← Business of Home Podcast
Business of Home Podcast
A YouTube primer from Lone Fox
00:42:45
The megapopular YouTuber and content creator shares tips, tricks and insights
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This is business of home.
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I'm your host, Dennis Scully. Every week I'll be speaking with leaders and innovators from all corners of the home industry.
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My guest this week is content creator
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Drew Michael Scott, better known as Lone Fox. Drew grew up on YouTube, starting his first channel at age 12. Almost two decades later, he's become one
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of the biggest voices in DIY and
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design on the platform, with nearly 2 million followers, not to mention his 1.5 million on Instagram. Drew doesn't pretend to be an interior designer.
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He loves to learn alongside his audience
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and embraces the journey clip by clip.
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I spoke with Drew about why he's
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opened up a shop dedicated to vintage pieces, which social media platform has the least friendly algorithm, and why he still edits every video himself. This podcast is sponsored by Kohler. Kohler has always embraced the belief that design is more than aesthetics. It's a powerful force to shape experiences. Kohler smart toilets are proof of the power of design and its ability to elevate how we live and feel. The Kohler Vail smart toilet with its sculptural curved silhouette is like nothing you might imagine when picturing a toilet. And that's the point. Transform a bathroom into something extraordinary. Discover Vail and all Kohler smart toilets@kohler.com this podcast is sponsored by Ernesta. Every designer has a rug story. The one that arrived two inches too short or the one that arrived way too late. Ernesta was built to fix exactly that. With rugs cut to your client's exact dimensions and delivered in as little as two weeks. Ernesta helps everything run smoothly from order to placement. Join Ernesta's trade program for dedicated one on one support, preferred pricing and unlimited samples, ensuring a beautiful finish for your next project. Apply today@ernesta.com Bohemia that's ernesta.com Boh and now on with the show.
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Well, I want to tell people about your background and how you got started. I feel like you've been doing this almost your entire life. So I mean, tell me literally.
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Yes, I have been on YouTube. I started on YouTube in like, I think my first upload was in 2013. It literally says on YouTube. Uploaded 13 years ago. I still have my first channel and my first channel was a scrapbooking channel channel. So it was still in the creative realm. But I actually had got a cricut like cutting machine for my birthday one year and I was looking to YouTube to figure out how to use it and I was like, I want to make videos too. So I started posting my own Tutorials on how to use a cricut machine. And it kind of evolved from there. I had that channel for a couple years, and then from there, I had a fashion channel. I went to a fashion college, and so I thought they coincided nicely. And then I actually got a job at West Elm towards the end of, like, my fashion school because I needed just extra income on the side. And that's where I kind of started dabbling in interior. And they quickly changed me from an in store sales associate to be an in home stylist. So I was going to people's houses and, like, restyling their homes. And I had literally no background in interior design, but I was good with, like. I think the scrapbooking, I swear, helped me because I look at rooms honestly, like a scrapbook page. You have, like, your focal points, you have, like, your embellishments. You have, like, all your little accents and things, and they're all layered in a way that's supposed to feel kind of, you know, cohesive and artistic. So I kind of look at rooms, like, the same way I feel. So I kind of went from there and started sharing what I knew on my YouTube channel, which then I still going. I kind of dabbled into DIY because I really wanted to kind of. I really wanted my room and my spaces in my house to start looking like these ones I was seeing on Architectural Digest and on Pinterest. And so I started to DIY a lot of what I was using in my space. So, like, a new chair for my desk or a new desk for my computer. And I was sharing those projects on my channel, which kind of started the Lone Fox channel.
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A
Okay. And so what made you. So what made you want to create Lone Fox? And what's Lone Fox? And who is.
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Who is Lone Fox?
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C
Yeah, so Lone Fox actually kind of stemmed. It's probably, like, my fourth YouTube channel that I had. So I've gone through iterations, which I think is fine. And people can, like, also realize that your first thing doesn't have to be, like, what, you know, what it is. You can always change. Because I realized after my first three channels, kind of what I wanted to change about my Lone Fox channel. And I knew I wanted it to be something that was more branded as its own thing and not, like, branded as my name, because my fashion channel was my name. And I just felt like it didn't have the strong enough push to go where I wanted it to. I just wanted it to kind of be able to create this new world that people can kind of immerse themselves into. And like Lone Fox, it kind of was a random name that I came up with. But essentially, foxes typically travel in packs, so they kind of. They follow the masses. So Lone Fox is the one that kind of steers away from what everyone else is doing and kind of does their own thing. Yeah, they really like that unique, original feel. And so I think that also comes with the nature of diying. And a lot of, like, I love doing things by hand. And a lot of my makeovers, I'm very hands on with my projects, so I'm the one doing all the woodwork and all the painting and swapping the knobs and the plumbing as well. So, like, I really like being hands on with my projects and understanding and then sharing that knowledge on YouTube with my audience so they can kind of feel more comfortable with their own projects.
