Vianza Blog

We at Vianza are a bit obsessed with collaboration + co-creation.  We think the best products are when makers + buyers work together to create something that will delight their customers.

“Co-creation is about creating new products & services working in conjunction with another skilled individual or business, showcasing  a combined vision, which is bigger than the sum of the parts.”

- Mita

How to start collaborating

- If you’re a designer and you don’t know where to start, we covered the three ways to co-create.

- If you’re a retailer, Piper wrote tips on collaborating with the designers you carry here.

- Check out these tools we use to collaborate.

- Want to create a private label line for your shop? Start here.

Get inspired - Modish has a brilliant series that highlights collaborations.

Do you collaborate with designers, retailers or customers to create any of your products?

If you're a retailer, either online or bricks and mortar (or both!), no matter how well you plan and manage your inventory, you're going to have a problem.  You will, undoubtedly, discover one product that just doesn't move.
 
Instead of slashing prices and cursing the loss, try some of these tips:

“- Feature the item on your website’s home page.
- Pitch the item to magazines, blogs and local media.  Be creative and offer suggestions for the item.  Is there a holiday coming up that this item would make a great gift for?  Pitch it!
- Create a newsletter showing all the ways you can use the item.”
 

-Piper Toth
 

“Try changing the location of the items in your display first to see if that will help spur some interest.”
-Carol Shroeder, in Made You Look!

 
 
The psychology of pricing is fascinating. Did you know that studies have shown that “when the prices were listed with the dollar sign, customers spent less. Conversely, when the dollar sign was absent, they tended to spend more.”

If you are going to lower those prices, do it slow, because:

 
“According to a study conducted by Kenneth J. Wisniewski from the University of Chicago, when the price of margarine dropped from 89 cents to 71 cents at a local grocery chain, sales improved by 65%. But when the price fell two cents more to 69 cents, sales jumped by an astounding 222%! Two pennies are worth a lot.”
-Psychology Behind the Sweet Spot in Pricing, Fast Co.
 
 

What do you do with a product that’s just not selling well? 

In the middle of running your indie business - filling orders, shipping, answering emails - it can be hard to stay inspired and stay fresh, let alone gather enough inspiration to create a new product or a new line.

In preparation for this weekend, here’s the best of the web on staying inspired:

“Take a walk with your camera. Whether walking in the woods, down Main St., or along the streets of NYC you are bound to find something that inspires you while looking trough the photographer's lens. “

-Jen Wallace

(also inspiring - your Instagram stream of everyone else’s walks!)

“If you’re a creative type – artist, writer, maker of awesome things – you probably have a hard time squashing your creative instincts to focus on business. Who wants to worry about crunching numbers, answering email or marketing when there are beautiful things to create? Luckily, you can carve out the willpower to take care of all the aspects of your business without losing your creative spirit! “

-Justine Smith, for Outright

“It takes a while before we truly, deeply learn that available time (by itself) is one of the worst gauges for our capacity. We have more time in the day than we have energy and attention, and this truth bears out substantially with the “just one more project” mentality.”

-Charlie Gilkey

How do you balance creativity and business? 

This week Jen wrote about quality in your work and how important it is to communicate it to your customers. But that might leave you wondering: HOW?
 

I know my product is worth the higher price, but how do I communicate that value?

Here’s a round-up of advice on communicating value (so your customers get it, and buy):
 

“If you can provide some simple, useful guidance about your product’s value, then your audience can more easily rationalize the need it satisfies – and accordingly, justify the purchase (you hope) as a compelling one.”

-Megan Prentiss, in a great two part series on Helping your Customer Value What You Do: (Part 1 + Part 2)

To make sure you’re talking about what your customer finds valuable (and not just what you love), focus on the benefits of your work (not just the features).

“What is the thing that makes your product and your brand unique in the marketplace? Why are your customers in love with it?”

-Mita Patnaik, on finding your Unique Selling Proposition.

How do you communicate the value and quality of what you sell?

For the private, non-flashy amongst us, Twitter can be a bit of a mystery. It’s supposed to drive sales and create connections...but what in the world do I say?

This week I found three people that answer exactly that question for you:

Jane Hamill gets real and tells you not only what to say, but how to make actual sales from Twitter.

It’s a Must-Watch.

“Having a high follower count means nothing if they're unlikely to ever be interested in what you have to say, or sell.”

-Amelia, in How To Get Followers On Twitter When You are Just Trying To Make Sales

Ask questions to get input or crowdsource solutions. Looking for a recommendation for a nice restaurant? Want a review on a movie you’re thinking of seeing? Having trouble finding a piece of information you’re seeking? Ask. Chances are you’ll get responses that you’ll find helpful.

-James Howe

That’s how we use Twitter (are you following Vianza?) - we ask questions, share links to help you in your business and introduce you to our favorite designers and retailers.

How do you use Twitter? 

Earlier this week I tweeted a great article from Fast Co, and I haven’t been able to stop thinking about. How do you know what your customer wants? How do you choose what to create next?

Here’s a round-up of advice on figuring out to what to make and developing a process.

 “People don’t want quarter-inch drills--they want quarter-inch holes.”

- 3 Ways To Predict What Consumers Want Before They Know It

“As you continue to grow and make more products, your time becomes more valuable. Have you ever considered that being smarter about your creative process can actually allow you to be more creative? As a professional, I use a set framework called a design process. It’s a set of milestones that gets projects moving, but more so gets your mind moving. As a whole it provides a framework to bring ideas to life.”

- Christine Marcelino, What is your process?

Protoype, prototype, prototype.

Prototyping and iteration is key to transforming a so-so idea into a game-changing product. Rather than being discouraged by your “failures,” listen closely and learn from them. Then build a new prototype. Then do it again.

-10 Laws of Productivity

Tara Swiger  is our Community Concierge, a crafter of independence, and a Starship Captain. She’s right in the middle of a writing a book on Marketing your IndieBiz and she’d love to distract herself by hanging out with you on Twitter

As the Community Concierge, I’m always interested to find out what tools our community is using. I’ve been on Pinterest for months, but have only been using it as a note-taking tool (to collect images I like). It didn’t occur to me that it could be a marketing too, until I saw people pinning both my product photos and their photos of what they've made with my yarn.

The most obvious way to use Pinterest to market your work is to make  your items easy to Pin by including a Pin It button in your shop. Megan Auman created a very thorough video, teaching how to do just that. 

• If you want to take it further, Copyblogger collected 56 ideas for using Pinterest to market your work .

• QuickSprout created the most thorough guide for marketing with, including 9 reasons to use it. For retailers and designers:

"Connect with the visual segment of your audience - Pinterest is visual. So it attracts an entirely different crowd…those who may have an appeal for an image over written words."

