The Quiet Shifts Shaping Maker Businesses

Welcome to Make Good Things Happen, a podcast for Makers in Business, presented to
you by Angela D’Alton and Renee Baker.

which is our segment reserved for all things e -commerce and social media.
The latest news is that the ban on certain social media platforms for under 16s is
now in effect in Australia, which means platforms such as Instagram,
YouTube, Facebook, Reddit, TikTok, all of those sorts of things. There’s a few others
in there are now age restricted. That was a decision.
people realise they weren’t the only person that was into, you know, crocheting
groaning squares, for example, things like that. I think it allowed them to find
communities of like -minded people. And I think that’s the concern I have, is that
it may mean that we are further isolating people who are already feeling a sense of
remoteness in some way. I’m just going to say, that’s where community leadership is
also so important and like the return of the small groups. I know obviously,
like you say, it does
applications or platforms that they’ve banned in particular, the controversial one in
my opinion is not banning Roblox because I haven’t heard anything good about that
platform in particular when it comes to predatory behaviour and the use of that
particular platform with children. I think it’ll be very interesting to see how this
pans out and whether we suddenly see a lot of kids using WhatsApp or Pinterest as
someone who grew up without the internet at all. I find it really hard to
understand how this could be difficult, but I imagine it would be. I think it’d be
very, I think it’d be very hard for kids who’ve grown up on these platforms as a
means to connect them to their friends, first and foremost. I guess it’s like taking
the phone away. Yeah. And I mean by an actual phone, not a smartphone. The 14 year
olds, the 14, 15 year olds.
your products and build campaigns that are cleverly geared towards convincing or
influencing or influencing the parents as opposed to the children. It’s funny you say
that actually because a friend of mine reminded me that she doesn’t have an
Instagram account, like a login or anything, no, no app, no way of using it. My
response to her was, how do you get advertised to? It just made me laugh. No, but
it did make me think, oh, yeah, like, oh my gosh, that’s actually how I see. I
actually see Instagram. I’m just going to jump on and get some ads so I can find
some things. It’s weird. When you compare how we used to interact with these
platforms and how they were very much about communicating to friends and updating
your friends and how literally it’s barely visible what your friends are doing on
those forms anymore. Well, no one’s posting. No one’s posting because everyone’s
ingesting, consuming. And so it’s wild how different it is now.
And unfortunately, I don’t think it’s for the better. But remember, if something’s
free, you’re the product. Yeah. Speaking of advertising, though,
and promoting, we have actually put together our holiday gift guide, which is live
on the Make Good Things Happen blog, makegoodthings happen .com.au. And we’ve
selected some products that we just actually really like or have recently purchased
ourselves and put them in a guide on the blog. So if that’s something that you’re
looking for some very last minute gift ideas, or if you’re just looking to do a
bit of shopping for yourself, that’s never a bad thing. I encourage you to check
that out or have a look on our Instagram as well because it’s being shared around
there too. So there’s some definite goodies there to be found. Oh yeah. It’s a
cracker. The other thing that is worth noting when it comes to shopping is it’s my
favorite time of the year, which means it’s time to buy a diary for the next year
and start writing in those blank pages of all the plans that I’ve got for 2026.
So in line with that, We will also be posting our extremely popular diaries and
calendars round up over the coming week. Week commencing Monday the 15th of December,
you will start seeing those on our Instagram feed. And of course, as Renee mentioned
earlier, that will be on the blog as well. But don’t forget, if you are still
doing some Christmas shopping, you can still use the Australian Maker’s Directory to
find interesting local, ethical, sustainable bits and pieces from the Australian
in terms of like pace and enjoyment and just not annoying for the parents. So side
note on that. But I have been listening to a few, apart from make good things
happen. Two of them are very, yeah, I do actually listen. I know. I love it.
Well, I’m not listening to it as in fine detail as you are in the editing suite.
