Latest / Vermont Talks / Victoria Klim Co-Owner of VT Heady Labels

Transcript

Victoria Klim Co-Owner of VT Heady Labels · Vermont Talks

• 0:14
  - What's new?
• 0:15
  8 0 2. I'm Becca Hammond and you're listening to Vermont Talks.
• 0:19
  Vermont talks may include graphic or explicit content.
• 0:22
  Listener discretion is advised.
• 0:26
  - Welcome to Vermont Talks.
• 0:28
  This is episode 4 46 and I'm here with Victoria Clem.
• 0:32
  She is a co-owner of Vermont Heady Labels, and they're based in St.
• 0:36
  Alban's, Vermont. And the, see, this is what I mean.
• 0:41
  I always have these moments.
• 0:41
  stickers are hands down the most cost effective way, but often overlooked way to get your brand name out there.
• 0:49
  Vermont Heady Labels likes to bring local artists together with local farmers and creators to collab on the stickers on labels and create something really unique that tells their story.
• 0:58
  And you're working on putting together an art show to show, showcase some of these collabs later this year.
• 1:04
  I love this concept. I know I've already kind of gushed about this, but I need to gush slightly on air because all of the cool beer labels, the craft breweries, the, you know, a lot of marijuana stores are selling such cool labels and things, and that's, that's kind of where you guys are coming in.
• 1:20
  So, welcome, Vicki.
• 1:22
  - Yeah. There's so many cool things being made in Vermont and it's really exciting to be able to talk to people about their products, about their art, about what they're making, and help them get it to the shelves with a really cool label that's gonna catch some attention.
• 1:33
  - Yeah. Yeah. And that's, that's often like kind of a bottleneck.
• 1:36
  Like, oh yeah, I've got a pile of something to sell.
• 1:40
  Or, you know, something's just getting bottled, Hey, we need a label for this thing.
• 1:44
  Like, you can't sell it without the correct labeling.
• 1:46
  And there's all this legality involved in things.
• 1:49
  - I have learned so much about what's required on labels, .
• 1:52
  - Yeah. There, it's not a simple, like, there's a lot of different requirements, especially in the new marijuana business that is blown up in Vermont.
• 2:00
  Like, you can't just, you can't just slut Joe's weed on, uh, on on a joint and be good to go.
• 2:07
  Like there's like QR codes involved.
• 2:10
  - Yeah. You gotta link to test the results.
• 2:12
  You gotta make sure nothing, uh, really advertises to children.
• 2:15
  So nothing too cartoony.
• 2:15
  Um, it's really interesting.
• 2:18
  The, the rules change, uh, every once in a while and we're like, wait, what?
• 2:21
  We gotta put what on the wait labels now?
• 2:23
  So it's really a lot of just constant education.
• 2:26
  - Yeah. And just changing market. It's so new.
• 2:28
  I mean, how old was it five years ago that it was even legal and then the stores didn't even open until what, 20?
• 2:36
  - Yeah, just the past year, year and a half, maybe- That's what I was thinking.
• 2:38
  It, it really hasn't been that long. I think 2021,- We were just looking at the first pre-roll label we made this morning and we got laughing'cause we were like, oh man, they wouldn't let this on the shelves.
• 2:49
  Now we don't have half the warnings on there.
• 2:51
  We don't have weights on there.
• 2:52
  There's just like, barely any info .
• 2:55
  But now, like, now we know what we're doing and we're able to help people.
• 2:58
  'cause so many people don't know.
• 2:59
  It's like you said, they have a product and they, how do I get this to the shelves?
• 3:02
  We're like, okay, we know what you need. Let us help. Right.
• 3:06
  - We're happy to jump.
• 3:06
  Right. We have a checklist.
• 3:07
  We can get you organized.
• 3:09
  'cause I've tr you can't, you need to ask these certain questions of the creator.
• 3:13
  You know, they can send you like, this is the image we want, but you need all of the other things.
• 3:17
  And then to get, get that image file into the correct format is a lot of work.
• 3:22
  - Oh yeah. Sometimes I get pictures off of, uh, like a napkin at wing night and I'm like, okay, well, uh, a vector file would've been easier, but okay, ,- We can work with- This.
• 3:32
  We can work with this. Well- That, that's roughly nice of you.
• 3:35
  'cause a lot of places wouldn't, they wouldn't entertain them.
• 3:37
  But that's kind of the creative aspect.
• 3:39
  Like, where do I start? You gotta start with an idea.
• 3:42
  You don't. And a lot of people don't know where to go from that idea, so.
• 3:45
  Right. That's really nice.
• 3:45
  They actually help people out when they bring you napkin,- .
• 3:50
  Uh, and it's kind of fun'cause some people really don't know what they're looking for in a label.
• 3:52
  They're just like, this is my product.
• 3:54
  And then I get to sit there and be like, all right, well who are you?
• 3:56
  How did you create this product? What's the story?
• 3:59
  And then together we get to make the label and we come up with a good color theme and we come up with good backgrounds.
• 4:03
  And it's, it's really fun to get to know everybody's story. That's- Really cool.
• 4:07
  So are you doing the graphics design behind a lot of this?
• 4:10
  - No. So, uh, my partner Dave, is the man behind the curtain.
• 4:14
  And, uh, I get to talk to the people and then relay the info over to him and he's the artist who's creating all the cool stuff. Got- It.
• 4:21
  Got it. So you're kind of the customer face and you're the one meeting the businesses.
