![]() I was recently asked why posting and interacting with the YouTube and Instagram communities was 'worth it.' Of course they were talking about how was I converting that time and effort spent into dollars and cents. To be frank, we're not making money hand over fist - we're not seeing a business model that gives back more than we put in financially when it comes to social media. When the follow up question is, 'then why bother?' my only response is because of the COMMUNITY. If you speak to religious folks, one of the biggest values they find in church is a shared connection with other people. They teach about it in their ministries as well, the need to surround yourself with others so they can keep you uplifted and remind you of why you exist. To help reaffirm your beliefs and faith. Congregate in groups of two or more and there God will join you. There are identifiable similarities for those in the creative community. Not every artist is a recluse or introvert or "Solopreneurs" who benefit from being disconnected from normalcy. Most of us desire the same thing everyone else does, validation. Creatives have a desire for people to bounce their ideas off of, mentors to give them advice, muses to inspire their creativity, and people who will value them and what they are doing. God comes in the form of inspiration when two or more are gathered. This isn't to say that the creative community is a replacement for a church or religion or any other functional communal experience, I'm certainly not advocating one above all, but more like a pretty amazing companion for those who desire it. With the arrival of the internet, people from all around the globe now have the ability to find new congregations for whatever interests they have. It can be as benign as people looking for other people who knit funky creatures, or more nefarious reasons as we've seen play out in recent years with radicalizations of thought and action. With every positive there is an opportunity to corrupt and distort the original intention. My hope is that the positive interactions far outweigh the negative. In fact, the internet is responsible for so much of what Ben and I have, including our marriage. We met online when meeting online was a bit taboo. It has brought many additional opportunities to us as well. Like: Etsy and Fiverr to sell our wares; Facebook and Linkedin to help reconnect with family, friends, and colleagues; Pinterest and Instructables to gain inspiration. In the case of Slap Stuff Together, we have been introduced to an amazing group of talented individuals who do so much to inspire us on a regular basis. By meeting these people online, we've been inspired to seek out others locally who also are active in this community. Ben and I have already begun to reap copious amounts of benefits from our interactions. We're consistently inspired by seeing what other people are working on. We are encouraged by new and amazing mentors in our disciplines and we're able to open up to a new understanding of what we can be as artists/makers/parents/spouses. The connections have brought opportunities to collaborate on projects and even brought new customers to our shop. ![]() Last year, Ben and I stepped out of our comfort zone and took a trip to Maker Faire New York. It was our first dive into interacting with a community that we'd kind of been nervous bystanders in. It's not that people weren't welcoming, it's just that we were new and weren't sure what to expect - very similar to any new relationship or activity. During the day we wandered around the Hall of Science grounds in Queens. We were feeling one part in awe and another part out of place. A lot of the booths that were there were filled with technology we'd never really been interested in before. Ben was a little down because there wasn't much woodworking and I was just a bit overwhelmed by all of the things I just had no idea existed. Fortunately our awkwardness changed, the highlight of our day was a talk being given by several content creators; 'I like to Make Stuff', 'Maker's Muse', and '3D printing nerd'. They talked about their foray into YouTube and this community, highlighting on what was making them successful and what their plans were in the future. Along with the information from the talk we also benefited by being able to have a mini meet-up outside the hall with some really fantastic people; Bernie Solo, Paul Jackman, Pat Lap, Kyle from 'Chasen Makes', 'ijessup', Evan and Katelyn and a slue of others. They were so fun to spend time with. Plus, we finally felt like the trip was well worth it. This was what we had been hungry for, engaging with people that understood our mindsets and passion for the same things. OH, and to swap stickers - lots of stickers. This community is emphatic about them. Due to our experience in NYC we started to become more active in the facebook groups. Having met some of the folks in person made it easier to interact and share. Our network has continued to blossom and we're finding more and more ways to incorporate our passions into our small business and share our world with those around us who doubted the value before. We've made new friends locally as well as internationally. One of the highlights has definitely been watching the spirit of this community grow so quickly. Two weeks ago was Maker's Central in Bermingham, UK. We were unable to attend but still got to participate because of our dear friends who were there. They took our stickers with them and posted videos sharing their experience with those of us who were unable to attend. We got to be a part of it vicariously through live streams on YouTube, Instagram, and Facebook. What an amazing time to live in. We have