The Business of Antiques

To close out season 4 of The Business of Antiques, CEO of The Antiques Diva & Co Toma Clark Haines takes listeners on the road with her. Have you ever wondered what it would be like to be a fly on the wall on one of Toma´s antique buying tours? Well, that is exactly the experience you get in this episode - Guerilla Podcasting in Parma at Mercanteinfiera.  

“Guerrilla Marketing” is an advertising approach that uses guerrilla warfare tactics, or the element of surprise, to attract target audiences. This form of marketing is especially effective for driving publicity, in which an unconventional and inventive. In this “Guerilla Podcasting” episode, its podcasting in the trenches - on the ground at actual antiques fair. You will eavesdrop on real life conversations and hear first-hand the thoughts of clients on the experience of buying antiques in Europe.

Toma explains the ins and out of how to buy antiques at Mercanteinfiera and how to ship them home. Mercanteinfiera is Italy’s largest antiques fair - with over 1000 vendors and 3 halls of antiques. She offers the opportunity to apply to win a FREE TRIP TO EUROPE to buy antiques as a VIP with her in the Mercanteinfiera program and explains how you can shop the fair on your own. 

She jokes that her competitors won’t be happy because she painstakingly takes you through the details you need to know in order to write a purchase order for shipping antiques. And, she gives advice on how to CYA - Cover Your Antiques - for insurance purposes when buying and shipping internationally. She explains how to pay and the best way to get a bargain when buying antiques in Italy.

This is the last episode of Season 4 while Toma takes a short break to advance record some more episodes for season 5. If you have requests for topics to be covered, email Toma at [email protected] to tell her what lessons you would like to learn when she is back for Season 5 of The Business of Antiques! As always make sure to leave a 5 star review and share the podcast with a friend!

In today’s episode, Toma Clark Haines, CEO of The Antiques Diva & Co – the World´s Largest Antiques Touring Company – tells you how to shop for antiques at the Paris Flea Market and how to ship antiques from France.  

The first time Toma and her locally-based Paris team met with Jean-Cyrille Boutmy, owner of Marche Paul-Bert Serpette, he said, “The Antiques Diva & Co are Ambassadors. You make a bridge between the American buyers and the French vendors helping both sides do business.” The Antiques Diva & Co translates, negotiates, and liaises buyers with international shippers. As the Paris flea market has more than 3,000 vendors – it’s virtually impossible to scale in a single day unless you know where you are going. To book a Paris flea market antique buying tour email [email protected]

If you are going to the market on your own – the first thing you need to know is that the Market is NOT in Paris. It's in Saint Ouen, just outside the periphery to the north of Paris. You can take the metro line 4 to Porte de Clignancourt or if taking a taxi or uber beware that you MUST set the city location as Saint Ouen sur Seine or you might end up on the wrong side of Paris! Use Marche Biron address 85 Rue des Rosiers, 93400 Saint-Ouen-sur-Seine to get to the center of the flea market.

The market is open every weekend all year long Saturday & Sunday from 10am to 6pm. The market is open Fridays from 8am to 12 noon -– but NOT all vendors are open. Maybe 60% will be open on Fridays. Mondays have less than 40% open.  

There are 12 different permanent markets within the Paris flea market where you can buy anything from Art Deco leather club chairs to Louis 15th chest of drawers to sterling silver art de la table, paintings, vintage fashion and more. Some of my favorite markets are Marche Dauphine, Marche Biron, and, of course, Paul Bert Serpette. Marche Dauphine has a large number of artisans on site making contemporary art and artisan goods as well as vintage fashion in addition to traditional French antiques. Vernaisson in the front of the Rue de Rosier is actually the first original market, and it’s still one of my favorites because it’s so shopable with smalls and impulse purchase price items.

When it comes to making purchases at the puce de Paris, Toma shares a few practical hints and tips on shopping the fleas:

• No AmEx. Sorry we know you love to get your miles – but most vendors do not accept AmEx.
• For all other credit cards, make sure to tell your bank that you are traveling internationally.
• Cash is king.
• Yes, you can ask for a discount.
• The more you buy from 1 vendor, the more likely you are to get a discount on your purchases.
• If you don't speak the language you can use your calculator to ask for a discount. 10-20% can be expected.
• A cross body hand bag is ideal for preventing pickpocketing.
• Do NOT be a jerk and wear a backpack.
• It’s dangerous for breaking antiques and increases the odds of being targeted for pickpocketing.

