Episode 37

Sandra VanSickle Owner of Sew What’s New, LLC

In This Episode

  • Learn how to evaluate potential workrooms with a detailed checklist of questions to ensure a successful partnership.​
  • Discover how design software and project management tools can enhance efficiency in your window coverings business.​
  • Understand the importance of setting timelines, documenting work order changes, and maintaining clear communication to avoid misunderstandings.​
  • Gain insights into Sandra’s dedication to teaching and providing online training in the window treatment industry, and how it can benefit your business.​

Guest Profile: Sandra VanSickle​

Sandra VanSickle is a respected figure in the window coverings industry, known for her extensive expertise spanning over three decades in custom window treatments. She owns and operates Sew What’s New, LLC, a prominent wholesale studio and training center based in Apex, NC. Sandra excels in creating high-quality window treatments and shares her wealth of knowledge through online courses, hands-on workshops, articles, and speaking engagements.

In addition to her studio work, Sandra co-owns the Craft Your Creative Life Retreat, a unique event that blends sewing skills, business strategy, and wellness for industry professionals. She also serves as Director of IWCE’s Artisan Atelier, where she organizes and facilitates two days of training sessions in the exhibit hall, helping attendees enhance their skills and stay ahead of industry trends. Sandra also produces the “Live With Sandra V” show, where she offers training and insights to a broader audience.

Sandra’s dedication to education and leadership continues to inspire and shape the window coverings community.

Other Notes/Links:

To learn more about Sandra Vansickle visit:

Sandravansickle.com

pssst…. want to be a guest on the show?

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Transcript

Will Hanke – WTMP (00:00)
All right. Hey, everyone. Welcome to another episode of Marketing Panes. My name is Will Hanke. This is the go -to podcast for window treatment and awning business marketing. Each month, we bring you insights from industry experts and fellow business owners sharing tips, tools and strategies to boost your online presence and drive growth. My guest today is Sandra Van Sickle. She’s a respected figure in the window coverings industry.

known for her extensive expertise spanning over three decades in custom window treatments. She owns and operates So What’s New, LLC, I love that, a prominent wholesale studio and training center based in Apex, North Carolina. Sandra excels in creating high quality window treatments and shares her wealth of knowledge through online courses, hands -on workshops, articles, and speaking engagements. Sandra, you’re quite busy.

In addition to her studio work, Sandra co -owns the Craft Your Creative Life Retreat, a unique event that blends sewing skills, business strategy, and wellness for industry professionals. She also serves as director of IWCE’s Artisan Atelier, where she organizes and facilitates two days of training sessions on the exhibit hall, helping attendees enhance their skills and stay ahead of industry trends.

If you’ve ever been to IWCE, they’re right in the middle and they’re always busy. Sandra also produces the Live with Sandra V show where she offers training and insights to a broader audience. Sandra’s dedication to education and leadership continues to inspire and shape the window coverings community. Sandra, thank you so much for being on today.

Sandra VanSickle (01:45)
It’s great to be here. Thanks for having me.

Will Hanke – WTMP (01:47)
Yeah. So I’ve seen you many times at, like I said, at IWCE. There’s always a busy little section there and people learning stuff. And I love all the different things that you teach. Tell me a little bit about your background. And I know that you kind of transitioned from corporate America to running a successful custom drapery

Sandra VanSickle (02:06)
Yes, again, well, thank you for having me here. It’s really exciting. I’m usually the one doing the interviews and like you, I said, where is Will? I need to meet him in person. So it’s wonderful. But yes, first let me start off real quick by saying that sewing has always been a true passion of mine. I started at the age of five. I have a grandmother who was a master seamstress and I bucked the crap out of her until she taught me how to sew. And that’s all it took. Off I went.

Will Hanke – WTMP (02:16)
yeah.

