Professionalism.

(shudder)

The word is loaded with all sorts of connotations. And as creative entrepreneurs, we’d like nothing to do with most of those.

It conjures up pictures of strict dress codes, covered-up tattoos, office cubicles, early-morning alarm clocks…

All things that we can do without. After all, if we didn’t find the idea of professional life utterly offensive to the deepest regions of our souls, we’d still be working in a cushy office job instead of busting our humps to do what we love for a living.

But if your customers were to see us in our natural state—eating ravioli straight from the can in our pajamas at 4pm—they might think twice about doing business with us.

For all of its stifling straight-lacedness, professionalism communicates reliability and authority. It instills confidence in the people we’re doing business with. If the customer sees someone sloppily dressed, they might get the idea that they’ll treat their business with the same carelessness.

Luckily, there are a few ways to put on an air of professionalism even while living the free lifestyle you want. Here are a few helpful hints.

Up Your Packaging Game
When we were teaching, my husband and I had a student whose mother made the most delicious tamales. Every couple months, she would come around to all the classrooms asking the teachers if they wanted some.

Later in the week, she’d show up in our classrooms doling out gallon ziplocks filled with tamales.

Recently, we came upon a Mexican food truck that made identical tamales, except these were served in a craft-paper sleeve with the company’s logo stamped on it. And people were happily paying $5 a pop.

Imagine the customers’ reactions if they received their tamales in a ziplock bag.

As makers, we know that the packaging of a product doesn’t speak to its quality. But attractive packaging can affect consumer’s thinking in a big way.

We had one vendor in our shop see sales skyrocket after altering their packaging. The product was exactly the same, but the original, amateurish packaging made it look cheap.

Think of how you’re presenting your product. Are you packaging it like it was put together in your basement, or like a serious business produced it? And yes, we know you did put it together in your basement, but the packaging doesn’t need to reflect that.

A Solid Web Presence
A 2017 found that 92% of customers visiting a company’s website aren’t there to make a purchase: they’re there to scope the business out.

They want to learn more about the company. Who’s behind it? What’s their mission?

If your website looks like you don’t know what you’re doing, then your consumer trustworthiness is going to take a hit. They’ll take one look at your sloppy, amateurish website and turn the other way. Especially if your domain still has the default URL from your webhost.

This isn’t just true of your website. The same goes for your social media pages and email communication. If your Facebook page is filled with memes and typos, or if you’re emails still have the “Sent from my iPhone” signature, it’s going to send the wrong message to your customers.

Keep Your Branding Consistent
Speaking of your web presence, I cannot overstate the importance of your branding.

Like packaging, branding is one of those things that might not speak much to the quality of your products, but it communicates volumes to your customers.

Branding is more than just a good looking logo, an attractive color scheme, and consistent typefaces.

Branding helps communicate trust to your customers. They see that you treat your business seriously, so they want to see what the fuss is about.

On top of that, your brand is one of the best ways to build recognition for your business and stand out against the competition.

Communicate Like a Business
One of the biggest mistakes creative entrepreneurs make is sloppy communication (apologies to anyone who’s had to wait a month for us to respond to an email).

Put yourself in the customer’s shoes. Let’s say you find a company online that looks promising. You want some more information, so you pick up the phone and call the number on their website (a warning to all of you would-be business owners: people still make phone calls!).

The line picks up, and you’re met with a stammered, “um...hello?”

You ask a question about a product on their site.

“Who is this?”  

You explain that you found their website and were interested in learning more about the business. Suddenly, it clicks with the business owner and their demeanor changes

Not exactly the best impression, is it?

Or maybe, you go to to send them an email and their address is something like “xfairyxprincessx420@yahoo.com”

Just because you’re the only person working for your company doesn’t mean you mean to let your communication reflect that. A custom email domain—or at least a more professional address—goes a long way. If you want to go even further, hiring a virtual assistant or a service like Receivr telephone answering service can make it seem like you have an in-house receptionist just like a “real” business.

Professionalism On Your Own Terms
It might sound like a ripoff, but if your business seems amateurish, people aren’t going to care how great your products are. You could make the most impressive handcrafted jewelry anyone has ever seen, but if you don’t take your business seriously enough to make it seem professional, no one is going to care.

Luckily, you don’t need to put on real clothes to do that. If you follow these pointers, nobody will ever have to know that you’re just sitting in bed with your laptop.

