Building a Creative Business from Scratch
Building a creative business from scratch is an exciting but challenging journey.
In her latest solo episode of the Creative Juggle Joy podcast, Kaylie dives deep into the essentials of turning your passion into a thriving business.
From her personal experience of launching a candle b
usiness without a solid plan to actionable tips on task mapping and market understanding, this episode is a treasure trove of insights for aspiring creative entrepreneurs.
The Importance of a Solid Plan
The first step in building a successful creative business is having a solid plan.
Kaylie emphasizes that while the creative process is exhilarating, it can also be overwhelming without a clear roadmap.
Many creative minds struggle with organization and planning, but dedicating an hour or two each week to task mapping can make a significant difference.
Key areas to focus on include research, planning, creation, marketing, and customer service. By breaking down these tasks, you can manage your time more effectively and ensure that no aspect of your business is neglected.
Understanding Your Market
Understanding your market is crucial for success.
One of the biggest mistakes Kaylie made was targeting the wrong audience at local craft fairs.
She quickly realized the importance of finding events where her ideal customers would be.
Identifying your target audience and understanding their preferences can make a world of difference in your sales.
This involves not only recognizing who they are but also where they spend their time and what products they are most likely to purchase.
Kaylie’s experience highlights the importance of flexibility and adaptability in business strategies.
Creating Marketable Products
Creating marketable products is another essential aspect of a thriving creative business.
While it's important to stay true to your unique style, balancing it with market demand can help
you build a loyal customer base.
Kaylie learned that simpler, more popular scents like lemon and rose sold better than the complicated mixed scents she initially favored.
This doesn’t mean compromising your creativity; instead, it’s about finding a middle ground where your unique style meets market demand.
This approach can help you establish a foothold in the market and gradually introduce more unique creations.
Effective Marketing Strategies
Marketing strategies play a pivotal role in the success of any business.
Kaylie shares practical marketing tips that can be implemented even if you're just starting out.
Social media is a powerful tool for reaching your audience, but it’s essential to have a clear strategy.
Focus on platforms where your audience hangs out and share behind-the-scenes content, promotions, and finished products.
Building an email list early on can also be incredibly beneficial. Regular updates about your products, promotions, and business journey can help you connect with your audience and keep them engaged.
Local Partnerships and Networking
Local partnerships and pop-up shops can increase your visibility and attract new customers.
Collaborating with local businesses or participating in artisan markets allows you to interact directly with potential buyers and receive immediate feedback.
Networking with fellow creatives can lead to collaborations and new opportunities.
Kaylie also suggests offering craft classes and creating valuable content related to your niche to establish yourself as an authority in your field.
Embracing a Growth Mindset
Maintaining a growth mindset is vital for long-term success.
Kaylie stresses that resilience and determination are key to overcoming challenges.
It’s normal to have negative thoughts, but consciously shifting your mindset can make a significant difference.
Investing in personal growth through books, podcasts, and courses can improve your mindset and help you stay motivated.
Remember, it's a process, and there will be times when things don’t go as planned. However, each step you take brings you closer to your goals.
Conclusion
To wrap up, building a creative business from scratch requires a solid plan, understanding your market, creating quality products, and maintaining a growth mindset.
Kaylie’s candid advice and personal experiences provide valuable insights for anyone looking to turn their creative passion into a profitable business.
Whether you're just starting out or looking to refine your approach, this episode of the Creative Juggle Joy podcast is a must-listen.
Thanks for joining us today on this journey of crafting a successful creative business.
If you found these insights helpful, consider leaving a review or sharing this episode with a friend who might need some encouragement.
Don’t forget to subscribe to the Creative Juggle Joy podcast for more tips and strategies.
Keep creating, keep juggling, and most importantly, keep finding joy in the process.
Remember, there's joy in the journey, even on the craziest days.
