Lessons

Lesson Info

Make Your Craft Business Goals More Doable

Now that you've thought about your bigger why were you can keep working on page forty four because I'm going to ask you what you actually want to do or accomplish this is a picture of the redwoods in march or april I went and I read my first ten k in the redwoods which is a total like on my list on my long term awesomeness list of things I wanted to d'oh and it felt amazing and and that was because really I just wrote down like I want to go I want to go back to the redwoods I have been a couple years before and I want to do something like to enjoy them when this opportunity came up and I didn't do not seem like the kind of person that could run that many miles and so it was a big accomplishment that meant a lot and part of ever even thinking of it though is that I first I wrote it down that was one of the things I wanted in my life so keep writing on page forty four if you haven't started page forty four in your work but get think about your most you know we've been talking it could be...

some life stuff like travel family moving but think about your most ideal wondrous business and what it looks like what you are doing and when she gets crazy specific about where it's headed and this is it everything works out perfectly and everything goes according to plan which we know isn't gonna happen but you first have to be clear on what that would be so you can't even get close to it yeah, I like how you break it down in five years and then you bring it lower s so many people look att just like their first goal uh and they don't even try to break it down and make that goal achievable yes, they just assumed they didn't make the goal right? So there's like no point and they kind of give up on the gold, but when you put down your ultimate goal, you can break it down and figure out how to get there absolutely thinks it more I don't know trying to explain it it's more doable? Yeah, so and that's actually. So so an example might be that you want to spend two weeks in paris s and say maybe it'll take five years well then you can break it down tio what do you actually need? Maybe you need to be debt free s o could you do that in four years? I got spends on the debt, but or you need to be mostly debt free and want to do that we need to have x amount of dollars in savings or maybe you need to be making x amount of money without you being directly involved like without you crashing crazily so she could take those two weeks off or you need to get your kid potty trained like those air all gonna happen in four years three years, two years and that's exactly what I did because I want we're even going to get smaller we're going to get to the six month and three month and at the end of the day we're going toe talk about like what you do each kind of weaken month to get to the three month goal because if your big goal was to be in o magazine you can see what you do in the years before there to get to the point where oprah knows you exist you know my goal is to be on a that oprah show she has on sunday super soul sunday right there's a lot of things I would need to d'oh to be in the place to be ready um do is know what color your hair was going to be yeah, that was the first thing I thought of about being on oprah was like god, I got to get my hair dye was so right step one get a professional haircut stuff tio so so now let's think about what is gonna happen in one year and I went to the picture one year from now july of twenty fifteen what you will have done on what big milestones you will have met in your business and just what else? What else can you picture happening in the next year, for example, things you know you're gonna have to dio like you're going to get through the holiday season, you are maybe going to travel, you know, your friends engaged, you know, we're going to go to a wedding, uh, think about what's happening in the next year, what you will have wanted to do. And again, this page forty four in your workbook, these air goal here is to get everything you want out of your business in your life, out of your brain and onto the page, so that as we start narrowing down what you're doing in your marketing, what you're doing in your business, you don't feel like, oh, no, but that doesn't account for this in this, we're going to account for everything because long is it's not on the paper you're trying to remember it, you're tryingto I kind of think about it, and you'll be less willing to actually let go of stuff, and I love to know, what do you guys want out of your business in the next year? Anybody willing to share? Did somebody raise okay to make enough to pay for my supplies to create new pieces? Because I take out of our income since I'm not making sales on that's frustrating, yes, and I think a lot of small businesses start out that way and that's what I think about because they can no longer take from it. So I want to figure out how to sell the pieces that I already have and to pay for more supplies to make new pieces. That's perfect that's so great that's a really good, really good goal that's very doable, by the way. So how about you, joe? You're right, of course twelve things that I want. So I totally am therewith terra that I want to just have the ability to cover most of my expenses and, um yeah, yeah, I think your biggest huge and that goes back to sustainability, basically your businesses sustaining itself, right? That's always the first step to anything else. Did you have your hand raised? No, but I do want to appear in a holiday gift guide, and it doesn't have to be oprah magazine. It could be in style or domino. What about, like, what about, like, design sponge or, like some longs for like because there's lots of blog's that do holiday gift guides, and that might be, you know, where oprah goes to find what she may have about the same um so is anybody in the chat willing to share what they want from their business in the next year? Yeah, this one comes from goatherd and they say to increase