a lot. And then at the very end of March, I officially launched the membership.
Well, the membership’s called the Painter’s Clubhouse and so it’s not really a virtual paint party like it was before. They’re getting two digital templates each month and they’re getting to learn how to paint two door hangers each month, one taught by me and one taught by a guest painter that we select each month and then also just other techniques and things that are helpful for beginners and just anybody who would like to advance their skills.
Shelli: I’m curious, if you could look back at the person who started the Facebook lives at the very beginning and you could look forward and if somebody had said to you, “Hey, Tamara, you’re going to have a membership site teaching people how to paint door hangers,” because that’s a really small niche, what would you have told that person? The reason why I ask is somebody out there is right now thinking, “The thing that I am interested in doing is too small or it’s insignificant or nobody would buy it.” What would you tell the Tamara that was starting on this journey back then?
Tamara: I would tell her that to not discount what it is that you do, to not take it for granted because so many times the thing that we think comes so easy to us and the thing that is just second nature to us, we don’t realize how many people out there are interested in that and would love to learn how to do the thing it is that comes so easy to you. I kind of and everybody always asks me, “Did you take art classes? Did you major in art in college?” and I laughed and told them that I actually skipped the art class in high school because I thought I would be bad at it. I avoided the art class and took other classes instead. And so, if I could go back and tell that person to go ahead and take the art classes, I certainly would but I was self-taught just by looking at other things on Pinterest and just examining everything that I could. So, if I had known back then that somebody or somebody had been teaching it, I certainly would have been willing to join the membership like this so that I could easily learn it for myself. And so, just don’t take for granted what it is you know and don’t take for granted the fact that other people don’t find it as easy as you did. And so, just because it’s second nature to me, doesn’t mean that other people don’t find it that easily as well. And so, that doesn’t mean that they can’t learn it. They just may not come by it as easily as you have.
Shelli: Yeah. It’s funny how people like all of us at some point take our gifts for granted and assume that because it’s a natural skill or ability that we have that it isn’t a gift and I just also want to acknowledge you for paying attention to what you are being asked because so often the people that we are working within our community, the people we’re serving, they will tell us what they want and I know for myself it’s been true many times as well where somebody will say, “Oh, hey, can you tell me more about that?” and it’s not even something. Sometimes you don’t even know what you know so I just wanted to acknowledge you too for paying attention to the people and what they were asking you because it’s so powerful in your ability to, first of all, fulfill on their needs but also allow your membership to be fluid and what will best serve them.
Tamara: Right. And a lot of times it can just come across as a simple compliment that somebody gives you. Say that you’re singing in church and somebody says, “You know, you have such a beautiful singing voice. I wish I could sing like you,” and so when they say that I wish, that means they have that desire to be like you or do whatever it is you’re doing. Maybe they just don’t realize that there is a way that they could learn how to do it.
Shelli: For sure. So, now that you have a membership site that’s up and running and you have people that are tuning in regularly, what differences that made for you and your family? And the reason I ask is because you had said earlier that you were thinking at one point you might have to get a job because you needed the money, but yet still you have two young boys at home so you either pay for babysitting or you go to work or what have you. So, what difference does this made in your life, your boys’ life, and your family’s life as a whole?
Tamara: Well, it’s made a huge difference in that I’m not gone from home as much as I was. We actually have three children now, two boys and a little girl. And so, before when I was doing these paint parties, I was probably doing in the fall especially up to 12 parties a month. And so, that is being gone from the house three or four nights a week and that’s missing a lot of family time, a lot of dinners, a lot of help with homework, and now I’m able to get these things done during the day while they’re at school and spend those times with them in the evening and it’s given us a lot of financial freedom as well. We have been able to add on a large garage to our home that we had dreamed of having for the past eight years but until this membership started, we never had the funds to do that so it’s definitely been a huge blessing.
Shelli: That’s incredible when you think of it, something like a membership site has not only allowed you to have this garage, but when you play forward, the impact that you’re now able to have being present in the lives of your kids, what then they get to go forward and do and how they are being shaped as human beings just by the fact that their mom is around and their mom is able to be present and have time for them because you have a membership site.
