Hello and See You Later

Hi, hello, and how are you? It’s been a while… we’ve been MIA from your inbox and social media for several months while we took a break for the holidays. Part of this was to leave you alone during your busiest season of the year, but there’s another reason: we needed some time to ourselves to map out shutting things down.

Yup, you read that right. We are leaving the Academy of Handmade. There are lots of reasons for this, but essentially we’ve been burned out for a bit-- for reasons related to and unrelated to AOH-- and just didn’t see going forward as sustainable.

Before we get to what happens next, we first want to take a moment to say THANK YOU-- thank you to all of our supporters and members and customers and participants and readers and podcast listeners. Truly we have loved working with you and it’s your energy and enthusiasm that has probably kept us going longer than we realized. Looking back on over five years of working with makers, we are so proud of the work we have done and the community we supported!

THANK YOUS & SHOUT OUTS

Before we wrap this up, we wanted to thank people who have really been so key in believing in us, supporting us and cheerleading us! This really has been about the friends we made along the way.

Our team: Nessa, Lisa, Sandy and Miriam-- it was such a pleasure working with you ladies!

All our former chapter leaders... you ladies really believed in us and worked hard to help other makers!

Our awards winners and nominees, including our three Master Makers: Jenny Hart, Erin Dollar and Robert Mahar... so honored and amazed by your talents!

Our super-friends and cheerleaders: Lizzie Mae, Rosalie Gale, Holly Marsh, Rebecca Saylor, Nicole Stevenson, Tina Rodas, Jenn Lamb, Katie Hunt, Annika Chaloff, Robin Soltis, Kimberly Taylor-Pestell, Tiffany Kuo... and so many more that we're for sure forgetting!

Our serial experts: Stacia Guzzo, Kirsten Pumphrey, Kylie Fattor, Adrienne Wiley, Lela Barker, Arianne Foulks, Marlo Miyashiro, Lisa Anderson Shaffer, Sarah Mandell, and Carolyn Caffelle. You all made our programming and content better!

All of these people have been incredibly kind and truly want to help the maker community become stronger.

In Our Absence...

There are a few business we heartily recommend you turning to in our absence. They are certifiable friends of makers. :) We'd never steer you wrong! Please check them out.

Dear Handmade Life
Lucky Break Consulting
Creators & Adventurers
Trade Show Boot Camp
VA for Makers
Aeolidia
Smart Creative Social

What’s Next...

Now, to what happens next.

First, we’ve been fortunate enough to find a great maker and online personality who’s going to run the Academy of Handmade - Brittany Lynch.

Brittany is the owner of multiple crochet and craft blogs, the Dollar Yarn Club and also the host of the very successful Handmade Business Summit. We hope you’ll all give Brittany a warm welcome.

Secondly, we’ve migrated almost all of our YHBTV episodes over to YouTube. Visit our channel to revisit your favorites or peruse some killer topics we covered - so pop over and check it out.

Thank you for joining us on our adventures and for supporting us, supporting you!

With a tear in our eyes and a big handmade hug,

Sharon & Isaac.

EVERYTHING STARTS WITH WHERE YOU WANT TO END UP

When making resolutions in the new year, I used to arbitrarily and somewhat wistfully make my resolutions. It was often based on some kind of nostalgia for what I used to be (10 pounds lighter!) or what I thought I *should* be.

Like so many people, I was letting the past and arbitrary expectations dictate my goals. They weren’t bad per se, but they weren’t based on the realities of my current life and the path I wanted to take to make improvements.

Owning my own business has given me a bit more clarity into my resolutions. It’s grounded me in reality a bit more. Instead of letting whims, wishes and external comparisons guide my goals for the year, I now think: Where do I want to be at the end of this year? Then I work backwards.

I know that asking “Where do I want to be at the end of this year” seems arbitrary and that it even could become wishful thinking. However, I find that when I have to ask myself this question it is actually quite grounding. I have to create a picture of the end. Of all of the achievement. And even qualifying it with “by the end of this year” gives me the “T” in SMART goals already (time bound).

Starting with the end and working backwards is the best way to set goals. It makes things feel less overwhelming and also helps you evaluate if you are playing too small (or might be biting off more than you can chew).

On the podcast Isaac discusses the idea about looking at the end with two makers: Holly Marsh of Marshmueller and Melissa Wert of Print Therapy. Both work toward their goals in different ways and have also changed course along the way. I think you will enjoy it if you haven't already listened.

I'd challenge you to think about how you can apply this in your own business. 

Some questions to think about:
#1: Are your goals related DIRECTLY to getting you to where you want to end up?
#2: Have you tied your goals to a timeline and realistic action items?
#3: Have you made goals a priority or have you made busy work?