• If you're still not convinced, check out  KISSmetrics's post with traffic stats and tips on using Pinterest to improve your SEO.

Follow Vianza on Pinterest and share your favorite trade show booths, retail spaces or designers with us.

Are you using Pinterest to connect with your customers?

If so, tell us how!

Earlier this week, I asked if you are ready to double your sales. In Anything You Want, Derek Sivers encourages entrepreneurs to be prepared for more sales...but how do you get prepared? Here are some tips from around the web:

For retailers,

“Your sales figures are entirely contingent on the merchandise sitting on your sales floor.”

Read more about being prepared with enough merchandise in this post from Abby Kerr.

The cupcake girls recommend being prepared:

"We were also prepared to grow quickly, if we had to. I think you have to be conservative in your forecasting, but be able to scale up quickly and take advantage of momentum."

- Daily Worth

Keep your business lifecycle in mind (I like this explanation, by Charlie Gilkey) as you think about growth.

Where are you? Where are you headed?

How are you preparing for growth?

Could you double tomorrow?

This week the lovely Catherine of Hubshop wrote a great post for indie retailers on How To Make Your Shop Pop. Inspired by her tips, I went hunting for some more tips and tricks for indie boutiques.

Rena Tom collected inspiring and surprising images of retail shelving. 

image from Decor8

If you want to (virtually) stroll through a retail space, don’t miss Decor8’s Store Tours (there are dozens!) and our guide to indie boutiques in Encinitas.

Miss Birdie, shop stylist extraordinaire, guides you to more white space and tiny dishes.

Got a favorite trick to tricking out your shop?

Share it in the comments! 

This week we've been working away at our redesign (getting ready for the launch of beta) and so I've found myself drawn to posts about building, launching, and refining.

My favorite find of the week is the free In Treehouses manifesto. In it, Thom Chambers shares his inspiration for creating a lifestyle business. By that, he means a business that supports your life.

And Isn't that what you'd love your independent business to do: support a real life (one where you're not trapped in your studio)?

In the manifesto, Thom links to this classic post by Seth Godin: First, Ten. Seth encourages you to,

"Find ten people. Ten people who trust you/respect you/need you/listen to you..."

Those ten people need what you have to sell, or want it. And if they love it, you win. If they love it, they'll each find you ten more people (or a hundred or a thousand or, perhaps, just three). Repeat.

If they don't love it, you need a new product. Start over."

What would your design and prototyping process look like if you did this with EVERY new product?

What would your marketing look like if you already knew shoppers and shops desired every product on this season's line?

This week we had two different takes on packaging your product. On Tuesday, Julie Mack shared how to package a product you’re sending to your customer and on Wednesday, Amy Crook shared her process of picking her wholesale packaging.

In my experience, there are very few sources for information on packaging a product for your indie retailers, but I’ve rounded up the best:

How to Design the Perfect Packaging on Design*Sponge.

ShimTokk is a blog filled with packaging ideas (their most recent posts are holiday packaging, but be sure to scroll back a bit to see everything).

Devising a winning package for your product on CNNMoney.

5 people to consider when packaging your product on MogulMom.

How do you package your product for the boutique shelves? Share in the comments!

On Wednesday Mita wrote about staying sane after you’ve become successful. There’s a lot of advice on getting successful, but if you’re like many of our users, you’re already rocking it. You’ve got wholesale accounts, positive cashflow, and are working at capacity (or over). The question for you is: how do you maintain the growth without going crazy, working too much, and burning out?

Mita has great tips in this article, and here are a few more, from around the internet:

“If I'm to realize my intentions, what I stop doing is just as important as what I start and continue to do. Stopping = the white space. Stopping = room to run free and create from the deepest place of being without restraint or compromise. Stopping = more time for what matters most.”

-Danielle LaPorte

“When you’re an entrepreneur, who inevitably wears many hats, managing your time can get tricky—especially when it’s tempting to work all day to grow your business. But being successful doesn’t mean being a slave to your work.”

-12 More Ways Successful Entrepreneurs Stay Productive

When you’re just trying to stay on top of everything, creativity and inspiration can be the first thing to go. When that’s the case, check out Elsie’s 5 Tips for Staying Inspired.

What do you do to stay inspired, creative and creating? Share in the comments!

Tara Swiger is our Community Wrangler, a crafter of independence, and a Starship Captain. She’s right in the middle of a writing a book on Marketing your IndieBiz for Cooperative Press and she’d love to distract herself by hanging out with you onTwitter.

Just as important as defining what success is for yourself, is figuring out how you’re going to get there. I found 3 posts about planning your business in 2012 that focus on just that:

“Make your own rules and challenge the “best practices.”  Remember it’s your business, your blog, your organization and you have to live with the results. No one ever made a difference by selling themselves short or preaching from the middle of the pack.”

-31 Pro Tips for a Successful, Satisfying, and Insanely Profitable 2012, on Copyblogger

“When it comes to running your business, there are no rules. (There are some laws, but there are no rules.) What works for someone else’s business may not work for yours.”

-4 steps to your business year, on Designing an MBA

“It’s an (annoying!) fact of life that things change. We may have to add, drop or alter projects as new realities emerge.”

-Planning a blue print for the year, on Design Sponge

What’s an ideal 2012 look like for your business? And how are you planning to get it there?

In this, the last post, and the last Masterlist of 2011 (Vianza's first year!), I want to round-up EVERYTHING awesome from the last year. Most Masterlists link to our favorite posts on other sites, and while we've got some of that, I also wanted to remember our own hits from this year.

And if you want to review your own 2011, we've got links to our favorite year-end-review guides.

Business Help for Designers

- How to Sell Your Work To Designers – in this free book, we collected the best posts from Abby Kerr, former indie retailer, as she shared her secrets to getting your work into indie retailers.

- Growing past DIY

- IndieBiz 101 series

Business Advice for Indie Retailers

- More White Space: How to Style your Boutique

- The trifecta of retail greatness

- Your retail concept

Your favorites (as evidenced by Twitter)

- Working for yourself without going broke or crazy

- Masterlist :: Get out of the sweatshop

- How to make your website look like a million bucks

Review your own year

- Vianza's Year End Review for your Indie Business, part 1 and part 2

- Susannah Conway’s free guide to Unravelling the Year.

- Chris Guillebeau's Annual Review

Wishing you a Happy New Year!

Yesterday, Nadine wrote about pricing for wholesale. As you’ve learned, it’s not as simple as figuring up your costs (or even worse, just pricing based on what others tell you). Your price is a matter of costs AND a matter of value.

Here’s a round-up of what some other smarties say about price (be sure to click through to read their posts on how to come up with that price):

“Your selling price is how you are going to get the right product to the right audience. All elements need to be working together for the sale to go through, whether it is to a single customer or a large wholesale account.”

