Can you imagine turning your passion for textiles into a thriving business? On this episode of the Pattern Shift podcast, we transport you to the lively Wedding Wool Weekend festival in Berlin’s Wedding neighborhood. Joined by my friend Angela, we had the pleasure of talking with several brilliant textile business owners. Thanks to Ruta from Wollen Berlin, who organized this remarkable event, we're able to share their insightful journeys with you. Listen to our conversation with Saskia Maas of Ovis Etc, who delves into the importance of non-superwash yarn and reveals how support networks can be game-changers for creative entrepreneurs.
We also bring you the compelling stories of two business owners who transitioned from being self-taught in areas like marketing and photography to seeking professional help to streamline their operations. Hear from a talented knitwear designer who shares her strategies for balancing the creative and business aspects of her work and the empowering role of collaboration. Discover practical advice on building a long-term, sustainable business and the hurdles you must overcome to maintain your creative edge while growing your brand.
Finally, get inspired by Melinda, Silke from Funk Fiber, and Nora from Kitzgarn as they candidly discuss the realities of managing small businesses. They open up about the struggles of juggling multiple tasks, from marketing to administrative duties, and the crucial role of community support in navigating these challenges. This episode is a treasure trove of insights for any aspiring or current business owner in the textile industry, emphasizing the power of collective support and continuous learning. Tune in to hear these re
We also bring you the compelling stories of two business owners who transitioned from being self-taught in areas like marketing and photography to seeking professional help to streamline their operations. Hear from a talented knitwear designer who shares her strategies for balancing the creative and business aspects of her work and the empowering role of collaboration. Discover practical advice on building a long-term, sustainable business and the hurdles you must overcome to maintain your creative edge while growing your brand.
Finally, get inspired by Melinda, Silke from Funk Fiber, and Nora from Kitzgarn as they candidly discuss the realities of managing small businesses. They open up about the struggles of juggling multiple tasks, from marketing to administrative duties, and the crucial role of community support in navigating these challenges. This episode is a treasure trove of insights for any aspiring or current business owner in the textile industry, emphasizing the power of collective support and continuous learning. Tune in to hear these re
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
This episode was sponsored by Ja, Wol. I promote my own services and products in my podcast rather than working with sponsors. I will share the odd-discount for things I fully support and use.
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:05):
Hello, lovely listener, I'm so glad that
you're here.
Whether it is your first timelistening or you are a returning
set of ears, I'm happy to haveyou here.
As I report from last weekend'sfestival, I visited in Berlin
the Wedding Wool Weekend, whichhas nothing to do with any
(00:25):
matrimony.
It is actually held in theneighborhood of Wedding, which
I've learned now.
The word for neighborhood isKiez, so it's Kiez Wedding, I
think, if I understood it well,and I visited with my friend,
angela, which was amazing.
We had such a lovely time.
(00:46):
I just want to say a quick thankyou to Angela for making this
weekend so lovely and beingpatient with me doing all the
interviews being very helpful.
Thank you, angela.
It was super dope.
We had some amazing food, wetalked to a lot of old friends
and we made some new friends,which is always great to do on
(01:09):
festivals.
It was a wonderful weekend andI want to thank Ruta, the owner
of Wollen Berlin, who organizedthis with her team, for this
amazing experience.
And thank you for letting meinterview the business owners,
because I think I got somethingreally good out of that,
(01:30):
something I can share with otherpeople that are interested in
what it's like to run a businessin this industry, or people
that kind of have a secret dream, or even, or especially
actually, those that already runa business and secretly want to
know how everybody else isdoing their thing.
(01:51):
So my aim was to collect kind ofan overview of how business
owners have managed to buildtheir business.
How long have they been workingat their business?
Do they do this as theirfull-time job?
Are they able to rely on theincome that they get from it?
(02:13):
Is there something that theystruggle with and, if so, how do
they find solutions to theirproblems?
This resulted in an hour longof very interesting
conversations.
I'm using a special microphoneon my phone, but it's definitely
not the same setup as I havehere at home, so there's a lot
(02:36):
of background noise and you willhear the person that I'm
interviewing a lot more clearlythan you will hear me asking
questions because I am pointingthe microphone in their
direction.
Now I've tried to edit out myvoice where it wasn't necessary,
(02:57):
but in some points I left it inbecause the conversation is
unnatural if I keep it out, sosometimes you'll hear my voice
and it's going to be softer thanthe person that I'm
interviewing, but that's howit's supposed to be, just so you
know.
If it's not your thing thebackground, noise and everything
(03:18):
you can fast forward to the end, where I bring everything
together in a conclusion.
Hello, my name is Saskia.
Welcome to 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
(03:40):
learning curve.
It doesn't have to be With 16years of experience in running
small businesses in textilecrafts and a drive to build a
solid alternative to fastfashion.
My mission is to provide youwith no BS, actionable exercises
and strategies in a languagethat makes sense to you that you
(04:01):
can implement right away so youcan organize, build and grow
your business.
So don't burn out before youget started.
Build a solid base with thehelp of Pattern Shift Podcast
and the Yavol community and itsprograms.
Again, thank you so much forbeing here.
I hope you like it.
If you have any questions aboutanything, if you want to react
(04:23):
to this, have any questionsabout anything?
If you want to react to this,please send me an email at info
at ya-volcom or leave me a voicenote on the website
patternshiftfm at thisparticular episode.
And another big, solid point Ihave to make here and ask you is
to sign up for emails from me,yavol Patton Shift, and all the
(04:48):
things we do together in theYavol community, because this is
why I actually make the podcast.
I spend a lot of time and havea lot of fun doing this so that
I can share what I know for free, but I also have lots of fun
things that we can do, lots ofhelpful things that we can do
(05:09):
together, and having you on myemail list is your thank you for
the work that I do with thispodcast.
So go to the show notes, signup.
Go to my website, sign up therewherever you want.
I love to have you on my list.
Thank you, have fun.
I hope it feels like you'vebeen a little bit at the
(05:29):
festival with us, as you enjoythe sounds of knitting people
and textile entrepreneurs.
So, without further ado, let'sgo on and start with Saskia Maas
from Ovis, etc.
Speaker 3 (05:47):
Hello, hello.
Speaker 4 (05:49):
Hi Saskia, hi, Big game Ganz gut, ganz gut yeah.
Do you have a second?
For four quick questions yeah,okay, maybe we should step aside
this yes and feel free to helpany customers while I'm
interrogating you.
Speaker 1 (06:04):
So first question what is your brand known for?
Speaker 4 (06:08):
For non-superwash yarn made out of natural
materials, and can you name yourbrand and your own name please?
My brand name is Ovis Etc andmy name is Saskia.
Speaker 1 (06:23):
So I'm here, I'm interested in small businesses
and how they work, and so myquestion is what are things that
you sometimes struggle with inrunning a small business?
Speaker 3 (06:34):
Planning, planning.
Speaker 1 (06:37):
And how do you deal with getting better at planning?
Speaker 4 (06:40):
Well, I'm trying my very, very best to get better at
it.
Well, I joined the businesscircle and that helps
tremendously.
Speaker 1 (06:49):
Yes, cool, okay, that's good now, uh, my last
question is is this yourfull-time job?
Speaker 4 (06:57):
uh, it's, it is since um almost a year.
Now already almost a year, nowAlready almost a year.
Do you rely on the income?
Oh, yes, absolutely, yes, yes,I'm the breadwinner of the
household.
Speaker 5 (07:10):
Well, your stall is beautiful, Thank you.
Speaker 1 (07:13):
Next is my small little interview with Anna from
Wundersee, who works togetherwith her mother-in-law as a
super team.
They design ingeniously foldedneedle cases from a beautiful
sturdy paper and other knittingaccessories.
What are some of the challengesyou find in your business.
Speaker 8 (07:36):
Yes, because we are both knitters, creative, you
know, and we have a lot of ideasand for us us it's challenging
to focus just on one product,maybe not spread all over the
place.
Focus on one product, test it,do the marketing and then move
on to the next one.
(07:56):
So stick really to your mainidea, to your main position.
We talk regularly like we havea document with our vision where
we want to go, and we regularlysit down, open this document
and really see, okay, are westill on moving in the right
direction?
And what other ideas we haveand how they adjust.
You know how they can adjustour now, our offer.
(08:21):
You know so you sound like youhave a marketing background like
I do.
I'm um, I'm from coming fromthe marketing and my partner, my
mother-in-law, she's a designer, textile designer.
So we perfectly, we are aperfect match.
What a great deal.
Speaker 1 (08:37):
Yes, thank you so much um so this is your
full-time or part-time?
This is my full-time job.
Full-time, this is my full-timejob.
Full-time job, yes, and do yourely?
Speaker 8 (08:47):
on the income.
Not yet, not completely, butit's really.
It's developing.
We are just, we are not evenone year old and still I think
we are making a very goodprogress.
Yes, and I'm sure this year Iwill be able to rely already on
Thank you, Hannah, and thank youso much.
Speaker 1 (09:04):
You're welcome.
Nice meeting you as well.
Next up is Sori, who's teachinga short row workshop at the
festival but has a pretty longCV in the industry already.
Sori was a breath of fresh airto talk to and lovely to meet
her on multiple occasions duringthe festival.
Speaker 2 (09:21):
My name is Sori Well, my name is Soraya, but
everybody calls me Sori and mybrand name is Yedra Knits, which
is Ivy Knits.
So to say, I'm making a littletwist this year because my brand
in Spain is known because Imade a first knitting magazine
in Spanish.
The first one, it was Bellota,what is called Acorn, and then
(09:48):
we have to change the namebecause a long story, and it's
called Yedranit.
So I'm known because of beingthe publisher of this indie
magazine.
But one year ago I decided justto well, not one year ago, yes,
it's four years now.
Oh my gosh.
Yeah, after the pandemic, Ibegan to teach and I discovered
(10:12):
that I really love to teach.
So now I'm focusing on givingworkshops and so on.
Speaker 1 (10:18):
And what workshop are you teaching at the festival?
Speaker 2 (10:22):
Showroles, because it's the thing that I love the
most, because you can dothree-dimensional things with
that.
I really love it because it's afun fact that when I was like
16 or something, I thought Iinvented show rows Because I
said, okay, if you don't meet atthe end of the row, something's
(10:45):
happening here.
So I feel myself so clever.
And then I noticed that someoneelse or many others have done
this before and I reallyconnected to the tailoring,
because it's the way you makedarts.
So to say so it's one thingthat I love.
(11:05):
And now I have a podcast thatis called Sherbro's in Spanish.
So vueltas cortas, I think.
Well, I used to say, when we dothe magazine, like every issue
has its own drama, because whenyou overcome one of the dramas,
it comes the other one.
So I think self-promoting isone of the things, because when
(11:26):
you are introvert and thingslike that, it's like something
that is hard sometimes.
So maybe it's the thing that ismost difficult to me.
Speaker 1 (11:37):
Yeah, I think it's that like self-promoting and so
on and did you find ways toovercome it, to learn more about
it, to work at it?
Speaker 2 (11:46):
I think, yes, like the community, because when you
meet people it's like you getmore self-confidence, more and
more and more.
The labor that the podcastersdo, I think, is so special
because all this kind of in thevery first time I realized all
(12:09):
the things that I have to showto the community.
It was in an interview.
I had to listen to myself and Ifind, okay, that's nice.
So I overcome it a little bityeah yeah, well, I have to admit
(12:34):
that I quit the magazinebecause of the rise of the paper
.
It make it impossible.
So the magazine, it was notpossible anymore.
But now I full-time live on theworkshops and the patterns.
It's my only source of income.
It's a hard work and I cannotbe able to do it since the
(12:55):
fourth year, to be honest.
So, yeah, it's like, of course,I live with my partner.
So for the first years, if Iwas on my own it would not be
possible.
But something that I think isalso important to know is that
even if you well I think this ismore important for women
(13:19):
overcome this, how to say thisburden of we are super on
ourselves and so on.
Speaker 1 (13:32):
So if we have we should have a date and do this
conversation for a full podcastepisode.
Speaker 2 (13:36):
Okay, okay, yeah, let's do it.
Yeah, of course, yeah, let's dothat, okay, okay.
Speaker 1 (13:41):
Thank you so much.
Thank you, I had a lot of fun.
Yeah, you too.
Speaker 2 (13:44):
And I'll see you around.