• 4:23
  You said you, you're doing deliveries and drop offs and talking to people when they come here.
• 4:27
  - Oh my goodness. I'm wearing all the hats.
• 4:29
  I'm doing deliveries.
• 4:30
  I am, uh, accepting in stuff on the, on pallets at the warehouse.
• 4:34
  I'm, uh, doing customer service.
• 4:36
  I'm doing order entry, invoicing, you name it.
• 4:38
  I'm, I'm got all the hats on . But it's fun.
• 4:42
  It keeps me busy.
• 4:43
  - I'm so busy. I'm sure. This is fantastic.
• 4:46
  So when did you actually start the business?
• 4:48
  - Oh my goodness. So, uh, last year I was kind of going through a little bit of a growth phase personally, and just wasn't satisfied in what I was doing in, uh, uh, in business and said, I wanna, wanna make a change.
• 5:01
  And so I took a little bit of a leap of faith in October.
• 5:04
  I went for my real estate license and, uh, realized pretty quickly that in order to make money in real estate, you have to actually be selling houses.
• 5:12
  And so I said, all right, I gotta pick up some side projects.
• 5:15
  And one of them was with this guy Dave, uh, and we had met, I was, um, just making some beef jerky and he of course was like, I wanna make the labels for that.
• 5:25
  And so we had randomly gotten a conversation and he needed some help with setting up QuickBooks for his new business.
• 5:32
  And I helped set it up thinking it was a one weekend project.
• 5:35
  And the next thing we knew, uh, I was like, Hey, do you need more help?
• 5:38
  And I helped with the email and then I helped with invoicing.
• 5:41
  And then in October took a full leap of faith and jumped on over and came on here full time in January.
• 5:46
  We moved into the new office in January.
• 5:49
  And things have really just been exploding since January.
• 5:51
  - That's really cool. There's so many different businesses that are selling different products and obviously like, not just work.
• 5:58
  We've already talked about like the marijuana market, the alcohol market, which is absolutely massive in Vermont.
• 6:04
  I think we are like the craft brewery capital of America.
• 6:08
  I don't think any last I knew we were the most microbrews per capita.
• 6:13
  Yes. In the state. Like everyone's got a micro or brewery or is brewing at home locally.
• 6:19
  Like everyone's just somehow involved in brewing something, whether it's beer, whether it's some sort of spirit.
• 6:25
  There's now wine all and all the mixed drinks. There's like a- Yes.
• 6:29
  - Huge market just in alcohol.
• 6:31
  And then marijuana is absolutely blown up.
• 6:33
  But then there's all sorts of other stuff.
• 6:35
  Like, there's literally anything you can think of needs a label. Right, .
• 6:39
  - Exactly. Yeah. I tell people like, oh yeah, we do stickers and labels.
• 6:41
  And they're like, well, what do you do?
• 6:43
  And I'm like, everything. Look around you.
• 6:45
  There's a label on everything.
• 6:45
  You don't even realize.
• 6:48
  Coffee labels and tap handles.
• 6:50
  And like you said, the beverage cans were just branching into that market.
• 6:53
  We just got a new machine to be able to do beverage labels.
• 6:56
  Uh, so yeah. Really everything that's got a sticker or a label on it we're, we're able to help.
• 7:00
  - Right. Even just stickers themselves. People buy stickers.
• 7:04
  People love stickers.
• 7:05
  - I love stickers. , but logo stickers are great.
• 7:09
  It's a great way to get your name out there.
• 7:10
  You can hand them out and, and super cost effective.
• 7:13
  It doesn't cost that much to make a hundred logo stickers and Right.
• 7:17
  Everybody wants one. Yes.
• 7:18
  Say to your friends, you want a sticker? Yeah, of course.
• 7:20
  - Oh, right. And now the, I love QR codes.
• 7:23
  I'm a, I'm obviously a computer door 'cause I write code, but I love the concept of any piece of information, no matter how massive it is.
• 7:32
  Like this entire podcast, this episode can be one QR code to give people an MP three download.
• 7:39
  And like that's a vast, vast piece of information.
• 7:42
  And then that can be made into a sticker. Mm-Hmm.
• 7:44
  and handed out as marketing.
• 7:47
  And like, you can do this with your band albums.
• 7:49
  You can do this with your website for your business, regardless of what it is.
• 7:53
  Like, you can just start making these little pieces of marketing materials.
• 7:57
  Everyone loves a sticker. We stick 'em on our water bottles, we stick 'em on our notebooks, we stick 'em everywhere.
• 8:02
  Yeah. And that little QR code, he could suddenly turn this into this very big network of like, oh, suddenly they have a way to immediately know your message.
• 8:11
  - Right. And there's no way to misspell it.
• 8:13
  Nobody has to type it in.
• 8:14
  It's a quick click and you're there. No- One has to remember anything.
• 8:18
  . I love the concept of like, oh, look at my, this is my band.
• 8:22
  Check out my album. Yeah.
• 8:24
  This is the label that has the imagery from the album with a little QR code and you can go listen to the album, whatever.
• 8:29
  - Yeah. Love that. And you know, it's in their hands.
• 8:32
  You're not walking away going, did they hear what I said? Right,- Right.
• 8:36
  Because they they probably didn't, that's always been one of those moments where like, yeah, I met this really cool person at a show or whatever, you know, whatever marketing event did, did are they ever gonna look me up?
