Explore YOUR Business Archives - Page 19 of 29

Explore YOUR Business

The Map is Not the Territory

Last week I was talking to a map-maker and she said, You know, that goal I set, the endpoint for the map, it just doesn't fit anymore.

Exactly.
The map is not the territory.
Although maps are so vital to planning where you want to go, they're not the same thing as real life. Building your business, meeting your goals, exploring the world, it looks nothing like you thought it would.
Even if you crafted a really excellent, detailed map.
Even if you created it based on experience, and wisdom, and you thought we were traversing the same forest you've already been in.

Nope. The map you make is very different from the experience you have.

And that's a good thing!
The map is a guide, it's a starting point.
But the territory, the actual reality of moving towards your goals, that's the good stuff. That's growth and learning and adventure.

So if you made a map and set a goal and now you're only 1/3 of the way through it, and you look around, and you say, What the what? That's ok.
No, it's perfect! Because you are finally out of your head, off the page and on the real path.

You haven't done anything wrong, you've just learned more. So take out your map and edit it. Add in the rocks you didn't know were there. Build a bridge over that raging river. Take a side trip to refuel.

Whatever you learn from the territory: use it. Apply it to your map.

Or maybe you need a whole new map with a whole new endpoint. Maybe you realized halfway there that there is not where you really want to be. That's ok too! Find a picnic table, right there in the middle of your real life and make a new map.

(I totally stole this phrase from Alfred Korzybski. When I read it, I couldn't believe how totally it reflected map-makers experience!)

For more map-making inspiration, see Melissa's, Amy's, or Kristine's.

How to Experiment: Tools + Systems

This week, I'm not really here. I'm in the Pacifica Northwest, admiring beaches, rocks and evergreens. And yet, I'm still here. I'm still experimenting every day.

How?
Systems! And Tools!

Remember that Step #3 of creating an experiment is about gathering the support and tools you need?
For my experiment (and life), I needed tools + systems that would help me collect my ideas (especially since they're multiplying daily), a time + space to write (and write extras), and a way to keep the blog going while I was gone. Here's what's working.

Tools

Evernote: I use Evernote for everything: words, pictures, voice memos. If I want to remember it, it goes in Evernote. I use it everywhere: I have Evernote Clipper on my browser, so I can clip quotes or links I want to remember, Evernote Web for a quick addition while I'm working on something else online, Evernote on my iPhone for ideas when I'm away from my computer. Basically, if it's got an internet connection, it's got Evernote (and I pay for Premium so I can see my notes when I'm offline, like when I'm flying!)

WordPress: My blogging software lets me schedule posts ahead of time or keep them as drafts. All of the posts this week were written as drafts last week, then edited a bit and scheduled. I also use WP on my iPhone to do quick edits (but I don't love it), and I'm trying Blogsy on my iPad during this trip.

Journal: You've seen it before, it's by my side at every moment of anything. If I have an idea or even a sentence I like but I don't want to stop my writing flow and put it in Evernote (clicking away from a window can be detrimnetal!), I write it down. When I'm having a conversation with someone and I get an idea, I write it down. It just seems less rude to me to take handwritten notes then to pull out my phone and start typing while someone else is talking. I also use my journal to map things out visually or make connections that don't warrant a whole note.

iPhone: Of course I use it for Evernote and WP, but I also use it as a camera, to take pictures with my iPhone of ANYTHING I see that I want to remember: book titles, a funny sign, something a business is doing right (or wrong). Oh, and I use the voice to text software all the time, to make notes while I'm driving.

Focus Booster: Perfect for making sure I'm doing some writing, even on the busiest days. Just 20 minutes of writing per day adds up! (This post was written in 2 20-minute bursts) I like to leave the ticking sound on, it keeps me focused.

Systems

Catching ideas: This is absolutely the most important system. Without knowing what to write about, I can't write!

(If you sit down at a blank page everyday, with only the plan “to write”, you will likely be staring for a long time. Knowing what to write about is 80% of the battle (in my highly scientific studies).

Of course, you already know the tool I love for this is Evernote, and so the system is simple: Write EVERYTHING down. Don't count on memory, don't count of weird symbols. Write the idea out, as much as you have, as soon as you have it. Pull over the car if you have to (or turn it into a song until you can pull over the car.) Write out as much as you have, because you will not remember later.