my fiber show exposure from four to eight shows increase web sales to one hundred dollars per week so they have money to travel and see their family I love that I love that and that's the thing when you're thinking about craft shows or big kind of investments of your time you want to make sure that's also in line with how you like your north star and where you want to be spending your business that definition of success for some people is being on the road and at shows for me it's definitely being able to travel to teach where's have another client who actually cut way back on the craft shows because she realized that as an introvert it is not her definition of success to be like in front of people like in talking to people for every other weekend is basically how often she was doing it so um anybody else wanna share? Ok, so let's talk about how to make your goals more doable and one of things is definitely to break them down so I'm like so glad you said that the first one is tio get super specific like I will keep saying over and over to you guys like know get more specific no, get more specific about what that means like that craft show goal was just perfect because she said, I want to go from this number to this number if she had just said increased my craft show exposure, I would say, well, what does that mean to you? Get super super specific, um, and what I actually want you to dio uh, well, actually, we'll come back to that in a second, so the next thing has to recognize the support you have and the support you need, and if you flip to page forty five in your workbook, you will see that I ask you, teo, think about the tools and support that are already in your life, and the reason why I'm talking about this now is because I think that what keeps us from really working hard towards our goals is taking consistent action is a fear that it's all going to be too much that we're going to have to do it all on our own. I know that is terrifying. If you think you suddenly have to do some, you're just going to have more work like we already busy enough, we don't need more work, so recognizing the support you already have in your life if and the support you'll need to reach this, these ideas of what you want to do in the next year and this could be somebody that you hire this could be a cleaning crew to come into your house this could be like for me it's my husband making dinner most nights it's also about finding a way that I can clean my house that doesn't get away in my business or in the way of my resting it's like we have a little plan for how things get done that is a support structure for me a big thing here was finding the budgeting out that makes my financial life easier because that was a big stressor so in case you want to know you need a budget dot com I love it so much I recommend that all my students but that was a support that I needed that was just like a constant stressor like in the back of my head and getting that out of my head and into a system made my life so much easier so it can be any kind of thing that is causing you frazzle meant it's like hiring somebody to do your books that might be the support you need but you getting this out of your head and onto a list it doesn't mean you're going to go run out and like bile of the support you need now or get everybody in line but you'll be keeping it in mind this would do two things one this will help you feel like ok I could do this right, look at this goal. Isn't that crazy? I could do it because I know I'm not alone. And the second thing is, when things start to get crazy, you can go back and go away. This is what I need. I could make this easier on myself. I can ask somebody else to come in and do part of this for me. This could be paid support or family support or any kind of these. I mean, maybe your kids just need to start making their own beds, right, like, or maybe you need tio make them responsible for cleaning their own rooms. There's lots of ways that you can get more support in your life. And I think that is women who are often the caretakers of our whole families and friend groups that we can forget that if we have a big goal for ourselves, we need tio maybe let go of some of that stuff, maybe ask other people to take care of us in some ways, and so recognizing this can be really powerful and helping you the closer to your goal. The third step to making your goal more doable is tio, keep it in line with your north star, and you'll notice we keep talking about motivation and north stars and that's, because if you have a goal, that is not actually something you deeply care about that's going to bring you closer to what you want in your life it's not gonna be doable, you're going to keep fighting against it it's not going to fit in with everything else you want. So if your north star which growth your north star with sustainability, you have to fit your goals into that don't fight against it. You know if your north star is gentle, don't us make your goal to do this some crazy project where you have to work eighty hours a week, so this is just the double check that you really are creating what you want that when you set a goal is really in line with a big picture of what you want out of your life and then the last point is just to be flexible, you will get your goal if you're flexible about how you get to it, you might not get to it in the timeline you think you might not get to it the way you think it might look completely different than what you had imagined you can get to it if you're flexible and the main thing about flexibility is that things are going to change, your goal is going to change your life is going to change the things you care about are going to shift and you're only going to realize that by taking action and realize oh, I really thought I wanted this goal, but come to find out that's really boring or that's really stressful, lee that's just not interesting to me anymore. So if you're flexible, you will change things up and go in different reaction. So now that