Weekly-ish notes on navigating big change

tara

Declare Your Independence

I quit my dayjob.
2 years ago today.

I consider this, July 1st, to be my personal Independence Day and I wanted to celebrate with you a free gift.

YOU

You have been the best part of the last 2 years.
Getting to know you on Twitter, meeting you for a coffee, exploring your craftybiz world with you…it's by FAR the highlight of the whole experience.

And because YOU are my favorite thing, I don't just want to reflect on MY independence, I want to help you claim your own independence.

(note: independence has nothing to do with self-employment and everything to do with choosing what you want)

As I've been reflecting on what this Independence has meant in my own business, I recognize that it is not just about the fun stuff. There have been some low lows.

This last year, Independence has also  been marked by a movement towards greater honesty.
Instead of only sharing the highs (I'm in books! I'm in magazines! I have fun!), I've made a conscious effort to share the lows…because that's the only way I know to be independent: to be completely honest that this isn't all fun + ease.

We (you + I) don't just focus on how to be successful, we get real about the hard bits, the challenging times and the downright overwhelming moments in running a crafty business.

Because that (honesty, clear eyes, full hearts) is how you claim your independence.

Because Independence isn't a one-time deal.

You don't just claim it and then possess it.
You have to daily declare it.
You have to build a life that supports it.
You have to own it, in every situation.

 

Independence = Commitment + Permission + Hope

I talked about commitment in last year's Independence Day video, so today I want to share Permission + Hope.

Permission

It's already yours. You are independent. You can be independent. You don't have to earn it, you don't have to try to deserve it.

You already do.

Hope

The most inspiring, hope-filled resource I have is my support network. My friends, mentors, Starship-ers, and encouragers.

They give me daily hope + giggles, so I turned to them for YOU.
I asked them to share their own Declarations of Independence in the hope that it would inspire you to stake your claim.

You can download the collection of  Declarations of Independence right here.

(nope, no need to sign up for anything!)

Feel free to share it wherever you like, however you want.

Wishing you Independence and community in the coming year!

 

Everything is Everything

Let's start with some tunes (hit play while you read!)

This has been a weird month.

Launching the Starship.
Turning 29.
Getting knocked out for a whole work week by the flu.
Going out of town for a week (family stuff!), with only my phone for internet access.

And instead of jumping into my work (my love!) every chance I get, I find myself reading, writing, painting.
I keep burying myself in painting books, rock autobiographies and artist blogs.
I'm taking an online painting class.
I'm listening to podcasts (This American Life, Creative Living).

What I'm not doing is writing about business or planning a class or making endless yards of yarn.
For the first time in….2 years?!

It's not just part of the creative cycle (because I'm doing lots of creative work, it's just not my usual)…it's a total shift in focus.

Yesterday, it really freaked me out.

What's going on? Did I lose the CraftyBiz love?
But I still sat down with a painterly book and just decided to trust myself.
If what I'm craving is paint + words, it must be what I need.

And sure enough, at 1am last night (this morning?) I wasn't sleeping, I was up planning a big Thank You gift (for you!) and my next craftybiz project. I was overflowing with ideas. I was back in the saddle.

As I pondered the shift this morning (as I poured over my new favorite artist's site), I realized: Everything is Everything.

Painting, writing, crafting businesses, making yarn: it's all the same. It's all creativity. Everything needs space and time (and health!) and patience and well-refilling.

Or as Havi says, There is no biggification without destuckification.

I can't build my own business (or help you with yours!) unless I work though my stuff. Whether that's family stuff, writing stuff, getting inspired stuff or just painting my little heart out….everything is everything.
It all comes back to build a stronger business, to create more inspired help for your biz.

What do you need right now?
What's asking for your attention (even if it's not what you're “supposed” to do?) Is it possible that indulging might be just what your business needs?

Insanely specific marketing advice

This is dedicated to the girls on the Facebook page who asked for a bit o help breaking down the “Do Some Marketing” on their To Do List.

 

What do you do when you know you should do “marketing” but you don't know what that is?

Get specific

What does your business need right now?

Better connection with your people?
More traffic of the right people?
More repeat business?

