5% of employees in the US are millionaires.. and 88% of millionaires are business owners. Success leaves clues, wouldn't you say?

This summer, my primary business, Music City Sewing, will turn eight. Eight years of running a small service-based sewing business that on the surface looks super shiny & glittery, peppered with Getty images and exciting opportunities, but when it comes down to it, it’s a blue collar business. It’s alterations, it’s softgoods and merch… it’s just your typical business on Main Street.

But it's changed my life, in a way that I could only pray more people get to experience if they have an idea that's bursting at the seams. 

Interested in reading up about the Six-Figure Sewing Pattern? Head to sixfiguresewing.com.

Interested in learning from Krystal? Hop on the mailing list on krystaldouglas.com.

Money is the scoreboard for the impact you get to have in the world as a business owner. 

You know what a red flag looks like in dating, but can you spot the ones that go up in MOST small sewing businesses? I'm bringing you five red flags, five ways sewing businesses waste money.

I'm speaking to myself this week, as someone who's made every mistake in the book! Tune in!

Get 50% off your first year using my favorite email marketing platform, flodesk by heading to krystaldouglas.com/flodesk.

Interested in learning from Krystal? Hop on the mailing list on krystaldouglas.com.

Broke and anxious??

Running a sale is always the way to go to solve your problems, right? 

Eeeesh.. How exactly do you plan to make more money at your craft by charging less? I don't believe in regularly running sales on products or services you don't plan to sunset - for these eight reasons. And because it's not enough to tell you why running sales all the time is bankrupting your brand, I also give you five ways to incentivize sales instead of simply slashing prices. Let's go!

Artful Agenda promo code: RK405225

Interested in learning from Krystal? Hop on the mailing list on krystaldouglas.com.

Have you ever wondered exactly what's in the clothes you make to sell, or how you could potentially clean up the amount of synthetic dyes and chemicals your customers may be buying?

Just because a product is handmade, doesn't mean it's skipped out on containing chemicals that are scientifically-proven to affect our bodies as makers, and inevitably, your end customers.

Today's guest is Jeff Garner, a fashion designer of the clothing line Prophetik, and Emmy-winning documentary producer. His newest documentary, Let Them Be Naked debuts May 11th, 2025 and goes in-depth into the research, the education, and the impact our fashion design has on our bodies and our environment. 

If there has ever been an episode that left me immediately making lists of ways to make healthy changes in terms of removing toxins from MY WORK, it's this one!

Interested in learning from Krystal? Hop on the mailing list on krystaldouglas.com.

We’ve seen bad AI...  in all formats, like blog & image creation, voice cloning, etc. But in order to use AI well, and benefit from its capabilities, you have to FIRST understand how it works, and how to clearly articulate what you want, and SECOND, you have to actual put in effort to creating the right prompt.

As a business owner, you get out of it what you put in, so with just a little time in learning how it works, and finding the right types of AI to help you play to your strengths, you can gain even more momentum on your year than you originally thought possible.

Let's run through three different ways we're using AI in our sewing business RIGHT NOW, and how we're leveraging it to push past the competition and increase our bottom line.

Psssst! Wanna steal my homework? Grab my FREE AI Chat Prompts for Handmade Businesses by visiting krystaldouglas.com/ai.

Affiliate link: Save 50% on your first year using Flodesk for your email marketing by clicking here!

Interested in learning from Krystal? Hop on the mailing list on krystaldouglas.com.

We don't rise to our goals, we fall to our systems. 

Last year, I was gone over HALF of the year, but solely because our business processes are practically muscle memory at this point, our business still continued to grow. 

I go behind the scenes in housekeeping for my business at the top of the year, to teach you exactly what steps you should take if you own a handmade business and want a peaceful, organized start to your year, as well as a framework for structuring your craft work!

Interested in learning from Krystal? Hop on the mailing list on krystaldouglas.com.

After just a quick year sabbatical, we're back with Season 2 of Pull The Thread Podcast. This is mostly a recap for the past year, as to why Krystal took a break from ALL content creation, as a digital business owner AND brick-and-mortar business owner, and how we're approaching reentry/planning for a profitable, peaceful year.

Interested in learning from Krystal? Hop on the mailing list on krystaldouglas.com.