TRANSCRIPT:
Kaylie Edwards: 0:05
Hey everyone, it's Kayleig and welcome back to the Creative Juggle Joy podcast. I'm chuffed to bits to dive into today's episode, where we'll explore building a creative business from scratch. Whether you're a multi-passionate artist, a crafty soul or someone considering turning a hobby into a business, this episode is for you. Today we'll cover the importance of having a solid plan, understanding your market, creating quality products and embracing a growth mindset. These elements are essential for your success and I'm excited to share my experiences with you. Let's get started First. Let's discuss the importance of a solid plan.
Kaylie Edwards: 0:53
Like many of you who may have already started their business or side hustle, when I started my candle business, I had an exciting idea but no real plan. I was just winging it, which often led me feeling frustrated and lost. I have found over the years, many creative minds have the same struggle. I did loads of research. Then I launched in the end of 2019 and I learned the hard way that a solid plan is your roadmap. Don't get me wrong organisation and planning is not something I enjoy or comes naturally to me. It is something I still have to consciously encourage myself to do or, some days, kick myself to do. But I encourage you to take at least an hour or two each week to map out your tasks. Your plan should cover key basic areas for running a business, like research, which will be competitive analysis, product research, trends, planning is another area. Learning, because we all need to learn and continuous learning is your best friend on your journey. Then creating is obviously another area, whether that's content or creating your products. Marketing and selling is obviously a big one, because without the marketing and selling element, you won't sell anything. Then you have customer service, so customer support, like replying to customers, admin is obviously a big area as well, but you don't want to be focusing too much on admin. You want to make sure that you have a balance within all areas and it may seem overwhelming at first, but over time, you'll become more efficient and it will get easier in some areas. For example, I use time blocking and batch creation to manage my tasks effectively. And yes, I have a toddler, so I've learned to be flexible and give myself grace when things don't go as planned.
Kaylie Edwards: 2:54
Now let's talk about understanding your market. One of the biggest mistakes was sticking to a local craft fair when I started, which didn't attract my ideal customer. Local craft fair when I started, which didn't attract my ideal customer, I realised I needed to seek out events where my target audience would be not long after I started my business, before I could make that switch to further out where my ideal customers were, and all the events were then cancelled. Knowing your ideal customer is crucial. Take the time to identify who they are and where you can find them. It makes a world of difference in your sales. It's so much harder to market to people who are not that keen or maybe just be like all right, yeah, it's a nice to have.
Kaylie Edwards: 3:39
Next, let's focus on creating marketable products. Yeah, it's a nice to have. Next, let's focus on creating marketable products. When I started, I was using scents I loved and buying quite complicated mixed scents, but I quickly learned that simpler, more popular scents like lemon and rose sold better.
Kaylie Edwards: 3:58
Balance your unique style with market demand. While your creations should reflect who you are and what you love, it's also helpful to start with products that happen to have proven popularity. This will help you build a customer base and find your footing in the market, and maybe even a style that isn't something you have yet. An example of this could be you like doing these elaborate paintings with lots of different bits going on, but could you do your style or the way you like to paint with a topic and pair that with a topic that is popular or an audience that would like to buy something like that? So, let's say, mountain climbers, people that love hiking at mountains or like nature they might be more in tune to buy your product if that is what you're painting or creating digitally or anything else around that. You could be creating patterns with little mountainscapes on them and trees and animals. It's another idea.
Kaylie Edwards: 5:05
Now let's dive into some practical marketing strategies. Early on, I didn't think much about my marketing approach. I was just doing craft fairs and posting on social media, but I lacked a clear strategy. I had lots of marketing knowledge and experience, but I just didn't utilize it enough. Here are some actual tips you can implement. Obviously, everyone knows social media, so start with platforms where your audience hangs out. I would pick one for now.