Yeah. Yeah. So I can probably afford to listen to it a few more But I have for
those, and this is, I guess, somewhat niche, I have been listening to two parenting
slash mother.
to makers in business. This is any working mum. If that’s something that you’re
interested in, there’s longer format episodes, but also shorter format ones with just
like a Q &A style. So it’s an interesting podcast worth checking out if that’s in
your category. And the other parenting -based podcast that I’ve been listening to is
called Beyond the Bump. Again, probably only listen to a handful of episodes, but
follow them more on social media, which is maybe a bit of a tip for us as well
in terms of how we distribute our content across social, but that is hosted by
Sophie Pierce and Jade Cudwell. And it’s even more banter -based,
I would say, than the ready or not one, because it covers more of a broad spectrum
of motherhood and parenting. It’s a little bit more, well, I wouldn’t say it’s
lighter necessarily because there’s still heavier conversations, but it’s very authentic
and it’s just yet another one just to feel like you’ve got some friends in your
ear if you need it. Another one I’ve listened to,
years, no way. But more recently, I believe, wrote as well as starred in a film
called Babes. Yeah, so Alana, who is that actor, has created this podcast and it’s
so far, so good. Again, another convent, well, it’s actually her own podcast, but
she has guests. The episode I listened to was she had a guest, Michelle Boutot, and
so again, it was another very friendly conversation -based episode that as, wow, what
do you know, motherhood working, feminism and all the bits in between.
So I’ve certainly got a bit of a theme going there, but it’s nice to sort of have
some recommendations for podcasts if you’re looking for some, especially if you hear,
you probably like listening to them. So if you do check any of those out, let me
know I’d love to hear what you think.
In making news this week, we saw the glitz and glamour of
of the hero exhibition that the NGV have planned for the summer.
This year, it’s the Westwood Kawakubo exhibition featuring as the opening at the
gala. We saw luminaries attending, lots of people in very fancy clothing in the
style of Vivian Westwood or Rei Kawakubo or indeed outfits designed by them. Ray
Kawakubo, you may or may not know, was the head designer at Commes de Garçon.
That exhibition is now open if you’re interested and around in Melbourne strongly
suggest you get to it. I saw photos from the exhibition and it looks absolutely
spectacular and I personally can’t wait to get in there. There’s also the Friday
nights at the gallery that they’re hosting as they always do and many other
educational sessions that they have alongside that. So if you’ve got an interest in
fashion design, anything like that, I strongly suggest you get along and have a look
at what
has been for this particular one. Cloud dancer,
which is white.
Not only is it not a colour, it’s the absence of colour. Yeah, it’s wild. I guess
that’s where I started to wonder, hang on, are they having us on? Yeah, I think it
was last year beige, a beige colour. I forget now, see, I’m probably not as across
it as I should be. From memory, the colour from 2025 was like, was a brown and
understandably met with
but I don’t know how you do that with white. I actually feel like it’s the
opposite. I feel like we’ve had the white and now we’re moving into more colour.
But I don’t know. The other news we saw during this last week was that Pinterest
have released their predictions based on what they’re seeing happening on the platform
in 2026, in terms of trends, what they’re expecting to see more of in the coming
months. one of the things that
but I think the most interesting thing that I’m seeing about the Pinterest prediction
is that they’re seeing a massive increase in searches for brooches for men’s suits
and maximalist accessories. So I think that’s a very interesting thing for our
community to note that we might be looking at millennial men and younger men
choosing to adorn themselves.
more interesting to me than Panto and colour. So thank you for bringing that to my
attention. And I’ll make sure that the Pinterest trend report is linked in our show
notes so that you can look into that more because there is a great deal. There’s
21 trends all in all. And they are very interesting. And as a maker in business,
you can use this data when you are developing your products or considering what it
is that you’ll start creating perhaps over January. Fantastic. Speaking of January,
we haven’t used our Now’s a good time for segment for a few episodes.
