Graig Weiss brings over 20 years of leadership experience and a people-first mindset that has shaped everything from public schools to personalized service calls. Before entering the window treatment industry, he led Foundation Academies in Trenton, taught in the South Bronx and the Dominican Republic, founded a school in Punta Cana, and consulted with Cambridge Associates.
Now, he’s the hands-on owner and operator of Bloomin’ Blinds of BuxMont, managing everything from sales consultations to installations — bringing the same passion and impact to home transformations as he once did to education. Under his leadership, Bloomin’ Blinds of BuxMont was named 2024 Franchise Owner of the Year, earned top national sales awards, and became one of the brand’s highest-performing and most recognized franchises.
With a degree in Finance and Accounting from the University of Pittsburgh, two master’s degrees, and a life full of family, travel, and skiing, Graig blends heart, hustle, and hands-on leadership.

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Will Hanke (00:00)
Welcome back to Marketing Panes the podcast where we dive into real marketing strategies, stories, and shifts happening in the window treatment and awning world. The guest joining us today brings over 20 years of leadership experience and a people first mindset that has shaped everything from public schools to personalized service calls. Before diving into the world of blinds, he led foundation academies in Trenton.

taught in the South Bronx and Dominican Republic, founded a school in Punta Cana, and consulted with Cambridge Associates. Now he’s the hands-on owner and operator of Bloomin’ Blinds of Buxmont, where he manages everything from sales consultations to installations, bringing the same passion and impact to home transformations as he once did to education.

Under his leadership, Bloomin’ Blinds of Buxmont was named the 2025 Franchise Owner of the Year, earned top national sales awards across multiple categories, and became one of the brand’s highest performing and most recognized franchises. With two master’s degrees from the University of Pittsburgh and a life full of family, travel, and skiing, he’s a guy who blends heart, hustle, and hands-on leadership. Welcome to the show, Graig Weiss

Graig Weiss (01:23)
All right, thank you so much. Great to be here.

Will Hanke (01:25)
Yeah, I appreciate it. So quick disclaimer before we just jump into the questions, Graig is a client of ours and has been probably for two years or so now. So we’ve been doing his marketing and just wanted to clear the air there and make sure everybody knew about that before we started. All right, so Graig, thanks for being on the show. Why don’t you give me the 10,000 foot view of what you’ve got going on currently with the business.

Graig Weiss (01:51)
Yeah, so as Will said, know, Bloomin’ Blinds, Buxmont, we’re up in the suburbs of Philadelphia, just outside of Philadelphia. We cover most, pretty much anywhere within an hour of where I live. Mobile-based business, Bloomin’ Blinds is a franchise system, like a lot of others.

and mobile base, mobile showroom. We go out to the customers, we can do consultations in their home and install high-end window treatments.

Will Hanke (02:26)
Awesome. And you’re located in Pennsylvania.

Graig Weiss (02:29)
Yes, just outside Philadelphia and in Pennsylvania, we also get over a little bit into New Jersey, over into the Princeton area of New Jersey, but mainly the surrounding suburbs of Philadelphia.

Will Hanke (02:41)
Awesome, awesome. So what drew you to the window treatment business and what drew you to Bloomin’ Blinds in particular?

Graig Weiss (02:49)
Yeah, so it’s a great question. If you would have told me five years ago that I’d be doing window treatments, I would have never believed you. I’m a former school administrator. I was running a charter school in Trenton, New Jersey. And after the pandemic, I knew I just needed to do something a little different. I needed to get away from school administration and started researching franchises. And there were a lot of things that I liked about Bloomin’ Blinds and window treatments in general.

And that was about three years ago and took the leap and have been growing it ever since. And I think the thing that surprised me most about it is how much I actually enjoy it. Originally it was going to be a side business for me and I was going to hire somebody just to kind of run it. And at the encouragement of the brothers that own Bloomin’ Blinds they were like, you got to get in the van, you got to learn the business. And I was very reluctant, got in the van and then decided, you know what, this is great. You get out there and meet some wonderful people.

You know, you make your own schedule. There’s a sense of accomplishment when you do projects and whatnot. And so it’s been a fun ride and we’re continuing to grow it.

Will Hanke (04:00)
That’s awesome. Now, coming from the education side, how has that background influenced how you’re running your business right now?

Graig Weiss (04:08)
Yeah, it’s, you know, lot of it, you know, kind of carries over. mean, one of the things that I would say is like, it’s all people first. You know, having run an organization, you’re always focused on the people and our customers are no different. We’re focused on what they need and listening to them and their needs and really delivering a service and a product that are really second to none. That’s the goal overall.

Will Hanke (04:35)
How do you think customers see Bloomin’ Blinds in your area and how do you want them to see it?

Graig Weiss (04:42)
Yeah, I mean, I guess the first thing is we want them to see it because, you know, I mean, that’s that’s marketing, getting getting them out there. And it starts with the pink shirts and the pink vans and, ⁓ you know, really just getting that brand recognition out there. ⁓ I think window treatments overall is it’s ⁓ it’s not it’s not an industry that’s necessarily that visible. I know before I got into the the industry, the only place is I kind of.

thought of were like, know, blinds.com and, you know, maybe blinds to go because they have their big, you know, red buildings. And maybe walk down an aisle at Home Depot. There are a lot of other, you know, great vendors out there. And so I think that’s that’s first and foremost. But I think, you know, Bloom Blinds in particular, I always try to put myself in the customer’s shoes and what what would I want as a potential customer?

And like really just treating our customers that way, showing up on time, doing what we’re say we’re gonna do, delivering a perfect product, non pushy sales, all those things I think contribute to ⁓ what we’re trying to convey to all of our customers.

Will Hanke (05:58)
Cool, thank you for that. So I want to talk a little bit about customer experience since we’re kind of on that train. ⁓ What does it actually look like in your business beyond even the install?

Graig Weiss (06:11)
Yeah, so I mean, you know, I would start with first that like 95 % of the customers that we have are really great people. And that’s one of the things I love about this business overall. You get out there and you meet some really great people that would probably have never otherwise encountered in our lives. you know, so the experience is actually, it comes naturally. Like we don’t have to fake it.

You you’re going out there, you’re listening to customers, listening to…

you know, what their needs are, what are they trying to accomplish? Because window treatments should be both beautiful and functional. And so we’re really trying to listen for and ask the right questions as far as what do they need and want their home to, what do they want their home to look like and what do they want their window treatments to be able to do?

And then it’s, you know, basically steering them in the direction and exploring different options.

I’m not a believer, we don’t have favorite window treatments. They all have their pros and cons and that’s really what we’re trying to go through and really trying to ⁓ just match up what a customer wants and what’s gonna work best for them.

