Indie Made Business: A Podcast for Creative Entrepreneurs and Handmade Business Owners

What happens when you've built your business to the point where in order to keep up with everything, you need to hire some help? What happens when you need help even though you're still working out of your home? It might be time to find your first employee! Today Cheryl is talking about what happened when she hired her General Manager Jess to help her with the day-to-day working of her business.

At the core of Cheryl and Jess's experience working together was the idea that this wasn't going to be a traditional type of employer-employee relationship. At the time she was hired, Cheryl was still working out of her house and working at a corporate job, so when she first approached Jess they established clear boundaries, clear responsibilities, and most important of all, a clear line of communication to make the relationship work. It can be hard to find someone willing to work on an irregular/flexible schedule, so clear communication is crucial when you are able to bring on someone to help out.

Key Takeaways:

- It's likely to start out as an irregular employment, so being flexible is key

- Clearly establish responsibilities and allow your employee to take ownership of tasks

- Communication is so important to keep the relationship professional and positive!

- Flexibility, Honesty, Appreciation, and Communication are the cornerstones of a good working relationship

Quotes:

"I think that people get held back thinking, 'Well I can do this myself. Why do I need to bring somebody else in?' And yes, you can do everything yourself, but eventually you'll just be exhausted." - Cheryl

"You always have to be aware of the relationship between you and your employee. If you're friends, you can't just take the friendship for granted and assume that they know what you want from them, or that you know what they want from you. You have to be able to speak to each other." – Cheryl

"It's really important to vocalize that you appreciate that they're giving you their time. Understanding that they're carving out hours of their day to help you and that they want to do that, showing your appreciation for your employee goes a long way." - Jess

Have a subject you'd like us to cover or just want to comment about how much you love the podcast? We want to hear from you! You can like, subscribe, and leave us a 5-star rating everywhere you can download podcasts.

Come find us online - we would love to hear from you!

• Cheryl: Indie Dyed Entrepreneur on Instagram or Facebook
• Nicky: Avery Lane Creations on Instagram or Facebook
• For a Text Notification when new episodes drop, text "Makers Gonna Sell" to 603-928-7108
• Hypnotic Yarn on Instagram or Facebook
• Yarnable Subscription Box - Cheryl's Subscription Box
• ALC Yarns - Nicky's Yarn Shop
• Nicky's Maker's Momentum Inner Circle

Are you worried that the market you're trying to break into is oversaturated and there's no room for you to stand out? Or maybe you think that getting ahead means you need to outshine the competition?

If you've ever struggled with how to get noticed and feel like you're attempts to be seen are falling on deaf ears, it's not your fault. It super hard to blaze your own path. And if you've done your fair share of Googling, you know that information on this topic is scarce.

You are not alone!

We felt this way too when we were starting out, but then realized that we're not actually in competition with everyone our market, and actually, there is plenty of room for all of us.

In today's episode, we share our thoughts on strategies you can use to stand out and grow your business, even when it feels like everyone else is selling the same thing as you.

Topics discussed in this episode:

• There's room at the top for everyone [00:03:15]
• Switching your mindset from selling product to building a community [00:14:53]
• How to serve instead of sell [00:29.40]
• Why it's so important to get yourself a business buddy [00:34.50]

...and so much more!

Needle Mover

• We're closing out every episode by declaring a Needle Mover in each of our businesses. You learn more about what a Needle Mover is and what it isn't in episode 2 of the podcast.
• Cheryl's Needle Mover [0:45:48]
• Nicky's Needle Mover [0:46:40]

Don't forget to share YOUR Needle Mover with us on Instagram by posting it to your Stories and tagging us, or shoot us a DM. Together, let's make a BIG impact in our businesses over the next 2 weeks!

Come find us on social media - we would love to hear from you!