-Rena Tom

“Your business needs to generate the revenue to support new initiatives.  You need to price your products for growth.”

-Megan Auman

"The handmade and small business community needs to take responsibility and accurately price their work.”

-Regina Morrison on Design*Sponge

Don't miss this handy PDF on figuring out your price, from Design*Sponge.

How did you determine your prices? 

This week Nadine shared her tips for picking the right trade show, so today I’d like to point to some other posts from experienced wholesalers + attendees. Hopefully their hard-earned lessons will make your trade show easier!

Lauren Venell wrote compellingly about her dilemma around attending the New York International Gift fair. Give her post a read before you decide.

Lisa, of PigeonToe, covers every aspect of exhibiting at NYIGF on Rena Tom’s blog.

Bridget, of Perideau Designs blogged her entire experience of the 2010 National Stationary show. Her post-show round-up includes reactions from several wholesalers.

Grace, of Design*Sponge shared her reaction to the ICFF 2011 show and sparked a dialogue about innovation and the place of large trade shows. Read (and watch) all of it, it’s worth it!

What are your favorite trade show resources?

On Wednesday I gave a quick rundown on how to define your Right People (aka, your Target Market, those people who want what you sell) and today I’d like to share some more sources for diving deeper.

For starters, I first heard the term “right people” from my friend Havi, in this post or maybe this one. If you are even a little shy about sharing your thing and growing your business, her blog is full of help for dealing with all the stuff that comes up when we do our thing.

“Resist the temptation to be too general in the hopes of getting a larger slice of the market. That's like firing 10 bullets in random directions instead of aiming just one dead center of the mark--expensive and dangerous”

-Entrepreneur, Target Market

Still not clear on who your Right People are? Check out this Inc article on narrowing your Target Market.

But remember: it’s not about only defining them - knowing your Right People means that you start talking to them. You speak their language, listen to their stories, and share your message.

Who are your Right People?

Tell me about them in the comments.

This week I wrote about  the very first steps of marketing your indie business crafting your message. Today I’d like to share the best advice from around the web on making a clear, concise marketing message that can guide everything else you do.

CopyBlogger’s Marketing Basics include describing features, not benefits and making your marketing indespensible.

Improve your message by starting with why.

Megan Auman has a great tip:

“Use customer feedback to refine your marketing message”

And if you’re thinking about changing up your message, remember that Seth Godin warns:

“Most of the time, creative entrepreneurs lose interest long before their marketing message loses its power.”

Write it, refine it and find new ways to share it.

And while you’re at it, share your message (or your favorite link of the week), in the comments.

Tara Swiger is our Community Wrangler, a crafter of independence, and a Starship Captain. She’s right in the middle of a writing a book on Marketing for IndieBiz’s for Cooperative Press and she’d love to distract herself by hanging out with you on Twitter.

Here in the States, it’s Black Friday.

You might even be slumped over your computer after an early morning of shopping.

But pour yourself another peppermint mocha, because the holiday season is just starting and as a small biz, you’ll want to support your fellow indie businesses.

We’re here to help by rounding up the best initiatives that will connect you with your local indie retailers (note: this might be a great way to find shops you want to wholesale with!).

Small Business Saturday - “dedicated to supporting small businesses on one of the busiest shopping weekends of the year.” (retailers take note: this site provides marketing materials + tutorials to help you reach more shoppers!)

3/50 Project - “for every $100 spent locally, $68 stays in your community”

LocalHarvest - “real food. real farmers. real community”. While your supporting the locals, don’t forget you can get lots of your food locally too!

Got another resource for shopping with indie retailers? Share it in the comments!
 

Earlier this week Mita shared some tools that can help you manage your design biz, but you still might be wondering HOW to use them. Here to help, we’ve rounded up the best advice on implementing those tools.

Evernote

Optimistic Art shares how she uses Evernote for her small business.

Glen uses Evernote for design research and idea generation.

Annching uses Evernote for her fashion design business.

Dropbox

A designer uses dropbox to compile a scrapbook of ideas.

You can also use Dropbox to keep track of your passwords (especially if, like me, you read this article in the Atlantic and started setting up new passwords).

Freckle

Freckle has a blog that’s a must-read for any freelancer or bill-by-the-hour designer. Not only do they teach you how to get the most from their app, they also teach you how to “squeeze every bit of awesome” from your biz with their Institute of Awesome.

Don’t think you need to track your time? Learn how tracking led this designer to realize she needs to raise her rates.

Hootsuite

And if you want to use Hootsuite as a marketing tool for your team, check out this article from Mashable.

Hootsuite lets you schedule your posts...but to make the most of it, you need to know when is the best time. Check out this article from Fast Company on the best times to tweet to be retweeted.

Here’s a quick 10 tips to use Hootsuite in your business.

Outright

Outright has a blog full of great information for small design businesses, on everything from accounting to ecommerce.

Here’s how one microbiz started (finally) accounting right, with Outright.

What’s your favorite tool? How do you use it?

Last week we talked about the less fun side of setting up a business, so today I thought we could focus on the most fun part - your studio. Of course, you don’t need this before you start selling, but it’s never to early to start dream, design and imagine it, right?

Here are some of my favorite studios:

Alicia Paulson’s studio has been a longtime favorite:

I think I love the shelving best

Or the lighting:

For creative yarn storage (and as a knitter and spinner, it’s all about the yarn storage), I love Leethal’s solutions:

(A record player! In the studio! I love it!)

If you work with tiny bits of paper, ribbon and buttons, check out Kendra McCracken’s beautiful room:

I especially love the display case:

What’s your studio like?

Share pictures and links in the comments!

Image credits: all images are the property of the artist

This week’s Masterlist is a companion to yesterday’s article on starting your design business. Although, you have been rocking your business for a while, you may have skipped over the very first steps of setting it up legally (that’s ok, we won’t tell...as long as you get to it now!). I promise to get into the deeper, funner stuff in coming weeks, but let’s make sure you’re ready to buy supplies cheap, get right with the taxman, and handle all that money that’s gonna be coming your way.

Make a place for that money in your life

In other words, get a bank account for your business. Tracking expenses (tax exempt!) and income is muuuuch easier when you don’t have to remember if ACH KNGPOA on your bank statement was some tasty chinese take-out or an order of jade stones. Need convincing? Read this.

To get that bank account in your business name, you’ll need to be officially allowed to do business as your business. For that you need to file a DBA, and you can find the particulars for your state here.

If you haven’t gotten your  (it’s like a Social Security number for your business), it’s easy, free and will allow you to start buying your supplies at wholesale (which can cut your Cost of Goods in half!). Start here.

