Make Do & Sell

I read a post by Julie from Women Unlimited a couple of weeks ago, in which she recommended some of her favourite “self-help” books. As a former self-help addict, I decided to buy one of them – 59 Seconds: Think a Little, Change a Lot. One of the first exercises in the book (aimed at making you happier, basically), is writing a regular gratitude list.

So I wouldn’t say that I’m in particular need of a happiness boost (today, at least ) – but given that I’m stopping work today to go on maternity leave, I thought it would be a good time to take a few moments to reflect and write a different type of post. So here goes! In no comprehensive and in no particular order….here are the things I’m feeling particularly grateful for today:

Thank You Card by Kate Hindley on Etsy

Technology – the fact I can stay connected and keep my business going without me while on maternity leave. I can schedule blog posts and tweets in advance with tools like HootSuite and the Editorial Calendar plug-in for WordPress. Stay in touch thanks to Twitter, Facebook and email on my phone. Hold live video chats on Skype with friends and family when the new baby arrives. Just amazing when you think about it. To all the clever, clever people who make this happen without me giving it a second thought – I owe you a lot!

My partner – Dave, for supporting me in everything I do, and hardly ever suggesting I go out and get a “proper job” . He puts so much work into everything behind the scenes, and never questions why I need him to install another plug-in, set up another email address, or empty the compost bin. Without him our house would still resemble a crack den 12 months in, and my websites would be ridiculous piles of shite. Oh and I wouldn’t have our totally loony, hilarious son – and the bundle of joy that’s yet to come. I never thank him enough, so this is my chance.

The Handmade Horizons ladies – last summer, I had an idea. That idea was to create an e-course to help women sell their handmade products online. Fast-forward 10 months, and it has actually happened! Not only that, but it has been a fantastic success. That would never have happened without the belief, trust and support of some truly amazing and talented women. First of all to my amazing co-conspirator Polly, then Amanda, Emma, Helen, Katie, Karen, Karen, Debbie, Jenny, Suzie, Melanie, Paula, Ali, Rosie, Sam, Claire, Alex, Lara, Hannah, Abi, Chloe…and everyone else who supported us, in so many ways. Thank you for taking that leap of faith. I am more grateful than you could ever know.

My family, who have helped me out such a lot this year. I am so lucky and grateful to have you all living so close, and hope you know how much I appreciate your support.

Teachers – not the ones I had at school (not that there was anything wrong with them…) – but the people who freely share the amazing content which makes me think each day. Thanks to them, I am continually learning, being inspired, and challenging myself in new and different ways. People like Seth Godin, Marie Forleo, Brian Clark, Jon Morrow, Jen Louden and Corbett Barr. Thank you for sharing so freely, and letting us into your world.

The Welfare State – as much I may struggle to understand how a self-employed mum is supposed to keep her business running while being restricted to 1 “keeping in touch” day a month….I am nonetheless very grateful that maternity allowance will make things a little big easier until I go back to work. I am grateful for the fact that the year we came back to the UK with a baby and no work lined-up, tax credits helped keep us afloat. I am grateful, proud, and absolutely convinced of the need to fight to protect the welfare state to help those more needy than myself.

Save Our NHS

Amazon Marketplace – much as I love getting my learning fix online, a book is significantly easier to handle than a laptop in bed. (No, I haven’t got a Kindle or iPad. Yet). For shipping me second-hand books for 1p plus about £2 postage from the US! – Amazon, a hearty thanks.

My wonderful friends, old and new. Some have been woefully neglected as I’ve battled deadlines and pregnancy hormones, some re-ignited as paths have crossed anew. I am so grateful to count you as friends, and look forward to catching up with you as this next chapter unfolds!

The Principality Building Society - for giving me a mortgage despite being self employed, so we could take on this crazy house project Ask me in 15 years if it was worth all the stress….

Spotify.Millions of tunes, on-tap, for nowt. Can’t get better than that!

Carla

Our dog, Carla – for keeping me company and (sort-of) sane during these weeks and months of working alone. You drive me round the bend, but I love you very much.

The generosity of others – as I’m writing this, Sport Relief is on TV. £29.1 million has been raised already, and it’s not even 10pm. Bloody brilliant. If you haven’t already, text 70010 to donate £10, or do it online. Takes 2 seconds, give something if you can.

