Mind of the Crochet Designer podcast

Ep 10: How a crochet business can be anything you want with Brianna Shade from Kitten Kazoedle

• Christina Hadderingh

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We're back from a very refreshing holiday and we are starting the podcast off with another amazing interview! This time I had the honor to interview Brianna Shade from Kitten KaZoedle. You want to hear this, as the way she runs her crochet business will be SUPER inspiring to you. 


What's in today's episode:

  1. How an unlikely road lead Brianna to her current crochet business
  2. How to prevent passion burn-out 
  3. How keeping it simple will make you more money
  4. How the rules of what we think we need to do or offer is keeping us from really thriving in our business
  5. How to keep going, even when you want to give up 


If you feel like you need to overcomplicate things in your crochet business journey to make money or if starting your own crochet business feels heavy, this episode is for you!


Want to connect with Brianna?

www.kittyminis.com

Instagram Kittenkazoedle 

Facebook Kittenkazoedle 

Pinterest Kittenkazoedle 

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Microfoon (YXC usb audio):

Hello, welcome creative and beautiful souls to the mind of the crochet, the signer podcast. I am here today with a very special interview with Brianna. And Brianna asked me to introduce her. So this is her introduction. Brianna AKA, Ms. Kitty started crocheting geeky kitties at the beginning of 2023. Purely as something fun to do, but when acute kitty, Minnie started to pile up, she knew she needed an outlet. Fortunately others love them just as much a sheeted. So debts when kitten. was born. First as an online shop, then as a regular booth at in-person markets, now it has blossomed into a nationwide business. Providing delightful many plushes that make you smile? Memorial kit is made with real four and a geeky kitty crochet club kit membership. She's on a mission to help cats get the love and care they deserve. And what's even more awesome is at 10% of all proceeds from all branches of the business goes directly to a cat adoption team in Portland, Oregon. So that's a very short introduction and I can wait for you to hear this interview, Brianna, she is so inspiring in what's possible in your own crochet design business, and that it doesn't have to be solely about offering patterns, but that it can be so much more. And how a passion and a real Heart for crochet cats for Cats in general can grow into a very awesome business. So please hang back with your favorite whip and hang out with us today in this very special interview. I'm now going to roll the tape. Enjoy.

