So yes. Anyway, that's enough of the promo. I'm gonna get straight into this podcast. So welcome to Sarah.

 

Okay, great. Zoom lady tells me we're recording. Ok. So, hi Sarah. Welcome.

 

SARAH: Hi. Thank you so much for having me. Oh, it, it is absolutely my pleasure. I, I guess I'll give everybody a bit of a background how this conversation came to be.

 

Debbie: This is, I don't even remember what episode we're up to on this podcast. I probably should know that, but it's been a good break, which I'll explain why we had a bit of a break. But I put it out to my group to ask questions around, what do you guys wanna hear about in the podcast? So what questions do you have about crafting and all of this, you know, great stuff.

 

And the number one question that came back was, Design, graphic design, like a whole lot of questions around like, how do I do this and like, copyright and like, you know, all these things. I have a working knowledge job, but I am so not an expert. And I went to the one person that I know can answer this stuff, which is Lyndsay makes, cause she's an expert , she's the graphic designer, right?

 

And Lyndsay was like, Hey, talk to Sarah. So here I'm talking to Sarah. Hello. So why don't we start with how, what your background is. I obviously can see a heat press and a cutting machine in your background, which is not Cricut, which is great cause I dunno anything about what's behind, what's happening there.

 

So let's start at the beginning, how you found crafting and yeah. Yeah. Yeah. So I think I probably came into crafting a little bit differently to most people. I started off as a cosplayer, which if anybody's watching doesn't know what that is when you see people go to, you know, sci-fi and pop culture conventions and they dress up in costume, that's essentially what that is.

 

I'm loved costuming. Yeah. Fun. Yeah, fun. I used to go to Anana Mania. Is it Anana? Oh, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. But not as a cosplay, as a dancer used. Oh, wow. That's cool. They decided to have like a dance group, like a hiphop dance group, just come to perform, which is a bit. Anyway, that's my relation. Yeah, yeah.

 

Well, I've been going to, yeah, I've been going to pop culture conventions, like the, the biggest one here in Australia is Supernova. We've recently gotten our own version of Comic-Con, but I'd been going to Supernova since I think like 2006. But I didn't get into sort of the cosplay side of it until many, many years of attending.

 

I sort of didn't understand it when I first got, I was like, I don't get why these people are in costume. Like, I don't understand, and then, I formed a group of friends and we are all kind of like, oh, do we maybe wanna get into this? And the sort of our love of cosplay both night. We did it for many, many years and it was always really good fun and we would enter the competition and we won a few times as well, which was awesome.

 

So my husband and I actually went to we on a trip to San Diego Comic-Con in 2013, so 10 years ago now, if you can believe. And we did cosplay while we were there and, you know, just the mecca of, you know nerd Chasms was like just amazing to just be in costume during there. So yeah, I started off as a costumer and I got into making my own props and things like that.

 

And then, Through researching like more precise ways to cut things. I came across cutting machines and had never heard of them before. They'd been on the market for years, but just completely missed it on my radar. And then yeah, sort of fell down the hole of like, do I get a brother scan and cut? Do I get a Cricut?

 

Ended up going with the Cricut. At the time in the market, this was probably about five years ago now, there was only the Explore Air two and the maker available, and the maker was quite expensive. And I was like, Ooh. I just, I don't know if. This is worth the investment. I just don't know how much I will use it.

 

So I got the air too. And if I could go back in time and tell myself Yeah, get the makeup. The makeup. Having said that, my air too is still kicking. I actually just, yeah. Sold it to a coworker of mine cuz it's still going great. Guns it. He's well loved, but he, it's still an amazing functioning machine. Yeah.

 

He's a workhorse. He's, yeah, he's made hundreds of projects, but he's, he's still going strong. So I'm glad that I could give him another home, because currently I have four, well, I had four cutting machines before I got rid of that, so I don't need that anymore. So Yeah, I upgraded to the Maker three last year, I think it was, or maybe it was the year before.

