Today I’m excited to launch a new project: the Crafting an MBA video challenge!
I’m on a mission to produce more videos to promote my business, and I want you to do the same.
Why is video such a great tool for promoting your business?
Watch the video below to find out why video matters, what the video challenge is, and how you can win a really great prize:
If you want to participate in the challenge, all you have to do is make videos that help promote your business and upload them to YouTube with the tag craftMBA.
*Please note that only videos that promote your business will count towards the challenge. I’m sure your cats are adorable and your kids are funny, but the goal here is to focus on promoting your business.
Stuck on what kinds of videos to produce? I’ll be sharing a video a little later in May with a lot of video ideas, but in the mean time, why not start by creating a video that introduces yourself to your customers?
And don’t forget to upload it to YouTube with the…
During last week’s conference call for The Creative Empire, Tara and I were asked which business books had the greatest influence on us. Even though I recommend different business books all the time, its not often that I think about which books had the greatest impact. So today I’m sharing four books that had a major role in shaping my business philosophy.
The Long Tail by Chris Anderson – I first read this book back in 2007, and it was really the first time I thought about how larger business trends affected my little micro-business. Even though he never mentions it, I found myself thinking about Etsy the entire time I was reading. And even now, I can’t have a conversation about the culture of Etsy without bringing up The Long Tail.
Made to Stick by Chip Heath and Dan Heath – I can’t tell you the first time I read (ok, listened to) this book, because I’ve now listened to it so many times that it’s permanently ingrained in my memory. So much so, that once my husband told me a…
You’ve got a great logo. Maybe you designed it yourself. Maybe a friend designed it for you. Maybe you even hired a graphic designer to create one for you.
Regardless of how your logo came into being, here’s the cold, hard truth:
No one cares about your logo.
Ok, maybe that was a little harsh. It’s not that no one cares. It’s that your logo doesn’t mean anything to them.
It takes a lot of time, energy, and money to turn a logo into a recognizable icon.
Sure, there are instantly recognizable logos in the world – Starbucks, Nike, McDonalds. But those companies have spent billions of dollars over several decades to make sure their logos are recognizable.
You don’t have that kind of money. (Or even that kind of time.) So what should you do?
Focus on promoting your products, not your logo.
If you’re a craftsperson, designer, or artists, the things that drive people to your business are your products. Your products are the reason people talk about, share, and buy from you.
Yesterday, I came home to one of my favorite things when it comes to running my own business – three (nice sized) checks in the mail.
These checks weren’t unexpected. They were payments from stores for jewelry I had sent them in March. These were checks rolling in from my NET 30 accounts. And these checks now form the bulk of the income from my jewelry business.
What is NET 30?
Once you start wholesaling your products, you’re likely to run into stores who ask if you offer “terms.” What this typically means is will you extend NET 30 credit to the store. NET 30 means that you ship a store’s order, and they have 30 days to send you payment in the form of a check. (Some larger companies may request NET 60 or even NET 90 – meaning they have 60 or 90 days to pay.)
While I don’t recommend extending NET 30 to first time wholesale buyers (for those I request a credit card up front), I do like to move regular accounts onto NET 30 after a few orders.
We’ve all been to that place where it seems we can’t get it to work out no matter how hard we try. 33 Ways To Overcome Frustration will help us snap out of it.
by Chris Anderson – I first read this book back in 2007, and it was really the first time I thought about how larger business trends affected my little micro-business. Even though he never mentions it, I found myself thinking about Etsy the entire time I was reading. And even now, I can’t have a conversation about the culture of Etsy without bringing up The Long Tail.
by Chip Heath and Dan Heath – I can’t tell you the first time I read (ok, listened to) this book, because I’ve now listened to it so many times that it’s permanently ingrained in my memory. So much so, that once my husband told me a…