Maker Tips from the Founders of Maker Strong | Podcast Episode #53

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Boost Confidence and Build Profitable Business.

“A candle loses nothing by lighting another candle,” they say and it’s true. Although we have a natural tendency to be “in competition” with one another, the industry and our business will only benefit when we recognize that we are stronger together. This month I’ll be focusing my attention on the makers in the community, sharing my best tips and patterns for those who sell their goods starting with the top tips from the creative and passionate women behind the Maker Strong community.

Special Guests

I’m joined by not one but three guests today! First up is Chantal of Knitatude, followed by Toni of TL Yarn Crafts, and last but certainly not least, Melissa of Woods and Wool. Each of them has an incredible tip to share with the makers in this community (although they can apply to anyone)! This is a new format for the podcast and I can’t wait to get your feedback. You can never go wrong with three times the inspiration, right?!

Episode Transcript

Brittany: 0:00
You’re listening to the B Hooked Podcast, session number 53, with Brittany.

Hey there and welcome back to another episode of the B Hooked podcast. I am super excited you’ve decided to tune in today because I have not one, not two, but three guests today. This is going to be our first collaboration type of episode and I’m really excited about it.

Now this month is a brand new month here on the show and our theme for this month is going to be makers. So every little piece of information that I have to offer you in the month of March, whether it be here on the podcast or over on my website, Be Hooked Crochet or Be Hooked Knitting, I’m going to focus in on things that are going to help you as a maker. So whether that be to inspire, to empower, or to educate you, that is my goal for this month.

And I could not have dreamed up a better first episode than the one I’m about to share with you here today. I’m joined by all three amazing women behind Maker Strong. This group I actually learned about last year at the Our Maker Life event in Toronto. I actually got to meet Tony, somebody that you’re going to hear a little bit later, and that’s where I first learned about this Maker Strong community, and I’m so intrigued by it, and I think that you’re going to really enjoy today’s episode.

Well, before we get into all three of our guests today, I want to take a moment to quickly thank our sponsor, Yarnspirations, for sponsoring this podcast. Yarnspirations is your online destination for inspiration and the yarns you love like Patons, Bernat, Caron, and Lily Sugar’n Cream.

Well, don’t forget, Yarnspirations has extended a coupon code specifically to Be Hooked podcast listeners, and you’re able to get a special offer to redeem at Yarnspirations.com. As a listener of the show, you can get 20% off your entire order of $40 or more at yarnspirations.com and all you need to do to get that discount is enter the coupon code B.HOOKED at checkout. That’s B.H-O-O-K-E-D.

Now throughout this episode, I will have Thank you for watching. No worries there. I take all the notes for you and you can find them on the show notes page. Now the show notes page for this episode is BeHookedCrochet.com/session053.

Now if you have never heard of Maker Strong, you are in for a real treat today. Maker Strong is an educational and inspirational community all about boosting maker confidence and building profitable business. That’s a real gem. There isn’t a lot of people with the same frame of mind that they have, and it’s one that I am always advocating here on the podcast.

There’s a quote on their website that says, a candle loses nothing by lighting another candle. That is so true. I just want you to take a minute to let that sink in. It is so true.

Now, the mission at Maker Strong is to inspire, educate, and empower those of us who are struggling to make this dream a reality.

Now, first up on the show is Chantel and she is from the Instagram community or the Instagram page called Knitatude. She is known for her wittiness and purple hair and she is just as sweet in person as she is here on the show. And she is going to share her number one tip.

Chantel, welcome to the show.

Chantal: 4:45
Hi, thanks for having me.

Brittany: 4:47
Oh, you’re so welcome. I’m really, really thrilled to have you here. I’m even more excited about your tip. But before we get to that, can you tell me a little bit about you and what you do?

Chantal: 4:55
So again, I’m Chantal from Knitatude. I mainly started knitting about five years ago and I started selling products. But in the last about year and a half, I’ve kind of delved into the designing world as well as I am one third of Maker Strong, which is a community based on helping local entrepreneurs or just entrepreneurs in general that are fiber.