In today's episode, Toma Clark Haines, CEO of The Antiques Diva & Co and founder of The Republic of Toma, speaks with a mother-daughter team based out of Florida: Kelly and Blair McGee of Three Graces Antiques. With a legacy of antiques collecting and sourcing spanning three generations, their passion for the trade has become an inseparable part of their lives. They offer a range of unique pieces, meticulously curated over the decades, and today's episode is the epitome of what generations of antiques collecting and selling looks like. 

Kelly's parents moved to London when Kelly was in high school and started collecting, utilizing young Kelly as their "spotter". This passion soon grew into a business. Jump forward and young Kelly, now grown and recently married, finds herself, along with her husband, attracted to starting their own antiques business so they started by "throwing some things on the dining room table to see if anyone likes it." Spoiler alert: they did. For years, the couple found themselves being jet-setting gypsies, going over to England and buying glorious items that they brought back to sell at shows all across the U.S. And so, they grew and grew, and twenty years later were one of the top five dealers in English Antiques in the entire United States show circuit. 

Of course, no fairy tale is without its villain, and this is where their story transitions into a cautionary one. Recession hits, and, miraculously, Kelly and her husband recalibrate, changing up their business plan. They transition into more decorative items, and, working alongside designers, they have their most successful show ever in Palm Beach. Victory! They go to bed that night reveling in their success only to wake up the next morning to find that their sixteen foot cargo trailer full of around a million retail dollars in inventory has been stolen from the hotel parking lot in the night. 

Listen and learn as this episode features the worst of humanity, taking you through not only a major art theft adventure, including FBI encounters, insurance fraud investigations, fine antiques found in Florida canals, and tragically underinsured discoveries. But it also showcases the best of humanity with stories of clients showing incredible acts of kindness to them. Ultimately, they closed their doors and Kelly entered into a season of careers in veterinary medicine, health care, and corporate jobs for both Kelly and later, her daughter Blair. How this mother daughter duo fight to get their passion back exemplifies the definition of bravery as they begin again years later in this new venture as Three Graces Antiques. This episode holds so much wisdom and insight into the industry both past and present, the changes, the lessons both learned and learning – it offers up to you, the listener, a rare opportunity to glean from their broad range of experiences. It is not an episode to miss.  

You can learn more about Three Graces Antiques at www.threegracesantiques.com and follow their Instagram @3graces.antiques.

In this episode of The Business of Antiques Podcast, Toma Clark Haines, Founder and CEO of The Antiques Diva & Co and The Republic of Toma, sits down with industry legend, Veronika Miller. Veronika's influence, guidance, and friendship have been instrumental in Toma's career. Toma describes her best as a trailblazer, fearlessly creating paths for others to follow both in the industries of marketing and design. Toma and Veronika have both learned that being ahead of the pack can be scary but worth it. Veronika shares, "I believe firmly that life is lived best on the precipice between the safe broad path and the cliff, and there's this fine line and sometimes you look down and go 'Oooooh, I didn't see that coming. That's a little high.' And so you lose a lot of sleep but I love living there because I'm just a big believer philosophically that that is where life takes place in every regard."

Veronika is the CEO and Founder of Designhounds Influencer Network Group and Managing Director of the M2 Consulting Group, and her mission is to help brands define actionable goals and build creative campaigns and programs – digitally and in real life. Veronika has her finger on the pulse of the design world, and society in general, and has a unique ability to distill big ideas – the big trends and the big obstacles – down to their very essence which is why she is one of the leading minds in our industry. To be able to sit down with her now, especially in this time that is precarious yet filled with possibility, and see clearly what we need to take away from this moment is an incredible gift and one we do not take for granted. Toma and Veronika take a deep dive into the current state of the industry, the importance of remembering why we are designing or selling antiques in the first place, the advantages of going back to our roots, thinking of the why's and our need for a provenance and a storytelling, understanding our value without falling into the trap of design as a transactional process, fostering an understanding of the "specialness" of our vision, and of the prominence of what we curate to sell – and how whether it's a piece of art or an antique – what we do creates special moments in every minute of every day of our clients’ lives.  

