Stitches & Picks S2:Ep 1 - What's Coming Up in Season 2 of Stitches & Picks?

Watch the YouTube video version above or listen to the podcast below!

What's Coming Up in Season 2 of Stitches & Picks? Video and Podcast Transcript

[This transcript has been lightly edited to ensure readability]

Dave Dougherty: All right, and welcome to season two, episode one of Stitches and Picks. I'm Dave.

Kristen Juve: I'm Kristen. 

Dave Dougherty: Yeah. Back to the old show intro. Before we get into this one, we’ll do a little quick housekeeping. Want to thank everybody who's been with us in season one. Thank you to all of the people in Italy, for whatever reason, who are listening to this.

Glad to have you on board and…Yeah, thanks. And everybody else in France and around the states. We ended season one with kind of a cliffhanger with a plan to do an additional episode. And then we realized in going over our notes that, well, we kind of covered everything in that last one.

Kristen Juve: We were too efficient. 

Dave Dougherty: Exactly. So we just didn't do another one and tried to have healthy and happy holidays, which we hope you did as well.

The Big Idea for Season 2

Dave Dougherty: So we're trying a new format with season two where, um, we're gonna follow Kristen and her journey in actually launching Stitches with her proclamation of, um, not Stitches... Casting Knits. 

Kristen Juve: I was gonna say like, are we calling it Stitches for shorthand? Is this like our lingo now? I was like..

Dave Dougherty: Well, at this time…I mean, if you keep laboring it, it'll be stitches instead of knits. 

Yeah, so if you hadn't listened to that last episode of season one, Kristen announced that she was going to launch on February 18th.

And the idea for season two is that we're gonna follow that arc, as well as follow through on some of the resources that we've used to think about and launch our ideas. In order to give you a good idea of how we would go to market with targeting an audience, researching an audience, setting up those types of things, and getting your thing off the road.

What Happened to Kristen Between Seasons 1 & 2?

Dave Dougherty: So, Kristen, even with the best-laid plans some stuff happens. So why don't you fill everybody in, on what happened between December and now? The middle of January as we record this. 

Kristen Juve: So yeah, best-laid plans. I was super stoked about my launch date being February 18th and had even a full week off from my day job where I could really focus on it. So that was the plan. 

Um, but I have a toddler and as I've now learned from more experienced parents, there is no other time in life that you are sicker than when your kid is zero to like three or four. I think that it was.

Dave Dougherty: I can attest to that. Yep. Yep. 

Kristen Juve: So I got strep and I had some post-strep issues as well.

So life has been full survival mode for the most part and still trying to do my day job. So needless to say, it's been sleeping kiddo and dinners, and like working my day job and that's it. Um, so I feel like sh!t, I feel like utter sh!t because I've been super stoked about launching in February...

Dave Dougherty: And then life got in the way. 

Kristen Juve: And I feel like it's such an excuse because there's so much of…We've talked about this and I clearly…

The reason why we have this conversation and why we started it was the accountability aspect. Like, hey, someone else who's in a similar situation to me that can really resonate. We can bounce ideas off each other, kind of keep pace with each other, and I and I just feel like…I'm really glad that we're using this to our advantage in some ways.

Like it wasn't supposed to be that I was laid up for more than two weeks or whatever, but we're taking this opportunity for the season. Then we could actually hold me more accountable kind of as we go move along and what this actually looks like. And part of me is…a big part of me is pissed.

I'm pissed. Is this awful? This feels gross. I don't like it. I had all these aspirations and I haven't made it, and I, I'm not gonna make my goal because of this. Because I literally had three full days. Um, and I even found a tech editor and I was going to get some of her time to do a one-on-one during that time.

Luckily, I didn't schedule it, so I didn't lose out on the money and I don't think she would've…Whatever. It doesn't matter. But I had very little time between when I announced it and my actual launch and the things I need to get done, and I know that I will not be able to complete it on time.

So, now that like I'm on day two of feeling like 75% human, I'm starting to think about how I get back into that. 

Dave Dougherty: Right. You know, and it's interesting you bring it up. It is absolutely frustrating when you have the plans and you took the time to schedule things and map things out and then… 

Kristen Juve: Yeah.