you've gotten specific about your tools and support, the next thing I want to do is get super specific. You will note that for the next three pages in your workbook, there are pages titled spectacular thing number one two and three. This is page forty six, forty seven and forty eight. I want you to pick some of the things you listed in your one year that I just had to do on the last page when you said the things you want to do in one year, pick just three things and get more specific about them on this page. So one thing might be my business pays for itself if one thing might be with have x amount of debt and then I ask all these questions around it. Like, why do you want to do this? What will you bring into your life? What resource is you already have for the specific tool, how is this in line with your north stars? How do you think you'll feel when you accomplish it and then just off the top your head some things that you'd actually have to dio so goes back to what she said terror about getting like making this so so doable is you're going to really break it down here three things that you want to do in your next year so page forty six forty seven forty eight and as you start to get more specific let me know what it is that you're learning about being specific about it for example there's yes go ahead and I think this is like constantly my problems because I have to beat my head against the wall for a long time eh so I can see like pay for my business as being a goal and and that feels really big and huge but I'm ok with that one because that one's clear so but then I feel like the other ones air like maybe two specific and I need to somehow figure out what they are at a bigger level and that I never figure out what I want to go bigger level is um so like I want to finish this book yeah okay so then the question is and you know we'll do this in the last segment where we make a map but what are so if we're talking about the next year what are what are the pieces of finishing the book editing photos, charts you know that, right? Right. So on the bottom of the page, where you're talking about finishing the book, when I say off the top of the head, what will this involved? No. So see, I haven't. So, like it was finishing the book the goal. Do you want to do that in the next year? I do, yeah, that's a spectacular thing. And if you don't have three things, if you're really just, you know, you only have one thing that you're feeling awesome about. You only have to fill out one page, but I gave you three because usually we have, like ten things we want to do in one hour. Yeah, these air all for just the first year. Yeah, yeah, these air. So hopefully you took something you want to do in five years, and then you found out what is what would you do in one year? That would get you closer to that? Ok, you know, I mean, it doesn't have to be related. Some goals are like once you finished the book there's. Not like a five year goal for that it's just a one year goal. Some goals don't take this long, but yeah, if yeah, and if you really want to do with something that will take two or three years you're welcome to okay it's easier for me to see, like five years like the really, really big gold within let's break it down. I mean, if you're willing to share it publicly, well, one of them well, there's two like main ones one is to be on the cover of vital magazine, one of my pieces on it. Okay? And then the other one is to have a super pretty studio, like in the backyard with, like, a little rock path leading to it and flowers on the side. So which one do you want to break down? Um, I like the pretty path you've seen there's one seems more fuzzy to you. The bridal magazine. Yeah, I like it because I don't know how to get like, on the cover I've been in, like a pregnancy magazine also that it's not like I want a wedding one road trying to get into ok, so I think that you actually kind of hit on it there, and that is that the in between stuff between getting on the cover with being on the inside and probably being on the inside of maybe two or three because, you know, at least in the knitting world, in order to get your pattern on the cover of it usually you're like somebody they come to again and again on the inside I imagine that might work in the same way in the bridal world so s so maybe within two years so if in five years you want to be on the cover in two years you've been inside two magazines or in four years you've been inside for and you have a relationship with the editor s so I think that would maybe be like a three to four year goal that you have a relationship with an editor at a bridal magazine and she regularly calls on you to feature your work so what happens in the one to two year range is that you start sending press releases and kits press kids to all the bridal magazines so in one year you research the bridal magazines who the editors are their submission guidelines for your press and maybe start following them if they're active on any social media he start paying attention to them there does that make sense? Yeah so and press is really hard because you have little control outside of your realm of control so you don't know who will accept something who will do something with it maybe like a two or three year goal is that you hire a press person why can't I think of the name a pr person who will handle all of that for you so that she will have deeper relationships that might be another path to go because that's that's what I've understood about getting magazine coverage is it often comes down to a pr person who has the right relationships. Do you want to hire somebody who already works with bridal magazines and is in the bridal space that makes sense so that underneath that goal would be to earn enough to be able tio easily hire a really great pr agent and underneath that is maybe your business reaches this level on the new business reaches this level whatever that is for you. Whatever those numbers are now versus what they would need to be in order for