045 | Caroline Hull, Caroline Creates on pivoting, taking breaks in business and how our past experiences shape who we are today

TSBC alum Caroline Hull is the founder of Caroline Creates.  A designer and owner, Caroline has a background in music and was actually a ballet dancer at the University of Oklahoma before finding her niche in design and podcasting. Caroline has a passion for helping other small business owners like herself through her podcast, Creative Biz Rebellion.   On today's episode, we're talking about switching gears in business, the benefit of taking a break to really reassess how you're feeling about things and she also shares how past experiences shaped who she is and what she's doing today.   ON TODAY’S EPISODE: Caroline’s career path and what motivated her to start Caroline Creates Her custom wedding invitation designs and how the word got out about her Etsy shop Making the transition from working Caroline Creates part-time to full-time How her move to Nashville impacted her business and her decision to transition to the wholesale market The pain points that made her realize she needed to make some changes in her business Her decision to homeschool her children and how that impacted her decision to pivot in her business Taking a break in her business to evaluate how she felt and what she wanted to change Transitioning her Etsy shop to all downloadable products or drop ship The start of her podcast, Creative Biz Rebellion and how she met her co-host, Kelly How community and professional development have impacted her business How Caroline became a podcast producer and editor The growth of her podcast business Caroline’s advice to anyone just starting a product-based business KEY TAKE-AWAYS: “The business itself started to feel more like a chore and a burden and it felt very hard and it felt like I was constantly having to fight to get to where I wanted to go.” - Caroline Hull “It's hard to make changes sometimes in our business unless we're forced to.” - Katie Hunt “I would not have that podcast [Creative Biz Rebellion] and the success of that podcast is having and the joy that it brings to me if I hadn't have had the business in a way that I had it.” - Caroline Hull “I think that is super important is to be able to say, ‘You know what, things aren't working. I need to take a step back and see how I feel.’” - Caroline Hull “These print-on-demand services and the drop shipping options, they're really great especially for people that work at home and are still at the beginning stages of their business or scaling back and don't want to have a whole manufacturing warehouse.” - Katie Hunt “When I could feel like my business was hitting a point where I needed to grow but I wasn't sure how to do it, that was when I knew that I needed to go do something and be around people who knew more than I do.” - Caroline Hull “I've become like this mini podcast launch cheerleader and helping people figure out all the pieces that they need to get going.” - Caroline Hull “Podcasting was a hobby and now it's my business and doing the shop and the design was my business and now it's gone back to being my hobby.” - Caroline Hull “It is so just amazing that by opening myself up and being open to new possibility that I've ended up with this business that I love that to me is so similar to the original thing I had set out to do when I was a young 18-year-old.” - Caroline Hull   LINKSWebsite: www.carolinecreates.com Website: http://creativebizrebellion.com/ Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/carolinecreates/ Instagram: http://www.instagram.com/carolinecreates   JOIN THE TSBC FAMILY:   Do you want to scale your business and add new revenue streams?  Are you ready to get a handle on your cash flow and tuck money away for retirement?     Maybe you are interested in increasing your visibility and fine-tuning your marketing outreach?  Perhaps you have a team that you want to nurture or need help building your team?   Our newest on demand program, Paper Camp+ can help you with all of these things and more.  The program includes 5 keynote presentations and 2 panels from a wide range of business experts.  You can watch what you need, when you need it most and revisit the videos as often as you’d like.     This course was built for anyone running a product based business, and extends way beyond the paper industry.  Enroll at www.tradeshowcamp.com/pcplus! ABOUT PROOF TO PRODUCT: Proof to Product is brought to you by Tradeshow Bootcamp and hosted by Katie Hunt. Since 2011, TSBC has worked with hundreds of product based businesses to help them up level, scale, and build profitable sustainable companies. You can find our show notes and additional resources at ProofToProduct.com. If you like what you heard today, please head over to Apple Podcast to leave a five star review and subscribe. Thanks so much for listening. We'll be back next week with a new episode!