Ask the Expert: The Currency of Crafting, Can You Really Turn Your Passion Into A Business with Anahita Sharvini

This is amplify you the podcast about you discovering your message and broadcasting to the world. If you're a coach, author or speaker, you'll want to tune in. If you're looking for the best return on your time investment, to get your message out to the world in a bigger way, we're giving you full access behind the scenes look of how we're running our podcasts, how our clients have found success, and what you can do to launch your podcast today. The world needs your message. I'm Michelle Abraham, the host. Join my family as we unleash your unique genius and find the connections you need to launch your venture today. Join us and let's get amplified. Hello, hello amplify you Michelle Abraham, your host here today. I am so excited to bring you another Ask the Expert interview. I am here today with my good friend Anahita Sharmini. And oh my gosh, I'm so excited to share with you guys what Anahita is all about. But before we do, let me just say a quick hi to Anahita. So you're not sitting there left in the cold while I ramble on over here. So Hi, Anna, get it. How are you?

I'm good. Thank you. It's great to be here. How are you doing?

I'm great. And I'm just really excited to bring here I think you and I met oh my gosh, probably five or six years ago through our friend Diane Ralston at Dynamic woman. And we used to go to dynamic women meetups, and we got to connect through there. And at the time, you're running a business, which I just thought was so cool. I was a new mom at the time. And I still think it's very cool. As my kids are getting older, we still use them. You started this business called gogo bags, which I think is super cool. And for those of you who aren't familiar with gogo bags, they are reusable bags for kids school lunches are for parents school with parents work lunches, any any any any lunches in the house. And Anahita can give you a better description and idea of them. But I just thought there was such a great idea. So I have my my first initial introduction, and you know, was this amazing woman who's taking this hobby and passion, and totally turned it into a full on business were in mainstream grocery stores, she was rocking and rolling. And is it turned into a big business. Now if I saw her today, a few years later, and he has just written a book, and we're going to talk about it and when it's about to go live in the next few weeks. And now she's turned her passion for crafting and helping artisans now into a coaching business, which is so cool. So you've learned the craft of either creating and trading a product, then taking it to market, selling it in the markets, then taking it to bigger chain stores and selling it and now you've turned this into a book and then a coaching program. So what I wanted to bring you on here today or really dive into is like, how do you go from something that is a passion to then turning into a full on business. And this is a great idea for those of you who are sitting at home, who are thinking Oh, I love talking about this. I could do a podcast on crafting, I could do a podcast or knitting or Google podcasts on, you know, soccer because I love it so much. But how do you then turn that into a business that then is is profitable, and then you can make a living from something that you absolutely love. So Anahita I'm turning it over to you take us back to how you got into doing gogo bags.

So that was a 2010 and I actually built gogglebox around my mom's hobby. Sewing is not my passion actually frustrates me. So definitely was not the right craft for me to build business if it was just me. But then I wanted my mom to feel in purpose in her new home Canada. And at the same time, I needed some reusable bags for my kids to go to school, zero waste time. It was a it was not a thing then believe it or not. I had to teach a lot of people about what is this and it. There was a lot of education around it. So I built this business and over the years. The first two years I had no idea what I was doing. We were selling out in markets, but we were not making money. So soon I realized okay, my pricing is not right. I figured that out. And then when the pricing was on par I could feel I could see myself like I remember standing in craft markets, trying to put a smile on my face and looking at all these other vendors selling their products so passionately and I was standing there trying to sell one back. And then it was that time that I decided okay, I have to treat this as a business and not a hobby. And when I got my first coaching, I figured out how to sell and how to language, use the language around my products. And then I was selling in markets successfully. I rebranded and we went directly to Whole Foods and other stores all around Canada. So last year, so that was the story of gogo bats. And how I got to this coaching was, I don't know, the curse and blessing go COVID, I guess. Last year, during COVID, Google box was successful on its own. But we didn't have craft markets last year. So I went to couple of online craft markets, and soon realized, like, they have no idea what to do. And most of the crafters there specially there are so many new crafters because a lot of people got laid off during COVID. And they started

a crafter drink.

Yeah, why not? But then they had a hard time selling. So I decided that I need to help these new crafters built my own online Facebook market called Canadian makers market and invited if you crafters to come but there was a educational portion to it. I was teaching them before the market started. I would teach them how to speak around their product, how to put their pictures up, and what are the things to do specifically for Facebook. But I realized soon like after two markets, I realized like they're like absorbing, and they come back for more information. So I always loved like, during my market days with gogo backs to I would go to that new maker aisle, and would encourage people and it would help them to set up their craft market like this play and stuff like that. So yeah, I move towards coaching them. enjoy doing that. So now I'm writing I'm almost finishing this book called currency of crafting, which I will be talking about all the different aspects of this business and how you can take your hobby into markets and into stores and sell online. And yeah, I do coaching around that

