A Peek Inside Cobble Coaching 🤔

For some people, the point of Cobble is completely obvious. You can easily find expert, thoughtful people who have build a successful company in your space and book sessions with them to help you with your business.

But for many people, getting coaching for your business is a little unfamiliar… and it may feel like something you’re intrigued by but don’t completely understand. So in this article we’ll look at:

• Why People Book Cobble Sessions

• Who Cobble Is For

• What to Expect in a Cobble Session

• Some Things You Might Worry About

• How to Get Started

Why People Book Cobble Sessions

There are a few key reasons that people book Cobble coaching sessions. They get:

• A sounding board.
  If you have a new idea, a strategy, a product, a project, or a problem… sometimes you just need an experienced, positive, thoughtful person (who’s not a family member because we all know that can be hit or miss 😂) to bounce the idea off of. Cobble coaches bring both deep experience and an open mind. They’ll help you feel out if it’s the right direction and identify opportunities and obstacles you may not have thought of.

• Expert advice on a specific topic.
  So much business advice is so general. And obviously, actually running a business boils down to specifics. Am I spending too much on my studio? Should I pursue wholesale? Is my website’s design getting in my way? Is there something I’m missing in my Faire descriptions? There are 101 questions like this that come up every single day. And honestly, only people who are actively running creative product companies can really answer them in useful ways.

• Help with the “I don’t even know what question to ask” situation.
  Sometimes you do have a specific conundrum… and other times the entire business feels like a conundrum. Many of our coaches are absolutely adept at helping you look at the messy reality of your business and identify your best next steps.

Who Cobble Is For

Cobble is perfect for creative independent business owners who:

• Take their business seriously and want to grow or evolve.

• Are open to input from people they trust.

• Want an efficient, immediate source of help.

• Don’t have time to crowdsource opinions from Facebook or cross their fingers with ChatGPT.

• Are willing to reflect on their business and goals.

• Will take action on what they learn from their coaching session.

What to Expect in a Cobble Session

As you probably know, Cobble sessions are booked on demand with a coach of your choice. So once you choose your Cobble coach, you’ll choose a date/time and your session length (30 or 45 minutes.)

We’ll send you some short (but impactful) reflection questions to answer so that your coach can be as informed as possible before you even get on the phone.

Then, you’ll hop on a Google Meet call with your coach. During that call, your coach will:

• Reflect what they observe of your situation from the outside.

• Offer their experience of what has worked for them.

• Identify opportunities or obstacles you might be missing.

• Encourage you in authentic ways.

• Help you identify concrete steps forward to reach your goals.

Some Things You Might Worry About

These aren’t exactly FAQs… more like Frequently Mentioned Sources of Anxiety. But if this is helpful:

• I’m such a mess in my business right now, I don’t know how they would tackle it.
  That’s honestly the biggest helpful thing about coaching — having someone see the patterns in the mess and the path out of it.

• I wouldn’t know what to ask a coach.
  Ok. But if you DID know what to ask, what would you ask? What are the things you most wish would change in your business? Those are the things you should be talking to a coach about.

• I’m worried about being on the “hot seat" and feeling uncomfortable.
  I know. But growth lies on the other side of discomfort. I’m not going to sugarcoat that one.

• I’m trying to make money in my business, not spend it on coaching.
  You can do a Cobble session for $59. We truly, honestly think that you will get at least a 10x return on that (probably more like 100x.)
  

How to Get Started

If you’re interested in trying a Cobble Session, we’d love to work with you.

• See all the Cobble Coaches here.

• Or, check out a list of specific problems you might have in your business and see which coach can help solve them.
  

Of course, there is no single path to business success and there are no “answers” to the right way forward. But by talking to experienced people in a focused way, you can avoid blind alleys, expensive mistakes, and losing hope when things get hard. We find that Cobble sessions really are the most affordable, most efficient, most reliable way of removing the obstacles to meeting your goals. And we’ll be rooting you on every step of the way.

26 Problems in Your Business That Just Got Solved

Sometimes business is just plain hard. You’re not alone in that. Every other business owner, like you, often feels that they have no idea what they’re doing. No one is coming to save you and there are no gurus with all the answers. Running a business is just an extended process of creatively solving problems as they arise.

That said, business does not have to be quite so mystifying or difficult as it sometimes seems. There are people who have gone through the same challenges you’re facing. And they figured out solutions (or ways of arriving at solutions) that you could use.

That’s why we made Cobble — period. So that you can stop using your energy to reinvent the wheel or bang your head against the wall… leaving more energy for design and connection and growth and creativity.