• 8:48
  Right. Like, sure they have to pull up their phone and scan it, but that eliminates so many steps that like, are are they really gonna buy my product?
• 8:57
  Oh, well let me check out what they sell really quickly.
• 9:00
  Yeah. What a, what a great marketing figure- Out.
• 9:03
  And if it's on a cool looking sticker, it's gonna get even more attention. Exactly.
• 9:06
  - All the art. And I love the artist collabs that I'm so excited that you guys are doing that.
• 9:11
  'cause artists in Vermont are abundant.
• 9:14
  There are so many artists.
• 9:15
  And I feel like right now with the whole weird AI movement going on, we need to support our artists as- Much as we can.
• 9:22
  - Gosh, this is like the most beautiful way to do that.
• 9:25
  It really blends artistry, marketing, business, whatever business you want too.
• 9:31
  - So many times people are like, can't you just AI it?
• 9:34
  And I'm like, I'm suppose we could, but I've got an actual artist who wants to create something for you to show off. So. Right,- Right.
• 9:42
  And like I could see that there's so many just questions about like, yeah, can I tell an AI to do it?
• 9:50
  Yeah. But is it gonna look exactly like,- Oh man, - The poor artist whose Instagram was, you know, data mind to create that AI that then created the image. Like, yes,- Moral- Questions- , and I'm all for helps from the robots, but I don't think they should be doing my art.
• 10:09
  I don't want them writing my poetry and making my art go ahead and run the machine that I don't wanna run.
• 10:13
  Exactly. But I don't want you doing my art. Thank you,- .
• 10:17
  Yep. That's exactly what I, I feel about it.
• 10:19
  Do this stuff that people don't want to do.
• 10:22
  Our humanity itself. Like that's what we love to do. Yeah.
• 10:26
  Don't take the things that humans love and make an AI do it.
• 10:30
  That's just like the worst concept to me. It- Totally is.
• 10:33
  - Like, it's kind of the same as like answering the phone.
• 10:36
  Like when I call, I expect to talk to a human. Yeah.
• 10:41
  Like, don't make a robot answer the phone.
• 10:43
  Like, this just seems like face-to-face interactions, artwork, poetry, expression of human, like nature, .
• 10:51
  Yeah. All of these things.
• 10:51
  Like, just let humans do it.
• 10:53
  So I like, oh my goodness.
• 10:54
  I'm glad to hear that you're kind of a approaching it.
• 10:56
  Like, yeah, let's not just AI everything because yeah, you can do that, but man, the quality is not there. Yeah.
• 11:03
  - And then everybody's stuff is gonna look the same.
• 11:05
  - Exactly. Everyone's stuff's gonna look the same.
• 11:07
  It's just, it's And there's so many artists. Yeah.
• 11:10
  There's so many artists. Let's just support the artists. Right,- Right.
• 11:13
  And in Vermont, we got a lot of 'em.
• 11:14
  There's a lot of cool stuff being made, a lot of cool art going on in Vermont. How,- How- Are these- Collaborations coming together?
• 11:22
  Are people coming to you like, yes, this is exactly what I want.
• 11:26
  I already have the image. Please just help me get it on the label.
• 11:29
  Or are you kind of helping them out?
• 11:31
  - Some people do. Some people come and they've already built it themselves in, uh, in Canva or in Photoshop or something.
• 11:37
  And they've, they're ready to just hit print.
• 11:39
  Um, and other people are coming to me saying, I got, uh, something I wanna sell and I don't know what to do next.
• 11:47
  Uh, they don't know what size label they need.
• 11:49
  They, I'm measuring jars.
• 11:51
  I'm going online with links, looking to see what size jars are.
• 11:54
  I actually got a picture of a goose next to a bag.
• 11:57
  And so I had , I was asking everyone, what's the average size of a goose?
• 12:01
  'cause I think I need to find out how tall the goose is to figure out how big the bag is.
• 12:06
  . And so it's really, it's fun.
• 12:08
  Um, you just never know what help people are gonna need.
• 12:11
  But some of them do come ready to go.
• 12:13
  But a lot of times it's just getting to know people.
• 12:15
  And what kind of, what colors do you like?
• 12:17
  What, what's your story behind this product?
• 12:19
  Let's make something, you know, oh, you're getting married.
• 12:22
  All right, well let's do something along the wedding theme.
• 12:25
  Oh, you're having a baby.
• 12:25
  Let's do something along that theme.
• 12:27
  And like, it's really cool.
• 12:29
  - That's so interesting.
• 12:30
  So how are you keeping a running tally?
• 12:33
  I know you've been printing like crazy.
• 12:34
  Do you know how many stickers, different designs and labels you have printed?
• 12:39
  - Oh my goodness. I don't, but that's a good, I should ask Dave.
• 12:43
  Uh, we did, let's see, what, what did we have?
• 12:45
  We had some crazy fact.
• 12:47
  It was like 55,000 prints, um, in the month of December, I think it was.
• 12:52
  Wow. It was, it was insane.
• 12:52
  It was a crazy number.
• 12:55
  - Yeah. That's really imp impress for such a brand new business.
• 12:57
  That's amazing. Yeah. Especially Right.
• 12:59
  You said out of Dave's garage, you've been printing every- Day, Dave?
• 13:02
  Well, so Dave was running a sticker company, um, called Sticker Fam out of his garage for I think seven or eight years, possibly more now.
• 13:09
  And just really started branching into the label market.
• 13:12
  And so for a while we were doing two businesses.