If your answer was “more sales!” you're not being specific enough.

Where do you want those sales to come from?
People who already follow you on Twitter or Facebook?
Brand new people?
Past customers?

Hint: Almost every craft business can benefit MORE (quickly and with better results) from getting in touch with past customers.

But because I promised specific help, let's look at how to get in touch with past customers.

IF that's what your business needs next, you can do it under 2 hours:

  1. Set up an email newsletter list (but give it a spiffier name than “newsletter”…is it a love letter? a diatribe? a missive of magnificence? call it that!). I like MailChimp.
  2. Set up your welcome message and include something interesting in your “confirm” email (that's the message they get when they confirm their subscription)…a coupon, free shipping, access to a special just-for-them product.
  3. Email your past 5 customers (one by one! don't spam them!) and ask them something about what they bought (be specific!).
    Tell them you want to thank them for their support so you're putting together a sneak peek behind-the-scenes bi-weekly (or monthly, or random) email and they'll get (fill in the blank) for signing up.
    Include a direct link to the sign-up page for your newsletter (Mailchimp makes this automagically, look for it under “forms” for your list).
  4. Create a draft of an email that you are going to send to EVERY new customer. In it, tell them when their item will ship and how you'll send it. Thank them! Then tell them that you've created a missive of magnificence just for past customers and they'll get  (fill in the blank) as a thank you. Send this email to every customer, as soon as you receive their order.
  5. As often as you've promised, send a sweet message thanking your people, asking for their input and sharing something secretly delightful about your business (a gorgeous inspiration photo, something that triggered your latest epiphany). Make it friendly, useful or inspiring, and relevant to what you make.

Remember!

This will only work if it's suited to your business and your people. Before you move forward with ANY to-do on your marketing list, make sure that it will bring you closer to your overall goal…don't just do it because someone tells you it will work.

Want more specific yet personalize-able help for navigating your marketing space? Check out the Starship, where we have a whole class on making a non-sucky newsletters.

 

I fell overboard..

I built a beautiful Starship.
I was in love with it and excited and could not wait to tell everyone about it.

I had grand plans for a fabulous online-birthday party for myself. I was going to announce a really great gift (for you!) and then spend all the next week writing about what the Starship is like on the inside.

And then I fell off the edge of my world.

I took 2 days off for my birthday (fun! yay!) and then I got ridiculously sick.
Flu-sick. Fever-sick. Can't-get-out-of-bed sick.

For over a week.

And the worst part was: I had no energy. No will.
I had NO desire to write, to help, to celebrate the Starship.
No desire to do anything.

And I'm still not back yet.

I'm still stuffy and fluffy-headed.
Still sleepy and foggy.

I still don't have my excitement back.
I know it's part of the cycle.
I remember that.
The Starship help me remembers that.

But I miss it.
I miss being excited about the Starship.
I miss feeling like myself.

I just wanted to crawl out of my nest of blankets and tell you that if you fell overboard, or if you're tired, or if you're just not excited right now: It's ok.

Give yourself a break.
Rest, drink water, take your time.

It will come back.
And when it does, I'll see you here.

 

 

PS. I am feeling well enough (and the stirrings of excitement) about our FIRST call in the Starship, Wednesday at 3pm EST.
In case you missed the excitements over the Starship, you may want to beam up before the call.

Why I’m giving it all away

The Starship has taken longer to come together than anything I've ever done.

I did it intentionally (got the idea in April, but waited to make it public until June) because I wanted to give it space to grow and see what it would become.

(take the name for example…it was originally a Bounce House. Which is fun, but a Starship is SO MUCH better!)

The side effect of all this extra time is that I got all kinds of feedback on it. Slowly, from people I trusted.

Most everybody said something like

This is a splendid offer, Tara. Starship! And I love the way you express the goodness on this page. Yummy-yum, my friend.

or

OMG. I love the idea of a Starship.

Insanely fabulous.

And well, that was pretty awesome.

But a few people (even my students!) said something like

Whoa! That's a lot of stuff! Are you sure you want to give access to EVERYTHING you're going to create this year?

WHY?

