In 2012, I want to transition into a business plan that is less taxing for me personally in production and fulfillment. I want to dream more, design more, empower others more.
– Carla, Crown Bindery

Are you still in the “see what will happen” phase? Are you ready to move into the in control & in demand phase of your business?

Get locked in. Join me at The Art of Earning LIVE. Registration closes February 6.

To me, online business was being safe & sound on my couch. Alone. Possibly in my PJs.

Meet? For coffee? In real life?

I’m an introvert, a bit shy, and not particularly socially skilled.

I tried to use my 6 month old infant as an excuse.

“Nope, can’t. I’ve got a baby.”

Of course, that doesn’t work when the people who want to meet up with you are moms themselves looking both to get out of the house and to get ahead with their dreams.

“Bring her along!” they’d say.

Luckily, their persistence forced me out of my comfort zone. Within the first few months of starting my business, I’d met several new friends and even taught my first workshop!

At first, the terror of meeting someone new and battling my idea of her expectations of me was all I could think about. I’d be sick to my stomach days ahead of a simple coffee date. As coffee date after craft show after workshop started to pile up, things became easier.

Practice makes perfect.

I learned that the only expectation I really needed to worry about was the expectation for me to learn about someone new, explore her story, and meet her in the moment. It didn’t matter if I was more or less than she thought I was or if I had strange interests or if I ordered an iced latte in the middle of winter. What was important was meeting then & there with shared purpose.

That took me about 18 months to really understand. But still, it happened!

By the time I started to master meeting new people, I realized that much of the “social networking” that was happening among people online was happening offline. My peers & mentors were meeting up at conferences, workshops, retreats, and just generally traveling around furthering their careers.

Cause & effect.

If I wanted to grow my business by expanding my network, I was going to have to get out of my house. And my state.

I took the leap. Last year, I made it a point to travel to every conference that truly interested me and embrace the strangeness of strangers. I flew to Portland, OR for World Domination Summit & Profit Catalyst. I took the bus to NYC more than a few times. I hopped a plane to LA, St Paul, Chicago, and San Diego. And I sprinkled in plenty of day trips.

I put a priority on surrounding myself with people who “get” what I’m all about. Or people who should. Or people I just desperately wanted to understand myself!

Yes, it’s difficult to leave my child to travel. Yes, it’s difficult to pony up the money. Yes, it’s weird to be in a room with 500 people I don’t know.

But the benefits of meeting my clients, customers, and colleagues far outweighed any downsides.

I now have good friends – a support system – that span this country. Now we schedule Skype chats to stay in touch in between trips.

I have a better understanding of who my customers are and what their needs are. Cause they told me, over drinks.

The people I look up to in my industry know my name, my face, and what my work is all about. Cause they asked.

But best of all, I have the experience of seeing people encounter my work firsthand. I have the confidence that comes with the “aha! moments” that people take away from dinner or drinks. I feel the ease with which my work emanates.

That’s something I’ve not experienced in any other setting in just the same way. And so I keep leaving the house, I keep traveling, I keep meeting people.

In the end, online business is no different from offline business.

We are all in the people business. And if you’re going to be in the people business, you better understand your business in relation to people.

Click to tweet it!

Regularly interacting with your peers & potential customers allows you to consider these questions:

• What is it like to talk about my business with people who care?
• What aspects of what I offer appeal to people outside my current audience?
• What appears most valuable about what I do?
• How do others talk about me & my work?
• What lights me up when I talk about my business with people who get it?
• How is my story different from others stories?

Put away your excuses. Put on a sharp outfit and get out of the house. If you can, get in a plane, a train, or an automobile. Leave home behind — leave online in the dust.

Venture out to find the people who will enable you to make your business sing.

***

Sound like a plan? It’s not too late to join me for The Art of Earning LIVE. Find your own place in the You Economy with this intensive, intentional, and intimate experience. Take a minute to find out more.

Reading via email? Love you! Watch the video on YouTube!

We all spend too much time working on our businesses. When was the last time your business worked on you?

I’ve spent the last two years turning my pursuit into a business that does just that. It takes care of me. Inspires me. Motivates me.

There’s give & take.

What would it take for your business to take care of you?

More money? Less time? More honest communication? Less promotion? More passion? Less crap?

You’re Invited

Today, I’m opening registration for The Art of Earning LIVE. This event has been many, many months in the planning. I couldn’t be more thrilled to announce it to you.

The goal of this event is “self-care for your business.” When you nurture what you’ve got, it takes better care of you. You know your body needs good food, plenty of exercise, quiet time, and periods of rest. So does your business.

This intentional, intensive, and intimate business event is all those things for your business.

How would things be different if your business inspired you, created more wealth, served all the right people, and allowed you the freedom you need to truly express yourself?

