Pancake Town Podcast

In this week's episode, Emily and Michelle get right to it and discuss the idea of 'name-dropping' yourself as a small business owner. Instead of being too reliant on any one giant company (like Etsy!), be sure that you have money coming in from a variety of places and that you're promoting your own name/brand more than anything else! We also talk about social media 'influencers' and their role in promoting maker brands and small businesses... Thanks for listening!

WE'RE BAAACCCCCKKKKKK!!! After a nearly 18-month hiatus due to all sorts of things, Emily and Michelle are excited to be back recording new episodes! Whether you're new to the podcast, or you've listened to all 110 previous episodes (!), the first half of the episode will give you a little refresher introduction to who we are and what we've been up to this past year-and-a-half... And in the second half (right around minute 32:00 in case you wanna jump) we'll get down to the business of discussing the impending Etsy Strike/Boycott that starts today 4/11! Admittedly, this is only the very tip of the iceberg on this topic, so look for a follow-up episode after the strike/boycott has ended 4/18.   A BIG thank you to our past listeners for coming back & to our new listeners for tuning in! Please follow us on IG @pancaketownpodcast, and let us know if you'd like to hear us discuss a particular topic by sending us an email at pancaketownpodcast@gmail.com. - Emily & Michelle

In this week's episode, Michelle and Emily are here for your Election Day distraction!  They share their somewhat apathetic holiday sales plans for this year and why they’re not putting too much pressure on themselves to make up for lost income due to COVID. +BONUS ZOOM VIDEO OF THIS EPISODE:  Today, for the first time ever, our Patreon subscribers can not only listen to our latest episode, they can watch it, too! Get a sneak peek of our weird facial expressions, our coordinating Argaman & Defiance sweatshirts, and super-awkward cameos from both of our husbands! Visit our Patreon page here. If you're not already a Patreon subscriber, sign up today and for as little as $1 you'll get access to this special video Zoom episode and ALL of our past Tiny Rant episodes!!!

Is it possible for a business to quit social media?  This week, Emily and Michelle react to a handmade jewelry business’ decision to leave all social media platforms.  While the idea of deleting Facebook and never posting on Instagram ever again is very tempting, Emily and Michelle try to figure out if there’s a more practical solution. Also, does it really count as 'leaving' social media if you just stop posting, but leave your account active?

Last week was Amazon Prime Day and the small business community showed up to encourage their customers to spend their money thoughtfully, and to remind them that small businesses have been hurting this year while Amazon is profiting off of the pandemic.Emily and Michelle were surprised to discover that there is a small faction of makers that were offended by the anti-Amazon agenda and one business owner specifically felt the need to attack Emily’s Instagram post that encouraged the support of shopping small over shopping 'Prime'.Since it’s impossible to have a rational discussion on social media, Emily did the only reasonable thing: deleted the comments and talked about it on our podcast instead!

After a bit of a hiatus, Emily and Michelle are back! They dive right into the hottest topic of the moment: How to respond when you're told to “stick to {your business}” and leave politics out of it. This year has demanded that we - small business owners - turn the camera on ourselves to remind our customers that we’re real people in need of their support. When we're asked to pull the curtain back to share more and more of our personal lives, then it should be expected that our political views will come along with that.  If it’s okay for us to share every loaf of bread we’ve baked during quarantine, then it should also be okay for us to post about Black Lives Matter or which candidate we’re supporting in the upcoming election...

In this week's episode, Michelle and Emily dive into the topic of "maker guilt," or, more specifically, the current trend of small businesses like ours feeling like they need to apologize for advertising their products and trying to make money. Times are tough and there's a lot going on in the world, both politically and economically, which can make regular 'ole advertising feel trivial - and even inappropriate.  We try to squash these feelings and give you (and ourselves) some tangible - and guilt-free - ways to continue to promote your work and get those bills paid!

After they get some feelings about non-maskers out of their system, Emily and Michelle spend this episode talking about ways to prepare for this coming holiday season.  With in-person events potentially being canceled well into next year, how can we small business owners position ourselves now to make up for those lost sales?

