tara, Author at Tara Swiger

tara

The dangerous work we do

I have to admit, after writing last week's post about commitment and change, I was overwhelmed. I wanted to hit the delete button. I wanted it to all go away. I didn't want to put myself and my thoughts and my commitment out into the world. This was all a bad idea. How can I be so vulnerable so publicly?

But then I saw it all around me.

It's not just me, you feel it too. When you do your best work, when you launch it into the world. When you create hilarious videos, when you try something new. When you write a sales page that's real and true and you.

Suddenly, you're not so sure. You don't want to have it out there. You want to take it all back.

The thing is, we never talk about it, but this is dangerous work.

When you create from your you-ness, and share it with the world, and sell things that were created to hold meaning, it cracks you open. While you're working and building and improving, your work is shoving a big crowbar into your heart and prying open the door.

It may not happen at all once. It starts slow, with you finding the thing you love to make. You clarify it and improve it and add more and more of you and your vision and your style. And then to sell the thing, you're not just making it, but you're also talking about it, and you, with people who used to be strangers. You're sharing your inspiration, your thoughts, your passion. And suddenly you're sharing real parts of yourself through your art and through the conversations about the art.

When this fact dawns on you, it seems vulnerable and dangerous. If you're not expecting it, it can feel wrong. Like maybe you need to scale back, or sit back down or just shut up for a while. Maybe you're talking too much about yourself? Maybe your people don't really like what you're doing?

I've seen it happen again and again, when you share something really great, really magnificently you and people love it and react to it and you and you start feeling really heard, really understood….and then the weight of it all hits you.
Suddenly, you doubt it viciously.
Doubt that your thing was good or that people loved it or that any of this is worth anything.

And that's ok. That's an internal security system that's trying to keep things safe, and keep you protected.
But you don't have to believe it.
You can choose, instead of retreating, to step forward. To step towards more connection and more vulnerability and more of your best work. You don't have to get tangled up in doubt, you can make yourself safe and see the truth:
That what you did was brave, and you're feeling a little overwhelmed by it, but that you're on the right path.

It's when you step into more vulnerability, more heart that you create more connection. To your internal reserves and to the external world. To the people who love and appreciate you and your work, and to the inspiration all around you. You touch them (with your work), you let them touch you (and shape your work). As you sing this, of course.

This isn't easy. And I don't have the answers on how to do it (I'm still figuring it out for myself*).
What I know right now is that it happens. If you work through the system of sharing your thing, and you really experiment and find what works for you, you'll also open and unfurl.
So I wanted to let you know that, yeah, this is a thing. And if you're feeling it right now, it's ok.
You're on the right path. You are doing absolutely beautifully.

*I can not recommend this book enough if you're interested in how vulnerability creates connections.

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?

The Adventures

Welcome to a new little weekly thing, wherein I bring together the scattered pieces of a digital life. Each Friday I share pictures (from Instagram), my favorite links (I usually tweet them), and whatever else I think you’ll like. This is totally inspired by Colleen and Elise. See all the Adventures here.

The View

Farmer's market haul (we found a local grower of chile peppers) :: Quilting with The Doctor :: Roasting :: Anniversary dinner :: Thanks

The Places

Monday I started a Grand Experiment and asked you to join me. Have you?
After the Experiment started, the scaring-myself just didn't stop, with thoughts on commitments and crickets.
I've been using the Translation Guide on my client's work for years, but I finally shared how to make it work on your own, right here on Rena Tom's lovely site.

The Finds

I'm probably the last person in the world to discover the joy that is Dr. Who. My extended family has been into it since the 70s, and of course the whole knitting world has been laughing at the inside jokes since forever…but Kyla's claim that it really is that good finally flipped the switch. And it flipped hard. After just one week we're on Season 2 and going around saying “Exterminate!” in screechy scary voices. I might even be having dreams about it.
My new favorite thing is Literary Jukebox. A song paired with a quote. This is my favorite. But this one too. Just listen to them all, ok?
I found this great handmade bag, thanks to Twitter. But I still can't decide between it or this one.
A good chunk of this week was fixing up the email adventures I send out. Now you can get all the blog goodness in your inbox. Clickety Clack.

