#33 Photographing your Handmade Products successfully with Imelda from Sunset Shutterbug

In this episode you will be listening into me talking about 2 quite major chronic health conditions that I have to manage on a day-day and month-month. How they have affected every aspect of my wellness and how I am now finally getting to a place where I am doing so much better!

By no means am I in tip top health in my mind or in my body, but 2022 has absolutely been the year that I have learnt who I am, what I can and cannot do and what adjustments must be made in order for me to get the most out of my life (business and at home).

This episode is meant to give you advice on some simple steps you can take to help you cope better if you have a chronic health condition, and the beginning of that stage is UNDERSTANDING your body (internal and external).

I want you to know you are not alone and although mental health issues can be debilitating, and sometimes scary - there are things we can do to help ourselves! This can be tricky and in some cases daunting, but it is so doable - and I want you to feel inspired to make a change, and then another change and then another - this is a journey not a race.

I will be discussing:

Fibromylagia
PMDD
Challenging behaviours in children
Alcohol Intake
Supplements
Water Drinking
Fitness

Links for you to check out are:

PMDD on Mind
Supplements (Vitamin C, Milk Thistle, Calcium etc, Lysine, Turmeric)
Similar size water bottle (mine was from Homesense)
The Weekly Wellness Tracker (individual) £1.20
The Weekly Wellness Planner (full) £7.20

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Anna's Planners (Instagram)
Anna's Planners (Etsy)
Want a FREE ETSY SHOP REVIEW? Click Here!
Finest uPVC Renovations (Instagram)
Jewellery and Gems (Etsy) (in holiday mode)
Memories and More Gifts (Etsy)

Have you fallen out with Instagram? Do you feel  a bit icky when posting? Maybe you are totally confused and feeling overwhelmed by the platform?

I have felt (and to some degree still do) alllll of the above. But I have a plan, a content plan, and in this episode we will walk step by step through it from A - Z.

Currently I am in charge of building the future for Finest uPVC Renovation's Instagram (my other half's business that I am a part of), and I see great things for that account, but I am literally starting from 0 strategy. So you can literally follow along as I build it from the ground up.

I have big goals guys, big goals!!

This episode is Part 1 of my mini Instagram Series, Part 2 is coming soon.

I do discuss the Instagram Planner that I have created (which is available here on Anna's Planners) but whether you have it or not, you will absolutely get a tonne of information to go along and create your own boss plan for the platform.

We will walk through:

The S.E.T.I.C Method
Content Pillars
Creating Hashtag Strategy's
Creating Engagement
Gifting to Influencers
Best Practices & Hints and Tips

Enjoy!

Anna's Planners (Instagram)
Anna's Planners (Etsy)
Want a FREE ETSY SHOP REVIEW? Click Here!
Finest uPVC Renovations (Instagram)
Jewellery and Gems (Etsy) (in holiday mode)
Memories and More Gifts (Etsy)

This is not the planned episode, BUT it is an episode borne out of me being stopped in my tracks by the idea of perfectionism.

I recorded an episode last week - ready to be published on time.

But when it came to releasing it, when it really came down to putting it out into the world - I thought nope, this isn't perfect, this isn't my best work.

And this thought process got me to thinking - why am I so bothered? What is it that makes me think I need to be ''perfect'' at all times?

Is it the fear of failure?
Is it a lack of excitement?
Is it because there's limited pressure?
or Is it the fear of judgement from others?

Well listen in as I explore all of the above. And then give you some advice (much advice) on how to overcome this - so that we can start living our best life!

I hope you enjoyed this episode that was meant to be real and not to be perfect.
xoxo Anna

Tony Robbins
Finest uPVC Renovations
Schitts Creek
HallowScream (don't click if you don't like gore)
Memories and More Gifts
Jewellery and Gems Co
Anna's Planners
Finest uPVC Renovations
Finest on IG
Follow me on Instagram
Fancy a FREE Printable? An Etsy Shop Audit & Review

In this full episode I delve into my background. The truth behind how I became an Etsy seller, the behind the scenes on some of the hardest struggles of the past 8 years in business.

It's always interesting for me to hear and learn about people's humble beginnings and how they got from where they were to where they are now. So I hope this episode satisfies the voyeur in you!

Find out how a Forensic Psychology Degree, Redundancy, Labour, Alcohol, a University and a chance happening across Etsy all led to me being the person I am today.

I hope you enjoy this episode - which felt like therapy to me!!

Links I discuss:

Memories and More Gifts
Jewellery and Gems Co
Anna's Planners
Finest uPVC Renovations
Finest on IG
Follow me on Instagram
Fancy a FREE Printable? An Etsy Shop Audit & Review

See you next time xoxo Anna

In this brief episode, I am getting you up to date with the new look of the podcast. 

Tune in next week to hear the story of how and why 2022 has been a rollercoaster, and how 2 became 1 in the podcast.

