Was it Worth it? What 5 Quilting Professionals Learned at h+h Americas

What happens when a tech editor, a marketing coach, and three quilt pattern designers and teachers walk into the h+h americas Trade show? These are five quilting business owners with wildly different game plans — and a lot of honest hindsight.

In this special panel episode, Tori and Andi sit down with three of the friends they spent the week with at h+h Americas in Chicago — Kaitlyn Fritsch of Fritsch in Stitches, Laureen Smith of Tourmaline & Thyme Quilts, and Brooke Stambersky of Brooke's Bitchin' Stitches — to recap what the show was actually like, mistakes and all.

The prep stories alone run the full spectrum: Tori planned a full year out for a $2,500 booth, while Kaitlyn decided to go just two weeks before and scrambled through business-card drama to make it happen. From there, the group digs into what they did on the floor, how they're handling follow-up now that they're home (spoiler: a marketing coach admits she forgot to collect contact info), and the moments that made it all worth it - from Laureen getting stopped by a quilting-world celebrity to Brooke's big fangirl moment.

They don't sugarcoat the hard parts either: the overwhelm, the exhaustion, an unkind vendor, and the honest question every side-hustler eventually has to ask — is this a business investment, or just a really expensive hobby? If you've ever wondered whether a show like h+h is worth your time and money, this conversation will help you decide.

Guests:

Kaitlyn from Fritsch in Stitches 

Laureen from Tourmaline & Thyme Quilts 

Brooke from Brooke's Bitchin' Stitches 

Chapters
00:00 Introduction and Panelist Introductions
02:31 Preparation for H & H: Different Approaches
09:16 Experiences at H & H: Strategies and Insights
28:50 The Importance of Follow-Up and Networking
32:40 Navigating Post-Event Overwhelm
41:17 Strategies for Effective Follow-Up
44:39 Lessons Learned from Mistakes
45:40 Highs and Lows of the Experience
01:01:21 Reflections on Value and Future Plans

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Co-Hosts:

Tori McElwain @heytori.tech & https://www.heytori.tech/

Andi Stanfield @truebluequilts & https://truebluequilts.com/ 

Transcript

Andi (00:05.182)
Welcome to another special episode of Quilting on the Side. We've got a wonderful panel of friends here to do a follow-up to H &H. We were all hanging out there together, had a wonderful week in Chicago, and we just kind of wanted to bounce some ideas off each other and recap the whole experience. It was really, really good. And Tori's all about reflections. So we'll...

We'll do that. So I'll let everybody introduce themselves. Tori, us off.

Tori McElwain (00:38.992)
Hello everyone, you know me, I'm Tori from HeyTori. I help quilters and crafters with their digital marketing.

Andi (00:49.041)
and Kaitlyn.

Kaitlyn Fritsch (01:03.107)
My name is Kaitlyn. I'm Fritch in Stitches. I am a pattern designer and technical editor.

Andi (01:11.87)
Thank you. And we have Laureen here.

Laureen Smith (01:15.265)
Hi, Laureen Smith of Tourmaline and Thyme Quilts. I am a quilt designer and instructor.

Andi (01:25.384)
We also.

Brooke Stambersky (01:29.139)
Hello everyone, I am Brooke Stamberski with Brooke Bitchin & Stitches and I am a quilt pattern designer.

Andi (01:36.682)
And you know me, Andy from True Blue Quilts, also a pattern designer and instructor. So let's recap and tell everybody what that prep period looked like. When did you decide to go to H &H in person and how long of a timeframe did you have for that prep period? Tori.

Tori McElwain (02:03.558)
So I decided to go, I decided to go to H &H a year in advance. So while I was there at the last one, I really started preparing September and into Black Friday. That's where I started looking for furniture. So I started preparing way ahead of time. I knew that the third year I wanted to have a booth because I realized my ideal customer was walking around. So my ideal customer are pattern designers, they're teachers. They are the actual professionals that attend the show. So I wanted to make sure I had a booth so that they could come. So I had a full year of prep.

I shared a lot about what I was doing on social media so could kind of lead up to H &H. And I also had a hard time trying to visualize digital marketing. So it was a way for me to kind of explore my ideas, get feedback from everyone around me, and then try to put those ideas into action. And it became the booth that you may have seen on social media. If not, you can go to heytory.tech on Instagram, and there's a lot of pictures and videos of the booth there. So yeah, I think.

I think that's about it. also was able to talk to the educational director for H &H and that was a really cool experience to be able to give her feedback on what my clients were asking for because I specifically talk to teachers and designers like every day. So I got to speak to her about what struggles they were having and then not encourage.

pick topics for classes, and then I was invited to teach two of those classes. So that was a really cool experience as well. So that was a lot of prep too, because I had to go into SEO and AI search and do a little more research on that end and how to teach that, because I'd been working with creatives one-on-one on that before, but not dived in and taught like a whole group. So that was a really cool experience and a lot of prep, a lot of printing, a lot of printing. All right, so I'll pause there. I'll see what the next person has to say.

Andi (03:57.726)
Kaitlyn you're next on that prep period.

Kaitlyn Fritsch (04:02.639)
I think I'm the exact opposite end of the spectrum. I decided two weeks before age and age that I was going to go. It just worked out that my husband had time off work and he said, you should go. Like it wasn't going to take any prep time at all. It was not enough time. I definitely would have preferred to have like maybe four weeks. I feel like a lot of things were rushed and it crammed a lot into those two weeks before.

And now that I'm back and looking through the stuff that I have and was able to get, I was able to talk to a lot of people, but I would have had, I think, a better system set up for taking in the information and being able to bring it home and follow up. I also had business card printing, drama, and all sorts of other things that having an extra couple of weeks probably would have helped.

Andi (04:51.306)
For sure. But you made it there. And at the end of the day, the experience is what counts. So, Laureen, tell us about your prep period.

