0:14

- What's new? 8 0 2. I'm Becca Hammond

0:17

and you're listening to Vermont Talks. Vermont talks may include

0:19

graphic or explicit content.

0:22

Listener discretion is advised. - Welcome to Vermont Talks.

0:28

This is episode 4 46 and

0:28

I'm here with Victoria Clem.

0:32

She is a co-owner of Vermont Heady Labels,

0:34

and they're based in St. Alban's, Vermont. And

0:38

the, see, this is what I mean.

0:41

I always have these moments.

0:41

<laugh> stickers are hands down

0:44

the most cost effective way, but often overlooked way to

0:45

get your brand name out there.

0:49

Vermont Heady Labels likes to

0:49

bring local artists together

0:52

with local farmers and creators to collab on the stickers on labels

0:55

and create something really

0:55

unique that tells their story.

0:58

And you're working on putting

0:58

together an art show to show,

1:01

showcase some of these collabs later this year. I love this concept. I

1:04

know I've already kind

1:06

of gushed about this, but I

1:06

need to gush slightly on air

1:08

because all of the cool beer

1:08

labels, the craft breweries,

1:13

the, you know, a lot of marijuana stores

1:16

are selling such cool labels and things,

1:18

and that's, that's kind of

1:18

where you guys are coming in.

1:20

So, welcome, Vicki. - Yeah. There's so many cool

1:22

things being made in Vermont

1:24

and it's really exciting to be able to talk to people about their products,

1:26

about their art, about

1:28

what they're making, and help

1:28

them get it to the shelves

1:31

with a really cool label that's

1:31

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

1:36

pile of something to sell.

1:40

Or, you know, something's

1:40

just getting bottled, Hey,

1:42

we need a label for this thing. Like, you can't sell it

1:44

without the correct labeling. And there's all this

1:46

legality involved in things.

1:49

- I have learned so much

1:49

about what's required

1:51

on labels, <laugh>. - Yeah. There, it's not a

1:52

simple, like, there's a lot

1:55

of different requirements,

1:55

especially in the new marijuana

1:58

business that is blown up in Vermont. Like, you can't just, you can't

2:00

just slut Joe's weed on, uh,

2:05

<laugh> 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. You gotta make sure nothing, uh,

2:14

really advertises to children. So nothing too cartoony.

2:15

Um, it's really interesting.

2:18

The, the rules change, uh, every once in a while and

2:20

we're like, wait, what? We gotta put what on the wait labels now?

2:23

So it's really a lot of

2:23

just constant education.

2:26

- Yeah. And just changing

2:26

market. It's so new.

2:28

I mean, how old was it five

2:28

years ago that it was even legal

2:33

and then the stores didn't

2:33

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

2:38

that long. I think 2021,

2:42

- We were just looking at the

2:42

first pre-roll label we made

2:45

this morning and we got laughing 'cause we were like, oh man, they

2:48

wouldn't let this on the shelves. Now we don't have half

2:49

the warnings on there.

2:51

We don't have weights on there. There's just like,

2:52

barely any info <laugh>.

2:55

But now, like, now we know what we're doing and

2:57

we're able to help people. 'cause so many people don't know.

2:59

It's like you said, they have a product and they, how do I get

3:00

this to the shelves? We're like, okay, we know what

3:02

you need. Let us help. Right.

3:06

- We're happy to jump. Right. We have a checklist. We can get you organized.

3:09

'cause I've tr you can't, you need to ask these certain

3:10

questions of the creator.

3:13

You know, they can send you

3:13

like, this is the image we want,

3:16

but you need all of the other things. And then to get, get

3:19

that image file into the

3:19

correct format is a lot of work.

3:22

- Oh yeah. Sometimes I

3:22

get pictures off of, uh,

3:25

like a napkin at wing night and I'm like, okay, well, uh,

3:28

a vector file would've been

3:28

easier, but okay, <laugh>,

3:31

- We can work with - This. 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

3:39

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

3:47

when they bring you napkin, - <laugh>.

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. And then I get to sit there

3:55

and be like, all right, well who are you? How did you create this

3:56

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

4:02

and we come up with good backgrounds. And it's, it's really fun to get

4:04

to know everybody's story. That's - Really cool.

4:07

So are you doing the graphics

4:07

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

4:17

and he's the artist who's

4:17

creating all the cool stuff. Got

4:20

- It. 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

4:23

deliveries and drop offs

4:25

and talking to people when they come here. - Oh my goodness. I'm

4:27

wearing all the hats. I'm doing deliveries.

4:30

I am, uh, accepting in stuff on the,

4:32

on pallets at the warehouse. I'm, uh, doing customer service.

4:36

I'm doing order entry,

4:36

invoicing, you name it.

4:38

I'm, I'm got all the hats

4:38

on <laugh>. But it's fun.