Will Hanke (07:23)
I love that I actually had that experience a month or two ago. We had a company come out to do ours and my wife was thinking of Roman Shades and after having a great conversation and getting some consultation, we ended up with Shutter. So totally different than what we thought we wanted. But that consultation piece is really huge.

Graig Weiss (07:44)
Yeah, yeah, absolutely, absolutely. Yeah, we find that often. you know, sometimes people call away something that they think they, you know, they saw on Pinterest that they think is going to work really well. And maybe it does and maybe it doesn’t. And so we’re just kind of like laying out the pros and cons in order to make sure that they’re happy customers.

Will Hanke (07:46)
Yeah, that’s.

Yeah, definitely makes for a better experience. Can you tell me about a time when some sort of customer interaction turned into a great marketing win?

Graig Weiss (08:12)
Yeah, so we often do,

I one of the things that’s really unique about Bloomin’ Blinds is we do repairs as well. And we do repairs not because it’s the highest, you know, profit margins or, you know, anything like that. We do it as a courtesy to the customer because if you have, let’s say you have a room filled with like eight window treatments and one of them needs to be fixed, you don’t necessarily want to buy eight new window treatments.

But oftentimes providing that service, you know, getting into the home and, sometimes fixing,

some of the window treatments down the road will often lead to ⁓ either referrals, ⁓ which are always appreciated, ⁓ as well as sometimes they’ll come back a year later and say, actually, now I want to replace them or something along those lines. And that just starts with, again, that non-pushy, pushy approach. We’re coming out there and we’re not going to be pushy. We’re not going to upsell. We’re going to deliver services that we know you’re going to be happy with.

Will Hanke (09:09)
Yeah, I’m a huge fan of playing the long game.

I think, you know, being patient and understanding that investing in these repairs, those types of things for you are going to pay dividends down the road.

Graig Weiss (09:22)
Yeah, yeah, absolutely.

Will Hanke (09:23)
Yeah. How do you build these kind of like wow moments in without breaking the bank, doing just, you know, in a repair where you’re making a hundred, 150 bucks or something like that ⁓ versus obviously your time that you spent to do that as well. How do you kind of build that in?

Graig Weiss (09:41)
Yeah, I think it’s like you just said, it’s playing the long game. My philosophy the first year was like, if we make no money this year, it’s OK. It’s building that customer base, building that referral program, meeting those relationships, and then results will come. And so that’s really in our philosophy and all of it. mean, we’ll do everything from a small repair all the way up to high-end motorization.

jobs as much as $45,000 in one home. So we’ll do everything in between because that small job, might be the van is parked right in front of the house and the neighbor across the street is in the market for window treatments or that customer’s relative needs window treatments. So we’re happy to service all customers even when it’s seemingly in the moment where they’re not high ticket items.

Will Hanke (10:33)
I love the van idea, just the fact that that is doing work for you while you’re in a home, something like that. And then of course you got the whole Joneses thing going on, right? What’s going on over there?

Graig Weiss (10:45)
Yeah, for sure,

for sure. And the van is hard to miss. I mean, it’s white and hot pink. So it’s a moving billboard, for sure.

Will Hanke (10:54)
Yeah, yeah. How do you balance being part of that national brand, but keeping your message authentic and local at the same time?

Graig Weiss (11:03)
Yeah, mean, it’s a combination of both. mean, in the Northeast, Bloomin Blinds is not as well known as like, you know, in the South and some of those different areas. So it is about getting the word out there. I mean, at the end of the day, even though we’re a franchise system, we’re still family-owned business. ⁓ You know, my wife and I are 100 % owners in the company. ⁓ It’s one of the things I like about Bloomin Blinds. We don’t push any one product or any one manufacturer in particular.

We carry four or five manufacturers and so really looking for the products that offer the best value to our customers. So if a customer is looking for a specific name brand, we’re happy to pull those out. Otherwise, we’ll pull different manufacturers out based on our experience and the value that they bring. But it’s always putting that local touch on it.

Everybody that works in our market is local and community based. And so we really are that family owned business even though we’re part of that larger franchise.

Will Hanke (12:08)
Yeah. Now with you being in the Northeast, are there any brand decisions that you think work especially well in your area?

Graig Weiss (12:16)
⁓ Not really in particular. mean obviously, you know, we recently started offering Hunter Douglas.

Hunter Douglas is, you know, probably one of the most known window treatment products out there. So we were happy to add that to our repertoire and, you know, be able to offer that.

But a lot of it is just, again, based on the products. We kind of have our favorites that we kind of steer in the direction depending on the product. So if it’s shutters and faux wood, it might be one manufacturer. If it’s cellular honeycomb shades, it might be another manufacturer. Just on our experience with those various products. And again, that’s one of the things I love about.

know, Bloomin’ Blinds is that they don’t push one thing over the other. They’re really open to, you know, it’s your franchise. You decide what you are going to sell and work with on an ongoing basis.

Will Hanke (13:07)
I know that you’ve been expanding and really kind of building out your area. So I’d like to talk a couple of questions about that. ⁓ What resources or structures helped you feel confident in growing your location and expanding?

Graig Weiss (13:23)
Yeah, I mean really, as far as resources go, it’s just, know, it’s really about people. I mean, this is really very, very much a people business and having the right partners in place like Window Treatment Marketing Pros, a little commercial there. But, you know, that’s a big piece to expanding, you know, just getting the word out there about the services that we provide and, you know, things like that. It’s…

I don’t want say it’s happened completely organically because there’s a lot of work that goes on behind the scenes, but this isn’t coupons or things like that that helps us expand. It’s reputation, making sure that that reputation is building online and things like that. As far as confidence go, a lot of it’s experience. You do things and the more that you do them, you get more more comfortable with both…

products and things that you’re installing in homes and knowing what’s going to work and what’s not going to work. ⁓ But again, you know, finding those vendors and those installers that are really going to knock it out of the park and, you know, deliver that perfection that we’re after. That’s really the key. And so it’s been somewhat, you know, slow and methodical. I mean, in some respects it’s been fast, but in some respects, you know, it hasn’t happened overnight. There hasn’t been a light switch that went off.

with the expansion, just, you know, it’s a snowball effect.

Will Hanke (14:45)
Yeah. Are there any common traps that you see from business owners that try to scale up their brand presence maybe a little bit too fast?

Graig Weiss (14:54)
Yeah, I would say again, it kind of comes back to people. mean, you know, we’re really particular in the people that work with us and, you we have high expectations and we need that to deliver. And I think that’s what our customers expect. I know that’s what I would want from, you know, from a vendor for them to come in and deliver on the promises that they’ve said and make sure that everything is perfect. I mean, our customers are paying for perfection and that’s what we’re trying to deliver every single time.