found our tribe and our tribe has found us. Quite frankly though, the biggest benefit of sharing what we do is helping to ignite curiosity and creativity in other people. It has never been more apparent to us how many people gave up pursuing their creativity because our society doesn't see the value in it. People are desperate to work with their hands and learn trades and crafts after years of being told there is no use in it. Nothing highlights that more than our experience from the start with people's biggest reaction being - where is the money in what you are doing? I have my moments where I'm like, yeah, this is hard not having a whole lot of money - I'm tired because I'm doing so much more than I'm used to. BUT if I sit and really look at it on a normal day, I wouldn't trade what we have gained for any amount of money. I've never seen Ben happier than when he gets to share what he is working on. Personally, I've spent so much less time in front of a TV screen wasting time in the last year. I'm much more driven to accomplish tangible things than I ever have been. I have no doubt that as a result, we will be rewarded in the future with better health, better relationships, and maybe just maybe a way to inspire those around us. Not to mention, Carver will grow up seeing us actively pursuing the things we love and not just tirelessly working as cogs in a broken system. Heidi Jacobs is the Co-Founder of Slap Stuff Together, a maker's studio. She is also a Project Manager by day and part time professional photographer. If you would like to learn more about SST's adventures as a new start up you can follow them on Instagram or on Facebook. If you would like to learn more about their startup you can drop them a line at [email protected]
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![]() We have a 2 year old. Similar to most at his age, he loves to watch and participate in whatever we are doing. In our side hustles, that can make it difficult to get project work completed. Think power tools and saws, dangerous chemicals and breakable items. We never want to put our kid in harms way but we also don't want to stifle his curiosity. As Mother's Day approaches I am very mindful of how my actions could affect my son as he grows and engages with me and I'm also feeling a bit reflective. I remember when I was a kid my dad would say, "go tell your mom she wants you." It was his way to tell me to leave him be and cue my mom to step in. He would be elbow deep in grease and trying to put brakes on the car that he was desperate to get just one more year out of. Times were tight, we had one vehicle this grey and rusty clunker. My mom would pull me into the house and have me play with legos or my little brother. As a child, I was just as curious as any kid. Plus, I'm sure the younger version of myself just wanted to spend time with my dad. He was my hero, he could fix anything and was a genius with tools. His time was very limited. He had to repair the vehicles, mow the grass, move that heavy thing for mom, get enough sleep so he could work a double the next day. In his 1980's life, life wasn't as balanced in the household that we live in currently. He worked full time and my mom was a stay at home mom. They had their separate gender roles in the housework and in their relationship to the kids. On top of that, shift work was his reality which meant his time was even more limited. No one can blame him for it, I certainly do not. Even with those challenges he faced, some of my fondest memories involve when he did take any extra time to spend teaching me. He would engage my curiosity and let me solder something or screw the bolts back into place on a piece of machinery he had just repaired. Every chance I got I would push to see what he was doing. I adored those times and still do. As a result, I want to share as much of my experience that I can with Carver and so does Ben. We never want him to feel he isn't welcome to join us in our endeavors. ![]() We've made a concerted effort to expand our world to bring Carver into every thing we can. Effort is the key here, it's not easy and it doesn't come naturally. It requires both of us to step into each other's worlds and sometimes put aside our own urgencies or desires to finish things quickly. That can be a tough hurdle because there are still only 24 hours in a day and our time all together is limited to Saturdays. Planning for activities and chores when there isn't a second person can be a challenge, but we make it work the best that we can. In the evenings when I'm alone, instead of working on projects that Carver can't be around for, I let him play with the clay and get dirty in my studio. That way I'm not frustrated because I can't get anything accomplished and my creative needs are being met. Plus, there is always something to do in there. Even for just an hour I will work on 3D Printing, blog writing, clay work, painting, printmaking etc. Bonus is that Carver can hang around for those things and even participate in some. When Ben is home, I can work on projects that are a bit more 'PPE time' (we'll call it that), like using power tools or carving with chisels where you need Personal Protection Equipment. Ben will bring him around and talk to him about what I'm doing so Carver is at a safe distance but can see where mommy is and know what I'm working on. It works visa-versa with Ben's projects too. Both of us get our time and Carver gets to be included and learn. It doesn't have to just be about creative projects either, it can include those chores like mowing the grass or repairing a leaky sink. It's good for him to be a witness to those things. It's even better when we take a step back and acknowledge