The Value of Community and Tribes for Crocheters & Knitters | Podcast Episode #54

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Failures happen. Our community gets us through it.

When you realize that failure is an integral part of moving forward and discover how much your community picks you up during that time, that’s when you’ll see the tides turn. Your community and your tribe will be the driving force to get you to where you’re headed no matter how many detours you take along the way.

Special Guest

I’m joined this week by one of the most passionate women I’ve ever had the pleasure of speaking with, Michele, of 144 Stitches. She says “I’ve learned that failures happen. I fail more than I succeed. But as long as I fail forward and pick myself up and keep forward motion after any failure, then I know it’s gonna be okay.” Michele gives us some inspirational insight into the value of finding your tribe and how her community has helped her through these failing-forward moments in her life.

Episode Transcript

Brittany:
Welcome back to another episode of the BHooked Podcast. If you’re brand new to the show, my name is Brittany, and I’m so grateful that you decided to tune in today. And if you are a seasoned veteran, if you’ve been here many times before, as always, you know I’m grateful for you. Each of you have a special place in my heart.

Well, today, as you know, is the first week of March in 2018, and we’re shifting our topic a little bit now. So we are focusing on makers. Makers is the theme for March for all of my platforms. So throughout this entire month, you’re going to hear topics on the show that are specifically designed to help you as a maker, whether that be to grow your community or to grow your business. My intent is to do everything I can do to help you succeed and to achieve your goals.

And to kick things off, I have a wonderful guest here to talk all about community and finding your tribe and specifically relating that back to you as a maker. So why is that so important for your success as a maker?

Before we dive into today’s show, I just want to let you know that there are a few links and resources that my guest and I talk about, and you can find all of those at behookedcrochet.com/session054. That’s also your hub to ask questions and to continue the conversation. So all you have to do is head over to behookedcrochet.com/session054. You can see the resources that we talk about during our chat, and you can continue the conversation there in the comments section.

Also, I want to take a moment to thank our sponsor, Yarnspirations, for sponsoring this podcast. Yarnspirations is the online destination for inspiration and the yarns you love like Peyton’s, Bernat, Caron, and Lily Sugar and Cream.

BeHooked Podcast listeners, you guys are able to get a special offer to redeem at Yarnspirations.com. All listeners can get 20% off your entire order of $40 or more at Yarnspirations.com by using the coupon code P-O-D. Type that into the coupon code. You can get access to that discount. And it’s a big one, guys, because you know that I use a lot of their yarn. If you follow along with any of my projects, you can almost guarantee that you’re going to use their yarn. So take advantage of that discount while it’s available.

I am so excited to introduce to you a brand new guest to the Be Hooked podcast, somebody who is, as she describes herself, a big, huge ball of energy. You’ll see that here. Michelle is the wonder woman behind 144 Stitches. She has been a huge inspiration to the community and she’s really doing wonderful and amazing things. And today she’s here to tell us a little bit about her journey. Michele, hi, welcome to the B Hooked podcast.

Michele: 3:43
Hi, I’m so excited to be here.

Brittany: 3:44
Well, I am equally as excited to have you here today because we’re going to talk about something that I know both of us are really passionate about, the importance of finding your tribe and having a community surrounding you, kind of backing you and propelling you to where you want to go.

But before we get into any of those details, I want to learn a little bit more about you. I’m really intrigued by your name. Can you tell us about how that came—

Michele: 4:13
It is actually a question I get a lot. People often ask me, is 144 stitches the amount of your favorite project? And I’m like, no. Although that would be really good if it was. Yeah. That’d be a really nice little twist.

I’m a little bit of a math geek. And I’m also incredibly inspired by my grandfather, who immigrated here. His family fled being persecuted in Russia, where they were persecuted for being Jewish, and his family came to the U.S. And they changed his long Russian last name at the border to Gross, a really short five-letter name that also started with a G.

And he built our family here in a small business. And as I’m building my business, I always think of the lessons he taught me. And I wanted to name my small business after him. And then I thought, no one’s going to buy anything from gross stitches. But then I was thinking that a gross is a dozen dozens. And a dozen dozens is 144. Okay. So I still got to name my business after my grandpa, and it gives me an opportunity to tell people that I named it after him when they ask, which is also really special. So it’s also, branding-wise, a great conversation starter.

It really is. You definitely got my interest there. So it worked out in many ways and it still allows me to pay homage to, you know, my hero.

Brittany: 5:49
Yeah.

Michele: 5:49
So that’s the name. It’s all for grandpa. A gross is 144.

Brittany: 5:54
That is so cool. So did you, did you start out with the business first or did you do a little bit of knitting and crocheting before you got the idea to start the business?

Michele: 6:05
I have been a crocheter as far back as I can remember. I’ve always had yarn somehow involved. And my business actually went through a couple of rebranding and incarnations because I was finding my voice and finding what my business was about.

And one of those last incarnations was when I was like, this is about who I am. This is a very personal business. This is fiber with my hands. And it kept leading me back to my grandfather. So that’s kind of tied in. And once I did that, I started to develop even more skills. I became more passionate about it. I started to learn to knit. I’ve only been knitting, believe it or not, for two years.

Brittany: 6:50
Oh, cool.

Michele: 6:51
But I’ve been crocheting for as far back as I can remember. That’s my love. I cheat with knitting. I have a little knitting on the side.