Veronika's personal stories, from her unusual backstory as the daughter of Europe's first McDonald's franchise owners, growing up doing her homework in the employees break room listening to training videos and learning the importance of customer service, communication, and a smile, to her recent struggles through the illness and loss of her husband will leave you inspired and empowered to move forward in your own endeavors. Her work as a serial entrepreneur, creating and building successful businesses is exactly the kind of inspirational education this podcast has become known for and is perfect material for growing your best business and your best life as we kick off 2024 in style – Veronika Miller style! 

In this episode of the Business of Antiques Podcast, your host Toma Clark Haines, CEO of The Antiques Diva & Co, talks about how to Become the CEO of Your Life, not just your Antiques Business. She shares with you tools she personally uses to manage her time, her business, her clients, her energy levels, and how she keeps her eye focused on her goals. 

There are 3 questions she is repeatedly asked:

• How do you get it all done?
• Do you sleep? and
• Do you have clones?  

“Yes, I have clones,” she says. “My employees help me achieve what I do. And yes, I sleep. Without good self-care you can't simply maintain a long-term successful business. Being tired will catch up with you.”  

She shares the tools in how she audits her business as well as life.

10 Tasks to do Every Month for Your Antiques Business

1. Do a financial overview of all accounts reviewing expenses & bills, chase up on late payers, pay your team & taxes.
2. Review account statements from all suppliers and cross reference what you have been charged on your credit card, cancel services you don't use.
3. Look at your year-over-year antique sales. Where are you in comparison to this same time last year?
4. Keep an eye on your inventory and your visual merchandising – how does your store look – do you need to buy more inventory? Move it around? Consider your storage needs – and make sure you are properly insured.
5. Remember you want to be TOMA – Top of Mind Awareness – with your client. Reach out to clients NOT just for sales but to build relationships.
6. Social Media…this isn't just every month but every week and every day!
7. Use Google Analytics to review your website – determine what areas traffic is down and why.
8. Keep up to date on relevant industry news and services as well as new players.
9. Keep your data safe and relevant.
10. Talk to advisor. Book your one on one business consulting session with Toma. [email protected]  Having a business coach can make your antiques business more profitable than you ever imagined possible.

Toma divides her life into 8 categories using the Pillar Life. She knows if she is in balance living as her most authentic version of herself – that she is always making money. She gets paid to be herself!

1. Wellness/Health/Nutrition
2. Spirituality/Happiness/Purpose
3. Romance/Sex (who knew a podcast about antiques would talk about sex!?)
4. Friends/Family/Community
5. Creativity/Innovation
6. Adventure/Discovery/Growth
7. Sanctuary/Beauty/Rest
8. Money/Abundance/Work

She furthermore breaks down the system by where she checks in with herself and business by asking this series of questions:

• How am I today?
• What’s not working?
• What is working?
• What do I need?
• What am I proud of?
• What can I let go of?

She confesses it's not always possible to be in balance in all categories and how it's more important over the course of the year that she is in balance than on a weekly or monthly basis. 

She share how she divides her business year: 

Winter - Vision & Planning

Spring - Marketing & PR

Summer - Creative

Fall - Action

Her weekly to do list further breaks down into the following categories

• Administrative
• Creative
• Marketing/PR
• Follow Up
• Someday
• Travel
• Finances
• Personal

These systems organize her life. 

In today's episode, join Toma Clark Haines, Founder and CEO of The Antiques Diva and Co and The Republic of Toma, on a warm cozy climb into the head of long-time antiques dealer, Kim Hites. Kim sells at the Thoroughbred Gallery in Lexington, Kentucky. Although Kim has been travelling to and shopping in France and importing shipping containers of antiques since 2012, her career as an antiques dealer specializing in continental furnishings actually goes back thirty five plus years to when she was in college and working on her interior design degree. It was then that she completely fell in love with the history of antiques. 

Kim's years spent in a variety of capacities as an Interior Designer and Antiques Dealer make her a wealth of detailed information on the ins and outs of selling antiques which she shares openly in today's episode. Thoroughbred Gallery is, to a certain degree, the "antique mall model"; although it's a bit more exclusive than typically comes to mind with that model. They have maybe ten dealers there in their charming historic building, and she has been able to grow an incredible clientele there, having started with 300 square feet of the space and having now expanded to a little over 1200 square feet. They are also a full service design center so they're doing fabrics and wallpapers, upholstery, and the like – supplying local designers not only with antiques but meeting all of their design needs. Being one of the dealers there is the culmination of Kim's life-long love affair with antiques. 