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Well, and that's one of the things I find so fascinating about you is you seem to be a speed learner. Yeah, right. And so you throw yourself into understanding the process and then you educate others about it through your YouTube.
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Yeah, that's very true. Because a lot of times my. My videos too are the first time I've done something. It's like me documenting the first time I've tried this technique. But through the process of that, it's also nice to be able to share with, like, what I've noticed that I didn't like. It's not like I've done it a few times and I haven't been able to share, you know, what went wrong. A lot of times I am sharing also what went wrong in the process, why I don't actually like this product anymore and how I would change this to get a different result. I actually do a lot of things twice, which sounds funny, but that's for my short form content. A lot of times now with, now with the rise of, like, short form, I have to film it vertically and I have to film it horizontally. And I actually do a lot of my projects two times to do that because it's really hard to film both at the same time.
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Okay, so I want to delve into all of that, what you just outlined, but to catch listeners up what I'm really trying to get for them from this conversation. And I love how you talked about sort of different iterations of yourself over various YouTube channels and made it clear that you could just create something completely different on another channel. Yeah, yeah. And so I want to help people understand YouTube as this entrepreneurial tool, as this way to build whether it's an enterprise, a business, whatever you might want it to be and you might figure it out as you go along. But you just mentioned so now the rise of short form versus longer form. So tell me what you mean specifically and what's coming up for you.
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Yeah, definitely. So I would. I've always had YouTube as like kind of like the primary focus of my social platforms. Even with the rise of TikTok and Instagram Reels and the short form content, I definitely had to adapt and like I started posting a little less on my YouTube channel just because I'm still someone that edits all my content. I'm just control freak in that aspect of it. But I do think that the YouTube audience I build is definitely or have built is definitely my strongest audience. And it's also my like, whenever I come with like a new idea or I want to share something, it's also where I feel like I get the best response and like the most fulfilling comments and the people are most engaged with my content. And I feel like that's just because you're sitting with that person normally for around like 10 to 20 minutes per video, whereas short form, you really are just with them for 20 to 50 seconds and then you're kind of on to the next thing. And it's so easy to kind of forget about what you were just watching. But there's something about YouTube that you just have. You just build more of a connection with that viewer. Even if you watch one video, you're most likely to build more of a connection with that viewer than if you were to watch another content creator's 10 different TikTok videos. But I also love YouTube because I feel like it's still the platform that hasn't like the algorithm on YouTube has always stayed the same like your videos. I've never noticed over my 13 years of videos like a decline in my views unless the video was genuinely not a good video. And I also. The thing I love is YouTube gives you description box where you could put 55 links in it. And it's not hiding it from anybody. And it's not. If you put 55 links in it, it's not dragging your video down in the algorithm. So it doesn't make people leave the platform, if that makes sense. I've always found that YouTube has been a great place if you want to promote a product, because a lot of times on Instagram Reels and TikTok you can't put a link on either of those. They're watching the video and you're hoping that they're going to the site and purchasing the product. Whereas on YouTube you can put a direct link. I mean, you can post a story and put a link there, but it's very different, not the same. And then when you post a story link, Instagram ensures that your story link is dragged down in views. They don't want you leaving the platform. Whereas I feel like YouTube has never really done that. And I've also felt like YouTube's really how I built all my other platforms too. I pushed people from my YouTube channel and it was a lot easier for me to be like, go follow my TikTok and go follow my Instagram from YouTube. Whereas it's. I feel like it's a lot harder to go from like Instagram and be like, go follow my TikTok or go follow my, my YouTube. The, the kind of call to action doesn't seem to go through. I just have noticed YouTube being such a strong conversion platform. And also people really like tuning back in and they like the consistency of it too. Even with me having my store now, like the amount of people that have come in and be like, we wait for your videos every single Sunday, like moms and their kids like, or like mom and husband, like, being like, we watch every single Sunday. Like everyone really likes the consistency of that. So it's a lot more search friendly. I also feel like for YouTube, so if you are someone that's trying to teach or you have a niche or what you're talking about is very niche. I think that YouTube is also a strong suit because it's very searchable.
