Craft + Commerce Recap: What I Heard in the Hallways (Not on Stage)

Hey, hey, and welcome back to On Your Terms®. I’m your host, Sam Vander Wielen. Today we’re talking about my trip to Kit’s Craft and Commerce Conference in Boise, Idaho, just a couple of weeks ago. I’ve been to Craft and Commerce before, but this year there was a huge, huge difference. This year I got to speak and teach a workshop.

It was absolutely incredible and I feel like I have so much to share with you both just behind the scenes of how the week went, what it was like, some of the really cool things that I got to do that you don’t know about, but also some of my major takeaways because, when I look back at all of the times that I’ve been to Craft and Commerce before, they are the most life altering business, life altering moments in my business.

I always have the biggest sparks of inspiration. I meet the best people. I have a lot of major aha moments, and so that’s a lot of what I’m gonna share with you today a little bit too, of like a marketing report of kind of some of the trends and, you know, consistent themes and messages that I picked up on while I was there.

So if you’ve ever wanted to attend it in the past, um, this is your backstage pass. Or if you’re just like, I don’t have time to be going to all these things right now. I’m glad Sam did. I wanna know what’s going on. I wanna know what, like what the big people in the online business world are saying behind the scenes. Then buckle up. This is a good episode for you.

The last time I went to Craft and Commerce was back in June of 2022. It’s always in Boise and it was actually just three weeks after my dad died. I can’t believe, looking back on it, I can’t believe that I even went, to be honest with you. But if you know anything about grief, it’s kind of funny, like I was actually in a better place three weeks after my dad died than three months after my dad died.

Like I remember things got pretty bad for me personally in August, September when a little bit of the shock had worn off. Um, and I was say I fell into a pretty deep depression. So, you know, understandably so. But when I was at Kit and was running around Craft and Commerce, I had a blast. I met the nicest people who I ended up being friends with, going on their podcasts, going into their groups and giving trainings, like doing all kinds of stuff.

Even to the point where when my book, When I Start My Business, I’ll Be Happy, when it just came out on April 15th this year. Some of the people who had me on their podcast and like mentioned me in their newsletter and all that kinda stuff were people I met at Kit back in 2022. So yeah, it was just like, you’re gonna hear me talk a lot about community today. It was like the greatest group of people. Um, like my friend Matt Gira, for example. I was on his podcast. I’ll make sure I link that down below. But he’s absolutely wonderful and I got to see him again this year. So it’s just such a nice group. Like I don’t know what they do, but they attract the nicest group of people.

I was scheduled to go back the very next year, but as you know, my mom died. So this time my mom actually died about a week before Craft and Commerce. So that wasn’t happening because at this point I was already taken out of the knees by having lost my dad. I was still struggling pretty badly, um, after having lost my dad that same year.

And then my mom died and it was just like I already had my ticket. I had my flight booked, I had everything, and it was just like. Nope, not happening. So I did not go unfortunately. So, I’ve missed it ever since the following year, 2024, I would say I was still struggling in grief. I don’t know, will I ever not be struggling in grief?

No,, that’s not true. I’m doing, I’m doing better now than I was even, I was just telling a friend yesterday that like. I saw her back in October and I was in a really bad place and I was like, oh, I feel like I’m really different now. And actually people who I ran into at Craft and Commerce this year who know me, were like, oh, you seem like you’re doing a little bit better, so I’m getting there. But last year, yeah, I was still still struggling with grief stuff and dealing with a lot of the stuff still from my mom’s estate and the case related to my mom’s death, which I’m still dealing with. I was also writing my book, so I was like, you know what? Good year to take a pause and come back really strong in 2025.

What I did not expect was that Kit asked me to come and speak. They asked me to come and give a keynote and also teach a workshop. So my keynote was about the vulnerability and authenticity that you can share in your business, like letting people in, letting your audience get to know you a little bit on a, a deeper level or a more personal level, like behind the scenes beyond what you sell and how that accidentally leads to you growing your business, but that, that’s not the reason that you do it.

It was more a keynote for the people who have been through, and maybe you feel like this too, but like who have been through what I’ve been through, where you’ve had a lot of hard things going on in your life and you have an online business and you are an ambitious person who wants to do well in your business, which newsflash, you’re allowed to be both, right?

You can be ambitious and be like, shoot, I’m going through a lot. Right? And, I think sometimes people don’t understand that, that ambitious part of you doesn’t die when a person dies in your life or when you’re going through a hard time or you have a child or something happens in your life that pulls you away from your business.

The ambition doesn’t necessarily die. So it’s, it’s just kind of like simmering. So how do you show up in your business during those times? Do you actually talk about it? That’s what my keynote was about. So my keynote was so much fun. And then I also got to give a workshop and the workshops are more tactical, hands-on, you know, workshops.

