How to Connect with Designers and Bloggers (Part One) | Podcast Episode #73

Episode Transcript

Brittany:
Welcome to episode number 73 of the BHooked Podcast. Thank you so much for joining me today. I have a really exciting episode planned for you today and it’ll be, well, just you and me. It’s been a little while since we’ve had a little chat and I missed it so much. I have a two-part series coming your way.

Now, as you know, I just got back from my trip to Chicago where I spoke at the Our Maker Life event and I am just over the moon, excited, overwhelmed and just downright humbled by the entire experience, the way everybody received my message and how much they enjoyed the presentation. I can only hope that from this moment forward the people who were there and listened are taking action on it and actively trying to change their lives.

Now, if you were not able to make it to that event, don’t worry. I put a lot of time and preparation into that message and I’ll make sure that you can hear it here on the podcast and you’ll also hear it in some other channels as well. I’ve logged the experience, which was also something new to me and I had a lot of fun doing that. So I plan on putting a video together for you and hopefully we’ll be able to share that chat with you or that talk over on my YouTube channel. So keep an eye out for those.

But with all of that in mind, I wanted to be able to give you some really actionable tips on ways to connect with other bloggers and designers. This thing has been so important to me or just being able to connect with other people that it was a real game changer for me. And I know it can be a real game changer for you.

And because I was surrounded by so many enthusiastic designers, bloggers, makers, I want to be able to share my Why that’s so important for you and for your business and for your goals, whatever that might be, whether yarn is your hobby or your business. Now, of course, we’ll focus a little bit more so on business because it does have an opportunity to really open a lot of doors for you. But there’s really something to be said about just being around people who absolutely love what you do, who speak your language. And that’s why I’m bringing you this two-part series.

So in today’s show, we’ll look at the why and the how. And then next week, I want to give you just a bunch of tips of different ways that you can reach out to other bloggers, other designers, and potential ways that you can collaborate with them. It’ll be a very brainstorming kind of session. And I think you’ll really love that. I know that some of these tips really work. So stay tuned for that one next week.

But for today, of course, we’re going to get into the why and how. There’s not a whole lot of resources for this episode, but I do want to let you know there still will be a show notes page for this episode so you can continue the conversation. You can ask questions and connect with other people right there on the show notes page. So for this episode, you’ll head over to BeHookedCrochet.com slash session 073.

Now, another thing I’ve been really excited about lately, as you know, is like a subscription type of service so that I can have a project delivered to me every single month. But I’ll be honest, I have a lot on my plate and I know you do too. So sometimes we can’t quite get to the full project. I’ll be honest, I’ve got two or three kits waiting for me to have the time to dedicate to them.

And I feel like I found something that solves that problem, both for me and potentially you as well. So I found Annie’s Afghan Block of the Month Club, and I think this is just a brilliant model for two reasons. One of them is that, well, it’s solely based around people who want to learn. That’s the great thing about crochet and our craft is we get to continuously learn new things.

And as you know, especially if you heard my presentation this past weekend, that I am a learner, according to StrengthsFinder, a really great book that I highly recommend for anybody who’s really looking to try and figure out what they’re great at and really find their purpose in life. Well, that book did that for me. It taught me that I’m a learner. And so, yes, I love to learn. And I think that’s really what drew me into this particular hobby and this craft.

And now this Block of the Month Club. One of the really cool things that makes this unique is that it has a DVD with it. So it’s not like you can go online and you can watch it on YouTube or whatever. The tutorial is an actual DVD. So I found that to be really cool, really portable. You can take that with you. You don’t have to be connected to the internet if that perhaps isn’t an option where you are at the moment that you’re trying to work through the patterns.

Well, your first kit teaches basic crochet stitches, helpful how-to instructions for new crocheters, and it’s a really great refresher course for experienced crocheters. And as the kit progresses, then you build your skills to more involved and more intricate stitch patterns. And at the end of that year, you have a gorgeous afghan to show for it. It’s really brilliant.

If you want to check this out, head over to annieskitclubs.com slash bhpodcast. Got to make sure that’s all lowercase. B-H-P-O-D-C-A-S-T. You can find more information on how to be a member of that subscription, and you can bet I’ll share more details about that as the weeks progress.