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So to the point you were making about links and product and all of that, I mean, part of what YouTube seems to be really great for and seems to be helping you with your gallery and we'll talk about that. But it seems like you can shoot a video, you can use some of your own product, you can link to it later, and it can really drive traffic in a meaningful way. If that's in fact what you're trying to do.
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Yeah, definitely. I think there's also something. You definitely don't want to make videos solely on trying to push traffic. I think, I think you kind of want to. I always say that I want to give a video that at least has three takeaways. Like something that if someone watches your video, what are three things that they feel like they can use from that video in their everyday life? Or like, what do they gain from that video? So I would never do a video solely on my new products in my shop because A lot of times people, they care, but they don't care enough to click into it. They maybe want to see, you know, like how you're updating your living room and then within that video you're also talking about like the new products that are available in your store. So I think that there's ways to also kind of incorporate things that feel a little bit more organic but also still hit the SEO and like hit like what your, your subscribers and audiences want to see a lot of times too. Like makeover videos. For me they do really, really well, but makeovers are kind of hard to like. It's a lot of work to do a full makeover. It's normally a multi week process that creates which is good because it makes a really strong video. But sometimes I try to integrate like the word makeover or like five ways to make over something like for another video topic that incorporates the theme of makeover but doesn't necessarily make me have to go into doing a full makeover. And then maybe within that video I could then touch on like, oh, and then I have these few new products in my store that would also be great for making over your house. You guys should check these out on my website and I could link them right at the top of the description box or even on YouTube. Now you can literally like if you have a Shopify store and it's through Shopify you can link the product right on your YouTube video. And some, if someone clicks it, it takes them right to your store to shop. And it's. YouTube doesn't even take a commission or anything.
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So you have this huge following that you've developed over the years. So for someone who is, is just starting out, someone, a designer who is thinking, I want to share my, my work, I want to share my process, I want to what, what do you,
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what do you think they need to
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know and how should they be thinking
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about this and how they present themselves?
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I definitely think now with YouTube, I do really like how YouTube has shorts now as well, which I know is kind of different from the long form content. But I do think that mixing, especially for new people that are wanting to come up on YouTube or new profiles, I do think mixing both is really useful because you can kind of build an audience or build at least build eyes to your page from your short form content while then kind of dragging them in with those sort of shorter, maybe hook driven pieces of content or like little tips that you know as an interior designer you can link your short form videos to your longer videos. So if someone's watching your short form video, like the other day I posted a really a short form video that was taping walls off in a breakfast nook and I linked it to my long form video and that short form video actually got 1.4 million views, which I was not expecting at all on the short form and it pulled push like 50,000 views to my long form video because the long form video is linked right there. So I actually was creating one for short form anyways and I had a long form version of the full tutorial process. So the short one was just kind of like punchy and grabby to, you know, get people's attention and then they're kind of intrigued as to how that was actually done. So then I linked to the long form video. So YouTube, you can utilize a lot more words as well in your videos in terms of you have a title, you have a description box and you have tags. So you can put 500 tags on your YouTube video which gets it in the algorithm in different ways or gets it in searches in different ways. And then you can also title things. And I think too just going through and like searching your favorite YouTubers and seeing how they title is like a good cadence to maybe follow for your own videos because there definitely is like your title and Thumbnail for a YouTube video is always priority because that's the first thing someone sees to click in is like that title and thumbnail. So if it's not strong, it's not going to get clicks and then the video really doesn't matter because that's. Those are like your little billboards on the search.
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We're taking a quick break to remind you about Ernesta. With Ernesta's new coastal and family collections, you can find custom size rugs that work beautifully inside and out in durable wool and performance materials made to handle everything from UV rays to high traffic. Your clients will be able to start enjoying their summer to the fullest all in as little as two weeks.
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As a trade member, you'll get unlimited
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samples, preferred pricing, and a dedicated consultant to support you from the first sample to the final install. Visit earnesta.com boh to learn more about the Ernesta trade program today. That's ernesta.com boh and now back to the show.
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So we're in this moment where designers are being forced to create reels and to get on camera. And many of them understandably, it's not their comfort zone.
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Totally right.
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And now you sort of grew up doing this, so I sense that you long ago Overcame whatever shyness or awkwardness you might have ever had, if in
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fact you ever had any.
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Drew.
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I'm not sure.
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No, I definitely did.
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You did. So tell me about that. So in the beginning, was it hard for you?