After a quick break for migraines, flash sales, and fireworks, we're back with a brand-new Quarantine Chat!  This week, Emily and Michelle talk about the craziest thing going around social media lately: cancel culture.

After a long hiatus, Emily and Michelle are back with another Quarantine Chat episode. This week, they share some Black-hosted podcasts that they've been listening to... Podcasts we review in this episode: The Stoop, Pod Save the People, Higher Learning, Code Switch, and The Sunday Jumpstart. If you'd like to support our podcast during this crazy time, please consider becoming a Patreon subscriber here.

As we enter a full month of the 'stay-at-home' order here in Illinois, Emily and Michelle record another Quarantine Chat episode from the safety of their respective homes.  This week, they talk about the divisive and problematic issue of labeling businesses ESSENTIAL and NON-ESSENTIAL, and Emily suggests categorizing businesses as HIGH-RISK and LOW-RISK instead. If you'd like to support our podcast during this crazy time, please consider becoming a Patreon subscriber here.

As stay-at-home orders are extended in Illinois, and across the country, Emily and Michelle continue to record their Quarantine Chat series from the comfort of their separate homes...  In this week's episode, they try to bring a little positivity to this whole shit-show by sharing ways that we can support small businesses and shouting out some of their favorite brands and products! If you'd like to support our podcast during this crazy time, please consider becoming a Patreon subscriber here.

It's the 100th Episode of Pancake Town!  And it’s the first in a new series we're calling Quarantine Chats...  Emily and Michelle record this episode via phone in order to maintain social distancing during the ongoing COVID-19 outbreak.  They both share ways that their lives and businesses are being affected right now, as well as some difficult decisions that they’ve had to make in the past few weeks.  While they don’t have any magical answers to help everyone get through this, they do hope to become a source of support for other business owners while we all muddle through together. If you'd like to support our podcast during this crazy time, please consider becoming a Patreon subscriber here.

We're baaaaaccckkkkk! In this week's episode (our first of 2020!), Emily and Michelle quickly get caught up on how the new year has been going and then they finally get into a topic that’s been on their minds for a while.  We’ve all been given the advice, "It doesn’t hurt to ask," but sometimes... it actually does.  They share their opinions on question-asking etiquette and how to respond when you’re on the receiving end of those awkward inquiries.  

Part 2 of 2: Emily and Michelle continue their 2019/2020 conversation and segue into some of their favorite rants topics like pricing and dealing with difficult customers.

Part 1 of 2: Emily and Michelle review 2019 - focusing on the new habits and attitudes they've adopted over the last 12 months.  They’re both ready to be done with this decade and start 2020 with the same energy and drive that they had 15 years ago.  

For this week's episode, the listeners asked Emily and Michelle to go back 10 years and think about what advice they would give themselves - and what advice they'd give to other small business owners - just starting out.  They take a trip down memory lane to remember successes along the way, as well as decisions they regret.   Spoiler alert: One of us is risk taker and the other... not so much.

Does your business just need a pivot or is it actually time to throw in the towel?  In this week's episode, Emily and Michelle research how to read the signs that your business needs a change and get into how to pull that change off.  Also, there may be a bit of a rant about removing the stigma surrounding quitting.   Articles cited: -https://www.forbes.com/sites/forbescoachescouncil/2018/03/06/12-clear-signs-its-time-to-pivot-your-business/#2da533a638e7 -https://www.entrepreneur.com/article/277285 -https://www.entrepreneur.com/article/319294 -https://smallbiztrends.com/2017/05/signs-that-you-must-pivot.html

OMG It’s the week of SHOW of HANDS so Emily and Michelle answer your questions about selling at in-person events.  They share their favorite dos and don’ts for having a successful show and an important reminder that taking care of yourself should be at the top of your list.   Get more info about SHOW of HANDS here: www.showofhandschicago.com

This week, Emily and Michelle are thrilled to welcome special guest, Jen Farrell from Starshaped Press, to talk about the many ways in which the handmade world has changed since starting her letterpress business back in 1999 (that's 20 years ago)!  Jen shares the ways she’s been keeping her ship afloat amidst personal and professional setbacks, including a successful pivot from wholesale to fine art.  Spoiler alert: Mimosas were had during the recording of this episode.

