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The Adventures

Every day is an adventure. I share the view, the gratitude and the news on Fridays – you’re invited to join in. You can find all my adventures here, or follow along via email here.

The view

I am so grateful for…

New projects
Big ideas
Making messy art
Letting go

The Finds:

I’m doing:

I'm quilting along with Diane yesterday and today – turning my old t-shirts into something snuggly! It's free to watch live, so join us here!

I’m eating:

Pad Thai
Homemade pizzas! (Because someone always asks: Daiya mozzarella melts pretty well, but I'd rather skip the fake cheese and add LOTS of pesto)
Samosa Pot Pie from Bake + Destroy

In case you missed it:

Assume the Best. I promise, it'll make your whole life better.
I need your help making a dream come true! Can you help here?
This week I launched a crafting videocast! If you knit, check it out here and join our Ravelry group!

What adventures have you had?

3 lessons for a website redesign

Welcome! Come right in and make yourself comfy!

I'm so so happy to introduce you to my redesigned site! It's been an amazing (and overwhelming) experience and I've learned SO much.
(If you're reading this via email, click through to see my brand new site!)

The changes represent a massive visual re-branding, created + implemented by Jessika Hepburn. Well, it can hardly be considered a “re”-branding, since I didn't have visual branding to begin with.
And this brings us to the lessons I learned:

Just because you have a website doesn't mean you have a visual brand.
A website designer is not the same as a visual branding specialist. (Although some do awesome visual branding, you should be clear up front on what you're looking for.) You see, a website designer will design your website – give you a cool template, and maybe make a few buttons for you. But they're not looking at the entire visual identify of your business. And for many of you graphic designers + artists – that's perfect, because you are skilled at creating your own visual identity.
But I am not. I can use Photoshop and I know what I like, but that doesn't mean I can illustrate or even come up with the ideas of what will communicate what I want to communicate. As Jessika said when we started this process: Your voice is SO clear in your words, you just need your visuals to match it.
Although there was also a change to my website's layout, the focus was on creating a cohesive visual presence, that matched with my words + my work, so that as soon as you land here, you can get it.
You are responsible for knowing what you want. But often someone else can spot your sparkle better than you can.
Whether you're working with a designer, an exploration guide, or a hairstylist – you have to know what it is you want. You need to be clear on what you do, who you serve, and how you want them to feel. So your first step is to get crystal clear on that (which is what the first 2 chapters of my book help you do.)
But then, once you're really in it, sometimes you can't see what makes you so special – that special blend of happiness and delight that you bring into your customer's life. This is where working with a professional is so important – they can see what you do well + how that's different from what other people do + how to communicate that. (This assumes you're working with someone who really *gets* you.)I hope that what I really wanted out of the redesign (for you to feel comfortable and happy and encouraged) + what Jessika spotted in my work (silliness + boldness + adventure) comes across in what you see on the page. (I think it does!)
Prioritize what you want your reader to do.
Even though I literally wrote the book on this (Chapter 4), it was still super hard. This is where knowing your customer's path comes in.* I've learned that the path most customers take is –>read blog + like it –> subscribe to email lessons –> buy book or class –> join Starship (once inside the Starship, we work together one-on-one). This leads to the best, most productive relationships, with the biggest transformations in their business, so it's my job to make that path clear + easy.

*I'll be teaching a brand-new class about this next month!

How can you make your Customer Path even easier?

Now that you know what went on behind the scenes, here's what actually changed:

I have a home page! It'll help you navigate to whatever you need.
I have a shop! Finally, all of my classes, guides, books, and adventures are in one spot. (And I have a cart! So you can buy more than one thing at a time without checking out multiple times! Magic!)
A brand-new page for new readers. If you're not sure where to start, this page will introduce you to what you can find (and where!)
Check out the new footer – no matter what page you land on, you've got a chance to meet me (hi!) + learn a bit about being an explorer.
Stars, smiling planets, and pink! Jessika did a glorious job designing my new logo (up top!) and adorable illustrations for my products.

The smiling planet is my fave. Isn't it adorable?!

A note for subscribers

If you subscribe to the blog via email, you don't have to do a thing, you'll still get the messages same as always.
If you use an RSS reader, you'll have to update it to link to taraswiger.com/blog/feed.
If you only get the weekly message but you'd like to get the blog posts too, you can always edit your subscription by heading here, putting in your info and “update subscription”

And that's it!
Do you have any questions about the process or the new site?

PS. Jessika isn't just a designer, she's also a genius community-builder + supporter. If you'd like to meet more of our community + get away from it all, check out her Maker's Retreat.

The business tools I use

As you know, my mission is to help you build the business that best suits YOU. All of my classes, books and adventures are built to help you discover what's true in your business and what will work for you.