Will Hanke (15:22)
That’s awesome. So Bloomin’ Blinds has earned some strong recognition lately. And you yourself has as well. A couple different things that has gone on. You won 2024 franchise owner of the year. That’s pretty awesome. 2024 top overall sales for Ulta. 2000 top sales for Cellular Shades, Ulta again. Top product sales for Bloomin Blinds Cellular Shades and Soft Treatments.

Graig Weiss (15:37)
Yeah.

Will Hanke (15:52)
With all these awards, obviously they build trust, right, with your brand. ⁓ How is that for internal motivation?

Graig Weiss (16:04)
I would just say it’s incredibly gratifying. obviously when you start a business, as anyone who’s ever started a business, it’s a very nerve wracking experience and it’s more a mental game than anything else. When you start a business, I know for the first six months I pretty much woke up every day and be like, this the right decision? Am I making the right moves and things like that. Eventually you start to gain traction and that confidence builds and things like that.

But yeah, I I gave up a steady job with benefits and a pension and sort of took this leap of faith. And so when we got that award, was sort of like that moment where like, wow, we actually made this work and we can actually make a living out of it. So that was a really nice moment and some nice recognition for us.

Will Hanke (16:58)
Yeah, as I mentioned, great trust factor. Just having those types of awards from a consumer standpoint, these guys must be the best if they’re winning awards, right? ⁓ That’s always great. I think as entrepreneurs, we’re more likely to take crazy risks than maybe the average person would, ⁓ hoping that it pays off down the road.

Graig Weiss (17:22)
Yeah, yeah, absolutely. Yeah, and that was, you know, when I got into this, I was like, I’m just going to bet on myself on this one. You know, used, I used retirement money and it’s like, well, I can either put it in the stock market and let it ride or we can bet on ourselves. And, and, you know, you take that again, it’s a risk, but, you know, I think, you know, that entrepreneur, an entrepreneurial mindset is that now that, now that we’ve done it once, we can do it again, you know, so, you know, we continue to take those little risks and.

continue to the business.

Will Hanke (17:52)
Yeah, it’s highly motivating too if you’re that type of personality. My coach always says you eat what you kill, right? You got to get out there and make it happen or you can’t complain about it. Yeah, cool. So I know that you started in just a small service area. We kind of talked about your expansion. What was the mindset or what led you to wanting to start the expansion?

Graig Weiss (18:02)
Yeah, that’s exactly right.

Yeah, so it’s like really just being opportunistic. You know, I wasn’t really looking necessarily to expand. There was another Bloomin’ Blinds colleague that he had, he had several different businesses that he was running. He called me up at the end of last year and he said, hey, you interested in buying, you know, my territories? And so, you know, no matter what the case, I’m going to have the conversation. And one thing led to another. And we were able to, you know, buy those territories and, know,

you know, the plan is to continue to expand in a slow, deliberate way. So it’s really just being opportunistic and taking advantage of the opportunities that are presented. You just have to have your ears open and listening to them.

Will Hanke (19:01)
Yeah, I love that. ⁓ As you expand, how are you keeping the brand consistent as your physical area widens and you’ve got to juggle all these different things?

Graig Weiss (19:14)
Yeah, I mean, it’s definitely a challenge. I would even say that we’re not really, you know, we’re really not maximizing the new territories just yet. We’ve been really trying to build the team. And then once we have that team in place, then we can start to, you know, it opens up the capacity of, you know, of all of us to do a little bit more. And that’s when you can even do, you know, a little bit more marketing and, ⁓ you know, things like that to really maximize that area. So.

⁓ Even though we acquired the territories, it wasn’t day one that we hit the gas pedal on marketing out there because we just didn’t, you again, the opportunity arose. We took advantage of the opportunity, ⁓ but we need to build the team out to like really capitalize and make the most of it.

Will Hanke (19:57)
Yeah, you want to grow with your business, right? You don’t want to suddenly scale like crazy and then have to figure out how to make it work and start getting poor reviews. A lot of things could happen that way.

Yeah, yeah.

Graig Weiss (20:07)
That’s right. That’s right.

Will Hanke (20:11)
Was there a turning point for you when you realized like we’re ready to grow and your ear became more receptive to these opportunities?

Graig Weiss (20:22)
I don’t think so. I don’t think it was like one ⁓ catalyst that said that. mean, obviously, you kind of spoke earlier about the entrepreneurial mindset and like, you know, how as business owners,

in some ways it’s never enough. So you always want to be, know, once we reach a certain amount in sales, we want to be taking that next step and that next step and that next step. And so it’s constantly having that desire to grow.

But also being realistic about what are the steps that I need to put in place in order to grow this thing responsibly?

And at times that’s a tough balance I mean there’s definitely been months where I’m working seven days a week and doing installs on weekends to kind of get caught up ⁓ as we sort of build the team ⁓ But ⁓ you know, it’s all worth it in the end because you know at the end of the day we’re doing this for our families and you know, that’s what’s the most important to us to us all really

Will Hanke (21:13)
Yeah, what is it? I think it was Laurie from Shark Tank says entrepreneurs will work 80 hours to avoid working 40.

Graig Weiss (21:20)
That’s so true. You know,

it’s funny you mention that. think about two or three months in, I looked over at my wife and I said, you know what the biggest thing that scares me about this potentially not working? And she says, financial failure? said, nope, having to go back to a nine to five.

Will Hanke (21:38)
Yeah, by far, by far.

Thank you so much for the questions. I want to jump into some maybe kind of fun questions, if that would be OK. Have you ever had a customer request that totally caught you off guard?

Graig Weiss (21:45)
Yeah, yeah.

totally caught me off guard. ⁓ I’ve had customers ask for things, know, again my philosophy is that if I wouldn’t do it in my own home, I’m not gonna do it in somebody else’s home. ⁓ There have been things that, I’ll never forget, a customer had like a window that was 20 feet in the air and they wanted to put a continuous cord loop ⁓ all the way down 20 feet in order to operate the shade and ⁓ kind of caught me off guard but I was like, as I thought about it, I’m like, no, I’m not gonna do that.

Because at the end of the day, that’s not how it’s supposed to function. ⁓ My name is on it. I just didn’t think it was a really good move. So I kind of try to steer them in a different direction. I’ve had some other cool requests. I had a customer who was like, we want this to be the focal point. We want you to do something here that’s totally like that nobody’s ever seen before. ⁓ And so that was kind of a fun project.

At the end of the day, we had designed something that was very ⁓ outlandish, and they kind scaled it back and decided maybe we don’t want one as outlandish. But for the most part, those are few and far between, but they’re fun when they happen.

Will Hanke (22:57)
you

that’s fun. That

was probably a great learning experience for you. Even just building it out and then them having to scale it back. Very cool. What is the best and worst business advice you’ve ever received?

Graig Weiss (23:09)
Yeah, for sure, for sure.

Yep, absolutely.

Ooh, that’s a good question. Best and worst business advice.

