Explore YOUR Business

What you “should” have done. {PODCAST}

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Inspired by your response to last week's email, let's talk about how to deal with the frustration of what you “should” have done already – the business you should have, the progress you should have made, where you should be. The best way to deal with this frustration: Perspective. In today's episode, I'll share a few ways to get perspective:

The truth about how long it takes for other people.
A birthday-inspired list of what you've done.
Review your own goals.
Dedicate yourself to taking action. (Make a map, if you don't know what to do.)

Links mentioned

How to listen

You can subscribe to it on iTunes (If you do, leave a review!)
You can listen to it using the player above or download it.
Subscribe or listen via Stitcher (or subscribe in whatever you use for podcasts – just search “Explore Your Enthusiasm” and it should pop up!).
Find all the other episodes here.

Your Turn!

What have you accomplished this year? How has this shifted your perspective?

Fear + Marketing {PODCAST}

Podcast: Play in new window | Download

What's keeping you from sharing your work with the people who will love it?

Fear that:

It takes too much time?
It might not work?
You'll look bad?
Everyone will hate it (you?!)?

In this week's episode of Explore Your Enthusiasm, I share my own fear around marketing (it ain't pretty) and share three tools for getting past the fear and communicating with the people who will love your work.

Links I mention:

My new class (closes Friday!)
Leonie's Acadamy (the only way to get her Double Your Biz Intensive)

How to listen

You can listen to it using the player above or download it.
You can subscribe to it on iTunes or via Stitcher (or subscribe in whatever you use for podcasts – just search “Explore Your Enthusiasm” and it should pop up!).

Find all the podcast episodes here.

What have you been avoiding? What wonderful things could it bring into your life?

Know what to say

Last week we talked about the struggle to know what to DO with your marketing, so today let's handle it's twin: what to SAY when marketing your business.

Do you remember when you first joined Twitter, Facebook or Instagram and you wondered: What do I write? What do I put on here? If you're using the tools for your personal life, it's simple – you share what you want to share, with the people you want to share it with.

But if you're using social media as a tool for your business, the issue requires a bit more thought and planning. You'll still say what you want…but what DO you want to say? What do you want these specific people (your followers) to know about your work or about you? What do they need to know?

Everything you share online builds a relationship with the reader and it establishes who you are, as a business and a human (in the same way that everything you say in real life to someone builds a relationship and communicates who you are.)
It's easy to get stuck in a swirl over this (what should I saaaaay?) or to avoid the question all together and just default to the easiest thing (tweeting your Etsy listings with no personality). It bums me out when I see creatives with amazing work doing either, because it's not too hard find the solution.

Start with these two questions:

What is my message and how do I communicate that here?
Where is this reader on my Customer Path and what would she need to know to move forward (closer to buying or connecting)?

What is my message?

You'll learn exactly how to craft your message (and convert it to all possible situations) in my book, but you can start by asking yourself:

What do I stand for?
What do I provide to my customer? (ie, it's more than art or jewlery – it's beauty, belonging, joy, etc)

Now, how can you communicate that on this particular tool? What would you share to bring more of that quality into your reader's lives?

Where is the reader on my Customer Path?

You see, what you say depends on who you're saying it to. Is she following you on Twitter because she wants to remember to buy in the future? Does she love your writing and want to keep up to date? Or is she just discovering you via someone else's retweet?
This might seem overwhelming, but it helps to put it in a framework: everyone who is reading, following, “liking” you on your blog, newsletter, social media is connecting with you – and over time, they're coming closer and closer. In other words, they're on a Customer Path.
What you say moves them down the path, and the more you understand their needs at each point at the path, the easier time you'll have figuring out what to say.

If you want to know what to say, and feel confident it's effective in connecting with potential customers, join me to Craft Your Customer Path. Registration closes Friday!

What are you saying? What are you communicating in your marketing?

Do you know what you’re doing?

One of the comments I get most often from makers, when we chat about marketing, is that they just don't know what to DO.