For being a woman – yes we may have to do the hard stuff when it comes to having babies (heartburn and hernias, anyone?!), and it is bloody hard at times being a working mum. But hands-up – I love being a woman, and I love doing business with other ladies too. I love the way we share, support, and help each other out. I want to do more to help other women who are not as fortunate as me, and will continue to try and figure out ways to do that this year.

Others – the fab Most Wanted team, Selina at Screw Work Lets Play, egg custard tarts and Raspberry Leaf Tea. All those ace women selling baby clothes bundles on eBay. I could go, but I won’t, today at least.

What are you grateful for? I’d love to know – let me know by leaving a comment below.

Radiance Lighting in Hebden Bridge, Yorkshire

Has your week got off to a good start? If you’re in need of some words of encouragement after a tough day at work,  grab yourself a glass of something nice and read the latest in our series of “Happy Mondays” posts! Today we’re sharing an excerpt from our interview with Hannah Nunn from Radiance Lighting – read on for some inspiring words. 

Hannah is one of the talented ladies we spoke to in the run-up launching the Handmade Horizons marketing e-course, to get her advice and feedback on building a creative business online. We’re dying to go and visit her gorgeous lighting and craft boutique when we eventually manage a trip up to Yorkshire! In the meantime though, we’re more than happy to spend time on her stunning website and blogs…..

Is there one thing you know now, that you wish you had known when you were first starting your business?

“I’m actually so glad I went into it completely naive! I remember the night before I opened feeling scared and saying to my boyfriend ‘I have no idea what I’m doing, I have never even worked in a shop’. He had sound advice that I still take to heart. He said ‘do it in your own way’. I don’t know if I’m doing it ‘right’ but it seems to be working!

One other key thing is I wish I had valued my mailing list right from the start. Early on I had lists in odd sketchbooks but I never compiled it properly and postal addresses were a pain. I have been more organised the last few years and have discovered that my email mailing lists are very very valuable indeed, sales wise. When I do a mailout I sell stuff! The people on that list joined because they like what I do and want to keep in touch. These are my special people and it pays to look after them!”

Hannah Nunn's fabulous hand crafted lamps

What advice would you give to handmade sellers who have had some success with selling online, and are thinking about opening a shop?

“Well as you know, I didn’t do it this way round. I had the bricks and mortar shop first and then boosted that with an online presence. The wonderful thing about having both is that the shop acts as a brilliant advertisement for the website. People visit the shop and then come back to shop online, again and again. Obviously it would be silly to open a shop solely to advertise your website but one can really support the other. It can work especially well if you’re in a place that gets a lot of outside visitors.

It really is a lot of work though, so only do it if you have got a real passion for it and can handle the commitment of opening every day. If you have that passion then that will give you the drive you need.

It’s not always easy to get on with your making ‘in the back of the shop’ either, as you can be disturbed a lot. So think about your opening hours. I shut the shop on Tuesdays so that I can get my head down and work without being disturbed if I need to.”

You’ve just finished writing a book on “Contemporary Craft Lighting”, which is due to be published next year. Congratulations! How did this come about? 

Hannah's book - to be published November 2012!

“Thankyou! It’s been quite a year! When I was exhibiting at the Great Northern Contemporary Craft Fair last year a woman visited my stand and we chatted about my work and all about Radiance and all the marvellous makers who I stock. She came back later in the day and it turned out she was an editor from A&C Black publishers in London. She said that ever since they had published a book on ceramic lighting, she’s been longing to do one on handmade lighting across all mediums and would I like to do it. Of course I said YES!

I have had an amazing year interviewing lighting artists from across the world about their stories and their ‘aha’ moments in lighting up their work. Illuminate: Contemporary Craft Lighting is going to be published in November 2012.” (It’s available to pre-order on Amazon now! – Claire)

How important is it for you to get out and about and meet other people in the creative community? For example craft fairs, meeting other shop keepers, creative retreats etc?

“Very important! I feel really well connected to other makers, shop keepers, gallery owners, blog writers and other amazing people. It’s a wonderfully supportive community and I am very happy to be a part of it. When you do craft fairs you never know who you’re going to meet (as you read just now) and what opportunities will come out of it. As I have the shop I don’t feel the need to get out all that often as I get to meet people all the time, but a couple of times a year it’s a great thing to do.”

