I wanted to do an episode about Etsy and if it is worth starting your own website, when I went to Threads to do a callout for craft business that have ideas about this, I saw a post by a printmaker. This post inspired my episode. Sometimes you don't know where to start and the business roadmap is completely unclear. I hope that I can make it a bit more simple with this basic roadmap.
I was moved and frustrated by the ever-returning struggles of small creative businesses. So in this episode, I'll guide you through the fundamental steps of building your own business in a simple and straightforward manner. While these steps may seem basic, they provide a solid foundation for anyone embarking on their entrepreneurial journey. My aim is to boost your confidence and highlight areas where you may need further education or information.
FULL SHOW-NOTES WITH TAKEAWAYS
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BEST QUOTE FROM THE EPISODE
"Knowing your needs, values, and goals is the foundation of building your business."
LINKS
#76 - Unraveling your business identity - pt 1. Your Identity
#77 - Unraveling your Business Identity pt 2. Your Customer’s Identity
the printmaker that inspired this episode:
Rachel Snowdon https://www.rachelsnowdon.com/
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You know me as a guide, mentor and teacher, but I've also set off on a new adventure, coaching. Coaching gets a bad rep sometimes, but when it's done right, it can be really transformational. As part of my coaching education, I'll soon need to do real coaching sessions. And it could be a really great opportunity for you to experience it at no or low cost. If you've ever been curious about working with me in this way, now's the time. Just send me an email: info@ja-wol.com
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:00):
Do you wonder why businesses like yours seem to be
super successful and why areyou then struggling?
Why are you working so hard forscraps and feeling like you're
a failure a lot of the time?
Only yesterday I read this onthreads In the last six weeks
(00:23):
I've made 23 pounds for myprintmaking.
It's not enough torealistically allow me to
continue this journey, but I'mdetermined to fight this out
until the end of the year andthen see what happens.
So this is a gentle reminderthat, despite the number of
likes, comments, followers orexperience as an artist, it
(00:45):
doesn't always equal sales.
At surface level, it might seemlike I'm doing well, but
there's a whole lot of anxietyand failure buried much deeper.
Should you keep your creativebusiness going while you're
struggling?
How can you resurface from adip or worse?
(01:07):
Hi, my name is Saskia theFighter and this is Pattern
Shift.
Are you running a textile craftbusiness or dreaming of
starting one?
Whether you are trying to makea living or something extra on
the side, turning from crafterto business owner can be a steep
learning curve.
It doesn't have to be With 16years of experience in running
(01:30):
small businesses in textilecrafts and a drive to build a
solid alternative to fastfashion.
My mission is to provide youwith no bullshit, actionable
exercises and strategies in alanguage that makes sense to you
, that you can implement rightaway so you can organize, build
and grow your business.
(01:50):
So don't burn out before youget started.
Build a solid base with thehelp of Pattern Shift podcast
and the Yavor community and itsprograms.
So in this episode we'll gothrough the feeling of failure
you can get while you run yourcreative business.
By the end of the show I'llhopefully you'll feel less alone
(02:14):
in your struggles and feelinspired to find out what steps
you can take to go forward withyour business and feel more
confidence around trying somestrategies.
But before we start, pleasedon't forget to sign up for the
Pattern Shift updates on emailand the Yavor Business Circle,
creative business tips andinsights.
(02:36):
You can do this via the shownotes.
Go ahead, do it now and sign upwhile you're listening.
It takes just a minute and itis helpful to you and helpful to
me.
So now let's get into today'sepisode.
I will not name the maker thatshared the thread post that I
(02:56):
just read.
I don't want to make this toomuch about them.
I will, however, link to theirwebsite in my show notes so you
can discover their amazing workthere.
I've been considering anepisode about Etsy and the
challenges faced by small,creative businesses trying to
make a living.
Recently I've heard severalpeople expressing frustration
(03:20):
with Etsy and complaining andthinking about whether it would
be better to have their ownwebsites.
So I wanted to explore someideas and I put this message on
threads to ask for people'sexperiences.
But then I saw this messagefrom this struggling artist and
(03:44):
I was just struck by it.
I felt compelled to dosomething and it's basically the
whole reason why I do this workin the first place.
I'm not talking about Etsy today, but I do have this question
open for another episode.
I love to get voice memos,voice notes.
(04:07):
You can do that on your phoneand email them to me, or you can
go to any of my show note pagesand there's a button where you
can leave a message.
They will all end up with meand I will be able to talk about
them, answer any of yourquestions and help you out.
Alternatively, you can justsend me an email with a written
(04:30):
question, which is great as well.
So any frustrations you mighthave, any questions you might
have around having an Etsywebsite versus your own website.
Please get them to me so that Ican make an episode about it.
Thank you.
So when this artist posted hermessage, it went viral.
(04:52):
People started giving themadvice on what to do, and I felt
compelled to do the same thing.
But I also know how frustratingit can be when you're feeling
low and people around you aresaying you should do this or
maybe try this, and that mightfeel like they're saying you
(05:14):
should have done this or maybeyou should have tried this, and
you feel you're not doing enough.
You should have made differentdecisions, and you feel awful
enough as it is.
So it's well meant to give youradvice, but sometimes it just
(05:38):
makes things even more sad, andso I decided not to react on the
post but make an episode, andhopefully that helps someone.
So when you come off art schoolor any creative education or you
just start your business fromzero, you probably didn't get
(06:01):
taught business skills becausethat's not your thing.
In fact, you're probably on theopposite end of things that
interest you.
Business skills are yucky andgross and complicated and you
much rather spend your timecreating things, and lots of
people like you think that theywill sell itself, and I know
(06:26):
that's a short way of saying itand it's not fully true, but the
reality is that posting yourproducts online is probably not
going to be enough to be seen byyour audience, and there's some
more things you can do to bevisible and to sell your
(06:50):
products.
Selling is a craft in itselfand just looking at it from that
angle, feeling more connectedto the craft of selling that
could really help.
Feeling more connected tosharing your stuff.
So you give something tosomebody and you get something
(07:10):
back.
It's not a huge big deal On onehand.
On the other hand, it doesrequire some skill and some
practice.
We don't get thoughts that inour education, so we leave
school, art school or whateveryou do, and then it's up to you.
(07:34):
You go online where your peoplehang out, and you start posting
on the social media platform ofchoice, which is a great
beginning, but often not enough.
There's some things that youneed to know to develop your
business.
So I'm going to talk youthrough the basic steps that you
(07:56):
need to know when you buildyour own business.
Very simple, very basic,something that might even feel
too simple to some people, butthat's what we'll do in this
episode.
I'm doing this in this waytoday so that you feel more
(08:17):
confident in what your next stepcould be and where you might
lack some education orinformation.
So hopefully, when you listento this episode, you will get
some insights where you need togo next, what you can put some
time and effort into next,things that you might not have
(08:40):
thought of because you didn'tget those basic steps before you
started with your business.
It is meant for anybody, andeverybody that is starting, have
not yet started or is feelingoverwhelmed by how things are
going and they're wondering whatam I missing?
(09:04):
What should I be doing?
Basically, I'm always referringto the swamp.
If you're in the swamp, whatI'm doing with this episode is
I'm grabbing a big branch andI'm holding it over you so that
you have something to hold on to.
That's what this episode isabout, and I tend to get
(09:25):
philosophical and wordy.
That's just my style.
So I actually had to put thisextra bit of information in to
make it more clear, because Iwas just.
I get into it and then I forgetto make clear what I'm talking
about.