Writing + Publishing: I already spend most of days writing (whether it's for and to clients, or in the Starship, or materials new classes), but writing for the blog needed it's own space and support. No email, no classes, no client work. And it's not enough (for me) to just plan to do it, I have to have it fit into the flow of the whole day (or everything else will take it over.) What this looks like in practice is that almost every morning goes like this:

Get up, get ready, go to coffeeshop (so my house doesn't distract me)
Sit down with oatmeal, coffee and journal and get out anything that's in my head – usually a To Do list for the day, plus random stuff (ideas for new products, what I want to make for dinner….whatever is asking for attention, it gets out on paper so it'll leave me alone)
Check email for important, urgent notes from paying people (clients or Starship Captains), every other email waits for later.
Open Evernote to pick an idea (sometimes I have these schedule, sometimes I just go with the one I'm most excited about)
Start Focus Booster (for 20 minutes, followed by a 5 minute break)
Open up 750words and start writing. When the time goes off, copy my writing into a blog post (if it's nearly ready) or Evernote (if it's a bunch of scraps).
Get another cup of coffee, answer emails (or hang out on Twitter) during the 5 minute break.
Set time for either another 20 minutes, or just 9 minutes (depending on how many client calls or commitments I have scheduled) and edit the post so it's ready to post (either the post I wrote that day, or one from the day before), add photos, links, and schedule it RIGHT THEN. (Even if this takes me over the timer, it's important I finish it)

And that's it. If it's a client-heavy day (Tuesdays) or a Starship filled day (Wednesdays) or if a client is doing something big (like releasing a new video, or going to a trade show), that might be the only personal writing I do all day, and I'm done with it by 10am. If it's a Monday or Thursday (Sacred Writing Days), I'll set the time for another 20 minutes later on and write posts for the future, or work on class materials. I write for clients, so Sacred Writing Days also include 20 minute chunks of writing for them.

I've laid it all out here nice and neat but the fact is, life is messy.

Some days a client email distracts me for an hour. The important thing isn't the time I write (but having a structure and a normal time is super helpful) but that no matter what, I write for 20 minutes everyday, 20 minutes that's prompted only by me. Not a Starship question, not a client project, just 20 minutes of writing what I've synthesized from all the other projects.

Why?

Because building a business has to include building something of your own. Reacting to outside stimilus is tempting. It shows up and it begs for your attention. As long as you're looping through responding and reacting, you're not building something of your own, something will last beyond that email, or that one package. Whether your art is your writing, your designing, your drawing or your knitting, you have to have time to express what's in your own head, not what other people are asking for.

And lest you think 20 minutes isn't enough, it's how I wrote the book in 6 months. No matter what your experiment is, it only needs (your equvilent of) 20 minutes.

What are the tools and systems are supporting your experiments?

Experiment Report: Week 1

“What you appreciate, appreciates.”

I think I first heard this from Sarah, but it's one of those things we just all know to be true. When you turn your attention and intention to something, it flourishes like flowers in the sunlight.

Whether it's starting a business or learning to knit, anything you give your time and effort to, improves.
I knew this…but yet, somewhow, everytime it happens, I'm surprised. When I started the experiment, I didn't expect what happened: a flurry of new ideas. My idea bank appreciated.

Within a day of just setting the intention to write here daily, I had a rough outline of a schedule and a small list of real posts. Those first few ideas were difficult. I had to reach for them, to really think about it. But within two days of actually writing, I was brimming with ideas. I was recording them via voice note on Evernote, scribbling them down in my journal while cooking dinner, even waking up thinking about it. Where there once was a dearth, now there's an abundance.

What changed?
Me. I started to bring attention everywhere I looked. I began to turn stray thoughts into full-fledged ideas. I opened my eyes, and suddenly I can see the possibilities.

It's not that it's easy to write five things worth publishing each week. I still have to set aside the time, sit down, block out the time from other client work. (I'm scribbling this in the Dr's waiting room.) Honestly, I feel a little behind on everything else.
So it's not that this is easy – turning your attention to one thing necessitates that you're turning it away from something else.

