Latest / Buying Local Podcast / Three Businesses, One Vision for Custom Design | Buying Local S3E59
Transcript
- 0:00Welcome everyone to buying local.
- 0:01I'm your host, Mike Nelson from 5 Towers Media, joined today by
- 0:05Michelle and Tim Schultz of we. We got a few things to talk
- 0:09about, right guys? We've got gotcha covered at
- 0:11Saratoga Designs on Glen. We've got the and I'm going to
- 0:17mess it up because window depot of the Adirondacks.
- 0:20Is that correct? Yes, 3 for three for me.
- 0:25And also you guys are just opening up a showroom over on on
- 0:30Glen St. So we're going to talk about
- 0:31that as well. So welcome.
- 0:33Thank you. Very much.
- 0:34Yeah, happy to be here. Yeah.
- 0:37So Michelle and Tim, if you guys don't mind, maybe just kind of
- 0:39give us, you know, an overview about who you are and, and all
- 0:43the things that you guys are up to.
- 0:45Sure, absolutely. So I can start and then Michelle
- 0:49can get into the sort of some of the details.
- 0:51So we have different professional backgrounds.
- 0:56Up until a couple years ago, Michelle's been in the design
- 1:00area, which she can talk about and work for global window
- 1:04treatment company Hunter Douglas as a regional sales manager,
- 1:09traveling around various states. Most recently she did that and I
- 1:14have a history of technology sales, so selling technology,
- 1:17cybersecurity, things like that to New York State government, in
- 1:20particular in Albany and various businesses.
- 1:23So we decided a couple years ago about the same time to try to
- 1:31exit corporate America as cleanly as we could.
- 1:34We got a little bit, you know, said some thoughts on some other
- 1:38things we could do on our own that would probably make us a
- 1:42little happier and, you know, hopefully be rewarding as well.
- 1:47So we, after some research, we settled on a franchise initially
- 1:51a couple years ago. So what 2 years now called
- 1:55Gotcha Covered. It's a national franchise, like
- 1:57180 locations and we have essentially all of upstate New
- 2:02York for Gotcha Covered. It's known as Gotcha Covered
- 2:04Saratoga. Our corporate name that's above
- 2:08that is designs on Glenn, which we'll talk about in a minute,
- 2:12but got you covered in Saratoga provides custom window
- 2:14treatments to the Capital District.
- 2:17Most of our business right now is between Clifton Park and Lake
- 2:19George. So it's custom blind shades,
- 2:24draperies, outdoor solutions like awnings and power screens.
- 2:30And from that and taking Michelle's design experience, we
- 2:36realized pretty quickly that there's also a need for interior
- 2:39design services in the region. So that's that was sort of where
- 2:44our idea was born to open up a showroom here in Glens Falls
- 2:49slash Queensbury. And Michelle would be running
- 2:54the design side of that along with with her daughters helping
- 2:58out as well. And then I'm sort of doing the
- 3:01sort of the sales marketing, networking, installation
- 3:05services right now along with the outdoor solutions, the
- 3:08awnings and so forth, as I mentioned.
- 3:11So that's sort of where that all started.
- 3:14And then since then and I'll, I'll pass it to Michelle here in
- 3:16a minute. But since then we also were
- 3:19offered a window Depot franchise sort of out of the blue.
- 3:23So we are also taking on taking out a lot.
- 3:28We're taking on Window Depot, what do you know as window
- 3:31Depot, the Adirondack. So quality sort of high end,
- 3:35high efficiency windows and entry doors.
- 3:38So we think that complements well the sort of the custom
- 3:41window treatments and the interior design aspect of the
- 3:45business. And with that, Michelle, maybe
- 3:46you can talk about why the showroom.
- 3:50So the showroom is definitely something I think we waited a
- 3:53little bit to grow into because we were just outgrowing that
- 3:58Home Office space. It was, it was, it was, it was
- 4:02getting very, very cramped. So we decided to start looking
- 4:07for, for a, a showroom space that could accommodate all three
- 4:13of those businesses together, especially with Tim bringing on
- 4:17windows and door samples. I don't know where the heck we
- 4:19were going to put those. So, you know, the cars are only
- 4:23so big, right? So, so anyhow, we decided to,
- 4:28after some serious shopping around the Queensbury Glens
- 4:31Falls area, we, we found a location that we fell in love
- 4:34with that gave us all the space that we needed.