Laureen Smith (05:01.845)
So I started preparing, I decided to go about a year ago. I think I was wandering around with Tori who gave me kind of the courage to get myself there. And last year I kind of went with the idea of what is this all about? I've been to plenty of shows that were business to consumer. This was my first business to business, which is a really, really different mindset. And so I went to check out the designer pavilion last year to find out, okay,

if I'm going to start dipping my toe in here, what is that going to look like? You what is a three foot booth look like? And, how are other people setting it up just to like kind of get in my head of what's that first step in? And, you know, could I financially swing it and everything else? So once I decided I was going to do it, I figured that every other year before that, my quilts had gone. I was kind of getting jealous of my quilts going to the shows and not me. So I decided I was going to go.

And so I started really preparing in earnest right around the January timeframe. Cause I knew, you know, unlike Tori, you had a whole booth. I just had a three foot space, but I, you know, I set up a little thing in my basement of the pegboard, you know, figured out what could I fit on it. So I didn't pack too much and, you know, had to figure out how to get point of sale there because it was something that I'm typically an online shop. So figuring out the whole point of sale thing was daunting.

It actually was way easier than I thought it was going to be, but it was like the fear of it was in my head. And it was like, once I did it, I'm like, it was that easy. What was I fretting about? So, and I think that was probably the biggest lesson I learned. and I think Lyric Kincaid is the one who said it best, you know, last year she kind of little spent a little time in my head going, get over yourself. And that was huge. You know, this year was the get over yourself and just do it.

Andi (06:58.162)
Yeah, we can all relate to that, I think. Brooke, what was your prep period like?

Brooke Stambersky (07:05.787)
About a year ago when shortly after Tori went last May, her and I were in the DMMC and she was talking about it. We had a session where we talked about what was her experience like because I'm a part of Craft Industry Alliance. I knew about H &H, but I didn't know about H &H. You know, what were the details? a year ago, Tori had told me that she was thinking about going again. I thought, OK, let me think about it. And then we had her big move and I knew we were going to be closer to

Chicago living in Michigan. And so I made the final decision about September that I was going to go. I knew I wasn't going to do a booth because I wanted to go to really just have the experience. Get my feet wet, walk the floor and really take it all in. And then I really started preparing for the show. I would say probably in February, March timeframe.

where I started thinking about what I wanted to do, what my goals were, but we'll talk about that a little bit more later.

Andi (08:11.05)
Yeah, for sure. I'm in a similar boat, it sounds like, as well, kind of between Brooke and Laureen, because obviously doing this podcast with Tori and being involved in her marketing world, I was aware of H &H. And so I was trying to figure out the time off from work because those of us that are doing this on the side truly

you do have to juggle some of those things. And so it was kind of on again, off again until February. And that's when I booked my flight. signed up for, you know, for all the events, got my ticket in the door. And just like you were saying, Brooke, I started working on the...

the marketing aspect. ordered my stickers, I laid out a brochure. Kaitlyn, luckily I had my business cards and didn't quite have that drama. Although the postcards I ordered that I thought were going to be two-sided were only one-sided. So that was kind of a silly disappointment for the prep period. But yeah, I would say that February to

through April, so I had a good three months to get ready for things. So as our next discussion topic, we've talked about preparations. What did you do while you were there? So tell us about kind of your strategy for dealing with this. It was three full rooms and multiple floors of Convention Center. Tori, kick us off.

Tori McElwain (09:58.566)
Well, I'd actually want to talk a little bit more about preparation because then I can set up what I did while I was there, at least for me for the booth. So to do the whole picture, this might take a minute. Sorry, the rest of your panel, but this might take a minute. So to fully prepare and then what I did there. So I prepare in a couple of different ways. I wrote down three different ways that I really tried to prepare for H &H for the year was financially. That was a big one. The booth was

$2,500 and I believe $50, but $2,500. And so it was quite the expense to plan for. So what I did was we were able to pay in two payments, which was amazing. So thank you H &H for providing that because that was awesome. So I had to financially prepare. So I was saving up little bits every single month to make sure I had enough for the booth payment and for everything that I needed. I also was able to get a wonderful co-pilot.

who helped me with the driving there. And I also got a roommate, so I able to split the hotel cost. So all these little ways that I could try to save a little bit of money, but also prepare financially for this big investment of time and money. And then I also had to think about what to go in the booth. You know, as a listener quilter on the side, I do a lot of things. So I focused the booth on

the DMMC, the digital marketing magic coaching program and SPI, the self publishing incubator. So I had two offers in there what I was really looking for was to see which one was going to be the most popular, which one was going to be the one that people are going to gravitate to. And spoiler alert, it was self publishing incubator, which is open right now. So if you are interested on joining us and writing a book, it is open. We have partnership meetings going until May 29th, but that was the big

So one of the big expenses for that was to print out my authors, those that are currently in the program, their readers. So some of them had beta readers, some of them are ARC readers. None of them are fully published just yet, but they're getting really close. So I had to make sure I had the funds in there to print all of that, to make sure they had a copy for those that were coming in person to carry around with them. And that ended up being one of my bigger expenses. And then I also needed to plan for brochures. So I also had brochures.

Tori McElwain (12:18.79)
So I'm gonna show those on the screen. If you're on YouTube, I'm just gonna, I don't know if Riverside is gonna show it big, but brochures were a big expense. So were cards, like Kaitlyn was saying, all of those different things that you gotta prepare for when you go to a show like that. Plus furniture. I was trying, I spent months looking at chairs and couches and all this stuff. And then I realized I had a sitting, what do you call it? At the end of the bed. You have like a little couch on the end of bed where you can sit to like put your shoes on.

I had one of those that matched my kitchen chairs. So I was like, you know what? I don't need to buy anything. I'm just going to bring my own furniture. So that's what I ended up doing. So like that was all the prep that came into what actually I did there. So, and then the classes, that was the third thing. So it was financially what offers I was going to have in the booth and then classes. So the classes, I actually went and got a certification for digital marketing.

for small business. So I could go deeper into SEO, digital marketing and everything like that. So was prepared for the SEO class because I really wanted to understand it. It's such a beast that we didn't even cover absolutely everything in that class. We covered a lot. So it was a really good thing that I did that. So that was the three ways I prepared. So while I was there, I was able to teach two classes. And with those two classes, I was able to funnel traffic for lack of a better word, because it's foot traffic for this.

to the booth to come and visit me. So if you got to visit me in my booth after class and you came to a class, well, thank you very much. I also were able to invite people in to sit and relax in the booth. I know many of you use the booth for like a, what did we call it? Like a home base so that you don't have to carry all your stuff around.