Bye-bye.
Speaker 1 (13:48):
Sari and I started to go into a deeper topic of being
able to rely on your partner asa second income while you are
building your business or evenas you are running your business
throughout the years.
This is such an important andinteresting topic to me that I
wanted to talk to her about it alittle bit more, but as I only
(14:11):
had time for short interviewsduring the festival, we decided
to meet up another time and do afull interview on that topic
and perhaps some other topics,so I'm looking forward to
inviting sorry to the podcastanother time as well.
We will be swiftly moving onwith stefania and julia from
(14:33):
lani I am stefania and I'm julia, and we are Perfect, and what
does?
Speaker 6 (14:42):
that mean in English, it means women who sell yarn
Basically, and you are from.
Speaker 3 (14:49):
We're from Italy and what is your brand known for?
Speaker 9 (14:55):
We just focus on making our own yarn, our own
bases with local fibers westarted gathering directly from
breeders in Italy, especiallythe wool and the alpaca or the
mohair.
We focus on luxury fibers likethe cashmere that Giulia grows
in her own farm.
(15:15):
We get the undying or justleave some bases undied with the
natural colors of the fibers.
Speaker 6 (15:22):
And how did you find it?
Well, because when I wanted tostart the Kashmir Goat Farm, I
wanted to learn more about fibreand hand spinning, and I was
still living in Genoa and Iattended to a course that
Stefania was.
Speaker 9 (15:40):
I was teaching a hand spinning workshop and that's
how we met, and then we justkept in touch.
Yeah, amazing.
Speaker 1 (15:47):
Just clicked what would you say?
And also feel free to help anycustomers.
Speaker 9 (15:52):
I will not.
No, no, no.
Speaker 3 (15:55):
What would you say is ?
Speaker 1 (15:57):
the biggest challenge as a business owner in this
industry for you personally.
Speaker 6 (16:01):
Oh yeah, sure, Gathering the fibers and having
to work with meals that requirea large amount of fibers where,
whereas we are a really smallbusiness and so we and also the
yield of the farmers we workwith, it's quite small.
So we I think that's one of themore challenging because of
(16:23):
course there's more well, thecosts are higher for small
batches so it requires someplanning as well yeah yeah, yeah
, yeah yeah yeah, so yeah,basically I think that's, and
when?
Speaker 9 (16:40):
yeah, sorry, no, no, no, no, I was just thinking.
Speaker 7 (16:44):
Maybe this as well, yeah, but we can go on.
Let's move on.
Yeah, better, so whenever yourun into a challenge.
Speaker 1 (16:56):
How do you learn and how do you proceed?
Speaker 6 (17:00):
Well, I think that for a long time I mean at the
beginning and maybe until lastyear we were mostly self-taught
in everything that we did, youknow, from the marketing, to the
photography, to the learning Tothe milling, the production
process and the businesspackaging.
Speaker 9 (17:18):
Yeah, yeah, everything yeah.
Speaker 6 (17:22):
Now maybe about the marketing, and we started to ask
for help to some professionals.
Speaker 9 (17:31):
About the business structure and the management.
Speaker 6 (17:39):
At some point you need to ask to someone.
Speaker 9 (17:42):
If you want to step up it, it's like that's true,
yeah then the other question isthis both of your full time?
Job.
Well, yeah, mostly yeah anddoes this have to bring the
breads yeah, well what well forme yes, yeah
Speaker 1 (18:02):
it does so yeah I think it's important for people
that want to start a businessthat they have a real sense of
how possible is it?
Speaker 6 (18:12):
Well, I'd say it took us a few years to reach this
point where we can say that yeah, because there are lots of
taxis, at least in Italy, soit's always really challenging.
Speaker 9 (18:26):
And you say it in a quite long term, because
initially it seems everything isproceeding, but then you have
to step up year after year, andit has to be sustainable it's
like a diesel right you justpush snow and then you get
moving and you see the impactsgoing on and higher as you
proceed with the production,with the higher amounts of milk
(18:49):
and so on.
So it's continuing.
Speaker 1 (18:54):
But it's still your favorite job in the world?
Speaker 6 (18:56):
Yes, yes.
Speaker 1 (19:00):
Thank you so much.
Thank you, it was reallyinteresting.
Let me just check the mic,check, check, check the mic, mic
, mic check check, check itlooks like it's working okay um,
so I have with me here.
Speaker 5 (19:19):
I'm a knitwear designer not for so long, yet
for a few years and I'm at afestival to give workshops and
to do a trunk show, which ishere.
But you can see, trunk show isthat you take your designs with
you and put them on display sopeople can see it, try it on if
they want ask questions, I'mhere as designer to to tell
(19:40):
about it.
Speaker 1 (19:41):
That's basically yeah , yeah so you're promoting your
work in a way that a designercan yes, okay, cool.
And so where can people?
Speaker 7 (19:50):
find your designs.
Speaker 5 (19:53):
Now on Reverie and in books.
I have three self-publishedpatents on Reverie and I'm in
Lerner books and the Neon andNeutral's book by La Bien-Aimée
and several Leron and Lutro'sbook by La Bien-Aimée and
several Lerne publicationsactually, and what would you?
Speaker 1 (20:07):
say, defines your style, your brand?
I know it's a hard question.
It's a hard question.
Speaker 5 (20:13):
Give it a shot.
Yes, I had the same questionfrom Lerne so I thought about it
.
I think my work is quitegraphic and it has like a
classical base, but with amodern twist.
Speaker 1 (20:24):
Oh, that's nicely put .
I would totally 100% agree.
Yeah, yeah, definitely.
I love your bearful sweater.
Let's say it in our ownlanguage, so that people know
how to pronounce it BearfulBearful, which means in English
Fertile brain actually, or alsolike a whirlwind, you could say
(20:47):
yeah cool.
Speaker 3 (20:47):
So that's one of the most uh known designs most
popular?
Speaker 5 (20:53):
yes, because it was in the neon and neutral spook
and even on the cover, so I waslucky it's so beautiful, it's
really beautiful.
Speaker 1 (21:01):
You're very talented and promising designer.
Speaker 3 (21:06):
I have big hopes for you.
Thank you so much.
Speaker 5 (21:12):
Do you see yourself as a business?
Speaker 3 (21:14):
owner at this point.
Speaker 5 (21:14):
Yeah, not really.
I feel more like a designer.
That's also why I mainlycollaborate with publications.
I really like collaborating,but also they do the PR and make
the photos and we do ittogether.
I kind of like that and focusmore on design and have that in
collaboration because it's notmy expertise.
Speaker 1 (21:37):
Yeah, that's actually my next question what do you
think is really hard in terms ofrunning a business?
What are your challenges, yourbiggest challenges?
Speaker 5 (21:47):
Yeah, being present online all the time and doing PR
.
I'm not a person that likes tofilm myself all the time.
I put myself on display and Ithink if you self-publish, you
really have to do that, likeAndrea Murray and Joji you know,
and.
I'm not really comfortable withit yet.
(22:09):
So that's yeah, so that's why Ichoose now to do it this way,
but might change in the future.
Speaker 1 (22:14):
Yeah, yeah, it's definitely something that other
business owners here havementioned oh, yeah as well,
being uncomfortable in front ofthe camera and feeling the need
to be in front of the camera alot of the time and so
struggling with that, yeah, um,how do you deal with it?
How do you?
Speaker 3 (22:29):
move forward.
Do you accept that you don'tlike it and you?
Speaker 1 (22:33):
leave it that way, or do you have?
Speaker 5 (22:36):
ways to learn yeah, I do try to.
I have a really nice picturefrom the back which I like to
send in, but I also try to be abit more confident, or just you
know.
So I do sometimes now go onlineto show my face because I
notice people want to connectwith you as a designer and also
(22:58):
with personal stuff, like aphoto of my workspace they
really like and I'm like, oh,should I put it up?
So I'm also learning.
Like you know, don't have to beshow my face all the time, but
I can show bits of my world ormy work practice which people
are like just your hands yes, Ifollow somebody that has this
account not showing herselfthat's the goal and gaining more
(23:22):
uh viewers.
So that's interesting.
Speaker 1 (23:24):
You can do a face reveal at the end of the year
and then drag people to youraccount and say we're going to
do a face reveal.
Speaker 5 (23:32):
It's a marketing publishing stunt you can do that
.
Speaker 1 (23:37):
I was quite good at it, but I have to relearn it
again and it's really a matterof doing it a lot, so you get
used to it.
Speaker 5 (23:46):
I must say, in like life, with workshops and being
here, I like that.
I like to connect with people,especially also in workshops,
because my work is always on myown, you know.
So I like to have it come alivein workshops and see people and
interact with it.
But like online is a bitdifferent.
Speaker 1 (24:05):
Last question Is this your full-time job, part-time
job?
How?
Speaker 5 (24:12):
do you look at it?
It's kind of full-time, but notin financial, so you don't rely
on it.
You can't rely on it.
Speaker 1 (24:21):
But in terms of hours you'll get perhaps over
full-time.
Speaker 5 (24:24):
Yes, definitely, but in terms of hours you'll get
perhaps over full time.
But also you just said you, youhave started this a couple of
years ago, yeah, I think onlyactually this fall, two years
ago coming fall, my firstdesigner spot.
Speaker 1 (24:39):
It's also a big been a big peak for you in terms of
being visible in all thepublications and stuff, while
you're still a designing baby.
Speaker 5 (24:48):
Yes, I'm a chick.
Yes, yes, beautiful chick Thankyou so much and good luck.
Speaker 7 (24:54):
Thank you, you too.
Have fun Bonjour.
Speaker 2 (24:57):
Bonjour.
Speaker 1 (24:58):
Can you start by saying your name and perhaps
your brand?
Speaker 11 (25:02):
name, so I'm Cynthia .
I'm known under the name fromCynthia on Instagram, and under
this name I design animals toknit.
Speaker 3 (25:14):
And that is specialism is knitting animals.
Speaker 11 (25:19):
Yes, I'm specializing in knitting animals
and I devote most of my time toknitting animals and to make
other people knit animals andyou made a book.
Speaker 1 (25:32):
What's it called?
Speaker 11 (25:33):
My book is named Moosh and Friends and also the
subtitle is Seamless Animals toKnit and Love.
Is seamless animals to knit andlove?
Yes, go ahead.
So, yes, it's fully seamlessfor a very enjoyable process and
to knit and love because theyalso aim to be used.
(25:57):
I like the idea of kids playingwith them and they really
become parts of the familiesonce they're done.
There is something magical thathappened and, from what I can
see, they have a lot ofpersonalities and they, they
take place.
They take their, their place inthe family where they, where
(26:19):
they are needs and it's better,and how many years have you done
this as a job?
I'm in the sixth year.
Sixth year now.
Yes, I made my first pattern in2018.
It was Myrtle Bear, and I keptgoing with self-publishing and
(26:41):
individual patterns and Istarted thinking about a book in
2021, and it was published in2023.
So a bit more than one year.
And what is your role here?
In the festival, I came to showmy little animal friends, so
(27:04):
for what is called a trunk show.
So I came with all the animalsand I'm here to show them to
people, to also talk with peopleif they have questions and
encourage them to give a try tothis kind of knitting.
And I'm also here to teach aworkshop on how to knit a little
animal.
(27:25):
So it's a workshop where we gothrough the very few main
techniques to knit them, becauseactually it's really more easy
than it seems.
It's not expert knitting at all, but in the workshop we are
just going to cover the two orthree points that you need to
(27:45):
know and show that from thereyou can keep going and knit them
easily.
You have to have a taste forthis to knit small and tiny, but
it's really more easy than itlooks.
And a lot of people putthemselves on borders and they
(28:06):
think they won't be able.
I often hear I love it, butthis is not for me.
I won't be able and it's reallynot so difficult.
So this is what I really wantto show them.
So part of your job is being amotivator yes, and a looker of a
(28:27):
few anxiety and fears.
Yes, this is what we do in theworkshop Cool.
Speaker 1 (28:37):
And when you talk about the business, do you see
yourself?
Speaker 11 (28:41):
as a business owner, I see myself first as a
creative worker, because most ofmy time is dedicated to this,
but I also have to think abouthow to communicate and how to
sell, and so this part is thebusiness part stuff.
(29:02):
Yeah, is there anything aboutthat part is the business?
Speaker 3 (29:04):
part stuff Is there anything about that part of the
business that is particularlyhard for you or challenging it's
social media.