• 13:14
  He was keeping sticker fam on the side, and then I was helping him out with the labels for Vermont Hady labels.
• 13:20
  And in January we were like, all right, let's just make this one stickers, labels, we're doing it all.
• 13:24
  Yep. Um, and at least then he can kind of stop looking in his email and send it all my way and I'll, I send him all the orders and everything.
• 13:31
  Right. To keep it a little more organized.
• 13:32
  - Yeah. I'm sure that helps.
• 13:34
  And it, it makes total sense too.
• 13:35
  I feel like stickers, you've gotta combine them almost in your head because really a label mostly is a sticker in most ways, except for all the information and all of the extra work to get it right.
• 13:48
  And also just the material, the, the fact that you're put like, can labels, that's a whole different Oh- Yeah.
• 13:55
  So I, and like, everything's such an education for me.
• 13:57
  'cause my background is not design.
• 13:58
  Dave went to, uh, Champlain College, he has a background in design.
• 14:02
  He's been doing this forever.
• 14:03
  And I'm like, um, what is, what's the difference between a kiss print and a, uh, like, I don't know, all these things.
• 14:10
  So it's really cool to like learn all this different stuff, but like the beverage cans, there's two ways to put labels on a beverage can and it's either wet or dry. Oh,- Interesting.
• 14:21
  - Yeah. And so if the, if some labels get wet on the outside, it's gonna run the ink.
• 14:25
  So you have to know what kind of machine you're working with.
• 14:28
  And, uh, I guess a lot of the industry's getting away from the wet application.
• 14:32
  So we just got a new dry application machine.
• 14:35
  Um, we're super excited.
• 14:36
  We're branching out, uh, into the beverage market and Cool.
• 14:40
  Um, just got, got an order for some ginger beers out of Burlington, so like really excited to get into that.
• 14:47
  Um, but the machine actually just arrived like two weeks ago.
• 14:49
  So really just branching into that market. really- Cool.
• 14:54
  So you had mentioned that you're actually helping put labels on jars.
• 14:58
  You're helping actually do, you're not just handing, which I'm sure you do like hand off a roll of labels, but you're actually helping get things labeled.
• 15:06
  - Oh, yeah. And I will, uh, admit at the very beginning it was hand application- .
• 15:12
  Yeah. Well that, that's, I worked for a biotech sold for what, like $2 billion and we put labels on by hand for a hundred thousand dollars units.
• 15:20
  So yes. I don't think it's not professional as long as that thing's on straight .
• 15:24
  - Yeah, right. Exactly.
• 15:24
  And it's some late nights and you get the music going.
• 15:28
  And it didn't take long before we were like, all right, we need an automatic machine.
• 15:32
  And so now we have an automatic machine.
• 15:34
  It does, uh, about 250, 300 jars in about 30 minutes.
• 15:39
  Wow. Uh, so we can really crank through, get some labels on there. Right.
• 15:42
  - And you can work on all the other things you've got going on and Exactly.
• 15:46
  Not be sitting there placing labels by hand.
• 15:48
  - Yeah. It'll just scream if it has an issue. . Yeah.
• 15:51
  - That's nice. That's super cool.
• 15:52
  So are you actually gonna label the cans?
• 15:55
  I don't understand the can labeling or the bottle labeling.
• 15:59
  Are you gonna actually be labeling the bottles themselves and then delivering the bottles to be filled?
• 16:03
  - Uh, so the cans will get filled on the line, which is actually in the other side of the building.
• 16:09
  Oh, yep. Uh, and then we pass the labels off to them and while it's still going down the line, they have a machine that'll put 'em right on there for 'em. Perfect.
• 16:17
  - Yeah. Perfect. Very cool.
• 16:17
  That's really interesting.
• 16:19
  This whole process is interesting.
• 16:21
  - Yeah, it's, it's really neat.
• 16:23
  Like we get to put labels on sometimes we just pass 'em off to people and they hand apply 'em and then when they hear that we can a automatically apply 'em.
• 16:29
  A lot of times they're like, next time we'll have you put those on. Yeah. 'cause it's- A lot, it's a lot of work.
• 16:35
  And I mean, every part of a business is a lot of work.
• 16:38
  But labeling your stuff oof.
• 16:40
  That can, some people are like, that's the worst job trying to get a sticker on straight.
• 16:44
  I am one of those people. I do not like putting stickers on.
• 16:48
  It's not the most fun thing in the world for me.
• 16:51
  - I have asked a lot of friends for help over the past month or so, and a lot of people have said that.
• 16:56
  They're like, no, no, no, I can't get it on straight.
• 16:58
  But our stickers are very forgiving . That's nice.
• 17:01
  And they come off very easily and go back on straight . Nice.
• 17:04
  - So are they, do you know, are they mostly vinyl stickers, like waterproof ink, that kind of thing?
• 17:09
  - Yeah. So, uh, I want to start doing some reels on Instagram showing how waterproof these things are.
• 17:15
  You can run 'em through the dishwasher to clean 'em. Nice.
• 17:17
  You can throw 'em in a waterfall.
• 17:19
  Uh, they're completely waterproof.
• 17:21
  And our laminated stuff will keep from color fading for like eight, 10 years.
• 17:25
  Like really nice. Yeah.
• 17:25
  Really good stickers.
• 17:27
  Very cool. Long lasting.
• 17:28
  - That's important. Quality product.