• Cheryl: Indie Dyed Entrepreneur on Instagram or Facebook
• Hypnotic Yarn on Instagram or Facebook
• Yarnable Subscription Box
• For a Text Notification from Cheryl when new episodes drop, text "Makers Gonna Sell" to 603-928-7108
• Nicky: Avery Lane Creations on Instagram or Facebook
• ALC Yarns
• ALC Yarn Club Waitlist

Are you finding that you're in a rut with your business? That you feel like you're almost to that next level, but something is holding you back? This is a feeling that is way too common for first time entrepreneurs. We've all felt it, that feeling that something has got to give, and you just need a win to get you to that next level. That's what today's podcast is all about: three things that can help you get into the right mindset to get you through that rut and help you have a business breakthrough.

1. Let go of the Labels we give ourselves – When you're first starting out, you might have some big dreams but not much in the way of practical knowledge. You have the creativity and the products, but you're not a salesperson or a marketer. You're a business owner, not a podcaster. Y'all, you can do whatever you put your mind to. You're so much more capable than you give yourself credit for, and you won't be able to see what kind of potential you have if you limit yourself with labels.
2. Operating in Fear – It might seem backwards but being worried about what success might look like can be petrifying. The idea of "what if" can be a scary thing when you're doing things for the first time. We all have a fear of failing, but we can also have a fear of not being able to handle things if we're actually successful. This is an irrational feeling, no matter how real it feels, and knowing you're falling for it is the first step to pushing back on those fears.
3. Let go of Distractions! – This one is the easiest one to fall for. Finding any reason to not do the things we need to do, letting the small things balloon out of control, distractions can stop us dead in our tracks. Identifying distractions and avoiding being caught in their trap can help us keep that momentum that will make us successful.

Quotes:

"When you start noticing the labels that you're putting on yourself becoming limits or obstacles, press forward into them because they are not going to move unless you push back." – Nicky

"When we step into those things that scare us and we go through them, we're going to come out the other side a little braver, a little more courageous, and a little more ready to take on the next level of your business." – Nicky

Key Takeaways:

- Labels limit what we can achieve and sap away our success

- Identify what gives you fear and push through it. It's only there to hold us back

- Don't let distractions pull you away from the momentum you've built in your business!

Have a subject you'd like us to cover or just want to comment about how much you love the podcast? We want to hear from you! Like, subscribe, and leave us a 5-star rating!

Come find us online - we would love to hear from you!

• Cheryl: Indie Dyed Entrepreneur on Instagram or Facebook
• Nicky: Avery Lane Creations on Instagram or Facebook
• For a Text Notification when new episodes drop, text "Makers Gonna Sell" to 603-928-7108
• Hypnotic Yarn on Instagram or Facebook
• Yarnable Subscription Box - Cheryl's Subscription Box
• ALC Yarns - Nicky's Yarn Shop
• Nicky's Maker's Momentum Inner Circle

Today's podcast is about a subject that we mention frequently when we're talking about how to be successful as a maker entrepreneur. In our type of business, we thrive when we build and develop our relationship with our audience. Without that relationship, without that trust between us and our audience, we wouldn't have a consistent place to sell the products that we create. Understanding this relationship is so important to staying successful, and it's something that we can't lose sight of the bigger our business gets.

We always need to show up for our audience. Reaching out, creating content for our audience and showing them interesting ways that they can create is how we build the know, like, and trust that's so crucial to keeping them as an audience. It's that trust that allows us to turn around and sell to them when we have a new product to launch, and keeping us in mind when they're interested in purchasing the products that we create.

Quotes:

"The gift that you can give to your audience is serving them so that they can get to know you and trust you so that they want to buy your product. We're giving something to our audience so that they can have some value out of our content, so that they can get to know who we are as people." – Cheryl

"When I learned different ways that I could serve my audience, I no longer really was just selling, and now that has made me comfortable with showing up and making the pitch to sell what I had put out there. When I'm serving my audience, I don't feel like I'm just a door-to-door salesman." – Nicky

"The things you have going on in your business are interesting to other people who might end up wanting to buy from you eventually." – Cheryl

"If you think of creating posts on social media as checking the box off of your to do list every day, you are really missing out on an amazing, fun community that you can build with your audience if you just let yourself enjoy it." - Nicky

Key Takeaways:

- Staying connected with your audience is key to getting them to know you, like you and trust you

- Your audience wants to hear from you!