I never for a minute wavered (the Starship just felt SO GOOD)..but I did wonder: why am I doing this?

I've spent the last few weeks writing and thinking and talking about it: why in the world did I built a Starship?

Intense, yet fleeting

A live class is deliciously intense, focused burst of attention on your business. It's a moment of alignment between intention and action.
Everything comes together. BAM!

And I love being a part of that.

But I am not a one night stand.

I'm in it, here with you, for the long haul.

I needed our interaction, our relationship to take place in a way that reflected that.

Your passion for your craft isn't a one night stand either.

Those moments of clarity are sublime.
But your business is more than a few moments.

It's every day.
It's choosing to align your intention with your actions every day.
It's choosing movement.
It's choosing life.
It's choosing to go on an adventure…a continuing mission…a trek.

That trek, that commitment, needs the appropriate space and an every once-in-a-while class isn't the right space.

A starship is just the right size for a trek.

You have time to move in, space to stretch your legs, a holodeck to relax in (yes, we do have a holodeck), continuing missions and new flight logs to keep you focused and on track.

So that's it, that's the reason: I've putting everything I've made in the last year, every thing I WILL make in Starship because I want you to fall in love with your craftybiz and spend the rest of your life with it.
I want some of your last thoughts about your biz to be, “I have been and always will be, your friend”

 

(Ok, I just threw that last sentence in there because I am ALWAYS looking for an excuse to say that. Best movie line ever! I cry every time! )

Welcome to Your World

Your business isn’t a thing on your to do list.
And it’s not a job.
It’s not a system (although it has systems) or a struggle.

Your business is a world.
A full-formed, bursting with adventure universe.

That world comes into being the moment you made the decision, the moment you committed to creating it.
Every item you’ve crafted, every sale you’ve made has shaped your world.
Even though you are the one building it, you still need to explore it.

While you weren’t looking, it grew residents (your right people, your encouragers). It developed a currency (based on your pricing) and it developed a culture with customs, traditions and language.

It’s a lovely place, really.

It’s filled with your beautifully crafted items, your people, your money.
Have you explored it lately?
Plumbed it’s depths to see what else you can create for it?
To see how you can better serve the people (thus growing the population and the treasury)?

If you’d like to explore deeper, create your own maps and guidebooks, I invite you aboard the Starship.

To celebrate this site’s one year anniversary, I’m throwing a  launching brunch for the Starship.

I’m cracking champagne over the bow, I’m making pancakes in the replicator.

You can join me in the Starship, of course, but you can also celebrate with me in the comments, on Twitter, and in the SparklePointers.

Let’s craft your independence.

(If you're reading via email or reader, click through to see the changes!)

One year ago, I guided this site into the world.
I wrote a mini-festo, embracing my unapologetically wonky nature.

18 months ago, I began teaching classes for craftybizes.
I didn't plan on doing more than one, but as my inbox filled up with questions, I thought, there's got to be a better way to share the answers. So I taught a class and was hooked.

I was soon annoying my yarn-buying people by talking to the biz-class-buying people, so I split the craftybiz stuff from the yarn stuff.

And I had no idea what I was doing.

I had a vague feeling that I might teach more classes.
I thought we might explore some non-yarn stuff.

I didn't know I was crafting a community.
I didn't know I was leading an adventure.

In the last year, you've taught me LOTS (more on that, Friday).
And together, we built something so beautiful I can't look directly at it without going blind (from the tears).

To reflect those changes and acknowledge that we are each, together, crafting our independence, I've changed the site name and my twitter handle (yep, I'm @taraswiger now, because it's time to stop hiding behind my alter ego).

If I had a new mini-festo, for this next part of the journey, it would say this:

There isn't a right answer.
This is all a big adventure.
By engaging with the adventure, by exploring your own world, you are crafting independence.

We'll be talking more about this in the coming days, but one of the easiest way I'm shifting the focus is with the banners.

The banners will rotate, but I thought you might like to see them all at once, along with a bit about each photo (yep, I took 'em all).

This picture was taken for the Happy Hat pattern, but I love the clear trail in front of me.
Obviously I didn't take this one, Jay did.

