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Hi there.
Speaker:It's Sue.
Speaker:And thanks for joining me for tips and talk day.
Speaker:These are bite-sized topics that I pull from community questions and
Speaker:things that I'm observing in the world of handmade small business.
Speaker:If you'd like to submit a topic,
Speaker:DME, over on Instagram at gift biz unwrapped,
Speaker:A few weeks ago,
Speaker:I was at a podcasting conference called pod Fest.
Speaker:Seriously, one of the best events I've ever attended in terms
Speaker:of learning timely and relevant new things and meeting the most
Speaker:incredible people.
Speaker:Now you may ask,
Speaker:how does this apply to you?
Speaker:You're not a podcaster most likely,
Speaker:but I see application in seven areas that we can apply
Speaker:as handmade product makers.
Speaker:And that's what we'll go over today.
Speaker:First, I want to point out that the reason I got
Speaker:so much out of this conference is that I went in
Speaker:with three goals in mind,
Speaker:three things that if I walked out with the answers or
Speaker:solutions, my time spent there would be a success.
Speaker:This is how I approach every conference because it's super easy
Speaker:to become overwhelmed by all the bright,
Speaker:shiny things and lose track of why I'm there and let's
Speaker:face it.
Speaker:It's energizing to get away for a bit,
Speaker:meet up with friends and connect with new people.
Speaker:But if I'm not advancing in my business,
Speaker:I can consider it more,
Speaker:a vacation than business travel,
Speaker:something to consider.
Speaker:As you head off to your next business event,
Speaker:identify three things you want to address that will move you
Speaker:forward and make sure you walk away with those checked off.
Speaker:I'm happy to tell you that I met all my goals.
Speaker:I also bought a super cool new mic.
Speaker:So you might hear the quality improve as we go forward
Speaker:for the guest episodes.
Speaker:That is these tips and talk shows I do from another
Speaker:location. Anyway,
Speaker:getting off the topic here,
Speaker:back to what applies to you.
Speaker:Here are the seven points that I want to present.
Speaker:Remind and reinforce that will strengthen your business and thereby improve
Speaker:your results.
Speaker:Hold out for this last one.
Speaker:It's a doozy.
Speaker:And one,
Speaker:I didn't know before first up play to your strengths.
Speaker:Sometimes we try to increase our skill or knowledge in some
Speaker:area where we feel less capable while it's important as the
Speaker:business owner,
Speaker:to have a working knowledge in all areas of your business.
Speaker:If it's not naturally your interest or a task that comes
Speaker:easily to you,
Speaker:it's better to pass that one on to someone else,
Speaker:working against the grain to obtain detailed training and do those
Speaker:projects. The ones where you feel resistance will not get you
Speaker:as far as you'll be.
Speaker:If you lean into what comes naturally to you,
Speaker:things like doing your own financials versus hiring a bookkeeper to
Speaker:tend to the numbers.
Speaker:That's one for me or forcing yourself to go live on
Speaker:social. When in-person events are where you shine,
Speaker:doing more of what you're strong at and back filling the
Speaker:rest will advance you further.
Speaker:Now I know when you start out,
Speaker:you're doing all the things.
Speaker:This is advice as you grow and start spinning things off.
Speaker:Number two,
Speaker:keep your eye on the customer.
Speaker:Now this one on the podcast inside is about how valuable
Speaker:well-known guests are for our listeners.
Speaker:That's you.
Speaker:Of course,
Speaker:if I had a celebrity or a big name on the
Speaker:show, it gives me bragging rights.
Speaker:But if it's not someone related to growing your business,
Speaker:how valuable is it for you?
Speaker:Apart from the entertainment I've actually heard from many of you.
Speaker:And I see it in my analytics that the most popular
Speaker:guest shows are ones where I'm talking with a maker that
Speaker:you can relate to,
Speaker:not some big brand that feels so unachievable or unrelatable to
Speaker:you on your side.