Speaker 11 (29:14):
It's still the main.
Yes, I would say it's still themain stuff, not because I don't
enjoy interacting with people Ido enjoy this but because it's
too busy and it takes you out ofyour focus very easily.
(29:34):
So you tend to have your mindvery busy after that and then
it's hard to go back to a deepwork or to focus.
So I found it's the main things.
Speaker 1 (29:49):
I'm struggling with.
And also, if you don't knowanything, how do you solve the
problem?
Where do you find yourinformation?
Speaker 11 (29:57):
Mainly on the internet.
Google yes, I tried.
Yes.
The internet.
Google yes, I tried.
Yes.
In France, it's more about thelaws.
You need to check what kind ofstatus you need or how you have
to declare your taxes yes, yourtaxes.
(30:18):
So that's mainly what I'mlooking for as information.
Speaker 1 (30:24):
Is this your?
Speaker 11 (30:26):
full-time occupation now?
Yes, as a business it's myfull-time occupation, but I have
a lot of time dedicated to myyoungest daughter too.
She's with me each time she hasa school break, so it happens
quite frequently.
So it's full-time inter-work,but it's not every day and not
(30:49):
every day of the year because ofthe care I need to give up.
Speaker 1 (30:55):
Do you rely on some of the income for as?
Speaker 11 (30:58):
part as your income?
Yes, but whether I had acreative job or another type of
job, it has always been the same.
Speaker 3 (31:13):
To work together.
Speaker 11 (31:14):
Yes, we work together as a family and anyway
I'm more present at home is abit less, but it could have been
the other way.
But anyway, it always has beenthis way of having the idea of
having two incomes comingtogether for the family life
(31:37):
anyway, and because I decided tobe present for my daughter to
be present for my daughter.
It's also a choice to have thisbusiness staying in less hours
than it could be, but in my mindI think that when she'll be
older, it's also a business thatyou can move up and down
(32:00):
according to your needs.
So it's like for me I'm workingalso for the future and I see
it as something that I will havethe desire to keep on doing,
yeah, when I will have more timetoo.
So the kids are grown, yes, yes.
So the idea is to keep goingand to keep pushing myself in
(32:21):
the limits of feeling a goodbalance yeah, thank you so much.
Speaker 1 (32:28):
Next up is my conversation with Melinda from
Samalindaiworks.
Melinda has lived in theNetherlands years ago and still
speaks and understands Dutch.
It's amazing, however, I amspeaking Dutch, english and
German this weekend and this istotally throwing me off.
So this is a mix of multiplelanguages and bad sound.
(32:52):
I have been debating how toshare this conversation because
she really had some really nicethings to say.
Basically, what we talk aboutis the same topics, and Melinda
shares that she can't hireemployees, and that's what's
difficult for her.
Doing everything yourselftaking photos, doing social
(33:13):
media ordering it's hard workand it's difficult to do.
Doing everything yourselftaking photos, doing social
media ordering it's hard workand it's difficult to do it all
by yourself.
And she shares with me thatwhen she doesn't know how to do
anything or if she's new to somesubject, she will ask her
colleagues in the field, so shedefinitely connects to the
community when she needs help.
(33:34):
I'm going to give you a littlepiece of this conversation so
you can get the vibe of thislovely, wonderful woman, melinda
.
Speaker 7 (33:44):
Yes, it is very difficult for one person and I
don't want to have employees.
Speaker 4 (33:56):
I don't earn that much money, so I can't give it
to employees.
Speaker 10 (34:00):
That's very difficult.
Taking photos doing socialmedia orders work.
Speaker 4 (34:08):
It's not just about the color.
Speaker 5 (34:11):
It's just the colors.
Speaker 10 (34:13):
It's just a little bit of a color.
Do you mean how to run acompany?
Yes, if I don't know something,I just ask my colleagues.
Speaker 3 (34:24):
The community yes, is that good.
Speaker 9 (34:29):
Yes.
Speaker 6 (34:31):
And also rely on many people.
Speaker 4 (34:54):
This is your opinion.
Speaker 1 (34:56):
I hope you still got some of that wonderful energy
that Melinda had to bring.
We're going on with Silke fromFunk Fiber.
Speaker 3 (35:04):
I'm Silke, my second name is Funk, silke Funk and I
prepared my brand name out of itin punk fiber.
I like clear, bright colorswhen I knit.
I like to play with color also,so that's my slogan play with
color.
And yeah, I like to play withcolor when I dye yarn and I like
(35:29):
to play with color when I knityarn, so it's obviously very
bright, colorful yard.
I worked as a project managerfor a theater project before and
the development service and myfirst education was florist.
It's just learning by doing.
Are there any particular partsof running a business that are a
(35:52):
challenge?
Are there any particular partsof running a business that are a
challenge?
A kind of challenge ismarketing, because I didn't
learn marketing and presentyourself and your products.
That's quite something I slowly, slowly, grow into.
How do you get your information?
(36:15):
Good question, I have to thinkabout it.
Mostly I take a break and dosomething totally different to
get the mind free.
Yes, I ask people what they aredoing.
I ask colleagues, other yarndyers sometimes, and yeah, these
(36:38):
markets are perfectly forexchanging.
Do you get enough time to?
Speaker 5 (36:44):
hang out with the other people?
Speaker 3 (36:46):
Yeah, I mean we have a day to prepare all these and
you have all these littlechit-chatters in between and
people don't take it so serious.
I mean many people, notknitters, not yarn lovers.
They ask me you're dyeing yarn,can you live on that?
And how is that working?
(37:07):
It secures you.
You always have to say I can'tdo it.
Speaker 1 (37:13):
Thank you so much.
Speaker 7 (37:16):
Thank you so much my name is nora and my brand name
is kitzgarn, which is the berlinword for neighborhood yarn.
A lot of my colorways areinspired by berlin, so yeah, so
what are you known for?
I would say it's soft speckles.
(37:36):
That's one of my specialities.
It's in the same color family,so it's not overly crazy
colorful, so low contrast yeahlow contrast and yeah, and right
now I'm really into neon-ypastels.
So, yeah, and did you have abusiness education before you
(38:00):
started?
No, no, no, I just jumped intoit.
And yeah, learning by doing so,yeah, lots of mistakes on the
way, yeah and um what?
Speaker 1 (38:11):
are the things that you've found on the way, or
maybe even now still challenging.
Speaker 7 (38:17):
Yes, accounting, all the admin things are.
I wish I could spend all mytime being creative, but turns
out there's not that much timefor that.
Speaker 1 (38:30):
So if someone gives you a thousand euros every month
, what would you spend it on tohelp your?
Speaker 7 (38:36):
business.
What would I spend it on?
To help my business.
So I have an accountant already, so that's not, that's not it
Actually.
So I would take time for myselfto do other creative endeavors,
to be honest, like pottery, orjust sit and knit.
Yes, because, yeah, sometimes Ineed to recharge my creativity
(39:00):
and, yeah, that would help.
Yeah definitely.
Speaker 1 (39:02):
Oh, that's a good idea.
If you find challenges withinbuilding and growing a business,
how do you find information?
How do you learn new things?
Speaker 7 (39:12):
from.
I think I'm pretty wellconnected within the knitting
community in berlin, especiallyum, and I just talk to people to
be honest and see what othersmall businesses are doing not
only in the textile business,but um other yeah, other small
business endeavors and thatreally helps me like being
(39:34):
connected and exchanging ideas,and so on yeah so four years ago
, almost exactly not too longago, yeah right at the start of
the pandemic and I started withan Etsy shop and, yeah, it kind
of took off.
(39:54):
I with an Etsy shop and, yeah,it kind of took off.
I closed the Etsy shop, I wentto a different platform.
I had my own Shopify.
It's not sponsored.
Etsy was fine for the start,was super good to start, but as
I was growing, I was looking forand then take yourself
seriously as a brand.
It's just good to have your own.
Yeah, is this your full-timejob?
(40:18):
So yes, basically it's myfull-time job.
I also work one shift per weekat Bollembellin at the yarn
store, which is nice to helpwith expenses and also it keeps
me connected to the knittingcommunity.
Speaker 3 (40:32):
That's great as well.
Would you say that you'regetting enough?
Speaker 7 (40:39):
out of it.
Yes, so I am able to make aliving out of it.
It's not much, but it's enough.
Speaker 9 (40:47):
Enough is enough right.
Speaker 7 (40:49):
Exactly, and it's fun .
I would do it again, but it's's.
Yeah, it's fun, but it's alsoexhausting, so it has two sides
to the coin.
Speaker 1 (40:59):
Yeah exactly Would you have for advice if somebody
is inspired walking around afestival like this, like I want
to start a business, yeah, Justgive it a try, I guess.
Speaker 7 (41:11):
Find your own voice, like your own own style.
Don't try to copy other people,but also connect yourself
within the community.
Yeah, I think for me it wassuper important.
Speaker 1 (41:26):
Yeah, yeah, thank you so much, thank you my interview
with Jule from hey Mama Wolfstarted off with catching up and
then I had to remind myself toactually start the interview, so
we already had a little bit ofa conversation before we
actually started the interview.
(41:46):
It was really nice to see heragain after six years.
Speaker 10 (41:52):
After six years.
Hi, I'm Jules and I'm thefounder of hey Mama Wolf and
also the creative director forErica Night Yarns.
And yeah, my hey Mama Wolfstarted with German wool that I
dyed with plant eyes.
And I'm not dyeing anymore, butsome of the yarns are still
plant eyed.
Speaker 1 (42:17):
Yeah, great.
And what would you say?
Plant?
Is that what people know yourbrands?
If people hear, hey, mama bull,what do they think about?
What's your brand?
Speaker 10 (42:23):
yeah, it's sustainable yarns from Europe.
So we are.
Really what is most importantfor us is to find wool from
Europe and make it into a good,sustainable product.
Try to have short ways that thetravels from raw wool to yarn
to the shops.
Speaker 1 (42:44):
And yeah, I think that's what I think you were at
the beginning of a whole wedding.
Speaker 10 (42:49):
Yes, I mean it really when I began with him, so
I had this idea about 2013, 14or something.
There weren't a lot ofsustainable yarns, plant dyed
yarns or even yarns from europe.
There were only a few companieswho were selling this.
Speaker 1 (43:05):
Yeah I remember starting when I started my shop.
I was focused on natural yarnsI mean that was a big thing
before anything else.
Yeah, and that's slowly,gradually changing to more and
more, and I'm really happy.
Speaker 10 (43:18):
I'm really happy seeing this whole sustainability
thing and local production,that it grows so much and people
are more interested where comesmy wool from?
And also going away from thesuper soft, super wash, bright
colors like more, yeah, really,um, uh, have different
experience also as knitters yeah, I think that the the palette
(43:43):
of the knitter has changed overtime.
Speaker 1 (43:44):
Yes, we have.
Uh, I say we.
Well, I'll just say we.
We have taught them to keep theolives of the new world.
Speaker 7 (43:54):
You should try this.
It's disgusting.
No, try it again.
Speaker 1 (43:56):
Oh it's actually pretty good, especially when you
mix it with this.
Speaker 7 (44:01):
Yeah, and so my friend Angela always kind of
drops it on you.
I don't, yes, you do it'sreally quiet.
Speaker 1 (44:14):
It just felt like a very balanced presence next to
me.
So the questions here that Iask is to get a general view of
the people here for the listener.
My listener is either you oryour neighbour, or somebody that
is on a festival and thinks, ohmy gosh, I want to do this for
(44:36):
my job and my questions are allabout did you have?
Speaker 7 (44:41):
a business education before you started, did you?
Speaker 10 (44:45):
yes I did so you're the first one.
So I studied textile andsurface design at the
Kunsthochschule, at the artschool here in Berlin, and part
of the education was also how tosay business development or
(45:06):
something like that, so we weretaught how to lead your own
business.
Speaker 1 (45:13):
That's amazing and uh would you say if there's
something that you struggledwith over the years, what would
that be?
Something that was more of a.
Speaker 10 (45:23):
I always forget that word uh challenge get it all
under one roof, like because Iwas always a one woman business.
I had an employee from time totime, yeah, but if you do
everything on your own and I'mkind of also a person that is
like that I love to work in ateam, but also I have a very
(45:45):
exact vision of what I want tocreate.