Brittany: 7:00
Yeah. Knitting is your hobby now. Crochet is your career. That’s kind of how it is. That’s how it started for me. Honestly, I’m doing a lot more knitting these days than I did when I retaught myself how to do it. But in those days, it was my hobby and crochet was my career and it worked out perfectly.

Michele: 7:20
Yeah. A hundred percent. That’s a hundred percent where I’m at. And it’s nice because it allows me to still feel that fresh discovery every time I get a fiber, because now I’m thinking, oh, I could crochet this or I could knit this.

Brittany: 7:34
Yeah.

Michele: 7:35
And it’s a, it’s like a dual discovery. So everything is reignited. It’s kind of awesome.

Brittany: 7:40
Yeah, it really is. I find, too, that any time—I don’t know what it is about it and I find it rather humorous—whenever I get a really special hank or ball of yarn, my mind automatically goes to knitting. And I don’t know if it’s because… I don’t know why that is. I can’t put my finger on it.

But I’ve received some really, really great yarn in the past couple of weeks from companies that I had never worked with before. And they’re animal fibers, they’re hand dyed. And I’m like, oh, what can I knit with this? Because this would be gorgeous. Although I am crocheting with it, my wheels are turning there. Like, what can I knit with this beautiful, soft yarn? And I just find that kind of interesting.

Michele: 8:29
I completely agree. And I went through the same thing when I was at Vogue in New York recently. It was my first time going to Vogue and I was exposed to all of these new fibers that I hadn’t even heard of or, you know, known about—some amazing dyers and all these colors and textures.

And my mind was like, I’m going to knit this. I’m going to knit this. Oh, I can knit that. And it wasn’t probably until the second day till the crochet idea started popping in. And I felt, you know, I felt a little weird at first, and I was like, okay, this is the new way. I got it now. But yeah,

Brittany: 9:04
I can totally relate. Yeah, it’s interesting. So you’ve been crocheting for a long time. How did you learn? Was it something that somebody taught you, or did you teach yourself through books or somewhere else?

Michele: 9:18
My mother at some point gave me a ball of yarn and taught me how to chain. And I just have these childhood memories of chaining the whole skein of yarn. And I would just have these like long chains that were like, and I would count them—again, back to the math geek—and I would come up with number games in my head about how many chains until this knot or how many chains to make this shape.

And all I could do was chain. And then in my late teens, early 20s, I started to try to do different things. And it was really about my own self-discovery. And I just taught myself a lot. And then back then there wasn’t YouTube—it was books. And I would go and I would take books and I would try and copy what the pictures were showing you what to do with your hands.

And this is actually a funny story. So I did end up teaching myself a lot. And by the time YouTube came along, I knew a lot of good basics, but I started to realize that I had a lot of little holes in knowledge because I was self-taught that I didn’t know I had. And so I finally took a class from a teacher who is now a good friend of mine, Drew Amborski, and he spent an hour filling in all of these little holes that I didn’t know I had.

That really kind of launched my career because I was able to finish pieces and make them look finished and make them look professional. And, you know, like I didn’t know if you end on a half double crochet when you’re doing a basket weave, it finishes the row. I just had this extra chain hanging out there. Yeah. Like all these little holes in my knowledge because I taught myself.

Brittany: 11:06
Yeah, it’s really cool to see how all those pieces fit together. I mean, you’ve come a really, really long way since those days. Since a ball and a long chain of thousands of chain links. Right, right.

Well, I know you have a really unique way of designing, and I want to touch on that a little bit before we get into our main topic here, just because I find it so interesting. Now, I think a lot of people don’t take this approach, so… What is your method for designing? Like how does a design begin for you?

Michele: 11:41
Somehow I think that—and thank you, because it’s really—I do think it’s a little bit left of normal how I design. I… you know, I think it goes back to that math geekery that I have where numbers and diagrams and shapes are all what, you know, inspire me visually.

And so about 80 to 90% of my designs actually start on paper with a pencil and I just start making shapes. Architecture is a really big inspiration of mine for garments that I design and things that I crochet. And so if I see a shape or something that I like, then I’ll start to draw that shape and then through a process it starts to take the shape of a garment. And then I try to mathematically figure out how to fit the arm in or get a sleeve or get a cold shoulder, some kind of a thing. And then I start working with the yarn. So all of that happens before I even start picking fibers. I know most go the other way.

Brittany: 12:44
Yeah. Most people just kind of dive in and see where it goes. But I love the planning that goes into that. I imagine you probably save yourself a lot of time that way.

Michele: 12:55
I think yes and no, to be honest. I mean, I have a notebook that is just lots of shapes and ideas. And I think that I do save myself some time because the roadmap is there when I do find the right fiber. But I will say that there are a couple of times where I’ve been really stuck on a design that I got and then I’ll spend about a month doing nothing but swatching, trying to find the fiber that’ll help me achieve that shape and that structure. So there have been a few times it’s gone the other way.

Brittany: 13:26
Yeah. I feel like when you, at least the analytical brains, I can speak to this because I’m actually working through a pattern right now and I am taking a much more structured plan-first approach to it. And so it began with a gauge swatch, like it should, and an idea in my mind. And I went through and I’ve done all the calculations. I know basically I built the pattern from my swatch and it’s a great approach. I really love it. We’ll see. I’m so excited you did that. I’m like, yeah, we’ll see. We’ll see if it sticks.

