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So, I know I haven’t been very present around here lately. 2013 has started in a rather worrisome way for me, and I’ve been doing my best to cope and grow. And in such times, it can be hard to be publicly perky.
Things are slowly coming back together now, and I’m in the middle of a big re-org that I’m excited about. My posts here will be sporadic for a while as all this is going on behind the scenes.
I did decide to go ahead and share the post below, which I wrote a few weeks back. I think it gets at a new wrinkle in the whole Free and Sustainability subject, and maybe it’s something you’ll find applies to your own online experiences. Enjoy, and I’ll see you around.
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When I ended my podcast, I knew I’d feel a bit sad. But I wasn’t at all prepared for the anger that welled up inside me. I was one rage-filled woman for a while there. Poor K – I can tell you, he has the patience of a saint.
On the surface of things, I was angered by the flood of well wishes on Twitter and Facebook, and in my emailer. I knew that anger wasn’t the appropriate response to such kindness, but it was there anyway, utterly undeniable.
It’s just that hearing people say “I’m so sad that the show is ending” when most of them hadn’t supported the show financially – that felt painful. Hearing so many people say “I can’t wait to see what you do next” when my last project was dying – that felt painful too. Even though I knew in my heart that every single person who said those things did it with the best of intent.
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My friend Kim wisely pointed out that business failures usually have a number of seeds. My podcast failed because not enough people subscribed (or renewed their subscription, or visited my sponsors), but it also failed because I was asking you to pay for something no one else was asking you to pay for. And because my online store wasn’t able to deliver the shows like iTunes does, with a single click and the money transaction kind of hidden. And because I could have marketed better. And because production, sponsorship sales and admin, plus all the technical tasks of maintaining subscribers added up to so many hours, it wasn’t a project I could sustain on my own.
So again, it wasn’t appropriate to be angry at all the nice people who were wishing me well. But I was angry – really, really angry. And I think I’ve finally figured out why.
It’s because I failed, over the course of seven years, to create good exchanges with most fans of the show. I was angry at myself. And I apologize for the moments when my anger was misdirected.
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That’s a complex idea, so let me explain. I have always sucked at building mutually-beneficial relationships – in business, in romance, you name it. I’m someone who gives to the point of over-giving, and then hopes everyone will intuit the best way to give back, and then is shocked and disappointed when they don’t. Rinse and repeat, that tendency goes way back.
It’s an unhealthy pattern for so many reasons, and it inevitably leads to burnout. Back in the Day Job Era of my life, when the pattern played itself out to burnout, I’d just quit my job and get another one, hoping that “this time it’ll be different.” (Spoiler: it never was.)
Now that I’m self-employed, I have nowhere to run from this tendency to over-give. It’s time I faced up to it.
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Here’s what I should have done, in terms of the podcast. Every time a nice person emailed me, over the past seven years, expressing thanks for the value they received from the show, I should have said more than “Thank you.” Saying “Thank you” is nice and expected, but you know what? It’s a bit of a door-closer.
Instead, I should have created a future for me and these kind souls by saying something like:“I’m so happy that the podcasts are bringing you value. If you’d like to give something back to the show, how about blogging about it sometime? How about telling your friends? Do you have a contact at any company that might want to sponsor? I’d love any and all help to keep this project going!”
See what I mean? There’s way more power and possibility in asking for an exchange. It’s important to know what you need, and then ask individual humans for it directly. And I didn’t do any of those things. Instead, I communicated the show’s need of support in a general broadcast-y way, which feels somewhat safer to do, but which most of us, truth be told, usually ignore.
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It’s not that the show didn’t bring me anything back for my efforts. Of course it did! But I can see now that, by making the shows and putting them out there and never asking anyone else to get meaningfully involved, I just created a kind of bubble around them – one that ultimately had no choice but to pop.
So here are some things I’m going to do differently, going forward:
• When people say to me, “Please let me know what I can do to help you,” I’m going to make myself take the opportunity. I’ve made a list of things I need, and it’s posted by my computer so I won’t default to saying “Oh, I don’t need anything right now, thanks.” This year, I am going to ASK.
• When people reach out to me to say “Thank you for all you do in the community,” I’m going to offer them some easy and specific ways to give back, if they choose to do so.
• I’m going to continue making free content, but always with a call to some small, easy action for those who consume it. I know not everyone will take that call, but again, it’s important to ask.
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Actually, I think we could all take a meaningful step in the direction of sustainable Free just by getting clear about what we want to get from our online sharing, and then clearly asking for it. (And yes, I know it’s tempting to say that sharing for sharing’s sake is awesome, but at the end of the day, we do things because they give us some kind of reward back. If we weren’t getting some kind of reward, we wouldn’t do it for long.)
The exchanges we want don’t even have to be monetary. Maybe all you want is for someone to compliment your work. Maybe what you want is more web traffic. Whatever it is, again, it’s important to make that clear. Because how else will we know how to support each other?
How do you ask people for meaningful exchanges? Or do you ask directly? What kinds of exchanges do you wish you were having?
Diane, I’m so glad you voiced these feelings, even though they will be hard for folks to hear. I hope that by doing so, you will find your next steps a little easier. Also, you have made your sense of failure an opportunity for others to learn, which really takes guts. Thank-you.
In answer to your question, I do ask directly for the exchanges I need. I need people to buy my patterns, register for my online classes and serve as quilters at do. Good Stitches so that the bee can continue to grow. I also need feedback on my creations, which is always comfortable to ask for. Sometimes I feel guilty for asking for the first list of things out of comparison to others who don’t ask, many of who do not need. But, I do need. I find that in being completely honest with my readers I free myself to ask. The key to asking, in my case, is being comfortable with “no”. If you’re OK with “no”, you have nothing to lose by asking.
