The Business Of Sewing

FB Group – Grow Your Dance Costume Business – https://www.facebook.com/groups/GrowYourDanceCostumeBusiness/

FB Group – The Sparkly Club – https://www.facebook.com/groups/sparklyclub/

Instagram – https://www.instagram.com/pinkgiraffeuk

YouTube – https://www.pinkgiraffepolewear.co.uk/YouTubeChannel

LinkedIn – https://www.linkedin.com/in/nicky-merrick-/

Why you should have a sewing blog for your costume business

Mon, 01 Jun 2020 06:00:12 +0000

Do you struggle to get people to see your posts on social media?

It can be hard to get seen among the masses of content being posted daily, but there’s another way to get your content seen.

This week I’m talking all about sewing blogs and why you should have one for your dance costume business.

Now, before you get uppity with me and say this episode is not for you, hear me out. There are so many advantages to having an online space that is 100% your own and you control what goes on there and what doesn’t.

You’re not restricted by character length, number of images, not being able to use links - all things that social media platforms use to restrict the way we can communicate and get our message online.

They do this for a reason, it suits their business model to be this way, but it might not suit your business that well, so why ignore that prime online real estate that is the blog space on your website.

You call the shots over what goes on your website. You decide what it should look like and have complete control over every aspect of it. Why wouldn’t you want to use this to your advantage?

So, I’m going to talk you through some of the reasons I think having a sewing blog is a great idea.

Here’s some highlights including timestamps so you can easily find the info you are looking for.

Showcase your latest makes to your audience (02:35)
Get feedback on your work (04:31)
Allows your customers to get to know you better (07:34)
Drive traffic to your online shop and increase sales (09:12)
Build your email list (12:04)
Reach more people, potential customers (15:04)
Affiliate income (18:31)
Keeping a record of your work (22:02)
Keeps your audience updated (23:30)
Gives you the opportunity to explain more about what you do (24:51)
Increases exposure on social media (27:00)

Links mentioned in this episode:

During the show I talked about the affiliate links I have with Crystal Parade and Magpie Crystals

Use the following links and discount codes to get money off your entire order.

Crystal Parade ‘PINKG10’ for 10% off your order https://www.crystalparade.co.uk

Magpie Crystals ‘PGNM5’ for 5% off your order https://www.magpiecrystals.co.uk

Hopefully this episode has been useful and given you some ideas about taking your hobby further or improving the dance costume business that you have.

If you’d like to chat with other costume makers about all things costume and business related you can join my free Facebook Group ‘Grow Your Dance Costume Business’ where you can post pics, ask questions and network with other costume makers.

Hopefully you’ve enjoyed this episode and it’s given you some ideas about how you can incorporate a sewing blog into your costume making business.

If you’d like to support the show I’d really love it if you could leave me a review on Apple Podcasts, or wherever you like to listen to your shows. It really helps more people find the show and encourages me to keep making new episodes.

To leave a review on Apple Podcasts you can do this within the app.

Enjoy your day and stay safe x

Where you can find me

FB Group – Grow Your Dance Costume Business – https://www.facebook.com/groups/GrowYourDanceCostumeBusiness/

FB Group – The Sparkly Club – https://www.facebook.com/groups/sparklyclub/

Instagram – https://www.instagram.com/pinkgiraffeuk

https://www.facebook.com/AlexiceDesigns/

YouTube – https://www.pinkgiraffepolewear.co.uk/YouTubeChannel

LinkedIn – https://www.linkedin.com/in/nicky-merrick-/

How to dye and airbrush your dance costumes with Alex from Alexice Designs

Mon, 25 May 2020 06:07:58 +0000

How to dye and airbrush your dance costumes with Alex from Alexice Designs

Have you always wanted to know how to get those really cool ombre effects on your dance costumes?

There are so many fab designs on Pinterest and Insta, but how do they achieve those results?

Where do you even start with finding out about what dye to use and how airbrushing works?

In this episode I interview Alex from Alexice Designs about how she works with dye in her dance costume making.

We discus the types of fabric she uses, what type of dye and where she gets them from.

Stay tuned until the end where Alex talks us through a step by step walkthrough of how to dye a dance costume.

Tune in to discover more about how to dye and airbrush your dance costumes.

Rit Dye More (04:25)
Dharma Trading (05:20)
Ombre dyeing (09:15)
Tip - let the dye sit before adding the fabric (09:25)
Rit website for colour mixing (11:10)
Tip - always create samples first (14:32)
Colour mixing (17:51)
Tip - avoiding mess (21:10)
Good business practice (29:16)
Having a go - a walk through (31:07)
Covid-19 situation (39:47)

Links mentioned in this episode:

Today’s guest is Alexandra from Alexice Designs

Alex mentions Dharma Trading in America as being a good place to find out about dyes. - https://www.dharmatrading.com

Colour mixing formulas for Fit Dyes can be found here - https://www.ritdye.com/color-formulas/?type=203&hue=0&collection=0&pantone=0

During the show, Alex mentions ‘additive colour mixing’ but wasn’t sure if it was additive or subtractive. I looked it up and found that additive refers to mixing light and subtractive refers to mixing pigment. Fascinating topic and you can read more here - https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Subtractive_color

I hope you have enjoyed this episode as much as I enjoyed recording it. It was a new experience for me to have a guest on the show and I look forward to doing this again in the future.