- You can also use serving your audience as a chance to make connections in the maker community

Check out our YouTube Channels:

Cheryl: https://www.youtube.com/c/HypnoticYarnHY

Nicky: https://www.youtube.com/c/AveryLaneCreations

Have a subject you'd like us to cover or just want to comment about how much you love the podcast? We want to hear from you! You can like, subscribe, and leave us a 5-star rating everywhere you can download podcasts.

Come find us online - we would love to hear from you!

• Cheryl: Indie Dyed Entrepreneur on Instagram or Facebook
• Nicky: Avery Lane Creations on Instagram or Facebook
• For a Text Notification when new episodes drop, text "Makers Gonna Sell" to 603-928-7108
• Hypnotic Yarn on Instagram or Facebook
• Yarnable Subscription Box - Cheryl's Subscription Box
• ALC Yarns - Nicky's Yarn Shop
• Nicky's Maker's Momentum Inner Circle

It's almost inevitable that if you're a creative person, there's going to be a time when you create something and find another thing that looks very close to what you made. We're not talking about actively copying other people's creations, but those coincidences when two things look similar. For creative people, this can be a real moral dilemma! Nobody wants to be seen as unoriginal, so we might tend to overcorrect to make sure that we stay on the right side of the argument.

Look, we're not saying that you shouldn't be aware of what you put out there, but we are saying that the more you do put out and the bigger your business grows, you're inevitably going to find that some of your products are like others, and that's ok! The simple fact is, art is inspired by art, so similarities are going to happen. Knowing this and being ready to be ok with that is a big step in being in a creative business, so on this episode we're sharing our own thoughts and experience to help you though this dilemma!

Quotes:

"We can't let a fear of copying or being copied keep us small, and if it does end up happening, we can't let it hold us back from continuing to create." – Nicky

"I think it speaks to a scarcity mindset where you think that there's not enough room for both of us to have something similar, and that isn't true." – Cheryl

"We get to choose, when these situations come up, do we want to be bitter, or do we want to be better? And to me, I want to be better." – Nicky

Key Takeaways:

- Don't let the idea that what you create is like someone else's design stop you from putting your products out there

- At the same time, don't let the fear of being copied stop you either!

- All art is derivative – it's the intention that counts

- Be aware of what's out there, but try not to be quick to judge

Have a subject you'd like us to cover or just want to comment about how much you love the podcast? We want to hear from you! You can like, subscribe, and leave us a 5-star rating everywhere you can download podcasts.

Come find us online - we would love to hear from you!

• Cheryl: Indie Dyed Entrepreneur on Instagram or Facebook
• Nicky: Avery Lane Creations on Instagram or Facebook
• For a Text Notification when new episodes drop, text "Makers Gonna Sell" to 603-928-7108
• Hypnotic Yarn on Instagram or Facebook
• Yarnable Subscription Box - Cheryl's Subscription Box
• ALC Yarns - Nicky's Yarn Shop
• Nicky's Maker's Momentum Inner Circle

When you're starting out, every cent you make counts. Any money that you make is either put back into your business or used to keep your personal life afloat. The thought of using any extra money that you have to better yourself seems frivolous, at best. But investing in business courses or signing up to be part of a professional group, or really anything that involves bettering yourself is actually a solid investment in your future. The hard truth about starting a business is you only know what you know, and sometimes what you don't know might mean the difference between being successful or falling behind.

We wouldn't be here today with this podcast if it wasn't for us investing time and money to improve ourselves! Both of us met in a professional group where we became fast friends and eventually, business partners and podcast co-hosts. The benefits of personal development are not just in what kind of knowledge is offered, but also what kind of relationships you can build and outside of the box ideas that might never have occurred to you. You've taken those first huge steps turning your passion into a business that you love, and you can be proud of the progress you've made. But it's time to take yourself to the next level and start building the foundation of a professional entrepreneur by investing in yourself.