even though the project might take a little more effort if he is there, it's so much more valuable to share that experience with him rather than having him as a bystander. ![]() Carver is already intent on mimicking what we are doing, he pushes around his little push mower after seeing Ben do it. He uses the broom like he's seen both of us do. He pats his lump of clay like I'm doing when I'm forming the balls of clay to throw on the wheel. It's so rewarding to see him put what he is seeing into action. Ben and I both are constantly amazed at this little person taking it all in. As my dad says, "thems new eyes" As we learn about what type of parents we want to be and to be more aware of each other's needs, we'll be able to navigate these waters of the Dual Maker + Child lifestyle a little better. What's even more exciting will be when we can graduate Carver from finger paints to soldering tools and scroll saws. It will be amazing when we can let him loose on his own projects while we work as well. OR even to have him mow the grass and fix the leaky sink. I certainly can't wait but I'm loving the role that I have now. I'm thankful to my dad for giving me the wrench when he had the ability to and I'm really enjoying motherhood so much more than I ever thought I would, it's so very worth any sacrifice. There's nothing worse than losing confidence in yourself when you work in an artistic platform. It can result in a massive block that could last for long stretches of time. A huge portion of what creatives are putting out into the world is derived from spilling a little bit of their soul out into their projects, they take from their experiences emotionally and physically and form it into an idea or work of art. The fear of being rejected or criticized can halt their drive and stifle future projects. There is an incredible book about it called, Art & Fear: Observation on the Perils (and Rewards) of Artmaking. The things explored in the book are pretty much common sense now. We've watched a lot of movies about the starving artists and the writer's struggling with writer's block. But what happens when the fear isn't about the art, but about how other artists will perceive you or ultimately call you out for being a fraud? A few years ago I was invited to participate in a writer's round. It is essentially a very intimate show where song writers perform their work for an audience with a group of other song writers. Usually it is organized where the songwriters sit in a horseshoe shape in front of a small audience and play a song, talk about the path that led to writing the song, and take questions from the group. It can be a very intimidating experience even for the most seasoned songwriter. At the time, I had been writing and playing for about 10 years, having taken a brief hiatus to focus on other ventures and recently returned to performing earlier that year. Even with this short break, logically I should have been comfortable with being labeled a song writer and being included with the other likeminded individuals for this event. Instead, I felt overwhelming dread about it. It was one thing for me to entertain at a show with maybe one other artist, but to sit beside these folks and share my writing process was overwhelming. Why was it so bothersome for me? What was causing all of this trepidation? Why did I feel like I was an imposter? I convinced myself I had no right to be there with these 'real' musicians. A few years later I attended a workshop for creatives in business. By this point I was doing a lot of different things in the creative space. The event was essentially a meet-up organized to help other creatives talk through business strategies and their biggest hang ups. Similar to the experience I had with the writer's round, I started to have a bit of a panic attack about being in a room with all of these folks who were 'real' artists. Who did I think I was to be there? Instead of just sitting to the side and not participating, I spoke up and explained how I was feeling. Fortunately, I was not alone in my plight. Another artist validated my experience and worked to explain what was happening to me. He said, it's not all that uncommon to feel that way and can be very situational. It can be brought on by feeling intimidated by whomever else is in the room, it could be an underlying issue with the work that you're doing, or it could just be some completely off the cuff remark that someone makes that spurs it on. He said it was called Imposter Syndrome or as I've learned, the Impostor Phenomenon. The name itself was enough to evoke an "AHA!" from the rest of the group. We had all experienced it in some form or fashion. Impostor Syndrome is not technically a psychological disorder, however, it has been studied since the late 70's as a psychological pattern. Linked above is an article cowritten by Joe Langford and Pauline Rose Clance from 1993 that explores this more in depth if you are interested. I found it extremely helpful to be able to classify my fear as something more than just this weird quirk I had on occasion and it has helped me to adjust some behaviors so I feel more at home in my creative self. As I have been reading the study of this phenomenon originally focused attention on high achieving women, it has been determined that the experience is not gendered and in fact a lot of different people from different backgrounds experience(d) an episode of this nature during their lifetimes. This experience doesn't just happen to creative types either, it is really common for folks that have very strong A-typical personalities. It's part of what can drive them to keep producing - however exhausting that is. Some things that really