• 17:30
  'cause I wanna stick water bottle, like water bottle stickers are, I love water bottle stickers.
• 17:35
  I wanna run my algae through the dishwasher . Right.
• 17:38
  I still wanna wash it. Exactly. Exactly.
• 17:41
  And just getting a nice sticker.
• 17:43
  'cause I know a lot of companies, there's, there's a million sticker companies in this world, a million sticker companies.
• 17:50
  A lot of them are not good quality.
• 17:51
  I've bought so many stickers off Amazon or whatever that I was very sad.
• 17:56
  I bought stickers off Temu or how Temu Yeah.
• 18:00
  - I'm,- However you pronounce it, they were a dollar for 50.
• 18:04
  I'm like, fine, I'll buy these. Yeah.
• 18:05
  'cause I thought they were cute. They're the worst quality stickers.
• 18:08
  . Like, I'm actively annoyed at these stickers because I stuck them on and they immediately are not adhesive.
• 18:15
  Like, oh no, they peeled off and are not adhesive.
• 18:17
  Like, well, that was a dollar 50 wasted.
• 18:20
  But granted I spent a dollar 50 on them, but like a good quality sticker that has like the correct colors and doesn't bleed.
• 18:28
  - Yeah. It's fully centered .
• 18:30
  - Yes. Like that, that border thing.
• 18:32
  I've noticed that on some cheaper ones.
• 18:34
  And just like we were pieces sticking up off the sticker, like where they cut the- Matrix,- It just, yeah.
• 18:42
  There's, there's a lot to be said for a good sticker.
• 18:46
  It's funny 'cause I think, I don't know if you're a sticker person, I feel like maybe you don't notice all the little details depending on what you're sticking it on.
• 18:55
  But people like me, water bottle sticker people Yes.
• 18:58
  They know, they know those stickers.
• 19:00
  We could go anywhere else.
• 19:00
  It's just money wasted.
• 19:04
  And it's like, I, I just think of all the different people who can use stickers for marketing. I love bands.
• 19:09
  - Oh my gosh, everybody,- I'm such a huge band nerd.
• 19:12
  And almost every single band has stickers on their merch tables.
• 19:16
  Yes. So there, and there's probably the most giant music scene for a small city in Burlington.
• 19:24
  There's gotta be like 500 bands at least easily. Yeah.
• 19:27
  500 bands around that.
• 19:27
  They need marketing stuff.
• 19:31
  They need stickers.
• 19:32
  - Right. I heard you on one of your previous podcasts talking to someone in a band who was saying she needed stickers.
• 19:37
  And it was hard to find people who did a low quantity qu.
• 19:40
  And they're like, we'll print any quantity.
• 19:42
  If you want four stickers, we'll print four stickers.
• 19:44
  It's probably gonna cost you a little more. Right.
• 19:46
  But we'll print them, we'll print however many you want, which is really nice too.
• 19:49
  Um, I think for Vermonters, like, we don't need you to have, uh, 10,000 stickers.
• 19:55
  We'll give out whatever many you want.
• 19:56
  We'll help you get it done.
• 19:56
  We'll make sure it's right.
• 19:59
  And if for some reason it's not right, well we'll help you make sure it's right.
• 20:01
  We'll print it again. You know, we'll make sure you got what you want.
• 20:04
  - Right. And when they can buy. Okay.
• 20:07
  You know, I need 250 stickers for my merch table.
• 20:11
  I'm, you know, I'm banned.
• 20:13
  I don't wanna invest all my money in this.
• 20:15
  They're trying to balance like, how much did we get paid to play that show for Right.
• 20:19
  Buying merch. Because getting, like, doing your own runs of any sort of album, like final albums are extremely, like, those are very expensive.
• 20:28
  Doing cassette runs expensive, doing anything for your March table gets expensive.
• 20:33
  So I love being able to support local businesses.
• 20:36
  Like, yes, you can come to Vermont Heady Labels, you can get your stickers printed.
• 20:41
  You could use a local artist's work. I, I really love.
• 20:45
  So let's talk a little bit about the showcase idea.
• 20:48
  This whole collaboration idea.
• 20:49
  Because bringing, you know, someone who needs a sticker together with someone who can design a sticker.
• 20:56
  Yeah. That's, that's a beautiful thing.
• 20:58
  Like how, how are you planning on doing this?
• 21:00
  - So we work with different artists for our designs and things.
• 21:03
  And uh, on the other side, we work with a lot of different farmers who are growing cannabis or other products.
• 21:10
  And they come to us and we're like, all right, we hear what you're saying.
• 21:13
  I've got this artist who really kind of can draw what you're talking about really?
• 21:17
  Well. Like, this sounds like a good pair.
• 21:19
  And we'll introduce 'em.
• 21:20
  And they, and then like a lot of people just think, oh, I need a label.
• 21:24
  But it's like, wait, do you have a logo?
• 21:26
  Do you have a logo sticker?
• 21:27
  Do you need a label for anything else?
• 21:29
  Or are you just making one run, one product?
• 21:32
  And then it's like, oh wait, yeah, maybe I need t-shirts.
• 21:34
  Maybe I need Right. And we can do all of these things too.
• 21:37
  We can do t-shirts. We can do hats.
• 21:38
  We can do banners. We can- Oh, cool.
• 21:41
  I didn't realize. So you're doing, uh, what do, what do they call this?
• 21:44
  Like big printing, materials, printing, I forgot what exactly- The term is.