But it's also encouraging: if you want to improve something, give it some attention.

That's it.
Just focus on it, a bit everyday or in one lump of uninterrupted time…and you will get movement or learn something.

Where could your business use some appreciation?

How could you give it some attention this week?
If you've joined the Experiment, how's it going? Are you seeing an appreciation of your skill, interest or ideas?

5 reasons people aren’t buying your thing.

This morning I had a great conversation with some business-y friends and I just have to share it with you, because it's the kind of question that gets asked a lot in the periphery. People moan about it on Twitter, they email about it and despair. But it's something nearly everyone experiences and it's time to bring it out of the darkness and into the light.

It's the Cricket Launch.

It's when people we love and admire have this experience we've seen over and over: super smart people create a program, a product, a service and they work hard on it, and then they launch it…to crickets. Nothing. No sales. Why?

Here are some of the reasons I've spotted in real life Cricket Launches:

You don't have a business, you have a Thing you're into (a hobby, an idea, a passion) and you offer something that doesn't help anyone with anything they care about. You don't have a system in place to support the product, or for telling people about it, or for continuing to interact with it. (You can just announce: I have this thing! and expect it to continue to sell.)

It's all about The Maker. MY process. MY stuff. Here's what I need in MY life, and I explain it (on the sales page) by telling MY story…but without ever translating that into YOU and YOUR stuff and YOUR life. (In other words, if you're solving a problem I didn't know I had = crickets)

Not enough people hear about it. You can't launch something to 20 people and expect to sell out (well, you can, but those 20 people need to ADORE you, not just subscribe to your blog and never visit). However! You can start with nobody and open a shop and THEN build people (this is the difference between coaching/classes + physical products: you have to make the physical product FIRST and then make it available, and then find people. If you spend all your time “building an audience” you'll never make anything.)
So if you launch your handmade thing and you get crickets…that's ok! All is not lost! Keep making more stuff, keep putting it out there, PLUS start finding people are into it (How? By marketing it!)

However! The Not Enough People thing isn't the biggest thing (even though everyone wants to obsess over that). The biggest variable (in the crafty businesses I know) is that people have to understand that you Do A Thing That They Could Buy. If I don't get that in the first 15 minutes I spend with you (which is, like, 8 hours in internet time), I'm not going to buy it. No one's going to buy it. This is really #2 all over again. I have to know you SELL it and get why I would buy it for ME (not why YOU make it.) If your website is all about your love of sewing, and there's not a clear link to your fabric shop anywhere, it doesn't matter what marketing you do – no one will know they can buy.

You're only talking to each other. (This might actually be the Biggest Thing in some groups.) The internet is an echo-chamber, especially if you only hang out with one community of people. Your one group might be the forums on Etsy, or your knitting group, or even the Starship. If I only ever talk to my business-mentors group, I would never sell anything. I do the kind of work that isn't FOR any of them. It's for crafters who are in the awkward middle of their business, who want a accountability + feedback. So even though I check in with my mentors, I have to spend my time getting to know crafty businesses who have already started.
- If you only hang out in one group, you'll start coming up with a version of your Thing that will serve things people in that group, which might not be your best work, or your best next step. And you'll be limited to serving the people you already know (and that can make it awkward when they don't buy.)
- You know how I said that stuff about talking so your customers understand? Yeah, if you're speaking in your group's language only people who will know that language will get it. You have a better shot if you speak your language, but an even better shot if you make sure the words you use make sense to your really right person, not the language of some tiny community they don't belong to.

Well, that was bracing!

It's no fun to talk about the things that aren't working. But most likely, you've already experienced this. You've already felt crappy about crickets. And it's time to know that you aren't alone, and all is not lost.

In fact, it's the opposite of lost!
If you found yourself and your crickets in this list, you've been found! You've figured out what brought the crickets and you can figure out what will exterminate* them.

*It'll cheer you right up to say “Exterminate!” in your best Dalek impression.

There are lots of things you could do to rearrange, change, or improve on everything on this list. You can turn it on it's head. You can expand the group you hang out with online. You can translate your language into something your customers will understand. You can find out what your people really want, and give them that. You can get out of the echochamber and into another space, for even an hour a day. Just experiment.