I find that—and this goes back to the difference of knitting and crochet for me personally—with crochet, I really just love to be like fly by the seat of my pants, just envision something and make it come to life. But for knitting, I feel like I need that structure a little bit more because of the sizing and the gauge and just how the piece looks and feels a different size when it’s on the… I think it’s—

Michele: 14:39
Not as forgiving. Sorry to interrupt. I think knitting is not as forgiving as crochet with that.

Brittany: 14:44
Yeah, I would totally agree. So I’ll definitely have to keep you posted on how that goes. It’s been working out really well. But I love that you share that with us because it’s so important for people to realize that everybody designs a little bit differently. And I think those little things that we use to come up with our designs really set us apart from everybody else.

And that kind of leads me into our discussion on community. So the first thing I want to know is, what does community mean to you?

Michele: 15:21
That’s such a…

Brittany: 15:23
That’s a loaded question, right?

Michele: 15:24
Big question. That’s so big. I did recently do a blog series on community. So I have, you know, for me… I go back to scripture a lot when I think of community. My approach, I guess, to community and my approach to crochet and knitting is kind of faith-based, but I really—I shared a scripture from Hebrews and it’s—if you don’t mind, I don’t know if it’s okay to share.

Brittany: 15:53
Oh, absolutely. No, that’s more than—

Michele: 15:55
Okay. There’s a scripture from Hebrews that I kind of drive a lot on about community. And it says that for you have been called to live in freedom, my brothers and sisters, but don’t use your freedom to satisfy your sinful nature. Instead, use your freedom to serve one another in love. And I think—wait, I’m sorry, that’s Galatians. That’s Galatians. For those who want to correct my Bible, that’s Galatians.

And that was what was kind of driving my series on community—is that I think that it’s about using our passion, or for me, my passion, to serve others and add value. And I think the community as a whole is just wherever you’re planted, it’s the people, it’s your people. You know, if I’m planted in a room, then those are my people. And there are different levels of community, but oh my gosh, Brittany, a loaded question to start.

Brittany: 16:50
I know, right? So I feel like we could go in so many different directions at this point. Just give it to me natural. What do you feel most natural to speak about right now?

Michele: 17:02
I feel like community is a big word and it can be really overwhelming. And I think, especially speaking to the maker community, I think that I’ve found a lot of little inner struggles. And it’s come across since I did this blog series about finding your voice in your community or finding your place in a community.

And I think that for me, it’s about creating a place. Right? So my community is where I’m trying to create a place that’s a safe place to inspire people to develop who they are while also serving each other. And I think that in the maker community, it’s a little bit more personal because we’re sharing a passion.

Brittany: 17:48
Yeah.

Michele: 17:48
And so I think that it gets very into the inspiration and the personal side because this is something we all love and are very passionate about.

Brittany: 17:59
I think it’s… it’s almost like there’s two levels of it too, because you have your community. So let’s say you have, you know, the community that you have on Instagram, for example. You’ve got a large following of people who love to see what you do. And that’s kind of like your own space, your own little community. But it goes a level higher too.

I mean, I would say that’s like the deep level, but the more general level is just the crochet and the knit community that lives on that platform.

Michele: 18:46
Yeah, exactly. And so we’re a part of one big community and we communicate with each other—different accounts or different people—and then they have their own little community too. I completely agree. And I think that it’s important, you know, to find where your voice is on both levels, you know, because I don’t think that they’re the same. I think that you always want to have your clear voice on your more inner level, and you could open up to a more broader perspective—

Brittany: 19:07
As well. Yeah, that’s really interesting. Let’s dig into that a little bit. First, let’s talk about how somebody might find their voice within their own community—people who have chosen to follow them on—I mean, Instagram comes to mind because we’re both really active on Instagram, but this applies for all different social networks. If you like Facebook, it’s the same.

I think no matter where you like to hang out, you can benefit from this. So how does…

Michele: 19:35
I think it’s the same in everyday life. Even walking down the street, I have people who say that they knew it was me because of what I was wearing from behind, you know? And that’s—I’ve defined my voice.

So I, you know, I was a drug in New York and I didn’t wear any knitwear. But that was me being my voice in that community because I don’t like to—I wear all black. That’s just my thing. And so that’s my—so I think it’s really on social media but as well as off.

Brittany: 20:04
Yeah, it’s very true. So how did you find your voice? How did you kind of settle in on something that stuck?

Michele: 20:15
Can I be honest and give you a lot of confession right now? Can I just completely be honest with you and your audience?

I made so many mistakes to find my voice because, especially when I joined up on social media a couple of years ago, I didn’t know that the option was there to have my own voice. I thought I needed to conform a little bit to what the communal voice is—representing the cozy or representing the comfy or the this or the that of the knitwear and crochet world.

And it took me about a year to realize that not only was that not me, but that I had the freedom to find my voice and have my own voice in that bigger perspective. And so I started to show more color in my photos. I’m a very colorful person. A lot of people call me a walking ball of energy. And I have a lot of energy. I love life. I’m extremely grateful for every stitch and every breath.

And so I started to think about who I am and what I’m making. And I went for, I want to say several weeks without sharing anything on social media. It was kind of like a deep dive into what am I doing? Who am I?

And I came out with—I am just one big, huge goofball. I mean, that is me, Brittany. I will laugh until there is no end of laughter. And if no one’s laughing, I’m going to find a punchline.

Brittany: 21:51
Yeah.

Michele: 21:51
Because I just feel like we should all be laughing and enjoying things. And so once I realized that’s who I am… And I’ll be honest with you. I had about 700 or 800 followers when I had this kind of crisis of who-am-I moment. And within six or seven months, I had 10,000 community strong.