Brittany: 5:08
Oh, awesome. We really need a resource like that. And I love how you said you’re one third of it because we’re going to have the other two on the show as well to share their tip.

Okay, so I know I want to spend as much time on this tip as we possibly can. So let’s just dive right in. What is your number one tip for makers?

Chantal: 5:26
My number one tip is know how to price your items so that you are making a profit as well as you just know what your stuff is worth. And I think it’s something that a lot of makers really struggle with.

I think it’s one of those things that as soon as you have to put a dollar amount on your physical item that you have made from your hands, from your own creation, it kind of freaks people out to have the idea of trying to put a dollar amount on that. And I feel like in our community, they really, really lowball that. They really undervalue how amazing they are as makers. And it’s mainly to be able to make sure that you’re pricing your stuff accordingly.

Brittany: 6:04
Totally. So what’s like the first thing that somebody should do? Like you said, it’s really difficult to try and put a price on what you think your time is worth. But the bottom line is the stuff that we make takes a long time to work. And there’s a lot of people that aren’t primed for that kind of number. So what’s the first thing they should do?

Chantal: 6:25
Definitely do your research. There’s multiple pricing methods out there. We end up using at Maker Strong one specific method that we’ll talk about a little bit later, but mainly it’s to make sure that you, one, take a look at yourself, know that you are worth it. Your stuff is completely worth it.

You are making things with your own two hands. You are not working in a sweatshop in Bangladesh where you have children crying. You’re doing this yourself. You are coming up with this design yourself. You are putting it together. Handmade is supposed to be expensive. And I think that we’ve gotten away from the fact that handmade is supposed to be cheap.

So definitely make sure that the first thing that you want to do is do your research. And then as well as once you find the pricing method, this is the one that I’m going to suggest, which is cost plus materials times a profit margin, is make sure that you’re charging for not just your time and your materials, but making sure that you’re making a profit in your business.

Because there’s so many other things in your business that you’re not taking into account that you need to pay for. And I think that a lot of people, especially in the knitting and crochet community, when you say charge an hourly wage, people panic. And that’s something that you should be charging for.

You should be charging an hourly wage because as you said, knitting and crocheting takes a long time. It’s not like a machine is knitting up a pair of socks in three minutes. It’s taking you multiple days. It’s taking you multiple hours. And you need to be charging yourself accordingly for at least a minimum wage, whether that’s $10 an hour – it’s now going up to in Calgary it’s going to $13.94, which is terrifying – but if something’s going to take you an hour, make sure that you’re charging for that hour.

You’re taking that time away from your family, from your significant others, from your dog, from just your regular life – and you should be making sure that you get paid for it. So I definitely say charge per hour, make sure that you’re covering the cost of your materials.

And then from there, you’re timesing it by a specific number to be able to make a profit. So whether that is to cover for your costs of putting up a listing on Etsy, to your social media marketing – because chances are you’re probably marketing – as well as if you’re going to a booth, like if you’re going to a fair, that money needs to come out of somewhere and it should be your profit margin. It should not be coming out of your pocket.

So definitely do your research, find out which method is best for you to be able to charge. At Maker Strong, we believe cost plus materials times a profit margin of 75%, which is really low when it comes to industry standard, but do your research.

Brittany: 9:05
That’s a really, really great tip. I want to throw in there, too, one of my best pieces of advice that I have learned from other entrepreneurs, not necessarily from the fiber arts community, is that when you say yes to something, you’re saying no to something else.

So keep that in your mind when you’re figuring out what your time is worth. And that’s going to help you put a more accurate dollar amount. It’s going to put things into perspective a little bit more.

So where can they find that formula and just learn a little bit more about the things that you’re talking about?