Do you see your crickets here? What have you done to exterminate them?

How to Experiment (and scare yourself)

Confession: during this session of the Effective Blog class, I've been following along with the students and doing the homework myself. You see, I'm kinda ambivalent to blogging, but I love experimenting. But how I feel about blogging is old stuff. It's not new or based on the current reality. I need to experiment, to see if everything is true or not. The other day in class, Diane mentioned that she likes to do 30-day experiments to see if something works or not. That, combined with this post from Elise, combined with the excellent stuff I learned during our live discussion, inspired me to get started now.

So I'm doing a public 30 day experiment, right here. And I'd like you to join me.

I didn't plan on saying anything about it, but I'd like to have some company. And experimenting is better when we do it together. I'd love for you to join in with me, to hold your own experiment!

Before we get in to it, let's talk about what makes a good experiment (you can find full How to Experiment instructions on page 100 of the book.)

How to Experiment

1. Set a thesis. What do you want this experiment to do for you? What do you think will happen?

2. Set the parameters. How long is this experiment? What will it entail? (You are so much more likely to stick with something if it has a clear end date. You'll also get better results if you plan a time to stop and reassess.)

3. Put the support system in place to hold it. What will you need in time, space and energy to do the experiment? How can you set up your day, week and life to make that possible?(Hint: if you're not writing every day now, something will have to change for you to be able to do that next week. Time, space, tools, etc.)

4. Review the results. What worked? What didn't? At the end of the experiment, make notes about the results, how you felt, and what you learned. Use it to set up your next experiment!

You can use this to experiment with anything (going vegan, trying a new marketing channel, increasing sales, etc). The really important thing here is to experiment with things that you expect a clear result from in the time allotted.

For our experiment, we're going to start today, and stop on 9/3. That's not very long, so pick something do-able for that long, and set your goal small. Very small. Even smaller than that. Got one? Ok!

Here's mine:

1. Thesis: blogging every weekday until 9/3 will increase my connection with the community or readers and explorers. How will I know that happened? People will join me in creating their own experiment, and even more people (let's say, twice as many) will join me for the next group experiment in September. (This will probably also result in more emails, Twitter conversation, etc, but I'm not measuring those.) This all serves my Big Goal for more connection (via vulnerability) in my life + work.*

2. Parameters: The experiment ends 9/3. It includes sharing something publicly here, in this space, every weekday. Something useful, entertaining or inspiring. At least once a week I'll hit “publish” on a post I'm a little afraid of.**

3. Support systems in place: Time to write every morning, creating a list of possible topics to carry me through the whole month, scheduling the ones I feel inspired to write. (In other words, my classic non-planning planning.) I'll talk more about the tools I use later.

*This goal isn't that business-y, because I'm plenty busy with current clients. But what I've learned through building the Starship is that there's an amazing private, deep community there, and I'd like to supplement that with a broader, more public community outside the Starship, so that everyone can experience at least a bit of the magic of exploring with others. In order to do create that, I have to stop doing all my stuff in the privacy of one-on-one and Starship work, and start bringing it here. That's the reason for this experiment!

**This week, that post would be this, right here!

That's my experiment. Would you like to join me with your own?

You can experiment on absolutely anything! (Blogging regularly, blogging about different topics, using Twitter, FB, Instagram or whatever in a new way…the possibilities are endless!)

To join in, just leave a comment with your experiment (including thesis, parameters, etc), and we can check with each other using #experimentFTW on Twitter or Instagram. Prefer to keep it private? Email me! On 9/3 we'll be back here with a new experiment!

Got a question about creating an effective blog? Ask it. Live.

Ever get an idea and just DO it?
Right away in a flush of inspiration and excitement?

Well, that's what happened in a quick flurry of emails between Diane and me, yesterday afternoon.

We decided to do something we've never done before, and we don't ever do: Answer your questions live, for free, on air.

Tomorrow, at 10a PST/ 1p EST we're going to hold a live Hangout On Air. Watch it here.

We'll both be sharing what we've learned from our own experience of blogging, and we'll be answering your questions about making your blog effective for your business.