help me if I'm experiencing these moments are to simply surround myself with groups that let me talk out my fears. I have found an amazing community of makers that are so willing to part with wisdom and guidance when I start to doubt myself. They provide a never ending well of support for me, whether it's through my instagram posts or youtube videos. The other thing I need to get better at is taking compliments as they are and not try to discredit them. When I'm asked for advise I need to be careful not to add qualifiers that demean my abilities. All of these skills - and yes, they are skills - come with time and confidence. I need to shed myself of that fraud-skin and start to enjoy the things that I work so hard to achieve. Heidi Jacobs is the Co-Founder of Slap Stuff Together, a maker's studio. She is also a Project Manager by day and part time professional photographer. If you would like to learn more about SST's adventures as a new start up you can follow them on Instagram or on Facebook. If you would like to learn more about their startup you can drop them a line at [email protected] Creating a price-list can feel unnerving when you are new to your business endeavor. The more research you do about how to price, the more back up you have when negotiating your prices, and the more confidence you will have during those discussions with potential clients. Making sure you are getting paid for your services is nothing to feel ashamed about and if a client undercuts your value too much, it is ok to politely decline the work. More often than not, if you let the client peek behind the curtain a little they will understand the cost a bit better.
Here are some scenarios that we have experienced in our journey so far: I thought you could do this project for us for the exposure. After reviewing an order request and identifying the cost of materials and the labor involved, you provide a quote to a potential client. The response back is that they didn't actually expect to have to pay you because they felt they were helping you out by giving you a showcase opportunity. Although this can feel very insulting and your initial reaction may be emotional, keep in mind that they may not actually understand the amount of work they are asking for. The cost of your services may not align with the value they have assigned their network. For instance, if someone is asking for something to be done that will be inside their home the question becomes is their full network visiting their home or just a select few people who might notice your work? That may not be worth as much as if the client has a magazine that they want to showcase your work in. This is your opportunity to negotiate with your client and really evaluate if their audience would help to grow your business or if they are just inflating their own influence to get something on the cheap. I like this product that you made. Can you make a specialty one for me and I'll pay you the same price as the original? It is really great when someone likes your work and wants custom work done, the only downside is when they want custom work but don't realize that the cost may be significantly more. The original product has all of it's "kinks" worked out, additionally it may be batched out to provide a discount on the materials, and the time it takes to produce would be significantly less. It may just be that the customer needs some education on the cost difference. Most of the time they are not trying to be insulting, they just don't understand the difference because from their perspective both items in the end are the same deliverable. That's a bit much for me to pay you for something you can do so easily. This is the kick your in the teeth comment that so many creators receive when they provide their pricing. Someone comes along who has never done what you do and they see you creating something so seemingly effortlessly that they think the value is diminished. One of our friends recently posted a fantastic note about this same experience on social media: A street artist does a sketch for a man for $100. The man says, "Wow! $100 for 5 minutes of work. I'll pay you because it is a good sketch but I think it is overpriced" The artist responds simply, "30 Years and 5 minutes of work." The takeaway here is, you have investments in your business that help to set the stage for your pricing that are invisible to the consumer when they witness you doing something that seems so casual when you perform the task. A little bit of insight into what it took to learn what you are doing or the investment in the tools can really be eye opening for your client when they see the final total. If I had all of that fancy equipment I could do that too. Why should I pay you this much for you to do it when I could do it myself. As technology gets better and more accessible there is a notion out there that the operator is no longer skilled or of value. Nothing could be further from the truth. Yes, technology has helped us do things faster and more efficiently but you still need to have the skills behind the tools to do the work. Whether you are editing photos on a computer or you are using a CNC machine to route a board to have custom engravings - there are still labor hours and cost associated as well as the knowledge of how these tools work and the talent to make the output look appealing. Regardless of talent, there was an initial investment on your part in that equipment that is part of the pricing consideration. I saw someone do this cheaper, why don't you charge the same? There are hobbyists that undercut their pricing because they don't own a business and are just looking to pay for the supplies for their hobbies, photographers who