So if I'm doubt, I do it myself, you know so, and that's that
was quite a learning curve forme to see, okay, where can I
what, what are the tasks that Ican give to someone else?
And also, what I struggled withfor the past years until I sold
(46:05):
hey, mama wolf was, uh, socialmedia, it's this constant doing,
creating content, and I mean Ilove sharing what I do, but when
the algorithm changes every twomonths and it, this is
basically a full-time job justdoing the social media thing,
(46:28):
yeah, so yeah, these two thingshave come up a lot.
Speaker 1 (46:35):
Social media and doing everything yourself are
the two most important strugglesfor almost everyone here.
Second to last question.
So when you do struggle, or didstruggle in the past, because
your business is, how many yearsold now?
Almost 10.
Almost 10 years.
Do struggle or did struggle inthe past because your business
is, how many years?
Almost almost 10, almost 10years.
(46:55):
So how did you find ways ofknowing new things?
So how did you educate yourself?
How did you learn how to dothings?
Speaker 10 (47:08):
yeah, talking to other people in the business
very much.
That helps almost always.
And, um, yeah, I mean here inberlin I'm always was well
connected because I worked inyarn shops before, so people
knew me.
So, yeah, that one and also, um, my husband actually always was
(47:30):
a great support because, yeah,he went to art school as well,
so if I had a question he alwaysyeah, yeah, I could, could help
me out doing decisions andstuff, but it could be a help,
but it also can be a strugglebecause, uh, he's in, my husband
is in the bike industry and Iwas like no, it's completely
different in the art industry.
Speaker 1 (47:54):
So last question, I mean you already answered it
when we spoke before, but yousold your business to erica
knight.
Uh no to uh selected yards andmy question would be is your job
your full-time job?
But yeah, I guess it is yourfull-time job, it's my full-time
job and it has been for howmany years now with selected
(48:17):
yarns?
Speaker 5 (48:18):
even before you sold your.
Has it always been yourfull-time job or did you yes?
Speaker 10 (48:23):
no, before I founded hey, mama wolf I was a
freelance knitwear designer foruh fashion companies here in
berlin and I was was doingcostume design for films and so
on.
So yeah, I was kind of in thesame business since forever,
since I finished my studies in2009.
Speaker 1 (48:44):
And so you were always kind of able to get your
income from the textile industryin different ways.
This is it.
Thank you so much.
Thank you, thank you for yourtime.
Have a great festival weekend.
Thank you you too.
Well, I hope you enjoyedlistening to these business
owners as much as I enjoyedtalking to them.
(49:06):
I am going to try to give youan overview now so that you have
the main takeaways that I gotfrom this and have them nicely
put together so that you can.
I don't know learn from it or beinspired by it or whatever they
(49:26):
mean to you.
I was talking to 10 businesses,some of which had multiple
owners, so I'm just going tomention that they were 10
different businesses, aka brands, and I've got nine people that
told me this was their full-timejob, and four of them were
(49:52):
actually relying on it for thefull income.
So not everybody is strictlyrelying on this business as
their full income.
They usually also had a secondincome in the household.
Something that came up more askind of an afterthought to these
(50:17):
interviews and it's always kindof a little bit of a personal
thing that people don't alwaysfeel comfortable talking about,
and some of them actually reallydo is the fact that a lot of
households have two incomes andrunning a business in this
industry it's a lot of hard workand as a second income it's
(50:42):
easier to do, but it's still afull-time job often.
So that's a kind of interestingbalance to keep in the back of
your mind and think about.
What also came up and that'sreally important to mention here
is that lots of thesebusinesses have only just
started a year ago, a bunch ofthem two years ago, four years
(51:04):
ago, then six and ten years ago,the one that's ten years old
actually made huge leaps inprofessionalism.
And at the same time there'sone business that started only a
year ago and the ownermentioned that she is almost
ready to fully rely on thisincome.
(51:25):
So that is amazing, but what ismore generally the case is that
businesses take about fouryears-ish to get to a point
where the income is enough forthemselves to rely on.
So I wrote down a bunch oftakeaways and I think one of the
(51:48):
most interesting things I'veseen is that a lot of businesses
start as solopreneurs and someof them start as duos, and when
they start as duos they alreadyfrom the beginning have
different talents under one roofand where the people that start
(52:10):
by themselves, they reflectback and they say at a certain
point you cannot do everythingyourself, so you have to get in
other talents, either hire themfor a short amount of times or
get them under the same roof inthe same business, because
people have different talentsand your time is finite, so you
(52:34):
cannot do everything.
Lots of people do that for thefirst couple of years and then
they realize that it's verytiring and even I mean this
didn't come up and honestly itdidn't come up at all during
these interviews.
But knowing from experience mypersonal experience, and over a
(52:56):
few I was going to say a fewdecades, but well, it's been a
while a decade and a half, Iwould say I have come across so
many business owners that runinto burnout, and it's too much.
So finding others that can helpyou, that support your business
whether that is inside of thebusiness, or hiring them to do
(53:22):
more practical things, isdefinitely, at some point,
something that's very, almostwell, necessary to do when it
comes to product development.
Necessary to do when it comesto product development.
Anna from Wondersy had thisamazing advice telling us to
focus on one thing, test it, andonly when it's tested and
(53:44):
proven itself then move on tothe next thing.
As creatives, as designers, wewant to do everything and we
love everything all at once.
As a business, it's very smartto test something, see if it
works, and if something works,double down and then move into a
(54:04):
new thing.
The hardest thing people runinto is self-promotion, and then
particularly self-promotionthrough social media.
If you want to do it right,they say it is a full-time job
and your job is something elseIn itself.
This is not possible beingpresent on social media or doing
(54:30):
your marketing in general, ishard in different ways because
it takes up a lot of time, butit also asks for some skills
that you might or might not have.
So, in what we know, it mightbe a great idea to see if
somebody else can do your socialmedia.
(54:52):
That sounds weird because it'ssuch a personal thing, but if
you have somebody that justtakes images of you at work,
just comes in once a week tohave a little chat with you and
then goes out and turns it intosocial media posts, think of
maybe even a niece that you havethat is really creative and who
(55:16):
wants to go in this direction.
It doesn't always have to be asuper professional.
That just depends on where youare in your business.
But don't be afraid to try outthings because, as we also
established Because, as we alsoestablished, marketing is
basically simply trying outdifferent things, seeing what
(55:37):
sticks and sticking with it ifit works.
So don't feel overwhelmed bythe whole marketing thing.
With your creativity, there'sso much that you can do, and you
can do it in a lot less time,which moves us in to the next
thing, and that is the community.
(55:59):
A lot of these business owners.
As I asked them what do you dowhen you don't know about a
thing, when you don't haveexperience or the skill to do a
specific thing, how do youproceed?
And they come back and they sayI go to the community.
I ask my colleagues and this issuch an amazing thing because
(56:22):
obviously I would say that,because that is the core of what
I'm doing I'm bringing peoplein this industry together so
that they don't have to reinventthe wheel every time.
They can talk to each other andlisten and hear about how they
solve their problems that theother person might have as well.
(56:43):
And what is key here, and what Ireally noticed in doing these
interviews, is that sometimespeople are afraid of sharing
details that they don't want toshare, like, say, what do you
make at a festival, or can yourely on this income, or what is
the recipe of dyeing this colorof yarn?
(57:04):
But these are not the thingsthat you share.
These details are for you.
Or, if you want to, you canshare them, but you don't have
to.
In the Yavol community that wehave created online, we don't
share things that are secrets,but we learn a lot from each
other anyways.
It's just practical informationthat is basically available to
(57:29):
everybody.
But who wants to spend the timefiguring it out when your
quote-unquote neighbor alreadyknows what to do?
I was so happy to hear peoplereach out to their colleagues
for these kinds of things, andwhen I asked at a festival, do
you actually have time to diveinto this?
(57:51):
Because my question was when doyou hang out with other people
in the industry?
They said on festivals likethis, and while we are setting
up and breaking down our standsor booths or stalls or whatever
you want to call them and inthis case they also had a dinner
together.
(58:11):
There is, however, not ascheduled, structured topic of
conversation list going on.
It's very conversational andfun and there's a lot to learn
and to connect there, becausethen when you connect at a
festival, you can always,whenever you have a question you
(58:35):
have made connections and goback to these people and ask
them about it.
With the Yavol community, whatI want to do is make that step
even easier.
Just, you're all together inthis community and you can just
post a question and then whoeverknows the answer can just type
it in and it's there 24-7.
(58:57):
So it's a whole bunch ofcolleagues all at the same time.
That's enough about the Yavocommunity.
I just found it reallyencouraging to know that people
are actually looking at eachother for help, and when it
comes to laws and regulationsfor specific countries, people
tend to go to Google for thatkind of thing.
(59:17):
Another fun thing that came upis um, well, the fun more
interesting is that once youstart running your business and
you're into it a few years, yourealize that you don't really
have that much time anymore todo the specific thing that you
love doing.
The creative part, thedesigning part, all kinds of
(59:41):
other practical stuff take up upyour time, and it's super
important to keep connected toyour creativity and to your
passion, and so making time,taking time, actually taking
time to do this for yourself, issuper important to keep your
burning burning love for whatyou do, to keep that love going.
(01:00:03):
So focusing on planning welland making sure that you have
time left to do the thing thatyou love doing and planning is
also something that people thinkof as a hard thing to do.
From my perspective, I have somany tools that can help you
(01:00:26):
with good planning that I amjust itching to teach this to
people, one of which, of course,is the bullet journal, but
there's other great tips thatcan help any type of person.
Whether you feel like youthrive in chaos as a creative,
or whether you have to superorganize everything.
(01:00:48):
There's a lot that we can learnto have some better planning
and to have some time left to dofun things with our families as
well, speaking of which a lotof these entrepreneurs they do
have families relationships, andtheir business is not all that
they do, so finding that balanceis a big thing and an important
(01:01:11):
thing for them.
I think the major thing thatcame up is you cannot do it all
by yourself.
That is just a recipe forburnout, and I know some people
have a really hard time withthat because they are the
creative brain behind theirbrand and it's really hard to
let go of some things.
But it can be done, and thereare excellent examples of
(01:01:37):
businesses that have done thatin this report and the other,
like the sentence that came upso much was how did you manage
to build a business in thisindustry?
And people say just learning bydoing.
Learning by doing.
(01:01:58):
That's partly how I did it too.
I did have a marketingeducation, I did have an art
education, so a bunch of coursesalong the way and a lot of
experience from doing that kindof learning is really great, but
(01:02:19):
it also takes a lot of time.
So it's trial and error, a lotof trial and error, whereas I
think with what I know now,there is a lot of time that you
can skip.
If you just learn some basicthings about running a business,
it doesn't have to be hard.
It takes a little bit of time,investment, some money,
(01:02:41):
investment and then you kind ofhave a plan and a way forward
that is really helpful to growyour business.
So for all those dreamers thathave been listening and that are
inspired, I would like to sayfollow the example of all these
beautiful entrepreneurs,designers, and follow your
(01:03:06):
passion.
At the same time, make surethat you really take it
seriously and take care ofyourself and learn some of the
skills that are needed to keepyourself happy and healthy, and
don't do it all by yourself.
I, coincidentally, have built acourse that is exactly about all
(01:03:30):
of this teaching you thingsabout branding, marketing and
selling in a way that is reallynot all that difficult.
There's not a man in a suittalking to you.
It's people like you, from thesame industry.
We work together as a groupwith a book full of exercises,
(01:03:50):
and the exercises are meant foryou to do them in the moment, so
you don't have to go back anddo the work later.
You do them as you go throughthe course.
It's a three-month course.
It goes with live meetings.
We have a community where youcan hang out together.
(01:04:11):
There's work sessions together.
There are one-on-one sessionswith me.
It's basically a short-formbusiness education where you
immerse yourself for threemonths, do the work and come out
of it much the wiser,especially also because we look
at what you need as a person,where your values are and your
(01:04:33):
boundaries and how much time youcan actually work.
So it's what I like to call aholistic perspective for running
a creative business.
It's super valuable.
I've had business owners gothrough it, one of which was
actually also here in thisepisode, and we just love
(01:04:56):
hanging out together and talkingabout all different kinds of
things that have to do withrunning a business.
Whether you're a yarn dyer, ateacher, a designer, we've got
place and space for everyone,and the next cohort is starting
in September, so there's enoughtime to get ready for that.