Hello, welcome Creative and Beautiful Souls with the Mind of the Crochet Designer podcast. My name is Christina Hadering and I'm here today with a very special interview guest Brianna Shade from Kitten Kazooie Doll. And Brianna, I really appreciate that you are willing to spend your time with me on this interview. I have so many questions for you because Brianna, she has a really unique business model a crochet business model, and I want to take you with me in this interview. So, Brianna, can you first of all, tell me what does the name Kittencosoidal stand for? Where does it originate from? Yes thank you so much. And it's a real pleasure to be here. So kitten kazoodle is, it was inspired basically by the phrase, you know, kitten caboodle which is why a lot of people will look at it and immediately want to pronounce it kitten kazoodle because it kind of looks like that. But I. Inserted the name of my kitty in there. Zoe was a beautiful cat mancoon that I had. She was my 16th birthday present and I had her for, for about 15 years. And I absolutely loved her. I still love her. But I wanted to name my shop after her and kitten caboodle was. I think the name was already taken. I think a lot of people, that's a pretty easy one to come by. So I was like, well, if I want to mix it up, I'm going to name it after my kitty and, and put Zoe in the middle there. So thus Kitten Kazoidle. Yeah. So can you tell the listeners about your business? Because you have a business model that I haven't actually come across before. I mean, it's really unique. So let's talk about your let's first talk about what inspired you to start your crochet business, and specifically,, why cats? Well, why not cats? I am absolutely obsessed with cats. I have my entire life absolutely loved cats. I always wanted a kitten when I was growing up. I have had cats in my life throughout my entire life. And they just make me so happy. I love them. I. Legitimately believe them to be my spirit animal. Because they have guided me through a lot of tough times in my life. I see cats whenever I most desperately need them. My husband and I travel a lot and literally I find them everywhere. So they are a source of happiness and a source of guidance and a source of just joy in my life. And so I've always been drawn to cats and I. I love them. So that's why cats, but I never expected to wind up in a business that is all about cats. So I am in totally my happy place here. It's so crazy how this, this came about. It's like total happenstance because I was actually working on a business with my husband because we travel so much. We were working on, you know, the more practical kind of business of helping other people travel specifically on. How to save money while you're traveling and how to earn money while you're traveling so that you can travel definitely for as long as you want, because a lot of people are restricted by how much they're earning or by how much they have in order to travel. And so we were helping people find that freedom because there are so many ways to cut down on costs and to earn while you're on the road to make it sustainable. But I wasn't feeling terribly called to that. I mean, I'm passionate about travel, but that wasn't the passion I wanted to pursue. And so interestingly enough before we started a big world trip where we were on the road for about nine months continuously, I crocheted a couple of little miniature kitties of my own cats. Made from their real fur because my kitty, she had like all this long hair and every time I would brush her, it's like, look, it's a whole new cat. Yeah, they're really big, right? I mean, those are big cats. Well, so this was actually after Zoe. So Zoe had already passed long, long since. But I had Holly and Mochi. And Holly particularly is a long, was a long hair gray cat. She has also since passed. But she had, so a breed called the Nebelung, which is basically like a long hair, Russian blue. So beautiful gray fur, but every time I brush her just gets so much fur from her. And, and so I thought there's gotta be something I can do with this. And so I looked it up and sure enough, people do. Spinning where they'll take the fur and spin it into yarn like, well, hey, I know how to crochet. What if I made this little cat from her for? And so I did that with both of my kitties so that we could travel with a literal piece of them and they ended up going to be like, little travel gnomes while we were going around the world and taking pictures of them in front of the Roman Coliseum and all across Patagonia and Europe and North America and all of these different places. And, and it was a way for me to kind of have a piece with me wherever I went and not quite have to say goodbye to them, you know, and even now that we've lost Holly It's still this memento that I have of her this memorial that I have her that I will always have. And so I very much cherish that. And so at the beginning of last year like, what is that 4 years after I had made the original kitties, I was feeling burnt out. You're very well familiar with the concept of burnout. I think a lot of people are, and it's like, I need something different. I need something to just kick back, relax a little bit and not be so driven with the business side of everything and trying to make this thing work. Thing work when I wasn't feeling fully in alignment with that pursuit while I loved travel and I could, I can talk about it every day, all day, but it wasn't like the passion that I wanted to pursue. And so I took a step back from that business and I was like, you know what? I remember this project. I thought it was a lot of fun. What if I crocheted some more kitties? And what if I made a kitty that looks like a Pikachu? And what if I made a kitty that And it's a little butterfly or what if I make a kitty that looks like Princess Leia, you know, and so all of these ideas just started