And so we wanted to draw your attention to our Making Pathways blog,
which is on the Make Good Things Happen website. So on Making Pathways on our blog,
we have a post that is talking to you about how to plan your post -holiday sales
without selling yourself short. We wanted to bring this into this episode because one
of the things that we’ve noticed in, well, almost 10 years now of working one -on
-one with makers is that they sort of ride the high, if you like, or in some cases
highs and lows of November, December, get sort of invigorated with the momentum And
I can see that there’s sort of some opportunity there through selling products at
markets and feeling the success of having that, you know, feedback loop and so
forth. But of course, in our country, in Australia, we very much have a big
shutdown over end of December, January, almost for the whole month of January, where
not a lot actually goes on. Like, it’s very common for businesses to almost just
take a whole month off. And so for self -initiated maker -led businesses,
it can be really hard to find the motivation to actually keep using the momentum
that you’ve built in November and December to keep going and to plan the year
ahead. But it is actually the time to do that work. And I know, I mean, you’ve
touched on it already feeling like you’re rolling to the finish line of end of
December and we do all need a break. There’s no denying it. but it is still really
sensible to be having some.
and the joy that your family are experiencing in those summers, when you consider
that, especially if you’re a parent, summers are often a very formative time of
connection with your family and your children because you’re all relaxed and you’re
all enjoying yourselves and there’s less pressure on everyone. So it’s kind of a
time to feel a little bit freer and less under the pump for a lot of reasons.
You know, the holiday period in general, we take a lot of pressure off. The whole
community seems to just be very relaxed about everything in January in Australia.
It is important to think wisely also about using the time, even if it’s only
mentally, to start thinking about what your year will look like.
And sometimes it’s easier to do that while you’re relaxing in my experience. You
might choose to have a summer sale. You might choose to make sure that you’ve
cleared out the shelves of your studio ahead of the new products that you’re going
to be developing in 2026. You might decide to reward your loyal VIP customers with
a special sale for them. or maybe it’s just about thinking about what you’re going
to be doing in 2026. Is there a market that you’ve always wanted to get into? Is
it that you want to host your own exhibition or you’re considering a pop -up shop
or anything along those lines, it’s a really nice opportunity to brainstorm? The key
thing that I think is important to remember is to make sure that you secure the
funding that you need for any big costs that you might have in those first few
months or at least.
you had forecast or as you needed them to be, maybe consider having another little
summer sale. It doesn’t have to be a frenzied Black Friday style. It can be as
simple as highlighting a best -selling product and making it a special offer for a
short amount of time. Do what works for you. That post we will also link to
because it can take you through some more practical steps in detail if you are
looking for something to do work -wise now, apart from the rest that, like we said,
we do strongly encourage. And while you’re there, you can also have a look at the
making pathways. We’ve actually been posting those all year. You could start to look
at some of the ones that we’d posted earlier last year and see if there’s some
things that you might like to start working on as well. So we just wanted to give
you that little nudge if you need it, take what you
This week I
Basel, Switzerland. And it’s an indoor venue of a unique style in that everyone sort
of sits around tables and there’s candlelight, and it’s very intimate in terms of
the setting. It’s incredibly exclusive. And I can imagine, given its location,
it would be an expensive outing for anyone who wanted to attend. The reason I loved
this one in particular was it was Queens of the Stone Age, who have been touring
recently with two different sets, conclusive.
another final set, which is, I guess, much more of a traditional set of theirs. But
they did songs that they haven’t performed live in a really long time. They did a
them crooked vulture song, one of Josh Hommes Spinning in Daffodils. I mean, it’s
an hour and a half plus of just sheer musicianship. I think that anyone who
appreciates live music would appreciate this particular concert. And I’m going to make
sure that link is obviously available in the show notes and if anyone’s seen it or
if anyone is interested in it i would love to know what you think of it as well
it’s definitely not a set of their top hits if you like although many of the songs
you will know on the actual concert there’s medleys and there’s rearrangements and
it’s it’s big and it’s large and it’s incredibly dramatic as you can imagine it’s
about an hour and a half two hours of ad free youtube in broadcast quality i
thoroughly recommend it and if you have time to kick back and enjoy a drink of
something while you want to listen to some amazing musicians then check that out
sounds like what i’ll be putting on on Christmas day
just you know hanging out about at home just have the TV streaming that.
Before we wrap up for this episode, next episode will be the season finale for
season two and our last episode of 2025. Wow. And Renee and I are going to cover
up some of the things that we achieve together and individually for the final
episode and we’re really looking forward to doing that. Stay safe. Take care and We
will talk to you again very soon. Thanks for listening. 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 .aU. This has
been a D’Alton Baker production.

Transcripts are automatically generated and therefore accuracy cannot be guaranteed.