Alternate Title: "That's Gross" In this week's episode, Michelle and Emily discuss the constant internal struggle that a lot of makers have when designing new products: Do I give my customers what they want, or do I tell them what they should want?  Should I work to please my customer's every whim, or am I the tastemaker?  Spoiler: It's a really tricky combination of both!

This week, Emily and Michelle react to an article on thecut.com written by Natalie Beach > a ghostwriter for Instagram influencer, Caroline Calloway.  Natalie's side of the story reveals that Caroline created a social media persona with the sole purpose of selling a memoir to publishers (and that she bought tens of thousands of social media followers along the way). But, somewhat ironically, Caroline wasn’t even able to write her own posts, let alone a memoir, which is where Natalie stepped in and their dark friendship began.  It’s the kind of story that unfolds in a made-for-Netflix limited series... and theirs is probably already in the works.   read the full article: "I was Caroline Calloway" by Natalie Beach via the Cut.com

GET READY FOR SOME REAL TALK: In this week's episode, Michelle shares her strategy to deal with a recent drop in wholesale sales and enlists Emily’s help to brainstorm new ideas.

This week, Emily fills Michelle in on her (very rainy) weekend vending at Andersonville Arts Festival...  but not before the two rant about the aftermath of an Instagram post that unexpectedly went viral the day before.

In this week's episode, Michelle and Emily investigate the new free shipping strategy implemented on Etsy and how it’s affecting not only Etsy shop owners, but potentially all small businesses with online shops.  Since Emily and Michelle no longer operate Etsy shops themselves, they reached out to the Pancake Town and Show of Hands Facebook groups for others' opinions on these new changes. They also learned a lot about the motivation behind Etsy’s corporate leaders from a really insightful & well-written Vox.com article by Kaitlyn Tiffany.

This week, Emily and Michelle attend Renegade Craft Fair’s flagship summer event in Chicago which prompts ranting about one of their favorite topics: Shopping Local!  They share their purchases from the show (which means LOTS of shout-outs!) and remind fellow small business owners that they shouldn’t expect their customers to shop small and local if they aren’t also making it a priority themselves.  

In this week's episode, Michelle fills Emily in on the results from her 9-to-5 work week experiment, which ended up being more about getting over the addiction to “the hustle” than about keeping a regular schedule.  They end up stumbling upon some really good business advice from an unexpected source: a book written in 1997 called How to Start a Home-Based Craft Business by Ken Oberrecht.  

Hey! Have you been avoiding learning the difference between the cash and accrual methods of accounting?...  Emily and Michelle dive into this confusing topic and come to find out that they aren’t as clueless as they thought!  There might not be a clear right or wrong method (spoiler: they each use a different method), but it’s good to know the benefits and downsides of both and to choose one and stick to it.   Articles cited: www.amynorthardcpa.com/should-you-use-cash-or-accrual-accounting   www.blog.craftybase.com/2018/02/22/why-inventory-based-businesses-should-use-the-accrual-method   www.blog.craftybase.com/2017/01/26/why-claiming-your-materials-as-expenses-is-a-really-bad-idea-for-a-craft-business

In this week's episode, Michelle and Emily run into Ryan Rezvani of Bitter Ex Bitters at the Long Room and convince him to be a guest on the podcast.  Ryan accepts the challenge of trying to talk about his business while Emily and Michelle (who have been day drinking for a few hours at this point) interrupt him with mostly unrelated questions and tangents.   Here's the direct link to that 'Drunk History' video that Ryan mentioned: http://www.bitterexchicago.com/about

In this, the very first Drunk Business Advice episode, Emily and Michelle give Pancake Town listeners their best *intoxicated* answers to questions about business.  They (try to) help a jewelry designer & stay-at-home mom with prioritizing her revenue streams, they (attempt to) answer the age old problem of finding a work/life balance, and they (eloquently) share their top financial investments. Have a business question you want us to (drunk) answer? If you'd like to submit a question (or questions) for our next Drunk Business Advice episode, please send them to us at pancaketownpodcast@gmail.com!