4:42

It keeps me busy. - I'm so busy. I'm

4:43

sure. This is fantastic.

4:46

So when did you actually

4:46

start the business?

4:48

- Oh my goodness. So, uh,

4:48

last year I was kind of going

4:52

through a little bit of a

4:52

growth phase personally,

4:54

and just wasn't satisfied in

4:54

what I was doing in, uh, uh,

4:58

in business and said, I

4:58

wanna, wanna make a change.

5:01

And so I took a little bit of

5:01

a leap of faith in October.

5:04

I went for my real estate license and, uh, realized pretty

5:06

quickly that in order

5:09

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

5:15

with this guy Dave, uh,

5:18

and we had met, I was, um,

5:18

just making some beef jerky

5:21

and he of course was like, I

5:21

wanna make the labels for that.

5:25

And so we had randomly

5:25

gotten a conversation

5:27

and he needed some help with setting up QuickBooks

5:29

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

5:41

a full leap of faith

5:43

and jumped on over and came

5:43

on here full time in January.

5:46

We moved into the new office in January. And things have really just

5:49

been exploding since January.

5:51

- That's really cool. There's

5:51

so many different businesses

5:54

that are selling different products and obviously like, not just work.

5:58

We've already talked about

5:58

like the marijuana market,

6:01

the alcohol market, which is

6:01

absolutely massive in Vermont.

6:04

I think we are like the craft

6:04

brewery capital of America.

6:08

I don't think any last

6:08

I knew we were the most

6:12

microbrews per capita. Yes. In the state. Like

6:13

everyone's got a micro or brewery

6:17

or is brewing at home locally.

6:19

Like everyone's just somehow

6:19

involved in brewing something,

6:22

whether it's beer, whether

6:22

it's some sort of spirit.

6:25

There's now wine all and all the mixed drinks. There's like a

6:28

- Yes. - 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. Like, there's literally

6:35

anything you can think

6:37

of needs a label. Right, <laugh>. - Exactly. Yeah. I tell

6:39

people like, oh yeah, we do stickers and labels.

6:41

And they're like, well, what do you do? 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

6:53

be able to do beverage labels.

6:56

Uh, so yeah. Really everything

6:56

that's got a sticker

6:59

or a label on it we're, we're able to help. - Right. Even just stickers

7:00

themselves. People buy stickers.

7:04

People love stickers. - I love stickers. <laugh>,

7:05

but logo stickers are great.

7:09

It's a great way to get your name out there. You can hand them out and,

7:10

and super cost effective.

7:13

It doesn't cost that much

7:13

to make a hundred logo

7:16

stickers and Right. Everybody wants one. Yes.

7:18

Say to your friends, you want a sticker? Yeah, of course. - Oh, right. And now the, I love QR codes.

7:23

I'm a, I'm obviously a computer

7:23

door 'cause I write code,

7:25

but I love the concept of

7:25

any piece of information,

7:31

no matter how massive it is. Like this entire podcast, this

7:32

episode can be one QR code

7:37

to give people an MP three download. And like that's a vast,

7:39

vast piece of information.

7:42

And then that can be made

7:42

into a sticker. Mm-Hmm.

7:44

<affirmative> and handed out as marketing.

7:47

And like, you can do this

7:47

with your band albums.

7:49

You can do this with your

7:49

website for your business,

7:52

regardless of what it is. Like, you can just start

7:53

making these little pieces

7:55

of marketing materials. Everyone loves a sticker. We

7:57

stick 'em on our water bottles,

8:00

we stick 'em on our notebooks, we stick 'em everywhere. Yeah. And that little QR code,

8:04

he could suddenly turn this

8:04

into this very big network

8:07

of like, oh, suddenly they have a way to immediately know your message.

8:11

- Right. And there's no way to misspell it. Nobody has to type it in.

8:14

It's a quick click and you're there. No

8:16

- One has to remember anything. <laugh>. I love the concept

8:18

of like, oh, look at my,

8:21

this is my band. Check out my album. Yeah.

8:24

This is the label that has

8:24

the imagery from the album

8:27

with a little QR code and you can go listen

8:28

to the album, whatever. - Yeah. Love that. And you

8:29

know, it's in their hands.

8:32

You're not walking away going, did they hear what I said? Right,

8:35

- Right. Because they they probably

8:36

didn't, that's always been one

8:39

of those moments where like, yeah, I met this really cool person at a show

8:42

or whatever, you know,

8:42

whatever marketing event did,

8:46

did are they ever gonna look me up? Right. Like, sure they

8:48

have to pull up their phone

8:50

and scan it, but that eliminates

8:50

so many steps that like,

8:55

are are they really gonna buy my product? Oh, well let me check out

8:57

what they sell really quickly.

