#95 - Road Trip Diaries: Weaving Linen, Slow Marketing & Crafting a Brand

In this episode, recorded on the go, I take you through a fiber-filled weekend, exploring the world of weaving with linen, learning about its rich history, and navigating the craft of slow marketing at a creative fair. From her experience in a weaving workshop with Eva Klee at Clay Handwoven to networking with fellow business owners at Crea Weekend, she shares insights on learning curves, personal growth, and the power of understanding your brand identity. Whether you’re a maker, a fiber enthusiast, or a small business owner, this episode is packed with inspiration, practical takeaways, and a good dose of humor.

 You know me as a guide, mentor and teacher, but I've also set off on a new adventure, coaching. Coaching gets a bad rep sometimes, but when it's done right, it can be really transformational. As part of my coaching education, I'll soon need to do real coaching sessions. And it could be a really great opportunity for you to experience it at no or low cost. If you've ever been curious about working with me in this way, now's the time. Just send me an email: info@ja-wol.com

This episode was sponsored by Ja, Wol. I promote my own services and products in my podcast rather than working with sponsors. I will share the odd-discount for things I fully support and use.

Chapters

• 0:00 Embracing Challenges in Craft & Business
• 2:15 Three Key Lessons From a Textile Weekend
• 4:18 Learning to Weave Linen Despite Warnings
• 20:25 The Value of Slow Marketing at Crea Weekend
• 38:32 Describe Your Brand in Three Words
• 50:24 Building Authentic Brand Differentiation

Transcript

Speaker 1: 0:00

Have you ever had a moment where you were so immersed into your craft that the world around you just faded away? Or maybe you've been told that something is too difficult, only to find that diving in headfirst was exactly what you needed? Well, today I'm bringing you a weekend filled with exactly those moments, from weaving linen for the first time to navigating the world of slow marketing at a craft fair. This episode is all about embracing new challenges in business and crafts on your own terms. Now, before we dive in, a quick note I recorded this episode actually in my car on the way back home, so you might hear some background sounds from the road. And since I'm multitasking hello, adhd brain I'm speaking a little slower than usual, but don't worry, the insights and stories are still there. In today's episode, I want to share three key lessons I've learned this weekend that apply to both craft and business.

Speaker 1: 1:02

One don't believe the ghost stories. Whether it's weaving linen or launching a new offer in your business, people will tell you it's too hard, but often the challenge is just a learning curve, not an impossibility. Two slow marketing is worth it. At Crea Weekend, I connected with fellow business owners in person, without the pressure of social media. Real conversations lead to real business growth, and three brand clarity matters. I asked small business owners to describe their brand in three words and you'd be surprised how hard that was. If you can't define your brand quickly, it's time to refine your message. If you can't define your brand quickly, it's time to refine your message. So here's your takeaway for today. Whether it's in your craft or your business, lean into the challenge, step outside your comfort zone, ignore the ghost stories and get clear on what makes you unique. And, if you haven't already, take a moment to define your brand in three words. It's harder than it sounds, but it might just change the way you show up for your business. All right, let's get into it. Buckle up, literally and figuratively, and join me as I take you through a weekend of Fibercraft's business insights and slow marketing in action. Hey there, and welcome to Pattern Shift, the podcast where creative business owners like you learn to build a business that's inspiring, fun and sustainable.

Speaker 1: 2:32

I'm Saskia de Veyter, a business strategist, guide maker and all-round creative entrepreneur. I help business owners in the needle and fiber craft world, just like you, navigate all those icky words, branding, marketing and strategy in a way that actually works for your creative brain. Here we talk about everything from running a values-driven business to simplifying your marketing without burning out Whether you're just starting out or looking to refine your business burning out. Whether you're just starting out or looking to refine your business, you're in the right place. So settle in, grab a cup of tea, coffee or, you know, brugladig. You do you and let's get started. All right, so this is a little bit of a different recording. I'm actually in the car, but I did bring my microphone, so it's going to be interesting when I'm editing, because I'm gonna have a lot of pauses as I'm shifting my focus. On the other hand, I am so much better at focusing while I'm doing something else Hello, adhd. So this is actually potentially a very good idea. Here we go.

Speaker 1: 3:58

This weekend I've had a very textile fall weekend, a very textile full weekend. On Saturday I took a workshop with Eva Klee at Klee Handwoven in Amsterdam. I booked that workshop this summer, right after I came back from my course in Sweden, where I learned the whole process from f the flex plants, once they were harvested, retted and dried. From that point on, we learned how to process it into handspun linen. So when the fibers are not twisted, it's still called flax. When they're twisted, it's called linen, the threads are called linen and the fabric is called linen. The plant is called flax.