Wow, Rachel, I really love the clarity and specificity you’ve brought to your list of needs. That’s a really good model, and inspiring to me. And I love what you have to say about being comfortable with “no” in order to ask. “No” is actually a pretty healthy word! :-)
I’m sending a HUGE hug your way right now. I know we’ve talked about this subject, at least briefly, when we’ve discussed sustainability in the past. When I shut down my yarn shop, I had similar feelings. I even told one customer, upon her entering the liquidation sale, pouting and proclaiming, “I am so disappointed,” that she had no right to be disappointed, as I had not seen her face in the shop in 18 months. Not one of my finer moments.
Asking for help and support is OK. Better than OK. From personal experience, I’ve been in situations like yours, and have learned that waiting for reciprocity can be futile. People need more than an opening, they need an invitation, or a nudge. They really do mean well, but life is hectic, and their attention span is limited. Many of us are so used to being self-sufficient, we don’t even think of asking for help. In life, and in business. But we need to.
In emails, I’ve said whatever I can do to help your projects, let me know.
I mean it.
XOXO
OMG, Mercedes, you really said that? I get that it didn’t feel like a fine moment to you, but even so… I’ll bet there are many who’ve had to close down a cherished business who would have liked to have taken that same stand! And, AMEN – I love being self-sufficient to the point of self-destruction sometimes. But it’ll never be a healthy way to live. I really appreciate your offers of support, and when my new website launches, we’ll put our heads together and do some cross-promoting.
Diane, it may have been a little scary to put this out there, but I’m so glad you did. I was also watching Kim’s reaction when her TacoHat TV campaign funding didn’t materialize and most recently when her Holocene project wasn’t chosen for the Startup Showcase. That woman can turn any failure into a huge success, learning experience, and fuel for the next big thing.
And she’s right. Failures always have multiple factors, some of them are outside of our control (platform norms), and some of them we may not even realize (a history of creating exchange) until it’s too late. But the growth to be had in effectively analyzing, identifying, and learning from those failures is more powerful than the failure itself.
Asking for help is also something that I struggle with. I pride myself on being an independent person and in a lot of cases I just play the “it’ll all work out in the end” illusion to try and get myself through whatever it is I should have asked for help on. Sometimes I pull it off by the skin of my teeth, other times I fail.
This year will be a trial for me as well in some similar ways to what you see on the horizon. Instead of just sharing my passion for empowering the creative community with Maker’s Nation, I need to learn to take it one step further and ask for support. Fundraising on the nonprofit side of things is an entirely different ballgame than selling handmade goods or working for an hourly wage. But I will learn how to do it.
And who knows? I may fail miserably in the process. If that happens, I hope that I can not only have the same attitude toward the failure as the amazing Kim Werker, but also channel that failure into the empowering energy that will fuel the next big thing.
As for your next big thing, please let me know how I can help. Thai food and a listening ear? I’m there. Coffee and a brainstorming session? Count me in.
Just ask. :)
I will ask, because you’re always such a good sounding board. Our last visit to the Thai place dropped some hugely important questions into my brain. And I’m here for YOU, too, as you take Maker’s Nation to the next stage of its journey. It’s true that one failure will tend to catapult us farther forward than any success, so here’s to failure. She said with an ironic shrug. :-)
Diane, you continue to be a thought leader on this idea of “sustainable Free.” I thought of you when I read the little piece on Kickstarter in this weekend’s New York Times Magazine. (The title, “Why Would You Ever Give Money Through Kickstarter?,” really grabbed me.) It shook something loose in me and made me think back to the workshop you led with I Heart Art. It’s sometimes hard to sort out economic exchanges from gifts. They both create relationships, but perhaps different sorts of relationships.
http://www.nytimes.com/2013/02/10/magazine/why-would-you-ever-give-money-through-kickstarter.html
Hope to cross paths with you again soon!
It was so great to meet you over the weekend, Katie, and that conversation was a catalyst for my finally sharing this post. (When I expressed it to you in person and you accepted it with such warmth and acceptance, I began to think it might be okay to share here.)
That’s a really interesting article about Kickstarter – thank you for the link. The piece that really grabbed me was the example of the Tiv, who purposely keep exchanges unequal so that relationships have a future of re-balancing. Definitely, in this sharing-oriented online community, I think you’re right: straightforward economic exchange and gifting can become very tangled, and it’s challenging then for relationships to find a clear path to develop. Not impossible (because to think that would shake my worldview too much), but challenging. :-)
Thank you for expressing your feelings so openly and clearly. I struggle with asking for help or having a call to action at the end of my posts etc. I assume if people like my things they will just buy it. Like I do when I like something. But its important to ask and I struggle with that. I do enjoy reading and seeing your talent. I will share more often when I read something I enjoy! Keep up the good work. I hope you get clarity and increase very soon!
Thank you, Jacqueline! Your comment inspired me to a little thought-experiment. When you said “I just buy it when I like it,” I thought, “So do I!” But actually, I wonder how many times I’m actually influenced by someone asking me to buy. I’m going to watch this for the next month or so and see what I find out.
A thoughtful post as usual, Diane! The flip side of you not asking for help is that it often doesn’t occur to me that I could help. I’m a pretty small fish in this big pond, but I’m also a firm believer that the little things do add up. I’ll try to look up more often and see how I can be more helpful to others.
You know, I think we all forget to help each other – nobody’s being nefarious in that; we’re all just busy. Another reason those asks are important! I always worry I’ll be too spammy with them, but in reality, people probably only notice and retain a tiny percentage. Absolutely, though, every mention, every share, every link really helps!