So this is an extra edited partto make clear what we're doing
(09:47):
today.
So visibility is crucial, butthe internet can feel quite
overwhelming.
Now, when I discovered thisprint artist through threads and
through her posts, her kind ofcry for help the story went on a
little bit.
They got visibility from thispost.
(10:09):
I went to their website, butonly later in the process did I
see that I couldn't buy from theNetherlands and, because I'm
tenacious, say the least, I wentto the FAQ section.
I noticed that they in fact donot send to Europe, but the Etsy
(10:32):
shop was able to send to Europe.
So here we go.
That's irony for you.
I was investigating thenegativity around Etsy and I
ended up buying from astruggling artist through their
Etsy account rather than theirwebsite.
Hey, this is interesting.
(10:54):
We can learn from this.
So coming back to the messagethey send success means
different things to differentpeople.
It's about finding out whatworks for you and your values.
What success is for one personis not the same thing as it is
for another person.
How you can define your successfor your small business, your
(11:18):
small creative business, is thedrive behind how you do your
work.
When is it a success?
What do you need it to be?
These are very importantquestions to ask yourself and to
actually really write down andhave some time to figure out
(11:42):
what it is that you want to dowith your business.
Is it going to be your fullincome, part income?
Is it going to help you tosustain your hobby?
Are you making the money sothat you can, in fact, keep
(12:02):
practicing your hobby, or is itsomething extra?
So I read through the reactionsto this post and someone
recommended a business book tothis printmaker, but they
replied that they couldn'tafford it and highlighting the
(12:25):
financial challenges that theywere experiencing and that many
artists and crafters experiencein running their business.
In the last decade or so, peoplehave become much more aware of
struggling small businesses andhow the uniqueness of small
(12:48):
businesses is disappearingbecause of larger high street
brands, and so there isdefinitely a large group of
people that would rather buyfrom small businesses than from
big brands.
Me myself, I really choose tosupport small businesses like
(13:12):
this printmaker.
This is why I offer ideas,inspiration, thoughts and
practical steps through mypodcast, and originally, when I
started to make this podcast, Ihesitated to share the how to do
things.
I was just going to say andtalk about what to do and then
(13:39):
have people pay for the how todo it and I was afraid that I
might end up losing potentialclients because I was giving
everything away for free.
But seeing the struggles of thesmall, creative businesses
around me has really prompted meto be more transparent and
(14:00):
share a little bit more of theknowledge that I have freely.
This podcast is here so I canshare with those that can't
afford programs in a way that'sslower, less personal, but it's
still offering you things thatcan help you.
(14:20):
And when you are ready to dodeeper dives and do the actual
work because it does needaccountability, I've seen, and
it does need a little bit of acommunity to get you through
some parts of it when you'reready to do that, I'm here with
(14:43):
my program so you can alwaysmove on from the podcast to do
some deeper work.
And in between there is thecommunity at a very low monthly
cost where you can talk to otherbusiness owners and hang out
with them and figure out thingsas a community, as a group, and
(15:04):
you don't have to be alone andstruggle alone.
In fact, we've now just starteda new series for the program
and already two weeks in.
Things are happening andthere's insights and it's
amazing and you don't actuallyhave to be fully in the program
(15:24):
to get that kind of result.
It can be in the widercommunity for that lower amount
and still get a lot from it,meaning that you have to be more
proactive and you have to showup more, because otherwise I do
a lot of that work for you.
I help you to connect and to dothese things, and then it goes
(15:49):
a little bit more naturally.
So that's the difference.
I'm just putting that in there.
So, going back to my story, whenyou cannot afford business
books or mentors or coaches,there's a lot of information out
there, but it's veryoverwhelming.
Where do you start?
(16:11):
What people do you follow, whatYouTube videos do you see, what
freebies do you download andwhat email lists will you follow
?
There's a lot there, and when Iexplain to people what I do,
they usually say well, that'svery niche.
It is very niche, but it makesit a lot easier for people to
(16:34):
find their person becausethere's not a lot of people that
will help small businesses inthe slow fashion and creative
textile, craft, needle craftindustry to grow their business
or to build a solid base fortheir business.
There's not a lot of peoplethere, so that makes it easier
to find me.
So if you do not have a budgetto do some work around how to
(17:03):
move your business forward, havethings to try, what strategies?
What's the next thing to do?
Then listen to this podcast.
It'll help.
But to start off, let's finishthis episode first.
What I want to do is I want togo through some very basic steps
(17:23):
that I don't think are talkedabout often enough, because
either people think that theyshould already know it or the
people that share theirknowledge feel like it's too
simple.
And I'm not too proud.
(17:44):
I will go to super simple and Iwill explain it like I
explained it to a five-year-old,because sometimes that's what
you need.
You don't want to know how longit took for me to understand
the difference between yourmission and your vision.
These are things that if youdon't learn them, you don't know
them.
It's simple as that, and I'mhere so that you can have that
(18:08):
information.
And if it's something that issuper simple for you, great,
then you can now go and dosomething else and go craft, and
that's wonderful.
I had an idea that came up andthen I lost it again, which
happens a lot.
That's why I try to preparethese kinds of episodes because
(18:31):
when I do them from the top ofmy head, they're either super,
very much very creative, slash,chaotic.
But sometimes I get an idea.
I don't want to put it in.
What was I talking about?
I wish I could rewind.
I could at the end, but not now.
Ps also, I'm recording this aday before it goes live, which
(18:54):
is crazy.
But they're doing someconstruction two houses over and
it feels like they're doing itin my house.
So fingers crossed that wewon't get any drilling,
otherwise I have to pause.
So I have to keep going withthis.
Perhaps I'll get back to theidea, perhaps I won't.
(19:16):
I don't.
Let's go to my notes.
So what's very interesting isthat when I was preparing this
episode, I felt like I needed tohave this step by step journey
to share with you.
What is it that you actually door need to have in place when
(19:39):
you run your business?
What is that knowledge that youmight not have but that you
need in order to solidify yourbusiness or grow it, or both,
preferably both.
And then it came to me.
This is basically the chapterlist of the program that I'm
(20:00):
doing.
Yesterday, I was feelingoverwhelmed by things.
I was feeling very tired, I wasworking at a fair helping a
friend Hi Lisette, and Lisetteof Schaap-Eindracht free
advertisement here.
It was wonderful, but I'm notused to it anymore.
(20:23):
So I was totally beat.
I was so tired and I know nowthat I need a day to myself to
come back from that and that daydidn't do it.
There was lots of thingshappening and then other things
were happening, and a whole weekwent by when I didn't sleep
(20:43):
well and it was just one thingon top of the other, and what
happens to me is that I will notreally function, and one way
for me to get out of that is tostart decluttering or organizing
, because that, for some reason,really calms my brain and, in
(21:06):
the process, gives me new ideasand it's just very comforting to
me.
So I started organizing myfiles on my computer.
I'm learning how to usePinterest for my business in a
more productive way than I havedone so far, and even in that,
(21:26):
in making my boards, I fell backto the chapters of my program,
and it basically is this journey.
They are a roadmap.
Today I would like to offer youa very simple roadmap of some
topics that are worthinvestigating and so that you
(21:50):
have at least a start and fromthere you can build your
knowledge around running yoursmall, creative craft business.
So let's go back to what I wassaying before.
Defining success for you is oneof the first things that is
(22:12):
important to discover.
So try to answer this question.
I feel my business issuccessful when, or a successful
business for me is, and takesome time to think about it.
Write it out, go for a walk,come back, journal some more.