Brittany: 22:15
Wow.

Michele: 22:16
Once I found who I am, I found also my people.

Brittany: 22:21
Wow. That’s amazing. That’s incredible to go to that many thousand in… that short amount of time. I think that gives people a lot of hope, especially if you have a new account. It really is difficult. And I’m speaking from pretty recent experience.

I started—I mean, obviously BeHooked Crochet, that Instagram account has been around for quite some time now. But I recently added on BeHooked Knitting because I wanted there to be some separation between the two because not everybody who likes my crochet stuff also likes knitting, and I wanted to be respectful of those boundaries.

I’m doing both, but I don’t want to push that on everybody else. And I’m building that from the ground up, and it is very difficult—even for somebody who’s done it before. Just because you’ve done it before doesn’t mean that it’s any easier the second time around.

You do have to put in that work to figure out, okay, what am I here for? What am I offering the community? And just trying to remember those values every time you go to post something.

Michele: 23:24
A hundred percent. And I love that you said, what am I offering the community? Because I also have two accounts. I have my personal account, but I have a blog account that I launched in March. Oh my gosh, it’s March. It just turned two years old this month.

And it has also grown quite substantially. I hate talking about numbers, but it’s important because it talks about the reaction—that I’m inspiring people. It’s not numbers as a metric as much as it is as connections with humans. And that’s a completely different voice.

I very rarely go completely goofball on the blog because it serves a different side of the community. I want it to serve that softer side. Whereas on my branded account, I’m just all in—juggling yarn, cracking jokes, and smiling because that’s just all the time around here.

And it goes back to finding the freedom in finding my voice. And I really want to—if anything—I want to encourage people to do that. If you can take a step back, even if that means you go quiet for a little while and you go off social to figure it out, get into your own zone and find your voice.

And I don’t know what it is. You might be the good, you know, comfy, cozy person. I’m not. I tried it. It failed. No one wanted to engage with me. Nobody responded to those posts. And I can’t blame them because I was basically staging something that was not real.

But now I’m as real as they get. You know, now it’s like—I’m all in. I am 24/7. Go, go, go.

Brittany: 24:59
Well, it sounds like too, if you have to ask yourself, should I post this? then you probably should. Because if it’s in your nature to kind of do what you know works because you’re seeing it work for other people in the community, then when you have to make that self-check, it’s like you know that you’re staying true to yourself if you have to wonder, should I post this?

Because that doubt comes from not knowing whether or not it’s going to fit in with the rest of the community. Exactly. And I think that’s your cue that—hey, I’m probably… I’m finding myself here. I should probably post this.

Michele: 25:43
And I want to make mistakes. I cannot even tell you the mistakes that I made, you know, and I call it failing forward because you’re going to fail. You’re going to fall. You’re going to foul up and it’s all going to happen and you’re going to be okay. And then I just get up and dust myself off and take two steps forward. And sometimes it’s three steps back, but you fail forward. You just always keep that perpetual forward motion.

And those mistakes are going to happen. But the freedom, and this was back to community, because the freedom in finding who you are is when I built my community. And that’s when I was able to find my people. And that’s when my people found me because they were related. I just got goosebumps.

Brittany: 26:26
I know. They were relating to what’s real. You know?

Michele: 26:29
Yeah. Well, and I like—man, Brittany, we’re getting real in here.

Brittany: 26:31
I know. It’s getting real. Like there’s goosebumps over here too, let me tell you. I love how you said that the community found you because that’s really important for people to understand too, to realize that you can be who you are and the people who want to surround themselves with you—they’re going to become your tribe and you don’t really even have to work at it at that point. And you can be real and you can grow your business because of it. A hundred percent.

Michele: 27:01
And the one—a lot of the failures that I had in relationships and in community attempts or in, you know, growing my brand—were every one of them I can trace back to me not being true to that inner voice. If I really get honest with myself and say, where was the mistake, Michelle? Where’s the lesson? The lesson is always I stopped being Michelle.

Brittany: 27:23
Yeah.

Michele: 27:24
And I can’t do that. And my brand, because it’s so personal, I am my brand. Every stitch is literally made with my hands. Right. So, you know, if I’m not in it, I don’t know what it is. Right. And the same thing with, you know, social media is that I… And again, those are some hard lessons to learn. There are some quiet moments, but they’re so important.

And I love how you mentioned your tribe. And I do feel like your tribe—you don’t need to go create them. They are there. Be you. And like a magnet, you will just find them all of a sudden appearing. I promise. Just be that natural, authentic voice. Because when I’m not goofy is when I’m talking to people I don’t know who they are.

Brittany: 28:12
Right, right. And there’s something that circles around more of the entrepreneurial world, but I imagine there’s a few people who have heard of this—the concept of finding 1,000 true fans.

Michele: 28:25
I’ve never heard that. What is that?

Brittany: 28:28
Oh, man. So you have to look it up. Just look up 1,000 true fans. You’ll find books on it. You’ll find podcast episodes. A lot of people in the entrepreneurial space talk about it because they’re fighting that idea—

Michele: 28:39
Did you hear me typing? I was just typing again while we’re talking.

Brittany: 28:43
They’re fighting the numbers aspect. You said that it’s not important to look at numbers. I agree 100%. And they do relate it to business. I mean, businesses are about making money. So if you have a thousand people who just love you and who support you, then you could still make enough money to support your family. And that number is going to be different for everybody.