Before we get into our session here today, I also want to mention that this particular topic was a request from Lindsay. So Lindsay, thank you so much for making this submission here. I think it’s a wonderful idea, again, to be able to share how to connect with other bloggers and designers.

And I want you to know that if you have a request, I would love to hear it. Please send your request via email to me personally, Brittany at BHookedCrochet.com. My name is spelled B-R-I-T-T-A-N-Y at BHookedCrochet.com. Make sure you enter podcast suggestion in the subject line, and that way I’ll know exactly where to put it, and I can filter through those and add them to my request list.

All right, so you know that I like to break things down. Why, how, and some action tips. We’re going to cover the why and the how today, and then next week we’ll talk about those action tips.

So why might somebody want to connect with other bloggers or designers? Well, for me, I’ll admit it was a really long time before I reached out and started collaborating with others. I think there are two main reasons why that was.

First of all, I was just downright scared. I was intimidated. I thought that perhaps like my audience would love them more than me. So I was a little bit scared that I was, I don’t know, giving away too much or something. That was totally not the case, but I was scared. I was scared to reach out to somebody. I didn’t know what they would think about me or what I had to offer. And I thought maybe they would get mad at me if I was asking them for something.

So fear, right? There’s a lot of fear associated with stepping out of our comfort zone. And for me, that was definitely the line outside of my comfort zone.

Another main reason I think why I waited so long is because I’m really, really shy by nature. This might totally surprise you. I actively work towards not being so shy and I feel like over the years I’ve developed a little bit more of an outgoing personality. But I was still very shy to connect with new people in the space that I really wanted to make an impact in and that I really wanted to add value to.

I thought maybe that they didn’t want to collaborate with me because of the fear of competition, right? Sometimes we get that thought in our head that we’re all competing against each other. But if you think about it, for bloggers especially, we don’t sell products. We create content. We create resources for people.

Competition can really be based in sales or, you know, if I had… one type of product for sale and somebody else had the same type of product for sale, well, they would be my competitor. That totally doesn’t apply here in the blogging world, especially with us being in the same industry, the fiber arts industry.

We’re sharing an audience. I would say nine times out of 10, if one person consumes some of my patterns, well, they’re also consuming other people’s patterns too. And that’s a way that all of us work together to be able to lift the industry up and to be able to help the industry as a whole.

Because as you know, I don’t do a whole lot of designing for like cute sort of things or baby things. Well, there is definitely somebody, many people in the industry who has those things covered. And I like to do a Mickey roomie every now and then. Well, there are certain people who just specialize in that.

There are some people who like garment making, but maybe don’t like blanket making. And so because we all work together and we’re all in the same industry, we’re helping everybody else. We’re helping the audience. We’re helping to create enthusiasm for yarn and for fiber arts. So we’re working together. We’re not working against each other.

So there should be no fear of competition here. We’re sharing the audience. We’re helping the industry.

Once I realized that, that was when I wasn’t shy anymore. I wasn’t fearful anymore. And that’s when things really started to happen for me.

So these two things, being scared because I was bothering them or being scared that my audience would all of a sudden hate me because I introduced them to this new person and being shy in that fear of competition, these things could not be further from the truth.

If there’s one thing I’ve learned about this particular industry, especially in researching and comparing it to other industries, we have one of the most welcoming and kind-hearted people in this industry.

That goes for not only just us who enjoy it as a hobby, but that goes for bloggers, that goes for yarn companies, that goes for other brands, podcasters, you name it. We are all the most… friendly group of people and I couldn’t be more proud to be a part of this industry for that.

But just remember that. When you get to the point where you’re about to approach somebody and you feel a little fearful or you feel like you’re a little too shy, just remember these things. And the worst that somebody can say is no.

Now when I started reaching out, I really started to see a shift in opportunities.

At this point now, after I have spent so many years being very deliberate about making new connections, I don’t necessarily have to go looking for opportunities anymore. Those opportunities now are presented to me on a regular basis.

And that is definitely part of growing and having a brand that’s been around for so many years, but it really has to do with being connected as well.