Click here to find out more and register!

Want to know what comes out of my group coaching sessions? This.

Caffeinated Buddha moniker by Leah Quinn. Drawing by Carrie Keplinger.

Join me for a FREE webinar

Title: Making Money is Beautiful

Description: Bust 7 myths about the art of making a living with work that you love. Discover what making MORE means in the New Economy. Learn to embrace a different kind of “new normal.” This is a reprise of my Hello Etsy talk at the Smithsonian American Art Museum.

Date & Time: Tuesday, September 27th, 2011 at 8:00 pm EDT

Click here to register!

Reading this via email? Love you! The finger painting hereto mentioned is a
video I created about The Art of Earning LIVE at Teahouse Studio. Check it out!

I was also tickled pink to be featured in a US News & World Report article yesterday on Mastering the New Freelance Economy alongside my heroes Chris Guillebeau, Pam Slim, Ramit Sethi, and Tory Johnson.

I’m often asked to share my schedule of classes, events & course offerings months in advance. The part of me that demands flexibility is all things wants to cry at the thought of such rigidity. The much more rational and caring part of me thinks that’s a pretty damn good idea.

So, here’s the shake down through December 2011.

What Tara has up her sleeve through the end of 2011:

BlogHer – August 5-6, San Diego: I’ll be attending and teaching at BlogHer this year. Imagine 3,000 she-bloggers who are passionate about everything from victims’ rights to attachment parenting to cooking to technology. This is a diverse group of influencers people. I’ll be teaching about building digital products from your blog, along with Tara Mohr and Megan Auman. There are still tickets left if you’d like to attend! Otherwise, stay tuned for links to the live blog of the workshop.

Website Kick Start – begins August 30 (6 weeks): My signature program on learning WordPress & creating your own website is back for the Fall. This year, I’m kicking things off with a FREE teleseminar on how to prepare for building a website. Want to join me? Sign up here.

I’m also excited to say that I’m bringing on a new team member as a dedicated support person for this course!

Your Novel Business – group coaching program – begins September 6 (4 weeks): This is an intensive group coaching program for those who already have a business but are looking to up the ease factor in a creative & intuitive way. Business owners who engage their vision & imagination attract committed customers, create products/services that sell themselves, and strategically plan for success. This course is LIVE and limited to 12 participants. Want more info? Sign up here.

I’ll be running this program again in November.

BlogHer Handmade – September 15, Minneapolis: I’m attending & teaching at Blogher Handmade, as well! This time I’m talking about advanced strategies for “monetizing” (ugh… I hate that word) your blog. This event is part of The Creative Connection Event (which got rave reviews in its inaugural run). You game? Register to attend here.

The Art of Earning LIVE – September 24-25, Berkeley, California: This workshop will bust the myth about the need to be a starving artist. On Day 1, we will discuss how creativity is the most in demand skill on the planet and how you can “get right” with what that means for your pocketbook. On Day 2, we’re getting personal & taking a look at YOUR business and it’s potential for profit & growth. This workshop will be informative & interactive – and maybe just a little gut churning. Leave your money hang-ups at the door and learn how to embrace your personal worth as an artist (of any sort!). Find out more here.

Yet-to-be-titled Blogging Bootcamp – November: This one is still under wraps. But I can tell you that I’ll be co-teaching an intensive virtual workshop on taking your blogging practice to the next level – both technically & spiritually. I’m excited about this and I think you should be too! No sign-ups yet… but put it on your wish list for November!

Looking around the ballroom, everyone gathered & buzzing with excitement (and coffee, it is the Northwest after all!), it was clear to me that there were only 2 types of people in this room:

1. Leaders
2. And those on the cusp of becoming leaders.

That’s one exciting revelation for me. I really wanted to run on stage, grab the mic, and tell everyone what amazing leaders I saw sitting around me. I didn’t…. maybe next year, Chris?

Last week, I spoke with Sinclair about a lack of leadership in the entrepreneurs around me. They’re struggling to find their voice, struggling even more to be heard, and therefore struggling with cash flow. She agreed: a major stumbling block in making a business work is accepting your role as a leader to others. It’s less that entrepreneurs are not leaders and more that they haven’t owned their own leadership yet.

Becoming a leader can be frightening. It means your opinions are trusted, your ideas are given weight, your voice is heard. That’s a lot of responsibility! But offering a product for sale or guidance for hire carries the same weight. You can’t avoid the responsibility and, if you try, you end up feeling a bit trampled.