sparking in my head and like, Ooh, this is kind of fun. And then I took it a step further and I started sharing them online and people were so fascinated by them. Oh, my goodness. This is so adorable. Where can I get one? Do you have an Etsy store? You know, and so it just blew up naturally. So I was like, wow, okay, there's something here. And I'm really enjoying doing this. I mean, I'm a very practical kind of person. I'm I was in tech actually in automation. I am a software engineer. And so it's like, well, clearly that's the more practical course to take. And I should be making a career on the computer side of things because I'm good at that. And a lot of people struggle with that and I should be pursuing that, but. And then I get into this artsy thing and Hey, I'm really enjoying this and I'm just doing this little crochet thing and people are loving it and they want to pay me for it. So I went down the typical path of, well now I've made all of these things, set up the online store, start selling online, you know, all of that thing with Etsy and whatnot. And then someone suggested you should go to a market and start selling them in person. And it's like, well, yeah, this is, this is fun, but it takes a lot of effort and it's a lot of energy, especially for someone like me, who is an introvert. And so it's like, are like, super draining. For into really are off. Yeah, because you got to drive there and you've got to love all the stuff, you got to have all of the equipment and you got to set up and you got to talk to people and be on your A game like for eight hours straight, but then you got to have the energy to tear it all down and then you got to pack it all in and crash and do it again the next week, you know, it's absolutely wild. So when you did that, you did all that. I'm still kind of already. I'm still doing it. Mostly, mostly because that is like the revenue generating side. It's easy. You show up and you can make 500 a day. So I think a lot of people get that. And it's a great thing. It's quick, but it's not sustainable because it does draw a lot of energy. Well, it's funny because before I press the record button, we had like this really quick talk about how. I personally see so many crocheters that have an online crochet business or in person, they only do markets. They try to sell their ready made items and I, I see so many on the verge of burnout, like how, like crocheting all day, every day, like eight or 10 hours a day just to get their orders fulfilled. And I'm like, is that Really bringing you joy? Exactly. Is this sustainable? And then it drains you from the reason that you started it in the first place. And I did not want that. It's like, I want to enjoy my business. I want to continue to enjoy the crocheting and I don't want to hold into all of these orders and people who are wanting these things and like, okay, now I'm making my art for someone else. I want to, I started making it for me and I want to keep making it for me. Yeah, that's so important. So you did markets and then you, you were like, yeah, so I, so the markets are very draining. I'm still doing them, but I'm trying to get to a point where I can cut back on those. And the number one way that I am doing that is I started a kit membership. So I found that so many people were coming by my booth and I don't think they mean it maliciously or anything, but they're like, Oh, I can make that. Yeah. Or, oh, I would love to learn how to crochet this or whatever else. And so instead of getting angry and saying, no, you can't steal my craft to that. And it's like, well, if you really want to learn, I can show you how and I believe that there's enough. Of the pie for us to all share. In fact, we're in a freaking bakery. We could just bake our own pies, you know, and there's no no reason that we can't share in this. And why not spread kitties all over the world. Come make these kitties, you know, and not everybody who is drawn to wanting to make them necessarily wants to then sell them. I think that's a much narrower market anyway. Yeah. And so I started offering kits for these different geeky kitties of, it's like, oh, okay, well, you want to make a cute little kitty alien that looks like comes from outer space. Then here is the pattern here is here are some video tutorials. I will walk you through it and we'll crochet together. And the beauty with that is I can do it all online. Yeah, and I can have this worldwide audience and I can reach people all around the world, which is just mind boggling to me. And so, yeah, I, I offer physical kits, but I also have a digital version so that I can reach more people because. That was another thing when I'm thinking about scalability. I started doing the kits because everybody wanted like, Oh, well, a lot of your, your listeners have probably heard of the woobles, which are very popular here in the States, at least. And they are these ready made beginners kits specifically for people wanting to learn how to crochet. And they have this like super easy to use yarn and it comes with the magic circle already started for you. Yeah, because it's the first time I've heard of this so well, maybe they're more popular here in the States, then I'm sure a lot of your listeners have have heard of them and perhaps they've even done some, but I rarely set myself apart from that type. Because. My membership isn't so much about like learning how to crochet, even though you will learn how to crochet, but it's more about the creativity behind it. Because honestly, the, the pattern is exactly the same. It's exactly the same. However, it's a different design on top of them. So you make these small differences on top of the design and suddenly you've, you've got two completely different kitties, you know, and so Oh, it's a big kitty! Yes, I have way too much fun with them. And so I'm constantly coming up with new ideas of, well, how can I take