(22:38):
Talk to a friend.
Really investigate what itmeans for you to have a
successful business, and howdoes that make you feel if you
close your eyes and you had thismagic wand and you could say
this is what it looks like forme to have that business.
(22:59):
Then really visualize what yourday would look like, what your
weeks would look like, what thegoals for you would be once you
get there.
Is there something even biggerthat you can dream of, but in
touch with what it means for youto do what you love in the
(23:23):
format of a business rather thanhaving a hobby?
All right, so that's one.
Redefine what success is,figuring out what your goals are
.
Then, if you know what thatlooks like, then you can start
to work back from that.
(23:45):
Now I'm not going to tell youwhat success is, I'm just going
to go and use financial successas an example.
What does it mean for you tohave an income?
How much money would you needon a monthly basis?
How much money would you bethrilled about, how much money
(24:11):
would you be ecstatic about?
Find that difference, find thatsweet spot of enough Great,
magical and feel what that meansfor you.
So when we go back to theenough, then we can start
(24:32):
thinking really practically.
So first you do all this deepwork about your needs, your
values, what's success, what areyour goals.
All that kind of work goes deepand is about you as a person
and what makes you content toaesthetic or happy.
(24:54):
I think happy is a complicatedword because sometimes we think
that we always have to be happyall the time, which isn't
realistic in my opinion.
But like the scale of happiness, that's what I'm talking about
Knowing that, knowing the kindof product or service let's say
(25:16):
that you're a craft teacher oryou do upholstery how much of
that do you need to do to get tothat financial goal at the end
of the month?
Of course that is without costand without the rent of your
(25:37):
studio without the cost of yourmaterial.
And remember, I'm talking invery basic terms here, so you
might be going duh, duh and thatis okay.
I'm still gonna go ahead withthis because some people dream
of doing this work and theydon't know about this stuff yet.
(25:58):
So I'm gonna stay on this kindof level today.
But if I would take abeginner's lesson in knitting, I
would most certainly learn newthings.
So I would say, just stay hereand perhaps you'll pick
something up that you didn'tknow.
You never know.
So then figure out what thecosts are of making your thing,
(26:23):
offering your thing, and knowwhat is left for you as a profit
.
Now, this is quite detailedwork and it's sometimes so hard
to know.
So if you cannot do it reallyspecifically because your
(26:45):
business is now too big oryou're unorganized or things
that are all over the place, gowith your gut feelings so that
you have something to work with.
Just make it very practical.
I have to sell at least fivesweaters to be able to make a
(27:08):
living per month, and that iswhen you know how much you
charge for a sweater and whenyou know how much you want to
have at the end.
So there's different variablesgoing on there.
Variables, variables they varyin the way that you pronounce
(27:29):
them.
So these are moving elements.
Right, when you sell a lot ofcheap items, you can make the
same amount of money fromselling a few more expensive
items.
That makes sense.
This is where you decide thatwhat is a fair price, what makes
sense?
If you think about your pricingin terms of income, in terms of
(27:53):
your goal, what would then theprice be?
And don't think about yourclients, don't think about your
followers.
You will probably say they'llnever pay this amount of money,
and that's okay.
In this exercise, you just wantto figure out what,
(28:13):
realistically, what kind of workyou really have to do to get
that kind of an income.
How much time will it cost?
Can you really put in thatamount of time and that is also
a little bit of the work aroundyour boundaries, your values.
(28:35):
How much time can yourealistically work Keeping
yourself and your loved oneshappy and healthy?
This is so important.
If you don't think about this,you will burn out.
It will take a while, but in theend, if you work too much, it
(28:57):
is not a sustainable situation.
On the other hand, alsorealistically, sometimes you
have to double down.
Sometimes you have to reallywork hard for a while to get
something done, to get somethingmoving.
That's okay, that's part of it,but it has to be balanced.
So, with these moving parts,how much time do I have?
(29:19):
What is the cost of my products, or multiple products?
What is the amount of productsI have to produce?
Or how many people do I have toteach, at what hourly rate, to
be able to get this income?
Then sit with that for a while.
Does it feel completelyundoable and overwhelming?
(29:42):
Or do you think, well, thissounds doable.
It will take some time, but itsounds doable.
From that you can make yourdecisions around.
Will I just burn all my bridgesbehind me and start doing this
work right now, with theexpectation of having an income
(30:03):
the next month, or graduallybuild it next to another job
that you have?
And how much time do you haveto do that?
Be realistic, I think a lot ofthe time.
We just start, and I also haveto say that's how I did it and
(30:27):
that was my motto for a longtime, and it still is.
I'm very much a starter, tryingthings out as I go, but it
depends on your situation.
Do you need to get your incomefrom somewhere else, then going
full on might not be the way togo.
So you have to be honest toyourself, and that's one of the
(30:52):
hardest things to do.
All right, so we talked aboutsome inner work and some
practical calculations.
Then the next thing that you dois when you decide, okay, this
is something that seems likeit's hard work, which is okay,
(31:12):
it is going to be hard work,that's realistic, but it seems
like I want to give it a go.
Then think about how you areunique, how you are different.
How is your product or yourservice different from the other
people?
And if I use myself as anexample, I am quite direct.
(31:38):
I am Dutch, so it's half Dutch,half Belgian.
So it's in my DNA to be direct,it's in my culture.
But as a person, I'm also quitedirect.
I don't like to be around thebush.
I don't like small talk.
I just like to tell it like itis.
This is me and this is typicalabout me, and one of my clients
(32:02):
has once said something alongthe lines as your gentle,
coercion brings me back everytime and helps me to do the work
.
So what I'm saying is you willprobably attract a certain group
of people and maybe not anothergroup of people, which is fine.
(32:25):
That is how we diversifyourselves.
Is that a word?
That is how we stand out bybeing our unique selves, by
showing up as ourselves, andthis is what I did episodes on
three episodes ago about yourbeing yourself and showing up as
(32:45):
yourself.
So this is important figuringout how you are different from
the rest, especially how is yourproduct different from the rest
, and then linking that tobuilding a brand that
communicates that.
As I was saying before, I'm nowdoing some work around Pinterest
and I had the choice betweenworking with two different
(33:08):
teachers coaches, and one ofthem was in the UK, one of them
was in the US.
One of them had a very bubbly,colorful, fun personality and
her website was very colorfuland fun.
The other one was much morelike Instagram aesthetic tone
(33:31):
down colors, more basic outfits.
She actually is like a knownname and her program had a lower
price.
I, however, still went with theother person because it took me
some time.
I really had to think itthrough because I'm still
(33:55):
investing in this business,which is also part of building a
business investing and thengrowing.
I still chose the higher pricebecause I connected to this
person a lot more.
I felt like I could learn morefrom this person than from the
other person, because I know Ilearn from connection through
(34:19):
connection with other people.
I'm not a lurker.
If I'm in your community,you'll know that I'm there.
I secretly lurk in one or twocommunities.
Don't tell anyone, but once I'minvested, you'll see me.
I need to be around people thatare like me in order to feel
(34:42):
safe and to be able to be open,to share and to learn.
I ended up choosing this person.
This is actually a greatexample of what I'm talking
about.
This is how it works.
You will connect to one personand you won't connect as much to
(35:03):
the other person.
This is how you stand out inthe crowd.
So that means that you have todo this work of figuring out who
you are and how you'redifferent, and it's not always
easy, but it is essential.
And what you should not do isjust picking a vibe that you
(35:24):
like online from one of theother businesses like yours and
following and basically copyingthem.