So I got to give a workshop on what the top 1% of creators on Kit like myself are doing. To grow our email list. So beyond just the freebies and like the basic tactics that you’ve probably heard a million times, I wanted to share some of the, like, I don’t know, more unique strategies and tactics that we’re using to grow my list and nurture that list and of eventually turn them to customers.

So that was really fun too. We had a packed house. People asked a lot of really good questions and it was just so fun to get to talk about one of my favorite things, email marketing.

So since I was speaking, I had to get to Boise a little bit early because they have some events that I’ll tell you about in a second for speakers only that are incredible. And so since I got there a day early, Pat Flynn and his team actually invited me to go to dinner with them, which I was like, are you guys? Sure. So, I was really lucky to get invited to this. I had Pat on my podcast. He had me on his podcast, um, smart Passive Income this year. Um, and so he was celebrating the release of his book, which by the way, when we were there, um, got announced that he made the New York Times bestseller list.

So we went to this dinner and there were so many cool people there. Pat and Caleb and Matt from his team, Tristan Montebello from Ultra Speaking, who I just love and thought was awesome, Dustin from Seven Figure Leap, which I felt the same about. He was so cool. Steve Cam from Nerd Fitness, Amanda Northcutt, who you might know, I’ve been on her podcast twice, Level Up Creators and Dan Cumberland, who was a new to me friend, like all of these people were all so amazing. I just felt so lucky to get to go to this gathering and get to hear about everybody’s background. And what I really took away from that dinner that I wanted to share with you was that you know, I feel relatively young, uh, as an entrepreneur when, especially when I’m in those circles, because these people mostly started, uh, like mid two thousands, like, or 2010 ish, like, you know, they started pretty early in their online businesses. They really were at the forefront, which are like, I have so much respect for people who, you know, saw something coming before it was here and like got in the game really early. And because they’ve been doing it so long and they’re a little bit older than me in age, I also felt like it was really helpful for me to hear from them, like how many iterations of their business life they’ve had.

So, you know, I’ve been doing this, I’ve had a legal business for eight years selling legal templates and the Ultimate Bundle® and like I’m a kinda one trick pony per se, until I came out with my book. Right. I’m on the precipice now of, or maybe I’m there already, but like being like, Hey, I wanna talk about other stuff.

Like not, not sell the legal templates and not, not talk about legal or anything like that, but like I have more to offer. I’ve been through a lot, I’ve learned a lot, I’ve done a lot. Like people ask me questions,. about a lot of other things other than legal. And I am also, I’m not sure if you know this, but I’m actually human and multidimensional.

And so this is not AI generated me. This is just me. And so I am multidimensional, I have many different interests and I. I have put myself in a box. I feel like maybe some other people have put me in a box, but also I kind of like look for that as confirmation of like a fear that I have, that I’m supposed to stay in this box.

And so I’ve been not only nervous about stepping out of that box, but I’ve been a little confused as to how, or like doubting, like, do you wanna hear about these other things from me? Do you only wanna hear about legal? What do you really care? Like you don’t need somebody else to teach you. Email marketing, there’s someone, so many people out there doing it.

Maybe this sounds familiar because this might be what you are thinking about you and your business, especially if you’re starting out right. And like, I didn’t feel this so much on the legal side because when I started, there were so few people doing it that I felt like I was at the forefront of my little part, my niche of the industry, right?

And so what I want to talk about is perhaps more broad and there are more people doing it, right? So that. That creates a lot of doubt in my mind, like a lot of hesitation as to whether I am qualified or whether you find me interesting enough or whether I’ve done enough, like am I accomplished enough to be able to talk about these things?

And also like whether or not I’m going to confuse people and like stray from my message and all these kinds of things. So at the dinner it was really cool to hear people share. Like, like I remember Dustin from Seven Figure Leap, he shared about how he once started and, and like , bought and sold a meat stick company and I was just like, dying a lot.

Like, that’s just an example of how he helps seven figure creators now, like grow their businesses. And you had a meat stick company and like Pat Flynn, you know, he has done so many things like Pat started his business because. He was an architect, so similar, you know, had a professional background like me.

He got laid off, which kind of pushed him as the catalyst to him starting to sell, uh, like an ebook of sorts of training, to help architects pass the architecture exam. So that’s brilliant. Right? So he did that and then he’s had 9 million businesses since then, including a tripod that he sells.

Now as you know, he’s doing Deep Pocket Monster on YouTube. Like he, and in addition to still running Smart Passive Income, so like he’s so multifaceted. So I think just in that moment it was really helpful for me to hear from all of these people, not just to get the permission to flex, but also because it was like.

