Our Daily Show Interview! Nikki & Jama: 11th Hour Holiday Market Set for Saturday
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ALTON - This Saturday, Dec. 14, 2024, a dynamic duo of best friends and lifestyle/business coaches are hosting the perfect event for near-last-minute gift shoppers. Jama Fabry and Nikki Fiedler of the Bluff City Betties are welcoming the public to their “11th Hour Holiday Market” from 9 a.m. to 2 p.m. at the Milton Schoolhouse.
In the Crystal Ballroom, attendees will find more than a dozen local vendors offering everything from gifts and gift wrapping to holiday apparel and more. Admission to the event is free.
While Amazon remains a popular online destination for gift shopping, it doesn’t foster the personal or community connections of an event like the 11th Hour Holiday Market. Both “Betties” describe the event as “buying for your community, from your community.”
“I don’t know Jeff Bezos … but I know Tammy with TLJ Rocks so personally,” Fiedler said.
“Having these personal relationships with people that we trust, we know, that are in our communities - they live here, they work here, they have families and support other businesses in this area - these are the people we want to support,” Fabry added.
Fabry said the response from local vendors has been even better than they anticipated, so they may look into hosting a second installment of the 11th Hour Holiday Market next year - possibly around Valentine’s Day 2025.
The Bluff City Betties shared more about the holiday market and their purpose on Our Daily Show! on Riverbender.com. Fiedler emphasized the importance of creating a space for interpersonal communication with customers, as the relationships made will keep them coming back.
“You can’t build rapport very easily if it’s just online, emailing - you have to call your customers, you have to talk to them face-to-face sometimes,” she said. “People come back because of the relationship, because they liked the experience. They think that them buying from you is valuable to you, so they want to feel valuable … having that good relationship with your customers is what keeps them coming back.”
Fabry said the Bluff City Betties began about 10 years ago as an idea for a podcast. But over the decade since, as both women have gained more knowledge and qualifications in a variety of areas, Bluff City Betties has since “evolved into something of its own.”
While a podcast is still part of the plan, their focus has slightly shifted to helping business owners in the community with marketing, training, and more. As Fabry explained, every business owner has a set of skills - but for some, their skill is making the product, rather than selling it.
“Not everyone is a teacher,” Fiedler added. “To train your team, you kind of have to be a trainer or a teacher, and if you don’t train accurately or if you upset your team by not being a good trainer, then you’ve lost your team.”
That’s where the Bluff City Betties come in - not just to help with marketing, but also employee training, image consulting and more. Fabry said this extends to helping their clients organize their home and office spaces, which in turn helps organize their minds and reach their full potential.
As they help more and more clients organize, they end up with several items in need of a new home. To help offload this inventory and offer locals great deals on quality items, the pair opened “The Chair” boutique (a name which refers to “that random chair you have in your bedroom that collects everything,” as Fiedler explained). Items range from gently used to brand-new with tags.
The Bluff City Betties are currently accepting clients. To get organized and/or boost your business’s marketing strategies, team building and more, book a virtual or in-person session here at this link. For more information on the Bluff City Betties, visit their website or Facebook page.
To learn more about the 11th Hour Holiday Market and Bluff City Betties, check out the full interview with Fiedler and Fabry at the top of this story or on Riverbender.com/video.
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