See you then
Anna xoxo

On today's episode (the last of season 2 whilst we take a break for the summer) - we finish on a massive high, with Vicki Weinberg who is an Amazon Product Coach and Expert

Vicki takes us through her journey of starting her own product business selling Bamboo Products on Amazon after her second child was born out of necessity to be more flexible around her children (a very familiar story around here!!)

But having never sold products before and especially on a huge market place like Amazon, Vicki quickly realised she had a lot of learning to do. However 6 months later she had a range and began documenting her journey down in her blog hoping to help and inspire other small business owners also selling on Amazon.

Then Vicki started having people actually contact her directly asking for her help and guidance with their own shops, and so she moved away from the selling of her products and moved into a coaching role.

Vicki helps us understand so many things about Amazon in this episode and our favourite parts were the nitty gritty bits where Vicki discusses her HONEST opinion on selling Handmade products on Amazon Handmade vs Amazon itself.

We delve into what it takes to start selling well, and even touch on an incident that involved Vicki having to buy her own products back off the website in order to sell them again - all will makes sense when you listen in.

Vicki shares a great resource that she has created which will help new sellers get set up and raring to go so check that out here

We touch on why listings from other market places might not transfer directly from say Etsy for example, and why they might need tweaking, and how to go about that in the best way.

Vicki shares some great ways to promote your Amazon shop/products and we also touch on the fascinating topic of Amazon Vine - which we had never heard of but are so intrigued by - Anna would like an account now please :)

Finally Vicki shares how it is more than possible to sell one product and be mega successful rather than needing an entire shop like on other market places - this was very interesting and some great food for thought.

We hope you like this end of season episode and look forward to seeing you soon on the other side!

Happy Summer Sellers xoxo Lynsey and Anna xoxo

Vicki's Website

Vicki's FREE Resources

Follow Vicki on IG

Work with Vicki

Amazon Profitability

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To get your hands on our Email Newsletter Planner click here

If you find this episode helpful we would love it if you could share it with a friend who might also benefit from hearing the things we talk about today.

Please don’t forget to leave us a review wh

Well have we got a cracker of an episode for you this week?!

Lynsey and Anna are joined by the lovely Kerry from Aim High Social

Kerry is a Social Media Management Expert specialising in Instagram and specifically content creation, engagement, strategy planning and jargon busting! 

On this episode we delve into Kerry's journey from being made redundant from the BBC whilst on maternity and after having another child, deciding that she would like to return to work but not in the ''bums on seats 9-5'' corporate way.

Instead she utilised her expertise and re-trained via Digital Mums as a Strategic Social Media Manager. The training allowed her to create her own company that was flexible and worked around her want to be a hands on mum to her two children.

In 2017 she began working with clients (small business owners) on how to develop content and strategy for their IG presence

.

In this episode Kerry talks about the importance of social media and really its ''non-negotiable-ness'' when it comes to small business owners and their marketing.

Kerry offers some de-bunking when it comes to the algorithm and gives three excellent tips on how to stop the major overwhelm of having an IG account and creating content - when this is not your expertise or main focus! The last tip is our favourite, and we welcomed it immensely!!

We also discuss the notion of 'consistency' and Kerry's view points on this are extremely important as small business owners and we believe that you will agree entirely and breathe a large sigh of relief.

Kerry gives ideas on how to stop losing the joy of IG by becoming more objective and goal led rather than 'keeping up appearances

' - which we might all feel we need to do.

We also lapped up Kerry's ideas on how to brainstorm content by searching for inspiration and being more customer led and listening rather than willy-nilly no direction posting.

The episode ends on a controversial

question asked by Anna - so make sure you stick around for that!!

If you would like to work with Kerry she has multiple options that might tickle your fancy:

- you can follow along with her on IG @AimHighSocial

- sign up to her newsletter where she offers weekly tips, news and advice about IG + you can also get access to 20 content ideas for FREE

- and you can also get access to all Kerry's group, 1:1 and course services on her website here

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To get your hands on our Email Newsletter Planner click here

If you find this episode helpful we would love it if you could share it with a friend who might also benefit from hearing the things we talk about today.

Please don’t forget to leave us a review wherever you are listening in, as this really does help us get the word out there about our podcast. This means we can continue our mission to help as many busy women like you grow a successful and profitable handmade business.

See you next time!!

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https://www.thehandmadebusinesspodcast.co.uk/

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Lynsey’s Pages:

@LynseyWarrenCoaching 

In today's episode Anna interviews Ruth from Ruth's Reusables, who is a previous guest on the podcast (episode 4 back in 2020).

Today Ruth and Anna discuss a rollercoaster of a journey detailing overwhelm, a 360 degree shift in business and life and how we have both made a comeback after life-pain, burn out, exhaustion and ongoing change.

If you are a woman we know you will relate to this episode that details a journey through trauma, leaving business, but then picking it up again further down the line after much introspection and self care.

We talk about creating space, making positive adjustments, building back mental health (in a great way) and how we both had to give up in order to fully move forward and start again.

Ruth's journey started in 2018 and we follow her journey through to 2019, 2020, 2021 and now in 2022.