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Yeah, no, I mean like when I first and also when I started doing my social media like 10 years ago, it was when no one had a camera out in public. Like you should have seen the faces I was getting when I was pull out my camera, you know, like. Cause it wasn't normal to film short form or anything like that. So be like, what's that person doing filming themselves over there? But it's definitely something that. It just comes with time, honestly, like the more you do it, the more comfortable you'll get with it. And I also do think lots of designers, there's still ways to create video content with photos. So I do think that there's lots of like mood board driven content or style driven content in terms of like interior design style or different projects you might have done. Or like essentially photo driven content where maybe you just need one clip of yourself at the beginning. And it's not like you need to be in front of the camera talking to the camera. Like start off with something a little easier and maybe a little bit more inspirational and not as teachy. Maybe like in terms of short form, I think on YouTube, inspiration, I don't think people care for much inspiration on YouTube. I think that they really want that teaching get a takeaway. They want to learn something. But on the short form, people can swipe past like a fun little video and go, oh, that was really pretty and inspirational. But they're not gonna and watch it for 20 minutes, if that makes sense. There's not like a point to it.
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That's what's really surprised me about the homeworthy videos is that they create such long form content now, right? And they tell me that people are just sitting in the living room on their big screen TV watching home tours. On YouTube?
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Yes. No, literally. And people. Yeah, the long form content too. I know YouTube too. A lot of people will turn on a video and like just kind of be doing something else. That's what I do. I'm working on my computer all the time And I have YouTube on the background. And I know YouTube too. Like they really like when you post longer videos. And I know too that when it kind of recommends a video, a lot of times it tries to recommend longer videos. I haven't seen any YouTubers in the Interior space focus on really long content. Like maybe like A the full like thought process behind what you're doing in the moment. More so. And a lot of times I can't get behind that type of content because I'm so now structured with what I do. Like I'm like, okay, we're doing a makeover and I know I want to film this like that and I need to film this like this and that. And I have come of a structure behind it. But I think a lot, I think with short form too, a lot of people have kind of unstructured things and there's, there's very organic ways to create content now.
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So before we jump to other channels and other things and I want to talk about the gallery too, tell me quickly about the, the money side of YouTube that a lot of people don't understand but can actually be very rewarding.
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Yeah, right, yeah.
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Once your content starts to get a real follow.
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Yeah, no, definitely. I would say YouTube is primarily like the number one platform for making money in terms of views on your content. Like Instagram and TikTok does have their creator fund, but you don't make that much from it. But YouTube for the long form content, you actually can make like a decent amount of money from YouTube long form content. And it's that kind of changes in the ad pay rates kind of of are adjusted based off of like how it's how your channel's performing and different things like that. So I would say that like over the years it's fluctuated a little bit, but it's typically pretty consistent. And I. And it's also in the category of home because different categories on YouTube actually have different ad rates. The, the home category is actually a pretty high ad rate because there's lots of advertisers and it's just a very advertiser friendly category. I also just love how they allow you to promote your store. Like if you really wanted to promote whatever shop you had, you can link to every product you can link outside of YouTube. So there's that facet of. But then also the brand deals as well. And it sucks because in the past, which I'm hoping YouTube will bring back, so maybe a lot of people will see this and tell YouTube to bring it back. It was called Brand Connect, but In the past YouTube actually had their own kind of brand deal agency that was internal on YouTube and they would work with brands that. Then they would work with the YouTubers and so you would get brand deals directly through this company called Brand connect, which was YouTube's agency. But they don't have that anymore. So now a lot of the YouTube, if you do get a YouTube deal, it's typically through the brand itself or like through a PR company they might be working with. But there's different revenue streams that you could definitely make through YouTube. And I would say it's the most rewarding of them all, like in the long run for sure.
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So tell me about how brands began to discover you as this whole thing progressed.
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Yeah, I, that's a. I don't even know how they discovered me. Well, I mean, honestly, like some of my first brands that I worked with definitely were like very, very small, like super niche brands that didn't even have really any money to pay. But I was like excited to be working with a brand on content. And I had never really done branded content before, so also short form too. I feel like a lot of brands just at the moment are, I feel like, are striving with short form content. So I do feel like a lot of people that work at a brand or works at a marketing agency, they're also watching that kind of content. So then hopefully they'll come across me or come across, you know, someone in the, the industry that they're looking for that they might be able to offer a project to or something like that.
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And so coming to YouTube, I mean leaving YouTube and coming to Instagram, you have obviously have a huge following. I think you've got a million and a half followers or something on Instagram. Was that a long term, slow build for that or.
