In My Studio: Listening to Podcasts

My varied podcast subscriptions

While I work in my studio I love listening to all manner of podcasts. I listen to business and entrepreneurship podcasts to get useful tips for running a small craft business. I listen to crafty podcasts to get inspiration and motivation for my products and I listen to drama podcasts for pure pleasure while I get busy in the studio.

In the blog today I want to share with you some of the popular ones that fellow Hudson Valley Etsy team members listen too:

First, Marilyn from Pulp Sushi recommended a podcast to her Instagram followers a while ago called Being Boss. I started listening to this one on her recommendation and love it! On it, two creative boss ladies - Emily Thompson and Kathleen Shannon, talk about their experiences starting and running their own businesses. As they themselves say:

 "Being Boss is hard. Blending work and life is messy. Making a dream job of your own isn't easy. But getting paid for it, becoming known for it and finding purpose in it, is so doable- if you do the work."

I highly recommend this one for some great advice, motivation and real life inspirational tips to grow your business.

Download: Available from iTunes (search Being Boss) or from www.lovebeingboss.com

Another podcast of a similar genre is called Elise Gets Crafty.

This is one that I have been following for a while and I also love it for its down to earth, no nonsense advice from blogging, to running an Etsy shop, to juggling motherhood and working. Elise Blaha Cripe is a creative entrepreneur with a successful blog www.elisejoy.com  she sells online courses as well as owning her own shop selling handmade items. Her podcasts mainly take the format of discussions with guests who are invited on the show to talk about specific topics.

Download: Available from iTunes (search Elise Gets Crafty) and from www.elisejoy.com

Elena Rosenberg loves listening to A Way with Words podcasts while she works. Although not directly related to crafts and making, it is all about words and language and their creative usage. Hundreds of thousands of language lovers from around the world tune in each week to hear author Martha Barnette and dictionary editor Grant Barrett take calls about slang, grammar, English usage, old sayings, word origins, regional dialects and family expressions.

Download: Available from ITunes (search A Way with Words) or from www.waywordradio.org

Beyond the Picket Fence enjoys listening to Fresh Rag. This creative and business minded podcast also gives lots of great tips and advice about running a small craft business. Dave Conrey, the shows creator says:

"If you’re an artist, designer, crafter or other independent, creative entrepreneur looking to build your business and make more sales, you’ve come to the right place.

If you’re tired of busting your butt, with an ever-increasing work load, for a business that was supposed to be your dream, and you’re looking for a way to ease the pain, you’re also in the right place."

Download: Available from ITunes (search Fresh Rag) or from  www.freshrag.com


Good Luck and Good Listening!

Sarah
SO Handmade

Ceating Success From the Inside Out: Selling Your Uniqueness

No two pop-tarts are alike and the same goes for people.  Yes, it’s true.  I was going to use the analogy of snowflakes, but that’s so overdone.

Seriously, though, as small business owners selling on Etsy and at craft fairs, we can often feel overwhelmed and lost in a sea of other artists and makers.  When we feel this way, it can help to take a step back and get introspective about who we are and what unique points of view, skills, and strengths we have to offer the world.  Then we can use that powerful information to present ourselves and our products in a way that no one else can.  Unlock your special pop-tartness right now, with these steps.

Know your greatest qualities.

We all have pre-conceived notions of what makes us special, but the people who know us, love us, and work with us can tell us what they consider to be our best qualities from a totally different perspective.  So ask them and don’t be shy about it.  Set up a free account with Survey Monkey and create a one-question online survey asking at least 20 people you know what they think your 3 best qualities are.  You can make it anonymous if you like so that people can respond freely. 

Once you have the data, rank the responses until you can see what your top 5 best qualities are according to those who know you best.  Consider these top qualities and reflect on whether these traits are reflected in your brand and the way your present yourself to your customers.  Write down at least one specific example of how you can better incorporate or represent your top 3 qualities into your brand.

For instance, one of your top qualities may be that you are detail-oriented.  That quality will surely be reflected in your work, so promote that unique selling point.  Make it obvious for your customers.  Mention it in your Etsy listing descriptions how every detail is carefully considered by you before being executed.

Tell your unique story.

Each one of us is a product of our experiences on this Earth.  We all have stories that make up who we are. What are the big stories that have shaped your life?  Write down at least 5 one-sentence story points that define you that you feel your ideal customer would relate to; things like family stories, overcoming adversity, why you do what you do, how you discovered your art, accidents, near misses, exhilarating moments, losses, life experiences, momentous occasions, fortuitous events, etc.  Then turn each of these story points into a full-fledged story (write it down!). 