You could tuck it under my tables and stuff and come back and rest and have conversations. I ended up live coaching because people were coming in and sitting. So I was like, Hey, what are doing? What's today's plan? What's the next step? Why are you still here? Go, go do the thing that you're talking about. So I was like live coaching, which was really cool. And we had people come in and there was a couple of times where we were just sitting around in a pala. I called it a pala. It's like circle.

Tori McElwain (14:24.55)
We're all sitting in a circle and we are talking about what are you doing? How can I help you? And it wasn't just me, Kaitlyn was also giving some great advice. She is our technical editor for our self publishing incubator. So she was also talking about the incubator and we had all the authors readers on a bookshelf. So we were able to pull those and show those off. And so I mainly was able to teach two classes. And then I was in the booth pretty much the rest of the time. I also got to intend the keynote sessions because I never wanted to miss those. love those.

So think that kind of covers everything. So I'll go ahead and stop there.

Andi (15:02.482)
Yeah, that's great. Kaitlyn, anything else that you did to prepare and then what did you do while you were in person at H &H?

Kaitlyn Fritsch (15:13.435)
So I luckily had Tori in my corner whenever I texted her and said, I think I can actually make this happen. She like went right into problem solving mode for me, which was great because I had no idea what I was getting myself into. She gave me some good tips of, so because I sort of have two different hats that I wear, she gave me some ideas. ended up printing postcards, which I still have. I probably printed way too many postcards of my patterns and then the business cards, which were

a whole drama. ended up in four different places trying to get business cards. And some that ended up were supposed to be last minute shipped to my hotel that didn't show up and were in Tennessee and then showed up at the hotel. And the final set of business cards actually didn't get, were supposed to be overnight printed, didn't get printed until a week later. And I got an email after I had flown home that they were ready for pickup. I got business cards and,

the postcards printed and I, when I go to QuiltCon, my like number one priority is to pull up the map, go through the map and sort of figure out like who I'm gonna hit, what I want to be sure. I sort of put them in like must see, want to see, nice to have buckets. And so I sort of set up the three buckets of who I like definitely wanted to make sure I got a chance to see, who it would be really nice to get and who like, if I get them, that's great.

so that was about the most prep I was able to do. I have two kids and I am primary parent most of the time. So it was all like nap times and evenings and that kind of thing. Fortunately, Andy, you gave me a good hot tip on a hotel that wasn't too expensive and I didn't have to spend too much money on a plane ticket that close to the date. But, so there was, it was, it was a circus. but when I got there, I felt like I.

Tori warned me I was gonna be overwhelmed. I don't think that I knew how overwhelmed, even without the business cards not being at the hotel drama. What Tori didn't mention is she also did sample it. And so that was like being thrown into the deep end with no life jacket. And I sort of walked into sample it and there were all these people with all of their stuff and there were so many cool things. And I got to meet Brooke and you know,

Kaitlyn Fritsch (17:34.895)
suddenly have a like partner in crime when Tori was doing her thing. And so that was really great. But that was just sort of the tip of the iceberg of the chaos that the whole experience was getting out on the show floor. There were so many booths. I was overwhelmed by all the booths. hadn't done a good job of marking down like where on the map things were, what booth numbers they were. So I ended up the first night having to go back and flip through the book and do a bit more research and.

I also didn't set up my networking well in the app. So I was taking pictures of people's name tags and it would pop up in the app and show me all their contact details and look like it was saving it, but it was not. So by day two, I was able to figure out like to take a picture of it and sort of go back and find them that way. And anybody who had paper, I was able to sort of match the two up, but definitely would have liked to have a better setup.

moving forward. But I did. managed to hit, it sort of made one day my technical editing day, one day my pattern design day, so I could sort of focus my mindset. And I think that worked out really well for me. By the time I got to the end of the week, I was sort of running out of steam. And so they were like the nice to have, but like, if I don't get there, I don't get there. So I think I did a good variety and was able to like touch on a lot of things.

that will moving forward be good for my business.

Andi (19:06.408)
That's fantastic. Laureen tell us a little bit more about getting that designer space set up and then what was the show like for you?

Laureen Smith (19:16.526)
So I was so glad that I went the year before because I had learned a lot of lessons like how to do the tag scanning and how to work the map and things like that, which the first year really is overwhelming, right? And what I did learn from the year before was, you know, to set up those meetings with the crucial people ahead of time. So I had set up meetings with a lot of the partners that I have tried to set them up when I wasn't dedicated to the booth.

knowing your schedule and who's important to meet with and are you trying to open up, are you maintaining existing relationships or are you opening up new doors? And those take different amounts of time, right? So that was one thing. Getting the booth set up was a huge deal because in previous years, like I said, my quilts went, but I didn't. So usually I would be spending two months making quilts for everybody else and panicking over, the material gonna get there in time and all this other stuff, which...

is in and of itself a headache that I didn't have this year. This year it was like, okay, I have to prepare my own booth, which gives you a little bit more flexibility because you can move your goal posts if you need to.

So it's the, my vision is, and then, you know, as you get closer, you're like, okay, we're throwing that out. We're just going to do this. And no, we're going to simplify and go to that. So, you know, there are some good things about having your own booth because you can simplify as you need because we all have these like pie in the sky ideas. So, you know, what I found was that I did go with a bunch of cash and carry. So it was like a little box that we have that we fit under the booth. And so I brought way too much for cash and carry. What I did,

spend some time doing is preparing for a demo that I did in the booth. And that was huge. I also did one for Global Quilt Connection. And what I discovered by doing the demo in the booth was that people who looked at my stuff and went, that's really cute. And they would walk on because they didn't understand it. When, my God, it was like it unlocked the key. So for me, I learned a huge lesson, which is that my demos sell my product.