This means that although I write about the journey of my own business exploration, I don't do a lot of recommending, or telling you specifics of what I do. It's not that I don't want to share, it's that I don't want you to get distracted by what I use instead of figuring out what works for you.

That said…I love reading these kinds of posts. And there are a few questions that I end up answering via email and Sessions, so I'd like to put all the answers in one place. (This was inspired by Elise's Baby FAQs. If you have a new baby, you should read this).

Keep in mind – this is what works for me, with my specific business. I work with many creatives who use an entirely different set of tools.
(You can ask them directly, inside the Starship – which opens tomorrow. Sign up here if you're curious.)

My website.

My domains are registered with NameCheap. Nathan does my hosting + WordPress pampering. My entire website is built on WordPress. I love it and tell everyone to use it. (Even my mom can use it easily for her site.)

Design

I built my first few websites on my own, with a combination of free WP themes + a couple of edited images (BCB is all me, baby). If you can add some text to an image with Gimp or Photoshop, I highly recommend DIY-ing it until your business can afford to hire a designer. Why? Because you'll want to know how to do absolutely everything in your business.

Even so, there are many things to keep in mind to make your site as effective as possible. Be ready to tweak it endlessly and make it better and better. I go over the necessary parts in detail in Market Yourself, so if you want more, check out Chapter 4.

That said, at some point, you are going to want your site to match the awesomeness of what you sell. And unless you sell website design, you probably can't do it on your own. Once your business has started to make a profit and pay you, then think about hiring a designer.

The one thing I wish I would have understood earlier?
There's a vast difference between a “website” and a “visual brand”. Getting a website designed does not mean that your company has a visual brand. So if you're totally graphically-thinking-impaired (as I am) – you probably want someone to create a visual brand for you, before you worry about website design (you can always implement their branding into your existing website.)

Right now I'm working with Jessika to create a visual brand and I love her. The main thing is to find someone who's aesthetic truly matches your own and who gets you AND your community. Jessika totally nailed my visual branding in the very first try.
(You're going to see it soon!)

Shopping carts and buy buttons

For the past 3 years I've used a combination of PayPal buttons + E-junkie buttons (with my own button images.) Paypal is quick and easy. E-Junkie is also super-quick and has the added benefit of sending an automatic email with the info you need when you join a class or buy a download. (But it does cost at least $5/mo.)

Next month I've moving everything to WooCommerce, which will also let me send you an automatic download and will have the added benefit of everything being in one place. (This has been the biggest failing of this website so far – there's not a very clear “this is what I sell” space. You can find it all linked here, but that hasn't been effective at communicating it. How do I know? I answer the question “How can I work with you?” weekly.)

However, if you have a product-based business, I suggest you go with something that “manages” your shop for you and is super-easy to add items to. I recommend most brand-new-to-online-selling folks use Etsy. After you get the hang of that and you build up your own audience (through your own site and newsletter), then move over to your own shop, with Big Cartel or one of the other options. There are many, and I haven't tried any of them, so I recommend asking other makers. (We have a thread on this in the Starship.)

Newsletter software.

You know I heartily believe everyone should be communicating with their biggest fans via email (I talk a bit more about it in this podcast). And that autoresponders are the easiest way to get everyone on the same (ready-to-buy) page. I love Mailchimp for managing all of this. I've been with them for 5 (!) years and couldn't be happier. A few of my students found it overwhelming, so they went with TinyLetter which is much simpler.

Social media management.

Even though I have a Number One (a virtual assistant), I do ALL of my own writing. That includes the blog, newsletter, and everything I post on Twitter, Facebook and Instagram. Everything you see online is actually me.

I think it's important to get that out of the way, because there seems to be an assumption that people get assistants to deal with social media. And to me, this makes no sense. Social media might be the first place you meet me (either because someone you follow retweets me or tweets directly to something I made), so why would I want that first impression to be anything but personal?

That said, it makes sense to make sure that what I write actually gets seen by my followers, so I use Hootsuite to schedule some Twitter + Facebook posts. It's very simple (and free) and I like that it allows me to share a zillion things as soon as I find them (which is often all at once), without overwhelming you, the reader. It also allows me to share a new blog post a few times a day, whether I'm online right then or not.

Even when I'm posting in “real time”, I don't hang out afterwards to have conversations. Instead, I log on to reply and have conversations when I have the time throughout the day (taking a break from other work, standing in line, etc). This time-shifted conversation is exaclty why I like Twitter! Although some conversations do happen in real time, I don't think anything's lost by time-shifting it.
What is gained is a lot more productive time and keeping my focus. While I love having conversations and connecting (love it!), I can't let it take over the equally-important creation time. To keep it reasonable, I often work with a Pomodoro timer (and go to social media on 5 minute “breaks”) and I have Nanny for Chrome installed. (But I very rarely trigger it.)