Sandra VanSickle (02:33)
I always wanted to be a fashion designer. But however, sometimes life takes you on a different path. And so I got a degree in human resource management as a single mother of two daughters. I entered corporate America more out of necessity at the time. I always sewed. Every spare moment I had, I was sewing. And even my colleagues in corporate America, that’s how they…

They knew me as the seamstress, you know? But I think to answer your question, the transition really came probably in the late 90s whenever I faced some downsizing at work. And I will tell you that if you’ve ever had to face something like that, that it’s a bittersweet event, but mine happened to turn out to be the catalyst that I needed to make a significant change that has led me to what I do today, which

I say it’s all my dream jobs. And after leaving the corporate world, I took sew -what’s -new to a full -time capacity back then. But it was mainly sewing garments. And the window treatments was kind of a side gig to that. Then I remarried my husband and I. You may know him, Ken Vansigal. He’s an installer in the industry. We moved to Raleigh, the Raleigh area. And he was hoping I would go back into HR.

a lot more money in that than window team at the time, you know, but it was again something that just fell into place. I got here and was looking in the paper for HR and I don’t really want to do that anymore. And there was an ad in the paper for a workroom manager for a high end workroom. And I thought that is my job. And so I took the job, know, I,

accepted the position and after a few years in that role, I realized it was time to pivot and I wanted to run my own business. That was ultimately my goal all my life. I fell in love with window treatments and I took all my skills that I had as a general manager. I was a recruiter, a trainer, know, all the HR things, open and closed stores, along with my passion.

and my experience in window treatments and finally pulled the trigger and took, so it’s new, full -time and only window treatments. So yeah, was, you know, it’s where my joy passion is.

Will Hanke – WTMP (04:40)
Okay.

That’s awesome. You chose a niche and went after it,

Sandra VanSickle (04:46)
Mm -hmm. Yeah.

Will Hanke – WTMP (04:47)
That’s great. So who is your target audience? I know you’re doing a lot of different things. You probably got a lot of different audiences ultimately. But how could you define

Sandra VanSickle (04:55)
I do.

Well, I know I would say mainly if we know we keep on the window treatment business side or the workroom side. My ideal client was the interior designer. I wanted to be wholesale to the trade. And it really, with the different designers, the press are different beginners, they’re different stages themselves. it really, that didn’t really matter to me at the time because I felt like as long as

that they were respectful, open to suggestions. And with my background of running businesses, that I could definitely work with them. And early on, I ruled out retail work because it became clear to me quickly that my true strengths and passions lay in the studio, not working directly with homeowners. And by

sticking to what my skills were, where my passion was. know, it really allowed me to focus on what I do best and really ultimately, like I said, brings me joy.

Will Hanke – WTMP (05:56)
Yeah, yeah. As the as like a workroom owner, how did you position yourselves in the eyes of your of the designers?

Sandra VanSickle (06:05)
Well, think that, of course, when you’re good at what you do and they find out about you, they start to reach out. I think it was, I want to say it was kind of, it always starts off with that passion. And I stuck to the customer treatments. And I consider myself a very creative person. to have that,

behind you is great because you can be a little bit more flexible and and whatever they can where their creativity may stop your start and you can collaborate with them, you know a lot more. And then on top of it, you know, I had a staff. I don’t have the staff any longer. I’m rewired and not not retired. But, you know, we always delivered

know, high quality treatments. We’ve really paid attention to the details. We, you know, to ensure that every project would meet the high standards. I think that my, you know, my training, you know, in corporate has taught me great communication skills where I can work with others to make sure we have clear expectations, defining the parameters and outcome of each job, you’re transparent.

And you can say, yes, I can do this. But here are my parameters. So they know exactly where you’re coming from. not saying, yeah, I can do that job. And in the back of your mind, you hear a lot of times, fake it till you make it. Well, we kind of did that. But we would say, here are our parameters. So you’re clear to them. You’re not saying, yeah, I can do that. And then you can’t. But I think, again, with my

background in HR and working with people, my passion and expertise within the fabrication realm really helped a lot of that. it was important that we met deadlines, of course. again, having a team at the time that was enthusiastic, I’ll say that word, along behind me.