It wasn’t just that they allowed themselves, it was actually that, trying all those different things, doing all those different things is part of what led them to be more successful in the next thing, or kind of like knowing what to look for or knowing how to start or starting before they were ready. Like them having that attitude and that experience, it really helps them in the long run. So that dinner meant so much to me and it really helped me the next day.

Wednesday was the only day out of the entire week that I was there, that I had a free morning and I wanted to share something with you that I did that was so helpful.

So my mindset coach, Jen Diaz, sent me a visualization about public speaking and, you know, going on stage and saying, I am ready. Like I’ve been working for this. Like I’m, I’m ready to rise to the occasion. Like I will rise to the occasion. So I had been doing this all week, shout out to Jen.

This visualization was so helpful. This is why you should join her Java method ’cause she has all these visualizations in it. And II was doing this visualization all, all week and then I had this idea on Wednesday morning when I had some free time, that I would go to a coffee shop and I would do my morning pages, my three pages of, you know, free writing, and I would write out how the talk went.

And so it was just as if I was like post-talk and I was just like, oh, I got up there, I was calm, it was cool, collected, I was confident. People came up to me after, and I would write out specifically like very specific moments, like who I made eye contact with in the audience. Somebody that I saw laughing or just saying like, oh, I cracked this joke, and people laughed.

You know, I even talked about how people came up to me after, and exactly what they said. Like not just like praise, but like what the talk meant to them, how it made them feel. Like I really, really wrote this all out as many times as I could, and. I went back to my hotel room and I practiced my talk a few more times.

I tried a tip that our speaker coach, that Kit provided us, Mike Pacchione, one of my friends, had given me, which was to try shouting my talk and also to give my talk over loud music, just to like almost practice the energy of it and the energy that you feel in the room. So I did that. I mean, at this point I was like, this is my first keynote, guys.

I’ll do anything. So. I did try it. And I’m sure it was really helpful. So I did that and then it was time to go off to the speaker Mastermind.

So back in 2022 when I went, I had heard that there was a secret mastermind that you got to go to if you were like either VIP or if you were one of the speakers. And I remember back in 2022 being like. I am gonna make my way to that mastermind somehow. So because I was a speaker, I got to go. And so it was so cool because they had Barrett Brooks, for example, come in and give a great talk on the mindset of an entrepreneur. Um, he did some live coaching with us, which was so helpful.

And then Tristan and Michael from Ultra Speaking also came in and did a talk about public speaking, which was so helpful because they had us play some of their games, their public speaking games, which were just, I thought, so helpful and definitely helped me feel more prepared for my keynote.

So we were with this mastermind for like six hours, and other than what I’ve told you so far, I’m not really allowed to talk about it. We, Nathan Berry, the founder of ConvertKit, actually came out early and said whatever happens here, we don’t talk about it. So, that’s that. I can tell you that it was really awesome. You get to meet so many people, you get to go into these little like groups and that was so cool. I just had a lot of fun on Mastermind day.

It was like five or six hours long, so after the mastermind was done, We headed over to the opening party. The really cool thing about the opening party for me was that they were handing out copies of my book. So I got to see When I Start My Business, I’ll Be Happy, in the wild, people were carrying it around.

Some people who had it knew who I was or that I was the author of it, and so they would come up to me and ask if I could sign it, which was really fun. Other people were carrying it around, and so then I would be like, Hey, by the way, you know that’s my book. And they’d be like, wait. You wrote this, like, this is your book?

So it was a really fun conversation starter. That was a very intentional strategy on me and the team’s part. Um, because Lindsey and I got to decide how and when we wanted my book presented. Did we wanna do formal book signing? Did we wanna include it in everybody’s gift bag? Like there were so many different options and I poked around and asked like, well, What are the other people doing? ’cause we had also Tori Dunlap from her first 100 K, and we had Anne Laure who also wrote Tiny Experiments. And so it was like, there were lots of other people there who had written books. And so I found out what everybody else was doing and I was like, whatever they’re doing, I wanna do something different.

Just so that it’s like people aren’t, not only inundated with the books, but just to stand out and like to have an opportunity to talk to people. So when we found out that no one was handing anything out at check-in, it was like. Well, this is perfect ’cause I’ll be there. I would be happy to walk around and talk to people and then I can sign it in real time.

So that’s what we did and I think that ended up being a really smart move. So they completely, uh, not sold out. ’cause we didn’t sell it, we gave it out. But like we gave out every single copy there, all the copies were gone. I think there were 250 copies, um, at the check-in. So that was a pretty cool feeling to know. People were excited. And the team from Kit told me that when people were checking in, they were really excited that the book was included.