9:00

Yeah. What a, what a

9:00

great marketing figure

9:02

- Out. And if it's on a cool looking sticker, it's gonna get even

9:04

more attention. Exactly. - All the art. And I love

9:06

the artist collabs that I'm

9:09

so excited that you guys are doing that. 'cause artists in Vermont are abundant.

9:14

There are so many artists. And I feel like right now

9:17

with the whole weird AI

9:17

movement going on, we need

9:20

to support our artists as - Much as we can.

9:22

- Gosh, this is like the most

9:22

beautiful way to do that.

9:25

It really blends artistry,

9:25

marketing, business,

9:29

whatever business you want too. - So many times people are

9:31

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

9:35

who wants to create something

9:39

for you to show off. So. Right,

9:41

- Right. And like I could see that there's

9:45

so many just questions about like, yeah,

9:49

can I tell an AI to do it? Yeah. But is it gonna look exactly like,

9:54

- Oh man, - The poor artist

9:54

whose Instagram was, you know,

9:57

data mind to create that AI

10:00

that then created the image. Like, yes,

10:03

- Moral - Questions - <laugh>, and I'm all

10:04

for helps from the robots,

10:06

but I don't think they

10:06

should be doing my art.

10:09

I don't want them writing my poetry and making my art go ahead

10:12

and run the machine that I don't wanna run. Exactly. But I don't want

10:13

you doing my art. Thank you,

10:16

- <laugh>. Yep. That's exactly

10:17

what I, I feel about it. Do this stuff that

10:19

people don't want to do.

10:22

Our humanity itself. Like

10:22

that's what we love to do. Yeah.

10:26

Don't take the things that

10:26

humans love and make an AI do it.

10:30

That's just like the

10:30

worst concept to me. It

10:32

- Totally is. - Like, it's kind of the same

10:33

as like answering the phone.

10:36

Like when I call, I expect

10:36

to talk to a human. Yeah.

10:41

Like, don't make a robot answer the phone.

10:43

Like, this just seems like

10:43

face-to-face interactions,

10:47

artwork, poetry, expression of

10:47

human, like nature, <laugh>.

10:51

Yeah. All of these things.

10:51

Like, just let humans do it.

10:53

So I like, oh my goodness. I'm glad to hear that you're

10:54

kind of a approaching it. Like, yeah, let's not just AI everything

10:59

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. - Exactly. Everyone's

11:05

stuff's gonna look the same. It's just, it's And there's

11:07

so many artists. Yeah.

11:10

There's so many artists. Let's just support the artists. Right,

11:12

- Right. And in Vermont, we got a lot of 'em. There's a lot of cool

11:14

stuff being made, a lot

11:17

of cool art going on in Vermont. How, - How

11:19

- 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

11:28

help me get it on the label. Or are you kind of helping them out?

11:31

- Some people do. Some people come and they've already built it

11:33

themselves in, uh, in Canva

11:36

or in Photoshop or something. And they've, they're

11:37

ready to just hit print. Um, and other people are

11:39

coming to me saying, I got, uh,

11:44

something I wanna sell and I

11:44

don't know what to do next.

11:47

Uh, they don't know what

11:47

size label they need.

11:49

They, I'm measuring jars. I'm going online with

11:51

links, looking to see what size jars are.

11:54

I actually got a picture

11:54

of a goose next to a bag.

11:57

And so I had <laugh>,

11:57

I was asking everyone,

11:59

what's the average size of a goose? 'cause I think I need to find

12:01

out how tall the goose is

12:03

to figure out how big the bag is. <laugh> <laugh>. And so

12:06

it's really, it's fun.

12:08

Um, you just never know what

12:08

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

12:13

just getting to know people.

12:15

And what kind of, what colors do you like? What, what's your story

12:17

behind this product? Let's make something, you know,

12:19

oh, you're getting married.

12:22

All right, well let's do

12:22

something along the wedding theme.

12:25

Oh, you're having a baby. Let's do something along that theme.

12:27

And like, it's really cool. - That's so interesting.

12:30

So how are you keeping a running tally?

12:33

I know you've been printing like crazy. Do you know how many

12:34

stickers, different designs

12:37

and labels you have printed? - Oh my goodness. I don't,

12:40

but that's a good, I should ask Dave.

12:43

Uh, we did, let's see,

12:43

what, what did we have?

12:45

We had some crazy fact. It was like 55,000

12:47

prints, um, in the month

12:50

of December, I think it was. 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. You said out of Dave's garage,

12:59

you've been printing every

13:01

- Day, Dave? Well, so Dave was running

13:02

a sticker company, um,

13:05

called Sticker Fam out of

13:05

his garage for I think seven

13:08

or eight years, possibly more now. And just really started

13:09

branching into the label market.

13:12

And so for a while we

13:12

were doing two businesses.

