Weekly-ish notes on navigating big change

Year: 2010

You are not Wal-mart (and that’s why we love you)

I was working with a Recipe client who asked:

“How am I supposed to compete with Wal-mart? They have low prices, lots of different colors, and a huge advertising budget.”

I answered them simply.

You are not competing with Wal-mart.

And not just because you can't (really, you can't!) but because your Right People don't want you to be Wal-mart.

They want originality.
Personality.
Specificity.
Personal connection.

Wal-mart provides cheap, mass-produced goods, cheaply.
You make hand-crafted, high quality, one-of-a-kind goodness to people who are willing to pay for it.

As long as you think of Wal-mart as the competition, you'll spend your time explaining how you're better than them.
But that's a waste of time.

Remember how your English teacher used to say “Show, don't Tell”?

Show your personality. Show your originality. Show your Youness.
And you'll never have to mention “low prices” or “great deals.”

Here's a short list of general benefits (the things that make you awesomest):

  • You are a real person. The buyer gets to interact with a real person. And not just ANY person, a person who MADE the thing they're buying.
  • Your can provide awesome, agile customer support.
  • You are an artist. People adore supporting artists and the artist community.
  • Your thing is one of a kind. The buyer will have something that no one else has.

Of course, you probably know this.

But do your customers know it?
Do you make it ultra-freaking clear that what you make is valuable?

If you're not sure how to do that (or what the benefits of your specific goodness is), join Catherine and I for a class all about finding and communicating the benefits of what you make.

The class is today, at 5p ET (that's 7am tomorrow for Australian Catherine!) and registration closes when the class starts. Grab your spot here.

Lindsay is crafting a (generous) business

This is the third in a series of  interviews with smart people who are crafting a business. Part friendly chat, part case-study, all helpfulness!
If you know someone I should interview (even you!) let me know.

Today I'm talking to Lindsay of Simon and Ruby, a shop full of gorgeous, handmade jewelry. I was inspired to interview Lindsay after learning she gives freely and generously.

I noticed (right away!) that you give 5% of every purchase to World Vision. I love that! Can you tell us more about why?

I’ve been involved with World Vision in various ways since 1996 or so. Consistently, this support began before I created Simon and Ruby, but I wanted to make sure that I had the means to continue to contribute to an organization that stole my heart.
My husband and I began supporting a little boy from Haiti (who is now not so little) back in 2004. His name is Blondeng and he just turned 16 years old in May. We’ve written back and forth with him for the entire time we’ve been married and we always joke that maybe one day he’ll come visit.

By using proceeds from Simon and Ruby to continue this support, we’ve also been able to give to others in our private lives as well. For a long time, I wanted to go work for World Vision. I truly believe in what they do in communities and would love to be a part of that.

To be involved, even on a small scale, is a huge pleasure for me.

Just to give a little background, World Vision is a Christian humanitarian organization dedicated to working with children, families and their communities providing emergency and hunger relief, long-term community development programs, agricultural development assistance and leadership training. Check them out at: http://www.worldvision.org

I just recently read a quote that said, “Generous people have more to give”. Do you think this is true? How has it been true in your life?

Gosh, I’d love to have more to give than I currently do. I think that if you have a generous heart, you find ways to give, even if you don’t have the financial means. You give your time, your ear, and your energy.

I have a close friend that completely exemplifies this phrase. She’s a consistent inspiration in this regard. She opens her home, her heart, and gives more time and compassion than you can imagine. I think that if you really want to give back, you’ll find a way. Life has this funny way of working out so that you can.

I love your little descriptions about the people you've named the item after (“Rayen learned to do the hula last summer.”) Are these real people? Imaginary people?

The people in my life inspire some of my pieces and anecdotes, but many come from books I read, songs I listen to, or movies that I watch. I’m an avid reader and adore watching movies. Much of my inspiration comes from these.

Does the person inspire you first? Or do you make the item and then name it?

Most of the time, I begin with a color scheme or vague impression of what a character would wear and the design forms from there. I take the inspiration, but the name usually doesn’t come until later. Sometimes I’ll make a piece and look at it later and a friend immediately comes to mind. Then it becomes her necklace.