What’s next for Radiance Lighting?

“Well after the commitment of writing the book for the last year I am really looking forward to getting back into the studio and doing some new work. At the end of the year there will be celebrations when I launch my book!”

Thank you so much Hannah for sharing your story with us! 

As the first in a new regular series on Make, Do & Sell, we’re going to be starting off your week with some words of inspiration and encouragement from talented, creative women who are building successful businesses around doing what they love. Welcome to Happy Mondays!

Today we’re introducing you to the gorgeous Abi Manifold from SewYou Handmade, a thriving craft business based in Saltaire, Yorkshire. Abi is one of the lovely ladies we interviewed for the Handmade Horizons marketing e-Course, which is in session as we speak! Our fab students are getting stuck into some Marketing Nitty Gritty this week, and Abi has given them lots of think about.

Here are some of the questions we asked Abi about her journey to where she is now. We hope you find her words as inspirational as we did, and encourage you to keep following your dreams.

Abi at work teaching one of her sewing workshops!

1. Please could you give us a brief into to SewYou and what it is that you do?

SewYou is a small business that I run by myself. It has two main strands to it: Design / Making and Teaching. I design and handmade textile products like personalised bunting banners, purses, bags and gadget sleeves which are all unique and a bit quirky – I constantly explore new techniques to keep things fresh. The teaching side of things is all about equipping others with sewing skills and I’m also moving in to employing other craft teachers to do workshops out of my studio, too.

2. Could you tell us a bit about your background, and how SewYou came about?

Everyone asks me this! I worked in Financial Services for 15 years and had quite a good job by the end of it. I grew tired of the constant travel and beep of the BlackBerry though – so when I became pregnant with my (now 2.5year old) and took a year’s maternity leave daughter it was the perfect time to have a good long think about what I was doing.

A friend (also a designer-maker) said she would make my daughter a bunting banner with her name on it. The friend then became so busy with her own business, which was great, that it never happened. I’d always been a stitcher and had my own machine so I made a banner myself.

Then another friend wanted one, and another…. The turning point came when I started working out how much they cost and charging people for the materials. It was only a matter of time before things grew. All my work for my Bunting Banners comes off referral now – I hardly have to advertise because everyone who sees them wants them. What is lovely right now, 2-3 years on, is that I’m getting orders for the tiny, new siblings of my first ever Bunting Banner Babies!

I added other things to my product offerings so that I didn’t get bored – things I wanted, and my friends wanted – I listened to what people said and created things they needed or thought looked gorgeous. In it’s purest form that was really good market research being done at grass roots level, although I didn’t really know it at the time. It’s grown really organically and it does seem to be working!

One of Abi's fab purses!

3. What were your biggest fears when taking the plunge and going full time, and how did you overcome them?

I was scared of everything! Self-doubt is a killer and you definitely need a strategy for overcoming it. Mine was all about the old chestnut “if you don’t try, you’ll never know” and there are still days when I get frightened of what I’ve done!

4. And what is it about running your own business that makes the tough times seem worthwhile?

It’s the freedom, ability to choose, the way I can work things around my life and family. I can drive SewYou exactly how I want, according to my own values and I can decide who I deal with (or not). I can work with people who’s value set matches mine, so the outputs are more fulfilling and the results more positive. You don’t get that choice in corporate world.

I wake up in the morning and I literally can’t wait to get to my studio. I set up meetings with people I really want to see and work with. I explore new products and techniques because I want to, not because someone else told me to, and that is what makes it work. Without wanting to sound like a tree-hugger here – the positive energy is abundant and it has made a difference to my whole life!

5. We noticed that you have recently added workshops to your repertoire – what made you decide to do this, and how are they working out?

I’m a qualified trainer so it was only natural I’d want to use those skills to add to my business. Teaching is fun and it lets me keep those skills alive, while also doing something I love. I really like the teaching side of things…

6. What’s next for SewYou Handmade?

That would be telling! I have big plans for 2012 and onwards. You’ll have to wait and see…

7. If you had one piece of advice for newbie sellers who are just starting out, what would it be?

Don’t give up.

