Foundations
Where thoughtful makers begin
A calm place to get oriented
Selling your work isn’t just about what you make — it’s about the decisions you make along the way.
Many makers struggle not because they lack talent or effort, but because they’re trying to build momentum without first understanding what fits: where their work is most likely to be understood, valued, and sustainable over time.
Foundations exists to help you slow that process down — just enough — so you can make clearer, more intentional choices before investing more time, energy, or money.
This is not a collection of tactics or quick wins. It’s a starting point for makers who want to think clearly about how they sell, without pressure to scale, hustle, or follow someone else’s path.
The Foundations Guide
Where You Sell Matters
A thoughtful guide to choosing how and where you sell your handmade work.
Why this guide exists
Choosing where to sell your work is one of the most influential decisions you’ll make as a maker — and one of the least clearly explained.
Advice is everywhere, but it’s often shaped by someone else’s products, audience, capacity, or goals. What works well in one place can quietly work against you in another, even when the work itself is strong.
Where You Sell Matters was created to help you step back and look at this decision with more clarity — before committing deeper, expanding too quickly, or assuming that difficulty means failure.
This guide doesn’t tell you what platform to use or which path to follow. Instead, it helps you understand how different selling environments function, what they demand from you, and how to recognize fit before investing more.
Who this guide is for
This guide is helpful if you:
sell your work online, in person, or are considering a change
feel unsure whether your current setup really fits
want to make decisions that are sustainable, not just popular
are tired of conflicting advice and ready for clarity instead
You don’t need to be new to selling — and you don’t need to be stuck — for this to be useful.
What you’ll gain
Inside the guide, you’ll explore:
why selling feels easier in some places than others
the three primary selling environments and how they differ
how to evaluate fit before committing
early warning signs that something isn’t working
how to invest and experiment without locking yourself in
how to make a decision you can live with — and revisit later
The goal isn’t certainty. It’s understanding.
Access the free guide
Where You Sell Matters is a free Foundations guide.
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A Simple Operating Framework for Makers
Once you’ve gained clarity about where you are and what fits right now, many makers find it helpful to think about how they work — not just what they do.
The Operating Framework below helps you cycle between planning, structure, and execution in a way that supports momentum without pressure.
Plan: Decide what matters this season.
Structure: Organize resources, time, and decisions.
Execute: Get things done with direction, not busywork.
How Foundations Fits Into the Artisan Kraftwerks System
Artisan Kraftwerks is built around the idea that selling works best when thinking comes before doing.
Foundations is the starting point. It’s where makers step back, get oriented, and gain clarity before committing to tools, tactics, or execution-heavy decisions.
From there, the system naturally unfolds into two additional layers:
Planning
Planning is where clarity turns into structure.
This layer helps makers:
translate understanding into decisions
prioritize what matters now
design systems that fit their selling environment
avoid overbuilding too early
Planning resources are most useful once you’re clear about where and how you want to sell.
Execution
Execution is where plans become real-world action.
This layer includes:
environment-specific tools
practical resources
implementation-focused guidance
Execution works best when it’s built on clear decisions — not guesswork.
No Required Path
Not every maker moves through these layers at the same pace.
Some spend more time in Foundations.
Some revisit it when things stop working.
Some move forward quickly, then return later with new questions.
There’s no required order and no pressure to progress. Each layer exists to support intentional growth, not urgency.
Start Where You Are
If Foundations feels like enough right now, that’s intentional.
Clarity has value on its own. Everything else builds more easily when the underlying decisions are sound.