Shownotes
BUSINESS BUILDING INSIGHTS
- The learning curves and even mistakes in your business development will contribute to your overall knowledge and learning experience in the future.
- Challenges will not last forever. You will develop confidence and resilience each time you rise above them.
- Push yourself out of your comfort zone.
- You don’t have to post on all platforms. Just pick a platform and put out content you enjoy making.
- Keep moving, keep pushing, look for your community and reach out for help.
Handmade Business Advice
- Community over competition. Your connection with other people in your industry will help you progress and get more visibility to your customers.
- When you first start, your "put yourself out there" muscle is small and weak. But the more you do it, the stronger that muscle gets.
- "A rising tide lifts all ships" is especially true in the handmade world. Don't be afraid to collaborate and network with others in your industry. Everyone benefits when you do!
- Find someone to whom you can delegate work so you have time to focus on more important matters.
- Understand that everything in your business can be done by someone else.
- Your goal should be for your to work FOR you instead of you working for your business. <-- Pro tip!
- Find a mentor who will guide you in scaling and systems.
- Look for your community and don't be afraid to reach out for help.
Resources Mentioned
- 2021 At Home Craft & Gift Show <-- Reserve your booth here
Nicole's Contact Links
Website | Facebook | Instagram | Twitter | LinkedinJoin Our FREE Gift Biz Breeze Facebook Community
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Gift biz unwrapped episode 342.
Speaker:The types of stores that we're looking for really unique and
Speaker:different stuff found me and were like,
Speaker:this is awesome.
Speaker:And I was like,
Speaker:yes, this is awesome.
Speaker:You understand what I'm doing here At Tinton gifters bakers,
Speaker:crafters and makers pursuing your dream can be fun.
Speaker:Whether you have an established business or looking to start one.
Speaker:Now you are in the right place.
Speaker:This is gift to biz unwrapped,
Speaker:helping you turn your skill into a flourishing business.
Speaker:Join us for an episode,
Speaker:packed full of invaluable guidance,
Speaker:resources, and the support you need to grow.
Speaker:Your gift biz.
Speaker:Here is your host gift biz gal,
Speaker:Sue moon Heights.
Speaker:Well, hi there.
Speaker:It's Sue and welcome to this week's show.
Speaker:As we inch closer and closer to the holiday selling season,
Speaker:I hope you've been putting your plan in place to capture
Speaker:your fair share of the sales.
Speaker:As we've talked about many times,
Speaker:having your products available for purchase online,
Speaker:isn't going to do it just because you have a website
Speaker:or a social shop set up that alone.
Speaker:Doesn't bring in customers.
Speaker:You should think of it as an avenue to conduct the
Speaker:final sale,
Speaker:not the attraction and connection necessary to get people to buy
Speaker:and posting on social over and over again about your holiday
Speaker:products that are available as gifting options.
Speaker:Well, we all know the low percentage of our followers who
Speaker:actually see these messages as a handmade creator.
Speaker:The fourth quarter holidays are the perfect time to get in
Speaker:front of your customers.
Speaker:Through holiday craft shows and church bizarres entry costs vary,
Speaker:but there are options to fit every budget and holiday shoppers
Speaker:need you as a handmade small business,
Speaker:even more this year with all the supply chain issues we're
Speaker:experiencing. I encourage you to sign up for your local shows
Speaker:and get in front of your soon to be customers because
Speaker:we need you this year more than ever.
Speaker:I talked about this in my recent tips and talk episode,
Speaker:number 34,
Speaker:go back and take a listen to hear how you can
Speaker:both help your business and customers get gifts for the holiday
Speaker:shopping season.
Speaker:We are going to need to depend on you this year.
Speaker:So the time to act is now moving on to today's
Speaker:guest. You're going to hear from a maker who's experienced struggles.
Speaker:We are all too familiar with.
Speaker:In fact,
Speaker:at one point selling her purses was the difference between paying
Speaker:rent or not.
Speaker:You'll hear how she had to overcome her fear of selling
Speaker:or be out on the street.
Speaker:Now I get that your hesitations within your business may not
Speaker:be as dramatic as this,
Speaker:but I do know for a fact that you shy away
Speaker:from some uncomfortable activities that you know can grow your business.
Speaker:Perhaps Nicole will say something that's going to hit just right
Speaker:to prompt you to stretch further,
Speaker:take the chance and go for it.
Speaker:From the point of needing rent money,
Speaker:Nicole went on to build an international wholesale business,
Speaker:and today she pays it forward through teaching and hosting her
Speaker:own events.
Speaker:Let's not waste any more time.
Speaker:I want you to meet Nicole Today.
Speaker:I am so excited to have a conversation with Nicole Stevenson
Speaker:of dear handmade life.
Speaker:Nicole is the CEO and creative director of deer handmade life.
Speaker:At 24.
Speaker:She turned her passion into a profession with her handcrafted clothing
Speaker:line called random Nicole.
Speaker:She started selling at flea markets and backyard craft fairs and
Speaker:has grown it into a thriving international wholesale business.
Speaker:Nicole's desire to help other creatives pursue their dream business and
Speaker:discover the joy of making led her away from her handmade
Speaker:business and into teaching consulting and running her own workshop studio.
Speaker:This eventually led to co-founding dear handmade life in 2007.
Speaker:Now she connects,
Speaker:educates and shortens the learning curve for other creators by sharing
Speaker:what she's learned through the dear handmade life events,
Speaker:blog, and podcast.
Speaker:Nicole, welcome to the gift biz unwrapped podcast.
Speaker:Thank you so much for having me Sue.
Speaker:I'm excited to be Here.
Speaker:Me too.
Speaker:I can't wait to dive into the conversation,
Speaker:but before we do,
Speaker:I have a question for you.
Speaker:That's become a tradition here on the show that is to
Speaker:have you describe yourself in a little bit more of a
Speaker:creative way and that's through a motivational candle.
Speaker:So if you could help us imagine what a candle would
Speaker:look like,
Speaker:that would speak all you,
Speaker:what would it be by color?
Speaker:And quote,
Speaker:Color goes,
Speaker:my signature color is a light teal,
Speaker:and it's because it's so relaxing.
Speaker:And I remember trying to describe what that color was.
Speaker:And I was watching it.
Speaker:Might've been one flew over the Cuckoo's nest.
Speaker:It was a movie in the sixties and a mental hospital.
Speaker:And I was like,
Speaker:that's the color?
Speaker:It's the color of those walls.
Speaker:And so when anybody would ask me,
Speaker:I'm like,
Speaker:yeah, I want that mental hospital blue.
Speaker:And it's because it's so calming.
Speaker:So my candle would for sure be that light calming teal
Speaker:color. And as far as the quote on it,
Speaker:ever since I dove into art as my career,
Speaker:when I was much younger,
Speaker:I always thought about this quote,
Speaker:it's all grist for the mill,
Speaker:meaning that nothing is discarded.