If you're hustling for new clients all day, and working as fast as your little fingers can fly  all night, you've probably been walking the fine line between self-employed and business owner for a while now.

Krystal has a couple ways to tell if it's time to make the changes you need for long term stability, as well as a little advice for what's going to be expected of you when you change.

Regardless of whether you want to scale your business, or remain a one-person operation, Krystal has tips for what to look out for along the way. 

Interested in learning from Krystal? Hop on the mailing list on krystaldouglas.com.

Do you ever feel like people are lapping you? Like everyone else is moving forward, and your current status is... well... stationary? 

Episode 27 of Pull the Thread podcast is for the perpetual planner who just can't seem to pull the trigger on launching or is stuck without any growth. Because you only ever really have two choices - you can evolve or remain.  Are you willing to do what it takes? 

Krystal guides listeners through a series of practical questions to get unstuck a move forward - what's it gonna be?

Questions to answer for your business to move forward:

1.  What do customers want?
2. Can I get them what they want?
3. How do I deliver it to them?
4. Where can we find pockets of target customers who are frustrated with our competition?
5. Where is the competition weak or deficient in delivering the outcomes, solutions, and the value the market demands?
6. What should we be doing to communicate to potential customers that a
we are the aspirin for their pain?
7. What are the three primary problems (pains) my target market has?
8. Where have I substituted my judgement for what I want to deliver, for what the customers actually want to receive?
9. How could I check in with our customers to find out what new pains they’re experiencing or gains they want to achieve?

Interested in learning from Krystal? Hop on the mailing list on krystaldouglas.com.

September marks my assistant, Natalyn’s one-year anniversary of working at our brick-and-mortar sewing business. I finally dragged her behind the mic to share about the past year, all the hard work she’s put in, and things she’s learned along the way.

If you’re considering fashion school, or a career in the hands-on side of creating fashion, this episode is one not to miss. We talk about how she scored her opportunity, what it took to prove herself, things she found surprising, and how she would go about it if she did it all over again. We also delved into my management style, and shared some behind the scenes of our favorite projects we’ve worked on together. 

Keep up with Natalyn’s journey by following her on Instagram at @natalynkaser. 

Interested in learning from Krystal? Hop on the mailing list on krystaldouglas.com.

These nine (mostly free) tools have changed the game for me in terms of automating and delegating tasks. My goal as a business owner is to not waste any human brainpower whatsoever dong things computers can do more efficiently, and in return, keeping our valuable hands busy doing work that matters for people who care. 

My top 9 tools for a more productive, profitable handmade business:

1. Lucky Orange
2. ChatGPT
3. Trello
4. Answer the public
5. Hemingway app
6. Artful agenda 
7. Flodesk
8. Slack
9. Sheets

As promised, get 50% off your first year of Flodesk using this code:  https://flodesk.com/c/XNKSAJ

Head to KrystalDouglas.come to hop on the mailing list!

Interested in learning from Krystal? Hop on the mailing list on krystaldouglas.com.

Derek Thompson says that to sell something familiar, you have to make it surprising. To sell something surprising, you have to make it familiar. "It is in this interplay between familiarity and surprise where the strongest appeal lives.

And isn’t that just it? Customers are either torn between their curiosity of new things, and also, a fear of anything too new.

Hop into this episode to learn how to walk the line between familiarity and surprise, and to hear a really cool story about how a Russian Jewish immigrant named Rose Blumkin went from buying used clothes for 10 cents to selling her company for $60 million.

pullthethreadpodcast.com

Interested in learning from Krystal? Hop on the mailing list on krystaldouglas.com.

Did you know Steve Jobs was so upside down on starting Pixar that he was personally funding payroll for months on end before Toy Story was released? He couldn’t secure backing from anyone, but truly believed in the creative underbelly of what was going on inside of those ordinary offices that sat next to an oil refinery.

Jobs was $50 million in the hole, but still knew he was onto something in what they were creating. He brought in Lawrence Levy to be his CFO, who documented the tale of tension, creativity, and lunacy, in bringing Pixar to what it's known as today.

A five star life requires margin. YOU need breathing room - you need margin in your craft or fashion-based business in order to survive and keep creating. These 10 tips will inject a little more oxygen into your survival helmet from month to month.