When I was little, I wanted to be a writer, so the anecdotes that accompany my pieces give me the chance to let out that 12 year old version of myself every once in a while. I’m no Carolyn Keene, so I’ll stick to the basics.

One of the most common questions I get is “How do you manage all the tasks involved in a business? How do you organize your time?” So…how do you?

Hahaha. Time management. I like to think I’m pretty good at it. You have to be. Juggle a full time job, a full time creative passion, your home life, and a few hobbies… you have to become good at it. Otherwise you’ll end up letting something slide. I’m not willing to do that. Each week, I take a look at what needs to be done and make my list. I love making lists. And more than that, I love checking things off my list. Then, I wake up each morning and form a game plan for that day. I’m still learning that sometimes what I think will take an hour actually takes two. Or that phone call in the middle sometimes sets me back a bit. Life finds a way of fitting itself in the cracks. Some days are better than others, luckily I have some very understanding, patient friends and family. One day, I’ll be able to pursue my creative life full time. I imagine my intense schedule won’t be left behind, but at least I won’t have the commute!

If you enjoyed this interview, let Lindsay know! She's @simonandruby on Twitter.

My favorite bits of Lindsay-wisdom:
  • “I think that if you have a generous heart, you find ways to give, even if you don’t have the financial means. You give your time, your ear, and your energy.”
  • “Life finds a way of fitting itself in the cracks.”

You can support World Vision by shopping with Lindsay or (and!)  you can support Pancreatic Cancer research by shopping with any of the generous crafters in Kim Werker's Pancreatic Craftacular (even if you don't plan on shopping, read Kim's story, it's powerful.)

Generosity is hard, especially when your energy is focused on just paying the bills. But I'd like to invite you to join me in challenging ourselves to generosity.
What can you give? What would really stretch you (and your biz)?

Your Questions, Answered: It’s all about the benefits Edition

This is a regular-ish thing, where I answer your questions about an upcoming class. I hope it help you decide if the class is right for you (and if it’s not, I hope the questions/answers spark something for ya.)

Today we're talking about benefits, baby. Or the Why Would Anyone Buy THIS class. It's next Tuesday and you can get it right here.

Will it help people who are more performing artists than fiber artists? Because I could sure use the help.

-Jenny Ryan, AKA Cranky Fibro Girl

Indeed! We're calling it Why Would Anyone Buy THIS?, because that's the question EVERY sell-of-something needs to answer. Catherine's going to teach us how to find the benefit in the thing we're selling and then how to clearly communicate those benefits to our people.

The class will be especially helpful who have a thing that's hard to see the benefit for other people: art, humor, writing from your soul.

Is it about you? Or them?

We all know that creating is deeply enriching for you. It gives you expression, freedom, a place in the world.

The making is about you.
The selling, the sharing, it's about them.
Your Right People.

As long as your thinking about why you create, you won't be able to focus on why they buy.

Focus on them

Because your Right People are looking for the thing that is right for them.
They love getting to know you, they love seeing your process, they love connecting.

But when its time to hand over their dough, they want to know:

Is this right for ME?
Does it fill my need?
Does it fulfill my desires?

If you look at those questions and think, “Uh, I don't know that it does fulfill anything…“, then you totally want to take this class.

Because your thing does fulfill a need or desire, for someone.

You, doing your thing will touch, reach, inspire someone else.
And that someone else needs you to explain how your thing is going to touch or reach or inspire them. In fact, they want you to explain it to them.

Bonus!

Learning to recognize the benefits of your thing and communicating it your customers, helps them know your thing is right for them (or not!).

But the bonus? It also helps you remember (and express) that your thing is awesome. It is exactly what someone wants.

Sharing your thing is sharing your awesomeness.
And the world needs more awesomeness.

Good Shtuff

A sorta random collection of the good stuff I've been reading, watching, listening to. (Subtext: I'm prepping for classes and am running out of words)

Be a Scout

Copylicious's Secret Scout emails are rocking my world. She writes about bear attacks and forest fires, but she's really talking about fixing your copy (copy = all the writing that sells anything, from Etsy descriptions to your home page). They make me laugh EVERY time and then make me go “hmm…I think I'll go fix up that page”.

Seriously. Go sign up.

Now.

Start a fire

I don't even know how to start talking about Danielle's FireStarter Sessions. In the two months since reading it, everything is changed.

