Explore every episode of the podcast Pull The Thread
| Title | Pub. Date | Duration | |
|---|---|---|---|
| How Owning A Sewing Business Changed My Life | 27 Feb 2025 | 00:34:27 | |
5% of employees in the US are millionaires.. and 88% of millionaires are business owners. Success leaves clues, wouldn't you say? This summer, my primary business, Music City Sewing, will turn eight. Eight years of running a small service-based sewing business that on the surface looks super shiny & glittery, peppered with Getty images and exciting opportunities, but when it comes down to it, it’s a blue collar business. It’s alterations, it’s softgoods and merch… it’s just your typical business on Main Street. But it's changed my life, in a way that I could only pray more people get to experience if they have an idea that's bursting at the seams. Interested in reading up about the Six-Figure Sewing Pattern? Head to sixfiguresewing.com. Interested in learning from Krystal? Hop on the mailing list on krystaldouglas.com. | |||
| 5 Ways Sewing Businesses Waste Money | 24 Feb 2025 | 00:27:35 | |
Money is the scoreboard for the impact you get to have in the world as a business owner. You know what a red flag looks like in dating, but can you spot the ones that go up in MOST small sewing businesses? I'm bringing you five red flags, five ways sewing businesses waste money. I'm speaking to myself this week, as someone who's made every mistake in the book! Tune in! Get 50% off your first year using my favorite email marketing platform, flodesk by heading to krystaldouglas.com/flodesk. Interested in learning from Krystal? Hop on the mailing list on krystaldouglas.com. | |||
| How Consistently Running Sales Can Bankrupt A Brand (And What You Can Do To Fix It) | 06 Feb 2025 | 00:30:45 | |
Broke and anxious?? Eeeesh.. How exactly do you plan to make more money at your craft by charging less? I don't believe in regularly running sales on products or services you don't plan to sunset - for these eight reasons. And because it's not enough to tell you why running sales all the time is bankrupting your brand, I also give you five ways to incentivize sales instead of simply slashing prices. Let's go! Artful Agenda promo code: RK405225 Interested in learning from Krystal? Hop on the mailing list on krystaldouglas.com. | |||
| How Fashion Designers Can Tackle America's Health Problem | 31 Jan 2025 | 00:58:54 | |
Have you ever wondered exactly what's in the clothes you make to sell, or how you could potentially clean up the amount of synthetic dyes and chemicals your customers may be buying? Interested in learning from Krystal? Hop on the mailing list on krystaldouglas.com. | |||
| 3 Ways We're Using AI In Our Sewing Business RIGHT NOW | 21 Jan 2025 | 00:35:44 | |
We’ve seen bad AI... in all formats, like blog & image creation, voice cloning, etc. But in order to use AI well, and benefit from its capabilities, you have to FIRST understand how it works, and how to clearly articulate what you want, and SECOND, you have to actual put in effort to creating the right prompt. Interested in learning from Krystal? Hop on the mailing list on krystaldouglas.com. | |||
| Housekeeping For Handmade Businesses - How To Kick Off The Year As An Organized Maker | 13 Jan 2025 | 00:48:47 | |
We don't rise to our goals, we fall to our systems. Interested in learning from Krystal? Hop on the mailing list on krystaldouglas.com. | |||
| Find Peace in Gaining Momentum (and a Recap of 2024) | 06 Jan 2025 | 00:52:54 | |
After just a quick year sabbatical, we're back with Season 2 of Pull The Thread Podcast. This is mostly a recap for the past year, as to why Krystal took a break from ALL content creation, as a digital business owner AND brick-and-mortar business owner, and how we're approaching reentry/planning for a profitable, peaceful year. Interested in learning from Krystal? Hop on the mailing list on krystaldouglas.com. | |||
| Self employed vs. Business Owner - Is there a difference? | 04 Nov 2023 | 00:33:35 | |
If you're hustling for new clients all day, and working as fast as your little fingers can fly all night, you've probably been walking the fine line between self-employed and business owner for a while now. Interested in learning from Krystal? Hop on the mailing list on krystaldouglas.com. | |||
| You only ever have two choices. Are you willing to do what it takes? | 17 Oct 2023 | 00:20:20 | |
Do you ever feel like people are lapping you? Like everyone else is moving forward, and your current status is... well... stationary?
Interested in learning from Krystal? Hop on the mailing list on krystaldouglas.com. | |||
| Starting a career in fashion? My assistant shares her insights | 05 Oct 2023 | 00:51:36 | |
September marks my assistant, Natalyn’s one-year anniversary of working at our brick-and-mortar sewing business. I finally dragged her behind the mic to share about the past year, all the hard work she’s put in, and things she’s learned along the way. Interested in learning from Krystal? Hop on the mailing list on krystaldouglas.com. | |||
| 9 Tools Making Me A Better CEO | 25 Sep 2023 | 00:38:04 | |
These nine (mostly free) tools have changed the game for me in terms of automating and delegating tasks. My goal as a business owner is to not waste any human brainpower whatsoever dong things computers can do more efficiently, and in return, keeping our valuable hands busy doing work that matters for people who care.