After that, you’ll want to register any licenses you need with your state (like a reseller’s license, so you can buy your supplies wholesale)...for that info, go to your state site, it’s usually {state}.gov (mine is this) and click “New business” or “start a business”.

Now, that wasn’t so hard was it?

Have you seen our new (free) course, Indie Business 101? Each Wednesday we’ll cover a different foundational aspect of running your indiebiz and on Friday we’ll round up all the best articles we’ve found on that topic.

So this week, before we get into how to do it, let’s talk about how to get ready to do it.

“Create realistic financial goals and projections then have mentors review them and offer feedback.”

-Design*Sponge,  When to Leave Your Job and Start working for yourself

“Develop a system or a routine that works for you”

-Sarah Von, Working For Yourself Without Going Broke Or Crazy

“When you don’t feel awesome in an awesome world, the future can seem kind of scary.  Let’s talk about making that scary go away and getting some more clients in the door.”      

-Naomi Dunford, “What if I’m not awesome enough?”

If you’ve read those posts and still feel wishy washy, check out Chris Brogan's list of 106 Excuses.

Are you using excuses or preparing for greatness? 

Inspired by Mita’s post on what indie means to us at Vianza, I got curious - what does indie means to other businesses, especially those who refer to “indie biz”.

After much too much Googling later, I discovered something: very few people who use the term “indie biz” (especially as a blog tag) ever define what the term means to them. There are a zillion business-advice people out there, all wanting to help you in your indie biz...but none of them are defining it.

I find this disheartening (and from a marketing perspective - tragic! Define your terms, so your Right People recognize that you are, in fact, talking to them!) but there were some bright spots.

IndieFixx asks artists to define what indie means to them (in her Indie Artist Fixx) and their answers range from the practical, to the hilarious. Here’s a sampling:

"Indie to me is being free from any restraints and being able to create anything to your own desire."

-Upper Metal Class

"In the most obvious and literal sense it’s short for independent and that’s what it’s all about to me. I have a strong motivation to be more self sufficient. To take the road less traveled, explore, experiment and teach myself."

-Hier Apparel

Indie is a label that makes you sound cool… and I use it daily.

-Love, California

Outside the indie biz world, I found some other people defining indie music in a way that applies to the kind of indie businesses we love:

"A real indie artist is someone who chooses that route because it’s the road they want to take... They take their careers into their own hands, and they do so both intentionally and with a bit of business sense behind their decisions."

-Jenn Mattern

"Simply put, "indie" means independent from the mainstream...being indie means embracing a noble set of values--namely authenticity, experimentalism, anti-commercialism, DIY and appreciation of the world beyond American pop culture."

-Indie Culture

And of course, there’s the excellent conversation about Indie vs. Corporate from a few weeks ago.

Photo Credits :: Katherine McFatridge 

What’s indie mean to you?

Wanna make it public? We’re looking for all kinds of designers, retailers, and service providers to answer the question in an upcoming blog series. To contribute, just email me : tara.swiger@vianza.com.

When Mita wrote about the next step in Growing Past DIY - finding a production partner, it seemed to strike a chord. A lot (most?) of our pilot program members are looking for a partner (sourcing, production, or something else), in order to take on more wholesale orders, but it seems that no one is really sharing this journey online.

I can understand that, because a lot of this is “back room” stuff that your customers might not be interested in.
But I know that reading how someone else is doing it can give you ideas and the courage to try it on your own business.

In hopes of encouraging you, in your search (and growth), here’s what I found after some digging:

Kelly Rae Roberts (always a splash of truth in the art-business world!) shares a bit about her relationship with her manufacter here.

Jessica Swift did a Kickstarter campaign to fund her first manufacturer venture - rainboots!. She had help from Mark Pound, who is writing a series on walking a designer through getting their first product manufactured.

And here at Vianza, Meredith wrote about finding the right production partner, from her experience as a designer.

Have you worked with a production partner? Do you hope to? 

This week Mita wrote about growing past DIY and how to do it while retaining the indie soul of your business. The first step is to find your USP – the Unique Selling Proposition of what you're selling.

If you're looking for a bit of info on finding that USP, I've rounded up what some smart people have already written about it:

“A USP, by the way, is a unique selling proposition. It’s the thing that makes your business different/better than your competitors.
An artisan might say “well my products are prettier,” but this is too subjective and may not be enough of a competitive edge. There are lots of pretty products out there, the business person who figures out how to solve a problem is the one who will make the most money.”

-Finding your USP on Smaller Box (click through to see Meredith's instructions for finding your USP!)

“Your USP is that remarkable benefit that only your company can offer.  It’s that special something that makes you different and better and awesome.  And, it’s what makes all of those potential customers pick you, instead of your competition.
Great. Now, how do you get your very own USP?
Very simply, put yourself in the shoes of a shopper, and ask yourself this question:
Why should I purchase from you, rather than your competitors?“

-Uncovering your Creative Edge, The Makery

The Makery also made a lovely PDF to help you find your USP. You can find it here.

What's your USP? Share it in the comments!

I've spent this week ushering designers, wholesalers and retailers through our pilot program (to join, just click Request an Invite) and talking to them about their goals and dreams for their indie businesses.

Every single business, no matter the size, no matter the product, wants to grow. They want to expand their sources, or their making, or their reach.

So the conversation about when an indie business stops being “indie” and starts feeling “corporate” is particularly timely. For all of us. 

Here's what some smart people are thinking about it (hint: there's no clear cut answer!):

“What exactly does it mean to be considered indie? We started talking about criteria. We came up with more questions than anything else.”

-Indie vs Corporate, Lorna's Laces

“So, I think “corporate” is a more damaging language shorthand than we may realize. I find myself worrying about how we apply it when we talk about businesses in general, and our community of small businesses in particular. I worry about our “us vs. them” philosophy, where we indies are the good guys and corporations are bad – because I’m afraid that, under this mindset, there’s no middle ground into which our indie companies can grow.”

-When is Corporate Not So Corporate, Craftypod

“Is the difference between ‘indie’ and ‘corporate’ the extent to which the owner is involved in the making?”

-A Suprisingly Difficult Question, Space Cadet Creations

“I was surprised to discover that for me, it’s nothing to do with a company’s size or whether its products are handmade. Sure, I love to buy handmade, and I love to support local businesses. But really, I’m satisfied doing business with any company I think is, in addition to being run in sound ways ethically, accessible to me. If I’m treated with respect as a human being whose time and money are valuable, I’m happy.”

-An Evolution of Perspective: Indie Vs. Corporate, Kim Werker 

(Don't skip the comments on all of the above posts, they are chock-full of goodness!)