That could be part of theprocess.
It can be part of the processto collect different things that
you love from different brandsand then building that into your
own thing.
Building a brand that isvisually and communicatively an
(35:49):
extension of yourself is such animportant part, and there is a
bunch of work to do there, butjust knowing this will help you
to look at things differentlyand start collecting some things
that you feel like.
This is truly me.
I love this and I don't lovethis.
I want to see behind the scenesthings from other makers, but I
(36:15):
don't want to show my workstudio or figuring out who are
you in your business and who'syour business in the world.
Okay, so that is all aboutbranding.
Then, with that information, youhave to build a presence, and
(36:38):
if you're a local business,that's a little bit different
than an online presence, butmost businesses these days have
an online presence, whetherthey're local business or not.
If you're a hairdresser a localhairdresser you will probably
also have an Instagram accountor of some sorts.
What I mean by establishing asolid online presence is the
(37:02):
next thing that you do with theknowledge of who you are as a
brand making sure that all theelements of what makes your
brand are visible wherever youhave a presence, whether that is
your email autograph, yoursocial media bio, your, the
(37:24):
pictures that you use for youronline avatars.
Don't forget that it is veryimportant to recognize that
social media is limited and that.
I cannot say it often enoughand to myself I sound like a
broken record, but there's achance that you might not have
(37:46):
heard me say it before Recognizethat social media is rented
land and that when theZuckerberg unit that you rented
from decides that it needs to bedifferent, then there's nothing
you can do, and for some people, that means years and years of
(38:11):
building a brand can beevaporated in no time.
Beware of that and use yourtime to build your solid brand
on your own website and buildyour own email list.
You should be in charge, notthe moguls, so that's important
(38:35):
when you communicateauthentically and transparently.
Be yourself.
So that goes back to this wholeidea of finding out who you are
as a brand, as a person.
Go back to episode, if I'mcorrect, 76 and 77, they go a
(38:55):
little bit deeper into thistopic.
Another important step, and itmight come before or during, and
some of these steps are notconsecutive.
I need to look this up.
Yes, consecutive.
This is what happens to me.
I go and look up a word that isapparently somewhere in my
(39:17):
brain and then I don't rememberwhat I was saying.
Something consecutive, oh yeah.
So some of the steps are notconsecutive, they can morph
around each other a little bit.
So, when it comes to pricing, Italked about this right at the
beginning.
When it comes to pricing, it isso important to have fair prices
(39:40):
, and that is not fair to yourcustomer and client alone.
It's fair for you, especiallyin the beginning of your
business.
Remember what they say on anairplane give yourself the
oxygen first and then the rest.
This is my belief.
It might not be a popularbelief, because I think we all
(40:02):
want to support each other andwe all want to offer our
products to everyone, butsometimes the fact is that what
you offer has to get a fairprice for you to be able to keep
running your business.
And so at that moment in yourbusiness when you don't have the
(40:25):
means to do a sale, or do notfor sales anyway, if you don't
need to put something on sale,just don't you need that money.
I should do an episode on thatas well.
I think the only way that youcan do tiered pricing is when
the lower price is going to beenough for you as a starting
(40:48):
business, you need to take careof yourself first.
We can do a lot to help theworld when we have a solid,
running business.
You can also have as part ofyour goal say that I want to
make enough money so I candonate 10% or whatever kind
(41:09):
percent to some specific causeor to offering scholarships for
your courses, all that kind ofthing.
But make it part of therealistic plan of building your
business.
If you want to work from yourvalues, you cannot do that if
your business is not going to bethere in the future.
(41:30):
So you will still be a goodperson and you can still help
people within your means right.
Otherwise and this is going tobe a little bit, I'm just going
to say it otherwise we will bean industry that is creating
(41:50):
products at a low price to helpother creators be able to afford
those products at a low priceand we keep our whole industry.
It's complicated to talk aboutthis, but it's just not healthy
for the industry and as abusiness you are a business.
(42:14):
As a private person, that's adifferent thing.
So try to figure out how yourvalues can have a healthy and
honest existed in your business.
I hope you know what I'mmeeting by that.
So here's an example.
(42:35):
What I do is I have a buttonfor PayPal in my community that
people can click and mycommunity can donate to build a
scholarship for somebody to comein, because my business cannot
(42:55):
afford to give scholarships atthis moment, and this is.
I think this makes sense to dothis as a community, because
lots of different people cangive small amounts and I think
this works.
So think about all of this andwhat's important to you, but
(43:15):
first of all, focus on yourbusiness to become more solid
and become more reliable andinvest in your knowledge,
whether that is by buyingprograms and courses or spending
more time to find freeinformation online, because that
(43:36):
is probably what happens.
You either pay money to get tothe core fast, which I did now
with the Pinterest information,because I can definitely learn
about professional use ofPinterest as a business.
I can do that by going throughthe whole Pinterest websites
(43:59):
frequently, ask questions andwatching 7,000 videos on YouTube
and then filtering out whatmakes sense to me, because
different people have differentopinions, but I want to support
you with the things that Ialready know, so that takes time
.
So if I want to learn how togrow my business on Pinterest.
(44:20):
I have decided to spend somemoney on that so that that gives
a faster return, hopefully mostprobably giving me more clients
, so that then I can earn backthat investment.
But this is where I am in mybusiness right now.
(44:41):
My point is that I'm stillgrowing, still investing.
I'm investing a lot of time,some money, and slowly it's
coming back, but it takes time.
So that is also very importantfor you to know that taking all
these steps and gettinginformation it takes time,
(45:01):
especially if you have to do iton the side, if you have another
job.
It's really helpful to berealistic and I want to end this
whole step-by-step basicroadmap of building your
business.
I want to end it with just thisidea of that you're not alone.
(45:27):
There's a lot of people like youthat are struggling, that feel
embarrassed to ask for help,that feel confused whether what
to do next, where to start, whatis you don't know what you
don't know.
You're just basically watchingall the other businesses from
the outside and copying whatthey're doing, which is a great
(45:51):
way to start, but if you reallywant to stand out and find the
people that love you and thatlove what you do, then there's
some work there to be done.
So hopefully I've been able tohelp you to at least get some
steps clear in your head, somethings that you didn't realize
(46:14):
before, that need work, and fromthere you can hopefully find
your way to get more informationon that and do some more work
on that and, with the help ofdeeper inner work and some
practical information about thecraft of selling, the craft of
(46:37):
branding and marketing, andlooking at it from a different
viewpoint, just seeing it asoffering what you can share with
the world and crafting yourbusiness.
Hopefully that helps.
Thanks so much for listening.
Get in touch with me.
You can get free guidance fromme.
(46:58):
All you have to do is send me anemail or send me a voice note
by clicking the button on the Ikeep forgetting the words on the
show notes page.
That's it.
Hard words, show notes.
Actually, there are two words.
So, yeah, find me, get in touchwith me, ask me anything you
(47:19):
want to know.
I hope, by explaining this in avery simple way, that you don't
feel shy about asking a questionbecause you think that you
should know this.
I know you should not.
Most of you have no idea whatit means to run a business.
Once you're especially I mean,when you're just starting there
(47:43):
you have to figure out how itworks from somewhere.
Just come to me, I'll tell you,and I will definitely not have
an opinion on the fact that youdon't know something, because I
didn't, and it took me a fewyears to figure things out and
now I can help you so muchfaster than you don't have to do
(48:06):
all the work that I did.
That's why I'm doing this stuffnow here for you.
So please contact me because Igot nothing else to do.
