The Create & Thrive Podcast

 You’ve got to start from the foundations of your biz.

Ask yourself these 2 questions:

In this video, I talk about the process of examining (and building) strong foundations for your business, so that you can answer the questions above – and so you can use this knowledge to help you with the more superficial aspects of business branding.

You can listen to this podcast below, or on your fave podcast app – or you can watch it on youtube!

Or are you just treating your creations like commodities – trying to compete on price, and failing to stand out in a crowded marketplace?

Creating a strong, unique brand identity is fundamentally important if you want to make your business stand out from the others in your niche.

You can make a secure donation (of the amount of your choice) via the Paypal button below.

Each donation helps cover the cost of hosting, show-note writing, research, interviewing, recording, editing, etc. etc.

In short – it helps to cover the time and financial costs of putting together a free weekly show to help you grow your handmade business.

You can also:

What are your Core Values? (You/your business)

How will you design your business to reflect them?

What are the Core Values of your customers?

NOW, you can ask the following question:

How will you attract the right people to your business?

I love her bright, colourful, organic style, and when I discovered her on Instagram, I knew immediately that I wanted to chat to her on the show!

Jen has over 81k followers on Instagram, as well as a super-successful Etsy shop – she was even nominated in the Etsy Design Awards.

We had a fun, in-depth chat about why she started (by accident, and motivated by dealing with a chronic health issue) how she manages to run a business and raise 2 kids with a partner who travels a lot, why she diversified into both handmade and supplies, and we both agree about putting boundaries around your work – so you can enjoy your life.

You can listen to this episode below, or on your fave podcasting app!

You can make a secure donation (of the amount of your choice) via the Paypal button below.

Each donation helps cover the cost of hosting, show-note writing, research, interviewing, recording, editing, etc. etc.

In short – it helps to cover the time and financial costs of putting together a free weekly show to help you grow your handmade business.

You can also:

In this episode I talk about a number of the most common roadblocks to success – things like money, time, and knowledge – and how you might be self-sabotaging yourself via excuses – telling yourself you don’t have enough of any of the above… when in fact, you do.

You might be surprised by how little you need to get started – and that if you just switch your perspective, it might be all that’s needed to move forward.

You can listen to this podcast below, or on your fave podcast app – or you can watch it on youtube!

Do you dream of running your own successful, thriving, & profitable handmade business?

Maybe all you have is a dream. Maybe you have a hobby you love and an inkling that you could make money out of this thing.

Or maybe you already have a business up and running, but know you don’t have everything figured out just yet.

You’re passionate. You’re dedicated. You know you want to make this happen. But you just aren’t sure if you’re doing all the right things, in the right order.

Imagine if someone could guide you through every single step that you need to take in order to turn that dream into a concrete reality?

What would that mean to you? What difference would it make to your life?

I’m offering you exactly that.

Your Year to Thrive is the program you’ve been searching for.

You can make a secure donation (of the amount of your choice) via the Paypal button below.

Each donation helps cover the cost of hosting, show-note writing, research, interviewing, recording, editing, etc. etc.

In short – it helps to cover the time and financial costs of putting together a free weekly show to help you grow your handmade business.

You can also:

There are a lot of risks and fears that we need to confront when we consider leaving a stable job to become self-employed – and these fears and risks will vary depending on your age, your location, and your financial situation.

But there are a number of hard and soft barriers to making the move that are pretty common across the board – things like not having the money to pay down debt or pay for training; not wanting to give up benefits (especially health insurance for you Americans); and fear of earning less, and having inconsistent income.

In this episode, I discuss those and a number of other challenges with Matt Baker from Freshbooks.

Freshbooks does a survey each year on self-employment in America – and we discuss the findings of that survey – specifically, the things people love about being self-employed, and how people who want to be self-employed and de-risk the move.

You can listen to this episode below, or on your fave podcast app.

You can make a secure donation (of the amount of your choice) via the Paypal button below.

Each donation helps cover the cost of hosting, show-note writing, research, interviewing, recording, editing, etc. etc.

In short – it helps to cover the time and financial costs of putting together a free weekly show to help you grow your handmade business.

You can also:

There are many reasons to feel a lack of confidence – but while confidence breeds success… the inverse is also true.

By putting yourself out there, failing a LOT, and sometimes finding success, you’ll grow your knowledge, courage, and confidence.

Because success also breeds confidence!

The more little steps forward you can make, the easier the next steps will be.

In this episode I discuss a few techniques to overcome this lack of confidence, and move forward with your dream.

You can listen to this podcast below, or on your fave podcast app – or you can watch it on youtube!

Do you dream of running your own successful, thriving, & profitable handmade business?

Maybe all you have is a dream. Maybe you have a hobby you love and an inkling that you could make money out of this thing.

Or maybe you already have a business up and running, but know you don’t have everything figured out just yet.

You’re passionate. You’re dedicated. You know you want to make this happen. But you just aren’t sure if you’re doing all the right things, in the right order.

Imagine if someone could guide you through every single step that you need to take in order to turn that dream into a concrete reality?

What would that mean to you? What difference would it make to your life?

I’m offering you exactly that.

Your Year to Thrive is the program you’ve been searching for.

You can make a secure donation (of the amount of your choice) via the Paypal button below.

Each donation helps cover the cost of hosting, show-note writing, research, interviewing, recording, editing, etc. etc.

In short – it helps to cover the time and financial costs of putting together a free weekly show to help you grow your handmade business.

