Hi you special person you!
Janet from Paper + Spark here. I am in the very beginning stages of developing a very informal, fun, and educational series called Maker Mentors for my audience and YOU’RE invited.
Specifically, I’m looking for experienced, veteran handmade business owners who find joy in sharing their journey & lessons learned with the maker community.
If you know anything about me, you may know I love to share & educate when it comes to all thing financial related to running your creative business. However, we all know the money aspect is just one piece of the puzzle. It takes many skills & talents to build a profitable handmade business.
Plus, fledgling business owners are hearing from us (and by “us” I mean infopreneurs like myself) quite often. There are virtual summits, there are courses, there are webinars – there’s a lot!
These handmade sellers want to hear from someone else – profitable, experienced makers and artists who have worked through the muck of getting a business off the ground and made it out on the other side. That’s where you come in!
Late this summer and early fall, I hope to share a series of fun, informative, and friendly interviews with real life successful makers via the Maker Mentor series.
Through these 30-60 minute live interviews, we’ll chat about your business journey. I want to hear about your struggles and your successes – how you got to where you are today! You can share your biggest mistake or that one best decision you’ve ever made for your business. There’s no set script and you can suggest questions or topics you’re especially passionate about in advance.
We’ll also chat for a bit about your numbers. As a financial educator, I make an effort to help my audience focus on their finances and feel better about looking at their numbers. What better way to do that than by giving some real life examples of your experience with YOUR numbers?
No, I’m not going to force you to share your sales totals or how much you pay yourself (although you can if you want!), but we may chat about your profit margin or your pricing strategy, for example. Or maybe you would love to share one important lesson you learned from doing your books or analyzing your sales level throughout the year.
Having at least one tip, strategy, transformation or lesson related to your finances or numbers to share with the group is a must! Hearing real stories of how knowing your numbers positively impacted your business is tons more meaningful than me continuously rattling on about consistently updating your books each month (as much as I’d like to think that’s helpful, haha)!
So with all this mind, I’m looking for artists, crafters, makers, designers or physical product creators who…
…feel passionate about building up their fellow maker community (you’ve got to have that “rising tide lifts all ships” mentality!)
…are open to sharing their experiences, knowledge, lessons, mistakes, and best strategies that got them to where they are today
…are willing to talk numbers and money with a small audience
…with clarity and a positive attitude
…in the spirit of encouragement and community.
There’s no time-based or sales level requirement. I don’t care if you’ve been doing this for 6 months or 6 years, or are making $10k or $100k. As long as you feel like you’ve accomplished something or hit a major financial milestone or goal in your book, that’s what matters. I know my audience has financial goals of all shapes and sizes too, from funding their family vacation to retiring their spouse.
I know you’ve done hard work, and it’s fun to talk shop! Maybe you’re tired of trying to explain your hard-won entrepreneurial prowess to your significant other. Come chat with us! We’re ready to give you your much-deserved kudos and admiration!
Is this you? If so, let me tell you a bit more about the Maker Mentor series…
I hope to host the Maker Mentor series in August and September (tentatively). The format will be live interviews hosted in my Facebook group, the Goal-Getting Makers. The audience can submit questions in advance and ask questions while we chat. I expect each interview will be 30 – 60 minutes, but I plan to keep things very informal.
The event will be shared with my audience via email and social media (over 7,000 amazing makers & creative entrepreneurs).
You and I will chat about the questions & topics in advance so you feel totally comfortable. You will of course be welcome to promote your shop, products, and email list as part of your interview as well! (Side note – have you ever thought about offering one-on-one mentoring or shop reviews or consulting services? This would be a great platform to get started!)
Our chat will be recorded, and it is possible in the future I may re-purpose the videos for another product, paid or free. If I ever monetize the series, you will be invited to participate in a related affiliate program.
If you are ready to be an integral part of this invaluable series, please fill out my quick application here.