Valuable Business Advice I Ignored for 4 Years

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I’m just back from the Craft + Commerce conference, hosted by ConvertKit in Boise, Idaho.

Even though ConvertKit organizes this conference and the majority of attendees are ConvertKit users, this is not a “how to use ConvertKit” gathering. (Although you can certainly get that help, if you need it.) ConvertKit’s bigger mission is to help creators earn a living, so the content of the keynote talks and workshops is much wider, higher level, and more inspirational. You can get massive value from attending, without ever touching ConvertKit as a tool.

It was my second adventure here. Last time was 2019, and obviously, the world has been through a lot since then. My business has changed dramatically too, but that’s another blog post. (One of the changes I’ve made is migrating from Mailchimp to ConvertKit, largely because of the positive experience I had at this live event four years ago. I’m now a proud ConvertKit affiliate.)

Like most other attendees this year, I scribbled copious notes.

And one of the reminders I jotted was to go back and check my insights from the 2019 Craft + Commerce conference.

I had a nagging feeling that I’d heard great tips then, that I had never fully internalized or implemented. Sure enough, to my chagrin, I discovered nugget after nugget that I thought was fantastic advice 4 years ago. And yet… it was still sitting there in the tidy document on my computer, not actually setting the direction for my day to day work.

The good news is, I’m not the only one who does this! During one of his (outstanding) main stage talks, ConvertKit founder Nathan Barry said something about the very early days of the business, along the lines of, “I did what many people do with good advice… I ignored it for 6 months.”

(Notice: I’m 8 times slower than Nathan in recognizing I’ve been given valuable business pointers. That no doubt explains why he’s a rockstar CEO of a company bringing in $34M in revenue, and I’m, err, not.)

So what, then, are the common themes? What did the inspirational (and successful) creators at Craft + Commerce tell me in 2019, that I had to hear AGAIN in 2023 to actually take notice?

Advice for creators that is just as valuable now, as it was 4 years ago

1. Behind most success stories, there’s a period of grit

The internet loves to share “Overnight Success” fables. And yes, one or two people this year dropped what I will coin the OS bomb of being “on track to 6 figures in my first year”. If that is not the track you’re on, I noted plenty of examples in both 2019 and 2023 of experts encouraging you to go all-in on your chosen marketing tactic, and the need to repeat that thing many, many times, before you are likely to find traction.

Who said this?
2019: Matt Ragland and many others
2023: Justin Moore

Did I take this advice 4 years ago? I suppose I did, because I’m still here!

2. There are no unique messages, only unique messengers

It’s official! You have permission to stop stressing about the originality of what you’re saying, and concentrate on the uniquely brilliant way that you can share your message.

Who said this?
2019: Pat Flynn
2023: Sahil Bloom

Did I take this advice 4 years ago? Mostly, yes. There are other people, after all, who will work with you to create a great website that brings a huge return on your investment. But they won’t do it like me!

3. Raise your prices, people! Raise. Your. Prices.

Who said this?
2019: Rachel Rodgers and no doubt others, too.
2023: Multiple speakers, including: Terry Rice, Bonnie Christine, Craig M. Chavis Jr., Ali Manning, and Erin Flynn .

Did I take this advice 4 years ago? Hell no. My (eccentric) high school Latin teacher used to assert that if we slept with our text books under our pillow, the vocabulary would enter our heads during the night. Perhaps I need this pricing reminder under my pillow. It also needs to be a sticky note on my bathroom mirror, the wallpaper on my computer, and probably a tattoo at the end of my nose. Until now, the biggest single risk to my business has been burning out from underpricing. Is that your primary risk, too?

4. Be wary in your use of social media

Okay, you know all that stuff about building a platform on real estate you don’t own. But other worrisome traits of social media are worth emphasizing.

Who said this?
2019: On social media: your success is measured in likes. From there, it’s a small step before your self worth is measured in likes. — Karen X.
2023: Think about what you’ve created that you are most proud of. Think about the piece of your content that people constantly share and reference. Neither of these is a social media post, right? — Jay Clouse (Jay also gave a memorable example of how social media content is basically sawdust, but I’m not about to pinch his talk and repeat it here.)

Did I take this advice 4 years ago? Partly. I’m a pretty light user of social media, and I’ve dropped two of the platforms I was on for my business. But I still find myself with post something on Instagram on my to-do list, even though the data tells me that for my business model and target client, this is just busywork.

5. You’re going to need help

Who said this?
2019: Rachel Rodgers
2023: Bonnie Christine

I’ll wager that nobody set foot on that shiny main stage at Craft + Commerce without some kind of team, assistant, superstar spouse, or other backup in place. You hear this advice frequently, that you shouldn’t do everything yourself, and you should hire help. The 3 big problems with this are:

When you’re early in your business and not fully-booked with revenue generating activities, paying for help feels ridiculous.
There isn’t enough discussion of the busywork you should simply stop altogether, not pay to delegate. In other words, the low value bits that nobody should be doing on your behalf. For example, I decided to stop posting on Pinterest, instead of hiring someone to do it for me.
Many solo entrepreneurs and creators are multi-talented. We’re good at turning our hand to many different tasks, we love variety, and we enjoy learning. It’s hard for us to notice the activities we shouldn’t even try to tackle.

So I especially liked the 2023 flavor that Bonnie Christine brought to this topic and her resources on how to navigate both our reluctance to get help, and how to calculate the $ amount where paying for help starts to makes sense.

Did I take this advice 4 years ago? Not really, although I have worked a little with an excellent VA, Denise Riches. I need to pay more attention to getting help, in the coming months.

6. Clean your email list!

Let’s get more tactical for a moment. In both 2019 and 2023 I attended sessions where the talented folks from ConvertKit advocated enthusiastically for cleaning your email list. You can read all the why’s and wherefores about cleaning your list here, but I noted the consistency of this message.

We’re living in a world now where people often brag about size of audience, rather than quality of audience. Having a smaller, engaged email list is a principle I thoroughly support.

One juicy nugget I wrote down this year: in terms of deliverability (the likelihood that your email reaches someone’s inbox), did you know that having people on your list who never open your emails is far more damaging than when people simply unsubscribe? So when people leave your list, don’t freak out. Take it as a blessing, and wish them well.

And, tech tip for ConvertKit users: there’s now a handy little test you can build into your automations, to check whether a subscriber has opened one of your emails in the last (x) days. If you’re on a paid plan, you can grab this template here to see what to do.

Did I take this advice 4 years ago? Yes, but I need to schedule this as ongoing list maintenance, not a one-and-done.

7. Nice human beings are making a 6 or 7-figure living as creators

This wasn’t an official topic in either 2019 or 2023, but it was a takeaway for me each time. On both occasions, I had the pleasure of spending time with, or hearing from, other people who are not household names, nor are they pushy, “salesy”, or icky. They are lovely human beings that I’d be happy to be friends with, and they’re making a good, honest living by combining creativity with online marketing.

So, if you’re like many in my audience who identify as a reluctant marketer, this last point is for you. When you commit to making a living from your creativity, and you insist on being well paid for your work, you’re not going over to the dark side. You’re simply choosing long term impact over short term burnout, so that your work has a chance to make a difference in the world.

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And, echoing point #5, don’t try to do it on your own!

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