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Tell me about how you conquered that platform.
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Yeah, so I actually built a lot of my followers from a YouTube series that I had on how to take the perfect Instagram photo. So I had a YouTube series on my YouTube channel because Instagram was kind of new. People wanted that cohesive Instagram feed. They wanted all their photos to match. They didn't know how to edit them properly. And I had like a 12 part YouTube series on how to take the perfect Instagram photo. And it would go and it was dissected by different types of photos. So it would be like outfit photos, would be one video and It'd be a 20 minute photo on how to take the perfect outfit photo. And then the video following up to that would be 100 poses for Instagram outfit photos. But it worked well. And I did, I literally did it on. Because you know how people will take food photos like at the restaurant, like above. I did videos on how to take the perfect food photo at a restaurant doing food wrong.
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Really?
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Yes, I did it on everything. How to Edit your photos perfectly. How to take the perfect selfie. I did a series on that. And so I think that's, that's how I initially built my Instagram was like pushing people from those YouTube videos to my Instagram and it is all photo based content. So it's like how to take a photo, photo. Whereas now I do try to prioritize the video content because video content on Instagram and TikTok is just where it's what seems to perform best. So now I do tend to prioritize video content over taking photos and like uploading photos and, and I mean, and
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that's what, that's what Instagram wants. You're, you're, you're, you're following their, their directive.
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Yes.
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They want people to stop filling up their grid with pretty pictures that are just images, right? Yeah, yeah.
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And that's what I don't really love about those platforms is like they can kind of control what you do. Whereas I feel like YouTube's never really done that. YouTube's never really been like, oh, we're not gonna let you put links in your description anymore. And you're not allowed to do this. And you can't make sure that only this many percent of your followers that subscribe to you see it. Because that's what I don't get about TikTok. Like I, I cannot understand that I have 1.5 million followers on TikTok and I could post a video that gets a million views on Instagram, but I could post the same one on TikTok and it will get 1400 views. But I'm like, how did it only send to people? But that's just their algorithm like works so differently. It's like if the initial people do not engage with it, they just stop sending it to like your following. I don't exactly know how it works, but I think Instagram and YouTube are a little bit more friendlier platforms.
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And what have you learned about what Instagram and TikTok send your, your way?
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Like, like what, what comes from that?
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A lot of designers whom I've interviewed have said to me, oh, you know, I experimented on both. It seemed like like real clients were coming to me from Instagram. Right? But, but TikTok definitely there was a lot of, lot of interest, but it wasn't necessarily a right fit. What have you found?
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C
You want to know what? I've actually found that for my retail store that I opened recently, I've been getting a lot of people coming in from TikTok, which I feel like TikTok, like TikTok I definitely feel like is great for converting people, going places, converting, very trend driven conversion. So like, if there's a treat that's really trendy, people are really going to hop that. And TikTok's really good pushing people to like hop on what this trend is. So we did actually we had a couple people that came into the store that shared like hauls of what they got or like they did little tours of the store and they did well. And I actually feel like that brought in a bunch of like kind of random people that came from TikTok that maybe that are like, oh, I saw this cute store on TikTok and I didn't know it was here. Whereas I feel like Instagram is, it's different. So I feel like on Instagram I'm. It's easier for me to promote and push people to my website per se, whereas on TikTok I never do that because I feel like if I posted my website, TikTok would be like, you're banned. Like, we do not like people leaving the platform. So there's different things I've kind of picked up on that I can utilize and it's things you'll also learn and it kind of comes with time and it's kind of annoying because you're like, gosh, I just learned that I can't post this link and now I have to wait 24 hours to post. Not that you have don't have to,
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you know, but sort of penalize you.
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Yeah, exactly. But you'll little timeout that you got, but you'll kind of catch on to it and just with time you'll realize the little things like what you can do, what you can't do. Like if I'm posting a brand deal that day, I try not to post any stories before my brand deal because a lot of times sometimes I feel like if I post a story and the story just doesn't do as well, then the brand deal might not get as much traction because the platform doesn't want to push it out as much. So I do feel like everyone's algorithm's a little different. I also will say, I think that people that create new accounts, I think that benefits them. I think new profiles are prioritized in searches and algorithms in every platform on YouTube, on Instagram and on TikTok.
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Interesting.