Speaker:Everything that goes in will be part of the results that
Speaker:you get.
Speaker:So I've taken a lot of risks,
Speaker:made a lot of decisions that I didn't know if they
Speaker:were going to pan out and you know what,
Speaker:some of them did not pan out,
Speaker:but even the ones that ended up feeling more like missteps
Speaker:or mistakes at the time all contributed to my knowledge and
Speaker:my learning experience for whatever my next step was going to
Speaker:be. Even if it was something way down the road.
Speaker:So kind of thinking about it that way and trying to
Speaker:think about,
Speaker:instead of thinking about things as a mistake or a waste
Speaker:of time or something like that,
Speaker:I think about them as all being grist for the mill
Speaker:as part of failing forward,
Speaker:as they say.
Speaker:Yeah. And I wish people could understand this more when they're
Speaker:in the depths of it,
Speaker:even me.
Speaker:And I'm sure you feel the same way.
Speaker:Like when you're in the middle of things that aren't working
Speaker:out the way you want,
Speaker:it's harder to see the light at the end of the
Speaker:tunnel, but it's there,
Speaker:like it's the path we've all had to walk those kind
Speaker:of uneven steps to get to where we're trying to go.
Speaker:It's part of the gig as well,
Speaker:how I say.
Speaker:Yeah, exactly.
Speaker:And when you were saying that and you were saying,
Speaker:even you were saying about yourself,
Speaker:even me,
Speaker:even me too,
Speaker:after being in business for over 20 years,
Speaker:there's still,
Speaker:I was just thinking about COVID what happened in 2020 and
Speaker:being someone who produces events for a living,
Speaker:my entire business relied on huge amounts of people being super
Speaker:close together,
Speaker:you know,
Speaker:usually indoors.
Speaker:So when that all happened,
Speaker:I definitely felt like even though it wasn't a mistake necessarily
Speaker:that I had made or,
Speaker:you know,
Speaker:a decision that I had made,
Speaker:I definitely felt like,
Speaker:oh wow,
Speaker:what am I going to do?
Speaker:And it took a while,
Speaker:you know,
Speaker:we've been in COVID for a year and a half,
Speaker:but I hate to use the word pivot because I feel
Speaker:like we've all heard it so much,
Speaker:but I ended up going in a different direction,
Speaker:we'll say,
Speaker:and doing a different kind of event.
Speaker:And I learned so much from it.
Speaker:And it's leading me into what I think is my next
Speaker:kind of zone of genius area.
Speaker:My next place,
Speaker:where I want to be creatively.
Speaker:Oh, that's intriguing.
Speaker:I'm going to keep that for a few minutes from now,
Speaker:because now you've piqued all of our interest.
Speaker:So clearly,
Speaker:I mean,
Speaker:COVID forced us all to be nimble first to be optimistic
Speaker:that everything can be okay in a different way.
Speaker:The thing with COVID that was so crazy is it was
Speaker:unknown to all of us and it was changing by the
Speaker:day. You didn't know if you had the right information,
Speaker:wrong information,
Speaker:what was going to happen next?
Speaker:And we made it through at least to the point where
Speaker:we are right now.
Speaker:And there's a lot to say to that.
Speaker:We'll see where it goes from here.
Speaker:But I think we face these types of things in our
Speaker:business all the time,
Speaker:maybe on a smaller scale and we need to expect them
Speaker:and we're just going to have to work through them.
Speaker:Yeah. When you set that about these types of things in
Speaker:our business,
Speaker:it made me immediately think back to when I had my
Speaker:first business.
Speaker:Well, my first business was actually a little stationary shop when
Speaker:I was a little kid,
Speaker:my first real business,
Speaker:which was my t-shirt company.
Speaker:It was a clothing line and accessory line,
Speaker:random Nicole.
Speaker:And I would order blank t-shirts from a manufacturer.
Speaker:And then I would screen print on them and do sewing
Speaker:on them and like embellish them with vintage fabrics.
Speaker:My artwork,
Speaker:these blinked t-shirts became this very one of a kind thing.
Speaker:But my t-shirt manufacturer,
Speaker:I was at their mercy.
Speaker:And when they decided,
Speaker:oh, you know what,
Speaker:we're not going to produce this style shirt anymore.
Speaker:And it was my best seller.
Speaker:It was like,
Speaker:okay, Nicole,
Speaker:what are you going to do here?
Speaker:So all of those lessons that I learned from that kind
Speaker:of showed me,
Speaker:okay. Even like lessons of being outside of business,
Speaker:of having a heartbreak and getting over that,
Speaker:I knew that it wasn't going to last forever.
Speaker:You know,
Speaker:what my business was going through during COVID I knew that
Speaker:I just had to hold on.
Speaker:So it was good that I already had that other stuff
Speaker:under my belt.
Speaker:And I already had those experiences.
Speaker:So that the muscle that I had to use to be
Speaker:resilient had been built up by these other things.
Speaker:Absolutely. Well,
Speaker:I want to talk a little bit more about how you've
Speaker:developed, because I think that'll resonate a lot with our listeners.
Speaker:So you started with a stationary store when you were little,
Speaker:so that's like it got you kind of playing in business,
Speaker:I guess.
Speaker:Maybe we could say Yeah.
Speaker:When my mom and I lived at,
Speaker:we lived at a little condo and I was just always
Speaker:making stuff and then trying to sell it.
Speaker:And then when my mom met my dad,
Speaker:who's technically my stepdad.
Speaker:He was a barber and I used to answer the phones
Speaker:at his barber shop.
Speaker:And then I got this idea that I was gonna double
Speaker:my time.
Speaker:So while I was getting paid to answer the phones in
Speaker:sweet pair in his barbershop,
Speaker:I also started a chocolate business.
Speaker:So I would make chocolate lollipops and sell.
Speaker:Those was my side hustle.
Speaker:When I was probably like 10 at the time or something
Speaker:old enough to use a double boiler.
Speaker:That's in melt by chocolate.
Speaker:I always had that entrepreneurial drive in me and everyone in
Speaker:my family is self-employed my dad's a barber.
Speaker:He has a barber shop.
Speaker:My mom was house cleaner.
Speaker:She had her own house cleaning business.
Speaker:My grandma was a guitar teacher who had a guitar school.
Speaker:So I wasn't raised in a family where I had the
Speaker:example of going out and getting a job and working for
Speaker:someone else.
Speaker:It was like,
Speaker:what are you going to make out of what you have?
Speaker:What are you going to create from what you have?
Speaker:Well, that's amazing because you had examples all the way around
Speaker:you and in different realms,
Speaker:you know,
Speaker:different types of businesses.
Speaker:And you had experience with business because you were able to
Speaker:get your feet wet at 10,
Speaker:which is amazing.