50% off your first year code for Flodesk (my preferred email service provider): https://flodesk.com/c/XNKSAJ

Subscribe to the mailing list to get more free content like this at krystaldouglas.com.

Interested in learning from Krystal? Hop on the mailing list on krystaldouglas.com.

The largest art theft in history happened nearly 33 years ago, in Boston, March 18, 1990. Thieves stole 13 pieces of art valued at over $500 million, from Isabella Gardner Museum.

One of the pieces stolen has been valued at $250 million… A reward of $10 million is still being offered for the return of this art. 

Have you ever stolen from yourself? If you’re a creative trying to do business by selling the things you make, or your services themselves, most likely, I’m sorry to tell you, you have.

This episode is all about the ways you’re stealing from yourself, and how to stop.

Dig into other episodes by visiting pullthethreadpodcast.com

Interested in learning from Krystal? Hop on the mailing list on krystaldouglas.com.

This episode highlights the pain points of well-intentioned aspiring fashion designers.

If a sketch were all one needed, then anyone could be a fashion designer... But it isn't.

You don't need to know how to pattern or sew - you just need to communicate with those who do.

There are a lot of steps between making a sketch, and having it manufactured into wearable clothing... 

I built you a staircase. 

Fashion lines are expensive, but they cost even more to start if you don't know what you're doing.

The majority of the work happens before you ever approach a factory for manufacturing.

You can hire out the skills you don't have, but understand that your adventure buddies (i.e. pattern makers, seamstresses, manufacturers) expect you to at least bring a map before they climb onboard.

You've got work to do.

Tap into the industry knowledge needed to have a fashion design manufactured.

https://projectfashionforward.com

Interested in learning from Krystal? Hop on the mailing list on krystaldouglas.com.

The most expensive dress in the world was valued at $30 million dollars, and was created by Faisal Abdullah in 2009 - an incredible designer that doesn't even have a website. That speaks volumes to me - First, that someone can do $30m without a website & second, the consistent reminder that making things is expensive. 

The sobering reality of what launching a clothing line actually costs is only topped by these five secrets that small batch manufacturers quietly wish new fashion designers knew about launching a fashion line.


References mentioned within the podcast: 
0:20 the Nightingale of Kuala Limpur
16:07 @mamaontap 

Interested in learning from Krystal? Hop on the mailing list on krystaldouglas.com.

The color chartreuse has a bit of a boozy background. It was named after a French liqueur called “chartreuse” which has a greenish-yellow hue. 

The liqueur was first produced in 1605 by the Carthusian monks of France. 

François Hannibal d’Estrées discovered a secret recipe that allegedly helped its consumers ‘live a long life.’ He brought the recipe to Monks near Paris, who ultimately sent it down to La Grande Chartreuse abbey. The recipe was eventually tested in 1737, and about 60 years later, was tweaked to create Green Chartreuse. 

This new and improved Chartreuse boasted a more mild flavor profile and is the recipe still used today. 75 years later, Frère Bruno Jacquet crafted another tweaked version of the recipe, which became the Yellow Chartreuse that we know and love today.

It takes 130 botanicals macerating for eight hours in copper to create Green Chartreuse. The final product’s ABV? 55% - and it’s flavor lands herbal/slightly medicinal on the palate. On the contrary, Yellow Chartreuse is a bit lower in alcohol (40% ABV) and leans sweeter on the flavor profile. 

Green Chartreuse gets its color from chlorophyll, whereas Yellow Chartreuse gets its pigment from saffron. Both colors are naturally occurring, but the steps to this beverages outcome are nothing short of extraordinary.  

Having your own clothing manufactured is a lot like brewing, the perfect chartreuse liqueur. In my years of running both a fashion design incubator and small batch manufacturer, I’ve come to find three common themes among the issues new fashion designers experience. This episode reaches deep into those issues and provides two different examples of each three.

Three mistakes new fashion designers often make during manufacturing:

• Manufacturing too many colorways, or contrast stitching details.
• Manufacturing too many designs at a time, or too much product in general
• Signing a manufacturing contract before the design is sale-ready (stitching, fit, supplies)

Interested in learning from Krystal? Hop on the mailing list on krystaldouglas.com.