What do you think? Is there a point where your indie business will ever stop being indie? 

As the leaves turn and everyone goes back to school (lucky ducks!) I've been book-hungry lately and it seems I'm not the only one.

Here's a round-up of recent business-book reviews:

Last week Mita shared a post inspired by the book: Anything You Want by Derek Sivers.

“Anything you hate to do, someone else loves it. Find that person and let them do it.”

  – Derek Sivers, Anything You Want

Tara Gentile takes The Lean Startup process of innovation + iteration and applies it to your business hypothesis in this post.

“This is true startup productivity: not just making more stuff, but systematically figuring out the right things to build.”

– Eric Ries,The Lean Startup

I read Linchpin after avoiding it (thought it was for employees and I'm proudly self-employed) and loved it. Read this to see why it's useful, even for a business of one.

“What does it take to lead? The key distinction is the ability to forge your own path to discover a route from one place to another that hasn’t been paved, measured, and quatified. So many times we want someone to tell us exactly what to do, and so many times that’s exactly the wrong approach.”

   -Seth Godin, in Linchpin

Megan Auman applied Start with the Why  to her trade show booth  in order to stand out at a trade show...and it got me wondering: how could you apply the book you're reading, right now, to your next business endeavour?

What are your back-to-the-book recommendations? Share them in the comments so I can add them to my stack!

You know we're big fans of collaboration and building a business that doesn't keep you in a sweatshop. 

But we're not the only ones!

Here's a round-up of what other smart people say about collaboration:

Productive Flourishing is doing a series of posts about how “Great Connections Lead to Great Ideas.”  Every single post has been great, but the ones related to your business are Sarah Robinson's Don't Create in a Vaccuum  and Les McKeowen's The Introvert's Guide to Making Great Connections.

Wondering how collaboration could work in your business?

Miss Modish has a series, Collabo , where she highlights collaborations between artists and interviews them. Fun!

Sarah Tims shares her experiences on collaborating with artists on Oh My! Handmade.

How do you collaborate to create great ideas? Share in the comments!

Productivity. Inspiration.

In a creative indie biz, the two can be in competition (especially if, like me, you're most creative when you spend time doing nothing, just moodling about).

Today I've got some insights on getting stuff done while staying inspired (and how to balance it all).

"TIME and INSPIRATION. All your work hinges on these two things. If you don’t have time, you won’t have the chance to be inspired. If you’re not inspired, the time you have is worthless."

- Megan Clark, on Method and Madness, shares tips for creating a productive and inspiring space.

“How do I make time for (marketing) (writing) (business-building) (the escape plan from my day job) when my schedule is already packed?”

  - Janet Bailey answeres that question here

“Toss productivity advice out the window.Most of it is well-meaning, but the advice is wrong for a simple reason: it’s meant to squeeze the most productivity out of every day, instead of making your days better. Life where you’re always doing something you love is art. ”

- Leo Baubata 

My most-favorite book on “productivity” is Take That Nap. Not a system, just a great reminder that often the most productive thing you can do is, yep, take a nap.

How do you manage to get stuff done and stay inspired?

Wanna spread the word about your newest design?

Or hear from shoppers who love your store?

How about having conversations with your clients, your peers and your mentors?

Yep, Social Media (Twitter, Facebook, all of it), can be a beautiful thing for your business...but it can also be overwhelming.

Here's the week's best advice on doing it right:

“You’re going to be social and informal, but in a way that’s relevant, appropriate, and interesting to who you’re talking with.”

- Copyblogger, 7 Essential Elements of a Social Media Marketing

”But when it comes to really wooing your potential client — and showcasing your most impactful skills — your testimonials are what seal the deal.” 

-Alex Franzen, The Definitive Guide to Gather Testimonials

“Social media started this shift from information to conversation, and now with the search engines increasingly using social signals to determine what to show searchers it’s a trend that, as a publisher, you have to get on top of to write and promote great content.”

- Problogger, Creating Great Content for the Social Web

How do you use social media to promote your awesomeness? Share in the comments!
 

You have a gorgeous, unique product (or retail shop) but no one knows about it. You've tweeted and facebooked your fingers to the bone...but you want something bigger.

You want some press, yes?

To start with, you'll want a good headshot. 

Check out Tuesday's article for more on that and Danielle LaPorte's tips for looking hot in every shot.

You'll also want to be sure you're prepared with something to say. 

“Having a practiced patter doesn’t mean you’re inauthentic. Instead, it means you’re ready to give good convo. It means you’re able to turn potentially fraught interactions into amusing and often surprising connections. It means you invite connection.”

-Kelly Diels, Darling, Get Thee an Authentically Canned Speech

And then, go for it. 

Send out that press release and remember:

“Actually, it’s not you. 99 times out of 100, it’s not your qualifications, your knowledge, or your ability. It’s your approach.”

-Copyblogger, 109 Ways to Make Yourself Irresistible to the Press

Does the press love you? What's your secret? Share in the comments!

Listening to the CCE panel about “taking it to the next level” (you can see Mita’s post here for details) and the many conversations I have with makers who are suffering from growth pains, has got me thinking about sucess and what it means.

The first step is to figure out what it means for you. But then (and this is so important!) don’t forget to imagine what that will look like. 

“You want to get 1000 orders. Yeah? What are you going to do if you get them? Do you have the means to efficiently pack and ship 1000 units?”

-Naomi Dunford, What if You Succeed?

That question got me thinking about Mita’s point about the sweatshop of your own making........in your current model, will more sales just mean more work? Or  will it scale?

“If you consider working for less than minimum wage exploitative in developing nations... then it's exploitative everywhere; even if the goods are made in a one-person sweatshop, in the name of handmade.”

-Mita Patnaik, Are you in a Sweatshop?

If you get out of the sweatshop and bring in some help, at what point do you stop being indie? Beth Casey asks that in a compelling way:

"Should we think about a new moniker for a company that might fall outside the realm of indie but isn't really corporate? Craft? Small-batch? Artisan?"

-Lorna’s Laces, Indie vs Corporate

I don’t have easy answers for the questions, it’s something you’ve gotta answer in your own business.
What do you think? Does success look like bringing in small-batch producers? Or turning into a sweatshop? Or something else? 

Even though, and maybe especially because, you’re a designer (or an indie retailer), writing is something that can  be overwhelming. And running an online business (or even having a website for your shop) requires a good amount of writing.

Here are some of my favorite online writers, talking about writing (and how it’s like our business):

“Have wondered many times if I’m maybe not supposed to be a writer, because I will go to such lengths to avoid writing.”

-Orangette, How We Do What We Do

“It is always wise to carry a little notebook around in which to—well, note things... You of the Future might be fascinated by the very details You of Right Now take for granted.“

-Colleen Wainwright, Writing Small

“What has struck me most in reading about creative writing is just how much it mirrors the way I construct my business.”