13:14

He was keeping sticker fam on the side,

13:16

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,

13:23

labels, we're doing it all. Yep. Um, and at least then he can kind

13:27

of stop looking in his

13:27

email and send it all my way

13:29

and I'll, I send him all the orders and everything. Right. To keep it a little more organized.

13:32

- Yeah. I'm sure that helps. And it, it makes total sense too.

13:35

I feel like stickers, you've gotta combine

13:38

them almost in your head

13:40

because really a label mostly

13:40

is a sticker in most ways,

13:44

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

13:51

that you're put like, can labels, that's a whole different Oh

13:54

- Yeah. So I, and like, everything's

13:55

such an education for me. '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. And I'm like, um, what

14:03

is, what's the difference

14:06

between a kiss print and a, uh, like, I don't

14:08

know, all these things.

14:10

So it's really cool to like

14:10

learn all this different stuff,

14:13

but like the beverage

14:13

cans, there's two ways

14:15

to put labels on a beverage

14:15

can and it's either wet

14:18

or dry. Oh, - Interesting.

14:21

- Yeah. And so if the, if

14:21

some labels get wet on the

14:24

outside, it's gonna run the ink. So you have to know what kind

14:27

of machine you're working with. And, uh, I guess a lot

14:29

of the industry's getting

14:29

away from the wet application.

14:32

So we just got a new

14:32

dry application machine.

14:35

Um, we're super excited. We're branching out, uh, into

14:36

the beverage market and Cool.

14:40

Um, just got, got an order

14:40

for some ginger beers out

14:43

of Burlington, so like really

14:43

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

14:49

that market. <laugh> really

14:53

- Cool. So you had mentioned that you're actually

14:55

helping put labels on jars.

14:58

You're helping actually do,

14:58

you're not just handing,

15:00

which I'm sure you do like

15:00

hand off a roll of labels,

15:04

but you're actually

15:04

helping get things labeled.

15:06

- Oh, yeah. And I will, uh, admit at the very beginning

15:08

it was hand application

15:11

- <laugh>. Yeah. Well that, that's, I

15:12

worked for a biotech sold for

15:16

what, like $2 billion and we put labels on by hand

15:19

for a hundred thousand dollars units. So yes. I don't think it's

15:20

not professional as long as

15:23

that thing's on straight <laugh>. - Yeah, right. Exactly.

15:24

And it's some late nights

15:27

and you get the music going. And it didn't take long

15:29

before we were like, all right, we need an automatic machine.

15:32

And so now we have an automatic machine. It does, uh, about 250, 300

15:34

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

15:42

the other things you've got

15:45

going on and Exactly. Not be sitting there

15:46

placing labels by hand. - Yeah. It'll just scream if

15:48

it has an issue. <laugh>. Yeah.

15:51

- That's nice. That's super cool. So are you actually gonna label the cans?

15:55

I don't understand the can

15:55

labeling or the bottle labeling.

15:59

Are you gonna actually be

15:59

labeling the bottles themselves

16:01

and then delivering the bottles to be filled? - Uh, so the cans will

16:03

get filled on the line,

16:07

which is actually in the

16:07

other side of the building.

16:09

Oh, yep. Uh, and then we

16:09

pass the labels off to them

16:12

and while it's still going down the line, they have a machine that'll put 'em

16:15

right on there for 'em. Perfect. - Yeah. Perfect. Very cool.

16:17

That's really interesting.

16:19

This whole process is interesting. - Yeah, it's, it's really neat.

16:23

Like we get to put labels on

16:23

sometimes we just pass 'em off

16:25

to people and they hand apply 'em and then when they hear that we

16:28

can a automatically apply 'em. A lot of times they're

16:29

like, next time we'll

16:32

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

16:35

business is a lot of work.

16:38

But labeling your stuff oof. That can, some people are like,

16:40

that's the worst job trying

16:42

to get a sticker on straight. I am one of those people. I do

16:44

not like putting stickers on.

16:48

It's not the most fun

16:48

thing in the world for me.

16:51

- I have asked a lot of friends

16:51

for help over the past month

16:54

or so, and a lot of people have said that. They're like, no, no, no,

16:56

I can't get it on straight.

16:58

But our stickers are very

16:58

forgiving <laugh>. That's nice.

17:01

And they come off very easily and go back on straight <laugh>. Nice.

17:04

- So are they, do you know,

17:04

are they mostly vinyl stickers,

17:07

like waterproof ink, that kind of thing? - Yeah. So, uh, I want

17:11

to start doing some reels

17:11

on Instagram showing

17:14

how waterproof these things are. You can run 'em through the

17:15

dishwasher to clean 'em. Nice. You can throw 'em in a waterfall.

17:19

Uh, they're completely waterproof.

17:21

And our laminated stuff

17:21

will keep from color fading

17:24

for like eight, 10 years. Like really nice. Yeah.

17:25

Really good stickers. Very cool. Long lasting.