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Like, I think so if you have like an, like if you wanna start fresh and you're like, oh, I feel like my account is dead. Like I would say start A new
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account and keep the old one active in some way, or if you want
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to, if you don't want to, if you wanna keep it for personal maybe or something. But I mean, also not saying you have to do that, but if you felt like you haven't been able to, like, reach something in a while, I definitely have noticed, like, lots of. Not that it's because they're not good at what they do, but I do feel like I've noticed lots of newer pages that have kind of, like, blown up or have they really hit the algorithm in the right way and it's able to, like, take them so, so far and like, if they just keep making the right videos in the right style, it just works in their favor. And sometimes I feel like older accounts, they just don't. I don't know, it's just something that they're. It's just been around. I don't know. You had the opportunity. Doesn't seem like you did it. Like, I don't know what it is, but I swear there's something there. So maybe give that a try.
- [28:09]
B
We're taking a quick break to remind you about Kohler. New technology can be intimidating to clients, and smart toilets are no exception. But the experts at Kohler have developed a product with intuitive and thoughtful design to improve and elevate the everyday experience in the bathroom. Touchscreen controls, customizable cleansing features, comfort and convenience transform a bathroom into something extraordinary. Discover Kohler smart toilets@kohler.com and now back to the show.
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A
So let's talk about this store of yours that your audience sort of seems to have talked you into opening and not perhaps something that you were imagining doing yourself, if I understand.
- [29:00]
C
I will say that every. I've mentioned that I've gone through multiple different realms of like YouTube and I had my scrapbook one and then I had my fashion channel. And every time I've had a channel, I've had a shop that's coincided with it. So I've very much been like, I love having a store. Like, I've always, always, always loved having something related. And yeah, this one, though, really just took off. It started as a smaller one and. But the thing that I think I learned with this one is all my other ones were kind of. They weren't the right brand names, they weren't the right product assortments. I think I mentioned that it took me a few different businesses to kind of realize what I feel like I did wrong the first few times, and that just comes with trial and error as well. And I feel like I was able to with the Lone Fox showcase my design style and people really liked that. And I had never seen that, but I've never really noticed, like, someone wanting something that I had done in terms of, like, my. Me doing something in my space or like, even when I did fashion, like, people weren't. I never really noticed people being like, I need that shirt. I never felt like it was like. Like that it was the right fit. I don't know. And so when I started doing interiors, it felt like people were like, I really want. Even if it's not that piece, I want something inspired by it or I want vintage items. Like, I really want to style my home with vintage. And so I started just kind of selling that. And it really, really, really. I think the vintage nature of it too, it does kind of create a little bit of, like a scarcity model in a sense, which I feel like it kind of adds to the fun nature of everything. Like, I love that everything's one of a kind. It makes it a little more challenging for me because every sing we have to source is one of a kind and it is different. But then also in that nature, it's just a fun business model. It's a little different than, like, I feel like what a lot of, you know, contemporary brands are doing and just like that kind of warehouse model or like that dropship model. I really love photographing everything and being able to, like, touch it and see it and source it and imagine myself styling it in that space as well.
- [30:55]
B
And so do.
- [30:56]
A
So do people understand that what they're seeing might not be here for long?
- [31:01]
C
Yeah, no, we definitely try to make that a point on our website. And we are constantly updating our website too, with, like, probably upwards of like a hundred new products a week. So we have, like a full photographer. We have a full, like, backend web person. And I do. I still do all the sourcing. So I'm sourcing all the furniture, all the vintage, absolutely everything for the store. And I do. I literally do that at night. That's like my thing that I do at night. Every single night. Like, I'm obsessed with. With it. And I just spend a few hours every night, like, kind of figuring out what we're going to buy. And I do it almost every single night, so.
- [31:33]
A
And are you on. Are you on auction sites?
- [31:35]
C
I'm on, like, everywhere auction sites. I go to flea markets on Sundays. I go to antique markets because a lot of times I'm doing those as well for my videos. Like, I'M going to source for a project or I'm filming a video about how to source the best things at the flea market. So I'm already at the flea market. So a lot of times I try to, like, double dip or, like, try. As I say, I'm like, might as well be shopping as I'm filming this video. And that's another reason why I started my store was I did so many thrifting videos and thrift flip content, and I'd see all this, like, incredible stuff. I'm like, I need to buy that. I need to sell that. Like, someone's gonna buy that from me. It can't just sit here for $10. So I started kind of buying some of the things, and it built up over time to where I was able to finally list it for sale.
- [32:20]
A
Well, you see, and. And that, I mean, without you even realizing it, you've become this incredible merchant. You have your finger on the pulse of what people want and, you know, through all of the work that you've done previously, what works, what doesn't? I mean, that's the thing. Without you even really focusing on this part of it, that's what you've become. You've become this incredible merchant.