Speaker:This could apply to how you post on social media.
Speaker:Are you mixing in personal things that don't relate in any
Speaker:way to your business and feels totally disconnected from your customers
Speaker:on your Instagram feed.
Speaker:As an example,
Speaker:you sell handmade,
Speaker:pottery and randomly images pop up showing your horses or your
Speaker:son pitching at his last softball game.
Speaker:If you can relate this back to your product or business
Speaker:in some way,
Speaker:that's fine,
Speaker:but completely unconnected content like that holds no value for your
Speaker:follower. Otherwise,
Speaker:similarly, your message should be valuable to your customer.
Speaker:Not for the purpose of impressing your competition.
Speaker:If you want to point out that you've reached 500 Facebook
Speaker:page followers,
Speaker:great, but position it not as a look at me post,
Speaker:but thank your followers for helping you achieve this milestone.
Speaker:See the difference.
Speaker:This leads to my third point,
Speaker:consistency as a listener to this show,
Speaker:you expect to see new episodes arrive early morning,
Speaker:every Saturday and Wednesday.
Speaker:What if I put them up on all different days and
Speaker:times and some weeks,
Speaker:not at all,
Speaker:I'd lose my spot in your listening flow.
Speaker:You may even unsubscribe don't underestimate keeping to a schedule.
Speaker:This applies to showing up regularly on your social media platforms.
Speaker:And when sending emails,
Speaker:have you ever gotten an email from someone who you interacted
Speaker:with years ago,
Speaker:and then all of a sudden they're popping into your inbox
Speaker:now to my way of thinking,
Speaker:that's email abuse and I hit unsubscribe show up or be
Speaker:forgotten and erased next up,
Speaker:number four,
Speaker:be visible as an authority.
Speaker:You may not think since you make products to sell that
Speaker:you're an authority,
Speaker:but in reality,
Speaker:you are,
Speaker:you're an authority on the production end for sure.
Speaker:The tools you use,
Speaker:the methods and techniques you've found along the way,
Speaker:these things even lead some makers to create classes,
Speaker:to share what they know.
Speaker:Maybe you've done this already too,
Speaker:and it can go further.
Speaker:If you're a baker,
Speaker:there may be health benefits to some of the ingredients you
Speaker:use. If you work with essential oils,
Speaker:you can talk about emotions provoked by various sense and on
Speaker:and on the topics can be used for social posts or
Speaker:even better in blogs,
Speaker:to get more information about blogging,
Speaker:reference back to tips and talk number 67,
Speaker:sharing this information positions you as an authority.
Speaker:And this tips,
Speaker:the scale in your favor when a purchase is being considered,
Speaker:we all want to buy from a specialist and expert.
Speaker:It's perceived that products are higher quality and value.
Speaker:So position yourself as the expert tip number five is don't
Speaker:be the same as others.
Speaker:There's a natural tendency to look at your competition and copy
Speaker:exactly what they're doing.
Speaker:What that creates is only more of the same and that's
Speaker:boring. There's no problem looking at what's already available in your
Speaker:industry to create a baseline,
Speaker:but then setting yourself apart and making what you do.
Speaker:Different allows you to stand out.
Speaker:It's so important in your business that I dedicate an entire
Speaker:module of my makers MBA program on how to do this,
Speaker:by the way,
Speaker:maker's MBA.
Speaker:If you've been interested in it in the past is now
Speaker:always open,
Speaker:no more waiting months and sitting on a waiting list to
Speaker:get in.
Speaker:If you're interested,
Speaker:of course,
Speaker:you can go over to the website,
Speaker:look under courses and check out maker's MBA back to not
Speaker:being the same as others.
Speaker:You're seeing it at work right now with this podcast instituting
Speaker:the gift biz bash is new and unlike what others are
Speaker:doing in the podcast realm,
Speaker:and I have more fun,
Speaker:new things on the way two or three things in the
Speaker:works that most important,
Speaker:allow me to be of additional service to you,
Speaker:but also set my show apart from others.
