Makers in Business with Liz Smith

UPDATE UPDATE!

Makers in Business Episode 1 Ann Lee of Friends Fabric Art from Liz Smith on Vimeo.

UPDATE: My show will be available at http://LTC.org on Channel 8 streaming at 6:30 EST Tuesdays and 8:30 EST Thursdays. It is also available on demand. Go to http://ltc.org/content/ltc-8 and scroll down to find Makers in Business on the schedule, There should be a link to Watch Now, a pop up player will start right up, you need Flash to play the content. Thank you!

Wanna see my press release? It's all official n stuff :) (Note: I am also working on making the show available online on demand elsewhere and offering the audio-only as a podcast.)

Makers in Business with Liz Smith is a new local access TV show from Lowell, MA which airs on Comcast Channel 8 on Tuesdays at 6:30 PM and Thursdays at 8:30 PM. It can also be viewed online http://www.ltc.org/ during airtime and on demand.

Each half hour episode Liz Smith has a conversation with someone who makes things and sells them. The focus of the program is the intersection of commerce and creativity with an emphasis on the particular challenges creative business owners face and how they solve them.

Makers in Business will introduce viewers to creative people and their businesses, educate viewers about what it takes to run a small creative business, and help other creative business owners through the sharing of our experiences.

Note: the first episode features a delightful conversation with Ann Lee of Friends Fabric Art.

Liz Smith has been a maker in business for over 25 years. Currently she makes and sells paper goods and items made from wool and polymer clay under the business name Made in Lowell She currently works out of studio A305 at Western Avenue Studios in Lowell. Aside from a live, 8 minute segment on The Martha Stewart Show in 2010, this is her first television program.

I guess I have a talk show now

Here's the follow up to my previous post: we taped the first show on Tuesday, April 17th! It feels quite surreal. I was exactly as frightened as I imagined, and I'm not sure if that will fade over time, but I will keep at it anyway because, why not?

My first guest, Ann Lee of Friends Fabric Art was DELIGHTFUL. And she wrote a sweet post about her side of the adventure.

I totally forgot to snap a picture of her because I was quite befuddled by the whole process but I did get a few shots of the evening. Here's a helpful guy setting up the microphones on my little bare bones, I mean minimalist, set.


And here's the very kind and efficient crew that volunteered and showed up to help me make a TV show:


And here I am afterwards, gleeful I did not have a heart attack. On the left is my director/editor, Catherine, and on the right is Jessica Wilson, Executive Director of LTC. Jessica also ran one of the cameras and was instrumental along with Ann, in keeping me calm.

It's a half hour show and we pretty much taped in real time. It needs to be edited a bit, cleaned up and graphics and music will be added. I am supposed to be creating a logo right at this very moment to be added onto the footage when I meet Catherine tonight, heh. I still have a few hours!

I think Ann and I had a good conversation about the intersection of commerce and creativity in her particular circumstances. I think others will find it interesting too.

I learned a few things for next time:
1) Prepare way more questions than you think you need, then double that. I ran through all my questions in the first half of the show and had to scramble to figure out what to fill the second half with.

2) I need to figure a way to signal the guest. I can see when we have one minute left, but how do I tell them to wrap it up? Working on a series of complicated winks. Or maybe there's an industry trick someone can share with me.

3) I will just have to make a bunch more shows to make this one seem less significant in my mind. It's the first one, it's a bit of a rehearsal for the rest of my program. If I didn't nail it, it won't matter in the larger picture.

4) People who volunteer at Local Access TV are really nice and generous with their time. Thanks to everyone who helped out!!

That's it for now, The show will be available when we finish polishing it up, I'll let you know when that is. Then I guess I need to make a date to tape the next one! Arrgghh! LOL :)

Thanks for all your kind encouragement. I felt buoyed by your good will!

My Next Adventure

In 2010 I went on The Martha Stewart Show and for 8 minutes, on live national television, I taught Martha how to make my polymer clay eggs. It was a surreal experience that took all my courage. I had terrible stage fright but I went through with the segment despite my terror. After it was over I felt a euphoric rush which must be the reason people do extreme sports. The high lasted for months and I can still call a little of it up now and then when I need some fuel. When I watched myself later I was astounded that you really couldn’t tell how frightened I was!


I have a picture of me and Martha posted outside my studio and at Open Studios I get to tell my crazy story to anyone who is interested. I’ll never get tired of this story. One Open Studios I was telling my story and how I had been so scared before I went on TV but after it was over I was so juiced I felt like I could have my own TV show! And the person I was talking to said “You totally should.” It turns out she was Jessica Wilson, the brand new Executive Director of Lowell Telecommunications Corporation (LTC), Lowell’s local access cable station!

The idea felt scary and exciting. Fun and awful. I thought about it for a few weeks, ran it past family members (who all emphatically said DO IT!) and decided OK. Why not?

The whole idea wasn’t completely out of the blue. I had taken Sister Diane’s online podcasting class in preparation for starting to provide audio content to my blog followers and hopefully pick up new folks. When I saw how much pre- and post-production went into Diane’s amazing shows, I’ll admit, I got discouraged. I didn’t think I would have the time or focus to spend hours and hours on each podcast and still run my handmade business.

