Haseeb Qureshi discusses updates to the CARES Act and Knoxville’s plan to reopen.
Top 10 Ways to Improve Your Maker Business
Maker markets are in flux, retail stores are just now grinding back into motion, and the future of live, human-to-human commerce opportunities for handmade, local goods is uncertain. This moment presents a huge opportunity for you to do a strategy pivot, test new digital marketing tactics, and experiment how you’re getting your good goods out there in front of the world. Use this time to up your entrepreneurial ante and you may just find yourself better off than you ever could have imagined.
At-Home Smartphone Photography
Take Quality product photos from home!
Selling goods and services online starts with quality photos. In this era of social distancing that can be a lofty request when professional photographers are unable to enter your living room. To solve that problem, Saray Taylor-Roman has outlined tricks and tips on how to make studio quality photos at home – and on a budget!
Learning to Pivot with Dale Mackey
Guest blog by Dale Mackey
My husband Shawn and I are both lucky enough to be self-employed doing work that we're passionationatea about. He's a photographer who captures life in a way that makes the world look like an interesting and beautiful place. I am a baker and manager of our community event space, The Central Collective. Being able to do what I love and run a space for people to gather is the best job in the world... until there's a global pandemic.
How to Plan When Plans Have Changed with Samantha Lane
A guest blog by Samantha Lane
For many of us, the last two weeks have confirmed that we are creatures of habit. We are designed to seek comfort and avoid the acute stress response also known as fight or flight. Therefore, it is extremely important for us to regain balance in times of disruption. Not only does balance reduce physical and emotional strain that impacts our immune system and long-term health, but it supports the productivity (and creativity) levels necessary to maintain equilibrium in life and work.
5 Tips to Be Well, When All is Not Well
Lots of changes are happening, and fast. It might feel overwhelming, but you are not alone. We're right there with you, and we will continue fighting the fight for makers and small businesses during these difficult times.
Booth Andrews, a partner with KEC, is simply amazing. If you don’t know her, you need to. She has been in the corporate world and now works as a freelance supporter of all people. She is all too aware of the pressures people hold within themselves and has offered us techniques to help them breathe again.
The Problem:
When the anxiety starts to turn up our nervous and immune systems are taxed.
Booth’s Well-Being Tips:
1. List things you are grateful for as specifically as possible. Write them down.
2. Go outside. Even a few minutes of fresh air can make a difference. Seriously - put your bare feet in some dirt!
3. Connect to your senses. Name things you see, hear, smell, touch and taste. Don’t think too hard - just allow yourself to feel.
4. Dance or shake your body. This movement discharges extra energy from our nervous systems. I dare you to play Simon Says!
5. Engage in a calming ritual. Hot tea? A blanket? Yoga?
Do some — or all — of these each day. Make time for your mental and physical well-being and encourage others in your house to do the same. Small changes make a big impact.
Makers, we would love to know what’s working for you. We are working to share any resources available. Tag us in posts and we will repost, email us information to share, or fill out this form to give us feedback about virtual gatherings while we all practice social distancing!
Hope
If you only carry one thing throughout your entire life, let it be hope. Let it be hope that better things are always ahead. Let it be hope that you can get through even the toughest times. Let it be hope that you are stronger than any challenge that comes your way. Let it be hope that you are exactly where you are meant to be right now, and that you are on the path to where you are meant to be … Because during these times, hope will be the very thing that carries you through.
- Nikki Banas
Take care, friends.
- The Maker City