Chantal: 9:38
So in Maker Strong, we really tote it. We have a Facebook page that – or a Facebook group that you can join. I also have a blog post. I have it on both of my blogs on Knitatude.ca and it’s called – oh, I can’t remember the actual blog name, but it’s essentially Are You Pricing Yourself Accordingly?

And then also on my NoShitBizTips.com. It’s a different blog that I have as well. And then it goes a little bit deeper into why you should be charging for that 75%.

I think a lot of people panic and go – if I take something as simple as if it takes you one hour to make something and your minimum wage is $10 an hour and then your material cost of your yarn and your tags is $10 – that’s a $20 wholesale cost. So that’s just to cover the basics.

If you end up taking that and you times it by a 75% profit margin, you’re adding an extra $15. So now instead of your piece just being $20, it’s now $35. And I think people see that number and go, How could I charge that?

And to me, $35 for something is like – that’s a steal. It’s handmade. But people panic and go, How will people purchase something when I’m charging an extra $15? And it’s like, as you said, every single time that you say yes to something, you say no to something else.

So every time that you take an extra 10 minutes on a social media post or an Instagram post, that’s taking time away from when you could be making dinner or going out with friends or whichever. So you need to make sure that you are kind of like setting a standard. And it’s okay that you’re going to be more expensive. Handmade is more expensive.

Brittany: 11:20
Yes, it definitely is. And I really think that I’m going to throw out a term that sounds probably a lot worse than what it actually is, and that’s perceived value.

Chantal: 11:31
I love perceived value.

Brittany: 24:03
I know. It sounds so harsh because perceived value, I don’t know, it sounds cheap or whatever, but if you think about what it really means—if you have an item that you price for $15… Say you made a headband, you’re pricing it for $15 because that’s what an average person would probably think a headband is worth. And I could be totally off base with that.

To me, I’m like, that’s so low. It’s so low, exactly. Your perceived value for that item is lower because that’s a low dollar amount. I mean, you could go to any value-type store and meet that price, but you’re not going to get everything that went into that handmade product.

And so if you ask for $35 for the same headband that took you the same amount of time, the same amount of energy to put into it, then although that buyer might feel somewhat of a sticker shock—because it’s a headband for $35 or whatever the price ends up being—that perceived value is going to be higher. It’s going to resonate in their mind that this is worth more. It’s better.

Chantal: 25:16
Exactly. No, and I definitely—when I think of perceived value—I always… There’s a girl, her name is Caitlin Batcher. She’s awesome. She does essentially entrepreneur help.

And she always said that when it comes to perceived value, if you take two erasers, both of them are the exact same cost to be able to produce, and you have one that ends up being 50 cents and the other one is $1.50, it’s actually pretty funny because there’s stats out there saying that people will purchase the one that is $1.50 over the one that is 50 cents because they perceive that it is a better quality eraser.

Because the cost is more—it’s higher—as well as people have this tie-in when it comes to money and products. If you purchase something that is more expensive, it means that it’s better. As well as your friends view you differently because you can afford that higher priced item.

So perceived value is mainly what people think of what your item is. And some people may think that your item is $15, but some people may look at that $35 headband and go, What are you talking about? I just bought something from Banana Republic and it was $75—how is it so low?

So everyone has a different perceived value too.

Brittany: 26:24
Good point. Man, good tips here. We definitely need to elaborate on this a little bit more when we have a full episode’s worth of time.

For now, I want to give people a chance to connect with you. So where can they find you and some of the resources that you’ve mentioned here? It sounds like you have a lot of great things going on. So where would you send them?

Chantal: 26:41
I would send them to—my Instagram is probably the easiest thing to be able to get to. If you go to Knitatude, which is K-N-I-T-A-T-U-D-E—I always said Knitatude, Knitting with Attitude—just mainly because I’m very inappropriate.

You can head to my Knitatude blog. Otherwise, another thing that I always have is my—I also write for another blog, which is my own. It’s called No Shit Biz Tips—B-I-Z or B-I-Z, whichever way you want to put it. I’m on Instagram as well.