- 4:37So we're looking forward to hopefully opening.
- 4:41We have a target open date of January 16th, so we'll see if
- 4:47all those things align properly and we can get there.
- 4:50So the showroom's going to give clients who walk in the
- 4:56opportunity to kind of go into a different section.
- 4:58If they're looking for Windows and doors, they're going to be
- 5:01able to go into that section where Tim has all that set up.
- 5:06We will also have you know, window treatment displays up a
- 5:11whole beautiful fabric walls and hardware along with also
- 5:17something else in in the home interior design aspect.
- 5:22We have custom furniture that can be designed.
- 5:24We also have home decor items that will be for sale.
- 5:28So we'll have a whole mixture of things in here for clients to
- 5:32see so. You guys definitely have your
- 5:37hands full. Other other than that, we have
- 5:39nothing to do. Yeah, I'm sure you get bored all
- 5:44the time. I bet, right?
- 5:45Yeah, yeah, we're, yeah, we're, we finally realized that we
- 5:51should probably recruit some of our kids to help us out.
- 5:53So. Not a bad plan, Not a bad plan.
- 5:56I I'm curious on, on the production side of things, are
- 6:01you, you know, for Windows and doors, are you guys also doing
- 6:04installations or are you just on the sales component of selling
- 6:07the windows and doors and then working hopes to find an
- 6:10installer or how does that work? Yeah, installs as well.
- 6:14And to accomplish that, I've right now I've, I've created a
- 6:19partnership with a local company as well.
- 6:23I'd be happy to, to mention them.
- 6:24It's Jay and Jay Michael's construction.
- 6:28There are two guys, John and and Justin, real, real motivated,
- 6:34high energy, professional gentleman who have built a
- 6:39couple homes and do remodels. So I found them sort of randomly
- 6:44and they seem to be working out well for us.
- 6:47That's awesome. Yeah.
- 6:48As soon as you were talking about all the different things
- 6:50that you guys were doing, I was like, wow, I'm like how, how do
- 6:53you like I understand the the sales and marketing aspect.
- 6:56Obviously that's kind of my role and and what my career has been.
- 6:59But then I was like, man, you got to do all that stuff and
- 7:01perform the work. Like how you doing that?
- 7:04Yeah. We, we can do pretty much the
- 7:06window treatment installation. We pretty much have that down
- 7:09overall. We do have another independent
- 7:12installer we can use for window treatments.
- 7:13But for window treatments, we can sort of handle that.
- 7:15But yeah, I think windows and doors, we definitely are going
- 7:18to need to partner with with that company.
- 7:20Yeah, what I know You say you did a lot of research.
- 7:25Why did you end up landing on Got You Covered at Saratoga?
- 7:31Well, that was something Tim spent I'm pretty sure months
- 7:34researching on different franchises.
- 7:39It wasn't actually going to be, you know, necessarily window
- 7:43treatments in the beginning when he was searching, he was
- 7:46searching for different types of franchises to, to get started.
- 7:51So when he started going through the different companies that
- 7:56were out there and available when window treatments came up,
- 8:00that's when my ear, you know, he got my attention because that's
- 8:04my world. So, you know, and so as we deep
- 8:09dived into that a little bit more, it just seems like a more
- 8:12natural fit because I've been, I would have been selling for
- 8:17Hunter Douglas for about 8 years or so.
- 8:20Prior to that I had a interior design business for about 15
- 8:26years and also, you know, my son-in-law has been doing
- 8:34installs for other dealers and manufacturers around the area.
- 8:40And then my daughter was also a designer.
- 8:43So it just seemed like a natural fit to be able to bring those
- 8:48people on and and make that connection with the, you know,
- 8:52doing the the gotcha covered franchise.
- 8:55It just seemed natural. We had a ready made team to go
- 8:58and most people walking into a franchise don't even know how to
- 9:02install a shade, let alone know the background and have the team
- 9:07that we already had built. So it was.
- 9:10It was a perfect match, I believe.
- 9:12Yeah, and and that you know the the power of franchising, right?