Michele: 29:09
I completely agree.

Brittany: 29:11
It doesn’t even have to be a thousand true fans. I mean, if you had—let’s say you had a membership website where you offered all of your patterns there and your tutorials and that sort of thing, and you pay a monthly—or you ask for a monthly membership of $10. I mean, do the math. You can make a decent living and you kind of reverse engineer everything—your business.

So if you say, I need X amount of dollars for every year to support my family, then you just divide that out and figure out how many fans you need and how much you need that person to support you with each month. So I don’t want to go on too much of a spiral, but I love the idea behind that concept.

Michele: 30:02
Oh, I love it. I’m going to definitely read up more on it because it’s exactly what we’re talking about because it’s about finding your true community by finding your true voice.

Brittany: 30:12
Exactly, exactly. And true fans—it doesn’t have to just be for people who have a YouTube channel. It can be for people with physical products too. Those of you who are making your goods and selling them on Etsy—if you can develop true fans who are always going to rally behind you and your cause and what you do, that person is going to buy things from you because they like you and because they want to support you.

It has nothing to do with the product at that point. There are times where I have gone to craft shows, and I love to buy things that people make. And I don’t do it because I need them, right? I have boxes of projects. But I want to support them. And it’s not because you can’t make something, but because you want to support them.

Michele: 31:08
Exactly. Exactly.

Brittany: 31:09
So you need to find the people who are there to support you and the way you do that is to be your authentic self and position yourself within the community so that people can get behind you and your cause.

Michele: 31:26
And I think that the other half of that is that—this goes back to what we were talking about—there’s different layers and different levels of community. I honestly view my customers as part of my community. And I think that’s one of the reasons why I’ve been successful. And I mean, I do this full time so to me I’m nowhere near where I want to go but I’m definitely successful.

I started with an Etsy shop and now this is my full-time job. And I think that a lot of that comes to building that community approach to my customers, you know, and asking them to invest not just $20 in a hat or $40 in a nicer hat, but invest in me and what I’m doing. And they have. And I’ve got some of my customers who were some of my first customers when I opened shop six years ago, seven years ago. And I’ve got customers who buy all their Christmas presents from me—and they don’t have to. I know they do it because they want to support what I’m doing and because I’ve included them in my community.

Brittany: 32:33
And that person means so much to you. I’m sure you know them by name. And I can say the same thing too. When I first started all of my—well, Be Hooked Crochet in 2012, when it was way different than what it is today—there were people who followed me then. And we had conversations on social. And I got to know them as a person. And they’re still there with me today. And I still talk to them. I still look forward to hearing their thoughts. Oh, 100%.

Michele: 33:09
I’ve got one customer. A lot of people get surprised, but I offer my local customers fittings because a lot of what I sell are garments. They’re paying a lot of money, and I want them to enjoy it, and I don’t want them to have it in their closet because they bought something from me. I want them to wear it and enjoy it.

So I offer them fittings, and it’s very personal. And I get to hear about grandkids and I get to hear about families, and I follow their vacation photos on social media. And it is a level that handmade business allows us to have that big box businesses can’t have. And so I want to really build that. That goes back to the community. Those customers are my community and I want them to know that. And it’s genuine. I really do care.

You know, I’m not looking at vacation photos because I have nothing to do. I’m looking because I want to see that you’re having a good time in your life. And I’m encouraged that by you having a good time, I too shall maybe go there. Yeah, absolutely. Vacation photo. Yeah. But it’s important for that part of, you know, building that other layer of customer and community.

If you’re selling finished goods—you know, I sell both my designs and my finished goods. So I’ve got really a split level of community kind of customer base where it’s makers but it’s also end users—it’s also customers who just wear products.

Brittany: 34:35
Yeah, that’s a really good idea, a good service that you offer there too, and like you said it gives you insights. And do you find that you have kind of a large community that’s local?

Michele: 34:48
I didn’t until I started offering this, to be honest. There’s a tip there too. It’s true. I appear only at one show a year, which is a huge show in Chicago. That’s the only show where I sell my work.

And then last year I decided to take off and do just three very small shows at one place, but it was three appearances. And I was surprised how many customers relocated with me. And that was when I kind of had the wake-up call that I built this local community that I didn’t really realize I had done. And every single one of them was because I had offered them a service of, do you want to see yarn samples? Or, oh, that color’s not right. Let me get you some swatches. Do you want to meet at Starbucks?

You know, it’s offering them something that’s setting them apart, but also I’m giving them that feeling that I’m investing in them as much as they’re investing in me. And that’s really what it’s about. I don’t mind spending 20 minutes and driving over to the other Starbucks if that customer is going to have a hat that she’s going to wear forever and tell people about and enjoy my work. It’s worth it. And then that will lead to other customers and build bigger audiences.

Brittany: 36:04
Exactly.

Michele: 36:04
It builds. It really builds. But it goes back to being authentic, be who you are. And you know that that person is going to tell their friends because you have given them the next level of treatment, really, by doing that.

Yeah, those are not the customers who say, oh, I can buy that hat at such and such for $5. I don’t hear that from them. They’re always like, wow, it’s only $30. You know, wow, it’s only $40 and that’s wool. They are the appreciative customers and they are out there. You just have to, again, find your audience by being who you are.

And I live in a very rural, suburban area. I’m not in Chicago proper. So it took some time and I had to do the work. But they’re there. Online and offline, they’re there.