To find out more about Abi and her wonderful products, follow SewYou on Facebook and Twitter – or check out her Folksy shop. Thanks again Abi, you rock!

Are you a creative business owner in the UK who’s using Pinterest? Then share your Pinterest account in the Make, Do & Sell linky! Whether you’re a blogger, independent retailer, designer, maker, photographer, cupcake maker….. whatever you do, it would be fab to have you here!

I hope this will become a great resource we can use to find interesting people and brands to follow on this side of the pond. Just add your Pinterest account URL in the form below – don’t forget to check out and follow all the other linky participants too!

PS – I’d love to find examples of UK brands who are doing cool stuff on Pinterest – or simply great boards to follow. Please leave a comment with any you find, so we can all take a little look!

Are you using Pinterest yet? If your target audience is women – and visuals are important to your business – you should definitely be giving it some thought! Retailers, artists, photographers, crafters, bloggers……Read on for the three reasons Pinterest should be on your radar right now – plus details on how you can get your hands on a juicy training video.

Are you ready to unleash the power of Pinterest?

1. TRAFFIC

Pinterest is now officially the fastest-growing independent website – EVER. According to stats released by web measurement firm Comscore and reported on TechCrunch this week, this addictive virtual pinboard just hit a staggering 11.7 million monthly unique visitors in the US – crossing the 10 million milestone faster than any other website in history. Simpy put this social sharing site is growing fast on both sides of the pond – is it time you got involved?

2. ENGAGEMENT

Not only is Pinterest attracting shed-loads of visitors (mainly 18-34 upper income women), but they’re staying and engaging too. The same Comscore stats reveal that the average visitor spends 98 minutes per month sharing images on the website – only Tumblr and Facebook achieve more. Wow! That’s potentially a lot of face time with you and your brand.

3. REFERRALS

Think you have your social media strategy sewn-up? Think again. In January 2012, Pinterest drove more click-throughs to other websites than Google Plus, YouTube and LinkedIn combined. And perhaps even more interestingly – nearly as many as Twitter. Take a look at these stats from the Shareaholic blog to see for yourself.

I’m really excited about the potential of Pinterest, and think you will be too. I’ve been using the site for well over a year, and spent a lot of time looking at what brands are doing on there. So I’ve decided to share everything I’ve learned so far with you in a free training session. Here’s what I cover:

– How to work out if Pinterest is right for you and your brand
– How to get started
– 5 ways you could start using Pinterest to build your creative business online

To get your hands on the free training (it’s a recording of a presentation I gave online) – simply sign-up to my mailing list. Just fill in your details in the box on the right, and as soon as you subscribe I’ll send you the link. Enjoy!

What 3 things will your year be about?

It seems the world is split over whether or not annual goals are a good thing. I enjoyed this post that Helen over at Business Plus Baby wrote about the for / against approaches for setting goals – you might like to take a look too.

Personally, I think that setting goals just for the sake of it – because its the start of the new year and you feel you ought to – is a waste of time. I’m sure you do too! But I definitely feel the need to spend some time thinking about what I want to achieve in my business and personal life, before breaking that down into a action-oriented plan.

So as well as doing my Moreishly Motivational Mindmap, I have decided on three words which I want to represent my year. This is an approach that blogger Chris Brogan has been championing for years, so I thought I’d give it a go:

Grow
2012 will be a year of growth for me in many ways. Firstly, I will be growing my family with the addition of a new baby in April. This will be a blessing, and also a challenge too!

Secondly, I will build on the strong foundations I have already put in place for my business, and focus on real and measurable growth. One of the things I will really focus on is growing my presence and engagement in social media channels. This will require some re-shifting of resources and time, so I’m looking at this first of all.

Create
Allowing myself to be more creative and intuitive in 2012 will help me work to my true strengths, and deliver more value to those who engage with my work – through whatever channel that might be. This year I am determined to focus on creating and sharing new work, and keep pushing myself to raise the bar. Expect bigger and bolder things from me this year!

Collaborate
Collaboration and partnerships is another big focus for me this year. I’ll be looking to expand on the collaboration I have started with Polly for the Handmade Horizons e-Course, as well as exploring new ventures and partnerships too. Being connected, engaged and involved with other people is very important for both me personally and my business, so this is something I’m really looking forward to.

