Explore Your Enthusiasm

If you want to get more done, but you feel burnt out, you don’t need better time management. Apply to join my new program here: https://forms.gle/d5mwsYw1aFqeFCzcA

A listener asked me for some book recommendations so here are my top favorites in memoir, non-ficition, brain science and encouragement. Find the entire list of books here:

It’s my hope that by talking about what helped me, I can help you feel less overwhelmed, less disconnected from your life and more tapped into what brings you joy. Let’s just get right into it: Following your enthusiasm, really nerding out is the way to feel like yourself again. If you, like most of us, have had to take on new caregiver roles during the pandemic or this stage of life - maybe it’s kids, a sick spouse, your parents need care. A lot of us are in the stage of life where we just have more caregiver roles than ever. And while that can feel good and fulfilling…sometimes it doesn’t. In some situations it just feels….hard.

Remember when I said the podcast was coming back? That VERY week, I became the mom of three more kids! Tune in to hear how my family expanded so quickly and what's next. Don’t miss the next episode and all my news, sign up here: http://taraswiger.com/list Join the Facebook group for recipes and live convos:https://www.facebook.com/groups/essentialenthusiasm/ Follow me on Instagram: http://instagram.com/taraswiger Find these shownotes (and 300+ more episodes!) here:...

I have a baby! I stopped selling my main product! Listen in to learn why! After publishing an episode every single week for 6 years, the pandemic and life really threw me for a loop and it's been four months since a regular weekly podcast. Well, I have good news - the podcast is back to it's normal weekly schedule! This week we're going to talk about the big changes in my life in my business, why I made the big changes that I did, and what lessons you can learn from my process. Find the...

It's time to share my favorite books of March - June. I read 25 books and so many were so good! FInd the full shownotes at TaraSwiger.com/podcast308. Today's episode is brought to you by Hank Green and his upcoming book A Brilliantly Foolish Endeavor. Find more at HankGreen.com The books I loved: Home Before Dark by Riley Sager Support indiesBuy from Amazon The Southern Book Club’s Guide to Slaying Vampires by Grady Hendrix I talked more about this book in this reading vlog Buy it...

As I was thinking about if I wanted to record and what, if anything, I wanted to share, I realized that what YOU come here for is help with your business and encouragement in building it. And the best way I can serve you right now is to tell you other awesome business podcasts to listen to, while I continue my podcast hiatus, specifically podcasts by black women. Because here’s the thing - we all have implicit (meaning unconscious) biases. These biases affect what we listen to, who we pay...

What if you are just not getting things done? What if you just can NOT get things done? Before you start beating yourself up, ask yourself: is this just a season of my life? I recorded this episode over a year ago, when I was a brand-new mom, but it's so appropriate for what we're ALL going through right now - a completely new season in our life and business. Find the shownotes with the full transcript here: http://taraswiger.com/podcast306

How do you find joy and enthusiasm for anything when everything is turned upside down? That’s what I’ve been thinking about this past week. As you know if you’ve been listening for a while, my fundamental business belief, what shapes everything I do and how I work with makers and designers, is that your business will thrive and YOU will feel best about it when you follow your enthusiasm. What do I mean by enthusiasm? I like the definition: intense or eager enjoyment or interest. You can...

Welcome to April and the beginning of a new quarter! This is the time where we usually make plans for the coming three months and review the progress we’ve made so far this year but...everything is weird. How do we do that now? In the Starship this week, we’re Map Making - making a plan for the quarter. You can learn more about the Starship here and/or start making your own map with my book, Map Your Business. I know, nothing is normal right now. You are staying home, no one in your...

How do you decide what to do next? How do you make a decision? My family has a simple question that we ask to make complex decisions and I’m sharing it with you today. I want to talk about how you decide ANYthing in your business (or life) and a quick question I use to make better decisions. I’m not even going to make you wait, here is the question to ask yourself: Hard now or hard later? Over the years of making decisions together, from do we want to get pizza delivered or make dinner,...

Why do you feel stuck? Why isn’t your business growing? It could be one of these mistakes that are common in creative businesses. I want to help you avoid these mistakes, so let’s dive right in. I’ve been working with product makers - yarn dyers, bag sewers, jewelry makers - and designers and shop owners for the last decade! I’ve been getting up close and personal with them, in my community, the Starship, since 2011. So I have seen a lot of what holds us back in our business, and what to do...

It's the 300th episode of the podcast! OMG! Celebrate with me in this episode as my husband asks me YOUR questions. We discuss the very twisty journey that brought me here in my business, how I plan my weeks, and how I order my coffee. You can SEE us answer these questions right here: http://taraswiger.com/podcast300 Help me celebrate by: free Facebook group

Are you using Instagram Stories? Is it connecting with your customers and helping you reach your goals? Or are you confused about what to do to make it effective? Today I’m going to answer your questions about WHY you should be using Instagram Stories and HOW to make them work for you! Today we’re diving into the tool Instagram Stories and how you can use them to connect with your right customers, build trust and make sales. Head over the to the VIDEO version of this episode to see a...

Is Instagram worth it? How do you make sales with Instagram? I know! This is one of the ongoing questions my students have about any tool, and Instagram in particular. Today I’m going to explain EXACTLY how you can increase your sales by using Instagram. Before we dive into Instagram, we are coming right up on episode 300, and I am including YOU in this episode! To participate, head over to my free FB group: fb.com/groups/taraswiger and the info on how to be involved is right there, pinned...

What is the best book you’ve read lately? In today’s episode, I’m sharing my favorite books of this winter - from December - February. Every quarter I round-up my most-favorite books and share them here. If you are subscribed to my YouTube channel, you may recognize some of these books, as they were part of my Best Books of 2019. If you like learning about great books and you are NOT subscribed over on YouTube, you are missing out! I share reading vlogs, monthly round-ups, and all kinds of...

Now that you’ve worked on your fear, what about your other beliefs that are holding you back? What do you need to believe in order to move towards your goals? Over the last few weeks we’ve been talking about what’s holding you back. We’ve talked about how a lot of you say what’s holding you back is… YOU. Fear is at the heart of a lot of it. Another aspect of what’s holding you back is what you believe - about yourself, your business, and how the world works. This is your mindset, the set...

Are you getting in the way of your handmade business moving forward? Yeah, it’s time to get out of your own way. Lately we’ve been doing a series on how to make your 2020 goals come true. In episodes 292 and 293, I gave you lots of applicable, step-by-step advice on how to increase sales, so be sure to head over to TaraSwiger.com/launch if you missed that. But as I said in those episodes, only a small percentage of people will follow through with the action plan. Why? Well, for some...

What’s holding you back? What is keeping you from achieving a profitable, sustainable business that you feel confident in? What is keeping you from working towards your goals every week? We’ve been working on reaching your sales goal, all month. To hear episodes about increasing and sustaining your sales, tune in to episodes 292 & 293. After those episodes, I debated over what to cover next and then I realized: what’s keeping you from your goal is different for everyone. You have your own...

How do you keep sales going? When you don’t have anything new? When you’re not launching? What can you do to stay consistent? Today we are diving in to making more consistent sales! Recently Starship Captain Brenda asked: “I just launched a pattern last week and had a good amount of sales, but now what?” I’m going to share with you what I told her. This is the second episode in a series about reaching your 2020 goal of increased sales. You can listen to the first, which was about...