• 21:49
  Yeah, it's like direct to garment printing that's we can do.
• 21:52
  Um, and then we've also got another guy who can do, um, like embroidered printing.
• 21:57
  Cool. Um, so yeah.
• 21:58
  And it's really nice to be able to one, stop shopping.
• 22:02
  Like, everything you got, we can get it in for you.
• 22:04
  We can get all your merch and get you going.
• 22:06
  - That's so cool. I love this whole idea.
• 22:08
  I love this idea of collaboration between different- Yeah.
• 22:12
  And so we're like super excited to work with these different artists and get involved in local events.
• 22:15
  We've been sponsoring a lot of different local things and then we're really hoping to bring it all together, um, hopefully at the end of this year.
• 22:22
  But I don't wanna commit to a date yet. Oh yeah.
• 22:24
  But we're hoping to bring it all together. Planning these things is- A lot. Don't .
• 22:27
  - Yeah. And just like show off like local Vermont art with local Vermont products and like, what have we created this year?
• 22:33
  Let's show this to people. Let's- See.
• 22:35
  I love this idea. Oh.
• 22:36
  'cause you can do, it's almost like a gallery type thing,- Right? Exactly.
• 22:39
  - Like let's bring all the artists in, but also bring in the business owners. Like Yeah.
• 22:44
  - The products related to that.
• 22:45
  - I could see this being such a cool event where it is like a gallery showing, but you also have like, Hey, maybe this business owner can speak, maybe this people kind of just talking and- Collaborating. A great networking event.
• 22:56
  - Exactly. A networking event with both a business aspect.
• 23:01
  Like Yes. How can we help grow these different business sectors through artwork, through- This idea,- A cultured art, this idea labeling.
• 23:10
  Like Yeah. Like yeah.
• 23:10
  We're kind of the bridge in between the art, the culture, the community, the people who are trying to get their business up off the ground and their product sold.
• 23:20
  This is so cool. I love this idea.
• 23:22
  I really love the, the concept there.
• 23:24
  So please keep me informed on this.
• 23:26
  - I will, I'll definitely make sure you're there.
• 23:28
  We should design a logo sticker for you.
• 23:30
  - Yep. Seriously. We should.
• 23:31
  Because mine, I have done my very best, but I, I feel like I get overwhelmed.
• 23:37
  I'm like, oh yes. Um, okay. It's good enough now.
• 23:40
  - . It's- Good enough now.
• 23:42
  I really do enjoy doing these things'cause I, I, I end up being so busy that I don't get to spend as much time doing art and music as I would love to do.
• 23:50
  But yeah. If I could,- If there was only a few more hours in the day, , oh- Man, I really need to design something.
• 23:56
  It's funny that you brought that up'cause I do, I really wanna do some marketing for my podcast.
• 24:00
  Yeah. And bring more business owners on and just help.
• 24:04
  'cause I love talking when I can actually bring up other people I've talked to and say, oh yeah, this makes a good connection to this other business.
• 24:11
  Yes. So yes. I love the idea of getting my name out there a- Lot more.
• 24:15
  I love your little Vermont with the headphones.
• 24:17
  I think that would make a great logo sticker.
• 24:19
  - I thought something about the shape of Vermont.
• 24:21
  I'm like, it feels like a, we could make this a head somehow.
• 24:25
  . Yes. I dunno that I did the best job in the world, but I I really like this idea. Vicki .
• 24:32
  - We've been involved in a few other events already.
• 24:35
  Uh, the banner right behind me that has kind of the Vegas theme.
• 24:37
  Yeah. We made that for the Vermont Growers Association, uh, because of all the flooding in the past year.
• 24:43
  They put together a poker night in December.
• 24:47
  And so they were looking for sponsors.
• 24:48
  We helped sponsor the event.
• 24:50
  And in exchange for sponsoring, they let me be a poker dealer.
• 24:54
  - . Oh, nice. That's cool.
• 24:56
  - It was so much fun. I was taught by actual Vegas dealers and I got to deal blackjack for the night and all the proceeds went to helping all the farms that were flooded out last year.
• 25:06
  So that was really nice.
• 25:07
  In March, we've uh, helped sponsor the side surfers slalom over at Sugar Bush.
• 25:13
  So we'll be there. Um, and we're just trying to get involved in different events around the state.
• 25:18
  We've, uh, done a few different concerts last year with the Cannabis Retailers Association, which was raising money for the flooding as well.
• 25:25
  So it's really cool.
• 25:25
  We're looking to collab and get involved in a lot of different things in the state.
• 25:30
  - That's really nice that you're helping out with the, the flood relief. I- Who thought we would've had that much flooding last year?
• 25:37
  - My goodness. I I'm so scared about the whole thing because I don't, I don't think we're gonna get less water - No.
• 25:43
  Spring is coming back around.
• 25:44
  - Yeah, exactly. And they've been saying for, I remember being a kid in elementary school, the first time I heard them say that they really thought is climate change affected this area.
• 25:55
  Vermont was gonna turn into a temperate rainforest. Yeah.
• 25:59
  And I've never, like, I must have been probably 10 years old and I getting older and older and watching how much rain and water and how little snow Did- We have a winter- This year?
• 26:09
  Exactly. It's, it's February and it was 50 degrees. Yeah.
• 26:14
  Like we don't get two, three feet of snow.
• 26:16
  We used to have three feet of snow and it would stay Mm-Hmm.
• 26:18
  And now it's like constantly melting.
