We were lucky to catch up with Sally Griswold recently and have shared our conversation below.

Sally, looking forward to hearing all of your stories today. Risk taking is something we’re really interested in and we’d love to hear the story of a risk you’ve taken.

I remember the conversation vividly. I was talking with my sister, Josie, on the phone after a difficult conversation with the company we were licensing our concepts and designs with. They wanted to start selling our products through a massive discount chain. We knew that this would obliterate the sales for the many independently owned boutiques we had spent months building trust with and we were backed up against a wall. ” We can do it, sister, how hard can it be?” I’m so glad we had absolutely no idea how hard it would be! If we had, we may never have taken the risk to jump into manufacturing and selling our products wholesale ourselves! Sometimes we look back and can see how God worked everything out for our good. What looked like an impossible situation was exactly what needed to happen to push us out of the nest and into the next phase of Iron Orchid Designs, LLC. It was a huge risk for our two families, putting everything we owned into this little dream. God has blessed it beyond our dreams and we know we’ve only just begun!

Sally, 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?

Josie and I grew up with very scrappy parents who worked very hard in the traveling sales industry as well as the flea markets on the weekends. So sales was naturally in our blood but so was art and up cycling. Everything in my mother’s carefully put together home had been thrifted or found in front of someone’s home on trash day. She lovingly painted worn and tired pieces of furniture and recovered thread bare chairs with carefully chosen fabric remnants. Our home was filled with masterfully woven macrame planters and wall hangings. We didn’t have a lot of money growing up, but my mother made sure our home kept that secret well hidden.

Our dad is the one who deserves all the credit for instilling in us a tenacious spirit and a love for product sales. We spent many days with him “hitting the pavement” as he called it, knocking on doors and canvasing leads for him as a Kirby salesman. I can remember being so tired after a long day of seeing doors slammed in our faces and he would say, “It’s a numbers game Sal, you knock on enough doors and somebody will give you a yes.” So we would stick with it and he was right, eventually we would get the lead and with enough leads, we’d get a sale and with that sale came commission.

My sister and I also loved to make things and go door to door to sell what we made. Wreaths, decorative eggs, you name it, we loved the feeling of knowing we could hustle up some money for the candy store anytime we wanted. That feeling never went away, but the candy store? Well, that turned into things like diapers and home mortgages! My sister and I have had many businesses together over the years. Whatever we did, we always did it together. It was just more fun that way, and it also gave us a fearlessness knowing that we weren’t alone, if we failed, we failed together.

One of the jobs we did together as adults was licensing our designs for paper crafting companies. We did this for several years. When the paper crafting market started to take a downward turn, and our passion for the industry had started to wane, We were sitting on the floor in my living room, the work we were doing had become just a job for us. So we asked ourselves “What ARE we passionate about? What is it that we would do if we could do anything? Watching our mom all those years ago making our home a special place that reflected her soul was still such a profound influence for us and in that moment something heavenly took place. I truly believe that God was with us in that room as we were inspired with idea after idea for products that WE would love to have if we could, to make creating in our spaces inspiring and approachable. On that living room floor is where IOD transfers, Decor Stamps and Decor Moulds were born ( we had a long list of ideas, but whittled it down to just the strongest of them ). We could not stop and were floating with butterflies in our tummies and I think both of us knew, this was going to happen. It HAD to.

We took the ideas to the paper crafting company that had been licensing our designs. At first they rejected the idea, but after some convincing they agreed to help us take it to market. Because they didn’t understand the products we had to do all of the marketing ourselves. We ” hit the pavement” in a way that would make our dad proud. We visited and called boutique after boutique about these new revolutionary DIY decor products. As is often the case with bringing new product concepts to market the initial reception fell far short of our expectations. With the naivety and zeal of little girls bringing home the kitten they found on the side of the road we expected their excitement to match our own. Quite the opposite happened and many just looked confused and a little too busy to give us time to explain more. We knew though, it’s a numbers game, just like our dad had told us all those years ago and we just needed to keep going. We believed in these products and we knew it was only a matter of time. Eventually we found our early adopters. Boutiques with owners who were willing to take a chance on us. All of them are still with us today but the doubters were welcomed into the fold with love ( I mean, heck, we get it. ) Our first attempt resembled a yippy pup presenting it’s slobbery ripped up chew toy to its owner: well-intentioned but somewhat overwhelming ) and now we have a growing community of stockists whom we are honored to serve.