17:28

- That's important. Quality product. 'cause I wanna stick water bottle,

17:31

like water bottle stickers are, I love water bottle stickers.

17:35

I wanna run my algae through

17:35

the dishwasher <laugh>. 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

17:45

companies in this world,

17:48

a million sticker companies. A lot of them are not good quality.

17:51

I've bought so many stickers off Amazon

17:53

or whatever that I was very sad.

17:56

I bought stickers off

17:56

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. 'cause I thought they

18:05

were cute. They're the worst quality stickers.

18:08

<laugh>. Like, I'm actively

18:08

annoyed at these stickers

18:10

because I stuck them on and they immediately are not adhesive.

18:15

Like, oh no, they peeled

18:15

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,

18:22

but like a good quality sticker

18:24

that has like the correct

18:24

colors and doesn't bleed.

18:28

- Yeah. It's fully centered <laugh>.

18:30

- Yes. Like that, that border thing.

18:32

I've noticed that on some cheaper ones. And just like we were pieces

18:34

sticking up off the sticker,

18:39

like where they cut the - Matrix,

18:41

- It just, yeah. There's, there's a lot to

18:42

be said for a good sticker.

18:46

It's funny 'cause I think, I don't know if you're a sticker person,

18:50

I feel like maybe you don't

18:50

notice all the little details

18:53

depending on what you're sticking it on. But people like me, water

18:55

bottle sticker people Yes.

18:58

They know, they know those stickers. We could go anywhere else.

19:00

It's just money wasted.

19:04

And it's like, I, I just think

19:04

of all the different people

19:07

who can use stickers for

19:07

marketing. I love bands.

19:09

- Oh my gosh, everybody,

19:09

- 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

19:17

most giant music scene

19:22

for a small city in Burlington. There's gotta be like 500

19:24

bands at least easily. Yeah.

19:27

500 bands around that.

19:27

They need marketing stuff.

19:31

They need stickers. - Right. I heard you on one

19:33

of your previous podcasts

19:33

talking to someone in a band

19:36

who was saying she needed stickers. And it was hard to find people

19:37

who did a low quantity qu.

19:40

And they're like, we'll print any quantity. If you want four stickers,

19:42

we'll print four stickers.

19:44

It's probably gonna cost you a little more. Right. But we'll print them, we'll print

19:47

however many you want, which is really nice too. Um, I think for Vermonters,

19:49

like, we don't need you to have,

19:54

uh, 10,000 stickers. We'll give out whatever many you want.

19:56

We'll help you get it done. We'll make sure it's right. And if for some reason it's not right,

20:00

well we'll help you make sure it's right. We'll print it again. You know,

20:02

we'll make sure you got what you want. - Right. And when they can buy. Okay.

20:07

You know, I need 250

20:07

stickers for my merch table.

20:11

I'm, you know, I'm banned. I don't wanna invest all my money in this.

20:15

They're trying to balance

20:15

like, how much did we get paid

20:17

to play that show for Right. Buying merch. Because getting,

20:19

like, doing your own runs

20:23

of any sort of album, like final

20:23

albums are extremely, like,

20:27

those are very expensive. Doing cassette runs

20:28

expensive, doing anything

20:31

for your March table gets expensive.

20:33

So I love being able to

20:33

support local businesses.

20:36

Like, yes, you can come

20:36

to Vermont Heady Labels,

20:39

you can get your stickers printed. You could use a local artist's

20:41

work. I, I really love.

20:45

So let's talk a little bit

20:45

about the showcase idea.

20:48

This whole collaboration idea. Because bringing, you know, someone

20:52

who needs a sticker together with someone who can design a sticker.

20:56

Yeah. That's, that's a beautiful thing. Like how, how are you

20:58

planning on doing this?

21:00

- So we work with different artists for our designs and things.

21:03

And uh, on the other

21:03

side, we work with a lot

21:06

of different farmers

21:06

who are growing cannabis

21:09

or other products. And they come to us and

21:10

we're like, all right, we hear what you're saying.

21:13

I've got this artist who

21:13

really kind of can draw

21:16

what you're talking about really? Well. Like, this sounds like a good pair.

21:19

And we'll introduce 'em. And they, and then like a lot

21:22

of people just think, oh, I need a label. But it's like, wait, do you have a logo?

21:26

Do you have a logo sticker? Do you need a label for anything else?

21:29

Or are you just making

21:29

one run, one product?

21:32

And then it's like, oh wait,

21:32

yeah, maybe I need t-shirts.

21:34

Maybe I need Right. And we can

21:34

do all of these things too.

21:37

We can do t-shirts. We can do hats. We can do banners. We can

21:40

- Oh, cool. I didn't realize. So you're doing, uh,

21:42

what do, what do they call this? Like big printing, <laugh> materials,

21:47

printing, I forgot what exactly - The term is.

