The actual title of the class is “Stuff Havi thinks you should know about how to get really really great testimonials and referrals,” but that’s a little long for a blog post.

I took this class when it was live, many months ago, and have just recently been reminded of how great the info in it is, so I thought I’d do a review. I’m doing “Other People Tuesdays” on the blog as an experiment, alternating guest posts with reviews.

Back to Havi’s awesome class. First of all, if you’re at all familiar with Havi, you’ll know that she’s a big fan of making things as easy on everyone involved as possible, and her advice about referrals and testimonials is no different. She gives you several ways to get both, too, that work in different situations; I won’t give them away here, but I’ve used all of them to great effect.

Actually, I used the full suite of Testimonial Techniques just recently, when I was gathering people’s reactions to being Cartoonified for my portfolio. A couple of people sent me great testimonials when they got their cartoons, and it started me thinking that I’d like one to go with each of the images on the page. I began to despair, thinking of how hard it can be to get even people who otherwise love and adore you to write up something like this, and then instead of giving in to that feeling, I went and looked over my notes from this class.

If you click the link above, you’ll see that each one has a unique testimonial that fits neatly in the little box. I couldn’t have done that without the info in this class.

Havi’s advice is also brilliant for helping you get past that initial gulp of fear and into the ease of asking, too.

The Twitter version of my review of Havi’s class: The stuff in this class works, if you remember to use it.

PS – If you do go buy the class, Havi’s given permission for me to give away the secret:
Selma is her diva of a duck and business partner (she has her own wardrobe of fan scarves). Stu is her voice-to-text program who delights in tormenting her with really entertaining misunderstandings. Either one of these bits of info will get you $100 off the class, so don’t forget to use them!

This Monday was the third and final installment of Blonde Chicken’s Share Your Thing teleclass, and I was kind of sad it was over! She had a ton of great things to say about making a living with art and handcrafts online. I bit the bullet and bought into the course right before the first call, and I’m really glad I did — I can see how it will offer me a good return on my investment (and not just because of the affiliate link love).

Now, I’ve gone to a lot of free & paid teleclasses in the past year, and some of them aren’t really worth the hour or three of my life they take up, but this one was worth the time and money both. I’m still trying to get Antemortem Arts off the ground, and one of the ways I’ve been doing that is with an Etsy shop. Sadly, though, I haven’t seen much activity on Etsy, and so I wanted to see if this class could help point me in a better direction, since what I’ve been doing has clearly not worked.

Tara (that’s the Chicken’s real name) is a cheerful and enthusiastic speaker, and she dealt with difficulties with great aplomb. I’m not sure if I should tell this story, but the second class ran a little short because she spilled coffee on herself — but you’d never have known it from the call! Her friendly tone never wavered, and her advice is rock solid.

The best part about the class was not only that she gives you a ton of ideas, but she encourages you to experiment with all the different marketing ideas and then stick with the ones that feel good and genuine for you. Not only does forcing yourself make your social media seem forced and fake, but you won’t see much return. And she did discuss Return on Investment in a clear, awesome way — you’ll get to hear my charming voice on the Q&A; call asking about it, in fact!

I don’t want to give too much away, but if you do any kind of handmade awesomeness and want to sell it online, this call is a great place to start. She even gives you handouts for reference!

Click Here to buy the Share Your Thing Course (and give me an affiliate payment woo).

P.S. Just a few days after starting to implement her advice, I made my first sale to a complete stranger, followed by 3 more a few days later. Result!