Laureen Smith (21:26.733)
They don't sell themselves. It takes me selling them, which was a huge learning curve. The other piece was that being one of Tori's first writers here, she was like, you have to have the book ready. And me being the overachiever that I am, I sat down and spent weekend after weekend after weekend putting together all this stuff. It's not done yet, but we're getting closer. so knowing that I had two things I was promoting, one of which was my book and my book contains the other thing, which is my 3d applique quilting.

because I have hundreds of other patterns, but that was promoting my partners. I was just wanted to promote myself for a change. And that was huge switch, because usually I'm promoting somebody else. So I'm kind of like the spider back there just going, this is great, here's their stuff. And this was actually having to step out into the light. So with Corey's encouragement, I really stepped out into the light like billboard lights. I actually wore a demo of my

of my quilting design and was stopped by Brandon Mabley telling me that I probably should have been on the runway. I was, had no idea who he was. And when I found out, I was like, my God. It like took me an entire afternoon to recover from that. Because I was like, my God, he's like somebody, my God. So, I mean, it was very self-affirming even more so after the fact, but I spent a lot of time putting that together and showing off a concept and learned that the cape in and of itself, which I

planned to be a billboard actually became the product everybody wanted. So for me, it was kind of a pivot point. was wild. But there's a lot of things you learn in putting together a booth. It's like, if you've got stuff that you really want them to see, you have to put it at eye level. And I I'd split my board in two ways and found that, I probably should have done it this way instead of this way because giving equal time for everything.

You learn all different ways, especially looking at everybody else in the booth. So if anybody gets a chance, I put together a little video on it and I can throw it up on YouTube, but it was on Instagram. And seeing how other people set up their booth is huge when you go into it, because it gives you ideas on what's the art of the possible if you haven't done it before. So that was the other thing that I learned. Business cards were a must. I learned that the year before because all the panic you all went through.

Laureen Smith (23:51.307)
I went through last year, I learned, I know of three boxes of them sitting here because I did the same thing Kaitlyn did. I ended up ordering and then ordering and then ordering. So I ended up with three boxes of them. So I'm set for several years now. And I think the big thing in the setup and wandering around was the networking. That is probably the most valuable thing that you get there. The stuff is nice.

but it's the relationships that you make and making sure that you follow up. And I've, gave myself last week to kind of like, And the thing I would tell everybody is every night when you go back to the hotel room, I don't care how tired you are or every day at lunch and then every day after dinner, go through those contacts and make notes about who you met and what you talked about. Because when you go back a week later,

I know I'm probably older than most of you here, but you sleep and you just forget it. So, you know, that's a huge thing is, you know, make those notes because there's things you've learned and things you've talked about with people that are so, so valuable. And you may not follow up on them for a month or two, but you need them in that notebook and need to prioritize them. That's one of the biggest things there.

Andi (25:14.194)
Yeah, so many people said that the connections that networking those conversations were the best part of the week. So thank you for sharing all of that. Brooke, anything else on your preparation and what the show experience was like for you?

Brooke Stambersky (25:31.398)
My preparation went into full engineer project management mode. I had everything drafted out. I had a couple goals. The first goal was I knew that I wasn't going have a booth. It was my first time and I wanted to be a walking billboard. I was thinking about how can I do that? I made t-shirts that had fun sayings, pictures of my patterns, huge QR codes on them.

I'm walking, people could scan me. I also made tote bags. So every day I had a new tote bag that also had cute sayings and QR codes, new t-shirts every day. I had a hat as well that said, are you a quilt shop? Let's talk. I made tons of stickers and I made booklets. So I took some of my best sellers, placed them in a booklet.

and then it had a little section about myself. So I passed those out. I had business cards. I think that was it. So I was armed with materials and I started working on those. I think it was like February, March is when I started designing. So everything came in time before the show. So I was prepared there. And then once I had my materials done, I started thinking, okay, I need to start planning.

the show. Who's going to be there? Who are the vendors? Who do I want to meet with? And I started making connections prior to the show. Now these vendors never met me before, didn't have conversations with me, so I was cold emailing them, so to speak, introducing myself and my quilt patterns and really just simply asking, do you have a few minutes during the show? Could we please chat? And several of them got back to me, letting me know when they would be available.

And so I had those committed times and dates before the show. And then when Tori and I arrived on Monday, we set up her booth. Tuesday was H &H University. So I was very much involved in business classes. And then Wednesday, Thursday, and Friday.

Brooke Stambersky (27:46.001)
was the actual H &H. So I had my meetings on Wednesday, Thursday, and Friday. And then in between those times, I had scheduled out what business classes I wanted to go to and then other vendors that maybe I didn't reach out to, I wanted to meet with. So the night before, I had a game plan. I knew exactly who I was going to go to. I knew who I was going to go to at what time based on walking the floor.

I saw that there was quite a bit of people in the morning. So I would think, okay, with this particular vendor, I'm gonna go to them in the afternoon. And then that was Wednesday, Thursday, and Friday was really catch-up day. Which vendors was I not able to see the other two days? I wanna see them by the end of the day on Friday. So everything was very much planned and...

I also would go back at night and make notes. I had lunch with this person on Tuesday afternoon. We discussed this. So as I've been following up with them, I'll drop these little nuggets of our connection, trying to make those emails a little bit more personal.

Andi (28:56.808)
That is a great suggestion and a perfect segue into the topic of follow-up because, you know, that's the whole kind of the big payoff is yes, you can make these connections in person, but it's what happens long-term. So Tori, as our coach, what do you tell people when they get to the follow-up?

portion and what are you doing this week to follow up?