Speaker 1: 5:21

And as I usually seem to get myself in this interesting complication of learning theory and practical skills in different languages, whether that be English or, in this case, swedish, my vocabulary is such a muddled mess that usually I don't even remember any of the languages, any of the words. I just know the process, which is great. I can always look it up, but it makes, sometimes it makes me feel like, wasn't that the point right to like, wasn't that the point? Right To learn, so that you can share. And if you don't know any of the words, it's becoming harder to share. But that's okay, I'll just, we'll muddle through. Luckily for this episode, it's neither here nor there what the exact words are in terms of the process.

Speaker 1: 6:27

What is important is that I was so intrigued by the whole process and the idea of being able to grow your own fiber in a way that's much easier than herding and keeping sheep Less cute though, I have to say, but also a lot less hassle. So that quickly became this idea of I want to do more with this and I had gone to Seterglenten. I still don't have a great pronunciation. It's fine. I had gone there on three other occasions where I've had such an amazing time and I just really wanted to go there to learn. And I just really wanted to go there to learn, although in the Netherlands, and specifically in Belgium, we have a rich linen history and there's multiple places that I could have learned it here.

Speaker 1: 7:36

But you know, I just love Sweden and and my oldest daughter tells me I'm a sweebo, and my oldest daughter tells me I'm a sweebo, sweebo, somebody that likes Sweden. And yeah, that is the case. So I love the language, I love the aesthetics, I love the way the land looks, the forests, I love the people I've connected with. I'm sure there's a bunch of e-holes there as well, but up until now they've been wonderful and yeah, that's why I learned in Sweden, because I just feel like that's a little bit of my.

Speaker 1: 8:21

There's a word, a Swedish word that I've used before. Let me think what is it again? Ah, ja, smulstrån, something like that. It's like a strawberry patch, the space on the fields that is extra special. Field that is extra special. So there is. I feel like that when I'm on any Scottish island and I lie in particular. I've only been there once, but I truly feel that is I don't know. Some of my ancestors come from there, I don't know. There's something there. And the same goes for Sweden and the crafts and the way yeah, the way the crafts are still going strong there in a lot, lots of ways. Okay, enough about that.

Speaker 1: 9:19

So I was falling in love with the linen, the idea of being able to grow my own fiber and process it, that as well. So I needed another step, and the next step would be either knitting with linen, which I already know how to do, or weaving, and I have a rigid head of loom with a little bit of experience. But then I thought how about weaving linen? And when you go online, especially YouTube, there's loads and loads of ghost stories. We call them ghost stories in the Netherlands I think that's a little bit of a too literal translation, but stories of woe where the people that have made the videos are warning you about weaving with linen, as they say it's hard, the linen will break and lots of other reasons. Why not to do it? And of course, they'll have videos on how you can do it.

Speaker 1: 10:38

But it seemed like it would be smart to stay clear of it, and as soon as somebody tells me that, of course I'm heading in a straight direction, straight line to where I want to go anyway. And so I found Ava's workshop through a simple google search by googling weaving linen Netherlands workshop, something like that, and she had a workshop for winning a kitchen towel, and I thought it was perfect, because my big dream is being able to make my own textiles for my own use, whether that be my clothes or my household. I want to make it all myself, or at least some of it, and so this was perfect. The description on the website said that you had to have some weaving experience, and I thought I have loads of experience. I only kind of forgot that my experience was not necessarily in weaving as much as in preparation of the fiber and a whole bunch of other textile crafts. But I conveniently just piled them all up together and my general sense was I've got lots of experience, I'll do. Which was hilariously when I found out when I eventually, months later, got the email with the details for the workshop and then I thought let me check. Wait, how well do you have to be able to weave? And then I checked and it said some experience. But you know what is some experience? So I reached out and Ava was able to quickly put my mind at ease and say listen, you're fine, you'll be fine and I was.

Speaker 1: 12:51

It was a wonderful, wonderful day with two other lovely ladies that had different, that were on different spots in the learning curve. I was definitely the biggest beginner, but it was fine. But it was fine and from years of taking craft workshops, I have learned how to learn and I've learned not to be too hard on much, having a perfect product at the end of it, letting that go a little bit, and that makes it so that it will always be a success, because I will always learn. Whether I go to a beginner workshop and I am so much more experienced than everybody else, I will still learn new things. Or whether I'll go to a workshop or course that is taught in Swedish and it feels like a way over my head and I'll still be able to learn so much just from watching. So, yeah, that was amazing.