Hi Diane,
It’s very brave of you to put yourself out there like this and very honest too – which is one of the things I love about you!
I was, like many people very sad when you decided to stop the podcasts but I could understand why, I have also been trying to scrape a living in the crafty world. But I had a revelation! I stumbled across Mayi Carles, she seemed to appear from no-where and was suddenly everywhere and making money – good money. Long story short, she introduced me to Marie Forleo and I signed up for her course last year. It has been a major game changer for me. Now I can see I was doing so many things the wrong way.
For starters having a mailing list is a number 1 priority (not subscribing to a feed) and the other big A-HA was asking readers to a Call To Action at the end of a post/email (please share by hitting this button, click to tweet etc – one call to action and really clear what it is) These little tweaks have made a world of difference.
I wrote a post about it all here PLUS Marie has some free video training up just now, it is limited time but well worth a look.
http://www.jojoebi-designs.com/2013/02/how-marie-forleo-changed-my-life.html
For me, I am no longer happy to live the starving artist life and if I can make some decent money then I can buy all those cute handmade things that I would like but normally can’t afford.
Also, do you know Blogcast FM – that gut Srini is killing it, your podcasts are as good, if not better than his, maybe you could look at his business model, it would be lovely to listen to you as I work again :)
I appreciate you sharing ideas that have excited you, Jojoebi. You and I have communicated by internet for some years now, so I hope you won’t mind me sharing my honest reaction to your encouragement that I find a new business model for my podcast. I sincerely don’t mean you any offense. I know what you’re offering here is offered out of kindness. As I said in the post, my emotional reactions to these things come from deeper places within me, and they’re my responsibility.
…But I have to say two things here. First, I think it’s all too easy to assume other people are “killing it” in the internet age, but I’ve learned not to believe this unless I can see actual numbers. It’s relatively easy to create an attractive internet veneer of prosperity in hopes of creating actual financial prosperity.
…And I cannot help but feel some frustration at the assumption that I just need to go out there and find another way to get the money, and then all my listeners can go on enjoying the show for free, without having to take any meaningful support actions. This is an assumption that’s natural, given how we’ve all grown up with the smoke-and-mirrors of advertiser-sponsored media, but here’s the thing: we think we our media is free because sponsors foot the bill. What we don’t understand is that we consumers are supposed to “pay the sponsors back” with our attention. And we so rarely do, especially with broadcast media. That ecosystem is broken, and we’re maybe a decade away from the public fully understanding the role it needs to play in the content it consumes.
Of course I wish you huge success with your business. I want you and every other creative who wants sustainability to have it. Including me. And I think that comes from fostering meaningful, mutually-beneficial exchanges, both with each other and with our actual customer bases.
Hey Diane!
I’m sorry to hear about this. I also totally hear you and think your reflections are so important for many of us to hear! Thank you so much for sharing it all. Wishing you the VERY best.
Stay in touch! Yes, let me know what you are doing. Yes, I will help promote it. :)
xo Jess
Absolutely, Jess – Seek Your Course is doing such a wonderful service for creative teachers and students everywhere, and I’d love us to support each other. When my new site launches, I’ll be in touch with some ideas!
Thank you for sharing your anger. It’s justified. And a nice slow burn is perfect for growth. Not terribly comfortable for you but good for growth.
I have to advocate both for my teens (I’m a librarian.) and the job of teen librarianship. I want to do all the other parts of my job when I really should be networking and letting other people shine and share their strengths. Who doesn’t like to shine? I’m terrible at advocacy because what I really want to say is: “This is awesome. Take my word for it and support it. Don’t make me explain how awesome it is when I’ve already told you what to think!”
Nobody likes a Bossy McBosserson. I’m coming around very slowly and kicking myself for all the opportunities that I’m discovering that HAVE ALWAYS BEEN THERE. *kicks self once again* On the flip side, I’m up to 10 of my 13 volunteers for a huge project I have coming up and that was really just a matter of personally inviting them to participate. Who knew?
Oh, Linda – your comment had me giggling and nodding my head. I would LOVE to just say, “Here’s a thing. It’s a good thing. Take a look and see if you don’t agree” – and have that be enough. Persuasion exhausts me; I’m a merit girl all the way. :-)
Great, great job inviting your volunteers! These actions really do make a difference, as long as we’re willing to take them. Also, I may get a tattoo of “A nice slow burn is perfect for growth.”
I only recently stumbled across your site when I was looking for some tutorials a while ago. I added it to my Google Reader and enjoyed seeing what you posted as I drank my Diet Pepsi and plowed through the numerous posts in my reader at any point in time.
Then I read this.
And I swore it seemed you were talking about me. Not in the aspect of the podcasts. Rather, your perspective of asking for help or embracing the moments of potential with more than a thank you.
I am in youth ministry with a personality much like yours. I fight it every day as it is so easy to do things myself, my way, and thus become overwhelmed. There is such a need for me to answer those offers of help with an affirming response accompanied by the specific request. You reminded me of the need to have that list of ways to connect people with needs when they offer time or resources. I like feeling needed and wanted. Most people do. By taking those moments of potential (just decided I like that term quite a bit), I can help two people more fully embrace themselves and live a bit more fully – the person making the offer of assistance and myself.
Your final statement of almost an over-giving of self without stating what you need in relational reciprocity also struck a chord in me. Could we be long separated identical twins? This has caused huge problems for me, too, especially with college roommates and one or two failed dating relationships. I expect others to use their ESP to know what it is I need at any point in time. This is an unrealistic expectation. If I learned nothing else from The Little Mermaid (oh, how I otherwise loathe this film), it is that perhaps the most valuable possession I have is my voice. I need to use it respectfully and lovingly, including to voice what I need and want.