This episode was recorded in May 2022 so things have shifted through from then for both, and you can be updated further on the path by following Ruth over at Ruth's Reusables on IG.

Ruth takes us through some atrocious things that have happened in her personal life (as does Anna), and how having the 'rug pulled out from under her feet' pushed her to close her shop completely.

But there was light at the end of the tunnel and we discuss a few resources that have turned Ruth back onto the path of positivity, one of which is the Fresh Books x Being Boss Business Plan.

We know you will relate to this episode and hope that you find it both inspiring, motivational and comforting - you are not alone!!

The FreshBooks x Being Boss Episode

Freshbooks Business Plan

Anna's Planners (Branding Planner)

The Money is Coming by Sarah Akwisombe

To get your hands on our Email Newsletter Planner click here

If you find this episode helpful we would love it if you could share it with a friend who might also benefit from hearing the things we talk about today.

Please don’t forget to leave us a review wherever you are listening in, as this really does help us get the word out there about our podcast. This means we can continue our mission to help as many busy women like you grow a successful and profitable handmade business.

See you next time!!

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https://www.thehandmadebusinesspodcast.co.uk/

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Lynsey’s Pages:

@LynseyWarrenCoaching 

On today's episode Lynsey and Anna cover all things Reels but the majority of the information can be applied to Tik Tok and Pinterest stories too...

We cover:

- What Reels actually are (short form fast paced content)

- The major benefits of Reels (such as stopping the scroll)

- How to create Reels (audio, effects, captions, CTA's)

We also touch on our own experiences and the boundaries we have set with Reels and how we truly feel about them, and what people in our communities say.

And to make sure this is a balanced episode we offer some of the downsides of Reels - but how to overcome these with top tips!

Anna also touches on an update with Etsy that will soon involve short form videos...

Tips include:

- ideas for Reels in your Handmade Business

- some of the effects we love to use

- some of the features that have helped us

- and how to find the best trending music

- plus posting quantities

- cleansing your feed

- what we like in other people's accounts (and how Lynsey and Anna differ on this)

We reference these accounts for assistance:

Steph from The Female Entrepreneur Movement (a previous guest episode 24)

Lou from Spark Social

Pink Storm Social

Ginny Fears

Brittney Batla

Social Sam

The Social Manager

To get your hands on our Email Newsletter Planner click here

If you find this episode helpful we would love it if you could share it with a friend who might also benefit from hearing the things we talk about today.

Please don’t forget to leave us a review wherever you are listening in, as this really does help us get the word out there about our podcast. This means we can continue our mission to help as many busy women like you grow a successful and profitable handmade business.

See you next time!!

____________

https://www.thehandmadebusinesspodcast.co.uk/

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Lynsey’s Pages:

@LynseyWarrenCoaching 

@RaindropCrafts

@TheHandmadeCraftFair

Lynsey Warren Website 

RaindropCrafts111 on Etsy

The Handmade Business Hub by Lynsey Warren 

Etsy Success Toolkit 

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Anna's Pages:

Anna's Planners on Etsy

Today Lynsey and Anna are joined by Michelle Ramsay of Michelle Ramsay Designs. Michelle is abranding consultant and graphic designer who helps small business owners get their brand accross to their Ideal Audience in a visual way, whether this is online or offline.

This episode we are guided along a very visually stimulating path by Michelle who expertly describes to us what branding actually is and what the benefits are to having an easy to identify brand for us small businesses.

Michelle has some really wonderful examples that she uses that set the scene so we see precisely the importance of branding and it's psychology. 

We discuss how to avoid blending into the background with your brand, how to stop the 'shiny object syndrome' when it comes to fonts and colours and how to position yourself in your market especially when you may sell higher end products in a saturated market.

To finish off Michelle offers her top 3 branding tips and number 3 is definitely one to keep in mind!!

This episode is jam packed with advice and knowledge that you may not have considered when it comes to your business so be sure to listen to the end!

If you would like to work with Michelle or find out more about her you can do so here:

@Michelle Ramsay

www.michelleramsaydesign.co.uk

If you find this episode helpful we would love it if you could share it with a friend who might also benefit from hearing the things we talk about today.

Please don’t forget to leave us a review wherever you are listening in, as this really does help us get the word out there about our podcast. This means we can continue our mission to help as many busy women like you grow a successful and profitable handmade business.

And if you sign up for our newsletter, you will also get your hands on our Email Newsletter pdf which is a downloadable resource to help you set up your own handmade business newsletter.

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https://www.thehandmadebusinesspodcast.co.uk/

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Lynsey’s Pages:

@LynseyWarrenCoaching 

@RaindropCrafts

@TheHandmadeCraftFair

Lynsey Warren Website 

RaindropCrafts111 on Etsy

The Handmade Business Hub by Lynsey Warren 

Etsy Success Toolkit 

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Anna's Pages:

Anna's Planners on Etsy (where you can find find Planners, Trackers and E-Books for your business and wellness - all designed to help you grow a succesful and profitable handmade business)

Want a FREE ETSY SEO GUIDE? Click here