21:49

Yeah, it's like direct to garment printing that's we can do. Um, and then we've also got

21:52

another guy who can do, um,

21:55

like embroidered printing. Cool. Um, so yeah.

21:58

And it's really nice to be

21:58

able to one, stop shopping.

22:02

Like, everything you got,

22:02

we can get it in for you.

22:04

We can get all your merch and get you going. - That's so cool. I love this whole idea.

22:08

I love this idea of

22:08

collaboration between different

22:11

- Yeah. And so we're like super excited to work

22:13

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

22:17

to bring it all together, um,

22:21

hopefully at the end of this year. But I don't wanna commit

22:22

to a date yet. Oh yeah. But we're hoping to bring it all

22:26

together. Planning these things is - A lot. Don't <laugh>. - Yeah. And just like show

22:27

off like local Vermont art

22:30

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. 'cause you can do, it's almost

22:36

like a gallery type thing,

22:38

- Right? Exactly. - Like let's bring all the artists in,

22:40

but also bring in the

22:40

business owners. Like Yeah.

22:44

- The products related to that. - I could see this being such a cool event

22:47

where it is like a gallery showing, but you also have like, Hey,

22:50

maybe this business owner can speak, maybe this people kind of just talking and

22:55

- Collaborating. A great networking event. - Exactly. A networking event

22:56

with both a business aspect.

23:01

Like Yes. How can we help grow these different business sectors

23:06

through artwork, through

23:08

- This idea,

23:08

- A cultured art, this idea labeling.

23:10

Like Yeah. Like yeah.

23:10

We're kind of the bridge in

23:13

between the art, the culture,

23:13

the community, the people

23:16

who are trying to get

23:16

their business up off the

23:18

ground and their product sold. This is so cool. I love this idea.

23:22

I really love the, the concept there. So please keep me informed on this.

23:26

- I will, I'll definitely make sure you're there. We should design a logo sticker for you.

23:30

- Yep. Seriously. We should. Because mine, I have done my very best,

23:34

but I, I feel like I get overwhelmed.

23:37

I'm like, oh yes. Um,

23:37

okay. It's good enough now.

23:40

- <laugh> <laugh>. It's - Good enough now. I really do enjoy doing these things

23:44

'cause I, I, I end up being

23:44

so busy that I don't get

23:47

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

23:52

hours in the day, <laugh>, oh

23:54

- Man, I really need to design something. It's funny that you brought that up

23:58

'cause I do, I really wanna do some marketing for my podcast.

24:00

Yeah. And bring more business

24:00

owners on and just help.

24:04

'cause I love talking when I

24:04

can actually bring up other

24:06

people I've talked to and

24:06

say, oh yeah, this makes

24:09

a good connection to this other business. Yes. So yes. I love the idea

24:11

of getting my name out there a

24:14

- Lot more. I love your little Vermont

24:15

with the headphones. I think that would make

24:17

a great logo sticker.

24:19

- I thought something

24:19

about the shape of Vermont.

24:21

I'm like, it feels like a, we could make this a head somehow.

24:25

<laugh>. Yes. I dunno that I

24:25

did the best job in the world,

24:28

but I I really like this

24:28

idea. Vicki <laugh>.

24:32

- We've been involved in a

24:32

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

24:37

Vermont Growers Association, uh,

24:41

because of all the flooding in the past year. They put together a

24:43

poker night in December.

24:47

And so they were looking for sponsors. We helped sponsor the event.

24:50

And in exchange for sponsoring,

24:52

they let me be a poker dealer. - <laugh>. Oh, nice. That's cool.

24:56

- It was so much fun. I was

24:56

taught by actual Vegas dealers

24:59

and I got to deal blackjack for the night

25:02

and all the proceeds went

25:02

to helping all the farms

25:04

that were flooded out last year. So that was really nice.

25:07

In March, we've uh, helped sponsor the

25:11

side surfers slalom over at Sugar Bush.

25:13

So we'll be there. Um, and we're just trying to get involved in

25:17

different events around the state. We've, uh, done a few

25:18

different concerts last year

25:21

with the Cannabis Retailers Association,

25:23

which was raising money for the flooding as well. So it's really cool.

25:25

We're looking to collab and get involved in a lot of

25:27

different things in the state.

25:30

- That's really nice that you're helping out with the, the flood relief. I

25:34

- Who thought we would've had that much flooding last year? - My goodness. I I'm so

25:37

scared about the whole thing

25:39

because I don't, I don't

25:39

think we're gonna get

25:41

less water <laugh> - No.

25:43

Spring is coming back around. - Yeah, exactly. And

25:44

they've been saying for,

25:46

I remember being a kid

25:46

in elementary school,

25:50

the first time I heard them say

25:52

that they really thought is climate change affected this area.

25:55

Vermont was gonna turn into

25:55

a temperate rainforest. Yeah.