As well as, if you really want to get into the idea of helping other people and finding this information, and a group that really rah-rahs around the idea of making a successful business, go to Maker Strong.

So Maker Strong is essentially a community that is amazing. We—it’s myself, Toni from TL Yarn Crafts, and Melissa from Windsor Wool, who you’re going to listen to as well (or you might’ve already done so). We decided to come back together because we were realizing that we were giving a lot of free content and free info that we thought were really beneficial to small business owners—being that it was through experience of what we had dealt with.

And we decided to essentially create a group or a forum to be able to have people have a say, be able to have a discussion, talk about those things that happen in your small business that you normally don’t get to ask. Because being an entrepreneur means that it’s usually lonely. You don’t have a huge team behind you to talk to about certain decisions.

So we kind of made this Facebook group. You can find us on Instagram. You can find our makerstrong.com. But the Facebook group, which is Maker Strong, is like the goldmine that you have to get into.

Brittany: 28:27
Awesome. Well, I’m going to link to all of that stuff in the show notes too, so people can just find it right away and click on it.

And Chantel, thank you so much. It’s been such a pleasure chatting with you today.

Chantal: 28:36
Yeah, you too. Thank you.

Brittany: 28:38
Oh man, Chantel, you brought the goods here. Thank you so much for that. And we chatted after we stopped recording about having her back on the show to elaborate on this a little bit more. So you can definitely look forward to that in the future.

She is a goldmine of information and I can’t wait to share even more with you.

All right, so my next guest is Toni from TL Yarn Crafts. Toni, welcome to the show.

Toni: 29:06
Hey, thanks so much, Brittany. Thanks for having me.

Brittany: 29:08
It’s a real pleasure. I’m really happy to have you here and I’m excited to get into your tip. But before you do, can you tell us a little bit about you and what you have going on right now?

Toni: 29:17
Sure. So I’m Toni, the designer and instructor behind TL Yarn Crafts.

As far as things going on right now, I not too long ago quit my job to do designing full time. So I have lots of new designs coming out. I’m also launching a blog very shortly and had some new product just go up in my shop. So it’s been a busy couple of weeks.

Brittany: 29:38
Oh, I bet that that’s such a really great feeling, isn’t it? When you’re able to quit your job and do something that you love. I experienced that not too long ago too, so I can definitely relate.

Toni: 29:48
Congrats. So you know how exciting and terrifying it is.

Brittany: 29:52
It is both of those. But I wouldn’t change it for the world.

Toni: 29:56
Yeah, it’s been amazing.

Brittany: 29:59
All right. So now for that tip. What is your number one tip for makers or makers who have businesses?

Toni: 30:07
My number one tip for makers who have businesses is to never underestimate the impact of building community.

I think the opportunities that exist for us to work together, to create things together, to encourage and uplift each other is endless. Especially with social media, with all of the opportunities on the internet, there are just so many ways for us to work together, even if we’ve never met in person.

And I think the ramifications of that are always positive for our businesses. Unfortunately, sometimes I’ll see people with these perceived ideas of competition, of us encroaching on each other’s space, when in all honesty, there’s space for all of us.

All of us are creative. All of us have really, really great ideas. And if we spend a little bit more time maybe working together than trying not to work against each other—if that makes sense—we can all… I mean, it’s just, it’s the whole idea of a rising tide lifts all boats. There’s a lot of opportunity for us all to be successful here. And I think if we pay attention to that, there’d be just a lot more success going on in our industry.

Brittany: 31:19
I couldn’t agree with you more with that. Stephanie from All About Ami talked a few episodes—well, a while ago, actually—she was on the show and she talked about the importance of collaboration over competition.

And ever since she said it that way to me, it’s just really resonated. It’s something that I can really rally behind too. And I’m really glad to see that other people in the maker community are also trying to share this unique point of view.

Toni: 31:48
I just think positivity breeds positivity.