Speaker:I mean,
Speaker:so many people don't have that because I sure you run
Speaker:into this with people that you're working with,
Speaker:many of our parents are like,
Speaker:what are you thinking?
Speaker:Are you crazy giving up your nine to five,
Speaker:let's say with insurance and all of that to start something
Speaker:of your own.
Speaker:So you had that advantage right from the start,
Speaker:which is fabulous.
Speaker:But let's talk a little bit more about random Nicole,
Speaker:because doing some of those smaller sideline things gave you a
Speaker:ton of experience.
Speaker:And then what made you decide to land on random Nicole
Speaker:and really get that rolling.
Speaker:It wasn't really a decision.
Speaker:It kind of landed on me.
Speaker:So I was in graduate school in San Francisco.
Speaker:I was studying to get my master's degree in creative writing.
Speaker:And I was feeling really disenchanted with my program.
Speaker:I had gone to our department chair and basically said to
Speaker:her, what am I supposed to do with this degree?
Speaker:I'm graduating in a couple of months.
Speaker:Like why isn't there a class on what's next?
Speaker:And she said,
Speaker:well, pretty much you can get another job and right.
Speaker:Or you can be a teacher.
Speaker:And I felt really depressed by that.
Speaker:I was only 23 and I didn't feel ready to be
Speaker:a teacher,
Speaker:to people who were,
Speaker:you know,
Speaker:there are a lot of people in my program who were
Speaker:twice my age and I didn't want to keep being a
Speaker:waitress and writing and just trying to get a story published.
Speaker:And at that same time,
Speaker:I had a friend that I was a waitress with.
Speaker:After we get off our waiting tables shifts,
Speaker:she was an art student.
Speaker:We would go to her apartment in the Tenderloin and she
Speaker:had one of those apartments with a Murphy bed.
Speaker:And so she would pull back the Murphy bag and put
Speaker:it up and we would bring out all the paints and
Speaker:all the canvases and all the magazines and collage material and
Speaker:Jesso and matte medium and drink beer and sit on the
Speaker:floor and make art.
Speaker:I wish I was there with you guys.
Speaker:It was so fun.
Speaker:I didn't have a purpose for the art I was making.
Speaker:I was just hanging out with my friend and keeping my
Speaker:hands busy,
Speaker:but I ended up making a bunch of paintings that were
Speaker:kind of similar.
Speaker:They were mixed media.
Speaker:They were kind of these portraits of women with like a
Speaker:lot of weird,
Speaker:bright colors and a lot of weird stuff on them and
Speaker:like texture and collage and things.
Speaker:And my friend Paige was doing this open studios show down
Speaker:in San Francisco.
Speaker:And she said,
Speaker:Hey, do you want to like use a little bit of
Speaker:the wall space?
Speaker:And you can put up these paintings.
Speaker:And she said,
Speaker:do a couple more.
Speaker:So it's like a series and you can put them up
Speaker:there. And I did.
Speaker:And all my paintings sold and I was like,
Speaker:this is awesome.
Speaker:This feels great.
Speaker:I loved making these.
Speaker:And something else happened that coupled with that experience with my
Speaker:department chair at school.
Speaker:And I was like,
Speaker:all of those things together,
Speaker:just kind of combined to make me think that the path
Speaker:I was on wasn't right for me anymore.
Speaker:So she and I packed up our Stephanie U-Haul.
Speaker:We moved down to Hollywood where her sister lived and stayed
Speaker:with her sister and a couple other girls in this tiny
Speaker:one bedroom apartment.
Speaker:And we went down to Venice beach on the boardwalk and
Speaker:we would sell our art there,
Speaker:which was a very intense experience.
Speaker:Most of the other artists there were homeless.
Speaker:Like we were considered lucky,
Speaker:even though we slept on a bean bag on the floor,
Speaker:you know,
Speaker:we had a roof over our head.
Speaker:So we were kind of like the rich girls,
Speaker:you know,
Speaker:even those,
Speaker:a lot of times we wouldn't even have gas money to
Speaker:get home from there.
Speaker:And we were in like a borrowed truck that didn't even
Speaker:have a seatbelt in it.
Speaker:So I was down there for,
Speaker:it was only a summer,
Speaker:but it was just,
Speaker:life-changing being down there seeing these other artists who had given
Speaker:up everything for their art and who welcomed us into their
Speaker:circle there.
Speaker:Like I said,
Speaker:most of the artists there lived on the streets and they
Speaker:would stay really close by to where the boardwalk was and
Speaker:an alley or something.
Speaker:And we were the only girls down there,
Speaker:so they kind of protected us and they would get to
Speaker:the beach before we would.
Speaker:So they would save us good spot.
Speaker:And they really taught me community over competition.
Speaker:Like truly living that.
Speaker:Tell Me what year that was approximately.
Speaker:That Was like probably,
Speaker:I would say 2000.
Speaker:I think I was 24 maybe around there.
Speaker:Okay. And I can totally envision it because my son used
Speaker:to live in Venice beach.
Speaker:Yeah. So I was one of the people down there and
Speaker:do that.
Speaker:If you ever saw two women down there,
Speaker:it was me and my friend page.
Speaker:We were the only ones down there I moved on from
Speaker:there. I started selling at flea markets and decided to do
Speaker:paintings on canvases and sew them onto purses that I sewed
Speaker:from. Like,
Speaker:I kind of took all of us girls that lived in
Speaker:that apartment,
Speaker:all of our old jeans that we were done with.
Speaker:And I cut them into little squares,
Speaker:like square patches and sewed them together and then did a
Speaker:little painting on a piece of canvas.
Speaker:And so that on the front as a pocket.
Speaker:So then that was when I started making purses.
Speaker:So I put my art onto something more functional,
Speaker:and I kind of liked that more than just painting,
Speaker:having it be functional art.
Speaker:And it really just kind of chose me.
Speaker:I had to work really hard to do a lot of
Speaker:things I didn't want to do.
Speaker:I mean,
Speaker:I remember eventually all the other girls moved out of that
Speaker:apartment and it was just Paige and I,
Speaker:and our rent was more than a hundred dollars a month.
Speaker:So it was like friends do I don't have the money.
Speaker:And I would put all my purses that I had made
Speaker:in like a Rubbermaid tote and just drive around to boutiques
Speaker:in LA and casual Woolley.
Speaker:You walk in there and like with one of my purses
Speaker:and wait for you to start a conversation away for the
Speaker:shop keeper to say like,
Speaker:oh, that's a cute person for me to say,
Speaker:oh, thank you so much.
Speaker:I made it,
Speaker:you know,
Speaker:dah, dah,
Speaker:dah, it start kind of telling my story.
Speaker:And it's actually,
Speaker:I have some purses out in my car.
Speaker:I bring those in.
Speaker:And it was like a hated doing that.
