Building a successful handmade business – with Lynsey Warren, the Handmade Business Coach

Building a successful handmade business – with Lynsey Warren, the Handmade Business Coach

INTRO (00:00:08):

Welcome to the, bring your product ideas to life podcast, practical advice, and inspiration to help you create and sell your own physical products. He is your host Vicki Weinberg.

Vicki Weinberg (00:00:21):

Well, welcome to today's episode. And today I'm talking to Lynsey Warren. Lynsey is the owner Raindrop Crafts on, and she is also a business coach to other handmade business owners. She has their own podcast. I handmade Business podcast, which I do recommend you give a lesson today. Lynsey is going to talk to us about her own, have my business, plus her top tips for making your hair, my business successful. So I would love to introduce you to Lynsey

Lynsey Warren (00:00:44):

Hi Vicki. Thanks so so much for inviting me along today. I'm really excited to be here

Vicki Weinberg (00:00:50):

or you're welcome. So excited to talk to you when you say, could you just start by giving us a little bit of introduction to yourself and then what you do place?

Lynsey Warren (00:00:57):

Yeah, so I've got my own Handmade business called Raindrop Crafts, as you've mentioned, and I'm a fairy maker, so it's a lovely to be able to say that. So I'm making a Fairies is the complete passion of mine. I know I've always been, I'm a Crafts ever since I was a little girl, just sort of a little bit of background for you. So I was the child that was wanted to make every craft project that they ever made of like Peter, if you remember back that far, they always normally as well involved, washing up liquid, but also what I always used to craze my pool money to use up the face of the liquid so I can have the empty bottle.

Lynsey Warren (00:01:38):

And so, and really that was sort of where my love of craft came. So, you know, as a young child, I'd always want to be making things. It was always drawing and, and things like that. And then I got into fairly making, probably it was about four and a half years ago now. So fairy my webcam of friends and she had this beautiful ferry hanging on that, on her dresser. And I was just in love, but being in the craft did that. I, because before I was a fairly to make, I used to do all sorts of paper Crafts and things like that. I came home and I wanted to make my own fairy. So it started researching on how to make them spent loads of money on by different materials, making mistakes and buy in the wrong bits of it.

Lynsey Warren (00:02:22):

But in the end I got there and I started, you know, just making some for fun really. And this is going to sound really corny, but it was love at first mate. So, you know, when you bake a very, I start off with some simple

supplies, like a wire for her body, and it wouldn't be for a head and, you know, the why it gets covered in embroidery thread and things like that. And it was really like to see this a little bit of magic take place in front

of my eyes. And, you know, I just, I was in love with it, just so in that first moment, really. So I spent around six months, I'd say really practicing making these Fairies, gave them as gifts to my daughter's friends at the time, because she was young girls and they went down really well.

Lynsey Warren (00:03:07):

And I thought I had finally found the thing. So that was viable. And now for me to sell, you know, and turn it into a saleable product. So, you know, and that was then I decided to start Raindrop Crafts on. So that was about four years now. Yeah, it will be for years in January and actually started my business. I know.

Vicki Weinberg (00:03:29):

Oh, thank you for that. And you said you were doing papercraft and things before that, or was that more of a hobby? Is this your first Kraft in business?

Lynsey Warren (00:03:37):

Well, I had kind of, I was a sort of card maker and I had done freelance work for different companies and stuff using their products and always on design teams and things like that. But for me, as much as I love the paper Crafts side of things, making a card, the types of that, this isn't to say it to anyone that's a card and I can't, you

know, have a successful business, but the type of cards that really, that I love to make took a while two to three hours and I'd probably sounded for three lbs. So that was never, ever going to be a viable business. Yeah. So I was spending quite a lot of time. I bought all sorts of stuff. I was going to do science. I was going to do all sorts of things, but nothing, nothing kind of just felt the right fit until the Fairies came along and then they kind of worked, but yeah, so very much kind of a background in papercraft really, but you know, those skills all came into play really, coz you know, I made how many boxes for my Fairies to go in.

Lynsey Warren (00:04:36):

And so it all kind of, it all, just a lot of the skills I learned, I took with me and to the family naked. Yeah.

Vicki Weinberg (00:04:44):

Yeah. So it sounds like it's being a bit of a journey really that, and suddenly all of your skills, you know, you're putting it into something that, that really works for you.

Lynsey Warren (00:04:52):

Yeah, yeah, definitely. Yeah, it was, you know, and I, you know, I always draw on and stuff as a child and art, this is my favorite thing at school, but then, you know, since I've been making the Fairies that I've made very few cars, these days is very much, but I just loved the whole process of making the Fairies and you know, how they all come together and yeah, I just, I absolutely love it.

Vicki Weinberg (00:05:15):

I'm gonna put a link and the show notes so that people can see what your Fairies look like, but can you do your very best to describe for us so we can have an image?

