Maker Vision Podcast

Kickstarter is a great way to crowdfund your idea. In this week’s episode, Trevor is working on his first-ever Kickstarter project.

Like all makers, sometimes we lack focus. We think of so many great ideas that we have trouble focusing on any one of them. Join us as we chat about how we are trying to handle it.

Always help support your fellow makers!

As makers, we tend to procrastinate and have unfinished projects. Join us as we procrastinate.

As makers, we are always exploring new materials, new mediums, and more. We decided to take this week to talk about what we are doing that is new!

Trevor finally hit 10K on Instagram!

In this week’s episode, we are talking about how we are evolving in our small businesses during this pandemic. Selling handcrafted items is becoming more difficult and we are facing new challenges as business owners every day. Join us as we talk about what we are doing to keep our businesses running.

In this week’s episode, we got to catch up a little bit and just chat about what’s going on. Enjoy!

In this week’s episode, we just a had a little hangout with a couple of friends to just sit back, relax, and chat.

Seeing as we are still sheltering in place, we are just hanging out. If you have any ideas for topics, let us know!

It’s been a long month. With everyone being told to stay home and isolate themselves, how are you handling it?

It’s time to talk about book club! In February, we read Relentless by Tim Grover. In this episode we talk about the book and our key takeaways. Come join the fun!

We’re at WBC 2020 this week! We had the opportunity to meet up with some friends from last year and some new friends and talk about what we are up to and what we want to get out of WBC.

This week we are getting ready for Workbench Con 2020. In this episode, we are going to talk about what we are doing to prepare for WBC and how we are managing our businesses while we are out of town.

It’s the first book club review of the year! This month we read Every Tool is a Hammer by Adam Savage. Listen in and see what we thought of the book as well as our big takeaways.

One of the things we all struggle with is finding the time to do things. Whether it be work, our hobbies, our spending time with our families, it never seems like there is enough time in the day. What do we do? In this episode we talk about how we find time to do what we love and how we prioritize our time.

Often times the design time for a project can take up more time than expected. How do you account for this time? Do you charge an extra fee? Do you do it for free? Join us to see how we handle our design time.

If you have ever sold anything that you’ve made, you have either had to hand deliver it or ship it. This experience isn’t always a positive ordeal. In this episode, we talk about what it’s like to both hand deliver as well as ship items, what we do for shipping, and give suggestions.

It’s a new year and a new decade! In this episode we talk about what we’re doing in 2020 and we decided to start something new. In 2020, we are starting our own book club. We decided that we want to read books that are focused on making, entrepreneurship, and business. Join us! This month’s book club book is “Every Tool is a Hammer” by Adam Savage Book Link: https://amzn.to/2sGH15Q

Every year we reflect on how we did as makers, how are projects went, and what we can do to improve. We are wrapping up 2019 talking about how we did and encourage you to reflect on the year and remember all of the great things that you accomplished!

One of the best investments that you can ever make, is in yourself. Whether it be reading books, learning new skills, or taking time to collect yourself, investing in yourself is invaluable. Choose something to invest your time and energy in this holiday season!

During the holiday season, it can be difficult to balance spending time with family and working on your passion. In this weeks episode, we talk about what we have going on during the holidays and what we try to do to keep a good balance.

As part of our 2020 goals, we talked about wanting to learn new things. In the spirit of learning new things, we would like to hear from you! What would you like to learn? Please reach out and let us know so that we can all help each other!

To round off 2019, we talk about our remaining goals for this year and how far we’ve come. Looking forward to 2020, we talk about what we hope to accomplish in 2020. Where we see our brands going, as well as new things we want to learn. Join us in making your own 2020 goals!

Being a maker, it can often be tough to price your work. It can also be tough to market against other businesses with low pricing. In this episode we talk about the struggle of pricing and how we as makers will not be able to achieve a Walmart price mentality.

Content creation is a large part of the maker community. Not everyone wants to be a content creator and that’s okay. In this week’s episode, we talk about content creation and the pros and cons that we have seen. Enjoy!

Collaborating with other makers is a great way to try new things, meet new friends, and create awesome projects! Find someone you’d like to collaborate with and ask if they’d like to do a project together. Don’t let distance stop you from making cool collaborations!

When working with clients, it can be difficult to agree on a design, color scheme, or overall look, which begs the questions, is the customer always right? Sometimes, customers may not have the best idea on what colors work together, what size fits their space, among other items. The important takeaway is to work with the client, propose your own ideas for what you think will look good, and work together to create something awesome!

We are back at it after a mini vacation and excited to bring a new topic to the podcast! This week, we are trying something new! Whether that be a new software, method, or whatever it may be, we encourage you to get out there and try something new. Check out the episode to see what we’ve been trying!