Dave Dougherty: You know? But I've been reminded of similar situations just through what we've talked about, the things that we're seeing on LinkedIn, right? Like, at the time of this recording, a lot of layoffs in the tech sector or there was a guy, I don't know him personally, but through marketing conferences around the Twin Cities and, you know, having formally been a part of the Twin Cities Agency Community…

There was a guy who is well known in that circle who ended up having a massive health scare and a big, big surgery, and was out for about a year from his group. And then while he was out one of the senior leaders of that agency also died. Uh, well, not also died, but did die. And he's got this great post on how all of these major things are a major component of actually having your own business, running your own business, or a side thing. 

Because life happens. And you don't work in a vacuum, right? People always want to talk about, you know, “I started this side thing. I made six figures in six months, and it's been amazing ever since then!”

Right? I mean, we talked about this in one of the first episodes on the reason why we wanted to start this thing is the fact that we, we listen to that and we're like, “Yeah, that's not genuine though.”

Because everybody struggles. Everybody has a hard time doing it and, you know, life gets in the way.

It's part of the process. Hopefully not to that extent where you're out of commission for a year. But you don't want to account for those things, but I think you should at least have some grace with yourself when that kind of stuff happens.

Do you know what I mean? Like adapt and move on. And yes, you didn't hit the initial goal, but you were able to hit it, what, six weeks from now, four weeks from now? Have you come up with a new date yet? Or are you still working on it? 

Kristen Juve: So I've started to think about that. And the problem that I'm running into is the product itself is a sweater.

And it's not a light sweater. It's not something you wear in the spring. So part of me is like I could do a soft launch. I could get it done, pick a soft launch, market it a little bit, roll with it, and see what happens. Then come fall, really market it again and that's what I think I'm gonna end up doing.

So I'm probably gonna end up launching, I would guess late March depending on when I can get in with…or maybe find a different tech editor. The hardest part, and maybe it won't even be that hard, maybe, I'm setting myself up for making some gross assumptions here, but finding, test knitters.

But I've continued to post on, on TikTok too, even though I, I posted when I was like, “Hey, so bear with me. I have strep…” Cause I was just like in this mode where I was like, I need to feel like a normal human for two seconds. And I actually posted something that wasn't even related. And I got a great response from that. So I was like, okay, I can be off. 

That's, and I, that's kind of like I'm getting on a totally different tangent. I think I can still do a soft launch. I can get the website up, I can get all the things like the tech pieces in place. And I imagine I'll have like no sales and then I'll just go back and refresh it for a full marketing launch in the fall. Because I, at this point, if I wait and wait and wait and wait. Like this, it's not, that's not going to actually help me launch the d@mn thing. 

Dave Dougherty: Well, there could be some advantages of doing the launch now. You might, you might end up being surprised, right? Like with some of the stats we've gotten for this, you know, the first season is way more successful, than we thought it would be.

Kristen Juve: It's not just our family members listening. 

Dave Dougherty: Yeah, exactly! Exactly. It's been sweet. But you know who's always in need of a sweater? Scientists in Antarctica. So maybe you could geofence people who are trapped in a snowstorm. 

Kristen Juve: That'd be…And they'd have to be knitters though.

Dave Dougherty: There has to be a sub-segment of people. 

Kristen Juve: A very small segment. 

Dave Dougherty: Mm-hmm. But a segment nonetheless.

Kristen Juve: I mean, people feel the truth. The knitters who are obsessed like my level or above obsessed, not technique-wise, like good at whatever, right? People who are just obsessed with knitting will knit whatever they want throughout the year.

I typically do shift to lighter items in the summer, but I still knit and people knit tank tops and t-shirts, and light shirts all the time. So like you...

Dave Dougherty: Tank tops are a thing, really?

Kristen Juve: I actually…What's that? 

Dave Dougherty: Knitted tank tops are a thing? 

Kristen Juve: Oh hell yeah. It is. They're awesome. You buy...You knit in pure organic cotton, or like bamboo, like there's a bunch of different fibers that you can use that are lightweight plus like wool.