That’s it! I am very happy with my three words, and feel they’re right for me. I have spent a lot of time thinking about what I want to achieve this year, so when I decided to adopt three words they came to me intuitively.

If you’re up for trying the same approach, I’d love to hear what your three words are. Will you share them with me?

**Image by LollyKnit on Flickr – thanks for sharing via Creative Commons! Much appreciated**

Just a quick one to say that there’s a whole load of free training for handmade sellers going on over at the Handmade Horizons marketing e-course this week. Polly and I had a lot of fun putting it together, and have had lots of great feedback from peeps who’ve already started using the worksheets!

You can watch the “Top 5 Mistakes We See Handmade Sellers Make” video below  - head over to the Handmade Horizons website to download your free marketing health check, and see what else is going on over there. If you’re on my mailing list, you’ll here about each piece of new training as it’s released – plus you can follow the #handmadehorizons hashtag on Twitter to keep up-to-date.

As always – would love to hear what you think. So leave a comment below, or drop me an email. Have a great weekend!

So in-keeping with my theme of reviewing the year….here’s a little note about me, Polly and Mollie Makes. Or creative collaborations, and how the Handmade Horizons eCourse came about!

Rewind to June 2011. I’d been thinking about developing an ecourse for a little while, after doing a couple of paid programs myself (John Williams’ Screw Work Let’s Play and Marie Forleo’s B School). I saw for myself what an impact they can have if you approach them right, and loved the way the format was so accessible for working mums like me. Most importantly though, I thought an eCourse would be a great way to reach out to women who needed help marketing their handmade business, rather than just working one-to-one.

Me, Polly and Mollie (Makes)

As luck would have it, my friend and former colleague Polly was back from her travels in New Zealand this summer. We caught up, she explained she was deep into crafting novelty gifts and working with small, creative businesses……and well, the rest is history. I pitched the idea, she liked it, and the Handmade Horizons ecourse for creative sellers in the UK was born.

Over three happy weeks in sunny North Wales, we chatted, plotted, researched and drafted. Since then we’ve had lots of loooong Skype conversations, a couple of hectic (but hilarious!) filming sessions, a zillion emails and one or two heated discussions. But that’s all part of the process, as Morcheeba would say. We both believe fiercely in what we’re doing, and more importantly – why we’re doing it. So there’s no coasting or taking the easy way out.

It’s been a learning curve, that’s for sure. A huge amount of work, more than either of us could have imagined. But this has been an incredible week. We’ve had the first group of talented, creative ladies sign-up ahead of the January 16th start date. We’ve been featured in Mollie Makes magazine – a gorgeous publication we’ve both lusted over since the first issue, and pored-through together during those three weeks in July. We’ve had yet more interviews with inspiring, talented and open-hearted women, who’ve offered to share their experiences as handmade sellers with the students on our course. And we’ve signed-up our first marketing partners, who’ll be helping us spread the word.

Of course  - none of this will mean anything until the dust has settled and we get the feedback surveys in at the end of the course. We both want Handmade Horizons to be life-changing for the women we work with – nothing short of that. But I’m taking a few moments today to be happy, and grateful for everything that’s good in my life.

I’d definitely like to look into doing more creative collaborations next year, as its something I really enjoy. I’ll also post-up what I’ve learned from doing this joint venture when it’s all done, as I think that’ll be a good exercise. What about you? Have you tried any joint ventures or collaborations in your business? Is it something you’d like to try? Let me know what you think – I’d love to hear from you.

1. Public accountability is the best thing ever for getting things done. There’s nothing like making a promise out in the open, to make you get your arse in gear and get down to work.

2. To focus on things that I enjoy and do well, and drop the rest (or as much as possible, anyway). One of the major things I have done this year is got clear on my strengths (this Wealth Dynamics test helped), and the types of tasks that I enjoy and do best. That’s why I won’t be editing my own videos or changing CSS style sheets in 2012.

3. Investing in yourself is good for business. When you part with cold, hard cash for something (this year I paid for several books, courses and conferences), you take it seriously. You think “I paid x for this because I want to achieve y- now I need to earn at least x to get my investment back.” You start listening and reading in a whole new way.

