276 | Attracting customers, collaborations & partnerships with Kathy Cano-Murillo, Crafty Chica
Are you casting a big enough vision for your brand and are you considering all of the different ways to attract new customers and diversify your revenue streams as an artist? Today's guest dreamed big from the start—she modeled her business off of creative women such as JLo and Oprah, and she wants us to consider doing the same.
On today's episode, Kathy Cano-Murillo of the Crafty Chica and I are talking about how consistently showing up authentically, sharing her ups and downs, and having an abundant mindset have led to the successful career that she has today.
We talked about how she has diversified revenue streams and how she attracts customers, collaborations and partnerships. We also discuss Kathy's success with elevating awareness of Latino culture, heritage and her success and expanding access to these products available year round, not just during Hispanic Heritage Month. Kathy is a firecracker and a great example of a seasoned business owner who shows up diligently and consistently does the work and is now reaping the rewards.
Today's episode is brought to you by our Proof to Product resource library, where we house all of my free workshops in one place. This includes my Delegating Masterclass, my How to Know If Wholesale is Right for You class and my Booth Blueprint Class for anyone wanting to exhibit at wholesale trade shows, I've got some new things that we'll be adding soon. To get instant access to this rich resource library, head to prooftoproduct.com/resources.
Kathy’s Business Journey
Kathy began her journey to opening Crafty Chica when she was working at the newspaper as an entertainment reporter. During that time, she was also a working artist on the side, which prompted the newspaper to ask her to do a weekly craft column.
The column got syndicated across the country, which opened Kathy’s eyes to seeing that she had a different point of view with crafting that was special enough for readers to connect to it, because everything she made was meaningful. At the time, she was already running her blog and soon realized that is might be time to take it to the next level.
She headed to a craft convention, gave a presentation, and was offered a chance at a product line that got featured in Michaels.
She quickly realized that with an abundance mindset, anything is possible, therefore, she left her newspaper job and started this crafting journey full-time.
Dreaming in Abundance
Kathy’s business model was built off of inspiration from brands built by JLo and Martha Stewart, who have diversified their revenue streams through different offerings. After deciding that she wanted to follow that model, she looked to what her version of that could be. It inspired her to teach travel workshops in Mexico, write books, create a greeting card line, and a craft product line.
Kathy attributes the foundation in business to consistency. She’s run her blog for 21 years and has consistently posted. Her original vision for Crafty Chica was for it to be a national brand. She dreamed with an abundance mindset. She worked for it too.
In consistently doing all of the hard work that matched her dreams, she was able to fulfill the vision she had for her band. Her brand naturally progressed in a thoughtful and intentional way, while articulating how people can work with her through her website, marketing and more.
Building the foundations to her business allowed her to build each engine and tool, one at a time, until the train begins running in the direction you want all on its own.
How to Attract New Customers, Collaborations, & Partnerships
Kathy has built a very solid brand that has allowed her to collaborate with really amazing brands. Many business owners have to work to pitch their products to buyers but something that may surprise you is Kathy wasn’t pitching in the beginning—these brands and opportunities came to her.
How you might ask? Kathy was intentional about sharing her dreams and visions for her brand on her blog. Those blogs served a couple of purposes:
If a brand that wanted to collaborate with her found it, they would pitch her for exactly what she wanted!
Even if no one found and read the blog, it would inspire her and create the energy she needed to follow through with that idea, leading to more growth in her business.
There are a few things you can also consider when it comes to attracting new customers, collaborations, and partnerships that we talk about on the podcast, like:
data analytics
social media storytelling
planning ahead
shifting your mindset
Using Analytics to Make Creative Decisions in Business
With every business, you’ve set goals you want to achieve. For Kathy, not only are her goals impacted and adjusted based on analytics in business, but she also uses data to make creative decisions as well.
In her craft product line, Kathy looks at best sellers and how it correlates with social posts. She can then take these data points to wholesale buyers to support selling products to them.