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?

Melissa makes a map

There's nothing so exciting as finding something you've made, in the wild. Living in someone else's life and totally transformed by them. And there's nothing I like better than seeing people's maps! I don't get to see many of these, because this is a personal process. But every once in a while a Starship Captain will share it as it unfolds, and it seriously the best part of my job.

Today, Melissa of Pressbound is sharing her map with us. You can read all about her process (trial + error!) on her blog*, but she also answered a few of my (squealing) questions:

*My favorite part of her post? She says “Tara and the Starship (this sounds like a band name, right?)” I am TOTALLY naming my band that!

What did you learn during the process of map-making?

It's really important to break every goal up piece by piece until you have small manageable tasks that can be completed within a day or two.

Before, I would state many smaller goals that would eventually lead to me achieving one larger goal and gave myself deadlines but didn't really think about the smaller steps beyond that. But that wasn't working well because I was constantly falling behind and unable to get everything done. I was overwhelming myself and expecting too much in too little of a time period. Once I broke it down and saw how many steps it would take towards achieving smaller goals/metrics that lead to the main goal, then I was able to determine what can actually happen in a certain amount of time (or what was unrealistic).

What surprised you?

The sense of clarity I felt once I finished my current revised map.

I've spent too much time flailing and not knowing what to focus on in my business. This map has given me the direction I needed and eased quite a bit of stress.

Now that it's been a few weeks, how's it going?

I've been working on developing 2 new card lines. I'm still in the design process. I've picked a launch date and gearing up for promoting the lines and developing a few launch offers. However, I'm realizing that maybe I should have broken some steps down even further and figured in marketing efforts into the map as well. A few products I thought I might develop may change into different products too. I'm realizing that this kind of map is organic and flexible and it's okay if some goals and actionable steps change as I move closer to my goal.

I asked Melissa these questions a few weeks ago, and since replying, she previewed one of the lines!

Have you made your own map?
If so, share it in the comments!

Commitments, change and the Great Blank Page of Life

Today's my 8th wedding anniversary.

I woke up this morning all glow-y just thinking about it. But why? We don't have special plans, or do anything crazy, but I love this day, nearly above all others.

I think it's because today is really about commitment.

I'm a fan of the Big Change. I'm changing things all the time. I moved states in 2 weeks. I quit my dayjob. I opened a yarn store. I closed the yarn store as soon as I realized it wasn't for me. I change how I sell yarn almost as often as I think about it.

Change, change, change – I like it!
(I'm singing this now*)
A year ago, when I was trying to decide between creating a line of mill-made yarn to wholesale OR to write a book, I had dinner with Cairene. I told her, I'm afraid that I'm afraid of commitment. That I won't pick either project because they're just so big and long-term. What if I'm holding myself back because I like to change everything all the time.
And she said something like, “You are NOT afraid of commitment. You're married! You're committed to your business, and to your community. You commit to the stuff that matters, so you'll make good decisions about all the other stuff.”

That has stuck with me, and I remember it when I have big scary choices. I worry that I change too much, that I'm missing out on the benefits of slow and steady…but that's not true. I'm just very picky about my commitments. Because commitments are big, and they give life shape.

Celebrating an anniversary is not about getting married, it's about the commitment I made, not to just not get divorced (that's the bare minimum for being married), but to love this person. To figure him out. To communicate, even when I don't want to. To be vulnerable. To look at my Stuff. To let him communicate, be vulnerable, to see his Stuff, to see his very heart and to choose to react with love and tenderness.

This commitment isn't just to Jay, it's a commitment to my life. To open up, to experience it all and still stay soft. To show up and choose love and tenderness. It's not a one time thing. Or an every-year thing.
It's a daily thing. I have to daily choose love, tenderness and understanding. In every area of my life, in every relationship (even the one with myself.)

And there's something special about committing to this anew each day. Choosing this commitment again and again provides a kind of constraint to my change. A healthy, creative constraint. It's like writing with a timer on – the constraint allows a great freedom, because you know you can do anything within that. It takes away the Great Blank Page of Life, and fills in the outline.