-Tara Gentile, Character Study

What I love about these three posts is that taken together: they acknowledge how hard getting started is, they help us get started (small), and they remind us that writing is very much like business-building. Sometimes that (acknowledgement, getting started, remembering why it’s important) is all we need!

Share what inspires you to write, in the comments.

As you might have noticed, we’re excited to be a sponsor for the Conference for Creative Entrepreneurs this weekend.

Here’s a round-up of just *some* of the goodness created by  the organizers and the speakers:

“By pricing herself like the most sought-after designer in town, she became the most sought-after designer in town. You see, folks? Pricing is marketing. “

-Lauren Venell

• This podcast interview with Lisa Congdon is encouraging for any artist and comes from Meighan O'Toole.

• Danni from Oh Hello, Friend shared a calendar for your computer!
   
• Kelly Wilkinson recorded a delightful interview with Grace of Design*Sponge. 
   
• I can't get enough of Willo O'Brian's new video project, WilloToons Connect.

Are you coming to CCE? What speaker + subject are you looking forward to?

Curated by Tara Swiger, Vianza’s Community-Crafter and Twitter-er. Say hello @vianza or drop her a line: tara.swiger@vianza.com

This week's MasterList comes right from our conversations with Vianza designers.

You are tired of working long hours.
You are ready to grow, without wearing yourself out.
You're ready to find a new model for building your business.

You want out of the sweatshop.

Check out what our favorite smarties are saying about getting yourself out of the sweatshop and into the sunshine:

This one goes out to all the crafters out there.  I’m talking especially to you doe-eyed folks who spend ten hours behind a table at a craft fair on Saturday, only to stay up until 3AM making more inventory for Sunday.  The first year or two you insist that you actually enjoy this lifestyle, but before long it becomes clear that being a one-person sweatshop (complete with sweatshop-level wages) is not the most sustainable business model.

-Lauren, Tired of Being Your Own Sweatshop?

You can’t make products 24/7. Plus, running a business is about more than just manufacturing. You’ve got other responsibilities like marketing, customer service, bookkeeping, etc.

-Meredith, Hitting a Production Ceiling

Collaborations come in all shapes and sizes. They can be with one other person, 10 other people, or with strangers all over the city or world. In essence, collaboration is the process of creating something bigger and more amazing than what you could have ever created on your own.

-Willo, Don't DIY Alone

How are you collaborating, partnering, and growing with the help of others?

Confession: I tried really hard to write a MasterList about Facebook this week. But Andrea Cole did such a good job in her post  this week, I just couldn’t find anyone else saying anything useful!

Instead, I found everyone was talking about Google+ and well, now I’ve gotta join in and share the good stuff.

Here it is the best of what’s out there:

28 Google+ Tips to Enhance Your Google Plus Experience - A great list of things you might not have figured out while casually clicking around.

“The +1 button is a way to signal your approval of a contact’s post (whether it be text, a photo, a video, etc) and effectively validate it as a good source of information."

-Forbes.com, 5 Things Small Businesses Must Know About Google Plus

"Building an audience on Google+ may be the smartest thing you do as a content marketer when it comes to improved search rankings. "

-Brian Clark 

“Google Plus makes adding people to circles so extremely easy and fast. If you already have them created, it just falls right into your workflow.”

-Sarah J. Bray

This is the best example of how a real live business is using Google+ and she explains circles in a way that makes so much sense.

If you’re new to Google+ and want to try it out, plus me up  and we’ll figure it out together.

Curated by Tara Swiger, Vianza’s Community-Crafter and Twitter-er. Say hello @vianza or drop her a line: tara.swiger@vianza.com
 

In the past few weeks, I keep running into articles about “Collaborative Consumption” and “Social Shopping.” The trend is so embedded in my own life I didn’t even notice it until I read the articles. For example, in planning just one week  (San Fransicso for CCE (win a pass here!), followed by Portland), I used airbnb.com, I surveyed Twitter + Facebook friends to get food + neighborhood recommendations, I co-created a class that I’ll teach in Portland with a few students.

It’s not just a trend, it’s a new way of thinking about shopping and consuming that’s changing the way people shop...including how they shop for your gorgeous, handmade, sustainably designed item.

“Spawned by a confluence of the economic crisis, environmental concerns, and the maturation of the social web, an entirely new generation of businesses is popping up. They enable the sharing of cars, clothes, couches, apartments, tools, meals, and even skills. The basic characteristic of these you-name-it sharing marketplaces is that they extract value out of the stuff we already have.”

-The Sharing Economy, Fast Company

“A new way of living, in which access is valued over ownership, experience is valued over material possessions, and "mine" becomes “ours” so everyone's needs are met without waste.”

-Gen Y Guide to Collaborative Consumption 
(this post has an impressive list of every sharing site under the sun. Food, shelter, transportation, clothing....everything is shareable)

“Along the same lines of merging physical world experiences with digital activity, the ability to make quick, small purchases for online content represents a huge opportunity for both content producers and providers.”

-Five Payment Trends to Watch in 2011, VentureBeat.com

How will this change the way you sell, source and connect with buyers?

Tell us in the comments!
 

Curated by Tara Swiger, Vianza’s Community-Crafter and Twitter-er. Say hello @vianza or drop her a line: tara.swiger@vianza.com.

We can’t help but notice that our DIT ethic (plus our mission to connect designers to everything they need, so they don’t have to Do It Alone) is turning up everywhere; it seems this is just the right time to Do It Together. Here’s a collection of the best thinkers (and some big publications) focusing on Doing it Together.

”Transformative change happens when industries democratize, when they’re ripped from the sole domain of companies, governments, and other institutions and handed over to regular folks.”

-Chris Anderson  in Wired magazine

“DIY is powerful because it taps into the passion and creativity of individuals around the world. But maybe DIY is just a precursor to even more powerful forms of Do It Together (DIT), pulling together larger numbers of diversified and talented individuals to more and more rapidly innovate and drive new levels of performance on a continuing basis. “

-From Do It Yourself to Do it Together from the Harvard Business Review

”You can’t DIY yourself to sustainability.
And you can’t DIY yourself to freedom.”

-Tara Gentile, How to Find the “We” in Earning More

I just finished Clay Shirky’s Cognitive Surplus, which is a great explanation of why + how we can start working together to do even greater things. Here’s a TED video where he explains the thesis of the book.

What  would go on your MasterList of DIT resources? Share them in the comments! 

Are you ready to get your gorgeous designs onto shelves and into the world? Whether you’re just starting out or your shifting from retail to wholesale, we’ve got the advice that will make it a breeze.