I don’t know. I don’t know the answer to that one. Nothing’s really coming to mind. it probably received a little bit of both, you know, in both regards, both good and bad advice. But I mean, that’s, you know, kind of goes back to, mean, one of the things that I’m constantly trying to do is talk to owners that are successful and beg, borrow and steal, you know, ideas from them. You know, that’s one of the benefits of being in a franchise system and the thing that I really value.

Will Hanke (23:37)
All right.

Graig Weiss (24:02)
is reaching out to the other owners and figure out what’s working for them and maybe what’s not working so well.

Will Hanke (24:08)
Yeah, on ⁓ the ⁓ project that you had where they said they wanted something really outlandish, have you ever come across a situation where you’re just not the right fit for the customer? And if so, how do you kind of handle that interaction?

Graig Weiss (24:27)
Yeah, mean, ⁓ it’s just being honest. I think people respect being really honest with what your capabilities are. mean, one of the areas that I would like to get into eventually is pergolas. We’re doing a lot more exterior screens. We’re starting to get into awnings a little bit more. But pergolas are just not something that I currently have the team to tackle. And so we’ve been asked about them, and that’s my response. If you talk to me in two years,

The answer might be yes. The answer right now is I just don’t have the team in place to execute a pergola. so, you know, and if I have, if I have partners that, you know, or recommendations, happy to provide those, you know, we do that in a lot of other areas. We often are in the home, we build that trust with customers and the customers are asking us for painters and, know, somebody to renovate their kitchen and, you know, things of that nature. And so happy to, you know, always provide.

those resources for other folks in the community who do an excellent job that have the standards that we do.

Will Hanke (25:34)
Yeah, there’s something definitely to be said about becoming a coach or a resource for a customer. ⁓ They really put quality into that and they consider you an expert, obviously. So that really kind of elevates you from just being a sales guy.

Graig Weiss (25:52)
Yep, yep, absolutely.

Will Hanke (25:54)
Love that. ⁓ Very good. Running a classroom and running a business, which one has more surprises?

Graig Weiss (26:03)
that’s easy. Definitely a classroom has more surprises. I’ve got stories. I’ve got stories.

Will Hanke (26:10)
Yeah, you don’t have to get into the stories.

⁓ But was it because of the age group? What was the big thing that was creating all those surprises for you?

Graig Weiss (26:21)
Uh, it’s, both it’s, you know, kids are kids, right. And kids are always going to be wires kids. And I know we all have stories that, you know, how we were when we were kids, but, uh, you know, kids are unique. And when you’re dealing with, mean, when I was running, uh, foundation academies in Trent, had 1200 kids. And so there was always those few kids that had those personalities that, you know, just kind of throw it, keep you on your toes, if you will. so, but I was also, when I was a teacher, I was also teaching middle school and.

school, you have to have a of unique sense of humor to appreciate the middle school sense of humor.

Will Hanke (26:57)
For sure. I bet along the way you learned a lot about leadership as well. Yeah.

Graig Weiss (27:01)
Oh, for sure, for sure. Yeah.

Both learned it, you know, the hard way and, but that’s, I mean, it’s funny because like, you know, running a business is challenging, but it’s nothing like, you know, what I was doing before. That was just, you know, we had 1200 kids between parents and students and, you know, 150 staff and board members. There was just a whole lot to, you know, cut. At times you felt like a pinball and you were just kind of like…

Will Hanke (27:29)
you

Graig Weiss (27:29)
bouncing

between the different constituents and trying to keep things on the right track.

Will Hanke (27:35)
Yeah. Is there any one leadership lesson that’s really carried over in a big way for you?

Graig Weiss (27:41)
I think the biggest thing is humility. mean,

leadership will humble you quicker than anything. And I think that’s true in the business that we do.

I always tell customers, I can’t promise it’s going to be perfect. I’m going to try real hard because it’s going to cost me money if I don’t. there’s mistakes that we make. We mismeasure things and have to reorder things or things get damaged during shipping.

But I think the biggest thing is just that humility and being genuine with people and making things right in the long

And I think that that’s true in like any leadership position.

Will Hanke (28:20)
Yeah, smart advice. Yeah, I appreciate you saying that. Let’s talk about the future. What are you most excited about in the next 6 to 12 months?

Graig Weiss (28:30)
Yeah, just continuing to grow things, continuing to learn new things, offer new products. As I said, we’re doing more more exterior work.

So exterior, the retractable zipper screens. We’re doing now retractable awnings. And who knows, like I said, in another year or two, maybe we’re doing percolas and things like that.

I just think the exterior space, we’re really seeing high demand for the exterior spaces and it just makes so much sense. mean, it can extend your living space in a very cost-effective way to do some of these projects.

Will Hanke (29:11)
I love that. I would say two years ago, maybe 10 % of our client base did exterior. And now that number is probably 35 to 40%. A lot more of the window treatment offerings are turning to exterior as well.

Graig Weiss (29:31)
Yeah, yeah, absolutely. Yeah, the thing that I love about, you know, the motorized screens in particular is most people think of them to knock down the sun, which they do. But in the Northeast, what they can do is if you put infrared heaters inside your, you know, porch or what have you, ⁓ they actually retain the heat. And so now you’ve gone from a three, four month porch to a nine month porch.

just by adding those retractable screens and some heaters. ⁓ yeah, that’s my favorite thing about the screens.

Will Hanke (30:07)
I like that. That expands your square footage as far as livable square footage in the winter, especially. That’s fantastic. I like that. Where can people connect with you to learn more about Bloomin’ Blind’s Buxmot and your journey individually?

Graig Weiss (30:10)
Mm-hmm.

Yep.

Yeah, absolutely. So I’m pretty accessible. You can either email me at bucksco B-U-C-K-S-C-O @ bloomingblinds.com. Visit our website at bloominblindsbuxmont.com And ⁓ yeah, those are probably the two easiest ways, but I’m happy to connect with whoever and ⁓ see how we can share resources.

Will Hanke (30:51)
Yeah. Any awards that you’ve got your eyes on for next year?

Graig Weiss (30:57)
No, you know, I tend to think that those awards like happen organically. Again, really proud to, you know, have been honored to receive them. But we’re just going to continue to keep our head down, try to deliver exceptional services. And then, you know, maybe some of those awards will come up as a byproduct of our work.

Will Hanke (31:20)
Perfect answer. I love that. Keep your head down. Keep pushing forward, right? That’s awesome. Well, Graig, thank you so much for being on the show today. I really do appreciate it.

Graig Weiss (31:21)
That’s right.

Yeah, absolutely. Thanks for having me. Really appreciate you and your partnership in this journey.

Will Hanke (31:34)
Yeah.

Yeah, we’re excited for the future. We’re excited for your expansion. Obviously, ready to help it however we can. Awesome.