(01:05:17):
I hope that you loved listeningto this.
If you want to know more aboutthese entrepreneurs and these
brands.
I have all of their informationin the show notes.
Find them at patternshiftfm andgo to the latest episode.
They're right there.
Also find links to fullinterviews with Saskia Maas from
(01:05:38):
Ovis Etc, maaike Breijelaar,maaike van Gijn at Breijelaar
and Cynthia from Cynthia, andlet me know how you like this
episode.
If you have any questions, youcan find me at info, at
ja-wolcom or at the website.
You find all the informationyou need.
(01:06:00):
If you want to go on instagram,I am at underscore yeville,
underscore pattern shift.
See you there.
Thank you do.
Are you still listening?
(01:07:52):
I always love this music somuch I have a hard time cutting
it off.
So if you're still listening,don't forget sign up for the
newsletter.
You'll get all the informationabout new episodes, the
community, the business circle,all the things that I'm up to
helping small businesses in theneedlecraft industry.
Yeah, that's it.
I'm wishing you a wonderful,wonderful day and hope to have
(01:08:14):
you with me next time.
Bye.
Hello, lovely listener, I'm so glad that
you're here.
Whether it is your first timelistening or you are a returning
set of ears, I'm happy to haveyou here.
As I report from last weekend'sfestival, I visited in Berlin
the Wedding Wool Weekend, whichhas nothing to do with any
(00:25):
matrimony.
It is actually held in theneighborhood of Wedding, which
I've learned now.
The word for neighborhood isKiez, so it's Kiez Wedding, I
think, if I understood it well,and I visited with my friend,
angela, which was amazing.
We had such a lovely time.
(00:46):
I just want to say a quick thankyou to Angela for making this
weekend so lovely and beingpatient with me doing all the
interviews being very helpful.
Thank you, angela.
It was super dope.
We had some amazing food, wetalked to a lot of old friends
and we made some new friends,which is always great to do on
(01:09):
festivals.
It was a wonderful weekend andI want to thank Ruta, the owner
of Wollen Berlin, who organizedthis with her team, for this
amazing experience.
And thank you for letting meinterview the business owners,
because I think I got somethingreally good out of that,
(01:30):
something I can share with otherpeople that are interested in
what it's like to run a businessin this industry, or people
that kind of have a secret dream, or even, or especially
actually, those that already runa business and secretly want to
know how everybody else isdoing their thing.
(01:51):
So my aim was to collect kind ofan overview of how business
owners have managed to buildtheir business.
How long have they been workingat their business?
Do they do this as theirfull-time job?
Are they able to rely on theincome that they get from it?
(02:13):
Is there something that theystruggle with and, if so, how do
they find solutions to theirproblems?
This resulted in an hour longof very interesting
conversations.
I'm using a special microphoneon my phone, but it's definitely
not the same setup as I havehere at home, so there's a lot
(02:36):
of background noise and you willhear the person that I'm
interviewing a lot more clearlythan you will hear me asking
questions because I am pointingthe microphone in their
direction.
Now I've tried to edit out myvoice where it wasn't necessary,
(02:57):
but in some points I left it inbecause the conversation is
unnatural if I keep it out, sosometimes you'll hear my voice
and it's going to be softer thanthe person that I'm
interviewing, but that's howit's supposed to be, just so you
know.
If it's not your thing thebackground, noise and everything
(03:18):
you can fast forward to the end, where I bring everything
together in a conclusion.
Hello, my name is Saskia.
Welcome to 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
(03:40):
learning curve.
It doesn't have to be With 16years of experience in running
small businesses in textilecrafts and a drive to build a
solid alternative to fastfashion.
My mission is to provide youwith no BS, actionable exercises
and strategies in a languagethat makes sense to you that you
(04:01):
can implement right away so youcan organize, build and grow
your business.
So don't burn out before youget started.
Build a solid base with thehelp of Pattern Shift Podcast
and the Yavol community and itsprograms.
Again, thank you so much forbeing here.
I hope you like it.
If you have any questions aboutanything, if you want to react
(04:23):
to this, have any questionsabout anything?
If you want to react to this,please send me an email at info
at ya-volcom or leave me a voicenote on the website
patternshiftfm at thisparticular episode.
And another big, solid point Ihave to make here and ask you is
to sign up for emails from me,yavol Patton Shift, and all the
(04:48):
things we do together in theYavol community, because this is
why I actually make the podcast.
I spend a lot of time and havea lot of fun doing this so that
I can share what I know for free, but I also have lots of fun
things that we can do, lots ofhelpful things that we can do
(05:09):
together, and having you on myemail list is your thank you for
the work that I do with thispodcast.
So go to the show notes, signup.
Go to my website, sign up therewherever you want.
I love to have you on my list.
Thank you, have fun.
I hope it feels like you'vebeen a little bit at the
(05:29):
festival with us, as you enjoythe sounds of knitting people
and textile entrepreneurs.
So, without further ado, let'sgo on and start with Saskia Maas
from Ovis, etc.
Speaker 3 (05:47):
Hello, hello.
Speaker 4 (05:49):
Hi Saskia, hi, Big game Ganz gut, ganz gut yeah.
Do you have a second?
For four quick questions yeah,okay, maybe we should step aside
this yes and feel free to helpany customers while I'm
interrogating you.
Speaker 1 (06:04):
So first question what is your brand known for?
Speaker 4 (06:08):
For non-superwash yarn made out of natural
materials, and can you name yourbrand and your own name please?
My brand name is Ovis Etc andmy name is Saskia.
Speaker 1 (06:23):
So I'm here, I'm interested in small businesses
and how they work, and so myquestion is what are things that
you sometimes struggle with inrunning a small business?
Speaker 3 (06:34):
Planning, planning.
Speaker 1 (06:37):
And how do you deal with getting better at planning?
Speaker 4 (06:40):
Well, I'm trying my very, very best to get better at
it.
Well, I joined the businesscircle and that helps
tremendously.
Speaker 1 (06:49):
Yes, cool, okay, that's good now, uh, my last
question is is this yourfull-time job?
Speaker 4 (06:57):
uh, it's, it is since um almost a year.
Now already almost a year, nowAlready almost a year.
Do you rely on the income?
Oh, yes, absolutely, yes, yes,I'm the breadwinner of the
household.
Speaker 5 (07:10):
Well, your stall is beautiful, Thank you.
Speaker 1 (07:13):
Next is my small little interview with Anna from
Wundersee, who works togetherwith her mother-in-law as a
super team.
They design ingeniously foldedneedle cases from a beautiful
sturdy paper and other knittingaccessories.
What are some of the challengesyou find in your business.
Speaker 8 (07:36):
Yes, because we are both knitters, creative, you
know, and we have a lot of ideasand for us us it's challenging
to focus just on one product,maybe not spread all over the
place.
Focus on one product, test it,do the marketing and then move
on to the next one.
(07:56):
So stick really to your mainidea, to your main position.
We talk regularly like we havea document with our vision where
we want to go, and we regularlysit down, open this document
and really see, okay, are westill on moving in the right
direction?
And what other ideas we haveand how they adjust.
You know how they can adjustour now, our offer.
(08:21):
You know so you sound like youhave a marketing background like
I do.
I'm um, I'm from coming fromthe marketing and my partner, my
mother-in-law, she's a designer, textile designer.
So we perfectly, we are aperfect match.
What a great deal.
Speaker 1 (08:37):
Yes, thank you so much um so this is your
full-time or part-time?
This is my full-time job.
Full-time, this is my full-timejob.
Full-time job, yes, and do yourely?
Speaker 8 (08:47):
on the income.
Not yet, not completely, butit's really.
It's developing.
We are just, we are not evenone year old and still I think
we are making a very goodprogress.
Yes, and I'm sure this year Iwill be able to rely already on
Thank you, Hannah, and thank youso much.
Speaker 1 (09:04):
You're welcome.
Nice meeting you as well.
Next up is Sori, who's teachinga short row workshop at the
festival but has a pretty longCV in the industry already.
Sori was a breath of fresh airto talk to and lovely to meet
her on multiple occasions duringthe festival.
Speaker 2 (09:21):
My name is Sori Well, my name is Soraya, but
everybody calls me Sori and mybrand name is Yedra Knits, which
is Ivy Knits.
So to say, I'm making a littletwist this year because my brand
in Spain is known because Imade a first knitting magazine
in Spanish.
The first one, it was Bellota,what is called Acorn, and then
(09:48):
we have to change the namebecause a long story, and it's
called Yedranit.
So I'm known because of beingthe publisher of this indie
magazine.
But one year ago I decided justto well, not one year ago, yes,
it's four years now.
Oh my gosh.
Yeah, after the pandemic, Ibegan to teach and I discovered
(10:12):
that I really love to teach.
So now I'm focusing on givingworkshops and so on.
Speaker 1 (10:18):
And what workshop are you teaching at the festival?
Speaker 2 (10:22):
Showroles, because it's the thing that I love the
most, because you can dothree-dimensional things with
that.
I really love it because it's afun fact that when I was like
16 or something, I thought Iinvented show rows Because I
said, okay, if you don't meet atthe end of the row, something's
(10:45):
happening here.
So I feel myself so clever.
And then I noticed that someoneelse or many others have done
this before and I reallyconnected to the tailoring,
because it's the way you makedarts.
So to say so it's one thingthat I love.
(11:05):
And now I have a podcast thatis called Sherbro's in Spanish.
So vueltas cortas, I think.
Well, I used to say, when we dothe magazine, like every issue
has its own drama, because whenyou overcome one of the dramas,
it comes the other one.
So I think self-promoting isone of the things, because when
(11:26):
you are introvert and thingslike that, it's like something
that is hard sometimes.
So maybe it's the thing that ismost difficult to me.
Speaker 1 (11:37):
Yeah, I think it's that like self-promoting and so
on and did you find ways toovercome it, to learn more about
it, to work at it?
Speaker 2 (11:46):
I think, yes, like the community, because when you
meet people it's like you getmore self-confidence, more and
more and more.
The labor that the podcastersdo, I think, is so special
because all this kind of in thevery first time I realized all
(12:09):
the things that I have to showto the community.
It was in an interview.
I had to listen to myself and Ifind, okay, that's nice.
So I overcome it a little bityeah yeah, well, I have to admit
(12:34):
that I quit the magazinebecause of the rise of the paper
.
It make it impossible.
So the magazine, it was notpossible anymore.
But now I full-time live on theworkshops and the patterns.
It's my only source of income.
It's a hard work and I cannotbe able to do it since the
(12:55):
fourth year, to be honest.
So, yeah, it's like, of course,I live with my partner.
So for the first years, if Iwas on my own it would not be
possible.
But something that I think isalso important to know is that
even if you well I think this ismore important for women
(13:19):
overcome this, how to say thisburden of we are super on
ourselves and so on.
Speaker 1 (13:32):
So if we have we should have a date and do this
conversation for a full podcastepisode.
Speaker 2 (13:36):
Okay, okay, yeah, let's do it.
Yeah, of course, yeah, let's dothat, okay, okay.
Speaker 1 (13:41):
Thank you so much.
Thank you, I had a lot of fun.
Yeah, you too.
Speaker 2 (13:44):
And I'll see you around.
Bye-bye.
Speaker 1 (13:48):
Sari and I started to go into a deeper topic of being
able to rely on your partner asa second income while you are
building your business or evenas you are running your business
throughout the years.
This is such an important andinteresting topic to me that I
wanted to talk to her about it alittle bit more, but as I only
(14:11):
had time for short interviewsduring the festival, we decided
to meet up another time and do afull interview on that topic
and perhaps some other topics,so I'm looking forward to
inviting sorry to the podcastanother time as well.
We will be swiftly moving onwith stefania and julia from
(14:33):
lani I am stefania and I'm julia, and we are Perfect, and what
does?
Speaker 6 (14:42):
that mean in English, it means women who sell yarn
Basically, and you are from.
Speaker 3 (14:49):
We're from Italy and what is your brand known for?
Speaker 9 (14:55):
We just focus on making our own yarn, our own
bases with local fibers westarted gathering directly from
breeders in Italy, especiallythe wool and the alpaca or the
mohair.
We focus on luxury fibers likethe cashmere that Giulia grows
in her own farm.
(15:15):
We get the undying or justleave some bases undied with the
natural colors of the fibers.