E-courses

There is SO much software out there for e-course development…and I actually use a lot of it!
The easiest way to hold an e-course is to load your content into an autoresponder in Mailchimp and when the person buys, send them an email with the sign-up page for the email list. I've used E-junkie to automatically send this email immediately. This is how my Automagical Emails class works.
That'll work for an independent study class, but what if you're holding the class “live” and you want everyone to discuss things? For a fixed-time class with automatic course delivery (you load it in and it goes out on your schedule), I really like Ruzuku. I used it for the last live Pay Yourself and for Explore You and the students really seemed to like it.
Now, that works for a specific timeline of the class, but for an ongoing community (like the Starship), I use Ning – which provides both the forum we use for conversation + a live chat space. You can also use a private Facebook group for this, but I find it a little more difficult to track the conversations and I don't like that things aren't archived and easy to search for. There are multiple WP plugins you can use to create a forum + community on your own site, but I haven't found one that works as intuitively (for the user) as Ning.

I'd love to hear if you have a favorite?

Planning.

Here's the system I use to plan everything from my big years-long goals to my daily to-dos:

At the beginning of each year (and again at my birthday in June), I think through all the high-level stuff, using the Chart Your Stars Guide (available only in the Solo Mission or Starship). I set big goals and try to list all the little things I wanna do.

Each quarter, I use the Star Chart to pick a Destination. This is my Big Focus for the next three months. I use the Map Making Guide to break it down into all the Mile Markers and tiny To Dos. (I also review the last quarter so that I can learn from what did and didn't go well.)
(This is also when I create a content calendar and start filling it in.)

Each month I review where I am and what I need to do to get to my Destination (I send these reassessment questions out to the Solo Mission + Starship). I use it to figure out what I need to get done this month. (Often I've already set deadlines while Map Making, so this is already mainly figured out for me.)

Each week, I make a Master List of everything I wanna get done this week. I double-check to make sure there are actions moving me towards my Destination + all the little stuff that has to be done week in and week out. (Blog posts, email ketchup, shipping books)

Each day, I check my weekly list and pick things from it to do today. I write a new To Do list everyday. I try to keep it reasonable (what I could really get done that day), but I find I actually get more done when I have more listed. (When I have few things listed, my brain thinks: Oh, you have 8 hours to do 3 tasks! You should read quilting blogs for a while!) I do star the things that HAVE to be done today and there's NO guilt if other things don't get done.

The actual TOOLS I use to do all of the above:

Mokeskine “Cahier” notebooks (I go back and forth between big ones and smaller ones)
Uniball Signo 207 pens
Evernote (for my content calendar and Big Picture planning)
Map Making Guide (which is mostly in my head at this point)
Starship weekly chats to check-in for accountability

Writing.

Every (workday) morning, I write, at least 750 words, using 750words.com and a Pomodor timer, while listening to Spotify (usually this playlist). Sometimes I use this time to write blog posts (like this) or email lessons, it's often on a bigger, less immediate project. Sometimes I just write out any problem-solving/thinking I need to do. (But I wouldn't call this a journal or free-writing, as I almost always write with an audience in mind, even if the audience is myself.) If I want to keep what I wrote, I copy it into an Evernote note.

Two to three days a week I have a second writing time, after my Morning Writing. While Morning Writing is dedicated to the writing I might skip once the day gets started (writing for the new book, thinking through a deeper subject, anything that doesn't feel immediate), the second writing chunk is usually devoted to my current projects – my “work” (blog posts, email lessons, class material.) I make the distinction in order to not let the everyday writing edge writing about whatever I'm enthusiastic about, whether it fits into my content calendar or not.

Email

I use Gmail for everything. When I have a pile of emails that I don't need to deal with right now (but I will need them in the future) or when my inbox just gets overwhelming, I use the Email Game to sort through them and boomerang messages back to me in the future.

That's basically it, I have no special email skillz. I try to close my inbox when I'm not directly writing or replying, and I set aside time once or twice a day to check it (I get no pings or alerts when an email arrives) for questions from customers. Twice a week I go through and answer everything (or delete it, or boomerang it). I spend a long time crafting useful answers to everyone who writes, so it's important that this both gets my attention and that it doesn't take over my life.

Jess, my Number One.

You already know that I do all my own writing and “showing up” in the online world, so what does Jess do? She makes everything better and she makes sure everything works right.

