Reflect and Celebrate: Taking Our Own Advice

Welcome to Make Good Things Happen, a podcast for Makers in Business, presented to
you by Angela D’Alton and Renee Baker.
Welcome to Make Good Things Happen, Season 2, Episode 8, and a finale for this
season. How are you, Renee? I’m good. I’m ready for the season finale.
Finale. Boom. This episode, we’re not going to cover any of our traditional segments.
I know. What we’re going to do this episode is do what we preach to others that
they should do and finally actually do it ourselves. And that is take a moment to
reflect on what we’ve achieved during the last 12 months in our professional lives.
Yeah, just take a moment to celebrate it as well because there’s been actually quite
a lot. I was making this list and thinking, oh, oh yeah, oh yeah. I think you had
the same reaction. Yeah, I did actually. Well, and that’s the benefit of it. That’s
like you say why we do it because we’re in such a fast paced, sorry to be cliche
world where we’re just moving on to the next thing constantly and often the winds
just fly on past because we’re already stressing about something else. But it’s so
helpful to actually look back and see what you’ve done because it reminds you as to
why you’re so exhausted.
That is definitely one effect it has. But the other is that you do realise you’ve
achieved quite a bit. And I think the one thing that both Renee and I are really
proud of getting started this year is this actual podcast. We’ve talked about
starting Thank you.
for that. And we’ve had, you know, nearly 20 years of blogging and content
experience and we kind of thought, oh, how hard can it be? As you can share,
there’s actually a lot involved because, you know, to the point that you actually
did an entire course through Pod School with Rachel Corbett, because it wasn’t
something that you could really just Google and find out. No, or if I did, it
wouldn’t have been anywhere near as effective in getting us off the ground and
getting started. I think the lessons that Rachel provides through that pod school are
so grounded in practicality and reality and just practice,
like getting into it and doing it. And I think I really related to that. That’s
the kind of training I think that you and I provide when we’re doing make good
things happen content. And I got the same vibe from her. Here’s how you do it and
don’t muck around and it was very matter of fact and I really connected to that
style but also that’s exactly what I needed. I needed someone to give me the
reality of it all not to sell me a course so they can make money and then I’m no
no further down the track in terms of the skills or expertise that I might have
gained. I got proper skills from doing this course in podcasting and huge credit to
that whole course and Rachel, of course, herself.
There is pretty much everything you would need to know she’s created a lesson for,
but it’s also done in a very structured way that makes it very easy to follow. And
obviously, because here we are. Big thanks to Rachel Corbett. Yeah, getting the
podcast started, I think the thing that people don’t realise is how long it takes,
but how many steps are involved in, as you say, getting it from the microphone to
Spotify or Apple Podcasts. And thankfully, I have a technical mind.
experts that are listening and I appreciate that you are still listening because I
know that there’s mistakes and I’m still learning. But it’s been so much fun. I’ve
really, I don’t know about you, but I really enjoy podcasting and I really enjoy
knowing that there’s people listening. I think about the number of downloads that
we’ve had so far and I think about what that many people would look like in a
room and I’m really chuffed. Yeah, likewise. And yeah,
especially watching the process of you in particular learning a new skill because
I’ve been working with you for, yeah, I said 20 years already. And a lot of the
stuff that we’ve been doing in that time has been from our already established skill
set. I mean, of course, we’ve learned things and we’ve improved and we’ve grown on
what we could already do. But to actually embark on something quite different has
been very awesome and yeah like you say like we had to do it and we did and that
feeling of yeah having your leadership through that has been very motivating and very
exciting for me to be part of so oh that’s nice thank you it was a highlight for
me getting the opportunity to interview moragmias cough obviously but also just doing
our other little bonus series which coincidentally was about another big achievement
for me, Craft Lab, 25, where I was project managing and curating that. And I’m not
going to go into too much detail because we do have that bonus series where I do
go into detail. So if you want to know the nuts and balls about Craft Lab, sit
down and enjoy those three episodes that are the bonus episodes about Craft Lab that
we’ve done already. Yeah, I mean, it was a big deal for me. It is one of the
highlights of my year. I wouldn’t be able to look back on 2025 without mentioning
it. You know, the deep listening project that we did with Jenna Oldaker and Amelia,
curating that central exhibition, working with people on the display and the way it
all looked. The great takeaway, making sure that all happened and commissioning the
crafters. And of course, all the practitioners, if I didn’t mention it, it would be
weird. It will go down in my career as one of the highlights overall as well as
obviously a highlight of 2025. Yeah, absolutely, because it’s like, it’s a, it’s like
a pivotal moment. Yeah, is I guess what I’m saying. I feel like in those bonus
episodes, I did mention that if anyone wanted to get involved in craft lab in 26
or get along to it, I do make mention to that. So it’s probably worth just a
quick update as to what’s happening in 2026 as well, just because it’s slightly
different. It is. It’s now going to be, it’s morphing into something new.