Lynsey Warren (00:05:24):

Yeah. So yeah, so I mean, I make various different types of Fairies. So I make Fairies that, I mean their, their around that, my main Very is around six inches tall. They've got their head is like a little bit, is it starts off as a wouldn't be, but it's all painted and they have all eyes on their hair, this mate from employee to rethread I say to them pretty skirts to have on. So yeah, some of them are like Christmas Fairies that people have on their

trees. And some of them, you know, people have done some research and the I'll call that my shabby sheet range and their skirts wall, or a little back of the skirts with all the little ribbons in freight five quick and things like that.

Lynsey Warren (00:06:11):

So I try and change him at all the time. And I'm sort of going down this road of, to it's sort of like five in a range. And one of the things that's really important to me as well as to have Fairies with different skin color, I have Fairies with black skin and then different hair colors. So it's not all just blogged and Brown hair Fairies has red hair and, you know, I never will. I suppose I always had this image of it, a little girl thinking that fairly is not like me. I want to see a fairly light me. So I've always tried to take that into account in like, Oh, well, if I was the little guy with their tail, I want to see a family with my tail. If I was a little girl with black skin, I want to see your family with a black skin. And I wanna see someone like if they would like me.

Lynsey Warren (00:06:52):

And so I kind of, that's been something that's really important in my Business. So yeah, I, I sort of try to take all that into account when I'm in a crate in them.

Vicki Weinberg (00:07:03):

Okay. And do you make them to order or do you make them and then sell them? Well, do you do a bit of both

Lynsey Warren (00:07:09):

And a little bit of both, and this is one of the tips that I will sort of talk about later on, but I mostly make I mate, what I want you to make. And then we just have a few customers who does, so I do do some, a little flower family's and things like that, which are more of a little hanging decoration and they prove really populace or a christening gift's and things like that. And there are sort of a bit of a simpler make. And some of those I will take orders for, and I do do some custom orders, but that is more limited. I, I very much, I like to get up and create what I want to create and that the ideas flow and the inspiration. So we need, the other type of fair is that I do that.

Lynsey Warren (00:07:50):

And I'm also quite properly, it's like a pompom Fairies. So the basis is a problem for them. And then they are like the head and the body is a bead and they've got gladly wings and they have flowers and stuff like that, or go out in the hair and all that kind of thing. So yeah, I do, I do kind of do try and do a range of the, you know, I suppose the Fairies that I love the most to make are the ones that, you know, we've got the sort of the six-inch ones with the priests go-karts and all of that, my imagination just gets to vote them, all of them.

Vicki Weinberg (00:08:24):

Yeah. And I guess is if it's a, when you're making something that you have to enjoy it, don't you like, you have to like what you were making and you have to, you know, find it fun and just enjoy the process. But I also enjoy the finished product.

Lynsey Warren (00:08:37):

Oh yeah. Oh yeah, definitely. Yeah. And not to say, I want to come on to my tips. I'll tell you the story of how it started off, not work in, in that way, in how that didn't work out. So well for me, so yeah. I've kind of learnt quite a lot on my, on my business journey of, you know, making my Fairies.

Vicki Weinberg (00:08:56):

Yeah. Cause I would love To talk about your tips because as I mentioned in the introduction and you're a business coach for her, my businesses as well, and it sounds like, you know, you've got lots of the experience here. I'm over there. I found it interesting what you were saying before, about how you found the Fairies was something that it sort of works is a business. So I thought that was the first one that you said that struck me as really interesting, I guess, that we ever have in my business, you have to be sure that the time you're put in, in, in the cost of your materials, you know, and everything is actually going to be a buyer Bible Business.

Lynsey Warren (00:09:28):

Yeah. And definitely because, you know, its no good, you know, you might be making something and you absolutely love it. You know, if the minutes of making it, but if it takes you hundreds of hours and you can't ever charge enough for that type of product to get the time back, you really do have to say, well, is this a viable business? If all you want is just to sell an odd thing, never have it as a business, but you just want to sell a few little bits here and there then, then that's absolutely fine. But for me, you know, I wanted a business that I could have some regular income from And that I wasn't, you know, it wasn't a good meal. Like when I went back to the car and it wasn't that a good day spend two or three hours making them on cards and selling it for three lbs, you know, it was never an effort that was never going to be a viable business for me, not with the type of cards I made because I could make them click.

Lynsey Warren (00:10:20):

And if they were all hand colors and all of that, and that was fine as a hobby, but I wanted to turn that a hobby into a business. So for me, that was where I had to find the right product.

Vicki Weinberg (00:10:33):

Thank you. So, and I think I know what your answer will be, but do you believe that Crafts has gone to creatives Kantar and their hobbies into businesses?

