Make It and Sell It
This podcast is about how to start a small-scale production business—a low-risk career option with low upfront costs but huge potential benefits—that can be done from home. Whether you are home because of the Coronavirus or family care responsibilities, limited mobility or transportation, or are just more of a homebody, you can still earn a living on your own time and at your own pace. And best of all, you can MAKE something to share with others. Whether you are a baker, a maker, a crafter, an artist, or even a mad scientist, you can turn your hobby into a living. This series will explore all aspects of this kind of business, sometimes called a “cottage industry,” from brainstorming new product ideas to perhaps one day making enough income to quit your day jobs. Episodes will include interviews with home-based entrepreneurs at different stages of their business development and from a broad diversity of fields. Who are they? Why do they do what they do? What have been the major challenges as well as the secrets of their success? What would they recommend to others?For more information about the movement behind the podcast, visit our Facebook Group, at https://www.facebook.com/groups/350301745982098
Episodes
20 episodes
020 Sharing Cultures with Community, with Loretta Beiler, Baker and Instructor
In this episode, Loretta Beiler recounts her history of home-based bread and roasted coffee business, how a surprise trip to Italy inspired her to create sourdough bread classes in her home, and how these and her family’s coffee business comple...
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Season 2
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Episode 20
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31:57
019 Kits and Classes, with Wendy Klinke, Art Instructor
In this episode, Wendy Klinke reflects on her start-up art instruction and art kit business this past year called Blue Cat Studio. Wendy’s love of art and teaching led her in a roundabout way to home-based production, as she created and sold ca...
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Season 2
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Episode 19
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33:55
018 Seven Secrets for Small-Scale Success
In this episode, the last of the season, we discuss seven of the most important lessons from the first season of this podcast about starting and growing a home-based production business. Despite our best efforts, it was not p...
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Season 1
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Episode 18
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14:36
017 Into the Fire(Sauce), with Vid Lynch and Ben Smith, Sauce Makers
In this episode, Torchbearer Sauces founders Vid Lynch and Ben Smith discuss how they turned seven years of weekly parties into a thriving 15-year-old sauce business. As early innovators in the flavor-based hot sauce movement, they credit their...
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Episode 17
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33:24
016 Deep dive, It’s GO Time!
This episode is the last of three episodes that attempts to answer the question, “How can I get over the initial hump of starting a home-based production business?” It describes branding, product development, and the creation of an Ecommerce we...
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Episode 16
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26:42
015 Deep Dive, Making It Real
This episode is a further deep dive into one of the most frequent questions we hear about home-based production, “How can I get over the initial hump of starting a home-based production business?” The second of three episodes, this segment disc...
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Episode 15
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19:57
014 Deep Dive, Permission to Produce
This episode is a deep dive into one of the most frequent questions we hear about home-based production, “How can I get over the initial hump of starting a home-based production business?” We answer this question with personal reflections in st...
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Episode 14
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21:25
013 Fermenting Better Beer, with Tony Morrell, Brewer
In this episode, Tony Morrell discusses one of his obsessions, home beer brewing, how his process has changed over the past eight to nine years to assure regular brewing awards, and how he is thinking about turning his past time into a commerci...
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Episode 13
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26:13
012 Proofer of Concept, with Armando Lacayo, Baker
In this episode, Armando Lacayo explains how he transitioned from financial management to baking and the role of home-based production in opening what Bon Appetit magazine anointed the best new bakery in the country in 2016.&nbs...
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Episode 12
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26:15
011 Clarifying Commercial Kitchens, with Bev Martin and Nancy Rohrer, Food Producers
In this episode, food entrepreneurs Bev Martin and Nancy Martin, talk about their ghee production business, including expanding into a commercial facility and marketing a lesser known product. Bev Martin and Nancy Rohrer had ...
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Episode 11
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36:17
010 Mixing It Up, with Jill Donaldson, Baker and Mix Maker
In this episode, Jill Donaldson, a formally trained baker and entrepreneur, describes her evolution from a home-based baker to a home-based creator of commercial baking packages. This change dramatically altered her business, daily routine, sal...
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Episode 10
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39:19
009 Inspiring first-wave customers, with Lygeia Ricciardi, Digital Health Entrepreneur
In this last of four consecutive episodes about personal care products, Lygeia Ricciardi explains how home-based entrepreneurs can inspire friends and family to become their best advocates. Lygeia Ricciardi and Tania Teschke ...
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Episode 9
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32:57
008 A Confluence of Influences, with Tania Teschke, Soap and Balm Maker
In this third of four back-to-back episodes about people who make personal care products, Tania Teschke explains how many roads from childhood through adulthood have led her to become a home-based entrepreneur. This includes a do-it-yourself mi...
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Episode 8
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32:00
007 Pivoting for Prosperity, with Leslie Arthur, Soap and Cosmetic Maker
In this second of four back-to-back episodes about personal care products, Leslie Arthur discusses how she started her first business in Hawaii 16 years ago and organized the most recent business, now seven years old. She shares practical advic...
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Episode 7
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36:42
006 Lessons from the Direct to Consumer Industry, with Jenna Watkins, Personal Care Product Director
This episode veers somewhat away from our typical discussions with makers into a sister industry, “direct to consumer,” to explore how this industry markets and sells its products and lessons that can be applied to home-based production....
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Episode 6
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34:31
005 The Bioluminescent Fashionista, with Lysandra Weber, Clothing Designer
This episode describes how a home-based clothing designer and producer conceived her niche and comparative advantage in a market otherwise dominated by large labels. In her last months of maternity leave, Lysandra Weber teste...
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Episode 5
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41:19
004 To rent her home, with Maria-Victoria Checa, Painter
This episode describes art as a path to home-based entrepreneurship and the ways in which a new hobby can be transformed into a part-time or full-time career. We all find our passions in different ways. For this guest, Maria-...
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Episode 4
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26:47
003 Sourdough for Tie Dyes, with Matt Asin, Early Stage Entrepreneur
This episode explores the thinking of an early-stage entrepreneur who is deep in the process of fleshing out his longer-term plan. Like many of us, Matt Asin spent the early days of the Coronavirus lockdown trying to ke...
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Episode 3
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24:25
002 From Manic Crafting to a Thriving Paint-by-Numbers Business, with Amanda Farnum, Founder of Wehgo
This episode shows how quickly a new product idea can turn into a successful business and the key steps in the process! When Amanda Farnum’s kids were young, she wanted to take a break from her day job to spend time with them...
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Episode 2
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34:36
001 Craft workers, Home-preneurs, and Makers, Oh My. What this is all about
This episode introduces the idea of “small-scale, home-based production businesses” (whew! that's a mouthful!) as a powerful approach to career-building, income, and wealth that might be right for you. This is nothing new. Humans have produced,...
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Episode 1
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9:55