875 Paula Blankenship: Founder and CEO of Heirloom Traditions & Author of Just Open the Jar

26:51So I had to cross roads in about 2016. The business had gone back in sales. Rather than moving forward, we were going the opposite direction. whether I close my doors or I come up with a new way to go about doing business. So I decided that I was going to sell it direct to the consumer. If I was going to do all the heavy lifting and create the videos and the teachings and all the things I was doing that these retailers would not seem to even share on their own Facebook page, if I'm going to do all those things, I'm just going to sell it to the people who want it. And so I decided to sell it direct to the consumer and I've never looked back.

27:25It's been just a godsend in everyone.

27:28Kara Goldin:This episode of the Kara Golden Show is brought to you by Grooms. Summer has a way of filling up fast. Between travel, longer days, and trying to fit everything in, I've learned that the wellness habits that actually stick for me are the ones that are simple. If something takes too much effort, it's usually the first thing to go. That's why I've been loving Grooms. Pronounced Grooms. I take one pack every morning and honestly, it's made my routine so much easier. Instead of juggling a bunch of different supplement bottles, everything I want is in one convenient daily pack. The packets sit right in a glass jar in my kitchen, so they're always there, ready to grab.

28:12Kara Goldin:I love any system that makes life simpler and helps me stay consistent. And the best part, they actually taste great. Each packet gives you your greens, probiotics, prebiotics, vitamins and minerals all together. It's a really comprehensive formula with over 20 vitamins and minerals, over 60 nutrient-dense whole food ingredients, and six grams of prebiotic fiber. That's about three times the fiber you'll find in many Leading Greens powders. They're vegan, gluten-free, dairy-free, made without artificial colors or flavors, and come in both low sugar and sugar-free options. It's one of those simple habits that make taking care of yourself feel easy.

28:56Kara Goldin:Get your Grooms now. Save up to 52 % off with code GOLDEN at Grooms.co. That's code GOLDEN at G-R-U-N-S dot C-O. This episode of the Kara Golden Show is brought to you by Rula. I've always believed that investing in yourself is one of the best investments you'll ever make. We often think about that in terms of our careers or our physical health, but our mental health deserves the same attention. The good news is that getting support doesn't have to be as complicated as it used to be. RULA works with over 100 insurance plans, and RULA patients typically pay$15 per session when using insurance. They make it easier to connect with licensed therapists and mental health experts who are matched to your goals.

29:48Kara Goldin:preferences, and background because finding the right fit really matters. What really stands out is how intentional the matching process is. RULA takes your goals, preferences, and background into account so you're connected with a therapist who actually feels like the right fit, not just the next available option. And many therapists have openings as soon as the next day, which makes starting feel doable instead of overwhelming. If taking care of your mental health is part of your plan this year, RULA makes it easier to begin and easier to stick with it. Real support covered by insurance when you need it most.

30:27Kara Goldin:Thousands of people are already using RULA to get affordable, high-quality therapy that's actually covered by insurance. Visit RULA.com slash Kira Golden to get started. That's R-U-L-A dot com slash Kara Golden. You deserve mental health care that works with you, not against your budget. That's so, so incredible. And, you know, what did you know about direct-to-consumer? Not a thing. Nothing. I'm sure you purchased things in the past, but... That'd be the only thing I knew. Yeah, that was it. And you just taught yourself how to do it and look at you today. I mean, it's such an incredible, inspiring story for sure.

31:15Kara Goldin:So in your book, Just Open the Jar, first of all, let's talk about what that phrase means to you because you touched on this a bit, but just getting started, I think, is what every great founder admits to. that they knew that they just had to go and do this, just open the jar. Can you speak a little bit about that? And why did you decide to call the book that? I think I've read your story too, Kara. And I think I was a little bit like you. I've always been an entrepreneur, but I wasn't really setting out on a journey to start a paint business. Honestly, I wasn't. It was just this thing just was like nothing I had ever experienced.

31:58I had always been a retailer watching a furniture, showroom door, sitting waiting on the next customer to drive through the door, running ads, running radio ads, television ads, whatever we could do, newspaper ads to get people to come in the door. Now, all of a sudden, I'm running a business on the internet and my doors open 24-7 and waking up to orders. It was such an inverse, a total something I'd never experienced. It was people knocking and knocking and beating on the door to get in, wanting me to sell them the product. It was, you know, I've been begging people to come in the door. Now here's these people trying to beat the door down.

