Alright – so today we’ve got the honor of introducing you to Brandi Binger. We think you’ll enjoy our conversation, we’ve shared it below.

Brandi , looking forward to hearing all of your stories today. Quality control is a challenge almost every entrepreneur has had to focus on when growing – any advice, stories or insight around how to best ensure quality is maintained as your business scales?

As Southern Vintage grows our focus will always be quality not quantity. I want SV to leave a lasting impression with each and every client, planner, venue owner, & other vendors in the industry. Most of all we want to provide an inviting tabletop for your event. To ensure that the SV experience is something I am proud of years from now I put quality control at the top of my to do list. The most important part in quality control is the team I put together. Our team is a blend of tabletop curators, tabletop stylist & inventory managers. Our lead stylist work side by side with SV curators to insure they know exactly what the clients expectations are for the design. The inventory manager is the key to making sure the correct inventory & quantities are pulled for a busy weekend of fun. The inventory for the event goes through a series of check points so no detail is missed. Quite often we work directly with the planner/coordinator for the event. They have lots of duties on their plates 🍽️ for the day so the last thing they need to worry about is the missing salad forks, the wrong goblet, or the late arrival of a vendor. SV believes it is important to have key quality controls in place before over scheduling our teams. We are always evolving and adding new checkpoints, training, software, & etc to give a consistent experience each time we set your tables.

My advice for entrepreneurs is really not my advice but from Albert Einstein.

“Strive not to be a success,
but rather to be of value.”

If we continue to focus on quality instead of quantity then at tea time everybody will agree that SV provides an excellent experience.

Brandi , love having you share your insights with us. Before we ask you more questions, maybe you can take a moment to introduce yourself to our readers who might have missed our earlier conversations?

I have been an entrepreneur since I was 24 years old. My husband & I have owned multiple businesses over the last 22 years.
If you know me I always have my entrepreneurial thinking cap on and at any given time I have multiple business ideas.
I was always in love with entertaining and planning parties. I believe that started after all the pretty tea parties my mother would setup for me & my sister when we were little girls. My passion for vintage china started after I inherited a collection from my grandmother and the many conversations I had with my mother-in-law about proper table etiquette. After planning my own wedding and then being a big part of the planning process for a family member I instantly knew I wanted to be in the wedding industry one day. I worked with a company as a freelance stylist in the wedding industry for a few years. I started providing & setting the tables with all the pretty plates for The Chair Factory & Cold Creek Farm. My inventory started growing but I knew my current situation was lacking a personal signature that I had always put on my past companies. My dream came true when I was able to purchase Southern Vintage from Bill & Holly. I was over the moon to add my current inventory to a collection of exquisite vintage pieces & a company that had so much history. We are about to hit our 3 year anniversary as the new owner of SV and I still get butterflies when searching through the collection. I am forever grateful that the industry made me feel so welcomed and we have gotten the opportunity to work with so many talented creative professionals. When you ask what sets us apart from other companies in our industry it will always be the same answer. I will forever give the credit of our success to the individuals that surround us, support us, inspire us, & trust us.

Let’s talk M&A – we’d love to hear your about your experience with buying businesses.

We have bought multiple businesses and each experience is different. The most important piece is always what I go back to and that is the individuals that surround us. We bought a collision center with zero background or knowledge in that industry.
I wanted to share this experience because I believe this purchase was the rollercoaster ride. We walked into a situation that was not ideal. The location had been closed for over 6 months. The prior business owners had burned every bridge from distributors, clients, & insurance companies. What gave us the confidence we could even tackle such a project? That is where the individuals we surrounded ourselves come into the story.
The cofounder/owner/operator had watched the fall of his legacy and after meeting myself & husband he was eager to join our team. We also, had a friend that had been an auto paint technician for over 25 years that brought knowledge of the industry to the table. As a team we all began tackling each issue that stood in our way. We all soaked up the knowledge from the original owner and days turned into months. The months turned into years and the years turned into over a decade. We give the credit to our success to God and all the individuals we surrounded ourselves with and of course all the clients that trust us to care for their vehicles.

Can you talk to us about how your funded your business?

My current business is self funded. One thing you have to understand is the fact a small business owner is definitely not wealthy. As a business owner you are the last to get paid. We always tried to keep our personal expenses down and business expenses came first. It is important to keep enough operating funds in the business account to cover unexpected expenses & etc.
Once you have a consistent cash flow & all of your fixed expenses are getting paid you can start to set aside savings for emergency situations & future business opportunities. We were able to self fund all of the businesses with this mindset.

Contact Info:

• Website: https://Sovintagega.com
• Instagram: @sovintagega
• Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/SouthernVintageGA?mibextid=LQQJ4d

Image Credits

Photographer
Christina Kelley Photography

https://www.instagram.com/christinakelleyphoto?igsh=cGxvcHA3eGg3NXU=

Venue: The Chair Factory

https://www.instagram.com/thechairfactory?igsh=eGQ2NXBvMXN5Yjk2

Cold Creek Farm in-house florist
Susan Buffington

https://www.instagram.com/coldcreekfarm?igsh=MWZ3MzlrNDVsYTF5Zg==

Catering: Dulce & Sabrosa Catering

https://www.instagram.com/dulcensabrosa?igsh=NnEzcmlzMXF2bmJy

Tabletop Stationery: Tinlizzy Design Co

https://www.instagram.com/tinlizzydesignco?igsh=cHBjenoxa3VnNWFv

Linens: https://www.instagram.com/nuagedesignsinc?igsh=OTdpZDMwZ3BobHhh

Chairs:
https://www.instagram.com/party.bound?igsh=MWd3eG5zam0zZDhodA==

HMU: https://www.instagram.com/lanewesthairco?igsh=MW4xYThudXVwZGl3dg==