So it is now going to be
it’s kind of evolved into Ballarat Craft and Design Week. And gratefully, again,
I’ve been given a role in that festival where I’m going to be providing the
professional development program to the cohort of practitioners who have all been
chosen because they’re working on a specific collaboration. And we’ve already started
that. If you are keen to check out what will no doubt be spectacular. Please head
to Ballarat in early May and it will now go for 10 four days from the first to
the 10th of May at the Ballarat Mining Exchange and follow Creative City Ballarat on
socials if you want to learn more about that, but also more about what they do in
this town which is a lot. So much. So much. It’s awesome. Yeah,
it’s so great to see. Looking forward to it and yeah, we’ll keep you updated on
the pod as well about how that unfolds, No doubt.
sit down and have a conversation about, you know, are we going to have another year
of business? Are we going to keep going with this? Because that’s one of those
things that, again, we talk about with our mentees and our members, but it’s trying
to walk that walk ourselves, is that in order to grow your business, you do have
to invest in marketing dollars. But it’s always one of those difficult decisions to
make because it’s not like buying a new computer or buying a new microphone where
you actually see the benefit immediately. It’s something that you have
months. Predominantly, I guess we were looking at the print issue as kind of like
the base and a means of moving away from that digital advertising because I’m sure
you’ll all agree that putting money into meta ads or Google ads can be tricky.
You only have to listen to our previous episode about the Google Ads nightmare every
maker needs to know about to understand that. You and I I’ve experimented with ads
in the past digitally and have had, well, hit and miss results, I would say. But
the one thing that we have learned is that you really do need to spend thousands
and thousands of dollars before you really get anywhere. And that’s a lot of money
to give to anyone, really, but in particular to give to a big,
huge corporation who we kind of don’t have a lot of trust with. We use every day,
but we struggle with that, I think, morally and ethically. Yeah, morally and
ethically, it is crossing a line between, I feel, using the platform to paying the
platform. I probably will still do it again in the future if I need to. It’s not
that I’m swearing off it altogether, but it just didn’t feel right for us at the
time. In our early discussions, it was very much about, yes, returning to our roots,
but also again, trying to display an element of community leadership and encouragement
by supporting another small ethical, sustainable business in the process of doing this
thing. So yes, it is directly with a lot of our target market.
So of course, it makes sense. They are another pillar of a community that we share
an audience with. And I think it felt better to be giving, you know,
like you say, anyone, a lot of money, but choosing the person that you give that
lot of money to. I guess what we were doing was being as considered about that
purchase as we should, rather than feeling like we could just throw the money at
the problem digitally in a system that has never really returned the level of
investment that we would hope. I mean, we both felt if we’re going to give someone
the money, it should be someone we support. It should be someone we care about. So
peppermint magazine was a no -brainer, not to mention the fact that, you know, you
were on issue five. And Leeloo used to be the only store that you could buy
peppermint magazine through online. Leeloo stocked peppermint from issue two. Issue one
was actually free.