Because there might be some person who says, oh, I have a need for X, Y, Z, whatever that need may be. And because they know me, they say, oh, Brittany might be a great person to ask for that. Well, maybe they know somebody who needs a need filled. And of course, they could say, hey, I know somebody who would be a great choice for what you need.

So being connected opens up opportunities to come to you. Maybe opportunities that you didn’t even think of yourself.

Another example to this is with my keynote presentation from last weekend. Honestly, if I had not met Jewel last year and had her on the podcast, I highly doubt that I would have been approached and asked to be a speaker at that event.

I met Jewel for the first time in Toronto last year for the Our Maker Life event where I was there with Yarnspirations and some of the folks there, but that was my first opportunity meeting her in person, and I only met her in person because I knew somebody who knew her.

So that turned into a podcast interview with her, which in turn became another podcast episode, and before you know it, I had an email in my inbox from her giving me the invitation to be a speaker.

There’s no way that opportunity would have landed in my inbox if it weren’t for that one person who knew Jewel who introduced us.

Another example to this is I was on Marley’s podcast, Marley Bird’s podcast in October of last year, which was a great opportunity. It was a bucket list item for me, honestly.

There aren’t a lot of people in the industry in crochet who are podcasting solely on crochet. So it’s really difficult to find a show that you can be a part of as well to add value to their show.

So Marley was top on my list. I wanted to be on her show and there’s probably no way I would have been on her show had I not approached her to ask her to be on my show.

Now, you know, she was on the podcast last year in the very early days and that was the first time we had the opportunity to connect and A wonderful friendship blossomed from that experience.

I’ve now met her in person a couple of times. We exchange emails on a regular basis. And none of that would have came about had I not just one day thought, well, it’s now or never. I’m just going to send her an email and see what happens.

I could seriously go on and on about these examples. So my Craftsy class, that launched in August, actually October, rather, of last year.

And that opportunity came about because, well, not necessarily somebody that I knew, but somebody my sister knew. When you’re thinking about making connections, don’t just look within the industry. Work your whole network. I never would have even dreamed that my sister, who is not even remotely in the same industry as me, would know somebody who would eventually work for Craftsy and approach me about creating a class.

So think about your network as a whole and make sure that they’re educated on the things that you want, your goals, your desires, different things that you might want to accomplish because you never know when one of the people in your network will come across somebody who might be just the perfect person for you to meet.

Now, in terms of those of us who are trying to build our blog or building our brand, you’ll also see a shift once you start connecting with other bloggers, other designers, other people within the industry. You’ll really start to see an increase in traffic and growth as a result of these connections because a lot of times when you connect with people or you offer them some kind of service or an opportunity to collaborate, you will also have exposure to that person’s audience as well and that has the potential to grow yours.

Another thing that goes without saying, it’s pretty important though, is thinking about the future opportunities. Let’s say you connect with somebody and maybe you don’t know a way that you can collaborate right away. And that’s totally fine.

There have been so many connections I have made through the podcast, having amazing guests on the show that we didn’t really have anything that aligned at that moment, maybe a collaboration outside of the podcast episode. But I opened up the doors to future opportunities because of that.

So when you connect with somebody, don’t just think about the present. Think about the future as well. If you get along really well with that person, if you have a lot of things in common, even though you don’t have a collaboration or an idea in your mind right now, well, you can certainly bet that at some point you will come together and align and you’ll have something that you can work on together—that probably wouldn’t have come about had you not just introduced yourself in the first place.

So we’re still talking about the why here, and I do want to touch back on the business building, the blog building, the brand building, because I know so many of you are struggling with this. This is something that’s not easy. It doesn’t happen overnight. But one of the ways that you can really catapult your blog, your podcast, your business, your shop, whatever you have, is to connect with people.

So let’s think about blogs specifically. You can increase your traffic from collaborations and that’s because you’re exchanging audiences, right? You might do a guest post on somebody else’s blog. Well, they’re going to link back to yours and some of that person’s audience will now be exposed to you.

Also, if you’re a part of a roundup—and we’ll get into some of these nitty gritty details like the actual ways to collaborate next week—but when you’re doing these things, you’re connecting with other bloggers through these different means, then the result is that you’re sharing each other’s audiences. You’re sharing that exposure. And that has the potential to raise your traffic, build your brand awareness, and help you achieve your goals in the long run.