Quotes:

"I think that investing in yourself, no matter how that looks, is important because we don't just wake up knowing all the things. There are some things that you figure out through trial and error, but there's also value in not having trial and error for a year before you have a light bulb moment." – Cheryl

"For me, it was that point where I really started believing in myself when I realized I was willing to spend this money on this coaching group because I believed I would make that money back, plus some." – Nicky

"When you show up in those professional groups and you see other people owning their businesses and acting like business owners, you start to see yourself as a business owner too. You're no longer think of yourself as just somebody who started a business with the hopes of selling a few things. You start to see your own success." – Cheryl

"So many times, the biggest thing standing in the way of growing your business is ourselves and the mindset we're holding on to. When I realized that the one obstacle in my business is the way that that I was stuck in my own expectations, that was a game changer for me." – Nicky

Key Takeaways:

- Don't let your mindset limit your business growth! Be open to new perspectives

- An investment in yourself is an investment in your business

- Being around like-minded people can show you paths to success you never even considered

- You're the boss, but you're also your first employee, so be open to development as your best assets

Have a subject you'd like us to cover or just want to comment about how much you love the podcast? We want to hear from you! You can like, subscribe, and leave us a 5-star rating everywhere you can download podcasts.

Come find us online - we would love to hear from you!

• Cheryl: Indie Dyed Entrepreneur on Instagram or Facebook
• Nicky: Avery Lane Creations on Instagram or Facebook
• For a Text Notification when new episodes drop, text "Makers Gonna Sell" to 603-928-7108
• Hypnotic Yarn on Instagram or Facebook
• Yarnable Subscription Box - Cheryl's Subscription Box
• ALC Yarns - Nicky's Yarn Shop
• Nicky's Maker's Momentum Inner Circle

So, you've started your business by posting your crafts online and building an audience, and now you're ready to start expanding. That's the subject of this week's podcast: identifying your ideal customer so that you know exactly who you're attracting and how best to expand your reach. It's not just a numbers game where any customer is a good customer. Trying to be everything to everyone is a good way to burn yourself out on doing what you love, so knowing exactly who you're marketing your products and expertise to is so important to keeping the momentum that you've spent so much time building.

As you're listening and doing the work identifying your ideal customer, it can be helpful to remember that the best way to attract like-minded people is to keep doing what you're best at: being yourself! The enthusiasm and expertise that you brought to the table and helped build your audience in the first place is one of the best ways to make sure that you're always attracting the right people to your business. It's the joy of doing what you do best that is going to keep people noticing your work, and so understanding yourself can be a great way of knowing just who it is that you want to be your ideal customers.

Quotes:

"What we put out online is either going to attract people to you, the kind of people who are liking and resonating with everything that you're talking about, or you're going to repel the wrong people. And by wrong, I'm not using that as a negative, like one person's right, and one person's wrong. I mean some people are going to like what you have to say, and some people are just going to scroll by." - Cheryl

"When people love your products, they're gonna want more."- Nick

"What are people looking for when they're crocheting a project? What do they want to happen? How can my product do that for them, but even better than what they're already getting at their local craft store?" - Cheryl

Like is going to attract like, and you're gonna thank yourself later because you don't want to show up as somebody else and try to be all the things for everybody and end up burning yourself out and disappointing yourself." - Nicky

Key Points and Take-Aways:

- Who is it that is buying your product? What kind of people are you trying to reach?

- How is your product helping your customers? What problems does your product solve for them?

- Don't be afraid to ask your customers the kind of questions that will help you understand them better!

Have a subject you'd like us to cover or just want to comment about how much you love the podcast? We want to hear from you! You can like, subscribe, and leave us a 5-star rating everywhere you can download podcasts.

Come find us online - we would love to hear from you!