32:34I couldn't make the product fast enough. And just it was a feeding frenzy. And I thought that I kind of thought the paint thing had had its ran its course already. But then I realized what I was doing different was teaching. So that's the piece that the other companies weren't doing. So in 2016, when I made the switch over to direct to the consumer, I had also created a Facebook group. Facebook had allowed that kind of thing to happen. And so I had all these people moved in, migrated, maybe 30 or 40 ,000 people were in this private Facebook group. And that's the people that I told that I was going to sell direct to the consumer.

33:09I built a direct to the consumer facing website, an e-commerce site, and then eventually put it onto Amazon. But all that said, it was, you don't, I didn't start out to do any of those things. It just kind of, again, it just evolved. It just kept growing and it just kept telling me what to do next. And that's where I am. Back to opening the jar. That's what that means to me. We give a free sample away to anyone that visits our website that wants to try the paint. They pay the$6.99 shipping. And then we'll send them an eight ounce can of the paint so they can try it in their home. And they get our color card.

33:49So what we have noticed from the people who get that jar, that everyone that uses that coupon, we can track those people. We know 55 % of those people come back and they're long-term users of our product. But there's also a huge group of those people that never open the jar. And the only way I know that is I will go into the group occasionally and I'll say, hey, if you haven't opened your sample, would you want to join us on a live? And we're all going to take the lid off and we're all going to dip the brush in there and we're going to see where we go from here. and it's an amazing time because thousands of people will say, you know, I've had that sample for three years and I've never took the lid off, but I did today and I painted something and wow, look at what I did.

34:30You know, that's what we see is just that simple encouragement to get someone to take off the lid. So it's a metaphor as far as the book goes because it's really just about taking small steps, actionable things in your own life, not just about the paint or anything to do with paint, But it's you actually saying, I'm going to take a chance and do something different today. And I'm going to step out of my stuck in a rut mode. And I'm going to do something different. And I'm going to make an action. Do something. Don't just talk about it. You know, that's really what it is.

35:01Kara Goldin:This episode of The Kara Golden Show is brought to you by Rula. I've always believed that investing in yourself is one of the best investments you'll ever make. We often think about that in terms of our careers or our physical health, but our mental health deserves the same attention. The good news is that getting support doesn't have to be as complicated as it used to be. RULA works with over 100 insurance plans, and RULA patients typically pay$15 per session when using insurance. They make it easier to connect with licensed therapists and mental health experts who are matched to your goals. preferences, and background, because finding the right fit really matters.

35:46Kara Goldin:What really stands out is how intentional the matching process is. RULA takes your goals, preferences, and background into account so you're connected with a therapist who actually feels like the right fit, not just the next available option. And many therapists have openings as soon as the next day, which makes starting feel doable instead of overwhelming. If taking care of your mental health is part of your plan this year, Rula makes it easier to begin and easier to stick with it. Real support covered by insurance when you need it most. Thousands of people are already using Rula to get affordable, high-quality therapy that's actually covered by insurance.

36:27Kara Goldin:Visit Rula.com slash Kira Golden to get started. That's r-u-l-a dot com slash Kara Golden. You deserve mental health care that works with you, not against your budget. This episode of the Kara Golden Show is brought to you by Grooms. Summer has a way of filling up fast. Between travel, longer days, and trying to fit everything in, I've learned that the wellness habits that actually stick for me are the ones that are simple. If something takes too much effort, it's usually the first thing to go. That's why I've been loving Grooms, pronounced Grooms. I take one pack every morning and honestly, it's made my routine so much easier.

37:13Kara Goldin:Instead of juggling a bunch of different supplement bottles, everything I want is in one convenient daily pack. The packets sit right in a glass jar in my kitchen, so they're always there, ready to grab. I love any system that makes life simpler and helps me stay consistent. And the best part, they actually taste great. Each packet gives you your greens, probiotics, prebiotics, vitamins, and minerals all together. It's a really comprehensive formula with over 20 vitamins and minerals, over 60 nutrient-dense whole food ingredients, and six grams of prebiotic fiber. That's about three times the fiber you'll find in many leading greens powders.

37:56Kara Goldin:They're vegan, gluten-free, dairy-free, made without artificial colors or flavors and come in both low sugar and sugar-free options. It's one of those simple habits that make taking care of yourself feel easy. Get your Grooms now. Save up to 52 % off with code GOLDEN at Grooms.co. That's code golden at gruns.ca. Yeah. When you started Heirloom, like with any business, you have challenges. You have this excitement. I always say there's peaks and valleys, right, in building a business. And most founders can speak to that where maybe there's a moment where it's like, oh my gosh, the sales are coming in more than I had ever imagined.