Speaker 1: 15:20

And I managed to weave a dish towel and what's that called in English? A dishclothoth, I would say. At the end of the day, I also had my loom was set up to do a twill I think it was a twill, I don't really remember kind of a weaving setup and I did well in the beginning. But the end fabric as you'll see on my website in the show notes, the end fabric, as you'll see on my website in the show notes, the end fabric had so much to say and to tell the story of how my brain was doing is really, really interesting. Thread snipping through the whole day, which was pretty good and nobody else had anything snap, so we were okay. Now Ava is going to finish off the towels and finish the fabric and then send them to us and I can't wait to start using it because I don't know, it's so empowering to be able to do these things yourself.

Speaker 1: 16:43

I could have brought my own homespun linen but honestly it was at our holiday cottage and I didn't want to completely go and take the detour. That wasn't important enough to me, so I just used what she had there and of course that was wonderful quality and it made everything look really nice. So now what I did kind of, if you look at, a learning curve I kind of stepped in at the end a little bit, but I loved Eva's way of teaching. Because she said you know weaving the basics. If you know the basics you basically know. After that it is practice, practice, practice. You can learn how to do patterns, but if you know the basics there's not so much of a curve anymore, which I thought was very welcoming spirit and it made me feel like I made the right decision, because now I stepped into something kind of skipping over a few steps.

Speaker 1: 18:02

Anyone else might start with weaving on a piece of cardboard, then moving on to a Richard Haddell loom, moving on to a table loom, then moving on to a floor loom, if I'm using all these terms correctly. But I had gone from the rigid loom straight to the floor loom and put in quite a few hours, a whole day. So I now know what that feels like. I now know what the end results can be, and so now I can decide if either I want to go back a step or that I'm going to find out if I actually want a floor loom and do more weaving. And of course, then there's the steps of how you will get one. Will you buy new or second hand? For me it will always be second hand, and I was able to ask her.

Speaker 1: 19:06

So to ask to ask her about this learning curve. Where am I? And should I go a few steps back now? If I'm interested, if I really want to learn more, should I do this? What? Where should I go? And that's sometimes the hard thing with learning a craft. I just recently heard somebody ask how do you do that? And the only answer can be well, you need to book a workshop or a. Uh, what's another answer. But that's not the answer they're looking for. They want to know what the steps are and what the technique is, and you cannot answer that question in one sentence. So it's going to take some learning if you don't know what you don't know. So it's also very hard to ask the right questions and with this approach that kind of happened. Because I was just so enthusiastic, I now have an answer to one of the beginner's questions without going through a whole lot of steps.

Speaker 1: 20:42

And when I taught knitting I learned in the first couple of years that different people need different kinds of approaches. People need different kinds of approaches. Some people really want to do this step by step, like if you buy something from Ikea, they go through the whole booklet like meticulously, because they don't want to fuck it up and other people just start building. I mean, there's a whole Lego movie about this topic and other people just start building. I mean, there's a whole Lego movie about this topic. But then somebody came into my shop and was like, I want to do two colored cables. And I asked them how much experience do you have? And they said, well, not a lot. And at that point I believed that they had to do the step by step.

Speaker 1: 21:39

But if I'm honest, for me as well, sometimes I need to just do something really, really hard to just get a bit of a frame of reference, so to speak, to know what it actually is you're talking about, and I know that I won't get discouraged by it. It will just show me how hard it is and it will show me if I want to go a few steps back to really learn it or just move on. But for some people they get discouraged and they would have loved the whole process if they took it step by step. So it's really. It really depends on how you learn and how much effort you want to put in, and the more information you get about crafting in general or I think that would be the same for cooking or something else, the more you will be able to kind of fill in the blanks in terms of how hard something will be, how much time you want to spend on it, how much you love it or how much you will potentially love it. So there's that. I know from this workshop and from working with the material that I will potentially love to weave my own textiles very, very much.

Speaker 1: 23:23

I had one big. Well, I had a couple of questions, but one big question for me was will I be bored while I'm weaving? Sometimes, if I'm spinning, I'll get bored and I just want to pick up my phone and get a little bit of a dopamine hit, and that is not ideal In theory. I want to be able to really lean into it and really enjoy the process. But the reality is that usually I do that for a while and then I want to do something else. So that's why I mix and match my crafts, why I mix and match my crafts. One day I'll do some spinning, one day I'll do knitting, sewing. It's just really ADHD friendly to want to make your own wardrobe because you can do all the things at different times, but with weaving it's quite a commitment.