Interested in learning from Krystal? Hop on the mailing list on krystaldouglas.com. | |||
| If there were one secret, it would be this. | 07 Aug 2023 | 00:25:06 | |
Derek Thompson says that to sell something familiar, you have to make it surprising. To sell something surprising, you have to make it familiar. "It is in this interplay between familiarity and surprise where the strongest appeal lives. And isn’t that just it? Customers are either torn between their curiosity of new things, and also, a fear of anything too new. Interested in learning from Krystal? Hop on the mailing list on krystaldouglas.com. | |||
| 10 Steps To Better Margins In Your Business | 30 Jun 2023 | 00:43:20 | |
Did you know Steve Jobs was so upside down on starting Pixar that he was personally funding payroll for months on end before Toy Story was released? He couldn’t secure backing from anyone, but truly believed in the creative underbelly of what was going on inside of those ordinary offices that sat next to an oil refinery. Interested in learning from Krystal? Hop on the mailing list on krystaldouglas.com. | |||
| You’re Stealing From Yourself | 10 Jun 2023 | 00:36:26 | |
The largest art theft in history happened nearly 33 years ago, in Boston, March 18, 1990. Thieves stole 13 pieces of art valued at over $500 million, from Isabella Gardner Museum. One of the pieces stolen has been valued at $250 million… A reward of $10 million is still being offered for the return of this art. Interested in learning from Krystal? Hop on the mailing list on krystaldouglas.com. | |||
| Your Idea Could Change Your Life. Introducing Project Fashion Forward | 22 May 2023 | 00:36:20 | |
This episode highlights the pain points of well-intentioned aspiring fashion designers. Interested in learning from Krystal? Hop on the mailing list on krystaldouglas.com. | |||
| Fashion Line Launch Secrets From A Small Batch Manufacturer | 10 Mar 2023 | 00:32:26 | |
The most expensive dress in the world was valued at $30 million dollars, and was created by Faisal Abdullah in 2009 - an incredible designer that doesn't even have a website. That speaks volumes to me - First, that someone can do $30m without a website & second, the consistent reminder that making things is expensive. Interested in learning from Krystal? Hop on the mailing list on krystaldouglas.com. | |||
| Manufacturing Your Own Fashion Designs? Don’t Make These Mistakes | 02 Mar 2023 | 00:27:16 | |
The color chartreuse has a bit of a boozy background. It was named after a French liqueur called “chartreuse” which has a greenish-yellow hue. The liqueur was first produced in 1605 by the Carthusian monks of France. François Hannibal d’Estrées discovered a secret recipe that allegedly helped its consumers ‘live a long life.’ He brought the recipe to Monks near Paris, who ultimately sent it down to La Grande Chartreuse abbey. The recipe was eventually tested in 1737, and about 60 years later, was tweaked to create Green Chartreuse. This new and improved Chartreuse boasted a more mild flavor profile and is the recipe still used today. 75 years later, Frère Bruno Jacquet crafted another tweaked version of the recipe, which became the Yellow Chartreuse that we know and love today. It takes 130 botanicals macerating for eight hours in copper to create Green Chartreuse. The final product’s ABV? 55% - and it’s flavor lands herbal/slightly medicinal on the palate. On the contrary, Yellow Chartreuse is a bit lower in alcohol (40% ABV) and leans sweeter on the flavor profile. Green Chartreuse gets its color from chlorophyll, whereas Yellow Chartreuse gets its pigment from saffron. Both colors are naturally occurring, but the steps to this beverages outcome are nothing short of extraordinary. Having your own clothing manufactured is a lot like brewing, the perfect chartreuse liqueur. In my years of running both a fashion design incubator and small batch manufacturer, I’ve come to find three common themes among the issues new fashion designers experience. This episode reaches deep into those issues and provides two different examples of each three.