Every week she loads the Explore Notes I write (and the weekly Starship Lesson) into Mailchimp, editing it as she lays it out.
When I'm creating a new class, she edits (for clarity and grammar) my written lessons, she turns my questions into a pretty worksheet, she takes notes on the video lessons for a transcript, she uploads PDFs and text to the class space.
When I sell anything, she double checks that the buyer signs up for what they need to sign up for (especially important if it's an email-delivered product, like Solo Mission + Starship).
She updates autoresponders (like this) with updated info.
She notes absolutely all of our systems, so that I don't reinvent it every time (which has made me a zillion times more efficient).
When I write a really hard or important post (like this) or guest posts (like this), she'll edit it and give me feedback on where I'm overexplaining or glossing over something important.

(I wrote a bit about this when I hired her.)

In other words, whenever you interact with me, via reading my writing or emailing me your question or taking a class, you're interacting with me. And I have time to write long, thorough (free) answers to 5-10 non-clients every week, while writing 2 email lessons (one for free here, one for Starship members) and 2-3 blog posts each week, creating a new class every quarter, traveling + teaching around the country every few months – because Jess is doing all of the other not-writing stuff. Since hiring her, every area of my business has increased: my own output, my reader stats, and my sales.

How? I'm now focused 100% on doing what only I can do, and she makes sure my work looks (and reads) its best*. (I don't actually work any less hours now than I did before, I just spend my hours on more effective work.)

*She didn't edit this blog post, so all typos are my own fault.

Hardware

I recently got a Chromebook and I LOVE it for writing + traveling. It's super-light and I can fit it in my purse. I do 90% of my work on it. When I want to edit docs or videos, I use my very 4 year old Toshiba laptop. I take all photos with my iPhone 4s.

Phew! That's a lot of tools + systems!

Now it's your turn – what business tools and systems do you use?

If you write about them on your blog, leave the link in the comments!

The usual disclaimer applies!

Let’s explore profit

Money. Profit. Pricing.

These are some of the hardest things to talk about in our businesses (and lives!), for a many reasons: because of our culture and its messages, because we might use it as a measure of our self-worth (and thus, it becomes a tool of self-doubt), and because it is so easy to get lost in the Comparison Game.

This is exactly why we should explore it. Not just explore the ideas of profitability or making money – but explore your actual, real-life numbers, no matter what they are.

You see, in my work with creatives I find two things that routinely get in the way of their doing what they want to do:

They don't have a plan, they don't know exactly where they want to go. (Which is why I created this.)
They don't know where they are, they don't know their actual numbers. (Which is why I created this.)

If you want to go somewhere else, you have to know where you are right now.
If you want to make more money, you need to know what your money is doing right now. You need to know your expenses, your profit margin, your minimum break-even point and your most profitable products.
With this knowledge, you can grow, build, and expand. You can spend your time on what works and stop doing what doesn't.

But this doesn't have to be hard or stressful or self-flagellating. We can pull out these numbers, run a little math, and then learn the lessons. We can explore instead of hoping, comparing, or grasping.

If you'd like to join me in this exploration, it's time to learn how to Pay Yourself.

Image by Lacey Atkinson

Are you exceptional?

I have a theory* that any one can build a thriving business.
Anyone. Seriously. Even you.

And it's simple (NOT EASY, but simple).

1. Start.
Start big, start little. Start with $100 or $1000 or with someone else's supplies (that's what I did.) You haven't started until you've offered something to a define market. (ie, Dyeing yarn is not a start. Making it available for sale is.)

2. Commit yourself wholly. This doesn't mean you have to commit yourself full-time..but that you are completely and totally dedicated with all of your heart to making this work. You are in love, married for life and hopelessly devoted. Nothing else (no day job, no scheme, no one else's success) can turn your head or shake your focus.

3. Try things. Experiment. Take the specific actions that will get you closer to your own destination (ie, Don't try random, unconnected things. Try things that are on the path to where you want to go.)

4. Ruthlessly review. What's working? What's not?
4a. The thing you tried (from your product to your messaging to your photographs) not working? Try something new.
4b. Whatever part of it is working (and there's always something) KEEP THAT. Build on it. Shift your entire focus to what is working, even if it's far different than what you imagined you'd do.

5. Repeat. For years.

The above answers 98% of all questions I receive.

What should I do first?
START.

I can't figure out what to do next?
Pay attention to what's working, and stop doing what's not.

I don't know what's working?
Have a regular system of review. And do it.

Why aren't I seeing results?
A. How long has it been? Are you being reasonable about your expectations?
B. Are you truly spending your time focusing on the things that will have most impact towards reaching a specific goal? Or are you spinning?
C. Are you measuring by your own definition of success? Or someone else's?

What this means is that while anyone can build a business, not EVERY business idea is a good one. So while you're fully committed to making some business work, you are flexible about how it's going to go down (and build up).