Speaker 1: 24:34

Like a floor loom is the size of a small bathroom Well, really small, but not so much in European city terms. You could fit a shower and a toilet on the space where a floor loom goes, I guess. And that's a commitment in terms of space, in terms of money, of course, and also in terms of guilt, because it's not hidden in a jar. So it's not one of those hobbies that you kind of feel shame around, and it's fine because you never think about it anymore. Anyway, like my lino printing and things like that and my screen printing, I don't see that it's in the cupboard. So, yeah, I need to know if I'll get bored doing it. While I definitely wasn't bored, I think it was completely the other way around. My brain was so occupied doing things with my feet as well as my hands that I wasn't able to form any other thoughts. I was just so into it. And I imagine that once you get a rhythm going and get lots and lots of experience, that will probably change. Then you'll probably start doing other materials, other patterns. Like with handicraft, the it's endless in how proficient and how good you can become and do hard things and all of that. So I'm not worried about that anymore.

Speaker 1: 26:19

Then this week I also took the other step in making that whole plan. Reality is that I signed up for one square meter of linen a, a project that started in Sweden a couple of years ago. You sign up, you get seeds for one square meter of flax actually, and then you'll receive all the information you need. Actually, what I learned in Sweden you'll receive all the information you need. Actually what I learned in Sweden the theory of how to grow it, how to process it. There will be a day where you process it together and you can use the tools or you get information on how you can make those tools to do it yourself.

Speaker 1: 27:10

Now, as we have a holiday cottage and some land around it, I have space and they say it's not that hard to grow flax. So my mind was already kind of wandering through fields of flax, fields of flags, but I thought it might be a little bit more wise to start perhaps with 10 square meters this year. So I signed up and got some extra seats and the coming month we're in March now I think end of March or beginning of April is going to be the time where I start sowing the seeds of love and of flex. So that's a whole thing. If I have time and other resources, I'll have linen ready to use, or at least to save up a couple of years so that I in the meantime can save up and perhaps get a workshop or two extra and get better at weaving, and then I'll be able to grow and weave my own linen fabric. And that is not a promise, but it's a big wish and it's a goal. So we'll see how that goes.

Speaker 1: 28:58

So that was saturday. That was the first free, my first weekend day full of textile amazingness. And then on sunday I visited. I visited the Crea weekend in Hardenberg and which basically create create Crea is uh, short for creativity weekend which is a fairly new craft fair market that runs over three days Friday, saturday and Sunday in the middle north, I guess, of the Netherlands, and it's covering different kinds of crafts, so not just needlecraft, there's also journaling, bullet journaling as well, and all sorts of other crafts that don't appeal to me and are not for me. But that's fine. What is amazing about this show is that every business owner that's there that I talk to are super enthusiastic about the way it is organized. They love how the organization is so friendly and they take the time to greet every stall owner, every business owner. It's very spacious, so no cramping, no cramped alleys or pathways. The food is good, I mean it's. It's a pretty enjoyable space and place to be. I've helped out Lisette from Schap en Draag a few occasions, also this market, and this time I was there to do my own work, which I've probably talked to you about before. I've talked to you about this on numerous accounts that I practice, where I finally now I'm just using a term for it slow marketing. So social media has its place in that, but it's on the sidelines, very much to the sidelines For me. I cannot convey what it is that I do, the person that I am, solely through social media or, for that matter, this podcast.

Speaker 1: 31:43

I work with a lot of Dutch people and my business has grown internationally. So I've always communicated in English when I'm online, but obviously in real life. When I'm online, but obviously in real life, I speak Dutch. I work with a lot of Dutch people and when we do our Zoom calls together, it depends on what the group is like. If it's a Dutch group, we'll do it in Dutch. If there's anyone from outside of the Netherlands, switch to English, which for most Dutch people is not a big issue. We all get taught English at school and our lowest level of English is pretty darn good. I mean, yeah, I think my clients all speak amazingly English, and when there's ever a moment that we don't have a word for anything that we don't know which happens to me a lot we help each other out, and that's as simple as it is. So, uh, I'm there speaking dutch, showing who I actually am, what I look like, how I speak. When it's not edited, I can tell you there's different jokes, there's awkward moments, there's lots of stuff that doesn't make the podcast.

Speaker 1: 33:04

But yeah, I was there to let's just call it what it is. I was there to network and to talk to business owners in the field and ask them questions and see if they can use my help, and my slow marketing is very, very interesting because I have the help now of at least two ambassadors. My clients that are already in the business circle are spreading the word. They're telling people about the community and about our work together and how it has helped them to finally start their newsletter and actually enjoying it or to move to a point of sale system Different things that they've now done that they weren't able to do before. So they're spreading the word. I'm meeting new people, but I'm returning to shows as well, so I'm reconnecting with people that I've met on other occasions, and so I'm gradually building connections with people and I'm making sure that I learn from it, because I spoke to, I think, nine different small businesses on this occasion. Small businesses on this occasion and half of them, I know, are not interested in working with me, or a little bit less than half, but that's fine. I can still learn so much from them and they can still spread the word. They can still talk to somebody else and say, hey, perhaps you can reach out to Saskia and ask if she can help you, because, yeah, it's not for me or not at this point, but it might be something for you.