Enneagram enthusiast (and past Pancake Town guest!), Jenny Mecher of Three Letter Birds, joins Emily and Michelle to help explain the 9 basic personality types and to discuss the results of each of their enneagram tests.   Links: 9types.com Enneagram Institute: Type Descriptions Three Letter Birds Enneagram Products!

In this episode, Emily and Michelle finish their review of the book, Company of One by Paul Jarvis.  Topics covered in the second half of the book include: customer service, crowdfunding, and how to know when to quit.   HEY! Click here to RSVP for the upcoming Pancake Town Meetup 07.11.19 at You Are Beautiful HQ.

Over a bottle of rosé, Michelle and Emily review the book, Company of One by Paul Jarvis.  In Part One of their two-part episode review, they discuss topics like single tasking, the attention economy, and polarization. They also take Sally Hogshead’s personality test to determine what makes them fascinating.

This week, Emily and Michelle grab a cocktail (or two) at The Long Room with special guest, Jenny Mecher of Three Letter Birds.  They brainstorm options for new revenue streams for Jenny’s business, like wholesale and custom work.  They also talk about how, by focusing on her own website, she can build on the connections she’s made with her customers through her email newsletters and social media.   Find out more about Three Letter Birds, and shop her product line on her website: www.threeletterbirds.com

In this week's episode, Emily and Michelle discuss the viral story about an influencer with 2.6 million Instagram followers who couldn’t sell 36 t-shirts.  Well, technically it was 252 t-shirts, and the t-shirts weren't even t-shirts, but you know how the internet is...   They dig into all of the reasons this poor girl's new business venture didn’t work and how it’s not so easy to transition your audience from simply giving you a ‘follow’ to giving you cold hard ca$h.     *alternate description: Emily and Michelle intend to discuss the viral story about an influencer with 2.6 million Instagram followers who couldn’t sell 36 t-shirts, but then they end up ranting about politics, religion, reproductive rights, and guns instead.  *of course*

This week, Michelle and Emily welcome special guest, Jamie Tubbs of Jamie Tubbs Studio and try to answer the age old question of ‘can you making a living as an artist?’.  Even though the internet, social media, and the handmade community are making art more accessible than ever before, it’s still tricky to find the right balance between the retail world and the art world.

This week, Emily and Michelle look to their unofficial life coach, Emily McDowell, for advice on how to decondition yourself from an addiction to chaos.  Michelle finally turns off the Shopify cha-ching notification and Emily shares a major breakthrough she had at work last week.   Check out the "Addiction to Chaos" posts on Emily McDowell's Instagram here and here.

In this week's episode, Michelle and Emily research email marketing platforms for possible replacements for MailChimp since they no longer have an integration with Shopify.  They compare the programs based on price, template designs, automation and reporting, ease of use, and the absurdity of their names.

Emily and Michelle get right back to business after a busy weekend at Show of Hands... just in time to react to Instagram’s newest potential change: hiding "likes".  Is this really for our benefit to make the app more fun/genuine or is there an ulterior motive?