Tamara: Absolutely. And working for myself like I do, we’re able to take family vacations any time of the year. It doesn’t have to necessarily fall when mom is able to take off from work. So, it has been a blessing in that way as well.
Shelli: What advice would you give somebody who is at the beginning of their journey and is either having some sort of a challenge or limiting belief about this being possible for them?
Tamara: I think you just have to open your minds to the possibilities. I know a lot of people that I’ve talked to here locally have no idea what the possibilities are for your business online and I didn’t really either until I really started taking some business coaching and things like that and just learning what all the possibilities were because if you only ever do what you’ve been doing and you only ever do it locally then you’re limiting yourself. But once you start to branch out and do like find supplies online and just maybe try to do some training videos where you’re teaching something to people, it really expands your business in ways that you could not imagine. And even if you’re just a brand-new beginner, I mean, everybody has to start somewhere. And like I said, I only started my membership in April but I had kind of already been doing things leading up to the membership for over a year before I even really realized what is leading to and it just naturally led to that.
Shelli: That’s incredible. I’m obviously so a fan of membership sites, but not just because of the people that you get to serve which of course is the main purpose, but the way that it impacts people and the way that brings people together as a community of people who have a common interest and the theme that I keep hearing people say again and again is how much personal support they get and even if you’re coming together to paint or you’re coming together because of weight loss or whatever the interest is or the membership site is, it’s important to remember that these are human beings that are coming together to support each other and we’re all on the same journey together and we get to do it through a vehicle of something that we all love and have in common.
Shelli: Absolutely. Actually, it’s funny that you said that because I’m going to be having a live event in Nashville, Tennessee in March for not only my members but just the painting community. So, we’ve opened it up first to our members and we’re going to be having 150 women come together for the first time and we’re not only going to be crafting and painting but we’re also going to be talking about possibly launching a business. And so, for those women who’ve just been doing this at home as a hobby, I think it will be life-changing for them to really think about the possibility of taking what it is that they just do for fun and turning it into a business that supports their families and coming together with all these other women. There’s nothing like it. If you’ve never been to a conference where you come together with people of a similar background or similar interest group, you really just don’t understand the impact that they can have on you, not only personally but for your business, networking, and all of that. So, I’m just so thrilled and excited and looking forward to that event in March because I think it’s really going to have a huge impact on all the women that come.
Shelli: Absolutely. And I think there is something magical about when people get together, not just to help each other through like the challenging times or the limiting beliefs but also for yourself specifically what an inspiration you are for your entire community at large about what is possible with what you’ve done and listened to your group and let them guide you and you ended up somewhere completely different than where you started and are completely re-imagining what your family life and what your business life can look like as a result of that. It’s got to be so inspiring for the people you serve.
Tamara: Yes, I get messages like that regularly from people who’ve been following me for more than two years and they say, “Did you ever think it would get to this place?” and I had high hopes and dreams but I think to visualize exactly how it was going to end up. I just knew I wanted to do more. And so, it’s very hard to imagine that a little over a year ago I only had maybe 5,000 followers on Facebook and now I have 38,000 and a membership of people who I get to interact with monthly. And so, yeah, everybody that’s been following me for a long time, they’re just thrilled for me and it’s like when somebody has it says that you’re close to, you want to just congratulate that person and rejoice with them. So, I’ve been getting all kinds of great messages from people like that.
Shelli: That’s incredible. Well, I wanted to thank you for sharing your story. Super, super, super inspirational for all of us who may have a hope or a dream or a skill or a hobby that we think can’t or isn’t going to manifest into something bigger and better, and something that can change not only our lives but the lives of our entire family. So, thank you so much for sharing your story and hanging out with us on the It’s a TRIBE Thing Podcast. If people are looking for you online, what is the best place for them to find you?
Tamara: Southern A-DOOR-nments Decor on Facebook and Instagram and SouthernADOORnmentsDecor.com is my website.
Shelli: Amazing. Thank you so much for hanging out with us.
Tamara: Thank you.
[END]