And they were ready to, you know, embrace challenges whenever they came along. I mean, you we don’t want to be bored just making panels all the time. And there are jobs that can come along that you do need to be out of the box for. And if you’re up for it, you know, having that, you know, that kind of reputation gets around and they go, my God, go to her, she can do anything, you know. Now, there are some jobs that we probably…

could have said no to and today if we would have had it to do over because we’ve already done it we’ve said we don’t want to do it anymore then they’re done that but because we were willing to do that and and good communication skills so yeah.

Will Hanke – WTMP (08:42)
Yeah, the other side of that is also true. Having a workroom that wants to think outside of the box gives the designers a lot more freedom to say, let me find out, but we can probably make that happen, or get some more information, and have a workroom to then bounce that idea off of.

Sandra VanSickle (08:53)
Yes.

Yeah, exactly. Because they are very creative folks too. And a lot of times they have a vision of what they want and what they want. Or their client may have a vision and they’re like, yeah. And they’re not 110 % on board because in their mind they don’t know how to take that fat piece of fabric and manipulate it into what that client wants. And we can. So the whole,

collaboration and, you know, brainstorming, you know, is, really comes in handy.

Will Hanke – WTMP (09:35)
Yeah. So let’s take a step back. If someone is interested in maybe finding out if they want to work with a workroom, or they want to add that into the business, before they even reach out, what are some things that they need to probably have in place, things prepared before they even reach out to a

Sandra VanSickle (09:54)
That’s good question, Will, because I believe if this is done right, it can enhance your business. I’m a big component of don’t leave money on the table unless you have to because the more that you can offer, the bigger package that you can offer can be beneficial to you and your client. But sometimes it’s not beneficial.

So because there can be a learning curve in all of it. And this is what I have to say is that you have to be in the right position for it. first, I highly recommend that you first consider or assess the benefits. Whether adding customer treatment to your curtain offering will benefit your business. You need to evaluate.

how this addition could align with your business goals and your clients needs or is it going to be something that is going to pull you away from your strength and you’re ultimately not gonna it’s gonna fail or it’s not gonna go the way that it should and you’ll be frustrated. That goes back to what I said before about how I determined early on that retail work is not where I need it to be. That’s not where my strength

And so sticking within my lane is where I have produced a better company. And so first consider that. And if you decide, yeah, this is going to, if I can make this work, I’m in the position and I can do this. so you need to think about your mind. If you just can’t say, okay, I’m gonna call work from, they’re gonna do all the work for me. You need to just look at your own business and identify who in your company or where you have

hire someone to manage this partnership with the work room. And I think that if you can begin to think about having a dedicated person to handle the communication, the coordination and streamline the process, that is going to help the process immensely and help you be more successful. And you can say, yep, we can do that. We’re at a position. We can do this. Then you can take the next step. And the next step is, you know, to

Really like you would any goal setting start to outline your offerings, you know create a list of the custom treatments that you Want to offer your clients or and sometimes if you’re you’ve been in business for a while and Your clients are already asking for certain they’re asking for panels or Roman chains And no, we don’t offer them. this is the fifth person this week that one so maybe we should

You know, so, you know, start, that’s number one, you’re gonna say panels and Roman shades, but make that list down because there’s more I’ll suggest to this list in a moment, but the benefits is that this list will help you find the workroom that can fit your needs. And when you begin the interview process with the workroom, this will also help the workroom understand what your needs are and to make sure

they can meet your expectations, all right? Because sometimes, and you might determine that it’s not something that you want to bring totally into your organization. It might be such a distraction at this moment that you say, let me just partner with a workroom and say, look, I can give you this name. If you, you know, we switch referrals.

You know, and that’s a whole nother, that’s a whole nother conversation, but it might be a route that you want to take versus what we’re going to probably talk about today. So, I’m going go to my list real quick. And you know, things like panels, moment shades, you’re going to offer cornices, remakes, pillows, upholstery, light upholstery, heavy upholstery. You know, just some or all of it, you know, make that list. And then,

Will Hanke – WTMP (13:13)
Okay.

