Does The Law of Attraction Work?
Happy New Year! I am so pumped to start a new year and another decade. While I am not one to keep resolutions, I like to take this time and think about the opportunities I want to create for myself and for others; and the best strategy to achieve them. It is also a great time to reflect on 2019, my wins and my teachable moments. Last year, was probably the best year yet regarding my woodworking journey. I had this vision of what I wanted my maker life to look like. What goals I wanted to reach and then I started speaking it into existence. That begs the question of whether or not the Law of Attraction actually works. Please continue reading and let me know if you think it’s real or a self contrived fallacy.
If you’re reading my blog for the first time, welcome! It is also the first time I posted here is a while. Once I discovered Instagram about two years ago most of my social media efforts went into engagement and meeting new people and not writing. I know that I was missing an incremental piece to my brand by not blogging consistently. Does anyone else out there have an issue with being consistent? I keep the blog going since most people find me through the blog, I am grateful for the readers I have and plan to share more of my projects with you.
Why 2019 Was The Best Year Yet!
Right around this time last year my friend Ashley (from Handmade with Ashley) told me about a conference just for woodworkers. My first thought was literally the mind blowing emoji, a place where people like me could exchange ideas for three whole days? What made this even sweeter was that it was taking place one mile from my house. Of course, I purchased my ticket to Workbenchcon faster than you can hit the Skip Ads button on YouTube. I, of course, knew very few people at the conference so it was a bit intimidating at first. I didn’t let that stop me from getting out there and making new friends and networking. The best part was being a representative of female woodworkers; even though more women are joining the woodworking movement, it is still very heavily dominated by men. I wear my mom of four woodworking badge with honor! The number of connections I made that weekend would help me further down line and I would create friendships that went beyond a social media comment.
The time I met Jimmy DiResta
During the conference, I had a chance to talk with Jimmy DiResta, by the way, he is the most down to earth person I know. Here is why meeting him was important to me, we were going to be on the same television show together, or so I thought. At the end of 2018, I was contacted by a casting company to audition for the second season of an NBC show called “Making It” hosted by Amy Poehler and Nick Offerman. I tend not to count my chickens before they hatch, that is code for not getting too excited about anything before it happens. I detest disappointment and I have trained myself to not invest emotion into non-guaranteed happenings. I had an interview with the casting director and then was moved to the second round. This round involved making a project and submitting it. I worked soooooo hard on this project, but being the forever perfectionist I was not 100% pleased with it if only I had more time and did not overthink it. Needless to say, I did not make it on the show. For some reason I was not too upset, in my heart I knew I was not ready. My skills were not where I wanted them to be and it just wasn’t my time and I am okay with that. Without giving too much away, let’s just say some great things are about to happen in 2020!
This post would be endless if I told you all the opportunities that grew from the three days I spent at Americas Mart attending WorkbenchCon. If you would like to see some of my experiences, you can see my Instagram Highlights.
How I Became A Woodshop Teacher
If you follow me on Instagram you will see me making cut after cut on the Saw Stop table saw. It is probably my favorite tool. It’s huge, it’s powerful, and once you get over the fear of using it you just fall in love with it. My local maker space, Decatur Makers has one in their woodshop. I only joined for the table saw, seriously. My two-car garage cannot handle anymore heavy machinery and it no longer can accommodate two cars, so adding a table saw was out of the question. Well, good thing I stuck around Decatur Makers because it paid off. I started volunteering for our Girls Maker Club and for anything I had time for. I made new friends, we chatted about drill bits, VCarve, laser engraving, and even Arduinos. I had found my tribe, my tribe of makers. Shortly, after the conference ended, I was asked to teach the Woodshop 101 classes to clear new members to use the shop and anyone interested in learning the proper way to use heavy machinery. Can I just tell you, that teaching others how to use power tools is one of my greatest dreams come true. Do I know how to use every tool? No. Am I the most qualified? No. But I have a whole lot of passion to share and the more I teach the more I learn. Teaching is the ONLY TIME I can block everything else out on my life and focus on giving students the more information than they can handle and the confidence they need to come back a week later and use the tools on their own. It was at the beginning of teaching that I realized I loved teaching as much as I did making. I would rather help you become awesome than I make myself seem awesome. Don’t get me wrong, my love of the sound of the miter saw cutting into a 2 x 4 or the aroma of sawdust (I know, totally bad for the lungs) still gets me going and is still my happy place.
Teaching didn’t stop at adults, it ran all the way down to kids. Yes!!! Maker kids! I love kids, possibly how I ended up with four and I love teaching woodshop. Bam! Another match! I did a few girls scout badge earning classes where we made birdhouses and they loved it. For the first time little girls as young as seven used a miter saw. How empowering, how exhilarating. I have the kids sign and date their first piece of cut wood. Hopefully, one day, at least one of them will grow up and a famous architect.