Kaylie Edwards: 5:35
As you get started, share your journey behind the scenes, content and finished products, promotions, and make sure to use stories and reels to engage your audience more effectively. Email list is another big one, so begin building an email list as early as possible, even if it's small or you haven't got a list, yet at least get one set up so you can add email addresses to it. As you get more customers and you interact with more people who could be our ideal audience, send out regular updates about your products, promotions, behind the scenes, insights. This doesn't mean you have to tell your email list or your audience everything about your life, but stories about you, your journey, your business can help your audience and customers connect with you and your creations. A great mentor who teaches how to write and tell stories for business is a lady called Susan Payton, who wrote a book called Business of Stories and now has courses around those teachings. She also runs free story writing challenges now and again, which I've attended and are brilliant. If you also want more marketing and business tips, feel free to join my email list, where I send out monthly marketing tips and strategies for creative businesses and people who want to get started.
Kaylie Edwards: 6:54
Another strategy you can do is local partnerships. You could collaborate with local businesses such as cafes, boutiques, gift shops and loads of other different businesses to display or sell your products. This can increase visibility and attract new customers. Pop-up shops Organise or participate in pop-up shops or artisan markets and events. These events allow you to interact with customers directly and get immediate feedback on your products and make more of a connection with potential buyers. Networking is also another part of this, so attend local events, workshops or online webinars to connect with your fellow creatives. Building relationships can lead to collaborations and new opportunities. So partner with other creators or related businesses with mutual promotion. This can expand your reach significantly. With mutual promotion, this can expand your reach significantly. Another one is craft classes. Offer workshops related to your craft or your art. This will not only generate income, but also helps you build a community and showcase your expertise.
Kaylie Edwards: 8:05
Then, another big one is content marketing. When you're an online business, this is a key to drive traffic to your products and make you an authority in your space. So create valuable content related to your niche. So blogs, tutorials, videos that can lead to organic traffic and establish you as an authority in your field. Another lead on from the email marketing list would be, obviously, freebies and lead magnets. So this would be free resources you are providing related to your products and your business, something that would entice your customers or potential customers to sign up for your email list.
Kaylie Edwards: 8:49
This could be a free screen wallpaper of your most popular art that would entice your customers or potential customers to sign up for your email list. This could be a free screen wallpaper of your most popular art, could be a wall hanging layout ideas guide or a printable calendar with your art and designs on them. There is so many printable or digital ideas you can use for this. You could even just create a coupon off code for their next purchase. Free workshop access for joining your email list could be offline, so like an offline workshop in a local area, or you could be doing a online workshop. Now I've given you all them and sometimes you may not even understand what that means, and I get that when you're in the just starting phase. Sometimes you might not know what any of this is. If you're looking for personalised support as you start and market your creative business, I offer strategy sessions. You can even book a free 30-minute starter strategy call with me. Well, these calls and strategies will help you get an idea of what you need to focus on and grow your visibility. This will be for beginners and business owners who have started but maybe have some slow growth and not sure what to do to market their products even more.
Kaylie Edwards: 10:03
Finally, let's discuss the importance of a growth mindset. I know sometimes people will be like, oh no, I'm talking about mindset again for those people who have already been in the business world for a bit. But your mindset is everything when it comes to success. Your mindset is everything when it comes to success. The most successful people are those willing to do what others won't. I face challenges and it's my resilience and determination that keep me moving forward. I remind myself that it's okay to have negative thoughts. When I catch myself saying I can't do this, I consciously shift those to a yes, it's hard, but I can find a way around this.
Kaylie Edwards: 10:45
Investing in personal growth through books, podcasts, courses can significantly improve your mindset. It starts with being aware of your thoughts and actively choosing to reframe them. Remember, it's a process. There will be times you slip up god knows, I've done that but you always have the chance to change next time. To wrap up, building a career business from scratch is an exciting journey that requires a solid plan, understanding your market, quality products and a growth mindset. You're not alone in this journey and every step you take matters. I encourage you to start taking action, whether it's drafting that business plan, creating your first product or simply reaching out to connect with others. Thanks so much for joining me today on the creative juggle joint podcast. If you found this episode helpful, I'd love it if you'd leave a review or share it with a friend who might need some encouragement on their creative journey. And don't forget to subscribe so you never miss an episode. Until next time, keep creating, keep juggling and, most importantly, keep finding joy in the process. Remember there's joy in the journey, even on the craziest days.