• Cheryl: Indie Dyed Entrepreneur on Instagram or Facebook
• Nicky: Avery Lane Creations on Instagram or Facebook
• For a Text Notification when new episodes drop, text "Makers Gonna Sell" to 603-928-7108
• Hypnotic Yarn on Instagram or Facebook
• Yarnable Subscription Box - Cheryl's Subscription Box
• ALC Yarns - Nicky's Yarn Shop
• Nicky's Maker's Momentum Inner Circle

When a big brand notices you for the first time, it's hard not to think that you've finally made it in the makers business! Sometimes these collaborations can come organically with them contacting you, or maybe you've reached out to them and now you're communicating… either way the clout from your collaboration is worth whatever you need to do to get it, right? Y'all, we're here to break some bad news to you: not all brand relationships are necessarily good for your business. But don't worry, it's not all bad! You just need to go into any agreement to work together with both eyes open.

On this week's podcast, we're speaking with Sarah Korth, founder of SEK Handmade, about all the peaks and valleys of professional collaborations with brands. We talk about some of the hard lessons we've learned as entrepreneurs, as well as some of the hidden benefits you might not have thought of. We're not afraid of exposure in this podcast collaboration, and we're giving away some great freebie information!

Quotes:

"There's always the thing out there that you feel like, if I get that thing, then I've arrived. The illusion of that is that you never arrive, because once you get there, there are other places to go." – Sarah

"The first thing you should think about when you work with some sort of company is: what do you want to get out of it? If you were under the assumption that working with a company is going to catapult you to the status and success that you are chasing, you're in it for the wrong reasons." – Sarah

"If you are saying the only thing that makes this collaboration worth it is the potential extra exposure I might get, then I would say it's not worth it. The way that I look at those things now after my experiences is I say, what are they going to pay me is the amount that they're going to pay me to make it worth doing. The truth is a lot of times the only guaranteed thing out of collaborations is the payment." – Sarah

"I find that sometimes the smaller people I work with, the more beneficial the collaboration because we are in similar spots in our business. And when we promote each other back and forth, it's much more mutually beneficial." – Sarah

Key Points and Takeaways:

- Understand what you want out of any potential collaboration

- Not all exposure is created equal

- Read the fine print! Know what you're getting into

- Big collaborations can be lucrative, but don't count out smaller collaborations

You can find Sarah at her Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/sekhandmade/ and on her website at http://www.sekhandmade.com

Have a subject you'd like us to cover or just want to comment about how much you love the podcast? We want to hear from you! You can like, subscribe, and leave us a 5-star rating everywhere you can download podcasts.

Come find us online - we would love to hear from you!

• Cheryl: Indie Dyed Entrepreneur on Instagram or Facebook
• Nicky: Avery Lane Creations on Instagram or Facebook
• For a Text Notification when new episodes drop, text "Makers Gonna Sell" to 603-928-7108
• Hypnotic Yarn on Instagram or Facebook
• Yarnable Subscription Box - Cheryl's Subscription Box
• ALC Yarns - Nicky's Yarn Shop
• Nicky's Maker's Momentum Inner Circle

We became business owners to have the freedom to determine our own success. Since we are now our own bosses and sometimes even our only employee, we tend to see all of our time as potential work hours. You hear about "the hustle" from influencers and how as an entrepreneur, all your time must be devoted to achieving success. Look y'all, we're here to tell you a secret that we've learned the hard way: taking a break from work, and even planning out rest periods is not a bad thing at all but needed if you're going to keep having the energy you need to keep advancing forward.

Allowing for some time during your week for rest is absolutely essential. This can be in the form of a slow start to the day to have some coffee or tea and do some reflecting or completing a set number of tasks and taking some time off for you and your workers. It's not enough to just work until you're done and then take a rest. Taking the time to plan out some periods of rest are what's needed not only for peace of mind, but also to recuperate your creativity and motivation to keep going. So grab that coffee or brew that tea and listen to our conversation about the important need to take it easy.