- 9:15Like it's, it's, I think such an amazing way to go for people
- 9:19when they're launching a business that so much of the
- 9:21learning is already done, the mistakes have already been made
- 9:23by someone else and get to standing on the shoulders of
- 9:27giants, so to speak, right, to come into a system that's ready
- 9:30to go. Yeah.
- 9:31And they were under other window treatment.
- 9:33Once we narrowed it down to window treatments because that
- 9:35was her, where she came from, her experience, there was 3, I
- 9:39think different window treatment franchise that we're looking at.
- 9:42And we definitely relationship wise, we hit it off with a
- 9:46gotcha covered folks, they're out of Colorado, hit it off with
- 9:49them. So much so that our franchise
- 9:53Rep we got to know and we invited her to our wedding a
- 9:58couple years ago. So so we hit it off with them,
- 10:01you know, relationships means a lot, you know, and so, so that
- 10:05worked out well. We got we get good support from
- 10:07corporate. That's awesome.
- 10:10And so you have a a pretty extensive background, Michelle,
- 10:13as far as the interior design goes, it sounds.
- 10:15Yes, I mean, I had a like I said, I had a business down in
- 10:20Clifton Park for about 15 years and it you know, mainly it was
- 10:26my main focus was, you know, it started off with remodeling
- 10:30bathrooms and remodeling kitchens.
- 10:32And from that it just, it totally exploded into, you know,
- 10:38doing other aspects of interior design, reconfiguring rooms and
- 10:43textures and lighting and color and all of those different types
- 10:47of things. So you know, it just it just
- 10:51naturally, you know what people you know have been asking for,
- 10:56you know, or what I have been doing that I enjoyed to do, just
- 10:59people started asking for help professionally.
- 11:02So that's kind of how it evolves for me.
- 11:05You know, I was one of those kids that when my mom came home,
- 11:10the living room would be rearranged, the bedrooms would
- 11:13be rearranged, and that's, you know, that was what I was doing
- 11:16as a kid for fun, so. That's funny.
- 11:19It's kind of always been something that I really love and
- 11:23have been passionate about. Yeah.
- 11:25And I, I'm curious to hear about like what does the process now
- 11:29look like for you with, you know, you have the three service
- 11:33offerings, obviously they all kind of tie into each other are
- 11:36complimentary in some fashion. So what does that look like for
- 11:40prospective clients or clients that come in and, and and work
- 11:44with you guys? Well, I'll let you.
- 11:48Yeah. So essentially, you know, folks
- 11:51are finding us. Obviously, we first started
- 11:55mostly by Google searches, right?
- 11:58Or Facebook page, but now there's more more and more word
- 12:01of mouth is a way to imagine right with the clients we're
- 12:03building. We've been running for two
- 12:05years, really about a year and a half.
- 12:07We've been ramped up with got you covered and 2025 was a
- 12:10pretty good year for us. But again, working out of the
- 12:13house, I think we have sort of a ceiling, you know, of of the
- 12:16business we can generate. So, so once folks find us, we
- 12:22then offer a free in home consultation, design
- 12:25consultation, which is I was in Michelle's area.
- 12:29So she goes into that. By the way, we do residential
- 12:31and commercial. In fact, today we're going to
- 12:34see a hotel, a local hotel about some draperies.
- 12:38So yeah, we do residential and commercial.
- 12:40So Michelle will go in and really look at not just, you
- 12:44know, sort of what the client thinks they want, but but really
- 12:48sort of take a snapshot of it and get a full understanding of
- 12:52the home and you know, their preferences and you know, what
- 12:56they really want to accomplish short term and long term.
- 12:59And then should come back with some recommendations, which may
- 13:02or may not be close to what the client had originally thought
- 13:06they want to do. There's other factors to
- 13:10consider too, like energy savings and automation, right?
- 13:13We do a lot of automate automated window treatments now
- 13:16that can be central like Alexa for scheduling.
- 13:19But energy savings is a big thing.
- 13:21There's actually federal tax credit for some window
- 13:24treatments so that, you know, there's a lot of considerations
- 13:28that that are more than just sort of color and fabric, right?
- 13:33So that's what Michelle does and comes back typically within
- 13:36what, 24 hours of the quote. It depends.