I wrote this all out a few months ago and it's been sitting in Evernote, while I considered if it was missing anything.
But it came up this week while I was having a (friendly) debate with Srini, who has met and talked to hundreds of successful entrepreneurs. Is it true that ANY one can do what we do (Start, Commit, Review, Repeat) and reach their own definition of success (which might be totally different than our own)?
He posits that there's something inherently exceptional about the people that take the action. I argue that anyone is capable is taking the action, some people just won't (because of fear, risk, or the culture they buy into to). There's nothing exceptional about the people that do it except that they do it.
But we both agree: the people who start something + who take action towards it, are exceptional.

So now it's up to you:

Are you going to be exceptional?

PS. Most people will never start. Many will start, fewer commit themselves, and still fewer are dedicated to exploring their business and letting it change, in order to have something sustainable. If you've started and committed and you aren't seeing the results you want (within your own definition of success, not someone else's) – the question is: Are you reviewing and ruthlessly editing? Or are you married to your One Idea?

If you are one of the few who stick with it, you are truly exceptional.

*This theory is informed my experience of working with makers for a year at a time, (1/4 of which I've been with for 3+ years) plus my consulting with retail tech start-ups and the bricks + mortar businesses I've managed.

Open to adventure

A few months ago my publisher sent me an email that said something like, “Just wanted to forward this in case you missed it, I think you'd be great.” Attached to her message was an email from The National Needlearts Association inviting teachers to apply to teach at their national conference in San Diego.

I immediately thought: that's not really what I do. This isn't for me.

But I left the email in my inbox (which is uncommon – I ruthlessly delete or file or boomerang) because the idea of it appealed to me. Half my family lives in Oceanside and I visit them every year or two anyhow…wouldn't it be nice to get paid to do that?

The email sat there, waiting, until I opened it again to see if it had expired, if it was already too late to apply (I assumed and kinda hoped it was). No, I still had a week left. So even though this still seemed like absolutely the kind of thing I wouldn't do, I put it on my calendar, to remind me when applications closed, and I boomeranged the message to come back on that day.

On the very last day, both my calendar and inbox both reminded me to apply. And I thought: What's the harm? I'd already developed classes that could serve the needs of TNNA attendees (shops, designers, dyers), so I had material ready. In fact, at the last TNNA conference, several Starship Captains attended…and if I was already helping them online, why not help them live?

So I applied. And...I got accepted!
And I worked super hard rewriting the classes (and workbooks) for this particular audience.
Things went all wrong (flight delays meant I didn't land in time to print workbooks so I had sprint across town at 11pm to print + collate…) and yet, it was great.

I met smart, generous, interesting shop owners and clever, ambitious, talented designers. I got to hug two Starship Captains in person. I got recognized in an elevator, which made me feel like a rock star (it was Corrina and we had a great time hanging out…because I'm not actually a rock star.)

And it was awesome.

This morning, while I was in Introvert Recovery, I was thinking that I almost didn't do this. All because I had an image of what I do and what I'm building with my work and I wasn't open to something new.

This is something we all struggle with – so many people (perhaps well-meaning family members?) give us suggestions for what we should do with our business, that we get into a default mode of No-Saying.
“No, that's not really what I do.”
“No, I'm too busy with other projects.”
“No, I'm not that kind of X (teacher, writer, artist, maker)”

And that's smart. You don't want to do everything. Everything isn't for you. No one knows your work better than you do.

But what if you changed your default position from No to Open?

You might still say no, but you'll first take a moment to consider it. You'll be open to possibility. Open to opportunity. Open to connecting to disparate ideas into something new.

This is different from saying an indiscriminate YES to everything, because it comes from a different place. Instead of feeling desperate and needy (for approval, for validation, for acknowledgement), you're coming from a place of willingness and curiosity. What if you DID say yes? What if you took a moment to explore the idea and see if it might work?

This is exactly what I'll be asking myself this year, as I explore my new word of the year: Open.
It's about opening to opportunity, opening to ideas, opening to flow.
Being open in expression, in enthusiasm, in my own power.

What do you want to be open to?

Adventures in Business with Jill Wolcott

Today I'm exploring with Starship Captain Jill Wolcott. Jill is an award-winning teacher who combines a wealth of knitting knowledge with a great sense of humor to make her classes both useful and fun. Jill is always thinking about knitted garments, how they fit, and how to guide knitters toward a successful knitting experience. She recently published an ebook of knitting designs: The Goddess Collection.

People have this fantasy of what it's like to be a full-time maker. But what's a normal day for you really like?

I don't really have a “go with the flow” life. Weekdays I get up at 6:30, make coffee, tidy up, look at email and Evernote (my assistant works from her home), shower, then hit my office. My office day is spent working on patterns, marketing, administrative things, book projects, creating classes and class materials, and whatever is on my list. It almost never includes knitting. The closest I get to knitting is picking up needles to figure out how I can better explain how to do a technique or maneuver. I do a lot of editing, drafting, redrafting, initial charting, and a lot of grading sizes.