If you have a maker that you know, like, and trust, and they bring someone onto their platform who is relatable, who is encouraging, who is offering great content—they’re going to latch on to that person too. Because you have the person that you’ve already associated yourself with, they’re bringing another person on, so that just makes it all better. You just get exposed to even more people.

So we have to be really careful about the perception we put of ourselves when we’re working with other makers. We have to be careful about the words that come out of our mouths—online or whether it be a podcast or whatever it is.

So when it is time for you to work with another maker, you can be your authentic, positive self and just continue to grow your business. And there are so many kind of tastemakers in our industry, including you and Stephanie and maybe some of the other gals in Maker Strong. And when those forces combine, it’s just—it’s always all good. And I think we can just stand to do a lot more of that.

Brittany: 33:00
Yeah, yeah, I agree 100% too.

And you know, when somebody makes that perspective shift, that’s when they realize that this collaboration idea helps not just the audience member, but it also has the serious potential of helping you.

I mean, think about it—me as a podcast host, it takes me, I would say, three to four times longer to prepare a solo episode than it does to prepare a guest episode. So by recruiting other people who are experts in areas that I’m not an expert in—and don’t claim to be—that’s helping me. It’s saving me time in the long run.

And if you don’t have a podcast, let’s say you have a blog or you’re a designer and a pattern writer. Well, as you know, it takes a significant amount of time to not only make the thing, design it, pattern test, write it up, take photos—I mean, the list goes on. It’s endless.

And you can only do so much. You have a finite amount of time in your day. Once you get to the point where you’re strapped but you still want to provide more value for your audience, that’s when it’s okay to reach out to other people who might have that extra time, who might maybe need a little bit of exposure in return.

And they’re saving you. They’re helping you. You’re helping them. And together, you’re giving more value to the community—which in this case would be a great free pattern.

Toni: 34:35
Yeah, absolutely. And it’s so true. Even once you’re allocating every bit of resources to your business, like if you’re doing this as a full-time job, there still comes a point where you can’t do it all and you still want to provide something valuable to your community, whether that be through a giveaway or through some kind of content, through free patterns or another business venture.

You ultimately almost have to reach outside of yourself to continue to grow at the pace that you want to. So like, for example, I have an upcoming very big giveaway for a social media milestone I recently reached. And I really considered, you know, what within the TL Yarn Crafts repertoire I could give away.

But the more I thought about it, the more I thought, you know, I grew on a platform because of other people who were interested in me. So how about I take that influence and introduce my audience to some people they might not know. So I reached out to accounts that I follow that I know are a little bit smaller, but create an amazing product and said, hey, would you like to be in this giveaway?

So it’s not a bunch of names that maybe that we all know already, but it’s still an amazing product that I can stand behind and that I’m comfortable putting on my platform. So if anything, not only can people maybe start to look at me as somebody to introduce them to new accounts, but they can look at these brand new accounts and help them grow their businesses.

And that’s just another way that we all win. Somebody is going to get that giveaway, which is going to be amazing. All of these accounts are going to get more followers, which is awesome. And then I’m going to, you know, continue to produce for my community. And we just all win. We all win when we work together.

Brittany: 36:19
Exactly. I love that approach. That’s a really, that’s a really unique way of, of using that giveaway opportunity, I mean, it’s completely flipped on itself, but I love the direction of that.

Do you have any other, like maybe another example of how somebody, like sure, we do, we get that community is super important. What is one thing that somebody could maybe do today that could be that one step in that positive direction?

Toni: 36:48
Oh man, the list is endless. I think one of the things I’ve seen that has a huge impact is if you happen to have a blog, doing a roundup, just an opportunity to reach out to other bloggers or other content creators and say, hey, I have this idea for a topic that I think your content falls great into. Would you mind if I repost it and use one of your photos?

Because like you were saying, sometimes you have that content that’s so easy to put together because you’re kind of drawing the collective wisdom of other people. So when you do a roundup, you don’t necessarily have to create the content. You’re just putting it all in one place to make it accessible for others. And I think that’s one thing that we can do if you have that platform.