this pattern? Yeah, and augment it and change it into something else and so it's this different kind of model and and a different purpose behind my business. It's more about, you know, the stress relief of doing the crochet. It's these projects that you learn the base patterns super quickly. And so it's not this frustration of, oh, I have to learn something new every single month. But it's, it's, oh, yeah, I remember that piece. What new thing are we going to augment it with this month? And so I started with the physical kits and I was mailing those out and I quickly realized once again, that is not scalable. Yes, I can add more people and I can have a warehouse and all of this other stuff. But ultimately it's not necessarily the direction that I want to go. And so I started offering a digital only version where basically people just have to source their own yarn. And the nice thing with that is with, with my kitties, they're all super basic materials. So it's just like, you know, Acrylic yarns of various colors. I don't even use safety eyes. They're just pony beads, which people can find anywhere. And you can actually have multiple colors and all of this other stuff. And so it's really easy to find everything. And so I had a, a member in like Nigeria of all places, and she could just go to her local store and buy all the yarn and whatever else, and still participate in the community and come to the crafty hours and crochet with us live and talk about cats and, It's a wonderful way to unite people all around the world on this concept of cats and being creative with crochet. So it's, it's wonderful. And I, I am loving this business. It's interesting that you say like, well, I'm not even using safety eyes. I'm using, what are, what are you calling them? Pony beads? It's so interesting because I think that especially a lot of beginning designers, they they really design from the point of view of what they can make and what they themselves can create. And they forget that Especially when you are a pattern designer that you design to sell patterns they forget the, the customer, the, the, the one that's going to make it as well and need to replicate it. And it's so powerful to make sure that you make it as easy as possible to replicate. And I did that. They don't have to bend over backwards to Get this crazy gauge requirements or very hard to source materials or whatever. Because it's all about fun, you know, and it's all about accessibility. And it's so smart to to think about scalability and think about how can I get my kids subscriptions. Or the digital subscriptions as far and wide as I can possibly get them. Mm hmm. Yeah. Well, and another thing is, it's so funny because, it's funny that you say that, because I didn't think ahead of of it like, oh, well, I want to use Ponybeads because that's easy for people to replicate. I, I love that you give me credit for that, but I'm afraid I'm not that, that clever. It was really that. I am not an expert crochet here. I just am not on pony beads were what I had on hand. So it was literally just happenstance that it worked out that way. It's like, you know what? I have this thing. I don't want to invest in the safety eyes thing. I had never heard of safety eyes. Didn't even know that that was a thing until people are coming to my booth and like, Oh, that's so interesting that you use pony beads instead of safety eyes. I'm like, Oh, no, that's just what I had. So I, yes, I was already my, my customer just before I started. I mean, that makes it really entry level. Yeah. So you say like you have this, I just want to dive deep into your subscription model, I'm just so intrigued. Because I personally don't know a lot of designers that really offer subscriptions. And so what I've, because I've read through your website, I wanted to know beforehand what you offer. And I see is that it's not only like this kit subscription in terms of you get a box of yarn. And a pattern and then you you sort yourself out. It's way more than that like you like you said before a while back you have these live crochet hours where you can crochet together so as someone who offers that like you yourself how do you find that Do you see that people see the value in that, that they appreciate that alive, crocheting together, coming together, the sense of community? Do you see that? Absolutely. And I would say even more so now in the wake of COVID, people want to feel connected. And I think a lot of people, I think COVID got us all used to having these meetings and social hours and whatever else via zoom or whatever technologies that you're using. People are a lot more accustomed to that now. And it's a way for folks to connect. And I think it's really cool that we are in this. Interesting time of really making these worldwide connections worldwide over video and we are talking to people. I mean, we, you and I are on completely different sides of the earth right now, and it's just mind boggling that that you and I can sit down. And have a conversation, see the, the interactions that we have, because we're on a video here, but I know your listeners are hearing via audio, but even just audio, we can, we can interact with each other around the world. Technology is just phenomenal. And so people want that connection and they don't want to be left alone. It's so easy that you can, you can go to the store and probably find patterns and figure it out for yourself. But folks want more than that. And so I really wanted to build a community around this because there are 42 million cat. Lovers in just the United States alone, and it's scale that up worldwide. There are people who just, they love cats and they want to talk about cats and they want to talk about their cats and they want to share the crazy things that their cats do every single day, or they want to share pictures or they want to share their new little creations if they're crocheting