Kim's insight into what sells antiques – spoiler alert and you've heard it before – STORY is king, or queen in this case! Kim has observed over the years how people truly fall in love with an item when they fall in love with the story of the item. Maybe Kim was in a certain barn in the French countryside when she discovered it. She has learned that nine times out of ten, when people love the story, they purchase the antique. She also attests to one of the things Toma often shares on the podcast – it takes a village to run an antiques story. Kim shares how her movers, restoration specialists, gallery owners, and other vendors all play a powerful role and are part of her "village".  And you WILL NOT WANT TO MISS Kim's antique must-haves every antiques dealer must sell!

For more information on Kim Hites and what she is doing as she pivots into 2024 in expanding new ways, follow her at their website https://kimberlyhites.blogspot.com, Kimberly Hites on Instagram, and Kimberly Hites French Country Antiques & Interiors on Facebook.

In this episode of The Business of Antiques CEO Toma Clark Haines explains what you learn in the Business of Antiques- Antique Dealer Training Program. She also offers one on one business coaching for antique dealers wanting to elevate their antiques businesses.

BOA-ADTP is the gold-standard antique dealer training program for new (or nearly new) antique dealers who want to build a meaningful, profitable business for the way they want to live their lives. Being an Antiques Dealer is not a one-size fit all career. There are a lot of ways to sell antiques. The secret to a successful business is finding the way that will support how you actually live your life - not how someone else tells you to do it. 

‍Whether you’re just starting an antiques business or taking an existing antiques shop to new heights, The Antiques Diva & Co helps you so you don't have to start your antiques business on your own. Their step-by-step school for antiques dealers gives you all the tools and support you need to fast-track your career and learn how to become an antiques dealer. Their goal is to save you time and save you money fast tracking you to being a Pro! They´ve helped 1000´s of antique dealers build their dream antiques career creating financial freedom.  

Most of their clients are on their ¨2nd Act”- they often have pursued more ¨practical careers¨ first and usually come to Antiques Diva & Co when they are ready to quit their day job and begin their dream job. Listen to this episode to find out more about this award winning school for learning how to be an antiques dealer.

In this episode of the Business of Antiques Toma Clark Haines - CEO of The Antiques Diva & Co does not have a guest. She just talks to you one on one from her home in Venice, Italy over a cup of morning coffee. Recently her podcast producer Jason Perrier suggested she tell her story. And in this episode - that´s exactly what she does. 

She starts by saying, ¨I´m Toma. I am the founder and CEO of The Antiques Diva & Co. I am a creative who has learned through trial and error how to get s#t done. I am an entrepreneur, a writer, a speaker, a jewelry and furniture designer as well as the host of the reality TV show Republic of Toma. Most of all, I am a dreamer and I’ve learned how to make dreams a reality. Let me tell you how we can help you.¨

She tells her personal journey from growing up in Oklahoma to marrying and moving to Paris in her twenties. She explains how she build her brand and she talks about how she almost lost it all when she divorced. She talks about learning to build a profitable antiques business and why trusting your own instinct matters. Most of all she shares her heart. Her heart is to help entrepreneurs who want to become antique dealers build profitable businesses that support the way they want to live their life. With a laptop, her mobile phone, and the help of her friends, she created an empire that operates in 16 countries and has changed thousands and thousands of people’s lives. The Antiques Diva &Co is the World’s Largest Antiques Touring company.

Toma jokes, “Changed people’s lives??” Quelle Drama! This is the Business of Antiques - It’s not Brain Surgery.” I may not be solving world hunger but I am helping people just like you pursue their passion, find their most authentic self and find fulfillment in their day to day lives by getting paid to do what they love. Listen to this episode to find out how The Antiques Diva & Co can help you.

In this episode, Toma Clark Haines founder and CEO of The Antiques Diva & Co, talks with nationally renowned event-planning expert, celebrity party-planner, designer, author, and founder of A Perfect Event, "a special event company with a faithful following, including Oprah Winfrey, Brooke Shields, Debra Messing, and Leo Burnett” – Debi Lilly.

