how to optimize your experimentation if you find yourself in a time where you get to be an experimentation mode, because it might be that you've realized I could hang out my day job for a year or two and play around on the side, Or actually my business is really stable and I'm gonna go over here and paint, right? So the reason this is important to acknowledge is because experimentation is a natural state for most creatives. We have all the ideas we want to make all the things I work so much not because I'm a workaholic, but because I love what I dio right. I want, like, 20 more hours and every day so I can spend them all in my studio making all the things or I can spend, like 2010 of them, making all the things that intent of making all the other things that I don't make because they don't support my business. But I want to make them anyway because they're fun. Yesterday, after I wore that funds skirt, all I could think what I need to make more close again, right, natural state for mos...

t creatives. Sometimes you have the luxury of being in an experimental stage. But that being said, if your goal is to grow, you'll need to move from an experimental stage to a stage of focus. And there were ways to set up your experimental stage to set yourself up for success later. And one of those is that you can still build an audience from the experimental stage, but you want to build it around an aesthetic and non around your craft because your craft is gonna change for your art is gonna change. So this is obviously a hard one to dio around things like search or press. But it's a really easy one to dio around visual content creation. It's super easy to do with Pinterest, right, because it's curating someone else's content, so you could just say, OK, I'm gonna build all of these boards around these ideas. I'm gonna work on growing my Pinterest followers while I'm in experimentation phase and because I know I know you guys, and I know that when you're in experimentation phase, you have lots of ideas and then you want to pin them on Pinterest. That's what secret boards Air Force My public boards are very highly curated. What you can't see is that I have, like, 20 secret boards for all the stuff that doesn't fit the brand image that I'm trying to put used to be. You could only have three secret board. So I have one secret board that's like filled with a lot of junk. Now I get have all secret boards I need, and it's amazing, right? So don't when you're in this experimentation face, don't use Pinterest to plan your experimentation right. Use it with a cohesive aesthetic to grow your brand and use your secret boards for experimentation. But you could do the same thing on Instagram. There are plenty of people who don't make things who have huge instagram followings because they take beautiful photography. So maybe while you're off experimenting, one of your experiments is going to be to curate a beautiful instagram feed. If something is exciting, stay with it and then you could also set a timeline for experimentation based on your financial needs. So if you're like OK, I don't like my day job, but I acknowledge that I want to spend a little time playing around before you have to quit it I'm gonna give myself six months to experiment, and then I think myself focus for six months so that hopefully I can quit my day job in a year or I'm gonna let my experiment myself experiment for the next year. Well, I'm at home with my kids, and then I'm gonna settle down and focus so that I can start to generate more revenue. So and I mean, this happened to me. It was pretty darn forced. Here's your graduation date. Here's your diploma and your student loan bill. OK, now it's time to focus, right?

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Megan Auman

Megan Auman is a designer, metalsmith, educator, and entrepreneur who has built a multi-faceted business around her passion for great design and sustainable business. Her eponymous jewelry line is sold in stores across the US and online. Her designs have been featured in Design Sponge, Better Homes and Gardens, Cooking Light, and more. In 2009, Megan founded Designing an MBA to help designers and makers develop their business skills. Since then, she has created a number of successful e-courses, including Marketing for Makers, Wholesale Academy, and Do/Teach. She is a frequent speaker on pricing, wholesale, and business thinking for creatives.

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How to Optimize Your Experimentation

How to Optimize Your Experimentation

Lesson Info

14. How to Optimize Your Experimentation

Lessons

Class Introduction

Why Do You Want to Make Money from Your Craft?

Exercise: Take an Honest Look at Your Financial Situation

(A)lways (B)e (R)eleasing

Priority #1: Email List

Priority #2: Your Product Photography

How to Build an Audience

Which Audience Building Strategy is Right for You?

Audience Growth Strategy: Search (with Tiffany Whipps)

Audience Growth Strategy: Press (with Brigitte Lyons)

Audience Growth Strategy: Visual Content Creation

Is Your Growth Strategy Working?

Honing Your Craft