Interested in learning from Krystal? Hop on the mailing list on krystaldouglas.com. | |||
| Are You Ready to Start Your Own Clothing Line? | 01 Feb 2023 | 00:27:56 | |
Leonardo daVinci wasn't the best painter of his time - in fact, he was better known as an engineer. The only reason the famous Last Supper painting was painted - at Santa Maria della Grazie, was because daVinci had some time to kill. Interested in learning from Krystal? Hop on the mailing list on krystaldouglas.com. | |||
| At Risk? Craft A Website That Converts This Week | 13 Sep 2022 | 00:55:05 | |
My exact steps for algorithm-proofing your following. If you lost your social media accounts tomorrow, would you lose your only way to communicate with your audience? If your answer is yes - you do not have a business, you just have a following. It’s time to get those followers onto a platform you control. These are my exact steps for quickly building a website that I used to generate thousands of prospective customers every year. Free writing up for blog editing: Hemingway app.com Free SEO keyword finder: Moz.com/explorer Interested in learning from Krystal? Hop on the mailing list on krystaldouglas.com. | |||
| Not Earning What You Want With Your Craft? Break Your Ceiling With This Tool | 28 Aug 2022 | 00:29:35 | |
Have you wondered why you can’t seem to break a pay ceiling in your own business? Interested in learning from Krystal? Hop on the mailing list on krystaldouglas.com. | |||
| Making Less Than $30K From Your Craft? Steal My Strategy. | 16 Aug 2022 | 00:30:20 | |
everyone starts at zero sales... Bill Bowerman started out as a high school track coach, became a WW2 vet, and managed to find time to cofound the household name Nike. But what about if you're just starting out? What advice is sound for where you're at in the life cycle of the business? Interested in learning from Krystal? Hop on the mailing list on krystaldouglas.com. | |||
| Attract More Dream Clients With These 3 Tips | 09 Aug 2022 | 00:15:08 | |
In 1777, On America's first Fourth of July celebration, fireworks were only one color: orange. There were no elaborate sparkles, no red, white, and blue stars -- nothing more than a few glorified (although uplifting) explosions in the sky. Like many inventions, fireworks were created by accident… but this invention, came about during a search for immortality. Oftentimes, in business, entrepreneurs - creatives especially - feel the need to come with tons of flash. They could be the loudest. Or the brightest online. Or the most dramatic, like being the person jacking up their sales numbers and leading every call to action with astronomical results-focused numbers, like ‘millions sold!’ or ‘thousands of happy customers!’ Or ‘five-figure months!’. Ugh. It’s fatiguing. But if you wanna sell product… or book clients… you have to be that way. Right? Actually, I’m here to tell you, you really don’t. In fact, over time, you’ll do more in sales and bookings, by whispering to the few rather than screaming to the masses about your craft-based (or creative) work. Most people's fear, is that the moment they get quieter in their marketing, their sales will trickle off. But in my opinion, getting quieter can mean being way more strategic. Interested in learning from Krystal? Hop on the mailing list on krystaldouglas.com. | |||
| Burnouts, Boundaries, and Breakthroughs, with Jenna Kutcher | 21 Jun 2022 | 00:28:49 | |
Success is only success if it feels like success - so how do you know you're setting the right goal of what success looks like? Interested in learning from Krystal? Hop on the mailing list on krystaldouglas.com. | |||
| Why NFTs Will Shape Creative Businesses This Year | 31 Mar 2022 | 00:37:44 | |
By the late 1920s, Coco was just in her forties, and the Chanel industries were reportedly worth millions- employing more than 2,000 people, between the couture house, the perfume laboratory, a textile mill, and a jewelry workshop. Chanel’s designs stressed simplicity and comfort and as you know, revolutionized the fashion industry. Remember when people said Facebook is just a trend? And then it grew up to shape Web 2.0? And now you can login to just about any website or platform using your Facebook account? Change is coming. Web 3.0 is just around the corner.
Interested in learning from Krystal? Hop on the mailing list on krystaldouglas.com. | |||
| The Real Reason Your Creative Business Isn't Selling | 22 Mar 2022 | 00:15:24 | |
I talk to boutique designers and owners of small fashion labels on a regular basis. Conversations start to all look the same, and patterns in their branding behaviors begin to emerge. They all experience the same pain, and band together to form a well-tailored echo chamber, but fail to realize in doing so that it causes them to go blind to simple mistakes... branding->marketing mistakes they’re making. We dive into these mistakes so that you can avoid them, and fast track your success around them. Interested in learning from Krystal? Hop on the mailing list on krystaldouglas.com. | |||
| A Candid Conversation About Mindset & Scaling A Creative Business with Koos Klooster | 15 Mar 2022 | 01:15:41 | |
In July of 2020 I was interviewed by a dear friend, Koos Klooster on his podcast, Confused Confucius. This episode is an exciting one for me because most entrepreneurs never pull back the curtain on the psychology behind their businesses, and the emotions behind managing the methodologies. We cover: Interested in learning from Krystal? Hop on the mailing list on krystaldouglas.com. | |||
| Episode 9: The ONE Thing Designers Should Do Before Hiring Help | 26 Feb 2022 | 00:29:21 | |
Doing this one thing before ever hiring help will:
Interested in learning from Krystal? Hop on the mailing list on krystaldouglas.com. | |||