Data offers support that allows everyone to win in business.
Attracting New Customers on Social Media
Social media doesn’t have to be a daunting task in your business. You can find an angle that works for you to help build better data points to connect with and sell to your community.
Kathy shares great tips & a mindset shift when it comes to social media marketing. She reminds us that sharing on social media humanizes your brand.
At one point, Kathy dreamed of being in Hallmark. She took her audience on the journey of pitching and even shared when she didn’t achieve this dream. Once she allowed her Hallmark vision to fade away, it made space for another opportunity that her audience could cheer her on for. This was an inspirational story that her audience could connect with.
While Kathy has found that sharing failures and being transparent has allowed her audience to feel connected to her enough to cheer her on, that may not be comfortable for you. You don’t have to do it like everyone else. You have the permission to be authentic while only sharing to your comfort level.
As you figure out what works for you and your brand, you also need to look at how you want to attract new customers on each platform since they all serve different roles.
LinkedIn is a great place to explore business partnerships, collaborations, and opportunities.
Instagram has worked really well for posting craft tutorials.
TikTok is a more entertaining experience for the audience, which is a great place to post craft fails.
In making any decision in her business, Kathy is looking at the end goal, the user experience, and meeting people where they are at on their journey. It’s also important that you tailor the experience to match who you are.
Planning & Avoiding Burnout
As a multi-passionate entrepreneur, Kathy is always looking ahead to work things into her schedule. Whether this is with marketing, collaborations, or exploring partnerships, Kathy is building a to-do lists, scheduling blocked time, and planning for it.
Planning allows you to build boundaries and avoid burnout so that you can always enjoy the work you does and who you are working with.
Shifting Your Mindset as a Creative
Creatives tend to have this idea that they are messy and that’s just the way they are, but when you adapt an elevated mindset that the state of your room is the state of your business, it can change everything.
You are a professional working creative, and you should treat your business like that.
Create processes and systems for your business so that you are efficient and productive, and can focus on the art you love. Kathy believes that the mindset piece of business is incredibly important, particularly for your scaling business.
Latinx Products Year Round
Despite the general market only recently realizing the buying power of the Hispanic community, Kathy has always known the value in highlighting Latinx makers and products, prioritizing it from the beginning. She wanted to create a space where consumers could find inspiration from the hispanic community throughout the year, not just during Hispanic Heritage Month.
From highlighting products that inspire her heritage to tutorials that explain how to make a Day of the Dead painted journal, people are searching for these products year round—not just one time a year.
Over the past decade, Kathy has noticed that by highlighting Latinx products year round in her brand, they’re selling year round. Even her Latinx-centric products in Barnes and Noble are sold year round. This allows Kathy to represent her culture and share it with the world.
Today’s episode is brought to you by LABS, our 12-month group coaching program that was built for product based business owners who want to streamline their systems and revenue.
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MEET KATHY
Kathy Cano-Murillo, The Crafty Chica, is former syndicated newspaper columnist and now a full-time creativepreneur which has led to multiple product lines and collabs with national brands. She has authored several craft books and novels, a book about the life of Frida Kahlo, and her latest – The Crafty Chica Creates. She has new product lines with Makers Movement for HSN, Bisque Imports, Madison Park Greetings, and Riley Blake Fabrics. She has been featured in Forbes, The New York Times, Buzzfeed+ more.
CONNECT WITH Kathy
WEBSITE:https://craftychica.com |SHOP: craftychicastore.com | INSTAGRAM: @craftychica | FACEBOOK: @kathycanomurillo | TIKTOK: @craftychica | TWITTER: @craftychica | YOUTUBE: @craftychica
Connect with Katie Hunt
Katie Hunt is a business strategist, podcaster, mentor and mama to four. She helps product based businesses build profitable, sustainable companies through her conferences, courses and coaching programs.
Website: prooftoproduct.com | Instagram: @prooftoproduct
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