- [32:42]
C
Well, thank you so much for saying that. And also, that's something I kind of. The other day I realized, like, when I went through, through. Sometimes I'm like, gosh, sometimes I do tell myself, I'm like, why do people buy vintage from us? But then I was like, the other day I went through an antique store and I only picked eight things out of the store of what probably had 400,000 items in it. And I'm like, oh, it's because I did the work of, like, going through and finding what eight things I would have purchased. But, like, people really do, like, the curation and it kind of already. They can imagine it already. And also when we photograph it, we clean everything a lot of times, we refinish things, reupholster. So we do a lot as well. Like, I like to call it reimagining pieces, like giving them a new second life.
- [33:22]
A
Yeah, well. And as you mentioned earlier in the conversation so often, the scary part of getting into furniture and all of that, right. Great big things you have to ship and all of those issues. How have you been able to tackle that or wrap your head around all of that?
- [33:38]
C
Yeah, that really started as something smaller. Kind of like started with like, let's do some dining chairs and let's do a coffee table. And I actually ran the full Entire furniture aspect of that business out of my home. So I. I own a duplex. And I was. The reason I bought a duplex was just so that I had all those additional rooms that I was able to work on and like, outfit and style. Huh. That's really why I bought it, was because for the same price as a duplex, I could have bought a house. And I was in the. I was in the market to, like, purchase something so I really could go in and like, really make it over. And I was like, I should just get this duplex because it will give me double the amount of rooms and the house.
- [34:14]
B
House.
- [34:14]
C
And it also then gave me opportunity to fill all of those rooms with all of my vintage finds that I was selling. Yeah, I just had this, the downstairs space, and I started filling it and it started piling up really crazy. And we were like bringing things in and out, like sofas down the whole hallway. And I live in a 1920s home, so it's like all very, like roomed off. Like, there's very small rooms. So we were bringing hutches and things. And it was really just trial and error. And it was me and my assistant Justin, like, and two dollies figuring it all out, like, just what we can move, what we couldn't move if we needed help, how we were going to photograph them. And then I figured out, essentially, I just figured out a company that did shipping for furniture like that that would come and like, wrap it up and take it. And I've been working with them ever since. Still the same exact company. And yeah, it's just been great. So, like, we can't keep enough of it. I'm trying to figure out how to source more at the moment, essentially. Well. Which is a good problem.
- [35:10]
A
Well, and I wonder, so what is coming up for you that you want to do next?
- [35:16]
B
Can you imagine having multiple locations for stores?
- [35:19]
A
Can you imagine? I mean, what do you want to tackle next?
- [35:23]
C
I would definitely say that I would like to have another location, but I don't think anytime soon. I want to iron out everything I want to do with this store because I also want to start maybe incorporating some custom products, like doing our own assortment of everything that we've ever done has been either vintage or it's more of a curated contemporary. So we offer some. Some like, more like elevated kind of contemporary, newly made pieces and like candles and things like that at the store. So I would really love to go into creating some custom, like, product of our own. And then also I am coming out with a product line at the end of this year with a company which is going to be really fun. So that's, that's a Lone Fox kind of like collaboration line. So that will be coming out at the end of the year. But I definitely do for the store want to create sort of more, more of our own custom product and then also have that online because our offering, our primary offering online is vintage. So I would like to start offering some more like Lone Fox designed product. And then I have these like dreams of also going into like maybe hospitality design. That's what I wanted to do. So I have like a potential what we have like the product line coming out at the end of the year and then also a. I think that that would be so fun to go into because I don't, I don't really ever want to do interior design for clients. I don't think, I don't think I would be at working with clients, to be honest. I'm just not a trained interior designer and that's why I don't call myself an interior designer because I feel like those types of people are working with clients and it's just a completely different realm than what I do. I mean there definitely are lots of interior designers too that I feel like didn't go to school. But they are interior designers. Like they're self taught interior designers. But I just wouldn't consider myself if you have not worked with clients and done a client project yet and like really done the full thing. Like you're really not an interior designer.
- [37:07]
A
And I, and I love that you're. I love that you're grounded enough to say that that that' not my thing. Frankly, I don't think you want to give clients that level of involvement.
- [37:16]
C
Yeah.
- [37:17]
A
Or control. Drew. It sounds to me like no.