So thank you. Thank you for your heart-wrenching honesty. I will definitely be looking to your site for inspiration in the future. Thank you for reminding me to have a list of ‘ways to help’ ready for those moments of potential. Thank you for reminding me to use my voice.
Wow, Jenn, “moments of potential” is a beautiful idea! And interestingly, I’ve heard from more than one person who struggles with this over-giving, so you and I are not alone. And absolutely, who doesn’t like feeling needed or wanted? But I love what you said here: “By taking those moments of potential (just decided I like that term quite a bit), I can help two people more fully embrace themselves and live a bit more fully – the person making the offer of assistance and myself.”
YES!!
I have nothing amazingly wonderful to add to these great comments but I just wanted to echo the comment above about you being a thought leader. You are, Diane, a true thought leader in this field both in the craft area but also in online endeavours as well. I know those sentiments don’t pay the bills: sorry, I wish they could. But I really do appreciate your honesty and always have, there are just so many people on the internet selling false hope and false dreams it is so refreshing to read your honesty, and lead the debate in this way.
That’s so kind of you, Linda, thank you! I totally agree about the false hopes and dreams being peddled. (Hugh MacLeod wrote this great line: “The market for something to believe in is infinite.”) Your forthcoming book will be a big and needed dose of honesty for women struggling with this whole online thing, and I’m looking forward to it. (http://jenniferforest.typepad.com/jennifer-forest/work-women-want.html, for those interested.)
As always, you offer a lot of food for thought, Diane! I was very sad when you closed the pod cast. But having been there myself when an online effort was not sustainable, only thing is to be back to the drawing board… Rachel and Mercedes at the top offer some fanatstic advice! Our consumer culture is shifting a bit, and with so much available free online, it makes it harder for us selling online. My enterprise would be considered “small fish” too… But I feel what I offer is meaningful. Keeping connections with those who appreciate what I offer has been easy. It’s the snagging of new customers that presents the continual challenge when trying to engage people’s erratic attention to make more meaningful connection. As comsumers we need to be more conscious of what we consume, how we’re consuming it, who is behind it, and are we giving as much as we are taking. The give & take feels “off” sometimes. The honesty you share here inspires, Diane. Being honest is a great beginning. A lot about being on line is giving and exchanging. We give something, but we get something back–or hope we do! Asking for help is a big thing, it takes courage. And we can’t do it alone all the time, especially if our sites are a bridge between the personal shared + sales of some kind. Reading your story inspires me to take a closer look at what being online is and means for me. I’m an over-giver type too, and find it not always easy to ask for something–help, financial assistance for a project, etc. I’m learning how to ask! Offering my first creative workshop this month was a huge step in this direction. For these workshops to be sustainable, I need to be paid for the work I do for them. I still offer a lot that is free, but it can’t always be free. ;o) Wishing you the VERY best always, and offer gratitude for all you share & encourage here!
So true, Tracy – I think the level of “sound” (I hate to call it “noise,” because there’s always someone who considers it music) on the internet has become very challenging. The more we all have something to sell alongside the things we’re sharing, the harder it becomes to navigate this landscape. Even so, I don’t believe it’s impossible. I just think we’re entering an era where referrals are doing more of the marketing work – because, done well, they can still cut through the sound. And this is another reason forging these good exchanges is so important!
Thank you for this honest post and, once again, all the food for thought, Diane. I totally understand why you felt angry. I felt not only sad for you when it happened, but also guilty. Even though I was a paid subscriber, I realized I could have done more, like tweeting more often when I listened to one of your podcasts or took a class. Lesson learned, sadly. You’re perfectly right, we should all simply ask, sometimes, to provoke empathy and reaction. As Debbie says in a comment, it probably just doesn’t always occur to us how helpful we can be, even when we’re small fishes in the pond.
I hope you know you can always ask me if you need a fresh pair of eyes on something, or anything, really. XO
Thinking about what I wrote in my previous comment… I realize that, yes, in fact, paying a subscription may have given me the false impression that I was doing the best I could to help you. Something to keep in mind when giving people a list of things they can possibly do, one of them involving money? Finding a not too pushy way (tricky, I know) to say that anything in the list is great, and a combination of two or more is even more stellar?
I was thinking about that kind of things too when I recently renewed a membership to a local museum: the help they ask for is mostly financial, but there are many levels of museums memberships. Which reminds me of Kickstarter too. In both cases the rewards for the different options is often proportional, but not always. Sometimes, people are just ready to (insert action) because they’re enthusiastic about something or believe in it.
Sorry if my thinking out loud seems a little off topic!
Not off-topic at all, Veronique. These are interesting ideas and I appreciate them. I should say, the handful of people like you who took the steps to support the show financially were doing something very meaningful. I had nothing else to ask from my active subscribers, except to renew their subscription when the time came. And I hugely appreciated every bit of financial support.
Your comment illustrates something important I learned through this process, which is that purchasing decisions are fairly momentary things – especially in the case of a leisure-type purchase like subscribing to a podcast. All the planets have to align in the right moment – you have to encounter the idea in a guise that makes it feel meaningful to you, and also in an undistracted moment when you can focus both on the idea and taking action. You have to feel solvent enough to spend the money. And then, you have to have the money in your Pay Pal account already.
…So although there were many, many people who loved listening to the show and praised it highly, and in some cases even credited it as the catalyst for starting their own business, that value doesn’t translate automatically into financial support. There are still all those delicate and temporal hurdles to clear, and clearing them has always felt very challenging to me.