 

Might've been the year before. And I also got a, a Cricut joy in there. I actually won that a couple years ago through a competition with Cricut Australia and New Zealand. I accidentally entered a competition. I don't even, I, I, I didn't even know I was entering a competition. I just tagged them and apparently that was what you needed to enter the competition, and they were like, oh, you've won this.

 

And I went, oh. Thanks. You're like one of those serial lucky people, right? Like I heard holiday in there. You won that and now you won Cricut Joy. Oh my God. Yes. I want some of that luck, please. Well, I've also won a Vesper. Oh, cool. Yeah. And a trip to Disneyland as well. So yes, I've, I've been very, very lucky.

 

I don't know if I'm related to a leprechaun somewhere in my lineage or something be, but, but yeah, I've been very, very, sounds right. Totally, totally counts. So, yeah I guess that's sort of how I started in, in my crafting. I slowly moved away from, from cosplay and then obviously the pandemic happened and things like that.

 

So it just wasn't you know, feasible to be going to conventions and things because they were all canceled. And then, yeah, during the lockdowns was, you know, just. Going gung ho with the crafting. And then I think it was last year, yeah, it must've been last year. I got contacted by Caesar, Australia, New Zealand, cuz they had just opened their Australia, New Zealand branch, which was very exciting.

 

And again, credit to Lyndsay because she had done work with Caesar North America and when they opened an Australian branch, they approached her to be a content creator. And she said, oh, I would love to, but I'm just too busy. However, I know somebody who I think. Would be a great fit. So thank you Lyndsay for that.

 

So yeah, they reached out to me sort of towards the end of last year and yeah, I've been a content creator for them ever since and I absolutely love doing it. They give me free materials a cutting machine and a heat press. Yes, I'm very, very blessed to be working with Goal, right? Like I absolutely love Dream, like absolutely.

 

Absolutely. So yeah, I'm very, very deep. Like I'd already been using Caesar vinyls cuz you know, when you start in, in sort of the, the Cricut world and you think there's nothing outside of Cricut, you only ever do Cricut branded things. And there's nothing wrong with Cricut's, a great brand. Not, I'm not, I'm not dissing Cricut, but when you discover that there are other brands out there and you're like, oh, I can put this in my machine.

 

Oh, oh, this. They've got good colors. Oh, I like that texture. So yeah, when you find there are other materials out there that you can play with, you sort of start to broaden your scope a little bit. So I'd already been using Caesar heat transfer vinyls for quite a few years because I preferred them to Cricut and they were cheaper.

 

And had a bigger range as well. So yeah, just to be able to now use their products, I still CA's. Great. Yeah. Like from a HIV point of view, I prefer caar. Yeah. And especially the easy weed one. And to be honest, yes. I found a difference between easy weed, like the. What do you call it? The one that go, like the prepackaged one, the retail one?

 

Is that what it's called? Yeah. That one versus the one where you get it on a big roll and you get pieces of it. So I prefer that one. Like the one that comes on a roll. On a roll, yeah. Rather than going to spotlight. I don't know why, but one time I just, I cut, I cut it, and I didn't get to finish the project, so I left it overnight and then the next day it didn't, it didn't work.

 

I'm like, is that really? Oh yeah. That's strange, right? Oh, that's really strange. Yeah. I thought maybe it was a dead role. Yeah, it could have been I, but maybe I should, I dunno, maybe I shouldn't have left it, but I have never had that problem with the, the, like the lower the, the bulk ones. Yeah. Yeah. How strange, how strange you wanna give that feedback

 

one row.

 

How, what is your arrangement with them now? Like, do you just. I mean, it sounds like the goal, right? Like to just be creating and playing with different materials and Yeah. Yeah. So I, we have a schedule okay. And they'll give me either a material that they want me to focus on or a topic they want me to focus on.

 

So like Easter or New Year or something like that. And then I've got complete free, free reign to make whatever I'm without. That's like, whoa, I love, so yeah. And for me, I really enjoy Thinking outside the box a little bit in terms of doing things. So, you know, I don't want to do something that everybody else is doing because then what's that content doesn't separate you from anybody else.