To get in on the action:

Watch the video, right here. We'll livestream the conversation on the class page. So come back here at 1pm EST on Wednesday to watch.
Ask your question off-air (in your pjs, even!) below in the comments or on Twitter. Just put #effectiveblog in your tweet between now and tomorrow 2pm EST and we'll answer it!
Tell your friends you're chatting! Click below to share on Facebook or click here to tweet.

Our Special Guests include:

Allyson Dykhuizen, The Sweatshop of Love
Abby Glassenburg, While She Naps
Stacey Trock, FreshStitches

Want a step by step system for making your blog effective?

Join the class. In it, we answer all of your questions with depth and consideration…and you get the fabulous feedback of a classroom full of other craftybiz smarties. Sign up here.

How to decide if you should do something

You're allowed to build the business that you want, the kind of day that you want, and that you can interact with your products, people, and time in a way that works for you. You don't have to do what you've heard you should do in order to be succesfull in biz.

I talk and write and think about this (shoulds + permission) a lot, because you're thinking and talking and asking about it too. Nearly every conversation I have with a craftybiz explorer starts with them saying “Well, I know I really should… {blog, tweet, send a newsletter, blah}“

I always answer with two questions: Why? How?

No, really: Why?

Why do you think you need to do it? What is your goal with it? Which one of your specific goals will it help you reach?

Everything you want to do, everything you think you should do – ask it: WHY?
This one question can keep you focused, can keep you with the effective, important work. It can wipe away the shoulds, and direct you towards what you really want.

One of the giant-est shoulds in the crafty world is that you should be blogging. And after being part of the blog-reading and blog-writing world for nearly 10 years (we're counting that Diaryland I had in college, because I made my first “internet friends” with it), I'm still not entirely convinced*.

*I get into why you should/should not blog in a free mini-course you can get here.

But for a lot of us, we slice the should with a Why and our answer is simple and clear: because we love to connect.

We love to have a place to share our words, or our photographs. We have a business we love and we want to share more than 140 characters about it. We create products we love and we just want to talk all about it. We've met our customers and they are lovely and we want to have a way to communicate with them.

But blogging [personal, cooking, gardening, crafting] is totally different than blogging for your business. Yep, you want to share your you-ness, you want to speak in your voice. But your purpose is different, your readers (and your relationship with them) is different, and your end result is different (do you want comments? or do you want sales?).

It's time for that second question: How?

Once you know WHY you want to do something (blog), HOW does it help you reach your goals? HOW do you do it in a way that's effective, creative and still fun? How do you connect to your Right People, and not just other crafters?

In the upcoming class, we explore these questions. We've put together everything we know about blogging (Diane's a genius at building an audience) and marketing your sweet crafty business (I kinda wrote the book on that) and we came up with a systematic approach, a series of worksheets and questions that helps you answer HOW for yourself. It makes sure you spend your time creating a blog that's effective. You can join the class here.

And whether you join the class or not, turn these questions to the shoulds that are rattling around your mental To Do:

WHY do you think you should do it?
And if you decide you really do want to: HOW? How will you make it effective and you-filled?

Read-along, and a free project

This week in the Starship, at the insistence of the explorers, we started a read-along of my book.
Instead of just reading and sharing the worksheets with each other, I was inspired to make it crafty (We've all got crafty businesses, right? Why shouldn't we bring craftiness into our business planning?).

I had so much fun with it, that I wanted to share it with everyone.

Below is the email I sent to the members of the Starship:

***

Hello Captain!

In this week's reading (Chapter 1), we start thinking about marketing as a path. Everything you do in marketing (which is any communication with your potential buyer) is laying bricks in the path of a person who was a stranger, then comes to find you and buy from you (and comes back again and again). In the last message, I asked you to share what your path looks like right now.

But in today's project, let's use our imagination: what will your ideal path look like? What will the experience be like for your best customer be like?

And to stretch your imagination and make it even more fun, we're not going to just answer the question with words, we're going to create that path, and create that experience.

You can choose between three options:

Write a story
Draw a picture
Craft (using any of the crafts you do) a charm for your best customer to take on her journey.