and whatever else. And so people want to come together and just chit chat about those things. And it's a wonderful opportunity for, for folks to. Not only talk about their cats, but also get assistance with whatever they're working on. And I think that that isn't offered terribly much because that generally isn't scalable. And so if you have a pattern. That you send out, you have to put it through the testing phase and make sure that it's super everyone can understand it and it's not confusing or anything like that. Because you know, that once you hand the pattern over to a user, that's it. And they have only that pattern. And maybe if you're lucky, you'll have a video tutorial or so that is all that you get as a consumer to make this item. That looks like the picture. And if you struggle with anything, or if there's anything that the pattern designer didn't have didn't think about ahead of time, like, oh, for example, I had no idea that the magic circle was so difficult. I had no idea because for whatever reason, it just came super easy to me. I watched a tutorial on YouTube. I'm like, Oh yeah, I got this. Wonderful. Moving on. But I, I did a live in person class and I started with the magic circle. I'm like, okay, everybody just make a magic circle. Like, wait, what? How do I do that? Huh? And I spent almost the entire class just telling, teaching them how to make the circle and they had so much trouble and I had no idea until you have those experiences and it's like, Oh, okay. And so when you can have that life component as well of like, look, this is a fantastic pattern I know it's easy for you, but I'm really struggling with this piece, can you walk me through it. Yeah. That assistance as well. And they have that opportunity to ask those questions. Not only of me, but also of their peers in the group, making the exact same pattern as they are. Yeah, it's so valuable. I feel because I write my patterns. I design, I'm a crochet designer and the majority of patterns I design are like intermediate or advanced. Like but I always write the pattern with a beginner in mind. Mm-Hmm. So my testers, they have to understand the pattern without tutorial photos. Mm-Hmm. And without diagrams. Because as a crocheted center, the last thing you want to do is frustrate a crochet Oh yeah. You really want to get them the confidence, like you've got this, you can make this and you will feel great doing it. And I feel it's so valuable to to not only offer great patterns offer a wonderful crochet experience but also teach other crocheters something new like a magic circle or like a specific finishing off technique or whatever. It's so fun to do that. And it's so valuable. I have my own Facebook group as well, like a community of just fans, crocheters who like to make my patterns. And it's so valuable as a crochet designer to offer that to your customer and offer that support. And I agree with you that some designers. They're like ghosting you If you if you email them I mean, I still make patterns from other designers and sometimes i'm like, well, I think there's an error or Something that's not working out, I send them an email with a question and it's like crickets. Well, to be fair, we already talked about a lot of those designers are on the verge of burnout because they're going to markets and because they're spending all their time actually making these products. So I don't blame them. And it's quite likely that they're just busy. Yeah, I mean, a lot of them, they do it part time, you know, they have like a day job, or they have a family to take care of. And they do it as a jobby, as I like to call it, like a hobby they make money with. But I do feel that if you are asking money for your work, then it's fair to give them that support. That's 1 of the reasons that I've really tried to keep the idea of scalability in mind for my business, because I want to be able to offer that support. And if I am burning myself out, just making kitties or even. Even the fact that I offer the support allows me a little more leeway with the patterns themselves, because they know that they'll have that support if something isn't perfectly clear in my patterns. It's also the fact that because they're all the exact same base pattern, it's like, okay, here's what we're changing this month, as opposed to starting from scratch and like, okay, here are all the fundamentals of how to build this up. Yeah, that's so fun. So fun. So because. One of the questions I was going to ask is I did a interview a while back with another crochet designer and she really likes to keep it simple and she loves granny stitch and she's all for granny stitch and she also teaches other crocheters just how to crochet. And so what she makes is perfect for beginners. And I see so many new crochet designers make a mistake of making it so complicated. Like I want to, if I want to ask money for my pattern, it better be worth it. And we get in our heads like, Oh, then I have to add this and I have to add that. And do you have any advice for those who feel that way? Because you show them I'm only offering one pattern. And I get to make money with it. So do you have any advice for those people? So first off, I will say people love simple. They want easy. Simple. I mean, look at CliffsNotes, these little books that will literally summarize any major literature out there. People want less. They actually do a little bit more or less. And so they want simple, they want guided, they don't want. It's the same thing with recipe books. You want the five minute, super simple, five ingredient kind of recipes. You don't want this monstrous thing that you have to spend all this time with. So don't feel obligated to give them more, more, more, more, more. In fact, I highly recommend start with as basic as you can, as basic as you can, and then ask yourself the questions. What is it that that this is lacking