Heh – now I’m thinking out loud, I guess. :-)
Hard to find anything to add to this discussion, so many comments that express how I feel, too. Amazing, honest post that I could never have written ’cause I’m a chicken. Just wanted to say thank you for putting yourself out there and speaking for lots of people (even though you were being so very personal). I would also like to say I’m sorry, because I suspect I was one of those people who made you so angry. I can’t remember if I commented on that podcast-ending post, but if I did it would have been in that vein of well-meant but unintentional lameness. Please follow through with your plan to let people know how to help your new project go – I am ready to act and also to watch and learn from your ideas. Because I need them!
Thank you, Michelle, I appreciate your comment. I’m ready to forge better exchanges one on one, and I’m in a learning process about how to do that with larger groups. At the end of nearly every podcast for the past year, I directly asked for people to support the show by subscribing or visiting a sponsor website, but those “asks” seemed to fall on deaf ears – or, more accurately, people were hearing them in a moment when they weren’t able to act. Or, because the interview had ended, they’d already tuned out mentally.
it’s especially hard to do good “asks” in a media context because of our inherent blindness about media, which I ranted about in another comment here. But I’ll keep trying new modes, and hopefully some of them will inspire the kind of actually-beneficial exchanges I need in order to keep creating other things for the community. Fingers crossed!
Oh, Diane. You and I function very similarly – I am quite familiar with the wash, rinse, repeat cycle that you described!
A few years ago, a mentor asked me to show her my resume. She ripped the whole thing apart, and told me that I undersold myself and my skill set – then very frankly told me “You are never going to get ahead because you’re too nice! People will walk all over you.”
Since that day, I’ve tried to become more proactive about communicating my needs (at least in business relationships). And you know what? Sometimes, it does not work. If people see that they can get something without giving back in return, oh boy they will abuse that power. But, here is what I will say to you…if you can’t get what you need, after asking and being proactive from one project, move on to another. It is HARD to ask, but eventually you will find what you need, I KNOW IT. And when you do, I’ll be watching from the sidelines doing high kicks and whooping!
Thank you, Sarah. This gets at something I struggle with all the time. I’d rather be nice! I’d rather just make a product or service that’s of excellent quality and have it recognized on its own merits. I hate “selling myself.” I suspect this is true of a lot of us creatives. :-)
Listening to a few “big” podcasts this year I’ve heard a few things over and over. One is “support our sponsors because they support us” and direct asks like “click our banner to shop at amazon” our “subscribe to our Youtube channel”. These things seem like concrete things I can do that are more than “watch our show and consume our content”. The other thing that these podcasts seem to do is use their free content to promote their paid content (usually comedy gigs, but also online classes). I’d be curious to know how well the “asks” do at the bottom of posts on brainpickings.org – I do appreciate that she quantified her time and asks for support, though.
True, I hear a lot of podcasters asking for these things, too – and I asked for them in most episodes as well. I wonder how many listeners actually take action, though – so many times, we’re listening to podcasts when we’re away from the computer we’d use to take the action, and few of us will remember the call to action once the podcast ends.
I agree about shows that are free as a gateway to selling other content – that model can be effective. I considered it myself, but the things I wanted to talk about on the show and the people I wanted to talk with never seemed to fit cleanly into the idea.
Hi Diane,
I owe you a big apology. When I responded to your email about the podcasts ending I said I was sorry it happened and understood it was a hard decision, but then I hijacked everything and went off on my own stupid tangent and gripes about high priced events in the creativity industry. That’s what I had been thinking about all week when I read your email and got thinking about how affordable you had made your podcast subscription and how it should have received better support from people. Well, I got all angry and ranty. I was not in a good place and should’ve thought before I hit send.
What I do want to tell you now is that I felt real value for my podcast subscription and thank you for the opportunity to listen them. It is easy to say one doesn’t have the funds to pay for something especially when we are surrounded by so much free stuff online, but I think it is about reevaluating what and how we value people and their contributions in this world. Someone asked me why I shop at a local book store when I could get the same book online for less. Well, I value my neighborhood bookstore and shop there because I want them to stick around. I value you and what you do and will continue to support you and other creative spirits whenever I am able.
I wish you the very best and will continue to watch and listen for where your path takes you next.
Warm regards,
Elizabeth
Not to worry, Elizabeth – and I apologize for not having responded. I had trouble replying to most emails from that moment. But believe me, I understand the whole angry and ranty thing. :-)
I so appreciate your supporting the show with a paid subscription. I could not agree with you more that affordability is a very fluid concept, and that it’s important that we look outside the “I can’t afford that” assumption and support the things we want to keep available to us. I fully appreciate that everyone is operating on limited funds these days – I certainly am, too. But we always have choices, even in tight months. By choosing to support your neighborhood bookstore and favorite creators, you’re doing a really important form of activism!
I think there’s real danger in assuming someone else will step up and take care of these things for us, and all we’ll have to do is show up and consume.
So when you and I talked on the podcast about how things went after I went on the Martha Stewart show, I admitted that I did not make any sales after appearing for 8 minutes on national television next to a very famous creative entrepreneur. And the way I dealt with that disappointment (after a HUGE sulk fest) was to realize that I did receive value, just not the value I was hoping for. And that adjusting my expectations showed me that what I DID earn from the show (credibility, respect, confidence) was a kind of compensation I hadn’t recognized because my marker for success was money.
Because I went on TV, because I took your podcasting class, I am now creating content and offering it for free to a delighted audience. Because I’ve been following your efforts to monetize your podcast and the conversations you’ve been having about the sustainability of free, I am considering what I hope to earn from creating this content besides money, because it’s obvious I won’t (I never expected to.)
But I do see credibility, respect, and community building as a kind of currency I can trade in when I do want to produce a product for purchase. I view my TV show as advertising, as a reminder to the craft community that I exist , that I am vital, relevant, and participating. And I see it as a goodwill generator through all the guests I interview and all their networks.