If you like the podcast so far I really love it if you could leave me a review on Apple Podcasts, or wherever you like to listen to your podcasts. It really helps more people find the show and encourages me to keep making new episodes.

To leave a review on Apple Podcasts you can do this within the app.

Where you can find me

FB Group – Grow Your Dance Costume Business – https://www.facebook.com/groups/GrowYourDanceCostumeBusiness/

FB Group – The Sparkly Club – https://www.facebook.com/groups/sparklyclub/

Instagram – https://www.instagram.com/pinkgiraffeuk

YouTube – https://www.pinkgiraffepolewear.co.uk/YouTubeChannel

LinkedIn – https://www.linkedin.com/in/nicky-merrick-/

How to price a custom dance costume

Mon, 18 May 2020 06:00:24 +0000

How do you know what to charge for a custom dance costume?

If you are not sure of the answer, then you are not alone.

It’s the number one thing I get asked when working with dance costume makers to help them grow their business.

I’m passionate about helping you get your pricing right so that you can enjoy doing the job you love, knowing that you are getting paid what you are worth.

There are so many trains of thought on the subject of pricing.

While I do respect others and their decisions about their pricing formulas, I’m often astounded at the approach some people take to calculating what they time and skills are worth.

In this episode I’m going to talk you through some of the do’s and don’ts of pricing a custom dance costume.

Perhaps it’s best that we look at what you shouldn’t do first.

I don’t usually like to use words like ‘should’ and ‘shouldn’t’ because I it’s quite a negative way of thinking. It can be quite triggering for some people too and that’s not my objective here.

So if you’re feeling triggered by any of the things I say in this episode, maybe take a step back from those feelings and ask yourself why you are feeling them.

Dig deep and really think about why you disagree. Then I would ask you to do a little experiment. Try out some of the advice I’m offering today. Go look at your latest costume makes and apply the methods I am going to walk you through. You may find that it helps iron out a problem area for you.

If you do that and still feel that my methods are not useful or helpful then I would really like to hear from you. This isn’t about being right or wrong for me, it’s about furthering our own practise and constantly checking in on ourselves that we are aligned with our intentions and serving our customers well.

I would love to hear from you to see how you choose to calculate your prices and hopefully it will lead to some good debate.

Tune in to discover more about how toÂ price your next custom dance costume.

If you are feeling triggered (04:06)
Asking on social media "How much would you charge for this?" (07:17)
Profit or wages? (07:47)
Asking friends and family what they think about your pricing (11:52)
Using strange pricing formulas you find on the internet (13:32)
Undercutting your competitors (16:15)
Checking where you sit in the marketplace (19:53)
The things you SHOULD do (23:46)
Respecting other costume makers (23:51)
The individual cost of making a costume (25:11)
The Costume Costing Checklist (27:50)
Calculating your hourly rate (28:17)
Looking for BETA testers for the pricing course (33:54)

Links mentioned in this episode:

Freebie! The Costume Costing Checklist - https://www.pinkgiraffe.co.uk/freebie-ccc

The waiting list to be a BETA Tester on the Pricing Course - https://www.pinkgiraffe.co.uk/pricing-beta

Hopefully this episode has been useful and given you some things to think about with regards to pricing your next custom dance costume.

Where you can find me

FB Group – Grow Your Dance Costume Business – https://www.facebook.com/groups/GrowYourDanceCostumeBusiness/

FB Group – The Sparkly Club – https://www.facebook.com/groups/sparklyclub/

Instagram – https://www.instagram.com/pinkgiraffeuk

YouTube – https://www.pinkgiraffepolewear.co.uk/YouTubeChannel

LinkedIn – https://www.linkedin.com/in/nicky-merrick-/

What kind of marketing you can do during the Corona crisis

Mon, 11 May 2020 04:00:18 +0000

Are you struggling to know what type of content to put out for your customers while in lockdown?

Do you feel unsure talking about costumes that your customers don’t need right now?

In this episode I’ll give you a few ideas about how you can stay in touch with your customers and ensure they don’t forget about you.

Lots of businesses are starting to think about how they might be able to start trading again once the lockdown restrictions are relaxed, but it’s hard to make plans when all we can do is speculate about what might happen and what we might be allowed to do once lockdown restrictions are lifted.

