234: Six episodes you HAVE to listen to

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Are you traveling or working for hours in the kitchen or just trying to escape family this week, for American Thanksgiving? Me too, so I thought this week we could take a look at the best of the past episodes. If you'd like me to keep you company during your holiday prep, you'd have plenty to listen to. These episodes will come in handy as you're wrapping up 2018 and planning for 2019. They are the most-downloaded, the most-shared, and the episodes more people tell me totally changed their business or their perspective.

Today I'm going to recap my biggest and best episodes, so those of you who have just found the show know which ones to go listen to, or those of you who have been around for a while can listen again and get reinspired. If you missed these, I really recommend you listen to them, as together they form a foundation of business and life transformation.

These six episodes are both the most-downloaded (each has over 2000 unique downloads) and the ones I truly love the most, which just reaffirmed for me that I should keep talking about what matters most to me, because it matters most to you too!

A quick note: In some of these episodes I talk about the Starship, which was totally overhauled this year! If you want to learn what the Starship is now and be the first to be notified when it opens again, head to taraswiger.com/foundations and just remember that what you hear me say in past episodes may have changed since then!

Just click on the header for each episode to find their audio, video and written transcription.

How to plan for what you really want in 2018

In this episode I walk you through the process of not just creating a checklist for yourself, but really focusing on what you WANT in your business and your life. It's just 13 minutes, so give it a listen here.

How to make a fresh start

This is one of my most-asked questions: How to you get back into business after a break? How can you make a totally fresh start after a bad year, or a bad week, or a bad review? Even if you've never met a goal before, you can start fresh TODAY, and that's what this episode walks you through. You can find it here.

Stop seeking approval

Here’s a dichotomy: You want to listen to your customers and your audience, to give them what they want, to create an awesome business. But yet, needing their approval has you frozen or afraid or feeling kinda needy. How do you balance this?

In episode 189, I break it down for you – how to unhook from needing approval, while still listening to important feedback. This was a HUGE business lesson for me in 2017 and this episode inspired more feedback than any other episode, you can listen in here.

Fear of disapproval, get over it

Right in line with not seeking approval, let's get over the fear of disapproval! Are you unsure of your next step, because you’re afraid of the reaction you’re going to get? Are you avoiding rejection, because you want to have the approval and acceptance of your customers and audience? Yeah, me too.

In this episode I teach you how to move beyond fear into ACTION, find it here.

How Emotions are Made

This was a really different episode, in it I shared the lessons from the book How Emotions are Made, by Lisa Feldmen Barrrett, PhD. It helped us understand how to keep emotions from screwing up your business or reacting rashly, by understanding how they're made. The author has done so much research on emotions and the brain and how emotions actually form. Realizing all the pieces that go into making an emotion, can help you understand how to work with your emotions. The big lesson, that emotions are “constructed, not automatic” shifted your perspective a lot, based on the feedback I got. Listen in here.

Stretch Goals

This episode was written in response to a question I got from the Starship: If Stretch Goals are good, how do you know what the right amount of stretch IS? How much is too much? What is ridiculous and what is a good kind of challenging? This episode helps you figure out if YOU are the kind of person who's motivated by a crazy goal or a doable goal and then helps you set some goals from there. Find that episode here.

Stand by your prices

This is the episode I refer people to most often, because we ALL struggle with what to say when someone asks us: Why does your thing cost so much? This is so so vital for the health of your business and your mental wellbeing. The more confidence you have when discussing your prices, the more sales you'll make. In this episode we talk about how you can get really confident and grounded in your prices, so you can share with confidence and make more sales. Listen to it here.

So there you go – the Top 6 episodes of the podcast, and the ones that will help you transform your business and your life in the coming year!

Can't wait to listen to the best of #ExploreYourEnthusiasm! I'm getting reinspired already!

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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 podcast episodes here.

194: Stand by your prices

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“How can I feel ok about what I charge? How do I stop apologizing for my prices? How do you stand by your prices?”

This week I was asked this question and I want to dive deeper into this because it is so so vital for the health of your business and your mental well being. The more confidence you have when discussing your prices, the more sales you'll make.

