In this week's episode of The Crafty Entrepreneur, we're going to be talking about community
and connection. So go and grab a cup of tea, sit down, settle in and listen up.
Welcome to this week's episode of The Crafty Entrepreneur with your host,
Sarah Jane Lewis. Today we're going to be talking about community and connection.
Firstly, before I do, big apologies for not posting a podcast last Saturday. If you were
in my head last Saturday, I was itching and annoyed with myself because I hadn't done it
and the reason why I hadn't done it is because I wasn't here. I was off swanning about in London
attending a conference. Every week for the last year, religiously, I have posted a blog post and
then most recently a podcast every week and I love the routine. I love the habit of getting that
information and just sharing my knowledge with you. Well, because I was away, I just physically
didn't have the time and in my mind, I thought, well, I'll just kill two birds with one stone.
I will film my podcast while I'm away. So why not just do interviews while I'm there?
And that was the plan. I had my new fancy microphone equipment so I could plug it into
my phone and do real life interviewing on the spot with my phone and my fancy microphone.
That was the plan. The plan didn't quite go to plan and this is the reason why. Now,
I had a few realizations and these are not new realizations. I've known this about myself,
but I think because of COVID, I've not really ventured out beyond the house,
going to social events and that's about it. I haven't really done much since COVID and that
might be the case for some of you or some of you might be listening going, oh my God,
she's a sad old cow, like get a life. And it's not because I don't want to. I think it's just that
fear factor from COVID. I think it made me more insular and more aware of lots of people,
busy places. And I've just not really put myself out there to go to anywhere with lots of people,
bar the airport to go on holiday. That's about it. That's kind of the busiest places I've been.
So I thought I'll go to a conference and I will meet lots of people. I knew people there. So
it will be really, really kind of a good experience for me and I'll get to meet
kind of people I can interview for the podcast. One thing that I noticed was the people at the
conference weren't the people I feel you would want to listen to in regards to about crafting,
about business. Look, there was very much service based. And the other thing, going back to my
original point, the realisation that I had about myself is that I am extremely introverted when in
a room of lots of extroverts. Now tell me if I'm alone in this or whether you feel the same.
When I'm at home, in my comfort zone, in my craft room, doing my thing, I'm quite outgoing. I'm
quite confident. Listening to me now, you'll be thinking, Sarah Jane's not introverted. She sounds
very extroverted. Well, no, because I'm in my comfort zone. I'm secure. I'm happy. I can be
myself without any judgement. And when I was in this environment with lots of extrovert people,
oh my word, did I just suck in my energy and my personality and must have seen like the most
boringness person there? I'm sure I didn't. This is in my head. You know when your head starts to
over analyse things afterwards and you think, oh my God, what did I do? And the idea was I would
film this podcast and interview people while there. Well, I went completely into my shell
and didn't have the guts to ask anybody. And secondly, there wasn't really the kind of people
that I thought that you guys would want to listen to. I did make an excellent new friend who sat
next to me and we clicked straight away because she was also very introverted and had the same
fears and feelings that were going on in my head. And she's a sex therapist. So we were just having
a good old matter about that. And I thought I could interview you. Maybe that might be interesting
for the crafty entrepreneur, but it was a little bit off topic. So I found her, which made it a
lot easier. But other than that, didn't really get an opportunity. And it made me realise that
potentially conferences like the one I attended, albeit interesting and I took a lot away from it
and things that I can integrate into my business and understand where I'm taking my business as a
business coach to creatives like yourselves and with my Etsy businesses and just like that whole
path where that's going, that helped. But in regards to kind of meeting like-minded people
that love crafting, doing it to earn money and you've got a mission, you've got a passion,
all those things, they weren't really like at this conference. And I don't know, like,
tell me in the comments, tell me in an email, go into my socials and tell me, am I like the only
introvert? I'm sure I'm not. But do you feel confident when you're at home amongst your people,
amongst your crafts? Do you like feel alive? And then as soon as you're kind of out of that
comfort zone, you're just like, holy moly, I don't know what to say. And if I do say something,
I sound like a complete tit. Put your hand up. Is that you? If that's you, you're my people.
We can be tits together and no judgment. And we'll just have a right old laugh because
because it's hard talking to other people, isn't it? It's hard sounding like a normal person
sometimes. Oh my word. I'm not crazy by the way. I know that you'll get this because I feel like I
do attract people that are like that. And that's absolutely cool. There is a place for us. And
I know amongst the friends that I have, we're all very much similar and we can say these things and
you're not going to judge me. So like, can we just agree now? Like, this is cool. We're in our safe
space. We're all like, we found each other at last, which is really, really good. And I think when
it comes to business, I think there needs to be a space for us as well. Because I went to this
conference and everybody was like a mindset coach, an empowerment coach, a confidence coach,
this coach or that coach, very service based, nothing tangible as such. And I was trying to
kind of find a level like I could understand what they're doing. I've been in business a long time.