Okay, bye, oh, I have an outro.
Here's the outro.
If you appreciate the freecontent and the work that I put
(48:27):
into this podcast, considershowing your support in a way
that feels right to you.
This could be by sharingepisodes with friends, signing
up for the newsletter or makinga small monthly contribution
through clicking the support theshow link in the show notes.
And when you're listening viaApple podcast, click the
(48:47):
subscription button and getmonthly bonus episodes.
Your support keeps the podcastgoing and aligns with the values
we share.
You'll find all the details inthe show notes.
Thank you so much for being apart of this movement and
remember every stitch counts aswe work together and create a
pattern shift for you, yourbusiness, the crafters and the
(49:09):
fashion industry.
Goodbye.
Do you wonder why businesses like yours seem to be
super successful and why areyou then struggling?
Why are you working so hard forscraps and feeling like you're
a failure a lot of the time?
Only yesterday I read this onthreads In the last six weeks
(00:23):
I've made 23 pounds for myprintmaking.
It's not enough torealistically allow me to
continue this journey, but I'mdetermined to fight this out
until the end of the year andthen see what happens.
So this is a gentle reminderthat, despite the number of
likes, comments, followers orexperience as an artist, it
(00:45):
doesn't always equal sales.
At surface level, it might seemlike I'm doing well, but
there's a whole lot of anxietyand failure buried much deeper.
Should you keep your creativebusiness going while you're
struggling?
How can you resurface from adip or worse?
(01:07):
Hi, my name is Saskia theFighter and this is Pattern
Shift.
Are you running a textile craftbusiness or dreaming of
starting one?
Whether you are trying to makea living or something extra on
the side, turning from crafterto business owner can be a steep
learning curve.
It doesn't have to be With 16years of experience in running
(01:30):
small businesses in textilecrafts and a drive to build a
solid alternative to fastfashion.
My mission is to provide youwith no bullshit, actionable
exercises and strategies in alanguage that makes sense to you
, that you can implement rightaway so you can organize, build
and grow your business.
(01:50):
So don't burn out before youget started.
Build a solid base with thehelp of Pattern Shift podcast
and the Yavor community and itsprograms.
So in this episode we'll gothrough the feeling of failure
you can get while you run yourcreative business.
By the end of the show I'llhopefully you'll feel less alone
(02:14):
in your struggles and feelinspired to find out what steps
you can take to go forward withyour business and feel more
confidence around trying somestrategies.
But before we start, pleasedon't forget to sign up for the
Pattern Shift updates on emailand the Yavor Business Circle,
creative business tips andinsights.
(02:36):
You can do this via the shownotes.
Go ahead, do it now and sign upwhile you're listening.
It takes just a minute and itis helpful to you and helpful to
me.
So now let's get into today'sepisode.
I will not name the maker thatshared the thread post that I
(02:56):
just read.
I don't want to make this toomuch about them.
I will, however, link to theirwebsite in my show notes so you
can discover their amazing workthere.
I've been considering anepisode about Etsy and the
challenges faced by small,creative businesses trying to
make a living.
Recently I've heard severalpeople expressing frustration
(03:20):
with Etsy and complaining andthinking about whether it would
be better to have their ownwebsites.
So I wanted to explore someideas and I put this message on
threads to ask for people'sexperiences.
But then I saw this messagefrom this struggling artist and
(03:44):
I was just struck by it.
I felt compelled to dosomething and it's basically the
whole reason why I do this workin the first place.
I'm not talking about Etsy today, but I do have this question
open for another episode.
I love to get voice memos,voice notes.
(04:07):
You can do that on your phoneand email them to me, or you can
go to any of my show note pagesand there's a button where you
can leave a message.
They will all end up with meand I will be able to talk about
them, answer any of yourquestions and help you out.
Alternatively, you can justsend me an email with a written
(04:30):
question, which is great as well.
So any frustrations you mighthave, any questions you might
have around having an Etsywebsite versus your own website.
Please get them to me so that Ican make an episode about it.
Thank you.
So when this artist posted hermessage, it went viral.
(04:52):
People started giving themadvice on what to do, and I felt
compelled to do the same thing.
But I also know how frustratingit can be when you're feeling
low and people around you aresaying you should do this or
maybe try this, and that mightfeel like they're saying you
(05:14):
should have done this or maybeyou should have tried this, and
you feel you're not doing enough.
You should have made differentdecisions, and you feel awful
enough as it is.
So it's well meant to give youradvice, but sometimes it just
(05:38):
makes things even more sad, andso I decided not to react on the
post but make an episode, andhopefully that helps someone.
So when you come off art schoolor any creative education or you
just start your business fromzero, you probably didn't get
(06:01):
taught business skills becausethat's not your thing.
In fact, you're probably on theopposite end of things that
interest you.
Business skills are yucky andgross and complicated and you
much rather spend your timecreating things, and lots of
people like you think that theywill sell itself, and I know
(06:26):
that's a short way of saying itand it's not fully true, but the
reality is that posting yourproducts online is probably not
going to be enough to be seen byyour audience, and there's some
more things you can do to bevisible and to sell your
(06:50):
products.
Selling is a craft in itselfand just looking at it from that
angle, feeling more connectedto the craft of selling that
could really help.
Feeling more connected tosharing your stuff.
So you give something tosomebody and you get something
(07:10):
back.
It's not a huge big deal On onehand.
On the other hand, it doesrequire some skill and some
practice.
We don't get thoughts that inour education, so we leave
school, art school or whateveryou do, and then it's up to you.
(07:34):
You go online where your peoplehang out, and you start posting
on the social media platform ofchoice, which is a great
beginning, but often not enough.
There's some things that youneed to know to develop your
business.
So I'm going to talk youthrough the basic steps that you
(07:56):
need to know when you buildyour own business.
Very simple, very basic,something that might even feel
too simple to some people, butthat's what we'll do in this
episode.
I'm doing this in this waytoday so that you feel more
(08:17):
confident in what your next stepcould be and where you might
lack some education orinformation.
So hopefully, when you listento this episode, you will get
some insights where you need togo next, what you can put some
time and effort into next,things that you might not have
(08:40):
thought of because you didn'tget those basic steps before you
started with your business.
It is meant for anybody, andeverybody that is starting, have
not yet started or is feelingoverwhelmed by how things are
going and they're wondering whatam I missing?
(09:04):
What should I be doing?
Basically, I'm always referringto the swamp.
If you're in the swamp, whatI'm doing with this episode is
I'm grabbing a big branch andI'm holding it over you so that
you have something to hold on to.
That's what this episode isabout, and I tend to get
(09:25):
philosophical and wordy.
That's just my style.
So I actually had to put thisextra bit of information in to
make it more clear, because Iwas just.
I get into it and then I forgetto make clear what I'm talking
about.
So this is an extra edited partto make clear what we're doing
(09:47):
today.
So visibility is crucial, butthe internet can feel quite
overwhelming.
Now, when I discovered thisprint artist through threads and
through her posts, her kind ofcry for help the story went on a
little bit.
They got visibility from thispost.
(10:09):
I went to their website, butonly later in the process did I
see that I couldn't buy from theNetherlands and, because I'm
tenacious, say the least, I wentto the FAQ section.
I noticed that they in fact donot send to Europe, but the Etsy
(10:32):
shop was able to send to Europe.
So here we go.
That's irony for you.
I was investigating thenegativity around Etsy and I
ended up buying from astruggling artist through their
Etsy account rather than theirwebsite.
Hey, this is interesting.