Speaker 6 (15:22):
And how did you find it?
Well, because when I wanted tostart the Kashmir Goat Farm, I
wanted to learn more about fibreand hand spinning, and I was
still living in Genoa and Iattended to a course that
Stefania was.
Speaker 9 (15:40):
I was teaching a hand spinning workshop and that's
how we met, and then we justkept in touch.
Yeah, amazing.
Speaker 1 (15:47):
Just clicked what would you say?
And also feel free to help anycustomers.
Speaker 9 (15:52):
I will not.
No, no, no.
Speaker 3 (15:55):
What would you say is ?
Speaker 1 (15:57):
the biggest challenge as a business owner in this
industry for you personally.
Speaker 6 (16:01):
Oh yeah, sure, Gathering the fibers and having
to work with meals that requirea large amount of fibers where,
whereas we are a really smallbusiness and so we and also the
yield of the farmers we workwith, it's quite small.
So we I think that's one of themore challenging because of
(16:23):
course there's more well, thecosts are higher for small
batches so it requires someplanning as well yeah yeah, yeah
, yeah yeah yeah, so yeah,basically I think that's, and
when?
Speaker 9 (16:40):
yeah, sorry, no, no, no, no, I was just thinking.
Speaker 7 (16:44):
Maybe this as well, yeah, but we can go on.
Let's move on.
Yeah, better, so whenever yourun into a challenge.
Speaker 1 (16:56):
How do you learn and how do you proceed?
Speaker 6 (17:00):
Well, I think that for a long time I mean at the
beginning and maybe until lastyear we were mostly self-taught
in everything that we did, youknow, from the marketing, to the
photography, to the learning Tothe milling, the production
process and the businesspackaging.
Speaker 9 (17:18):
Yeah, yeah, everything yeah.
Speaker 6 (17:22):
Now maybe about the marketing, and we started to ask
for help to some professionals.
Speaker 9 (17:31):
About the business structure and the management.
Speaker 6 (17:39):
At some point you need to ask to someone.
Speaker 9 (17:42):
If you want to step up it, it's like that's true,
yeah then the other question isthis both of your full time?
Job.
Well, yeah, mostly yeah anddoes this have to bring the
breads yeah, well what well forme yes, yeah
Speaker 1 (18:02):
it does so yeah I think it's important for people
that want to start a businessthat they have a real sense of
how possible is it?
Speaker 6 (18:12):
Well, I'd say it took us a few years to reach this
point where we can say that yeah, because there are lots of
taxis, at least in Italy, soit's always really challenging.
Speaker 9 (18:26):
And you say it in a quite long term, because
initially it seems everything isproceeding, but then you have
to step up year after year, andit has to be sustainable it's
like a diesel right you justpush snow and then you get
moving and you see the impactsgoing on and higher as you
proceed with the production,with the higher amounts of milk
(18:49):
and so on.
So it's continuing.
Speaker 1 (18:54):
But it's still your favorite job in the world?
Speaker 6 (18:56):
Yes, yes.
Speaker 1 (19:00):
Thank you so much.
Thank you, it was reallyinteresting.
Let me just check the mic,check, check, check the mic, mic
, mic check check, check itlooks like it's working okay um,
so I have with me here.
Speaker 5 (19:19):
I'm a knitwear designer not for so long, yet
for a few years and I'm at afestival to give workshops and
to do a trunk show, which ishere.
But you can see, trunk show isthat you take your designs with
you and put them on display sopeople can see it, try it on if
they want ask questions, I'mhere as designer to to tell
(19:40):
about it.
Speaker 1 (19:41):
That's basically yeah , yeah so you're promoting your
work in a way that a designercan yes, okay, cool.
And so where can people?
Speaker 7 (19:50):
find your designs.
Speaker 5 (19:53):
Now on Reverie and in books.
I have three self-publishedpatents on Reverie and I'm in
Lerner books and the Neon andNeutral's book by La Bien-Aimée
and several Leron and Lutro'sbook by La Bien-Aimée and
several Lerne publicationsactually, and what would you?
Speaker 1 (20:07):
say, defines your style, your brand?
I know it's a hard question.
It's a hard question.
Speaker 5 (20:13):
Give it a shot.
Yes, I had the same questionfrom Lerne so I thought about it
.
I think my work is quitegraphic and it has like a
classical base, but with amodern twist.
Speaker 1 (20:24):
Oh, that's nicely put .
I would totally 100% agree.
Yeah, yeah, definitely.
I love your bearful sweater.
Let's say it in our ownlanguage, so that people know
how to pronounce it BearfulBearful, which means in English
Fertile brain actually, or alsolike a whirlwind, you could say
(20:47):
yeah cool.
Speaker 3 (20:47):
So that's one of the most uh known designs most
popular?
Speaker 5 (20:53):
yes, because it was in the neon and neutral spook
and even on the cover, so I waslucky it's so beautiful, it's
really beautiful.
Speaker 1 (21:01):
You're very talented and promising designer.
Speaker 3 (21:06):
I have big hopes for you.
Thank you so much.
Speaker 5 (21:12):
Do you see yourself as a business?
Speaker 3 (21:14):
owner at this point.
Speaker 5 (21:14):
Yeah, not really.
I feel more like a designer.
That's also why I mainlycollaborate with publications.
I really like collaborating,but also they do the PR and make
the photos and we do ittogether.
I kind of like that and focusmore on design and have that in
collaboration because it's notmy expertise.
Speaker 1 (21:37):
Yeah, that's actually my next question what do you
think is really hard in terms ofrunning a business?
What are your challenges, yourbiggest challenges?
Speaker 5 (21:47):
Yeah, being present online all the time and doing PR
.
I'm not a person that likes tofilm myself all the time.
I put myself on display and Ithink if you self-publish, you
really have to do that, likeAndrea Murray and Joji you know,
and.
I'm not really comfortable withit yet.
(22:09):
So that's yeah, so that's why Ichoose now to do it this way,
but might change in the future.
Speaker 1 (22:14):
Yeah, yeah, it's definitely something that other
business owners here havementioned oh, yeah as well,
being uncomfortable in front ofthe camera and feeling the need
to be in front of the camera alot of the time and so
struggling with that, yeah, um,how do you deal with it?
How do you?
Speaker 3 (22:29):
move forward.
Do you accept that you don'tlike it and you?
Speaker 1 (22:33):
leave it that way, or do you have?
Speaker 5 (22:36):
ways to learn yeah, I do try to.
I have a really nice picturefrom the back which I like to
send in, but I also try to be abit more confident, or just you
know.
So I do sometimes now go onlineto show my face because I
notice people want to connectwith you as a designer and also
(22:58):
with personal stuff, like aphoto of my workspace they
really like and I'm like, oh,should I put it up?
So I'm also learning.
Like you know, don't have to beshow my face all the time, but
I can show bits of my world ormy work practice which people
are like just your hands yes, Ifollow somebody that has this
account not showing herselfthat's the goal and gaining more
(23:22):
uh viewers.
So that's interesting.
Speaker 1 (23:24):
You can do a face reveal at the end of the year
and then drag people to youraccount and say we're going to
do a face reveal.
Speaker 5 (23:32):
It's a marketing publishing stunt you can do that
.
Speaker 1 (23:37):
I was quite good at it, but I have to relearn it
again and it's really a matterof doing it a lot, so you get
used to it.
Speaker 5 (23:46):
I must say, in like life, with workshops and being
here, I like that.
I like to connect with people,especially also in workshops,
because my work is always on myown, you know.
So I like to have it come alivein workshops and see people and
interact with it.
But like online is a bitdifferent.
Speaker 1 (24:05):
Last question Is this your full-time job, part-time
job?
How?
Speaker 5 (24:12):
do you look at it?
It's kind of full-time, but notin financial, so you don't rely
on it.
You can't rely on it.
Speaker 1 (24:21):
But in terms of hours you'll get perhaps over
full-time.
Speaker 5 (24:24):
Yes, definitely, but in terms of hours you'll get
perhaps over full time.
But also you just said you, youhave started this a couple of
years ago, yeah, I think onlyactually this fall, two years
ago coming fall, my firstdesigner spot.
Speaker 1 (24:39):
It's also a big been a big peak for you in terms of
being visible in all thepublications and stuff, while
you're still a designing baby.
Speaker 5 (24:48):
Yes, I'm a chick.
Yes, yes, beautiful chick Thankyou so much and good luck.
Speaker 7 (24:54):
Thank you, you too.
Have fun Bonjour.
Speaker 2 (24:57):
Bonjour.
Speaker 1 (24:58):
Can you start by saying your name and perhaps
your brand?
Speaker 11 (25:02):
name, so I'm Cynthia .
I'm known under the name fromCynthia on Instagram, and under
this name I design animals toknit.
Speaker 3 (25:14):
And that is specialism is knitting animals.
Speaker 11 (25:19):
Yes, I'm specializing in knitting animals
and I devote most of my time toknitting animals and to make
other people knit animals andyou made a book.
Speaker 1 (25:32):
What's it called?
Speaker 11 (25:33):
My book is named Moosh and Friends and also the
subtitle is Seamless Animals toKnit and Love.
Is seamless animals to knit andlove?
Yes, go ahead.
So, yes, it's fully seamlessfor a very enjoyable process and
to knit and love because theyalso aim to be used.
(25:57):
I like the idea of kids playingwith them and they really
become parts of the familiesonce they're done.
There is something magical thathappened and, from what I can
see, they have a lot ofpersonalities and they, they
take place.
They take their, their place inthe family where they, where
(26:19):
they are needs and it's better,and how many years have you done
this as a job?
I'm in the sixth year.
Sixth year now.
Yes, I made my first pattern in2018.
It was Myrtle Bear, and I keptgoing with self-publishing and
(26:41):
individual patterns and Istarted thinking about a book in
2021, and it was published in2023.
So a bit more than one year.
And what is your role here?
In the festival, I came to showmy little animal friends, so
(27:04):
for what is called a trunk show.
So I came with all the animalsand I'm here to show them to
people, to also talk with peopleif they have questions and
encourage them to give a try tothis kind of knitting.
And I'm also here to teach aworkshop on how to knit a little
animal.
(27:25):
So it's a workshop where we gothrough the very few main
techniques to knit them, becauseactually it's really more easy
than it seems.
It's not expert knitting at all, but in the workshop we are
just going to cover the two orthree points that you need to
(27:45):
know and show that from thereyou can keep going and knit them
easily.
You have to have a taste forthis to knit small and tiny, but
it's really more easy than itlooks.
And a lot of people putthemselves on borders and they
(28:06):
think they won't be able.
I often hear I love it, butthis is not for me.
I won't be able and it's reallynot so difficult.
So this is what I really wantto show them.
So part of your job is being amotivator yes, and a looker of a
(28:27):
few anxiety and fears.
Yes, this is what we do in theworkshop Cool.
Speaker 1 (28:37):
And when you talk about the business, do you see
yourself?
Speaker 11 (28:41):
as a business owner, I see myself first as a
creative worker, because most ofmy time is dedicated to this,
but I also have to think abouthow to communicate and how to
sell, and so this part is thebusiness part stuff.
(29:02):
Yeah, is there anything aboutthat part is the business?
Speaker 3 (29:04):
part stuff Is there anything about that part of the
business that is particularlyhard for you or challenging it's
social media.
Speaker 11 (29:14):
It's still the main.
Yes, I would say it's still themain stuff, not because I don't
enjoy interacting with people Ido enjoy this but because it's
too busy and it takes you out ofyour focus very easily.
(29:34):
So you tend to have your mindvery busy after that and then
it's hard to go back to a deepwork or to focus.
So I found it's the main things.
Speaker 1 (29:49):
I'm struggling with.
And also, if you don't knowanything, how do you solve the
problem?
Where do you find yourinformation?
Speaker 11 (29:57):
Mainly on the internet.
Google yes, I tried.
Yes.
The internet.
Google yes, I tried.
Yes.
In France, it's more about thelaws.
You need to check what kind ofstatus you need or how you have
to declare your taxes yes, yourtaxes.
(30:18):
So that's mainly what I'mlooking for as information.
Speaker 1 (30:24):
Is this your?
Speaker 11 (30:26):
full-time occupation now?
Yes, as a business it's myfull-time occupation, but I have
a lot of time dedicated to myyoungest daughter too.
She's with me each time she hasa school break, so it happens
quite frequently.
