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**Podcasting with Purpose for Life Coaches**

Looking for an easy and intuitive approach to start, launch and scale a podcast, created especially with life coaches in mind? Kara Gott Warner, host and former executive magazine editor, turned life coach with a business mindset “edginess,” shows you how to stop wasting time going down rabbit holes in search of the perfect process. Based on Kara’s 9+ years of experience as a podcaster, teacher and podcast thought leader, she knows it’s NOT about the equipment, the tools, tactics or editing. It’s about creating your voice, and unfurling your beautiful peacock feathers while staying true to your unique vision. Through Kara’s words of podcasting wisdom, you’ll be inspired to speak your message with passion and purpose to conjure up your own special alchemy through the art of the spoken word.

Latest Episodes:

052 Unleashing Vibrant Possibilities with Beth Casey of Lorna's Laces and Mrs. Crosby Dec 23, 2016

Show notes

Does working with color excite you? Are you curious about what it takes to manufacture hand-dyed yarns? If so, listen in as Kara Gott Warner interviews Beth Casey, owner of Lorna's Laces, one of the first hand-dyed yarn companies, about her fulfilling and creative work in her wonderful world of yarn.

Beth Casey, business owner and entrepreneur, has been supplying the globe with colorful yarns since 2003. This has afforded her the special advantage of witnessing a new wave of thinking in the way we look at yarn. Ten years later, she introduced Mrs. Crosby, releasing a whole new range of vibrant possibilities. Listen and find out more about the ins and outs of what happens behind the scenes in the exciting business of running a yarn company, in this week's episode of Power Purls Podcast.

Join Kara and Beth as they discuss:

What prompted Beth to start a hand-dyed yarn company.
The fun process of choosing and putting together the colors for a season.
How Beth's company manages to keep its finger on the pulse of current trends and tastes.
What distinguishes Beth's company from the other ones, from a business perspective.
Where Beth's job satisfaction lies.
Why Beth chooses to keep her company small.
The importance of remaining positive.
The delicate balance involved in taking responsible risks.
How Beth overcame her notion that she was not born creative.
Beth's advice when it comes to choosing color.
Beth's take on the TNNA. (The National Needle Arts Association)
The difference between Mrs. Crosby and Lorna's Laces.
The fabulous surprise giveaway to a lucky listener.

Links:

Lorna's Laces: www.lornaslaces.net

Mrs. Crosby: www.mrscrosbyplays.com

Give-away: powerpurlspodcast.com/bethcasey

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I take ONE new podcast launch client per month because this how I keep the highest quality in my work, the white glove treatment for YOU.
Invest in the podcast you want to give to the world.
So here’s what you need to do if you want to lock in your spot with me:
Visit karagottwarner.com/services and click on the Ready, Set, Launch program and I will immediately be in touch to set up your onboarding session. If you have questions about the program, feel free to email me at kara@karagottwarner.com

051 Power Purls Unplugged: Defining the CREATIVE in Knitting Dec 09, 2016

Show notes

Welcome to Power Purls Unplugged, with me, Kara Gott Warner. Your comments have shown me that the raw, unpolished aspect of a live podcast certainly has an appeal to many of you. I love getting your feedback. It's been necessary, in order to balance the different time zones and to find the best time frame for this show. Join me today, as I talk to the Power Purls Facebook Group, live, while recording my podcast. We will discuss what being creative with your knitting means to you. Take your knitting to the next level. Let's keep the conversation going!

Catch me live at 12pm EST Fridays, on Facebook.com/PowerPurlsPodcast. To watch past broadcasts, you can find them in the video library on the Power Purls Facebook page.

Episode Highlights:

Kara talks about how to make more space and margin time for creativity
The inspiration for making FB live a podcast - my episode with Marly Bird
What does “creative” mean in knitting creatively?
Listen to my episode with Marly Bird and become inspired!
Kara talks about: How the indirect passion for sitting with knitting for hours on end has given me certain things in my life.
Can you take a chance with your knitting? Go without a pattern and see what comes?
Don't be afraid while attempting something.
Kara says: “Those magical mistakes are where the magic happens”.
Get crazy and try a new way! See what happens!
How different gauges of yarn can really be a creative feature
Feeling intuitive? Just jump in! Go with it! Try it!
Just keep going and “embrace those beautiful holes”.
Kara urges and encourages you to “go free, without a pattern and try it out”.
You can stand a chance to win a “swagbag” worth over $100 from Plymouth Yarn!
How you can support the show and get some sweet rewards and perks for as little as $1.