TV Made Me A Star (Sort of)
Okay, maybe not a star. Remember how I mentioned I didn’t post to my blog much, but it is the gateway for many people who are not on social media to reach me. Thank goodness I still had it going because the next chain of events was purely divine intervention. I received an email from a school asking if I would like to donate a kids’ woodshop class as an auction item for an upcoming capital campaign for their school. The message stated that the event chair saw me on TV and heard that I teach. Once I got to the bottom of the email, the sender was actually a parent at my child’s school and I discovered later our children were in the same class! Of course, I said yes, anything to help. Now I have a whole new group of kids in the shop. What a small world. The word starting getting out that I was a maker mom and soon the fine arts department asked me to help build sets for their plays. It all started with an appearance on another local show ironically called, Making It.
At this point, it comes at no surprise that I Decatur Makers named me the Most Incredible Volunteer which ultimately turned in to me being elected to the Board of Directors.
Why Follower Count Doesn’t Always Matter
Do you equate success with likes or followers? You shouldn’t unless you want to be Instafamous and there isn’t anything wrong with that. Since so many things were happening last year I decided that my success had nothing to do with the number of followers. In my book I was winning. I no longer work in corporate America, I pick up my children every day, volunteer at their schools, I have the opportunity to explore wherever this journey is taking me. If I can be real with you for a minute, my children are young and taking care of four littles is a lot of work. We only have a few years to get it right and they will be our greatest legacy. Some days I forget to post to social media or miss my peak time to post because one of the children remembered they had a test tomorrow and we need to study right at bedtime. I do what I can when I can and know that my destiny isn’t hinged on a platform, neither is yours.
Twelve Streams of Income
When I was at WorkbenchCon, I learned during one of the sessions that Brad Rodriguez of Fix This Build That had twelve streams of income, 12!!! For some reason that resonated with me, I want that! Now, I am not comparing myself to him. We are different in many ways, I just want to be in hustle mode like him. Over the past year I have built six streams of financial and related in-kind income. One of my favorites, which probably led you to this blog post is the column I write for Highland Woodworking. If you live in Atlanta or have visited Atlanta, chances are you have heard or shopped at Highland. They are one of the nations leading purveyors of woodworking supplies. Their staff is extremely knowledgeable about the finest power tools and the store as 1800 square foot classroom where I have taken a few classes. Highland is where I purchase my veneer and hand tools. They once had a great deal on Rikon band saws, so I grabbed one.
After hitting 1,000 followers a year ago, I asked Highland to donate an item for my giveaway. This is where relationships are everything. Molly Bagby, marketing manager was kind enough to give to my little giveaway and asked if I would be interested in writing for the Women in Wood column for the monthly online newsletter. Now, I have the opportunity to share with many people all the great things women are doing with wood. We are welding, carving, pouring resin. We are crushing it! This was the third stream of income.
Do It Scared
I am great behind the scenes, but when put in the spotlight, the nerves ran rampant. I do a great job of covering it up and that is exactly what I did during a fundraising improv show for Decatur Makers. Last May, we held a fundraising event complete with maker type auction items which I helped procure and treated everyone to a night of comedy with an improv show. The crux of the show was based on making experience from real makers. I was asked to get on stage and talk about a project that went horribly wrong and the improv troop would weave that into their show. I was nervous. I did it. People laughed at my jokes as I told my tale of woe and in the end, it was an amazing experience. This wouldn’t be the last time I had to do it scared.
If I were to make a resolution in 2020 it would probably be to actually read my emails and texts rather than skim through them. However, skimming through them worked in my favor on a sunny day in July. I was copied on an email to meet to discuss a new podcast idea on all things making. With the kids in tow, I went to the meeting or so I thought. It wasn’t a meeting at all, it was the first podcast for Decatur Makers with a local station, Decatur FM at the helm with a mixer board and microphones. I sat down and started talking. We have done a handful of recordings. I am not sure what our ultimate goal is, for now, it’s a lot of fun to chat and have fun with my maker friends.
Just a few months later, as a result of attending WorkbenchCon, I was asked to sit on a panel at Haven Conference. Haven is the sister to Workbenchcon. It is a conference for bloggers who specialize in DIY, Interior Design and decorating. Oh no, me? I didn’t know anyone there and none of them were woodworkers. That all changed once I got there. I had the opportunity to sit on an amazing panel with and use a scroll saw for the first time with Lizzy and Jaime as teachers, and so met so many more ladies that I still keep in touch with. And just when I thought it couldn’t get better, next month I will be back at WorkbenchCon, but this time I will be speaking. These awesome group of friends packed the room full of attendees. Cheers to Erin Spain, Yuni Min, Amie Frieling, and Sara and Nick Karakaian. The best thing about being one of the few woodworkers there, I handed on my wood business cards. I am pretty sure I was the only one, hehe. Needless to say, I started making wood cards for others too!
There was so much more that happened in 2019, this was just the tip of the iceberg. If that was the tip, you know 2020 will be big, I hope. I am so excited to share with you all the things going on in my life and hope that it has inspired you to make yourself available and open to the good things that can happen in your life.
Be Great! Live Passionately!
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