as well. I love your story, because like one that came out from like it started with your mom at your kitchen table, you needed to give her a job to do to keep her entertained. While she was new to a country. Right? Yeah, turned into is also something that you needed for your kids. So it was kind of born into this really cool combination of something that you and your mom can do together. And you know, I love that you've learned the craft, you've learned what to do in the markets, how to display things, how to talk about all the marketing that goes behind it. And I think that's so valuable for the crafters that are just getting started that have no clue. I mean, you said yourself, you didn't have a clue when you started. But after years of doing this, you've built so much credibility and information that's just so much needed out there to be like a coach for these crafters. Yeah, you know, my, I love I love this story. Because it just shows that you really can do anything you want. You really can create a business that is something you love. Or if it's not creating the thing that you're loving, it's the it's the I think you found your love in the marketing and the teaching and the coaching part. Sounds like that you lit up when you started talking about helping these new crafters really make money from their table and sharing with them and seeing how they're growing. So I think that's fantastic. And I just Yeah, what a really spot like that. I think it's so cool that what you've done.

One of the things that when I would go to markets with gogglebox people would come and say how did you make these and I would never lie, I had a picture of my mom and I on the table. And I would say no my mom sells I sell she sells I sell and that was my my motto. My expertise was into marketing itself and less than well I know all of the products I know how to make them. But I would be bald if I was going to make any of those bags myself wearing my hair out

right yeah. There's definitely a need for someone that to do to do the craft. So, what were some lessons that you've learned over the course of time taking a product to market? What are some? What are some advice and some things that you've maybe learned over the last few years that maybe could help people who are sitting with a passion and something that you love doing, but they're just not sure about it turning into a business?

Yeah, definitely. They need to price their products, right. Most of crafters, they don't consider their own time. And because they're loving love doing something, it doesn't feel that it took two hours for them to make that thing. They feel like oh, it was 15 minutes, but no, really, it's not that 15 minutes, and they need to consider that time in their pricing as well to be profitable. That's, that's a number one. Advice. And then the second thing, I had it in my mind that escaped.

That's okay. I think the number one one was I was what I would have guessed as follows that oh,

the second Are you remember? Sorry. Second thing is not to be shy to ask for sells ask for ask somebody to buy their product. Not in a sense of hey, come I made this buy it from me, but in a sense, so make the customer imagine what they can do with that product. Yeah, engage their imagination.

Right? And they now like taking that into your coaching, what you're doing is creating that imagination for the crafters who were they're gonna build this business that's gonna sustain their living, they'll be able to maybe quit their job become a full time crafter. Yeah. And you're kind of creating and painting that picture for them, of what the future could look at look like with your support?

Exactly.

What's the name of your book currency of crafting? I think that's so clever. It's such a good name. So tell us about a little bit about the book what in like, what does the book take them through? Like how to start up a crafting business?

Yes, it goes from if you have not a crafting business, to you are a successful crafter, and craft markets. And now you want to take your product to stores. And we will go through even goal setting and the things that aspects of business that most crafters don't even think about like ideal customers, ideal market, ideal stores. We have to work on these so we can figure out the language to use around the product. These are vastly overlooked in crafting business. So yes, i The book has three sections, I call it imagine create a thrive. So we do some imagination, some goal setting and we work to cause ideal customer. And then we get to creation of that is the pricing and production and how you can reduce your costs and the workflow in general. And then the Thrive part is how to sell and your sales script and where to sell and yeah. Awesome to build your website to.

Oh, that's so great. Yeah. So do you see now more so for people in your industry, that things are moving more online? Do you think kafirs will come back? Or do you think it's better time spent for those looking at being in the crafting space and market space to to take things online?

I would still suggest for specially new crafters to go to craft markets. That's their market research. That's how they learn about their own product because we make beautiful things. But the idea that we have of that product could be totally different from customers. And you can learn for example, something that I learned in gogo bags at the very beginning together with our snack and sandwich bags. We had a bad call utensil backs. I had that utensil bag in the craft market and it was selling okay, but people would come and say Oh, this would be good for my toothbrush. I take toothbrush to work or somebody else would come and say oh I hate toothbrush shareholders those plastic toothbrush holders there. You can't clean them properly but you can put these and wash your dryer. So quickly I put a toothbrush in the back and put it on the table, my sales doubled. And I, we rebranded the same product, same thing, and named it toothbrush bags, and then our sales doubled again. So it shows that that in person conversation, you either have to do some sort of market research in the online version, but the cheapest and easiest way to do that is in markets.

Yeah, that's such a great, great perspective on markets that it's really like the training wheels so you can get to see and hear what people are saying about your products. And that's great. I mean, I imagine a lot of products that are in stores. Now they don't get that opportunity to hear what their what their customers are saying about their products when they're buying them. So that's a great opportunity. And different than what it would be online, like you still don't get that same sort of feedback online, as you would in person.

Yeah, it's hard to communicate with customers online, in a sense that telling your story telling them how you make these. It's not as easy as doing it in person and in markets, although it's definitely doable. And online sells our successful model as well. But I would definitely suggest starting with craft markets and online at the same time.

Awesome. You think that any passion can be turned into a business? Absolutely. Absolutely. What are some steps that people need to go from thinking that they have a passion to then actually really thinking about and seeing if it? Is it something that they want to turn into a business?