This is Mt. Ranier, as snapped through my airplane window.
I love the feeling of possibility I always get in an airplane.

The most bittersweet of all the images, this is a picture out the front door of my former home. The one I moved into on my first day of self-employment, the one that was burglarized three times, the one I had to move out of suddenly and painfully.

Taken from the train from Seattle to Portland, I'm pretty sure this is right outside of Portland. This was the first leg of a loooong train ride all the way to San Diego…one of the most adventurous (aka: hard) trips I've taken.

This is a snippet from my journal…a letter I wrote to you. It says, “I have hope. Clean, unfettered, feathery hope. For you.”

This path curves around my favorite blueberry farm, in the mountains.

nyc skyline banner

The Manhattan skyline, as seen as I drove from Brooklyn to Queens for the Bust Craftacular last September. The day before I got up early to walk across the Brooklyn Bridge because I heard the view was gorgeous. Surprise! the fog was so thick I couldn't see my hand in front of me, let alone the skyline!
But as I drove to the show the next morning, I finally got it. The view was amazing, even if I did have to watch the stop + go traffic while clicking my phone camera. Safety first!

And that's it for memories of adventures, but it's just the beginning of a fun week.

To celebrate this site’s one year anniversary, I’m throwing a  launching brunch for the Starship.

I’m cracking champagne over the bow, I’m making pancakes in the replicator.

You can join me in the Starship (tomorrow!), but you can also celebrate with me in the comments, on Twitter, and in the SparklePointers.

Tomorrow, I'll invite you to the brunch; Thursday I’ll explain WHY I’m giving everything I made in the last year away for less than ½ priced; and  Friday (my birthday!) I’m throwing a little birthday party with an awesome gift for you.

I’m so bad…

Do you ever say that to yourself?

When you know you should be doing one thing, but instead do another?
When you know what to do to move your business forward and just don't do it?
When you feel guilty for not doing better?

In our recent Starship chat, “I'm so bad” jumped out at me.  I heard it (in some form or another) from everyone.
From hard-working, thriving mavens.
From successful, I can't fulfill demand crafters.
From just getting started, don't know where to go next adventurers.

I thought (and said): You're doing what you can. This takes time and you're on the path. You might not be there yet, but you ARE taking steps to get you there.

And then, out of town visiting my mother-in-law for her birthday this weekend, I had a seizure of panic on Sunday morning. I turned to my husband and said, “If I was only working harder, I wouldn't feel so bad about taking this weekend off. If only I got more done last week! Ugh, I just feel awful!”

Jay, wonder-hub that he is, said, “You couldn't do anymore. What you're doing is enough. And you know it. You know that longer hours and more work doesn't lead to better work or more sales. It just wears you out.”

He was convincing and I was calmed, but I got to wondering, where does this come from?

Is there some gold standard of productivity, some level of business that we're all striving for? If so, where in the heck did it come from?

More importantly,  how did it insinuate itself into my relaxed, experiment-rich, journey of a business?

I find there's a tension (for some of us) between wanting to thrive, to grow, to move AND wanting to keep a Sabbath, to respect the cycle, to grow organically.

We worry that we're not doing, being, pushing enough while also knowing we need naps, floor stretches, and novel-reading.

We embrace the tenets of self-care and rejuvination when we're tired and burnt out, but rush back to pushing and judging when we're short on cash.

Clearly, an experiment is order.

But what?

What would help YOU remember that by going slow, taking time, taking naps you are refilling the well, not shirking your duty?

Share your thoughts in the comments and we'll build an experiment together.

Laila’s crafting a community-lovin’ business

The concept of “creating community” can be tricky. I asked Laila, who is the creative genius of LaiGrai to give us her insights, because the Ravelry group for fans of her work is seriously fun place. Unlike a lot of other groups based on a shared passion for an artist's yarn (even mine), hers is filled with fun, sillyness and non-stop interaction.

Long before I knew I was going to create my own little community of craftybiz'ers (the super-awesome gathering place is coming in just! 4! weeks!), I was curious about Laila's and so I shot her these questions.

 

(because I find everything about Laila completely adorable, I'm keeping her answers in her own voice + style of writing. I know you're going to fall in love with her!)

