Today we've got another chance for you to peep on a maker's studio space! This one has some pretty dreamy windows and is surrounded by what looks like a forest to this city-dweller. It's the business home for creative power couple Chris and Andrea Zatarian of Chris & Andy Design. Check out how they make it work for their multiple and varied business needs, plus learn more about how they built their business!
We think bettering yourself as a business owner through education is a smart move. One of our favorite places for top-notch handmade business education is CreativeLive* (friends of ours like Katie Hunt, Nicole Stevenson, Erin Dollar and Robert Mahar have done excellent ones, as well!). One of the best things about it? You're able to watch the live classes (and the re-runs!) for free. You can also totally be part of their live audience and one of our members Richelle of redscorpio has been several times. She shares what it's like and how to prepare for it.
We're excited today to present another studio tour from one of our members! Holly Marsh of MarshMueller is now on her third studio-- so she has a lot to say about the pros and cons of being at home vs. having a separate studio space. And we are so glad she's been able to adapt in the different phases of her life. Read on to see where she's been and where she's at now!
Last month we launched our Portland Chapter! We are so excited to have two amazing women at the helm and I'd love for you to meet one of them-- Ullika or Ulli as we sometimes call her. :) If you are interested in starting a chapter near you, let us know! You can get the details here.
Owning your own creative business takes a special person. You're not just pursuing creative passions, but you have to know business strategies that might not always be top of the right-brained mind. You can also find yourself concerned about business and that it can suck time and energy away from what makes your business special-- your creativity. We surveyed a few of our members how they balance this. Here are their responses!
One thing that always astounds me is how much makers are able to juggle. Some of you might be considering juggling more and going back to school to help you get better at your business. That's what #ahasmember Cristiana of Pebble & Fire decided to do and she is sharing her story!
Sick of the big-box hype on Black Friday weekend? After Thanksgiving, skip the malls and shop from people that are impacted by every single order! We've assembled deals our members our offering...feel free to add your own in the comments and send this link on to friends and family look to shop from artisans. We think it's important we all promote shopping handmade together!
The Instagram algorithm has us all scratching our heads a bit. Which is why we are taking with a few #ahasmembers about how they are using Instagram to better their business. Every platform has to be adapted to every business. Hopefully these stories will give you a few ideas for how they can be adapted to yours.
We don't know what we don't know and oftentimes in business we can beat ourselves up for mistakes. We can fail to see each mistake as an opportunity to expand our knowledge base. But if we build into our business the expectation that mistakes happen because we are ALWAYS learning, then it's less of a huge mental setback when they happen.
That's why I love today's post from #ahasmember D'Shawn of of Southern Elegance. Her mistake not only taught her a valuable lesson, it opened her up to new avenues and opportunities!
Newsletters are more than just another email. They keep us in the loop on our industry, give us business tips and also help us know about new offers from our suppliers. Our members are quite knowledgeable and have honed newsletter inbox collections-- so we thought we'd ask them which newsletters they get excited to see. Here are their recommendations and few of ours too!
Next month we will be holding a six-day online summit called The State of Making. As part of this online webinar series we will be exploring how the year has impacted makers and what they can do to prepare for the holidays and beyond. Interested? You can sign up here to be alerted about all the details.
Today's post is from one of our summit speakers and #ashasmember Michelle of Four Letter Word Cards. Her year had some, um, unexpected challenges in it to put it mildly.
