We were lucky to catch up with Kara VanderLeest recently and have shared our conversation below.

Hi Kara, thanks for joining us today. Can you share a customer success story with us?

Every company says that they have great customer service – it IS a used cliche and it can be easy to be cynical; but at MudPaint it’s true!

The fact remains that as great as the product/branding/marketing may be, if your customer service isn’t top notch, folks will quickly go elsewhere. From the very beginning, we have set the bar incredibly high with our customer service. And, to date, we have over 680 positive reviews and comments on our site detailing our quality service.

Some of the ways we provide excellent customer service to our clients are: speedy order-turnaround time; our generous return window; FREE mailed out color cards; and free shipping over order threshhold. We also offer 7-day-a-week service via LiveChat and we provide direct help to customers via email and text recommending colors and answering questions. We guarantee a response within 24 hours and usually reply within hours of any questions or comments we receive. We are truly grateful for our customers and want them to have a quality experience from start to finish!

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?

I am an Oregon coast native who has been happily planted in Boise, Idaho for the past 18 years. My background is varied but has always had a creative thread with one foot firmly in business. Growing up in an entrepreneurial family, I always knew that I wanted to be in business for myself. So, along the way I have taken steps toward that. MudPaint came into my life in 2019 when we were looking for the next chapter for our family. It is a perfect fit as it marries my background with color, paint, and interior spaces with running a business.

MudPaint was created by an artist and furniture painter looking for a better paint: something that was more durable, had better coverage, was easy to use and of overall higher quality. MudPaint is a clay-based furniture paint that boasts amazing durability and adhesion – meaning that it likes most all surfaces. We love being able to offer a paint that is small-batch produced in America and that has low VOCs.

One of the things we’re most proud of is working directly with hundreds of small-business owners around the country (and a few international locations, too!) to provide them a paint line to sell in their shops and boutiques. We know that small business owners are the heart and soul of their towns, and we are proud to work directly with them in this way.

Can you talk to us about your experience with buying businesses?

Yes! In 2019 I closed on MudPaint. I had been looking for a business opportunity for a while and had explored a handful of options that were for sale. I had certain qualities and benchmarks that I was looking for in a business. During that process there were many ups and downs; but, I kept at it knowing that there was the right opportunity there – I just had to find it!

Many people do not realize that buying a business has many similarities to buying a home. Working with a business broker and searching the online marketplaces is a great way to locate options that work within your parameters. Utilizing a business broker that you can trust and that you work well with is important when taking the next step.

I know that many people long for a change in their career and job but aren’t sure how to make that change. It also seems that there is the misconception that in order to be a business owner you must think of something ‘new and innovative’ in order to make it work. However, there are many business opportunities out there for people who are willing to see things differently, work hard and improve upon a product.

Any fun sales or marketing stories?

We had worked hard to nurture a relationship with a customer in Tartu, Estonia. She loved MudPaint and wanted to take the next step to become a certified wholesaler of MudPaint. We were delighted that our hard work had paid off! However, as the final tally came in from the first large order, the final shipping plus customs and brokerage fees proved exorbitant. Both parties – our customer and us – were frustrated and despondent with the costs and we feared we would lose her as a customer.

Navigating global shipping channels is daunting, to say, the least – and when you combine the regional war in Ukraine, cold temperatures (paint can freeze and our customer is less than 500 miles from the Arctic Circle!) and the weight of our product, we feared our normal shipping methods wouldn’t work.

On a whim, we decided to check out other regional shipping carriers, and, it turned out that, if we “palletized” MudPaint in large boxes we could realize ~70% savings with a different carrier via Air Cargo. After much research and creative thinking, we are now shipping along pallets to her! This new carrier and process allows us to keep our product profitable for her and us and our relationship is strong and viable. We are delighted to have her there and she is serving all of the Scandinavian countries — Finland, Sweden, Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania.

Contact Info:

• Website: https://mudpaint.com/
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/mudpaint/
• Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/mudpaint
• Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/kara-vanderleest-527b90193?lipi=urn%3Ali%3Apage%3Ad_flagship3_profile_view_base_contact_details%3BSi%2FjL%2B0VTKO6U7zyWbq8hA%3D%3D
• Other: Vimeo: https://vimeo.com/mudpaint