So it's full-time inter-work,but it's not every day and not
(30:49):
every day of the year because ofthe care I need to give up.
Speaker 1 (30:55):
Do you rely on some of the income for as?
Speaker 11 (30:58):
part as your income?
Yes, but whether I had acreative job or another type of
job, it has always been the same.
Speaker 3 (31:13):
To work together.
Speaker 11 (31:14):
Yes, we work together as a family and anyway
I'm more present at home is abit less, but it could have been
the other way.
But anyway, it always has beenthis way of having the idea of
having two incomes comingtogether for the family life
(31:37):
anyway, and because I decided tobe present for my daughter to
be present for my daughter.
It's also a choice to have thisbusiness staying in less hours
than it could be, but in my mindI think that when she'll be
older, it's also a business thatyou can move up and down
(32:00):
according to your needs.
So it's like for me I'm workingalso for the future and I see
it as something that I will havethe desire to keep on doing,
yeah, when I will have more timetoo.
So the kids are grown, yes, yes.
So the idea is to keep goingand to keep pushing myself in
(32:21):
the limits of feeling a goodbalance yeah, thank you so much.
Speaker 1 (32:28):
Next up is my conversation with Melinda from
Samalindaiworks.
Melinda has lived in theNetherlands years ago and still
speaks and understands Dutch.
It's amazing, however, I amspeaking Dutch, english and
German this weekend and this istotally throwing me off.
So this is a mix of multiplelanguages and bad sound.
(32:52):
I have been debating how toshare this conversation because
she really had some really nicethings to say.
Basically, what we talk aboutis the same topics, and Melinda
shares that she can't hireemployees, and that's what's
difficult for her.
Doing everything yourselftaking photos, doing social
(33:13):
media ordering it's hard workand it's difficult to do.
Doing everything yourselftaking photos, doing social
media ordering it's hard workand it's difficult to do it all
by yourself.
And she shares with me thatwhen she doesn't know how to do
anything or if she's new to somesubject, she will ask her
colleagues in the field, so shedefinitely connects to the
community when she needs help.
(33:34):
I'm going to give you a littlepiece of this conversation so
you can get the vibe of thislovely, wonderful woman, melinda
.
Speaker 7 (33:44):
Yes, it is very difficult for one person and I
don't want to have employees.
Speaker 4 (33:56):
I don't earn that much money, so I can't give it
to employees.
Speaker 10 (34:00):
That's very difficult.
Taking photos doing socialmedia orders work.
Speaker 4 (34:08):
It's not just about the color.
Speaker 5 (34:11):
It's just the colors.
Speaker 10 (34:13):
It's just a little bit of a color.
Do you mean how to run acompany?
Yes, if I don't know something,I just ask my colleagues.
Speaker 3 (34:24):
The community yes, is that good.
Speaker 9 (34:29):
Yes.
Speaker 6 (34:31):
And also rely on many people.
Speaker 4 (34:54):
This is your opinion.
Speaker 1 (34:56):
I hope you still got some of that wonderful energy
that Melinda had to bring.
We're going on with Silke fromFunk Fiber.
Speaker 3 (35:04):
I'm Silke, my second name is Funk, silke Funk and I
prepared my brand name out of itin punk fiber.
I like clear, bright colorswhen I knit.
I like to play with color also,so that's my slogan play with
color.
And yeah, I like to play withcolor when I dye yarn and I like
(35:29):
to play with color when I knityarn, so it's obviously very
bright, colorful yard.
I worked as a project managerfor a theater project before and
the development service and myfirst education was florist.
It's just learning by doing.
Are there any particular partsof running a business that are a
(35:52):
challenge?
Are there any particular partsof running a business that are a
challenge?
A kind of challenge ismarketing, because I didn't
learn marketing and presentyourself and your products.
That's quite something I slowly, slowly, grow into.
How do you get your information?
(36:15):
Good question, I have to thinkabout it.
Mostly I take a break and dosomething totally different to
get the mind free.
Yes, I ask people what they aredoing.
I ask colleagues, other yarndyers sometimes, and yeah, these
(36:38):
markets are perfectly forexchanging.
Do you get enough time to?
Speaker 5 (36:44):
hang out with the other people?
Speaker 3 (36:46):
Yeah, I mean we have a day to prepare all these and
you have all these littlechit-chatters in between and
people don't take it so serious.
I mean many people, notknitters, not yarn lovers.
They ask me you're dyeing yarn,can you live on that?
And how is that working?
(37:07):
It secures you.
You always have to say I can'tdo it.
Speaker 1 (37:13):
Thank you so much.
Speaker 7 (37:16):
Thank you so much my name is nora and my brand name
is kitzgarn, which is the berlinword for neighborhood yarn.
A lot of my colorways areinspired by berlin, so yeah, so
what are you known for?
I would say it's soft speckles.
(37:36):
That's one of my specialities.
It's in the same color family,so it's not overly crazy
colorful, so low contrast yeahlow contrast and yeah, and right
now I'm really into neon-ypastels.
So, yeah, and did you have abusiness education before you
(38:00):
started?
No, no, no, I just jumped intoit.
And yeah, learning by doing so,yeah, lots of mistakes on the
way, yeah and um what?
Speaker 1 (38:11):
are the things that you've found on the way, or
maybe even now still challenging.
Speaker 7 (38:17):
Yes, accounting, all the admin things are.
I wish I could spend all mytime being creative, but turns
out there's not that much timefor that.
Speaker 1 (38:30):
So if someone gives you a thousand euros every month
, what would you spend it on tohelp your?
Speaker 7 (38:36):
business.
What would I spend it on?
To help my business.
So I have an accountant already, so that's not, that's not it
Actually.
So I would take time for myselfto do other creative endeavors,
to be honest, like pottery, orjust sit and knit.
Yes, because, yeah, sometimes Ineed to recharge my creativity
(39:00):
and, yeah, that would help.
Yeah definitely.
Speaker 1 (39:02):
Oh, that's a good idea.
If you find challenges withinbuilding and growing a business,
how do you find information?
How do you learn new things?
Speaker 7 (39:12):
from.
I think I'm pretty wellconnected within the knitting
community in berlin, especiallyum, and I just talk to people to
be honest and see what othersmall businesses are doing not
only in the textile business,but um other yeah, other small
business endeavors and thatreally helps me like being
(39:34):
connected and exchanging ideas,and so on yeah so four years ago
, almost exactly not too longago, yeah right at the start of
the pandemic and I started withan Etsy shop and, yeah, it kind
of took off.
(39:54):
I with an Etsy shop and, yeah,it kind of took off.
I closed the Etsy shop, I wentto a different platform.
I had my own Shopify.
It's not sponsored.
Etsy was fine for the start,was super good to start, but as
I was growing, I was looking forand then take yourself
seriously as a brand.
It's just good to have your own.
Yeah, is this your full-timejob?
(40:18):
So yes, basically it's myfull-time job.
I also work one shift per weekat Bollembellin at the yarn
store, which is nice to helpwith expenses and also it keeps
me connected to the knittingcommunity.
Speaker 3 (40:32):
That's great as well.
Would you say that you'regetting enough?
Speaker 7 (40:39):
out of it.
Yes, so I am able to make aliving out of it.
It's not much, but it's enough.
Speaker 9 (40:47):
Enough is enough right.
Speaker 7 (40:49):
Exactly, and it's fun .
I would do it again, but it's's.
Yeah, it's fun, but it's alsoexhausting, so it has two sides
to the coin.
Speaker 1 (40:59):
Yeah exactly Would you have for advice if somebody
is inspired walking around afestival like this, like I want
to start a business, yeah, Justgive it a try, I guess.
Speaker 7 (41:11):
Find your own voice, like your own own style.
Don't try to copy other people,but also connect yourself
within the community.
Yeah, I think for me it wassuper important.
Speaker 1 (41:26):
Yeah, yeah, thank you so much, thank you my interview
with Jule from hey Mama Wolfstarted off with catching up and
then I had to remind myself toactually start the interview, so
we already had a little bit ofa conversation before we
actually started the interview.
(41:46):
It was really nice to see heragain after six years.
Speaker 10 (41:52):
After six years.
Hi, I'm Jules and I'm thefounder of hey Mama Wolf and
also the creative director forErica Night Yarns.
And yeah, my hey Mama Wolfstarted with German wool that I
dyed with plant eyes.
And I'm not dyeing anymore, butsome of the yarns are still
plant eyed.
Speaker 1 (42:17):
Yeah, great.
And what would you say?
Plant?
Is that what people know yourbrands?
If people hear, hey, mama bull,what do they think about?
What's your brand?
Speaker 10 (42:23):
yeah, it's sustainable yarns from Europe.
So we are.
Really what is most importantfor us is to find wool from
Europe and make it into a good,sustainable product.
Try to have short ways that thetravels from raw wool to yarn
to the shops.
Speaker 1 (42:44):
And yeah, I think that's what I think you were at
the beginning of a whole wedding.
Speaker 10 (42:49):
Yes, I mean it really when I began with him, so
I had this idea about 2013, 14or something.
There weren't a lot ofsustainable yarns, plant dyed
yarns or even yarns from europe.
There were only a few companieswho were selling this.
Speaker 1 (43:05):
Yeah I remember starting when I started my shop.
I was focused on natural yarnsI mean that was a big thing
before anything else.
Yeah, and that's slowly,gradually changing to more and
more, and I'm really happy.
Speaker 10 (43:18):
I'm really happy seeing this whole sustainability
thing and local production,that it grows so much and people
are more interested where comesmy wool from?
And also going away from thesuper soft, super wash, bright
colors like more, yeah, really,um, uh, have different
experience also as knitters yeah, I think that the the palette
(43:43):
of the knitter has changed overtime.
Speaker 1 (43:44):
Yes, we have.
Uh, I say we.
Well, I'll just say we.
We have taught them to keep theolives of the new world.
Speaker 7 (43:54):
You should try this.
It's disgusting.
No, try it again.
Speaker 1 (43:56):
Oh it's actually pretty good, especially when you
mix it with this.
Speaker 7 (44:01):
Yeah, and so my friend Angela always kind of
drops it on you.
I don't, yes, you do it'sreally quiet.
Speaker 1 (44:14):
It just felt like a very balanced presence next to
me.
So the questions here that Iask is to get a general view of
the people here for the listener.
My listener is either you oryour neighbour, or somebody that
is on a festival and thinks, ohmy gosh, I want to do this for
(44:36):
my job and my questions are allabout did you have?
Speaker 7 (44:41):
a business education before you started, did you?
Speaker 10 (44:45):
yes I did so you're the first one.
So I studied textile andsurface design at the
Kunsthochschule, at the artschool here in Berlin, and part
of the education was also how tosay business development or
(45:06):
something like that, so we weretaught how to lead your own
business.
Speaker 1 (45:13):
That's amazing and uh would you say if there's
something that you struggledwith over the years, what would
that be?
Something that was more of a.
Speaker 10 (45:23):
I always forget that word uh challenge get it all
under one roof, like because Iwas always a one woman business.
I had an employee from time totime, yeah, but if you do
everything on your own and I'mkind of also a person that is
like that I love to work in ateam, but also I have a very
(45:45):
exact vision of what I want tocreate.
So if I'm doubt, I do it myself, you know so, and that's that
was quite a learning curve forme to see, okay, where can I
what, what are the tasks that Ican give to someone else?
And also, what I struggled withfor the past years until I sold
(46:05):
hey, mama wolf was, uh, socialmedia, it's this constant doing,
creating content, and I mean Ilove sharing what I do, but when
the algorithm changes every twomonths and it, this is
basically a full-time job justdoing the social media thing,
(46:28):
yeah, so yeah, these two thingshave come up a lot.
Speaker 1 (46:35):
Social media and doing everything yourself are
the two most important strugglesfor almost everyone here.
Second to last question.
So when you do struggle, or didstruggle in the past, because
your business is, how many yearsold now?
Almost 10.
Almost 10 years.
Do struggle or did struggle inthe past because your business
is, how many years?
Almost almost 10, almost 10years.
(46:55):
So how did you find ways ofknowing new things?
So how did you educate yourself?
How did you learn how to dothings?
Speaker 10 (47:08):
yeah, talking to other people in the business
very much.
That helps almost always.
And, um, yeah, I mean here inberlin I'm always was well
connected because I worked inyarn shops before, so people
knew me.