So from the opening party, I then got invited to a sort of VIP party, whatever we’re calling it. People who spoke and like people who had spoken in the past got invited to this party, um, that Barrett Brooks hosted.He was the former COO of Kit is now out in his own coaching. He’s an awesome guy. And so I got to go to his party and by this point I was feeling so much more comfortable because I had met a lot of the people at the Mastermind that day, at the opening party, even at Pat’s dinner. I’m telling you like this is how Craft and Commerce is.

It’s just like within a couple of hours I felt like I had friends for life, and so all of those same people were at the dinner, and so I just thought that was really helpful to start to relax into it and just be able to be myself. Because at this point, this is Wednesday night. My keynote was Thursday afternoon.

The nerves were definitely starting to set in that I was giving a keynote at Kit the next day. So Thursday morning I wake up and it’s keynote day. I do my visualization one more time. I did my morning pages one more time, where again, I wrote out exactly how the talk went, even though I hadn’t given it yet.

And I really just tried to keep myself chill now, partially because of the nerves and partially because of the time change. I live outside of New York City on Long Island, and this was in Boise, so it was a two hour time difference. I was waking up so early, so I originally wasn’t going to go to any, like other keynotes or go to the conference during that day, in the morning.

But I actually ended up waking up at like five and having more than enough time to, you know, get myself together, have some chill time, um, go over and get a breakfast and do all of that stuff. And I decided to go with my friend Natasha Pierre from Shine with Natasha, who also does my social media management. She was there to capture everything for social media, but Natasha has done tons of public speaking in the past and I thought she gave me a really good tip, which was if you’re speaking and you don’t show up to a venue until you’re ready to speak, that alone can be a little intimidating because it’s like you’re taking in all of the energy like all at once and you’re about to go on stage.

So I did end up heading over and watching all the keynotes and just sitting in the audience and I thought that was so helpful for just easing my way into the vibe and the energy of the place. ’cause there were so many people and like just such good but big energy there. After I watched the keynotes, it was time to grab a quick lunch.

I remember my stomach was just feeling like, like, I don’t know. It was just like not, I don’t know. It was a ball of knots and so I was like, what does one eat when you feel like this? Well, obviously you go to Mod Pizza and you make a veggie pizza. So that’s what I did. I just felt like in my mind at that moment, like a really small pizza, like kind of plain in terms of the crust, but that plus a million vegetables.

Sounded like a good idea. It worked. I don’t know. So I, I went over and grabbed that and then I ran to Dry Bar to get my hair done so that I could feel good and confident. And at that point it was time to run back to the hotel. Quickly change. I ended up deciding to wear a different top because I had originally, um, planned to wear this like striped t-shirt because I’m always wearing a striped t-shirt. I could create a museum of stripes, but, um, that’s what you guys should do when I, when I croak. But I ran back to the hotel to change and I was like, there’s no way I’m wearing this t-shirt because I’m gonna be a puddle of sweat. And like, you know, that moment when you can tell that you’re sweating and then you start mentally processing the idea that like everyone else can probably tell that you’re sweating, like see pit stains. So then it makes you more nervous and then it’s like a vicious cycle of sweating and more nervous that people can see you. So I was like, yeah, no, I’m not doing that.

No, I’m gonna. Stop that cycle right there. So I decided to switch things up at the last moment, which was, I’m sure my stylist Connie would love this idea. I went with a tank top instead that I could then throw a little like jean jackety shirt looking thing, a jacket, um, over it so that I was like, okay, I can wear the tank top, like right until I go onto stage and then I’ll throw this thing on and no one will be able to tell I’m sweating.

So, pro tip, if you sweat when you’re nervous, which. I mean, I just sweat on a good day. But if you sweat when you’re nervous, highly recommend that, because I, I’m telling you, I would’ve been up there just like I would’ve been able to tell that I was sweating and then I would’ve been freaking out that everyone could see that I was sweating. So I was like, Nope, not happening.

So once I got over to the venue, I was told by Kit I had to be backstage back in the green room. And so in the afternoon sessions it was Pat Flynn, then my friend Vora, and then me. Okay, so like how, and then Chris Donnelly after me. So I’m like, how, how did I end up in this group?

I don’t know. So I went backstage and thank goodness Nisha was there because she’s so calming and so sweet. And so like we were talking and her partner Max was there, who’s delightful. And so like we were all just talking and. Kept it very chill, which was nice. And we got to watch Pat go on and you get mic’d up and you get your little like Britney mic situation and they make sure everything’s all connected and not messing up your hair.

And you just like wait back in the green room and there’s a big screen that not only shows you the main stage in the speaker, but it has all the different camera angles. I mean, this was like high production. So they had like all these different camera angles and the teleprompter copy was on there for when the MCs would go out in between the speakers and they would talk about, you know, the person before they came out.