Well, big thanks to Graig Weiss for sharing his perspective on what it means to build something that truly reflects your values from the way you lead the team to how your brand shows up in the community. His journey is a reminder that strong businesses aren’t just built on sales, but on purpose, consistency, and connection.

If you’re thinking about how to align your marketing with your message, we hope this episode gave you somewhat of a

roadmap. Subscribe, share with a friend and we’ll catch you next time on Marketing Panes.

Will Hanke (00:00)
Welcome back to Marketing Panes the podcast where we dive into real marketing strategies, stories, and shifts happening in the window treatment and awning world. The guest joining us today brings over 20 years of leadership experience and a people first mindset that has shaped everything from public schools to personalized service calls. Before diving into the world of blinds, he led foundation academies in Trenton.

taught in the South Bronx and Dominican Republic, founded a school in Punta Cana, and consulted with Cambridge Associates. Now he’s the hands-on owner and operator of Bloomin’ Blinds of Buxmont, where he manages everything from sales consultations to installations, bringing the same passion and impact to home transformations as he once did to education.

Under his leadership, Bloomin’ Blinds of Buxmont was named the 2025 Franchise Owner of the Year, earned top national sales awards across multiple categories, and became one of the brand’s highest performing and most recognized franchises. With two master’s degrees from the University of Pittsburgh and a life full of family, travel, and skiing, he’s a guy who blends heart, hustle, and hands-on leadership. Welcome to the show, Graig Weiss

Graig Weiss (01:23)
All right, thank you so much. Great to be here.

Will Hanke (01:25)
Yeah, I appreciate it. So quick disclaimer before we just jump into the questions, Graig is a client of ours and has been probably for two years or so now. So we’ve been doing his marketing and just wanted to clear the air there and make sure everybody knew about that before we started. All right, so Graig, thanks for being on the show. Why don’t you give me the 10,000 foot view of what you’ve got going on currently with the business.

Graig Weiss (01:51)
Yeah, so as Will said, know, Bloomin’ Blinds, Buxmont, we’re up in the suburbs of Philadelphia, just outside of Philadelphia. We cover most, pretty much anywhere within an hour of where I live. Mobile-based business, Bloomin’ Blinds is a franchise system, like a lot of others.

and mobile base, mobile showroom. We go out to the customers, we can do consultations in their home and install high-end window treatments.

Will Hanke (02:26)
Awesome. And you’re located in Pennsylvania.

Graig Weiss (02:29)
Yes, just outside Philadelphia and in Pennsylvania, we also get over a little bit into New Jersey, over into the Princeton area of New Jersey, but mainly the surrounding suburbs of Philadelphia.

Will Hanke (02:41)
Awesome, awesome. So what drew you to the window treatment business and what drew you to Bloomin’ Blinds in particular?

Graig Weiss (02:49)
Yeah, so it’s a great question. If you would have told me five years ago that I’d be doing window treatments, I would have never believed you. I’m a former school administrator. I was running a charter school in Trenton, New Jersey. And after the pandemic, I knew I just needed to do something a little different. I needed to get away from school administration and started researching franchises. And there were a lot of things that I liked about Bloomin’ Blinds and window treatments in general.

And that was about three years ago and took the leap and have been growing it ever since. And I think the thing that surprised me most about it is how much I actually enjoy it. Originally it was going to be a side business for me and I was going to hire somebody just to kind of run it. And at the encouragement of the brothers that own Bloomin’ Blinds they were like, you got to get in the van, you got to learn the business. And I was very reluctant, got in the van and then decided, you know what, this is great. You get out there and meet some wonderful people.

You know, you make your own schedule. There’s a sense of accomplishment when you do projects and whatnot. And so it’s been a fun ride and we’re continuing to grow it.

Will Hanke (04:00)
That’s awesome. Now, coming from the education side, how has that background influenced how you’re running your business right now?

Graig Weiss (04:08)
Yeah, it’s, you know, lot of it, you know, kind of carries over. mean, one of the things that I would say is like, it’s all people first. You know, having run an organization, you’re always focused on the people and our customers are no different. We’re focused on what they need and listening to them and their needs and really delivering a service and a product that are really second to none. That’s the goal overall.

Will Hanke (04:35)
How do you think customers see Bloomin’ Blinds in your area and how do you want them to see it?

Graig Weiss (04:42)
Yeah, I mean, I guess the first thing is we want them to see it because, you know, I mean, that’s that’s marketing, getting getting them out there. And it starts with the pink shirts and the pink vans and, ⁓ you know, really just getting that brand recognition out there. ⁓ I think window treatments overall is it’s ⁓ it’s not it’s not an industry that’s necessarily that visible. I know before I got into the the industry, the only place is I kind of.

thought of were like, know, blinds.com and, you know, maybe blinds to go because they have their big, you know, red buildings. And maybe walk down an aisle at Home Depot. There are a lot of other, you know, great vendors out there. And so I think that’s that’s first and foremost. But I think, you know, Bloom Blinds in particular, I always try to put myself in the customer’s shoes and what what would I want as a potential customer?

And like really just treating our customers that way, showing up on time, doing what we’re say we’re gonna do, delivering a perfect product, non pushy sales, all those things I think contribute to ⁓ what we’re trying to convey to all of our customers.

Will Hanke (05:58)
Cool, thank you for that. So I want to talk a little bit about customer experience since we’re kind of on that train. ⁓ What does it actually look like in your business beyond even the install?

Graig Weiss (06:11)
Yeah, so I mean, you know, I would start with first that like 95 % of the customers that we have are really great people. And that’s one of the things I love about this business overall. You get out there and you meet some really great people that would probably have never otherwise encountered in our lives. you know, so the experience is actually, it comes naturally. Like we don’t have to fake it.

You you’re going out there, you’re listening to customers, listening to…

you know, what their needs are, what are they trying to accomplish? Because window treatments should be both beautiful and functional. And so we’re really trying to listen for and ask the right questions as far as what do they need and want their home to, what do they want their home to look like and what do they want their window treatments to be able to do?

And then it’s, you know, basically steering them in the direction and exploring different options.

I’m not a believer, we don’t have favorite window treatments. They all have their pros and cons and that’s really what we’re trying to go through and really trying to ⁓ just match up what a customer wants and what’s gonna work best for them.

Will Hanke (07:23)
I love that I actually had that experience a month or two ago. We had a company come out to do ours and my wife was thinking of Roman Shades and after having a great conversation and getting some consultation, we ended up with Shutter. So totally different than what we thought we wanted. But that consultation piece is really huge.

Graig Weiss (07:44)
Yeah, yeah, absolutely, absolutely. Yeah, we find that often. you know, sometimes people call away something that they think they, you know, they saw on Pinterest that they think is going to work really well. And maybe it does and maybe it doesn’t. And so we’re just kind of like laying out the pros and cons in order to make sure that they’re happy customers.