Should I bother with a Facebook page?
How important is it to have an email list?
Am I blogging right?

This leads to scattershot marketing. They don't know what to do after they list a new product. They don't know what to tweet. They don't know if any of it is worth it. Each day is filled with frustrating not-knowing and doubt.

Knowing what to do is (or being able to figure it out) is a business-transforming skill.

It saves you time, energy and stress. It keeps you enthusiastic and moving along joyfully.
Getting stuck in a swirl of “What should I do?” is the ultimate momentum killer!

But there's no easy answer to what you should do.

When you work with me, I don't tell you. (And you should probably avoid any one-size-fits-all advice that purports to know exactly what everyone should do.)
Instead, it's a process of discovery.
Instead, we look not at this ONE thing (email list, social media, blog) but at the overall picture of your Customer Path.

I'm always asking clients: How does this fit on your Customer Path?

And it's that simple. Once you know your Customer Path, you know just what to do. Whether you're listing an item on Etsy, preparing for a craft show, or building your email list, your Customer Path will inform what you do.

What would change in your biz if you knew what to do in your marketing?

Want more?
You can read this and this to get you started. Then, check out the new class that will help you order your marketing into a cohesive Customer Path!

Reframe it: A Podcast

Podcast: Play in new window | Download

One of my most-used tools with clients is the simple reframe. When you're feeling stuck or disappointed in your creative business, taking a moment to look at the situation from another point of view can help you see possibilities and opportunities.

As much as we'd like business to be a series of logical decisions, the fact is we get distracted, disappointed, and doubt creeps in. In order to stop ourselves from giving up too soon, or jumping around too much, we can take a moment to reframe the situation by asking one of these questions:

What else is true?*
Is there another way?

*Hat tip to Havi for teaching me this question.

Reframing the situation by asking these questions allows us to look at the situation from another perspective. From this perspective, we can find a solution or create a new plan. From there, you can take action.

How to listen

You can listen to it using the player above or download it.
You can subscribe to it on iTunes here or via Stitcher here (or subscribe in whatever you use for podcasts – just search “Explore Your Enthusiasm” and it should pop up!).

Your turn!

What is one situation in your business where you feel stuck?
Reframe it!
Now, what's one action you can take, from this new perspective? Leave a comment below sharing the action you'll take this week.

Podcast: Enthusiasm – your business needs it

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Welcome to the second episode of Explore Your Enthusiasm!

This week we're talking about ENTHUSIASM. It's right there in the name of the podcast + it's a vital tool in a sustainable business. We'll cover why it matters, what to do when you don't have any, how you can learn from your craft, and how to make even the most boring tasks more fun. I also share a bit about my own crafting funks, some burn-out horror stories and what I've learned when I follow the enthusiasm in my own business.

Links mentioned in the podcasts

How to listen

You can listen to it using the player above or download it. (If you’re reading this via email, you may need to click through.)
You can subscribe to it on iTunes here or via Stitcher here (or subscribe in whatever you use for podcasts – just search “Explore Your Enthusiasm” and it should pop up!).
Find all the other podcasts here.

Your turn!

How do you follow your enthusiasm in your business? What have you learned?
If you're feeling burned out or bored, how are you going to start experimenting with your enthusiasm?

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'm so grateful for…

A sweet, calm Easter.
A great live workshop at Haywood Community College
Feeling the momentum + following it.
My upcoming, massively anticipated trip
Your sweet comments to my new podcast! Thanks!

The Finds:

I’m reading:

I love that Sarah is being totally honest about why she writes what she writes on her mega-popular blog.
“Don't downsize your joy.” by Alex Franzen
This is your brain on knitting.

I’m eating:

This raw, vegan cheesecake turned out deliciously, but terribly flat (my pan was too big)
Pad Thai (of course!)
Pizza bowl from Isa Does It
Chai Pani's Vegetarian Thali, post-workshop

In case you missed it…it was Podcast Week!