Most of us are limited with the costumes we can make right now because the dance competitions have all been cancelled and we don’t know when they might be able to start up again.

It’s unlikely to be a priority as generally dancing is seen as a social hobby and not something that is crucial or that important, but for those of us working in the industry, it is important and it’s critical that we are able to keep our businesses going.

So I thought today I would talk about the kind of marketing we can do for our costume making businesses that will keep us in our customer’s minds so that when they want to start buying again, they will know where to go.

Tune in to find out how you can best serve your customers during lockdown.

The types of content you can create (02:53)
New designs you are working on (04:26)
Past work you've done (06:36)
Bloopers (07:35)
Competition idea (10:49)
Alex Ice Designs (10:53)
Croquis Pronunciation (11:13)
Canva (14:25)
What you like about your work (16:15)
How I ended up becoming a pole dance costume maker (16:53)
Who would you most like to design a dance costume for? (18:38)
Coming up soon... (23:23)

During the show I talked about using a fashion croquis to create new dance costume designs. I totally pronounced it wrong, but I said I would look it up, and I did. The correct pronunciation is in fact ‘kroguee’.

Who’d have thought?

Links mentioned in this episode:

AlexIce Designs - https://www.facebook.com/AlexiceDesigns/

How to correctly pronounce ‘croquis'- https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QR5feQnQqjc

Canva - https://www.canva.com

Grace McDowall Performer Profile - https://www.pinkgiraffe.co.uk/performer-profile-grace-mcdowall/

Jane White Tuition - https://www.janewhitetuition.co.uk

Hopefully this episode has been useful and given you some ideas on the kind of content you can put out during the Covid-19 lockdown.

Where you can find me

FB Group – Grow Your Dance Costume Business – https://www.facebook.com/groups/GrowYourDanceCostumeBusiness/

FB Group – The Sparkly Club – https://www.facebook.com/groups/sparklyclub/

Instagram – https://www.instagram.com/pinkgiraffeuk

YouTube – https://www.pinkgiraffepolewear.co.uk/YouTubeChannel

LinkedIn – https://www.linkedin.com/in/nicky-merrick-/

5 Ways To Handle Customer Objections

Mon, 04 May 2020 08:56:18 +0000

Are you nervous about customer complaints? Is it stopping you from taking your business forward?

In this episode I’m going to share some practical tips that will help your business run smoothly and keep your customer happy and coming back for more.

There are lots of reasons why a customer might not be completely satisfied.

Customers can have objections at any point in the costume making process. It might be that they object before you get started or it might be that they have an issue with the finished costume.

Depending on what the objection is, there are different ways to deal with them.

In this episode I’m going to look at 5 ways you can handle customer objections and how you can improve so it doesn’t happen again.

Tune in to discover the 5 ways you can build a better relationship with your customers.

The customer is unhappy with the price (0:54)
My Pricing course (and how you can become a beta tester) (03:09)
The customer is not happy with the finished costume (08:50)
The customer changed their mind about the colour they wanted (14:46)
Using Docular to create legal policies for your business (18:34)
The costume doesn’t fir the customer (23:13)
The Consumer Contracts Act in the UK (26:33)
The costume is damaged (30:39)

Links mentioned in this episode:

In the show I mentioned a meme that does the rounds among self-employed people. I didn’t quite remember the full quote and totally fudged trying to say it during the recording. So I’ve dug it out the depths of Google images and found it for you.

The original quote is “If I do a job in 30 minutes it’s because I spent 10 years learning how to do that in 30 minutes. You owe me for the years, not the minutes.”

It’s a fab quote, but I couldn’t find who it should be attributed to. If anyone knows, please do drop me a message so I can update it and credit the author.

The Pink Giraffe Pricing Course - https://www.pinkgiraffe.co.uk/pricing-course-waitlist/

Docular Legal Policies - https://docular.net

The relevant legislation in the UK for the Consumer Contracts Act 2013 can be found here - http://www.legislation.gov.uk/uksi/2013/3134/contents/made

Hopefully this episode has been useful and given you some tips on how to serve your customers better and maintain great relationships.

Where you can find me

FB Group – Grow Your Dance Costume Business – https://www.facebook.com/groups/GrowYourDanceCostumeBusiness/

FB Group – The Sparkly Club – https://www.facebook.com/groups/sparklyclub/

Instagram – https://www.instagram.com/pinkgiraffeuk

https://www.gov.uk/set-up-business

YouTube – https://www.pinkgiraffepolewear.co.uk/YouTubeChannel

LinkedIn – https://www.linkedin.com/in/nicky-merrick-/

How to go from hobby sewing to small business owner

Mon, 04 May 2020 08:56:09 +0000

Have you longed to be a professional costume maker? Do you often get asked to make dance costumes for other people?

In today’s episode I’m talking about practical steps you need to take and the things you need to think about if you are looking to take the leap from hobby sewer to small business owner.