Speaker 1: 35:02

So I was there at 10 o'clock and I think I left at 2-ish, at which point I was exhausted. My back was hurting. I couldn't say full sentences anymore. Anything that came out of me either didn't make sense or was awkward, and this is my year of simplifying my business and listening to my body. So I listened to my body and I said, okay, that's a wrap, this is how far I can go, and so today I'm not so extremely tired as I could have been if I pushed myself to do more and I hopefully said some good things and I left in time.

Speaker 1: 35:51

Last time when I went to a market or fair it's always so hard to decide which it is festival I interviewed a bunch of people. You can listen to the episode it's a few episodes back. I interviewed small business owners and a lot less conversation, but the interviewing is much more draining for me. So, because I already had a day of peopling in Amsterdam with the weaving workshop, I was tired, so I needed a way to connect to people that was fun, efficient, helpful and leading somewhere in the future. So I thought of one question to ask everybody just one question, not recording it and that question was can you describe your brand in three words?

Speaker 1: 36:48

I asked this to nine businesses actually seven, because two of them are already in my community but I was teasing them and testing them to see if they could do it any better than the rest, because they should be able to do it better. They knew where I was going with it, which is a win, and they were a bit better as well, but when somebody asks you this question. You really should be able to quickly come up with something. Your brand and how it differs from somebody else should be something that quite easily like drops out of your mouth. So being tired and just having that one question meant that what I did was I gave up to them and I said either hey, how are you doing Nice to see you again? Or hi, I am writing a blog post or making a podcast.

Speaker 1: 37:48

I didn't actually know at the time which I was going to make, or make you both. And I have just one question for you Would you like to participate? And usually they would. I asked the question. They frowned because that question is quite hard if you've never tried it before. And then, with that information, I wrote the three words down on their business card, which gave me an opportunity to ask do you have a business card? I can write it down so I can remember, and then when I have the blog post or the episode ready, I will let you know and I'll get in touch with you.

Speaker 1: 38:34

So that turned into quite a few interesting conversations. Some conversations were already kind of came from my ambassadors and they just said go and talk to her, and we immediately dove deep and I spent some time talking to two or three different occasions where I was spending quite a bit of time with these business owners and had an amazing time getting to know them and figuring out how they feel about coaching, even though I'm not an official coach yet. Ps, I started my education and if you want to get coached by me in the future, I have a waiting list ready. You'll be waiting for a while, but because I'm learning, I'll probably need people to practice with and those sessions will be either free or at a very low cost. And if you get on that waiting list, I'll have a group of people to work with, which is great, and you'll get some free or cheap coaching. So just look at the show notes for that.

Speaker 1: 39:46

But people call me coach anyway, even if I don't call myself that, and some people started to share with me their experience with coaching and coaches or their idea of it, so I could really debunk a lot of myths and be clear about what it is that I actually do now and what I will do in the future with coaching and how. That's different. And that was amazing, because one of them had some pretty well hard questions, but they were very Dutch, like very uh, no shame, just ask, just tell you what I think about it. And I enjoyed that so much because that gives me the opportunity to be my truest self, because there's no point in me selling something about myself that is not true or is not real. If they have a different expectation and I sell it as if I could do that or if I could be that, then that would be really sucky for me at one point because that's not what I do. So I have to be super, super honest and one of the things with that is my community at this moment is quite small and that could not be a great selling point for people.

Speaker 1: 41:20

But I know why it is small and I can explain why. It's because I started off with my customers from my shop and my followers on social media from my shop and my followers on social media. That group was large, but now my business has niched down to only aspiring business owners and business owners and, although they are crafters themselves, the whole bulk of people that were in my community because they were crafters have slowly moved away from the community because what I share there is more focused around business and self-care and still has a lot of crafting there, but it's aimed in a different direction. So, yeah, of course I'll have less people there and actually at the moment, I'm deep cleaning my email list so that I know how many people there actually are, so that I know how many people actually are interested in what I offer these days and what I do right now.

Speaker 1: 42:43

So being able to talk to people and being yourself and being clear so that they know what they can expect, and you know what you can expect and you actually can kind of figure out if you actually want to work with this person or not, because that sometimes is so important as well. I have met business owners before. That I don't think would be a good match and, yeah, if you can make a choice there. So the slow marketing is is really starting to to move things along with the ambassadors, with the repeatedly meeting the same people and talking to them, building a relationship with them, whether or not they want to work with you. I just love providing some insights.

