Your Handmade Business

Your target customer goes hand in hand with your business’ niche. In this YHBTV recap, Sharon and Isaac cover a few of the signs why your actual customers may not be your target customer, and what to do about it.

Isaac talks with Adwoa Cooper, stitcher behind Adwoa designs, about how she found a niche that resonated with her and her long-term goals, while honoring and respecting the culture her products draw upon.

Knowing who your target customer is will inform what niche your business serves, and vice versa. Sharon and I cover 5 specific points about finding your niche in this recap episode from our weekly YHBTV video series.

In this recent broadcast of YHBTV, Isaac shares some of his own experiences hiring help in his business, describes some of the benefits of bringing in a contractor, employee, or service provider, and then actually dives into what he call the ABCs of Hiring Help.

Etsy Wholesale bit the bullet at the end of July, leaving a lot of makers hanging. Listen to this YHBTV episode for tips on how to best manage your wholesale business without the Etsy-managed platform.

Isaac chats with Kiley Fattor, co-owner of Period Six Studio in Golden, Colorado, about the lessons she’s learned in the past few years of being in business, and some of the ways she’s adjusted her business to respond to market needs.

Everyone loves getting a deal, bargain or something on sale, but that doesn’t mean that what works for national retail chains will (or should) work for your maker business. Hear our tips on when, why, and how you might want to discount your products.

Isaac takes a multi-faceted trip with serial entrepreneur Adrienne Wiley down the path of her various business ventures, philosophical pursuits, and lessons learned as a jeweler, shop owner, and small business consultant.

What you do is directly tied to who you are, and it’s hard to articulate that in a way that someone else can understand. In this YHBTV recap, Sharon offers 5 great tips to help you better prepare for talking about yourself.

Contrary to popular belief, your customers are NOT always right. In YHBTV recap, Sharon and Isaac give 5 reasons your customer might be wrong and 8 tips on how to deal with it.

Amanda Siska tells the tale about how her business, Bread and Badger, was upended in 2016 and she undertook a massive re-evaluation that dramatically shifted her products, goals, and expectations.

Have you ever considered outsourcing your production to a local factory? Sara and Dana from Spooltown have oodles of advice and insight to share about manufacturing handmade goods in this YHBTV episode recap.

What happens when publicity comes a-calling and catches you off guard? In this YHBTV replay, Sharon and Isaac share tips and advice on how to handle surprise press with style.

In this replay of a recent YHBTV episode, Sharon identifies several ways your ideal customer may not perfectly align with your ideal *wholesale* customer.

This is a replay of a recent YHBTV episode where Sharon and Isaac dive into five tips for creating awesome linesheets. They cover function over form, the path of least resistance, avoiding perfectionism, consistency, and sticking to the facts.

This is a replay of a recent YHBTV episode on working with a printer. Between Isaac's own background as a design project manager and Sharon’s experience in marketing and PR, they have tons to share for those less familiar with the industry.

As the first official episode of 2018, Isaac welcomes everyone back with a re-introduction to Academy of Handmade and addresses our tendency to follow trends—sometimes to our detriment.

It’s time for a bonusode! In this special edition of Your Handmade Business, Isaac replays the Just My Type webinar we hosted last Fall in preparation for the relaunch of our signature program, Jumpstart Your Handmade Business.

Isaac shines some light on the risks of letting self-criticism degrade your ability to make progress, and dives into the season 1 archive for tidbits of advice and lessons learned from previous podcast guests.

Isaac examines a few different ways you can stay nimble with your review process and not let it suck you dry, and artist and jewelry designer Jen Crowe shares a number of her own experiences over the years looking deeply at her own business and adapting along the way.