are just starting out that don't have the notoriety or experience yet to charge more for their services, and woodworkers who don't buy exotic species of wood to build out their furniture - all three can seem to diminish the value of what service you are providing. Because you have done the due diligence to build out your price list and understand intimately why you charge what you do, you can justify your costs to your clients. The thing to remember is that your client didn't buy what they are looking for from that low price person for a reason and they have come to you. Feel confident that there is a reason they didn't jump on that low price when they saw it and use this as an opportunity to sell to them why you feel you are the right person for the job and that your work is worth the cost. This is something that you enjoy doing, isn't that payment enough? A lot of creatives run into this issue when asked to perform their talents. The value our culture has on the arts is very minimal and some people think that you don't deserve to be compensated for doing something you enjoy, that you should only make money if you are in some state of discomfort. Unfortunately, this is probably the toughest scenario to cultivate a positive experience from. This idea can be so engrained that what you are doing should not be paid for. If that is the case and the resistance seems firm, the position can be as simple as; if you value what I am doing then you will pay me for it, if you do not then I will not be doing the work for you. It sounds harsh to turn down work but you have a business you are trying to keep going and that doesn't mean you take on work for the sake of work. You take on work to afford to keep going. There is a vast difference between being an entrepreneur and being a hobbyist in regard to what you can do and what you should do. To be successful as an entrepreneur you have to have confidence in your abilities and in your value. Without that, it can be very disheartening when you experience the above scenarios. There is always opportunity for negotiation if there is room in your pricing to do so, but don't be so desperate that you are essentially paying the client to do work for them. If in the past you took on work and were not fairly compensated, don't beat yourself up about it. There are always learnings to take away from every opportunity that comes your way. Always keep in mind, it is not your client's responsibility to be an expert at your profession - that's why they have come to you instead of doing it themselves. Heidi Jacobs is the Co-Founder of Slap Stuff Together, a maker's studio. She is also a Project Manager by day and part time professional photographer. If you would like to learn more about SST's adventures as a new start up you can follow them on Instagram or on Facebook. If you would like to learn more about their startup you can drop them a line at [email protected] How do you begin to run a business with two hyper talented minds that cannot slow down? Fortunately for the two of us, my brain can split into two halves pretty evenly after years and years of training. I can admit that it can be really hard to make one side shut up and force the other to organize the chaos if I’ve not had enough sleep or coffee. At the crux of it is if we don’t plan, we’re going to overwhelm ourselves with the potential of what could be. Sounds like a good thing on the surface but that can be anxiety inducing because you don’t know where to start or stop. So, my smartphone and computer are my best friends these days. Here is a snapshot of how I’m using technology and my experience-managing other artists to help to keep our business on track. (DISCLAIMER: I’m not paid to endorse any of the following tools)
OUR MARK: Online presence is a big part of our business foundation but before we did any of the online building we had to create a brand identity. With my marketing and design background, I knew how important it was to have a simple but effective logo from the very start. Ben and I made our logo ourselves. However, where I did not have experience, I hired people that did. This is where Fiverr was a great blessing. I hired a Fiverr artist to do our animation for our YouTube intro and outro. It was a very simple process and there wasn’t any headache in getting what we needed in a timely manner. There are a lot of resources just in this neat site. You can hire someone to do voice overs, edit your copy, come up with a theme song, write a slogan, illustrate a book, create a logo – you may be able to do one of these things yourself, but sometimes it is worth the money just to hire someone out to do the stuff that you don’t have time for. THE CLOUD: Additionally, we thought about how to catalog our ideas. Foremost we needed a place to dump things that we can’t focus on at the moment but want to remember for later. We chose to use our Google Drive account as our cloud database. It’s economical (free), it’s easy to use, and it is convenient because most of our devices are android based. Here we can create documents, drop files, make spreadsheets, save quotes and invoices, and it is completely web based so we can access on any device connected to the web. I created folders here to house each of the categories we deemed important to us in our business. This saves us both some time from having to struggle to find that piece of paper we jotted that idea in the middle of the night down on. Now it’s available to both of us if we want to spend a coffee break adding to the idea. FINANCIAL TRACKING: We both have independent goals and desires but we have to talk through them to make sure they align with our growing family and growing business. Neither of us