Once you have these stories, you can use them in different ways as your present yourself and your business to the world – through your About page on Etsy or your website, blog articles, or biographies for shops or galleries where you sell your work.

Think about your goal – you want to establish connections with customers who appreciate what you have to offer and who return to see what else you are producing.  For instance, when potential customers read your About page, they don’t want to just learn about you.  They want to learn what it is about you that can help them get what they want.  So make sure that you tell a story in your About page that shows customers what they can expect from you that they can’t find anywhere else.

Remember, there’s only one of you in the history of this world and what you have to offer is of value to others.  What is your unique story that will connect you to your customers? 

Resources.

Want to learn more about yourself, your strengths, and your best qualities?  Here are some resources:

Strengths Finder 2.0 by Tom Rath

http://www.howtofascinate.com

http://www.tonyrobbins.com/ue/disc-profile.php

Take Action Now!  Follow the steps above then leave a comment below.

Creating Success from the Inside Out - Get Psyched-up By Your Competition, Not Psyched-Out

If you are at all like me, you may have had the experience of being in a really good groove with your business – you’re creating products that you are excited about, motivated about reaching your goals…and then all of a sudden you get psyched out.  What a downer that can be!  I’ve pinpointed the triggers for when that happens to me and have developed some tips for getting out of the psyched-out mode and back onto the Psyched-Up Groove Train.

I have recognized that sometimes when I start browsing Etsy and looking around at all the beautiful items that others are creating, I get overwhelmed.  I start to feel like a little fish in a gigundoid pond.  I start thinking, “How will people find me in this sea of glorious products?  What makes me so special?”  Other times I decide to do an Etsy search to see if my tags are working the way I want them to.  Let’s say I have some hot pink flower earrings and I want to see when they come up in search, so I type in that tag and I am then faced with fifty pages of hot pink flower earrings.  I start looking for mine and realize that there are some really talented people out there selling gorgeous hot pink flower earrings.  The self-doubt kicks in and I start clicking further.  Inevitably I click on some shop’s cute hot pink flower earrings and see that they have 2000 sales under their belt and they opened their shop a year after I did.  Total psych-out.

 Green No Sleeves Monster by knotbygranma

Here is what I have realized from going down this path one too many times that inevitably gets me back on track on the Psyched-Up Groove Train.

• Recognize that others have proven they can be successful on Etsy and that means you can, too!

The fact that there are other jewelry makers out there getting ten sales a day (in a land with hundreds of thousands of jewelry sellers) is proof that people can be successful on Etsy.  I reframe my thinking to ask myself how I can get more of that Etsy revenue pie goodness.  I also consider what I might be doing/not doing that is preventing my sales from skyrocketing.  I focus on what I can do better with my business.

• Remember why you went down that rabbit hole in the first place. 

Oh yeah, I was trying to improve my tagging when I stumbled into Psyched-Out Land.  So maybe I should get back to that and focus on my own business…  Tommy Hilfiger didn’t get where he is today because he was worried about what Ralph Lauren was doing.  Reframe and refocus and get back to it.

• Celebrate your own unique abilities.

If you haven’t read Gay Hendricks’ The Big Leap, you might want to grab yourself a copy.  The book is all about discovering your unique abilities so that you can focus on that and live in your Zone of Genius, where you will be most content and serving your purpose for the world to benefit.  Look at your body of work and recognize what it is that you do that is different from everybody else and just celebrate it and adore it for a while.  Let it sink in.  Each of us is one of a kind in this whole universe – our experiences, relationships, talents and interests all come together in this luscious soup of uniqueness that no one else can replicate.  And the art that comes from your hands is representative of that uniqueness.  Cherish it.

• Realize that there is an endless amount of abundance in this world.  The more we create, the more there is, and that benefits everyone.

In a book I read recently called The Art of Earning, this message of abundance was described through nature.  A deer drinks from a stream and lives and thrives.  It passes on and other deer are born and drink from that same stream and the circle continues.  The stream continues to flow.  Success in business works the same way.  There is room for everyone who wants to partake in the offerings of the Universe.  You just need to ask for it, work for it, and be ready to receive it.  Just because there are other people getting 2000 sales on Etsy doesn’t mean that you won’t or can’t get 2000 sales on Etsy.  It may not be easy, but it’s certainly not impossible.

Brown Bird with Orange Tulips by digiliodesigns

Have any of you grappled with similar psych-out thoughts?  If so, how have you dealt with them?