North Fulton Business Radio, Episode 621)
On this edition of North Fulton Business Radio, Jim Miller, CEO and Co-Founder of DutchCrafters Furniture, joined host John Ray to discuss what makes DutchCrafters an industry disruptor, how they got started, what it was like to sell custom Amish furniture on the internet prior to the booming e-commerce industry we see today, why the company located a showcase store in Alpharetta, and much more.
North Fulton Business Radio is broadcast from the North Fulton studio of Business RadioX® inside Renasant Bank in Alpharetta.
DutchCrafters is a niche retailer, selling more than 15,000 products on its Amish furniture website www.dutchcrafters.com. DutchCrafters Showrooms and Design Centers welcome customers in Sarasota, Fla. and Alpharetta, Ga. and in an outlet store in LaGrange, Ind. DutchCrafters was named to Newsweek’s prestigious Best Online Shops for 2021 and Fastest Growing Online Shops for 2022. The company has an A+ rating from the Better Business Bureau and was listed six times as one of the fastest-growing private companies in the United States, according to Inc. Magazine’s prestigious Inc. 5,000 List.
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Jim Miller is the Founder and CEO of JMX Brands, a Sarasota-based e-commerce company that he began with his wife Linse Miller, and Miao Xue in 2003. JMX Brands is a six-time Inc 5000 company, a Gulf Coast 500 company, and is recognized by Furniture Today as a leading e-tailer.
JMX Brands was recognized as a 2016 Florida Company to Watch by GROW FL and 2021 Medium Business of the Year by the Sarasota Chamber of Commerce. The company was named Best Place to Work by the Sarasota Herald-Tribune in 2020, 2021, and 2022 and by Furniture Today in 2021 and 2022.
The company’s flagship brand, DutchCrafters, is the largest e-commerce brand of Amish-made furniture – retailing products from more than 150 small American vendors and delivering throughout the United States and Canada. DutchCrafters is one of Newsweek’s Best Online Shops of 2021 and Fasted Growing Online Shops of 2022 and from his work, Jim received a Top Entrepreneur Award from the Business Observer in 2022.
Jim previously served as the founding director of Goshen College – Sarasota. Goshen College is a four-year, private, liberal arts college located in Goshen, Indiana. The Sarasota program offers baccalaureate degree completion in management, computer certifications, and personal enrichment courses. In 1999, as the new director, Jim was recognized in Gulf Coast Business Review’s inaugural publication of “40 Under 40” – the region’s forty most promising leaders under age forty. Jim has taught management, organizational communication, and related courses in non-traditional programs at Goshen College and Eckerd College.
Jim was associate pastor at Bahia Vista Mennonite Church in Sarasota from 1993-1998. He served various roles in his congregation and with Southeast Mennonite Conference and the larger Mennonite Church. From 2011-13, he served as a bi-vocational pastor at Covenant Mennonite Fellowship in Sarasota. He continues to speak in various settings on issues of faith.
Jim earned a bachelor’s degree from Goshen College and a master’s degree in management in leadership and organizational development from the University of South Florida. In addition, he has studied at Anabaptist Mennonite Biblical Seminary, Eastern Mennonite University, and Bethel Theological Seminary.
Jim’s community service has been extensive. He has served in a variety of capacities, including aquatic rescue at Mote Marine Laboratories, youth basketball coach, and in directorships with Charis Center, Sarasota United for Responsibility and Equity, Sunnyside Properties, and as president of the Sunnyside Foundation.
- What makes DutchCrafters an industry disruptor?
- Whose idea was it to pair custom Amish furniture with the internet and bring Amish furniture to homes and offices across America via the internet (prior to Facebook and the booming e-commerce industry we see today)?
- What is something most people don’t know about you?
- With showrooms in Sarasota, Florida, and Alpharetta, Georgia, and an outlet store in LaGrange, Indiana, what is next for JMX Brands / DutchCrafters?
North Fulton Business Radio is hosted by John Ray and broadcast and produced from the North Fulton studio of Business RadioX® inside Renasant Bank in Alpharetta. You can find the full archive of shows by following this link. The show is available on all the major podcast apps, including Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Google, Amazon, iHeart Radio, Stitcher, TuneIn, and others.
Renasant Bank has humble roots, starting in 1904 as a $100,000 bank in a Lee County, Mississippi, bakery. Since then, Renasant has grown to become one of the Southeast’s strongest financial institutions with over $13 billion in assets and more than 190 banking, lending, wealth management, and financial services offices in Mississippi, Alabama, Tennessee, Georgia, and Florida. All of Renasant’s success stems from each of their banker’s commitment to investing in their communities as a way of better understanding the people they serve. At Renasant Bank, they understand you because they work and live alongside you every day.
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