you pay somebody okay doesn't make something yes, ok. Jumping into the goal. Yeah. So then so then you pick one of those sub things t get a little more clear about on page forty six through forty eight okay, do people have questions about how to get specific in the chat room? Because I know this is kinda hard to dig into. We have a great comment here from d n frost and they say I like to set goals that have room for surprise and delight built in but I am also pretty good at not stressing about being behind on my goal it's probably because I intentionally set big stretchy goals so I allow myself the space to not be there yet like that's a good way to approach that absolutely and that's actually what we were going to talk about next is that I'm asking you to get so specific, but this is not so you have something to flog yourself with later, right? Your list about what she wanted five years or four years for three years is not a tool for your own punishment this is just an idea generating this just to get you enthusiastic and get a place where you're excited to go not so that you will judge yourself if you don't get there right? Because because here's the truth about goals they're going to change you are not going to want the same thing in a year that you think you want now you know you might like move houses before you get that set up maybe in them of houses to an amazing studio maybe you find a studio mate and you guys rent some space somewhere that's amazing. So you should absolutely get specific about what you want right now and start going in that direction knowing that they're going to change. But this is the struggle with setting goals is that you need to be super committed to doing what it takes to make it happen and at the same time recognize it's going to change you don't have control you khun b super committed and still change your mind in the future so your goals will change, and you will change by nature of you moving towards something you really want, you're going to become a different person, maybe you'll become bolder, maybe learned to trust yourself. Maybe you'll become more savvy, maybe it'll build relationships with editors, and then you'll suddenly know, you know, o that's not such a big deal, I can totally do that you'll become skilled at all kinds of things you don't even think he would ever become skilled in. So so you want to just keep that in mind that your goals are going to change and that you were going to change and that's a super awesome thing, so be flexible, even though you're super committed also be flexible, it's exactly what he was saying, that you know, these you're going to change, and you're not going to beat yourself up if you're not there, because you can recognize, oh yeah, I'm not there because I actually don't want to go there anymore. Anybody else wanna share? What? What you've been working on with your spectacular things before we move on? He has a writing. So the next step is that I'm going to ask you to choose one goal that you are going to create a plan for in segment, for towards the end of today, we're going to create a plan that will help you accomplish one goal in the next three to six months. So wanted to choose one of your things and break it down into what aspect of that could you do in three months? And I can help you come up with us because this is can be very hard because it's much easier like you're saying to look at it from the five year view or the one your view, it's much harder to see. Holy cow. I could do something significant in three months. This is on page forty nine. I ask you some questions that will help you choose that goal. Page forty nine. Great page forty nine. Hopefully all of you out there on that page because people are having a little bit of difficulty trying to narrow down their goals. And maybe you could help by answering these questions, but this one comes from paper flora. And they say, how do you become super committed to your goals when there are things from the outside that are just out of your control? Is something where you need to reassess these goals consistently to maintain the progress? Absolutely so there's a few things there, and if it's, my favorite thing to do when you feel really like everything's out of your control is to make a list what is within my control and what is outside of my control and that will help you see you actually have control over quite a bit, so you don't have any control over if someone puts you on the front page, but you do have control over how you're pitched, how your stuff looks, how your stuff is styled and how professional it looks if they can see it fitting in. You have all of the control over how you present yourself because they're really when I'm talking about committed, I'm talking about internal commitment and actually think about this like marriage, right? So it doesn't really matter what happens that our tv was stolen or are catastrophic like husband, I have made the commitment to each other. The external world, like is not does not need to in any way do anything tio confirm that commitment. We just have it, it's just they're so that's. How you feel about your goals is that you absolutely need to stay flexible. Like I said, you change, they change that's ok for that internal commitment that you're going to take do what it takes tio get there for as long as that goal really matters to you, no matter what's inside and outside of your control. You should definitely be clear on the distinction between the two because a lot of the things we think are outside of our control there's actually quite a bit you can do to make yourself ready for it he could be more prepared you can have your stuff all in order you can be ready for the awesomeness to occur I hope that answered her question yeah, I think it does. Okay so have you guys picked one goal that you want to come in the next three months? Ok, yeah I'm getting some nods doesn't it would want to share it it's okay if you don't okay um I have a lot of like my bohemian style head fans