• 26:20
  Constantly raining. Yeah.
• 26:22
  - We're lucky if we get a couple inches of snow.
• 26:24
  Oh, it's been a crazy winter.
• 26:25
  - It's been a crazy time.
• 26:25
  . Yeah. In general.
• 26:29
  So, you know, anything we can do to help our neighbors out because there's a lot of places where sadly the lower income people ended up on right.
• 26:38
  On the rivers and they're the ones poor people in bay.
• 26:40
  I feel so bad because they're Oh my goodness.
• 26:42
  Right on the river and like that's and- Like Plainfield and that whole area. Holy cow.
• 26:47
  - Yeah. And that's where a lot of people live is right along the riverbanks in Vermont as naturally we all, that's how we built towns in New England.
• 26:55
  - That's where it needed to be.
• 26:56
  - That's exactly, it makes sense back in the day and now as the water's rising, it's a little scary.
• 27:01
  So thank thank you guys for helping out and helping, you know, contribute to those funds.
• 27:07
  That's really important.
• 27:07
  I love this whole idea.
• 27:10
  I'm so excited for your business.
• 27:12
  I'm so amazing how many labels you're already printing and I'm hoping that, hoping you guys can keep going and just helping all of these different businesses out and artists and people.
• 27:21
  And I hope that we can help get more people in touch with you.
• 27:25
  - Yes. I wanna make more stickers and labels.
• 27:28
  - What do you think?
• 27:28
  Are you sending people to your website first?
• 27:32
  Where are you sending people to get in touch with you?
• 27:35
  - Um, so amazingly, and I'm really proud to say this, it's been a lot of word of mouth, which is like the best way to advertise, uh, for me at least.
• 27:44
  'cause we're, I don't feel like we're a factory.
• 27:46
  We're not mass producing.
• 27:46
  We wanna know everybody.
• 27:48
  We want that word of mouth recommendation.
• 27:50
  We wanna get to know you.
• 27:51
  Um, so I love that we've had such a business boost based on that way.
• 27:56
  But we do have a website.
• 27:56
  Um, I've half built it.
• 27:59
  Uh, it's there, it's under construction.
• 28:01
  I like to say we're printing out a new one.
• 28:03
  , but it is from vt heady labels.com.
• 28:07
  Um, we've got an Instagram VT heady labels.
• 28:10
  You can contact us there or just info at Vermont Heady Labels.
• 28:14
  Uh, that goes right to me.
• 28:16
  - Perfect. And obviously come give you a call. Right?
• 28:20
  Can they, can they pick up the phone and call the business? Is that- Easy for you guys? Oh my- Goodness, yes.
• 28:25
  You've clearly got brilliant things on your plate, so maybe it's not the easiest to always pick up the phone, but it's the, it's awfully nice if they have questions Yes. To say,- Hey, can- 30- Seconds text email, uh, 8 0 2 3 1 8 2 6 0 0 is the number.
• 28:39
  Uh, feel free to shoot a text or a phone call.
• 28:41
  And yeah, anybody you wanna get ahold of us,- That's fantastic.
• 28:44
  I'm so happy for you, Vicki.
• 28:44
  This is such a cool business.
• 28:47
  Thanks. It's in St. Alvin's Industrial Park. You're here.
• 28:51
  Are you here every day?
• 28:52
  What's what's the schedule been like here?
• 28:55
  - ? I feel like I have moved in here.
• 28:57
  Um, we, uh, we have been printing almost seven days a week for the past month or so.
• 29:03
  Um, still trying to work on work life balance and make sure that we have enough lost time.
• 29:08
  But yeah, things have been great. We're here all the time.
• 29:11
  Uh, pretty much anytime via text or email or call, you're gonna get ahold of us.
• 29:14
  It doesn't take too long to get a response back, so that's- Awesome.
• 29:18
  And I know I'm jumping around a little bit, but when do you think you're gonna be able to move the rest of the equipment out of Dave's garage?
• 29:24
  - , we just started yesterday.
• 29:26
  We're hoping to be done by the end of the weekend.
• 29:28
  So I would imagine Dave will be printing outta here next week, which is very exciting. Such- A new space.
• 29:34
  I, I, I'm encroaching on your brand new space coming in here.
• 29:38
  So thank you so much for inviting me here.
• 29:40
  Thank you for talking to me about your business.
• 29:43
  I'm so excited to help, help boost you guys up.
• 29:46
  And I love this collaboration idea.
• 29:48
  I really want to go to this event and meet people. Yes.
• 29:51
  We are making art here. I I love this whole idea. Vicki.
• 29:54
  - Congrats. I I hope the next time you come by, we have our glass display cases so you can see all of the things.
• 30:00
  Um, right now I'm just sticking stickers all over the walls in the filing cabinets.
• 30:03
  . So a display case might be better for me. .
• 30:07
  - Oh yeah, you need some boards in case you ever have to move.
• 30:10
  If your business blows up, you might, you might need some, uh, something you can take with you when you- Go. Yes,- .
• 30:16
  Cool. So tell me, Vicki, anything else that you wanna share about the business, about yourself, any new ideas, anything you really want your customers to know?
• 30:27
  - Oh man.
• 30:29
  I feel like that's the most high pressure question. .
• 30:31
  Oh, I'm sorry. I'm sorry.
• 30:31
  That's okay. Let's see.
• 30:34
  What have we not covered? Um, we are, we can do just about everything.
• 30:41
  We, we covered that.
