As many of you know who have followed my blog for any time I come from several generations of antique dealers. I grew up outside London and my father and grandfather dealt from a shop on Brompton Road near Harrods. That area at one time had many antique shops, today not any at all to my knowledge.
When I came to America because following the Lockerbie plane bombing it was to connect with the largest part of my market America. My brother had been sent by my father, when he was alive to open a shop in the USA. He began in Los Angeles on Melrose Place and then moved to New York city later. We had split the business as siblings often find it hard to work together.
Arriving in America I settled outside Philadelphia on the Main Line, it felt a little like home with rolling countryside and windy roads. However, the Gulf Wars were just starting and my bank in the UK, even though i had an office in London still panicked and called my loan. Leaving me in the USA with no funding and an investor visa which did not allow me to do anything but work for myself.
Over a period of years, having lost everything, we slowly re-built, I did odd jobs to pay the bills, we sold our house and rented, I found a few good clients who bought from me regularly and some occasional clients who bought from me one off items. But, it was not till we got our green cards in the lottery that life really began to turn around.
Our kids were growing, college or university was approaching, and life had been tough for all of them. I ended up working for an antiques magazine in Massachusetts selling advertising to Europeans, it allowed me to travel and find things for clients at the same time. Then I was approached to help get a new antiques fair off the ground in Palm Beach. Having sold out the show, it became apparent that was not where I needed to be and I returned to Pennsylvania to be with my family.
I began my real estate career, and basically focused on that, but missed the involvement with the antiques world. So, I helped run a couple of antiques shows for charities in the area. But, I was not trading and I missed the fun and thrill of buying and selling things.
After sixteen years, I am returning to my roots. I just registered my new antiques business Home and Garden Antiques LLC, I will be buying antique and vintage items for guess what, the home and garden that appeal to me.
I am in the process of working on logos, color for cards and invoices and packaging and thinking about what I want to buy and how I am going to market it. I have learnt so much here on AR, how to brand oneself, how to blog correctly, how to make videos, SEO, leveraging social media, affinity marketing, getting advertising for your website that I am excited with this next stage.
I will still be selling real estate, this will be supplemental to that, but it will allow me to travel and find things as I travel and hopefully pay for my trips.
So, keep your eyes open, there may be some future posts as we move right along and if you see something you like, don't hesitate to let me know, special pricing can be arranged for AR members.
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