Sandra VanSickle (13:37)
Also add on to that list, try to define the required services that you might need from a workroom. Of course, you’re gonna need fabrication. Who’s gonna measure? Who’s gonna provide installation? Who’s gonna provide the lining and the interlining? And fabric, where’s the fabric gonna come from? Is that something that the workroom has sample books or is it gonna be customer?

own fabric, how’s that going to work? Hardware. What about hardware? Who’s going to carry that? Motorization. That’s really, and you, I’m sure you know that how big that is right now. And I know within our realm, there are a lot of workrooms that do work with it often. Some of them are scared to death of it. And like, I don’t know where to order it. I don’t know what to order. I don’t know how to assemble. I don’t feel comfortable with it. And so, and what about your team?

You know who’s comfortable with it if you know if you came to my work well, I said yeah, let me handle it I’ve got it. You know I’ll even go on and program it for you, but so many mouths I said no you’ve got to handle it Pick up drop off so you know having those kinds of list It’s gonna get your mind ticking and again. It’s gonna help the process

Will Hanke – WTMP (14:45)
Yeah. So thinking through the entire thing from before the project starts all the way through to delivery. And then, yeah, that’s that’s pretty smart to figure out who’s going to do what right along the way. You don’t want any surprises.

Sandra VanSickle (14:55)
Right. Yeah. Well, you don’t and you don’t want to, you know, you don’t assume anything and you don’t want to start a project and think, I forgot how we’re to get the fabric to them. They’re half an hour away and I don’t have that kind of manpower today because I’m out on five installations and I’m so behind here entering the phone and someone called out sick, you know, you know.

Will Hanke – WTMP (15:17)
Yeah. Yeah. So what kind of questions should people ask if they well, let me back up. Should should somebody look at more than one workroom if if there’s more than one available in their area?

Sandra VanSickle (15:30)
Yeah, yes. And again, the starting stages, write those two lists so you’re clear on what you want to ask and what you need. And then there are different size and different types of workrooms, not one size fits all. And I’ve broken them down to like three different types. one is like the large commercial workrooms.

And then some and I’m going to put into that category there are a lot of fabric companies that have their own workrooms as well and the large commercial ones are great and they will usually do a large range of treatments. So that’s the positive of them. But there’s not a lot of hand holding with them. If you’re someone and say that you’ve said okay we’re going to only offer panels.

and there’s no fancy dancy, there’s only panels, three -pronged pinched pleat lined, maybe blackout lining, and you’re get your finished length, no trim or whatever, well, they may be the ones for you, okay? Of course, they will offer, they will do some of that, but it depends on how much you want to simplify. But basically, with them, they may or may not be in your area. They’re gonna give you a form that you’re gonna have to learn how to fill out.

You’re going to ship the fabric to them. you know, you, I haven’t worked with one in a long time, but I know what I have. You don’t have, you’ll have limited access or none to that person fabricate, actually fabricating your treatment. And you won’t have the opportunity to say, can I drop by tomorrow and talk to you about where that trim should go? Or can you stop production?

and get the panels going. I’m going to send the trim in about three weeks. Then you can apply it. Before you do, give me a picture of how does it look with three inches in or two inches in? That’s not going to happen. I doubt it. And I think they, of course, they have set hours. They will cater to mostly wholesale to the trade. I don’t know that any will.

do outside retail. I think most of them are wholesale to the trade. Some may carry, like I said, the large companies will have their own. have the fabric. Some may or may not carry hardware. And I don’t know that they really have any design services. You’re probably not going to call and say, what’s going to look better on my client’s wall, one and a half width or two? So anyway, that’s.

That’s that and then Then we have what I would call someone that has a workroom with it has a retail space Mainly it’s outside of their home It might not be you just walk in any time It might be a design center retail space or maybe just a workroom Space in a little strip kind of mall industrial type strip mall that just fabricates now I think

With those, they will cater to probably wholesale to the trade. They may cater to some retail as well. They will probably have a staff. And like I said, they may or may not have a design center up front or out back that you could go in. They may provide fabric books that you can choose from, the different fabrics, they’ll order them for you, hardware, and they may

Okay. And I would say with some of those, they may be your competition. You know, they, some of them have moved up to blind shades and shutters. And if that’s something that you offer, but you want to use that work room, well, just have a conversation and be transparent with them. With me transitioning out of fabrication, I have mentored in a few gals in our area.