Lynsey Warren (00:10:42):

Yeah, I think that they definitely can, but I do think they have to take, you know, they have to really know that it's a viable product. Like you say, you can't spend 10 hours making something in and charge in 10 pounds because you had just given your time away for free. So you know, it, it is that that can definitely be done. But if you need to spend time finding the right kind of thing to make and being good at making that thing before you barely then start turning into a business, you have to know it's a viable product.

Vicki Weinberg (00:11:15):

Yeah. So I guess the answer to that is maybe cause I suppose it depends on what your hobby is. Cause I mean you gave is a great example. If you're card making that well, you enjoy it as a hobby, it doesn't sound like there was any way that could ever become viable.

Lynsey Warren (00:11:28):

No, and I mean, it could be that, you know, if you're an artist and you get your cards printed, you know, your designs print it, that definitely be valuable or there are Handmade cause that are a lot quicker for some people use a little die cuts, things like that. Or I've seen really quick little hand drawn cards, you know, and they can definitely be a lot more viable, but the type of card is all I particularly made. They just, you know, for me, they weren't, they were, they were time and you know, you have to think, you know, what is the money that I could realistically charge for this? There's lots of ways to add value to things like with my favorite. So, you know, they come in pretty Handmade boxes and it's all about, you know, I've had this for me, having a Handmade business is making that person when they buy, when my family.

Lynsey Warren (00:12:12):

So I don't want them to have a special experience. I want it to be excited. And then in the past, in a rise on their doorstep and like, you know, the box is wrapped in tissue paper and I open it up to the Fairies in tissue paper and want it to be this magical experiences for them. But so you definitely can add value with different things, but you do have to think, is, is this a viable, is it a valuable product? Is this a viable business, you know, before you get started, you know, cause it might be a viable product for it to somebody who wants it. So there's all these things that you're kind of have to take into account before you get going. And really,

Vicki Weinberg (00:12:49):

Yeah. Cause I guess also all those extra steps to make it really special. That takes time. Yeah. As well. Yep. So I would love Lynsey if it's okay to just get into talking about your tips for creating a successful how my business, so what are the things that people need to think about to make sure that the, it can be successful?

Lynsey Warren (00:13:10):

So for me, the number one thing people need to get right from the beginning, and this is something that I got really wrong. So I'm talking from somebody that made all the mistakes and I've learned it as I've gone along. So pricing. So this is something that a lot of craft has made big best steaks on. So I'm going to tell you a few, the common mistakes people make. So the first thing is they won't charge for their time properly. Now, you know, you do have to take into account obviously how much somebody will pay for an item. You know, if I spent three hours creating a card, you know, I wasn't going to sell that for a 30 pounds and then 10 pounds of that. What do you want to be? That was never going to happen.

Lynsey Warren (00:13:51):

I had to think, you know, what was the viable product? But so it had to do to be something where I could probably say the coordinate, it, people were going to pay, but it wasn't going to take me hours and hours and hours to make. So, you know, taking people's time into the account is really, really important. And quite often, you know, when you speak to people that make stuff and because like as a craft and myself, if we, if we could make something that you perhaps, the 11 is your passion, sometimes people are getting this mindset that there shouldn't be charging, you know, for their time because they loved doing it. But you know, a climber or a nurse, or they might love doing their job, but they still, they still want to learn their wages.

Lynsey Warren (00:14:34):

They still want it to get, you know, they still want to have the money in their bank that at the end of the money for doing that work. And it just the same for a crafter, I think sometimes as well, they don't take into account like the time and effort it takes to, you know, create it and all that. I always sort, it was making a fair bit. So about six months before I started the business, it was all my other Crafts in an artistic skills that went into that went into that business. It wasn't just, I was fresh and you know, nothing. And so people can take years to learn a skill. And now this isn't to say that you have to be doing it years before you start off with a business. But what I really mean is it, you can't necessarily just that not everyone will be able to make a fair bit.

Lynsey Warren (00:15:18):

I can't crochet. I would love to go to a crochet. I have had many failed attempts. And so I know that if I want to buy something, that's really lovely in my shade. I'm probably going to be prepared to pay somebody else to do it. You know, I can't necessarily buy on the high street. I can't make it. So, you know, I'm quite happy actually, if I see something, I love to go and pay somebody, you know, what it's worth. And so, you know, I think people don't necessarily take those sort of things into account and something else so that I find that people do that they'll perhaps with flex their current financial situation. So sometimes if they think, or I couldn't afford to pay for that, that doesn't mean that somebody else can't afford to pay for your item.

Lynsey Warren (00:15:59):

Just because at the moment, maybe you have not, you know, you're not in a financial position to go and pay. It doesn't mean that somebody else can't. And I see that quite often, people think that they think if it's, if it's cheaper enough that people will buy it, but actually that's the wrong mindset because in the past, you know, when I can remember seeing this really beautiful, like teacher gift and it was the way it looks really nice. But then when I saw the price, it was so cheap and it really makes me doubt the quality. And I nearly did an all do it. And in the end I did because I had been following this person for a while and I did actually message her afterwards and say, you need to be putting your prices up for your products are really nice.