Tori McElwain (29:28.998)
Well, as a coach, don't do what I did. So I was so focused on getting the booth right again and classes right again and all the things with all the information and the experience that people would have at the booth. I did not think about the follow up. So next year I'm to be a lot better about this, but I made two big mistakes. I would say one is

I was focused on giving information. I had, I was focused on, I shared with everyone my goals to hand out brochures. I'm like, I'm gonna hand out as many brochures as like I printed 250 brochures of each. So I was ready to give them out. But the mistake that I made was I did not ask for the return information. So my followup stack of cards was tiny, very tiny. So if you're listening to this and we talked at H &H,

please feel free to reach out because I did not get a lot of contact information to follow up with people. I also found that some of the emails in the contacts for the ones that I did scan with the badge, they are sending back not real email address. We call it the mail. You when you get, send it to a fake address, they send it back. So I'm getting a lot of that too. the link, not the links, but the contacts that I do have are very small.

but they are really valuable. I am trying to nurture those relationships. really, had to give myself a week off too last week because I was tired and my kids chose not to sleep last week. So I didn't really get sleep until like the weekend. And then my husband let me sleep until almost like 10, which is like unheard of for us. After that day, I'm like, my brain is now kicked into gear. So now I'm working on, okay. and then the follow-up also, what I do,

What I've done last year and this year was I actually

Tori McElwain (31:26.926)
Obrick might laugh at this too, but I make a table now. I have a table of costs. have a table of what this cost, where did I sell it? So was it at sample it? Was it at the booth? Was it like a follow up? And then how much money I made, how much money I spent. And then I have an entire separate table for contacts. And then I have another table of the fallout from H &H. So, and that sounds kind of negative, but I like to think about as what is the long-term consequences or good or bad.

for H &H. So what's great right now is that we have opened up SPI, as I shared earlier. So self-publishing computers open, and we now have signed an author. And we have two meetings still to go. And we have a 71 % close rate. So our goal is to get like 10 people into these meetings. So three out of 10 from some of it's our social media that happened at H &H. I haven't followed up with the other two yet. So I'll hear how they hear about us.

But I have a strong feeling a lot of them are coming from H &H or the social media that we shared during H &H. So I think that the long-term follow-up is going to be very beneficial. I think that it helped spread awareness in the way that I was hoping it would spread awareness. so my follow-up is very short, unfortunately. But I have had a few people reach out to me, which has been amazing. So that's awesome. And if you, again.

if you hear this and you're like, I talked to Tori and I meant to follow up with her. Please follow up with me. I'd love to hear from you.

Andi (32:58.384)
Yeah, that follow-up is kind of a two-way street, so I think that goes for everybody. Kaitlyn, what has your follow-up been over the last 10 days?

Kaitlyn Fritsch (33:11.279)
Well, I got sick. don't know if it was airport sick or first grade classroom last run of the season sick, but I came home and very shortly afterwards, I was fortunate that my husband was still off and I

laid down at like three o'clock and slept until like dinner time, ate dinner, and then went back to bed and slept all the way through to the next day. And then very shortly afterwards, our youngest started getting sick and she's more sick than I was because she's tiny. So I know that it wasn't just tired. It was sick. And then I also managed to twist my knee. So I've been sort of hobbling on and off to it's not been a good week, but there was definitely a lot of overwhelm.

I think we all agree that it's very overwhelming. And then you come back and you've got this like pile of stuff. And because I didn't have a good system in place when I left, it was really daunting to try and sort through everything. I use Notion as my main like brain dump system. And so I just have like four or five pages of like notes, but they're not well organized.

and I needed to go through them and match them up with cards and I then had to sort through my photos of people's name tags that I'd taken. So that was a lot that probably was like, I want to say four hours of work by the time I got through it all. So I now have a very nice color coded spreadsheet to work from and I have used my conditional formatting skills so that whenever I follow up it changes color and that's very satisfying for me.

So I've made a couple of follow ups. My biggest priority though was about a partnership with a fabric company and I needed to do some math checking in order to send them some information. So that's been the priority. I've done the math checking. That was like number one, get that done. I also, because we're launching SPI, SPI is open. There's been some stuff in the background that needs to happen with that. So some of the follow up has gotten pushed.

Kaitlyn Fritsch (35:15.759)
I did get a really lovely email from somebody who joined us in the booth and had questions about writing and starting to write patterns. And we sat down with her and had a nice long chat. And she said, I just want you to know that talking to all of you in the booth was so uplifting. I walked into H &H feeling like I didn't belong there and I didn't know why I was there. And by the time I left, I really felt like I could do it. So thank you for all of your support. So that was.

sort of a good push while I was struggling to motivate myself. I also did an entire therapy session with my therapist about like things that it brought up and my overwhelm with it and how to like sort of apply what I had learned because I feel like, yes, I did get a bunch of contacts and things to follow up on, but it definitely gave me a lot of different perspective on my business and how I have showed up in my business.

and how things that I have tried in my business before haven't worked. So she's sort of given me some resources and we've worked through that too. So I feel a lot better focused on the things that I feel like will move the needle and the things that I feel like can sort of take a back burner for the time being. I'm excited. A little bit of follow up, a little bit of rest, and hopefully I'll be able to sort of keep some, I think, constant momentum.

Slow progress is better than no progress, especially in the stage of life I'm in. So that's sort of what I'm focusing on, just a couple of emails a week, prioritizing what I think is gonna move the needle and sort of making those choices as I move forward and see what comes.

Andi (37:00.638)
great perspective. Thank you. Laureen what's your follow-up look like?

Laureen Smith (37:06.105)
So much like Kaitlyn and Tori said, my first follow-up was on me. the show does take a lot out of you physically. And so I had the forethought of scheduling myself a massage the day I got back. I learned from the previous year. So I literally spent the day after I got home just literally as mush.

And, you know, it'll sound kind of crazy, but sometimes you need that just total downtime where you're not laser focused because sometimes things start to roll around and organize all by themselves in the back of your head without a lot of pushing and shoving, which is sometimes the nicer way to do things since before the show you are so like laser focused on this is what I'm going to do. Sometimes it's nice to just, just let it flow, right?