So I’m standing there watching it and honestly I felt pretty good. I was really surprised for how nervous I kept saying I was and how nervous I felt before that. I was like. Actually, I think I’m okay. Like I as much as like, as much as I can be, you know, at this point, going out before your first keynote to that large of an audience on that big of a stage period.

Like not only with that much production, but I just know like in our industry, that stage has a lot of meaning and and weight to it, and I felt so similarly to how I felt when I took the bar exam. I’ve told this story before, but when I showed up to the bar exam, all of my classmates thought I was being cocky, like I thought ‘’cause I was in such a good mood, like I wasn’t saying I was gonna kill it. I was just happy. And a lot of them were like, what’s wrong with you? Like, what do you think you’re gonna kill this thing? And they all thought they were gonna fail. It’s like. No, like actually I think I probably will fail, but I was not very confident.

Still not, but I was like, I’ll probably fail. But here’s the thing. I busted my butt like all for, for three, four months, whatever, to study for the bar. And if that’s not good enough, it’s not good enough because I know I left it all on the table, and that’s sort of how I felt about this because you know, when it comes to public speaking, it’s not about just practicing until you memorize something.

I think that’s something that a lot of people confuse with personally, I think it’s about practicing to make sure that the story is right and it’s almost like learning direction so that the next time you don’t need to, read directions. I don’t know.

Michael and Tristan don’t have to tell me if this is like quote unquote correct, but this is kind of how it works, at least in my brain, is like I kept practicing to almost like learn the, the little like checkpoints that brought me to the next story and knowing where my next checkpoint was so that it made me feel more comfortable and confident in telling the story that was in especially my keynote.

And so, it wasn’t that I had necessarily practiced it so many times that I had nailed it and memorized it for life. It was that I knew the story. I kind of knew where I was headed. I knew what was important. I knew where to emphasize certain things. I knew where to crack a joke, like, but the stuff kind of changed and flexed every time I did it.

It was different every single time. Again, Michael and Tristan tell me if this is right, so I just practiced it in that sense, not to practice it, to memorize it. Like I just wanted to share this with you. In case this helps you. I don’t think that what I’m saying just applies. I was thinking about this a lot over the week, is like, we talked a lot about public speaking, but I don’t think that you only need to apply these principles to public speaking.

I think they can also apply to podcasting, to creating a YouTube video, to even creating, uh, social content and like creating a hook and like knowing how to be engaging and storytelling and like. Not being monotone and all of these kinds of things. So like, I think a lot of this applies. So I hope that this helps you to, to realize that like a lot of this is just not about memorization per se.

It’s about telling a good story and you feeling confident that you know, when the time comes, you will say the unquote right thing, not meaning it’s PC or, or like that there’s a wrong thing. More that like you’ll rise to the occasion. So when my friend Nisha was about halfway through her keynote, Kit came and got me and said, it’s time.

It’s time to go. And I walked up or I walked behind the stage. They had this like a control room and you would just stand there. I have this picture of me actually. Then Natasha took, ’cause she was backstage with me where I didn’t know she took the picture of me, but I’m just so. In the zone. I’m just like standing there and I’m just in the zone and chugging water because I was afraid that my voice was gonna go while I was on stage.

And so I’m standing there and all of a sudden I look down at the control monitor and the label on the camera that’s on the stage, it has on the bottom says Roberta. Okay. If you don’t know, my mom’s name was Roberta. And also, if you don’t know, Roberta is not exactly your common household name. It’s not like Sam, Sarah, Katie, whatever.

You know, like not many people in the world are named Roberta. And I looked down and I saw that like literally it changed right as I was about to go on stage. I have a picture of it and I remember. Like freaking out, showing Natasha, who knew that my mom’s name was Roberta. So she was like, whoa. And then be like, I cannot deal with this right now.

I cannot look at it like I have to just stay in the zone. And then they’re like, okay, you’re ready. Let’s go out. I’m like, what? Uh, what? Like I was just so rattled in a good way, I guess. I don’t know. I was nervous. So I walk up, you walk up this like really steep ramp and I have to listen to uh, now my new friend Shiv from Kit give a little speech about me and then they start playing my walk on music, which was Happy by Pharrell and I walk out and I don’t know what else to tell you other than that, in that moment.