Lynsey Warren (00:16:42):

And you, you know, she must've been working for Pence. That's all I can say for the amount or, or she was like the most fastest. So we're in the world and you know, 'cause, otherwise I just could not work out how she could barely make any profit. And some people think when you're selling something that you make it, isn't like you've bought something in. And so there's a lot of attachment of, you know, there's all these feelings kind of around it like that. This is something that I've made it. So when someone likes it enough to want to, by it, that feels Amazing. So, but you still need to take you a price and into account, you know?

Lynsey Warren (00:17:24):

So it's all very well having a beautiful product that you have to charge for your time. You have to charge for all your materials. This is something else people do. Cause if you're a Crafts and listening to this day, it's probably likely that you got a nice Crafts dash that you might have built up over a period of time. And sometimes people will think, well, this has been, you know, I know I'm not going to include that in my own materials because we already had that. Hadn't had to buy it. But at some point you did, you know, or at some point in the future, you will need for a place that if your sales go really well. So they're just a few of the things that I want people to just sort of think about when it comes to price.

Lynsey Warren (00:18:04):

And then I can say that was something that in the beginning I got really, really wrong. And it wasn't until I started working with a coach myself sort of six months down the line to my business who helped me get the pricing. Right. And in some cases I nearly doubled the prices of my products and they still sold. So you know what, they are encouraged people to definitely charge, you know, what their products are at work and not to things that they just had to be cheap to get a sale.

Vicki Weinberg (00:18:32):

Yeah. And I think it's really interesting what you said about the things, the price to cheat. Cause I've had the exact same experience where I've gone on a website. I'll like, I'll say, actually say, when I go on that, sorry, I was looking for something recently and I was comparing products that were all very similar and I was quite suspicious of the ones that were a lot cheaper. Cause I was looking for a wooded and Christmas ball books. So, so we can personalize. So I ended up going for something that was sort of mid range, I'd say sort of at the 70% sort of Mark with the price, because the ones that were really cheap, I just couldn't see how they

can be really cheap. And so in my mind, and this, this possibly be, is it the case that in my mind, the quality conveners good 'cause I couldn't work out to Why they were charging say much less than somebody else.

Vicki Weinberg (00:19:17):

So I think that I'm sure I'm not the only one who has that experience. If you're comparing and lots of us do sell a similar product. I don't know how many products, but I sell products are the people sell, but I know that lots of crafters, there were people, you know, people doing similar things. And I think if you're the one charging, you know, significantly less and everyone else, I imagine that people, you know, other people do do exactly what I did and think, well, why is that so cheap?

Lynsey Warren (00:19:43):

Yeah. Yeah. This is it. And I think it is so very well thinking, you know, you know you, and if you do sell some of them, when they are really cheap, there is all very well to say, Oh yeah, I'm getting the sales. But if you are barely making any profit, well, why are you doing it? You know? Cause we all need to make a living really. You know? And, and even if you don't necessarily need to make a lot of money from your business, you still want to make a profit and make it worth your while, because otherwise you're just giving it all your valuable time away. Nothing really is to say, Oh, Hey, I'd made a sale and you are really not sort of a value in yourself. That's where I kind of think. And it does make people question the quality. Definitely. Right.

Vicki Weinberg (00:20:21):

Do you think that they could also be something there where people are a bit afraid to charge what their product's worth, because maybe they don't have enough faith in themselves in their product, right?

Lynsey Warren (00:20:32):

Yeah. I think that can definitely, that can definitely come into play because the risk, because there is that attachment two that I am 'cause, it's something you've made. It's like, people are kind of saying they're kind of invest in, in, in, in you, not just some, you know, it's not just a product that you bought and to settle. And so, yeah, I think there was kind of, kind of a lot of emotion and self-acceptance and things like that all gets tied up into your products release. So I do you think that is something that, you know, that its really important and sometimes I think people get it in their head that they're just going to charge what they think somebody will pay. And that's what I did in the beginning.

Lynsey Warren (00:21:13):

And that was just such the wrong way to do any price. And I didn't sit down and work out logically what my hourly rate was going to be, what all my materials were and all that kind of thing. And they were there things that I should have done the idea that I didn't do it.

Vicki Weinberg (00:21:28):

And so it's a, it's a, is that how you would suggest someone looks at price and thinks about, you know, at the

time they are taking what their time's worth and the materials is that how you would suggest people start?

Lynsey Warren (00:21:37):

Yeah. So definitely you need to take into your time into account. Do you need to take An all your materials and all, I mean all so even if you've used a tiny bit of glue, at some point, that progress is going to need to replace. And so even if it's a few pens here and there, you need to work out all of the cost of all of your materials and then you also need to consider things like, you know, about the cell and expenses. So if you're on it and see like I am, there's obviously fees, so you have to take all that into account as well. So you really need to have a good look at, you know, all of the costs involved, you know, if you'll pay in tax, depending on, you know, whether you're doing your business as a side.