In this episode I talk about what it’s like to go from sewing as a hobby to running a small dance costume making business.

You might have been sewing for your kids or other people’s kids, you might have been working with your local dance studio, but turning this into a small business is quite a big step.

You might be just at the start of your costume businessmjourney or perhaps you’ve been trading for a while but think you could make some improvements, either way you should find something helpful that will inspire you to take your costume making business further.

Here’s some highlights including timestamps so you can easily find the info you are looking for.

Business planning (0:53)
Who is your ideal client? (03:01)
How and where will you sell your costumes? (04:11)
Will you sell custom or ready made costumes? (05:55)
Do you know how to stay legal in your country? (07:09)
What insurance might you need? (09:07)
Customer contracts and T&Cs (10:41)
Online safety (11:43)
Intellectual property & copyright (12:18)
How to price a dance costume (18:12)
Pink Giraffe pricing Course and how you can become a BET tester (22:55)
Marketing for small businesses (23:26)
Building a professional image (27:49)
Maintaining the work life balance (29:47)

Links mentioned in this episode:

In the UK HMRC has lots of info about self-employment and what you need to do in order to fulfil your tax obligations.

These pages will be useful if you are in the UK. Outside of the UK you will need to seek information from your local government or tax office.

https://www.gov.uk/set-up-sole-trader

https://www.gov.uk/log-in-file-self-assessment-tax-return/register-if-youre-self-employed

Freebie download - Costume Costing Checklist https://www.pinkgiraffe.co.uk/resources/costume-costing-checklist/

The Pink Giraffe Pricing Course - https://www.pinkgiraffe.co.uk/pricing-course-waitlist/

Hopefully this episode has been useful and given you some ideas about taking your hobby further or improving the dance costume business that you have.

Enjoy your day and stay safe x

Where you can find me

FB Group – Grow Your Dance Costume Business – https://www.facebook.com/groups/GrowYourDanceCostumeBusiness/

FB Group – The Sparkly Club – https://www.facebook.com/groups/sparklyclub/

Instagram – https://www.instagram.com/pinkgiraffeuk

https://www.pinkgiraffe.co.uk/TapForms

YouTube – https://www.pinkgiraffepolewear.co.uk/YouTubeChannel

LinkedIn – https://www.linkedin.com/in/nicky-merrick-/

10 Things you can do in your sewing business while the world is in lockdown

Mon, 04 May 2020 08:55:39 +0000

Want to know how to keep your sewing business going during lockdown? Wondering what you can do to keep your sanity while everyone around you loses their shizzle?…

I think we can all agree that the world is a strange place right now and there is a feeling of not knowing what to do. It’s easy to think while you’re not getting any new orders come through, that there isn’t much you can do, but there is.

There is so much you can be doing right now.

Now is the perfect time to do all those jobs you’ve been putting off because ‘there isn’t enough time’.

Tune in to discover the 10 things you can do to help your sewing business right now.

Here’s some highlights including timestamps so you can easily find the info you are looking for.

Stock take your fabric and supplies (02:18)
Create a Pinterest design board for new ideas (05:16)
Reorganise your sewing patterns (08:38)
TapForms (09:07)
AirTables (11:55)
Update your website (12:08)
Facebook Groups (14:56)
Start an email list (15:48)
ConvertKit (17:43)
Check you are GDPR compliant (18:36)
ICO and GDPR (19:42)
Create an online catalogue of your work (20:02)
Flipsnack (20:11)
Create a brand style guide (21:47)
Create some Instagram stories (26:06)
Pinterest Stories (27:17)
Inshot (27:55)
Try a new sewing technique you’ve not tried before (28:17)

Links mentioned in this episode:

https://airtable.com

https://www.pinkgiraffe.co.uk/facebook-groups/

https://www.pinkgiraffe.co.uk/ConvertKit

https://ico.org.uk/for-organisations/guide-to-data-protection/guide-to-the-general-data-protection-regulation-gdpr/

https://www.flipsnack.com

https://help.pinterest.com/en-gb/article/story-pins

http://www.inshot.com

I hope this list of ideas has given you some inspiration for what you can do to keep your business going while unable to get out and about or see your customers face to face.

You don’t have to do all 10. Just pick out the ones you would like to have a go at and get started. I’d love to see what you achieve.

You can join my Facebook Group ‘Grow Your Dance Costume Business’ and post pics in there. I can’t wait to see all the reorganised sewing rooms and only catalogues.

Enjoy your day and stay safe x

Where you can find me

FB Group – Grow Your Dance Costume Business – https://www.facebook.com/groups/GrowYourDanceCostumeBusiness/

FB Group – The Sparkly Club – https://www.facebook.com/groups/sparklyclub/

Instagram – https://www.instagram.com/pinkgiraffeuk