 

So I wanna be able to give people ideas of things that they can do with a cool product that makes it even cooler. Yeah. And I think you're very successful at that. Just saying, cause you, I was watching the video. It, one of your recent ones, it must've been this morning or something. And I'm notorious for having mats that don't stick.

 

Right. There is a, there is a hack on my, on my Instagram where I use the spray and wipe and stuff, right? Yeah. But you can, like, you can't see it. It's blurred. But I have like 10 mats that just don't stick and I just don't go around cleaning them. Yeah. But then you had one, you had a normal video where you used washy tape to stick it on.

 

Yes. And I'm like,

 

yeah, cause I was using masking tape or a normal sticky tape and it just like left the, the residue. Exactly what, yeah. Yeah. Very successful. I'm just gonna say good. Yeah. Box all about that. Right. Not just keeping what you know in, because like what's, you know, we're supposed to share this stuff. Like Yeah.

 

You know, someone else like me appreciated that. Yeah. Yeah. That was sort of a large motivation for me, creating a channel in the first place that was very craft focused because I. I was mostly making things for friends and family. Like occasionally I take a couple of commissions, but I don't advertise that I do because I do work full time and it's just a lot on my plate to be able to be doing a side hustle as well.

 

So for me, I was just making things for friends and family, and then when I would post pictures of them, the feedback I would get the most was, how did you make that? So I wanted to be able to have content where like either the instructions were well written or that it had like a visual representation so that you could see it in action.

 

So and recently I've started in sort of in the last six months adding VO to my videos as well, which creates an extra step in the editing process and makes it take a little bit longer to do. But I think that helps because I thought just having a straight up video with showing the assembly process was enough, but I would still get questions from people saying, what was this bit and what did you use here?

 

And stuff. So I feel like if I verbally explain it, then I've got all bases covered and then people know what to do. Yeah, and I love that, like a lot of my videos, I almost do two or three cuts of the same footage, you know? Mm-hmm. Like, I would do one where it's like a quick, okay, this is start to finish and this is my hands working in it.

 

Right? Yeah. Then the second one is like, instruction voiceover, like, do this next, this next take this, you know? And then the other one is like a short. You know, 32nd, here's the finished product, isn't it? Pretty type thing, you know? Right. Yeah, I totally get that. There you go. There's my marketing strategy.

 

We're onto you now, Deb. You've given away all your secrets. Well, actually I have. Right? I put it all in the court. True, true. That's why we're here today. Yeah. There's so many, not just in crafting, but any kind of creative field. I think, yeah, there's this notion of, okay, I found something. It's working for me.

 

I can't share it. I'm like, no, like share it. Cause it helps, like, yeah, it hurts so many people. I, I'm not a fan of that at all. Yeah, it, it bothers me a lot that people gate keep. Creativity. And I just think there's a joy. For me personally, and maybe this is just a personal preference thing, but there's a joy for me in when I create something and then someone will then tag me in a project they've done because they learned how to do it from me.

 

I'm like, oh, you did it. Yeah. And, and I feel like that proud kindergarten teacher that like, you know, when someone turns you, it's like, They've taken in your content. They've like watched it to a point where they've now actioned it. Right? Like I, I, I see no greater. Honor almost, you know, in that like, and that's maybe why the community has grown because it is a bit like it's a safe space, you know?

 

Yes. A safe space for people to create and people like you who come in on podcasts and you know, videos and all of that stuff, like it really helps along. Yeah. And I think everyone really appreciates that. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Just, yeah, it just, it gives me the warm fuzzies, you know? Yeah, totally. Totally. So tell me more about the sizer stuff.

 

Only again, because I don't know anything about. The size, the cutting machine. I think Lyndsay told me the other day something about a Juliet, and I'm like, yes. So for anyone that is in that stage, like in that stage of figuring out which machine is best for them. Yeah. Can you give us a crash course?

 

What's available and how does it compare to something like, yeah, yeah. So Cesar have released two cutting machines. One is the Juliet, which is your Normalized cut is comparative to a a Cricut or a, you know, scanner cut or whatever. And then there's the Romeo, which is longer and great for large scale projects in particular.