"Even if you have your own online shop, getting products into stores can be a good additional source of revenue or a great way to get your brand in front of more customers."

- Meredith of SmallerBox lists the pros + cons of selling to shops

"What do you do if you want to wholesale your products but they are limited edition or one-of-a-kind because you use a material that you can’t source consistently?"

- Megan Auman of Crafting an MBA turns your liability into an asset

Think you’ll just drop in with some samples? “Many retailers don't think the drop-ins are effective.”

- CNN money shares the traditional way of meeting up with boutiques in this article (but we think Vianza  is a less-stressful way of hooking up.)

Don’t forget to check out our posts this week, from designers and makers who share their wholesaling insights. We’ve got MaryBeth selling crochet designs and tomorrow Amy Crook will share her process of getting her notecards into bookstores.

Want a retailer’s perspective on getting into their shops? Download this free book written by award-winning ex-retailer Abby Kerr.

This MasterList was mixed by Tara Swiger, Community Wrangler. To share your own mix of masterful help, shoot her a message at tara.swiger@vianza.com or on twitter @vianza.
 

I know, I know. You’re a DESIGNER. A RETAILER. You work in pictures and colors and relationships. Words can be a challenge.

But you still gotta share something on that blog or twitter stream or Facebook page.

Here’s a MasterList and your secret key of the best advice on what to say when you don’t know what to say:

 "Want to know what to blog about? What to send in your emails? What to tweet about? Tell us about the world from your perspective: the givens, the understandings, the questions, the codes, and the visions."

-Tara Gentile

"If sitting down to write keeps giving us a fright, why do we keep sitting down to write?
It gets better with practice. But it could also get better with a workaround."

-Kelly Parkinson provides that workaround with a game blog Twister

"People often ask me how I come up with things to blog about, and I find the question strange, because my problem is the opposite. I have too much to blog about. Why? Because there’s a whole fast revolution rolling through, and right now – today – is our time to make it all work for us."

-Chris Brogan shares 100 ideas for what you can be blogging about 

What’s your best tip on writing inspiration? Share it in the comments!

This MasterList was mixed by Tara Swiger, Community Wrangler. To share your own mix of masterful help, shoot her a message at tara.swiger@vianza.com or on twitter @vianza.
 

A few weeks ago, we created a YouTube channel  full of videos that will help you navigate the site. Megan Auman challenged makers to a Video Marketing challenge for makers. It got us thinking about the great things you can do for your business with video, so we’ve created this MasterList of resources to get you started.

All of Crafting an MBA’s video-challenge posts  are helpful, but the one about creating a Video Marketing Strategy  is a must-watch. Knowing your strategy FIRST will guide you through the entire process.

Once you know what you want to DO with your videos, check out HubSpot’s guide for getting started.

Copyblogger reminds us that, “Online video must be engaging before it can be persuasive.”

Paper N Stitch takes some lessons for creating a viral video  from Rebecca Black.

Do you create videos for your designs? Share them in the comments!

Every business owner should have a web presence — it’s a no-brainer, in today’s digital economy. And just like your offline shop front, your virtual real estate needs to be stylish, inviting, easy to navigate, and tailored towards sales.

Excellent news, friends: setting up a functional, personalized website doesn’t need to drain your bank account, or deaden your senses with techie complexity.

Thanks to the blessed platform known as WordPress  — the world’s most popular blogging and web design software— creating your online space can be swift, frugal and — dare we say? — fun.

If you’re just getting started, and don’t need wild array of complex bells & whistles, one of these plug-n-play WordPress themes might be just the ticket.

For WordPress newbies

AUTOFOCUS  :: A free theme with an intriguing, modern homepage design, featuring large spaces for showcasing photos. Great for exploring the WordPress platform, without spending a cent.

For featured product galleries

CHAMELEON  :: This flexible theme features a slick homepage slideshow, with endlessly customizable color palettes. For $39, you get access to dozens of fabulous templates created by the folks at Elegant Themes , including Chameleon.

For magazine-style blogging

SIGHT :: This high-style, modernist theme from WP Shower is ideal for spotlighting gallery pieces, or hosting a traditional blog with large header images. Incredibly, it’s free.

For showcasing a portfolio

IMBALANCE :: Another winner from WP Shower , this theme features rectangular call-outs in a grid pattern, on the homepage. Hover your mouse over each image, and text appears. Fantastic for highlighting portfolio pieces with short descriptive blurbs. Like it’s sister-theme, SIGHT, IMBALANCE is also free.

For extra-large images

PHOTOCRAFT  :: This theme features a full-span, extra-wide image slideshow on the homepage — swell for showing murals, large paintings, jewelry close-ups, runway fashion shots, or anything else that requires a wide swath of space.

…For extra help

If you’re looking for a WordPress mastermind to hold your hand through the set-up and installation process, Erin Wigger  and Djanira Cortesao  are two prime contenders. Need some customized coding? Catherine Vo  and Paul Jarvis  are ultra-efficient, and super-skilled.

Got a favorite theme? Know a WordPress coder who deserves to be worshipped? Ever used a theme that went all wonky on ya? Tell us about it in the comments — or fire out a tweet. Include @Vianza in your message, so we can give you a virtual high five!

The Weekly Master List: Masterful biz-building tips from the pros who know. We round 'em up. You rock it out.

Curated by Alexandra Franzen, Featured Contributor & Interview Wrangler. Say howdy on Twitter at @Alex_Franzen, or shoot a note to alexandra.franzen@vianza.com

Now that you’re following the most interesting designers it’s time to follow the tastemakers and influencers. Here’s our list (but we’d love to know who we missed!):

@decor8 - author of the best-selling book Decorate, her stream is full of decorating inspiration

Holly Becker

@designsponge - blogger+ design maven, Grace shares an endless stream of posts from her popular blog + insights into a day of inspiration-gathering

Grace Bonney

@sisterdiane - Editor of Craft, podcaster extraordinaire, Diane shares many tutorials, cool projects and inspiring stories every day

Diane Gilleland

@galadarling - Her profile says she’s an “International playgirl, radical self love revolutionary & false eyelash addict!” but she’s also hilarious, stylish and smart!

Gala Darling

@daniellelaporte - philosopher + writer, inspiration and quotables drip from her lips, er, tweets.

Danielle Laporte

@matchbookmag - the profile says “From lipstick to letterpress, gelato to grosgrain, and Paris to Peru, consider us your field guide to a charmed life.” But Spincushion  says “Follow @MatchbookMag for style with a smile. Kind of like Audrey Hepburn with a case of the giggles.”

Who do you follow? Who’d we miss?

Leave a comment and we’ll compile your answers into a Reader’s Choice list.