You can do this however you like, but if you need a few more ideas, here's some prompts:

1. Write a story: Create a story with your best customer as the heroine. Start the story before she finds your product: what's she thinking? What's she struggling with? And then! Bam! She finds you (how?) and falls in love and has the best experience in the world! Describe that whole experience and make sure that it's a real story – with conflict, plot twists and adventure (or romance, if it's a love story). For bonus points: tell it from her perspective (1st person).

2. Draw a picture: Using the paths that comes in the map-making guide you can draw the actual path, and fill it in with all of the different steps your customer takes. But don't use words! Create symbols, signs and metaphors for every part of the path (a flock of birds, for twitter, maybe?) and draw it in there.

OR, forget the path metaphor and draw the experience of your best customer. What's she feel like? What does she do to find you? Do this in your own style! It can be expressionistic, abstract, or a comic book or cartoon strip.

Note: You could paint this! Or photograph! (maybe a series that shows her journey, or something to symbolize the path)

3. Craft something: You'll have to do a little of one of the above before you get started: imagine your Right Person's experience and her life. Imagine her troubles and her enthusiasm. Now – make her something for her journey. (Perhaps it's a necklace that gives her superpowers, or fingerless gloves to protect her against the cold wilderness, or a scrapbook for her journeys.)

When you've done one of the above (take all weekend, if you like, but no more than that – don't let it distract you from the real work of your business!), sit down and write about the experience:

When you were in the flow of the project, what surprised you?

What did you learn about your person, or the path you're building for her?

Share your project, and your reflections on the experience in the Communication Station.

***

Ok, so if you're not in the Starship, you won't be able to share it int he Communication Station, but you can join the Starship here or share your answers in the comments, below this post.

I hope you have as much fun with this as I did (I made a painting for my Right Person/Fellow Explorer).

I can't wait to see what you make!

What this is all about: 4 principles for Adventure + Exploration

This month, since the launch of Market Yourself (my first book!), has been amazing. I've met, both in person and online, a whole new community of crafty business owners. Since there are so many new people around, I wanted to say hello properly:

If you're new here, I want to welcome you and tell you a bit more about what's going on and what you can expect

If you're not new here, I want to THANK you! Last week marked my birthday, my site's 2 year anniversary, and the Starship's one year anniversary. Without you reading and replying, none of this would have happened.

Whether you're new here or have been reading for over 2 years, I just wanted to share what it is that we* do here.

*When I say “we”, I mean you and me. Here at Adventure HQ, it's just me and the pup, so “we” always means you+ me, the community of makers.

I write, talk and teach about discovering the wonders in your business. I'm not interested in finding the “right” way – only the way that's right for you, your goals and your people. Your biz, no matter how new or old, is an entire world, filled with a culture, a people (your buyers), and adventures. Although there are some business basics that we all use, you get to use it in your own way, to buildyour own kind of business, exactly as you want it. Exploring your business means doing experiments to see what will work (and what won't). There aren't easy answers, only exciting adventures.
One-size-fits-all doesn't fit anyone. The business you want is different from the business I want. And that means that we each have to find our own way.
Finding your own way can be lonely, so we do it together. I share my stories here, and I try to turn them into helpful lessons to email you. You can share your stories on Facebook or (more privately) in the Starship.
Comparison sucks. Compassion (especially for yourself) rules. Looking at what someone else has and trying to recreate it only leads to unhappiness, and it blocks you from seeing the amazingness that you really want, and the biz you can build. This is a hard thing to remember, so we talk about what that feels like, a lot.

If you're nodding along to all this, then yay! You're in the right place!
You can get mini-courses on exploring your business and invitations to tools and spaces to aid you in your explorations right here.

The best, most helpful tool/space I've created (and where I spend all my time!) is the Starship, and it closes tomorrow.*

If it is for you, be sure to sign up before it closes tomorrow.

If the Starship's not for you, check out the other tools and spaces for adventurerers (some of them free!)

*The Starship only opens once a month, so I can take the time to welcome everyone in one by one, and get them oriented before the next class begins.

Oh, and one last thing: I answer any and all questions, so feel free to ask.

Until next time, I'd love to hear what kind of business you're creating. What do you want to experience? What do you want to explore?