Will Hanke (07:46)
Yeah, that’s.

Yeah, definitely makes for a better experience. Can you tell me about a time when some sort of customer interaction turned into a great marketing win?

Graig Weiss (08:12)
Yeah, so we often do,

I one of the things that’s really unique about Bloomin’ Blinds is we do repairs as well. And we do repairs not because it’s the highest, you know, profit margins or, you know, anything like that. We do it as a courtesy to the customer because if you have, let’s say you have a room filled with like eight window treatments and one of them needs to be fixed, you don’t necessarily want to buy eight new window treatments.

But oftentimes providing that service, you know, getting into the home and, sometimes fixing,

some of the window treatments down the road will often lead to ⁓ either referrals, ⁓ which are always appreciated, ⁓ as well as sometimes they’ll come back a year later and say, actually, now I want to replace them or something along those lines. And that just starts with, again, that non-pushy, pushy approach. We’re coming out there and we’re not going to be pushy. We’re not going to upsell. We’re going to deliver services that we know you’re going to be happy with.

Will Hanke (09:09)
Yeah, I’m a huge fan of playing the long game.

I think, you know, being patient and understanding that investing in these repairs, those types of things for you are going to pay dividends down the road.

Graig Weiss (09:22)
Yeah, yeah, absolutely.

Will Hanke (09:23)
Yeah. How do you build these kind of like wow moments in without breaking the bank, doing just, you know, in a repair where you’re making a hundred, 150 bucks or something like that ⁓ versus obviously your time that you spent to do that as well. How do you kind of build that in?

Graig Weiss (09:41)
Yeah, I think it’s like you just said, it’s playing the long game. My philosophy the first year was like, if we make no money this year, it’s OK. It’s building that customer base, building that referral program, meeting those relationships, and then results will come. And so that’s really in our philosophy and all of it. mean, we’ll do everything from a small repair all the way up to high-end motorization.

jobs as much as $45,000 in one home. So we’ll do everything in between because that small job, might be the van is parked right in front of the house and the neighbor across the street is in the market for window treatments or that customer’s relative needs window treatments. So we’re happy to service all customers even when it’s seemingly in the moment where they’re not high ticket items.

Will Hanke (10:33)
I love the van idea, just the fact that that is doing work for you while you’re in a home, something like that. And then of course you got the whole Joneses thing going on, right? What’s going on over there?

Graig Weiss (10:45)
Yeah, for sure,

for sure. And the van is hard to miss. I mean, it’s white and hot pink. So it’s a moving billboard, for sure.

Will Hanke (10:54)
Yeah, yeah. How do you balance being part of that national brand, but keeping your message authentic and local at the same time?

Graig Weiss (11:03)
Yeah, mean, it’s a combination of both. mean, in the Northeast, Bloomin Blinds is not as well known as like, you know, in the South and some of those different areas. So it is about getting the word out there. I mean, at the end of the day, even though we’re a franchise system, we’re still family-owned business. ⁓ You know, my wife and I are 100 % owners in the company. ⁓ It’s one of the things I like about Bloomin Blinds. We don’t push any one product or any one manufacturer in particular.

We carry four or five manufacturers and so really looking for the products that offer the best value to our customers. So if a customer is looking for a specific name brand, we’re happy to pull those out. Otherwise, we’ll pull different manufacturers out based on our experience and the value that they bring. But it’s always putting that local touch on it.

Everybody that works in our market is local and community based. And so we really are that family owned business even though we’re part of that larger franchise.

Will Hanke (12:08)
Yeah. Now with you being in the Northeast, are there any brand decisions that you think work especially well in your area?

Graig Weiss (12:16)
⁓ Not really in particular. mean obviously, you know, we recently started offering Hunter Douglas.

Hunter Douglas is, you know, probably one of the most known window treatment products out there. So we were happy to add that to our repertoire and, you know, be able to offer that.

But a lot of it is just, again, based on the products. We kind of have our favorites that we kind of steer in the direction depending on the product. So if it’s shutters and faux wood, it might be one manufacturer. If it’s cellular honeycomb shades, it might be another manufacturer. Just on our experience with those various products. And again, that’s one of the things I love about.

know, Bloomin’ Blinds is that they don’t push one thing over the other. They’re really open to, you know, it’s your franchise. You decide what you are going to sell and work with on an ongoing basis.

Will Hanke (13:07)
I know that you’ve been expanding and really kind of building out your area. So I’d like to talk a couple of questions about that. ⁓ What resources or structures helped you feel confident in growing your location and expanding?

Graig Weiss (13:23)
Yeah, I mean really, as far as resources go, it’s just, know, it’s really about people. I mean, this is really very, very much a people business and having the right partners in place like Window Treatment Marketing Pros, a little commercial there. But, you know, that’s a big piece to expanding, you know, just getting the word out there about the services that we provide and, you know, things like that. It’s…

I don’t want say it’s happened completely organically because there’s a lot of work that goes on behind the scenes, but this isn’t coupons or things like that that helps us expand. It’s reputation, making sure that that reputation is building online and things like that. As far as confidence go, a lot of it’s experience. You do things and the more that you do them, you get more more comfortable with both…

products and things that you’re installing in homes and knowing what’s going to work and what’s not going to work. ⁓ But again, you know, finding those vendors and those installers that are really going to knock it out of the park and, you know, deliver that perfection that we’re after. That’s really the key. And so it’s been somewhat, you know, slow and methodical. I mean, in some respects it’s been fast, but in some respects, you know, it hasn’t happened overnight. There hasn’t been a light switch that went off.

with the expansion, just, you know, it’s a snowball effect.

Will Hanke (14:45)
Yeah. Are there any common traps that you see from business owners that try to scale up their brand presence maybe a little bit too fast?

Graig Weiss (14:54)
Yeah, I would say again, it kind of comes back to people. mean, you know, we’re really particular in the people that work with us and, you we have high expectations and we need that to deliver. And I think that’s what our customers expect. I know that’s what I would want from, you know, from a vendor for them to come in and deliver on the promises that they’ve said and make sure that everything is perfect. I mean, our customers are paying for perfection and that’s what we’re trying to deliver every single time.

Will Hanke (15:22)
That’s awesome. So Bloomin’ Blinds has earned some strong recognition lately. And you yourself has as well. A couple different things that has gone on. You won 2024 franchise owner of the year. That’s pretty awesome. 2024 top overall sales for Ulta. 2000 top sales for Cellular Shades, Ulta again. Top product sales for Bloomin Blinds Cellular Shades and Soft Treatments.

Graig Weiss (15:37)
Yeah.

Will Hanke (15:52)
With all these awards, obviously they build trust, right, with your brand. ⁓ How is that for internal motivation?