wants to hold the other back but sometimes talking things through can help us make sure they happen without hindering the other things that are in the pipeline. Tracking our expenses and our income was really daunting for us on a spreadsheet. We needed something that we could update on the fly and didn’t require a whole lot of effort. This is where Intuit’s QuickBooks for Self-Employed has really helped my tension levels. In the android app you can swipe to move expenses from personal to business. Split expenses between the two by different percentages it’s great for tax itemization, and it helped me with figuring out my Q1 federal tax estimate. April 5 and my check is in the mail. I’m sure it will even come in handy at the end of the year for my accountant. A big rule in my life – don’t take on things that cost more time than money. EQUIPMENT: We have been sourcing a lot of equipment and materials via craigslist and an app called offer-up. Ben traded a shotgun for a bandsaw once. We have found copious amounts of heavily discounted tools from people cleaning out their garages. I am not shy to use ebay and bhphoto.com to buy refurbished or used equipment. I can go for days talking just about the steals we found on things that brand new would bankrupt us. Growing up my mom and her sisters taught me the value in getting the materials you need by being resourceful. They were not afraid to use something that might have someone else’s history in the scratches. That followed me into college when my good friend Renae and I would have to find junk to use for sculpture class – everything was assemblage for us. PLANNING: With all of those tools that takes us to the meat of our livelihood. Planning out what projects to tackle for economic/personal/promotional. Of course you would think that the priority would be on the commissioned work in front of us but we cannot loose sight of why we wanted this business. We use a shared calendar on google drive to plan out events and our google drive help us to keep things categorized. It can become very easy to procrastinate on things for us, so, by setting due dates – fictitious or real – It helps us to keep the momentum moving forward. One thing I’m learning from Ben in this journey is how to say no. You don’t have to do everything that people ask of you. It’s your business and you can turn down work that doesn’t fit with your direction or desire. It’s a delicate balance, so, we try to plan 2 weeks ahead. This week we have 3 commissioned works that satisfy the economic category. The question is how can we use those pieces to fit into the other two categories? Sometimes you can’t because the work is so specific. Other times you can use a project to grow from if the person commissioning is not too steadfast on making it exactly how you made the last one. It’s a juggling game, but it’s fun brainwork. SOCIAL MEDIA: Here is where the core of our business comes from. People see our ideas, they engage with us on what they are looking for and we problem solve how to bring their ideas to life. It can be two dimensional or a physical item they are in search of. People have engaged us from Instagram, YouTube and Etsy. What is exciting is as we’re getting more established the requests are coming from outside our immediate network of friends and family. As people start to understand what we are doing, they get excited to be involved. One of our biggest goals is to stay as active as possible. If we order something fun, we show what we got in the mail on an instagram or snapchat. When we have an interesting project – we film it and feature it on YouTube. Anything to keep viewership and help us stay excited about the stuff that is happening. Not to mention, the more we use the tools the better and more proficient we will become. YouTube is a great documenting and archiving tool for our projects. Similar to athletes watching tape before and after a big game, it helps us to see where we can and have been improving. It gives other people an opportunity to coach us on how we could do something better and encourages us to keep going. Etsy is a convenient and secure online sales site that gives us the comfort of not having to manage a webpage or personal sales tool. It shows us some basic analytics and is a nice place carved out to digitally house our wares. Twitter/Instagram/Facebook all provide a place to give snapshots of what we’re working on and participate with our friends and family on things they want us to do. Even though YouTube seems to have the market cornered on video, the other online social tools are great companions to our channel. There are so many resources for organizing your business on a budget. What I’ve learned is to pay for the things that have the least amount of interest for us to learn to do ourselves and the rest try to make it as accessible as possible. Each of these separate tools feels invaluable at the moment. I’m sure as time goes on we will find better an better ways of refining our process, but the building of this is a great challenge that both of us are really enjoying. Heidi Jacobs is the Co-Founder of Slap Stuff Together, a maker's studio. She is also a Project Manager by day and part time professional photographer. If you would like to learn more about SST's adventures as a new start up you can follow them on Instagram or on Facebook. If you would like to learn more about their startup you can drop them a line at [email protected] Last month I wrote about our start up Slap Stuff Together and my husband's transition from office job to full time maker. I told you I would follow up with our progress and what we're currently working on. So, here's what we've been doing with our time this month.
