running it. diane, who runs the whole show at stonewall gun shop, from stock room to showroom, never planned to have a career dealing in firearms. it was her husband that got her into it. he had more experience with firearms, i really didn t know anything about firearms. tell me about first time you shot a gun. oh, my god. well, let s see, the flame went out that way, the casing went out that way, hit me in the head. i set the gun down and said, this is not for me. i just i was just it was just totally freaked me out. diane didn t stay freaked out for long. in fact, she discovered she has a knack for the business. and a taste for the sport. it s like with anything that any woman gets into, if you re going to run any type of business, you ve got to know what you re doing. you got to know your product. you got tot be able to sell it. you lean out and you re going to
we re at over 2 million. some of that increase in profit comes from cultivating a whole new class of customers women. the majority of women do feel more comfortable talking to another woman about firearms. do you attract more female customers? i believe yes, we do. but it s not only just because i m here. it s because my guys. i have a great staff here. they have their days when i d like to wring their necks, but i do have a great staff, and they listen to the women. theresa, diane s number two in the stonewall you see more families coming in. it s a lot different than what it was when i started here two years ago. you want to shoot together. yes. do you need nug? a box of shells.
.38 specials. any time you add customer demographics to your industry, you re going to make more money because you re going to get more clientele. bringing in women isn t the only reason her store has thrived. diane credits her savvy investors for choosing to put their profits back into the business. well, i got a lot of different guns here and different calibers. that s how you run your company. you do not take no for an answer. you will bargain somebody down. by the time someone walks out of the door, you ve got what you wanted. most of the time, yeah. after 17 year, diane may be full of bravado, but she still remembers how overwhelming it felt to start up a business from scratch. when i came in knowing nothing about it, i literally got down on my hands and knees and gave the business to the lord and said, you got to walk me through this because i don t know what i m doing. and he has been, you know, my support, my wings all the way
you re pump action shotguns make a very distinct noise. your burglars of criminals, they all know that noise. the chances of them walking away from that is another story. there s no question about who s in charge here, but for some customers at the cuyahoga county, ohio, gunshop, diane donnett can be a bit of a surprise. i shock people from time to time because i am a woman that knows about guns. diane not only knows about gun, she buys them, sells them and teaches people to use them. go ahead and put your finger on the trigger. that s good trigger control. she s one of a small number of female gun store operators in the country. believe it or not, there s more than you think. its jaups they re all behind the scenes. where i m out front here most of the gun shops, they re family businesses. the men are the out front, but the women are in the back
have a moment of wondering. sometimes you do look at someone else who is maybe flying more people and you think, gosh, maybe we should just do what they do. but then she says, she comes back to her senses. you have to think long term because there s a lot of short-term marketing strategies that could change things for you a little bit but then have consequences for you in the long run. and knowing that you have a strategy that you re going to stick to gives you time to focus on what this is really all about. i enjoyed it. i enjoy it. when i walked into diane s cleveland-based store and met her, my first impression was this woman is a spitfire. she s a woman in a male-dominated business, and it was her touch which turned this gun store business around in part by appealing to an underserved demographic.