- 13:39And then and then we're off and running.
- 13:42But you know, so, so on top of that, obviously now she's doing
- 13:46more interior design work as well because when she's in the
- 13:49home, a lot of times folks will say, hey, by the way, you know,
- 13:53what do you think of, you know, this arrangement in the living
- 13:57room? And I was trying to do this but
- 13:58can't quite get there. So Michelle can offer insight on
- 14:01that. But we really like to get to
- 14:03know the client, you know, certainly is probably why we
- 14:07don't charge for it in in home consultation.
- 14:09We really want to get to know them and just sort of be at ease
- 14:12with having a discussion on what they're really looking to do.
- 14:17And then again, Window Depot, the Adirondacks is brand new, so
- 14:20we're just launching that. But that's going to be a similar
- 14:23concept where I'll go into the homes and, you know, inspect the
- 14:27windows for free and give a quote and or doors, entry doors
- 14:32as well. And then, you know, see if it
- 14:34meets client's needs. Yeah, it's, it's fascinating,
- 14:41you know, all the different, you know, kind of verticals that you
- 14:44have and how they all, how they all kind of work together.
- 14:47It's what do you think some of the the bigger challenges that
- 14:51you're seeing or, or or expect to see as you're integrating
- 14:55these three different businesses?
- 14:58Yeah. I think one thing you know,
- 15:01it's, it's interesting because of the showroom.
- 15:03It's going to give us some good visibility, especially in our
- 15:05location, right, which is, you know, right across the street
- 15:08from Mohans on Glenn St. And so I think visibility is not
- 15:14going to be an issue. But what we have to avoid is
- 15:16brand confusion too. I think, you know, especially
- 15:19online, right? So we, I think it's a great
- 15:22thing that we have these three different logos, if you will.
- 15:28And oh, by the way, you know our our landlord in this Plaza is by
- 15:32low flooring warehouse. I was.
- 15:34Going to ask that if that was the building, yeah.
- 15:37Yeah, so we're really going to have a home improvement pod
- 15:39here, you know, a little one stop shop, right?
- 15:43Maybe people don't want to go to the big boxes or whatever, but
- 15:46it'll be a nice destination for folks that want to look at, you
- 15:50know, more than just flooring, more than just window
- 15:52treatments. But anyway, so I think brand
- 15:55confusion we need to try to to avoid, but it's really just
- 16:00getting the word out as to who we are and and why there's value
- 16:04in having sort of the custom design, custom window treatment
- 16:08service versus you know, maybe going elsewhere where you know,
- 16:13you're not sure what you're getting as far as quality and
- 16:17quality of the service. I'd like to add to that too.
- 16:21And I think that one of the other challenges, which, you
- 16:24know, hopefully it's a good problem is growth pains.
- 16:29You know, now being in a showroom and having, you know, a
- 16:35place where people can come to us, having enough people to
- 16:40handle all of the different aspects of everything that we do
- 16:45from, you know, scheduling and inventory and all the things
- 16:49that are happening behind the scenes too.
- 16:51You know, so it's, I think there could be some growing pains, but
- 16:57we're kind of expecting that I I believe and you know, and we'll
- 17:02be probably hiring some. Yeah, I think we'll be creating
- 17:05some jobs hiring. Some people so.
- 17:08Love it, love it. And I, I, I share your
- 17:11sentiment, Tim. I also hope people don't go to
- 17:14the big box stores and they come to see you guys.
- 17:17We're all about buying local over here.
- 17:19I don't. Want to need names or?
- 17:23Anything. So, yeah, we, yeah, we just, you
- 17:24know, really firmly believe in buying from our neighbors
- 17:27whenever possible. So it's, I agree with you there.
- 17:31What you know, you kind of mentioned a little bit, I'm
- 17:35curious, you know, who who are potential like who would be
- 17:38people or businesses for that matter since you also do
- 17:41commercial work, like who would be the types of people or
- 17:44businesses that might find the service that you're offering
- 17:47valuable? Well, we're finding that you
- 17:53know, a lot of people that have in the Lake George area, well
- 17:58from Clifton Park to Lake George, but you know, Saratoga
- 18:01and Lake George are seem to be a heavier market.