25:59

And I've never, like, I must

25:59

have been probably 10 years old

26:02

and I getting older and older

26:02

and watching how much rain

26:06

and water and how little snow Did

26:08

- We have a winter - This year? Exactly. It's, it's February

26:09

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

26:16

snow and it would stay Mm-Hmm.

26:18

And now it's like constantly melting.

26:20

Constantly raining. Yeah. - We're lucky if we get

26:22

a couple inches of snow.

26:24

Oh, it's been a crazy winter. - It's been a crazy time.

26:25

<laugh>. Yeah. In general.

26:29

So, you know, anything we can

26:29

do to help our neighbors out

26:32

because there's a lot of places where sadly the lower income

26:35

people ended up on right.

26:38

On the rivers and they're

26:38

the ones poor people in bay.

26:40

I feel so bad because they're Oh my goodness. Right on the river and like that's and

26:44

- Like Plainfield and

26:44

that whole area. Holy cow.

26:47

- Yeah. And that's where a lot of people live is right along

26:48

the riverbanks in Vermont

26:51

as naturally we all, that's how we built towns in New England.

26:55

- That's where it needed to be. - That's exactly, it makes

26:56

sense back in the day

26:58

and now as the water's

26:58

rising, it's a little scary.

27:01

So thank thank you guys for helping out

27:04

and helping, you know,

27:04

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. I'm so amazing how many

27:12

labels you're already printing

27:15

and I'm hoping that, hoping

27:15

you guys can keep going

27:18

and just helping all of

27:18

these different businesses

27:20

out and artists and people. And I hope that we can help get more

27:23

people in touch with you. - Yes. I wanna make more

27:25

stickers and labels.

27:28

- What do you think?

27:28

Are you sending people

27:30

to your website first? Where are you sending people

27:32

to get in touch with you?

27:35

- Um, so amazingly, and I'm really proud to say

27:36

this, it's been a lot of word

27:39

of mouth, which is like

27:39

the best way to advertise,

27:42

uh, for me at least. 'cause we're, I don't

27:44

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. We wanna get to know you.

27:51

Um, so I love that we've

27:51

had such a business

27:54

boost based on that way. But we do have a website.

27:56

Um, I've half built it.

27:59

Uh, it's there, it's under construction. I like to say we're

28:01

printing out a new one. <laugh> <laugh>, but it is

28:03

from vt heady labels.com.

28:07

Um, we've got an

28:07

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. - Perfect. And obviously

28:16

come give you a call. Right?

28:20

Can they, can they pick up the phone and call the business? Is that

28:23

- 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

28:26

to always pick up the phone,

28:29

but it's the, it's awfully nice if they

28:31

have questions Yes. To say, - Hey, can

28:32

- 30 - Seconds text email, uh,

28:35

8 0 2 3 1 8 2 6 0 0 is the number.

28:39

Uh, feel free to shoot

28:39

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

28:47

Industrial Park. You're here.

28:51

Are you here every day? What's what's the schedule been like here?

28:55

- <laugh>? I feel like I have moved in here. Um, we, uh, we have been

28:57

printing almost seven days a week

29:01

for the past month or so. Um, still trying to work

29:03

on work life balance

29:05

and make sure that we

29:05

have enough lost time.

29:08

But yeah, things have been

29:08

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

29:14

get a response back, so that's

29:17

- Awesome. And I know I'm jumping around a little bit, but when do you think you're

29:19

gonna be able to move the rest

29:22

of the equipment out of Dave's garage? - <laugh>, we just started yesterday.

29:26

We're hoping to be done by the end of the weekend. So I would imagine Dave will

29:28

be printing outta here next

29:31

week, which is very exciting. Such - A new space.

29:34

I, I, I'm encroaching on your brand new

29:37

space coming in here. So thank you so much for inviting me here.

29:40

Thank you for talking to

29:40

me about your business.

29:43

I'm so excited to help,

29:43

help boost you guys up.

29:46

And I love this collaboration idea. I really want to go to this

29:48

event and meet people. Yes.

29:51

We are making art here. I I

29:51

love this whole idea. Vicki.

29:54

- Congrats. I I hope the next time you come by, we have our glass display cases

29:58

so you can see all of the things. Um, right now I'm just sticking

30:00

stickers all over the walls

30:02

in the filing cabinets. <laugh>. So a display case

30:03

might be better for me. <laugh>.

30:07

- Oh yeah, you need some boards in case you ever have to move.

30:10

If your business blows up, you

30:10

might, you might need some,

30:13

uh, something you can

30:13

take with you when you

30:15

- Go. Yes, - <laugh>. Cool. So tell me, Vicki, anything else

30:18

that you wanna share about

30:18

the business, about yourself,

30:23

any new ideas, anything you really want your customers to know?

30:27

- Oh man. I feel like that's the most

30:29

high pressure question. <laugh>.

