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 due to COVID. +BONUS ZOOM VIDEO OF THIS EPISODE:  Today, for the first time ever, our Patreon subscribers can not only listen to our latest episode, they can watch it, too! Get a sneak peek of our weird facial expressions, our coordinating Argaman & Defiance sweatshirts, and super-awkward cameos from both of our husbands! Visit our Patreon page here. If you're not already a Patreon subscriber, sign up today and for as little as $1 you'll get access to this special video Zoom episode and ALL of our past Tiny Rant episodes!!!

Pancake Town Podcast

Episode 110 - Cautiously Optimistic

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 again is very tempting, Emily and Michelle try to figure out if there’s a more practical solution.   Also, does it really count as 'leaving' social media if you just stop posting, but leave your account active?

Episode 109 - Our Phones are Here to Kill Us

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 again is very tempting, Emily and Michelle try to figure out if there’s a more practical solution. Also, does it really count as 'leaving' social media if you just stop posting, but leave your account active?

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 pandemic. Emily and Michelle were surprised to discover that there is a small faction of makers that were offended by the anti-Amazon agenda and one business owner specifically felt the need to attack Emily’s Instagram post that encouraged the support of shopping small over shopping 'Prime'. Since it’s impossible to have a rational discussion on social media, Emily did the only reasonable thing: deleted the comments and talked about it on our podcast instead!

Episode 108 - 100% Pure and Sparkly

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 business owners - turn the camera on ourselves to remind our customers that we’re real people in need of their support. When we're asked to pull the curtain back to share more and more of our personal lives, then it should be expected that our political views will come along with that.  If it’s okay for us to share every loaf of bread we’ve baked during quarantine, then it should also be okay for us to post about Black Lives Matter or which candidate we’re supporting in the upcoming election...

Episode 107 - Settle In

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. Times are tough and there's a lot going on in the world, both politically and economically, which can make regular 'ole advertising feel trivial - and even inappropriate.  We try to squash these feelings and give you (and ourselves) some tangible - and guilt-free - ways to continue to promote your work and get those bills paid!

Episode 106 - The Less Icky One

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 can we small business owners position ourselves now to make up for those lost sales?

Episode 105 - 500 Times More Likely

Episode 105 - 5000 Times More Likely

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 104 - Quarantine Chat #5

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 Learning, Code Switch, and The Sunday Jumpstart. If you'd like to support our podcast during this crazy time, please consider becoming a Patreon subscriber here.

Episode 103 - Quarantine Chat #4

Two Chicago-based small business owners - Michelle (Michelle Starbuck Designs) & Emily (OrangeBeautiful) - meet each week for breakfast to discuss the perks and problems with running your own company, and the everyday life stuff that happens in between.

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Pancake Town Podcast

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