Creative and Ambitious Entrepreneur Podcast

Episode 102 - It's not uncommon for online business owners to feel overwhelmed by everything they have to do to make their venture a success. Our client Sandra experienced this but was able to overcome the overwhelm of her Zazzle storefront and start really pursuing her goals. That's what today's episode centers around, as she joins us to chat about her Zazzle journey. Sandra found that when she breaks down her goals into bite-size pieces and narrows in on just a few items of focus at a time, she has a much better success rate as well as a better mindset. This has been a huge part of her success on the platform, as well as the work she's done with us. Here are the topics we discuss today:

• How to Overcome Overwhelm of a Zazzle Business
• Sandra's Zazzle Success
• Her PDA Takeaways

This episode is all about Sandra's ability to shed that feeling of overwhelm and start feeling confident in her business. Once she started treating her Zazzle storefront as a business instead of a hobby, she was able to really ramp up that confidence, which has made a world of difference for her. The same could be true for you! To hear the full episode and to learn more about all the factors that have helped increase Sandra's confidence, tune in to episode 102 of The Creative and Ambitious Entrepreneur Podcast: From Overwhelm to Confident Zazzle Seller: Sandra's Story If you enjoyed this episode, take a screenshot of the episode to post in your stories and tag us! @msjenclarke and @elkeclarke Love it? Subscribe, rate, and review the podcast. We would love to hear your key takeaways. Share them with us!

CONNECT WITH JEN & ELKE:

Join The Profit by Design Academy®

Official Website

Jen's Instagram

Elke's Instagram

EPISODE RESOURCES: The Profit by Design Academy® Coaching Program https://elkeclarke.com/startandscale/ The Creative CEO Mastermind™️ https://elkeclarke.com/creative-ceo-mastermind/

Episode 101 - All too often, people associate the use of technology with the younger generation. However, in talking with our client Michele, we were reminded that people of all ages can make use of technology. It's especially powerful when combined with the opportunity to sell on Zazzle, which is exactly what Michele has done to generate a retiree income.

Michele is a creative that was in search of an outlet that could help her generate income after retiring. That's where Zazzle came in - and more specifically - that's how we started working with her. Michele attended our retreat in Mallorca, and we've been working together ever since. She's on this episode of the podcast talking about her experience.

Here are the topics touched upon with Michele:

• Why Michele Started Selling on Zazzle
• Managing Self Doubt Through the Process
• The Two Choices Michele Faced

Michele has such an inspiring story and we have loved watching her grow and evolve throughout her Zazzle journey. She believes in herself now more than ever, and there's nothing more uplifting than that!

To hear the full episode and to learn more about how Zazzle can help create a passive retiree income, tune in to episode 101 of The Creative and Ambitious Entrepreneur Podcast: A New Direction and Coming Into Your Own After 50: Michele's Story

If you enjoyed this episode, take a screenshot of the episode to post in your stories and tag us! @msjenclarke and @elkeclarke

Love it? Subscribe, rate, and review the podcast. We would love to hear your key takeaways. Share them with us!

CONNECT WITH JEN & ELKE:

Join The Profit by Design Academy®

Official Website

Jen's Instagram

Elke's Instagram

EPISODE RESOURCES:

The Profit by Design Academy® Coaching Program https://elkeclarke.com/startandscale/

The Creative CEO Mastermind™️ https://elkeclarke.com/creative-ceo-mastermind/

Episode 100 - This is our 100th podcast episode (!!) and to celebrate, we're bringing back one of our most successful clients as a guest to chat. Christine has been on the podcast twice before, and she has so much wisdom to share through her Zazzle journey. While she was once happy making her first $1k on the platform, she realized through her work with us her HUGE potential on Zazzle. Since then, she has made six figures on the platform, and this is only the beginning for her.

While we certainly can't make any income claims, we love that Christine's story is one of perseverance and determination. She's never given up on her Zazzle goals, and her hard work has brought her much success in generating a highly coveted passive income.

Here are the topics we discuss today:

• Christine's Zazzle Journey
• Christine's Motivation & Determination
• How She Makes Zazzle Work For Her
• The Excitement Around Making Six Figures on Zazzle

We hope that this episode shows you all that you can gain from the Zazzle platform if you put in the work, ask the questions, and - most importantly - never give up.