But seriously, you should probably leave the house. Why not stop in for some coworking?​

“If you want something done, do it yourself.”

Such is the mantra of many makers, entrepreneurs, and artists. Ours is the realm of elbow grease, D.I.Y., and pulling ourselves up by our bootstraps. We’re used to working alone—on just about everything. We make all of our goods from scratch. We do all of our own marketing. We spend hours making things from hand instead of using a machine that does it in seconds.

We are fiercely independent, devoted to the purity of our craft.

But sometimes, that independence might get us in our own way.

Sometimes, it might be a better idea for us to outsource certain aspects of our process.

Now, before you grab the torches and pitchforks, allow me a moment to explain.
I’m not asking you to hire a factory in China to manufacturer your products and depersonalize everything. Instead, outsourcing different things that we don’t enjoy—or are terrible at—can help us streamlining our process and allow us to put more of ourselves into our work.

Here’s how.

Only Do What Only You Can Do
When we work for ourselves, we often spend a lot of our time on menial tasks.When I first opened the shop, a lot of my time in the shop was spent sweeping the floors and tidying up materials areas. Both are necessary things.

But every time I picked up a broom, I had to put down something else that I was working on, whether that was designing new products, planning new classes or events, or contacting local vendors to stock in our gift shop.
I couldn’t not do those menial tasks: nobody wants to come to a filthy shop. But I was hardly the only person with the ability to do them.

However, finding someone else to do all the big picture stuff was out of the question. After all, how am I supposed to find someone to run my business for me?

If you don’t have a brick and mortar, you probably don’t need to spend time tidying up for customers. But you’re probably wasting time doing something that you could hire someone else to do for you. It might be social media marketing, checking your emails, or something equally tedious.

When you take the burden of those tasks off of yourself, you can focus on doing the stuff that you actually want to do.

Jack Of All Trades: Master of None
The small business owner wears many hats: CEO, marketing agent, accountant, secretary...

But that doesn’t mean you’re the best person for each of those jobs.

Our first few years, we handled all of the bookkeeping ourselves. A couple times a year, we’d sit down with all of our bank statements and copy every transaction into a spreadsheet, then organize each of them by category.

Once, I was so overwhelmed by it that my husband Nat did all of it.

Needless to say, neither of us are expert accountants. We were able to figure it out, but since we didn’t know what we were doing, it took two whole weeks for us to work through the whole year. And during those two weeks, we couldn’t get much else done.

Since then, we’ve realized that there are like, experts you can hire to do that for you. And those people will do a better job of it than if you do it yourself. Last year, we outsourced our taxes to an actual tax expert, and did the stuff we’re actually good at while they were working on it. Since then, I’ve been trying to learn more about finding a more regular accountant to even help with things like payroll month-to-month account management so I can spend less time on stuff I’m still trying to understand and more time on the things I’m good at.

To be frank, I was a terrible accountant. I was slow, sloppy, and inefficient. If I had an accountant that did their job as poorly as I did, I would have fired them.

If we get real honest with ourselves, we might see some places in our responsibilities where we deserve to be fired. Keeping ourselves in those ineffective roles doesn’t help anything. Fire yourself, and find someone who actually knows what they’re doing.

Time vs. Money
One of the biggest struggles of outsourcing work to other people is the financial cost. We might scoff at the price of hiring a tax preparer, or feel like it’s too big to fit in our budget.

But as the old saying goes, “time is money.” I might pay a few hundred dollars to an accountant, but I get back two weeks of my own time that I can use on more fruitful endeavors. I can spend time doing the things that I’m actually good at—and that can grow my business. Instead of hunkering down for two weeks with several months’ worth of banking statements, I can focus on creating new classes, making new pieces, and supporting the members at my shop.

Some of the other creative female entrepreneurs I meet with regularly have hired other people to manage their Facebook pages, Pinterest boards, ship their online orders, and even check their emails. It certainly costs more than doing it themselves, but the time they get back allows them to do more of what they actually love to do—you know, the stuff that actually gets them paid.

It’s easy to think of your business’s budget in strict monetary terms. But don’t forget how much time you might be saving yourself—and what you could do with that time. You might actually be able to make more money than you spent outsourcing...