I announced my newest project: A podcast!
The 5 podcasts I listen to every week
How to launch your own podcast, in one week.

What adventures have you had?

How to launch a podcast in one week

I mentioned yesterday that I love podcasts and that I've long wanted to start my own. The truth is, I started working on one THREE years ago. In 2011, I took a great class with Diane, that taught me everything I needed to know about starting a podcast. I bought a travel mic. I sent a million emails to friends about what I wanted the podcast to be. When I went to Chicago on a trip for a client, I interviewed two of my long-time fave crafters (their interviews will eventually be on the podcast).

But then..the idea withered. I know myself: I failed to follow my enthusiasm and just make it, so I got bogged down in the details and never moved forward.

When the idea hit me again I sat right down and wrote out all the reasons I shouldn't do it (that's a short list). And then I wrote all the reasons I should do it. I wrote what the podcast would be about. I wrote a rough outline of my first podcast. And I sent an email to Heather asking if I had the different steps of it right.

The next Monday, I decided: Yes, I'm going to do this project. I recorded the audio, recorded an intro, edited it together and by Thursday had it all uploaded and ready to launch. The day after I got everything set up, Elise wrote this great post about how to launch a podcast on a Mac. I use a slightly different workflow and set of tools, so I wanted to share that with you.

This is rather long, so instead of reading it all and getting overwhelmed, I strongly recommend that you save it (maybe pin it?) and open it back up when you're ready to start your podcast.

Here's an overview of how each episode moves from your brain into your listener's devices:

You record it, edit it + send it to where it will live on the web (where iTunes will “read” it from).
You write the summary + title, then publish the episode on that platform (or you schedule it for the future).
When it goes live, iTunes (+ all other podcast readers) will “catch” the feed and post it on their site with the information.
Subscribers will magically have the episode!

How to launch a podcast in a week.

Decide what you want to talk about.
Make a big list of possible topics. Figure out who you're making this for and what you want to say. (You could use Craft an Effective Blog to generate topic ideas!) Now, summarize all that for your first episode. Listen to a few of your favorite podcasts to get a feel for the organization of it all. What do they say at the beginning? The end? Write down a general outline of what you want to say (be as scripted or as free-flowing as you like).
Pick a name.
This took me forever, but don't stress about it. If your blog has a name, go with that. If your Etsy shop has a name, go with that. (I'm just “Tara Swiger” everywhere, so I had to find something new.)
Make a cover image.
It needs to be 1400×1400 and still look good at 150×150. If you're totally new to image design, hire someone. (This should be pretty inexpensive. You can find lots of designers here.) Or just put the name of your podcast on a colored background. Really.
Set up your recording + editing + feed.
-Set up an account on Libsyn (I went with the cheapest: $5/mo). Put the name of your podcast and the summary in there.
-Set up an account on Auphonic (free!) then download the Auphonic phone app.
-Go to the “services” page on Auphonic and add your Libsyn account. This will send all of your episode to Libsyn. (This makes everything so super easy.)
-Also set it up to send recordings to your Dropbox/fttp/computer (wherever you wanna save your files).
Record your first episode.
-Open the Auphonic app and click the big Record button and start talking. I recorded the first episode ON MY PHONE.
-Save the recording + name it.
-If you want an intro and outro to be the same on every episode, record each of those and save them.
– After you're done recording, click “Start Production” on your episode file. (You can do this on your phone, or on the web app.) If you recorded an intro and outro, put those in the intro and outro section. On this production page, you'll name the episode, write a summary, etc. Be sure you've selected Libsyn in the outgoing file, so it's sent automatically.
-Click “Start Production” at the bottom of this page. Your file will be edited + sent to Libsyn. Yay! You're all done creating the audio file!
Your episode will soon be in your Libsyn account.
If you need to, edit the title, summary, etc and publish it (or schedule it).
Submit your feed to iTunes!
Libsyn creates the feed with all the details you've already put in, so you just need to copy + paste the feed onto iTunes. (Your feed will look something like taraswiger.libsyn.com/feed).
Wait anxiously for their approval.
Share it with your friends + customers!