And we’ve also continued doing our social campaign. So yes, there has been absolutely
an element of digital. But like you say, it’s sort of going through the channels
that we feel better about. And yeah, we absolutely loved working with peppermint this
year. So shout out to Mandy and also Kelley for their incredible support and the
rest of the team as well. I’m sure we’re working on that. And I just think,
spoiler alert, I suppose, I don’t know, but absolutely worth it for us where you
couldn’t be happier with how that went. And I think that’s just if you are sort of
considering something like that yourself, maybe you’re contemplating what your next big
marketing spend is or small marketing spend is worth considering. We feel really good
about how that worked out. And I feel like you say, because we sort of had that
consideration and thought about it from all of those different angles, not just about
the return on investment on that really kind of dry way because as you know, like
community is so important to us and that in of itself is something that we measure
as a marker of success, like how we reach the community and how we worked with our
community. So thank you. Thank you to all of you from both of us at Peppermint
Magazine. We look forward to working with you again.
Of course, one of the things we did work with peppermint magazine on this year was
also our Made Right Here campaign, which we launched through the Australian Makers
Directory. And I think, I don’t know if we would have done it if we didn’t have
the peppermint partnership. And I think that’s the thing too. When you do invest in
these things in the right way, they kind of give you a little bit of additional
motivation to do other things to make the most of those campaigns because you’ve got
deliverables and deadlines that need to be met and you want to make the most of
those investments. This is the benefit of working with.
a result. So from our perspective, it was incredibly successful. What we are looking
forward to is now that we understand that there is what we would call proof of
concept, and that is that there is an appetite for this event, we will invest more
time and effort into it next year. This is the benefit of having, I guess, two
people in a team, but also being a small business, is you can quickly run these
little tests on things that you want to do in the future and see if they work.
And it definitely worked. There was a hugely positive response that we received from
the campaign. I look forward to making that even bigger next year. Yeah, me too. It
was really nice. It gave me some of those feelings that I had in like five years
ago, maybe pre -COVID even when I would get sort of stuck into a campaign and get
the traction and the momentum and sort of see it all unfolding. And like you say,
we did it sort of on the kind of more low key end. That’s the best thing to do
because then you have a benchmark that you can then step above for next time. So
yeah, I thought it was great. And yeah, really, really proud of that. And if you
haven’t already, check out the Australian Makers Directory. There’s always makers on
there that you can shop from at any time. Really, the campaign was just about
creating some noise through a really noisy period of marketing where there’s lots of
aggressive sales and
We have a very limited client base because we have a conversation beforehand and
make sure that we are all happy to work together because working on a website is
actually a huge project and a massive undertaking. So we don’t do lots of them in
a year and we want to make sure that we’re always working with the bright people
when we do. And so this year we had two websites launch, which one actually feels
like a long time ago now. And that was Michelle Lewarton.
our work and our projects from the podcast to events like Made Right Here and other
things that we’ve done previously as well. So thank you to Michelle for that
support. Michelle, yeah, is an illustrator who has been slowly building up her
practice and also her portfolio and was ready for a website to promote her
freelancing services. So for example, commissioning illustrations, working with clients,
that sort of thing. It was also seeking an online shop to sell her creations. So
artwork, prints, sculptures, that sort of thing. It was a really nice moment when
Michelle came to us and was ready for a website because we mentored her to that
point. Obviously, she did a lot of the work herself to get there. But to be able
to then take that next step with her was, yeah, I think we all felt really, really
proud about it. I mean, to be fair, I think the site was built mostly in 2024.
But I believe, and yeah, I’m sorry, I don’t have the exact date.
yes this looks good i like this website so it’s always nice when i come back to a
site that we’ve had in the in the world and still feel that positive reaction to
it so hopefully that’s how people feel when they look at the site as well and
michelle too so make sure you check that out i’m not going to risk a URL so we’ll
put a link in the show notes for that and then i guess we had like a similar
moment with Ruby Pilven who you met through working and living in Ballarat through
the connections that you’ve been making down.
he was having with someone that we know locally in our community. And I said, how
come you’re just such a natural at that small talk style of conversation? I just
don’t know how to think of what to say. And he said, yeah, you don’t, but you’re
very good on text. Because I’ve got time to actually type what I want to say.