Go Forth And MAKE
Outsourcing can be a dirty word. It conjures up images of Chinese-made, cheap commercialized crap. But in reality, outsourcing the parts of your workload that you don’t enjoy (and are just plain bad at) can free you up to do more of what you love, allowing you to put even more personal attention into what you make.
​
So don’t be afraid of outsourcing. Fire yourself from all of the positions you’re doing a bad job at, and find someone who can free you up for what you’re actually good at.

​

As you probably already know, here at MAKE, we offer classes in a variety of mediums designed for people with absolutely no experience. It doesn’t matter if you have never cut glass or wielded a soldering iron before: in just a couple hours, you’ll have your very own, handmade stained-glass suncatcher.

But you might not also realize that the workshop is available to you any time we’re open—even without a membership!

A day pass gets you full access to the makerspace and all of the tools we have (the woodshop requires a Safety and Basic Use class first).

And I know better than most that if you don’t have a project in mind, staring into a shop filled with tools and materials can be pretty intimidating.

That’s why today, we’re giving you five projects that you can walk in and make with no experience, no special skills, and no class.

Abstract Tiles
Have you never had much ability in the artistic sector? Do paintbrushes seem to jump wildly in your hand of their own accord?

Luckily, you don’t need to know your way around a palette to make beautiful coasters using alcohol ink.
Because rubbing alcohol has a different density than ink or paint, it causes brilliant patterns when they mix.

You just pick the colors and slowly pour it on the tile. The materials will mix at random. Spray it with a seal to lock in the design, add some felt feet to the bottom to use them as coasters, and voila! You’ve got a beautiful set of tiles that will impress your friends—or make a great gift!

Polymer Clay Creations
Who didn’t love Play-Doh as a kid? But unfortunately, it was never a great choice for preserving more detailed sculptures.

If you were a veritable Michelangelo with a can of Play-Doh, you’ll love polymer clay.

Polymer clay is much more flexible than conventional clay, which allows you to work with more detail with less effort. Polymer clay also comes in a variety of colors, so you don’t necessarily need to paint it afterward.

Also, polymer clay hardens in a toaster oven—like the one we have in the shop for that exact purpose. For examples of beautiful polymer clay jewelry or characters, visit Pinterest.

Comic Book Decoupage
Who doesn’t love superheros? It’s almost impossible to find a movie theater that isn’t playing a comic book movie.

And maybe you decided once that you were going to become a “real” fan, so you marched to the comic shop and started a collection.

Then you realized the unfortunate truth: comic books are expensive. You have to keep buying them if you want to know what’s going on. And when you’re buying 5-10 titles every month, that can add up. So now—if you’re anything like my husband Nat—you have a pile of old comic books sitting on your shelf, unread, unloved, and unappreciated.

But don’t let the art inside those comics go unappreciated. Use them to create beautiful decoupage.
Decoupage uses a specialized adhesive to bond paper cut outs onto an object. It could be a coffee table, a wall hanging, or wooden coasters. And using the art from these comic books, you can create cool collages that would enhance any TV room or man cave.

Don’t cut up your actual comic books though—use our color copier. Then you can sell the comics online for some extra cash. Follow the link for more about selling comics online.

Custom Stamped Statement Ring
A great ring can make a statement. Especially if the ring has that statement literally stamped into it.

It’s easy to make a simple, stamped statement ring like our famous Bad Mood Rings. You simply cut a thick metal wire to length, stamp whatever word you want to use, and bend it into shape using a ring mandrel. Make the perfect gift or just let the world know what you have to say.

You don’t have to limit yourself to rings though—our letter stamps can be used on most types of metal. Make keychains, metal cuffs, charms, or necklace pendants.

Good Ol’ Fashioned Painting
Few art forms are as universal and versatile as paint and a canvas.

From the dramatic scenes of Caravaggio to the surrealistic portraits of Frida Kahlo to the chaotic abstracts of Jackson Pollock, painting can be whatever you want it to be.

And according to a 2016 study, painting can greatly reduce stress—even if you’re not very good.

Whether you want to practice your portraiture, do your best Bob Ross impression, or just conjure emotional responses from shapes, we have everything you need here at the shop.

Bring your own canvas or buy one from us. We have brushes, palettes, paints, easels, and more.

What Will You Make?
All this and more is available to you when you purchase a day pass. Stop in for an afternoon and try your hand at any one of these projects. If you get stuck, someone will be around the shop that can help.

Since there’s no obligation to keep at it, this is a great way to try something new. If you hate it, you can just move on to something else.

