One of my first impressions after listening to this was of motherhood. I considered all the intensive labour that raising a child entails, and how it’s often out of love or for “free”. It’s a more classic instance of doing massive amounts of work that may be “given away” or “unmarketable”.

I’m aware that there are plenty of men who craft and participate in craft communities, but I find it striking how massive the female presence is. And I keep wondering as I get more into this world: how does the femaleness and the economic sense interweave? I think, as ladies, we’re still discovering our own ways to assert ourselves in this freshly “gender equal” society. And I feel the whole crafting groundswell is part of that. Having adequate compensation for our work is brilliant, in my opinion.

Thanks again for the fascinating podcast!

My partner, a programmer, also gets frequent requests to do free work,
or work for very little pay – and it's often positioned as “resume-
building,” even though he's been in that business for 20 years! I
couldn't agree with you more – real experience is worth money.

We really do need a sea change in the way consumers value the work of
individuals (vs. that of many corporations, which seriously underprice
goods and services). It's a chaotic time.

I've been following the Etsy and the Culture of Cheap discussion on
Craft MBA with interest. I love the characterization of Etsy as a Pro-
Am community – that's exactly what creates pricing strife there. But
we're in a moment of what Clay Shirky calls “mass-amateurization.” (http://www.shirky.com/writings/weblogs_publishi…
) To paraphrase him, just because the barriers to starting a craft
business have never been lower doesn't mean that the barriers to
making it a thriving one aren't as high as they've always been.

I tend to think that the successful businesspeople in this age will be
the ones who are relentlessly learning, moving forward from mistakes
and constantly looking at the needs of their marketplaces for new
products and services they can offer. The ones who can clearly
communicate the value of their work through the amount of sharing they
do, both online and in person. Entrepreneurship is just not a cut-and-
dried process anymore.

Have you seen this discussion? http://craftmba.com/2010/01/19/etsy-and-the-cul… I think the discussion of “cheap” and “free” sort of bleed together a bit in this context. I was helping a friend at a market last weekend and we ended up dealing with this drunken asshole who wanted to pay her a third less than her asking price for a piece of art. She offered to give him a deal, but he kept going back to the same low-ball price and then even said that her work was worth only $5 but that he'd give her the low-ball price for it. It went on and on, and finally he bought something from her after she heavily discounted it. Then awhile later, after he'd finally moved on from our booth, there was a ruckus nearby and we found out that he had stolen a $200+ handcrafted leather purse from another vendor. And none of this was because he didn't have money to spend, because he dropped a fat wad of $20 bills out of his pocket at one point.

I don't know how to help better educate the general public about the time and effort it takes to create both art and “free” informational, educational, and entertainment products. It's something to think about and discuss further though…

I'm kicking around a lot of ideas for Free vs. paid content on the
site these days. We'll see what shakes out. But I can't thank you
enough for being the first clicker of CraftyPod's new donate button!

I think you are doing a phenomenal job, Diane! Your podcast are very high quality and I know they require a ton of work. I think they are worth money and I would pay for them. You have probably already thought of this, but could you offer shorter versions for free and more in-depth and longer versions of the podcasts for money?

I wish you success!! :)

My life IS in many ways prosperous. I am blessed with a wealth of time
and intriguing projects. I don't mean to give any impression that I'm
in the poorhouse – I just think it's important to be transparent about
the ways I need to improve my business skills.

On the classes, I'm in the process of revamping my publishing website, and it will have a permanent page for my classes. Anybody know where I can get an extra five hours a day? :-)