already made because I thought for sure going on like one of those websites where they put it at a discount you have to give them a certain amount that you can make to sell I thought for sure that I would sell those so I bought all the supplies for yeah so I want to be able tio sell what I have made and make more of those supplies so I can use that money to make products that I've realized that I'd rather make more of that makes sense that's a good one because you could do that how so how many are we talking? Well, I have like thirty eight made and then I think I could probably make another fifty more okay, on the supplies. Right that way, I can start working on my scarf because winter's coming up, right? So how many for you would be I've sold? That was like, when would that feel accomplished to you? Which if I said at least so the thirty eight that I already have, like that's good that would so and write that down saw the thirty eight head because you could use the supplies. I mean, with kershaw, you could use a supplies to make other things as well. Yeah, yeah, and so the thirty eight, I think that's an awesome goal. I'm going to keep myself from telling you like, all the things you could do, did you? But we're gonna work on that in segment for so, you know, a lot of people are afraid to get really specific about this, because because of that whole goals change in you change thing, they think, oh, no, but what if I don't want it anymore? Well, dude, you'll just set another goal like it's totally fine. This is not I will say again and again, not a tool to flog yourself with. This is just a tool to focus your actions because of you are overwhelmed and scattered, and random in your marketing you need to do something to focus yourself and taking this class you've learned a whole bunch but you've got to decide what am I doing with everything I've learned? Where am I going with everything I've learned so that's what the school is going to help you d'oh it's going to narrow out it's going to cut out all the noise and keep you really focused motivated you're going to share your goal or a miracle is the holiday gift guide because that was really my intention went for taking this class the holidays are coming up and I mean every year I wait until the last minute to do anything about it so I want to be very prepared have a great holiday season and what I really like about that is you know we're talking about a three month goal and even though the holidays air like six months but but the guides three months from now I know I have to get back I want to go home and just and you know right away yeah that's great yeah so this is super helpful awesome anybody else wanna share? Yeah first I was going to say net you know thousand dollars but then after hearing tara that actually I already had things printed up what I try to you know sell those for that part of this yeah so that's kind what happens? I hear like something else about that one's good teo I don't want to change those like that state committing right and looking back a five year for years three or two year where it is you really want to go and your north star and your definition of success because it might be that the things you have printed up you don't to do any more they don't fit in with your business it's up to you but yeah, I have to know like experiment are they going to sell or not? So it just seems like crazy so the net a thousand but the ninety thousand I think is good because even as these don't sell your still focused on finding something else that will and that will keep you motivated one month into it when none of these have sold but you find something else that people like you get excited about it because you really want to solve these things and that's been a goal for a long time yet and I sold them maybe like once at one a month or one every two months or whatever yeah, but I don't get the feedback or I know no yeah, but that's because two like you haven't been you haven't made all your marketing align with it right? Because yeah, before we talked about the right person, you weren't even know whom you are aiming in these act you know, but now that you have a more clear vision of your brand and what you're really saying, the people, I'm not saying your cells are going to explode like this all a thousand tonight, but you will it'll be clearer for you, you'll keep finding the path and you can always decide if you're like, I'm so sick of these headbands. I never want to look at them after two months, even just move on to another product and take that same goal and intention behind it and apply that so one of my superpowers is helping people decide if their goal is doable. So that's what? I want to help you guys dio and in the chat room, if you're wondering if your goal is doable, I want you to share it and ask, is this doable? Because I will break it down for you? We have a few minutes to do that, and this is the psych and judge. If your goal is doable or not, is it measurable? Like going from doing four crashes to eight craft shows that's measurable being in a holiday gift guide, you're either in that or you're not selling thirty eight headbands that's why I made you say the number and not to say sell all of them. Part of the big reason why it needs to be measurable is because of its not you will undercut your own success, you'll say. Oh, well, it wasn't that big a video, because once you've sold thirty eight, you would be like, well, that what I really want to do is how one hundred, what, thirty eight, you know, s o if it's measurable, you actually know that you've got there? The next part is, is it n doble? Will there be a moment where you're like I reach this goal excitements? Or is it many people set a goal, that's one going like I want a block every week, right? Well, that's, not bendable that's, more like an experiment, what will happen if you block every week? What we're looking for here is something that at the three months or maybe it takes you a year to accomplish this, you will know I've