I launched this here website.
I started offering (and getting booked up!) IdeaStorming + The Recipe and I adore getting up to go to work each morning.

I have waaay more to say (soon!), but wanted to let you know that now she's selling just one chapter (and it's the one that has my favorite exercise!) for $20. After you read it, you're going to want to get the whole book, but check it out first.

Circle

If you are even a little woo-woo (and I know you are), you probably already love Leonie, she of the rainbows and sunshine. But did you know that you can get ALL of her classes for $99. I mean, $99 for all of them together.

Her generosity is inspiring me to find new ways of sharing helpfulness.

Bake something

Totally unrelated to business, but vital to my, you know, life: I'm gluten-intolerant. I just discovered this a few months ago and Shawna's book + blog, Gluten-Free Girl, has made the transition an exciting and tasty adventure. I'm also a big fan of the recipes I've made from Gluten Free Goddess.

But the absolute pinnacle of my gluten-free experience has been Bob's Red Mill bread mix. Homemade bread. Better than any other bread EVER (gluten or no).

Or not…

My weekly farmer's market adventures have got me looking for new ways to enjoy while it's fresh. Enter Natalie's (free e-course) on going raw. And Mona's inspiring story.

I'm pretty much obsessed with raw and while I'm not giving up my (veggie) enchiladas anytime soon, going raw until dinner is easy-peasy.

Share your story

What are you reading? Share it in the comments.

Bonuses and other fabulous things

Note: you can get both of the classes below (yes, even the private class) for $45 if you sign up for the CraftyBiz Kitchen. There are only a few spots left in it, because the people who are in there? They aren't leaving.

Yay! It's my most favorite time of the month, the time when all my planning and plotting and backstage scheming finally comes to fruition. I can finally tell you:

Classes!

As much as I like telling you all about the classes (and watching the coolest people sign up for them!), my favorite part is really the holding the class.

I don't know what I did with my life before I discovered teaching classes.
It is seriously the most fun ever.

Which is weird, because when I was a French major, I absolutely died anytime I had to get in front of  a class.
Upset stomach, puking, blushing, mind going completely blank, choosing to take a failing grade instead of giving the presentation (when I was paying for school by keeping a 3.8 GPA!).

That was a sign that I shouldn't teach that subject, not that I shouldn't be teaching.
It only took me, oh, 5 years to figure out.

The good news: I have yet to puke in a CraftyBiz class.

(Just kidding! I don't even feel like puking!)

But enough about puking, let's talk classes!

Bonus! Nay, fancy-pants private bonus!

Tomorrow at 3p I'm teaching a private class. A class just for the CraftyBiz Kitchen lovelies.
I'm going to teach the sure-fire way to feel awesome about telling people about your thing.

Not ok, not meh, but really fabulous.

And this isn't a cheerleading “You're awesome!” thing, this is a “Do these 3 steps and you will be delighted to market your thing” thing.

This class would normally be $30.
But for my CraftyBiz Kitcheners, it's free.
And it's just for them. Which means lots more time to ask questions and get just-right-for-you answers.

Why am I telling you about this class that you can't take?

Well, you can take it. For free,  if you sign up for the CraftyBiz Kitchen by tomorrow. You'll get this Bonus class + next week's class with the awesome Catherine Caine + extras. Read more about it here.

Why would ANYone buy my art?

Every time I talk to an artist (or crafter, or writer) about what describing the benefits in her sales copy, I get the question: But what ARE the benefits of art?

That's like asking, “Why would any one buy this?”

I was chatting about this with one of my students, when she said that Catherine Caine had really helped her answer this question and define her benefits and communicate that on her site.

So, I  just had to have Catherine come explain (in her charming Australian accent) this whole idea of finding and communicating the benefits of your work.

This class is going to rock. I just barely mentioned it on Twitter and got a handful of sign-ups, so I think it's going to be packed with awesome artists, crafters and the stray humorist.

You can read more about the class and sign up here.

And that's it for this month's classes!
Are you signed up for any of the classes (or the Kitchen?) tell us about it in the comments.

Shannon is crafting a (publishing) business

This is the second in a series of  interviews with smart people who are crafting a business. Part friendly chat, part case-study, all helpfulness! If you know someone I should interview (even you!) let me know.

