In this week's episode, Emily and Michelle get right to it and discuss the idea of 'name-dropping' yourself as a small business owner. Instead of being too reliant on any one giant company (like Etsy!), be sure that you have money coming in fro

Episode 111 - Happy Spreadsheets

Apr 11th, 2022 1h 7m

WE'RE BAAACCCCCKKKKKK!!!After a nearly 18-month hiatus due to all sorts of things, Emily and Michelle are excited to be back recording new episodes! Whether you're new to the podcast, or you've listened to all 110 previous episodes (!), the fi

Episode 110 - Cautiously Optimistic

Nov 3rd, 2020 1h 24m

In this week's episode, Michelle and Emily are here for your Election Day distraction! They share their somewhat apathetic holiday sales plans for this year and why they’re not putting too much pressure on themselves to make up for lost income

Episode 109 - Our Phones are Here to Kill Us

Oct 27th, 2020 1h 23m

Is it possible for a business to quit social media? This week, Emily and Michelle react to a handmade jewelry business’ decision to leave all social media platforms. While the idea of deleting Facebook and never posting on Instagram ever agai

Episode 108 - 100% Pure and Sparkly

Oct 20th, 2020 1h 24m

Last week was Amazon Prime Day and the small business community showed up to encourage their customers to spend their money thoughtfully, and to remind them that small businesses have been hurting this year while Amazon is profiting off of the

Episode 107 - Settle In

Sep 29th, 2020 1h 51m

After a bit of a hiatus, Emily and Michelle are back! They dive right into the hottest topic of the moment: How to respond when you're told to “stick to {your business}” and leave politics out of it.This year has demanded that we - small busin

Episode 106 - The Less Icky One

Jul 28th, 2020 1h 7m

In this week's episode, Michelle and Emily dive into the topic of "maker guilt," or, more specifically, the current trend of small businesses like ours feeling like they need to apologize for advertising their products and trying to make money.

Episode 105 - 500 Times More Likely

Jul 21st, 2020 1h 46m

After they get some feelings about non-maskers out of their system, Emily and Michelle spend this episode talking about ways to prepare for this coming holiday season. With in-person events potentially being canceled well into next year, how c

Episode 104 - Quarantine Chat #5

Jul 7th, 2020 1h 43m

After a quick break for migraines, flash sales, and fireworks, we're back with a brand-new Quarantine Chat! This week, Emily and Michelle talk about the craziest thing going around social media lately: cancel culture.

Episode 103 - Quarantine Chat #4

Jun 23rd, 2020 1h 8m

After a long hiatus, Emily and Michelle are back with another Quarantine Chat episode. This week, they share some Black-hosted podcasts that they've been listening to...Podcasts we review in this episode: The Stoop, Pod Save the People, Higher

Episode 102 - Quarantine Chat #3

Apr 21st, 2020 1h 32m

As we enter a full month of the 'stay-at-home' order here in Illinois, Emily and Michelle record another Quarantine Chat episode from the safety of their respective homes. This week, they talk about the divisive and problematic issue of labeli

Episode 101 - Quarantine Chat #2

Apr 3rd, 2020 1h 21m

As stay-at-home orders are extended in Illinois, and across the country, Emily and Michelle continue to record their Quarantine Chat series from the comfort of their separate homes... In this week's episode, they try to bring a little positivi

Episode 100 - Quarantine Chat #1

Mar 24th, 2020 1h 49m

It's the 100th Episode of Pancake Town! And it’s the first in a new series we're calling Quarantine Chats... Emily and Michelle record this episode via phone in order to maintain social distancing during the ongoing COVID-19 outbreak. They b

Episode 99 - Sometimes It Does Hurt To Ask

Feb 25th, 2020 1h 46m

We're baaaaaccckkkkk!In this week's episode (our first of 2020!), Emily and Michelle quickly get caught up on how the new year has been going and then they finally get into a topic that’s been on their minds for a while. We’ve all been given

Episode 98 - People Are The Worst

Dec 17th, 2019 50m 50s

Part 2 of 2: Emily and Michelle continue their 2019/2020 conversation and segue into some of their favorite rants topics like pricing and dealing with difficult customers.

Episode 97 - Give The People What You Want

Dec 17th, 2019 1h 10m

Part 1 of 2: Emily and Michelle review 2019 - focusing on the new habits and attitudes they've adopted over the last 12 months. They’re both ready to be done with this decade and start 2020 with the same energy and drive that they had 15 years

Episode 96 - (Not) Drunk Business Advice #2

Dec 3rd, 2019 1h 19m

For this week's episode, the listeners asked Emily and Michelle to go back 10 years and think about what advice they would give themselves - and what advice they'd give to other small business owners - just starting out. They take a trip down

Episode 95 - The One With The Pivot

Nov 26th, 2019 1h 10m

Does your business just need a pivot or is it actually time to throw in the towel? In this week's episode, Emily and Michelle research how to read the signs that your business needs a change and get into how to pull that change off. Also, the

Episode 94 - Get Some Sleep + Go to SHOW of HANDS

Nov 19th, 2019 1h 24m

OMG It’s the week of SHOW of HANDS so Emily and Michelle answer your questions about selling at in-person events. They share their favorite dos and don’ts for having a successful show and an important reminder that taking care of yourself shou

Episode 93 - We All Made It Look Like It's Fun

Nov 12th, 2019 1h 44m

This week, Emily and Michelle are thrilled to welcome special guest, Jen Farrell from Starshaped Press, to talk about the many ways in which the handmade world has changed since starting her letterpress business back in 1999 (that's 20 years ag

Episode 92 - I Want a Piece of That Designer's Brain

Oct 29th, 2019 1h 25m

Alternate Title: "That's Gross"In this week's episode, Michelle and Emily discuss the constant internal struggle that a lot of makers have when designing new products: Do I give my customers what they want, or do I tell them what they should w

Episode 91 - You Cannot Come To My Party

Oct 22nd, 2019 1h 19m

This week, Emily and Michelle react to an article on thecut.com written by Natalie Beach > a ghostwriter for Instagram influencer, Caroline Calloway. Natalie's side of the story reveals that Caroline created a social media persona with the sol

Episode 90 - The Universe Isn't A Thing

Oct 8th, 2019 1h 23m

GET READY FOR SOME REAL TALK: In this week's episode, Michelle shares her strategy to deal with a recent drop in wholesale sales and enlists Emily’s help to brainstorm new ideas.

Episode 89 - I'm Gonna Need A Time-Out

Oct 1st, 2019 1h 30m

This week, Emily fills Michelle in on her (very rainy) weekend vending at Andersonville Arts Festival... but not before the two rant about the aftermath of an Instagram post that unexpectedly went viral the day before.

Episode 88 - Get Like Six Baskets

Sep 17th, 2019 2h 1m

In this week's episode, Michelle and Emily investigate the new free shipping strategy implemented on Etsy and how it’s affecting not only Etsy shop owners, but potentially all small businesses with online shops. Since Emily and Michelle no lon