Lynsey Warren (00:22:17):

So you might already be, you know, doing, you pay in full tack. So whenever you make a profit, you straight away, you know, pay any tax on top of that, all of these things, do you really need to consider, you know, when your looking at price in your product's, how much, how are you going to come out with at the end, once you've sold that product, what is your profit at the end of the day? So really important.

Vicki Weinberg (00:22:40):

Thank you. And how much Natus or actually, should you take any notice of what your competitors are charging and if so, how much?

Lynsey Warren (00:22:49):

So I think it's good to kind of have an idea of what other people charge. I know it's something that I'd done and again, and this is like when I started out that I thought, because I was new, I shouldn't charge as much as the ferry makers cause they'd been around a while. So they obviously there are various as much there,

but you know, most Fairies were still good even earlier on, you know, so there was no reason why I could have that. I put myself in This, in this kind of mindset that, you know, cause I was starting out, I shouldn't charge as much, you know, and obviously what I then started working with my coach, she helped me realized that that was definitely not the right way to be sort of looking at things really.

Lynsey Warren (00:23:30):

So there is a lot to sort of take into account when you are doing your price in order to get the balance right. Where they are, I guess, being aware of, of what other people were charging. But at sometimes it is about thinking, okay, well is that kind of looks like a bit of a going rate for things where if I want to charge more, where can I add an extra value? Like what can I do on my packaging? You know, can I make a batch of something? So I buy wholesale, you know, my materials wholesale, can I make things in a batch of the same time? So I bring down the amount of time that something takes. Cause for me, if I like sort of, if I do a range of ferry, so I start working on five at once, that's a lot quicker than me just making it one individual family.

Lynsey Warren (00:24:14):

So you know that there are the kind of things to sort of take into account so that you can think, okay, so, you know, how can I bring the price down as well?

Vicki Weinberg (00:24:24):

Thank you. So I think we've covered priced in, thank you for that. And that was really how you answer. That is a really, really helpful. So what are your other tips for making your business successful?

Lynsey Warren (00:24:34):

So I've got a few tips here. So one of the things is patients. So I'm not the world's most patient person. And you know, when you first start to have made business, there, there is, you know, you need to grow an audience and all of that stuff on social media and you need to learn about business. And I think sometimes, you know, when I worked with people who are very early on in their journey, they can be looking to other people think and what do you think it and all of the sales while, and then I get in the sales, but they might not know if that person's part has been going on before five years. And you can't compare your first page to somebody at a fifth page on your first year to some of these fifth year because you know, they'll be in a way in a different place is a little bit like, you know, no Olympics, women are, for example, jump's in the pool once and win the gold medal, you know, that you spend years of learning the techniques of practice in and getting better.

Lynsey Warren (00:25:32):

And for me, you know, having a Handmade business is just the same. You need to learn about business. You know, you need to fall in love with the business side and just being repaired that, you know, having a successful business takes time. You know, there was a way in a cost to install, but it certainly didn't suddenly open chains or at the shops all over the world, they would just start with just the one, you know, and it's the same with any business. You have to start small and then build it up and having a little bit of patience, you know, it is, it is a really good thing. So that's definitely one of my other tips definitely be patient.

Vicki Weinberg (00:26:12):

And I think that's a really good advice. Thank you. Because you're right. I guess. And like you said, you've pointed out, I guess you learned things along the way as well. You're not always going to get it right. First of all right.

Lynsey Warren (00:26:23):

Yeah, definitely. So one of my other tips is if you can fall in love with learning about business 'cause I started off and it will be honest. I didn't really have a clue what I was doing. I, I can make Fairies, I set up an Etsy shop, but the rest I'll be honest. I didn't really have too much idea about, and what that did was out in was off I'd say, so I got, I'll tell you a few of the things that I got roll in the beginning. It was not known about business. It was getting my price in the wrong. I was doing all of these old enough to custom orders, which

I'll go onto in a minute. And you know, I just really didn't have much have a clue what I was doing.

Lynsey Warren (00:27:05):

So, but what I did have was the determination to succeed. So I'd want in my own homemade business for so long and, and, and having been in a car maker for so long and won in that, that not having the right product I new, when that time you can do that, I wasn't going to let this opportunity. You go on, it's going to do everything I could to succeed. So I joined the business groups are paid for coaching. I took online courses, you know, I really invested in myself in my business and in my learning. And they were the things that have really helped me have a successful business, because as much as it sounds amazing just to sit they're at home, making Fairies all day, or that would be good, but they're not going to sell themselves.