 

So yeah, I, I've looked at the Romeo and I've just gone, I don't actually need that. Like, that's the, the one time that I've been like re responsible adult going. You know what? I would never actually use that because I don't make anything large scales. But I completely understand for like businesses who are doing things in bulk and large stream, I know that.

 

Cause you can cut up to a one on it, like it's Oh, it's huge. It's huge. Okay. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. So how does that like the, because I know that there's a whole lot of sign vinyl machines, which I don't even know anything about, right? Yeah. Is that, is that top one, the Romeo comparative to that? Yeah. Okay. Whereas like the Juliet is comparative to like a home Cricut or a silhouette.

 

Yes, yes. You know? Okay. Yeah. So a hobbyist kind of machine, a hobbyist, but if you like me, kinda use it for professional, kinda. Yes. Well, I would say and not just because I'm the rep, but because I've actually used the product that for me the Juliet is a more precise cutter. She cuts very intricate details.

 

And there's more functionality too, in terms of how you control the machine. So and again, not bagging out a Cricut, but on a Cricut you've got three options with pressure. You've got normal less and more. Yes. On a Juliet, you've got a sliding scale from like zero to hundred 60. Oh yeah. Okay.

 

Yeah. So I, I have a sil silhouette. Cameo, I think, and I've done nothing with it. I literally turned it on and did one cut. But I think it's similar, like you can adjust the pressure so it's yes, kinda ok. And the speed as well. So if you're dealing with something that's a little bit more delicate and it can't handle a faster speed, you can slow that right on down for it to do a slower, slower cut.

 

Or if it's something that's a bit sturdier and you wanna get through it quick, you can speed it right up and make it go faster. And you can control all of that at the machine. You don't have to be doing it in the program like once you at the cut stage. Yeah. Oh yeah, so I just, so the dial on the machine, like the, it's, it's an l led D screen with just sliding scales.

 

Yeah. And on top of that, you control where the blade starts. So you position where you want the blade to start cutting, which is, I don't know, I feel. Has more functionality for me. Like if I am just slapping something on a mat, I don't have to worry about, oh, I'm exactly in this corner here. And yeah, totally.

 

We go. Cause yeah, when you load your, your material as well, you can load from the front or the back of the machine. Yeah. Whoa. Yeah. Wait, wait. Yeah. It's one of my, yeah, it's one of my favorite features. Yeah. So because it, it's not a, you put it in and you tell the machine load it, you, like, there's a lever at the back that lifts up the rollers.

 

Oh. And you put it in, and then you put the lever down and you're done. And then you just position your blade where you want to start, and then, oh, away it goes. Wow. Yeah, I feel like I, I anyway, aren't. My husband's gonna hate me, but anyway. And you can also cut without a mat for vinyls, so I gonna ask about that.

 

Ok. And he cuts all materials, right? Like yeah, everything. I haven't, I haven't put anything thick in it. Like I haven't tried Bolsa water or anything like that. I don't know that it would hold, hold up to that. But yeah, I've I dunno if you've played with strip flock before, which is their Yes. Their fluffy transfer.

 

Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Cut's totally fine. So there are two blades. There's a 45 degree angle blade for like your everyday regular vinyls and card stocks and stuff. And then there's a 60 degree blade for thicker stuff like strip flock. And then they've got one called brick, which is even thicker. So yeah. Okay.

 

Okay, so, I mean, this is not an ad. No, it's, it's not. It's just me fangirling over this machine. I'm, I'm, now you've another person into your, you know, your community. Welcome, welcome. The dark side. Have Cutting.

 

Love that. I love it. You, I totally temp me as well. I'm already over there.

 

So tell me more about your, kinda your design background and how does that, like you mentioned before, you work full time. Yes. What is that? Does that Yes. Merge into your crafting? Like, I find my work all the time. A hundred percent. It's like the perfect intersectionality of professional and hobby. Yeah, I feel so I'm a TV producer, which sounds a lot fancier than it, than it is not for that.