Speaker 1: 43:46

So what I'll do is I will send an email and say, listen, I saw this on your website and it would be really helpful if you tweak it just a little bit so that this and this can happen, and you can say that's unsolidated advice, but I like to think of it as small gifts, small insights, a do-it-it-what-you will. I will never be sad or frustrated or I will never have emotions about people not doing anything with it. It's for theirs to receive and I love to give it. So, yeah, I felt really, really good by the end of the day, and this part of the episode is going to go into what their answers were and how I received what they were, and this part sorry, I was a little bit distracted because I just drove by a truck full of pigs and that always makes me so, so sad. Um, yeah anyway.

Speaker 1: 45:07

Um, so this part of the episode is about the answers they gave me to the question can you describe your brand in three words? Of course, now I'm in the car so I don't have my notes, but there are different things that I can tell you that I've learned from this and that I kind of knew might happen and that we can talk about, and then, at a later point, I might share with you the actual words, if I still think that's useful. I don't think that is the point, the specific words, but they are something for me to work with when I talk you through this. So why would you want I talked about it earlier in this episode why would you want to be able to talk about your brand in three words? Well, when I entered the building, I was given a folder that had the map of the building, where all the stalls were, and it had lists of the businesses. On the left-hand side it was a few pages Businesses with their name on the left-hand side. On the right-hand side were the description of their business and then the number of their stall. Of all the names, there's something I can make a podcast episode about. It is fascinating.

Speaker 1: 46:51

Please, if you start a business, try to find a list of businesses and look at the names the names, because there can only be so many studios, ateliers and business names with creative in it. The S and the A were fully represented in the alphabet of names. It could be really practical to have a letter in the beginning of the alphabet, but that's perhaps a little nitpicky. It's cool to think about a name that's easy to remember. I think that would be number one Easy to remember. It doesn't particularly have to say what you do, but that could be really convenient If your business model is going to markets, then you will always be around other similar businesses, so you want to stand out.

Speaker 1: 48:03

If your business model is sell my yarn only at elderly people's homes, in a van that I drive up to different elderly people's homes, which is completely a great idea, I think, so go ahead, do that, then your name is not so important. If it's good that it's easy to type, that you can find a website, that you can actually google it, the business names that have letters for two and for four use a Z instead of an S. Those are just so frustrating to Google and to find anything. Stay away from that. I would say Perhaps I should do a whole episode about this. Anyway, I thought it was really interesting to see all the names. Some of the names are very similar and I did make a mistake of saying the different name to a business owner for the other business that had a similar name. So that can happen. Then the three words on the next to the names. They all had to give the organizer a sentence of what their business is or does or what it sells, and of course, you can say I sell hand-dyed yarn or colorful hand-dyed yarns. There will probably be a whole bunch of other descriptions just like that. It's not wrong because it's clear, and if people are kind of scrolling old-fashioned scrolling with their eyes through the list, they will know what you do, and that's the point.

Speaker 1: 49:56

But you also want to stand out, so we're coming back to the three words how are you different from the other? Let's stick with the indie dyers. How are you different from the others? What makes you stand out If you have a pretty large collection of plant dyed yarns? That's a unique selling point. That's something very specific. You don't see that a lot. You don't see that a lot.

Speaker 1: 50:24

This occasion there were actually at least two hand dyers that dye plant fibers, and so how do you distinguish yourself from the other one? Is it because you are a vegan? If you want to support the vegan community, do you really want to make a point out of the sustainability aspect of it, which is a topic for discussion? But that's that's not what this is about. I'm just. I'm just giving you directions here. Um, so how are you different? That sentence is something that shows who you uniquely are. That's the sentence that should go on your website, above the fold, the space before you start scrolling, that's the first thing people see One sentence who are you? What do you do? How are you different? With these three words, you are starting the building blocks of that sentence, aka your one-liner. So now, what did they say? What were their three words? Well, I am not going to wait till the end, I'm just going to immediately say it.

Speaker 1: 51:49

I think all but one said colorful, and the one that didn't say colorful was a bullet journal. Somebody designed stickers and stationery. Somebody designed stickers and stationery, and her style was more earthy, more toned down, so her thing wasn't immediately colorful, but everyone that had some sort of textile, their first word or second word was colorful or something along those lines. Well, that's what part of your sentence already doesn't make much of an impact, because everyone has colorful yarns. So that's something to think about. Right, that's very interesting.