As fans of many makers already making their dreams happen, we've been studying how they make things work and are trying to emulate a similar model. There are so many online and community resources - and if you are an artist - you know the importance of community. Most of the makers we follow have a really cool business model. They use youtube to gain audience traction and potential customers, drive those customers to their products and to their sponsors, then engage with them online and some even travel collaborating with other makers they are inspired by. So it's wins from a lot of angles to establish a channel, even if the goal isn't necessarily to have 1 million subscribers and make some cash at it. (generally speaking, most people don't even get close to rich with YouTube alone) So, we sat down and brainstormed what we could do for our channel, what's our message, what are our goals. Our message was simple, "We're Ben and Heidi Jacobs and we are a husband and wife team who make stuff" With that idea established, goal number one was as simple as figuring out how to make a video and post it. I had edited a few videos before and I had some very basic knowledge about the tools. My husband had the style and vision and really understood the landscape. He was inspired by guys like Jimmy Diresta and David Picciuto who are masters at telling the story of how they create their works. They are great at taking you through the brain work and also tell a visually compelling story about how they worked through challenges. Our first two videos were just learning how the tools worked and it was kind of fun editing them. I used some old go pro footage I had previously edited and hired an artist to create an intro for video 1. For video 2 we just wanted to put a quick and fun video together to celebrate pi day - just to test out how quickly we could do a simple video and to wish everyone the best Pi Day. The Happy Pi Day video was all completed using my android nexus phone and apps I found on the android market. Our third video was our first larger foray into the platform. My husband had spent a lot of time working on a complicated build and documenting his steps with our older digital camera that we purchased for our honeymoon in 2010. With anything your first time around it's not going to be as great as what you imagined, but regardless, it did what we wanted it to do. Plus, we gained a new found respect for those YouTubers who make it appear so effortless and are posting the same amount of content DAILY. YouTube itself can be a little confusing when figuring out what information goes where if you don't speak the tech language. It can also feel frustrating if you haven't unlocked certain features like being able to upload a longer video when you have 4 hours of content to pair down. For a complex build like the bandsaw skull box, there were so many steps and I didn't want to edit out how much elbow grease it took but as Ben reminded me - it may have taken him a long time to do it, but our viewers didn't need to sit too long to recognize that. So, I felt a lot better about cutting out big snippets of him carving and sanding away. After looking at the analytics I can see that it could have even been shorter than what I got it down to, but we'll save that discussion for another time. The Bandsaw Box video was definitely a challenge in a few ways, but it gave us one of our first opportunities to really engage with the folks we admired and they gave us some of their attention. (see the capture above - yeah, Mr. Piccuito and Mr. Diresta) This was absolutely rewarding to get comments back from two of our favorite channels - they watched our video! We learned a lot with that post. And that's where it begins. Taking a chance and seeing what you can make and through making you learn how to use your tools better. We won't delete our initial attempts even if they aren't polished because they serve a greater purpose at showing the process. The point of us having a maker channel is to show how we problem solve through a build so other people can learn how to do something better or maybe just get inspired to pick up a pencil. For the moment, we'll spend time refining our videos so that they are where we want them to be and are really looking forward to our next project build. Ben has a lot of woodworking in the works and we've got a lot of work to do to get ready for our upcoming events. If you like what we're doing and want to stay updated until my next article, Subscribe/Follow us on YouTube, Twitter, on Instagram or on Facebook. Heidi Jacobs is the Co-Founder of Slap Stuff Together, a maker's studio. She is also a Project Manager by day and part time professional photographer. If you would like to learn more about SST's adventures as a new start up you can follow them on Instagram or on Facebook. If you would like to learn more about their startup you can drop them a line at [email protected] A Maker's Story