38:46Kara Goldin:And then all of a sudden, something happens. I had a guest on who shared the story where the factory caught on fire and, you know, everything was going great until it hadn't, right? There's always these stories. Was there ever a moment when you almost gave up? Oh, gosh, there's many. Absolutely, there's many moments. But that switch from being selling the product into wholesale and then switching over to selling direct to the consumer. My husband, I can recall the words he said. He said, we're going to go broke. I said, well, we're going to go broke the other way. So I'm going to be a Walmart greeter soon here, you know.

39:24So there was a sink or swim moment right there for us. We had to lay all of our employees off, only my son and a couple of other people stayed on to help us fill orders that we had that were in the pipeline. But then we had to wait on because we We cut all wholesale selling off because that was what we were deciding to do. We're just going to let all the retailers know we're no longer going to be selling wholesale. We're only going to sell direct to the consumer. We can't compete with you. I don't want to compete with you. That's an ugly scene. So, you know, you can't do both. So I thought I was doing everybody a favor by saying not going to sell wholesale and then sell against you on the Internet.

40:04I don't want to do that because that's just something I felt was unethical to do. so then we had to wait on the pipeline to fill up so obviously that was a big hard thing i'm so glad that i did it when the company was small a pea size than trying to do that today because i see other paint companies large ones very large ones today that are straddling that fence they see that the internet is taking over and there's no way they can cut off home depot and lowe's and people like that they can't stop doing that because that is the you know that's the thrust of their business. Their cash is coming from that.

40:40So they can't stop doing that to sell direct to the consumer. So I'm so glad we did it when we did. And I saw the handwriting on the wall that the internet was the way to go. And I was an early adapter to that mindset. And I still believe it 100 % today that it is the only way because consumers make the choice. They want to buy something from the convenience of their home. And Amazon is the pure proof of that. And, you know, It doesn't take me to spell that out. Everybody knows that Amazon's the strongest company on planet Earth. And why? Because people want to shop from home. And COVID underscored that for us.

41:17It underscored it for me personally. I haven't been to the grocery store since COVID. But yes, we've had lots of struggles. COVID was an enormous struggle for us. We had tons of packages that were being crushed and busted because the overload of all the extremities of shipping around the globe. Force majeure happened to the resin that we purchased to make our paint products. There was a shortfall in allocation because of a freeze that happened in Dallas right on the back end of COVID. So a lot of those things compounded together, could have closed our doors. And I remember one time looking at the phone system that we had, We had 10 ,000 calls unanswered.

41:59That was busted packages. Can you imagine? 10 ,000 customers. Yes. But we didn't have, we didn't even know about connecting like Klaviyo and all those things. We had no idea that we could have, so a customer would email that their package had been busted or received all wet or whatever. They would email two or three or four or five, six times, who knows, and maybe call 10 times. So there was no way for these to merge into one physical thing that someone could answer one time without answering all of those. So it was maddening. You know, you don't know till you know. There is no roadmap to build a business.

42:38I don't know of a book that I could have read that would have helped me understand any of this. It only comes from hard times that you figure it out.

42:48Kara Goldin:This episode of The Kara Golden Show is brought to you by Grooms. Summer has a way of filling up fast. Between travel, longer days, and trying to fit everything in, I've learned that the wellness habits that actually stick for me are the ones that are simple. If something takes too much effort, it's usually the first thing to go. That's why I've been loving Grooms. Pronounced Grooms. I take one pack every morning, and honestly, it's made my routine so much easier. Instead of juggling a bunch of different supplement bottles, everything I want is in one convenient daily pack. The packets sit right in a glass jar in my kitchen, so they're always there, ready to grab.

43:32Kara Goldin:I love any system that makes life simpler and helps me stay consistent. And the best part? They actually taste great. Each packet gives you your greens, probiotics, prebiotics, vitamins, and minerals all together. It's a really comprehensive formula with over 20 vitamins and minerals, over 60 nutrient-dense whole food ingredients, and 6 grams of prebiotic fiber. That's about three times the fiber you'll find in many Leading Greens powders. They're vegan, gluten-free, dairy-free, made without artificial colors or flavors, and come in both low-sugar and sugar-free options. It's one of those simple habits that make taking care of yourself feel easy.

44:16Kara Goldin:Get your Grooms now. Save up to 52 % off with code GOLDEN at Grooms.co. That's code GOLDEN at G-R-U-N-S dot C-O. This episode of the Kara Golden Show is brought to you by Rula. I've always believed that investing in yourself is one of the best investments you'll ever make. We often think about that in terms of our careers or our physical health, but our mental health deserves the same attention. The good news is that getting support doesn't have to be as complicated as it used to be. Rula works with over 100 insurance plans and Rula patients typically pay$15 per session when using insurance. They make it easier to connect with licensed therapists and mental health experts who are matched to your goals, preferences, and background because finding the right fit really matters.

