Welcome to the business of antiques, where I help you make your passion for antiques profitable.

I'm Tom McLark Haines, CEO of the Antique Steven Company, and I'm on a mission to make antiques modern, sexy, fun, and profitable.

I hate to break it to you, if you're not making money in your antiques business, then it's just a hobby.

In this podcast, I interview some of the leading antique dealers from around the globe, getting their advice and sharing my own on how to sell antiques to the modern day antique buyer.

We discuss ways to recession proof your antiques business by developing strategic marketing plans, elevating your brand to attract the right target market, and planning for profits.

You make your money when you buy.

Not when you sell.

So we'll discuss some sourcing tips straight out of my antique Stiva little black book.

I'm teaching you the business of antiques.

This is the first official podcast that I've ever done with my cat on my lap.

I cannot believe that Fortuny has come to join you.

Okay, Regina, it's so lovely seeing you today.

It's wonderful to see you.

Please tell me that you're going to pull your cat back on camera.

Well, she might come back.

She.

She got a little spooked with all the noise and took off running, but she's liable to come back.

Okay, I scared your cat away with my.

My big laugh.

She's not used to all the noise.

It's kind of quiet here, so.

Well, in that case, I'm going to keep Fortuny here because Win Fortuny demands to be in front of the camera.

I mean, you know, he's the real.

Diva in this game.

I gotcha to the diva behind the scenes.

So I am so happy that we're going to have a conversation today about Chelsea on the Green.

So I want to know the entire history.

How you started, where you started, why you started.

And honestly, I want you to regale me with some of those stories that I happen to know about that involve a count in Italy.

So in today's episode, we are going to be having so many conversations about so many things, some of which have to do with antiques and some of which just have to do with the fact that my cat has photobombed us.

There you go.

So let's get it going.

Let's bring it on.

So about three years ago in October, I was working for Mr. Brown, London, I got a phone call from one of the gentlemen that was getting ready to open Chelsea on Green.

And.

And he had saw my resume on Indeed.

And he Said, hey, with the background that you have, I think you might fit in here.

So I went and did an interview with the whole shebang of them in a big table.

You know, those big German tables that golden oldies have.

I was sitting around one of those with the whole gang and did the big interview, and they put a badge on me, sent me to the other antique place and said, check it out.

See if you can pull this off.

So that was three years ago.

We've now had six markets.

It's been amazing.

We have 36 wonderful, creative antique dealers in the building.

We have really and truly pulled off something that, I don't know, that everybody thought we were going to do.

But this, the last two markets have been explosive for us.

So everybody's finding us.

They're realizing all the fun things.

Okay, so you were telling me about the interview process and that you guys are just going gangbusters.

And I can agree.

I hear your name everywhere.

And this was my first market that I got to see everything live and in person with you.

Yes, this market was really good.

We were kind of concerned about all of the things, you know, the election and the devastation in Florida and in North Carolina as well.

So we were all kind of, like, worried about this market.

But actually, the people that came out bought, so it was good for everyone.

I had good retention.

I only lost just a few dealers that, for one reason or another, didn't feel like they wanted to stay there.

But we're back to being full again, so that doesn't.

We don't skip a beat.

We just kept going.

But one thing that's good about Chelsea on Green is we're open year round, so Tuesday through Saturday.

It's not just two markets a year.

Tuesday through Saturday, we are open.

And we have a lot of regular customers now that come in regular just to see what the dealers have brought this week.

Or, you know, a lot of the closer dealers, they come regular and bring new goods all the time.

In fact, your buddy Heather was just there last Tuesday.

Ah, nice.

I love her.

She came in and she did her little swishing around and put some new stuff up, hang up some new art.

She's like, I'll see you later.

I mean, she just rolls in at any given time.

This is HKFA Fine Arts for the listeners.

HKFA Fine Arts.

I did a podcast with her in season one, and I would love to have her back again as a guest.

So I will hit her up after this call.

She is one of the most vivacious, interesting women I have ever met.

And and strong.

She's a whirlwind.

Oh, yeah.

And she's strong.

So she moves a lot.

All that stuff herself.

I mean, she'll get a little help if she really needs it, but she does it.

She likes.

And she loads her little car.

One time she came in, she had stuff strapped to the top of her little car.

You know, I mean, it just.

Whatever it takes, she just does it.

She's great.

She's great.

It's what it is to be an antique stealer.

You have to be able and willing to do whatever it takes.

I think it's actually.

She's a great example of that, of.

She's scrappy.

Like, she's scrappy and she figures things out, and she doesn't take no for an answer.

And she's.

She also has gorgeous inventory.

And I'm really excited that she's at Chelsea on the Green.

Yes, me too.

So that.

That was a whole story in itself.

We had.

Robert Masello had been there.

Do you know Robert?

So he had been there for a couple of markets, and he's in another building too, and it's really tough for him to be in both places.

And so he's the one that introduced me to Heather, and Heather took the space that he was in, and it's just been fabulous.

I hope she stays forever.

She's so much fun.

And her girls are amazing as well.

So it's fun.

But, Yeah, I have 36 of these dealers.