| Episode 8: How Diversifying Your Brand Can 10x Your Business | 19 Feb 2022 | 00:21:32 | |
What if Levi Strauss had decided it wasn’t a good idea to begin offering jeans as a product in his supplies store? What if he’d passed on the idea, simply because the blue jean wasn’t exactly in his business plan? When we think of our businesses, we sometimes get tunnel vision surrounding the products we’ve chosen to curate or the services we’ve planned to offer. For me, my business has morphed slightly over the years and monumentally over the past year because of the pandemic, but as the brand I want to create has become more fleshed out, one thing became clear: Expanding my brand's offers 10x’d my business. With four working divisions, on physical product and three digital ons, I've picked up three tricks that have become my own personal rules for whenever I choose to diversify further and launch something new. These tricks have become the cornerstone of my marketing strategy and helped me form a pattern for success. Interested in learning from Krystal? Hop on the mailing list on krystaldouglas.com. | |||
| Episode 7: Strategic Secrets Behind My Most Profitable Year Ever | 17 Aug 2021 | 00:21:34 | |
It doesn't matter how old you are, or how much money you have, or who you know when you first get started - what matters is your ability to tenaciously brand and market your craft-based business, and your ability to connect with your ideal audience. I open up on the four things I believe are at the heart of my most successful, profitable year in business ever. Interested in learning from Krystal? Hop on the mailing list on krystaldouglas.com. | |||
| Episode 6: How To Build Your Own Supply Chain | 03 Aug 2021 | 00:31:18 | |
Everything that could ever go wrong with getting your customers their product comes down to not building a scalable supply chain. What would it look like if by this time next week, you had total peace in your process, knowing that you had everything you needed to create the right amount of product to sell to your customers? This episode will help designers build their own supply chain - whether there’s a pandemic going on outside or not. Building and maintaining a supply chain is a delicate dance of ordering just enough product to get by, while knowing you may need to change up everything should you want to sell more product. Grab a pen and some paper, it's time to take notes! Interested in learning from Krystal? Hop on the mailing list on krystaldouglas.com. | |||
| Episode 5: Marketing Your Small Business Like A Chess Player | 22 Jun 2021 | 00:12:03 | |
Chess is the smartest game ever invented. With 64 squares and 32 pieces, there's 10,120 unique games that could possibly be played... which is more than the number of atoms in the known universe (1081). What if you could market your business as if it were just one unique game of chess? If you run a business or have a side hustle, then you probably feel overwhelmed at the simple thought of just how many different things you need to get done in order for customers to discover your brand and buy from you. But what if it were actually way simpler than ‘post and pray’? Interested in learning from Krystal? Hop on the mailing list on krystaldouglas.com. | |||
| Episode 4: Four Things I've Learned From Four Years In Business | 15 Jun 2021 | 00:23:27 | |
When I first started my sewing business, I thought my biggest struggle would be finding paid work.
While it feels like year 40, I now have a good handful of gray hairs, a few annoying regrets, enough perspective to sink a ship, and so much gratitude for the journey and love for the process. But four years in and I’m just now starting to figure a few things out. I've made this list of four things I’ve learned about launching and growing a sewing company in four years. Interested in learning from Krystal? Hop on the mailing list on krystaldouglas.com. | |||
| Episode 3: 5 Things I Wish I Did When I Started My Sewing Business | 17 Feb 2021 | 00:23:10 | |
Just a few years before sewing the first American flag, Betsy Ross ran away across the river to get married in a bar against the wishes of her entire family. She sat near George Washington in church and built a friendship with him that lead to her legacy-filled role as the first seamstress of the American flag. Interested in learning from Krystal? Hop on the mailing list on krystaldouglas.com. | |||
| Episode 1: Reverse Engineering Success | 17 Feb 2021 | 00:29:26 | |
As we move into 2021 (and away from 2020 as quickly as possible), it’s the perfect time to define what success looks like as a creative, and set your three most important goals for your life this year. In this podcast, I’ll be diving deep into topics surrounding entrepreneurship that matter to me, and answering questions like:
Interested in learning from Krystal? Hop on the mailing list on krystaldouglas.com. | |||
| Episode 2: Are You Good Enough? How Bra Makers Put a Man On The Moon | 17 Feb 2021 | 00:23:02 | |
If you’re an Astronaut, the process of getting dressed for work is labor intensive. You might have known the spacesuits Buzz Aldrin, Michael Collins, and Neil Armstrong were expensive… but I bet you didn’t know the seamstresses who made them came from Playtex. The success of those suits were a matter of life and death. I’d imagine the phrase ‘good enough’ was not one that was said that day about their uniform. What if I told you, that the spacesuits these astronauts wore only passed half of their field tests? How do you know if your handmade work is good enough to sell? In this episode, we dig into the limiting beliefs we all have around the worth of our craft. I teach you how to let the market decide, and why. Interested in learning from Krystal? Hop on the mailing list on krystaldouglas.com. | |||