Leonardo daVinci wasn't the best painter of his time - in fact, he was better known as an engineer.  The only reason the famous Last Supper painting was painted - at Santa Maria della Grazie, was because daVinci had some time to kill.

Nearly every fashion designer I've worked with over the past few years has been conceptualizing their fashion lines on the side... in their free time.  Here are four ways to know if you're ready to start your clothing line.

Interested in learning from Krystal? Hop on the mailing list on krystaldouglas.com.

My exact steps for algorithm-proofing your following. If you lost your social media accounts tomorrow, would you lose your only way to communicate with your audience? If your answer is yes - you do not have a business, you just have a following. It’s time to get those followers onto a platform you control. These are my exact steps for quickly building a website that I used to generate thousands of prospective customers every year.

Show links:

Krystal’s affiliate link for a ready-to-use privacy policy contract: https://thecontractshop.com/?ref=[krystaldouglas]

Free writing up for blog editing: Hemingway app.com

Free SEO keyword finder: Moz.com/explorer

Interested in learning from Krystal? Hop on the mailing list on krystaldouglas.com.

Have you wondered why you can’t seem to break a pay ceiling in your own business? 

The things that we did to get us to our current level in business will not get us to the next level. For that, we need to expand and learn next level capabilities. I share with you a tool I use in my business to see what’s truly moving the needle, and what’s just taking up space.

Interested in learning from Krystal? Hop on the mailing list on krystaldouglas.com.

everyone starts at zero sales... Bill Bowerman started out as a high school track coach, became a WW2 vet, and managed to find time to cofound the household name Nike. But what about if you're just starting out? What advice is sound for where you're at in the life cycle of the business?

Whether you're just south of the $30K mark, or you'r terrified to start at all for fear of not doing it right, we've got all the tips you need. 

Interested in learning from Krystal? Hop on the mailing list on krystaldouglas.com.

In 1777, On America's first Fourth of July celebration, fireworks were only one color: orange. There were no elaborate sparkles, no red, white, and blue stars -- nothing more than a few glorified (although uplifting) explosions in the sky.

Like many inventions, fireworks were created by accident… but this invention, came about during a search for immortality. 

Oftentimes, in business, entrepreneurs - creatives especially - feel the need to come with tons of flash.

They could be the loudest. Or the brightest online. 

Or the most dramatic, like being the person jacking up their sales numbers and leading every call to action with astronomical results-focused numbers, like ‘millions sold!’ or ‘thousands of happy customers!’ Or ‘five-figure months!’.

Ugh. 

It’s fatiguing. But if you wanna sell product… or book clients… you have to be that way. Right?

Actually, I’m here to tell you, you really don’t. 

In fact, over time, you’ll do more in sales and bookings, by whispering to the few rather than screaming to the masses about your craft-based (or creative) work.

Most people's fear, is that the moment they get quieter in their marketing, their sales will trickle off. But in my opinion, getting quieter can mean being way more strategic.

Interested in learning from Krystal? Hop on the mailing list on krystaldouglas.com.

Success is only success if it feels like success - so how do you know you're setting the right goal of what success looks like?

Jenna and I explored so many beautiful thoughts as we approached the conversation surrounding "How Are You, Really?" - Jenna's first book, which releases June 28th, and since I've already read it cover to cover, I can confirm- it's every bit as powerful as she is.

The true topic of conversation here is boundaries, i.e. the line between breakthrough and burnout. We cover defining success, grief and loss, and what it means to truly have peace in our businesses. And how does peace ever really have a place in the life of a busy, energetic, high-achieving entrepreneur? 

Jenna believes it's possible.. because she lives it. I love the example she's now setting as a business owner - one filled with peaceful, rest-filled momentum.

To check out the book, visit howareyoureallybook.com!

Interested in learning from Krystal? Hop on the mailing list on krystaldouglas.com.

By the late 1920s, Coco was just in her forties, and the Chanel industries were reportedly worth millions- employing more than 2,000 people, between the couture house, the perfume laboratory, a textile mill, and a jewelry workshop. Chanel’s designs stressed simplicity and comfort and as you know, revolutionized the fashion industry. 

Coco knew corsets were tired, and chose to be the one to offer something new and risky. It was technology, but with fabric and thread. She also knew what the perfume industry was lacking, and wasn’t afraid to pivot and be scrappy as she stepped into an entirely foreign industry.