In 2016 my husband was in a daze. For 10 years he had worked in customer service, call center tech support to be exact. It's a brutal space to work in and I do not envy anyone that has done it for the length of time he had invested. Ultimately, he was unsatisfied with where he was in his career. He was quickly approaching 40 and really didn't like the picture he had of his future being in a cubicle until he retired. He felt as a creative, his soul was draining and his day to day was at a point of tedium that didn't make the paychecks seem worth it. Getting daily text messages from him that were bleak and distraught was putting a strain on his relationships with his friends and with me. He was in a spiral that he felt he was never going to be able to get out of. Then parenthood happened, I was pregnant and we needed to buckle down in our lives a bit more than what dinks (duel income no kids) were used to. We had our son in February of 2016 and were quick to realize that in order for my husband to keep working we were spending more than an entirety of one of his paychecks on daycare. It didn't make sense to either of us. No politician, boss or strike of lightening was going to come and lift us from this financial doldrum. The counsel we were getting from our friends was that economically it wasn't going to improve for the next 5 years. With that reality, our complacency was no more and at the end of the year we started drawing up a foundation for him to focus on his dreams of being a full time maker and a stay at home dad. Life is too short to spend all of your time mired in misery. Our first steps were the usual steps you could imagine. The biggest was that we started by meeting with people who were already established as small business owners. This can be scary for an introvert like my husband but a lot of entrepreneurs love sharing their tools and collaboration is vital to keep your energy and focus for any business. He found a private facebook group and a youtube network with other makers who share inspiration and trouble shoot topics with each other. I found local folks who were making the same dreams a reality for their families. Another point of learning is to never be afraid to talk shop with people who are following their passions because passion is contagious. This was the biggest lesson we learned in the discovery period of our adventure. We had to build the confidence that we were no different than the other people who were making it happen in their lives. Through those networks, discussions and learnings we recognized what things we were going to need in order to establish our new venture and make it something that isn't just a hobby but a sustainable income. A good and tangible business plan was a priority and there are many non-profits that provide tools to help build a business plan. There are meetups in every city that encourage platforms for people to work in groups and problem solve as well. One of my husband's struggles as a creative is that his mind is constantly flooded with new ideas and new inventions, it is hard for him to settle down and focus on one thing at a time. Writing a plan down and identifying what the economics were helped to keep him grounded and me positive. Identifying a budget for our household that didn't make us crazy was also imperative. Financially, we knew that day care was costing us 'X' amount of money. So, we needed a way to come up with the balance of money to keep us comfortable in our lifestyle after we pulled our son from the program. Sure, concessions were to be made but we weren't looking at a need for $10K a month, more like $600 a month. We were saving up for the right time for him to take a leave from the workforce and pull our son from daycare. Our plan was to evaluate by June/July of 2017 if it was the right time for him to make a go of it. At this point it was November of 2016. We felt that was a good bit of time to let pass for our plan to solidify. Unfortunately, a setback happened just as we were getting our mojo, my husband lost his call center job and in turn our savings plan. That meant we had to put our maker plan into action sooner than we were projecting. As a planner this was terrifying for me. For my husband, it was shattering for his confidence. We couldn't afford to wallow in this set back, we had to rally to make it work and the time was now or never. The solution was to get him a part time job for now. We realized that at the moment we still needed a steady cash flow coming from my husband that wasn't just part of his maker business. It allows for him to care for our son during the day and pick up a few hours at Lowes, Home Depot, Busy Beaver anywhere that is hiring at a decent wage. He is steadily selling his work as he comes up with new ideas and designs and he's in a much better place emotionally after being home with our son and working with his creativity and craft (which to me, and probably any wife, is priceless). One of the biggest things we have learned with this startup is to rely on the business community for advice and leads on things that are available locally, to never shy away from talking about what we are doing, and to make sure we use the technology that is so readily available for building our marketing tools. So far, we're still in the initial building phases and polishing up our messaging but I wouldn't trade this experience for that life we had just a few months ago. My husband is so much happier, my son is getting to know his father and we're not missing out on milestones in his life. Each little step in our business is a minor victory and we are so excited to share each milestone as we get there. We designed a logo, we set up social media accounts, we have a plan and we have our inspiration - we're a go for lift off. Heidi Jacobs is the Co-Founder of Slap Stuff Together, a maker's studio. She is also a Project Manager by day and part time professional photographer. If you would like to learn more about SST's adventures as a new start up you can follow them on Instagram or on Facebook. If you would like to learn more about their startup you can drop them a line at [email protected] |
HEIDI JACOBSSmall Business owner and Artist, committed to growing as a maker as well as sharing her and her husband's experience with owning a small maker studio. Archives
June 2019
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