And so after that, you know, I'm still working through the things, know, finishing the book, making sure that I've got that going, of resorting through some priorities, following up on all the stuff that I put on the back burner while I was preparing for the show. So, you know, there's kind of that catch up from the rest of your life. And so now it's a matter of going through. And for me, one of the most valuable things I learned as a pattern designer

is that especially with a technique like mine, which is relatively new and different, shops are like, well, I'd love to have you come out. And I'm like, well, let's work with your guild. So for me, it wasn't just the business to business with the shops, but how can we get the shops and the guilds to work together to make things more possible and better for everybody? So that's kind some of my follow up right now is even working with some of my local stuff. I've got a meeting tomorrow.

with one of the i'll call it a local shop it's three hours away but relatively local it used to be 15 minutes from my house but following up with these for those opportunities that sometimes we don't think of they're like the little offshoots but you know most pattern designers if if they don't know this yet i'll let them in on a secret which is that patterns don't make every pattern designer has decided that making patterns is more

Laureen Smith (39:29.753)
cost-effective than making the quilt. You know, unless you're a long armor and then you know, you're still making a little bit better than the person piecing the quilt, right? But the money is not in the selling the patterns, the money is working with the guilds and the classes and that your profit margins just much better. So, you know, everybody who went to the business classes, I was like, yep, I can skip those this year. I went from the school of hard knocks.

And so for me, it's those relationships of following up with the shops to give classes and the guilds, because almost everybody who was there from a shop was also from a guild. And that's, think, some of the things that get overlooked when you're doing some of that follow up. And more people I sat down with, it's like, I need to bring you to my guild. So, you know, for those who are going to H &H and whatnot, don't forget that aspect and make sure you follow up on that aspect, because these are guilds you're not going to meet because they're not local to you.

And if you can, like I have one guild that I'm working with to get a contract that's in another state, but I'm going there for another show and I'm like, well, we can't afford to bring you. like, well, if you've got a show and I plan to go to the show, you know, can you take the transportation from the show to you and back? And I had already planned for the show, so I'll cover that finance so that, you know, it becomes more cost effective overall.

you know, learning some of those tricks of daisy chaining some of your opportunities so that they become accessible to all is one of those things that you kind of work from when you're in that. So that's some of the follow-up I'm working on right now is some of those daisy chain capabilities. And sometimes it takes that little bit of, know, okay, well, you know, I can't, but well, what if we do this? be, you know, use a little ingenuity when you're talking, you know, because people...

especially right now are really watching their costs and anything you can do to help them see a different perspective in partnering with others and whatnot is going to help everybody. It's not just to help you, it's to help everybody.

Andi (41:37.47)
Those are some great tips, Laureen, for like you said, daisy chaining and just expanding that pool. Where can you go beyond that first level and take it out? So thank you for sharing that. Brooke, what has your follow-up looked like since you've been home?

Brooke Stambersky (41:55.325)
I bet you couldn't guess I made lists. So I will share that after Tori and I arrived back home late or mid Saturday afternoon, I was absolutely just mentally and physically spent. I'm not used to being in person anymore because my day job is all virtual being with people. I'm just not used to it anymore. So I was absolutely exhausted.

So Saturday and Sunday was definitely reset day. But what I did do was start to make a list of the things that I needed to get done. I had so much swirling in my mind that I had to do a massive brain dump to let my mind and my brain just relax. And also the butterflies in my stomach. Like I was so energized from H &H. These butterflies went on for days. So I made a list and

My list was set up into sections. So I had a section for follow-up. I had a section for people that I didn't get to meet with possibly wanted to, you know, kind of send an email out to them, personal connections, things like that. So I had everything split up. Also, before I packed to come home, all of my materials were in categories. So I had all my business cards in one category.

product catalogs and then other, and then a lot of product that I had brought home too. So that was part of my list as well of things I needed to do and also social media, newsletter and blog posts based on H &H. So as this was all happening,

I started getting emails from people that I had made connections with, which made me super excited. At the same time, I thought, my gosh, you got to me before I got to you. But I really appreciated that. So I've been in discussions with a book publisher over the past few days, as well as a couple of fabric companies for future lookbook opportunities. So I'm super excited about those.

Brooke Stambersky (44:08.954)
And then also other connections that I've made where they were quilt shops and they're wanting to do wholesale opportunities with me. So we're working on some of those as well.

So really for me, it was just making the list. for me, it's so satisfactory to cross off my list. And so every night I have dedicated at least one hour to my business. So every night I go to my H &H list and I just start working through. This past weekend though, as I caught up on much needed sleep and I'm able to re-energize myself, I've gotten through most of my list. I feel really good about everything.

going on, a lot of balls in the air, but a lot of very exciting opportunities that came from going to H &H.

Andi (45:04.126)
Go ahead Tori.

Tori McElwain (45:07.056)
So before the next question, I realized I forgot to share my second mistake and I didn't want to leave the audience hanging if they heard that. And then I didn't follow up. First off, before I do that, I aspire to be as organized as Brooke one day. So we'll see if I can get there. But my second mistake was as a coach, I always encourage you to get emails at live events. So one thing I did was create a virtual booth and we put an email signup form before you could actually see the booth. That was my second mistake. I had four people joined.

and most of them were already on my list. So I wouldn't put a wall up, I would probably put an invitation next time on the virtual booth to actually get emails in. And I also had somebody suggest doing a business card drawing for coaching, which I decided not to do, because I didn't think I'd have the energy at the time afterwards to actually input all of those business cards. But now I'm realizing, as I shared earlier with my first mistake, that probably would have been a great way to go.

So I just wanted to cover that before we move to the next question in case I left anybody hanging.

Andi (46:06.57)
Yeah, and I am the

least proficient to where I'm trying to think of what word I want to say. I'm at the bottom of this group in terms of effort at follow-up because I've done practically zero. Although everybody can see my follow-up efforts because I put together the podcast rapid fire episode that we did. So a lot of my time at the show and this

I kind of hid behind the podcast if we're being honest. I realized I have a very hard time pitching myself. So Tori, when she was saying, out of here, go talk to people, she was kicking me in the butt because that was really, really hard for me. And I haven't taken the time to email anybody. So I do need to get on that and capitalize. I spent the time and the money to get there. So let's get something out of it.