Quotes:

"This is the thing: your business isn't a dash, you're wanting to create longevity here, longevity in your business. It's it isn't created from nonstop work! The secret sauce is being able to rest, not just physically but also your mind; you've got to shut it off." – Nicky

"If you have a business, there is never going to be a day that you're going to wake up and be like, oh, there's no more work left to do. It's all been done. Never going to happen. I think we all need to acknowledge that like, there is a never-ending supply of work, and you can't work 24/7. I think when you wrap your head around that it makes it a lot easier to take rest times." – Cheryl

"I think it was really hard for me to make the decision in my brain that rest is good. For me, it's good for my business for me to realize that just because I'm sitting here doesn't mean that all of a sudden, my business is going to fail." – Nicky

"I would challenge you to think about doing something if you're not paying yourself yet. I think it's important for your business to be rewarding you in some way. Even at the very beginning, when you're not making a ton of money to support your household or whatever yet, you should still find some way to reward yourself for your work." – Cheryl

Key Points and Takeaways:

- Work to live, don't live to work! Make time in your schedule for yourself outside of work

- Learning that stepping away isn't going to ruin you is crucial to renew yourself and your creativity

- Resting isn't about being lazy, it's for your mental health and to keep you working toward your success

Have a subject you'd like us to cover or just want to comment about how much you love the podcast? We want to hear from you! You can like, subscribe, and leave us a 5-star rating everywhere you can download podcasts.

Come find us online - we would love to hear from you!

• Cheryl: Indie Dyed Entrepreneur on Instagram or Facebook
• Nicky: Avery Lane Creations on Instagram or Facebook
• For a Text Notification when new episodes drop, text "Makers Gonna Sell" to 603-928-7108
• Hypnotic Yarn on Instagram or Facebook
• Yarnable Subscription Box - Cheryl's Subscription Box
• ALC Yarns - Nicky's Yarn Shop
• Nicky's Maker's Momentum Inner Circle

We're all going to run into situations when running our business where we don't make the best decisions. The reality is, we're going to mess up and make mistakes y'all, it's a fact of life that we all need to come to grips with. It's how long it takes us to get our heads back on straight and deal with those mistakes that we're discussing and hopefully give you some perspective on this week's podcast.

The unfortunate part of making mistakes in your business is that most of the time, those mistakes are going to cost you money, or time, or in the worst cases: a customer. The thing we have to learn is how to quickly pivot to a problem-solving mode and push out any negative thoughts that might be trying to paralyze you. When you're able to see those mistakes and automatically go into a mode of taking action, those rare times will start to feel less like the end of the world, and just another workday. In this episode, we're going to hit you with some real situations that we've gone through (and some of them are a doozy!) and what we were able to do to work through them and come out better on the other side!

Quotes:

"Where we used to be was, 'I can't do this' to 'how? How can I?' Just that little shift there, there's so much power in there, because you're telling yourself 'I can,' now I just have to figure out how." – Nicky

"We all are going to do things that are going to make us go 'Oh my god.' They're either going to be self-created or sometimes it's just stuff out of our control that happens to us." – Cheryl

"Nothing is set in stone, and everything is fixable, it's just that sometimes it might take a stick of dynamite and just starting completely over. But it can feel very big in the moment so just take a moment and process those feelings. Once you get those feelings and emotions out and you're not reacting in those emotions, then you can start thinking, 'Okay, this is fixable, and I'm going to go forward and do this.'" - Nicky

"Being self-aware and understanding who you are is the key. It's not that one of us does it better, or is right, or whatever. It's knowing who you are as a person and understanding what is going to drive you bananas so that you can plan for that and work with what you've got." - Cheryl

Key Points and Takeaways:

- We all make mistakes! Coming to peace with this fact is a huge step forward

- Give yourself some time to process the situation and calm down, but then be ready to act

- Give yourself the grace that making mistakes is just a normal part of owning your own business

Have a subject you'd like us to cover or just want to comment about how much you love the podcast? We want to hear from you! You can like, subscribe, and leave us a 5-star rating everywhere you can download podcasts.

Come find us online - we would love to hear from you!

• Cheryl: Indie Dyed Entrepreneur on Instagram or Facebook
• Nicky: Avery Lane Creations on Instagram or Facebook
• For a Text Notification when new episodes drop, text "Makers Gonna Sell" to 603-928-7108
• Hypnotic Yarn on Instagram or Facebook
• Yarnable Subscription Box - Cheryl's Subscription Box
• ALC Yarns - Nicky's Yarn Shop
• Nicky's Maker's Momentum Inner Circle