For someone struggling to succeed in a creative field, selling the clothes off your own back usually isn’t a sign that things are going well. But not so for R. Brooke Priddy, who in the early 2000s was striving to make it in the fashion industry, working out of her tiny New York apartment and, [...]

Fifteen years ago Liesl Gibson began to suspect the sewing industry might have a problem. She wanted to make something for her 2-year-old niece to wear, but she couldn’t find many patterns that she liked. “I picked out a dress pattern for her that I thought would be cute,” she recalls. “But it didn’t fit [...]

I loved all the responses and discussion my last post tipped off about discounts and whether makers should use them. As discussed in the comments, there’s a time and a place for coupons and discounts—one great example is using discounts to reward frequent customers for their support.
So who are your most valuable customers? I’m not [...]

Over on the American Express Open Forum Blog, Barry J. Moltz wrote up a great article outlining 11 resolutions that small business owners should make for 2011. The list is one that you crafty biz owners could emulate to make your own 2011 business goals and resolutions.
So here is the Open Forum list, interpreted for [...]

Brace yourself: What you’re about to read could provoke envy. Screen printers and business partners Kristina Bilonick and Anthony Dihle have managed to nail down the holy grail of business models for independent and artistic entrepreneurs. Pleasant Plains Workshop, their new business endeavor, is an urban row house in Washington, DC  that serves as their [...]

My iPhone is currently the closest thing in my life to a firstborn child or a spouse, and I’m pretty sure I am not alone in this. I have certain friends who are in long-term, committed relationships with their hand held devices.  They care for them, obsess over them, and buy things for them. And [...]