You know, I was talking to one of the bosses the other day, and during market, and it was like, yeah, I've got 36 kids.

Oh, no, they're not kids.

But it seems like it's.

Sometime I'm like, mama bear there at Chelsea on Green.

I make sure during market they're fed, you know, they have everything they need.

You need more lights, you need extension cords, whatever you need, I'm there to help you.

Because the better I can facilitate them, the better off they'll do.

You know, try to always have events.

You know, we had Tom, Felicia, this market who came and spoke, and Heather actually moderated that, which was amazing.

I think everybody enjoyed it.

He has got quite the personality.

He was really fun.

But yeah, we do fun things like that to try to generate traffic for everyone.

And it seems to have worked out well for us.

So I love the comparison to being a mother because.

So I don't have kids.

I have two cats.

I am a childless cat lady.

And so I, I.

So I have two cats.

And my clients tend to be.

My.

My clients tend to Be my kids, like.

So instead of children, I have thousands of clients running around.

I have my Antiques Diva team and Robert Schroeder, who's the devo guide at the Antiques Diva.

He owns a antique store called Grand Tour Amsterdam.

He has joined the Antiques Diva team, leading tours in Lake Como and this.

So as we were doing his training and onboarding as an Antiques Diva guide, we were on the road with Michael Mitchell in if you guys know Michael in Charleston.

So we're on the road with Robert in Lake Como.

We're all around the lake.

We're having fabulous meals.

We're.

We're honestly, we're buying, buying lots of antiques, having just a fabulous time.

We even stopped off and bought some antique.

Even stopped off and bought men's fashion because Michael needed a new suit.

And in the middle of the tour, Robert says, this is my favorite tailor.

And the next thing I know, they were breaking.

And in the middle of antique buying, they were off buying suits.

But I, at a certain point, I had sit down in the chair because I was not involved in the suit shopping with Robert and Michael.

And I had sit down in the chair and Robert turns to me and he says, mama's waiting.

And I was like, that's it.

I'm like a mother to the antiques trade.

So you go, we are co mothers.

We share.

We share this responsibility.

Well, and I, I really enjoy it too, as of all the things that I've done it over time in my life because I'm getting older and up there, and whether you believe it or not, I've got grown children and grandchildren and the whole 9Y.

But I feel like that I was meant to be here in this space because I love it.

I love all the.

You know, I did furniture for eight years.

In fact, this chair here is a chair that I designed for Mr. Brown.

This is the Brookhaven.

Brookhaven lounge chair.

So I was in furniture for about eight years.

Before that I was in, you know, I was.

I did granite, marble.

That's how I have been to Verona.

I've been to Venice.

I've done that little grand gelato or for a few years.

But the whole combination of all the things that I've done over time, I think has put me in the spot that I am.

And I am the mother hen of all the.

The antique dealers.

And, you know, everybody that comes there feels that welcoming kind of.

It's a different vibe.

I think you got it when you were there.

I walked in and I was embraced like you would be embraced by an Italian mother.

So the next thing I knew, I had champagne in one hand and iced tea in the other.

And I literally had a drink in both hands within probably three minutes of walking in the door.

I said, that's taking care of me.

Yes, that's what we try to do.

We try to make everybody feel welcome.

And it is kind of an open air with all the light.

We've got all the doors.

There's four dock doors, so it's easy for the dealers to move their goods in and out.

A lot of natural light with all the windows and everything, so you don't feel like you're in a basement, which sometimes happens when you're in High Point.

You get in those big buildings and you're walking around, you don't see light for hours.

And it's.

It's difficult, I guess, being in Las.

Vegas, being in the casinos.

Yeah, I've done that, too.

And then you don't know what time it is either.

Yeah, that's.

That's a whole nother crazy story.

Are you going to tell us some crazy stories?

Because, I mean, you dropped in the Granite Company and being over here in Italy.

Do you mind sharing about any of your experiences in Italy?

So.

Or Las Vegas, for that matter?

Although they say what happens in Vegas stays in Vegas.

Well, my favorite with.

With Vegas is the last time I. I was in the stone industry for 20 years.

So I was one of those women that started, ooh, 1980s, when it was still quartz and Corian were still the thing.

And I didn't care.

I loved rocks.

I'd been collecting rocks since I was a little kid.

I love rocks.

I went on this interview and this lady was like, oh, it's so dirty down here.

And I'm looking around going, oh, I can wear my jeans and my tennis shoes.

It's going to be fabulous.

When I was a little kid, I always kept rocks in my pocket.

And now when I travel, I always pick up stones.

So half the time when you see me, there's a rock in my pocket.

Of some sort or another.

Absolutely.

So I should say ones on my rings.

There you go.

So, yeah, that's kind of how I got started in the rock business.

And the first company I worked for was an older company.

They did everything by hand, so they taught me how to do everything by hand.

I learned how to cut marble and polish it with the diamond hand pads and the water.

And nowadays it's all done, you know, computer, drafting and CNC equipment, and everything is done more by machinery than it is by hand.

But so the company that I went to work for IN98 had three CNC machines.

We did a lot of hotel projects.

We did a resident, had a residential division, and we did furniture projects.