Speaker:I had to psych myself up.
Speaker:I would sit in the car sometimes for like 20 minutes
Speaker:going, come on,
Speaker:Nicole, you have to go in,
Speaker:you have to go in.
Speaker:And every time I went in,
Speaker:I would have a good experience whether they bought something or
Speaker:not, but it was just like,
Speaker:I didn't have a choice cause I had to pay my
Speaker:rent and that was how I was going to do it.
Speaker:So it really forced me to push myself way out of
Speaker:my comfort zone and get my stuff out there.
Speaker:Yeah. Yeah.
Speaker:But thank you for sharing that because your story about how
Speaker:you started and then getting scrappy,
Speaker:like doing what you needed to do first on the boardwalk,
Speaker:then going into the stores,
Speaker:even though you didn't want to,
Speaker:because boy,
Speaker:can, I relate to that?
Speaker:The fear of having to do something and thinking,
Speaker:and just like psyching yourself up to actually do it.
Speaker:But then when I loved what you said is that you
Speaker:always had a good experience,
Speaker:you know?
Speaker:No one's shooed you out of the store or was mean
Speaker:to you,
Speaker:I'm guessing.
Speaker:Did that help motivate you or allow you to get easier
Speaker:for this time that you still needed to do that?
Speaker:Yeah. I mean,
Speaker:like I said earlier about the resilience and kind of building
Speaker:up that muscle,
Speaker:that's where it comes from everything.
Speaker:Like if you've never taken a risk before,
Speaker:if you've never experienced rejection,
Speaker:if you've never had to put your art there before your
Speaker:muscle to do that is really small and weak.
Speaker:So it's going to be really hard.
Speaker:But the more you do it,
Speaker:the more you build up that muscle.
Speaker:And it's not that you're just going to park the car
Speaker:and like bound in there with like all the confidence in
Speaker:the world.
Speaker:But that time period you spend in the car,
Speaker:psyching yourself up,
Speaker:we'll get a little shorter because you know,
Speaker:I was able to say to myself,
Speaker:when I would feel like,
Speaker:oh, I don't want to go in there again.
Speaker:I would say,
Speaker:listen, Nicole,
Speaker:you've done this before.
Speaker:Dozens of times,
Speaker:every time,
Speaker:even if they don't buy your stuff,
Speaker:just like you said,
Speaker:no one chews you out of the store.
Speaker:Everything's going to be just fine.
Speaker:So it would be two minutes of psyching myself out versus
Speaker:20 minutes of doing it.
Speaker:I mean,
Speaker:I'm thinking of the people who are listening here,
Speaker:who haven't done their first flea market or no,
Speaker:there's a craft show in the community,
Speaker:but they're like,
Speaker:should I do it this year?
Speaker:Maybe I'll wait and presenting all of the excuses in front
Speaker:of them instead of doing it,
Speaker:the best thing is get that first one under your belt
Speaker:because you will survive.
Speaker:You'll learn.
Speaker:And the next one gets easier and easier and easier just
Speaker:like Nicole sharing with her experience.
Speaker:So that's amazing.
Speaker:How then did you go from that to your international wholesale
Speaker:business? What were the steps there?
Speaker:So I was selling regularly at a flea market in Hollywood.
Speaker:It's still around,
Speaker:it's called the Melrose trading post.
Speaker:And I sold there every Sunday for like a year and
Speaker:a half.
Speaker:And that kind of created a regular fan base for me.
Speaker:And because it was LA,
Speaker:there were some celebrities there.
Speaker:My stuff ended up in some TV shows and things like
Speaker:that. And I met other designers who wanted to build their
Speaker:businesses too.
Speaker:So I think that that part about meeting the other designers
Speaker:was key.
Speaker:And the community that we started to build together was key.
Speaker:So another,
Speaker:at least two girls that had a booth whose stuff was
Speaker:very, very different than mine.
Speaker:Not the same style at all said,
Speaker:Hey, listen,
Speaker:you know,
Speaker:we are going to do this trade show and we have
Speaker:a little bit of room in our booth.
Speaker:Do you want to split it three ways with us?
Speaker:But this,
Speaker:I think it was like a 10 by 10 or something
Speaker:split three ways.
Speaker:So I had three and a half feet wide by 10
Speaker:feet long or six feet long or something.
Speaker:Cause somebody had the back wall and then like we shared
Speaker:the front sides and I was like,
Speaker:yeah, that sounds awesome.
Speaker:And I think my share of the booth was $900,
Speaker:which was like,
Speaker:it might as well have been a million dollars.
Speaker:It was so far from an amount of money that I
Speaker:could put together at one time.
Speaker:But luckily the girl said,
Speaker:listen, we already paid for the booth.
Speaker:You just pay us every week.
Speaker:Every Sunday pay us however much you can pay us as
Speaker:long as you're paid off.
Speaker:By the time we do the show.
Speaker:So that's what I did.
Speaker:And I just put everything I had into that booth.
Speaker:And I ended up getting a bunch of wholesale accounts.
Speaker:My stuff was all handmade,
Speaker:which this was,
Speaker:I don't know,
Speaker:15, 20 years ago.
Speaker:And there wasn't handmade stuff at trade shows like mine.
Speaker:So the types of stores that were like looking for really
Speaker:unique and different stuff found me.
Speaker:And we're like,
Speaker:this is awesome.
Speaker:And I was like,
Speaker:yes, this is awesome.
Speaker:You understand what I'm doing here?
Speaker:Whereas like some other shop owners were like,
Speaker:are these all going to be different?
Speaker:They were bummed out about it.
Speaker:Other ones were like,
Speaker:these are all going to be different.
Speaker:And I'm like,
Speaker:yes, I use vintage fabric.
Speaker:And they were like,
Speaker:that's so cool.
Speaker:So it was just a matter of me finding my right
Speaker:people. And so I got some shops that way.
Speaker:In fact,
Speaker:just recently somebody contacted me on Instagram and she was like,
Speaker:do you remember me?
Speaker:I was one of,
Speaker:I met you at that.
Speaker:And I was like,
Speaker:you are my first store ever that I was ever in
Speaker:any way.
Speaker:So I did that trade show and then just kept reinvesting
Speaker:everything I made into my business ended up getting a rep.
Speaker:So at a showroom in downtown LA,
Speaker:I mean,
Speaker:that was terrifying going in there to show my stuff off
Speaker:to an official rep,
Speaker:you know,
Speaker:pretty much did their,
Speaker:and like criticized.
Speaker:Everything was like,
Speaker:Hey, if you want me to rep you,
Speaker:here's what you have to do like this,
Speaker:this and this.
Speaker:But I also liked that she,
Speaker:you know,
Speaker:knew what she was talking about and she meant business.
Speaker:And she was like,
Speaker:if you want to sell,
Speaker:this is what you need to do.