The secret sauce to success

Yesterday was my birthday, which is also the birthday of this little site. 2 years ago I started a non-yarn site in order to talk about businessy stuff with other craftybiz smarties (without annoying my delightful yarn customers). 1 year ago I opened the Starship.

I could go on (and on) about how happy I am on these anniversaries. About all the ways it changed my life ( my first published book!) But I think that's less interesting (to you) than telling the truth under all those amazing life-changing opportunities.

The truth is: I had no idea.

I still don't.
There's a famous-ish quote by William Goldman (author of the Pricess Bride!) about the movie business, “No one knows anything.”
The same is true about business and ideas.

Yes, there are business basics (like, the 4 Ps of marketing), but no one knows anything about what specifically will work for your specific business. If an idea is a good idea. If a product is one your people will embrace (or not).

For example, when people started asking to work one-on-one I offered an hour on the phone or chat. People did love it, but I didn't. I had so much to say, more than could fit in an hour.
I thought the appeal of the Starship would be the over $600 worth of classes. Instead, it's the weekly check-ins (which didn't even exist in my original plan).

I could go on (and on) about ideas I had that haven't worked. Either people didn't want them or I didn't like them or they just didn't work like I imagined. But you get the idea.

Things change.
I learn.
I experiment.
I'm wrong.
Again and again.
Nearly monthly I have some new epiphany about what would work better, about what I would love more, about what my people would love more.
And the same will be true for you.
You keep going.
You keep iterating and ideating and trying stuff.
You keep experimenting.

Like I said on my 1 year anniversary of self-employment, the secret to success is that you just keep going.

After 30 years of living, 6 years of business-owning, 3 years of self-employment, 2 years of working with other crafty businesses and 1 year of captaining a Starship I can tell you one thing for sure:
You don't know anything.
So just keep going.
And experimenting.

During my experiments I've learned what actually works with crafty businesses. What I actually want to write about, talk about and think about. I've found the place where those two things (what your business needs and what I'm good at doing) overlap, meet up and join. Things are always changing, but on my anniversary I thought it would be helpful to look at the ways I currently work:

This blog is always free and nearly weekly updated with ideas and experiments for your own crafty biz.
The free mini-course on Becoming an Explorer also comes with occaisional email updates on what's happening (live events, discounts, etc).
Market Yourself is a systematic process to creating a sucessful marketing plan for your creative business. The secret ingrediant- you discover and experiment with what works for you. There are no simple answers, but there are lots of beloved worksheets.
The Map-Making Guide helps you find your own path towards your own goals. It makes getting where you want to go simple, stress-less and visual. People are kind of obsessed with it and we make new maps every 6 months or so on the Starship.
The Starship is magical. It's a private community filled with craftybiz smarties who are all exploring their own business and maps, together. We come together for gentle accountability on a weekly basis, and you can ask your 3 am questions anytime, and get stunningly smart answers from others (and me). I'm there, answering questions, brainstorming and having ideas for your business all week long. The Starship only opens once a month, so you have a chance to settle in and get orientated before the monthly class.
I limit myself to only one Exploration a month because they are…intense. And awesome. We get super clear on who's buying what you sell, we discover the language they use (then create a translation guide so you never forget to speak their language), and we usually come up with some product ideas you never even considered. It's like bringing in a VP of Marketing (me!) for 2 days to do a total strategy clarification. The results are staggering with the right people and I'm ruthless about only working with the people who will benefit.
I also serve as First Officer for several bigger businesses (they call me a Community Builder, Communications Concierge and all kinds of other titles that mean: day-to-day social media strategist or copywriter), which gives me insight onto what works for different kinds of businesses so I can experiment with applying it to tiny crafty businesses.

That's a lot, but I'm not even close to the end of my ideas. Over the next year I'm going to experiment with even more explorations and adventures for tiny crafty businesses (that's where my heart remains!), that take our love for hand-making and apply it to business (what would your marketing plan look like if you painted it? Or knit it?) and I can't wait to share it with you.

Thank you for being here this year.

Thank you for your comments and your questions, your tweets and your emails.

And please, please, just keep going.

Previous 1 … 17 18 19 20 21 … 29 Next