So we imported our own stone.

So the big stone show is in Verona every fall.

And so I had started to work for him.

I think maybe I've actually never been to the stone show.

I've been to Antolini outside of Verona, but I've never been to the stone show.

And I'm gonna look it up and see if I can go this year.

Oh, you should go.

Because there's miles and miles, and you see countries that every country has rocks in them of some sort or another.

It's just a matter of whether they can afford to get them out of the ground and polish them and whether there's something that's, you know, somebody wants.

But all the stones.

There's stones from all over the world.

So I went to the stone show for eight.

Eight.

Eight times I went to Verona.

We always did a little side trip.

So I've been to Venice.

The one time actually had a. I have a piece of art that I bought from a street artist that was actually there by.

In front of St. Mark's painting.

And I haggled because it was.

It was.

Oh, it was.

It was before the Euro.

It was in the lira.

Right.

So it was Lyra.

So I'm, like, doing the math, and I'm thinking, oh, my gosh, I'm haggling over a couple bucks just.

Here, just take it.

You know, because you're painting this yourself.

Yeah.

You're like, it's a hundred thousand lira.

Oh, sorry.

That's $10.

Right?

Exactly.

Ex.

Exactly.

That's exactly the way I felt.

So I still have that piece of art.

But anyway, so I got to do that trip many times, eight times.

And purchased a lot of rocks, found a lot of new rocks.

So I would bring my bigger suitcase so that I could bring samples home.

And so Antolini was one of our favorite places we would land.

One of our first places we would go was to their factory, which is humongous.

And they have such fabulous things, and they have their little special rooms with all their little special things.

And I love the secret room that you go down and you aren't allowed to take any photos.

And it's like, all the phones go in a basket, and then you walk through, and I'm like, this is a special place.

Yeah.

Yeah.

But they're.

They're a great.

They're a Great supplier.

Tiana was our.

Our sales rep, and she was amazing.

And she spoke, I don't know, seven or eight languages.

She was international.

So the one time I was telling you about the count's house, so they do this.

I love anything involving a count's house.

Did I mention that I'm single, by the way, if you happen to know any random counts.

I mean, I'm not.

I know how to turn them down.

So they have this international dinner, and it's at the count's house.

And so there's a table that's, I don't know, a mile long, and they have it set up perfectly so that nobody in the United States was sitting around us, you know, because we could be competitors.

So they were very careful of who they play.

So I'm.

We're sitting next to the Spaniards.

They have their own little leather pouch with their big fat cigars in them.

The next thing I know, we're drinking grappo, smoking cigars out on this, like, beautiful veranda.

Just amazing.

Like, pinch me.

Am I really at the count's house with all these, like, bienvenuto in Italia.

Amazing.

But, yeah, that was a fun trip.

Probably one of my favorites.

I've been on the helicopter ride from the factory out to the show, back and forth.

Antolini would, like, put us in a helicopter, so I got pictures.

I did not get the helicopter.

That was fun.

I did that a couple of times.

But, you know, the first time, I was.

It seems like years ago, because that was, like, 1980, 1999, 98, 98, something like that.

So it seems like eons ago, but I still remember it like it was yesterday.

I was never rode in a helicopter, you know, the first time, it was like.

And we rode over Verona, so you get to see the.

The.

All the housing and the architecture.

It's amazing.

It's amazing place to be.

You live in a wonderful spot.

Wonderful.

I will say I am incredibly fortunate.

And I know it.

It's fabulous.

I'm very blessed.

So we did the stone.

I did that stone for a long time.

But after the market kind of crashed in 2008, they still asked me to speak.

So I flew to Vegas.

I would fly to Vegas to speak.

They would put me.

Fly me in the night before.

I'd get up, the next morning, I'd speak, and then I spend the day walking the show, and then I would go home.

And so at one time, the last time that I went there, we have a land.

I found nice place to eat dinner.

I get hooked up with this whole group of.

I think it was Kmart managers.

And I don't even know if Kmart's still around anymore, but they were.

All their managers were.

The.

The top ones in the country were sent to Vegas for, like, a thank you.

So this, this, this craps table is full of these managers.

And I'm walking around because I'm really tight with my money.

You know, I'm not, like, rich or anything.

I'm not.

I don't have thousands of dollars to go gambling.

I had a hundred, you know, I'm gonna, like, do my little thing.

So I hooked up with these people.

The next thing I know, we're having such a good time, everybody's winning money, and the next thing I know, it's 4 o' clock in the morning now.

No, I.

Like we said, you're in a hotel, you have no clue what time it is.

Yeah, all the windows are blacked out for a reason.

They want to keep you going as long as they can.

And they put in, they get free drinks, the whole thing.

And so I had, like, I don't know, probably doubled my money.

I had my original 100 in this pocket.

I had a couple hundred in this pocket.

I was having a good time and.

But I look and see what time it is, and I'm like, oh, my gosh.

I have, like, got to go.

And they're like, oh, no, no, don't, don't leave.

I'm like, you guys, don't.

We're having so much fun at 10.

O' clock in the morning.

So.

And they were videoing it.

That was even the best.

That was a it.