I've had different businesses along my way. I get what they were doing. I get what they were
selling and trying to achieve. But there wasn't many product based businesses. Now I spoke to
a couple of people that maybe did sell products, but were more, you know, widgets and things like
on a manufacturing type scale, like telecoms companies and things like that. They were selling
a thing, but it wasn't like my thing, you know, like handcrafted, handmade on a smaller scale,
more for like lifestyle type businesses. You know, you created a business that earns money,
that covers your bills and you're more than comfortable with that. Or maybe just a little
bit more to make life even easier. There wasn't that type of people. Now I've been on a mission
for the, well, ever since the left conference, I have been Googling, searching, going all out,
trying to find a conference that I could attend that is that way inclined. Can I find anything
like that? No, I can find big e-commerce type conferences or, you know, conferences where maybe
you'd go to kind of like retail conferences, craft fairs as those, but there isn't,
from what I can see, and please correct me if I'm wrong, definitely correct me if I'm wrong,
get into my inbox, there isn't anything that's for you to learn about business.
In real life, you know, to learn about strategies and methods and, you know, like what does your
business, what is your business meant to look like or what could it look like? Like aspirational,
like this is where I started and this is where I'm at now. So I'm looking for a conference that I
just attended, but for product-based businesses. From what I can see, the U.S. is maybe a little
bit more set up for that and obviously in the U.S. everything's bigger and grander, but in the
U.K. I can't find anything and it's making me think like this is a huge, huge gap, which is obviously
my ADHD brain led me off into thinking, well obviously I need to go and create one, I need
to go and create a big event. Well, I'm just interrupting the podcast here to let you know
I have just launched a fabulous freebie all about email marketing. So if you're an Etsy seller and
you've never touched email marketing, please, please, please, I urge you with every ounce of
my being to make sure you start building an email list. Go and check out my free email guide,
the ultimate guide to email marketing for Etsy sellers. I'll put a link down below. It's going
to be the tool that you need to help you start that process because you never know what's going
to happen with online platforms. You need to protect your business. Let's do that today. Go
and check out the free guide. Now let's get back to the podcast. I've learned enough about myself
now. Let's just pull myself back in a little bit and not go all out and bloody hire Wembley Stadium
for the two of us. I need to start small. So the things that I already have in place that you might
not be aware of from a community aspect to meet like-minded people, to learn and to kind of help
you on your business journey. I do have my free Facebook community, Successful Etsy Entrepreneurs.
Go and check it out. It's on Facebook. I've just started this week in there a virtual crafty
connection networking type meeting. So we had our first session, which was really good. Everybody
came in, shared a little bit about themselves, went off into breakout rooms, shared and connected
with each other. And they learned something new about each other. And there was connections
formed in relation to ideas about where they could take their business, a swapping of skills,
a swapping of products like, oh, I make this. Oh, that'd be great to have that in my business and
add that into what I already do. So that really proved successful as a kind of a beta example,
like a test. So that's the crafty connections within my free community, Successful Etsy
Entrepreneurs. The next idea, like a little like stepping stone into real life networking, is
my in-person crafty connections. So I have this idea that I'll hire out a quirky coffee room
and get some tea and cakes. And for two hours, we can get together and meet and I can present
and share something with you. But then also you can meet each other and share what you do in your
businesses. And you can share your business cards, your leaflets, kind of the things that you share
online potentially with customers. But the idea is just to meet people, to talk about what you're
passionate about, to talk about your business. So that is kind of in the planning, in the mix
at the moment. I have two dates in mind and I do have two locations, one in Birmingham and one in
just outside Portsmouth. The one just outside Portsmouth is on the 10th of July and the one
in Birmingham is the 11th of July. Now this is just kind of, I'm gauging interest. I've only
got space for about 15 people. Like I said, I could hire Wembley, well I couldn't afford it. But
you know, I'm starting small, testing, get some feedback, see what people think and then go
beyond there. If this is successful, which I'm really in my bones, I think it really is,
I think this could be something, well the start of something magical. And this for me, I think
it's been the missing piece in my life and my business, kind of meeting people in real life.
I absolutely loved going to the conference and making a new friend last week and seeing old
friends that I've met previously, kind of pre-COVID and different things. But now I'm on this journey.
I absolutely adore everybody I work with. I think they have the most phenomenal businesses. I'm off
to Wales next Thursday to meet a client because I'm so passionate about what she does and I just
really want her to succeed. So I'm like, right, virtual is great, zooming each other is great,
but let me get in the car, let me come over, say come over, like it's about two and a half hours
away. Let's have a chat, cup of tea, go through all your to-do lists. And I think that in-person
connection is so much more valuable than the virtual stuff. The virtual has its face,
it works, but I think in-person it's just like super special. So would you be interested in
coming to have a cup of tea with me and a bit of cake in a nice quirky coffee shop? I've got a
couple of venues lined up which look amazing, but I just need to gauge that interest. If I can fill
the seats, if I can get 15 of you in a room and guarantee that I can cover my costs and have a
lovely time, then it's on. If the feedback is, you know, I'm not particularly interested,
I don't want to go out of my comfort zone, I'm too introvert to meet you. Understandable,
I can completely get that, but I know however introvert you are, you're going to be amongst
like-minded people, you're going to be uber comfortable within minutes of being together.