(10:54):
We can learn from this.
So coming back to the messagethey send success means
different things to differentpeople.
It's about finding out whatworks for you and your values.
What success is for one personis not the same thing as it is
for another person.
How you can define your successfor your small business, your
(11:18):
small creative business, is thedrive behind how you do your
work.
When is it a success?
What do you need it to be?
These are very importantquestions to ask yourself and to
actually really write down andhave some time to figure out
(11:42):
what it is that you want to dowith your business.
Is it going to be your fullincome, part income?
Is it going to help you tosustain your hobby?
Are you making the money sothat you can, in fact, keep
(12:02):
practicing your hobby, or is itsomething extra?
So I read through the reactionsto this post and someone
recommended a business book tothis printmaker, but they
replied that they couldn'tafford it and highlighting the
(12:25):
financial challenges that theywere experiencing and that many
artists and crafters experiencein running their business.
In the last decade or so, peoplehave become much more aware of
struggling small businesses andhow the uniqueness of small
(12:48):
businesses is disappearingbecause of larger high street
brands, and so there isdefinitely a large group of
people that would rather buyfrom small businesses than from
big brands.
Me myself, I really choose tosupport small businesses like
(13:12):
this printmaker.
This is why I offer ideas,inspiration, thoughts and
practical steps through mypodcast, and originally, when I
started to make this podcast, Ihesitated to share the how to do
things.
I was just going to say andtalk about what to do and then
(13:39):
have people pay for the how todo it and I was afraid that I
might end up losing potentialclients because I was giving
everything away for free.
But seeing the struggles of thesmall, creative businesses
around me has really prompted meto be more transparent and
(14:00):
share a little bit more of theknowledge that I have freely.
This podcast is here so I canshare with those that can't
afford programs in a way that'sslower, less personal, but it's
still offering you things thatcan help you.
(14:20):
And when you are ready to dodeeper dives and do the actual
work because it does needaccountability, I've seen, and
it does need a little bit of acommunity to get you through
some parts of it when you'reready to do that, I'm here with
(14:43):
my program so you can alwaysmove on from the podcast to do
some deeper work.
And in between there is thecommunity at a very low monthly
cost where you can talk to otherbusiness owners and hang out
with them and figure out thingsas a community, as a group, and
(15:04):
you don't have to be alone andstruggle alone.
In fact, we've now just starteda new series for the program
and already two weeks in.
Things are happening andthere's insights and it's
amazing and you don't actuallyhave to be fully in the program
(15:24):
to get that kind of result.
It can be in the widercommunity for that lower amount
and still get a lot from it,meaning that you have to be more
proactive and you have to showup more, because otherwise I do
a lot of that work for you.
I help you to connect and to dothese things, and then it goes
(15:49):
a little bit more naturally.
So that's the difference.
I'm just putting that in there.
So, going back to my story, whenyou cannot afford business
books or mentors or coaches,there's a lot of information out
there, but it's veryoverwhelming.
Where do you start?
(16:11):
What people do you follow, whatYouTube videos do you see, what
freebies do you download andwhat email lists will you follow
?
There's a lot there, and when Iexplain to people what I do,
they usually say well, that'svery niche.
It is very niche, but it makesit a lot easier for people to
(16:34):
find their person becausethere's not a lot of people that
will help small businesses inthe slow fashion and creative
textile, craft, needle craftindustry to grow their business
or to build a solid base fortheir business.
There's not a lot of peoplethere, so that makes it easier
to find me.
So if you do not have a budgetto do some work around how to
(17:03):
move your business forward, havethings to try, what strategies?
What's the next thing to do?
Then listen to this podcast.
It'll help.
But to start off, let's finishthis episode first.
What I want to do is I want togo through some very basic steps
(17:23):
that I don't think are talkedabout often enough, because
either people think that theyshould already know it or the
people that share theirknowledge feel like it's too
simple.
And I'm not too proud.
(17:44):
I will go to super simple and Iwill explain it like I
explained it to a five-year-old,because sometimes that's what
you need.
You don't want to know how longit took for me to understand
the difference between yourmission and your vision.
These are things that if youdon't learn them, you don't know
them.
It's simple as that, and I'mhere so that you can have that
(18:08):
information.
And if it's something that issuper simple for you, great,
then you can now go and dosomething else and go craft, and
that's wonderful.
I had an idea that came up andthen I lost it again, which
happens a lot.
That's why I try to preparethese kinds of episodes because
(18:31):
when I do them from the top ofmy head, they're either super,
very much very creative, slash,chaotic.
But sometimes I get an idea.
I don't want to put it in.
What was I talking about?
I wish I could rewind.
I could at the end, but not now.
Ps also, I'm recording this aday before it goes live, which
(18:54):
is crazy.
But they're doing someconstruction two houses over and
it feels like they're doing itin my house.
So fingers crossed that wewon't get any drilling,
otherwise I have to pause.
So I have to keep going withthis.
Perhaps I'll get back to theidea, perhaps I won't.
(19:16):
I don't.
Let's go to my notes.
So what's very interesting isthat when I was preparing this
episode, I felt like I needed tohave this step by step journey
to share with you.
What is it that you actually door need to have in place when
(19:39):
you run your business?
What is that knowledge that youmight not have but that you
need in order to solidify yourbusiness or grow it, or both,
preferably both.
And then it came to me.
This is basically the chapterlist of the program that I'm
(20:00):
doing.
Yesterday, I was feelingoverwhelmed by things.
I was feeling very tired, I wasworking at a fair helping a
friend Hi Lisette, and Lisetteof Schaap-Eindracht free
advertisement here.
It was wonderful, but I'm notused to it anymore.
(20:23):
So I was totally beat.
I was so tired and I know nowthat I need a day to myself to
come back from that and that daydidn't do it.
There was lots of thingshappening and then other things
were happening, and a whole weekwent by when I didn't sleep
(20:43):
well and it was just one thingon top of the other, and what
happens to me is that I will notreally function, and one way
for me to get out of that is tostart decluttering or organizing
, because that, for some reason,really calms my brain and, in
(21:06):
the process, gives me new ideasand it's just very comforting to
me.
So I started organizing myfiles on my computer.
I'm learning how to usePinterest for my business in a
more productive way than I havedone so far, and even in that,
(21:26):
in making my boards, I fell backto the chapters of my program,
and it basically is this journey.
They are a roadmap.
Today I would like to offer youa very simple roadmap of some
topics that are worthinvestigating and so that you
(21:50):
have at least a start and fromthere you can build your
knowledge around running yoursmall, creative craft business.
So let's go back to what I wassaying before.
Defining success for you is oneof the first things that is
(22:12):
important to discover.
So try to answer this question.
I feel my business issuccessful when, or a successful
business for me is, and takesome time to think about it.
Write it out, go for a walk,come back, journal some more.
(22:38):
Talk to a friend.
Really investigate what itmeans for you to have a
successful business, and howdoes that make you feel if you
close your eyes and you had thismagic wand and you could say
this is what it looks like forme to have that business.
(22:59):
Then really visualize what yourday would look like, what your
weeks would look like, what thegoals for you would be once you
get there.
Is there something even biggerthat you can dream of, but in
touch with what it means for youto do what you love in the
(23:23):
format of a business rather thanhaving a hobby?
All right, so that's one.
Redefine what success is,figuring out what your goals are
.
Then, if you know what thatlooks like, then you can start
to work back from that.
(23:45):
Now I'm not going to tell youwhat success is, I'm just going
to go and use financial successas an example.