So now if you have a podcast, then having a guest on your show or being a guest on somebody else’s show is a great way to be able to also share in those listeners. Like I said, there’s very few podcasts out there that are crochet related. And chances are, if you’re consuming this podcast right now, it’s because you love crochet.

Well, it would be a win-win on my part and somebody else’s part if I could share another crochet podcast with you. Because you would be happy as a listener. You would have another podcast to consume. I would be able to share my audience with that other podcaster who then would be able to increase their audience as well.

Now let’s think business. When you connect with people of all sorts from all walks of life, you only stand the potential to increase your opportunities. The more people you know, the more opportunities could potentially come your way. I mean, it seems like they could just come out of the woodworks sometimes.

Connect with people, even if you don’t have a particular goal in mind for that relationship. Connect with them because you never know what could come of that.

I also want to touch on shops here because I know a lot of you have Etsy shops. Spreading the message about what goods you have for sale to your network, to your friends, to your family. People even outside of our industry, right? Your target audience is potentially people who don’t know how to knit or crochet because they will want to buy things from you as a result of not knowing that craft.

Well, you’re a specialist in that field. So if you let people know that you’re available to either take contracted work for specific items, or if you have products to sell that are ready to go and in your shop, the more people who know that, the more opportunity you have to grow your business.

Now we understand the why, the all-important why. It can really make a huge impact in your business and it’s the fastest way to catapult whatever your channels are, your blog, your podcast, your business, your shop, no matter what it is, staying connected always stands to uplift you and help you achieve your goals.

So we’ve got that. The why is covered. Let’s talk about the how.

I have found that there are three best ways to connect with other bloggers, designers, and people we call influencers. I’m not sure how I feel about that term, but it’s pretty much a term that you use for somebody who has a larger following, who has a lot of influence in a particular industry.

So let’s say you want to connect with another blogger, another designer, an influencer, whoever that might be. There are three things that you can do.

The first thing I always do is send them an email or a direct message, mostly an email because a lot of times that goes right to people’s inbox and it’s easier to sort through. If you send a direct message through social, that has a chance to get lost in the shuffle and perhaps they won’t even see that message.

So do some research on that person. Find out what their email address is. A lot of times you can just go directly to their website and you’ll see the contact page and it’ll either have a form where you can fill out on that page, or it’ll give you their email address where you can reach out to them directly.

Now, a couple pointers from somebody who does receive hundreds of emails each month. Keep it short. Keep it short, sweet, and to the point. That person is also receiving multiple emails a day. Perhaps they don’t have a lot of time to invest in their inbox.

So you want to keep your message short and sweet, so that you can be respectful of their time. That respect is really the first impression that you make on that person. And although we love to read long emails and we love to hear stories, those emails typically don’t get answered because that person I’m sure really wants to spend some time reading everything that you said and then they really want to put some time into a reply to that email as well.

So if you’re in a situation where you can keep your message short and to the point, then I can almost bet that that particular email can be responded to sooner.

Another suggestion I have for you is to not ask for something right away. Especially if you’re reaching out to somebody who has been doing this a while. They get tons of emails. That person is asked for things on a regular basis.

Brittany:
So it’s a breath of fresh air to find somebody who is really just looking out for the best interest of the person they’re contacting. Perhaps they know something of value that they have that they can present to their audience. And that is gold. That is so nice to read. An email that just says hey I want to say thank you, I think I have this that can help your audience—boom, there you go. Don’t ask for something right away; save that for after you develop that relationship a little bit more.

There’s a really funny example that I heard on a podcast that you don’t ask somebody to marry you the first time you meet them, right? You go on a date with them, you spend a lot of time with them, you get to know them, you get to learn them, and then you make that ask. This is kind of the same way.

Now also, try to have that person’s audience in mind. In a lot of cases, that person’s audience is their primary concern. It’s their number one focus. For me, my audience is number one. I want to make sure that every single thing I do only benefits them.