Brittany: 36:52
Yeah, and that’s proof right here that taking this kind of approach and really putting your focus on community has the potential to propel you to where you want to go with your business. I mean, you said that you’re doing this full time, and that’s incredible. And it’s because you took this approach, I’m sure of it. I believe that.

Michele: 37:15
really do. I think that because I only have been doing this full time for two years now. And it’s really when I had that whole crisis moment of who am I? What is my voice? What is—what am I building here? You know, it all happened around the same time for me—about really defining what my voice is, what the service I’m offering is, what I’m doing, what I’m about, and then focusing in and building that.

And it’s been incredible. I’m really grateful because it blows my mind that I get up every day and I don’t have to crochet, Brittany. I get to crochet. Right? It’s incredible. It’s incredible. Right? Like, what is happening here right now? It’s all about your perspective. I cannot believe that I am going to get to make this sweater today. And that’s my job.

It really blows me away. It does. It blows me away. It does. And that’s the kind of stuff you can’t—you just build, you know. And it’s really, I think, community driven. And I think as being a maker, having that maker community of support who can help me when I’m struggling or when I don’t know how to handle something or when I’m challenged with something new is also—you know, having that deep level tribe. You know, that inner circle, as I call it. That’s also essential.

Brittany: 38:32
Yeah, it is. It’s really important to not only maintain relationships within your own community, but also to have relationships within the community as a whole. So we’re saying the crochet community, the knit community, whatever it may be.

Tell me some ways that being friends with or just inviting other people that you might… consider competition or that sort of thing. What are some ways that inviting them into your life has benefited you and your business?

Michele: 39:07
I think that, well, the biggest thing is that I had to stop looking at it as competition. I really did. And it’s not. And, you know, it’s not because of, you know, all of the sayings: girls compete, women empower, blah, blah, blah, community over competition, and all those cute sayings. It’s not about that.

It’s just that that’s just a lot of energy when you’re looking at it like competition. And that’s energy I can spend on building something. And so I took that community approach that I have where it’s about serving one another. And it’s kind of why last year I launched the kit shop on my blog.

I decided to take more of a collaboration approach that said, well, we both have different things we can bring to the table. Would you like to bring them together? Or if not, that’s okay. I still support you. But I feel like it’s about—do you know what it is here? And this is going to sound really cliche because I heard it the other day, and so I can’t even take credit for it, but I don’t know who to give credit to.

But it’s because I am successful—this is my full-time job—so it’s about sending the elevator back down for someone else.

Brittany: 40:16
Oh, yeah.

Michele: 40:18
And when I heard that, it struck me. It really is about sending the elevator back down for someone. So with that in mind, I wanted to collaborate with people who inspire me instead of compete with anyone.

And so I launched this program, which, by the way, failed miserably the first six months. For anyone out there: you gotta fail. It’s going to happen. Just embrace it, because from that failure came this beautiful thing I’m doing now.

And so I had seen all these kits. You know, everybody’s doing kits now. You can buy a kit to make this, you can buy a kit to make that. I was like, well, dang, I have all these designers who I love and inspire me and no one’s doing their kits. And then I was like, wait a minute, Michele, you should do their kits.

So I launched a kit shop. And it was an epic failure. And for a lot of reasons that don’t matter, but it was. It wasn’t for poor planning. It was just a big failure. It just wasn’t right. But out of that failure came a refocus and a relaunch.

And so this year, the kit shop is launched with only exclusive kits. And it’s featuring designers who are not getting that shot. And so what I do is I provide yarn support for the design. I give them all the tools that they need to succeed.

We discuss a timeline. We discuss the look that they want to create. We discuss the look that my audience responds well to. Is there somewhere in the middle where everyone’s voice gets heard, but they still have to stay true to themselves? And let’s design. And let’s collaborate instead of competing.

And I’ll give you all these tools to help you take that elevator ride up too. And so now I’m doing it more of a, um, limited edition kits, I want to say, because I really don’t like the word exclusive. I want to be more of an inclusive place.

So it’s limited edition kits, and the first two runs sold out because we only do six to ten. And it’s a chance for designers to work with indie fiber artists or big, big name brands too.

I have a design company that Katie from The Queen Stitch just did for the kit shop, and I’m drooling. It’s so good.

Brittany: 43:01
Oh, wow.

Michele: 43:01
She is so incredibly inspiring. Listen, y’all, whoever’s listening to this podcast—if you don’t get up on Katie, The Queen Stitch, I can’t help you.

Brittany: 43:11
Oh, man. I’m going to go look her up.

Michele: 43:13
She is the bomb.com. She is like my constant driving-me-to-be-better designer.

And it goes back to what you were saying, where I don’t look at her as competition. I look at her as inspiration. And she’s someone I collaborate with, and she’s become a friend too in that. And I feel like that’s the difference.

Brittany: 43:15
Yeah. There really is something to be said about becoming friends with people who you naturally feel like you should be competitive with or that you’re competing with. Because, I mean, let’s be honest—everybody wants to see their friends succeed. You’re not going to feel super competitive or jealous over that person.

Michele: 43:38
You’re going to be dancing in the streets for every success that happens to them, not wondering why that didn’t happen to you.

Exactly. And that’s what I want. And so that was the, you know, kind of thought process behind taking a different approach. So really instead of competition, I look for collaborations. I look for opportunities to feed that seed back into each other—maybe someone who’s more successful than me or maybe someone who’s still on the way up even to where I am.