You can find that out there somewhere.

Where I was talking about women in the stone industry, how they started.

There's a lot of female children of their fathers and parents.

You know, the fathers and brothers may run this fabrication facility.

And they look at this girl and they're like, you're just a girl.

You don't know anything.

Well, I really would help them try to step up their game and become part of the family business.

Because the best thing that you can do is educate yourself.

The more you know, the better you are.

And I think that goes with everything.

I mean, I. I've always said I can speak about anything.

I know you try to tell me that I need to talk about plant life.

I mean, I love my plants, but I can't tell you how everything works because I hate science.

Honestly, I'm a math head.

I know art.

I like.

I hate math.

Oh, really?

I really do.

I have People for that.

People.

Well, when I went back to school in 2009 to get my bachelor's degree in interior design, I specialized in math.

And I.

It's part of it.

The math problems that take two pages to figure out a piece of paper.

You know, you're just like, I can do them.

I can't.

I don't mind doing them.

I help all my grandkids with their math homework.

My son, now I have four.

I have four children.

My daughter.

Her birthday is Friday.

And then I have three boys.

And Tyler has just gone back to school.

He's 30.

The job that he works for, and he was trying to tell me he needed help with his math, and he sends it to me, and I'm like, tyler, this isn't math.

This is science.

It's physics.

Physics is not the same thing.

You have to know the formulas and the physics.

Oh, she's back.

Yep.

You have to know the formula in physics to do the math.

So if you could tell me the formula, I can help you do the math.

But I don't know the formulas.

I was like.

So I. I found a lot of websites, and I'm like, here you go.

Because he's like, mommy, you know how to do this?

I'm like, no, that one's not.

That wasn't included in my.

In my degree, so.

But I do like math.

I do.

That's not.

Not something that I have issues with.

But my granddaughter, she's so funny because she's getting ready to start the early college program next year.

And so she's like, math is her hardest subject, but she studies, so she's got it.

So it's fun.

Well, it's.

This point about education is so important in this industry, and I love the fact that you even going back.

This role we were talking about earlier, of being a mother figure, you were doing that even then with those.

With those ladies you were helping.

And it's for me, with Antique Stiva, we started doing business.

We started doing business coaching.

It's an antique dealer training program.

And I started this just before the pandemic in 2019.

And I did not know that this was what I was born to do.

It was like all these years of having led antique buying tours.

I've worked with some of the biggest names in the industry, and I've learned from them.

And I've had this unbelievable education because I've spent hours and hours and hours, sometimes days and weeks in the car with clients who I'm giving them access to sources, but they're Also giving me access to the way they think, to why they think that way, why they buy that way.

And I.

When I started doing business coaching, I realized I had a wealth of knowledge that honestly is not my own.

It's experiences I've had over time that when I'm talking with someone, I'm able to say, oh, this actually reminds me of.

I was.

The phone call I had that I was running late for starting this podcast was with a new mentoring client, a new business coaching client.

And she was telling me about her business and immediately the business she wants to start because she's not selling antiques yet.

And immediately I was able to say, okay, here's three models of people in the industry you can go look at.

Like, go look up Seeing Pink Elephants, which is an amazing barware, vintage and antiques barware company that you should get her to sell at Chelsea on the Green.

By the way, send her an Instagram message when we're out of this and tell her that we were promoting her on here.

Anyway, I was saying she's a great example of what this client was wanting to do something similar.

And you never want to copy.

You never want to copy someone else's business.

But what you do need is you need people who are doing it.

You need role models.

You need people who are out there doing it, and you do it your way.

Right?

And I'm convinced that none of us are competitors, we're all collaborators.

And that when you get the right mix of people together, you're going to learn all from each other.

And it's like that expression, a rising tide floats all boats.

And that's what I think, looking at your stone career, that's what you've done.

Look, looking throughout your career, you've.

You've been that rising tide that's floating the boats.

And it's obviously what's happening with Chelsea on the Green.

It's why there's so much energy and passion.

There is because you've brought this dynamic to the table.

And.

And it's amazing that each one of those dealers has their own special type of antiques that they do.

They're all their own business.

They all have their own business model.

It's like my.

I have to tell you about Shore and Dabinsky.

I don't know if you met them, they were right next to heather, but she's 83, 84 years old.

Been doing this her whole life, doesn't ever want to quit.

You know, he's like 78, right.

And they're amazing because there are.

They have Their own business model.

They don't have their.

They don't have a store.

But they go from one show to another and they take their goods and they pretty much sell most everything because they're.

They have their finger on the pulse of what people want.

And so they.

They do well everywhere, and they've been doing it for years.

But then you have the newer.

The newer antique people like Libby at French Blue.

I want to give her a great big shout out.

So she was.

She.

She had her first market here during High Point this last spring or this last market.

She did fabulous for her first one.

She.

She is moving into a bigger space.

She's actually going to take Shore into Binsky space and going to be next to Heather next market.

Who are my favorite people Next door to each other.

I know.

Is that not going to be fabulous?

They'll get.

They're going to get along great.

They don't have the same items, which is one of the biggest things that I try to do is not put people right next to each other that have exactly the same thing.