Today I'm delighted to be talking to Shannon Okey of KnitGrrl.com. and Cooperative Press.  Designer, author, publisher, editor; Shannon has done it all in the knit-publishing world and generously shares her expertise in her recently released book, KnitGrrl's Guide to Professional Knitwear Design.

Shannon, let's start with how you got into publishing?

I set up my publishing company a few years ago because I had big plans for my own projects, but the first book we actually published was Purls Forever, by the owner of South West Trading Company, whose yarns I really loved. She was getting barraged by publishers who wanted to work with her, yet didn't want to include what she thought made her book idea so unique and valuable. It's that whole “water it down to appeal to a broader audience” conundrum… yes, you MIGHT appeal to more potential readers, but there are so many overly-general books out there already.

I want specificity and personality! I suppose those two things are what have really driven my move into independent publishing.

(Note I say “independent” and not “self” publishing, because my company Cooperative Press is not just doing books by yours truly).

Do you suggest new knitwear designers go the self-publishing route first or build a reputation through other publishers?

I think these days they might not have a choice! The economy has driven many larger publishers to scale back, and it isn't as easy to get a contract as it once was. I know that there's an argument to be made for the PR value of having a big company behind you, but after the initial release, you're pretty much on your own and it either sells or it doesn't. If you're the one in charge of making sure people know about the book (through good social media use, getting out there to events, etc), you're personally invested, and you're more likely to do a good job of it.

Don't get me wrong, you need to allocate a decent amount of time to marketing, but you'd be doing much of the same even if a big publisher put out your book. I'm not going to be quiet about my book on Twitter and Facebook and Ravelry or whatever just because Big Publisher X's PR people are out there promoting it, too.

What about writers?

The craft niche is a unique one — we have a fairly small circle of places for people to find out about things. Print knit magazines, Ravelry, Knitty, the popular knitblogs, etc. If you're a novelist, it's going to be a little more difficult, unless you are already well known or unless you have a very very very specific audience you can target. (See: Debbie Macomber and her knit-related books).

However, it really boils down to quality — if your work is good, and people like it, word will get around! Give them tools to recommend your book to other people, whether it's offering up a sample chapter they can send to their friends (with ordering info at the end, of course! think Kindle and how they offer samples of their books), or planning an interesting online event, or…?

So which comes first: building an audience or self-publishing?

It definitely helps to have SOME kind of audience going in, but as I said, if your work is good and you help people to spread the word on your behalf, you'll GET an audience.

Is this changing as the industry (both yarn industry and publishing industry) changes?

I think so. I think people are more willing to purchase independently-published work now than they once were, and I think that pattern PDFs had a lot to do with it! The convenience coupled with the large selection of items available online (thousands upon thousands more patterns than you could buy in print magazines, for example) influenced purchasing behavior for hundreds of thousands of consumers around the world. I suspect that companies who don't offer digital options will see people moving to the ones who do — it's important to assess what your customers want, after all.

Why did you self-publish your latest book?

It's a topic no big publisher would touch, it's too niche-y. Despite the fact there are 5200+ people in the Designers group on Ravelry (and if every single one of them bought a PDF copy of my book, I think I'd earn more than I've made on my 12 big publisher books combined), there's this assumption that designers — and people who want to be designers — are in the minority. Spend some time on Ravelry and then tell me that's true. (Hint: it isn't).

In addition, this book (ignore the title!) holds plenty of solid information for creative professionals of all kinds, so there's an even bigger potential audience than those 5,200 people. I don't think a book needs to sell 50,000 copies in order to be a success. It's about getting the right information to the people who need it when they need it.

What have you learned from self-publishing (marketing, business skills)?

I know a lot more know about ebook file formats than I ever thought I would! The marketing skills I already had, I was just pushing them into a different direction. My new challenge has been forming the right relationships with distributors so we can get into more of the craft chain stores, etc.

Other than the scale of the project, what has been different from publishing your own patterns, to publishing a whole book?

It's much the same — you have a lot of prep work followed by doublechecking everything over ten times, staying in touch with various people (for example, all the people I interviewed in the latter half of the book), designing the layout, figuring out how to optimize the PDF version, etc!