Remember when people said Facebook is just a trend? And then it grew up to shape Web 2.0? And now you can login to just about any website or platform using your Facebook account? Change is coming. Web 3.0 is just around the corner. 

This isn’t about digital artwork. This is about understanding that as a creative, being quick to sample and test new technology will shape the way you get and do business.  This episode covers:

- What is an NFT?
- How does it work?
- Who’s using NFTs?
- How can I respect the tech in a way that feels authentic to me?

Upload your own ad for your favorite charity or non-profit here: https://www.dropbox.com/request/wM45Zv4TkbpOgO5jbaFz

Interested in learning from Krystal? Hop on the mailing list on krystaldouglas.com.

I talk to boutique designers and owners of small fashion labels on a regular basis. Conversations start to all look the same, and patterns in their branding behaviors begin to emerge.

The most common painpoint always points back to the friction they experience in getting the right customers in the door. 

They’re making a great product, but things just aren’t clicking with the sales numbers. Everyone can relate (as they repeat the same behaviors), and oftentimes they even learn bad branding/marketing behaviors from each other.

They all experience the same pain, and band together to form a well-tailored echo chamber, but fail to realize in doing so that it causes them to go blind to simple mistakes...  branding->marketing mistakes they’re making. We dive into these mistakes so that you can avoid them, and fast track your success around them.

Interested in learning from Krystal? Hop on the mailing list on krystaldouglas.com.

In July of 2020 I was interviewed by a dear friend, Koos Klooster on his podcast, Confused Confucius. This episode is an exciting one for me because most entrepreneurs never pull back the curtain on the psychology behind their businesses, and the emotions behind managing the methodologies. We cover:

 | How Krystal Got Into Sewing
 | Her Career Coming Out of College & Changing Her Career Path
 | More On The Transitioning Period
 | The Mindset of Charging for Your Work
 | Spontaneous & Calculated Pivotal Moments On Money Mindset
 | Balancing Logic & Emotion In Creative Work
 | The Value & Pricing of Creativity
 | How Money Affects Doing What You Love
 | Setting Boundaries For The Projects You Take 
 | Time Allocation - Creative, Production & Business
 | Krystal's #1 Tip When Starting Out As A Creative Business
 | Working "For Love" or "From Love" Process vs. Outcome Focus
 | Learning To Love All Parts of The Process
 | Lessons From Scaling The Business
 | Feedback & Communication
 | Perspective On Leadership - Commanding v.s Serving
 | Three Key Components of Motivation
 | Delegating Creativity & Micro-Managing
 | Moving Forward Regardless of Your Pace
 | Mental Fatigue & The Power of Recovery
 | Krystal's Favorite Mental Tools

Check out Koos's podcast Confused Confucius on Podcast Guru, or wherever you like to listen to podcasts!

Interested in learning from Krystal? Hop on the mailing list on krystaldouglas.com.

Doing this one thing before ever hiring help will:

• prevent you from repeating yourself 
• keep you from wasting time fixing mistakes
• set clear expectations for quality & desired outcome
• map out exact order of steps needed to make garment the exact way designer would do it
• create a repeatable standard for your product as it is created
• provide a catastrophe-proof guide should you have to step away unexpectedly

By building a tech pack, you set your designs up for peaceful, organize growth. 

Interested in learning from Krystal? Hop on the mailing list on krystaldouglas.com.

What if Levi Strauss had decided it wasn’t a good idea to begin offering jeans as a product in his supplies store? What if he’d passed on the idea, simply because the blue jean wasn’t exactly in his business plan?

When we think of our businesses, we sometimes get tunnel vision surrounding the products we’ve chosen to curate or the services we’ve planned to offer. For me, my business has morphed slightly over the years and monumentally over the past year because of the pandemic, but as the brand I want to create has become more fleshed out, one thing became clear:

Expanding my brand's offers 10x’d my business. With four working divisions, on physical product and three digital ons, I've picked up three tricks that have become my own personal rules for whenever I choose to diversify further and launch something new.  These tricks have become the cornerstone of my marketing strategy and helped me form a pattern for success.

Interested in learning from Krystal? Hop on the mailing list on krystaldouglas.com.