Speaker:If you want to make whatever you want,
Speaker:go back to the flea market.
Speaker:So I had to make a decision,
Speaker:like, do I want to just mess around with this?
Speaker:Or do I want to turn this into like a serious
Speaker:business that I can scale?
Speaker:So from there I got more reps and more trade shows
Speaker:and it just really built from there.
Speaker:And I moved away from doing the craft shows in the
Speaker:flea markets and the retail shows and into being,
Speaker:doing more wholesale,
Speaker:The great story.
Speaker:So a couple of things I want to point out and
Speaker:underline, and then I have a question for you.
Speaker:Also, what I love about what you've been talking about is
Speaker:how your connection with other people in the industry helped you
Speaker:progress further first.
Speaker:It was all the other people,
Speaker:you know,
Speaker:on the boardwalk and all that.
Speaker:But when you got to the trade shows,
Speaker:it was the other two people who helped you be able
Speaker:to be in your first show.
Speaker:And you probably helped them just as much because they probably
Speaker:couldn't afford that whole booth price too.
Speaker:So even if you paid weekly,
Speaker:you know,
Speaker:it helped all of you,
Speaker:but then you also got in that environment and learn the
Speaker:system. And then when you were working with that rep who
Speaker:was critiquing a little bit,
Speaker:she's got her finger on the pulse of what's selling.
Speaker:So that helped advance your business.
Speaker:Totally also.
Speaker:So it's all connections and interactions and working together with people.
Speaker:So I'm saying that to any of you who are listening,
Speaker:because I don't know Nicole,
Speaker:if you see this,
Speaker:but people are so concerned about sharing what they're doing,
Speaker:because they're afraid someone's going to steal their idea or take
Speaker:their customers or that type of thing.
Speaker:But once you start doing it and you realize that there's
Speaker:enough business for everybody and people who buy handmade purses might
Speaker:buy multiple hand-made purses.
Speaker:So it's not just one or another.
Speaker:If someone likes your product,
Speaker:they're going to like your product in multiple ways potentially.
Speaker:Yeah. I definitely agree with that.
Speaker:I mean,
Speaker:that's the rising tides raise all ships and I feel like
Speaker:it's so true in the handmade world.
Speaker:So here's your Question with this story?
Speaker:How did you then handle the increase in production for your
Speaker:handmade product?
Speaker:You'll hear what Nicole has to say about this right after
Speaker:a quick break to hear from Anita,
Speaker:who's our community and customer service specialist over at the ribbon
Speaker:print company.
Speaker:Hi, I'm Anita community manager for the ribbon print companies,
Speaker:customer support program.
Speaker:You'll also find me when I accompany suit to exhibit at
Speaker:trade shows where we get to meet many of our existing
Speaker:customers in person and introduce new people to the world of
Speaker:ribbons printing.
Speaker:It's always fun.
Speaker:Seeing the reaction people have during a demonstration,
Speaker:when a ribbon is created with their company name,
Speaker:a related image or their own message that they helped to
Speaker:design on the spot.
Speaker:They're always amazed that within seconds their message will print right
Speaker:before their eyes.
Speaker:Of course,
Speaker:that's rewarding for me too,
Speaker:as I get to enjoy the smiles and the excitement that
Speaker:this is even a possibility.
Speaker:And that's when they realize how easy it would be to
Speaker:do this in their stores too.
Speaker:So can you,
Speaker:you can personalize ribbon for your customers to celebrate birthdays anniversaries
Speaker:or whatever you like,
Speaker:but we're also seeing a lot of our customers use the
Speaker:ribbon printer for their branding by adding logo,
Speaker:ribbon, or labels to products or for flavor or scent designations
Speaker:to our number.
Speaker:One comment we hear when we're out with our customers is
Speaker:that the ribbon printer is a game-changing addition to any business,
Speaker:large or small.
Speaker:I'm proud to be part of the ribbon print company team.
Speaker:And I'm even more thrilled that we're there to ensure our
Speaker:customers, that they can use their printer with ease all while
Speaker:bringing in additional revenue along the way to learn more,
Speaker:go to the ribbon print company.com.
Speaker:I had to figure it out as it happened.
Speaker:So it started getting to the point where I couldn't so
Speaker:everything myself and I had a couple of things happen that
Speaker:forced me to delegate.
Speaker:Like I was sewing and I sewed through my finger.
Speaker:So I couldn't so for awhile.
Speaker:So I had to find someone to help me.
Speaker:So I wish like looking back that I would have had
Speaker:a mentor who told me that I was running my own
Speaker:business, not to have myself working for my business,
Speaker:but out to have my business worked for me.
Speaker:I knew that,
Speaker:but I didn't know how to live it at the time.
Speaker:And I was really attached to the idea that I had
Speaker:to have my hands on everything.
Speaker:You know,
Speaker:that it was my small handmade business.
Speaker:And I had to be the one picking up the fabric.
Speaker:This was sewn by me.
Speaker:This was made by me.
Speaker:And then eventually,
Speaker:you know,
Speaker:it was handmade,
Speaker:not necessarily by me,
Speaker:but by individuals like based in LA.
Speaker:And I wish that I had someone to kind of hold
Speaker:my hand and guide me through the idea of scaling and
Speaker:systems and things like that,
Speaker:because it got to the point where the business was.
Speaker:I did everything that I could do with it.
Speaker:You know,
Speaker:I grew it as big as my imagination could see.
Speaker:I couldn't see any further than where I grew it.
Speaker:And then I was kind of like,
Speaker:now what?
Speaker:Yeah. And then you limit yourself too,
Speaker:because you can't grow anymore.
Speaker:You're only one person.
Speaker:How do you possibly do it?
Speaker:Yeah. I mean,
Speaker:I did have employees,
Speaker:I had six people part-time working for me,
Speaker:but I just didn't know what was the next step.
Speaker:I didn't know where I was going.
Speaker:I had gotten it to the point as far as my
Speaker:imagination could see.
Speaker:And then I had a really big company found me when
Speaker:I was at one of the trade shows and wanted to
Speaker:buy out my company.
Speaker:And so I met with them.
Speaker:It was a bunch of corporate business men in suits and
Speaker:in big,
Speaker:beautiful office building.
Speaker:And I showed up with my way of wacky dressing and
Speaker:my blue hair at the time.
Speaker:And looking back what they offered me was really good.
Speaker:But at the time I said no,
Speaker:because they were going to own my designs.
Speaker:They were going to own my name.
Speaker:And I wish I would have said yes,
Speaker:maybe in retrospect,
Speaker:but I just wasn't willing to give up that control.
Speaker:And as it turns out just a few years later,
Speaker:I was like,
Speaker:I'm done with this business anyway though.
Speaker:So I think that that was a big lesson that I
Speaker:learned there.
Speaker:That is probably my biggest lesson of all of my business.