Graig Weiss (16:04)
I would just say it’s incredibly gratifying. obviously when you start a business, as anyone who’s ever started a business, it’s a very nerve wracking experience and it’s more a mental game than anything else. When you start a business, I know for the first six months I pretty much woke up every day and be like, this the right decision? Am I making the right moves and things like that. Eventually you start to gain traction and that confidence builds and things like that.

But yeah, I I gave up a steady job with benefits and a pension and sort of took this leap of faith. And so when we got that award, was sort of like that moment where like, wow, we actually made this work and we can actually make a living out of it. So that was a really nice moment and some nice recognition for us.

Will Hanke (16:58)
Yeah, as I mentioned, great trust factor. Just having those types of awards from a consumer standpoint, these guys must be the best if they’re winning awards, right? ⁓ That’s always great. I think as entrepreneurs, we’re more likely to take crazy risks than maybe the average person would, ⁓ hoping that it pays off down the road.

Graig Weiss (17:22)
Yeah, yeah, absolutely. Yeah, and that was, you know, when I got into this, I was like, I’m just going to bet on myself on this one. You know, used, I used retirement money and it’s like, well, I can either put it in the stock market and let it ride or we can bet on ourselves. And, and, you know, you take that again, it’s a risk, but, you know, I think, you know, that entrepreneur, an entrepreneurial mindset is that now that, now that we’ve done it once, we can do it again, you know, so, you know, we continue to take those little risks and.

continue to the business.

Will Hanke (17:52)
Yeah, it’s highly motivating too if you’re that type of personality. My coach always says you eat what you kill, right? You got to get out there and make it happen or you can’t complain about it. Yeah, cool. So I know that you started in just a small service area. We kind of talked about your expansion. What was the mindset or what led you to wanting to start the expansion?

Graig Weiss (18:02)
Yeah, that’s exactly right.

Yeah, so it’s like really just being opportunistic. You know, I wasn’t really looking necessarily to expand. There was another Bloomin’ Blinds colleague that he had, he had several different businesses that he was running. He called me up at the end of last year and he said, hey, you interested in buying, you know, my territories? And so, you know, no matter what the case, I’m going to have the conversation. And one thing led to another. And we were able to, you know, buy those territories and, know,

you know, the plan is to continue to expand in a slow, deliberate way. So it’s really just being opportunistic and taking advantage of the opportunities that are presented. You just have to have your ears open and listening to them.

Will Hanke (19:01)
Yeah, I love that. ⁓ As you expand, how are you keeping the brand consistent as your physical area widens and you’ve got to juggle all these different things?

Graig Weiss (19:14)
Yeah, I mean, it’s definitely a challenge. I would even say that we’re not really, you know, we’re really not maximizing the new territories just yet. We’ve been really trying to build the team. And then once we have that team in place, then we can start to, you know, it opens up the capacity of, you know, of all of us to do a little bit more. And that’s when you can even do, you know, a little bit more marketing and, ⁓ you know, things like that to really maximize that area. So.

⁓ Even though we acquired the territories, it wasn’t day one that we hit the gas pedal on marketing out there because we just didn’t, you again, the opportunity arose. We took advantage of the opportunity, ⁓ but we need to build the team out to like really capitalize and make the most of it.

Will Hanke (19:57)
Yeah, you want to grow with your business, right? You don’t want to suddenly scale like crazy and then have to figure out how to make it work and start getting poor reviews. A lot of things could happen that way.

Yeah, yeah.

Graig Weiss (20:07)
That’s right. That’s right.

Will Hanke (20:11)
Was there a turning point for you when you realized like we’re ready to grow and your ear became more receptive to these opportunities?

Graig Weiss (20:22)
I don’t think so. I don’t think it was like one ⁓ catalyst that said that. mean, obviously, you kind of spoke earlier about the entrepreneurial mindset and like, you know, how as business owners,

in some ways it’s never enough. So you always want to be, know, once we reach a certain amount in sales, we want to be taking that next step and that next step and that next step. And so it’s constantly having that desire to grow.

But also being realistic about what are the steps that I need to put in place in order to grow this thing responsibly?

And at times that’s a tough balance I mean there’s definitely been months where I’m working seven days a week and doing installs on weekends to kind of get caught up ⁓ as we sort of build the team ⁓ But ⁓ you know, it’s all worth it in the end because you know at the end of the day we’re doing this for our families and you know, that’s what’s the most important to us to us all really

Will Hanke (21:13)
Yeah, what is it? I think it was Laurie from Shark Tank says entrepreneurs will work 80 hours to avoid working 40.

Graig Weiss (21:20)
That’s so true. You know,

it’s funny you mention that. think about two or three months in, I looked over at my wife and I said, you know what the biggest thing that scares me about this potentially not working? And she says, financial failure? said, nope, having to go back to a nine to five.

Will Hanke (21:38)
Yeah, by far, by far.

Thank you so much for the questions. I want to jump into some maybe kind of fun questions, if that would be OK. Have you ever had a customer request that totally caught you off guard?

Graig Weiss (21:45)
Yeah, yeah.

totally caught me off guard. ⁓ I’ve had customers ask for things, know, again my philosophy is that if I wouldn’t do it in my own home, I’m not gonna do it in somebody else’s home. ⁓ There have been things that, I’ll never forget, a customer had like a window that was 20 feet in the air and they wanted to put a continuous cord loop ⁓ all the way down 20 feet in order to operate the shade and ⁓ kind of caught me off guard but I was like, as I thought about it, I’m like, no, I’m not gonna do that.

Because at the end of the day, that’s not how it’s supposed to function. ⁓ My name is on it. I just didn’t think it was a really good move. So I kind of try to steer them in a different direction. I’ve had some other cool requests. I had a customer who was like, we want this to be the focal point. We want you to do something here that’s totally like that nobody’s ever seen before. ⁓ And so that was kind of a fun project.

At the end of the day, we had designed something that was very ⁓ outlandish, and they kind scaled it back and decided maybe we don’t want one as outlandish. But for the most part, those are few and far between, but they’re fun when they happen.

Will Hanke (22:57)
you

that’s fun. That

was probably a great learning experience for you. Even just building it out and then them having to scale it back. Very cool. What is the best and worst business advice you’ve ever received?

Graig Weiss (23:09)
Yeah, for sure, for sure.

Yep, absolutely.

Ooh, that’s a good question. Best and worst business advice.

I don’t know. I don’t know the answer to that one. Nothing’s really coming to mind. it probably received a little bit of both, you know, in both regards, both good and bad advice. But I mean, that’s, you know, kind of goes back to, mean, one of the things that I’m constantly trying to do is talk to owners that are successful and beg, borrow and steal, you know, ideas from them. You know, that’s one of the benefits of being in a franchise system and the thing that I really value.

Will Hanke (23:37)
All right.