So I have my audience in mind. I’m not the only one who’s like that, who values their audience. So think about their audience and think about what you can potentially do to be able to help that audience, whether it be to teach them something or to share a resource with them that might be a great option for them. Have that blogger, that designer’s audience in mind. So that way you can present them with your value proposition.

That’s kind of an industry, a weird industry term, I guess, if you think about it, but figure out what it is that you can do to be able to help that person’s audience. And that’s how you should position that first email.

So we’re keeping it short. We’re not asking for anything right away. We’re just saying, hey, I have this to offer you. I think it would be great if we could connect. That’s always a great place to start. It’s a great first email.

It’s not to say that you can’t ever ask them for something, but in this very first experience, you want to try to make it a good one.

The last thing to keep in mind when you send somebody an email is to be patient. Those bloggers, designers, they get tons and tons of emails every single week. Some of them have virtual assistants or have people who help them go through their email, but some of them don’t. And they’re actually answering them one by one, especially if you have a designer or a blogger who works on their platform part time, then they have even less time to be able to answer those inquiries. And so it may take a little while for them to respond back to you. But I would say just knowing this industry, they almost always will.

All right, so that is my number one way to connect with bloggers, designers, and influencers. There are a couple of others though.

Connect with them on social. I have done this before as well. If you do some research on somebody, let’s say like you really want to connect with this one particular person and you know that that person is very active on Instagram, well then it might be a good opportunity to get on that person’s radar.

Don’t just follow. Be engaged with them. So whenever they make a post, be sure to comment or like. Just be a part of that community. Add value to that community. And that’s going to put you on that person’s radar.

Now, of course, you can just go ahead and send a direct message. Through Instagram, it is a little bit more difficult to manage when brand new people direct messages come through for the first time, it puts it in this little bucket where you have to go through and manage those requests. And those aren’t as obvious as a message coming through from somebody you’ve already connected with.

It doesn’t give you that red notification that says, hey, you got to do something here. So somebody might not go into that message box and see those requests waiting. So keep that in mind when you’re connecting with people on Instagram through direct message.

Another great way, of course, is on Facebook. If you find that that person is very active on Facebook and in their community, you can send a direct message that way. You can also participate, be engaged in their posts, just get on their radar.

Now, if you’re really trying to get someone’s attention, another great way to do that is to share their stuff. So if you want to repost something on Instagram, if you want to retweet something on Twitter, if you make the proper tags, then that person will be alerted that you have made that share.

And so that’s another way of getting on their radar. And then they will see you as somebody who is genuinely interested to help. So that’s a great way to start off that relationship. Now, perhaps from there, you could go to sending them an email.

Now, because we are in the fiber arts industry, we have one additional tool, resource at our fingertips to be able to connect with other bloggers and designers and influencers and that’s Ravelry.

Ravelry is a great platform if you haven’t heard of it already. It’s sort of like its own social network but it’s also a way to share free patterns, for designers to have paid patterns, to be able to sell those. There is a discussion forum. There is a way to manage what yarn you have in your stash, what projects you’ve completed.

It’s just a wealth of good information and good organization, honestly. But it’s also a great way to connect with people. It gives you the ability to friend people, kind of like you do on Facebook or that sort of thing, where you find that person and maybe you become their friend on Ravelry.

They’ll get a notification for that. They actually will get a message in their inbox, unless they have the settings changed, that will tell them of that right away.

If you have worked through one of those designers’ projects, it’s always a great idea to go into that project or that pattern page on Ravelry and leave a comment. Share your experience. Share a photo of the project that you made. That’s one way, again, that you can get on that person’s radar.

And we love to see, as designers, we love to see people’s projects, finished projects, their take on our design.

Another thing you can do is participate in that person’s Ravelry group. Now, Ravelry allows you to have groups where you can have a discussion forum, and it’s a great way to be able to connect with that person, but also to offer some support.

Perhaps you know the answer to a question that has come through, but that person maybe hasn’t had time to answer that question. If you know the answer, then you can share that with the person who asked. Then you have helped the community and you’ve helped that particular designer as well.

Now, if you’re completely out of ideas, you think, yeah, I want to connect with people, but I don’t really know who to connect with, I would tap into the forum section or the discussion session on Ravelry.