Links I mentioned:

Loving this ep on standing by your prices in a creative biz! #ExploreYourEnthusiasm

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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 podcast episodes here.

How I changed my relationship with money

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What is your relationship with money?

Are you friends? Are you terrified by it? Do you feel gross when we talk about it? Today I’m going to explain what I meant when I said in a recent episode that I improved my relationship with money. I’m also going to give you some ways to work on your own relationship with money.

You don't have to feel weird about money forever. It's time to change your story. Here's how, from @TaraSwiger

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Resources Mentioned:

Episode 159: What I would change in my biz if I could go back
Episode 147: The 5 accounting terms you need to know in your creative biz
YouNeedABudget.com
Godaddy Bookkeeping (If you wanna see how this works for other bookkeeping software, sign up for the transcript of this episode in the box below!)
The Big Leap by Gay Hendricks
Playing Big by Tara Mohr
Desire Map by Danielle LaPorte

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 podcast episodes here.

One pricing strategy does NOT fit all

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I often get asked: how should I price my work? What should I charge for my time? Is there a formula I can use?

And the answer is: it depends.

In this episode, we'll discuss pricing strategies, why you should avoid formulas you find on the internet, and how to charge for your time.

For the entire month of March we've been talking about money and profit in your business. And I know you have questions, about profit margins, bookkeeping, all of it – so tomorrow, April 6th, I'm going to hold a live webinar where I answer all your questions and give you first access to my most popular class, Pay Yourself. To sign up for the webinar, enter your information into the box below:

Join the FREE Webinar!

Enter your e-mail to join my free webinar, April 6, where I'll answer all your pricing questions and give you access to Pay Yourself!

You can't use a stock pricing formula + expect it to work well for YOUR unique business.

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Resources Mentioned

Get the transcript for this episode and a FREE worksheet on pricing + profitability when you enter your information into the signup form on this page!

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 podcast episodes here.

5 accounting terms you need to know for your handmade biz

Do you feel a little insecure talking to bankers or fancy businessmen about your handmade business because you don’t know all the accounting terms? Want to talk about money and make decisions more comfortably?

Today I’m going to introduce you to five accounting terms so we can talk more about money!

Before we dive into the terminology I want to tell you this – the Starship, my online community for makers and artists, which includes access to all of my classes, including the updated and expanded Pay Yourself and Pricing 101, opens next week. I’m not going to open it to the whole world, only to the people who have signed up to learn more about it.

So if you wanna learn more about it and if it’s for you, sign up here. Because I’ve added new and updated classes to it this year, the price is going up when it opens next time, so if you want in at its current price, you gotta be signed up right here!

Struggling with the language around profitility in your biz? @TaraSwiger breaks it down with 5 definitions

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Resources

My newest class, Pay Yourself, opens soon! Sign up here to be notified when it's open.
The Starship opens this March, but you've gotta be on the list to know when it does! Click here to sign up.

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 podcast episodes here.

Megan Auman on visual marketing, neuroscience of desire, and MBAs

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Megan Auman is a designer, metalsmith and educator, who makes gorgeous jewelry. She's teaching Build Your Holiday Marketing Plan at CreativeLIVE during the Improve your Holiday Sales bootcamp, where I'm teaching Get More Done. You can watch it live, for free, if you sign up here.

Today Megan's joining me on Explore Your Enthusiasm to talk about:

Turning points in her business
How she discovered she didn't need an MBA
The importance of visual marketing and getting what you're worth

Links we mention

Improve Your Holiday Sales class
Megan's jewelry
Designing an MBA
Megan's Pinterest Marketing for Makers class
Megan on Pinterest on Elise Gets Crafty

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 podcast episodes here.

Value: How to get what you’re worth

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Not sure how to charge the price you need and still get customers to buy it? Worried your pricing is too low or too high? Today we're talking about how to get the fair price of your work by communicating its value to potential customers. You see, there is a big difference between the price of something, and the value of that thing. It is your responsibility to communicate that value and today's episode will teach you how.

Links mentioned:

Pay Yourself + Pricing 101

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 podcast episodes here.