Lynsey Warren (00:27:49):

And so if you want to have a successful Handmade business, there has to be a lot more to it than just the making. And sometimes the making can end up being quite a small part of it, you know, because there is a lot of other stuff to do that, you know, you might have a website and you want to work on your SEO. Well, you have an it system or when you need to work on all the, all the things to make that a successful business, you know, you need to constantly be on social media. So there's a lot of other work that you need to think about it. You know, like you need to work on you for photography. Cause if you wanna sell Handmade products, you've got to be a good at that. Or you pay someone to do it for you. If you can do the video, you need to learn about that. Then as you would count on to do your admin, there's a lot of stuff when it comes to van in the business and, and in the end, like you say, sometimes you make and can just be a really tiny part of that.

Lynsey Warren (00:28:36):

So the more you can learn all the other stuff that goes with the business that they are as far as I'm concerned, because that's, you know, the more you learn, the more you put new stuff into practice, you know, that will really help your business grow.

Vicki Weinberg (00:28:52):

That's really useful. Thank you. And I think it's a really good point and that, I guess that may be when you get started, do you might not even think about all of those additional things, you know, people might envisage just crafting or creating all day and actually you, right. The other stuff does take up quite a chunk of time.

Lynsey Warren (00:29:09):

Yeah, definitely. So, you know, for me that, that was one of the things that really helped, you know, and I had decided that I was going to invest and take the time to learn and grow as much as I possibly could. You know, that's, what's really sort of helped my business. I'm one of the things that also really helped my business. And this is a tip for other people. Now, this isn't to say that this system does for some people, this

might work, but for me it did. And that was in the beginning. That big mistake I made was sort of in that obviously you want everything to order. So what we do, I will make a new project list to my, at T S still. And then we just take all this for it, which, you know, initially you'd get that a little bit of a, yeah, yeah.

Lynsey Warren (00:29:51):

I've got an order. And then it's like, Oh, actually I've got to sit here and make 10 or a bad thing now. And that, and especially when you're not charging what you should do for that item, you know, and then what, at the time, when I was working for days a week or when I first started my business and I was just trying to get it off the ground and you know, what I found was my life was the one constant deadline. It's a bit like when you were, when you were at school and you got homework to do, and it's not going in the back of your mind and you will always feel like you should be doing it. You got orders. You feel we should be working on them. And you know, I've got family as well. So it was like all these always constantly trying to, you know, meet all these deadlines for all of this that I've got.

Lynsey Warren (00:30:36):

And so you might think, Whoa, that sounds Amazing. But if you're not charging your worth, you, you spend in a lot of time sort of a way from your family for not a lot of money. And you know, you can, I knew that if I didn't change things up, what sort of after six months I was going to burn out on it, wouldn't have carried on. So that was for me, something I knew that I had to change. And when I started working with my coach, that was when

she encouraged me to work from stock because she had had the same issues or self, you know, and this is something that I see with my clients as well. They might have a really successful business, but a lot of the time when you were just working on all of this coming in all the time, and you've got to make them all up, it means you don't get all the time to work with new products.

Lynsey Warren (00:31:20):

And it, and sometimes like being a creative person, when you get new ideas flowing in, you want to be able to get on and make those new ideas. But if all you're doing is constantly making orders and not getting the chance to do something new, that kind of things end up just being a bit at the same, you are on your social

media, your just, you know, there's never a new coming through. And, and not to say for me, it was this, it was this constant treadmill. But once I, I changed over to making, you know, I, I actually shut my whole, my Etsy shop for a month. And over the branded, I got myself a new, proper logo. And then I had designed, and then I got a load of stock made up.

Lynsey Warren (00:32:01):

And then, then over here you opened up and it felt so different because although I do have a lot of mentioned, I'd do a few customer orders. What it meant it was if I want to get up and make a batch of something I could, if I got new ideas, I have the time to make. And one of the things that I'd done sort of a couple years into having a, my business was that I had to stand it Kirsty or SOPs Handmade fair in London, which was a big, scary thing for me. But it, and now, you know, buy, sell him some stock. He allowed me to

have the time to get ready for that fare and get things together. 'cause otherwise, if I would have just carried on with those custom orders, I would have never, ever had the time to do that.

Lynsey Warren (00:32:43):

And, you know, things like that, that I've done since we've been like, they were things on my bucket list that I really want me to do. So, you know, I think thinking about how you learn your business and, and that, it's a really important thing is when it comes to Handmade, because you always have to take into account that element of time to make the project. Yeah.

Vicki Weinberg (00:33:04):

I'd never thought of that. And that's such a good device because yeah, like what you're saying makes total sense, because I guess before, and if you got 10 orders, I mean like a space, I don't know what your turn around time typically was, but yeah, I can totally see how you should always be up against the deadline and it sort of never catching up. And I guess the thing with that is, is the better you do the more so as you get, the more stressed you become and the further behind potentially you get. So yeah, that's right. So now do you tend to just make a batch of something? Put it on the website?