This week we had the pleasure of sitting down with our friend Chris from Elevated Grain 716. It’s great meeting new makers and talking about our passions. Sit back, relax, and enjoy!

Sometimes we have set goals of what we want to get done and then other things come up in the process and we end up going down a rabbit hole of projects. In this weeks episode we talk about going down the rabbit hole with projects and other parts of our businesses.

This week we had the pleasure of talking with Ethan Carter. Ethan does some amazing leather work and loves creating. Go give him a follow and see what he’s up to!

It can be tough at times not to be jealous of other people’s success. Whether it’s new tools, a new shop, or other items in life, we can find ourselves being envious of others. In this episode we talk about how we try to deal with jealousy and what we do to appreciate what we have.

Working with companies in some capacity is a dream that many makers have. In this weeks episode we talk about our experience on working with brands, what it’s like, and our tips for working with them. Do you have any tips for working with brands? Let us know!

The last couple of weeks, we took a little bit of time for ourselves. Whether it’s to relax or upgrade the shop, time without sales can be beneficial. We all like to make money, but sometimes it’s important to take one step back in order to take 2 steps forward.

We have all encountered times when we experience doubt. Whether it’s in our abilities, our designs, or other parts of our lives, we can sometimes feel that we aren’t confident. The key takeaway is that it can happen to all of us and we have experienced it recently in our own businesses. The important thing is to keep pushing through and you will get through this.

This week we were able to sit down with Josh from Om Sweet Ohm and get to know a fellow maker a little bit better. We love hearing about other small makers and what they do! This was the perfect opportunity to get to know them better and share what they do with all of you. Enjoy!

Are conventions worth attending? This week we were able to attend AWFS which is a woodworking and finishing convention in Las Vegas. From small tools for the every day woodworker to massive machines the size of a house, we saw it all. The question is, is it worth attending if you don’t live in the same city as it’s being held? Enjoy our take on it and what we think.

With social media and YouTube, we can sometimes be encouraged to share things we know and tricks we use to create our work. But how much sharing is too much? In this episode we talk about what information you may want to share and the information that you may want to keep secret.

Sometimes in business it can be difficult to stay profitable without taking on new challenges. As a business owner, it is important to look for new opportunities and to evolve with the market and to find other ways to grow your business. In this episode we talk about what we are doing to grow as small businesses and what we are doing to evolve with the market.

No matter what we are doing, it is important to have people around you that help bring you up. In today’s world of social media, there can be a lot of negativity and unhelpful feedback. In this weeks episode, we talk about having people help support you, have confidence in your work, and to look on the bright side.

In last weeks episode we made some incorrect statements about Etsy fees and we wanted to address them. We encourage you to do your research and we appreciate all feedback from our listeners. We hope this clarifies everything.

Instagram, Facebook, and other social media platforms are great for showing off what you can do. However, we as makers have no control over what they do to the platform or how they change it. Having your own website gives you control over your brand and lets you control how it’s presented.

Have you ever been asked to make something that you weren’t comfortable making or something that you don’t want to make because it’s not on brand? In this episode we talk about things we won’t make because we aren’t comfortable doing it or because it’s something we don’t want to make as part of our business.

Within the community, we hear a lot of terms for what we do. We may be asked if we are makers, artists, craftsmen, woodworkers, etc. In this episode we talk about what we feel we are and the community as a whole. Enjoy!

Every time we look at social media, we see what people think will do well. From beauty shots, to working videos, and much more. We rarely see the failures, the struggles, and everything that goes on behind the scenes. This week we talk about the illusion of success and how social media may not be showing us the whole truth.

We may not always think about it but life is sure to remind us that it is important to be safe. This week we talk about being safe in the shop, accidents we have had, and to be aware at all times. We’re not perfect and we’ve all had our accidents. Be safe!

One of the questions that comes up most often with using automated tools is whether someone should get a CNC or a laser machine. In this weeks episode, Kris and Trevor talk about CNC and laser machines and how they differ. Be sure to check out this weeks episode if you are going through this decision making process.

Running a business comes with a lot of things that you may not think about starting out. From contracts and deposits to insurance, it is necessary to cover yourself and your business in the event that something doesn’t go as planned. This week we discuss what we do to cover ourselves and things that even we may be missing.

We met JT at Workbench Con 2019 and had a lot of fun talking business. This week we had the opportunity to sit down with JT and get to know a little bit more about the DFM Toolworks brand and how he got started. Check it out!

When it comes to pricing, many of us struggle to figure out what to charge for a project. In this episode we talk about what we put into our pricing, the factors we account for, and the mindset we have when it comes to selling items we make.