Speaker 1: 52:43

Then, of course, just like with the names, creative is a word that comes up a lot. So what happens is people were describing their business. Compared to the local grocery shops, like compared to the baker, the butcher, the candlestick maker, you'll have colorful, creative yarns, absolutely, and that it makes sense, but it doesn't make as much sense. Oh, I'm taking the right road, yes, but when you're in a market that's full of creative business owners and you are sharing one third of the market with other textile crafts business owners, then it becomes a little bit more important to distinguish yourselves from the rest. Now finding out, how are you different? And are you that different?

Speaker 1: 53:48

Well, talking to one of these business owners revealed that she said colorful. But when we talked a little bit longer, she really had some strong ideas about color and she used a lot of sentences to describe them. But of course, after a while, you can easily well, maybe not easily, but you can find the words that really match the actual yarns. She also said I'm using rainwater. I actually don't know if we say rainwater in English. Yeah, rainwater, she uses rainwater to rinse her yarns. So there's something that's very different.

Speaker 1: 54:40

Somebody else, when I talked a little bit more about it, said in terms of colors, I really like full colors. Most of my colors, even if I go a little bit less bright, they're all very, they're all very saturated. So for her saturate colors. Other person, when talking more about colorful, said well, I just can't do anything that is not colorful. I don't want to be boring. So there's something there. Then there was somebody else who also does bright colors. But they are all different. All the people that have colorful yarns, they're all different.

Speaker 1: 55:39

And I think there must be some people listening here that say, well, more and more indie diaries are doing the same thing. I don't think they're different at all. They all have the speckles, they all follow the same trends. And even if that's true I don't think that's true at all from what I saw yesterday but even if that's true, your brand is more than just the colors. It's you, it's how you connect with people, it's actually how your ball bands, the labels look. It's more than just the product. It's the whole experience of how you connect with your customer after the market is over. Connect with your customer after the market is over. Will you be ready to sell them more of the same thing right away? Will you be open for business and open for questions right away? All those kinds of things are what makes your brand, what makes your brand.

Speaker 1: 56:52

And so taking some time and really figuring out who you are as a person and what your brand is because this is where this story comes in really nicely, I reconnected with one of the business owners that was in the last interview episode and I asked her the same question and she said my God, that's so hard. And she came up with not three words but a sentence that was three words, and it was so genius. This was specifically what I meant. So, because it was so smart, I was not going to mention the names with the specific examples, but this was kind of brilliant. She said which means this is me, three words that describe her brand. And although that wouldn't work as a sentence because that doesn't tell you anything about what kind of products she has, it does tell you a little bit about what her work means to her and how much she puts into it. It really brings across a message. And it's not the end of the exercise, but I thought it was so creative.

Speaker 1: 58:22

Her brand also, her brand name, also reflects that. It's called Ikke. In Dutch, translating freely, loosely means what would I translate it like? Just me, or me, or me here. If you would say, if you would use it in a sentence, it would be. If you would say who wants to come? In Dutch she would say ikke me. So that's her brand name. Her three words were this is me, and that all tied together into one thing and, as I said. Of course it's not really a one-liner, but for the sake of this exercise, it was really well done. Someone else also said something along the lines of they mentioned their name and their name is also in their brand. So that was on the same kind of line of thinking. They mentioned their name and their name is also in their brand. So that was on the same kind of line of thinking.

Speaker 1: 59:38

What I wanted to do with this exercise is give people a notion of what branding actually is and how you could use it to your advantage, doing some work to figure out how are you different from the rest? Because there's a bunch of indie dyers on each market that you will be at, even if it's a more general creative market, there's a bunch of other people and what you actually want to do is build a business and a brand that people can distinguish immediately from the others. They know your name, they know your brand name. That's also two different things. It's very important. Lots of business cards did not have the name of the owner and I had to look it up, and then it's also not always very clear on their websites. So your business card you give to people to connect with you and your business, so your name really should be on there.

Speaker 1: 1:00:45

I got so much from a few hours at this market, coming back home taking the business cards, the three names that they have, then going to their websites and their Instagram accounts, seeing if how they're building their brands, if things are connected to each other. If I was a person that saw them at the market, was back at home, remembered something about them and then trying to get back in touch to either get more of the same yarn because now I know that I want to make a whole sweater instead of just a hat with that beautiful yarn and I do want to spend money on it because, in fact, I loved it so much I couldn't sleep and then the web shop is closed because they're counted the yarn, because they don't have a POS system set up, and that makes sense, and as a customer, you can really understand why they do it. But that means that you have to come back at another moment and will you be able to do it? Will you remember it? Will you even want to? So, making the whole process of connecting with you, whether it is for buying or for just talking to you and building a relationship, you should really make that process very easy on the customer. So they come home, go to your website. They should be able to sign up for your newsletter before they even scroll down to the bottom of your page. So you should have a newsletter Because they can follow you on Instagram but they will miss half of what you post and you won't be able to build a relationship as good as you would if you had them on an email list. Talked about the email list a lot of times before. Uh, actually the last episode was all about uh lists, so go ahead and listen to that if you want to learn more.