So, yeah, that one and also, um, my husband actually always was
(47:30):
a great support because, yeah,he went to art school as well,
so if I had a question he alwaysyeah, yeah, I could, could help
me out doing decisions andstuff, but it could be a help,
but it also can be a strugglebecause, uh, he's in, my husband
is in the bike industry and Iwas like no, it's completely
different in the art industry.
Speaker 1 (47:54):
So last question, I mean you already answered it
when we spoke before, but yousold your business to erica
knight.
Uh no to uh selected yards andmy question would be is your job
your full-time job?
But yeah, I guess it is yourfull-time job, it's my full-time
job and it has been for howmany years now with selected
(48:17):
yarns?
Speaker 5 (48:18):
even before you sold your.
Has it always been yourfull-time job or did you yes?
Speaker 10 (48:23):
no, before I founded hey, mama wolf I was a
freelance knitwear designer foruh fashion companies here in
berlin and I was was doingcostume design for films and so
on.
So yeah, I was kind of in thesame business since forever,
since I finished my studies in2009.
Speaker 1 (48:44):
And so you were always kind of able to get your
income from the textile industryin different ways.
This is it.
Thank you so much.
Thank you, thank you for yourtime.
Have a great festival weekend.
Thank you you too.
Well, I hope you enjoyedlistening to these business
owners as much as I enjoyedtalking to them.
(49:06):
I am going to try to give youan overview now so that you have
the main takeaways that I gotfrom this and have them nicely
put together so that you can.
I don't know learn from it or beinspired by it or whatever they
(49:26):
mean to you.
I was talking to 10 businesses,some of which had multiple
owners, so I'm just going tomention that they were 10
different businesses, aka brands, and I've got nine people that
told me this was their full-timejob, and four of them were
(49:52):
actually relying on it for thefull income.
So not everybody is strictlyrelying on this business as
their full income.
They usually also had a secondincome in the household.
Something that came up more askind of an afterthought to these
(50:17):
interviews and it's always kindof a little bit of a personal
thing that people don't alwaysfeel comfortable talking about,
and some of them actually reallydo is the fact that a lot of
households have two incomes andrunning a business in this
industry it's a lot of hard workand as a second income it's
(50:42):
easier to do, but it's still afull-time job often.
So that's a kind of interestingbalance to keep in the back of
your mind and think about.
What also came up and that'sreally important to mention here
is that lots of thesebusinesses have only just
started a year ago, a bunch ofthem two years ago, four years
(51:04):
ago, then six and ten years ago,the one that's ten years old
actually made huge leaps inprofessionalism.
And at the same time there'sone business that started only a
year ago and the ownermentioned that she is almost
ready to fully rely on thisincome.
(51:25):
So that is amazing, but what ismore generally the case is that
businesses take about fouryears-ish to get to a point
where the income is enough forthemselves to rely on.
So I wrote down a bunch oftakeaways and I think one of the
(51:48):
most interesting things I'veseen is that a lot of businesses
start as solopreneurs and someof them start as duos, and when
they start as duos they alreadyfrom the beginning have
different talents under one roofand where the people that start
(52:10):
by themselves, they reflectback and they say at a certain
point you cannot do everythingyourself, so you have to get in
other talents, either hire themfor a short amount of times or
get them under the same roof inthe same business, because
people have different talentsand your time is finite, so you
(52:34):
cannot do everything.
Lots of people do that for thefirst couple of years and then
they realize that it's verytiring and even I mean this
didn't come up and honestly itdidn't come up at all during
these interviews.
But knowing from experience mypersonal experience, and over a
(52:56):
few I was going to say a fewdecades, but well, it's been a
while a decade and a half, Iwould say I have come across so
many business owners that runinto burnout, and it's too much.
So finding others that can helpyou, that support your business
whether that is inside of thebusiness, or hiring them to do
(53:22):
more practical things, isdefinitely, at some point,
something that's very, almostwell, necessary to do when it
comes to product development.
Necessary to do when it comesto product development.
Anna from Wondersy had thisamazing advice telling us to
focus on one thing, test it, andonly when it's tested and
(53:44):
proven itself then move on tothe next thing.
As creatives, as designers, wewant to do everything and we
love everything all at once.
As a business, it's very smartto test something, see if it
works, and if something works,double down and then move into a
(54:04):
new thing.
The hardest thing people runinto is self-promotion, and then
particularly self-promotionthrough social media.
If you want to do it right,they say it is a full-time job
and your job is something elseIn itself.
This is not possible beingpresent on social media or doing
(54:30):
your marketing in general, ishard in different ways because
it takes up a lot of time, butit also asks for some skills
that you might or might not have.
So, in what we know, it mightbe a great idea to see if
somebody else can do your socialmedia.
(54:52):
That sounds weird because it'ssuch a personal thing, but if
you have somebody that justtakes images of you at work,
just comes in once a week tohave a little chat with you and
then goes out and turns it intosocial media posts, think of
maybe even a niece that you havethat is really creative and who
(55:16):
wants to go in this direction.
It doesn't always have to be asuper professional.
That just depends on where youare in your business.
But don't be afraid to try outthings because, as we also
established Because, as we alsoestablished, marketing is
basically simply trying outdifferent things, seeing what
(55:37):
sticks and sticking with it ifit works.
So don't feel overwhelmed bythe whole marketing thing.
With your creativity, there'sso much that you can do, and you
can do it in a lot less time,which moves us in to the next
thing, and that is the community.
(55:59):
A lot of these business owners.
As I asked them what do you dowhen you don't know about a
thing, when you don't haveexperience or the skill to do a
specific thing, how do youproceed?
And they come back and they sayI go to the community.
I ask my colleagues and this issuch an amazing thing because
(56:22):
obviously I would say that,because that is the core of what
I'm doing I'm bringing peoplein this industry together so
that they don't have to reinventthe wheel every time.
They can talk to each other andlisten and hear about how they
solve their problems that theother person might have as well.
(56:43):
And what is key here, and what Ireally noticed in doing these
interviews, is that sometimespeople are afraid of sharing
details that they don't want toshare, like, say, what do you
make at a festival, or can yourely on this income, or what is
the recipe of dyeing this colorof yarn?
(57:04):
But these are not the thingsthat you share.
These details are for you.
Or, if you want to, you canshare them, but you don't have
to.
In the Yavol community that wehave created online, we don't
share things that are secrets,but we learn a lot from each
other anyways.
It's just practical informationthat is basically available to
(57:29):
everybody.
But who wants to spend the timefiguring it out when your
quote-unquote neighbor alreadyknows what to do?
I was so happy to hear peoplereach out to their colleagues
for these kinds of things, andwhen I asked at a festival, do
you actually have time to diveinto this?
(57:51):
Because my question was when doyou hang out with other people
in the industry?
They said on festivals likethis, and while we are setting
up and breaking down our standsor booths or stalls or whatever
you want to call them and inthis case they also had a dinner
together.
(58:11):
There is, however, not ascheduled, structured topic of
conversation list going on.
It's very conversational andfun and there's a lot to learn
and to connect there, becausethen when you connect at a
festival, you can always,whenever you have a question you
(58:35):
have made connections and goback to these people and ask
them about it.
With the Yavol community, whatI want to do is make that step
even easier.
Just, you're all together inthis community and you can just
post a question and then whoeverknows the answer can just type
it in and it's there 24-7.
(58:57):
So it's a whole bunch ofcolleagues all at the same time.
That's enough about the Yavocommunity.
I just found it reallyencouraging to know that people
are actually looking at eachother for help, and when it
comes to laws and regulationsfor specific countries, people
tend to go to Google for thatkind of thing.
(59:17):
Another fun thing that came upis um, well, the fun more
interesting is that once youstart running your business and
you're into it a few years, yourealize that you don't really
have that much time anymore todo the specific thing that you
love doing.
The creative part, thedesigning part, all kinds of
(59:41):
other practical stuff take up upyour time, and it's super
important to keep connected toyour creativity and to your
passion, and so making time,taking time, actually taking
time to do this for yourself, issuper important to keep your
burning burning love for whatyou do, to keep that love going.
(01:00:03):
So focusing on planning welland making sure that you have
time left to do the thing thatyou love doing and planning is
also something that people thinkof as a hard thing to do.
From my perspective, I have somany tools that can help you
(01:00:26):
with good planning that I amjust itching to teach this to
people, one of which, of course,is the bullet journal, but
there's other great tips thatcan help any type of person.
Whether you feel like youthrive in chaos as a creative,
or whether you have to superorganize everything.
(01:00:48):
There's a lot that we can learnto have some better planning
and to have some time left to dofun things with our families as
well, speaking of which a lotof these entrepreneurs they do
have families relationships, andtheir business is not all that
they do, so finding that balanceis a big thing and an important
(01:01:11):
thing for them.
I think the major thing thatcame up is you cannot do it all
by yourself.
That is just a recipe forburnout, and I know some people
have a really hard time withthat because they are the
creative brain behind theirbrand and it's really hard to
let go of some things.
But it can be done, and thereare excellent examples of
(01:01:37):
businesses that have done thatin this report and the other,
like the sentence that came upso much was how did you manage
to build a business in thisindustry?
And people say just learning bydoing.
Learning by doing.
(01:01:58):
That's partly how I did it too.
I did have a marketingeducation, I did have an art
education, so a bunch of coursesalong the way and a lot of
experience from doing that kindof learning is really great, but
(01:02:19):
it also takes a lot of time.
So it's trial and error, a lotof trial and error, whereas I
think with what I know now,there is a lot of time that you
can skip.
If you just learn some basicthings about running a business,
it doesn't have to be hard.
It takes a little bit of time,investment, some money,
(01:02:41):
investment and then you kind ofhave a plan and a way forward
that is really helpful to growyour business.
So for all those dreamers thathave been listening and that are
inspired, I would like to sayfollow the example of all these
beautiful entrepreneurs,designers, and follow your
(01:03:06):
passion.
At the same time, make surethat you really take it
seriously and take care ofyourself and learn some of the
skills that are needed to keepyourself happy and healthy, and
don't do it all by yourself.
I, coincidentally, have built acourse that is exactly about all
(01:03:30):
of this teaching you thingsabout branding, marketing and
selling in a way that is reallynot all that difficult.
There's not a man in a suittalking to you.
It's people like you, from thesame industry.
We work together as a groupwith a book full of exercises,
(01:03:50):
and the exercises are meant foryou to do them in the moment, so
you don't have to go back anddo the work later.
You do them as you go throughthe course.
It's a three-month course.
It goes with live meetings.
We have a community where youcan hang out together.
(01:04:11):
There's work sessions together.
There are one-on-one sessionswith me.
It's basically a short-formbusiness education where you
immerse yourself for threemonths, do the work and come out
of it much the wiser,especially also because we look
at what you need as a person,where your values are and your
(01:04:33):
boundaries and how much time youcan actually work.
So it's what I like to call aholistic perspective for running
a creative business.
It's super valuable.
I've had business owners gothrough it, one of which was
actually also here in thisepisode, and we just love
(01:04:56):
hanging out together and talkingabout all different kinds of
things that have to do withrunning a business.
Whether you're a yarn dyer, ateacher, a designer, we've got
place and space for everyone,and the next cohort is starting
in September, so there's enoughtime to get ready for that.
(01:05:17):
I hope that you loved listeningto this.
If you want to know more aboutthese entrepreneurs and these
brands.
I have all of their informationin the show notes.
Find them at patternshiftfm andgo to the latest episode.
They're right there.
Also find links to fullinterviews with Saskia Maas from
(01:05:38):
Ovis Etc, maaike Breijelaar,maaike van Gijn at Breijelaar
and Cynthia from Cynthia, andlet me know how you like this
episode.
If you have any questions, youcan find me at info, at
ja-wolcom or at the website.
You find all the informationyou need.
(01:06:00):
If you want to go on instagram,I am at underscore yeville,
underscore pattern shift.
See you there.
Thank you do.
Are you still listening?
(01:07:52):
I always love this music somuch I have a hard time cutting
it off.
So if you're still listening,don't forget sign up for the
newsletter.
You'll get all the informationabout new episodes, the
community, the business circle,all the things that I'm up to
helping small businesses in theneedlecraft industry.
Yeah, that's it.
I'm wishing you a wonderful,wonderful day and hope to have
(01:08:14):
you with me next time.
Bye.
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