necessarily. You start with, with the core, the absolute musts, and then you get that feedback from people of, well, gee, I really wish this had this. I really wish this had this. And then you can go in and add that because people, when you start with less and you add something, Hey, it's bonus. But if you start with too much and like, Oh gee, now I have to really simplify because this is. Driving me crazy. You start taking things away. Then your customers are like, Oh, well, I'm, it used to have so much more and now it has less. So it's always better to start as simple as possible. And then you can always iterate up from there. You can add more to it, more complexity as you get that response and like, Oh, well, you know, I really wish there was a video tutorial on how to do a magic circle. Okay. I can add that, and hey, guess what? I've had a lot of requests for this, and now bonus, because you bought my pattern here, here's a free gift. Yeah. People love that. Yeah. So I always say start small and, and grow from there. I totally agree. I, I love this advice, and anyone listening that, that struggles with this, because I did a, a lot of Q& A last year when I started Christina Crochet Coach, and I got a lot of questions like how do you even differentiate between free and paid patterns? How do you, why do you draw the line, you know? And they make it so complicated in terms of how their design should look and what should be free and what should be paid. And we can get into our heads about this really quickly. And I think it also comes down to feeling comfortable. Because when we add and we add and we add, we finally feel comfortable asking money for it. And it feels so uncomfortable to put out a quote unquote simple pattern and then ask money for it. And then, oh, you can just feel it in your body almost like, oh, this doesn't feel right. But you know, like you say, it's, it's golden advice. It's just start simple. And see what it's lacking and go from there and not the other way around and not add things Just for the sake of adding things because you feel uncomfortable asking money for it Exactly. Yeah. So I also, because I, I looked at your website and I also saw Memorial Kitties. Can we dive into that? So basically I have three major pillars of my, my business. I have the ready made. That I sell at markets and online, I have the membership and that is what I'm growing for sustainability. But my passion project is the memorial kitties. And what this is, is basically exactly what I did for my own kitties, this spinning them from their real fur and. Making these little kitties that look just like your kitty only made from her real fur. So what I do with that is I instruct people to brush your cat's fur. All you gotta do is brush them. No kitties are harmed in the process. But especially for folks who have an aging kitty, if they have a senior kitty, it's a really good opportunity. Just brush, brush your kitty's fur and collect it. And then once you have at least an ounce, which you can weigh on a kitchen scale, which equates to about a quart sized Ziploc bag stuffed with fur. Once you have enough fur, you send it to me. And then I have it spun. I personally don't do the spinning because my expertise. It's with the crocheting, not the spinning, but I partner with another local business who loves spinning. I'll have it spun into yarn. And then I get that back from them and I crochet this little lookalike of your kitty and I try to match the patterns as best as possible. I know some kitties with multiple colors, if you've got like a tortoise shell, it's just when you brush it, it's all going to end up in one big mess. Whatever and I'll add accents with yarn and whatever, but I do my best to match the look of your kitty once again, within this, this pattern that I have a kitty. So you have an idea of what it'll look like, and then I send them lovingly to you. And then they are this wonderful memorial of your kitty for whenever she does pass hopefully no time soon. And I do ash memorials as well for those who don't have the fur because I know a lot of people don't and I can incorporate the whiskers because I know a lot of crazy cat people they'll collect the kitty's whiskers as I do. And so it's just this wonderful way to remember your kitty. And it's a little less creepy than taxidermy, perhaps. But I'm really passionate about that because it's something that I've done for my own kitties and I did the, the original ones long after Zoe passed. But I, I do want to go back and make a memorial of her. I don't have the fur unfortunately, but I do have her ashes. And so I am going to make a memorial kitty of, of my Zoe so that I can share her with people and say, yes, this is what my shop is named after. Yeah. Yeah. Oh, that's so awesome. I also feel like It's so important to have multiple pillars. If you really want to get serious about having a crochet business, however that looks like to you, have multiple income streams. Because it has to be sustainable. I mean, there are so many, like, ads, and whatever out there like, Oh, just turn your passion into your business, you know, but it's the fastest way to drain all of the joy out of your passion to really focus on one pillar, whether that's crochet design or ready made items or subscriptions or whatever you need to make it sustainable. And that gives me enough variety across those pillars because I have the ready items that I can go to markets whenever I want and get that quick cash infusion. But I also have the membership, which is that steady income coming in every single month. It's predictable and I'm continuously growing it. That's the scalable side of things. But then I've got this passion project of the memorials and I do that for the heart. And. for what it means for, for folks to have that piece of their beloved kitty. Yeah. So important. I mean, if you want to make your passion into your