Thanks Shannon, for answering all my questions, I've learned tons!

My favorite bits of Shannon-wisdom, that apply to ANY business:
  • “I want specificity and personality!”
  • “It really boils down to quality — if your work is good, and people like it, word will get around!”
  • “I suspect that companies who don't offer digital options will see people moving to the ones who do — it's important to assess what your customers want, after all.”

If you are a knitwear designer who'd like some help getting published, definitely check out the book and Shannon's Get Published! class.

Things Change: 3 ways to make it suck less

Yesterday I shared a bit about how a thing (an offer, a service, an IdeaStorming thing) changed after I let it out into the world.
Today I wanted to share what I learned through that (and many many many other changes). Ways to make it suck less. Ways to maybe make it awesome.

Disclaimer: I'm mostly talking about systems that need change. Things in your business that you can influence. Not other people's actions, not outside forces. You. Your crafty biz. Your changes.

1. Notice

Always the first step to change: notice.
Notice what your customers are saying.
Notice what your people are asking for.
Notice what you're resisting.

Noticing gives you a little more…I don't want to say “control”…but influence.

Do you have a system in place for listening and noticing?

2. Don't resist

This particular example was pretty awesome: something I offered as being X turned out to be most helpful when it was Y.
But the change was only awesome because I didn't resist.
When clients said “Hey, I have plenty of ideas, what I'm struggling with is focus”, I said “Sure!”

I was really in love with the idea of IdeaStorming, but I am more in love with giving crafty businesses what they need. Rolling with the changes they suggest just make it better for both of us.

Is there something you've noticed but are resisting? Would it make things better for your customers?

(Example from my own crafty biz: I hate purple. Can't stand it. Customers always ask for it. I've resisted in the past, but why? It makes knitters SO happy and it's not compromising my morals.)

3. Make it gentle

Once you notice a thing you could change, there's no need to overhaul everything. Make a gentle shift into the new thing.

What super small teeny change could you make? What's the smallest possible step?

How do you make changes in your creative business?

Things Change: a case study

Things change.

I'm always going on about how I'm not finished, how I'm a little wonky.
And that may sound like a changing business is a hassle.
But it's not.

Sometimes, change + growth is awesome.

Take, IdeaStorming, for example.
It has changed a LOT in the 2 months I've been offering it.

Let's start from the beginning.

I was inspired to offer IdeaStorming after getting off the phone with a friend. We had just brainstormed a whole bunch of answers and solutions to a complicated business question. When we got off the phone I was experiencing what I've come to call the helper-high.
And I said, “Oh, I wish I could do this EVERY day!”
And Jay said, “Well, why can't you? Don't you think other people would like this?”

Duh!

I called it IdeaStorming because that's what that first session was:

A storm of ideas, inspirations, solutions raining down from every corner. Ideas rubbed up against problems and I felt the thunder.

But in the last 2 months it's become more than that.

It's become a totally personalized priority-finding, solution-generating, movement-inspiring jam session.

Most sessions have a smidge of brainstorming (if that's what the crafter needs), but that all happens before the session (after they return the slice-through-fog questionnaire) . I brainstorm some answers to their specific questions before we ever talk.

But most crafters?

Don't need more IDEAS. They are creative geniuses who are simply overflowing with ideas.

What they need?

Focus. Clarity. Direction.

Instead of being a crazy new-stuff-imagining time, most IdeaStorming sessions are about implementation.
How will you actually DO this.
We lay  out a roadmap to get them from here to there.
We get crystal clear on the very Next Step.

And afterwards, I'm all buzzy from the utter joy in helping someone see their path clearly. In that helper-high, I take mad notes about everything I meant to say, everything that our conversations sparked.
I look up links that we mentioned, I find helpful books, I download the recording.

When I send it all to the IdeaStormers, I get emails back that say stuff like:

Speaking of brain puzzles, all of our conversations did just that… really exercised my brain and helped me move my thoughts from point A to point B without ripping all my hair out!

and

I think I might have sprained my wrist, I was scribbling your brilliant ideas so quickly.

Seriously, I am in AWE of the sheer amount of usefulness your brain can spew out. It was all so crisp, so clear and so exactly what I needed.