And if you don’t, perhaps it’s just social media and maybe you just repost some folks in your stories. That’s easy peasy, super fast. So, you know, you’re giving others that exposure and basically saying, here’s something really cool on Instagram I just found that everyone should go check it out.

Brittany: 37:45
Yeah, love that idea. Those roundup posts are a lot more valuable, I think, than people give them credit for. It seems like it’s easy content. It feels like it’s easier because you’re doing what you said. You’re kind of using other people’s creativity, things that have already been put out there, and you’re putting it into one easy, accessible place.

But that easy, accessible place in air quotes there, I think is what people tend to not realize or not think about. That it’s a valuable piece of content because think of how much time that’s saving somebody in the long run, searching for patterns. I mean, the internet is an endless space of… It is. It’s like a big brain dump of patterns.

And when you’re somebody who… has a spark of inspiration or creativity. You have that special yarn in your hand. I know from a user’s perspective that it’s really almost draining for me to try to go through and find the right pattern.

Toni: 39:09
You’re ready to just go do something that you know already.

Brittany: 39:11
Exactly. Those roundup posts are good.

Toni: 39:13
They are great. And so like one example of I’ve used them myself, I’m not much of a knitter. I’m trying to branch out into that a bit. So I went on to Pinterest and I literally typed in knit sweaters for beginners.

One of the first posts that came up was a roundup. It was 15 free beginner knitting sweater patterns. I was like, this is exactly what I need. So, you know, just within a couple seconds, I was able to find what I need. I learned about 15 designers that I wasn’t familiar with, was able to, you know, kind of dive a little bit deeper into their design portfolios. And I found the perfect sweater that I want to start with.

So those, those roundup posts are extremely valuable especially for people who are looking for something that maybe they haven’t tried before or trying to discover new content creators.

Brittany: 40:04
Yeah. Man, I feel like we could just talk about this topic for so much longer, but I do want to give you the opportunity to share where people can find more information about you. So where would you send them to just, first of all, find out like your patterns and that sort of thing that’s available?

Toni: 40:22
Sure. The absolute best place to find me online will be my website, tlyarncrafts.com. That’s where my shop is and also a pretty in-depth about page about me and my business and kind of where it all started. In addition to that, Instagram, I basically live there. That’s my second home. So at tlyarncrafts.

And then lastly, I am launching a blog on Valentine’s Day. It is tlycblog.com. So tlyarncraftsblog.com. And that is where I’m just going to put all of my musings, all of those really amazing roundups and just everything that has come to mind for me when it comes to our industry that I want to put into a blog will be in that space.

Brittany: 41:04
Oh, perfect. Okay. So I will include links to those two websites as well as your social handles so people can just have easy access to that. It’ll be on the show notes page for everybody. And Tony, thank you so much. It’s been such a pleasure.

Toni: 41:17
Oh, thank you so much for having me. I really, really appreciate it.

Brittany: 41:21
Such a great tip from Tony there about collaboration over competition. Yes, a rising tide does lift all boats. And I think that we can all benefit from this frame of mind. So thank you, Tony, for sharing that tip with us today.

And we’re moving right along now to our third and final guest. This is Melissa from Woods and Wool. Melissa, welcome to the show.

Melissa: 41:44
Hi, Brittany. Thank you for having me.

Brittany: 41:46
Oh, it’s my pleasure. I’m so excited about all of these tips that you guys at Maker Strong are giving the listeners here, and I’m really excited to dive into your tip today. But before we do, can you tell us a little bit about you and what you do?

Melissa: 41:59
Sure. So my name is Melissa. You’ll find me online at Woods and Wool. And I started this maker journey really when I was a kid and my grandma taught me how to crochet. But about a year and a half ago, I decided to open an Etsy shop, start a little Instagram page. And from there, I just continued to grow and grow and grow.