Lynsey Warren (00:33:37):

Oh yeah, yeah, that's right. Yeah. Yeah. And you know, some things that I've got to say, I tend to have a few items that are, they don't take so long. So, you know, I, I do have a feeling that a lot and it's like that it's in popular. Right. And so I would say it, we struggled to keep it in stock, but then it's sort of, these topics are a little flower Fairies. Like, you know, like I said, a lot of them are for christenings and things like that. So then once I do tend to do, you know, that I'll do like, just take an order that will be sort of bait order within seven to 10 days. But most of what's in my Etsy shop by 10 or trying to have in stock, 'cause it just takes that hole pressure off the end.

Lynsey Warren (00:34:17):

And especially now as I'm a coach or as well, you know, it, I don't have a, you know, I'm not doing my business. Full-time, I'm doing coaching and Very make. And so, you know, time is limited. So that means that it wasn't. So when I have got time to make a crack on to make stuff, but I am not like got this where we have these constant deadlines of making lots of stuff toward us. So for me, that's freed up more time for me to being able to coach, you know, and just to keep on top of the, the Handmade business as well. Really.

Vicki Weinberg (00:34:48):

That's great. And it, yeah, it definitely, it sounds like this, this way of doing the things you're much more in control of your time, which is fine. Yeah,

Lynsey Warren (00:34:54):

Yeah, yeah. Definitely for me, that has worked out really well. No, that really well.

Vicki Weinberg (00:35:01):

So you mentioned your coach in India. Did you have any more tips for us or should we talk a bit about the services that you offer to other how many business owners

Lynsey Warren (00:35:09):

And I've got one more tip that I would just like to share that I think is really important one and I'm, this is, this is the same for any business owner really is quite often when I go out with people, they spend loads of time focusing on, they're not getting sales, I'm not getting sales, I'm not being in sales and not getting sales. And you know, when you are, your focus just goes on that your mind is really clever and it will back you up and it will show you all of these reasons and say, yes, you are absolutely you are, you're not getting the, but when you start saying to yourself, well, I want to encourage people when they, you know, if they are in that situation to start saying, okay, how can I get the sales? Because when you turn that negative, talk into something a lot more positive about how can I get the same as what happens to your mind?

Lynsey Warren (00:35:55):

Then he starts opening up. So are you, there might be a social media and you might get some inspiration for some of it. You might see the perfect cause to help you, but something in your business. Umm, you know, you might get some inspiration from your family. You know, it, it can come from anywhere. But when you kind of just focused on this, feeling bad about your business, you're not getting the sails. You know, it really closes your mind off. And that affects how you show it in your business when you show up in your business and you're really excited about it, you know, that showings for them. But if you're down in the dumps, then you're not getting the sales that that really will come across. So yeah, that was one of my other things is that we don't focus.

Lynsey Warren (00:36:38):

I'm not getting the stale is focused on what you really want to achieve. And when one final little one is, there is no such thing as failure and my book only success' and lessons learned. So quite often, you know, I sort of encourage people to try new things. Clients I've worked with. And this is something that, you know, throughout my business, I've always been up for growing and trying new, scary things and some things work and some things don't. But for me, I kind of think, well, if I could learn a lesson from something that I feel wasn't a success, a success, it helps me move on so much quicker. And I actually, after a while and fail, I'd say I'd done this workshop once I've never done one before I started, it ended up not having as many people turn up, but for lack of knowledge, it was like, well, I should've had a minimum amount of people.

Lynsey Warren (00:37:30):

There was so many things I could have done that I didn't do. So when I came back for that day feeling really, Oh, it was just came back feeling really low. I decided to myself that I was going to write down all of the lessons I've learned and the actual situation. And then, you know, when I actually coached, had a coaching

client who is interested in doing a workshop, but actually it was the best thing that I had had those failures because I was able to say to them like, OK, so you need to think about this, this, this, and this, if you want in that workshop to be a success because there were all the things that I didn't do. So, you know, and how do I had gone on and done a, another workshop? Well, before I decided to do something in the future, it would be a completely different experience because I've learned from that first one.

Lynsey Warren (00:38:14):

And then, you know, the next one go in on, you know what I know that I would be sort of in a completely different place with it, but I could have just been really down on myself. But like once I vote down those lessons learned, I felt so much better. And then I could move on from it. I thought, well, that's OK. This is just to learn and experience. And then I just moved on. So I would definitely encourage other people to do that because you know, nobody does everything a hundred percent right. And Business at whatever stage you're at, you've tried things they'd won't work, but you know, but I'm sure that your brand's has had, you know, many failure's on the way the most successful people have when you speak to them.

Lynsey Warren (00:38:56):

But the thing is they keep going, they look at what the plan and then they, they carry on.