OMG, SHOW of HANDS is this weekend and Emily and Michelle already have their shopping lists ready!   In addition to going to local craft fairs, they talk about the importance of supporting small businesses year round.     Vendor SHOUT-OUTS include:  E.Lo Ceramics, Jamie Tubbs Studio, Paisley Paper Co, Ponnopozz, Grace M. Gaynor, The Sunday Standard, Hungry By Nature, Geek Chic Fashion, Cago Supply Co., Alapash, AND Studio, The Willary, Ella Calas Jewelry, Everand, Locked and Layered, Long Dog Dandy, Hunter Labs, Wildship Studio and more!   If you're in Chicago, see us (and all of the vendors we shout out in this episode) THIS WEEKEND:   SHOW of HANDS Spring April 26-28, 2019 Artifact Events 4325 N Ravenswood Ave. CHICAGO   Get all the info at www.showofhandschicago.com

In this week's episode, Emily and Michelle revisit one of their favorite topics to rant about: Dropshipping.  Since their first dropshipping episode (Ep. 45: Drop Ship Rosé), it really seems like these businesses have started to infiltrate the handmade world.  They talk about the ways they have learned to identify a dropship store and the things we should all be doing to make sure it’s clear that our shops are handmade.   BONUS: Listen 'til the end for our rave review of The OA: Season 2.

Michelle and Emily chat with Sarah deHebreard of Bonnie™ about a brand refresh for the 10 year anniversary of her Chicago-based, natural skincare business.  They talk about simplifying and elevating her packaging by having boxes cut and printed, adding custom labels with a new color scheme, and a whole lot more! *Also, be sure to check out the BONUS Tiny Rant - recorded right after this episode - available when you subscribe to our Patreon page!

Mandy Adamick of Madcanvases joins Emily and Michelle for a brainstorming session.  Mandy is looking to quit her full time job and she wanted to get an outside perspective on how to accomplish her goals.  They focus on adding to her product line, updating wholesale listings, and promoting her custom work.

In this week's episode, Michelle and Emily take a deeper dive into the pros and cons of keeping your business small... which inevitably leads to a conversation about being tired of the hustle.  They find inspiration in an Instagram post by illustrator, Lisa Congdon feat. a piece of hers about giving yourself “permission to take an intermission”.

Since February is the new January, Emily and Michelle share their plans and goals for 2019.  A theme they both share is choosing to keep their businesses small.  And since making under $2 million is apparently still considered small business, that probably won’t be a problem ;)

Emily and Michelle address the recent drama about Instagram's algorithm making it so only 7% of your followers are seeing your posts.  If this conspiracy theory is true (although that seems unlikely), how can we be proactive without seeming desperate to our followers?  Michelle also shares the results from her Instagram experiment over the holidays...   Wanna hear more of our thoughts on Instagram?  Check out Episode 56: Instagram in the Thing in the Dumpster from the Pancake Town archives!

We're BAAACCCKKKKK!  Emily and Michelle catch up after a busy holiday season.  They share how their events went, rant about how no one should "love" Target, and Emily tells her thrilling account of standing up to a customer and basically becoming a hero to retail workers everywhere. 

It’s that time of year when we all need a little more self care!  This week's episode starts off with Emily and Michelle recapping an old episode from the Pancake Town Archives (Episode 20: Take Care of Yourself).  Our most-downloaded episode from last year features stress management expert, Robin Fischer and Zach Zube, owner of Element Ayurvedic Apothecary.  Enjoy!

This week's episode is Part 2 of Michelle and Emily's investigation into the Instagram algorithm.  Now that they know what it takes to beat the algorithm, they've got an important question: Is there a way to balance being an active participant on social media with not being on your phone all the friggin' time?!   *Episode 63 is brought to you by East Grove Stamp Co. and Stylish Girl Jewelry

In this week's episode, Emily and Michelle finally dive in and do the research on how to beat the Instagram algorithm despite not actually giving a shit about it.  Find out more about what it takes to become a “Super User”... *insert barfing emoji here*

Holiday show season is upon us...  which means SHOW of HANDS is this weekend!  Emily and Michelle shout out the vendors that they’re most excited to shop from and insist that shopping small and local for all of your holiday gifts is easier than you think. As a special thank you to our listeners, please use code alltogethernow for FREE tickets to the SHOW of HANDS Friday Night Preview! Get your tickets here: www.showofhands2018.eventbrite.com   Episode 61 is brought to you by Edgewater Candles (who will be at Show of Hands this weekend, along with OrangeBeautiful & Michelle Starbuck Designs!)