The And She Looked Up Podcast

How do you manage inventory and demand in your creative business? Do you use and market a scarcity model? An urgency model? Or an always available model? This week Melissa and Heather  walk you through each of these and outline the pros and cons of each as well as showing you how you can use a mix of all three in your creative business! This episode is brought to you by Fine Lime Designs Illustrat...

Can I use that in my work? Have you ever asked yourself that question about somebody else's work? Or has somebody asked you that question about your work? What happens when somebody uses your stuff without asking you? How do you get copyright? Is it different in Canada from the US?  What does it mean to sell your rights to somebody? What is licensing?  What happens to your copyright when you...

Are you a photographer, designer of any kind, writer or other creative services provider? This week Melissa and Heather are talking about how you can create products to sell alongside your creative services and open up new revenue streams - great for your slow season, to have earning income while you continue to serve clients or to help you break through the income ceiling a lot of us hit when doi...

When Stefanie Henderlin first started formulating her products it was with an eye to helping her midwife clients. But, she quickly discovered just how much she loved the process and the result was the birth of Mangata Apothecary where she's 'bringing botanicals back" to a new generation of families and individuals. Stefanie shares her journey and how failure has resulted in growth f...

Melissa and Heather, along with past guests and current listeners, share some of the business advice and wisdom they would give their younger selves if they had the chance. Did you know you can now directly support the podcast and help us keep creating great content you want to listen to? You can help here . This episode is brought to you by Fine Lime Designs Illustrations This episode is for thos...

When you have an Etsy shop, you wonder if you should open a stand along shop on a platform like Shopify or Wix. When you have a stand alone website you wonder if you should open an Etsy shop. When you're first starting out, you don't know which to pick. And if you're a creative services provider you might be wondering if this episode is even worth your time (it is). So which is it?...

All of us have money mindset challenges. Whether they're rooted in our childhood or our choice of a career (starving artists, anyone?), we can carry around a lot of money baggage that gets in our way and stops us from being financially empowered women. That's where today's guest, Ottawa based financial literacy consultant Pamela George, steps in. After experiencing a childhood roote...

In this repeat episode from last January, Raj Thandhi, the Creative Director and owner of  Pink Chai Media as well as the blogger behind Pink Chai Living joins Melissa  to talk about choosing a word of the year and why this has been such a beneficial exercise for both of them over the years - in their businesses and their personal lives. This episode is brought to you by Fine Lime Designs Illustra...

This time last year I sat down with my planner for 30 minutes and did ONE thing that had a huge impact on my creative business in 2022. In this SBS (short but sweet) episode, I share what I did and how it changed my business and my life! And it's super easy and you can do it too! This episode is brought to you by Fine Lime Designs Illustrations For a summary of this episode and all the links...

The inner struggle between artist, maker, creative and female business owner is real for many of us. But as this week's guest, creative business coach and advisor, Sara Roach-Lewis, likes to remind us... if you earned money this year but didn't get a T4... you're a business owner. So how do we learn to embrace the business side of creating for a living while still being the creators...

This week, Toronto based podcaster and c+p digital co-founder, Susan Diaz joins Melissa to talk about how creatives, artists and makers can get smarter and more efficient about making social media work for them -  without wanting to pull their hair out or needing to be digital content creators. The secret? Repurposing content. Susan breaks it down for us this very practical and sanity saving episo...

This week's episode started out as a recap of our progress for 2022 but very quickly took a turn into a mindset episode as we took a  dive into exploring the deeper (and sometimes darker) aspects of our creativity and how we work: meaning and resistance. We discuss how a simple grant application pushed Heather to explore bigger, far more personal themes in her own artwork, ask how it’s possib...

Toronto based sisters Katrina and Lexie von Hahn have known for years that they wanted to create a business that reflected their Latin American roots and that has resulted in Gallola - a fashion and lifestyle brand launching soon with their first product: a shoe they designed that's inspired by the timeless Argentine carpincho style and handmade in Mexico.   In this episode we talk about: Lex...

Melissa and Heather tackle a big topic today: how to manage relationships that are… less than supportive of the work that you do.  A dirty little secret of starting a small business that nobody talks about is the lack of support from loved ones. We’re led to believe that if we “follow our bliss” everything will be Instagram perfect. We’ll have a “lifestyle business” that let’s us balance our work...

Janice Lawandi thought a PhD in chemistry had cut out a clear career path for her. But like many grad students, she started baking to relieve her doctoral stress which led to completing a Pâtisserie de Base certificate from Le Cordon Bleu and starting a food blog. Now this doctor of chemistry shows other bakers how understanding the science of baking can unleash their creativity - and has opened u...

As a full time working creative, travel writer, videographer and YouTuber,  Ayngelina Brogan of Bacon is Magic shares how she has used her small YouTube channel of just over 10 thousand subscribers to build an engaged community and double her overall income. This episode is brought to you by Fine Lime Designs Illustrations This is a great episode for creatives who: are unsure of the power of video...

In our Season 4 opener, Melissa and Heather do a quick recap of the summer and hit a number of topics that we've been experiencing or following -  including running a studio sale, incorporating new tech into our work, navigating more social media changes and planning & prepping for the upcoming holiday season. This episode is brought to you by Fine Lime Designs Illustrations This is a gre...

In this replay of Episode 80,  Louisa Hrennikoff, the designer and maker behind Vancouver based jewellery brand, Luli Designs joins me. Louisa is a long time craft market veteran - you may have seen her at markets throughout BC from small, local markets to some of Western Canada's biggest markets like Got Craft and Make It. This week she shares her best tips for prepping for market season inc...

Debra Wong of Dessert by Deb has owned two different businesses with a subscription box as part of her business model. In this episode, she shares all her subscription box knowledge from sourcing product to packing and shipping and everything in between.! This is a great episode for creatives who are thinking about launching a subscription box business are thinking about adding a subscription box...

In this replay of one of our Creative Canadian Women episodes I chat with Halifax based dance photographer Rachael Dyer about her creative journey from ballerina to ballet instructor to one of the most well-known and well-respected dance photographers in Nova Scotia. We talk about how she pivoted in her 40s to start a brand new career, how niching down and specializing helped her grow her business...

Have you started your holiday season prep? Q4 is  3 months away and there's a lot to do. In this re-air of a previous episode, Melissa & Heather give you loads of tips & strategies to get the heavy lifting done now so you can focus on selling and shipping this fall and winter. We're talking about designing products, building up stock, getting systems in place, planning your promo...

As we head into summer and close out season 3 of the podcast, Heather Travis puts her formidable interview skills to the test as we discuss death row meals, defending our studios in a zombie apocalypse, the slow quality erosion of our favourite sneakers, how every woman has a story that needs to be told, how other people's passion can light you up and music... all the music. We also make a lo...

How do you keep your creative business stable when the economy isn't? When everything from inflation and interest rates to fuel and food are going up up up and disposable income is shrinking, it’s important to know your numbers, watch your cash flow, keep marketing, evaluate your offerings and raise your prices when it's necessary. This week’s episode will help! This episode is brought t...

Setting boundaries in your creative business (and your life) are key to ensuring you're happy, successful and mentally and physically well. We talk about the key areas to look to and the questions to ask when you're determining what your boundaries are! This episode is brought to you by Fine Lime Designs Illustrations This is a great episode for creatives who: are feeling like everything...

In this week's episode, Melissa looks at some of the must have tools that will help grow your creative business - and a few that you don't need to worry about when you're in the early stages of your business.  After selling my last business and starting again from almost scratch, I had a pretty good idea of which tools I absolutely had to have - even in the early days of a new busin...