Secret of My Success – Delilah Snell of Craftcation Conference

May 22, 2013 by 3 Comments
patchwork show oakland

Today we're chatting with Delilah Snell, one-half of the braintrust behind Craftcation Conference, a business and DIY event for creative makers, and Patchwork Show, a modern handmade festival series, as well as a brick-n-mortar shop called Road Less Travelled. Delilah, and her niece/partner Nicole Stevenson, have taken their events from a cottage industry and turned it into a creative force, all while maintaining their grass-roots spirit. I had the pleasure of hanging out with Delilah recently at a panel discussion and she's quickly become one of my favorite people in business. Please state for the group who you are, what you do and how long you've been doing it. Hi my name is Delilah Snell, I am 1/2 the group (the other 1/2 is my niece Nicole) that produces 2 events for creative/craft businesses: Patchwork Show: a modern handmade festival that occurs in 5 cities (4 in CA, one in AZ) throughout the year. For over 7 years, we have been producing large craft marketplaces … [Read more...]

Filed Under: SOMS

The Color of the Day is PINK

May 21, 2013 by 14 Comments

Outside, here in the beautiful city of Long Beach, the sky is overcast and gloomy, but my outlook is sunny. Yesterday I got handed the best thing an entrepreneur could ever wish for; a pink slip. Many of you know that I spent my weekdays as an art director for a prominent media company. Today I am a free agent. The reasons for the layoffs are not important. What is important is that I had put the thought out into the universe recently that I wanted out of my current position. I hadn't been inspired by the job in many years, tried to find change within the company, but nothing gave me fulfillment. The only answer was an exit. I didn't want another job. I wasn't going to apply at some other company just to end up doing work I wasn't into; not fair to me, or to the company that might have hired me. I needed to do my own thing, so I made plans, and then my employer made other plans. I wasn't totally prepared to make a leap yet, financially, but I got a healthy severance to … [Read more...]

Filed Under: Quality of Life

Sell Big on Fab – Part 2

May 16, 2013 by 2 Comments
emily-spada-selling-on-fab-part-2

This is a guest post by Emily Spada of Hester & Pearl, and is part two in a 2-part series on their first experience selling on Fab.com. You can read Part One here. Also, Emily will also be one of our regular contributors, so please give her a warm welcome.  Well, it’s all over. But you know what? It was exciting. Really exciting. I have to admit, we thought we were going to sell a lot more than we actually did, but we still in the end shipped out almost 1,000 cookies across the country. Fab provided us with a login to a seller portal where we could download packing slips, spreadsheets with order information, and just keep an eye on orders as they roll in. Of course we watched this like hawks all week. 7pm, Sunday… Two things happened: the sale went live, Fab sent out their weekly email newsletter promoting the Foodie Shop’s new weekly additions. About one-third of our orders for the whole week came in within three hours of the sale going live. We started packing the … [Read more...]

Filed Under: Shop Success

Should You Pull the Trigger on That Next Big Thing?

May 14, 2013 by Leave a Comment

If you're a subscriber to my newsletter, one of the first messages you get from me is a simple question: What are you struggling with in your business? Friend and former featured artist, Sher Christopher responded to this question in length. I asked if I could share it with you. So, I'm sat in my local coffee house and going through all those yummy emails I hoarde for when I can take the time to think, away from the studio, and this one's been rattling around the back of my mind since it arrived in my inbox. Not sure I'm going to give a simple answer but this is what's been eating away at me over the last few weeks; how to equip myself and possibly other artists in my area with better marketing and selling skills. Most artists I know, including myself, start out completely blindly in these areas, and in all honesty we learn most by costly mistakes than real skills and understanding. There's always some seminar somewhere on offer to teach at least the basics and I have … [Read more...]

Filed Under: Leadership

The Most Important Thing I’ve Learned About Business

May 10, 2013 by 22 Comments
which way to go - lakewenworth - flickr

Clarity is an amazing thing; that aha moment when you finally stumble across an idea that brings order to a part of your world. I had a moment like that this week and it is changing the way I think about business. The thing I "discovered" has actually been here all along. I've known about this aspect of myself for a very long time, I just never knew it would become the crux of my world, or perhaps I never allowed it to manifest. What I learned, no, what I believe is connections are the most important aspect to any business relationship. I don't care how good you are at what you do; if you do not connect with people and ideas on an authentic level, you do yourself and your business a disservice. From A to Z and Back Again Some time ago, I took a brain evaluation quiz online. The simple test asked a series of questions and then showed you what segment of the brain you do most of the thinking from. I don't recall all the designations or what each one meant, but mine came up dead … [Read more...]

Filed Under: Insights
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