And because Ken is still installing and he sounds like he’s in shelters and hardware. And I said, you know, if we could have this agreement, this client came from my work room. Ken does X, Y, Z. That may be something you are moving in. But if can you remember that that’s his client too. And can we have that kind of agreement? And it’s up to them if they want to.

Will Hanke – WTMP (19:27)
Okay.

Sandra VanSickle (19:29)
honor that. Hopefully they will. I think they will. you know, you can, you know, just trust that they will. And so if you have that kind of a work room, you can have that discussion with them. And then, then there’s the home based work rooms. And some of them are in their home, it could be in a bonus room, it could be in the basement, it could be out in the she shed, you know, but, you know, but you’re going to have, I think with that type,

And with the other ones, you can have a more personal interaction with it. You can collaborate with the retail as well as I think the home base went more, a lot of more troubleshooting. And the location on both of them could be closer to you than a larger scale commercial work room. And again, you can just find out what services they offer.

You know, I think you did ask me the question about, you know, reaching out to them to find out what their needs are. And again, you know, once you look at the different types, you’ve already have your list of what you want to offer. You already have that. And so think about these three, you know, variations of work rooms. And then you can just start to reach out to them and schedule a call or email, however they want to do business.

Always be upfront, you know So many times we have people working coming into the area. I’m new to the area Can you do my house first because I want to see how well you are. No If you can establish long -term relationship, let’s be upfront and transparent here, know, just just go for it but This way with your list and again looking at the variation you can begin to find the right fit to just to establish that relationship and the first question

You’re going to ask, are you taking your clients? I had someone reach out to me last week. it was honestly, was kind of scenario we’re talking. It was help. I need help. I need to work for them. I need help. And I’m like, OK, are you spam? Are you real? I’ll take the chance and call you. And you have your list ready. Go over that list. Ask if they have other services.

what their specialty is. And you’re going to know it, right? Because if I asked you what yours is and you start to tell me, you’re going to light up. You’re going have that passion in your voice. And truly, it’s important, too, to ask them, how long have they been in business? Because this will give you what? An idea of their experience? And again, make sure you’ve had is it.

Some of you may not know if it’s in home or retail space, but you can ask that. Because this way, it will tell you how they conduct their business. And then also, you want to respect their time as well. But you want to know how they do their business. And this is going to align with the way you want to do business. Location is convenient for you. Hours of operation.

seasonal hours of operation. Do they have employees? Because employees are going to give you an indication of their workroom workload capabilities, effective timeframes that you might could expect. know, they could stay on if they have heavier workloads at different times. Typical turnaround time. That’s one of the biggest questions I think we get. And they answer various on the time of year.

you know, smoke and pet free environment. That’s important to clients. And the number one thing though is do they have a terms and condition agreement? You know, well, I can’t tell you how important this is and that you should not go in business with a work one without having that. And they should have it to present to you. And if not asked for one,

I think it’s an uncomfortable thing to have a client sign because it’s your terms and conditions, right? But you’ve got to do it and they need it because something will go wrong along the lines and you need something to fall back on. you ask them too, do they supply a price list? I don’t. I have a basic one, but I want to quote every

Because if you say, I want panels, 72 inches long, line, three prong. And I quote that. And then you give it to me, and it has trim and binding. And you’ve already quoted your client. So again, do they source fabric? Can you borrow their books? And so again, this is really going to give you a good list

questions to ask them and it will spark you know other questions.

Will Hanke – WTMP (23:49)
I like that. I love that you have kind of like an interview checklist, almost of things that you should go through when it comes to prioritizing them. Any one in particular besides obviously terms, I think is probably a really big one. What other what other things should you prioritize?

Sandra VanSickle (23:53)
Mm -hmm.

Yeah, that is important, know, for when once you get those other questions answered and then to move on to, you know, ask what information. let me go back and say now you can ask how do they like to do business? You if you’ve established this is the workroom, you get to answer these questions. Now, how do they like to do business?