But if you love it, maybe you could upgrade that day pass to a monthly membership.

​

Every day, someone new walks into the shop and says, “so, what exactly do you do here?”
And to be honest, that’s a pretty loaded question.
Our makerspace is stocked with the tools and equipment to allow our members to work in dozens of different mediums. But sometimes, it can be a bit overwhelming to look out across a workshop stuffed with equipment. There are so many possibilities, you don’t know where to start. It happens to me all the time. I call it “creativity paralysis.”
But today, I’m going to break down what’s in the shop and what you can do with it. If you’re stuck in creativity paralysis and don’t know what to do, read on!

Ceramics Studio
​Our ceramics studio is one of the most straightforward areas of the shop, but it’s definitely not a one-size-fits-all medium. After all, a lump of clay is just another blank canvas.
Our ceramics studio is currently stocked with…
Pottery Wheels
Potters have been using pottery wheels to create pieces since the Bronze Age. The earliest fast wheels date back to the third millennium BC, but it’s still the most popular and effective way to create bowls, vases, plates, and other pieces. Our wheel-throwing classes are some of our most popular, but you can use the wheel without taking a class beforehand. We have three in the ceramics studio, and they are first come, first serve.
Slab Roller
Slab building is another common method of making clay sculptures. But working the clay into a thin, consistent slab is a difficult task if done by hand.
A slab roller lets you do this quickly and easily. Just set the desired height, cover the clay with canvas, and get to building.
Canvas Work Table
Clay is remarkably pliable, which makes it very easy to work with. But it can also be pretty sticky, and when you’re rolling the clay against a surface, it can get stuck, ruining your piece.
Canvas can help counteract that adhesion, making your handbuilding less frustrating.
Kilns
Clay is renowned for its durability, but unless it’s fired in a kiln, it remains brittle. We have two kilns in the shop, which our staff operate. We have a full-sized ceramics kiln and a jewelry kiln that can be used to fuse glass and fire smaller pieces.
If you’re taking a class or using the shop with a membership or day pass, we’ll fire your pieces for no extra charge. You can also drop off ready-to-fire pieces and we’ll fire them for the price of a day pass.

Glassworking
There’s a lot you can do with glass. From custom beads to pendants to terrariums to stained glass suncatchers. And you can do it all in the shop with these tools
Glass Cutters
In order to work with stained glass, you need a glass cutter to cut the pieces into the desired shapes. Glass cutters are much easier to use than you might think. You can even cut curves!
Soldering Irons
Whether you’re making a suncatcher, a glass cactus sculpture, or a terrarium, you need to use a soldering iron to keep the pieces in place. Just make sure you don’t touch the metal part—it’s hot!
Lampworking Torches
There’s more than one way to manipulate glass. Lampworking torches allow you to melt glass down into beautiful custom beads.

Jewelry Making
Who doesn’t love making their own jewelry? Our shop has a jewelers bench with plenty of metal working tools to create your own pieces. It would take far too long to list them all, so here are a few.

• Wire wrapping tools
• Ring mandrels
• Handstamping tools
• Files
• Drum tumbler

Fiber Arts and Textiles
Mankind’s relationship with fabric stretches back tens of thousands of years. And if you want to try your own hand at these ancient arts, we have the tools to do it.
Sewing Machines
If you want to make your own custom clothing, stuffed animals, or bags, there’s no tool more essential than a sewing machine. We have a few on hand that you can use if you don’t have one of your own, as well as tools for hand stitching.
Leather Working
Leather is one of the toughest materials, which makes it a popular choice for jackets, shoes, and bags. But if you don’t have the right tools, it can be almost impossible to work with. Luckily, we have leather punches, stitching awls, rotary cutters, and even letter stamps so you can create your own leather goods.
Yarn Crafts
Yarn crafts like knitting and crochet aren’t only relaxing: they’re practical. You can use them to create comfy scarves, socks, hats...you name it. These mediums are easy to do at home, but where’s the fun in that? We have yarn and needles that you can use here, or you can use your own and come for the company.

2D Art
What kind of art studio would we be if you couldn’t make a picture here? Our studio is outfitted with all kinds of paints, paintbrushes, colored pencils, easels, and whatever else you could think of. All free to use with a day pass. Canvases are available for a small material fee. 