I just settled in. I don’t know. It’s like this is it. It was kind of like exactly what Jen said in the visualization of like, you’re ready for this. You’ve done, you’ve done the work, and this is the next step. Like this. It just felt like the next natural step. I think going back to what I said earlier and

I felt so comfortable and confident with the story. This probably sounds very dumb and obvious, but I felt really confident in the message that I was delivering, like I really do believe in encouraging people who feel comfortable and want to, to be more vulnerable and authentic in their content. And as I’d share about it in my talk, it doesn’t mean messy. It doesn’t mean that your business is your journal. It doesn’t mean sharing about every single thing in your life or what’s going on. But it does mean maybe sharing parts that you are okay with a little bit like opening the door just a little bit and letting people in a little bit and wait till you see what kind of connection that creates with people.

Like I do feel passionately about that message. And so there was a part of me that just felt like I was there delivering something I really believed in. I pulled out this like idea to kind of have an intro because my speech coach Mike Paccione had mentioned that he didn’t think my intro was good the day before.

And the intro was originally that there was a slide that came up that said vulnerability isn’t a strategy. And he was like, I think you need to tell people more of like how. Like at the top, like how you, uh, like kind of the argument, the summary of the argument that you’re going to make. When I went out there, I was just like, Hey, today we’re here to talk about being more vulnerable and authentic in your content.

And because the truth is there are a lot of you sitting out there who are going through really awesome things in your life and your business right now. And it is also true that there are people out there who are going through a really hard time like I was when I was sitting there three years ago. But today, I’m here to argue that being more vulnerable and authentic in your content will end up creating a greater connection with your audience and end up growing your business.

But that’s not why we do it. And then I clicked and I was like, because vulnerability isn’t a strategy and authenticity isn’t a tactic. And then I went into my talk. So I think it gave people a little bit more of a context of like, you know, I think Mike was right ultimately, that it was helpful to have that little blurb in the beginning that was kind of like, this is what we’re here to talk about today.

Like setting the tone right off the bat too, to be like, Hey, I’m here to talk about real stuff. And then also being like, um, but I’m here to argue that this will help you grow your business, but that’s not why we do it. ’cause that’s manipulative and we don’t do that. And so, yeah, given them some of my, like Philly sass, there was a lot of Philly stuff throughout my keynote.

I thought Philly was like a cool, through line throughout my talk because I talked a lot about how like, being from Philly, people from Philly are honest. They’re like, share how they feel. They’re no bs. They’re very like, this is how my day’s going. Like, do you wanna hear about it or not?

And so I, I thought that was like a good little through line in my talk to bring it back to like where I was from and all that kind of stuff. So, yeah, 20 minutes of that keynote. I ended it and I’m gonna be honest with you because if you know me, I’m not one to ever say this about myself ever about anything, even when it’s been very obvious in the past.

I killed it. I killed it. I was like, I mean, for me, right? Like was it the world’s greatest talk? No, of course not. Like of course not. That’s not what I’m saying. But like for me, I killed it. I was like, I walked off of there and I literally was like. I killed it guys. I killed it. And like, I never, ever, ever say that kind of stuff.

So it was such a huge relief on the one hand where I was like, wow. All those things I was worried about, like I was worried about crying ’cause I talked about my parents a lot, and I was worried that maybe the nerves would get to me or like it would be flat or boring or something like that. It wasn’t any of those things.

It went really, really well. When I got off stage, everybody’s uh, response mimicked that mirrored that back to me. Everybody was freaking out and coming up to me and saying congratulations. And you know, Mike Pacchione was freaking out. He was so proud and that I’d done so well. And Michael, from Ultra Speaking, told me I was a natural.

I was like, what? And people didn’t know that it was my first one. And so a lot of people were like, wait. And so as the day went on, that was kind of a cool side effect as people were finding out that it was my first one. ’cause like. You know, obviously I didn’t lead with that. They were like, wait, what?

That was your first one? Like you, I, I thought you did this all the time. I’m like, Nope, but I want to. So it was really, it was just like. Bulls. I don’t know how else to describe it. There’s no other feeling. It’s like such a rush and I was so happy to see how much everybody else loved it and it inspired a lot of other people.

It’s just, it was really, really cool. That night I got to go to the speaker dinner where I was so happy I got to spend more time with Anne-Laure Le Cunff ’cause she was one of the people I was. So excited to meet Tori Dunlap and Nisha Vora and like so many of my friends were there now that I had met over the course of the conference and so many of the other speakers.

So that was really, really cool. And we got to go and do some photos, um, out in the street, which was really fun. I got to sit on a trash can, um, and take photos, so I got to do all of that and didn’t get to bed till after midnight. It was just such a long day. The next day I had my workshop and I attended other people’s workshops and did all of the things and it was fantastic.

And then we had the closing party, which is like my most favorite part of Kit. ’cause at that point is just like everyone lets loose and is so relieved and all that kinda stuff. And people know each other by now. But it was just such an incredible conference. So incredible.

Before we go today, I wanna share my top takeaways, at least what I am walking away with right now from having attended.