- 18:05And we're, we're seeing these people that are coming up here
- 18:08that maybe have a second or a third home that are, are ready
- 18:12for a change. It's new construction, a
- 18:16remodel, whatever it might be that those are the clients that
- 18:21you know, we, we would like to have a chat with, you know.
- 18:26I also had from a partnership. Partnerships are important to
- 18:29us. We haven't talked about that
- 18:30yet. And I and I've been part of what
- 18:33I do in the last year and a half is try to build relationships on
- 18:37the business side. So we've done some lunch and
- 18:40learns at realtor offices, right, so that they will know of
- 18:44us and potentially refer us to their clients.
- 18:48We've had a couple of meetings at architects and we actually
- 18:50have a couple nice partnerships with architects in the area who
- 18:55like to see the quality of of our window treatments and
- 18:59service builders. Builders know of us, some, you
- 19:03know, some, some know of us. Anyway, you know any
- 19:07organization, any company that we can add help to add value to
- 19:11their efforts to their clients. You know, we're all about trying
- 19:15to establish the Win Win partnerships locally.
- 19:18Other company? Other companies also like home
- 19:24automation, you know, dealers that are going in and putting in
- 19:29surround sound systems and Sonos and Control 4 and all those
- 19:34types of things because our systems that are motorized do
- 19:37integrate with all of those different solutions as well so.
- 19:42I have two quest 2 follow up questions.
- 19:44To that one, you mentioned Realtors.
- 19:47Do you get into like staging and things like that with Realtors
- 19:51or is it more? Just funny.
- 19:52It's funny you mentioned someone asked us last week for the first
- 19:54week, everybody. Else is asking us about it and,
- 19:57and I said, honey, do you know what size warehouse we're going
- 20:00to need if we do that? I mean, I'm all over it, but you
- 20:04know, so. Yeah.
- 20:07But we, it's not something that's off the table like so it
- 20:12is something that we we're thinking about, but how we're
- 20:17going to go about doing it and what type and at what level is
- 20:22what we we have to figure out. Yeah, yeah, for sure.
- 20:27And the I had a second follow up question for you and now it's
- 20:30escaping my, my, my foggy brain here, my holiday brain.
- 20:34We've been not since slip mode the last week or so.
- 20:38Oh well, hopefully it'll come back to me here.
- 20:45So 00. And then, you know, on the, on
- 20:48the construction side, when you're working with builders, is
- 20:51it or contractors? Is it because you are working
- 20:57with them on like the window and door side or just the the window
- 21:01treatment side or all of it? Like what?
- 21:02How are you working with builders and contract?
- 21:04That's kind of a little bit of a mixture because if we're doing
- 21:08the windows and doors, we're most likely doing that with the
- 21:11builder or contractor. If I'm doing the window
- 21:14treatments, I have pretty much I'm working side by side with
- 21:20the homeowner that's going to buy the home because they're
- 21:23making their selections and we're doing that together based
- 21:26on everything else that they're putting in a room.
- 21:29So it's that's kind of like two different two different answers
- 21:34there. I know.
- 21:34But yeah, so that that's usually how that how that goes.
- 21:40And, you know, there could be, I think we may have had, you know,
- 21:44some builders where, you know, they're building a spec house,
- 21:48you know, so they want to put something nice in, doesn't have
- 21:50to be crazy over the top. But maybe let's put some
- 21:53motorized shades in some common areas like the kitchen and the
- 21:57living room where we can, we, we can put, you know, do that for
- 22:01them before the house is is sold, you know, so that they've
- 22:05got a spec home that's showing some, you know.
- 22:10And I'll also sort of as a side note before I forget, which
- 22:13really doesn't really tell the last question, the awning, the
- 22:16awning and power screen business grew a fair amount last year
- 22:19too. I was actually going to ask
- 22:21about that. Yeah, 'cause we can do awnings
- 22:23up to 30 feet that we did an install last year or was it 2
- 22:26years ago? Last year did a 27 foot, 400 LB
- 22:30awning in Lake George and poor Michelle here up on a ladder
- 22:35helping us with that one. But we can do big ones and
- 22:39they're automated and they're LED lit from underneath.
- 22:42So they're really cool. But but those are nice.