Printmaking
Printmaking is one of the most ancient methods of duplicating art work. There are several different methods—and you can try a few in the shop.
Screenprinting Studio
Everyone loves a great T-shirt. Just look at Threadless.com, which has been printing beautiful and clever shirt designs for almost twenty years. But if you have a design you want to make for your band, slow-pitch softball team, your annual church picnic, or maybe just an inside joke you want to wear on your sleeve, you can use our screenprinting studio to make it a reality.
Our studio is full stocked with an exposing table, washout sink, a four-color press, a flash dryer, and other tools to make high-quality prints of your own. You can also print on tote bags, pillowcases, skateboards, paper, or just about anything else you like.
We offer screenprinting classes, but they are not required to use the studio. Although, it is highly recommended that you contact us first to make sure we have screens available—unless you plan on bringing your own.
Block Printing
Block printing works much like a stamp. You carve away all the negative space, then ink what’s left over and press it onto cardstock, paper, fabric, or whatever you like. We have some simple carving tools that you can use to cut your own designs into linoleum blocks, which we also have on hand.
Letterpressing
The printing press was an absolute revolution. And while printing from a computer or copy machine is the go-to method these days, there’s something satisfying about arranging the type yourself.
We have a type set in the shop, as well as a rolling flat bed press for consistent prints. Great for greeting cards and posters!

Woodshop
Don’t have a garage? Use ours! Our woodshop is stocked with enough tools to make all of your woodworking dreams come true. Our current woodshop inventory includes:

• Table saw
• Miter saw
• Scroll saw
• Drill press
• Wood lathe and chisels
• Belt sander
• Bench grinders
• Power sander
• Power drills
• Hand planer
• Handsaws
• Various hand tools

All members must take our woodshop safety and basic use class before they can use the class—no matter your skill level. Insurance reasons—you understand.

Tech Lab
Technology is more accessible than ever. And you can experience that firsthand in our tech lab, which is stocked with a few great tools. You can learn how to use all of these tools in our basic usage Tech Lab 101 class.
3D Printer
3D printing is one of the most exciting mediums in the last decade, making breakthroughs in medicine, design, and just plain old hobbying. 3D printers allow you to design your own three-dimensional designs and bring them into the real world. Or, you can download models from websites like Thingiverse. You can use the machine yourself, or send us your designs to print for you. Models cost 10¢/gram, or 5¢/gram for members.
Laser Cutter
A laser cutter uses a high-powered laser beam to etch wood, leather, acrylic, glass, or other materials. It can also cut through thin pieces of wood, acrylic, and leather.
Use the laser cutter to create a set of customized photographic wood coasters, make jigsaw puzzles, cut geometric necklace pendants, or more. Your imagination is the limit!
Plot Cutter
Our Silhouette plot cutter can cut thin materials like vinyl, paper, cardboard, or fabric with precision. Create die-cut greeting cards, vinyl decals, or intricate heat transfers with ease.
CNC Machine
Computer Numerical Control machines or now the standard in industry to manufacture objects with precision. Unlike the laser cutter, this machine uses three axes.  It uses a small, computer controlled router to turn wood and acrylic into intricate relief sculptures.

Miscellaneous
And wouldn’t you know it, we’re not done yet. We have plenty of other tools that don’t really fit into the other categories. Such as…
Button Maker
Buttons are a great way to send a message on your bag, jacket lapel, punk rock vest, or more. Show your support for a local political candidate, promote your band, or make promotional items for your small business. You could see options to custom order buttons, but there’s something satisfying about making them yourself.
Heat Press
One of the easiest ways to make customized clothing is to print your design onto iron-ons and...iron it on. But we all know that looks a bit tacky. And it doesn’t last long, either.
Think of a heat press like an iron-on on steroids. It’s the same basic process, but the end result is much, much nicer.
Etc., Etc.
There are tons of tools we haven’t even mentioned yet that are absolutely indispensable for a number of art forms. From glue guns to calligraphy pens to wood burning irons, our shop is stocked full of valuable tools that can help you bring what’s in your head into the real world.

What will you MAKE?
Have you been staring at your Pinterest board wishing you were able to make the same things for your house? Or maybe you’ve had an idea that’s been knocking on the inside of your head, begging to come out.
Don’t wish any more. Come into the shop and let us help you turn your dreams into reality. Buy a day pass, check out our membership rates to get more access to the space, or maybe just stop by for a free tour. We’ll be glad to meet you!