This list may seem long, but none of the technical things will take any more than 10-15 minutes each.

Once you've done this the first time, you only need to do Step #5 + #6 for all future episodes. Two steps!

What takes the longest: YOU – deciding on what you want to say, what you want to call it and how you want to describe it!

Here's how it worked for me, in a normal work week where I did a zillion other things, including proposing and landing a new contract for a teaching opportunity.

Monday: Decided on a whim what it would be all about (after three years of thinking about it on and off).

Tuesday: Set up all accounts, made image (with a name I decided to change), recorded intro (with the wrong name), recorded first episode.

Wednesday: Did lots of other work. On my breaks, turned my YouTube videos into podcast episodes.*

Thursday: Asked Twitter what to name it. Decided on something else entirely. Redid the image with the new name. Rerecorded intro. Re-edited first episode (I just sent the original file back through Auphonic, attaching the new intro + outro files) – all from my phone. Edited the feed page with a longer description. Submitted the feed to iTunes.

Friday: Waited! When I got the “you've been approved” email, I sent the link to two friends to test. Tested it on Jay's phone with the Podcasts app. Tested in on my phone with Downcast. Wrote the introductory blog post. Danced around!

*This took me some research, so let me tell you how I did it.

How to turn your own YouTube video into an audio podcast:

From your Video Manager page on YouTube, download your video as an MP4.
In Auphonic, add the MP4 as your audio file. Fill out the details (summary, description, intro, outro). Make sure it's set to send it to Libsyn.
Click “Start Production.”
Bam! That's it! Now it'll be on Libsyn just like any other podcast and you can schedule it for whenever you want!

Your turn?

Ready to start your own podcast? If you do, I'd love to hear it! And if this tutorial helps you create yours, PLEASE leave a comment with a link to your show!

Introducing my new podcast – Explore Your Enthusiasm

Like I said yesterday, I've been falling in love with podcasts (and their hosts) since 2005. Podcasts introduced me to some of my favorite friends-in-person people: Guido of It's a Purl Man (he took me on a tour of his neighborhood when I taught at Gather Here); Diane of CraftyPod, now real-life friend + collaborator; Abby of While She Naps (she totally won me over with her straight-talk about money over a chai in Wellesley).
All along, I wanted to jump in and join the fun. In my real life, I talk…a lot. I love leading live explorations (ie, workshops) and I live for long conversations with creative women + biz explorers. Writing just can't communicate the easy flow that comes when I'm teaching a class or having a great conversation.

When the idea hit me again two weeks ago, I wrote all the reasons I shouldn't do it. Then I wrote the reasons I should. And after reading over what I wrote, I added one more line:
FOLLOW YOUR ENTHUSIASM. DO IT.

(I'll talk more about how I launched a podcast tomorrow).

So here it is, my brand new, weekly podcast, Explore Your Enthusiasm.

Podcast: Play in new window | Download

In the inaugural episode, I share what I hope to do with the podcast, and what I hope it does for you. I want a casual space to talk about the more complex issues that I write about: motivation, profitability, and map-making. I want to introduce you to crafters that are doing their own thing, experimenting and following their enthusiasm, and making it work. I want you to know you're not alone, in whatever it is that feels like a struggle in your creative business: making money, finding motivation, being consistent.

I also share a bit about my own story of becoming a full-time crafter and the real story behind how my yarn company started. (I don't think I've ever told this story!)

I'll be adding new episodes each Wednesday + sharing them with you here on the blog. There are already a few bonus episodes in iTunes – podcast versions of my most popular videos! These are shorter than normal episodes and will be added to the podcast feed whenever I make a new video lesson (about once a month).

How to listen

You can listen to it using the player above or download it.
You can subscribe to it on iTunes here (or subscribe in whatever you use for podcasts – just search “Explore Your Enthusiasm” and it should pop up!).
Find all the other podcasts here.