On Wednesdays I leave my office about 10:30 and go downtown to teach at the Fashion Institute of Design and Merchandising. I'm usually pretty tired at the end of six hours there, but I am a favorite instructor and have been given an outstanding faculty award 11 times in the 14 years I've taught there.

I do volunteer work for TNNA and am part of the Starship and Cat Bordhi's Visionary Authors group. I also have an elderly mother and we do things on Thursdays and Fridays when I can get away. She is a long-time knitter so is always interested in what I am working on.

Wendy works with me from Pittsburgh, PA. She is like the third lobe of my brain and is beginning to take on more pieces of my day-to-day work so that I can explore more, create more, do more. I would be lost without her. I have another assistant who comes into my office twice a week and does hands on things–from winding yarn to finishing work on projects. She does shipping, tracking, and entering things into my bookkeeping software. Again, without her help I would surely be buried in my own mess.

Most of my samples are knit by paid knitters. They are a brave lot who embark on projects that are often still in process. They must be my eyes as I am not seeing what is happening except through weekly photos. I have someone who works as a project manager to keep the knitters on track–and make sure I answer questions and address problems.

I have a tech editor who works per hour. She has a wonderfully detailed brain and asks me lots of questions to make sure my work is clear. I also have a copy editor who works on my longer work. She is primarily looking for consistency and continuity. Both are knitters who understand why I like to take a different approach in presenting my patterns.

I knit after I quit work in my office. I cook dinner most nights, and I knit afterwards until I go to bed. I am not usually knitting samples; I am either working on new design ideas or making a second sample or one of my designs for me to wear. I make the final sample myself only if there is a quick deadline or if it is a small item. We've found that I am not reliable at finding problems in the patterns, so it isn't usually a good place for me to put my knitting energy. All my knitting is related to my business and I have no time to knit any one else's patterns, but I do love to knit.

Weekends are often where I find time to follow new ideas or do things I want to do but don't need to do. I have a wonderful husband who likes to spend time with me–some of it without knitting needles in my hands. We go to a fair number of jazz and world music performances, plays, and author/artist lectures. We both read a lot, although knitting cuts into my reading time!

There are so many ways to make a living as a maker – how are you doing it? What have you combined and how has that changed through the years?

As mentioned above, I teach to make money. It is the only reliable money source I have. I am working on making it possible to offer classes via video with live check-ins so that I can continue to teach those classes online without it being a live performance. This will make it easier for people to fit it into their schedules too. Right now those classes are for knitwear designers of any stripe. I hope to have classes for knitters in 2014 as well. I do not teach at retail knitting shows right now because I simply do not have time. I do some limited work for magazines, and sometimes do consulting work.

I don't think the work of a designer has changed much over the years. With Tara's help I am finding the courage to do what I believe I want to put out into the world, even though it is a little different.

What new thing are you exploring now?

I have just launched what I call Studio Space. This is a subscription program to invite knitters to share their knitting time with me and other committed knitters. I have framed my first offering around my Goddess Collection, but I think this will end up being the beginning of the program, and not our sole focus. My other new thing is eBook pattern collections, and online classes. I want to write books too, but need to get some of these other wheels turning more effectively to allow that to happen.

**What's your definition of success in your business?**

For my business to be successful I need to balance expenses and income, but that isn't the whole picture for me. I would like some recognition for my skills and talents, but primarily I would like to know that I am helping knitters find pleasure and satisfaction in the actual making of knitted things. I would like to be able to make a living too!

What's the next destination you're working towards?

Jill Wolcott Knits Studio and mastery of marketing!

Thanks so much for sharing your workday and adventure with us, Jill!

Jill's a Captain in the Starship. You can meet more Captains + learn if it's right for your adventure when you sign up for the free mini-course here.

“I find great resources among the other Starship members, and I really love having the weekly accountability (if you want it) of telling someone what I’m doing. This is making a ton of difference in how I get my work done, how I value it, and how I prioritize my time.

In the 2.5 months I’ve been on the Starship I have seen real differences in myself as a business owner, and my ability to see how to move my business ahead in the direction I want it to move.”

-Jill Wolcott, Jill Wolcott Knits

Your Solo Mission

While navigating through the stars to your dream, you've become overwhelmed and lost.

There is too much to do, and too many places you could start. Your shuttle is darting from thing to thing without a clear path to where you really want to go. Or you're stalled out, unsure of what direction to take.

There's a dramatic difference between dreaming and doing. And you're ready to start doing, ready to start making this happen.