In the real life, I get a bit fumbled. But yes, I think that’s because all of my
conversations from about 10 years old were taking place in the written form. Like
our relationship, yours and mine, was pretty much forged on lots of little messages
backwards and forwards because we used to speak on all of the different platforms,
and that’s how we met online. And so I think that the fact that websites are now
our craft kind of makes sense when you look at both of us and even how our
relationship started, but it is still something that I think probably something both
of us is still very passionate about as well, is good user experience, you know,
accessible visual communication and an enjoyable and attractive experience for everybody
that works towards the goals for that particular business asset to make it worthwhile
designing. And between the two of us, we have a pretty good eye for detail but we
also know a lot about online shopping yeah that is true I actually had a Gruen
light this week and knew that we weren’t doing our usual segments but I still am
going to mention it now because you’ve just reminded me of it but I bought some
baby wipes actually in store this week and it was the brand that I’ve been buying
for the last two and a half years and I know that they stocked them in
supermarkets and so I went in the supermarket and it’s kind of like you’re on a
high stakes mission when you’re in a supermarket with a two year old because you
just don’t have time to muck around you’ve got to just get what you’re there for
was looking for this particular brand of wipes and couldn’t find them at my like
quick glance and then realised that they’d change the packaging and I grabbed them
and I thought oh you know what I bet you they’ve changed the formula of these
wipes. Maybe they’ve been bought by a big company or something’s happened and they’re
just not going to be as good anymore. And because I’ve researched them extensively
in the first place, that’s why I landed on these. Grabbed them anyway, got home.
And I thought, I’m just going to do a quick Google just to see if there’s any
information about this. Anyway, lo and behold, an entire landing page dedicated to
why has our packaging changed of our wipes beautifully communicated, all of these
like expandable FAQs.
whatever. The wipes themselves feel a bit thinner, but I’m not concerned about that.
In fact, I’m happier about that because I don’t like using disposable wipes anyway.
These are fully compostable ones. And they come out of the packet easier and
generally speaking, they’re just better. And they actually said the reason that we
changed the outside of the packaging was not only to highlight our new and improved
features, but also so they’re easier for you to find because it’s now like this
bright blue color wow i just thought that was worth mentioning because it was like
it totally is there’s so much about that to digest that is just good business
decisions first of all you still found them like you think about that very beginning
of your journey you still found them they didn’t lose you as a customer at that
very first potential moment of friction and then what it did was put you into their
journey to communicate to you what was going on. They got to give you all the
information that they wanted to give you purely because they changed the packaging
and called your attention to that, highlighted the information online.
Oh, it’s, I’m gobsmacked. There’s so many good things about it. Every step,
I think, in that process is the result of a really good choice. You know, first of
all, deciding to do it all this way. And that is, I think, similar to what you’re
saying before, when you’re going to invest in your business, do it properly. Yeah.
Yeah, that’s right. This is a prime example of that where they’ve gone, we want to
change this. And it probably, let’s face it, costs them more to manufacture here.
Yeah. So they’re doubling down on their values, but they’re also reinvesting in a
marketing campaign that is so clever. But also,
I’m really proud of starting the panel discussions, and I’m not going to go into
too much detail because I have, again, talked about this already on the podcast, but
because of the Ballarat community of creative people, when I landed here,
I was immediately taken by not only how rich and diverse and strong the creative
community is here, but how much they all support one another in their efforts. It
is such a supportive community, it still continues to this day to impress me. One
of the ideas that I had, and I think you mentioned this, was that I did want to
maybe look at having panel discussions here because there’s just so many people to
talk to, but also so much to learn and for the community to learn. So now that
I’ve had to, and I’m going to have more in 2026, the next one’s in March. Stay
tuned. I do have a long -term plan to keep doing those. I do need people to buy
tickets and come along, but it is, again, a really nice way for us to reconnect
with our community. Or just to get off your phone, I liked that one. I mean, I
have a long -term goal to come to one too because I haven’t been to one yet, but
I definitely plan to next year. And I just loved that idea of just being able to
be in a room and to have a bit of a chat and to sort of offer a bit more as
well. Like you obviously had the panel discussion, but there was conversation. you
created opportunity for conversation.