Knowing that you've got this outline, this shape, creates a safe space to move in. I can change everything about my life, every week if I want, I can explore new things, I can set off on adventures, because of this safety. And the really great thing: it doesn't take the government, or a church, or even flowers (but I did love my flowers).

All it takes is a commitment.
To love. To choose. To live and feel and still, love.

*Uh, the words to that song are “chain, chain, chain, chain of fools”…but I, until this very moment, thought she was saying “change, change, change”. Hmm.

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!

The Adventures

This week was full of real-life adventures (I traveled solo) and internal adventures (family) and crafty adventures (quilting).

The view

Farmer's Market score :: vegan smore's :: driving :: new shoes :: lamb! :: quilting :: singing along to FUN! :: finished quilt top

The finds

This week I was almost entirely offline. My short time online (1 hour every morning) was spent entirely inside my new class. Even so, I managed to stumble across a few internet wonders:

PW shares her 10 important things about blogging. If you thought about taking my blogging class, you'll definitely want to read this.
Kristy talks about the change (and our class!)
Thanks to Diane's post, I found this great post on internet jealousy.

If you're at Stitches Midwest, stop by booth 631 and say hello to my publisher! And get some lovely yarn from Starshipper Riin in booth 327.

What adventures did you have this week?

The Adventures

Welcome to a new little weekly thing, wherein I practice noticing the week's good and gathering it one place. Each Friday I share pictures (from Instagram), my favorite links (I usually tweet them), and whatever else I think you’ll like. This is totally inspired by Colleen and Elise.

This week was all about getting ready for next week's class. Not just because it's a lot of work, but because this is very rare for me. If you look around this site, you'll notice that there's not a lot going on publicly. I don't have one-on-one consulting open to the public, I no longer do small classes, and I don't have many products for sale. There's the book and Map-Making Guide (each around $25) and then…the Starship. Which is a one year, $500 investment. If you wanted to get my take on something, or just learn from one class, there's not a lot of opportunity for that. Monday's class is only the second one I've offered all year. But I do teach classes monthly, I answer people's questions daily, and I brainstorm and problem-solve live for over 30 craftybusinesses every week…inside the Starship or with my long-time clients.

So this, this 8 day, $50 class, which comes with lessons and one-on-one conversations and question-answering – it's all the awesomeness of the Starship, but in a tiny, easy to digest bite. That's great for you, but it's challenging for me. Its a bit vulnerable to put out a class that might or might not fill up. To dive into something short-term so fully and boldly. To risk and to pursue, without getting a big commitment in return. It's an opening up (and it's kinda uncomfortable).

But!

This opening is a fractal. Both a sign and cause for openings all over the place this week. I took part in my first on-air broadcast. In it, I spoke honestly about the wretchedly overwhelming year that came after I quit my dayjob. I encountered (gently, and quietly) a personal pain I've been avoiding for a long time. I cleared up and automated my finances, so that I'm making measurable movement towards my goals. I created (and found a sponsor for) a live event in Seattle.* I got my first royalty check.

Here's what all that opening looked like:

Goodness from the Farmer's Market :: Sliced peaches for this cobbler:: Knitting with my Starship Captain inspiration :: a homemade vegan coconut mocha frappuccinno to power the live video chat :: celebrating with Your Sister's Sister in the sofa cinema

The places + finds

The video chat! I learned SO much from the smarties who shared their stories. You can watch the whole thing at the bottom of this page.
Wanna get your own royalty check? My publisher is teaching a class called Get Published. Check it!
I wrote about Speaking your Customer's Language over at Rena Tom
Yesterday was National Ice Cream Sandwich Day! My favorite favorite vegan treat is this sandwich. YUM.
In my work with Vianza, I discovered and fell in love with the packaging vegan body goods from LOVE + TOAST. Then, yesterday, I stumbled on them at my grocery store and scored some shampoo. Today my hair smells (and feels) fabulous.

*Details of the Seattle event coming soon, but for now mark your PacNW calendars for September 1 at Noon.

A friendly reminder: If you want to craft a blog that works for your specific business, today's the last day to register for Crafting an Effective Blog. Don't dawdle!

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.

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