That's my own little pep talk for that.

what was your best and worst moment, I guess, from the week? So I'll give you a second to think about that and then Tori can kick us off on best and worst moment.

Tori McElwain (47:37.088)
I have two best moments, so I hope that you don't mind. Like Brooke said, I also felt energized the entire time at H &H. I was literally vibrating like the entire time. But the most, and this is my first favorite part, was the first business class that I taught was for H &H University. It was the day before the show started. So everybody was fresh. Everybody was awake. Everyone was excited. And my class was almost full.

It was almost full and I was ecstatic. I was up there teaching. I had them do little activities and they were doing them, which I come from a kindergarten teaching background. I come from teaching online a lot. I come from teaching for a tech company, which is boring. Like, oh my gosh, the content we have to teach. Andy, I know you know what I'm talking about is boring. So you don't always get a lot of chance to like.

jazz it up a little bit, but this time I really wanted to make sure they understood, because I did websites and landing pages. So I wanted to make sure that they understood how to use this. And so we did a of like turn and talk at the start. And I'm like, this is the introduction that your website is actually doing for you. So it was a really cool opportunity. I was probably my favorite. First favorite, the second favorite was I went to get coffee. Right. And then I'm coming back from Starbucks, which is across the convention hall. And I'm kind of hoofing it because like the booth is my responsibility. So I try to stay there the whole time.

And I get back and I see Brooke and I forget. I'm sorry if I forget anybody who's staying there. It was Andy, Brooke, Kaitlyn sitting on the floor and they were talking to a designer who I think was the follow up email that Kaitlyn got. And I was like, wait a minute. They're circled up. So I walk up like, don't even hesitate. I just sit across like a down in the circle. And I'm like, what are we talking?

like silently listening to this amazing conversation happening in my booth. And I just, it was just a moment of like my dream came true for the show where everyone was together. They were supporting each other. There was conversation. was, it was amazing. And I loved just being the fly on the wall in that conversation. I didn't say hardly anything. Kaitlyn was talking of everything that we were doing, which is amazing to hear Kaitlyn like pitch the program. had amazing advice. Andy was standing there being supportive. Like it was just like,

Tori McElwain (50:01.798)
I have goosebumps. I have goosebumps now. have goosebumps now just talking about it. It was absolutely amazing. And that was the first time, but it wasn't the last time it happened. It happened several times throughout the show where we were all circled up. So yeah, okay. I'm going to stop there. Those are my two favorites. Oh, worst. Worst was, you know, honestly, my second class was probably the worst. And I will say, I think it was because everyone was exhausted and the expectations that were set for

the number of people they had anticipated to come to that class was way different than what actually happened. And there was a few other like technical things that were happening that kind of threw everything off and it kind of threw me for a loop, but it was still a great experience. Like it was great being in the room talking about SEO and GEO and AI search and how everything was moving, you know, in that direction. Like, anyway, we will go into what that was, but like that class was probably the worst, but even then it was still fun and it was still really great to talk to those that were in the room and

Yeah, I think that was probably it for me.

Andi (51:07.326)
That's so awesome. Thanks for sharing, Tori. Kaitlyn, worst and best.

Kaitlyn Fritsch (51:13.369)
Okay, we can start with worst. So in getting all set up, I think one of the things that I was most excited for was sample it. When I talked to Tori, she sort of gave me the rundown of it and it seemed, it always felt like something that people like post on social media and it seems like this like really like high energy, like big introduction. so I helped Tori at her table.

But it meant that I got in a little early to sort of walk around and see everything I think it just wasn't what I was expecting So not not necessarily the the worst but you know, like Tori said it was maybe the low point But the low point of a very good thing But I got there and he just it wasn't what I was expecting I had hoped that like maybe there'd be something there that would catch my eye and maybe inspire me to do something new that kind of thing and I just there was

Maybe it was in part because I had had the business card drama and race to the convention hall, but there was so much good. was hard to pick a thing. whenever you're running a business and my business isn't... I don't have money to spend on a bunch of just try it things. I have a pretty good baseline of what...

what techniques I use and the colors I use and that kind of thing. I'm pretty confident in my brand sort of experience as a whole. And so getting there, I think I didn't expect as much yarn as there was. I think I didn't expect sort of the variety of things that were there. So it wasn't necessarily bad. It just wasn't what I was expecting.

I will say, I think my favorite part though, I talked to Brooke about this on the last day as we were waiting for Tori to jockey in with the car. It really highlighted to me on multiple occasions how a single moment can make the difference for your business and how your impression of a business can be based on things that aren't even necessarily something that you have done, but a single positive interaction with someone.

Kaitlyn Fritsch (53:15.985)
can turn it around in a very short amount of time. so, especially getting that email whenever I came back that I, for somebody, was that thing, that was very reaffirming that in coaching authors, they're seeing that side of me, and in talking to designers, they're seeing that side of me. So it sort of reaffirmed what I was doing that even if in the long run I've spent more money to be there than I'm gonna make back in services or sales, I'm getting that confirmation that I'm sort of like,

in my zone of genius. I'm in the spot where I need to be to help people the most. So that was that was definitely a big like a big thing for me.

Andi (53:55.861)
that's terrific. Thanks. Laureen, a low and a high point.

Of course.

Andi (56:37.897)
What a great story. love those chance meetings that really solidify the best part of the week. So Brooke, what about for you? What were the bad and the good?

Brooke Stambersky (56:53.786)
So the good for me was I also had a fangirl moment. I'm still pinching myself over this. So I had saw that Tula Pink was live there in person. And so I so badly wanted to meet Tula. So on Wednesday, made it Thursday, actually, I made it my mission that I was going to meet Tula Pink. And so I just happened to be near the By Annie booth and

there she was and she was doing a live talking about some ByAnnie patterns and so I stood there patiently waiting until Tula was done and I went up to her I introduced her to introduce myself to her I shook her hand and as we're shaking hands she says to me that I have the softest hands she's ever felt.