Now, what information do they need for an estimate? Who supplies the work order? Do they? Or do you have one? How do you send that work order? How does that work order get? Who has it? Who fills it out? And what information do they need on it? The drop off in shipping of the materials. I just say, you don’t have to come out here to me.

Will Hanke – WTMP (24:40)
Right?

Sandra VanSickle (24:50)
During the quilt process, you’ve given me all the information. And so when the fabric comes in here, I have my labeling system. I’m going to check it off and make sure I have this fabric for this job, yada, yada, yada. If I have questions, I’ll send you photos. But how’s that going to transpire? Who picks up the treatments when it’s complete? what’s the time frame around that? And how does it get to the homeowner?

Because if there’s any kind of delay, the next question is, how long does the workroom have to store it? What’s their guidelines around that? Who installs it? Again, the turnaround time. The payment method. What do they accept for payment? Do they require a deposit? What about the final payment?

What’s your best form of communication? Some people it’s email, some people it’s text, some people it’s electronic. And then holiday deadlines. When does your work need to be in there? When does your work order and your fabric need to be in there?

Do they adhere to child safety guidelines? You know, really big. Some people are like, no. And if it’s a no, you know what? Then you might not want to do business with them because it can put you at risk too. Okay, and we won’t go into that whole thing, but that should tell you where I stand on it. You don’t want to go in business with them. know, it’s important.

Will Hanke – WTMP (26:06)
Yeah.

Sandra VanSickle (26:14)
It’s important. And someone may not even be aware of it. You know, sometimes you might be aware of it in the industry, but some folks may not. And you can educate them on that and tell them that that’s important to you. And again, what goes along with that too is do they, they train, do they, you know, attend training classes and that doesn’t have to be a, you know, big no or stop sign for you, but it just tells you where they are.

with their business, okay? Again, and going back, how confident are they with modernization? And confidentiality too, it’s really big if you are someone that works with a lot of celebrities, or you work with a lot of folks that have said, you know, over the years, we didn’t put a lot of our work out there on social media because our designers just said, we’re high end.

and our client does not want what’s inside their home out there on social media. And so, you know, is the workroom aware of that? You know, will they adhere to that? So those are just, you know, some of the things that you can be thinking about.

Will Hanke – WTMP (27:19)
I love that. I mean, that’s quite a list. Thank you for all the things that we, you you kind of don’t think about a lot of these things,

Sandra VanSickle (27:22)
Mm -hmm.

Mm -hmm. Mm -hmm. Mm -hmm.

Will Hanke – WTMP (27:28)
So what are some common misunderstandings that occur between the window treatment dealers, workrooms, and then maybe obviously how can they be avoided in the future?

Sandra VanSickle (27:38)
I think that some of the, you know, the main miscommunications are probably, first of all, if you have the terms and conditions, that’s going to cover just so much. But I think a lot of it is, you know, just being clear, you know, on your specifications, you

Find out how the worker wants to receive their information. And then you make sure that you follow up on your end and provide all the details, the specifications for each project, know, the fabric, the measuring, everything that goes into that project. Give it to them upfront and communicate. However the two of you form your relationship, is it by a phone call or is it, well, it should

where it can be documented really when it comes down to it. That’s the best way. But sometimes I’ve had clients to say, okay Sandra, I’ve sent you everything. Can we schedule a FaceTime so we can go over it one more time? Because can you hold up the fabric? Can you do this? I said, yes, just for you. But don’t tell anybody. I’m teasing. And then establish timelines as well. Make sure that you’ve set clear deadlines for the project and the final delivery.

Will Hanke – WTMP (28:44)
Right.

Sandra VanSickle (28:54)
and communicate that to them. You know, sometimes you might put three jobs in at one time and you might say, you know, can I have this one first because it’s going to go first, that one second, whatever. You know, and you know, lot of miscommunication has come with check work order changes. You know, there are a lot of workrooms that we’ve said that we won’t start a job until

everything in hand. But over the years, you know, we’ve worked with designers for years and you just establish that relationship and the trust and they say, Sandra, I know what your guidelines are. However, we’ve got to get this going and we’ve the build is going to be done and we’ve got to get it in there because they’re going to move in. Can you do everything? Can you put the panels together and put the and wait for the trim or?