If you’ve abdicated your position of leadership as a business owner, you probably have a difficult time prioritizing your work, you feel like you have to shout to be heard, and what little communication you receive is generally in the form of polite encouragement instead of cash. When you don’t act out of leadership, you feel subject to the flow of the system instead of a driver on your own wide open road. When you haven’t accepted leadership, you use qualifiers like “I think,” “in my opinion,” and “maybe” instead of unequivocally owning your beliefs.

Do you want to be qualified or do you want to be amplified?

When you accept your own leadership, your voice is joined by those who trust you and by those who support you. You are no longer listened to – your word is acted upon.

Being a leader isn’t about how many customers/followers/friends you have, it’s about shining out of the dark.

Being a leader also isn’t dependent on what your business is about. You can lead from any industry at any level, it’s a mindset not set of qualifications.

Accepting your role as a leader allows for your art – your voice – your change-making to be witnessed.

You, my friend, are at the cusp of a new dawn and we need you as a leader in this new day. We need a jolt of your power and a taste of your juice. We need you to bring forward new, crazy ideas. We crave your voice & vision.

Will you step up? Will you show up?

I’ll be speaking more about this & a whole lot more at Profit Catalyst in Portland in a few weeks. This event – organized by Sinclair & also featuring the brilliant Charlie Gilkey – will be like no other and the good news is you don’t even have to catch a flight to attend. Sinclair is offering a simulcast version (watch with us live!!) of the full event so that you can get activated, catalyzed, and edified about doing business in the 21st century right from the comfort of your very own home.

To get all the details on Profit Catalyst – both the LIVE and SIMULCAST versions – click here.

PS The first 10 peeps to click the link above AND register for the Profit Catalyst simulcast will also receive a free 1 hour coaching session with me to be used between August and September 2011 (a $200 value). This is a great way to follow up on what you learned and grab one-on-one help where you need it most! So click here and get registered.

In a few short weeks, I’ll be speaking at a fab event hosted by the fab Ashley Sinclair, of Self-Activator. I’ve been watching Sinclair’s business explode for a while. If you dig my vision of a world led by passionate, creative entrepreneurs, her vision is going to rock your socks too.

You can find out more about the event – Profit Catalyst – and how to participate (including a sweet deal from me!) at the end of the post. But please take a minute to read through this brief interview with Sinclair where I dispense with the niceties and cut right to the quick.

You have experience working with large corporations & organizations. Why work with individual entrepreneurs?

Two very important reasons:

• I love business
• but I speak entrepreneur.

I come from a family of them. So I’ve been learning the ups and downs, the risks and rewards, of running your own business my whole life long. From tiny cottage businesses to multinational corporations, I’ve seen it all, but I’m most interested in the entrepreneur’s experience.

I want to be on the leading edge of culture and innovation, helping change agents push things forward. I may be biased, but I believe individual entrepreneurs are in this incredible, unique position to do just that – and I love to help them get there.

Well, we certainly have that in common!

You run a BIG business with a highly individual touch. Your tribe feels like they are connected to your personally (and I suspect that they are!). But in order to achieve this big business, you’ve got a team working behind you and supporting you.

Did you build your business with a team in mind? And how would your business be different if you didn’t have a team?

This is such a great question. I built my business with my personal strengths in mind – so yes, I planned on a team from the beginning, even though it was just me for the first 6 months. I know that I’m at my best when I’m leading a group of people, and helping each team member contribute what they are really best at.

I just don’t show up in the biggest way until I’ve got people to lead, so I make sure that I do. My own business would be much smaller in scope if I was still a solopreneur. I’d be much farther removed from my audience, since I’d be focusing solely on automated income streams to maximize my leverage on my own. And I think I’d simply be less creative, because I know that I build things best when working with a team.

You approach business creatively, holistically, and strategically. How do you envision business changing for creative entrepreneurs over the next 5 years? What strengths will be most valued?

I think we’ll continue to see a proliferation of boutique creative industries pop up, as the way we digest content and info matures in the marketplace. I would not be surprised if this proliferation required all entrepreneurs to become branding and positioning experts – I think we’ll see less hangups about that as people get more comfortable with the self-publishing model of sharing free content to attract business.

I believe Individualization will increase in perceived value, big time. Authenticity will be at a premium, because nothing else will get through the noise of the marketplace.

Many start-up entrepreneurs have major difficulty getting past the PROFIT part of business. Their heart & souls are invested in what they’re doing and that’s just hard to price. What is ONE thing you wish entrepreneurs knew about themselves & they’re inherent ability to command a good price for their work?

Oooh, this is so tough to share just one thing. I’m going to with what I think you need to know first:

Pricing has nothing to do with your worth as a person, or the worthiness of the client. It’s not the time to get squeamish, that’s for sure.

If you’re struggling to make a good living, you’re absolutely useless to those outside of yourself.

