Crafting Maven Creates World’s Most Practical Workbook

This transcript was generated from the episode audio and may contain minor errors.

Many years ago, I first stumbled upon a blog that fascinated me, even though I think I was probably in the minority of readers. This blog was all about crafting and crafts projects. Despite not being crafty at all, I subscribed and read post after post. Sometimes those posts were not always applicable to me personally, I didn't need to know how to sew a dress, for example. But what I liked and admired was this blogger's dedication to her craft, to her overall craft of writing and publishing and sharing the journey with her readers.

If I was traveling, I got behind on my feeds. Whenever I caught up, I'd see she had done five more projects. People like her inspired me to step up my game, and this person's name was Elise Blaha Kripe. I actually included a quote from her in my book, The Happiness of Pursuit, that I still mentioned from time to time. I'm paraphrasing, but the quote was something about how lots of people are always telling you to think outside the box, and if you want to be successful, you should actually get in the box.

This comes from Elise. Put some structure and boundaries around your life, and set a goal and go after it. Get in that box instead of think outside the box. Anyway, in her story, which you'll hear shortly, she went from doing lots of craft projects and lots of different side hustles to one big one. This big one is now her main thing while she continues to do lots of other projects.

This main thing is a workbook like no other. In a sea of workbooks and planners and journals, she's made one that really stands out. Now, in this episode's title, I'm calling it the world's most practical workbook, but she has an even better name. So, I'll tell you what it is and what it's all about right after this quick shout out to our sponsor. Oh, and by the way, welcome to Sadislow School.

My name is Chris Guillebeau. Elise Blaha-Krype has been getting crafty since 2007 when she graduated college. Back then, she worked full-time as a sales associate at a paper store. She launched an Etsy shop on the side to sell many notebooks and letterpress prints. For the next few years, she continued to work a regular job and start various crafty projects on her own.

When she got married and moved across the country to California, she began thinking about a more substantial project that could grow into its own business. On her blog, which she posted on daily with lots of photos and extensive write-ups, Elise spent a lot of time sharing her routine, her time management tips, her goal-setting techniques. She thought it would be fun to make a product that helped people be more creative and productive. And besides, a lot of her readers were constantly asking for resources. They were also constantly asking her questions, "How do you get so much done?" Originally, she thought she'd write a book about goal-setting, but then decided to get even more creative and productive herself and make a planner.

She wanted people to have something active to work with instead of just passively reading. What would she call this planner or this workbook? Well, at first, she thought she had the perfect name, the reality planner, because it was all about planning your real life. However, when she searched online for that phrase, she realized that a lot of people might confuse reality for realty, like real estate or a realtor. And while this planner could be helpful for real estate agents, that's not really what it was about.

It turned out to be a very good thing that her first idea was problematic, because the process made her think more about what this planner would be. This one workbook to rule them all would help people get to work, and that's when she found a much better name, the get to work book. Like get to work, but with a workbook, right? Such a strong name. Elise then got to work herself on design, teaming up with an agency in Portland, Oregon, and a local printer as well.

She had been consistently publishing on that blog I mentioned for years, so she took her readers on a tour of her idea. She showed them her idea coming to life, all the different stages of production, or at least some of them. In other words, she was excited, and she got them excited too. So a lot of them were waiting. And when Elise first launched the get to work book for pre-orders, it was about 9 p.m. on

March 3, 2015. She set out a newsletter and watched the sales pour in. The feeling was overwhelming. People really wanted what she had made. It was a winner.

Now that was, of course, three years ago. Since then, a lot has happened. She's done two new versions for two new years, and she's added a lot of complimentary products to her online store. Mostly though, she's just sold a lot of get to workbooks. How many?

Well, over the past three years, the get to workbook has sold at least 18,000 copies and earned $1.2 million in sales. Now there are real costs with this kind of business. It's a physical product. She has to do that printing and shipping and all that. But Elise is able to take a six-figure salary from it.

She also hears from customers all the time who talk about how it has improved their lives. One woman even wrote in to say that it helped her plan a funeral for a close family member. And the process of grieving was made easier with the tool that Elise had made. How's that for a powerful testimonial? Hard to beat that.

Now what if you're out there and you'd like to do something like this yourself, not necessarily make your own workbook, but some creative project, something that you've been thinking of for a while? Well, Elise says, she's got some good advice here, she says, "I always recommend starting with just something small." The get to workbook was possible because I had tried other smaller ventures before it. I was familiar with printing. I could build out a small website. I knew how to manage shipping.

If you have a grand plan, that's amazing, but often the first step towards that plan will feel tiny. Take it anyway. Elise started with small ventures, then she kept building, and then the get to workbook revealed itself as her biggest idea yet. She was skilled in setting goals and making things happen, so she brought this idea to life and now it brings in a full-time salary, even as she does other things. Do you have a big idea or even a small one?

Maybe it's time you get to work. Okay, first of all, 18,000 copies, that is a big number. Huge congratulations to Elise. It's such a wonderful project as well. I just love everything about it.

And if you want to check it out more, you want to see her Instagram because she's posting all these photos of people using it. Of course, I'll link that up in the show notes for you. Now let's think a bit more about these first steps. So Elise did send us some more practical steps if you want to make some kind of printed paper product. She says think about what you want to create, connect with talented designers, you can find them from Google or Instagram and send them an email, order paper and printing supplies, start collecting emails for a newsletter, and so on.

All that stuff is good, but what I think is even more interesting is her recommendation that we included in the story itself, that whole thing about how if you've got a grand idea for everything, that's cool. But if not, just start with something small, because those small things that you do are going to give you the skills and the confidence to be able to do that bigger thing whenever it comes along, just like it did for her. And by the way, this was a big lesson from that book, The Happiness of Pursuit as well. And the lesson is that experience produces confidence. In my case, I never would have even considered trying to go to every country in the world unless I first began with going to a few countries and then living in a few different countries, and then a dozen and then 50.

Finally, I'm like, oh, I need to go everywhere. But I never would have had that idea unless I had just begun working towards something I was interested in. So the same principle holds true in the world of side hustling or crafting projects or both, just as Elise has merged them with the get to work book. Take that with you today. I hope you find it inspiring.

But as always, inspiration is good, but inspiration combined with action is so much better. If you would like to check out the show notes for today's episode and learn more about the get to work book, like I said, these photos are beautiful. You should see them. And she also has her 2019 version going on pre-sale soon. Come and check it out at sidehustleschool.com slash six oh two that is for episode six hundred and two.

I'm going to sign off now because I have to go get to work, which is kind of what I've been doing this whole time, but I've got more work to be done. So I'm going to work on that. And I hope you'll do the same today. Wherever you are in the world, be sure you do something, maybe just one thing to get closer to the goals that you believe in. I also hope you'll join me again tomorrow and all next week.

My name is Chris Guillebeau and this is Side Hustle School.