 

Okay. I, yeah, I love my job. I work for an agency called Media Merchants. Shout out to my media merchants crew. And I've been with them for, 12 years now. And I started with them as a graphic designer. I've been a graphic designer for, it's been about 15 years now. I started working at a print shop.

 

Just I. I was working retail. I'd been to like university, done journalism and business communication, all kind of stuff. And then finished and went, oh, I don't actually wanna be a journalist. So I just worked retail for a little while and then I started playing with Photoshop just out of fun and went, oh, I kind of like this.

 

Like what's. What's something I could do professionally with this? And then, yeah, I found a, a job at a print shop that said that they do work with Photoshop, and I was like, oh, I could learn on the job. Cool, cool. And then about a year into working there, I went to a careers fair. So, And there was a design college on the Gold Coast that offered apprenticeships for people who worked in print shops for graphic design.

 

And I went, oh, okay. So I took it to my boss and he was like, we can do this for free. And I was like, we can do this for free. So yeah, he signed me up for it. And so yeah, I did a Graphic design apprenticeship for a couple years and then was working full-time as the graphic designer for two print stores.

 

And then kind of just wanted to get away from the retail kind of side of it because it was a very high pressure job. And I just wanted to see sort of, Where else I could go with my skills. So yeah, I applied for a job in an advertising agency and I've been there ever since. So yeah, I started as a graphic designer building things like catalogs and press ads and stuff like that.

 

And then there was an opportunity to move departments and upskill into the TVB department and they, they offered it to me and I said, heck yeah. Well, because I just love collecting skills. This is why we get along. I'm a field collect. So yeah, I did some, some training in, in editing and learnt the land of television commercials and all the rest of it.

 

And yeah, I've been doing that for quite a few years now. I'm now head of the department, which is very exciting. And so yeah, it just, every skill that I've gathered along the way is just feeds into my crafting so well, because there's graphic design, there's editing, and I also do copywriting cause I write all the scripts for our commercials and things like that as well.

 

So my journalism degree did come in handy eventually. And I think I was talk, it was Lyndsay again, I was talking about No, and it was Amanda too. Yes. It's a funny path, right? Mm-hmm. Like, and I say funny cause I dunno how else to describe it, but you just don't know what skills you're going to use. It's true.

 

You know, like, I mean, I didn't know that I was gonna have a business. I didn't know I was marketing my products when I was, you know, sharing my journey. Yeah. I didn't know that my door-to-door sales job, you know, straight outta uni knocking, like selling. I, I even telling. Electricity bills, like discounting them by 5% or something so that we get them for three, three months, you know?

 

Yeah. And you wouldn't do door todo sales now, but like, like the confidence to speak to people and all of that, you just, you're gonna use until now, you know. Yeah. Hundred percent. And I love that. Yeah. Yeah. And so, like, do you find. Do you find that those skills pop up all the time? Like, you know, for example, when you're, I dunno, working with your collaboration with Caesar, like, oh yeah, yeah.

 

Hundred percent. Give you an example how, like on a day to day, how does that intersect? You know? Well, for example, so when Caesar approached me, I was just doing sort of like, Kind of regular rough edits. I would put the same music track on everyone and just do like a, either a time lapse or just like a quick cut in between kind of thing.

 

Yeah. Because I didn't wanna put too much effort into it. And then when Caesar approached me and they wanted to make each post a collaboration post so that it would also be showing up on their socials, I went, Ooh. Okay. We might need to rebrand a little bit. Rebrand. Yeah. Yeah. So because I already have those marketing skills, those design skills, I was able then to come up with some design assets and a fresher look for how I edit and, and how things look when I do it.

 

Which I think if I didn't have those skills, I probably would be floundering a little bit and maybe my work wouldn't be as up to par as, you know, I would like it to be. So, yeah, I think, yeah, different things like that definitely come into play. Yeah, totally. And for someone that is new to, you know, crafting and launching their visits and even just, you know, sharing what they're making on social, it doesn't even have to be sale.