With special thanks to my Patreon supporters! Support Power Purls on Patreon! Check out the details here to learn ho

050 Marly Bird - Author, Spokesperson, Designer and YarnThing Podcaster Nov 25, 2016

Show notes

Marly Bird is bi-crafty - a knitter who also crochets! She has been podcasting about the craft since 2007! She is the national spokesperson for Red Heart Yarns and she’s the host of the YarnThing podcast. She’s an author and designer with a prominent YouTube channel as well! You can find her at craftsty.com and she has classes available at creativebug.com.

Marly had a respectable career in the financial services industry before her love of all things yarn took over her life and career. She was podcasting about it when everyone else was just blogging. She’s always been way ahead of her time, and she’s been able to create a knitting and crocheting empire that has been a resource to share her love of the craft in all forms of media. She’s got a special offer for Power Purls listeners today, so don’t miss out!

How she started podcasting in 2007 - Ask Jeeves to the rescue!
Her philosophy for sharing her guests with her audience and why she loves sharing the stories and connections
How she found her stride when there wasn’t an established format for a podcast
Is Craftsy killing the yarn store? She covered it in her early podcast.
Bridging the gap between social media and the podcast with Facebook live!
How a live show is different than a pre-recorded show
Why she transitioned from a pre-recorded show to a live show
The run down on having a live hosted podcast on Blog Talk Radio
Return to the rustic and real - could it be a trend?
Competing and cooperating in the world of yarn
Having a business built on podcasting - it isn’t easy
The juggling act of creating income from her knitting passion
Life lessons from knitting and crochet
Knitting bonds and lessons from Grandmothers - there could be some tears!
Build your support system the Jim Rohn way
Diversify your income in this industry. You can’t be just a designer!

Resources:

www.MarlyBird.com

www.redheart.com/my-first-with-marly-bird

www.blogtalkradio.com/yarnthing

Marly has a special discount for a limited time, in her Ravelry Store. She's giving our listeners a free pattern for using the Code POWERPURLS at checkout. Make your purchases by midnight on Dec. 2!

www.powerpurlspodcast.com/marly

049 Glitter Up! with Yarn Artisan Steven Berg & Halos of Hope Nov 11, 2016

Show notes

Steven Berg is a fiber artisan armed with a wealth of experience, daring sense of style, and a firm belief in the transformative power of creativity that knitting or crocheting offers to those brave enough to push the boundaries. Berg began his career early, furiously knitting lines of sequin dresses for a discerning clientele of Barbies in Wisconsin. This led him to become a star student in fashion design at Parsons and the Fashion Institute of Technology. Berg found inspiration in the beautiful, fashion capitals of the world as a VP of design at Perry Ellis. His creative work experiences brought him back to his favorite medium again, the one that always inspired him the most, the imaginative world of fiber arts. Steven reminds all fiber aficionados: “The possibilities are endless. There are no mistakes, only variations. And always remember to glam it up!"

Episode Highlights:

Halos of Hope - what it is and who it helps!
How Steven made enough money from knitting in high school to pay for college
What he created that became his calling card
Find out why he doesn’t use patterns
Why he’s focused on the journey - not the destination or perfection!
What the crazy hat contest has to do with Halos of Hope
How he tries to spice up everything he touches
What is the Steven Be Creative Community Foundation?
Knitting, crocheting, donating patterns and donations are all ways of helping Halos of Hope
Become a Mad Hatter to help fight cancer and celebrate “beauty beyond bald!”
Knitting cruises, a knitting tour and a reality show!
Why he wants the world to know how fun knitters are!

Resources:

Stitches: http://www.knittinguniverse.com/

www.halosofhope.org - Check out the “BEYOND” tab

048 Lena Skvagerson – Behind the Scenes with Annie’s Autumn Bliss Oct 28, 2016

Show notes

Lena Skvagerson is the lead designer and visionary behind Annie’s Signature Designs. Lena joined Annie’s in 2014, bringing with her over 25 years in the European design markets. We behind the scenes and what it was like creating the second seasonal Annie’s Signature Designs collection, Autumn Bliss.

Lena is a passionate designer and co-collaborator. Her energy for patterns, design and the whole creation process is contagious. She’s crazy enough to love each and every part of the process and this comes across in the finished product. Today we chat about all the fun we had working through the collection design process. We wanted to share our thoughts in this exclusive “behind the scenes” interview. You’re going to love this episode!