So I started out making dishcloths, of all things, for like 10 years. And then when I started Instagram, I really decided to start challenging myself. And from there, I started designing patterns.

Brittany: 42:33
Well, that sounds like a lot of fun. How long has that been going on?

Melissa: 42:36
Probably just the past year to year and a half. So relatively new to the online maker community and the design world.

Brittany: 42:46
Oh, wow. That’s really impressive to see that much growth in that short amount of time.

Melissa: 42:50
Yeah, it’s been amazing, and I think it’s all a part of just embracing the community and wanting to give to it, and then it all just comes right back to you.

Brittany: 43:01
Well, I know you have a really great tip for us, and I want to just dive into that now so we can have as much time as possible to talk about it. So what is your number one tip for makers?

Melissa: 43:13
So the biggest thing that I would tell people is that it’s okay to say no. I think when you start out on your maker journey and you might tell a few friends and family that you’re really enjoying to knit or to crochet, that’s where people love to help support you. But sometimes that means that they like to ask you to do things that in the bottom of your stomach you may not be super excited about.

So a lot of makers when they’re starting out like to please everyone and say yes to everything because you almost feel obligated because sometimes of course, you could make that baby blanket for your friend’s sister’s baby. Or of course, you could make someone a hand-knit sweater. But at the bottom of your heart, you may not be super passionate about that.

So it’s important to learn to say no so that you can continue to work on the things that you’re most excited about.

Brittany: 44:06
How do you think somebody gauges whether or not they’re into it, like into that project?

Melissa: 44:15
So I always do a quick gut check with myself. Some of the questions I like to ask myself are, does this bring me joy? Is this something that will bring me closer to my long-term goal? And what kind of impact is this going to have? And is it going to be worth the effort? So if it’s a baby hat that’ll take me two hours, I know that that’s something that’s pretty low effort on my part and will make a big impact for that person that would be receiving it. For other projects, if it’s something that’s really intensive and I’m really not excited about it, that’s where I know that it’s probably not the best fit.

Brittany: 44:57
Do you find that it’s more about the project that somebody’s asking you to make or the person that they’re asking you to make it for that makes it feel joyful for you?

Melissa: 45:09
That’s an amazing question. I find it’s mostly about the project. So there are certain things that I absolutely love to make. I love to make cowls and scarves, but I’m not really very excited about things like amigurumi. So if I even see something like a stuffed animal, I guess, or any type of amigurumi, I know right away that I’m probably going to try and connect that person with another maker that loves to make those types of things.

But at the same time, there’s a very, very short list of people that I’ll probably make anything for. And one of those people is my mom. So she could ask me to make anything and I would probably do it. But she’s an exception to that rule for me.

Brittany: 45:58
Has there ever been a situation you can think of where you did say no and tell us kind of how you felt during that process? I think, well, me, I tend to feel guilty for saying no. So I’m really bad at saying no. And I think just hearing other people’s guilt experiences might help somebody to say no in the future if they need to.

Melissa: 46:26
I feel so uncomfortable and so awkward every single time that I have to say no. And you can see it coming from a mile away when someone starts to ask you to make something and you know that it’s probably not a good fit for you at that time.

So normally, I try and explain to people that I’m really most passionate about designing things. And once I start to explain that and I start to light up about that, they really start to understand what it is that I do, what it is that I’m most passionate about, and they want to cheer me on in that world versus, you know, just making anything and everything.

I always tell myself, you can do anything, but you can’t do everything, right? So it just kind of reminds me to stay focused on the things I’m most excited about.

Brittany: 47:15
Yeah. One of the most important lessons I’ve learned recently, I’ve actually been reading a couple of different books. One of them is Essentialism. Okay. Okay.

In each one of those books, it gives you ways that you can politely say no to things. But one of the things that I learned through reading these books is that every time you say yes to one thing, you’re saying no to something else. So the easiest way to learn how to say no to something is to think about the things that you’re sacrificing or the things that you’re giving up in order to say yes for that favor or that project or whatever it might be.