How to start a business if you don’t have any money {PODCAST}

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This week, with the re-release of Pricing 101, we're talking about money. Today let's talk about that perennial question: How can you start (and grow) a business with very little money? What are your options when you can't spend money on advertising or staff?

In this episode of Explore Your Enthusiasm, we'll talk about:

How I started my yarn business with no money
How you can start (and grow) a business with very little investment
What to do if you're on the edge

Get Pricing 101 free with Pay Yourself!

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 podcast episodes here.

How to make more money (with math)

One of the most-asked about topics in my inbox is money: what to charge, how to make more, how to thrive.

Last week in my free Q+A, Beth asked:

“How do I increase my rate of pay? How do I make more for every hour I work?”

The simple answer is: You change your numbers. Usually, you change your prices. Or it might be that you need to change your expenses. Or you change your efficiency.
You see, there's no easy answer I can give you…but it's very simple to find your own answer.

Do the Math

It's that simple: To make more money, do the pricing math.

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The math will show you how much your item costs, how much you can charge for it, and how many you need to sell in order to be profitable and in order to make what you want to make.

Instead, I talk to many makers who have set their prices randomly. They change their prices willy-nilly. They base it on other people, “the market,” or what a stranger said to them one time. They exclaim, “I couldn't charge a fair price for all this!” They feel frustrated and confused, because they're just guessing.

So stop guessing. Do the math.

The math is not that hard, and I've collected all of it for you in one place: Pricing 101. I've totally refreshed this popular class with 2 recorded audio lessons: the first with 3 equations for finding your right price and the second on how to actually get the price you deserve.

The class is only available in two places: As a bonus to Pay Yourself, and in the Starship Library.
Why? Because knowing the right price isn't enough. You absolutely need to set your price…but then you need to test it in the real world of your business. You need to know your Break-Even point, your production capacity, and your monetary goals. And that's what you'll do in Pay Yourself.

So grab Pricing 101 (2 hour-long audio lessons + transcripts + apply-it-yourself worksheets) with Pay Yourself right here.

Questions, Answered

The Pricing class is today!

Before it starts, I wanted to answer some questions ya'll have asked me about it.

I can't make the call!

Totally ok! Everyone, whether they make the live call or not will get a recording of the call on Tuesday morning. If you buy the Fancy Pants Version, you'll also get a written summary of the entire call.

Will you hold this class again?

Probably not.
For one thing, it's less exciting the second time. Part of what I love about these live classes is the energy on the phone and the challenge of being prepared to answer everyone's questions. A second class just doesn't have that same appeal.

But I am likely to talk to pricing again. This class has triggered a lot of questions that are tangential to pricing:

How do I pay myself?
How do I organize my time?
Do you track your hours? How?

So, yes, I will be covering all these issues in a future class, or maybe a series of classes. I'm brainstorming/plotting a sort of bi-weekly class where we call in for a lesson, then go off and work on what learned about, followed by another call (or Twitter check-in) where we share what we learned. I'm thinking this sort of structure would allow us to really dive into all the tangential questions that come up. (If you're interested in that, shoot me an email, or leave a comment with your ideas)

Where did you learn about pricing?

Mostly, experience. 1 year in a scrapbook store, 2 years managing a paint-your-own pottery studio, 2 years in yarn shops (in all of these jobs I worked directly with the customers and hear their reactions to prices). 4 years of selling my handmade stuff and nearly a year of doing it as my family's main source of income.
The second source is conversations. Conversations at craft shows, at fiber festivals, over coffee and on Twitter. With crafters, shop owners, gallery owners and some very smart retired crafters.

But I've also read a looot. I have an extensive bibliography for the class. My students will receive it as a fancy PDF with an explanation of what I love from each resource.

But what about all of you who have more time than money? And want to read and sysnthesize and experiment? For you, I want to share the bibliography and I encourage you to do your own research and come to your own conclusions:

Books:

(linked to their IndieBound page, buy indie!)

The Boss of You
Handmade Marketplace
Crafting for Dollars

Online:

Etsy's series on the Art of Pricing.
Havi's The Art and Science of Pricing .

Any more questions about the class?

Leave them in the comments and I'll answer them until the class starts at 3p ET.