I guess my point is, if you are constantly frustrated that the intangible thing you make doesn’t sell, it’s likely not the way you are marketing it or making it available (though why on earth iTunes doesn’t have a pay model for podcasts like it does for music is a true bafflement to me) that’s at fault. It’s that people ARE paying you, just not in dollars. The next step is to convert the currency you are receiving into money another way. If the podcast is too time intensive to keep up while using it to monetize other things then it’s not an efficient model of advertising and credibility gathering and must go.
BUT I don’t know how I would know about you if not for the podcast. I don’t know why I would take your ideas so seriously if I hadn’t followed over to your blog and read your posts. I was not at all interested in fabric flower folding but I totally bought your book to see if I could become interested because I trusted the source. I took your e-course, I told everyone to take your e-courses. All of this because you offered a podcast. I think it was very effective advertising.
And yes, even though I am paying attention, I do need to be prodded, reminded, asked, that is all also true. And it doesn’t feel pushy if I am your right customer. If I’m not your right customer than it’s irrelevant how I feel about the asks.
(BTW: I would totally buy a book (or an e-book) of interview moments with particular creative inspirational paragraphs transcribed from your years of podcasts grouped by topic with pretty pictures of artists’ workspaces and art and information about the creative thinkers.)
OK Now you can tell me to stuff it :)
Heh! No, I won’t be telling you to stuff it. :-) And do not get me started on Apple and podcasters. I can understand the business reasons why they refuse to let audio podcasters sell their work, but it’s truly frustrating how much they dominate the delivery landscape, and in that domination, make it pretty challenging for podcasters trying to monetize.
I appreciate what you’re saying here, Liz, and I can’t help feeling this in response: if every member of my audience was like you, there would be no problem. But there are not enough of you to make this thing work. The podcast was a magical thing primarily because it started up at a time when it was unique, and it gained traction and reputation based on that earliness as well. But it’s not the only kind of value I have to offer, and so I hope you’ll be willing to stay tuned in without it.
In no way am I discounting the value I have gained from the show, either – it’s been tremendous. But it’s also true that every project has its life cycle. This project has come to the end of its productive life cycle.
I’ve been thinking a lot about the whole value equation over the past month, and this idea keeps showing up: I see a kind of spiral scale of the kinds of value I get from my projects. I think that early in a project, I’m being compensated for my efforts with the value of learning. And then, the compensation takes the form of the recognition of others. And then, it takes the form of a community growing around the project. All of these are wonderful kinds of value. But there comes a point where even those start to fade. Every kind of value seems to have a life cycle, too. This is the point where your choice is to leave the project behind, or to try making it into a more viable form of exchange that covers the time and effort you’re still putting in. Maybe that takes the form of using the project to market something else, or maybe it takes the form of monetizing it directly.
The podcast also grew up in a moment when I had no earthly idea I’d be self-employed in two years. It was started without conscious design or branding. And as such, probably never had a clear enough shot at reaching the kind of “right audience” that would meaningfully support other things I’m doing. It reached individuals like you, to be sure, but as a reliable way to get a coherent, actionable message to a large number of people, I’m just not sure it ever succeeded – unless you count the message of “free, no-strings-attached great content.” :-)
[...] is a beautifully honest post by Diane. Please read the whole [...]
“I don’t believe in failure. It is not failure if you enjoyed the process.” – Oprah
The golden rule of doing unto others used to be my mantra. After years of non-reciprocal behavior, I realized the over-giving is my fault. Realizing and changing my behavior is painful but needed. Giving to others made me happy, so why is it so hard to give to myself? I try to re-direct my anger into positive energy for me as well as others. Thank you for your painful honesty (I don’t have the guts!) and letting us learn and grow from your lessons.
Thank you, Cecelia!
Dear Diane,
in 2011 I found your blog and it helped me a lot to overcome a creative crisis I had. I am crafter and felt very exhausted by my own blog and the way the interaction between and my followers, customers and students was back then. In 2011, I visited your blog quite a few times – and I gathered more useful information, help and advice on this subject than I had found in any book so far. Back then you had a Paypal donate button on your page – and I paid the amount that I else would have paid for of all those smart books on creative business & blogging.
The fact that I paid for something that you offered for free on your blog, made me appreciate your words and advice even more. You had given me something, I had given you something. It was a great feeling.
I haven´t visited your blog for a long time. Today I did – and read this post. I think I can understand quite a bit of the feelings you have/ had and I appreciate your openness and honesty on this subject.
Back in 2011, my problem was that I expected from my readers something they weren´t able to give (or not willing) – because I expected them to act/ react the way I would have done. But who sets the standard? I have understood that my followers do appreciate my work, but they do it differently from how I would support an artist or crafter I like. I would pay for content. They paid me with a lot of clicks. Some sent me packages with a lot of tea and chocolate and hand cream. Which – of course – is nice, but doesn´t pay the bills. I also understood that a female readership gives back in a different way then men would do. Women like to give back emotions. A nice comment, a pretty little package. Men want to be more efficient, they pay with a link, some even with a small payment to express their appreciation. But alas! it is rather unlikely that a doll making blog would be of interest for a male readership…
I am currently changing the way how I blog/ work and will offer more digital products. Since 2011 (since my big crisis) I have been preparing for a big craft project, and I have been advertising it for a year or so, feeding my readership with a little info here and a little info there. If everything goes well, I will not only sell the e-book and patterns for a doll character that I have been introducing for quite some time, I will also use the help of sponsors. The latter is something I have always refused on my current blog because I did not want to offend my readers by placing ads on my website. Now, after careful consideration, I will give it a try. I work full time and I deserve getting paid as a crafter and blogger.