- 22:45And then power screens. Sorry.
- 22:48Oh, no, I I was just going to say it.
- 22:50It's a question on the awnings for for clarification, right?
- 22:54Because I know just recently I became aware of like your
- 23:00motorized pergolas and different outdoor features that have
- 23:06become like really wild and crazy.
- 23:08And so when I hear the word awning, I think of like the old
- 23:12school like business awning. And so I went.
- 23:15But that's not what you're talking about though.
- 23:17That's correct. We're not talking about that at
- 23:19all. There's an array of beautiful
- 23:21fabrics to pick from. Different edging that you can
- 23:24do, obviously different sizes and these are all motorized so
- 23:31there's no old fashioned crank thing going on while you still
- 23:34have that option in case you lose power, but you're that's
- 23:37not how you're operating the awning anymore.
- 23:40And then in the arms of the awning has all of the LED lights
- 23:44which are dimmable so you can make it look very, you know,
- 23:48aesthetically pleasing. And then, you know, in our area
- 23:52too, especially up in Lake George, we also give our clients
- 23:57a wind sensor to go with this awning so that if it's getting
- 24:02too windy, the the awning is going to automatically close.
- 24:05Oh wow, that's very cool. So especially Michael, it's all
- 24:08for awnings. It's all about expanding
- 24:10available living space in in power screens too.
- 24:14We've done some power screens where people their house is back
- 24:16up to to the woods and they can't use their outdoor patio
- 24:19because of the bugs. So we just, we did a couple last
- 24:23year, we just created a whole other room for them essentially
- 24:25by by installing power screens. And well, so, and that's what I
- 24:28was going to ask about in the power screen.
- 24:30So is it essentially you're building out a frame and then
- 24:33these screens can go, can open or close, go down or go?
- 24:37Up exactly right, Yeah. Very sleep looking, yeah.
- 24:40Yes. And how is it?
- 24:44Is there like an app for that so you can control it all from your
- 24:46phone or is it push button on the?
- 24:50Right now it's remote. We're the company that we use
- 24:53manufacturers in Florida. They have a remote, but I
- 24:55believe they're going to go to the the app hopefully this year.
- 24:58Very cool, very cool. I I know we're we're getting
- 25:02close on time here guys, but I want to make sure people know
- 25:05how to find you, where to find you.
- 25:07If they want to talk to you and they want to get started.
- 25:10Well, how do they do that? Sure.
- 25:13Well, our showroom is going to be at Seven O 4 Upper Glenn St.
- 25:19which we're in suite 1. So we're at the very front of
- 25:23the building with all the glass facing Glenn St.
- 25:28As far as, you know, we have a, a, a phone line.
- 25:32You know, of course people can call our, our phone
- 25:34518-863-5525. We have so many phone numbers,
- 25:395525 and of course our emails. I'm
- 25:45mschultzthatstschultz@gotchacovered.com. Yeah.
- 25:50And then of course, our website, you can go there and fill out a,
- 25:55a web contact form for us to give you a call.
- 26:00And we also are on Facebook and Instagram and, and that kind of
- 26:04a thing there where people can reach out to us that way as
- 26:06well. That'll be market 32 shopping
- 26:09grill like got your covered shirt out you'll.
- 26:13See our truck too you'll. See our truck too.
- 26:15Truck is all been wrapped up so it looks pretty good.
- 26:19Very nice. Well, guys, I, I really
- 26:21appreciate you taking time out and coming on the show with us
- 26:23and to help our listeners and readers kind of learn more about
- 26:27who you are and what you're doing.
- 26:28And you know, like I said that we're love it, love what you're
- 26:31doing, love, love the small business community here in the
- 26:34we're in Washington, Saratoga County.
- 26:35So anyway we can help. Let us know and thanks for
- 26:38coming on the show. For having us, Mike, we it was,
- 26:41it was a lot of fun. Thank you very much.
- 26:43We appreciate it. Yeah, no problem, no problem.
- 26:46And of course, thanks everybody for listening.
- 26:48You can find us online at buying local dot US or you can find our
- 26:52podcast on Rumble, YouTube, Spotify and Apple and appreciate
- 26:57you listening and share the show and you'll hear from us next
- 27:00week.