Laila, your Ravelry group, which celebrates your handmade yarn and spinning fiber is seriously rocking.
Has it always been like this?

In short, yes and no.

Let's start from the beginning.

Businesses aren't islands- we all help each other. so from the very start, i had the aid and wonderful support of my first yarn mentor rachel-marie. rachel marie wanted to help me get my newly formed group going.

we kicked it off with a big shared knit-along … bringing in a THIRD person,  melissa of yearofthegoat, by deciding to use her “the medium is the message” tunic sweater as our knit-along pattern.

it was completely unintentional- it wasn't like, i'll do this KAL and people will flock to me- or anything. it started that rachel & i were going to work through the pattern together and people saw our photos on flickr and wanted to make it too- so we put up a thread and more and more people joined… it felt SO great!! many people came out of lurking + rachel marie brought her base + melissa helped point people our way with mentioning our KAL & my group in a magazine… so that was the start of my group becoming “active”!

next, a knit-along-er who made the sweater with us, { & who would later become one of my close yarn friends}, drucilla pettibone, suggested that i host/participate in the tour de fleece in 2009, something i had never really heard about… so just like that, we started a tour thread seeing if anyone was interested in doing this crazy thing? the tour  team was born – that is sort of how i reached my core group of fiber friends,

the first team had a full pirate theme and i custom made over 20 ravatars (avatars for Ravelry) in photoshop- everyone picked monikers like “marooned hot pants”  – it was a hilarious good time and that was the first thread that reached over 1000 posts!!

now i host a team annually, this july will be our 3rd year.

there is a lot of silliness that happens in the group and we sort of feed off each other with that- nothing is too silly for us.

as a way to pay it forward with all the help i received, i keep my group super super OPEN to any and all fiberistas looking for a place where members are already active & looking to host a KAL {maybe as a way to test a pattern, or just for fun}

last year, rachel-marie was hosting a handspun sock-along (one of the owner's of webs was participating!) and rachel was hosting a sweater-along. this year- currently dani is hosting a shawl-a-month-along

The  KALs (knitalongs) are open-ended so the most recent couple are STICKIED to the top of the board but the others are not archived so anyone can pop in & use all our past comments as helpful bits on how to get past a tricky spot that had the rest of us stumped (or  more like, just me ;)) or to revive a KAL that petered out.

it is more fun that way- no deadlines to stress over, make what you want..when you want it!!  we also have a thread dedicated to just SUGGESTING what we want to make next called “future fun-alongs”

Do you think a lot about “building community” or has it happened organically?

so yes, it has happened organically- but also because i realized that what makes me most happy about being a fiberista is the community. and that is beyond etsy, beyond ravelry even, i spend every day corresponding and emailing the friendliest (!!) knitters and spinners and chatting about fibers. i love talking about yarns and wool breeds and even just seeing what people are creating.. another thing that keeps it open and friendly is that i never force anyone to use only my fibers- b/c that's not the point.  so despite it having the most like ME-ME-ME name ever “i love lai grai” – it is really way way way way more than that! it should be called- “i love talking to like minded spinners, knitters, crocheters, who are funny and witty and just want to be able share jokes and humor and recent projects and new fiber acquisitions and of course, gab about the latest fiber club shipment, or show what just came out of your dyepots!”

i don't ever want it to feel like- THIS IS ME BEING PROMOTIONAL. b/c it was never about that- i love that it stays true to what the rav boards are… FORUMS! anyone can start a topic- i love that there are definitely ancient threads, showing my history- i love that threads can get buried and pop! back to the top after a long hiatus and i'm like, oh i totally forgot we had a “what are you watching?” tv thread! i love the IT crowd, it's great to see that my friend dani's kids do too! haha, and we are ALL true blood fans! tara- you and i discussed our love for HIMYM! 🙂  (we also have a what are you reading thread + a what are you listening to music thread!)

it's just a place to come and chat and sometimes bitch and always laugh and be super super friendly!