45:13Kara Goldin:What really stands out is how intentional the matching process is. RULA takes your goals, preferences, and background into account so you're connected with a therapist who actually feels like the right fit, not just the next available option. And many therapists have openings as soon as the next day, which makes starting feel doable instead of overwhelming. If taking care of your mental health is part of your plan this year, RULA makes it easier to begin and easier to stick with it. Real support covered by insurance when you need it most. Thousands of people are already using Rula to get affordable, high-quality therapy that's actually covered by insurance.

45:55Kara Goldin:Visit Rula.com slash Kara Golden to get started. That's R-U-L-A dot com slash Kara Golden. You deserve mental health care that works with you, not against your budget, you know? And you talk about that in your book about, you know, failure ends up becoming one of your greatest lessons, gifts. However, if you look at some of your challenges along the way, I mean, starting with building a business as a single mom, right? You're, you know, you're not having real experience in this industry. You didn't come from Sherman Williams or one of the big paint companies, right? I could tip the one. That's all I could do.

46:48Kara Goldin:Exactly. But what do you think has become one of your biggest, I guess, lessons or gifts from some of these challenges? Learning how to reframe the word failure is a gift. Uh-huh. learning how to say, that didn't work, I'm done. Most people throw in the towel. Learning how to take those words, you failed, and reframe that in your brain to say, that didn't work, but let's try this. Let's learn from those things, and let's build on those mistakes we made, and let's not try and create those same mistakes again. Let's figure out what made that fail and use it as a stepping stone to success. To me, I'm able to do that.

47:36Thank God for that, for just being resilient enough to do that. So some other piece of that is to, I like to say this, and I believe this wholeheartedly, is somebody that feels like that their success is wrapped up in how much money or how much success and all that, that if that is you, that you're building this thing because of the accolades of success or money or power or whatever those things bring you. To me, I could be just as happy with nothing as I could be with something. So I honestly feel there's nothing if I lose today that you could take from me that steals me. I'm still going to be sitting right here.

48:16I can make a house trailer look great. I can decorate the hell out of it. I'm not going to be happy and you can't steal my joy. It's not wrapped up in the Paula Blankenship story, the money we've made or the money we've lost or whatever. That can never be taken from me. So those things to me, those two things combined together, you can't beat me. That's kind of how I feel.

48:42Kara Goldin:I love it. You've built a community that is just amazing. And the community keeps coming back for more, buying more paint, trying more things. So, I mean, this was even before people were even talking really about community that you started this. How important do you think that community is to the brand that you've built? I mean, I don't think you can have a community without having a great product, obviously, all in one. You've made it simple. It's great. everything about it. But I think that having that community and spending time with that community as a founder and CEO is incredibly important.

49:28Kara Goldin:How important do you believe that's been to the success of what you're doing at Heirloom? Absolutely invaluable. It is an asset today. It's an asset today that can't be repeated. I will say that. And a lot of companies could say, well, we can go out and build our own Facebook group. Okay, that's great. I know you can, but here's what it takes. Lots of time, lots of years. That has taken me 11 years to have 500 ,000 people in that group, 500 ,000 advocates of my product. So whenever you're talking to us on Facebook, the first thing we do is send you a comment to join our group. And we do that for more reasons than one.

50:08Of course, we can take you into that group to where you can learn about our products and the voice is not coming from us. It's not someone trying to sell you anything. It's actually 500 ,000 users that'll talk to you honestly, openly. Nobody is editing the posts. So you can post in there and read about other people's projects they're doing. Does this stuff work? Are these people just making up a bunch of BS? That's the beauty of the Facebook group. It is reality. It is not a beautiful Pinterest post edited AI version of a group. It is the real deal. And that's why it works. You can't build that overnight.

50:46That comes with tenacity and just being there, being present online. I have 7000 videos on Facebook alone. So that takes a lot of time. You can't go out and buy that, you know? Money don't fix that one. And these paint companies that haven't built this, they don't even know a single one of their customers. And we do. We have managed to know them, know who they are. So there's a big, huge difference there.

51:11Kara Goldin:It's so incredible. You have many, many colors. I'm looking at the brochure that you have here, 63 colors. Is there a color right now that for somebody who's a little afraid to open that jar and actually paint some small little space just to see whether or not they're capable of doing something as great as changing a room color. Is there one color that you're seeing is safe? Believe it or not, the number one selling color, believe it or not, is a white. Isn't that hard to believe? Yeah. The no color color. And then black is the second best selling color. So that eight ounce jar that we sell, most people paint furniture with it.

