January 2025: Handmade Business Fundamentals

Today we’re kicking off our new Themed months!

Our January theme is Handmade Business Fundamentals.

We have 2 live coaching calls, 1 course to complete, and the outcome for the month is for you to have a solid top-level vision and plan for your business.

We’ll do more in-depth planning in February, once the holiday season is well and truly over, and we’re all into the proper swing of things.

How this works

The idea is for you to work through this month’s course at your own pace.

I will create a group CHAT in the Circle Facebook Group for this month’s theme that you can use to talk, ask questions, share insights, etc. (Join chat here: https://m.me/ch/AbbcO8r7Ti6A3C7W/)

I’ll also share prompts in the group throughout the month to get you thinking.

Our 2 coaching calls will be an opportunity to work with me and other Circle members on this month’s theme.

This course is available for you to start right now under the NEW courses section of the website!

This course consists of a few pre-existing workshops – so you may find you’ve done them previously, but I encourage you to take them again, complete the associated quizzes, and re-invigorate your biz for the new year (you’ll get a cute certificate of completion to download at the end of the course, too!).

Let’s get started!
Jess x

2025 – Here’s What’s New in the Circle!

Hey Circle – welcome to the new-look website for 2025!

I wanted to give you a heads-up on what’s changed before we dive into another year of learning.

I’ve also recorded a video of the changes, which you can watch at the end of this post!

 

Redesign

You’ve probably noticed that the site has fresh new branding – I hope you like the new look!

My goal was to bring it more into line with my broader Create & Thrive branding, while also giving the Circle it’s own feel.

This branding includes a new logo, colours, workshop covers and icons, our course colours, etc.

You will notice that all the workshops still have the old branding – as recording 56 new videos was a bit beyond my capabilities in one month!

 

Courses

You now have access to a NEW courses section on the site!

Right now, you’ll find 2 courses available: Handmade Business Fundamentals & Your Year to Thrive.

Yes! If you want to re-take YYTT, it’s now right here on the site.

Handmade Business Fundamentals and most future courses (there are many more coming) are available on-demand – you can do them in your own time.

However, YYTT is still a year-long course, and from the date you complete your first lesson, you’ll get access to a new lesson weekly.

I have plans to release a new course every month in 2025, and probably more beyond that!

Most courses will include the currently available workshops – but they will be arranged around a theme (such as Pricing, or Marketing) and they will have added Quizzes to reinforce your learning, and a Certificate of Completion that you can download when you’re done!

I hope that this will make the content in the Circle more accessible, useful, and motivating to complete!

(You can access the courses from your Account page, or from the Resource Library – and start them whenever you’re ready!)

Themes

Alongside our new courses, I will be giving each month a ‘Theme’.

For 2025, each theme will have a corresponding course to complete.

I’ll also be sharing regular info in the Facebook Group throughout the month to educate and motivate you related to that month’s theme!

We’ll also have live coaching calls where we’ll dive into what we’re studying.

 

Live Calls

There will now be 2 live coaching calls each month.

This will be your chance to:

1. Apply for a Business Intensive or Critique

2. Hop on and work on theme-related topics

3. Ask me general business questions

We don’t have any other regularly scheduled live events lined up at this stage, but that is subject to change!

 

Account Page & Cancellation Process

I have switched the site over to new membership software, which has enabled me to update some areas of the site (such as offering the courses).

This also means you will now see and ‘Account’ page when you log in.

On this page, you will see links to manage your ‘Payments’ and ‘Subscriptions’. HOWEVER!

Because I wanted to let you all continue to pay the old membership price, these links won’t be active to you (unless you leave and come back in future, signing up through the new software). Unfortunately, there was no way around this.

Therefore, in order to cancel, you have to do so using another method.

You have 2 options (which are outlined on this page, but I’ll pop them below for your reference, too).

1. You can simply email me and I will process your cancellation for you.

2. You can cancel your subscription via Paypal following the steps below, and I will then manually remove your access to the Thriver Circle membership.

Here’s how to find your automatic payments on the PayPal website:

  1. Go to Settings.
  2. Click Payments.
  3. Select Automatic payments.
  4. Select your payment for the Thriver Circle.

I was really hoping you’d all be able to access the new Account features, but there was no way to make it work without forcing you to cancel and re-subscribe. And, as I’m moving the pricing going forward into USD, this would have meant you couldn’t keep the price you’re currently paying, which was not acceptable to me.

 

Apply for a Member Spotlight

I will be sharing 1-2 Thriver Circle members each month as part of a NEW Member Spotlight feature!

This will be shared inside the Circle – but also publicly on my Create & Thrive social channels.

In order to be considered for a feature, you can apply here

 

New Denied Access Message

If you happen to visit the site or be directed to a piece of members-only content from the Facebook group or emails when you are not logged in, you’re going to see a new message pop up directly on that peice of content!