If you get a blend with silk, it's a really nice drape and it has like, yeah, there's, I actually have a tank top in the works right now. But I don't have the pattern written up ‘cause I just stopped. ‘Cause I was like, I'm just gonna do this. It was, it was like a year ago and that was like…I regret not writing anything down, but I have a tank top in the works too, and I was like, “Oh, it could shift gears.”

I'm like, “No! Stop doing that! Complete one thing.” So, right, sweater it is. Tank top later. 

Dave Dougherty: Yeah. Interesting. Yeah. Knitting is becoming a bit of a thing, you know, in all of our conversations…Well at least in my world, right? I mean, don't gimme that look. 

Kristen Juve: Okay. I was gonna say, I'm like that might just be you. The pandemic did wonders for knitters. 

Dave Dougherty: Well it's been interesting because in talking with you, I've learned a lot about it and…What came up the other day? It was surprising. There was, um, it was like some actor that's in a bunch of action movies that you would not expect to have this hobby.

Kristen Juve: A man? 

Dave Dougherty: Yeah. Who's a huge knitter apparently? And it's like, “Wait. What?”

Kristen Juve: I don't know who you're talking about, but it's super common for men to knit. They just don't talk about it. It's not just a female hobby, like, when it originated everybody was knitting because it was a matter of life. You are making clothes to wear.

It wasn't a hobby. It was like something that was a necessity. Yeah. 

Dave Dougherty: And I don't mean to comment to come off as, as you, you know, as sexist or anything. I'm just, you know, I'm learning more and then you find the random examples of somebody being, “Oh yeah. I'm a huge knitter!”

And you're like, “What? Okay! Interesting.” 

You know, because everybody's got their thing and that's awesome. It's just, interesting when you find out, right? Like, I mean it wasn't this guy, but it would be like if Jason Momoa was like, “Yeah, I'm a knitter.” 

Kristen Juve: I mean, okay. That'd be amazing. 

Dave Dougherty: He very well could be and that would be awesome. And it would be on brand for him. Or at least my perception of his brand. 

Using the Content Inc. Model as a Lens for Our Discussions

Dave Dougherty: So anyway, the season, this season, from the time of this recording, your original launch date would be like a month. So, clearly, that's not gonna happen. For the arc of this season [season 2] it's going to be 12 episodes where we cover all of these things and we're gonna follow a process, at least for some of the episodes using some inspiration from the Content Inc. Model. Which is a fantastic model.

If anybody hasn't looked into it, we have no affiliation, but this book is legit. So we highly recommend it. 

Kristen Juve: Wait like an asterisk, a side note on that. Not reinventing the wheel when you're doing something is genius. You don't need to reinvent the wheel. If someone has a proven way of doing something, why not steal with pride?

Give credit where credit's due. 

Dave Dougherty: Exactly. Exactly. 

Kristen Juve: And steal with pride is too big of a statement. We use it at work a lot. So like give credit and utilize and share and give credit. 

Dave Dougherty: Exactly. Yeah. And we're not going to say that we're doing it absolutely perfectly or advocating it absolutely perfectly. We're using it as a lens to try to help focus some perspective on a way that you can go about it and figure out some of these things. It's not the way, it is a way to help focus in on who are you trying to address, and who are you trying to help with whatever your product or service actually is going to be. 

Kristen Juve: This is a topic you and I talked a lot about too, though. Because we talked a lot about what are our businesses based off of. Is it a service? Is it a product? Is it content? 

Then based on everything that we worked through prior to even looking at the Content Inc. model, we made a decision that this fits the way that we want to do, like, the kind of way we want to be approaching our businesses.

So it wasn't like we just believed it was a one size fits all. This is what is going to work for both of us. It was like, oh, this actually makes sense for the way that I think about work. What my background is, and what I want to do with that type of thing. Right? So it wasn't like, we aren't saying this is going to fit everybody. But maybe it does and it's something to consider.

Dave Dougherty: Mm-hmm. Yeah. And you know, that's definitely going to be the focus of the next episode here. You know, where does your knowledge base as well as what you're interested in doing, align with what the actual market, or audience interests, would be? And that's a really important question that even big enterprises aren't asking themselves.

Which has always astonished me. Yeah, so anyway, I'm looking forward to those conversations, and we will see you in the next episode of season two. 

Kristen Juve: Thanks.