Hey there!

I spent three days in Boise at Kit’s Craft + Commerce conference, which was everything I hoped it would be! Sunshine, good food, new friends, and tons of inspiration.

Here’s what I’m taking home.

The big theme: dream big and shoot your shot

Nearly every keynote circled around the same idea—take bold action, live with deliberation, and don’t be afraid to ask for what you want.

Revolutionary? No. But was it what I needed to hear in the moment?

Definitely.

A few moments stuck with me.

Simon Alexander Ong reframed uncertainty in a way that I absolutely love:

“Uncertainty isn’t just a source of anxiety. It can be a source of possibility.”

It’s easy to focus on the negative when things seem uncertain. But, if anything could happen, why not choose to be excited by those possibilities rather than anxious about them?

I also loved Ellen Yin’s keynote, which reframed imposter syndrome.

She pulled up a chart showing the Dunning-Kruger effect (that thing where people who don’t know much think they know everything, while people who know more realize they don’t know hardly anything).

On the chart, Ellen pointed out the distance between being an absolute beginner and reaching the Valley of Despair, where you get overwhelmed by how much of a beginner you are.

(The place where you first feel imposter syndrome.)

“See how much progress you have to make to even experience imposter syndrome?” she asked. “Give yourself credit for that.”

As someone regularly hovering around that valley, this was so encouraging!

The room: collaboration over competition

The crowd was mostly people selling digital products and services—a lot of copywriters, marketers, and brand-messaging folks, plus online business owners and entrepreneurs from across the US and Canada.

So basically, people who didn't give me a second look when I told them I was a ghostwriter and book coach, or asked me to explain how that even is a business.

(On the flip side, my husband Robert came with me, and people were constantly bemused when he told them that he managed sales and marketing for a bicycle part distributor company. “Like physical products?” people kept asking. “Huh.”)

What struck me most was the energy. The vibe was “How can I help? Let’s be friends!” I never once felt like someone was calculating whether I was worth their time, or sizing me up as a prospect.

It reminded me of my first time stepping into an indie author conference after spending my early years attending traditional publishing conferences.

The hierarchy was dissolved. We were all just there to learn from each other.

The workshops: reaching your audience

No matter how good a keynote is, I always find them a bit...hard to care about. Love the inspiration, but give me practical action any day.

I'm there for the workshops, and Craft + Commerce didn’t disappoint.

Robert and I both attended a number of sessions on actually getting in front of people—Instagram, podcasts, email, and collaborations with other creators.

My favorites:

• Nicole Burke (who started her @gardenary business on Instagram) explained her framework for talking to everyone and expanding your reach on social media.
• Ellen Yin (of the Cubicle to CEO podcast) gave an incredibly detailed workshop on how to pitch podcast hosts
• Gannon Meyer (marketing automation guru) had so many useful things to say about converting your social followers to email subscribers

Kit’s product announcements

Kit used the conference to launch some truly exciting new products!

Subscriber Signals was the headliner—business intelligence for creators. It’s the kind of subscriber data that used to live only inside big companies’ marketing teams, now packaged for the rest of us.

It’s absolutely something I’d upgrade to Creator Pro for in the future—but even at my smaller scale, it was a good nudge to actually look at who’s on your list. You can already do a scrappy version of this by hand: check the domain names of your new subscribers and notice when someone interesting shows up.

They also announced a batch of new app integrations, including Patreon and HubSpot, plus deeper Claude/MCP support.

(Which I’d been playing around with already, and have found super useful.)

And finally, a completely redesigned landing page editor. The old one was fine but never great, so I’m pretty excited about this!

Overall

The Craft + Commerce conference was a beautifully produced event. The experts were generous and accessible, with no one perched on a pedestal out of reach—and the rest of the attendees were so warm and welcoming.

Add in great food, a dance party, and a room full of good energy, and this was the rare conference where I left more charged up than wrung out.

If it’s been on your radar, let this be your sign to get an early bird ticket for June 2027. ;)

Talk soon,

Jessie