And I really feel like that’s community. And we’re all going to benefit from that. And, you know, when Katie showed me this—she sent me this idea for a design for the kit shop—and I was like, All right, well, that’s intense. And I didn’t see her vision.

And that’s the beauty. It’s her vision. It’s not mine.

Brittany: 44:27
Yeah.

Michele: 44:28
And I know I’m getting excited just talking about it. And this is someone I’m supposed to be competing with. But I can’t, because I’m so excited for her. You know, it’s so awesome that she came up with this design.

And so I love things like that in the community. And I think that it’s there for anyone who wants it. And I wanted to create the kit shop to kind of keep sending the elevator back down.

Brittany: 44:49
Yeah, I love that. I love that. It’s so encouraging when there’s somebody who takes that initiative to build something out of a need that we have in the community. And it sounds like you’ve done that with the kit shop.

And I love how you are just genuinely excited about the… the prospect of it. It’s not about a business for you, it sounds like. You’re just genuinely excited to bring people together.

Michele: 45:25
I am so excited. I mean, I have got some things in the works that I can’t talk about, but all of them—well, yes, I’m sure that if they all go well and there’s not one hiccup, I’ll make a couple of bucks. Yes, it’s a business.

More importantly, they’re incredible opportunities for people I’ve grown to care about. And they’re incredible opportunities that wouldn’t have happened if I didn’t get successful and be in a position to do it. So to me, it’s natural.

It goes back to like I talked about: community is about serving one another. Well, I got here. A lot of really wise women helped me get here. So I’m going to pass some of that on.

And I want to be really honest for a minute with anyone who is out there and for all of your listeners: There are failures. Y’all don’t even want to know how much the first kit shop failure cost me. But those lessons and what it brought now is so worth it.

And I’m so excited anytime I get to talk about it that… it’s just part of getting to where you go. Yeah. So take the failures and then take them forward. That’s really what it’s about.

Brittany: 46:36
Man. That’s another goosebump moment there.

Michele: 46:40
I mean, I may get all deep up in here, but I’m just saying, like—you know? Yeah, it’s so true. Yeah. For these opportunities. And if that kit shop didn’t fail so massively last year, I wouldn’t be here completely unable to find words to tell you how excited I am.

Brittany: 46:55
Yeah. And that’s true success right there. Being able to look back and recognize that there were failures, but understanding that the outcome is so much sweeter because it didn’t just fall in your lap—that you actually had to work at it.

Michele: 47:14
Yes. And don’t be afraid of the work. I mean, I cried. I licked my wounds. I looked at my bank account and was like, oh my God, I’m going to have to un-retire, you know?

And then I said, okay, no—God, that’s me. And you taught for five minutes. Where is the lesson here? Did I do this kit shop thing wrong? And I did.

And then I regrouped. And I talked to some designers who inspire me. And we got a collaboration plan going. And then I found some other people who heard about what I was doing. And they showed up when I didn’t even know where they came from.

And now it’s this beautiful thing that serves the community as opposed to something that serves my bank account. And I feel like that is so special—that I get to help be a platform for a designer who may or may not ever get noticed by a bigger yarn company to have their work turned into a kit.

But I didn’t build this audience just to covet it. I built this audience so let’s share with them. If it interests me, it probably interests my audience.

Brittany:
Yeah, exactly.

Michele:
So I want to share it. That’s really why I—so to kind of circle back—is my different approach to competition was that I started to look at it as collaboration and inspiration. And when I changed my view, the world changed.

Brittany: 48:35
Yeah. I think we all have to find our own shift in perspective to figure out what we can offer, and allow that to eliminate the competition from our thoughts and our minds. For me, honestly, it was the podcast. That is really what has done it for me because I’m an introvert by nature. So I’m kind of doing this to step out of my comfort zone a little bit, but also because it’s natural for us to feel competitive or feel like everybody else is doing better and we’re doing horribly.

And I hated scrolling through Instagram or Facebook or Pinterest and seeing all of these amazing things with that feeling in my gut that I had no control over that made me think, Well, I should have done that. Or why didn’t I do that? Or that person’s pattern or whatever is so much more popular than the one I put out. I hated that feeling. It made me feel like a terrible person.

Michele: 49:41
And I want you to know, it’s natural. You’re not a terrible person. I have it too. Every one of us has it. And it’s just that natural human drive that anyone who does something they’re passionate about has. I really believe that.

And I think that the difference is that those who succeed find a way to rechannel and make an intent. I always like the word when you do things deliberately or do things intentionally. And then it’s taking that feeling and then making it with intent to develop something positive.

Brittany: 50:15
Yes. And I definitely had the intent to start a podcast knowing that in the back of my mind, I was going to invite people on the show. And through these conversations — we’re at episode 54 now. Some of them are solo shows.

I’m going to say I have already, just in one year, built at least 45 to 50 new friendships that have come from that first gut feeling that I hated, working that through the way that I knew I could provide to the community, and I’ve completely eliminated that because… Isn’t it amazing? It is. Isn’t it amazing? It is. I consider these people my friends and I’m so excited when something happens for them. And I’m more than happy to share that with my community too.

Michele: 51:07
And isn’t it even another level of excitement when you get to be part of it? Yes. Like the fact that I was able to help Katie with this design is such a rewarding feeling for me personally. The fact that I was able to provide her this level of support is personally rewarding. And in itself, the thanks. You know what I mean? And so I feel like that is also what comes from it — levels of, I find, gratitude that I probably didn’t know existed.