Oh, that's a hard question. So variable

to depending on what the product is, but some general steps. Like if if I if I love beading, and I've made some jewelry with my beads, what would be the first step kind of steps to thinking about just testing it out and seeing how you like it as a business?

Yeah, definitely, I would actually take it. First of all, you have to start with your friends and family, see if they like it. And not as a gift they like to buy, it's something that most crafters shy away is to ask to sell their products to family and friends. So yes, you can give away some products, but not all the time. But again, I would go back in to craft markets, they can just and not not a very expensive craft market. As Senior Center craft fair, or Breck center or a church craft fair is a great location to see if you like doing this. And the other thing is, I would definitely pick up the phone and call somebody that I know who have been doing this, or somebody who is not a jeweler, but it's been in the market like it's been in this industry for a long time to know what it takes to be a successful crafter and sell your products and then be real to yourself. Know that his craft Mark doing craft markets all year long. Is this something you want to do? Or do you prefer to do something that you can sell to stores as well. I know crafters that craft markets are their only way of making income. But that's hard on your body as well and your time with your family. That wasn't for me like I didn't want to be in craft markets all year long. The first few years, like three or four years, I was in a lot of craft markets. But soon I picked the ones that was only profitable to me. And I was at the end I was doing one or two markets a year. And the rest was coming through online and wholesale.

That's awesome. Yeah. And if I just hear you correctly, I think one of the things you said that was important thing was to want to bring it to our audiences. You know, start small like those those craft tables at those rec centers and senior centers are about 25 bucks or 50 bucks a table. So it's a small investment to see if you like it. And then too I heard you say, you know, find a mentor, find a coach, find somebody who's done what you want to do. And someone that can help you. Show you the way thank you Now, if you had had someone doing something like what you do now today for crafters, what Well what's your take on that?

So what was the question to you? If

you had a mentor, like you are today for those like wiki, what would your journey have look like?

Oh my god, I would get where I am right now in half the time. And I have actually a client of mine. The other day said, oh, gosh, I wish I met you six months earlier. I would save a lot of time and money. So yeah, definitely you would, I would save a lot of time. In it, I had to rebrand three times to get where I am. So I would save that, and a lot of time as well. There are a lot

of money to has one of our podcasters candy mosaic sent to us when we helped her launch her podcast. Oh my gosh, you guys save you 40 hours of time and a lot of great Hey, Zach, we're hiring a coach and doing a program whether it's podcasting or crafting, is definitely the way to go find someone who is where you want to be, and, and hire them to to help you out. I'd hate to before I let you go any last, I know you have a really cool gift for us. And it's your essential packing list for when you go to craft markets. And I'm probably butchering the name of it. If you'd like to say the name for it, I will put the link in our show notes so that you guys i

Yes, it's called, as you said, actually essential packing lists for your for a successful craft market thing.

Awesome. So tell us a little bit about it.

So in that list, I have included all the items that you may crafters may need in a market. And the reason why they needed for example, I prefer somebody take a barstool instead of a chair to the market. And the reason is that when you're when people see you feel that you're standing there is more likely that they come and engage with you Rather, if they feel like you're sitting down on your like on a chair below your table. They would think oh, she's tired, I'm not going to bother her

or if you're sitting on the table knitting and working on your crafting.

Exactly that too. So um, so yes, there is a huge list of the different items and and then there is a like a checkmark. So you don't forget anything for the craft markets, the worst thing that you go you drive to three hours to get to a craft fair. And then you realize that oh my god, I forgot my business cards or oh my god, I forgot my price tags that will make your day starts on the wrong foot. And it takes a lot of energy for you to get back on the track and start selling effectively.

Right yeah, those are great, great, great things on the list. And we will make sure we put a link to it in our show notes for this episode. So Anahita how else can our audience get a hold of you if they want to connect with you? And I feel like something you said today really resonated with them and they need a mentor or want to have a connection call with you. Yeah,

thank you. So they can reach me at ask anahita.com or on Facebook and Instagram ask Anahita

awesome i love it and Emma Hida is spelled H N A h i t a show you guys spell that correctly so that you can find her on all those platforms. And he did thank you so much for sharing your journey with us today. It's been great to dive in to the world of crafting with you and I want to relate it back to podcasting again guys it what she says is the principles Same goes for when you're starting a platform or starting a podcast all comes from something that you're interested in or in a passion and she said it herself yes you can turn your passion into a business. Absolutely no doubt about it. As she has a as I have as many others have and it's really cool but number one thing go out and find someone who's doing what you want to do and and get them to coach you and get some support and that saves a lot of money. A lot of time a lot of headache a lot of compresses your time guys, it compresses your time and that's what's important when time is our most valuable assets. Absolutely. Thank you so much Nikita, any last words of advice for our audience?

Hmm, um, get an accountant when you just start so you have somebody to run numbers with you. It's important to have that

that's a great business advice in general. Thank you so much. I knew he didn't have a great rescue.

Thank you for having me.