Five years ago, my husband Nat and I were working at a local charter school. We had never meant to end up in education, but somehow, our paths had led us there.
And for all intents and purposes, we were in it for the long haul.

That is, until Nat got laid off.

Suddenly, all bets were off. I resigned later that year, and we struck out on our own.
After years of keeping art as a hobby, I decided it was time to try it it for a living. 
In these past five years, I've met a lot of people who have found themselves at a similar crossroads.
I've met a lot of people who have toyed around with the idea of turning their part-time passions into full-time careers.

And a lot of those people are hampered by hesitation.

Most of the time, that hesitation is rooted in a sort of aimlessness. They'd love to go into business for themselves—but they don't know where to start.

If that sounds familiar, never fear: here's a step-by-step guide to help you start your own handmade business in 2019.

Set Your Goals
How do you define success?  Everyone has different benchmarks for what success means to them.
Some people want to completely replace their nine-to-five. Others are happy if they make a couple extra bucks through their art.

Before starting your own business, take some time to get introspective. Sit down and make some goals. This could be a dollar amount or a number of units sold. Maybe you want to quit your full-time job by the end of the year. Or maybe you just want to sell something.

You can set your sights as high—or as low—as you want. Just make sure that your goals are realistic. If they're not, you could set yourself up for failure.

Start Small
Regardless of where you want to take your handmade business, you can't get there all in one fell swoop. It should go without saying, but you shouldn't quit your day job to do art full-time without selling a few pieces on the side first.

Test the market. Sell at a couple one-day art shows. Put some of your goods in a local shop and see how well they go over. Post some pictures on Instagram and try to find some buyers there. 

Start as small as you need to. You can always grow from there. It's much harder to un-quit your job.

Define Your Niche
In the words of Steve Jobs, "don't try to do everything. Do one thing well."

I know, that's easier said than done. 

If you're anything like me, you don't really have a medium of choice. Some people are comfortable calling themselves a painter or a jewelry maker or a sculptor. But people like us have a hard time choosing. Which is part of the reason why I teach art instead of just selling it.

​And obviously, I would never say that there's anything wrong with working in a variety of mediums. But when you're first starting your handmade business, offering a wide variety of goods can blur your message a bit.

Customers are easily distracted. If you want to break through to them, you need to be clear and direct. Offering too many different products can keep your customers from understanding what exactly it is you do. On the other hand, if you do one thing really well, you can gain attention in a hurry.

Build Your Web Presence 
If you want to start any kind of business in 2019, you're going to need to have a solid web presence. Sure, there are still a number of art festivals and local shops where you can sell your wares. But if you limit yourself to your local market, you can be robbing yourself of a huge crop of customers.

You probably don't need me to tell you that the internet can connect you to buyers from all over the globe. But that takes a bit more work than just starting a Facebook page for your art and inviting your friends and family to like it.

For starters, it's a good idea to start with a page in an online marketplace. Nearly 2 million sellers are currently active on Etsy—and for good reason. Etsy has a massive customer base actively looking for unique handmade goods.

If you want to take it a step further, buy a custom domain and build a dedicated website for your wares. A standalone website can go a long way toward making you seem more professional and legitimate.  Make sure that your small business website design is clean and uncluttered. Focus on high-quality product photos to show off your products.

Be sure to include a bio where customers can get to know you. Customers aren't just buying your product—they're buying your story. If your story resonates with them, they want to buy a piece of it.

Don't Neglect the Day-to-Day
For a lot of people, this is the hard part. We all know where we want our lives to go.

But the steps to get there are a little fuzzier. 

You probably won't make sales every single day. In fact, I can pretty much guarantee that—especially at the beginning. But every day, you need to be doing something to make those sales happen.

Set a regular to-do list of things that you do every day. Make regular posts on social media. Spend some time brainstorming new products. Schedule in some unstructured creative time. 

Resist the urge to wake up after noon and stay in your pajamas all day. A regular routine (and some work clothes)can help your brain get into "work mode" more easily. 

Stick to your to-do list even when it feels like it's not making a difference. Those little things add up over time.

Keep Grinding
There's no fool proof way to start your own handmade business. There isn't a guaranteed 10-step model that will ensure success.

But if you're going to be successful, you need to give it your sweat. 

There are going to be days where you want to quit. Days where you would rather sit behind a boring reception desk than make one more crocheted cactus. 

