Michelle Pratt, Owner of Seashell Quilting Studio on Rookie Season
Michelle Pratt offers E2E quilting services from her beautiful home studio in New Hampshire. While she has many local customers, she also accepts mail-in quilts.
When she decided to buy her Gammill Statler almost two years ago, she started looking for information to help her. "I saw Longarm League member Kaitlyn (@knotandthread) talking about the Rookie Season course, so I emailed Jess to ask about what was being offered and decided to join."
Michelle loved the course, and looked forward to each lesson. She especially appreciated learning about the business side of longarming and having help with getting her website up and running. "The tips and tricks that are shown are things you don't think of...what's the saying...you don't know what you don't know, until you know it??
"I took about 3 months getting to
know my machine and getting
through Rookie Season before I
started taking in quilts and
honestly have not looked back."
For those who are evaluating if Rookie Season is right for them, Michelle noted some of the benefits she gained: "It helped me get organized, gave me advice on how to do things better not harder, gave me wholesale resources, and introduced me to like-minded individuals. Even if I wasn't longarming as a business, the tips and tricks I learned have been invaluable to me."
Starting a business on your own can be daunting, but working through it with guidance and the help of others can really streamline the process. As Michelle highlighted, "I was very happy to have had this support system."
"Rookie Season is a resource that made my business come together easier."
Since Michelle's time in Rookie Season, that support system has continued to expand and now includes nine group Zoom calls throughout the course, ensuring students have a chance to come together to discuss recent lesson material, ask questions, get feedback, and cheer each other on as they share their wins and struggles along the way. Michelle has joined a few of those calls and thinks they're a helpful addition; she observed that students who participate in the Zoom calls seem to develop closer connections with each other and subsequently form Business Buddy groups more easily.
"I was able to streamline and set up my business, create a website, have insight to be a better longarm quilter, meet some like-minded people, have support and someone to answer questions almost instantaneously....it had impacts in almost every way possible."
In addition to Zoom calls, Rookie Season includes a private community space in Circle for students to connect and ask questions. Students can also leave questions on the comments section in the lessons or reach out directly to the Longarm League team for support. Being with students every step of the way and making sure they feel supported is a top priority for founder Jess Zeigler. As Michelle notes, "Jess and Josh are very accessible and can help you work through any issues. Even if they don't know the answer, they find it!"
It's clear from perusing Michelle's quilt-filled website and Instagram feed that she found her answers to building a successful longarming business. If you'd like to see more of Michelle's work or get in touch with her, you'll find her at Seashell Quilting or @seashellquilting on Instagram.
Registration details and additional information on Rookie Season can be found here.
Join Our Email Newsletter List
Updates usually go out on Wednesdays.
We won't send spam. Unsubscribe at any time.