What does it mean for you tohave an income?
How much money would you needon a monthly basis?
How much money would you bethrilled about, how much money
(24:11):
would you be ecstatic about?
Find that difference, find thatsweet spot of enough Great,
magical and feel what that meansfor you.
So when we go back to theenough, then we can start
(24:32):
thinking really practically.
So first you do all this deepwork about your needs, your
values, what's success, what areyour goals.
All that kind of work goes deepand is about you as a person
and what makes you content toaesthetic or happy.
(24:54):
I think happy is a complicatedword because sometimes we think
that we always have to be happyall the time, which isn't
realistic in my opinion.
But like the scale of happiness, that's what I'm talking about
Knowing that, knowing the kindof product or service let's say
(25:16):
that you're a craft teacher oryou do upholstery how much of
that do you need to do to get tothat financial goal at the end
of the month?
Of course that is without costand without the rent of your
(25:37):
studio without the cost of yourmaterial.
And remember, I'm talking invery basic terms here, so you
might be going duh, duh and thatis okay.
I'm still gonna go ahead withthis because some people dream
of doing this work and theydon't know about this stuff yet.
(25:58):
So I'm gonna stay on this kindof level today.
But if I would take abeginner's lesson in knitting, I
would most certainly learn newthings.
So I would say, just stay hereand perhaps you'll pick
something up that you didn'tknow.
You never know.
So then figure out what thecosts are of making your thing,
(26:23):
offering your thing, and knowwhat is left for you as a profit
.
Now, this is quite detailedwork and it's sometimes so hard
to know.
So if you cannot do it reallyspecifically because your
(26:45):
business is now too big oryou're unorganized or things
that are all over the place, gowith your gut feelings so that
you have something to work with.
Just make it very practical.
I have to sell at least fivesweaters to be able to make a
(27:08):
living per month, and that iswhen you know how much you
charge for a sweater and whenyou know how much you want to
have at the end.
So there's different variablesgoing on there.
Variables, variables they varyin the way that you pronounce
(27:29):
them.
So these are moving elements.
Right, when you sell a lot ofcheap items, you can make the
same amount of money fromselling a few more expensive
items.
That makes sense.
This is where you decide thatwhat is a fair price, what makes
sense?
If you think about your pricingin terms of income, in terms of
(27:53):
your goal, what would then theprice be?
And don't think about yourclients, don't think about your
followers.
You will probably say they'llnever pay this amount of money,
and that's okay.
In this exercise, you just wantto figure out what,
(28:13):
realistically, what kind of workyou really have to do to get
that kind of an income.
How much time will it cost?
Can you really put in thatamount of time and that is also
a little bit of the work aroundyour boundaries, your values.
(28:35):
How much time can yourealistically work Keeping
yourself and your loved oneshappy and healthy?
This is so important.
If you don't think about this,you will burn out.
It will take a while, but in theend, if you work too much, it
(28:57):
is not a sustainable situation.
On the other hand, alsorealistically, sometimes you
have to double down.
Sometimes you have to reallywork hard for a while to get
something done, to get somethingmoving.
That's okay, that's part of it,but it has to be balanced.
So, with these moving parts,how much time do I have?
(29:19):
What is the cost of my products, or multiple products?
What is the amount of productsI have to produce?
Or how many people do I have toteach, at what hourly rate, to
be able to get this income?
Then sit with that for a while.
Does it feel completelyundoable and overwhelming?
(29:42):
Or do you think, well, thissounds doable.
It will take some time, but itsounds doable.
From that you can make yourdecisions around.
Will I just burn all my bridgesbehind me and start doing this
work right now, with theexpectation of having an income
(30:03):
the next month, or graduallybuild it next to another job
that you have?
And how much time do you haveto do that?
Be realistic, I think a lot ofthe time.
We just start, and I also haveto say that's how I did it and
(30:27):
that was my motto for a longtime, and it still is.
I'm very much a starter, tryingthings out as I go, but it
depends on your situation.
Do you need to get your incomefrom somewhere else, then going
full on might not be the way togo.
So you have to be honest toyourself, and that's one of the
(30:52):
hardest things to do.
All right, so we talked aboutsome inner work and some
practical calculations.
Then the next thing that you dois when you decide, okay, this
is something that seems likeit's hard work, which is okay,
(31:12):
it is going to be hard work,that's realistic, but it seems
like I want to give it a go.
Then think about how you areunique, how you are different.
How is your product or yourservice different from the other
people?
And if I use myself as anexample, I am quite direct.
(31:38):
I am Dutch, so it's half Dutch,half Belgian.
So it's in my DNA to be direct,it's in my culture.
But as a person, I'm also quitedirect.
I don't like to be around thebush.
I don't like small talk.
I just like to tell it like itis.
This is me and this is typicalabout me, and one of my clients
(32:02):
has once said something alongthe lines as your gentle,
coercion brings me back everytime and helps me to do the work
.
So what I'm saying is you willprobably attract a certain group
of people and maybe not anothergroup of people, which is fine.
(32:25):
That is how we diversifyourselves.
Is that a word?
That is how we stand out bybeing our unique selves, by
showing up as ourselves, andthis is what I did episodes on
three episodes ago about yourbeing yourself and showing up as
(32:45):
yourself.
So this is important figuringout how you are different from
the rest, especially how is yourproduct different from the rest
, and then linking that tobuilding a brand that
communicates that.
As I was saying before, I'm nowdoing some work around Pinterest
and I had the choice betweenworking with two different
(33:08):
teachers coaches, and one ofthem was in the UK, one of them
was in the US.
One of them had a very bubbly,colorful, fun personality and
her website was very colorfuland fun.
The other one was much morelike Instagram aesthetic tone
(33:31):
down colors, more basic outfits.
She actually is like a knownname and her program had a lower
price.
I, however, still went with theother person because it took me
some time.
I really had to think itthrough because I'm still
(33:55):
investing in this business,which is also part of building a
business investing and thengrowing.
I still chose the higher pricebecause I connected to this
person a lot more.
I felt like I could learn morefrom this person than from the
other person, because I know Ilearn from connection through
(34:19):
connection with other people.
I'm not a lurker.
If I'm in your community,you'll know that I'm there.
I secretly lurk in one or twocommunities.
Don't tell anyone, but once I'minvested, you'll see me.
I need to be around people thatare like me in order to feel
(34:42):
safe and to be able to be open,to share and to learn.
I ended up choosing this person.
This is actually a greatexample of what I'm talking
about.
This is how it works.
You will connect to one personand you won't connect as much to
(35:03):
the other person.
This is how you stand out inthe crowd.
So that means that you have todo this work of figuring out who
you are and how you'redifferent, and it's not always
easy, but it is essential.
And what you should not do isjust picking a vibe that you
(35:24):
like online from one of theother businesses like yours and
following and basically copyingthem.
That could be part of theprocess.
It can be part of the processto collect different things that
you love from different brandsand then building that into your
own thing.
Building a brand that isvisually and communicatively an
(35:49):
extension of yourself is such animportant part, and there is a
bunch of work to do there, butjust knowing this will help you
to look at things differentlyand start collecting some things
that you feel like.
This is truly me.
I love this and I don't lovethis.
I want to see behind the scenesthings from other makers, but I
(36:15):
don't want to show my workstudio or figuring out who are
you in your business and who'syour business in the world.
Okay, so that is all aboutbranding.
Then, with that information, youhave to build a presence, and
(36:38):
if you're a local business,that's a little bit different
than an online presence, butmost businesses these days have
an online presence, whetherthey're local business or not.