Unfortunately things did not go well with the company we were licensing our products to. Our business model was to prioritize the independent retailer and sell solely through independent retailers. The company we were licensing to was pursuing large big box discount stores, and we knew that our products need the nurturing that only a boutique could give and if we prioritized them and they prioritized us, it could work without bringing in big box stores. For this reason and others, we knew it was time to venture out on our own and manufacture our own products. We had never done this before, but if we did it together we knew we would be ok. Over the coming years we have become known as the pioneers for transfers, stamps and moulds for DIY Decor. We have had the privilege and honor of serving thousands and thousands of women who are empowered and inspired by our products to make their homes uniquely their own just like our mom did all those years ago. We do this through independent boutiques world wide and we have a unique marketing ecosystem that doesn’t just work, but thrives because of the synergy that happens when a product brand and retailer work together to serve the customer and encourage them to take risks and nurture a creative lifestyle.

Any insights you can share with us about how you built up your social media presence?

I think the biggest advice I like to give entrepreneurs who are just starting out in online marketing is to have grace with yourself. It’s very easy to get caught up in the numbers and to compare yourself with others before considering the context. Everyone has different circumstances and that will have a profound effect on your results. If I could go back and tell myself one thing from when we first started the social media game it would be this, Chill out! It’s gonna take time, but you’ll get there. Be consistent, create good content and focus on connection and remember it’s not a race or a contest, your journey is your own.”

I had 5 children when we started out ( I now have 6) and my time was limited, so was my mental focus. I was also comparing myself to people who had been at it longer, and were a different type of business. Remember that product based businesses, especially those that are B2B only, grow slower on social media than service based, affiliate based and influencer based accounts. I didn’t catch on to that until much later and would beat myself up for our slow growth. We still grow slowly and you know what? That’s ok, because our business is growing healthily just like it should. How you grow on social media is rarely a reflection of how well your business is doing, for product based businesses. I believe it’s quite possible that the majority of people who follow you aren’t buying from you and the majority of people who buy from you aren’t following you. Don’t get me wrong, social media is key and has been integral in our growth as a company but more-so for brand awareness and understanding. The sales happen because our stockists are rock stars at serving our community!

Choose a platform where your primary demographic lives, start there. Focus on serving and connecting with your community and grow from there. Just challenge yourself to show up consistently in a way that works for you and makes sense for your product!

What’s a lesson you had to unlearn and what’s the backstory?

One lesson we had to unlearn as a brand is the very reason why we set up our business model the way we did. Our time when we were licensing our product designs and concepts to third party manufacturers had ingrained in us that the holy grail of product sales was to land an account with big box stores. Everything was focused on getting their attention. I can remember at trade shows they would walk in a big group from booth to booth and the whispers would ensue “The Michael’s group is coming!” we would all scurry to our. product area and wait, hope and pray that our designs would capture their attention.

What we learned is that if you have new concepts that have any complexity whatsoever, they will die on the vine in a big box store. Suzy teenager making minimum wage does not care about your product and has no knowledge of it, nor the desire to explain it to your potential. customers. So, if you are an innovator, this is not your sales channel!
As we were developing relationships with the boutiques that carried our products, we quickly learned that they have then passion, knowledge and love for their customers that will allow our products to shine!

Was it a risk to prioritize small independent Main Street boutiques and not pursue bigger buyers? Yes it was, but you know what? They took a risk by investing in our products and it’s paid off for both of us. It’s not the business model for everyone, but it works beautifully for us!

Contact Info:

• Website: https://ironorchiddesigns.com
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/ironorchid_design/
• Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/ironorchiddesigns
• Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/company/iron-orchid-designs-llc/
• Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCMQDhKNdbTWNZmBALz8i4FQ

Image Credits
the buffet with the cat on top is by Jonathan Marc Mendes of Painted Love. The gray buffet with the newsprint is by Lynne Brundage of Ellen J. Goods,