And so having her join that crowd of people down there with her specialty, you know, little items.

But yet she has a store in Apex.

So it's a whole different business model than someone who's just going show to show.

But Chelsea brings all of these people together and gives them a spot to not only sell during market, but also year round, which is, I think, is the best part of it.

I think it is a genius solution.

I just introduced you to some clients of mine, which I don't know if you've talked to them yet, but the reason I introduced you to them was they were saying in.

They do all the fairs, not all the fairs.

They do a lot of fairs.

And they said they're going to have to buy some sort of storage or rent some sort of storage that was conveniently located.

And I said, why would you put your antiques in storage when you could be making money on them?

And they, they aren't at the point where they wanted to be selling online all the time.

They, they.

There's.

They.

They're comfortable with the fairs.

I always tell all of my clients, like, get a listing on Cherish immediately.

Like, get a listing on Cherish, do upload three items a week and just consistently do that because slow and slow and steady wins the race.

Yes.

But as they were saying, we just need to find a good storage facility.

I'm like, no, you do not.

You need to be having those antiques making you money in between the fairs and.

And I told him, I said you have the opportunity design.

Interior designers are coming in between market.

They know you, they're coming in and you're doing video calls with interior designers.

Who are the designers they want to be in front of?

I was like, someone else sell your, your antiques?

The mother daughter pair.

Yeah, it was the mother daughter.

So they, they signed a contract.

Ah, they signed it.

They're going to be there in the.

Yes, they are.

So they are.

They're up there next to Jones Keena.

So when you go up the ramp, their second one there on the left, they're very excited.

It's not a great big space.

It's like 280 square feet.

Perfect tester space to see whether they like it, whether they want to come back, what they think about the whole setup.

But yes, I really appreciate people like you letting people know that they don't have to put their, their stuff in storage because I'll be glad to sell it for them.

We had a bangin market and then aftermarket in November.

We, we probably had the biggest sales so far in the three years other than when we have, we have a couple of designers from LA that come in and they just do a whole big buy and, and we had, they were the big, the, the market or the, the month that they bought like $22,000.

We did 50 grand that month.

Yeah.

But this in November we did 30 without them.

And so even the, even the owners at Golden Oldies are like, oh my gosh, you guys, you were finally, we're finally like catching traction.

People were realizing we're there year round.

I've got designers coming regular from Charlotte, from Raleigh, from you know, the, the rounder, the surrounding big cities.

Richmond, Virginia is a big spot that people come from the beach.

I sold some people to, from, from Myrtle beach, the, the people from Wilmington.

So people are realizing, hey, this is a big place to get wonderful antiques High Point designation.

And that's something that getting there.

It's really important for people to know that.

Well, High Point by Design is a group of people of other vendors like me that are promoting High Point as a year round venue.

You don't have to come twice, twice a year.

There's so much to see year round.

And so they're so happy that Jane and I are brewing up something I can't say today.

However, she's going to be on the podcast.

I'm recording her next month.

So hopefully by then we'll be able to announce what's in the works.

Wonderful.

I'd love to be involved So I have been a proponent of Jane since she started.

Immediately I was like, we're talking about for the listeners.

Yeah.

At High Point by Design, she's amazing.

She's, she's another one of those go getter ladies that doesn't give up and just keep on plugging.

Yes, she does, she does make things happen.

And the first time I met her, I was like, guys, we have to be on board with this group.

And they're like, we've been a member for a little while and it's not really doing it for us.

I was like, jane just got hired.

Jane's going to make this happen.

And Jane, designer today.

She has such an amazing career, so many amazing contacts.

I mean, she was the right person for this.

Yes.

Oh, yeah.

And she's fabulous.

So, yeah, I, I, I, I really have always been a proponent of Jane.

She's one of my favorites.

So, yeah, I'm excited that you guys are going to do something that's.

I know.

So let's just say I, I watched hashtag watch this space later this season, at the end of, of this season on the podcast, all the details will be revealed.

Wonderful, wonderful things are happening.

That's great.

So, yeah, we're definitely trying to push for that year round people to get that in their brain.

That High point's not just twice a year.

And I do do FaceTime videos with anybody that wants too.

I mean, you call me up, we'll walk around.

You're looking for something in particular?

Hey, I need a dining set with eight chairs.

I need a dining table that's nine foot long.

Tony and Charlie got one right now in their space.

It's Burlwood.

That's amazing.

It's got like three leaves on it.

Never seen anything that big.

A chandelier, that's humongous.

Braden River's got one.

I don't know if you saw it during market.

It's, it belongs in a hotel.

It's, you know, little fluted pieces.

It's, it's amazing.

So, yeah, there's people that come in there like, oh, this is kind of like a museum.

You've got pieces from 1650, you know, that was in a monastery.

And then you have some cool mid century pieces that are just like off the charts.

You wouldn't see them anywhere else.

I have, I didn't go to school to actually learn antiques.

I have, this is, I'm kind of new to it.

It's like I said, it's only been three years, but I love them and you know, I I've gotten so that I. I'm a giraffe collector.

So the brass giraffes that are here in the living room.