Graig Weiss (24:02)
is reaching out to the other owners and figure out what’s working for them and maybe what’s not working so well.

Will Hanke (24:08)
Yeah, on ⁓ the ⁓ project that you had where they said they wanted something really outlandish, have you ever come across a situation where you’re just not the right fit for the customer? And if so, how do you kind of handle that interaction?

Graig Weiss (24:27)
Yeah, mean, ⁓ it’s just being honest. I think people respect being really honest with what your capabilities are. mean, one of the areas that I would like to get into eventually is pergolas. We’re doing a lot more exterior screens. We’re starting to get into awnings a little bit more. But pergolas are just not something that I currently have the team to tackle. And so we’ve been asked about them, and that’s my response. If you talk to me in two years,

The answer might be yes. The answer right now is I just don’t have the team in place to execute a pergola. so, you know, and if I have, if I have partners that, you know, or recommendations, happy to provide those, you know, we do that in a lot of other areas. We often are in the home, we build that trust with customers and the customers are asking us for painters and, know, somebody to renovate their kitchen and, you know, things of that nature. And so happy to, you know, always provide.

those resources for other folks in the community who do an excellent job that have the standards that we do.

Will Hanke (25:34)
Yeah, there’s something definitely to be said about becoming a coach or a resource for a customer. ⁓ They really put quality into that and they consider you an expert, obviously. So that really kind of elevates you from just being a sales guy.

Graig Weiss (25:52)
Yep, yep, absolutely.

Will Hanke (25:54)
Love that. ⁓ Very good. Running a classroom and running a business, which one has more surprises?

Graig Weiss (26:03)
that’s easy. Definitely a classroom has more surprises. I’ve got stories. I’ve got stories.

Will Hanke (26:10)
Yeah, you don’t have to get into the stories.

⁓ But was it because of the age group? What was the big thing that was creating all those surprises for you?

Graig Weiss (26:21)
Uh, it’s, both it’s, you know, kids are kids, right. And kids are always going to be wires kids. And I know we all have stories that, you know, how we were when we were kids, but, uh, you know, kids are unique. And when you’re dealing with, mean, when I was running, uh, foundation academies in Trent, had 1200 kids. And so there was always those few kids that had those personalities that, you know, just kind of throw it, keep you on your toes, if you will. so, but I was also, when I was a teacher, I was also teaching middle school and.

school, you have to have a of unique sense of humor to appreciate the middle school sense of humor.

Will Hanke (26:57)
For sure. I bet along the way you learned a lot about leadership as well. Yeah.

Graig Weiss (27:01)
Oh, for sure, for sure. Yeah.

Both learned it, you know, the hard way and, but that’s, I mean, it’s funny because like, you know, running a business is challenging, but it’s nothing like, you know, what I was doing before. That was just, you know, we had 1200 kids between parents and students and, you know, 150 staff and board members. There was just a whole lot to, you know, cut. At times you felt like a pinball and you were just kind of like…

Will Hanke (27:29)
you

Graig Weiss (27:29)
bouncing

between the different constituents and trying to keep things on the right track.

Will Hanke (27:35)
Yeah. Is there any one leadership lesson that’s really carried over in a big way for you?

Graig Weiss (27:41)
I think the biggest thing is humility. mean,

leadership will humble you quicker than anything. And I think that’s true in the business that we do.

I always tell customers, I can’t promise it’s going to be perfect. I’m going to try real hard because it’s going to cost me money if I don’t. there’s mistakes that we make. We mismeasure things and have to reorder things or things get damaged during shipping.

But I think the biggest thing is just that humility and being genuine with people and making things right in the long

And I think that that’s true in like any leadership position.

Will Hanke (28:20)
Yeah, smart advice. Yeah, I appreciate you saying that. Let’s talk about the future. What are you most excited about in the next 6 to 12 months?

Graig Weiss (28:30)
Yeah, just continuing to grow things, continuing to learn new things, offer new products. As I said, we’re doing more more exterior work.

So exterior, the retractable zipper screens. We’re doing now retractable awnings. And who knows, like I said, in another year or two, maybe we’re doing percolas and things like that.

I just think the exterior space, we’re really seeing high demand for the exterior spaces and it just makes so much sense. mean, it can extend your living space in a very cost-effective way to do some of these projects.

Will Hanke (29:11)
I love that. I would say two years ago, maybe 10 % of our client base did exterior. And now that number is probably 35 to 40%. A lot more of the window treatment offerings are turning to exterior as well.

Graig Weiss (29:31)
Yeah, yeah, absolutely. Yeah, the thing that I love about, you know, the motorized screens in particular is most people think of them to knock down the sun, which they do. But in the Northeast, what they can do is if you put infrared heaters inside your, you know, porch or what have you, ⁓ they actually retain the heat. And so now you’ve gone from a three, four month porch to a nine month porch.

just by adding those retractable screens and some heaters. ⁓ yeah, that’s my favorite thing about the screens.

Will Hanke (30:07)
I like that. That expands your square footage as far as livable square footage in the winter, especially. That’s fantastic. I like that. Where can people connect with you to learn more about Bloomin’ Blind’s Buxmot and your journey individually?

Graig Weiss (30:10)
Mm-hmm.

Yep.

Yeah, absolutely. So I’m pretty accessible. You can either email me at bucksco B-U-C-K-S-C-O @ bloomingblinds.com. Visit our website at bloominblindsbuxmont.com And ⁓ yeah, those are probably the two easiest ways, but I’m happy to connect with whoever and ⁓ see how we can share resources.

Will Hanke (30:51)
Yeah. Any awards that you’ve got your eyes on for next year?

Graig Weiss (30:57)
No, you know, I tend to think that those awards like happen organically. Again, really proud to, you know, have been honored to receive them. But we’re just going to continue to keep our head down, try to deliver exceptional services. And then, you know, maybe some of those awards will come up as a byproduct of our work.

Will Hanke (31:20)
Perfect answer. I love that. Keep your head down. Keep pushing forward, right? That’s awesome. Well, Graig, thank you so much for being on the show today. I really do appreciate it.

Graig Weiss (31:21)
That’s right.

Yeah, absolutely. Thanks for having me. Really appreciate you and your partnership in this journey.

Will Hanke (31:34)
Yeah.

Yeah, we’re excited for the future. We’re excited for your expansion. Obviously, ready to help it however we can. Awesome.

Well, big thanks to Graig Weiss for sharing his perspective on what it means to build something that truly reflects your values from the way you lead the team to how your brand shows up in the community. His journey is a reminder that strong businesses aren’t just built on sales, but on purpose, consistency, and connection.

If you’re thinking about how to align your marketing with your message, we hope this episode gave you somewhat of a

roadmap. Subscribe, share with a friend and we’ll catch you next time on Marketing Panes.