Speaker 1: 1:03:23

So just another small story from one of the business owners I talked to, not completely in the field that is, the textile craft industry, but as I also am a bullet journal official trainer, I also talk to people that either sell bullet journals or do something with stationary. So when I asked one of the people that sell stationary what their three words were, she was thinking about it. She took it very seriously. This doesn't happen a lot, but this person is also a professional marketer, so she couldn't right away mention it, but she had an idea of what the words would have to be and she was already going into the I'll do it perfectly mode. So she was finding the exact right words and that took her a little bit of time, but not all that long. But when she was thinking about it and I was actually helping her to find this word that she couldn't, it was actually not that she didn't know the word, she just could grab it from the drawer in her, like the same thing. That happens to me a lot. So you know what it is, you just can't find it Very professional looking.

Speaker 1: 1:04:52

The whole brand looked spotless, amazing. And then I said, why don't we ask the customer? And then within two seconds, the customer was happy to play along and came up with the exact words. And that is gold. I mean, that means that what you have envisioned for your brand is exactly what the customer is getting. And that's where you need to connect and talk to your clients, your customers, your audience, and figure out how do they see you, how do they see your brands. Does it match with what you have in your head? That's something we need to talk about another time when we talk about, when we talk about interviewing your customers and clients and really figuring out where you're on track and how can you help them to the best of your abilities. Thanks for listening. I'm getting a little bit like my throat. I need to drink something. I had such an amazing time.

Speaker 1: 1:06:08

I want to thank all the business owners that were happy to play along and provided me with a lot of information. I was so happy to talk to you, to connect to you, to see you again or meet you for the very first time. In the show notes you'll find all the links to these businesses so I can give them a little bit of a shout out. So here's a little shout out to all the businesses that were happy to play along. This is editing Saskia, because of course I couldn't do it by heart. So I've got my bullet journal in front of me and here are the people that were happy to participate, and starting off with Lisette from Schaap en Draak and Françoise at Bad Cattoo Yarns, because they were my ambassadors at the fair and everywhere. Honestly, they are clients of mine and they do such a great job of saying all the positive things. Thank you guys. Thank you so much. And then I talked to some new friends and some older friends, which were Ingrid at Icke, lisette at Woolly Adventures, meerte at Frogmouse Studio, martine at Stoffen en Stiksels, vinnie at Vinnie's Wall. I also spoke to a few business owners in the realm of bullet journaling and stationery because it was a mixed creative weekend and of course I love bullet journaling. I also really enjoy talking to business owners in that industry. So that was Ilse at Bujo Boutique, anouk at Nookson and Viljana at Cart Studio.

Speaker 1: 1:07:50

If you're curious about these businesses and the words that they gave to describe their business, I actually got an email the other day from someone that said oh, wait, wait, wait, can I still change it? Which I love because it means that she was really thinking about it and I will change it. Of course I will. So you can see it in the show notes on the website patternshiftfm, you'll see a picture of the stall and the names of the brands and you can decide for yourself if they nailed it or perhaps you have ideas for them and you can share that by reacting to the show notes. I'd be very interested to see all your reactions.

Speaker 1: 1:08:29

Let's go on with the episode. So the next step you want to take if you want to spend some more time thinking about these three words for your business, why don't you do it in three ways. Why don't you do it in three ways? You can think about textures, colors actually going into what does your product, your main product, look like? You can also focus on how does your product make your customer feel. You can focus on who you are as a business owner and what your values are and, bringing all those things together, you can start working on creating a one-liner that's really clear and tells your customer who you are, what you sell and how can they get it. I'm going to leave it here for now. Enjoy your exercise If you want to do deeper work or if you want to hear me out on some things, if you need support on anything.

Speaker 1: 1:09:42

I finally found a way to describe myself, so you can see that for me as well, it's an ongoing process of tweaking until you get it right. I am a support professional in the needle crafts and fiber arts community and industry and I help small businesses to grow their business in a way that's healthy for them and healthy for the world. Hopefully you've got something out of this. Let me know. I am eagerly awaiting all your questions, all your feedback, so that I can make more episodes that are exactly what you need and what you like listening to. Thank you you so much. Find all the details in the show notes and we'll see you next time. Until next time, take care and eat and process your fibers, process your fibers. I'm getting poo images. Uh, we'll leave it in there. Bye.