If you’re revving up to shift from a hobby-esque business into a full-tilt entrepreneurial empire, a skilled business coach can be your greatest cheerleader, ally, and mentor.

But not every coach is prepared to work with creatives, artisans, designers and crafters. These five pros are the cream of the crop – energetic, full of acumen, and skilled at pulverizing the blockades that artists, creators and crafters crunch up against.

And if their 1-on1 fees are a little outta your reach, prowl around their websites for freebies, accessibly-priced digital programs, and downloadable resource guides. There’s a wealth of information out there – all lovingly designed to amplify your success. How groovy is that?

MICHELLE WARD | A former Broadway performer with a flair for the theatrical, Michelle knows all-too-well the agony of, as she puts it, “pounding your head against the pavement.” As a creative career coach, she specializes in getting fellow creatives out of soul-sucking jobs & into passionate careers and self-directed ventures. She’s good pals with renowned pattern designer Jessica Swift, and together, they created The Declaration of You – an e-program devoted to crystallizing your authentic voice, vision + story. Find her online at WhenIGrowUpCoach.com , and on Twitter at @WhenIGroUpCoach.

Michelle Ward

DYANA VALENTINE | Very few coaches have the gift of truly seeing – who you are, what you’re capable of, and the most energetically efficient pathway to finish what you’ve started. Dyana has coached hundreds of entrepreneurs through sticky transitions, ginormous projects, and – her specialty – the oft-ignored art of pitching, with pride. If you’ve bitten off more than you can chew – and failure is not an option – DyVa is the woman to rework your world. Find her online at DyanaValentine.com, WokeUpKnowing.com, and on Twitter at @DyanaValentine.

Dyana Valentine

ERIKA LYREMARK  | After earning dual degrees in Fashion Design and Women’s Studies – and embarking on some scandalous nightlife adventures – Erika co-created a million-dollar real estate empire, earned her coaching certification, then pivoted into cashflow-centric life design for small business owners and entrepreneurs. She helps her clients get searingly clear about their red-carpet dream ... and then whips them into shape, with a bag of biz-building tricks ranging from meditation techniques to online marketing, and every angle in between. Find her online at DailyWhip.com, and on Twitter at @dailywhip.

Erika Lyremark

TARA GENTILE | Tara pushes passion-driven entrepreneurs to actualize their ideas, visions, and dreams – turning them into dollars and cents. In her own words: “You can do what you love, serve the world, create your art, make magic, AND get paid well.” Preach, sister! She specializes in coaching and consulting with freelancers, micro-business owners, aspiring entrepreneurs, start-ups, and corporations who want to target and market to DIY mavens. Dig into Tara’s wicked-awesome resource section, scope out her Spacious Goal-setting Guide, and save your pennies for a momentous 1-on-1 session. Find Tara online at TaraGentile.com and on Twitter at @TaraGentile.

Tara Gentile

KATE WATSON | A newcomer to the coaching world – but with a decade of experience as a professional wedding and portrait photographer under her belt – Kate brings soft-spoken, steady support to struggling visual artists who want to make a living wage, without resorting to inauthentic, irritating marketing “must-do’s.” Her philosophy? There are no must-do’s. There’s just what works – for you. And what works for you may surprise you. Her Art Aligned workshops  are structured to help struggling shutterbugs gain clarity about their artistic strengths, as well as their ideal business model. Find her online at ArtAligned.com  , and on Twitter at @KateWatson.

Kate Watson

Got fabulous coach that you’ve simply gotta shout about? We’d love to hear who’s rocking your business. Drop a comment below, or zing out a tweet.

The Weekly Master List: Masterful biz-building tips from the pros who know. We round 'em up. You rock it out.

Curated by Alexandra Franzen, Featured Contributor & Interview Wrangler. Say howdy on Twitter at @Alex_Franzen, or shoot a note to alexandra.franzen@vianza.com.
 

From international jet-setters to the girl printing fabric next door, we’re looking for the designers that brighten your stream and inspire you to get back in the studio.

@BobbyBerk - Designer, retailer, and artist rep, Bobby is stylish and classy (he answers his tweets!).

@knitgrrl  - You don’t have to be a knitter to enjoy Shannon’s acerbic wit and general goofballery. Her book is a great read for any indie designer, no matter your medium.

@howaboutorange  - Her stream is full of pretty things, but I can’t stop thinking about the fabric she designs.

@meganauman - Megan makes gorgeous jewelry and doles out great advice for designers. Check out her video challenge to kickstart your video skills.

@JessicagSwift  - I’m in love with her surface design + her twitter stream shows a behind-the-scenes look (via photos) of her inspiration.

@habituallychic - Funny, fun and yes, habitually chic. 

Who do you follow?

Tell me about them in the comments and the most-adored will appear in next week's Reader's Choice Twitter list. 

Photo Credit : thejeffreywscott

The Weekly Master List:
Masterful biz-building tips from the pros who know.
We round 'em up. You rock it out.

Do you email your customer and clients? Regularly? And with panache?

We’ve rounded up the best reasons WHY and tips on the HOW. All without landing in the spam box.                 

Whispering at a party: why email marketing is essential for your business

“In growing your list, you are growing your tribe. You are gathering together a community who is interested in hearing what you have to say about your business, your products, and how those products relate to their lives. You aim to build your list quickly but with a keen eye for bringing in those who are likely to be your customers.”

Read more from Tara Gentile here.

Secret to Writing Undeletable Email

“In email marketing — if you aren’t known, liked, and trusted — you’re the unwelcome guest, and there is only instant and merciless deletion waiting for you.
The email inbox is sacred ground. We don’t want anyone coming in there uninvited, or off-tune to the soundtrack of our lives.”

Listen to the podcast at Copyblogger.

Why I’m Changing My Email Newsletter
(and some thoughts about newsletters in general…)

“When I’m in my emailer, however, I’m 100% distracted. My inbox is packed with urgent to-do’s from clients, comments and questions, notes from friends and family, marketing pitches, and spam. When a newsletter drops into the midst of this swirl, frankly, I’m very unlikely to give it my full attention.”

Read more about Sister Diane’s experiment on CraftyPod. 

21 Awesome Ideas to Grow Your Email List

"If you don’t have any compelling offers on your site today, you’re ignoring a huge opportunity to grow the size of your email list. This is true whether you're an ecommerce site or a B2B company - offers are one of the most effective ways to harvest email addresses and leads from your site traffic."

Read more about growing your email list at Hubspot.

What’s the best biz advice you read this week?

Share it in the comments!

Curated by Tara Swiger, Vianza’s Community-Crafter and Twitter-er.
Say hello @vianza or drop her a line: tara.swiger@vianza.com.

Photo Credit :    Curious_Zed