The first thing that was definitely a theme throughout this conference is that the most successful people who I knew there and who I met there are hyper-focused on one if maybe two cornerstone platforms that are not TikTok or Instagram or X or Threads or whatever else. They are really focused on podcasting, on YouTube, on Substack, some LinkedIn.

There’s a lot of LinkedIn people, so. They are really, really focused on this more cornerstone thing. I think for somebody like me, I think it’s like a lot of the timing of when I came into online business, but I still like mentally prioritize social media even though I know logically that YouTube and my podcast and my email list are really.

Like so much more of where I want to focus my time. And it’s not that I don’t wanna be on social or that I don’t think you should or anything like that, but it has its place. And I think what’s always helpful for me about going to something like Craft and Commerce is that I see the people who I want to be more like, and I’m like, oh, they’re not like diddling around on Instagram 300 times a day. Like they’re, they’re posting maybe a couple times a week, couple times a month, and then they’re like getting out or they’re having somebody just repurpose content there and they’re really focused on growing their podcast, their newsletter, their YouTube channel, whatever.

The second thing was actually about introducing yourself and saying what you do. So they had a speaker, Clay Hebert, who talked and talked about how to introduce yourself in your like, I help statement, or like a six word intro or something like this. And I thought what was most mind blowing about what Clay said and taught was that you don’t have to tell the person everything or be completely thorough.

In fact, it’s actually helpful to leave a little, like curiosity, spark, um, some, some ambiguity so that it starts a conversation. So like, for example, he told me like I could tell people I help keep creators out of jail and it was, I was like, my instant thing was like, wait, wait. That’s not what I do.

Because there is no such thing as jail for like having sent a contract and you know, this kind of stuff. And like what I help people with is make sure they get paid and make sure they protect their boundaries and their content and their IP and all this kinda stuff. He’s like. Yeah. Yeah, that’s like all part of the follow up.

Like it’s just intriguing, like this is what I do. And then somebody being like, oh, so you’re a lawyer. Yeah, I’m a lawyer who actually helps people legally set up their businesses through my contract template. It’s like, it was just interesting to hear him talk about this and he actually had a little formula that I thought was so helpful, um, that I wanna share with you.

Okay, so the little formula that Clay taught us for to design your own, I help statement, your introduction statements, other people to tell them what you do in response to the question, what do you do is to use this formula. I help people verb their noun. I help people verb their noun. So I thought that was really interesting because like I help people break their cycle or I don’t know, like you can, you can think about whatever it is for your niche.

I thought that you can create this and create such a more interesting introduction to yourself. The third thing is something I’ve touched on already, which is that public speaking is actually not about memorization. It actually has more to do with building trust and confidence in yourself that you know what to say and you will say it when the time comes.

The fourth thing is that people are rooting for you. I think that it’s easy as an entrepreneur. Maybe you don’t know a lot of people in your space, or you don’t like your family or your friends don’t really understand what you do. But when you get out and meet people in these kinds of communities in particular, like these people all want you to do well, and hopefully you want them to do well too.

I just think it’s really helpful to remember that when you’re feeling threatened in a way and feel like you don’t know if you can make friends in this space or something like that. I. The fifth thing is that email and newsletters are king. And yes, of course I was at a conference that was run by an email marketing company, so I get that there’s gonna be a lot of emphasis on newsletters and email marketing, but I mean, I spoke to like everybody who was also speaking and all this stuff, we are all hyper-focused on growing our email list with, with all of the, the changes in platforms and apps and algorithms and all of that kind of stuff.

And the fatigue from social media. It was a resounding trend that everybody was like, I am just trying to grow my list. I’m just focused on my list. I mean, I always walk away with so many ideas and thoughts about email lists in general. Oh, some of the things I have to give a little bit more thought to, um, and kind of see what I think I’m gonna like play with this summer for my own business.

I was looking at how much more people are monetizing their email marketing in general. So like there are so many different things you can do from affiliate links to sponsorships to whatever else, to even just maybe having smaller products that run in a, a nurture sequence. Like I kind of have one major funnel that goes to my main product, but I don’t mention my products in a lot of the other like, welcome onboarding, nurture sequences.

So even walking away from that, like just being a little more. Sales oriented maybe. I don’t know. So I have to see how that fits for me. But even thinking about sponsorships, affiliate stuff, I’ve done a lot of the sponsorships. I don’t like to use a lot of them, but I think a couple targeted ones a year would be really cool.

And then for, same for affiliates, like I only share usually with my customers. The tools that I use the most and that I actually love, like Kit for example, which I use for my email marketing, which I’ll make sure I drop, uh, the, the affiliate link down below. You know, I only share about stuff that I use myself or that I’ve taken before or whatever that I know I really like, but I could also be more intentional about that and like run an affiliate campaign once or twice a year or something like that.