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,

30:39

we can do just about everything. We, we covered that.

30:42

We talked about banners,

30:42

we talked about stickers.

30:44

- Yeah. The, the printing

30:44

of t-shirts. Like that's a,

30:48

- It's a lot of things that

30:48

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. I was literally reading

30:54

that two weeks ago on one

30:57

of my friends who's in

30:57

a band in Burlington.

30:59

It's like, where'd you get

30:59

your banner done? Yeah.

31:02

Vermont Heady Labels can make you a banner

31:04

with a giant QR code on it. - QR codes on thing. Oh my gosh.

31:09

We talked about QR codes earlier, and I forgot to mention,

31:10

we had someone recently,

31:13

so the CCB requires a QR

31:13

code to your test results

31:16

for your cannabis labels. 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

31:21

QR code to my website?

31:24

And I was like, yes, of course. And you'll see that label right next

31:28

to you there has three QR codes. <laugh>.

31:30

- Oh wow.

31:30

- Uh, yeah. And QR code's.

31:33

Super easy way to get all of your information out

31:34

there for everybody. <laugh>.

31:36

- That's so cool. Oh wow. Liquid swords.

31:40

What in the heck is a liquid

31:40

sword? That thing is huge.

31:43

Look at how big that label - <laugh> wraps around a four ounce

31:46

- Jar. Okay. Got it. That makes sense. That's exactly why it's so long.

31:50

- We're doing hot sauce

31:50

labels, coffee bag labels,

31:53

you name it, it's got a label. You just don't even realize

31:54

how many things. Amazing.

31:57

Have vinyl stickers on them, but they're everywhere. - I love that you guys are doing

32:01

so many different things

32:01

so quickly. This is,

32:04

- Oh, and seriously, that's one of our things that we pride ourselves on

32:06

too, is our turnaround time. It's five days, seven days.

32:10

It's, oh, that's f it's really fast. We'll get those stickers

32:11

back in your hands'. A - All companies can do too.

32:15

So if someone needs an

32:15

emergency thing, like, Hey,

32:17

I really need this for this event this weekend. - It

32:20

- You up - <laugh>.

32:23

It happens Friday at four o'clock. I needed a thing for tomorrow.

32:26

- Hmm. Right. How much of

32:26

a thing <laugh> <laugh>?

32:30

I Nothing. Please, please

32:30

give Vicki at least three

32:32

days, if not a week. <laugh>. Correct. - I prefer a week. I can do 24

32:35

hours if we have to. <laugh>.

32:39

- Oh, this is so nice.

32:39

I've, these are the kind

32:42

of Vermont businesses

32:42

that I just love seeing.

32:44

It makes me really happy. Warms my heart

32:46

to see these kinds of things. Yeah. Because it's so

32:47

collaborative. I keep it local.

32:50

Keep it in Vermont. Love - It.

32:52

Yes. Support Vermont. 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

33:02

now is the solar eclipse. I've had so many people request

33:03

solar eclipse labels lately.

33:06

<laugh>. That's - Gonna, that's such a

33:07

interesting business. Boom. Such a unique thing. I really, I

33:12

- It's gonna be huge for

33:12

Vermont, apparently. Yeah.

33:15

- Oh, it's gonna be really

33:15

big for, I can't believe

33:17

how many people were, you know, keep asking questions about like,

33:21

has anyone got anywhere I can stay?

33:23

I wanna come up to Vermont

33:23

for this, this specific event.

33:27

Like this is such a weird time of year where we typically don't have

33:29

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

33:36

people get stuck in the mud

33:39

- <laugh>. Oh my goodness. Seriously. Especially with

33:42

- The weather being so warm while - I, I better start printing

33:43

No parking signs now.

33:45

The banners. No parking <laugh> - With an

33:48

- Eclipse. Right, right. <laugh>, - Uh, Vicki, thank you so much

33:51

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

34:00

and some pictures of the place

34:02

and some pictures of your

34:02

labels on the show notes

34:05

for today's episode, which will be at Vermont talks.com/four six.

34:10

And I think that's it. Thank

34:10

you so much, Vicky. Thank you.

34:13

Have a great day everybody. Bye. - Thanks so much for listening

34:16

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 [email protected]

34:26

if you'd like

34:28

to be interviewed or if you

34:28

know someone who should be.

34:31

Thanks so much to Jason Baker

34:31

for creating the show music.

34:35

The views and opinions expressed by the guests or those of the individuals

34:38

and do not necessarily

34:38

reflect the official policy

34:41

or position of Vermont talks. Any content or statements

34:44

provided by our guests are of their opinion and are not intended to malign

34:46

any religion, ethnic group,

34:48

club, organization, company,

34:48

individual, anyone or anything.

34:52

And that's what was new in

34:52

the 8 0 2. Have a great day.