Speaker:I can't wait to bring them to you and they're right
Speaker:around the corner.
Speaker:And when I do,
Speaker:I will ask for feedback.
Speaker:This is 0.6,
Speaker:similar to validating your product in the beginning.
Speaker:When you start your business,
Speaker:including your customers in some of your other decisions and asking
Speaker:for feedback keeps you in tune with their needs and how
Speaker:well you're fulfilling them.
Speaker:It's easy to create things in a vacuum with the assumption
Speaker:that people want,
Speaker:what you're making.
Speaker:Then you do a surprise reveal many times with disappointing results.
Speaker:You could be entirely off the mark because you're just too
Speaker:close to the plan.
Speaker:Getting customer input prevents this from happening and subtly walks your
Speaker:customers into quote unquote,
Speaker:buying into the plan.
Speaker:They begin to feel invested in what you're doing because they've
Speaker:had a part of its conception,
Speaker:asking for feedback is a powerful,
Speaker:but very under utilized activity.
Speaker:Finally, even though all those points are important,
Speaker:this last one is the most important of all.
Speaker:And one I didn't know about,
Speaker:you know,
Speaker:all that legalees that you just click and accept when you
Speaker:sign up for your email provider.
Speaker:I know whoever reads that anyway,
Speaker:that's why the type is so small.
Speaker:Nobody does,
Speaker:but did you know,
Speaker:hidden in that language is wording about how they can change
Speaker:their rules at any time and that they can shut down
Speaker:your email account to O M G seriously,
Speaker:did you know that could happen?
Speaker:I didn't,
Speaker:this is 0.7,
Speaker:protect against email censorship.
Speaker:The person at pod Fest who talked about this had it
Speaker:happened to her.
Speaker:So it is real.
Speaker:An email list of tens of thousands was blocked.
Speaker:We covered this before for social media that you don't own
Speaker:access to any of your followers,
Speaker:but the solution and action we always talk about is getting
Speaker:their email because as long as you've captured the email information
Speaker:in the proper way,
Speaker:they've agreed to be included on your list.
Speaker:You own the ability to be able to communicate with them
Speaker:through their email,
Speaker:to have ownership of your email list while this is still
Speaker:true. You are at risk.
Speaker:If randomly your provider decides to sensor your business,
Speaker:email the solution,
Speaker:backup your email list on a regular basis,
Speaker:weekly or monthly,
Speaker:depending on how active it is with new subscribers or unsubscribes.
Speaker:It's easy.
Speaker:Just download a CSV file to your computer or better yet
Speaker:a Dropbox folder.
Speaker:And then you're covered.
Speaker:This was a heart stopping learning for sure.
Speaker:So I specifically want to share it with you.
Speaker:Take heed,
Speaker:although it seems rare.
Speaker:It could be an email and business disaster.
Speaker:Here are these seven points.
Speaker:Again, one play to your strengths to always keep your eye
Speaker:on the customer.
Speaker:Three, be consistent,
Speaker:four, be visible as an authority.
Speaker:Five, don't be the same as all the others.
Speaker:Six ask for feedback and seven protect against email censorship here's
Speaker:to keeping your handmade product business protected,
Speaker:strong, and growing.
Speaker:I've been interjecting within these points,
Speaker:how I applied them to my business.
Speaker:And now I'm going to demonstrate number six,
Speaker:by asking for your input,
Speaker:which of these hit home for you?
Speaker:The most DME on Instagram at gift biz on wrapped and
Speaker:let me know and stay tuned.
Speaker:As I mentioned,
Speaker:there are new and exciting things coming your way.
Speaker:Bye for now That's a wrap.
Speaker:I'm a get to the point kind of girl.
Speaker:And this is what you can expect from these quick midweek
Speaker:sessions. Now it's your turn go out and fulfill that dream
Speaker:of yours.
Speaker:Share your handmade products with us.