It's NOT what I expected.
It is so much better.

How do you turn Ugh, change! to Yeah, baby?

Well, you're going to have to come back tomorrow!  I'll share 3 tips to turn change from ohmygoodnessI'mscrewingitallup to woohoo!
And turn the wonkyness into glowing compliments.
You can subscribe, here, and the message will come right to your inbox.

What's changed in your biz that's been a great thing? Tell me in the comments!

PS. In case it's not totally clear: my rave reviewers gave me permission to quote them here. If we work together, every single thing we say is confidential!

Be Awesome Offline

Today I'm super excited to have a guest post at BeAwesomeOnline.com.
It's all about being awesome offline: networking events, craft shows, etc. Here's the first bit of it, but you can read the whole thing here.

You are awesome online. You are rocking it. Your awesomeness is shining through everywhere from your About page to your Twitter stream.

But what about the untested waters of the offline world? Are you awesome there?

Or are you hiding behind your website? Terrified of meeting someone in person, afraid you’ll morph into a salesy slimeball who hands someone their business card and says, “Call me, baby.”?

Going offline can feel like that dream where you show up naked for school.

I am an pj-wearing, home-loving hermit. Most of my business is online. My relationships, my work, my helpfulness: it all happens online. But when I quit my dayjob, I knew that to really grow, I would need to start serving branch out and come out from behind the screen.

Before I did my first craft show, I never talked about my business in person. I told people I worked in HR (my dayjob) and had no idea what to tell them about my online alter ego. What would I say? Without the filter of my website, how could I explain what I did?

In person, I’m just me. No fancy graphics. No carefully crafted pages. No tried-50-times-to-get-this-one-picture first impressions. Just me.

Without the buffer of my website and my carefully chosen words and my perfectly focused pictures, it felt a little naked.

But it can be awesome.

Offline, you see the joy in someone’s eyes as they gasp at your lovingly handmade item.
Offline, you feel that immediate click when someone really gets you.
Offline, clients can sip coffee with you, show you pictures of their family, light up when you zap their problem.

Since that first pre-craft-show jitter I’ve peddled yarn at shows across the country, organized classes for wannabe-knitters and taught hundreds of one-on-one, in-person lessons. I’ve even met some of my online friends for a coffee.  All without losing my clothes or sweating through them.

And I learned that going offline can actually be fun, if you keep a few things in mind.

Get the rest of the article and 3 tips for taking your awesomeness Offline over at BeAwesomeOnline.com.

Add some spice = multiple streams of income

I have an guest post up at Crafting an MBA about creating “multiple streams of income”. Check it out if you want to learn more about new ways to make money with your crafting.

And if you want to hear how a completely different kind of crafter has multiple streams in her business, read my interview with Heidi here.

But you know, I hate the cliche of  “multiple streams”. I mean, I get the metaphor, and I actually love that thought of building the river of my business with all these little streams filled with a flow of sales.

But when I hear (or type!) “multiple streams of income”, I feel all business-suity. And my hot pink sneakers do NOT go with a business suit.

What else can I can call this? What would make sense for others, but NOT be business-school-cliche? I think it needs to be metaphor'd!

My ideal metaphor

+fun
+variety
+creative
+options
+security
+something to do with baking?

Oh, I know!

Adding streams of income is like adding spice to a recipe!

Sure, you can just bake a plain cake with flour, eggs, milk and some leavening (like a business that sells one thing), but you'll have something worth sharing (and something your customers will rave about), if you add some spice. Make a cinnamon cake, a ginger cake, a vanilla cake, a chocolate cake!

Choose those spices carefully

In baking and in business, you want to make sure and add complimentary spices. You do NOT want to just throw in whatever you find (or whatever you read other people are doing). You gotta pick a spice based on what goes with YOUR recipe and YOUR taste buds. Maybe it's vanilla + ginger or cinnamon + apples or chili + chocolate.

Maybe your business wants products + teaching. Or products + patterns. Or teaching + writing.  My article about the different streams will help you see the options, but should not be read as a to-do list! Pick the ones that work for you (and experiment!) but don't let anyone else add their unwanted spice to your cake!

How are you going to add spice to your business?

PS. I learned this technique from Havi, she has some really fabulous pirate-inspired metaphors.

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