Melissa: 48:13
Absolutely. I think that’s a great mentality to have. And one thing that I will always say yes to is teaching someone how to crochet. I will always make time to teach someone and share the joy of creating with them. And I also think that helps them understand what they can really be asking of you and that it’s not always a super easy project.

Brittany: 48:36
That is so true, too. I think that’s one way that you can really figure out or… see what your passion is or where your passion lies. So it sounds like you’re definitely passionate about sharing the craft and sharing the joy that you find in it. It’s really great.

Melissa: 48:53
Yeah, and that’s the entire thing that got me started with Instagram and Etsy was really just finding something that I loved and figuring out a way to share that with other people, whether they wanted to buy a hat from me or a… You know, the best compliment I can ever get is when someone tells me that I’ve inspired them to try knitting or crocheting.

Brittany: 49:17
Yeah, there’s really no feeling like that. It doesn’t have to come from somebody who has a presence online. Even if you’re just teaching a small group at your work or at church or wherever it might be, just seeing the joy on those people’s faces or having them come back to you later on is thanking you for what you’ve done for them, there’s just really no feeling like it.

Melissa: 49:42
Absolutely.

Brittany: 49:43
Well, this has been so much fun. Like I said, I love this topic. I feel like we should probably elaborate on a little bit more in the future, but I do want to give people a chance to be able to connect with you because I know you have a lot of great things going on. I know you’re active on social. So where can people find more about you and what you have going on?

Melissa: 50:05
So the best place to find me is on Instagram. I’m there all the time. And that’s at @woodsandwool. I’ve also started a blog last fall, which you can find at woodsandwoolstudio.com. And of course, you can find me at Maker Strong, both on Instagram and in our Facebook group.

Brittany: 50:23
Awesome. Well, I’m going to have links to all that stuff in the show notes page. So people, if they don’t have to memorize it, they can just go right there and find you. And Melissa, thank you so much. This has been so much fun chatting with you today. Thank you so much for having me.

Check out Essentialism and The One Thing. I’ll have links to them on the show notes page. I highly, highly recommend them. They have really helped me. If you have to pick one of the two, my favorite was Essentialism.

Thank you so much for listening to today’s podcast. I really enjoyed having you here today, and I love being able to share this new episode style with you today. So let me know if you liked this style of episode. Give me a comment over on the show notes page. That is behookedcrochet.com/session053.

Let me know what you thought. If you loved it, I will organize more of these in the future because I think they really have a lot of value to add to your life when we can just bring on multiple guests, multiple experts, and you just get to sit and be a fly on the wall for those conversations. And I can’t think of a better way to help motivate and inspire you.

Once again, I’d like to thank our sponsor Yarnspirations for sponsoring this podcast. Whether you knit or crochet, Yarnspirations is the perfect online destination for finding inspiration, free patterns, video tutorials, and of course, the yarn you love like Patons, Bernat, Caron, and Lily Sugar’n Cream.

Well, just in case you missed it at the top of the episode, Be Hooked Podcast listeners can redeem a coupon code for 20% off their entire order of $40 or more. When you order from yarnspirations.com, you’ll enter the coupon code B.HOOKED at checkout. That’s B period H O O K E D.

The last thing I want to mention is the Our Maker Life event in Chicago for 2018. I will be a keynote speaker and I would love nothing more than to meet you in person. And if you would like to do so, I have some tickets on reserve for people that are in my audience.

If you purchase a ticket through my link, I’m going to have something really special prepared for you. To get your ticket through one of my special links, all you have to do is go to behookedcrochet.com/oml. You can purchase your ticket there, and then that’s going to put you on my list, on my radar, so I know that you will be there to see me. And I’m going to have a special treat for you.

That web address once again is bhookedcrochet.com/oml. I hope to see you there and I hope to see you next week right here, same time, same place for another episode of the BHooked Podcast. Have a wonderful weekend. Bye-bye.