Weekly-ish notes on navigating big change

podcast

The Adventures

Every week is an adventure…and this week was Sandy, Holiday Sanity and CraftLit.  Past adventures can be explored here. 

 The View
Beau is better than any personal trainer. Here he's saying: steps! We love steps!

Andre finds the sewing machine a warm snuggler.Too many cups of coffee later: the Digital Kit is done! Formatted, uploaded, buttoned. And $5 to Red Cross Disaster Relief. #sigh

 

The Delights

Making it about more than us.
This week was completely swallowed by Holiday Sanity. And feeling…conflicted about talking about the holidays when so many people are struggling to put their houses (and lives) in order. So I asked myself: What's worth talking about right now?  And the answer is clear: When Holiday Sanity is more than just me and you…when it makes a difference for people who don't even know us. And so, $5 from every Kit goes right to the Red Cross. Or donate directly.

Heather
I got to talk to Heather today, about crafting a season full of meaning, while ditching the culturally-imposed stress. It's the highlight of my day because Heather gets it. And she's got the best voice ever. AND she's reading Jane Eyre on her podcast, so you can “read” my favorite classic while knitting, painting or packaging up orders. Subscribe to her podcast right here.

Steph
I had video funtimes (aka, an Exploration) with Steph this week and yeah, she's exactly as awesome as you'd guess from her work.  She threw a Rockstar Geek Wedding and she's humble, hilarious, and on my must-stalk list. Get to know her on Twitter and then buy your nephew (or me!) a Kirby, mkay?

 

The Finds

How was your week? What were the delights?

The bravery in sticking with your just right people.

Yesterday I had the pleasure of being a guest (again!) on my friend David Cohen's radio show, Be a Beacon.*

We talked about filtering out the not-quite-right-people (by, for example, calling your signature product The Starship) so that you can focus on the just-right-people. David said something like “Why's that so scary, to think about leaving people out and just focusing on the people who love it?“…and that's what I want to talk about today:

Focusing on your Right People IS scary. 

When you're starting out, and you have NO people, you think, “I want everyone! I want to appeal to everyone!” You can't imagine ever wanting anyone to walk away from your product.

 

But the simple fact is: There are people who won't like it. There are people who won't “get” it.

And that's ok.

That's perfect, in fact. Because you can't make something people gush over and long for, if you don't make something that is dislike-able by others.

The secret to not going completely crazy (well, one of them) when you put your very heart and soul into what you make, and then you put it in front of people, is to focus all your attention on the people who do (or will) love it. 

Write your product descriptions for them.
Take photos for them.
Show up in the shops and the craft shows where they're at.
Love them with every new product, with every blog post, and ignore the others.

When you meet those you don't want it or get it (or even if you're imagining them!), remember: they're not for you. And that's ok! You've got (or soon will have) people who do love it, who do want it.

 

*You can listen to our whole conversation here:

Listen to internet radio with David Cohen on Blog Talk Radio

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