Interested in learning from Krystal? Hop on the mailing list on krystaldouglas.com.

Everything that could ever go wrong with getting your customers their product comes down to not building a scalable supply chain.

What would it look like if by this time next week, you had total peace in your process, knowing that you had everything you needed to create the right amount of product to sell to your customers? This episode will help designers build their own supply chain - whether there’s a pandemic going on outside or not.

Building and maintaining a supply chain is a delicate dance of ordering just enough product to get by, while knowing you may need to change up everything should you want to sell more product. Grab a pen and some paper, it's time to take notes!

Would you rather read this episode instead? 

Visit https://krystaldouglas.com/build-a-stress-free-supply-chain to read about the six steps to a stress-free supply chain.

Interested in learning from Krystal? Hop on the mailing list on krystaldouglas.com.

Chess is the smartest game ever invented. With 64 squares and 32 pieces,  there's 10,120 unique games that could possibly be played... which is more than the number of atoms in the known universe (1081).

What if you could market your business as if it were just one unique game of chess?

If you run a business or have a side hustle, then you probably feel overwhelmed at the simple thought of just how many different things you need to get done in order for customers to discover your brand and buy from you. But what if it were actually way simpler than ‘post and pray’?

Think of your marketing strategy like a chessboard - Every piece on the board is a different element of your marketing strategy, but all of the pieces come together to protect the king (you). To play a good game, you need to use as many pieces as possible, and each piece on the board has a different value. 

Interested in learning from Krystal? Hop on the mailing list on krystaldouglas.com.

When I first started my sewing business, I thought my biggest struggle would be finding paid work.

I doubted that I could find enough clients to pay me to sew for them, which was actually a reflection of how I viewed my trade… little did I know, my biggest lessons and struggles I would have over the next four years actually all related to growth, and how I would cope with it.

Fast forward to four years of lessons, mistakes, windfalls, nightmares, and insane amounts of plot twists and growth, and I can confidently say that the four lessons I’m sharing with you come with a lot of thought and retrospect.

While it feels like year 40, I now have a good handful of gray hairs, a few annoying regrets, enough perspective to sink a ship, and so much gratitude for the journey and love for the process. But four years in and I’m just now starting to figure a few things out. I've made this list of four things I’ve learned about launching and growing a sewing company in four years.

Interested in learning from Krystal? Hop on the mailing list on krystaldouglas.com.

Just a few years before sewing the first American flag, Betsy Ross ran away across the river to get married in a bar against the wishes of her entire family. She sat near George Washington in church and built a friendship with him that lead to her legacy-filled role as the first seamstress of the American flag.

After sewing the flag, she went on to operate a successful business for decades. I wonder what advice she'd have for us sewing business owners today? Would it be the importance of choosing a good church pew?

I'm no Betsy, but I know what I wish I did. In this episode, I highlight five things I wish I had done when I first went into business, as well as some important things to note in doing business in a craft-based industry.

Interested in learning from Krystal? Hop on the mailing list on krystaldouglas.com.

As we move into 2021 (and away from 2020 as quickly as possible), it’s the perfect time to define what success looks like as a creative, and set your three most important goals for your life this year.

In this podcast, I’ll be diving deep into topics surrounding entrepreneurship that matter to me, and answering questions like:

• How do I make my craft profitable?
• How do I market my craft based business?
• How do I brand a craft-based business?
• How do I get my clients to pay more?
• How do I know I’m producing my craft as profitably as possible?

Interested in learning from Krystal? Hop on the mailing list on krystaldouglas.com.

If you’re an Astronaut, the process of getting dressed for work is labor intensive. You might have known the spacesuits Buzz Aldrin, Michael Collins, and Neil Armstrong were expensive… but I bet you didn’t know the seamstresses who made them came from Playtex. 

The success of those suits were a matter of life and death. I’d imagine the phrase ‘good enough’ was not one that was said that day about their uniform. 

What if I told you, that the spacesuits these astronauts wore only passed half of their field tests? 

How do you know if your handmade work is good enough to sell? In this episode, we dig into the limiting beliefs we all have around the worth of our craft. I teach you how to let the market decide, and why.

Interested in learning from Krystal? Hop on the mailing list on krystaldouglas.com.