Vicki Weinberg (00:39:01):

I think you're absolutely right. It's actually going to have to cheat because yeah. I mean something that we often say to people, as you might say, well, just go in and start and yeah, it, it might not be Right first of all, but you might have sort of just get started and do something and if it doesn't work, like you say, you've learnt something and then you can do something differently next time. But you're right. I mean, if you're never going to get anywhere, if you don't try. So I think that's fantastic advice.

Lynsey Warren (00:39:26):

No, thank you. But yeah, that's definitely the kind of messages I try and get across to my coaching clients that need to anyone in business or just, you know, like you say, just give it a go. Cause if you don't know, if that might be the thing that really is good for your business, but if you're too scared to try, you know, you might miss out on a really fantastic opportunity.

Vicki Weinberg (00:39:46):

Yeah. And as you say, even if it's, you know, even if things don't work out, you know, you've learned something that you might take away, something really value. But I think it's a fantastic how throughout this interview you've been saying, okay, I can tell my clients this because it happened to me. So you're helping people, you know, potentially not make the same mistakes because they're learning from what you've done. So I think that's, yeah, that's fantastic. Thank you. And actually the nurse, let's talk about that for the moment, if that's OK. So what services do you offer to the other hand? My business owners.

Lynsey Warren (00:40:18):

Yeah. So I do one-to-one Kate with clients. So I got a six month coaching package. Where are, you know, I really worked with my clients of ours in all areas of their business because my aim is always to help people have a profitable, how many business. So, you know, we looked at all kinds of areas within their pricing, you know, their selling platform, social media, their mindset, you know, we work on all of the things that they need to get really good at to have a successful, how can they Business? I also offer us in a power outage where we can argue, we can look up things like pricing or at least, or social media, those kinds of areas. And then I also, at the moment, I'm doing a monthly Q and a and networking calls for people to join them with 'em.

Lynsey Warren (00:41:05):

So if people want to get a bit more tailored advice that they can come along with, if they're not ready for one to one coach in it and come and take part in that, and I've also do some virtual craft fair. So I've got an Instagram page called The Handmade Craft Fair. Where do I promote lots of Handmade business owners? And I had been, it'll be a monthly virtual craft fair. So that is something very new that I've just started up. But I started back at it. I've done a Christmas fair and at the moment or elsewhere we call and there's some planning on the January one. And then I do have my Handmade business podcast as well, where we can share lots of other advice that I cohost, but then the other Etsy success coach.

Lynsey Warren (00:41:50):

And I will also do some online courses as well. So I've kinda got a range of products and prices to sort of see where if anyone really,

Vicki Weinberg (00:41:59):

Oh, that's amazing. Thank you so much for all. You do. You do a lot in that. Amazing and say all of that. OK. So it sounds like there's lots going on and let's be people play so people can find me. So I'm going to a link to everything we've spoken about in the show notes that people can find you really easily and see if perhaps they'd like to work with you in some capacity or take a listen to your podcasts. And I think that is to be honest, anyone who has a Handmade business probably should listen to your podcast because you shared such a lot in the past 40 minutes, I'm so grateful for you being in here. And can you share it? Can I ask you one last question before we finish? Yeah. So what was your number one piece of advice be for how many business owners and it doesn't matter if it's something you've already said, what do you think the key thing is?

Lynsey Warren (00:42:42):

I would say invest in yourself and your learning and you know, in your business. So learn as much as you possibly can and invest in that because I know I had, I never learned about the business had I never worked with the coach. I don't know if my Handmade business would still be go. And if I hadn't of changed my price in a way and changed the way I will work, I would have probably been burned out. And I don't know if I do

have really carried on with that. So that would be my number one piece of advice. If you're going to start having their own business, you know, if you want to make a success, then invest in it. And there's, you know, there's loads of free learning out there that you can listen, learn those sort of listening to podcasts like yours, Vicki com and listened to my podcast.

Lynsey Warren (00:43:28):

You know, you can learn lots of stuff for free, but be paired as well. Sometimes when there are the gaps in your knowledge, you need to invest as well. If you, if you were determined, like, Oh, it was determined. I was going to make my business work, but then, you know, making that investment in yourself and you'll learn it and setting a set time aside for them to think,

Vicki Weinberg (00:43:51):

Oh, thank you so much. And again, thank you so much for your time and for everything you've shared or do you feel this is such an amazing that episode for any crafters and creatives out there? They are. Thank you so much. I really appreciate it.

Lynsey Warren (00:44:04):

Thanks. I have so much for the kid. It's been a lovely to come on and chat to you today. I've really enjoyed it.

Vicki Weinberg (00:44:10):

Thank you. Hi, thank you so much for listening as always, absolutely love to know that you thought about this episode, please. Do you remember to rate and review the show and also most importantly subscribed so you don't miss out on any future episodes. And as a reminder, I release a new episode every single Friday. So take care and look forward to speaking to you again, then.