LET’S REFLECT ON THE PAST COUPLE OF YEARS...

The last time Phoebe did a personal reflection podcast was Episode 17 in January of 2021 (you can listen to that episode here). In that episode, she talked listeners through the “pivoting” she did to bring GGC, then an events business, online in 2020. With time on her side and in an entirely new environment (at the time of recording, she has just moved across the country to the East Coast), she sets the stage for a thoughtful exploration of the past two years of life and business.

PANDEMIC ONSET + PIVOTING THE BUSINESS

Girl Gang Craft in 2019 was an entirely different business than what it is today. In 2019, Phoebe was still teaching yoga, waitressing, and doing freelance design and crafts under her own name while she nurtured the growth of GGC on the side. By December of that year she knew she was ready to focus on GGC full-time, but little did she know the pandemic would make that a necessary (and urgent) transition.

LAUNCHING THE PODCAST

GGC’s first podcast episode launched on April 12, 2020 and is now in its 2nd year of production. While the podcast does cost the company money, Phoebe reflects positively on the investment and considers it a holistic part of the GGC sphere that both provides value to listeners and converts them into paying customers.

STEPPING INTO THE ONLINE COURSE WORLD

With the podcast launched, Phoebe decided to draw on her years of experience bootstrapping GGC and teaching yoga and offer three niche classes online. These now comprise the GGC suite of courses (brand partnerships, content, and email marketing). After realizing her love for holding space for students to learn and grow, Phoebe developed and launched Level Up Academy, GGC’s 6-week course for creatives designed to help them refine their biz practices, build community, and scale.

LAUNCHING THE GGC HOLIDAY DIRECTORY + CLIQUE MEMBERSHIP

Moving into the holiday season without an in-person event presented a challenge. In 2020, GGC launched its first Holiday Directory, a webpage directory dedicated to 100+ femme-forward small businesses. In early 2021, GGC launched its Clique membership, which involves monthly workshops for creatives, biz tech and resources, and community gatherings.
Join the Clique waitlist here.

PARTNERSHIPS + SMALL BIZ SUMMIT

Phoebe reflects on how GGC’s partnerships with big brands evolved in an online-only space. In the past two years, GGC has partnered with Adobe Spark, Flodesk, Planoly, and Eaze on blog posts, social media posts, giveaways, podcast commercials, and more. In the spring of 2021, GGC also hosted its first virtual summit for small biz owners.

DOING “THE THING” + GROWING A TEAM

Phoebe shares her biggest lesson from the past two years: Just try things. She encourages other small business owners to shed the things that don’t work for their audience or team while also creating space for systemizing processes to build consistency and create ease. Phoebe also reflects on the evolution of the GGC team and explores how bringing in support has allowed her to take the business to new heights.

CREATING STABILITY IN CHAOS

Phoebe reflects on how she and the GGC team leaned on one another’s strengths to strengthen the business in a time of major upheaval. She also shares how outsourcing major parts of the business (like social media) has freed her up to create new revenue streams and relationships within GGC while also allowing time for rest. BRINGING IN JOY + LOOKING TO THE FUTURE

Phoebe acknowledges that her creative outlets were virtually non-existent during 2021 and 2021, and discusses how she’s taken meaningful steps toward integrating authentic joy and ease into her life. She wraps up by sharing her goals and vision for the future, now taking root on the East Coast in her new town of Salem, MA.