Brittany: 51:39
Yeah. Yeah. Man. And genuine happiness. I’m happy for people. I mean, I’m a happy person.

Michele: Exactly.

Brittany: Exactly. Gosh, I feel like we really have just… scratched the surface of the potential here in this.

Michele: I feel like it too. And we went deep.

Brittany: We went deep, Brittany. We went very deep. And 50 minutes, I feel like we’re just… We could keep going for another 50 minutes.

But I do want people to find more information on you. Obviously, you’re doing amazing things for the community. And I want people to be able to rally behind you and find you if they haven’t heard of you. So where — well, first of all, there are a lot of designers in the audience too. So if somebody wanted to get involved with that kit shop, is that something that they just approach you or you have open calls for those sort of things?

Michele: 52:35
Yes, I’m very excited for new designers to support because someone did it for me. You know, when I took that class, Drew didn’t have to spend time with me showing me all the things I was doing wrong. He could have just taught what was on the syllabus and called it a day. So someone did it for me.

So yeah, everything is at the blog, stitchandhustle.com. And that’s where the kit shop is. That’s where the blog posts are. That’s where I put up a lot of free patterns, but I also write tutorials on how to do better design work or different ways to approach things.

And so if they wanted to apply — if you’re a designer and you want to apply to the kit shop — the best thing to do is hit that contact form and tell me what you want to design. And if it falls in line, I’ll send you some questions and we’ll work it out. I would love it. We’re looking for — I can tell you — we’re looking for something that’s new.

So if you’re gonna make a puff stitch hat, it’s gotta be special. Cause we’ve all seen it. Yeah. So really find your voice in what you’re designing. But 100%, at Stitch and Hustle, you can find the kit shop and contact me.

Brittany: 53:56
Okay. We’re on social too. Can people connect with you?

Michele: 54:01
The best place — I kind of make Instagram my social pit stop. And that’s… my Instagram handle for my brand is 144stitches.

Brittany: The numbers, 144?

Michele: Yep. The numbers, 144stitches. Just look for the goofball. You’ll find me. And the community account is Stitch and Hustle — all spelled out, Stitch and Hustle. And on Twitter, I am also 144stitches.

And I have to be honest with you all, I can get real on the Twitter. So just be prepared. Sometimes it comes out. Full disclosure, you’ve been warned. If you like pretty pictures, don’t come on the Twitter.

Brittany: 54:47
You know, I don’t think that’s really… that’s not Twitter. I don’t think. Images do really well everywhere, but I think people who are on Twitter are kind of looking for those things — or quotes. I think it’s totally okay.

Michele: 55:02
I mean, I will sit there and live tweet a Housewives show for a good hour while I’m making something. And just really, you know… Like I said, you’ve all been warned. I’m not afraid.

Brittany: 55:13
Well, man, we’re going to have links to the websites, definitely. And I’ll include any information for the kit shop too. That way people can head over to the show notes page and just find all the information they need there. I’ll have your social handles. So hopefully they’ll come find you on Instagram and Twitter.

And Michele, thank you so much. This has been such a wonderful conversation. I’m really sad that it’s over. So I think we’re going to have to have you come back on and talk some more.

Michele: 55:43
Oh my gosh, that would be amazing. Thank you. I’m so inspired right now. I have — would you believe — all these ideas that came from this conversation? Like, Oh my gosh, we should do this. We should do this. Yes. It’s just been a really, really inspiring, empowering conversation. Thank you for having me.

Brittany: 55:59
Well, in Michele’s own words, we went deep there, but I think it was totally necessary. Thank you so much, Michele, really, for bringing this message to our attention. And thank you for making a ripple in the community and doing everything that you can in order to spread this message.

Now, as I mentioned, I know a lot of you are designers that are here listening to the show, and perhaps your next first step should be to get involved with that kit club. So if you want to do that, head over to the show notes page: bhookedcrochet.com/session054, and I’ll have all of the information for you there.

I do encourage you to connect with Michele on social, especially Instagram — that’s kind of where she likes to hang out. You won’t regret it. She’s a lot of fun. As you heard, she is just a wonderful asset to the community. And again, I’m so glad she was able to come on the show.

Thank you so much for listening to today’s podcast. Once again, I’d like to thank Yarnspirations for sponsoring today’s show. Whether you knit or crochet, Yarnspirations is the online destination for your free patterns and, of course, the yarn you love, like Patons, Bernat, Caron, and Lily Sugar’n Cream.

In case you missed it at the beginning of today’s episode, listeners, you guys can get 20% off your order of $40 or more from Yarnspirations.com. All you have to do is enter the coupon code BHOOKEDPOD at checkout. That’s B-H-O-O-K-E-D-P-O-D.

Now, stay tuned next week and hold on to your hats for this one, guys. I brought another repeat guest back on the show. She actually was just here a few weeks ago and she talked about pricing your items to sell. She is somebody who I consider to be a real expert in this topic. And she brought the goods.

Man, she is just going to fire you up about pricing your items to sell — whether it be at markets or if you’re selling online. I know you’re going to get the information you need to not only have the confidence to price your items, but to know that you’re doing it in the right way, in the approach that makes sense to you as a business owner.

So stay tuned for that next week. And I hope you have a wonderful weekend. Thank you so much for joining me, guys. Bye-bye.