You know, and it depends on and then we can communicate. No, I got to put that trim on first, you know, so communicate. And if there’s any changes, work order changes, then make sure that number one is documented and number one that it goes to between the parties or parties that need to be made aware of it so that

on the same page when it comes there. Or if somebody misses that page by accident or forgets that page, it’s like, hmm, here it is. So I think that, again, a lot of feedback along the way, speaking the same language. A lot of times we’ve had designers say, I want those panels. And give me a europlete. Well.

your europlete might be different than Sally’s europlete or Jane’s europlete. So if you have to, you know, talk to the workroom and say, I’m going to, for me and my workroom, I’ve decided

I want to know is it three -pronged or two -pronged and where you want it tacked and how far down. know, sometimes taking it down to you want to stay within industry terms so you’re speaking the same language but also you need get down sometimes to simpler terms. know, yeah, keeping records, positive feedback, trust, respect.

Will Hanke – WTMP (30:56)
Yeah, I love the idea of the feedback back and forth. And I guess that’s probably easier with the people working in the she shed than it is with the corporate model, right? So that’s a trade off. Which one do you want? Which one do you need?

Sandra VanSickle (31:07)
Yeah, it is.

Exactly. It is a big trade off and it is not something that is a trade off. It’s not a fault of theirs because they have a business to run. That’s their business model. the trade off for a lot of that is if sometimes workrooms will use these larger, we use the larger companies sometimes because they can catch our overflow.

Will Hanke – WTMP (31:20)
Sure.

Sandra VanSickle (31:35)
They can pound out these panels faster than we can. depends. But they can get them done for us while we’re working on the more detailed treatments. There’s no way that they can produce. They can produce, but our client knows what they want from us. And so they can catch our overflow. And the price is great. But yeah, they’re

they’re not they’re not going to hold your hand and

Will Hanke – WTMP (32:03)
Yeah. You mentioned FaceTime earlier. Technology. How can technology like design software, project management tools, how can those help enhance the efficiency of working with a

Sandra VanSickle (32:19)
Yeah, quite a bit. can. You know, the yeah, just like, you know, the FaceTime alone, you know, we’ve used it quite a bit. And, you know, God, I used it with my husband today, as a matter of fact, he goes, can you listen to this motor? There’s something wrong with it, you know? And I think, OK, perfect point here, you know, but also it the management tools, too. I mean, my gosh.

If we had what we have today back 20 years ago, it would make our life so much easier. But one thing I can think of too is a lot of people use Airtable. And there’s a lot of other programs out there. And I know one gal who uses it. I mean, my gosh, it’s just amazing because you can log everything in there. And she has someone in her.

whatever on her staff that just really manages it. all the swatches of the fabrics go in and it sends an automatic email to your client that said, poop, we’ve got it in this. you can, it just can really simplify the lines of communication in an accurate way.

And it just saves time. And then again, like we said, the face time and even some of these sketch ups, even minutes matters has been out there a long time and I cannot draw. I cannot draw. I can look at something and cut it out of fabric and make it. But if you had to rely on me to draw something to you, probably you could probably going to give me a treatment that I didn’t ask for. So there are a lot of sketching type.

programs out there that if you can’t draw but you need to give the workroom an idea of what you need, you can do that. And even the measuring apps, you know, a lot of people will use measure up and some of the other ones to go out there, take a photo. And so yeah, it’s there are so many out there and you know, I can’t recommend using them whenever possible. Yeah.

Will Hanke – WTMP (34:15)
Yeah, yeah, I think it’d make the whole process a little bit quicker if nothing else, right?

Sandra VanSickle (34:17)
So some of my quick, that’s right.

Will Hanke – WTMP (34:19)
Cool. So you’ve recently kind of moved into teaching and online training, those kinds of things. What inspired this shift and how has it influenced your approach to the window treatment industry?