To hear the full episode and to learn more about Christine's path to success, tune in to episode 100 of The Creative and Ambitious Entrepreneur Podcast: 100th Episode Special: Follow-up to Christine's 6-Figure Journey on Zazzle

If you enjoyed this episode, take a screenshot of the episode to post in your stories and tag us! @msjenclarke and @elkeclarke

Love it? Subscribe, rate, and review the podcast. We would love to hear your key takeaways. Share them with us!

CONNECT WITH JEN & ELKE:

Join The Profit by Design Academy®

Official Website

Jen's Instagram

Elke's Instagram

EPISODE RESOURCES:

Christine's other two podcast episodes

https://elkeclarke.com/how-to-scale-your-zazzle-business-62/

https://elkeclarke.com/1-million-dollars/

The Profit by Design Academy® Coaching Program https://elkeclarke.com/startandscale/

The Creative CEO Mastermind™️ https://elkeclarke.com/creative-ceo-mastermind/

Episode 99 - We've been on quite a Zazzle journey over the past 14 years, and in the early days, Elke made quite a jump in terms of income. While she made only $2,300 in 2008 on the platform, in 2009 she ramped it up BIG TIME, taking home $37k. This episode revolves around the changes she made to make that happen.

Thanks to Elke's 5 Strategies™ she was able to take her Zazzle storefront from hobby to business, bringing home a much bigger paycheck and truly understanding how to garner success on the platform. We know that you strive for the same thing, so we wanted to go into greater detail regarding those strategies here.

Here are the topics we discuss today:

• Our General Tips for Zazzle Success
• Elke's Journey to her Five Winning Zazzle Strategies
• • Establish
  • Create
  • Announce
  • Align
  • Analyze

We hope that this episode - which is chock full of tips and our knowledge on the platform - helps you understand how you can make your own Zazzle storefront a true business that you can start to rely on for a sustainable income that's in alignment with what you want out of life and work.

To hear the full episode and to learn more about these winning Zazzle strategies, tune in to episode 99 of The Creative and Ambitious Entrepreneur Podcast: Turning A Hobby into a $37,000 Business In One Year: A Case Study.

If you enjoyed this episode, take a screenshot of the episode to post in your stories and tag us! @msjenclarke and @elkeclarke

Love it? Subscribe, rate, and review the podcast. We would love to hear your key takeaways. Share them with us!

CONNECT WITH JEN & ELKE:

Join The Profit by Design Academy®

Official Website

Jen's Instagram

Elke's Instagram

EPISODE RESOURCES:

Episode 98: Creating Passive Income: How to Make Your First $1,000 on Zazzle

Episode 98 - We know that if you're opening a storefront on Zazzle, it's to make money! While Zazzle certainly isn't a get-rich-quick scheme, it's a great way to build a passive source of income over time. But if you're just getting started - we're talking on this episode about how you can work to make your first $1,000 on the platform.

The idea of making this money may seem daunting, but we have a host of strategies that can assist in speeding up the process and ensuring that you can work smarter - not harder! After all, we're all about creating a passive, perceivable, and profitable business.

Here are the topics we discuss today:

• Elke's Earning History on Zazzle
• The Numbers Behind Your First $1,000 on Zazzle
• The Power of Self-Referral

We hope that these analytical examples assist you in understanding just how you can generate your first $1k on the platform. More than that, we hope it drives home the fact that using a variety of items at different price points and the self-referral can really help you ramp up your sales, especially when you're first getting started!

To hear the full episode and to learn more about making your first grand on Zazzle, tune in to episode 98 of The Creative and Ambitious Entrepreneur Podcast: Creating Passive Income on Zazzle

If you enjoyed this episode, take a screenshot of the episode to post in your stories and tag us! @msjenclarke and @elkeclarke

Love it? Subscribe, rate, and review the podcast. We would love to hear your key takeaways. Share them with us!

CONNECT WITH JEN & ELKE:

Join The Profit by Design Academy®

Official Website

Jen's Instagram

Elke's Instagram

EPISODE RESOURCEEPISODE RESOURCES:

Episode 4: How to Make One Million Dollars in Sales on Zazzle: Our Student's Success Story

Episode 38: How to Sell 1 Million Dollars-Worth of Zazzle Products in One Year: with Chrisine Factora

Episode 62: How to Scale Your Zazzle Business with a VA: Interview with Gold ProDesigner - Christine

The Profit by Design Academy® Coaching Program

https://elkeclarke.com/startandscale/

Episode 97 - Jen is sharing a story that's near and dear to her heart on this episode of the podcast. She's diving into her choice to drop out of business school for a more aligned path. From there, she really ramped up her Zazzle business - with the help of her mom, Elke, and the five strategies she developed for Zazzle success.