I haven´t been offering any new DIY´s for more than two years now, but I am working on a long-term craft project (a sort of story book doll character) and apart from patterns/ e-books for sale, this project will also include a lot of free DIYs. Even if I do not get paid for these, I would want my readers to give something in return, not necessarily to me. They could support the project by blogging about it, by adding a link to their website, by spending 1% of the time I spent on a new tutorial for furniture or doll clothes, on doing something nice for someone else. Send a card, give someone a call, pick the neighbour a few flowers. It is important to clearly communicate that even though content is free, it hasn´t been free for the author/ creator. It costs time and creativity.
I do not really have a solution for the problem of offering free content but not earning enough/ getting something in return. I think I might also have a problem with the term itself, free content, because it never is free. There are social payment services like paywithatweet.com that might help, but they do not work for everyone (I doubt it would work for me but will give it a try for sure).
The way I am looking at this subject has also changed the way I set the prices for my dolls. I do no longer think in hourly wages, I think in time. If I spend four days on a doll, I expect my customer to work four days to get the funds for it. Time in exchange for time. A digital product (like a DIY tutorial or podcast) can be shared with more than just one customer.
If you spent half a day on a podcast, you can´t expect your followers to spend half a day on something they give you in return. But you can expect them to spend at least 1% of the time you invested. If you spent 240 (4 hours) on a post/ podcast/ tutorial, they could spend 2.5 minutes on writing a nice note with a link on Facebook or their blog or send you a small payment. Most people would like to give something in return, but it is the way we communicate our expectations (and needs) as bloggers that makes it difficult. So the question is how we can make it fun for people to give something in return? If I had the answer, I would gladly share it with you, but I am afraid I too am still pondering on this…
I am looking forward to reading about the new paths (or old paths) you are going to take. Even though I spend so little time on other blogs these days, I should visit yours more often and I promise I will.
I wish you a lot of energy and send you a fresh breeze from snowy Sweden.
Warmly,
Juliane
Hi, Juliane -
First, I’m so happy that this blog was helpful to you during a challenging time. I know how lost we can all feel when that exchange with our readers is broken, and I’m so glad I could help a little. Your donation meant the world to me. I love what you said about how women like to pay with emotion vs. men paying with efficiency. That’s a really important idea, and one that may be more central than we realize to the overall challenge of making sustainable money in creative careers.
I really love the “asks” you’re cooking up for your new doll project. You’re really tapping into that “emotional payment” idea, and you’re giving people a wider range of actions to take than just paying with money. Maybe “emotional paying” is a gateway to eventually paying with money. My partner and I were just talking this morning about how, for supporting content to become a more universal practice, people will first have to encounter specific, easy, and actionable requests for support everywhere they go online. The more normal it becomes to see the asks, the more normal it then feels to take the actions. And I think your plans point to a great way to help people become comfortable with action.
One thing that was so problematic about the podcast was that my asks were very disconnected from the places where people could act upon them. Since the vast majority of people get and store their podcasts in iTunes, when they heard my repeated requests for subscribership, they were usually far away from my website – where the payment buttons were. They were also far away from my sponsors’ websites. So although they may have had a moment’s good intention, there was no way to sustain that to the point where they could take action. So this is one more way Apple, in dominating the delivery landscape, makes it really hard for podcasters to monetize.
Anyway. I thank you for this thoughtful comment, and I’ll be watching your blog for news of your new doll!
Dear Diane, I really admire you for posting this – and for having hosted my favourite podcast about crafts for so long. Your podcasts were produced in a really professional way, and I can only imagine the amount of work you put into it…for a long time I have wished you would get your own radio show on NPR! Have you ever thought about submitting your podcast format and concept to a (local) public radio? If not, you should do it. I mean it. Well, unless you are tired of podcasting and recording and interviewing. I guess you may have talked about crowdsourcing the project as well?
I have just watched the documentary Taking Root, about Kenyan activist and Nobel prize Wangari Maathai :) In the movie they talk about “the wrong bus syndrome”…or the human tendency to head towards the wrong path (without being fully aware of it). I definitely experienced that – especially because I have the same problem you have: I am really bad about asking people to help me and to give me what I need. And when that is combined with me investing lots of energy for something I don’t fully believe in /care about…I just feel betreated and drained. And that turns into anger real fast. But if I focus on what truly moves me and on what I really what to do I don’t really mind about not getting enough back. I am happy with the exchange of helpful information or craft patterns, or just reading emails and comments from readers.
Do you have the same problem? Do you feel like maybe you have focused on the “business side” of craft too much/with too much energy rather than nurturing your interest for the creative side of crafting (for example)?
And naturally things are immensely complicated when you are self-employed. You are not only your creative director but also your CEO! Sometimes you gotta jump on the “wrong bus” if that can lead to better financial sustainability, or if you can fill a niche in the market – it’s the eternal dilemma of the creative professional. As you wrote in a comment above, when you started the podcast it was without conscious designing or branding (and you were not self-employed). It was probably half for fun, half for pursuing your search for what nurturtes creative projects and creative people. – pardon my English, not my native language ^^.
You are SO CREATIVE – maybe you just need to dissociate the business woman and the artist for a little bit – if that makes sense :) Taking breaks is great. Now you can reflect a little on where you wanna go “artistically” – as a writer, as a crafter, as a storyteller and podcaster – and where you wanna go financially ( possibly without compromising your health and your vision). God, what a long comment!! My apologies. I think you already doing a great job, the analysis you present in this post is very lucid and inspiring.