Speaker:That I'm still learning now that I have definitely not perfected
Speaker:yet. So what would be the advice then?
Speaker:I mean,
Speaker:I think for makers where that came from the value of
Speaker:your product that someone wanted to purchase,
Speaker:there's more of that to come cause that's inside you.
Speaker:Yes. So you might be selling off just that portion of
Speaker:whatever the potential purchase would have been,
Speaker:but that doesn't mean you've tapped dry.
Speaker:You know,
Speaker:there are so many more things that you can create,
Speaker:but it's hard.
Speaker:Like I think that everyone who's listening would feel the same
Speaker:way. Like nobody can create the product as good as you.
Speaker:And if it's your designs,
Speaker:your artistry designs,
Speaker:it's even more so.
Speaker:Yeah. And I have this mentality,
Speaker:like I remember thinking they're gonna own me.
Speaker:Like, they're gonna own my art.
Speaker:I'm not going to do that.
Speaker:That's like selling out and now I'm like,
Speaker:no, it wasn't.
Speaker:Yeah. I think of it differently now.
Speaker:So I think my advice to anyone is to realize that
Speaker:everything in your business can be done by someone else,
Speaker:even the creative work,
Speaker:which is the work that we are last to delegate.
Speaker:So thinking about it that way,
Speaker:and now I do this thing,
Speaker:I call it delegation a day.
Speaker:So every day I try to find something to delegate.
Speaker:Even it could be something that's like a long-term delegation,
Speaker:like from now on,
Speaker:I'm going to have so-and-so reach out to my podcast guests,
Speaker:or I'm going to have so-and-so prep,
Speaker:these blog posts or something like that.
Speaker:Or it could be like a short-term or personal delegation.
Speaker:So for example,
Speaker:I'm going to ask my husband to give my son a
Speaker:bath tonight so that I can read book or do some
Speaker:extra work or whatever it is.
Speaker:Cause even something like that,
Speaker:I was like,
Speaker:no, I have to give my son a bath every night.
Speaker:It has to be me,
Speaker:even though I had spent the entire day with him.
Speaker:So I was not the one who had to give him
Speaker:a bath.
Speaker:My husband is a grown adult man in his middle forties.
Speaker:That's perfectly capable of giving a one and a half year
Speaker:old, a bath,
Speaker:especially when I give him such specific instructions for how to
Speaker:do so.
Speaker:So that's what I try to do now.
Speaker:And I don't necessarily do a delegation every single day,
Speaker:but every single day I'm like,
Speaker:okay, Nicole,
Speaker:what's going to be your delegation today.
Speaker:Like, what are you going to do?
Speaker:Yeah. And,
Speaker:you know,
Speaker:I think just keeping it top of mind that there are
Speaker:always things and being on the lookout for things that could
Speaker:get delegated out,
Speaker:because look at what's happened to you.
Speaker:I mean,
Speaker:moving into the next part of your story,
Speaker:your interest in the creation part kind of was waning because
Speaker:that's what you had just mentioned earlier because your interests were
Speaker:going somewhere else.
Speaker:I mean,
Speaker:we change and evolve over the course of years too,
Speaker:so you never know what's going to happen.
Speaker:So this is I believe where you're going to talk to
Speaker:me about how you started to gravitate into wanting to share
Speaker:forward. What,
Speaker:you know,
Speaker:in terms of coaching,
Speaker:is that where this comes in?
Speaker:Yeah, for sure.
Speaker:I think I had been running random Nicole for about 10
Speaker:years and all of that stuff was going on.
Speaker:Like I mentioned with the company trying to buy me out.
Speaker:And around that time I had already been teaching.
Speaker:I taught when I was in college,
Speaker:you know,
Speaker:I taught creative writing and I was teaching art classes to
Speaker:kids and adults and things.
Speaker:And I really enjoyed teaching other people to be creative.
Speaker:And I just started getting more into that sphere.
Speaker:So my aunt who was my we'd be ended up becoming
Speaker:business partners.
Speaker:We're no longer business partners,
Speaker:but together we started a craft show called patchwork show.
Speaker:And that was because I had moved out of San Francisco
Speaker:and out of Hollywood and down to orange county and orange
Speaker:county was like kind of a bummer at that time.
Speaker:It was like not a lot of cool stuff going on.
Speaker:So she and I created this cool event called patchwork show,
Speaker:which was a maker's festival where we had vendor booths and
Speaker:food and all kinds of stuff.
Speaker:And at that time there were only like 20 vendors and
Speaker:that's been happening for 13 years now.
Speaker:You know,
Speaker:we have several different cities.
Speaker:We're just coming back now after our COVID break.
Speaker:And then around that time,
Speaker:we started having these kind of vendor nights for our vendors
Speaker:where we would invite them to all come.
Speaker:She and I had stores next door to each other.
Speaker:So we would invite all of our vendors to come to
Speaker:the store and we would have like cupcakes and drinks and
Speaker:we would have somebody do a talk about marketing or whatever
Speaker:it was.
Speaker:And we just saw there was such a need for not
Speaker:only the education that we were offering them,
Speaker:but also the camaraderie that they were experiencing.
Speaker:Because when you're at the craft show,
Speaker:you're busy trying to sell your stuff and you see other
Speaker:makers you want to talk to,
Speaker:and maybe you have a minute here and there,
Speaker:but this was an opportunity for them to talk to each
Speaker:other and share resources and say,
Speaker:yeah, B2.
Speaker:And we saw how just transformative that was for them.
Speaker:And we started a craft cation conference,
Speaker:which is a five day business and makers conference that happens
Speaker:once a year in the spring in Ventura where we have
Speaker:over 200 craft and DIY workshops,
Speaker:everything from jewelry,
Speaker:making a stained glass to sewing,
Speaker:to screen printing.
Speaker:I mean,
Speaker:it varies every year.
Speaker:We've had perfume making,
Speaker:I mean,
Speaker:all kinds of different things weaving and then also business classes.
Speaker:So everything from panels about imposter syndrome to marketing and branding
Speaker:and social media and profit and loss and planning your financials
Speaker:when you're a freelancer and things like that.
Speaker:And then a lot of fun social stuff there too.
Speaker:And plus it's at the beach,
Speaker:which is a great part of it because I think that
Speaker:when we are creative business bosses,
Speaker:we are very dedicated to our businesses.
Speaker:So this offers people,
Speaker:a chance to get that community,
Speaker:get that education,
Speaker:get that creativity.
Speaker:And then also get that time for themselves to relax at
Speaker:the beach.
Speaker:And we have meditation and yoga and all those kinds of
Speaker:things too.
Speaker:So everything that I did kind of evolved into that as
Speaker:to being more of a curator and to trying to give
Speaker:other whether it was,
Speaker:you know,
Speaker:curating vendors for the event or curating presenters to share their
Speaker:knowledge or curating an experience to try to give these creatives
Speaker:the things that I wished I had that I feel like
Speaker:would have helped my business grow faster or grow smarter.