business, then there really is key here for doing business on long term. And so before the interview, we spoke about that you also have a bigger mission aside from making money and sharing your love of cats. So let's talk about that. What is this mission and why it is important to you? So as you are already aware, I am quite obsessed with cats. I love cats and I want to see cats happy. Basically, and it breaks my heart knowing that nearly half nearly 50 percent of all cats who enter the shelter system here in the United States are ultimately euthanized that breaks my heart. Breaks my heart. I don't know what the stats are worldwide, but that's what it's like here in the States, at least. And even shelters that claim to be no kill shelters will often relocate cats from their shelter to a kill shelter. So they can still say that they are a non kill. But cat overpopulation is a real problem and seeing these kitties Left on on the streets and they're starving or they're cold and they're not cared for or they're. Attacked by wildlife or or what have you or hit by cars, you know or they go to a shelter and then they have way too many and they can't find homes and they're ultimately put down. And so I. Really want to see every cat in the world, happy and healthy and loved be it in a community or in a group, what do they call them? Colonies in a cat colony in, in some warm beach in, in Eastern Europe or something like that, or in a loving home in the United States or anywhere around the world. And so my mission is to see every cat happy. And I know that's a grand mission. So from day one, I have been setting aside 10 percent of all of my business proceeds from every single pillar of my business goes directly to my local cat shelter. It is the cat shelter that we, from which we adopted our mochi cute little tuxedo kitty and they are doing fantastic work. They have a trap neuter release program here locally in the city where I live, they Have all of these programs on helping people keep their cats. So there are a number of reasons that people will surrender their animals. And 1 of the number 1 reasons is financial hardship. So if they're diagnosed with cancer, for example, and they suddenly have all of these medical bills that they just can't afford, they can. Unfortunately, the pet tends to be the extraneous financial thing. They love their pet and they don't want to give them up. And so this cat shelter is called cat adoption team here in Portland, Oregon. They have a fund to set aside to help you bridge that gap financially and to help keep your, your cat in your home. They also have a program for if you have adopted a kitty and for whatever reason, they're not acclimating well to your new home. If there's another pet in the household that they're not getting along with, or if they're marking inappropriately or any of those kinds of things, then they will guide you through that and help coach you, to make sure that they can stay in, in your home. So that surrendering. your pet is the absolute last resort. And they just have a number of programs. They have a foster program, you know, and all of these things, they're doing fantastic work. And I know a lot of business owners think, well, someday I would love to open my own nonprofit and do this thing and that and whatever else. And me, I have no aspirations whatsoever to open my own nonprofit only because that sounds like a lot of work. And that's not where my passion is. So I would much rather support someone who is already doing very good work, who already has a system in place and who, and can put those funds to, to the best use possible. And so my business very proudly supports my local cat shelter and in caring for that. And I think through that it, it feeds that, that higher mission that I have for my business. That's awesome. And it breaks my heart to hear that there are so many cats killed in the U. S. Well, we have two cats also from a local shelter, and it's very important work that they do. It's so. It's awesome to give back what you receive. I mean, I did, do you remember in 2020, like crazy year, but in Australia there, there were these wildfires, like half of Australia was on fire and my heart just broke. And I was like, what can I do? And I raffled off almost all of my samples. Because I get bored really easily. So when I made something once that I'm done with it, but I was like, I can raffle off the samples to the highest bidder. They just donate the money. They sent me the shipping costs and then I can indirectly support that cause. And I just feel so great. That you have something bigger than you you know Well, in all honesty, it, it tides you over those difficulties. Because, in all honesty, Don't enter entrepreneurship lightly. It may seem really easy to turn your passion into a business, but it is a lot of work. And there will be those days where you're struggling and those days that you get a negative review or these days when you have an unhappy customer and you feel really down about yourself, because this is your passion. This is something you truly love. It's very close to your heart. And when you're putting it. Out there for everyone to see any of those criticisms, they're going to hurt. They're going to hit you because this is a piece of your soul that you are bearing for the world. You need something bigger than you to say, this is why I do it. It's not just for the money, because if it's just for the money, then go get a job, you know, and who cares, you know, but if you're truly passionate about what you're doing, having this bigger mission and this bigger goal is like, I can't stop. I can't stop doing this because it's not about the money. It's about. Getting the word out there. It's about fulfilling this bigger mission that I have. It's about seeing every cat happy in a home. It's about getting them off the streets or trap new to release and making sure that no, none of