If you're a hairdresser a localhairdresser you will probably
also have an Instagram accountor of some sorts.
What I mean by establishing asolid online presence is the
(37:02):
next thing that you do with theknowledge of who you are as a
brand making sure that all theelements of what makes your
brand are visible wherever youhave a presence, whether that is
your email autograph, yoursocial media bio, your, the
(37:24):
pictures that you use for youronline avatars.
Don't forget that it is veryimportant to recognize that
social media is limited and that.
I cannot say it often enoughand to myself I sound like a
broken record, but there's achance that you might not have
(37:46):
heard me say it before Recognizethat social media is rented
land and that when theZuckerberg unit that you rented
from decides that it needs to bedifferent, then there's nothing
you can do, and for some people, that means years and years of
(38:11):
building a brand can beevaporated in no time.
Beware of that and use yourtime to build your solid brand
on your own website and buildyour own email list.
You should be in charge, notthe moguls, so that's important
(38:35):
when you communicateauthentically and transparently.
Be yourself.
So that goes back to this wholeidea of finding out who you are
as a brand, as a person.
Go back to episode, if I'mcorrect, 76 and 77, they go a
(38:55):
little bit deeper into thistopic.
Another important step, and itmight come before or during, and
some of these steps are notconsecutive.
I need to look this up.
Yes, consecutive.
This is what happens to me.
I go and look up a word that isapparently somewhere in my
(39:17):
brain and then I don't rememberwhat I was saying.
Something consecutive, oh yeah.
So some of the steps are notconsecutive, they can morph
around each other a little bit.
So, when it comes to pricing, Italked about this right at the
beginning.
When it comes to pricing, it isso important to have fair prices
(39:40):
, and that is not fair to yourcustomer and client alone.
It's fair for you, especiallyin the beginning of your
business.
Remember what they say on anairplane give yourself the
oxygen first and then the rest.
This is my belief.
It might not be a popularbelief, because I think we all
(40:02):
want to support each other andwe all want to offer our
products to everyone, butsometimes the fact is that what
you offer has to get a fairprice for you to be able to keep
running your business.
And so at that moment in yourbusiness when you don't have the
(40:25):
means to do a sale, or do notfor sales anyway, if you don't
need to put something on sale,just don't you need that money.
I should do an episode on thatas well.
I think the only way that youcan do tiered pricing is when
the lower price is going to beenough for you as a starting
(40:48):
business, you need to take careof yourself first.
We can do a lot to help theworld when we have a solid,
running business.
You can also have as part ofyour goal say that I want to
make enough money so I candonate 10% or whatever kind
(41:09):
percent to some specific causeor to offering scholarships for
your courses, all that kind ofthing.
But make it part of therealistic plan of building your
business.
If you want to work from yourvalues, you cannot do that if
your business is not going to bethere in the future.
(41:30):
So you will still be a goodperson and you can still help
people within your means right.
Otherwise and this is going tobe a little bit, I'm just going
to say it otherwise we will bean industry that is creating
(41:50):
products at a low price to helpother creators be able to afford
those products at a low priceand we keep our whole industry.
It's complicated to talk aboutthis, but it's just not healthy
for the industry and as abusiness you are a business.
(42:14):
As a private person, that's adifferent thing.
So try to figure out how yourvalues can have a healthy and
honest existed in your business.
I hope you know what I'mmeeting by that.
So here's an example.
(42:35):
What I do is I have a buttonfor PayPal in my community that
people can click and mycommunity can donate to build a
scholarship for somebody to comein, because my business cannot
(42:55):
afford to give scholarships atthis moment, and this is.
I think this makes sense to dothis as a community, because
lots of different people cangive small amounts and I think
this works.
So think about all of this andwhat's important to you, but
(43:15):
first of all, focus on yourbusiness to become more solid
and become more reliable andinvest in your knowledge,
whether that is by buyingprograms and courses or spending
more time to find freeinformation online, because that
(43:36):
is probably what happens.
You either pay money to get tothe core fast, which I did now
with the Pinterest information,because I can definitely learn
about professional use ofPinterest as a business.
I can do that by going throughthe whole Pinterest websites
(43:59):
frequently, ask questions andwatching 7,000 videos on YouTube
and then filtering out whatmakes sense to me, because
different people have differentopinions, but I want to support
you with the things that Ialready know, so that takes time
.
So if I want to learn how togrow my business on Pinterest.
(44:20):
I have decided to spend somemoney on that so that that gives
a faster return, hopefully mostprobably giving me more clients
, so that then I can earn backthat investment.
But this is where I am in mybusiness right now.
(44:41):
My point is that I'm stillgrowing, still investing.
I'm investing a lot of time,some money, and slowly it's
coming back, but it takes time.
So that is also very importantfor you to know that taking all
these steps and gettinginformation it takes time,
(45:01):
especially if you have to do iton the side, if you have another
job.
It's really helpful to berealistic and I want to end this
whole step-by-step basicroadmap of building your
business.
I want to end it with just thisidea of that you're not alone.
(45:27):
There's a lot of people like youthat are struggling, that feel
embarrassed to ask for help,that feel confused whether what
to do next, where to start, whatis you don't know what you
don't know.
You're just basically watchingall the other businesses from
the outside and copying whatthey're doing, which is a great
(45:51):
way to start, but if you reallywant to stand out and find the
people that love you and thatlove what you do, then there's
some work there to be done.
So hopefully I've been able tohelp you to at least get some
steps clear in your head, somethings that you didn't realize
(46:14):
before, that need work, and fromthere you can hopefully find
your way to get more informationon that and do some more work
on that and, with the help ofdeeper inner work and some
practical information about thecraft of selling, the craft of
(46:37):
branding and marketing, andlooking at it from a different
viewpoint, just seeing it asoffering what you can share with
the world and crafting yourbusiness.
Hopefully that helps.
Thanks so much for listening.
Get in touch with me.
You can get free guidance fromme.
(46:58):
All you have to do is send me anemail or send me a voice note
by clicking the button on the Ikeep forgetting the words on the
show notes page.
That's it.
Hard words, show notes.
Actually, there are two words.
So, yeah, find me, get in touchwith me, ask me anything you
(47:19):
want to know.
I hope, by explaining this in avery simple way, that you don't
feel shy about asking a questionbecause you think that you
should know this.
I know you should not.
Most of you have no idea whatit means to run a business.
Once you're especially I mean,when you're just starting there
(47:43):
you have to figure out how itworks from somewhere.
Just come to me, I'll tell you,and I will definitely not have
an opinion on the fact that youdon't know something, because I
didn't, and it took me a fewyears to figure things out and
now I can help you so muchfaster than you don't have to do
(48:06):
all the work that I did.
That's why I'm doing this stuffnow here for you.
So please contact me because Igot nothing else to do.
Okay, bye, oh, I have an outro.
Here's the outro.
If you appreciate the freecontent and the work that I put
(48:27):
into this podcast, considershowing your support in a way
that feels right to you.
This could be by sharingepisodes with friends, signing
up for the newsletter or makinga small monthly contribution
through clicking the support theshow link in the show notes.
And when you're listening viaApple podcast, click the
(48:47):
subscription button and getmonthly bonus episodes.
Your support keeps the podcastgoing and aligns with the values
we share.
You'll find all the details inthe show notes.
Thank you so much for being apart of this movement and
remember every stitch counts aswe work together and create a
pattern shift for you, yourbusiness, the crafters and the
(49:09):
fashion industry.
Goodbye.
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