And I. I got one of the great big ones.

He's 59 inches tall.

He's wooden with leather wrapping and hand painted.

He's in my office.

His name is Jeffrey.

Jeffrey the giraffe hangs out there.

He hangs out with Peter Keel.

I got a Peter Keel piece of art in there as well.

But, yeah, I have learned how to collect a few antiques slowly, but I think slowly.

If you are buying for yourself, buying for your home, it's that layered look that you.

If it's.

If you're shopping for yourself, not as a designer doing a project, that you need everything at once.

I think it's the best way to buy antiques.

One piece at a time.

As they speak to you in French, there's an expression, coup de food, and it means struck by lightning.

And it's like love at first sight.

It's that moment.

This cat is obsessed with being here.

I thought he would leave, but he.

Wants to be friends with Missy.

Missy's sitting right here, which she usually doesn't.

That's pretty good.

But the expression in French, coup d' food means love at first sight.

It's like you're struck.

Struck by lightning.

You're struck dumb over something.

And that's how I think you buy antiques, is you buy antiques when you fall in love with pieces.

And sometimes interior designers will contact me to have me do sourcing for them.

And I usually source for dealers, for antique dealers, not interior designers.

I do.

I work with interior designers.

But if an interior designer gives me a specific measurement, I need a chest that is this size, this side, I immediately say, I'm so sorry, you need to go to someone else.

Right?

And they're stunned.

But I'm like, no, the way we work is you need to walk through, you need to see it, and then you make the piece work.

And dealers, Dealers understand that walking through the Paris flea market and you turn the corner and you see that perfect piece, and you're buying pieces that speak to you.

And that's.

That's where I think it comes with antiques is it has to.

Antiques start with the love of the patina.

They don't start with the measurements.

Well.

And it's funny because people that come in to see me, they're like, oh, my gosh, how do you not have all of this stuff at your house?

Well, number one, I'm not rich, but number two, I have my own Particular things I like.

I love a chair.

This, you know, this is like my favorite chair.

I made this chair, which I want.

To hear more about your furniture design, by the way.

Okay, I will, but.

So last day of market, I'm walking from the bathroom back through.

There is a chair sitting on a table and it's, it's a French ladderback.

It's beautiful.

And I was like, Ron, when did this get here?

And he's like, oh, it's been here since day one, like when they first moved in.

But he had it down on the floor and so nobody had saw it.

As soon as he put it up on the table, I'm the one that saw it.

And I'm like, I'm just going to take this with me and we'll figure out.

I'll write you a tag.

Okay.

So that was my buy for this market is this 59 inch tall ladderback French chair with the, the rattan seat.

It's beautiful that somebody has kept it in perfect condition.

The seat is amazing.

The finish is great.

It hasn't left my building yet because it doesn't fit in the Volkswagen convertible.

But I'll get, I'll get somebody to get it.

A huge piece of art in Florence and the.

It's artwork that is almost three meters long.

And I'm gonna have to rent a van to go pick up the artwork was €250.

But I'm gonna have to rent a van to go pick it up in Florence to bring it to the house in Chianti.

Just you and you understand?

I understand these problems.

Oh, Lord.

So yeah, when I worked for Mr. Brown, you know, during COVID they had problems getting designs out of Europe because they were pretty much closed down.

Yeah.

So they, you know, there was.

Shipping was so backed up too.

Shipping was a combination of factories being closed and factories.

Once they opened, the shipping was so slow.

I mean, it was a really disastrous period.

So luckily I was working for Mr. Brown.

And they're like, hey, Julian, you know, so Julian and Mr. Brown.

Julian.

To test her.

So Julian was, was saying, hey, do you have any of your designs that you've got?

Because I hear that's what you like to do.

And I've been there for like four or five years already.

And I'm like, yes, yes, I do.

So I showed him some of them and he's like, oh, well, I didn't realize.

So we did a bunch.

We did quite a few.

Mostly amazing.

This one was one.

This is my favorite.

I have a sofa and the Chelsea oh, yeah, that's weird.

So I designed a chair and love seat, and it's got exposed wood.

It's really a really, really a beautiful set that I had designed for Mr. Brown, but I named it the Chelsea Collection.

Okay.

This is before Chelsea was even in the picture.

This is like red threads that run throughout your life.

It's like, I always think, you know, if you look at the back side, the reverse side of a cross stitch, that often there's strings running all over the back, especially if I were making them because I'm not a good seamstress.

But often the reverse side, you don't see.

See the pattern, but when you turn it.

When you see the front of a cross stitch, you see the pattern, but when you turn it over, you see this mess with all these strings tangled together.

You just described one of those strings that I'm convinced this is how God sees our lives.

Everyone sees the cross stitch, but it's like the reverse side is all those connections that make sense, those dots along the way that prepares you for this, for this, for this.

That was your Chelsea chair was foretelling something in your future.

Yes, exactly.

And it was amazing because I. I mean, this is the Brookhaven chair.

I live on Brookhaven Drive.

Okay.

My.

My sofa is the.

It was, Was it the sofa?

Oh, no, no, it was the Chase Lounge was the.

Patricia.

My daughter's name is Trisha.