• 30:42
  We talked about banners, we talked about stickers.
• 30:44
  - Yeah. The, the printing of t-shirts. Like that's a,- It's a lot of things that people don't think about.
• 30:50
  - I didn't realize you did that. Right? Like banner printing is huge.
• 30:53
  Bands need banners.
• 30:54
  I was literally reading that two weeks ago on one of my friends who's in a band in Burlington.
• 30:59
  It's like, where'd you get your banner done? Yeah.
• 31:02
  Vermont Heady Labels can make you a banner with a giant QR code on it.
• 31:07
  - QR codes on thing. Oh my gosh.
• 31:09
  We talked about QR codes earlier, and I forgot to mention, we had someone recently, so the CCB requires a QR code to your test results for your cannabis labels.
• 31:17
  So I had that on there for him.
• 31:19
  And he said, but I also do voiceovers.
• 31:21
  Could you do a second QR code to my website?
• 31:24
  And I was like, yes, of course.
• 31:26
  And you'll see that label right next to you there has three QR codes. .
• 31:30
  - Oh wow.
• 31:30
  - Uh, yeah. And QR code's.
• 31:33
  Super easy way to get all of your information out there for everybody. .
• 31:36
  - That's so cool. Oh wow. Liquid swords.
• 31:40
  What in the heck is a liquid sword? That thing is huge.
• 31:43
  Look at how big that label- wraps around a four ounce- Jar.
• 31:47
  Okay. Got it. That makes sense.
• 31:48
  That's exactly why it's so long.
• 31:50
  - We're doing hot sauce labels, coffee bag labels, you name it, it's got a label.
• 31:54
  You just don't even realize how many things. Amazing.
• 31:57
  Have vinyl stickers on them, but they're everywhere.
• 31:59
  - I love that you guys are doing so many different things so quickly. This is,- Oh, and seriously, that's one of our things that we pride ourselves on too, is our turnaround time.
• 32:08
  It's five days, seven days.
• 32:10
  It's, oh, that's f it's really fast.
• 32:11
  We'll get those stickers back in your hands'. A- All companies can do too.
• 32:15
  So if someone needs an emergency thing, like, Hey, I really need this for this event this weekend.
• 32:20
  - It- You up- .
• 32:23
  It happens Friday at four o'clock.
• 32:24
  I needed a thing for tomorrow.
• 32:26
  - Hmm. Right. How much of a thing ?
• 32:30
  I Nothing. Please, please give Vicki at least three days, if not a week. . Correct.
• 32:35
  - I prefer a week. I can do 24 hours if we have to. .
• 32:39
  - Oh, this is so nice.
• 32:39
  I've, these are the kind of Vermont businesses that I just love seeing.
• 32:44
  It makes me really happy. Warms my heart to see these kinds of things.
• 32:47
  Yeah. Because it's so collaborative. I keep it local.
• 32:50
  Keep it in Vermont. Love- It.
• 32:52
  Yes. Support Vermont.
• 32:52
  Vermonters supporting Vermonters. I love it. Exactly.
• 32:55
  - Okay. All right. Is there anything, anything Last thoughts, Vicki?
• 32:59
  - Uh, pH The only thing on my brain right now is the solar eclipse.
• 33:03
  I've had so many people request solar eclipse labels lately.
• 33:06
  . That's- Gonna, that's such a interesting business.
• 33:09
  Boom. Such a unique thing. I really, I- It's gonna be huge for Vermont, apparently. Yeah.
• 33:15
  - Oh, it's gonna be really big for, I can't believe how many people were, you know, keep asking questions about like, has anyone got anywhere I can stay?
• 33:23
  I wanna come up to Vermont for this, this specific event.
• 33:27
  Like this is such a weird time of year where we typically don't have massive amounts of people.
• 33:33
  Like we get massive amounts of people in the fall, but not normally in the spring.
• 33:36
  This might be interesting if people get stuck in the mud- .
• 33:40
  Oh my goodness. Seriously. Especially with- The weather being so warm while- I, I better start printing No parking signs now.
• 33:45
  The banners. No parking - With an- Eclipse.
• 33:49
  Right, right. ,- Uh, Vicki, thank you so much for coming on the show today.
• 33:53
  - Oh, Becca, it was great chatting with you. Yeah,- This has been fantastic.
• 33:56
  Okay, so vt heady labels.com.
• 33:56
  Yes. Check them out there.
• 34:00
  I'm gonna have all the links and some pictures of the place and some pictures of your labels on the show notes for today's episode, which will be at Vermont talks.com/four six.
• 34:10
  And I think that's it. Thank you so much, Vicky. Thank you.
• 34:13
  Have a great day everybody. Bye.
• 34:16
  - Thanks so much for listening to the end of the show.
• 34:19
  Subscribe to Vermont Talks on your favorite podcasting platform.
• 34:22
  You can find me on YouTube, Instagram, Facebook all over the web.
• 34:26
  Contact becca@vermonttalks.com if you'd like to be interviewed or if you know someone who should be.
• 34:31
  Thanks so much to Jason Baker for creating the show music.
• 34:35
  The views and opinions expressed by the guests or those of the individuals and do not necessarily reflect the official policy or position of Vermont talks.
• 34:42
  Any content or statements provided by our guests are of their opinion and are not intended to malign any religion, ethnic group, club, organization, company, individual, anyone or anything.
• 34:52
  And that's what was new in the 8 0 2. Have a great day.