Yes it’s true you can browse the Cobble coaches and see who you think will fit the bill to help you move forward. But we also wanted to give you very clear tips on which Cobble coaches will help you solve which vexing problems in your business. Think of Cobble coaches as your partners in problem-solving the things that they DO have answers on so that you can just solve them and move forward.

26 Problems in Your Business That Just Got Solved:

Growth and Marketing.

• You’re pretty sure you have Faire/Etsy/Etc set up in a way that’s costing you sales but don’t know how to fix it.

  Kristen and Jonnie will help you look at your presence on these platforms and make simple changes to optimize things there.

• Instagram is an infuriating mystery but you know you’re missing out on sales if you just ignore it.

  Kirstie will help you figure out Instagram in a way that’s not horrible.

• You want to grow and balance different income streams so your business feels more stable.

  Sam and Sarah are both really good at diversifying your sales channels so that you build in a stable way.

• You want to offer custom options to wholesale customers but aren’t sure how to finagle it logistically.
  Adam has built an impressive wholesale business because he figured out how to offer custom options in a simple way. And he wants to help you do that too.

• You want to get your line in more stores.

  Elana, Kara, Leela, Aisha, Kristen, Adam, and Jonnie have all built really thriving wholesale businesses and have tips for you.

• You want to build relationships with customers off of social media.

  Email marketing might be a route forward — and Kristen, Leela, Sara, and Eli can help you build an effective strategy.

• Working with affiliates sounds intriguing but you barely know what it means and have no clue how you’d do that in your business.

  Eli has created an ingenious and surprisingly simple approach to working with affiliates to grow a creative business — and is good at helping folks find the right approach for them.

• You know you’re supposed to “tell your story” and “develop your brand” but feel like maybe you’re just not that interesting?
  Leela can help you find the interesting parts of your story and brand and get them to come across.

• You want better PR for your business but have no idea how to go about that

  K’era is a PR pro in addition to being an accomplished artist and maker.

• You would love to write simple blog posts that bring thousands of customers to your website.

• Sound far-fetched? It’s not. Sarah writes blog posts every few weeks that bring in most of her customers.

Money.

• You’re tired of just scraping by with your income.
  Kara will guide you to work towards making $100K and Becca will help you look at your numbers and find opportunities to end up with more money after all is said and done.

• You wouldn’t say you “have a handle” on your business finances but are pretty sure it would help if you figured it out.

  Rebecca is an experienced financial strategist and coach as well as having built a strong jewelry company. So she helps folks pull out the insights from their own numbers.

Finding The Path Forward.

• You had a good thing going for a while with your business but now need to make some big changes and want to not end up with chaos in the process.

  K’era and Leela are wise coaches and also have experienced many pivots in life and business.

• You want to grow your business while working or parenting full-time and aren’t sure how to do the juggle.

  Kirstie has grown a big and very cool business while working and parenting full-time and has some tips. And Cindy is great at helping folks develop systems and mindset.

• You’re struggling to be a successful business owner while also being neurodivergent and/or having a chronic disease/disability.

  Stacey has built strong systems and skills around just that.

• You just aren’t sure what your best next steps are.

  This is actually something that all of the coaches are incredibly adept at supporting with. They’re experienced at seeing the forrest for the trees… and finding a path through it.

Running Your Business Well.

• You want to create bestselling products that also feel authentic to who you are.

  Leela, Kristen, and Elana all have impressive track records selling many thousands of units of beloved products — all while making sure their lines stay resonant with them creatively.

• You want to do a photography shoot that will actually be worth the money.

  Sam has developed good systems around shoots that have served as a strong foundation of her business.

• You’re doing a trade show and need help making the most of it and not making rookie mistakes.

  Jonnie is both really experienced at trade shows. And she’s also a super relationship builder.

• You’re trying to balance freelance work and your business and want to get that more streamlined.

  Sara has done just that for many years.

• You want to improve your presence at in-person shows so you can sell more and look your best.

  Sam and Sara both have a lot of experience creating a strong

• You’re wasting a lot of time and energy because the admin side of your business is a bit of a mess.

  Cindy has a background in both the military and in corporate settings and uses those experiences to create strong systems to support creativity.

• You want to rethink how you do production in your jewelry line so that you work better, not harder.

  Sam has developed processes for just that.

• You want to do licensing but aren’t sure how.

  Elana can help you with ways of blending licensing and running a product business.

• You want to build a custom practice.

  Aisha does a lot of custom work for many different jewelry clients and can help you develop this area.

Business is never easy. But it can be easeful and easier — with a little help from people who have been there before.