4. Worrying about “work / life balance” is a waste of time. If you have it – great. If not – don’t make it another thing to stress about. I’ve realised I work best in short, intense bursts where I focus on one thing to the exception of all else, for weeks or even a few months. I just work better that way, and when the project is over, I’ll take a proper rest.

5. It’s OK to do work you find easy and enjoyable, and charge for it. In fact, it’s more than that, it’s bloody great! Seriously, really getting your head around the fact that it’s acceptable to earn a respectable income from doing something you love can take time.

6. That it’s OK to say “no”. This year I finally decided to drop some low paying (but regular) writing assignments that were dependable, but boring. Sometimes you have to let go of the mediocre to make room for the amazing. Saying no can be hard, especially when you’ve got a family and bills to pay. Turning away work doesn’t come naturally, but sometimes it has to be done.

7. There’s nothing like getting pregnant to heighten your ambition and focus. Knowing you have 9 months before your life is turned upside down is like the ultimate stop watch. And that’s especially true if you’ve done it before, and have an idea what to expect. Hormones can play havoc though, so watch out for those!

8. That chasing money doesn’t work. I took on a high-paying but boring consultancy assignment this year – made me feel bleurgh, and zapped my energy. You end up feeling bad because ultimately, you’re not giving it your all. There’s always something you’d rather be doing. So do that instead, and focus on making that pay.

9. To make hay while the sun shines. Do what you can while the going is good. Because if you slack off, you can be sure that the next week when the deadline approaches, your kids will be ill, or awake all night. It’s sod’s law.

10. That a positive workspace is essential if you work from home. We moved house this year, and I never really appreciated the effect it would have on my flow. I don’t have my own office here (that’s a project for next year….), and its rubbish. A major priority for me to get sorted next year.

What about you? Have you learned anything new since doing your 2011 review? I’d love to hear from you if so – leave a comment below!

Are you serious about improving your life and  your business in 2012? If you’re ready to start building a business you can be really proud of, make sure you check out the Handmade Horizons marketing e-course. It’s starting in January 2012, and enrolment is open now! Hop over to the Handmade Horizons website to take a look. Thanks again for reading, and hope to hear from you soon! Claire x

Looking ahead...what do you want 2012 to be about?

Looking back on 2011, I feel I’ve achieved a lot this year. I’m not telling you that to be smug, self-satisfied, or an annoying you-know-what!

I’m telling you, because I started off 2011 feeling fed-up, lacking direction and basically a bit lost. And I want to share with you how I managed to turn things around, incase you’re feeling like that.

Here are the key actions I took, that helped me to end the year feeling a lot more sorted than I did at the start:

1. I admitted that I was stuck, and needed help

2. I invested in myself – both in terms of time (to think, and study), and money (bought books, courses and went to a couple of conferences too)

3. I worked hard at getting things right – e.g. kicking bad habits and picking  up some (good) new ones

Doing this helped me to:

- Get clear on what my true strengths and passions are
- Identify how I could use these strengths to serve others AND myself
- Work out what I want my life to be about – how I want to feel from day-to-day
- Work out what actions I needed to take to achieve the above
- Put a concrete plan in place for generating revenue

Now I’m not saying that despite achieving all this, I have a huge amount to show for it. It’s not like I’ve finished 2011 with hundreds of thousands in the bank (I wish!). But I do have a clear blueprint of where I am going from here, and strong foundations in place for 2012.

I know there’s no point in dwelling on the past, and that you’re only as good as the work you do today. But I really think that reviewing what’s happened and thinking about where you want to go next, is crucial for any creative business. And of course, it’s important to be honest with yourself.

So with no further ado – here are the templates I used for my own 2011 review. Click here to download them, and feel free to use them as the start point for your own exercise. I really think it’s worth doing, and helps get you in the right mindset for 2012.

Take a look and let me know what you think – feel free to share them too, that would be great! I’ll continue to share some of my key learnings and insight throughout the week, including where I’ve gone wrong – as well as what’s gone right.

PS – as you’ve read this far, I’m assuming you might be starting to think about your goals and what you want to achieve next year? If so, make sure you check out my Handmade Horizons marketing e-course. It’s starting in January 2012, and enrolment is open now! Hop over to the Handmade Horizons website to take a look. Thanks again for reading, and hope to hear from you soon! Claire x

**Photo by Rightee over on Flickr – thanks a lot!**