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

Jennie, thanks for taking the time to share your stories with us today Often outsiders look at a successful business and think it became a success overnight. Even media and especially movies love to gloss over nitty, gritty details that went into that middle phase of your business – after you started but before you got to where you are today. In our experience, overnight success is usually the result of years of hard work laying the foundation for success, but unfortunately, it’s exactly this part of the story that most of the media ignores. Can you talk to us about your scaling up story – what are some of the nitty, gritty details folks should know about?

Starting a small business is not for the faint of heart and running events is another level of craziness! Constant challenges along the way to keep us on our toes! From learning to wear all the different hats, to taking risks, to learning the hard way, there is always something to grow from.

Over the years, I have kept in mind a saying I heard somewhere. It’s this. “If you’re standing still, you’re moving backwards”. I wholeheartedly believe this. It’s important to keep improving, always be learning and staying in growth mindset. To be honest, I get bored if I’m not tweaking this or that from show to show. I love the challenge of running events.

Simple Treasures is now in it’s 23rd year. We have grown so much over the years. Early shows used to have about a dozen vendors. Now our shows feature over 180 local small businesses. I love supporting so many small businesses…and of course, I love shopping from them too!

As always, we appreciate you sharing your insights and we’ve got a few more questions for you, but before we get to all of that can you take a minute to introduce yourself and give our readers some of your back background and context?

Simple Treasures was founded in the year 2000 in Corinne, UT. I had just volunteered to run the city’s 4th of July Celebration and decided, I loved it and wanted more! I discovered over time that I had a talent for organizing and planning. That fall, our first boutique opened its doors. It was a small…. maybe 1000 square feet. Over the years, with many ups and downs, and a lot of amazing supporters along the way, we now open our doors to 40,000 square feet of locally handmade décor, gifts, yummy treats and more.

Simple Treasures became the family business. My husband Paul and my entire growing family are on board to make this happen. I’ve lost count of how many shows we’ve put together.

Over the years we’ve amassed the best and brightest artists from all over the state and beyond. As the show has grown, the vendor collection just keeps getting better and better. Customers continually tell me that each show was our best yet. We host over 180 vendors in each show. They are not only talented, but super hard working, dedicated and supportive of each other. I am so blessed to work with so many great people.

Our customers are phenomenal. They are super loyal and many of them haven’t missed a show in years. Many travel long distances to get to us. They come shop in fun girls’ groups, date nights and even as an escape. Shopping therapy is a real thing!

Any stories or insights that might help us understand how you’ve built such a strong reputation?

Definitely our customers! Over the years, we have put in tons of marketing dollars, but have always found that word of mouth worked the very best.

Simple Treasures has really snowballed with time. Newcomers come in the door and just drop their jaw at how much fun stuff is gathered under the same roof. They fall in love with our products, and our amazing people and start bringing one friend group, and then another and then everyone is hooked!

It’s funny, we have noticed that over the years, group sizes attending have changed. It used to be they’d come into the show in groups of two. Then one day, they turned into groups of four, and then one day it became entire families of sisters, mom, grandmother’s etc. showing up together. I think that creating a traditional aspect is key with running events.

Clawing our way through the early years was tough as we dumped marketing dollars in and scraped through with low attendance and barely successful shows. During the early years, we wondered why we were doing this. We were barely keeping our heads above water and our vendors were super patient when we had shows that just didn’t go well.

Events are really tough as no matter how much is spent, the traditional factor can’t be bought. It has to be earned with sacrificing a few terrible years to get to where you do ok, then after a few more years of building, things start rolling. Insert blood, sweat, and tears and that’s the whole package! 23 years later, we can say it was worth it.

We have 3 more shows for the remainder of the year.

Sept. 12-16 at Legacy Events Center in Farmington, UT
Nov. 7-11 at Legacy Events Center in Farmington, UT
Nov. 29-Dec. 2 at Golden Spike Events Center in Ogden, UT

We’d love to hear the story of how you built up your social media audience?

Social media is a beast. I’ve been on social with Simple Treasures since 2009 and it is one of the biggest, heaviest hats that I wear. It’s always tough, but plugging forward, always learning and improving a little at a time has been rewarding. It’s just one of those things that isn’t going away, so it’s sink or swim, right?

All I can say is just keep swimming! I think it’s important to keep an open, learning mindset, because just when you think you have something down…it’s going to change. Many times, things just feel too big to wrap the brain around! I have just tried to get better a little at a time. If something isn’t working, tweak it and/or try something new.

I try to keep in touch with people who are doing it right. Watching, engaging with, and creating relationships with other successful pages helps us build the community together. I’m always taking advantage of webinars, tutorials, and programs to help, but I have learned that all the programs in the world can’t help if I’m not willing to dig in and put in the time to implement it.

Contact Info:

• Website: https://simpletreasures.boutique/
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/simpletreasuresboutique/
• Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/simpletreasuresboutique/
• Twitter: https://twitter.com/STTreasures
• Youtube: https://youtu.be/6oeMreBwdP0

Image Credits
Masterpiece Images Paul Thacker for headshot photo.