September 13th Etsy Raleigh Meet-up: 7-10 pm

Hey Everyone, thanks so much for coming out Tuesday for the August Meeting. WOW, we had so much fun! I have never read so many awesome and interesting t-shirts in my life. The Octocrabdactyl rocked. Jon gave an amazing talk on how to make wooden wall mounts for the iPad. You can order one of his kits on Etsy or create one of your own from his open source directions on Thingiverse. It was wonderful to learn under this master for a few hours about sanding and finishing wood.

My favorite part of watching Jon talk is always seeing his hands gesture. They never stop moving. And they are always telling a story. The texture of the wood, the way you sand a piece from top to bottom, the movement of a paintbrush applying finish, or how to hang your mount on a wall. All of his wooden creations have this amazing tactile quality. Thank you everyone who came. Moving forward, we have 2 fabulous speakers for you for our September meeting. Again we are splitting the meeting into an earlier meeting that is business related and a later meeting that is fun crafting.

7-8 "Turning Your Hobby Into A Business" by John Kiley (SCORE Office of Chapel Hill)

John Kiley Organization Structure

Carl Bauman Developing the Business Plan

Dennis Holland Building Your Brand

I am really pleased to say that this meeting has me very excited to introduce an old friend who helped me get started a couple years ago in the business, John Kiley. For those of you, like me, who are more familiar with making things vs. legal paperwork, John will be talking for an hour on how to step up your hobby/idea and run your own business here in North Carolina. This provides you legal protection and also a ton of nifty benefits to help with your taxes and funding. With us being located in Raleigh, we are lucky enough to be able to open and register our own business cheaply in a few days for roughly $150.

John is an incredible resource for me. He's helped me find funding, talk through the oh so painful growing stages, and full of a huge wealth of wisdom on what actually WORKS in running a business. It is easy to register a business. When 10% of all small business's fail every year, if you want to be successful long-term you need good advisers like him to succeed. He is a great resource for us here in the Triangle that I strongly recommend. You don't often get to talk to people who have run successful businesses of all sizes. We are doubly lucky in that he is bringing 2 friends with him, Carl Bauman and Dennis Holland, to talk about some of the specific elements you may need as you get started.

This is a preview for our 2 day big Etsy Meeting to talk about the ins and outs of running a business. He is also sticking around afterwards to drink beer and answer questions. John is a great guy. I can't wait to share him with you.

8-10 "Making Hand-turned Shoes and Moccasins" in conjunction with the Raleigh Leather Guild and Tandy's Leather

This is a crossover project with support from the Leather Guild led by 2 of my favorite gentlemen: David and Aubrin. Aubrin runs Tandy Leather and David has the distinct privilege of being the only lawyer I like and respect. We will have a number of shoe patterns in all sizes for men and women: sandals, slippers, etc. as well as a brief discussion on how to make shoes. I will have patterns from Shoeology on etsy printed of sandal patterns for anyone who would like to design their own this is a personal favorite. Free fabric and basic leather will be provided at no cost for indoor shoes. If you would like to make an outdoor shoe armor plate leather that will hold up to repeated wear and tear please buy a kit on our website here. We have 5 kits left if you would like to purchase one through the Etsy website include your shoe size for your custom soles. We will have more available after the talk if you want to purchase one then. :

Custom Design Your Own Shoes Kit

by lisashay

$30.00 USD

This event has been funded through an Etsy Grant. Raleigh Etsy Meet-up is separate group of artists and crafters who sell on Etsy and not legally affiliated with Etsy Corporate.