Ravelry is a humongous database of people who are just like you, who love fiber arts, who love knitting and crochet and yarn. Many of them are business owners. Many of them just do it for fun.

The discussion forum is where a lot of those people hang out. So I like to take it at the approach of offering service or offering some help.

So I have spent some time going through the Ravelry forum in the early days when I was trying to build my network and just helping people. If I saw a question that I knew the answer to, I would help them.

And most times that often would blossom into a friendship or you would continue to chat with that person back and forth. That also shows the people who are reading those posts that you are known to be somebody who’s helpful.

And that can also stand to help you grow your network.

So there you have it. Those are my three best ways to connect with other bloggers. Connect with them on social. Get on their radar. Make it known that you’re a fan, that you like their work, that you’re willing to offer support when needed, and that you’re engaged with them in that community.

Then send them an email. Keep it short and sweet to the point and just introduce yourself.

And if you can’t get anywhere with those two methods, which I can almost assure you you will, also connect with people on Ravelry.

Now next week, I want to cover some of the possible collaborations to pitch after you’ve started building these relationships. I’ve got a big long list of different things, different ways that you can potentially collaborate with other bloggers and designers.

And the reason why we’re splitting it into two weeks here is because you first need to make that connection. You definitely don’t want to send out an ask first.

I mean, you could. You could do that. That is definitely one way of approaching it. But for me, I always like to introduce myself first, develop a friendship first, before I pitch an idea.

So my challenge for you today is to pick one of those questions: Three ways to connect. So send an email, connect on social, or connect on Ravelry.

And pick three people, at least three people. This will be super easy. It’s not going to take a lot of time. You can commit to three.

Find three people that you want to connect with online, whether it be you have an idea right now for a collaboration, or you just think that perhaps you could collaborate in the future.

Reach out to those three people with one or all of the three ways we discussed to connect. So sending an email, connecting with them on social, or connecting with them on Ravelry.

Then once you develop those relationships, we’ll talk next week about how to potentially collaborate or pitch a collaboration to those people once you’ve developed that relationship.

Even if nothing comes of that email or that direct message, if you don’t hear a response back, then you lost nothing, right? It doesn’t take a lot of time to just reach out and say hello to somebody. You only stand to benefit from taking action on this today.

So I challenge you to do that. Let me know how it goes. I would love to hear your thoughts and your responses.

So you can leave your questions and comments on the show notes page. Once again, that is bhookedcrochet.com/session 073. I look forward to seeing that as well.

And I look forward to sharing these possible collaborations to pitch next week in part two of this little mini series.

And before we wrap up our session here today, I want to mention that Annie’s Crochet Afghan Block of the Month Club, once again, super cool idea. I love it. How you just have to focus on a couple blocks in each of your kits so you feel like you’re not always behind on that project.

Similar to what they have for the Hook & Needle Club, when you sign up for your first kit, you’re paying only $9.99. So you’re getting a 50% discount over the regular price for that first kit, and they give you four free gifts in order to do that, which is really, really neat.

When you receive that kit every month, you’ll have the instructions, the pattern, the yarn, the hooks—they actually even give you the hooks with this—and a DVD of the tutorial so that you can learn that particular stitch. And at the end, you’ll have this gorgeous afghan to show.

So to check that out, go to annieskitclubs.com slash bhpodcast, all lowercase, got to make sure it’s all lowercase, b-h-p-o-d-c-a-s-t.

All right, friends, that’ll wrap things up for today. I hope you enjoyed this episode and you got a lot of great information on it. But more importantly, that you’re actually going to do the thing that I asked.

Please find three people to reach out to. And if you want to do more than three, by all means, just make it a point, make it a priority to connect with at least three people this week so that you can start building your network and ultimately be walking down the road to accomplish your goals.

It doesn’t matter what it is. If you’re looking for somebody to share in your craft with and you just want to have a crochet group, you got to get connected with people.

If you want to build your brand or your business, you got to get connected with people. This is the first step.

So I challenge you today. Tell me about it on social. I want to hear that you’ve taken action on this episode and I look forward to serving you next week.

We’ll talk about those different collaboration methods. I’m super excited about that. So I will see you then.

Have a wonderful weekend. Bye-bye.