Over the last year or so, we have really ramped up our Meet-Ups and events within our team. Which is Faaaantastic because we get to swap ideas, talk together and get to know one another face-to-face.
Last Wednesday, I went to a Meet-Up organized by Debbie of Blue Hour Studio at Borderlands. This was probably one of the most inspiring meetings that I've ever attended with other members.
Members in attendance:
Lux Capacity
Katy Atchison Illustration
The Curious Potter
Lovely Lesage
Seaglass Reinvented
TheRecoverie
Eko Jewelry Design
OodleBaDoodle
Blue Hour Studio
When we first arrived, we did a little business card swap...which was fun because we could see all the different business cards that each team member made to showcase and brand their small business.
Then we went around the table, held up our card and introduced ourselves and talk about "What inspires you, how did you get into what you are doing now?"... the most interesting answers came out of those ice breakers.
Here are some of my favorite inspirational quotes from members:
- "Start before you're ready" a quote from Robert Glenn that was mentioned by Terrie. Basically, push yourself to do something you're not comfortable with and the rest will follow. If you don't take a risk than you can't really push yourself forward.
- "The passion keeps me going." From Eko who admits that she started her craft later in life, but she puts her passion into her jewelry designs and is putting in a lot of hard work to understand how to make her business grow and change.
- "Turning 40." Which I think is a motivation for many of us. Stop talking about what you're passionate about...and start doing!
- "To take a photo of a mountain...you have to climb it" which was based off a blog entry called The Pursuit of Excellence that Lisa read.
At some point, Rebecca from OodleBaDoodle started talking about the new things she's been doing. One of which was custom shirts for men and the other is portraits of pets out of fabric. I chimed in because I think my cat Tuna is my biggest fan...and funnily enough she had MADE ME A PORTRAIT OF TUNA... I'm still more than a little bit excited about it.
After my excitement died down we talked a bit about Business Groups. Korie made a good point that if a Business Group was member created, than it could essentially be "the blind leading the blind". I encouraged her that if she wants to create a business group, she can bring in experts to meetings who can help the group talk about specific topics. Also, there is no harm in people learning the ins and outs of something together and learning from each person's mistakes. A Business Group is an opportunity to really create strong relationships with other members since you will be meeting on a more regular basis.
Want to learn how to organize your own meet up? Check out some other events coming up and how to create your own event.
Join a Twitter Chat
Crafty Computer Nights - 1 & 2
Explanation of Meetups and Business Groups
Also! Check out some other Workshops coming up in April!
If you're an Etsy seller in the San Francisco Bay Area, contact Katy or Steph about joining SFEtsy!
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3 comments:
One small thing I left out is that we also talked about how to get more traffic to your Etsy site...new traffic and how to get exposure. I told everyone there (and now here) that if they want to do a tutorial and post it on the blog that we could work together to make that happen. Getting people to your site just means putting yourself out there in a new way. :)
That's awesome! I hope to make it to one of these meet ups soon! Would love to meet you all in person! xo
HI Katy, Thanks for this. It was fun to exchange our ideas.
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