This is a deeply personal story about Jen pursuing happiness and alignment in her life. While she had always been a great student, after two years of business school, she discovered it simply wasn't the right path for her. What she was able to create after dropping out has given her so much freedom, joy, and abundance in her life.

Here are the topics she and Elke touch upon in the conversation:

• Jen's Business School Journey
• Jen's Transition to Zazzle
• An Amazing Journey to Freedom and Happiness
• Forging Your Own Online Business Path

Everyone has the right to choose their own path, and hopefully this episode reinstills that in you when you listen. While breaking the mold and doing something different than what society dictates as "normal" may be intimidating, sometimes it can be the best choice you can make!

To hear the full episode and to learn more about Jen's major life decision and where it led her, tune in to episode 97 of The Creative and Ambitious Entrepreneur Podcast: From Business School Drop Out to Successful 7-Figure Online Business.

If you enjoyed this episode, take a screenshot of the episode to post in your stories and tag us! @msjenclarke and @elkeclarke

Love it? Subscribe, rate, and review the podcast. We would love to hear your key takeaways. Share them with us!

CONNECT WITH JEN & ELKE:

Join The Profit by Design Academy®

Official Website

Jen's Instagram

Elke's Instagram

EPISODE RESOURCES:

The Profit by Design Academy® Coaching Program

https://elkeclarke.com/startandscale/

The Creative CEO Mastermind™️

https://elkeclarke.com/creative-ceo-mastermind/

Episode 96 - This week's podcast episode is taking you back in time to 2007 - when Elke first started on Zazzle! She's been on the platform for 14 years, and we've both learned a lot about it in that time. But today, we're talking about the first $100 that Elke ever made on Zazzle.

This recollection and reflection is intended to help you understand some key learnings on your own Zazzle journey. The beginning can be tough: there's a lot of uncertainty along with so much to learn and understand.

Here are the topics we discuss:

• What is Zazzle?
• More Than a Website
• Making Your First $100 on Zazzle
• Go In With a Plan
• Don't Just Throw Spaghetti Against the Wall
• Don't Give Up - Believe In Yourself!

We want you to know that you're not alone in your Zazzle journey, whether you've earned $0 or $10 million. All that matters is that you continue to believe in yourself and don't give up. You started on the platform for a reason, so keep at it to meet your goals and achieve your dream life - just like we have.

To hear the full episode and to learn more about our Zazzle journey so far, tune in to episode 96 of The Creative and Ambitious Entrepreneur Podcast: Sharing Our Own Journey to Making Our First $100 on Zazzle: A Case Study

If you enjoyed this episode, take a screenshot of the episode to post in your stories and tag us! @msjenclarke and @elkeclarke

Love it? Subscribe, rate, and review the podcast. We would love to hear your key takeaways. Share them with us!

CONNECT WITH JEN & ELKE:

Join The Profit by Design Academy®

Official Website

Jen's Instagram

Elke's Instagram

EPISODE RESOURCES:

The Profit by Design Academy®: https://elkeclarke.com/startandscale/

https://www.similarweb.com/website/minted.us/#overview

https://www.similarweb.com/website/zazzle.com/#overview

Episode 95 - This week's podcast episode wraps up our comparison of five different print on demand (POD) platforms to Zazzle! This has been a really fun series, and we hope that you've gotten a lot of value out of it. In this final comparison, we're diving into the details of Minted compared to Zazzle.

Minted is a more prestigious brand that shoppers go to looking for high-end and luxury paper items or art. While there are definitely some big draws to the platform, there are also some serious cons that you should be aware of if you're considering Minted for your online business journey.

Here are the different criteria we touch upon:

• Ease of Use
• Cost
• Number of Potential Customers
• Earnings Potential
• Exclusive Rights to Design on Minted
• Product Availability
• Niche or Type of Market Attracted
• Design Versatility
• Production Efficiency

We hope that this episode opens you up to the hoops you have to jump through to potentially sell your designs on Minted, and all the red tape that comes along with that. Furthermore, we hope that this series has given you all the facts you need to decide which POD platform is right for you.

To hear the full episode and to learn about what typically holds people back from starting their own online business, tune in to episode 95 of The Creative and Ambitious Entrepreneur Podcast: Drilling Down on Two POD Platforms: Zazzle vs. Minted

If you enjoyed this episode, take a screenshot of the episode to post in your stories and tag us! @msjenclarke and @elkeclarke

Love it? Subscribe, rate, and review the podcast. We would love to hear your key takeaways. Share them with us!