51:54That paint paints everything. It paints interior and exterior surfaces all without sanding. And that's the main thing. There's no sanding involved in this product and it doesn't require a sealer or a top coat. So it's a one step, one all in one paint, paints everything. So there's no, just imagine going to Home Depot, Lowe's, wherever you go and shop for paint. You're hit with this myriad of colors. You say, hey, I just want a white. Well, here's 5 ,000 whites to choose from. Pick your poison, you know, whatever it is. Then you've got to pick the finish. You've got to pick the type of paint. You've got to pick the color.

52:26You've got to pick all of these things. So our paint is kind of one and done. You don't have all that mystery behind it. Am I doing the right thing? We also have the right tools and the right prep to remove oils and grease from the surface. So everything about it is very systematic, and that's what makes it great, what makes it easy. But color is the number one quandary for most people. So that color card that you have in your hand there, I call that the color confidence card. And the reason why is it is mid-range colors. Most people, when they're redoing their home, let's say you have a home built in the 80s or the 90s, and every fixed asset in that house is golden.

53:03Golden Venetian gold granite, golden floors of some sort, golden oak, maybe they're golden kind of porcelain tiles or whatever. And then you think, okay, I'm going to update this place. I'm going to paint the walls gray. So now you've got cool walls, warm, fixed things. And now somebody says, oh, I think I'm going to paint my cabinets. What color now should I choose? I've got gray walls. I've got golden countertops. What do I do now? So it's a huge question mark. So the color confidence card is all mid-tone colors living in, not cool, not warm, but in that middle range. So any color they choose from that, most of those colors fit in that mid-range so they can't go wrong so that's the beautiful thing about that color card so i call it color confidence for that reason but most people will choose a white but our number one selling colors if you will are greens the color envy on that card number one selling london envy uh there's some new ones on there called moss some of those muted greens that kind of ride that mid-range and they work for virtually about everything.

54:09Kara Goldin:So, so pretty. And what about trims or baseboards or something that maybe would have a little more shine to it? It paints those things. Of course, there's only one sheen in this paint. It has a gorgeous sheen. It's got like a low luster kind of a velvet glow to it. It's not a gloss. It's more of, I would call it an eggshell or a satin, somewhere in between there. So it hides a lot of defects and it's self-levels. So when you put it on, you will paint and you'll go, wow, I'm really good at this. Even if you've never stuck a brush in a can of paint in your life, you get a wonderful brush stroke-free finish with this paint.

54:47So all of that sheen is a big part of why it looks so great. Sheens will magnify dings in the surface or uneven and texture and such, but this paint really smooths all of those out. It's kind of like a beauty blender for whatever you put it on. So that is really helpful for people that are novice to painting.

55:08Kara Goldin:I love it. And I absolutely loved your book, Just Open the Jar. It's, you know, not, like I said, not only a catchy title, but the book really, I felt like you're my girlfriend, right? Like, you're like, you can go do this. It's fine. Go build a company. Go paint your furniture. Go paint your room. I mean, yeah, yeah, paint your cabinets. I mean, it's it's what you've done is you've built an enormous you have a great ability to get people to trust you. And and I think that that is something that is overlooked very often in founders, because I think that that is building trust is not just about having a great product, which you have, but you also have to build that trust with your community and with your consumer.

56:03Kara Goldin:And you've done that. So, so kudos to you. Everyone needs to pick up this very inspiring book. It shows you what it takes to actually go out and do it, whether you're building a paint company, a beverage company, a beauty company, anything. If Paula can do it, I really believe, I don't know if everyone can do it because they're not you, but you have really, I loved it. So very, very good. So thank you so much for joining today. I loved everything about this conversation. Just Open the Jar, like I said, is so incredible. Get your hands on this book. And more importantly, check out All-in-One Paints with Heirloom.

56:48Kara Goldin:Definitely very, very great. And look at what Paula is doing and the company is doing on social, all of all the info in the show notes as well. But thank you again, Paula. It was so nice to meet you. Paula Blankenship, founder and CEO of Heirloom, known for All-in-One Paint and author of Just Opened the Jar. So thanks again. Thank you. Thanks again for listening to The Kara Golden Show. If you would, please give us a review and feel free to share this podcast with others who would benefit. And of course, feel free to subscribe so you don't miss a single episode of our podcast. Just a reminder that I can be found on all platforms at Kara Golden.

57:30Kara Goldin:I would love to hear from you too, so feel free to DM me. And if you want to hear more about my journey, I hope you will have a listen or pick up a copy of my Wall Street Journal bestselling book, Undaunted, where I share more about my journey, including founding and building Hint. We are here every Monday, Wednesday, and Friday. Thanks for listening and goodbye for now.