- [37:19]
C
Right. Yeah. Because I'm also like if you, to me, I'm like if you want to change all these things, like just do it yourself.
- [37:25]
A
I'm not your guy.
- [37:27]
C
Yeah. Because also I'm like a lot of times I don't know, I'm also someone that like I would actually pay. I'm the kind of person that would literally full on pay my favorite interior designer to come design my home and give me not one insight on it because I would want to be surprised and like excited about what they wanted to do in it and like have it be more so like forward thinking and not like what they've done in the past and what I've seen them do. And like this is exactly how I want it done. I know that that like people want to spend their money on exactly what they want. But like, personally, in the realm of design, I think if you are hiring an interior designer that you like for their design style, there should be some. You should be able to give up at least like 60% of everything you're thinking and then like give a little bit of guidance.
- [38:10]
A
I think you're winning over interior designers right and left because I think that's very much how they feel too.
- [38:14]
B
And I think is often what's so
- [38:16]
A
fascinating to me watching this over the years, how interior designers, you've selected this designer for the look that they've created or the style that they've projected. Right?
- [38:28]
C
Yeah.
- [38:28]
A
And then. No, no. But I'd like you to change all of this based on. Right.
- [38:32]
C
Yes. And it's a lot of times an inspo photo, but it's like your living room doesn't look anything like this. It's not lit the same, it's not anything like this. And also this photo is working because of the lighting. Like a lot of people can't see past photos too. It's very much like I want it to look like this, but it's like it's not going to look like that. Like, that isn't most likely an AI photo. And second of all, you know, like, or it's a rendering or something.
- [38:56]
A
Well, so to the whole point of the elaborate process of making your videos, I mean, AI is coming along and doing some. I'm amazed to see how much AI slop there is up on Instagram already telling you what to eat or not eat or how. Right. How to, how to decorate or not. I mean, how do you think about that? What do you make of all of that and where do you think it's going?
- [39:20]
C
I've never ever used AI in the elements of video. I don't even know how you would like, I, I personally don't know how. So I've just always been so at the forefront of editing my own videos that I couldn't imagine like popping it in an AI editor and having it give me something. But, but I think though it could be beneficial in like, for example, like with what we do with our products and what I sell online, we're listing a hundred new vintage products a week and like, do I really need to sit there and think of a hundred descriptions for all 100 vintage items? Or can I have AI help me write a two sentence description based off what it sees in the photo? So that's where I feel like it's beneficial and it can just help in flows and processes a little bit. But I think that the creative side of it, like, I don't want it to generate my product photo. Like, I cannot stand product image AI like, or when people are like building dropship businesses and they're like, oh, we're going to take this like product and build a page around it. But it's like you've never even tried it. Like you're just drop shipping something that you've never even tried. Like, I need to have the product in front of me and know exactly and our photos exactly from the camera with the lighting, like not tweaked, you know, like it needs to be. But then I can at least give a little like caption based off the photo. So at least you know that. That. Cause it's referencing the image, you know, like, and the image is what you did. So I feel like there's ways that it feels a little bit more okay to use it and then. But also ways where it feels literally like you're scamming people.
- [40:48]
A
Well, I mean, that's the thing. And I wonder. I feel like the pendulum is swinging. It's been interesting for me to see all of these commencement addresses where the person is getting up and talking about AI and the college graduates are all booing and sort of rejecting this AI conversation. Right?
- [41:08]
C
Yeah.
- [41:09]
A
And I think that speaks to this moment in time and this level of discomfort that people are having. So I feel like people are looking for more human content and interaction and real images, right?
- [41:24]
C
Yes.
- [41:25]
A
Yeah. And it sounds like so much of what people are liking about what you're doing is that it's you, it's genuine. It's just who you are. Okay, we're gonna have to have you back to talk about your new product line. It sounds like that's end of the year. Yes. So we look forward to hearing more about that. But in the meantime, I'm so grateful for your time and I really appreciate you coming on.
- [41:51]
C
Thank you so much for having me. This is so much fun.
- [41:57]
B
Thanks for listening. If you'd like to keep up with the latest design industry news, visit us online@businessofhome.com where you can sign up for our newsletter, browse job listings, and join our BoH Insider community for access to online workshops, a free print subscription, and much more. If you have a note for the podcast, drop us a line@podcastusinessofhome.com if you're enjoying these conversations, please leave us a review on Apple Podcasts. It helps others to discover the show this show was produced by Fred Nicholaus and edited by Michael Castaneda. I'm Dennis Scully. Thanks again for listening, and I'll see you next week.