it was really cool to work on a new campaign to be able to get our landing page
set up. We actually sold tickets through Humanitix, I think is how you say it,
which was another new system to learn. Mind you, not very difficult because it was
so easy. So highly recommend that ticketing platform if you’re ever in the market to
design something new on the website. And we actually came up with a bit of a
system for our marketing campaign and our templates for our marketing assets and
collaborating in that as well. And we found a bit of a flow that we,
there’s a lot of things now that we are almost 10 years in business are starting
to feel a bit more certain and people might think that’s a long time and yeah
probably sounds like that but to me it doesn’t seem like a long time that’s for
sure this is the difference between doing fast burnout style business and doing chip
away keep going slow but steady sustainable business and one that allows both of us
to manage our own lives and our own commitments and our own responsibilities we’re
very proud of where we’re at and we’re looking forward to our next year which in
2026 we will be back with a season three we’ll have more crafting conversations
we’ll do made right here again and yes season three of the podcast and I know we
did say we would interview more people in season two and we
We’ve had some good feedback, so thank you. It will continue to take any thoughts
and feedback on the sound or otherwise. Absolutely. I am learning and I am more
than happy to hear feedback from people who do this or who listen to this and want
to help me improve or help us improve. I’m always open to that. Having said all of
that, of course, this, as Renee pointed out, takes a lot of time. And if you are
compelled to provide us with support, maybe through.
I’ve got bite -sized videos. A lot of that are things that we reference and point
to in our Making Pathways content series, which is a weekly focus for you as a
maker in business. So, for example, if it’s February and you’re wondering what you
should be working on in your business, we have a post each week of that month that
will say, now is a good time for organizing a wholesale order form for your next
in -person trade show. So that’s all stuff that’s available to members and again for
that same price. As we do every year, we will be reimagining that membership in
2026 as well to make sure that it’s serving our members in the best way possible.
We’ll make sure links are available to all of that. And before we go, thank you to
Angela for getting us to our final episode of the year, which is both surreal and
also a little bit exciting to have just a brief break, but I’m looking forward to
getting back into it next year. I am too, and thank you to you too. I know it’s
not easy to do these things in the evening hours after you’ve had to put a toddler
to bed. Anyone knows who’s had a two -year -old, what a nightmare it is. And so as
much as we all adore that child. It’s not easy. Yeah, I wanted to just point out
that, yeah, Renee’s been doing that this year as well. On top of all of the work
that we’ve done, Renee’s also been a mum to a boisterous, thriving,
rambunctious toddler, who is heaps of fun and has a lot of energy. So that’s all
been going on as well. It would be remiss of me to not recognise that as an
achievement of yours as well, to have to try and work and mother.
And I know a lot of people do it, but that doesn’t mean it’s easy. And so, yeah,
I just wanted to give you a thank you from me for continuing to show up, even
though that’s also what’s going on in the background. I’m not sure when we’ll be
back. You can follow us on socials if you want to find out more or sign up to
our newsletter, make goodthingshappen .com .au. If you want to be first to know
anything that’s happening, have a safe and happy holiday, get some relaxation in.
We’ll be back soon. Thanks, folks. Thank you. Bye. Thanks for listening to Make Good
Things Happen. If you enjoyed this episode, why not write a review or share it with
a friend. For show notes and more, head to mgth .com .com. This has been a D’Alton Baker Production.

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