It's time to get focused on your Solo Mission – to orient yourself, set clear and specific goals, and move towards them every day. We do this by crafting a Star Map – one that clearly shows the path you want to take and the destination you're working towards. Your map is flexible, so that as you learn new lessons, you'll adjust your flight path and become ever more effective.

If this is you, if you're stuck wondering what to do or how to know if it's working, or how to focus, I can help.

A Solo Mission will light your way in the dark, and provide you with a clear, organized, and focused flight path get you from where you are now, to where you want to be.

I've worked with hundreds of makers and dreamers. Women who want to create a change in their life or their business through their art, craft, or writing. While some rocket towards what they want, others work away and don't seem to make progress. It's not a lack of knowledge (I bet you read to learn about anything you need!), it's a lack of focus – of knowing that the actions you are taking are the right ones, and that they're moving you to the right things.

It's easy to get distracted by all the other stuff we think we should be doing, instead of working on what matters. Whether you're just dreaming of your business, or you've been working away, the Solo Mission can help you identify what will move you closer to your dream, through consistent, focused action.

Vanessa loves the Solo Mission

“This process makes everything far more likely to happen.

It went from impossible dreaming to concrete reality. It helps focus, ground and motivate you to actually doing the things you've been talking about doing.”

–Vanessa

In this year-long adventure, you will:

Craft your own Star Map. This PDF workbook is your own personal orientation guide to where you are, where you're going, and where your North Star is. The questions inside will lead you to clearly identify where you are right now in your business (or your business plannings) and where you want to be. This workbook will help you identify all the big-picture things you want out of your business this year, in 5 years and in 10 years.
Make a Mission Map, every quarter. Spend one week at the beginning of each quarter (January, April, July, October) getting clear about where you want to go in the next three months…and then craft a hands-on plan that will you get there.
Reassess + Reorient your Mission every month. Check in on your progress and see if your map still makes sense (if not, you can alter it).
50% off Solo Live Sessions. If you need to talk out your plan or get an effective marketing plan, you can book a Solo Session with me for 50% off the usual price of $200.
10% off every online class I offer during the year.

The Maps, Guides and emails are not a stock set of answers for any business or dream – they are a collection of guided questions and inspiring activities that will help you choose a path to your personal, specific dream. You will be inspired by your own North Star, to take focused, dedicated action for the entire year.

The entire adventure is delivered via email, so you can schedule your flight during the times that work best for YOU.

The Solo Mission has ended, but there's a new adventure awaiting you: Lift Off.

The Solo Mission provides a framework for your work, a way of staying in touch with your dream as your year unfolds. It's a reminder to shift and grow and learn your own lessons.

Your Solo Mission will guide you to:

Craft your own path, and make it so do-able you can't help but work on it every day, no matter what else you have going on.
Regularly reassess, so that you learn and grow (instead of just staying on a path that doesn't work anymore).
Jump back on your path when you've fallen off – and learn from what distracted you so that you can conquer it next time without losing your footing.

The Solo Mission is built from the lessons that I've learned while leading over 50 Captains towards their dreams, combined with the research I've done into goal-reaching, success and happiness. (If there's a book or study on the subject, I've read it, taken notes, and boiled it down into something applicable!)

The Star Map was seriously life-changing. It helped me in so many ways to focus in on all the important stuff in my biz. I had been ignoring it and pretending it didn't exist. Filling out the log helped me focus in on exactly what I'd been doing and why that wasn't working for me anymore. After working through the Star Chart and making my map, I feel exhilarated. I'm not used to getting this much accomplished!

-Julianna, Julianna's Fibre

I've used the Maps + Guides in my own life to:

Quit my boring office day job.
Support my family with my handmade yarn company.
Get a publishing contract.
Write + publish my first book before my 30th birthday.
Create a thriving business + life, where I have weekends + holidays off.
Travel around the country to work with creative women.
Lead over two dozen live and digital workshops.
Get featured in international magazines, popular blogs and my own hometown newspaper.

The Solo Mission has ended, but there's a new adventure awaiting you: Lift Off.

“If you have a lofty goal but little clue how to get there, this is perfect for you.

There's a difference between making a map & following it. Sometimes unforeseen events, unrecognized desires, & unaddressed doubts get in the way of following the map you've made.

But Tara's process accounts for these unknowns with built-in flexibility, a schedule for honest reassessments, & a fat stack of permission slips to take detours, make mistakes, & get gloriously messy. Whether you stay on track or not, the focus remains on learning & exploring your business (& yourself!), so there's no such thing as failure.”

-D

Want more?

This regular review is what we do in the Starship, but The Solo Mission allows you to review with a smaller commitment. If you're not quite ready for the Starship (your business isn't selling any items yet), the Solo Mission provides the guidance and focus so that you can grow.