It’s just like additional revenue when I’m not having a sale. I definitely got the sense from being there. The thing that I’ve been preaching now for a while, which is that your newsletter itself can be the freebie, like it can be the value and you can get people straight onto your list if you market your email newsletter as being the thing that they’re opting in for because it’s so valuable and it has like a vibe, uh, a kitchen name, like something like that.

That was definitely, I was seeing that like now in other people when. I went there the last time, people weren’t really doing that, so I thought that was pretty cool. Like people are definitely branding newsletters and IT, and pushing people straight to the list. So I think that could be really helpful for you because you don’t have to make it overly complicated.

The sixth thing is that authenticity is clearly king. A lot of us were talking about this at the conference that we weren’t sure if this was because there’s so much AI chatter and like a push for AI and all this kind of stuff. Whether people now are just feeling so called to show their humanness and like maybe they’re craving humanness.

I find it really interesting because it’s like, for me, AI is helpful for my business. Tasks that we didn’t want to do or that are repetitive or that just like something to quickly churn out or do, but I personally do not want to use it for original content for my likeness, like recreating my voice or my image or a video like they had somebody present about.

I have no interest in doing that. It sounded to me like a lot of the people at the conference were also pretty resistant to AI. I don’t know. I was just like getting the vibe that a lot of people were resistant but felt like they have to be pro AI and that there’s almost like this pressure and that nobody wants to say it because I felt like, because it’s, you know, me and back to what I said before, I’m from Philly, so like. I would just be like, Ugh, I hate AI. Like, I don’t wanna do any of this stuff. And people would be like, oh my God, thank God for saying that, because I feel the same way. And I’d be like, well, why does everybody keep saying that when I say it? But then we’re all like, creating all this content about AI is king, and if you don’t do it, you’re all gonna die and your business gonna die.

And like, all these things are horrible. I just didn’t understand it. Almost like, that’s what everybody thinks and feels, but no one’s talking about it. And then that’s what’s then pushing all of this like sub niche content to be like authenticity, authenticity, authenticity. And it’s like, I wonder why we all wanna be so authentic and vulnerable because we don’t like all this plastic content that we’re seeing.

So I don’t know. It was super interesting and I’ll be curious where that goes. This leads me to my very last point, uh, of what I’m taking away. I had a conversation with Pat Flynn at dinner, um, where I was sharing with him about. The AI stuff and I was like, I feel sometimes like an old lady where I’m like, okay, it’s cool.

And I like some of the things and features and like it can do in our business and like, I don’t know, almost like productivity wise, I think that’s great. So I don’t wanna lose that part of me that’s a creator, that loves writing and loves creating and doing all of these things. And I was telling him about how this has brought up some fear for me because I will hear people say, those businesses who don’t have this and that AI in their business will be done in five years and like all this stuff.

And I’m like, oh my God, is it gonna be me because I’m an old lady and I don’t feel like doing this stuff. And Pat was like, who are these people? Like who are you listening to? And I was like, well, like not naming names, but I was just like, you know, there’s people saying it and they like to do this and they do that.

And he is like, well, okay, first of all, do they sell something related to AI? I’m like. Okay. Yes, yes, they do. He’s like, and um, also, do they have a business that you want to be more like, are they ahead of you? Are you, are they aspirational for you in some way? I’m like, no. Mm-hmm. No, I think my business is, you know, does better.

And I don’t mean that in a financial way, but like, I’m happy with the way my business goes and I’m not trying to look like their business. And he’s like, then why are you listening to them? I was like, oh, Pat Flynn, that’s a great point. And so Pat was like, you know, I listen to people who I want to be like, and I look to people who I wanna be more like, and I hear what they’re saying.

And even then you filter it through your own thing. But like I realized in that moment too, that it’s like not only am I listening to those people, but I am taking in a lot of information. Period. Like a lot. I’m consuming a lot. I hear a lot. I see a lot. I read newsletters. I do lots of different things and it does mess with your head and it makes you question what they’re, what you’re doing is, is okay or right or whatever.

It also distorts how many people are doing, like, I’m like, everyone’s doing it. And then you go to a conference like that and everybody’s like, no, I don’t wanna do any of these things. Like, I’m not doing that in my business. So it’s super interesting. But that conversation meant a lot to me and it really helped to settle me back into being like myself and kind of ground myself in what I’m doing.

So I already bought my ticket to go to Craft and Commerce next year. I’m so excited to go back. I will go every year that I’m available. I love it there. I’m so curious to hear from you. What questions do you have for me about giving a keynote there, a workshop? What questions do you have about what I learned at the conference?

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