Episode Highlights:

Behind the scenes of designing a collection
What it’s like to continually multitask and change gears to pull it all together
The favorite part of the collection building process……it’s not as easy to choose as you think
Find out exactly what is in the Autumn Bliss collection is
Walk through the collection design planning and process - it’s really when the magic happens
Merchandising plays a big role in the collection design
So many people are involved in the design, production and the actual making of the collection. It’s a fun collaboration!
Designing “on the needles” is a great way to start, so eventually you can design on paper
Patterns are designed to fit a size medium model, but the collection covers up to 5 different sizes. The more sizes, the better the collection.
Pattern writing skills are worthy of spending time to develop - that really is the product!
Technical editors play an important role in pattern layout.
The Layout department is what makes everything pretty!
Technical editing and proof reading the patterns is so critical to the process.
The photo shoot is an amazing experience and it really is a blast!
We aren’t above stealing items from our daughter’s and friend’s wardrobes…..hopefully they aren’t listening!
A variety of models makes for a better presentation of the collection.
Find out what part of the process made Lena feel like “that crazy lady”!

Contest Info:

Search Annie’s Autumn Bliss on Pinterest https://www.pinterest.com/anniescatalog/annies-autumn-bliss-collection/?etslf=7622&eq=annies%20autumn%20bliss
Pin 5 favorites and hashtag #anniesautumnblisscollection and #powerpurlspodcast
Send email kara@powerpurlspodcast.com include 5 links to shares to be eligible (shares can be Pinterest, FB, Instagram, Twitter, etc.)
Name gets entered for a chance to win the Moonstone Poncho knitting pattern and yarn
The winner is contacted via a message through Pinterest
Contest ends midnight November 4

047 Dora Ohrenstein, Crochet Designer, Author and Crochet Insider Oct 14, 2016

Show notes

Dora Ohrenstein is a designer of fashion crochet, author of 6 books, and a writer specializing in crochet history and international traditions. Dora’s designs appears in all the major print and digital crochet publications. Given her avid interest in advancing the skills of the crochet community, she includes lots of in-depth technical information in all of her books. She also teaches crochet at Vogue Knitting Live, on Craftsy, and in yarn shops across the country.

Earlier in her life Dora was a well-known soprano who sang contemporary classical music, most notably as the solo voice of the Phillip Glass Ensemble, a position she held for 10 years. Nowadays in addition to her design career, she is a singing teacher at Wagner College in Staten Island. Dora is a born and raised New Yorker.

Being on the road as a musician gave Dora a love of travel, and today she engages in textile travel, which has brought her to many exotic locations, including the Balkans, Turkey, Uzbekistan, Tajikistan and the Ukraine. The experience has deepened her understanding of how crochet and knitting fit into the larger world of textiles.

Episode Highlights:

Failure is the best teacher and how that can help you learn crochet.
Find out how each learning style easily lends itself to learning crochet.
Crochet is easy enough to learn that you can learn complex patterns fairly quickly.
So many lessons are learned from failure and Dora shares some of the ones she learned when she was new to crochet.
At the end of the day, it’s just yarn!
The best designers and crocheters rip. Find out why it’s helpful!
Discipline cultivated in other creative endeavors can actually help hone your crochet skills.
If you’re going to be interested in crochet, you better learn to love the process because the outcomes are not going to be fast!
Have you ever heard crochet mentioned in a rap? Dora’s got a crochet rap for us!
There are beautiful parallels between Dora’s vocal performance skills and her carefully honed crochet skills, both creatively and mathematically. Who knew?
There’s something artistic and free about designing your own patterns.
The beauty of embracing those “magical mistakes” on the hook.
Learn why Dora finds her magic in the swatching.
Find out what caused Dora to pick the hook back up after years of not crocheting.
Dora has a “once in a lifetime” meeting (with crochet royalty) that ushers her right into the crochet “big leagues”.
Dora shares some really great insights into both the knitting and the crocheting industry, and also shares some of her wishes and hopes for the industry.
Dora talks about her new book, Top Down Crochet Sweaters, which has just been released. She’s also got a special giveaway for Power Purls listeners! Dora also has patterns for plus sizes too and she has some tips for the right fit. She knows that people aren’t standardized, so patterns can’t be standardized either!

Don't miss an opportunity to win a copy of Dora's new book, Top Down Crochet Sweaters at

046 Brooke Nico, Knitwear Designer, Author and Co-Owner of Kirkwood Knittery Sep 30, 2016

Show notes

Brooke Nico is the co-owner of Kirkwood Knittery, where she uses her eye for detail and fashion experience to keep her store ahead of trends in knitting. However, lace is where Brooke has really made her mark, and her talent has been recognized by Vogue Knitting, Knitters, and Debbie Bliss magazine. She has taught lace classes at VKLive, VKLive LA, and several Stitches (XRX) events. Brooke lives in Kirkwood, MO.

I think you have to keep the big picture in mind, so over the course of a year, I have a work/life balance. Today, I may feel guilty because I'm missing a soccer game. But next week I'll make the soccer game and have something else to do. I can't take each day as a snapshot. I have to look at the whole picture.

Episode Highlights:

03:50 Brooke and Kara discuss how they met.