That's perfectly normal. And if you realize that selling your own art isn't for you, that's fine. The world needs some people to sit behind a desk.

But if you're committed to making your handmade business work, it's going to take work. So keep at it. Keep grinding. Hustle like you mean it. And if you need a place to work with some fellow creatives who can push and encourage you, the shop's open for you.

Last Tuesday, we threw the third Rebel Art Fest. This time, at Potawatomi Park as part of Best. Week. Ever. It was a pretty major step up from setting up a tent in our parking lot and hoping no one needs to drive through the alley.

Around 3,000 people came through to enjoy local artists, musicians, and food trucks—and the blacklight jungle at the Conservatory.

It might seem like our little festival has finally hit the big time, but its heart is still the same.

Two years ago, when we first thought of putting on our own festival, we wanted to highlight all of the best local arts, music, and culture that South Bend—and especially our little neighborhood River Park—could offer. There were other art festivals in the area, but they either overlooked local talent, or had no bar for entry. They either showcased only a narrow idea of fine art, or they put elementary school dance teams on the same stage as local bands playing original music.

There was a huge middle ground that was getting no representation. Namely, the scores of amazing local artists whose work might be too unconventional or "low-brow" for a curated fine arts show, or bands whose sound isn't exactly radio friendly but still make fantastic music.

We saw tons of artists around us whose work was a bit weird, but wonderful—and worth celebrating.

And strangely enough, there seemed to be a huge concentration of those artists around River Park. 

Which makes sense. River Park is a weird and wonderful little neighborhood. We don't have a Starbucks: we have The Well, a nonprofit coffeeshop that moonlights as a punk venue. Our river walk is littered with unauthorized artwork from our resident sculptor. We're home to Merriman's Play House and the Farmer's Market—amazing, important spaces with a decidedly non-mainstream appeal.

It's not everybody's cup of tea. And River Park isn't going to attract the same crowd as Downtown South Bend. 

But we still think that weirdness is worth celebrating. 

When we sat down to organize Rebel Art Fest, we wanted it to be a platform for the weird and wonderful artists specifically in our local community. Artists that might not ever be featured in a juried fine art show, but whose work deserves a larger audience. 

Artists like La Grotesquerie, with her rogue taxidermy, Rhonda Whitledge, whose fantasy-based sculptures look like characters from the Dark Crystal ​universe, or the intimate, magical realism of Nerdy Brown Kid.

And then, there's the music. I lost track of how many times I was asked, "where are these guys from?" But I was absolutely delighted every time I told someone, "they're from here."

One of the unique things about Rebel Art Fest was that most of the bands lived within a mile of the venue. Whether it be the lucid post punk of Properties, the anarchic punk singalongs of SHAM, or the chamber pop chaos of The Flying DeSelms, it was all homegrown talent. 

A decade ago, pulling off this kind of festival in South Bend would have been a struggle. 

There were artists and musicians in town, but there wasn't much of a community between them. They were isolated, scraping to get their name out there without much of a support system. Many of them left for greener pastures.

But in the past few years, there has been a real renaissance in this city. Creatives aren't fleeing the Bend anymore. In fact, we've met artists who've actually moved here from larger cities because they like this community better. 

When I moved back to South Bend nine years ago, there were maybe one or two local shows a week. Now, it seems like there are two or three per night. Most often, if I can't make it to a show for a friend's band, it's because I'm already going to another show that night.

Not to mention that Rebel Art Fest wasn't the only music festival last week.

The success of Rebel Art Fest isn't just indicative of a changing arts scene. It points to a changing city.

We had a lot of support for this year's festival from city government itself. Venues Parks and Arts did a lot of the legwork for marketing and promotion. The Potawatomi Conservatories didn't just let us turn it into a blacklight jungle: they gushed at the idea. They stayed open late so we could hang pool-noodle tentacles, origami butterflies, and paper-plate-and-cellophane jellyfish in the trees and strategically place blacklights around the greenhouse. 

Not long ago, the powers that be might have raised an eyebrow at something like Rebel Art Fest. Asking the city to support a showcase of bizarre artists was pretty big leap. In many cities, the city would rather shut it down than support it.

But South Bend isn't like most cities. Especially after the last decade.

Rebel Art Fest served as a reflection of the growth in our creative community. And as the arts scene here has continued to grow and thrive, our strange little parking lot arts festival has grown with it.

​And you better believe that next year will be even bigger.