Price accordingly – the world needs your gifts, and needs you at your best, so you’ve gotta take great care of yourself to begin with by charging well for your work. I mean it – this is non-negotiable for passionate entrepreneurs who want to make a contribution.

Making this higher pricing understandable and desirable to your customers is the art of packaging and positioning. Don’t worry, it’s a skill set, and it can be learned. Hallelujah!

In my experience, coaching crafters and Fortune 500′s alike, I’ve found that if you give the customer the right info to make a great decision about your product, they are more than happy to pay a premium, every time.

Connect with Sinclair on her website or on Twitter.

I’m beyond excited to tell you that I’ll be leading a workshop at the Etsy labs on April 19 at 7pm EDT.

If you can’t make it to Brooklyn, no problem, you can join me live online. Pretty cool, huh?

My mom’s story, from Etsy’s blog:

When I was a kid, my mom woke up regularly between 3 and 4 a.m. She got up, made coffee, and sat in front of her sewing machine. She sewed and sewed until it was time to make breakfast, ask my brother and me how we slept, and see us off to the bus stop.

Then she would sew more.

My mom had to provide for two children: feeding us, putting a roof over our heads, sending us to countless summer camps. She did it all on the income she brought in with that sewing machine. When faced with a daunting, near impossible task, she didn’t balk.

She simply asked, “Can it be done?” Every day, she answered, “Yes.”

I have built my business on the same question. Constantly asking and reasking, reframing the challenge to move myself and my goals forward. I must thank Mark Frauenfelder, of MAKE magazine, for posing the can-it-be-done question in his book, Made by Hand. He applied it to the almost inexplicable drive to create, to DIY.

When you’re your own boss, it’s up to you to seek out challenges, to do terrifying things, and to get comfortable with failure. Building your business so that it’s sustainable, profitable, and rewarding is the ultimate challenge.

In my Dare of DIY workshop, we’ll discuss what it means to challenge yourself, why we thrive on personal challenge, and how you can dissect your problems and liabilities into challenges that push you forward. Instead of focusing on the difficulties of building a business, attendees will tap into their DIY ethic to create exciting ideas and opportunities for their business by asking: can it be done? There is no right answer or correct methodology, only the unique answers we each have to share.

Attendees will leave the workshop with a fresh approach and positive outlook on their growing businesses. Please join me!

Click here to all the info!

Stay tuned for a special event announcement & giveaway at the end of this post!

Many business owners – yes, me too – have a difficult time defining their own noteworthiness.

When we look at what we do, how we do it, or the story of how we got to where we’re at, all we see is unremarkable. Our day to day tasks, the services we provide, and the manner in which we live seem all seem very normal. Hardly the stuff of press releases or blog posts.

Of course your life seems normal! It’s your life!

The difficult choices you’ve made now seem like no-brainers. The lessons you’ve learned now seem like kids’ stuff. You do what you do with ease, a fair amount of practice, and some innate skill.

I hope, though, that it comes as no surprise that your customers don’t see you that way. They see you as a rock star glamor queen who lives a magical life of goals accomplished & dreams fulfilled.

It’s also worth noting here that they see none of the people you judge yourself against.

This isn’t a matter of trickery or chance. It comes from understanding that you have what others need. After all, that’s the very basis of your business. You provide a service or product that fulfills some need for your customer.

So how do you discover what’s truly noteworthy so that you can engage & delight your customers? How do you communicate your story to your customers in a way that they can relate to?

I asked Bernadette Jiwa, who specializes in helping businesses find their story:

Take a step back, walk in your client’s (or potential customer’s) shoes and anticipate how they are feeling. Then build your story and brand experience around that.

Often, we are so busy thinking like a business owner that we forget to think like a customer! Doh!

When was the last time you looked at your website, business card, or press release from a customer’s perspective? When was the last time you spent some time looking at yourself from the perspective of your best clients?

Get in the mind of one of your best customers and ask yourself:

• What do I find intriguing?
• What do I find compelling?
• What do I aspire to?
• What resonates with me? Makes me feel like she “gets it?”

Then come back to your business owner mind and ask yourself if you’re really communicating those answers to your customers. If you are finding limited success, it’s quite possible that some people are putting two + two together but that you can help many more people discover your story!

If that still leaves you a bit confused, I’m excited to say that I’ll be hosting a Q&A call with Bernadette Jiwa herself next week, Wednesday, March 23 at 8:30pm Eastern. Click here to register.

We’ll also be giving away TWO of Bernadette’s signature Brand Storming sessions to people who join us LIVE on the call. They’re worth $497 a piece. Yeah, you want that.

If you want a chance to ask real questions about your real story, win a killer Brand Storming session, and just absorb some great information on discovering the story of your business, register for this FREE call now.

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