Sandra VanSickle (34:20)
So you’ve recently kind of moved into teaching me how to train.

Well, I have another really big passion and it’s called technology. And I love it. I love technology so much and began using it a lot back in 2011, 2012. And, you know,

Will Hanke – WTMP (34:38)
Okay.

Sandra VanSickle (34:51)
discovered how much training and how much, you know, we’re visual and how we can use it to train others and just have taken off with it. I don’t know if you know that I was one of the co -founders of the WCA virtual chapter and kicked it off and, you know, because I love the technology. And then even today with my live show, being able to, you know,

help others learn in a visual way. so I guess, you know, because I love technology and I’m fascinated by it and my deep seated passion for sharing my knowledge, it just has pushed me forward, you know, to do training online. You know, again, because I realized that, you know, I could make a broader

by educating others in the industry and it’s so important. And if you’ve ever listened to one of my broadcasts, I always start off by saying, you know, my goal is to educate, inspire and promote others within our industry because I love it so much. And, you know, not only has moving, you know, teaching and online training, you know, online, hopefully makes an impact in others lives.

But it has really broadened my, well, made an impact on the industry, hopefully, but it’s also enriched my own personal journey. It’s important for me to leave some kind of a legacy. I recently sent out an email about the retreat, about she’s not just chasing her dream, she’s creating a legacy. And that, on a personal level, is very important to me. And as I’m, again, transitioning,

Well, I’ve transitioned out of fabricating. I’m no longer accepting clients, but as you mentioned before, I’m still doing other things that I love too. I’m going anybody in my age, I am. I need to tell you my age, but retirement, let’s put it that way. And it is really, I have found that it’s I can’t go cold turkey. I mean, it’s it’s harder to leave this industry than it is to get in it. And and

I have a 90 -year -old mother and she’s like, I you said you were going to quit. And I said, can’t. I’m not ready. So yeah.

Will Hanke – WTMP (36:52)
Hahaha!

A lot of business owners say that every day also, right?

Sandra VanSickle (36:59)
Yeah, yeah, exactly. You know, exactly.

Will Hanke – WTMP (37:03)
Yeah. Well, thank you so much for all the different things related to workroom and quite eye opening to me all the different questions to have kind of ready. there’s a lot of stuff. There’s a lot of different moving parts to make it successful. So thank you for kind of sharing all those pieces. So I know you’re doing a couple of different things. You mentioned the show. You mentioned the IWCE.

Sandra VanSickle (37:19)
Are you well?

Will Hanke – WTMP (37:26)
Tell me how people can get a hold of you, learn more about what you’re up to.

Sandra VanSickle (37:30)
Yeah, definitely. We have the, of course we said the Craft Your Creative Life retreat coming up. If I can say it’s going to be in Lake Leroy, North Carolina. It’s a sewing business and wellness retreat. great. Sewing business and wellness retreat. So it’s quite unique, you know, event for our industry. And we would love to have folks, you know, join us.

And you can follow me online for that. have an online page, Live of Sandra V. I post it there. Instagram, I’m Sandra Van Sickle on Instagram. And also for the artists in Atelier, yeah, we would love you to come see us at the next IWCE. We’re getting ready to have the call for speakers for that. that’s quite a…

event too. So yeah, just reach out. That’s the best way to reach out to me. And

Will Hanke – WTMP (38:18)
Very cool. Well, thank you for sharing with us. We will put all of the links down below in the show notes, of course, and make sure that if somebody wants to reach out, that they have all the different ways to do so, and especially through the technology that you love, right? Well, cool. Thank you again, Sandra. I do appreciate your time.

Sandra VanSickle (38:35)
Yes, I do.

Will Hanke – WTMP (38:42)
As a listener, if you enjoyed today’s episode, we’d love for you to subscribe to the Marketing Panes podcast. Watch for more engaging discussions with window treatment and awning businesses, providers, and experts like Sandra. Thank you so much. Appreciate your time and have a fantastic rest of your

Sandra VanSickle (39:02)
Okay, thank you.

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