Debi Lilly has it in her blood to celebrate! She has been crafting celebrations and making the world more beautiful since she was very very little – learning at her mother and grandmother's knees. Throwing parties is part of her DNA makeup. "I just love love love celebrating. That's my job, and I can't really believe it...It's kind of amazing to think that you could create a career around what you just deep-in-your-heart truly love doing." Debi is on a one woman mission to inspire, educate, and share her twenty years of party planning and stylist tips, tricks and DIY designs to elevate celebrations for any occasion, everywhere, coast to coast. She's created both a magazine and book entitled “A Perfect Event”. Toma and Debi share a core belief in the importance of pursuing your passions and following your dreams and how when we do this, we enable others to do the same and the world is made a better place because we are making people's dreams come true. 

Toma and Debi met through The Antique Diva's Annual Paris Flea Market Party (which is incidentally coming up January 21st, 2024 - Want an invite? Email [email protected]!). Toma met Debi and her mother at The Antique Diva's first ever flea market party and Debi, her husband, and her parents have been faithful attendees over the past decade! "So wonderful and gorgeous...Every year you knock it out of the park and I just think it's a really fun gathering to get people together during Maison Objet. The flea market itself is a huge overwhelming product-filled, antique-filled, shopping trend-filled experience and your party really adds a moment of personalization and community and networking. ¨I love it. I just love it," says Debi – sending Toma over the moon with her praise. After all, when the queen of planning "A Perfect Event" sings your praises, you can't help but dance!

The two discuss following dreams, creating meaning in the midst of our busy lives, how the pandemic reframed so many people's lives, trends of colors and textures, floral design secrets, how design and our interiors powerfully impact each of our lives and how floral design can be such a magical part of that, and how pink and red or "dressing for Valentines Day" is always a good idea. This episode is jam-packed with life and love and passion and is just what our hearts need as we navigate the holidays, close out 2023, and make our way toward the new year. The two also go deep with business talk, how candles often help pay the bills, the ins and outs of brick and mortar and selling online, marketing strategies, social media, branding, and the work/life balance. It is yet another episode you will not want to miss!  

You can find more about Debi and all the magic she is making at www.debililly.com or www.aperfectevent.com (they go to the same place). Instagram @debililly, @aperfectevent or on Facebook – Debi Lilly.

In today's episode, Toma Clark Haines, CEO of The Antiques Diva & Co and founder of The Republic of Toma, talks with Katie Treggiden – author, journalist, podcaster, keynote speaker, and the founder and director of Making Design Circular, a membership community and online learning platform for designers, makers, craftspeople, and artists who want to become more sustainable. This episode is a journey from Katie’s idyllic childhood growing up in Cornwall, surrounded by beaches, moors, and the countryside, going fishing after school on sunny afternoons and having barbecues on the beach for tea to the bright lights of university and then a career in advertising. However, with the disillusionment surrounding what the career in advertising was giving – as Katie puts it,“the simultaneously devastating and the best thing that had ever happened” her at that time in life, and the sudden loss of her job due to the closing of her firm’s London office; this is when Katie Treggiden really started living the design writer’s life she had dreamed of as a child.

Katie’s love for design was the spark that kindled her love of writing, and her severance package bought her six months to makeover her life into that of a full time writer and do that, which she did! Katie’s story, at times, seems straight out of a movie. Her passion and perseverance are an inspiration to listeners who are on their own journeys launching their dream careers in design and antiques. When Toma saw Katie Treggiden’s latest book title–Broken, and the subtitle Mending and Repair in a Throwaway World, she knew she must have this longtime colleague and friend on The Business of Antiques podcast. Broken “celebrates 25 artists, curators, designers and makers who have rejected the allure of the fast, disposable and easy in favor of the patina of use, the stories of age and the longevity of care and repair. Accompanying these profiles, six in-depth essays explore the societal, cultural and environmental roles of mending in a throwaway world.” 

“I think the environmental crisis brings up a lot of feelings and emotions and you can’t create a space that is addressing the environmental crisis without holding space for those emotions you know I talk a lot about,” Katie explains. “Defiant hope and that’s not about passive optimism – that’s about waking up every morning and choosing to believe in a better world and acting accordingly but you can’t do that by bypassing the fear, right? You’ve got to hold space for the fear and hopelessness and the defeat that we all feel and then enable people to move through those feelings and empower them with what they need to take action.” This episode leaves listeners empowered and inspired to carefully and thoughtfully craft their own best lives harnessing their defiant hope to spark meaningful change as Katie Treggiden has. Learn more about Katie, Making Design Circular, tackling the environmental crisis, and more at katietreggiden.com.