Your Handmade Business

Review some of the most valuable lessons that we’ve shared over the last 40 episodes of the YHBTV series along with some great questions from our audience and Facebook group members.

You often hear the phrase, “Time IS money”, but have you ever thought about the relationship that time OR money has with your ability to scale and grow your handmade business? And how those relationships might be different from each other?

Now that summer is long over and things are starting to get real as the holidays loom, you might find yourself falling into the trap of thinking only of what’s right in front of your nose. That’s why it’s important to develop systems in your business, rather than letting chaos hold you back.

Fear can hold us back from making progress in both life and business, sometimes egged on by ghosts lurking around the corner. In this episode, Sharon and Isaac identify 5 different types of ghosts that might be haunting your maker business and offer tips for scaring them off.

Even though we spend more and more time online these days, we at Academy of Handmade have always advocated for meeting face to face and getting in-person interactions. In this episode, Sharon and I offer 6 tips for building up your network of support.

We may interact with people on a daily basis, the labyrinth of emotions and opinions in customer service is real. Sharon and I serve as your sign-posts for making your way through the maze and cover some important pointers.

Isaac takes quitting your day job a little deeper down the rabbit hole with Rachel Winter, who quit her job a year ago to take her maker business full-time. We talk decision-making, work habits, and what it takes to make and raise two young children under the same roof.

In this episode Isaac interviews Kimberly Taylor-Pestell, owner of Lacelit, about her recent decision to quit her day job to pursue her handmade business full-time and some of the lessons she’s already learned along the way.

Maker businesses are inherently risky because they’re inherently small and vulnerable to change. In this YHBTV recap, Sharon and Isaac help you understand what types of risks you might be taking in your business and how to evaluate them.

Sharon and Isaac dispel a few myths and offer a few guidelines on how to hone in—”honing” being the operative word—on your own productivity and accepting what works best for you.