It will encourage you to sign in, and there will be a log-in form DIRECTLY on that page, so you don’t have to click away to log in before coming back to the content – hurrah! You just log in right there and the content will pop up.

 

Relaunch & Giveaway!

I still have a bunch of work to do in order to get the site ready for fresh new members later this month, but as far as I know, everything should be functional for you now!

If you come across any bugs, PLEASE let me know – either by email, or in the Facebook group – so I can fix it up.

Now, I will be re-launching later this month, and as part of that, I’m running a HUGE 10-day, 10th anniversary giveaway!

All giveaways will be open to YOU – so you could win free months of membership, 1-1 sessions with me, free access to Set Up Shop or Wholesale Know-How – and more!

I will be giving you plenty of notice, but FYI, I’ll be running these daily giveaways in the NEW free Create & Thrive Facebook group that I announced late last year.

I won’t be very active in this group outside of this giveaway extravaganza (because I dedicate my time to YOU, my lovely Circle!) but it will be a lovely place where you can connect with the wider Create & Thrive community!

You can join the group here.

Whew, that was an epic update! I hope I remembered to tell you all the important changes, but let me know if anything is still unclear.

I’m really excited to dive into another year with you in this fresh space – here’s to our best year yet!

Jess x

Come join the NEW Create & Thrive Community space!

Hey Circle!

As one of the changes I’m making this coming year, I have decided to open up a free Create & Thrive Facebook Group.

 

Why?

I wanted to create a place where people in the wider Create & Thrive community can connect with each other, and where I can also let non-TC members know about things coming up in the Circle.

Back in the day, this used to happen in my blog comments, but that hasn’t been a thing for a long while now (because most people hang out on social media, instead!).

I’ll also be sharing my weekly public videos/podcasts in there for discussion, as well as 1-2 other discussion prompts per week (I’ll probably share stuff I also post in other places, like Threads or Instagram – so if FB is your happy place this will work well for you).

One of the main motivations for this is also that Facebook STRONGLY favours showing Groups over Pages on people’s feeds these days – so my business will have more reach by having a Group rather than just a Page where I share my free educational content.

 

How will this differ from the Thriver Circle group?

  • The Thriver Circle group will remain paid members-only.
  • This is where I will be sharing info around our new monthly themes and courses – such as weekly prompts, updates and check-ins. 
  • It’s where you can continue to discuss Thriver Circle members-only content, like the YYTT course and Workshops, and ask me questions about those.
  • I’m also going to be starting a new member feature series in 2025!
  • This is where I encourage you to ask those trickier and more private business questions.
  • This is where I will ALWAYS reply if you have a question (I won’t be very active answering questions in the free group – it’s more for peer support).

I strongly encourage you to join the new public group as an addendum to the Circle – especially if you’d like to keep up with my free public content and would like to interact with the wider C&T community.

Also – I’ll be running a big 10-day celebration to re-launch the Thriver Circle in late January – and as part of that, I’ll be doing a giveaway every day in the free Create & Thrive Group! So make sure you’re in the group so you can enter those giveaways (which will be for things like free months of TC membership, course giveaways, 1-1 sessions with me, gift cards, etc!)

Please rest assured that the Thriver Circle forum will remain my main focus, and that’s definitely where you should turn any time you want or need my personal input or support – remember, you can always reach out to me there for my feedback!

Jess x

Workshop: How to Run a Subscription Business Model for Physical Products

Have you ever considered selling your products via subscription?

I have done just that.

Many years ago, I ran an Earring-of-the-Month Club, which was quite successful.

Customers could sign up for a monthly subscription, or they could buy 3, 6, or 12 month subscriptions (which made great gifts!).

In this workshop, I’ll tell the story of why I started the club, how I ran it, and why I eventually wound it up.

I also outline some reasons why you might like to consider offering some form of subscription for your own products, and how to go about doing so!

Workshop Slides

 

Published October 2024.

Upcoming Workshop: How to Run a Subscription Business Model as a Maker

Have you ever considered selling your products via subscription?

I have done just that.

Many years ago, I ran an Earring-of-the-Month Club, which was quite successful.

Customers could sign up for a monthly subscription, or they could buy 3, 6, or 12 month subscriptions (which made great gifts!).

In this workshop, I’ll tell the story of why I started the club, how I ran it, and why I eventually wound it up.

I also outline some reasons why you might like to consider offering some form of subscription for your own products, and how to go about doing so!

 

Live Online Workshop for members of the Thriver Circle

Thursday the 31st of October at 10:30am Brisbane, Australia time (AEST).

Not a member? Join the Circle here to participate in this workshop.

Find out all the other benefits of membership here.

If you haven’t already seen, I’ve made it super-easy to see ALL of the workshops that are available inside the Thriver Circle, you can check them out right here.

If you’re finding this after the workshop has completed, you can still access the recording – right now! – by becoming a member of the Circle!

Hope to see you there!

Jess