Speaker:And that's pretty much what I do now of what's behind
Speaker:it. But I think there wasn't that opportunity as you were
Speaker:growing and building,
Speaker:we didn't have the linkage that we do now,
Speaker:you know,
Speaker:either technology or even getting together as we're doing these days
Speaker:and the events that you're describing sound amazing for our industry.
Speaker:Absolutely. For sure.
Speaker:So, and the patchwork show is still going on,
Speaker:right? Yep.
Speaker:I think this is our 13th year.
Speaker:And so we're having a fall season in fall 2021 and
Speaker:all of our shows are in California,
Speaker:so Northern and Southern California.
Speaker:And then we're planning our craft vacation conference for 2022.
Speaker:And we're crossing our fingers that everything's going to work out
Speaker:with that COVID wise.
Speaker:Cause it's been postponed since 2020.
Speaker:Yeah. I think you're going to be in luck.
Speaker:Cause like I said,
Speaker:I just got back from my first show.
Speaker:I have two more coming up in September and I think
Speaker:by 2022,
Speaker:we should be well on our way.
Speaker:I hope so in whatever that's going to look like,
Speaker:right. Like I'm not blind.
Speaker:I know that we're not done with this yet,
Speaker:but that's very exciting.
Speaker:Do you have a date already tentative date?
Speaker:We do have a date it's April 6th through 10th of
Speaker:2022 in Ventura,
Speaker:California. And if you're listening and you're not familiar with Ventura,
Speaker:it's about an hour or so,
Speaker:depending on traffic north of LA and it's a beach city.
Speaker:So the hotel where we're at as a block from the
Speaker:beach and it's a really cool beach town and that it
Speaker:kind of has that old school,
Speaker:California beach field where you'll see surfers in vintage VW buses.
Speaker:And it's not really pretentious.
Speaker:Like some beaches can be,
Speaker:it's a really good fit for conference.
Speaker:We are.
Speaker:I would say that we're kind of like a down to
Speaker:earth, diverse,
Speaker:inclusive group of people.
Speaker:So it fits really well for us to be in a
Speaker:kind of a down to earth beach town place.
Speaker:Got it.
Speaker:Let's talk a little bit,
Speaker:some challenges that you see that are really specific to the
Speaker:handmade community.
Speaker:If you were to share maybe three things that you find
Speaker:that people,
Speaker:when they come to get help or they come to Craftcation,
Speaker:where are they?
Speaker:A big struggle that I see is in marketing.
Speaker:I don't do a lot of consulting and coaching right now,
Speaker:but I do do it occasionally whenever I can make the
Speaker:time for it.
Speaker:But marketing is such a big one.
Speaker:And having that,
Speaker:wanting to make a business off of your art because you
Speaker:enjoy making your art and then finding out when you make
Speaker:a business off of your art,
Speaker:you spend a lot more time on the business part than
Speaker:the art part.
Speaker:And a huge part of the business part is the marketing
Speaker:and feeling like you have to be everywhere on all the
Speaker:social media and all of the newsletters,
Speaker:building your lists,
Speaker:doing stories,
Speaker:doing reels on Pinterest,
Speaker:making evergreen content,
Speaker:all that.
Speaker:But right.
Speaker:You know,
Speaker:I had a call this morning and someone was,
Speaker:well, I did a Q and a this morning in my
Speaker:group. And one of the questions that came in is I
Speaker:need help with my marketing.
Speaker:I'm like,
Speaker:okay, so let's break that down.
Speaker:Like what specifically do you want to talk about?
Speaker:Because marketing,
Speaker:we could sit for a week,
Speaker:right. And talk about marketing.
Speaker:But I think that whole point that you're saying is getting
Speaker:the visibility and getting the attention to your product and then
Speaker:being able to share it is the only thing that's going
Speaker:to make it a business.
Speaker:If you agree that to be a business,
Speaker:you have to be exchanging money.
Speaker:Exactly. No one's going to know you unless you're marketing in
Speaker:whatever way that's going to be.
Speaker:And I think that the most helpful advice that I can
Speaker:give to people who are feeling overwhelmed by having to post
Speaker:all the things in all the places is don't post all
Speaker:the things and all the places look for what type of
Speaker:content you enjoy baking that you feel is your strong suit
Speaker:and that you enjoy and then look for where your customers
Speaker:are and figure out where that overlap is.
Speaker:If you can imagine that's a Venn diagram,
Speaker:where do those two circles intersect in the middle?
Speaker:Is it on Instagram?
Speaker:Is it on Facebook?
Speaker:Is it on Twitter?
Speaker:If you're a creative business owner,
Speaker:it's probably not on Twitter.
Speaker:It's probably on Instagram,
Speaker:depending on your age demographic.
Speaker:And then what kind of content on there?
Speaker:Just because video is where it's at right now and everything
Speaker:is moving towards video doesn't mean that everything you post has
Speaker:to be video or you have to dance on a reel.
Speaker:So maybe you do IgE lives,
Speaker:Instagram lives or Instagram TVs,
Speaker:maybe longer format video is a better fit for you.
Speaker:So just looking at it and trying to find,
Speaker:I've been trying to think about social media as an opportunity
Speaker:instead of as an obligation.
Speaker:And that changed my whole thing about it.
Speaker:I mean,
Speaker:I kind of started this in November and then I took
Speaker:a break from social media and kind of rethought my strategy.
Speaker:And then I just came back from another social media break
Speaker:where I took three weeks and I just studied for those
Speaker:three weeks.
Speaker:I studied a ton of social media strategist for creatives.
Speaker:I watched a bunch of stuff.
Speaker:I took a course.
Speaker:I started working on my own strategy.
Speaker:I created like 25 reels and I just did what I
Speaker:thought was going to be fun.
Speaker:I was like,
Speaker:okay, I've got this really fun sequined jumpsuit.
Speaker:Like what can I do in this?
Speaker:I feel like putting this on and wearing a wig,
Speaker:you know,
Speaker:what am I going to do here?
Speaker:Okay. Nicole 25 reels is super impressive.
Speaker:I'm just going to start with that.
Speaker:It wasn't my goal to do that.
Speaker:My goal was I'm going to come up with some real
Speaker:ideas and make a dozen reels or something.
Speaker:And by the time I started brainstorming and my list of
Speaker:ideas was I think 72 ideas on my spreadsheet.
Speaker:So then I just picked out some of them and started
Speaker:doing them good for you.
Speaker:I'm actually taking a different approach to all of the social
Speaker:media options.
Speaker:I want them to pile them on to the point where
Speaker:you couldn't possibly do everything because then to your point,
Speaker:you pick and choose.