CONNECT WITH JEN & ELKE:

Join The Profit by Design Academy®

Official Website

Jen's Instagram

Elke's Instagram

EPISODE RESOURCES:

The Profit by Design Academy®: https://elkeclarke.com/startandscale/

https://www.similarweb.com/website/minted.us/#overview

https://www.similarweb.com/website/zazzle.com/#overview

Episode 94 - Another week, another POD platform comparison! This episode continues to give you the chance to learn more about online business platforms to help decide which is right for you. Today, we (Jen and Elke) are doing something a bit different, since Etsy is not as straightforward of a POD (Print on Demand). Nonetheless, we're bringing you a comparison between two popular online selling platforms: Zazzle and Etsy.

Etsy is a majorly popular platform in today's world - for both buyers and sellers alike! It's a household name, but even so, you may not have all the relevant information about selling on the platform. There's a lot to know, so we do our best to break it down here!

Here are the different criteria we touch upon:

• What is Etsy?
• Ease of Use
• Number of Customers
• Passive POD Business Model
• Cost of Operation
• Earnings Potential
• Product Availability
• Customization Options
• Type of Market
• Design Versatility

After hearing this episode, we hope that you can make a more informed decision on which platform you can best run your online business. While it's about making a great profit, it's also important to examine where you can have the best work/life balance, which we address in this comparison.

To hear the full episode and to learn about what typically holds people back from starting their own online business, tune in to episode 94 of The Creative and Ambitious Entrepreneur Podcast: Where Can You Be More Profitable? Zazzle vs Etsy

If you enjoyed this episode, take a screenshot of the episode to post in your stories and tag us! @msjenclarke and @elkeclarke

Love it? Subscribe, rate, and review the podcast. We would love to hear your key takeaways. Share them with us!

CONNECT WITH JEN & ELKE:

Join The Profit by Design Academy®

Official Website

Jen's Instagram

Elke's Instagram

EPISODE RESOURCES:

The Profit by Design Academy®: https://elkeclarke.com/startandscale/

Etsy Traffic Analytics and Market Share: https://www.similarweb.com/website/etsy.com/#overview

Gearment Fulfillment: https://gearment.com/

Etsy Fees and Payments Policy: https://www.etsy.com/ca/legal/fees/

Zazzle Traffic Analytics and Market Share: https://www.similarweb.com/website/zazzle.com/#overview

Episode 93 - And so our comparison series continues! Another podcast episode means another chance for us to compare Print on Demand (POD) platforms to help you decide which is right for you for your online business. Today, we (Jen and Elke) are diving into a comparison between two popular print on demand platforms: Zazzle and Society6.

It's important to us that you make an informed decision when it comes to your business, so we're spilling all the details on these platforms here. There are certainly ups and downs to each of these platforms, so hopefully this deep dive spells it out in clear terms.

Here are the different criteria we touch upon:

• Cost
• Ease of Use
• Customer Reach
• Earnings Potential
• Product Availability & Opportunity to Curate
• Customization
• Type of Market & Niche

It's our hope that this comparison gets you one step closer to your online business goals. Selling online can seem intimidating, but choosing the right POD platform is really the first step in an exciting journey!

To hear the full episode and to learn about what typically holds people back from starting their own online business, tune in to episode 93 of The Creative and Ambitious Entrepreneur Podcast: Which Platform Can You Be More Successful On? Zazzle vs Society6

If you enjoyed this episode, take a screenshot of the episode to post in your stories and tag us! @msjenclarke and @elkeclarke

Love it? Subscribe, rate, and review the podcast. We would love to hear your key takeaways. Share them with us!

CONNECT WITH JEN & ELKE:

Join The Profit by Design Academy®

Official Website

Jen's Instagram

Elke's Instagram

EPISODE RESOURCES:

The Profit by Design Academy®: https://elkeclarke.com/startandscale/

E-commerce as Percentage of Total Retail Sales Worldwide from 2015 to 2025: https://www.statista.com/statistics/534123/e-commerce-share-of-retail-sales-worldwide/

Society6 Traffic Analytics & Marketshare: https://www.similarweb.com/website/society6.com/#overview

Zazzle Traffic Analytics & Marketshare: https://www.similarweb.com/website/zazzle.com/#overview