Most everyone you listed here, the most active community members, actually sell what you sell (as do I!)…but there's no hint of competition in your description.

sure, technically we are all in “competition” with one another, but i just DON'T see them as that- they are truly my friends.  some of us talk every day. we try to plan fun things to share together. lacey dished how she works in those awesome knitted icords, and dani shared her awesome triloom photos, and faun shows peeks at some of the awesome flea market finds she digs up (for crazy cheap too!!) and despite them having their OWN ravelry groups- i like that we are able to cross over without being like … oh gawd, stop pushing your fiber in my group (well they never do that anyway, and certainly aren't PUSHY) but still, i would LOVE if one of my customers bought from them- i support all their shops – why shouldn't my customers?

i feel like there is plenty of fiber-love to go around! the more you give, the more you receive. b/c i have their backs- they have mine & we never planned that- we just became pals and WANTED to spin-along together or knit-along together. but then, i have to step back and remember that each of these gals are ROCK STARS, i am honored that we get to be pals and i love that my ravelry group makes it even easier to connect with even more yarnies like them- b/c i am ALWAYS open to making more fiber friends! 🙂

It seems (from your explanation), that the steps to growing your community were:

1. Partner with others in the community
2. Create a space where everyone (even “competitors”) are welcome
3. encourage sillyness, inside jokes and fun!

yes!

partnering with others & embracing competitors are kinda the same! they go hand in hand.

plus, yes- silliness, inside jokes, fun are crucial. start with a core group of 5-10 participants that are really active + good friends.

reach out to include others- that means -ALONGS! spin alongs, knit alongs, hug alongs, laugh alongs! those are really the cornerstone foundations of a fun group.

try to create some base rules, but keep it loose. by not demanding that everyone only use my fiber- it made more people feel able to be included without financial pressure.
also, create some threads that are not about fiber/yarn/knitting/spinning. yes we all love those things- but what ELSE do we have in common?
a love for true blood? AWESOME!
a hankering for british comedians? yes please!
coffee addicts not-so-anonymous? yes, yes, we are all that too!

and like you always say, tara, let YOU shine through and they will come & want to hang!

 

A huge thanks to laila for giving us a look into how she's done it.

Even though she's a knitter + talked about knit-alongs, I'm certain you can adapt them to fit your own craftybiz.

What bit of community-lovin' can you apply today?
Tell us about in the comments!

 

(all images courtesy of LaiGrai.com)

In which sparkly shoes and a handknit invisibility cloak make taxes funner

Last week I had to do something really unpleasant (it had to do with taxes).

Even though I knew the worst-case-scenario was not actually all that bad, I still couldn't get over the really overwhelming sense of doomdoomdoom.
And it was manifesting in a crazy case of shaky hands and shaky voice.

I did not want to do this thing with my Minnie Mouse voice. I did not want to burst into tears.
This thing totally did not deserve tears (really, it wasn't that big a deal).

I wanted to feel calm and centered and relaxed.

So I sat in the car, outside the office with my journal and asked (and answered) some questions. Sort of like Havi's stone-skipping questions, but quick and shallow.

These questions could be applied to anything unpleasant and maybe make it slightly more fun.

Can I learn something more about what to expect, so I feel better prepared?
Can I make this any quicker?
Can I make this more fun?
Can I make this more silly?
What can I notice, right now?

My answers, for this specific unpleasantness:

Can I learn more?

Yes, I had all my paperwork ready and knew what to expect…but I still felt shaky.

Can I make this quicker?

Actually, no. I have to wait until they call my name

Can I make this more fun?

Grumpy Tara says…no.

Can I make this silly?

Only in my imagination.
What if my sparkly shoes were blindingly sparkly? What if they lit up the whole room?
What if my favorite Polymath Designs earrings were actually deflector shiels? None shall pass!
What if my handknit shawl was really an inivisiblity cloak? And the people who are stressing me out can't see my shakiness through it's stunning beauty?

My @spiralshannon earrings (which secretly double as negativity shields)
My suddenly-magical outfit.

What can I notice?

The cherry blossoms out the window. I'll take a picture of them when I'm done.

 

I'd love to know how you could use the questions (or your own!). If you're going through some unpleasantness, share your own answers in the comments.

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