done that, I've moved on, right? Like this workshop is bendable, it will end, and I will have accomplished many sales goals that are numbers related are edible, and then lastly, doesn't line up with your north star, so I'm going to say it again and again, it doesn't really take you to the business you want, because I talk about this with people all the time we talk about their north stars we talk about their definition of success and then they still set a goal that is based on someone else's vision of what a successful businesses like well I should really be making x amount a year in order to be successful but why I like if that's not part in line with your bigger why of what you want out of your life if that's not part of the north star that's guiding you if you're north story sustainability then getting rich and famous might not line up with that goal you know so depends on your north star so that's kind of what everybody who said that goal to run through that check real quick and then you can ask me is your goal doable if you're not sure we can ask we kind of went over some of yours are there any in the chat room where people aren't sure yeah well we have a good specific one here from joni bill hearts they say I want to be a top pick on gifts dot com is that a goal s so I don't know who she is but so that is edible measurable um I would ask so I don't I don't know what gifts dot com what the topics are but there's probably some process in which you're you're not a topic but you're some other pick I don't know if there's some kind of process like the difference between getting on the front page versus being inside of it. You've already been inside a magazine, so you know what that process is so you can expand that out, do more of that? What got you there in order to get you on the cover in theory so the same thing with getting any kind of press now that is outside of your control and that you can't make someone pick you, but you can do all of the work to get your work in front of the person who does the picking so it's a doable if you know where to look, know what that entails, discover the process and then do the process. But it's definitely measurable. I like that. Okay? And we have a few more coming in here from this one's from michelle hill. You've got a couple of goals here, says my goal is updating my website cell twenty items de clutter my studio from all paper crafting supplies to these sound doable? Absolutely, you could absolutely do each of those, but I would tell her that to pick one to make a plan for because decluttering your studio, you probably don't need it desperate ten point plan who knows what are saying? The very I'm gonna guess, though, that if she if she's feeling super overwhelmed by our studio she could make a list and then go through and do it but that doesn't require a month by month week by week plan but the middle thing was the middle thing he said sell twenty items yes that one is one that it is so kind of hard to know what's going to sell what's not going to sell what are the actions I take that instigate self its sales that that is a good one to pick because she will learn even if she doesn't reach twenty say in three months she'll learn through experimentation what will work to drive sales and what doesn't work to drive sales and she'll be motivated to make those changes on our website so I think updating our web site fits in under the making twenty sales ok so there are few things I want to say before we end and the first one is that you really can have the business that you want and by this I mean it into different ways the first one is it you can do it it's doable you are capable you have learned so much and you've applied so much already in the work you did here today you got really specific about you're right people which was hard and most people don't ever dio you got in touch with what makes you think awesome? You clarified your message you thought of lot about building relationship with your person. So with all of those tools, you can absolutely do the work that it takes. I talked about how hard it is and how consistent you have to be, but like you guys are still sitting here not looking too terrified, so I know that you're capable of it, but the second part of this is that you can actually have the business you want. I feel like I'm trying to de programme the world from his idea off, whatever other people different, this define success as so that you are defining it for yourself because your business is allowed to be whatever that is for you. If you want a business where you only work five hours that we can make a couple sails because you have a new baby at home and you want to spend time with him, you are allowed to have that that is a worthy, valuable goal, the level of, say, success or money or fame that you get doesn't have anything to do with the value of your work and how much that you should be getting paid a fair price for it, any people all the time, her like, well, my business doesn't need to support my family because we're ok, so I'll just under charge. Right, no, you are still valuable. The work they're putting in the world is valuable. The relationship you're building with your customer said it over and over. You are providing them a service, you are making their life. Mohr awesome. You are giving them what they want. So your business is allowed to be what you want, whether that small, whether that's big your work is still valuable. You do not have to have a big million dollar business for your stuff to still be life changing for both you and the other person. So you're really allowed to build any business. And if you're thinking like, well, I just want this to be small that's. Okay, that is perfectly fine. I want you guys to have the one you want. And I don't want you to treat your business like it's, a horrible day job with somebody else breathing down your neck, telling you what to do, telling you who should be telling you what you should look like and how the rest of the world is perceiving you.