 

Do you have any tips for. And this is quite selfish because I need those tools, you know, I dunno how to edit, like just, you know, download an app off my phone and I edit on TikTok, like, you know, and I my son who's my stepson, who's studying film. Yeah. Now first Uni film taught me how to do Adobe Premier.

 

Like yes. You know, so you kinda collect your skills as you go, as you said. Yes. But yes. What tips do you have for someone that's just starting out and, you know, wanting to know? Yeah. My actual number one tip for anybody starting out, particularly if they're wanting to form a business or a hustle, is know your business.

 

And when I say that, I mean, know your branding, know your branding assets. So I. I feel like the problem I see with a lot of people is when they launch a business, they, they know what they want to create, but they don't know the company. They don't know the vibe of the company. They don't know how to promote themselves.

 

I. And the sort of main things that you need to know are your fonts, your colors, your overall aesthetic. Like once you've got those things locked in, you will have a brand identity. So it's, it's really important, I feel, to sit down, think of some words that you want people to associate with your business and then develop a color scheme around that, and then look at fonts that also coincide with that.

 

Because a lot of the time I'll just see people released up and there's, there's either no branding on it or there's inconsistent branding. And the problem with that is that you don't create a profile for yourself. You're not recognizable to other people. So yeah, I, whenever I hear that somebody's starting a business, I'm like, okay, do you have your logo sorted?

 

Do you have your fonts sorted? Do you have your color sorted? Do you know what your assets are for like When you are creating a letterhead or a business card, or putting a post on social media that you want people to associate with you, that's not just a picture. It's gonna have some sort of branding assets on it.

 

You need all of those elements to be able to become an established business. And just to add to that, like it sounds really hard, you know, like not everyone has Photoshop experience, but I will say that. Three tools like Canva. Yeah. You know, and, and a brand identity can be, you know, it's, it's a fancy word for saying in my opinion anyway, a fancy word of saying who you are.

 

Exactly. Who you're right. Exactly. Yeah. So what are you about, you know, exactly. What are words that you would say that you wouldn't say? You know? So work that into your copy, you know? Exactly. Work that into everything that you're saying online, on your website, if you have, you know, On everything. Yeah. Like do you shout at people?

 

That's cohesiveness.

 

And for me, like creating a brand identity is the fun part. Like I, I don't feel like it's something that you should be overwhelmed by. Like as soon as you have a couple key words that you want people to associate with, it's so easy and it's fun to like go through color swatches and be like, Ooh, this one and this one, or this one and this one.

 

Like, I get fonts can be overwhelming, but at the same time, I'm also a font geek, so I'm gonna like,

 

So, yeah, to me that's, that's the fun part. Cause once you have that done, everything else is so much easier after that. Trying to create a brand identity after the fact makes everything so much harder. So once you've got everything done from the start, then go forth. Yes. Love it. And, and now we're kind of talking about the business side.

 

Like, I wanted to jump straight into the issues and all of this stuff, like, yes. And, and I like it. It, it makes me cringe a little bit, right? Say for example, when someone messages me and they say, Hey you know, I wanna print or.

 

Insert copyrighted type in like Disney or a logo or something, you know, and I, I, I stay clear. I'm not gonna do it. Like, to be honest with you, I do not want to attract the attention of someone like Disney I my door, and

 

however,

 

It happens. Oh yeah. Oh yeah. When you search on like, you know Alibaba Ali Express or whatever, like for example, Starbucks Cup. Yeah. People ask me all the time, Debbie, can you get Starbucks cup? I'm like, no, I wanna, but like, no. Yeah, because I don't wanna get in trouble. Exactly. What, what is your experience in that space and like what is your tips for people.

 

That really wants something like that. But, but like, you know, yeah. I mean, my advice is don't do it. But, you know, look, that is also my advice. I would never sell anything that has someone else's branding on it. And this is something that not a lot of people understand. And maybe that's because they haven't come from a space where they are a creative themselves and they've made something themselves.

 

But for me, if I made something and then someone took that element and then started mass producing it, that would. Pee me off to no end. Like it doesn't matter that, you know, it's a big corporation like Disney or you know, whatever, that's still somebody else's content that you're taking. And at the same time, I don't know, I just think there's a lack of originality there too.