So I'd love to know, kind of. I've set up a page, it's on my website under events, so it's
www.sj-lewis.com forward slash events. Go and register your interest there. Come and let me
know, do you want to come to the Portsmouth one or the Birmingham one? And as soon as the tickets go
on sale, once I know that there's enough interest, the tickets go on sale, you'll have first dibs.
I'm only expecting like a nominal ticket fee just to cover costs, you know, the cost of tea and cake,
that's it. There'll be some goodies, you'll learn something, you'll meet people, it'll be a really
valuable two hours of your day, plus it's before the kids go on school holidays, so it's kind of
your last chance to have a little bit of freedom and downtime before you got like six weeks of
chaos and snack hell, you know, entertaining the kids. So come and have a bit of time with us,
I'd absolutely love to meet you and to learn more about you and what you need on your journey.
So how does that sound? We've got virtual connections going on, virtual networking,
in-person networking, having a community, the value of people is immense. Now a very wise person,
when I was about 16, I met this person, actually a bit before 14, whenever you went and did work
experience when you're at school, I did my work experience at the Navy News, which is a publication
that goes all around the world for people that are in the Navy, I guess the title gave it away,
the Navy News, and I worked with the editor there and did some interviews, did some kind of
photography stuff, as well as like admin tidy in the stock cupboard type things on my work experience,
absolutely loved it, it made me want to be a journalist, like that's what I was going to do,
and I remember him saying to me, he said, it's not what you know, it's who you know, and he handed
over to me this notebook, and it was like a an old school A to Z phone book that your mum would
have had in the 90s, and it was blank, and he said to me, he said, whenever you meet someone new,
write their name in the section or the letter that relates to what they do as a profession,
so don't put them in like Sandra under S, put them under you know, resin artwork for example, under
R, and to be honest as a 16 year old, I was not impressed with this gift, you know, like I was
expecting a little bit more in regards to thanks for everything you've done, I was 16, you know, I
didn't know shit, and now looking back, all the people that I've met across my lifetime, like that
book would have been absolutely valuable now, you know, meeting all the people I had, I could have had
a whole kind of black book of contacts that would have been really valuable now later in life,
so what he said, it's not what you know, it's who you know, I think at whatever stage of life
you're at, whatever stage of business you're at, you never know when those connections will really
pay off, like I can't even like preempt what would happen, but I know from experience, word of mouth
recommendations are so much more highly regarded than a testimonial, or you know, something that
you've said an accolade about yourself, like if somebody said, you know what, Sarah Jane over there,
she's really good, she's helped my business, she's made me feel really confident, blah blah blah,
really go and recommend, go and check her out, that person's gonna go, actually, do I mean,
the fact you've said that, I'll go and have a look, if she just heard me saying all those amazing
things about myself, maybe she felt, yeah, yeah, whatever, so personal recommendations from other
people, those connections can make a huge difference, it's working in my private community,
I have so many people in there that are helping each other outside of the community, when they
spot that somebody needs something, they go, do you know what, I know Lisa, she does X, Y and Z,
she's perfect for you, and then Lisa gets a bit of business, and then Lisa goes to somebody,
do you know what, I know Carla, who does, she's perfect for you, and this exchange of energy,
exchange of recommendations is just paying off for these guys, plus they are just lovely,
and I must say that I've never met a crafter or creative person that's a bit of a dickhead,
we are all bloody lovely, I mean, please, please, please, I mean, I'm sure you'll recommend,
I'm sure you'll say the same, like, we just are nice people, so come along, come and meet nice
people, come and be part of this network, and I'm just really excited about it, I'm really excited,
very conscious I'm waffling now, so I'll wrap it up, in essence, I left the house people,
had a great time, but it made me realise there's a huge gap in this world for people like ourselves
that are introverted, crafty, and bloody lovely, so let's change that, come along and be part of
the virtual networking sessions, come along to the in-person ones, register your interest at
sj-louis.com forward slash events, and let's see where this takes us, I've got a really good feeling,
you know, when you're just like, I don't know what it is, but this feels right, I think this is the
next evolution of SJ Etsy Queen slash the crafty entrepreneur, let's see where this takes us,
I'd love for you to be one of the OGs, you know, right at the beginning of this journey,
and let's see where we are this time next year, it just feels right, really, really right,
right, right, right, right, right, I'll stop saying right now, oh my god, you're such
dimwit Sarah Jane sometimes, thank you for listening to me, I have got other interesting
people coming up, let me look at my agenda, I have in the diary podcast interviews coming up,
so you won't have to listen to me wattle constantly, but I know you secretly love it,
have a fabulous weekend, keep on crafting, and please reach out if I can ever be of service to
you, huge hugs, have a wonderful time, speak to you soon!