Speaker:Then what's the best for you in the beginning,
Speaker:it used to be only Facebook,
Speaker:Twitter. So of course,
Speaker:as they started developing,
Speaker:you felt like you needed to be on everything.
Speaker:Now it's getting to be just so It really is.
Speaker:And I think the other thing is to realize that you
Speaker:don't have to be constantly turning out content and you can
Speaker:repurpose your content and you can use the same content on
Speaker:other platforms because maybe two to 3% of your audience is
Speaker:actually seeing your content.
Speaker:And out of that,
Speaker:two to 3%,
Speaker:how many people there are going to remember it when you
Speaker:post it a month later?
Speaker:I mean,
Speaker:I don't think it's ever happened where I've seen a post
Speaker:and thought I already saw this.
Speaker:I'm sure I have.
Speaker:That's a good point too,
Speaker:for sure.
Speaker:And on Pinterest,
Speaker:you can take the same content and just make different images
Speaker:also. So yeah,
Speaker:there's a lot of opportunity and every platform is unique,
Speaker:but I think the breath of fresh air that you're presenting
Speaker:Nicole is you don't need to be on everything.
Speaker:No, you do not.
Speaker:And there was such a thing as business before social media
Speaker:too. You know,
Speaker:I think we forget about what we call old traditional ways
Speaker:of marketing.
Speaker:And I think once social media becomes not the new child
Speaker:anymore, which I think there's still that hype around it.
Speaker:A lot,
Speaker:some of it might even level out like I'm even hearing
Speaker:people talking about doing billboards more.
Speaker:Now it's a little bit,
Speaker:I actually just did radio ads for my last round of
Speaker:patchwork shows and direct mailing.
Speaker:So I just decided I'm going to try a bunch of
Speaker:different things.
Speaker:So I did in-house advertising,
Speaker:you know,
Speaker:through our newsletter and social media and all of that.
Speaker:I did paid digital advertising,
Speaker:paid advertising in our local paper,
Speaker:paid radio ads.
Speaker:And then I also did direct mailing and I was just
Speaker:like, let's throw it off and see what happens.
Speaker:Absolutely. Well,
Speaker:and especially now with the way Facebook ads are performing.
Speaker:So it's going to be interesting things keep changing.
Speaker:They don't leave us without anything to talk about.
Speaker:That's for sure.
Speaker:So talk a little bit more about dear handmade life.
Speaker:What's coming up in the future.
Speaker:What do you want everybody who's listening here to know.
Speaker:So what's coming up in the future,
Speaker:our fall patchwork shows,
Speaker:and I think everyone will be listening to this sometime in
Speaker:November. And that's when our shows are.
Speaker:So you can just head to our website,
Speaker:dear handmade,
Speaker:life.com to check out our show schedule and see if there's
Speaker:a show near you.
Speaker:And then of course Craftcation conference in April of 2022 and
Speaker:then our newest venture that actually isn't public at the time
Speaker:that we're recording this,
Speaker:but it's your handmade life,
Speaker:the club.
Speaker:And it's an exclusive members,
Speaker:only online community for creative business owners,
Speaker:where we have expert led business classes,
Speaker:group mentorship,
Speaker:sessions of resource hub,
Speaker:and so much more in there and membership opens every quarter.
Speaker:So you can head to dear handmade life.com/the
Speaker:club. And you can see if membership's open at the time,
Speaker:you're listening to this.
Speaker:So I'm very excited about that.
Speaker:It's completely remote and everything is also recorded.
Speaker:So it's self paced and you can join from anywhere in
Speaker:the world.
Speaker:That sounds amazing.
Speaker:And back just a few minutes ago,
Speaker:when you were talking about starting off and being at the
Speaker:shows and how you felt like you were all by yourself
Speaker:as a handmade creator,
Speaker:and now you fill that niche,
Speaker:none of us need to feel alone with support,
Speaker:with education and all of that through the services that you
Speaker:provide and the events.
Speaker:That's why I started this because it's great to have that
Speaker:community when we're at our patchwork shows or once a year
Speaker:at Craftcation.
Speaker:But so many of people in our community myself included want
Speaker:that year round.
Speaker:Absolutely. Well,
Speaker:this has been fabulous.
Speaker:Any parting words for our listeners Nichol?
Speaker:I would just say,
Speaker:I mean,
Speaker:thinking about that first thing that I said,
Speaker:when we were talking about my candle,
Speaker:that it's all grist for the mill.
Speaker:And if you happen to be in a low valley right
Speaker:now, you will come out of that valley.
Speaker:And the only way you're going to get out is to
Speaker:keep moving.
Speaker:So just keep moving,
Speaker:keep pushing,
Speaker:look for your community,
Speaker:reach out for help.
Speaker:And you can totally do this.
Speaker:It's hard,
Speaker:but it's worth it.
Speaker:Absolutely. Couldn't agree more.
Speaker:Thank you so much,
Speaker:Nicole. I really appreciate your being here today and sharing with
Speaker:us your story and all that you are now offering in
Speaker:the world of handmade.
Speaker:Thank you.
Speaker:So it was great to meet you and chat.
Speaker:As a reminder,
Speaker:Nicole shared a lot of information that you may want to
Speaker:resource. If you didn't catch it during our talk,
Speaker:it's all available for you on the show notes page to
Speaker:access that head over to the gift biz unwrapped website,
Speaker:or scroll down on your podcast app.
Speaker:And the notes with links will appear.
Speaker:Make sure to join me next Saturday for more business advice,
Speaker:from a seasoned strategist who has many tips to share.
Speaker:And of course you can also tune in on Wednesdays for
Speaker:my tips and talk episodes.
Speaker:I really,
Speaker:you spending time with me today.
Speaker:If you'd like to show support for the podcast,
Speaker:leaving a rating and review helps the show get seen by
Speaker:more makers.
Speaker:So it's a great way to pay it forward.
Speaker:Also make sure to follow the podcast.
Speaker:So episodes,
Speaker:including that tips and talk series automatically download to your phone.
Speaker:That way you don't miss a thing and now be safe
Speaker:and well.
Speaker:And I'll see you again next week on the gift biz
Speaker:unwrapped podcast.
Speaker:I want to make sure you're familiar with my free Facebook
Speaker:group called gift is free.
Speaker:It's a place where we all gather and our community to
Speaker:support each other.
Speaker:Got a really fun post in there.
Speaker:That's my favorite of the week.
Speaker:I have to say where I invite all of you to
Speaker:share what you're doing to show pictures of your product,
Speaker:to show what you're working on for the week to get
Speaker:reaction from other people and just for fun,
Speaker:because we all get to see the wonderful products that everybody
Speaker:in the community is making my favorite posts every single week,
Speaker:without doubt.
Speaker:Wait, what,
Speaker:aren't you part of the group already,
Speaker:if not make sure to jump over to Facebook and search
Speaker:for the group gift biz breeze don't delay.