And I just, didn't want to let go. It was, it was such a moment. And so we did take pictures together. I am having that picture printed as we speak so I can frame it for my sewing studio. Cause that was definitely a fangirl moment. And then I would say the

An opportunity moment that I had at the show was, unfortunately, I did meet with a vendor on Friday and that vendor was not very kind to me. And so with that, interaction that I had with this vendor that will remain nameless, the opportunity there was I had to make a decision.

was I going to reach out to this vendor after the show and still share my patterns with this vendor or would I walk away? And I did speak with a couple pattern designers to get their feedback and to see that is this an interaction that they've experienced from this vendor or this particular person and what would they do in the circumstance? And their feedback was,

Brooke Stambersky (59:02.696)
go for it still, still email this person, share with them what you talked about, follow up with them and they did. I have not heard back from the vendor. And so with that, say, I tried and I brought my business out there and I introduced myself to the vendor. I wish that the interaction would have been better, but I did learn that it was just the person's personality and it was not.

personal. So unfortunately, I would say that would probably be the the worst interaction that I had during the show. But my meeting with Tula and my meeting with everybody else outshines that poor interaction that I had.

Andi (59:43.496)
Yeah, and I'll share a couple, because I think the same thing, the worst in general was the feeling when I came home that I missed those opportunities. Because I was scared, I missed out on promoting myself and planting those seeds. And there was also a whole laundry list of

people and online friends that I knew were at the show and that I didn't have time to sit and talk with. It just goes so fast that, you know, we can lament that. But we want to end on a high note. And some of my favorite moments were the H &H after dark. I had a blast. I have not been to a bar, club.

party atmosphere like that in 20 years. So that's my bad. I need to get out and do that more because that was a whole lot of fun. And then I think it was on Friday that Libs Elliot was walking by Tori's booth and I said, hi, Libs. I was in your class at QuiltCon and she stopped and she talked in the booth. So that was my fangirl moment was just shouting out Libs Elliot. So yeah, it was a great week.

So rapid fire, maybe thumbs up or thumbs down. Was it worth the money and time? How does everybody feel about it?

Tori McElwain (01:01:16.646)
Well, let's go ahead and unmute and do it quick because with the audio we can't see the thumbs. So I'm going to be like, yes, my goal is 50 % investment back and I'm on track. So I'm going say yes. And that's the story.

Andi (01:01:30.974)
Katelyn.

Kaitlyn Fritsch (01:01:34.321)
So I would say yes, definitely would have been a better investment if I had been planning earlier because I would have been able to spend a little less on flights, maybe find a roommate for my hotel room, that kind of thing. The real win for me is that, especially technical editing as a business to business, when you're a designer, can...

get out into the social media world and sort of, you know, throw yourself out there and you're going to find things because you got a pretty thing to show people all the time. Nobody wants to look at my math. Nobody wants to see my like pink pen all over things. So getting out there and talking to designers and talking to publishers, that's something you don't really get to do on social media. So it makes for a lot more cold calls, cold emails, that kind of thing. And to put a face to the person you're talking to really does make a difference.

So I think definitely yes, we'd go again.

Andi (01:03:08.669)
Yeah, for sure. Brooke, think I saw a thumbs up when we did the visual.

Brooke Stambersky (01:03:13.522)
Yes, absolutely. 100%. I loved going. I loved the opportunity. It was the energy that I needed to fill my cup again with my business. And I've been so energized since I've come back and I'm just going to keep that energy going. And I plan on going next year. And I'm really thinking about having a booth next year. So we'll see.

Andi (01:03:37.354)
be awesome. Yeah, I'm, I'm gonna say I'm like at that 45 degree angle up, but not totally just because like I said, I have my my own limitations and I don't know that it was a really smart financial move. You know, obviously it's an investment, but I don't know that I'll get any payoff from that. And so, you know, in order to have a business you need to

be looking at the profit margin. And if you're continually taking a loss, then it's not a business. It's a hobby, a very expensive hobby. And we don't want to do that. But I think I have, you know, I have a good groundwork. I've got, you know, the all the the coaching and the good friends and the community around here. So, you know, I just I need to put in the work and make it a good a good thing. So any last words about H &H?

Kaitlyn Fritsch (01:05:37.977)
I think that the advice that Tori gave me was really good. I had planned at the beginning to like take three business classes and do sample and do all of the things. And she said, just like pick one thing per day and you don't need to do all of the things first year. So going and

checking out the floor and sort of seeing the energy and what was available now has given me a better idea. Like I may not go next year. I might go the second year just because of the number of businesses that are a good fit for me to interact with. But the business classes would have been too much for me this year. Definitely would have been too much. I would have been like passed out in my hotel Thursday night and not come Friday because there was just

Even without taking a class, there's so much information. I know that there's somebody out there who says it's like drinking from a fire hose. There's inspiration and there's, you learn things from all of the people that you're talking to on the floor and what's new and what's coming up and what's available and they make recommendations to other businesses and so there's a lot just to take in in the base level ticket. And so if you load yourself up first year,

There's a lot bigger chance you're going to be overwhelmed.

Tori McElwain (01:06:57.466)
And also as someone who's been for three years now, those relationships that you build the first year, they compound over years, over years. So I do want to say that if your first plan is to just go and explore the show, Thursday, everybody walks around. I'm sorry, Wednesday. Everybody walks around. Thursday, business happens. It is a business day. That is when shit happens. And I'm going to cut some of my own podcast. And then Friday.

is a little more relaxed. And that's like how Brooke described. That was when everybody was grabbing all the last minute things like, I have to meet with her before I go. those kinds of things. So if you're planning on going, take all that advice, because that was amazing advice. I was just sure. But it does compound year after year and those relationships get deeper and deeper. And being in person, there's just there's nothing like it.

Brooke Stambersky (01:07:47.068)
and wear good shoes. So important to wear good footwear.

Andi (01:07:55.305)
Thank you everyone for joining us on our H &H follow-up panel.