So there was, you know, things that, like you said, together.

There's still several of my pieces on the line in the lineup.

Mr. Brown, the.

The.

A bed that I had designed and a few dining chairs.

And I've been gone there for three years, almost four years, but.

But still, it's fabulous.

It's something that I wanted to do my whole life.

When the stone kind of crashed back in 2008, the whole market went soft everywhere there.

Nobody was remodeling, nobody was doing houses or hotels or anything.

I just went back to school because that's what I wanted to do years ago.

And so now I have this little part time job which, because I always have a part time job, I'm never gonna.

I never sit still.

And I am doing autocad drawings for.

Yeah, for Janelle Hawkins, Hawkins Design Collaborative.

She has me doing no Hawkins Design Collective.

I've been doing stuff with her for about a month now.

And so she'll just send me blueprints and I'll do elevations or I'll add furniture to the design or whatever it is.

And it's just a couple hours in the evening, something else to keep you busy because I just do that especially in the winter time.

Also, it keeps your skills up.

That's the type of thing that if you're not doing it regularly and things advance you, your skills can slow down.

So it's good because it keeps your fingers nimble, it keeps you warm.

Well, and AutoCAD has changed since I quit school, you know, and the only, only thing I did drawing wise for Mr. Brown was just chairs.

And here I am now doing blueprint draw, you know, elevations and everything.

So, yeah, I did the little brush up course on AutoCAD, you know, watched all the videos.

I'm like, oh, you could do that now.

Oh, you can do that now.

Because it's not something that, you know, you did.

So, yeah, the first, the first set of drawings was a little slow for me.

But Janelle's got patience with me and she's like, yeah, we, we're gonna, we're gonna work through this.

So I have a new project.

It's a new house that's coming up.

She's supposed to be sending me some, some stuff for what they want me to do next.

But my little side gig, I got to have something going on so that I just wanted to give Janelle a hey, I'm out here for you.

So.

And also that gives a shout out too for you.

If there's someone who is looking for this type of service on a freelance basis, I just want to throw that out there because you never know who's listening.

We get, we get a lot of interior designers listening to the podcast, so.

I just didn't realize that there was such a need.

I didn't realize interior designers didn't do their own darlings.

But evidently, you know, they stay so busy sourcing and doing all the other things that that's something.

If they can farm it out, they will.

Well, that's the thing there.

So you made this comment about everybody's business model on antique dealers looking different.

And what I think is, is there are so many different ways of running a business.

But what I know is that none of us are an island.

None of us can do what we do alone.

And I talk to people all the time.

Like, so one of the things I always say on my podcast, throwing this out there to the listeners.

I always do a free one hour consultation and it gets you started to, so that we can start the conversation on one how I can help you.

But even if you don't end up hiring my services, I'm always, always happy to give advice to hear different ways of business models people have.

But the number one of the.

I would say the number one, number two, top two problems I see among antique dealers are they're trying to do it all alone and they're not outsourcing enough work and they don't have enough inventory or they're not pricing their inventory right.

It's always those are.

It's one of those three.

And usually within a phone call, there's a certain moment where when I ask, I get a lot of people who they call and they're.

We're having the consultation and they say, I just.

I can't keep up on that.

And it's like, okay, number one, do you need to keep up on that?

Is it important?

And they're like, well, don't tell me it's not important.

Like, no, seriously, like, let's make a list of all the things you hate.

And so we'll go through and make a list of everything they hate doing in their job or that's causing them stress or anxiety.

Because it's always something with someone, whether it's.

It's the bookkeeping or there's usually some things that.

Maybe it's tech, maybe it's social media.

But it's interesting.

Once a client makes the list of everything they hate, how many of those things can be outsourced?

And then the second thing is, is with if how many of those things can be outsourced to a freelancer who can do the.

Do it for you for not ridiculous amounts of money, because it's a few hours here, a few hours there, but it's something that makes a major difference if you're procrastinating on doing it.

So maybe in her case, she likes doing it, but she doesn't have enough time.

But if you.

If you outsource to someone else those things so that you're freed up your time to do what you do best, it's like, that's the best.

That's the best use of your resources for how you spend your time.

It's like.

Like figure out what you don't want to be doing and then do the things that bring you joy and just figure out a way to get the other stuff done.

Like outsource your cab drawings, for example.

Well, you know, that's.

That is a really good point to make, especially with the.

With the antique dealers, because some of the older antique dealers might not be as savvy with tech as they should be or could be.

And we found that this last market, it's like, you know, you want to complain about this, that and the other.

But what are you doing?

You know, if you do not like to do Instagram, if it's not your deal, then hire a.

Children.

A child.

Because they're so good at it.

They know it, you know, in their brain.

Hire somebody for a little bit of money and let them help you.

Because the more successful that you could be doing these things that you're not doing because you don't like it doesn't mean you shouldn't be doing it especially.

I think that's probably the worst of thing with the, with the, A lot of the antique dealers, especially ones that are on the older side, is they are not tech savvy.

They don't include that in their grouping.

And it's important.

I've had to learn things that, you know, you just have to do it.

You have to learn.