 

Like I get that you might have a really cool idea of something to make with that character or that franchise or whatever, but. At the same time, that's still somebody else's content. So yeah, my advice is, is, is not to do it. However, having said that, there is a bit of a loophole in that, in which you can create things that are fan inspired.

 

So you can't use the actual design of something. But if you were to redraw it in your own style or something like that, that's a way to get around it. Or use elements from it that aren't part of the branding of the copyright, but still allude to it. So, you know, if you wanna do a Beauty and a Beast thing, you could put a rose on it or something like that, but not specifically the branding of that franchise.

 

So, okay. So say like, Harry Potter. Cause Harry Potter you could use the Harry Potter like font or the lightning thing. Or draw a lightning thing. Yeah. But you can't go and like go to Warner Brothers. Yes. Take the logo, the Exactly, exactly. And put that like, and so on. Yeah. But you know, if you were making luggage tags with kids' names on them in the Harry Potter font or something like that Yeah.

 

That's still a way to add an element of that with, without directly taking from somebody else, so. Okay. Okay. And is there like, like a website or a body, like a government body or something where you can look up to see if. Disney is obvious, right? Yes. Everyone knows Disney. But say for example, like someone's idea, you know, and you wanna do something similar, like mm-hmm.

 

Yeah. Is there some sort of, you know what I mean? Like Google, it's very, it's very different with the creative industry because you can't necessarily copyright an idea. It has to be like an image specifically, or a likeness specifically. So, yeah things like that can be a little bit difficult. But again, I just, if it's somebody else's creation, I just wouldn't, I would just, Yeah, it's, no, it's, it goes back to your example, right?

 

Yeah. Like how would you feel if, I mean, I, it happened to me, you know, someone took my photo, still a bit bitter about this really. Someone took my photo and posted it in another, you know, Facebook group saying, Hey, can someone make this similar? And I'm like, hello, I'm here. That's my photo. Yeah. You know, and I was quite hurt, like, yeah.

 

It, it bothers me to know. And I was actually ranting about it in my stories the other day cuz one of Amanda Cricut Colt's videos was taken and uploaded to one of those Cricut tip accounts with without her permission. And within it she was using one of Lyndsay's HTV guides. And then when people in the comments were saying, where did you get that guide from?

 

The person who was running the account was falsely linking them to an Amazon link. That, that was like an affiliate thing for them. So they were getting a financial kickback by lying about the product that was in there that was. Wasn't disease product. So things like that just, and it was really obvious too, like it was very obvious.

 

They looked, they looked nothing alike. Yeah. And you could see the detail, like there was no details all leaning, like, you know, and, and I, I, I saw that too. And I, I felt quite bad because like I know how hard means works on, I know. And I've purchased from her before. And I know how much she goes into it.

 

So someone just do that. And people are so about that, like, yeah, I people often message me and they say, Debbie, can I use your photos as promotion? And I'm like, take it. It's fine. Right? Yeah. Because my, there's a reason why on my website has nothing watermark, you know? Yeah. Cause I want you to use the images because if it means that you grow, then I grow.

 

Right? Yeah. So it, it helps me and I can help you. If someone was to take my staff and I don't know, like for example, that that when someone posted it on another group and, and I didn't benefit from it. Yes, kinda that's the problem that I have. Yeah. Yeah. Like, and someone else is benefiting from it. I e Amazon or you know, exactly.

 

Huge. So they probably weren't even better. Jeff Bazos doesn't need to go to space again. Yeah. It's just, I dunno, it's so hard for content creators and small businesses like us that are just trying to make side hustle. Exactly. Exactly. So any, any kind of tips to avoid that? Like, I don't know, there's no copyright, you know, as you said, like how.

 

I think there's sort of a moment where like you've gotta recognize like how much is to do with ego and how much is to do with You know, being offended. Cuz there's definitely been times where I've posted a project that I've made and, you know, it'll just be something like milestone discs and then I'll see that like somebody else has like, pretty much copied exactly what I've done and like I can.