May we all get on the right bus :) Hugs from Denmark,
Valeria
Thank you so much for sharing your thoughts, and for your warm wishes, Valeria. I like your analogy of “the wrong bus.”
That idea relates to the podcast, and many commenters’ reactions to this post, in an interesting way. I am surprised by the number of people who, with the best of intentions, have commented here something along the lines of “I hope you find another way to get paid to make the podcast, because I’d love to keep enjoying it.”
…In other words, I still hear a lot of listeners having the assumption that it’s someone else’s job to pay for the content they enjoy for free. Unfortunately, there is no sustainability for any creative project in this assumption. I don’t know that my attempts to make the podcast sustainable were necessarily a “wrong bus,” although they DID take a lot of the fun out of podcasting for me.
…However – and this is important – continuing to spend hundreds of hours a year making these shows for free was also taking the fun out of podcasting for me. I’m not saying that all creative acts have to be paid. Creative sharing is wonderful, and we all need to be doing some. But whether we’re sharing or running a business, a mutually-beneficial exchange has to be in place. My listeners who want someone else to pay for their podcasts aren’t seeking a mutually-beneficial exchange with me. I have no choice but to walk away from that deal.
Ok, I think I didn’t express myself very well. There is a misunderstaning! When I wrote about getting on the wrong bus, I was talking about the very content of your podcasts, not your strategy to make them financially sustainable! I meant that you were focusing a lot on the business side of craft on your podcasts, and I wondered if that was what you really wanted to focus on.
I don’t hope you find another way to make the podcast for me to enjoy for free. When I wrote “for a long time I wished you had a show on NPR” I meant that I thought that WAY before you decided to make the podcasts 2.0 and then to stop. I was of that opinion from the very beginning. It was supposed to be a compliment. Oh well!
Take care
Valeria
Ah, I’m sorry to have misunderstood, Valeria.
That’s an interesting question about crafty vs. business in terms of the content of the podcasts. When I started, I did talk mostly about craft itself. But you know, I did find that limiting pretty quickly. Craft is such a visual medium, so translating it to audio became challenging for me. But I always loved talking with other creatives about their approaches to making a living. To me, those were some of the most lastingly-valuable conversations that happened on the show – teasing the realities apart from the legends.
I have gotten some complaints over the years about talking less about craft than craft-business, but in that case I really was following my heart!
Dear Diane, thank you for being so open about your feelings and experience!
It was during your Monetize Your Craft Blog course that I finally took the big step to let go of my free offerings. As an over-giver, it was a huge step for me to take, and so liberating! Thanks to the worksheets and personal support during your course, I was able to look at my own business from outside as well as inside, and finally take the step that I daren’t admit how many years it had coming!
Just now I’m reading a book that my brother gave me for Christmas. The Myth of the Internet. The first chapter felt like finding the clarity nobody wants to talk about, it’s titled The Myth of the Business Model and talks about how free isn’t a business model, that it’s the production channels that win but the creators lose. It talks about how the internet has changed, that to start with the idea was to empower the creator and encourage new forms of creativity. 15 years later on, when the web has gone mainstream, we can admit that this didn’t happen. Most creatives focus on how to market themselves rather than how to create new amazing work. Most organisations focus on how to produce more with less. And that from a creative point of view, we are seeing more mainstream stagnation and less cutting-edge, groundbreaking creativity. The collective rarely produces innovation. In the meanwhile it’s the production channels such as Facebook, YouTube, Apple Store and Google that make money, based on other people’s free content.
I’m still an over-giver, but I love giving in the right context. I just don’t want to feel like the only driver that’s following “the traffic rules”. In an environment of givers, I thrive and I don’t feel used or angry or upset. When I look back at my freebie time, I now feel that one of the mistakes I made was to make it a committed, permanent and scheduled event. This is so easily done though. Even a blog has that element. I think that when I started making my freebies scheduled and regular, the lost the feeling of a gift…
What is on my mind most, just now, is how to stay flexible and innovative as a small creative business. How can I be clear to my visitors, what to expect, what I offer, whilst holding on to the very advantages of being creative, seeking new and innovative forms, reinventing and exploring?
I know I’ve talked a lot about me and not you, in this comment. I’m not suggesting that the situation is the same for you as it is for me. I just want to offer these experiences, in response to yours.
With love,
Kate
Those are excellent questions, Kate – and I think we’re dwelling in them together. Halfway through reading your comment, I went looking on Amazon.com for this book. Who’s the author? I need to read this one! I totally agree with those assessments of what the web has done to creative work. (I also believe the web creates possibility, but without a doubt, content creation is at the very, very bottom of the food chain right now.)
That is an interesting tension between the joy of spontaneous sharing, and the need to craft a consistent and relevant story with sharing as one of its illustrations. I struggle with that as well. Thank you for sharing your experiences!
The Myth of the Internet is a fascinating book, I too looked for it on Amazon to give you a link, but unfortunately it doesn’t look like it’s been translated to English. The book is a compilation of essays written by Swedish and international journalists, authors, scientists and activists. I just wrote an email to the editors asking if they might consider a translation. The editors are Pelle Snickars and Per Strömbäck, and here’s a link to their website (although the page is in Swedish) http://www.volante.se/myten/
And I totally agree with you, the Internet has brought a lot of possibilities with it, but I also feel that the downsides or problems are very rarely talked about.
[...] Sister Diane over at Craftypod wrote about something related to this, in a business context. She didn’t address asking, specifically, but focused on creating what [...]
[...] talk of meaningful exchanges is about exactly this, I [...]
[...] prevented yourself from naming a fair price for your work (creative or otherwise)? Sister Diane of Craftypod blogged about creating good exchanges in light of her podcast ending. In my blogging about cancer [...]