I. Luckily, my son Tom is a.

He's a computer genius.

He built his computer.

We all need a computer genius in our life.

He built his first computer when he was in seventh or eighth grade and it wasn't a Dell, it was a Tom.

And he like literally built a computer.

And so now he works for a lawyer's office.

He's their tech savvy guy.

He does all their stuff.

During COVID he worked at home.

I went over there.

He had a screen that was literally like this big that he had it attached to his wall that he could pull it out because he was working remotely with all these people's things, whatever it is that he does.

But he.

I. Luckily I have Tommy, so whenever I have problems, I can be like, tom, can you help me?

Can you help?

So with my laptop, it's.

It, you know, it wasn't keeping up with the AutoCAD program very well.

And you.

I didn't know what was going on with it.

So I called Tom.

I said, it's freezing.

I've had to send an air report twice.

And he's like, do this, this and this.

He was like, oh, you don't have enough gigs.

I'm like, okay, so does that mean.

I need a gig?

Do I need a new laptop or what?

Because I'm looking at them and you know, they're expensive nowadays.

Three or $4,000.

It's like, what?

Wow.

And he's like, no, no, I can.

He sent me a link to amazon57.

I got more gigs.

He put it on in on Thanksgiving Day.

I'm.

I'm running smoothly now.

I mean, thank goodness.

Thank goodness for children that know all these things.

So use them.

They know.

No, that's it.

You have to.

You it's so I think, as I said, running an antiques business, you can't do it alone.

It takes a village.

And then one of the things I love said about seeing these different business models of how people work.

One of the things that I notice.

Sorry, I've cat hair now on me, on my nose.

One of the things that I notice is sometimes clients will be concerned they're going on an antique buying tour and they'll say, well, I don't want any of my competitors.

Are you working with so and so and I.

My client list is confidential unless the client talks about openly about.

About our us as their.

Their sourcing agent.

So it's so sometimes someone will say, well, I don't want to.

I don't want any of my competitors to be sourcing here.

So please don't take so and so and so and so to this place and every client.

I do give them one person that if they're a good client.

I will say, you've got one person that if you want me to turn down as a client, I will.

But in general, what I have seen with these different business models is also everybody has a different eye, everybody has a different perspective.

And you can have.

I can be on the road with three antique dealers back to back to back.

And we're overlapping.

We're not going to all the same places because everything we do is customized, but we're overlapping on some places.

And it's so fascinating to me because.

And you said this about moving the chair when the dealer moved the chair up on top of the desk, how your eye, you saw it.

Suddenly what I watch happen, the first dealer comes through and for whatever reason that inventory doesn't appeal to them.

The next dealer comes through, even though they both in theory could have bought that same item in three dealers, only one of them will even notice it, will even see it.

It because everyone sees with their own eyes, with their own perspective.

And so you gave such a beautiful example of that with the chair that has this been here all week and Right.

And I had to have it.

You hadn't seen it yet, but I.

Had to have it.

You had to have it.

In the end.

Exactly.

Once you saw it, it was yours.

Right.

Okay.

I have to tell you, it's been so much fun chatting with you and also doing my first ever podcast with the Cat with Fortuny and Missy.

Missy joined us for a moment too.

Missy's my sister's name.

So we are running out of time here.

So I would love to wrap it up, but I need to ask you, how can everyone find you?

If someone's interested, if they're hearing this show and they're interested in being on your wait list for being an exhibitor or a vendor on you that you selling with you, how can they get in touch with you?

Or if someone is just interested in shopping with you between markets, how do they find you?

Probably Instagram would be the best.

Chelsea on Green, the Instagram.

We.

We do have someone that we've outsourced to do Instagram for the first two years.

I did it myself, and I thought I was doing a pretty good job.

But you know what?

This guy has blown us away with his.

With this, his.

His visual, his vision of adding.

I mean, he'll.

He'll pick out certain things to highlight, whereas I would be taking a whole picture.

And so he's done fabulous for us.

So Instagram is definitely the best way.

Or if you're in High Point, come to see us.

Or I can, like, flash my card up here.

If anybody wants to screenshot it, I've got it right.

Where's my camera?

There it is right there.

What we'll do, if you send me the details, I will make sure they're in our podcast notes.

We'll have everything in the podcast notes.

So if you are watching this, you can see it down in the written text.

There you go.

Okay.

It's been absolutely amazing having you here today.

It's been amazing to talk to you too.

I'm so happy that I met you.

You're a fabulous, fabulous, fabulous lady.

And I'm just really excited to meet you and be one of your friends.

And I hope I get to travel to Italy and see you.

That's on my bucket list.

Let's make that happen.

It was a pleasure.

Thank you so much.

All right, thank you for having me.

And for the listeners.

Just to remind you, as always, I will do a free consulting call one hour and I'll do one free hour consulting call to help you know how you could be making more money in your antiques business.

So feel free to reach out to.

To meet tama@imiquestiva.com.

thanks so much.

Thank you.

I hope you've enjoyed this episode of the Business of Antiques.

I'm Tama Clark Haines, the antiques diva, and I'm helping you make your passion for antiques profitable.

Talk to you next time.