You can also:

Raphaela of Fifth Heaven Designs started her business the way so many of us do – on the side, as a hobby.

Fast-forward about a decade, and she has an incredibly successful online jewellery business – and today we discuss exactly how she got from there to here.

Much like myself, Raphaela’s spouse also works with her in the business, and we talk a bit about the pros and cons of working with your partner, too.

Raphaela also discusses how an adult diagnoses of Aspergers has given her insight into her work patterns, and has helped her to create systems that work for her.

I adored chatting with her, and I hope you enjoy this interview!

You can make a secure donation (of the amount of your choice) via the Paypal button below.

Each donation helps cover the cost of hosting, show-note writing, research, interviewing, recording, editing, etc. etc.

In short – it helps to cover the time and financial costs of putting together a free weekly show to help you grow your handmade business.

You can also:

So much marketing in the biz space tells you ‘this is the secret to success in….’

It’s rubbish. There is no such thing as a secret – only something you haven’t learnt yet.

I hate this language, because it couches knowledge as something only the select/elect few know, and that you must learn from them. It’s sleazy marketing language to sell you something.

And sure, I want to sell you something too (the Thriver Circle, my courses) but I try to be clear that I’m not offering a magic bullet or a secret formula – I’m simply aiming to teach you systems that will speed up your acquisition of knowledge and strategy.

I refuse to use this language of ‘secrecy’.

The truth is, if you keep at this biz game long enough, you’ll figure all this stuff out on your own eventually. You might even be the one who discovers an innovative solution to a problem!

So STOP searching for ‘the secret’ to anything – whether it be ‘more sales’ or ‘more traffic’ or ‘how to make a million dollars’.

Do this instead…

You can listen to the episode via the podcast, or watch it via YouTube below!

Do you dream of running your own successful, thriving, & profitable handmade business?

Maybe all you have is a dream. Maybe you have a hobby you love and an inkling that you could make money out of this thing.

Or maybe you already have a business up and running, but know you don’t have everything figured out just yet.

You’re passionate. You’re dedicated. You know you want to make this happen. But you just aren’t sure if you’re doing all the right things, in the right order.

Imagine if someone could guide you through every single step that you need to take in order to turn that dream into a concrete reality?

What would that mean to you? What difference would it make to your life?

I’m offering you exactly that.

Your Year to Thrive is the program you’ve been searching for.

You can make a secure donation (of the amount of your choice) via the Paypal button below.

Each donation helps cover the cost of hosting, show-note writing, research, interviewing, recording, editing, etc. etc.

In short – it helps to cover the time and financial costs of putting together a free weekly show to help you grow your handmade business.

You can also:

My guest today is a traditionally trained jeweller with a successful small business in South Australia – Shannon Cornish.

I’ve known Shannon online for a few years now (she’s a member of my Thriver Circle community) and I’ve always admired her beautiful work.

In this episode, we talk about her journey to becoming a jeweller, opening her own B&M shop, taking on her own apprentice and staff jeweller, and how her business has become – and continues to be – a great success.

You can make a secure donation (of the amount of your choice) via the Paypal button below.

Each donation helps cover the cost of hosting, show-note writing, research, interviewing, recording, editing, etc. etc.

In short – it helps to cover the time and financial costs of putting together a free weekly show to help you grow your handmade business.

You can also:

It got me thinking – what are some of the things I wish I’d known about running a handmade biz when I got started?

Things that surprised me, challenges that I didn’t expect – and some of the things that made all the difference between failure and success over the long term.

That’s exactly what I’m sharing today – 10 things I wish I’d known when I started my handmade biz – Epheriell – back in 2008 (and yes, for those noticing the maths – I only went full-time in Jan 2010 :D).

You can listen to the episode via the podcast, or watch it via YouTube below!

I’m celebrating 10 years – a whole freaking decade! – of being a fully self-employed creative, and I’ve put together 10 days of deals for you!

Don’t miss out on these goodies that will help you grow your own handmade biz (and a few that will just help you add to your jewellery collection ;D)

Each deal is available for 24 hours only – get on the list so you don’t miss any…

You can make a secure donation (of the amount of your choice) via the Paypal button below.

Each donation helps cover the cost of hosting, show-note writing, research, interviewing, recording, editing, etc. etc.

In short – it helps to cover the time and financial costs of putting together a free weekly show to help you grow your handmade business.

You can also:

 That’s why I am SO excited to bring this workshop to you today!

Today’s podcast and video are a replay of a live workshop I gave in early November 2019 – in partnership with Etsy themselves.

Yep, that’s right, I literally worked with Etsy to create this presentation – to make sure you have all the correct knowledge moving forward into growing your Etsy shop in 2020.

So – don’t miss out on getting the right info on search direct from the source!

And! I put together a downloadable cheat sheet with all the key takeaways from this workshop – make sure to get a hold of that, too.

I hope this helps to clear up a few Etsy search myths, and gets you fired up to improve your Etsy SEO in 2020 and beyond.

Get a downloadable summary of the key strategies you need to use to improve your Etsy search rankings!

You can make a secure donation (of the amount of your choice) via the Paypal button below.

Each donation helps cover the cost of hosting, show-note writing, research, interviewing, recording, editing, etc. etc.

In short – it helps to cover the time and financial costs of putting together a free weekly show to help you grow your handmade business.

You can also:

Get a downloadable summary of the key strategies you need to use to improve your Etsy search rankings!