Craftcation Alumni Story: Why I’ll never miss out on Craftcation

Editor’s note: This is part of our series of stories from Craftcation Alumni. You can see the rest of the posts and more business tips here.

We wanted to share some first-hand accounts of what Craftcation is like from our Alumni. Because we can rave all day about how awesome it is but it’s helpful for prospective attendees to hear about it from some unbiased points of view. If you want answers to some of the questions we get asked often by prospective attendees, click here.

If you’re a regular here at Dear Handmade Life then likely you already know about our once a year event: Craftcation Business and Makers Conference. If you’re new here, then welcome!

Craftcation 2017 registration is open! If you want to join us for four life-changing days of making, meeting and learning at the beach in California and have an inspiring experience you’ll never forget, register now. Craftcation has sold out EVERY YEAR since it started five years ago, so don’t delay.

-Nicole S.

My Craftcation experience by Heather Norris:

I heard about Craftcation by chance when I reached out to an Instagram friend I had recently started chatting with. I had so many questions about how to start an art business she directed me to look into going to Craftcation because she thought it would give me all the answers I needed. I looked at the website and instantly wanted to go but there were a few things holding me back from pressing that buy button. Firstly, I didn’t even have a business, I barely had an idea. Then I realized I wouldn’t know anyone that was going. Lastly, I didn’t know if I wanted to  invest the money to go if I wasn’t even making money from a business.

After carefully thinking it over, trying to get people to go with me, and talking it over with my wife and friends I decided it was what I needed to do to jumpstart my dream of becoming an art business owner.

I was actually so happy I went without knowing what I was doing or anyone that was going. Going alone left me open and free to meet tons of new people and explore ideas about what EXACTLY what I wanted to create for my business.

Every time someone asked me what I did I had a slightly different answer and slowly as the conference went on I started narrowing down what my future of selling my artwork would look like. Each time I took a break or lunch I would talk with different people, finding out what they did and why they were at the conference. There was a wide variety of people there to learn from. Some people were business consultants that just wanted to know how to help their clients better, others were just there to take some crafty classes and have fun. There were people starting their business and others that had their businesses for many years and just wanted to learn something new and find out ways to make their businesses grow. I took as many discussion panels as I could with a few crafty workshops sprinkled in so I could let my creative juices flow.

By the end of the conference I had met a good amount of people and I was inspired to create my own support group near where I live. When I got home I contacted all the people in my area and we set up a meetup to discuss our businesses. This is something I would have never done had it not been for the wonderful four days in Ventura. I continually meet with people I met at Craftcation and I have officially opened my art business.

Craftcation was what I needed to shove me off the ledge and into the new adventure of owning my own creative business.

*You can find Heather her website, Etsy shop, Instagram and Facebook page.