whileshenaps.com

Sewing, blogging, and creative business.

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5 Lessons I Learned About Business from Orange Theory

June 10, 2019

Earlier this year my 15-year-old daughter, Roxanne, came home from a meeting of one of her afterschool clubs to tell me that they were hosting a fundraiser at Orange Theory. “Will you donate $30 and take a class there to help us raise money?” she asked. How could I say no? As I’ve mentioned here… 

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Filed Under: Business Tips, Customer Service, Marketing

Different Escaping the Competitive Herd

Book Review: Different by Youngme Moon

March 27, 2018

Several things are special about this book. First is how I came to get it. For the five years that Chad Dickerson was CEO of Etsy I used Twitter to get in touch with him. It’s hard to make contact with a busy CEO, especially a CEO of a public company and especially when you’re… 

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Filed Under: Marketing

on seeking out young mentors

On Seeking Out Young Mentors

October 24, 2017

“If you want to know what teens are doing on social media, ask a teen.” This is the subhead of a terrific interview I heard not long ago on a podcast called Too Embarrassed to Ask. The show aims to answer questions about consumer tech like which iPhone should you buy and do you really… 

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Filed Under: Business Tips, Marketing

Should God Be a Marketing Tool? A Look at Accuquilt’s “So God Made a Quilter” Video

March 31, 2017

I saw this video on Accuquilt’s Facebook page last week. It was originally released in January of 2016, but the company is featuring it again in a current marketing campaign. Accuquilt manufactures and sells die cutting tools for quilters. You may recognize the concept from the “So God Made a Farmer” commercial for Ram trucks… 

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Filed Under: Marketing, Online Culture of Craft

Facing Shrinking Ad Dollars Craft Magazines Are Rethinking Everything

July 27, 2016

Last week’s announcement that one of the longest running quilting magazines, Quilters Newsletter, will be shutting down in October hit the quilting world hard. Hundreds of comments poured in on blogs and Facebook from longtime QNM readers expressing sadness that this beloved publication that has been in print for 47 years was to be no… 

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Filed Under: Marketing, Online Culture of Craft, Traditional Print Publishing

How to Inspire Trust Online

June 27, 2016

Think about the last time you walked into a shop you’d never been in before. Maybe you were on vacation visiting a new town or maybe you were exploring a different neighborhood in your own city. You pull open the door, walk in, and begin to look around. This first visit begins with a series… 

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Filed Under: Marketing, Monetizing Your Blog

Sewing

When Quilt Market is Really Worth It: Vintage Door’s Crochet Edge Bias Tape

June 1, 2016

“It was my daughter’s brainchild,” says Hazel Rimmasch of Vintage Door, the crochet edge bias tape business she co-owns with her daughter, Arlene Cook. “Three years ago she was looking through some of the things my mother had sewn and admired the bias tape she’d used. It had a crocheted edge. She found a few… 

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Filed Under: Ecommerce and Etsy, Marketing

A Pinterest Traffic Experiment

February 25, 2016

I love Pinterest, but I didn’t always love it. When Pinterest first launched in the spring of 2010 I opened an account, but didn’t use it. I didn’t get it. I understood that it was a virtual bulletin board and I could see the value in collecting inspiring images for future projects, but I didn’t… 

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Filed Under: Better Blogging, Increasing Your Traffic, Marketing

Profile of an Email Newsletter: The Wonky Press

January 8, 2016

I recently subscribed to a new email newsletter that I love: The Wonky Press. It’s written by quilter and blogger Jessica Skultety and she just started writing it a few months ago. Already Jessica is seeing results from communicating with her most loyal fans via email and I thought it would be neat to talk… 

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Filed Under: Building Great Email Newsletters, Marketing

When the Product is the Problem

December 11, 2015

Kim McBrien has loved making things with textiles her whole life. She now has a thriving hand dyed yarn business, Indigo Dragonfly, but figuring out how to turn her passion for fiber into a business was challenging. “I first tried to make a living as a contemporary basket maker,” McBrien says. “It became very clear… 

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Filed Under: Business Tips, Marketing

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Welcome! I'm Abby Glassenberg and I'm glad you're here. While She Naps is a blog about designing and sewing stuffed animals and running a creative business.
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