05:00 Kara digs into Brooke's extensive knitting background.

06:40 Brooke talks about purchasing Knitting for Dummies as her intro to knitting.

08:45 Kara asks if Brooke took to knitting right away or if she was frustrated at first.

09:30 Brooke says to "Pick something that you will love" as a project.

11:16 Why lace? Does Brooke find it similar to Cablework?

12:30 What advice Brooke gives to intimidated newbies.

15:10 Designing and authoring books vs. opening Kirkwood Knittery.

17:30 Brooke's work/life balance mindset.

19:20 How knitting "chose" Brooke.

22:00 What advice would Brooke give her future self?

24:47 Is Brooke afraid of losing her passion for knitting?

26:35 What's the best piece of advice she's ever been given?

Resources:

Brooke Nico designs at Ravelry

Kirkwood Knittery

Kirkwood Knitter Twitter

Brooke Nico on Twitter @bdnico

Brooke Nico on facebook

Knitting for Dummies

045 Meet Crochet Expert and Designer Robyn Chachula Sep 24, 2016

Show notes

Robyn Chachula is the author of Vintage Modern Crochet, Blueprint Crochet Sweaters, Unexpected Afghans, and Crochet Stitches Visual Encyclopedia. Her work has also been featured in many popular crochet publications such as Crochet! and Vogue Crochet. Robyn is also a contributing crochet designer in Annie's Autumn Bliss, a stunning collection of 40+ knitting and crochet patterns and is one of the crochet experts on the Annie's PBS television show Knit and Crochet Now!. She is also a crochet instructor for Annie’s Online Classes.

Episode highlights:

03:10 Robyn shares her excitement for crochet and other types of crafting.
04:09 Robyn tells about her positivity while working on Knit and Crochet Now!
04:44 Robyn describes when crochet entered her life.
06:41 When to decide to turn crochet design into a business
10:04 Robyn discusses the TV show, Knit and Crochet Now!
11:48 Robyn shares her viewpoint on rejections.
13:26 Finding the balance between your day job and creating a business
16:07 Robyn elaborates on how she became involved with Knit and Crochet Now!
30:12 Robyn describes her biggest challenge as a designer and business owner.
32:05 Annie’s Autumn Bliss Collection
36:03 Robyn describes her online teaching style.

Receive a 20% discount on any of Robyn’s Annie’s Online Crochet Video Classes with coupon code: 20offrc. Click here to learn more!

044: Power Purls Unplugged: You Asked, I'm Answering! How To Start a Knit Design Biz & Find Work/Life Balance Sep 02, 2016

Show notes

Welcome to Power Purls Unplugged! You asked, I'm answering! If you signed up for the Power Purls Podcast newsletter, you know that I asked you this question: What kind of podcast topics appeal to you most? 65% of you want lifestyle stories and 63% want to know about the business side of design. So I spent some time digging into your comments and questions and today I'll be answering them here and then turning the tables and asking you -- What kinds of topics appeal to you most as a Power Purls listener and what do you want more of? Catch me live at 12pm EST Fridays, on Facebook.com/PowerPurlsPodcast. To watch past broadcasts, you can find them in the video library on the Power Purls Facebook page.

Episode highlights:

Kara answers one of the biggest questions: How do I start a knit design business?
Kara says: Just start! -- let your passion drive you.
Put yourself out there with just one idea and get started.
Don't put a dollar sign on your passion!
How you can sign up for my newsletter and get my free designing guide.
Why it's important to tell YOUR story
We don't need another pattern, so what is it that makes you different?
Listen to my episode with Vickie Howell who is a great example of how you are your brand.
Don't give your patterns away for free as your main business model.
How to work with magazine like Creative Knitting -- and use the guidelines to help develop your skills.
Join Facebook Groups like The Fiber Boss Collective to learn the biz and network with other designers.
Get scrappy and use mainstream models to grow your design business.
The myth of work/life balance- it's more about knowing when to make the right choices at the right time.

Support Power Purls on Patreon! Check out the details here to learn how to become a patron of the show... there are some

043 Barb Demorest of Knitted Knockers: How a Simple Gift of Comfort and Dignity Changed Her Life Aug 29, 2016

Show notes

Barb Demorest is a wife, mother, grandmother and casual knitter residing in Bellingham, Washington. She recently retired from her 30 year career as a CPA and owner of a tax practice in order to pursue her passion of connecting volunteer knitters and crocheters with breast cancer survivors to provide free knitted knockers to those that can use them. Her purpose and passion is now to inspire and equip the wonderful, caring, fiber arts community to provide these gifts of love to their fellow women in their own communities. She no longer gets paid in dollars for her work but the rewards are priceless.

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