Overwhelm is everywhere. Things 'to do' pop up everywhere - TikTok lists, IGTVs, Pinterest pins, posts in Facebook groups… everywhere you go that entrepreneurs hang out, you will hear and see people talking about things you absolutely MUST DO to be successful. It's impossible to avoid seeing them, and it's tough not to let these things take hold and rule your time if you aren't in a place to know how to react to them. Being an entrepreneur can be very overwhelming, and we are inundated with information. The good news is, there are not, in my opinion, a lot of MUST-DO things that apply to everyone. Today we are talking about the misconceptions of must-dos and things we KNOW you do not need to do. More importantly, we are talking about the things you need to HAVE and BE to be successful. Let's dive in! Connect with me on instagram @merriweatherc All of the resources mentioned in this episode can be found HERE: merriweathercouncilblog.com/137 To see our full podcast lineup, visit: merriweathercouncilblog.com/podcast

The Truth About 'Must-Dos'

The Merriweather Council podcast, hosted by Danielle Spurge, is all about celebrating the reality of gainful self employment through craft. This is a podcast for art and design entrepreneurs - makers, etsy sellers and shopify users! Featuring tips, insights, advice and tough love for handmade business owners in concise format. Focused on sharing realistic ideas and personal experiences with the nuances of handmade business in mind. If you are working to turn your crafty tendencies into profits, tune in every Tuesday and Thursday.

Arts

Literature

Performing Arts

Design

Food

Fashion & Beauty

Visual Arts

Business

Investing

Careers

Management & Marketing

Business News

Shopping

Why is it that sometimes even the very best marketing advice doesn’t generate results? If you have tried the best marketing advice you can find, and it just didn’t work for you, I’m going to explain why that probably is in this episode! As you likely know, marketing is all the ‘stuff’ that you do that generates interest or traffic to your shop. This could be videos, Instagram posts or stories, blog posts, challenges, ads… you get the idea. There are lots of things you can do to market your business. Some ideas you’ll hear or read are meh at best, others are genuinely brilliant. For full show notes visit merriweathercouncilblog.com/177 For a full list of all merripodcast episodes visit merripodcast.com

Rebroadcast Series: The Only 2 Reasons Even Great Marketing Advice Doesn’t Generate Results for Your Handmade Shop

Today I am diving into the quandary of consistency in your handmade business. So elusive! What does “consistency” in business actually look like? What does it mean when we say we want more consistency? And why does it sometimes seem unattainable or frustrating to accomplish that at times? We are ALL always looking for consistency in business, usually, that means sales but it could mean other things like subscribers or followers, depending on what you are trying to accomplish. Is this achievable? I believe that is! BUT we have to work on what we REALLY mean when we say it. Like, truly define what we mean when we say we want consistency.   For full show notes, please visit merriweathercouncilblog.com/176 For a full list of all Merripodcast episodes, visit merripodcast.com

Rebroadcast Series: 2 Keys to Acheiving 'Consistency' in Your Handmade Business

Does it ever feel like no one else struggles quite as much as you do to identify or define their ideal customer avatar? There’s a reason for that…  What if I told you that the key to finding your ideal customer avatar is your product seller profile? Let me explain. In the past 11 years, I’ve done plenty of my own ideal customer avatar build-outs and I’ve assisted many makes with theirs, too! There is a lot of experience from those 11 years or so that has influenced today’s episode. I’ve recently started to think about finally articulating my theory about how the way you become the seller of original products impacts the way you find your ideal customer. AND here we are, the time has come. Welcome to today’s episode where I will articulate that theory. This is my theory about how the way that you become a seller of original products impacts how you determine who your ideal customer is.  I think there are 3 ways you can become a seller of original products and I’m going to cover each one and provide insight into the ideal customer discovery for each.   For full show notes please visit merriweathercouncilblog.com/175 For a full list of all merripodcast episodes, please visit merripodcast.com

Rebroadcast Series: The 3 Product Seller Profiles and how they Influence your Ideal Customer Avatar

Pricing your handmade products sucks… That’s just the truth. It makes the impulse to do some of these things very real! It is true that pricing is hard, and it inevitably involves math which, for me, makes it even worse. There are lots of best practices for pricing your handmade products, I’ll point you in the direction of our top pricing resources in this post! For now though, let’s make sure you know what NOT to do. Before we get started, I want to remind you that underpricing is bad for everyone, not just you! Here are the 4 things you definitely do not want to do when pricing your handmade products for sale on Etsy, Shopify or anywhere else.   For full show notes please visit merriweathercouncilblog.com/174   For a full list of all episodes please visit merripodcast.com

Rebroadcast Series: 4 Things You Should Never Do When Pricing Your Handmade Products

The idea of launching handmade product lines usually brings up one of two emotions: YAY or UGH. (Both are entirely valid!) If you feel more UGH than yay, I get you. I, too, dislike using the launch model in my own business. The handmade product lines launch model I am referring to is one you are probably familiar with. It starts with teasing out a new product line for a few weeks before launching it live for sale at a certain time on a certain date. Usually, there is some fanfare in that build-up process and on the launch date! It might involve a mailing list, email blast, social media campaign or even the help of influencers. It tends to be a multi-faceted project and quite a bit of work concentrated on a single ‘event.’ Launching is a semi-popular approach particularly for product-based businesses and many handmade business owners enjoy it! (I’m not one of them but many sellers do love it.)   For full show notes visit merriweathercouncilblog.com/173. For a list of all Merripodcast episodes, visit merripodcast.com

The Truth About 'Must-Dos'

Download our free app to listen on your phone