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He is also a social media influencer and a regular on Facebook Live, where he posts about his businesses and teaches other small-business owners how to use social media to grow their business.

Waterman is from Herrick, a town of about 500 people in central Illinois. He moved to the Metro East about 20 years ago in search of job opportunities.

“Crafts had always been something that I had enjoyed doing, so I started doing some things on Facebook Live and that got me into the business,” said Waterman, who owns both stores in Troy with his husband, Chris Waterman.

Waterman had worked in the medical field until six years ago, most recently as director of marketing for Healthcare Accounting Services, a long-term care facility in St. Louis.

“I was there for quite a few years and I did hospice for a while as well, so going into crafts was a bit of a career switch,” Waterman said. “I started my business out of my home and when it took off, I decided to take the leap and work on that business full-time.”

‘It was a bit crazy’

Waterman’s Loft was the first of Waterman’s businesses to have a brick-and-mortar location. When he ran out of space at home, he rented a building in Collinsville. He stayed there for only three months before outgrowing that space and moving to a building in Maryville, where he stayed for one year.

“We were upstairs and downstairs in Maryville and when shipments came in, they put them in the parking lot and we had to take them upstairs into the building and then all through the building, so it was a bit crazy,” Waterman said.

Waterman’s Loft has been in its current location in Troy for almost three years. The building has 4,500 square feet, twice the size of the Collinsville location.

“We have a lot more space and our business is continuing to grow, locally as well as on social media and online,” Waterman said. “We have our own website and we ship all over the world.”

Both online and in the store, Waterman’s Loft offers a large variety of craft and home décor items.

“We do mostly wreath-making supplies, but you can use our products for anything,” Waterman said. “We have about 2,000 different styles of wired ribbon in stock and we have florals and greenery.

“We have our own line of glitter that we sell here and our own line of foam clay, which I call adult Play-Doh. We also have finished products like wreath centerpieces. We’re wall to wall right now and we have shipments coming in, so we what we have in stock now won’t last very long.”

Building business

Waterman’s Floral, which is about a block away from the loft, opened in May of 2022.

“We opened just after Mother’s Day last year and we specialize in funeral flowers and weddings,” Waterman said. “We also have everyday fresh floral arrangements and we always have stuff in our coolers for walk-ins and we drop wrap bouquets.

“We’ve done a lot for Triad (High School) and we’ve done a lot of flowers for sports banquets and graduations. We also have a gift shop with freeze-dried candy, candles, customized mugs, soaps and a variety of different products.”

For Waterman, it all started with social media, and he now has nearly 100,000 followers on Facebook. He also teaches a class called “Learn, Focus, Win.”

“It’s a business-building group and it takes small businesses that are wanting to grow through social media,” Waterman said. “We teach them step by step of how I got to where I’m at.”

Waterman’s most recent class, which ended last year, featured 25 businesses. His next class will start in August.

“It’s a one-year class and there’s an application process,” Waterman said. “The first three days are walking into the building and getting together, and we talk about businesses and toss around ideas.

“Then we have monthly Zoom calls with everybody. We talk about our goals and what we’re doing to achieve them. I look at their businesses and their social media and point out things they can do to help their growth.”

International reach

Waterman himself is living proof of the value of social media for small business owners, and he’s happy to pass along the lessons he has learned.

“I spoke for the Chamber of Commerce here a couple months ago and I shared snippets like daily posts that you can do and the interactions on social media that help your business grow,” Waterman said.

Waterman will also host his sixth annual crafters’ convention this year in Fairview Heights and the event is expected to draw about 300 people from all the U.S. and other countries as well.

“We’ve had people from Australia, England, the Virgin Islands and Canada, so we draw from all over,” Waterman said. “Even at our store, we have people come here from all over the United States to shop.

“We have people from Indiana, Kentucky, St. Louis and Chicago. Many of them stay in Troy and we send them to our favorite restaurants.”

While Scott and Chris Waterman are pleased with the continued growth of the two stores in Troy, they’re eyeing expansion for the future.

“We would love to have our own building at some point but we’re getting ready to enter a five-year lease for the (loft) building, so those plans are for down the road,” Waterman said. “We’re going to see how the economy goes and decide from there.

“We have some ideas for different things in the future and maybe another business at some point. It would be completely different than what we’re doing now.”

‘We try to help out’

In addition to Waterman’s Loft and Waterman’s Floral, Scott and Chris Waterman are partners with Angie and Kurt Skinner in Stencil It Up, an online company which has been in business for a year and a half.

“We also do social media for that business and we create door hangers and things like that and we teach people how to paint them using stencils without having to know how to paint,” Waterman said.

Scott and Chris Waterman also do a variety of fundraisers for different causes. They raised $9,000 for a family crafter who had died. They hold events for the Washington County Animal Shelter and Partners for Pets.

Two years ago, they partnered with a local food pantry to feed 55 families at Christmastime in Cowden and Herrick. They raised nearly $5,000 to provide the families with hams and other items to create a full meal.

“We try to help out around here as much as we can,” Waterman said. “We do a lot of donations for different things in Troy.

“The community has been so gracious to us. We feel like if we’re doing well, we need to give back.”

For more information about Waterman’s Loft, visit https://watermansloft.com/, go to Design With Scott on Facebook or call 618-407-9655.

For more information about Waterman’s Floral, visit https://www.watermansfloral.com/, go to Waterman’s Floral on Facebook or call 618-505-0700.

For more information about Stencil It Up, visit https://stencilitup.com/ or call 618-407-9655.