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

Hi Kathy, thanks for joining us today. To kick things off, we’d love to hear about things you or your brand do that diverge from the industry standard.

At the beginning of 2023, I found out that the rent on my large booth was increasing from $500 a month to over $1200 a month. So in a period of 5 months, I changed my main business from selling primitive pieces in a mall to selling mostly small antique and vintage items on Instagram.

My twist on selling on Instagram is to use artistic layouts most of which are flat lays to display the items for sale. Doing this gives me a distinctive and recognizable style and also serves as a creative outlet for my art background. I also try to package the items for shipping with special details and touches to give each customer the feeling of receiving a gift.

One of my first customers will do videos of her opening the package and post them on her page. She has said it is like opening a box of chocolates. Just yesterday, another customer messaged me saying that her birthday is today and she felt like she was opening a birthday present. So, I feel like my job is not only finding beautiful old pieces homes but spreading joy and happiness to others. What an amazing job to have! And so many of my customers are now my close friends!

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?

My background is in art and I live in an 1857 stone farm house which is the oldest lived in home in our area. My husband, daughter and I have always enjoyed collecting and searching for antiques and that love has put me on the path of also selling them.

In general, my specialty is in late 1800’s and early 1900’s pieces. This includes old books, Victorian finds, unusual pieces and primitives as well as imperfect lovelies. The fun and unique part of my business is showing people the beauty in old and well loved things and inspiring them to use them in their own ways at home. Decorating your home with one of a kind pieces that you enjoy makes your house a special reflection of you.

One of the things I am most proud of is that I have had many people say they look forward to seeing my posts each week. I see the posts as a new medium of artwork and a way to show the beauty of the pieces. And it is very rewarding to have others enjoy the photos and also feel inspired by them.

Can you tell us about a time you’ve had to pivot?

Having to change my main business from selling at an antique mall to selling online was a big challenge. Not only did I need to change a lot of what I was selling, I needed to change how I was selling. Uniquely decorating a physical space is so much different than arranging a photo layout. Also, since most of my customers need the items shipped, I needed to change from mostly large primitive furniture pieces to small antiques that are shippable at reasonable prices and learn how to pack them. Also, I needed to recreate my customer base since I was barely on Instagram prior to changing over to this sales venue.

The process has been challenging but very fun and rewarding. I have created an individual style and have met so many amazing people.

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

Building an audience on social media is a challenge all its own. Before changing my main business from an antique mall to Instagram, I was mostly promoting my business on Facebook. I feel that developing an individual and recognizable style has helped me build an audience on Instagram as well as Facebook.

Instagram has a special layout called a flat lay that has become one of my favorite ways to display items for sale. A flat lay is just a photo of items arranged on a flat surface.

I think the main thing that I have used to build my style is using the same “canvas” for most of my posts. It is funny because we had a pot fall on our glass stove top long ago, and until we found the perfect stove, I covered a board with copper sheets to put over the broken stove top so we could use hot plates. That copper surface is what I now use for the base of my flat lays.

I would say that everyone hoping to sell on Instagram or Facebook should be consistent in their posting and try to develop their own style. Also they should engage with their audience, get to know them on a one on one basis and learn from other sellers.

Contact Info:

• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/myshabbybooth/profilecard/?igsh=ZWExNGlreGJxN3cx
• Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/myshabbyshed