I'd love to know what you want to hear and who you want to hear from! You can leave a comment or email me privately. You could also give me some ideas by filling out this 5 question survey!

More than anything, I hope you like it. I hope this helps us connect in a new way and helps you feel supported, encouraged and part of this great community of amazing makers.

Five Podcasts I Listen to Every Week

Podcasts have been by my side at every step in this creative journey, since 2006. From dyeing my first skeins, to spinning every night after my day job, to my first big craft show prep (spinning for 5 hours per day is booooring – ya need some entertainment), to my first days self-employed. I talk about the books I read every month, but I hardly ever talk about this super-influential medium and I'd like to fix that.

This week I'm honoring the medium with a kind of “podcast week” here on the blog. Today I'll share my favorites, tomorrow I'll introduce you to my podcast and on Thursday I'll tell you how I started a podcast in one week (after three years of thinking about it).

The whole process of creating my podcast has me thinking about my favorite podcasts and how much the “scene” has changed since Jay bought my very first iPod Shuffle in 2006, to listen to the very first podcasts I discovered: Cast-On + KnitCast (This episode of Cast-On influenced my entire business direction.) Soon I was mainlining CraftyPod and CraftSanity and This American Life and Stash + Burn.

I listen to different podcasts today, but I love them just as much as ever. Before I share my own tomorrow, I wanted to talk about podcasts from a listener's perspective. The following shows are my inspiration – not just in podcasting, but in life. (True Story: When someone gets in your head with their voice, you carry them around with you.) I find it hard to describe what's great about a piece of media, so instead of telling you what it's about, I'll just tell you when I listen and if you're curious download an episode or two and try it for yourself!

5 podcasts I listen to every week:

Unmistakable Creative

Srini is my go-to running partner. (He doesn't know. In reality, he's only consented to the Oceanside Pier while discussing exceptionalism.) His interviews with creatives keep me company as I train for my upcoming 10k. The length is just right for keeping me from looking at my watch + I always have 100 new ideas to write in my journal the minute I end my run. Bonus points for interviewing as many women as men (there's a huge gender divide in the business podcast-world. It makes me crazy.)

Slate Podcasts

I started with the Political Gabfest and now subscribe to them all, via the “daily podcast” feed. I listen every week while sewing or washing dishes. Bonus points for being one Jay and I both like – perfect for road tripping.

Alton Browncast

You know I love a nerd, and Alton's a big food nerd. Lately he's been interviewing the most interesting food-people + it fits perfectly into cooking a bit-longer meal while cleaning up as I go.

Elise Gets Crafty

This one's brand-new but has already earned a spot in my weekly rotation, usually while I'm cooking dinner – it's the perfect length for a quick dinner!

Pop Culture Happy Hour

This one just makes me happy and is the perfect sewing companion. I'm pretty sure Linda Holmes and I would be friends.

3 more favorite podcasts:

I don't listen to these every week – but they're on heavy rotation:

Nerdist – I love the casual, conversational style of interview and Chris Hardwick hits all my nerdy buttons. Jay + I save up episodes and listen together during road trips. It's often pretty long, which is perfect when you're staring down a 4 hour drive.

While She Naps with Abby Glassenberg – I love Abby's honesty and authenticity when it comes to how she runs her business. She talks to a wide variety of people in the fiber art world…but of course I'm biased because she invited me on as a guest. 🙂

CraftLit – I dip in and out of Heather's amazing podcast, picking up specific books and following along. This is a totally genius solution if you: feel like you missed out on “getting” literature (or you just never read it), are learning English, are homeschooling, or just want to seem/feel smarter.

Your turn!

You'll notice I don't have any strictly-business or strictly-knitting podcasts (although there are a zillion of each.) The truth is, after being bored to tears the last time I looked for new ones (um..3 years ago?), I haven't even tried any new ones (unless people I already read start a podcast, like Elise + Abby.) I'd love to find some new ones – what do you listen to?
You can click here to tell me in a quick 5-question survey.

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