Now displaying: August, 2017

070 Fiber Alchemist Francoise Danoy transforms knitters with confidence 0

Aug 23, 2017

In this episode Kara talks to knitwear designer and regular coaching client, Francoise Danoy. Francoise is a self-proclaimed Yarn Alchemist: she transforms yarn into knitwear designs for her tribe of Fibre Muses to enjoy, and also teaches others how to become Yarn Alchemists themselves. Her mission is to evolve and grow, and right now the way she does that is by helping her Fibre Muses dive deep into themselves to find their creativity and magic. As a result of working with Francoise, a knitter can transform her yarn into a piece of fiber art, as well as discover and benefit from the magical properties of knitting, in order to create a more meaningful experience.

“Knitting is a quiet kind of magic that not only allows us to take a skein of yarn and transform in into something new, but connects us to our past, helps us stay grounded in the present and shapes our future.”

- Francoise Danoy

[Tweet "Inspiration abounds when designer @ArohaKnits talks business on the #PowerPurlsPodcast!"]

Episode highlights:

Francoise was a guest on episode 26, and we're so happy to have her back again!
Francoise is a knitwear designer living in Osaka, Japan. Her father is French and her mother is Maori.
Francoise refers to herself as a yarn alchemist – she helps knitters transform their yarn into pieces of fiber art
Francoise wants to inspire her fibre muses to help them feel confident about creating beautiful hand knits.
She has been designing for 2.5 years, knitting for 3 years.
Kara and Francoise work together with Kara’s 1:1 coaching service – they have had a monthly call for years now.
Coaching gives Francoise an outside perspective on her business and lets her know she's not alone.
Francoise says: When it comes to achieving goals, it’s less about succeeding or failing and more about doing the work.
The accountability aspect of coaching helps Francoise with the “getting it done” portion of her goal-setting process.
Francoise says that her sessions with Kara gives her a major confidence boost.
She also loved getting in-person help with TNNA from Kara.
Kara recommends the use of an editorial calendar to plan out your content each month and quarter.
Francoise says her design process hasn’t changed over the years, but she is more efficient now.
She also teaches that same process to others now so they can build a design business.
How long does it take to make a design? For hats, 1-2 months, shawls 2-3 months, garments longer.
The longest amount of time in the whole process is the test knitting.
Kara recommends always hiring a test knitter in order to preserve your passion for knitting.
Francoise says it’s still fun for her to knit her own designs, at least at this point.
Francoise casts on one project, sees it all the way through, and immediately starts the next one.
For her new collection, Francoise is batching by doing all the knitting, then all the pattern writing, then all the edits.
Francoise likes to start her work around 9 and be finished with her non-knitting work by lunch.
When she creates the sketches for her design, Fracoise tends to envision the colors at that point.
Francoise prefers to use semi-solid colorways, blues, yellows, reds, purples.
Her upcoming publication is going to feature more rustic and natural colors and warmer tones.
Francoise immediately started her knitting journey with the idea of incorporating Maori designs into her stitches.
If she couldn't find a pattern she liked, she would make one up!
This is what prompted Francoise to learn new techniques, so that she could incorporate that into her designs.
For Francoise, knitting was an opportunity to reconnect with her mother’s culture and learn her own heritage.
It is Francoise’s goal to help people have confidence to transform their yarn into amazing projects and make magic.
Francoise is now going to a quarterly pattern collection release schedule instead of a monthly one.
The biggest thing she’s struggling right now is shifting her mindset from short-term goals and deadlines to long-term.
Kara recommends creating a spreadsheet to map out your goals and the timeline associated with it.
Francoise is not influenced by the city where she lives (Osaka) for her design process.
Francoise’s advice for the fiber arts business: "Just put yourself out there and see it through, just go for it."

Mentioned in this episode:

8 steps to creating a killer design (Kara I can't find a landing page for this only a direct download?)

Chelsea Fitch

Francoise's Tokerau Shawl pattern

Fiber Muse Alchemy kits – yarn club subscription from Francoise

Swatch Studio

The One Thing by Gary Keller

Learn more about Francoise and Aroha Knits:

Website: arohaknits.com

Facebook group: The Fibre Muse Circle

Instagram: instagram.com/arohaknits

MOVE THE NEEDLE ON YOUR KNIT BIZ!

Click here to sign up for a free 30-minute creative business strategy session with Kara!

Disclosure: Please note that some of the links in this episode are affiliate links. I will earn a commission if you decide to make a purchase and there is no additional cost for you to do so. When I make a recommendation, it is because I have personal experience with these products and have used them myself. I only recommend products I believe in and suggest them because I know they will be helpful, not because of the small commission I make if you decide to make a purchase. The commission I earn helps offset the production expenses that I incur to produce Power Purls, and by purchasing products through these links, also helps you to become a supporter of this podcast and for that, I am truly grateful.

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069 Marketing Advice from Leanne Pressly, CEO of Stitchcraft Marketing 0

Aug 9, 2017

In this episode Kara is joined by Leanne Pressly, the CEO of Stitchcraft Marketing. Principal owner and multi-hat wearing fearless CEO of Stitchcraft Marketing. Leanne holds an M.A. in Sociology and a B.A. in English and has 20+ years of experience in sales and marketing. Prior to starting the agency, she owned a website design and hosting business for 10 years. She’s been a knitter since she was 18 and loves to spin yarn, make her own clothes and quilt. She lives in Colorado with her husband, teenage daughter and a menagerie of pets.

“The rapid pace of change means you're NEVER going to be in front of your social channels all the time. Half the battle is just having a solid social media plan and following through on the work. Let the rest go.”

-Leanne Pressly

[Tweet "Soaking up TONS of #marketing advice from Leanne of @Stitchcraftmktg on #PowerPurlsPodcast!"]

Episode highlights:

Leanne began her career in the fiber crafts when she met Deb Robson while pulling weeds on a farm in Colorado!
Listen to the episode to hear about Leanne's whimsical first knitting project.
Leanne worked at Interweave while she finished her graduate school program in Colorado.
Leanne's "light bulb moment" came when she realized that there was a need for fiber arts businesses to hire someone to mange their newsletters and social media.
Stitchcraft's clients own businesses in all areas of the hand crafting world, from fabric to yarn to paper crafts and more.
Stitchcraft manages many different areas of a client's business, depending on that client's needs.
Stitchcraft's sweet spot is social planning, strategy, and execution but they also offer content planning and marketing, pattern support, and more.
Leanne advocates that even a B2B (business to business) company needs to have a social media plan and an active presence on social media channels.
Leanne says that the growth in the industry has been mostly positive: "Competition's good for everybody - it raises all ships," she says.
Leanne started a podcast so that she could share the common advice she gives several clients with a wider audience.
Leanne loves to invite guests to the show who can share their expertise with her listeners.
In her daily life, Leanne still knits and spins regularly. She loves a simple project to help her unwind at the end of a long working day.
Marketing is in Leanne's blood: her mother was a marketer and her father was an entrepreneur.
Life and knitting have taught Leanne that she thrives best when she's focusing on the big picture.
On Leanne's team, everyone has "a seat on the bus." So she builds that team according to the individual strengths that people bring to the bus.
Leanne's big piece of advice for our viewers: "Don't be afraid to embrace what you're really good at, and really focus your career on that."
What contributes to Leanne's day to day success? Zapier!