We caught up with the brilliant and insightful Brant Miller a few weeks ago and have shared our conversation below.

Brant , thanks for taking the time to share your stories with us today How did you scale up? What were the strategies, tactics, meaningful moments, twists/turns, obstacles, mistakes along the way? The world needs to hear more realistic, actionable stories about this critical part of the business building journey. Tell us your scaling up story – bring us along so we can understand what it was like making the decisions you had, implementing the strategies/tactics etc.
I think for me, scaling up meant scaling out. When I started, I painted furniture that I could pickup for free or very cheap and sell for a few more bucks as I learned how to paint, advertising, and sell. That one avenue of revenue had a glass ceiling based on how much I could pick up a piece for, time to refinish, and ability to sell for a specific amount. I was held to my own capabilities of making only a certain amount based on the hours I had available. What I learned was to adventure into other avenues of making money. I started making custom pieces from signs all the way up to large upscale farmstyle kitchen tables that would also generate larger profit ranges. I could make templates so each piece could be produced quicker. Now I had two creative revenue streams that still provided me with creativity in different ways. From there, I started developing a YouTube channel that over time started to make some money. That lead to sponsors paying for paint and other items I used in the videos. All of this lead to people donating furniture to me as they wanted to see what I would do with it. This then lead to other streams of income. From pre-sale custom painted furniture where a client found a piece and wanted me to redo it in the colors they needed for matching their home. I then started buying furniture, antiques and undervalued items to resale at a profit. All these avenues do take up time but what gave me time was that others were now working for me in a sense. They were finding pieces for me, they were bringing me pieces and finding cheap pieces for me to buy, people donated pieces, recognition in the community grew so I got sponsors that mailed me things I needed such as paint, and so on. As all this grew, my views grew and pieces sold even easier leading to more success. It was was some luck and some patiences. I would get frustrated that I couldnt figure ways to sell quicker or for more. I kept thinking I wouldnt make it to the next level and then I would just keep pushing forward. Things typically advanced for me when I wouldnt think they would. I would open my email on a random day and see a new opportunity and I would take advantage out of it. I just kept patient waiting for opportunities to arise and then jumping on them as fast as I could.

Brant , before we move on to more of these sorts of questions, can you take some time to bring our readers up to speed on you and what you do?
I started Vintage Statements when I started dating my now wife. I needed some extra money to take her out on dates. When I sold a piece, I would use that money for dates. Dating can be expensive so I knew I needed that additional funding to continue to date and having fun dates. The next thing I knew I was getting people wanting me to do pieces for them. That lead to bigger projects and new revenue streams. I stayed active in doing furniture and various custom projects because it allowed me to be creative and really select the things I wanted to do. Its a part time job that I found to be a good money stream for me. I get a lot of joy in creating something new out of something old. I also get a lot of joy in selling. Seeing the person getting excited to come see it, buying it and loving it. My work is based around brush painting, farmstyle/vintage looking pieces. I focus mainly on dressers but do all types of pieces and custom builds such as signs all the way to large farmstyle kitchen tables. What I feel sets me apart to some of my competition is that I film the project so that the buyer and viewer can see the steps and quality I take to do each piece. They see the tear down, my frustrations, sanding, painting and every step to completion. They feel part of the experience.

Can you talk to us about how your funded your business?
My business started with $20 that I had to buy a piece and supplies to complete a piece. Then sell it for a profit. I took that profit and bought two pieces and more supplies. For a very long time, I tried to keep investing almost everything back into the business. I bought supplies in larger bulk. I bought more pieces when I found great deals. I set up a fund of having a revolving $1000 to buy pieces and supplies. I would always keep that fund at a $1000. So when I sold a piece. I would restore that fund back up. I then bought new equipment such as high quality saws, sanders, brushes and so on. This then lead to having a large supply of furniture completed that was pure profit and I could start living off those sales. My growth was because I reinvested as much as possible and bought in bulk as much as possible. It was very hard at first to see all your hard work go back into supplies or more furniture and not buying fun stuff I wanted outside the business. It was like I was still working for someone else and they got all the money and I did all the work. Luckily, I stayed disciplined and that lead to me being able to buy my truck with cash from profits and paid for vacations and other fun things because I put in the hard work up front. It was extremely hard but worth it now.

Learning and unlearning are both critical parts of growth – can you share a story of a time when you had to unlearn a lesson?
I had to learn to stay humble and to keep finding ways to stay relevant and with the times. I was selling every piece so quickly and without any issues. Everyone loved my work. Then when someone didnt buy on the first attempt. I would get mad at them because my work was great and they should have loved it. I became engulfed in my thinking I was perfect. It kept me humble knowing I could improve in all aspects from color selection, piece selection, how I could sell and how I could create better quality customer service. I also learned if I took time off, my following would also fall off to some degree. That was hard because I do like taking breaks but knowing that I might lose followers or views can be hard. That lead to ways to keep myself active by creating posts and videos for my down time away. I also learned that colors changed each year and needed to utilize the newest popular colors. People like seeing my white and black staple color pieces but what gives me a jump in views and likes is the color pieces I do.

Contact Info:

• Website: ourvintagestatements.com
• Instagram: VintageStatements
• Facebook: Facebook.com/vintagestatements
• Youtube: Youtube.com/c/VintageStatements
• Other: I would love to have you follow me.

Image Credits
Brant Miller