But if you want all of the above, plus the option to add 2 Solo Sessions, free access to over 20 classes, weekly live check-ins and a community to ask all of your questions, beam aboard the Starship.

Got questions?

Ask me!

Trust Yourself (& a free mini-book in celebration of 4 years!)

Darlings!

Yesterday was my FOUR year anniversary of being self-employed. I can barely believe it!

I've been reflecting back on what these four years of independence and exploration and self-sufficiency has taught me, and I keep coming back to this one thing: You just don't stop. I said it best on my first anniversary.

But other than not-stopping, you also have to constantly change, shift and grow. Your business doesn't necessarily need to grow, but YOU do. You experience things, learn from them, and then (this is the step it's easiest to skip), you have to apply those lessons to the next things you do.

And that – knowing that you're going to learn from everything, and then apply it to your next endeavor – that is what gives you the bravery to keep moving forward. So many of the creatives that write me are worried – worried they don't know enough, aren't good enough, are going to mess it all up. But, honey, of course you worry. Of course you don't know everything.

The trick to having a business (that pays your bills + supports your book habit) is to trust yourself.

Trust that you'll learn your lessons.

Trust that you'll do the next right thing, when the time comes. (It's ok if you don't know what that is ahead of time!)

Trust that, with regular review, your business will teach you absolutely everything you need to know.

I've been wondering how to celebrate this anniversary, and this morning (while I was crunching my quarterly numbers!) it hit me:

Help me celebrate by starting to trust yourself.

Take the first step to trusting yourself, by looking at what your business wants to teach you right now. In order to help you with that, I'm sharing one of the mini-books we use inside the Starship.

Today or tomorrow, hold a quarterly review, and listen in to your business. Notice what's working, what didn't, and what you want to change in the coming quarter. You can do this with the workbook, by downloading it here. (Totally free! That link opens up the PDF.)

And then, use what you learn to shape your upcoming path. Use it to move forward. Use it trust yourself.

PS. When I quit, I shared the full story here. 2 years later, I shared the Declarations of Independence of some of my favorite people.

The Starship is now boarding! Come aboard for regular review (like this! But with support!), weekly live chats, solo-sessions with me, and utter hilarity. Boarding closes THIS FRIDAY, so beam aboard here.

What works (for me): How I used automagical emails to double sales

As I've been writing about automagical email series, I've mentioned a few times that I'm such an evangalist because they work so amazingly well for my business. But I try to be careful to not assume that because it works well for me, that it'll work for anyone else. So I've experimented with clients and students and finally feel (after first falling in love with it over a year ago!) really sure that it can work for a wide variety of makers and their people.

As I wrote about those clients and examples, it occurred to me that, in hopes of avoiding comparison, I've been avoiding talking about my own business. I have to be honest, I have a lot of resistance to telling you how great it works for me. Not because I don't want to be helpful, but because I do not want to give the illusion that everything is awesome and magical and that if you just did one thing your life will change! But it also wouldn't be fair or honest to act like I don't know what works, or that I don't have a favorite tool.

Although there is no secret of success, and you have to explore and experiment to find what will work for your business…there are tools and strategies that have worked for me, that you might want to try.

So before we go further, take a deep breath. Think about what you really love about your business and what you want from it, right now. Keep that firmly in mind as you read through what's worked for me, ok? Don't get distracted by the success (and I do consider it a success) or start dreaming that this will change everything.

What works (for me)

The one thing I've created, that generates more sales than anything else I've ever done, is my automagical series to my Starship Early Boarding list. In the two Boardings since I created it, registrations have doubled.

These emails introduce you to real members of the Starship, and tell their success stories (increased sales, met goals, emergency surgery fundraising, etc) in their own words. I also include messages about who the Starship is for, and examples of what we talk about in our weekly chats.

The series isn't a trick. It isn't magic. But it works because it answers the real questions people really have (Is this for me? Who does this help? How does it work?), and it does it slowly, over time, allowing the reader to think and reflect. And unlike writing regular blog posts, or tweeting, or even my usual weekly newsletter, I don't have to struggle with moments of self-doubt, writer's block, or feeling self-promotional. The email series just happens automatically…so even in my slow, tired, low times, it still provides a service to the people who already want to join. It doesn't convince or cajole or “sell”. It's real and honest and organized, so that I know they have all the information they need and they don't have to wade around their unasked questions, trying to decide.

It works because it's focused on the almost-ready buyer and it honestly answers their questions.

What questions could you answer for your buyers?
If you're a bit fuzzy about that, let me help. I've compiled lessons on how to be effective, along with worksheets that will walk you through determine what to write and what questions to answer, in the class Creating Automagic Email Series. It's only $39 until Monday.

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