them are dying in a gutter or being killed in shelters or whatever, you know, and it's, it's that bigger mission and it, it, it keeps you going through the tough times. Awesome. Awesome that you do that. So my last question is I went through the subscription page for the kits. And I noticed that you target specifically a type people, a type crocheters. Let's talk about that. Sure. Absolutely. So I'm sure a lot of your listeners are already aware of the mental health benefits behind these kinds of crafts. So anything that is repetitive, anything that is, is very meditative, it, it, it's a great stress relief and it calms you down. It's something you can do while you're watching Netflix or just chilling on the couch or whatever. It's great. And so I know that a lot of people are stressed and that they need kind of that outlet. And so I am a type A person myself and my, my personality, my brain is just constantly firing, constantly going back and forth. Yeah, so for the people listening that don't know what type A is, can, can we do a brief explanation? Yes. Absolutely. So type a basically means your brain is constantly firing. You can't stop thinking. You can't stop puzzling. You can't stop figuring things out. Type a's are, are the folks who are always go, go, go, go, go. They have to be working on something. They can't sit still. And for the type a kind of kind of personality is you tend toward ADHD. I, I also Help help those with ADHD and other neurodivergent type issues, because they're all very interrelated. And when you are type a, it's difficult for you to relax. It's difficult for you to fall asleep at night. It's difficult for you to get a restful night's sleep. And you're, you're constantly. Packing in the caffeine, whatever else, because you didn't sleep well. And then you, you can't get to bed the next night because your brain is still going. And it's like, well, what was this? And you worry about things and you're, you're trying to coming up with all these ideas. And it's just basically, you can't turn your brain off. And so. Traditional methods of stress relief, they always say, Oh, well, you should meditate because meditation is really nice. It helps calm them down, whatever else. But honestly, as a type a, that kind of stresses me out even worse because then I'm sitting there in the silence and my brain is still going. And it's like, and you think you're doing it wrong. And I was trying to start over again. It's like, is this, I was supposed to feel and so it's, More stress inducing, I think sometimes with the meditation and so with something like crocheting or knitting or any of these other fiber arts or many crafts in general, when you are just counting stitches, counting stitches. Yeah, counting stitches. It's such a mundane task that is just barely enough of a distraction for your brain that it can't go wandering off on on these things because you got to keep count, you know, but it's not so much mental energy. That it drains you that it stresses you that anything like that. And so it actually releases dopamine and it's like, oh, this is this is wonderful. And you start relaxing and it's something that you can multitask and I honestly will be crocheting constantly when I'm on meetings and everything else, as long as I'm like. Not speaking because I got to keep that count, but anything listening is, is really good for that because it allows me to focus better, actually, because I'm distracting myself just barely enough that my brain is much more present. And so I, I really want to help other people who suffer the same things, be it. Type A, ADHD and, and other neurodivergent kind of tendencies. I know autism can have some of that as well. And so it's, I want to help those, those folks. So there is that side of, of, I want to help the people as well as the cats, for sure. Oh, awesome. So if people are like, well, I need me a QA subscription or they want a memorial, okay, or they just want to look you up. Where can I find you? Absolutely. So I'm on the socials under Kitten Kal, but I don't expect anyone to know how to spell that. No, I'll just, yes, but I make it super, super easy for you. Everything is linked from my website, which is just kitty minis.com. Okay. Kitty minis.com Yes. Okay. I'll just link that in. Show notes. Perfect. Thanks. Anything we haven't discussed that you still would like to add or I just want to mention that you really don't have to make your business complicated to make it successful. I am proof that you can literally have just one pattern and have A very successful, very, very profitable business and something that fulfills you. And so don't feel like you have to be constantly adding different things to your business and complicating it more because you are afraid to ask money for it or any of those kinds of things. You can have a very simple basic business that is fun, that fulfills you, that services your mission and helps people in, in the process. Awesome, awesome ending notes. Thank you. Thank you very much, Brianna, for being here with me on this interview for a time. I hope the listeners got very inspired by your story because I always feel like what's possible for you or for me can be possible for anyone else. I certainly felt that this was really inspiring. So Well, thank you so much for having me. It's been an absolute delight.

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So dad wants to interview with Brianna and I really hope you're funded to be S aspiring S I did. Pick us I learned so much. And it's so inspiring to know that you can create your business into anything you want it to be. And. It doesn't have to be hard. It can be totally simple and you can totally make a lot of money with it. So. I want to end it on that note. And I want to thank you for being here with us today. Have a wonderful day. Talk to you next time on the mind of the crochet signer podcast. Bye bye.