But a TV show, that was different! A TV show is collaborative. I wouldn’t be doing this alone, I’d have crew and resources, I’d have help! And maybe I could strip the audio and STILL offer it as a podcast! WIN/WIN.

So here I go, tonight we shoot the first episode of Makers in Business. It’s a talk show where I’ll interview makers about their work and some aspect of how they make their business run. It’s a show for other makers, for people who love handmade, and for anyone interested in the nuts and bolts of running a small business.

I will post links to the show so you can view it online and hopefully I’ll be able to post the audio as a podcast.

I’m just as nervous as when I went on Martha, only now I’m the Martha! Or the Terry Gross, or the Jon Stewart. But it’s not live and I have a great group of people to help me make this the best it can be. And if nothing else, I will have tried something outside my comfort zone and that alone is worth the butterflies.

Doing taxes, BRB

I have some fun news coming up soon, and lots of new posts on topics I know the craft world is thinking about, so stay tuned!

xo
Liz

I was interviewed on CraftyPod

I am incredibly, insanely excited that I was interviewed on CraftyPod!

SisterDiane is an amazing craft business resource as well as a super nice and fun person. You may remember I blogged about taking her excellent class on how to create a podcast so you can imagine my humble delight at being asked to be interviewed for her own amazing podcast, CraftyPod!

It was so much fun talking with her and the way she skillfully put our conversation together in the final edit is fantastic, she is SO GOOD at what she does. The topic concerns what happened after I went on Martha and what success means to me. I hope you take a listen!

Toadstool Pincushions

I guess I've been thinking about spring :)

My ongoing fitness journey

In October of 2002 I married the love of my life, it was dreamy. I didn't mind too much that my wedding dress was a size 20. My guy loves me whatever my size and I didn't feel unattractive. But I did feel uncomfortable; my back hurt, my knees hurt, it was hard to get a deep breath when I sat down, and I was always tired.


On January 1, 2003 I decided to try Atkins and lost about 60 pounds over the course of that year! I know a low-carb lifestyle is not for everyone, but it turns out to be the right one for me. I was able to quit eating sugar, white potatoes, rice, corn and wheat. I felt instantly better. My life-long food and candy cravings went away and so did a lot of my Asthma symptoms!

Me at the start of 2003:

And just by eating what I was cooking, my husband lost 40 pounds we didn't even realize he was carrying!

I had plans to lose all the weight, I had a modest five year plan. But I took my eye off the ball, I got distracted by ordinary life events and between 2004 and 2010 I quietly gained back about 20 of those pounds. By July of 2010 I was totally sedentary and unhappy and uncomfortable again. I thought about Yoga, but I realized I don't enjoy group exercise. I thought about exercise tapes, but I have done those in the past and found they quickly got boring. I decided to start using my trusty Nordic Track skier again. I bought it back in 1993 and have enjoyed using it on and off, lugging it from old home to new home. It was time to climb back on.


To psyche myself up for the long haul and to avoid feeling discouraged if weight didn't come off right away, I told myself I was only exercising for FITNESS and if the weight came off that would be a nice side bonus.

I started really, really slowly. I exercised 10 minutes a day, three days a week. In that ten minutes I would alternate walking for one minute then lightly jogging for one minute. I was making a lifetime change and I wanted morning exercise to become a habit. I decided that going at my own pace was the most important goal so I only increased my exercise to 20 minutes a day when it felt right. It probably took a month, but that was the only way I was going to get it to stick.

Every morning I would get up and put on my exercise clothes, I wouldn't leave the house until I'd done my minutes. Every day was a mental struggle. I would sit there in my exercise outfit, willing myself to just start. It was SO HARD!! I'm lucky that I work for myself, don't have kids, and have a schedule flexible enough to allow for this struggle to play itself out. I will tell you, it took well over a year and a half of persistent effort for the exercise to become a habit. I did not think it would take that long for me to feel like my day hasn't started until I get off the Nordic Track.

I was up to 30 minutes a day, five days a week in April of 2011 and guess what? My weight was EXACTLY THE SAME as when I began. I couldn't help it, I was discouraged.

I tried to tell myself I'd probably lost some fat and gained some muscle, probably true. That my body was more toned, it was. I tried to remember that I was in this for fitness above all else. But, come on. Then I decided to stop eating all the non-gluten grains I had added back into my diet over the years, and increase my workouts to 45 minutes.

I was eating meats, dairy, veggies (except corn and potatoes), beans, and nuts. I was totally satisfied and didn't miss the grains at all! I had really thought I would. It turns out the way I was able to quit sugar 9 years ago and feel like NOT eating the treat was the treat I was giving to myself, that's how I felt about not eating grains.

And a little bit of weight came off! Hurray! Then I read that you need to exercise 5-6 hours a week for consistent weight loss. Oy. So I decided to increase my exercise to an hour. And that, combined with ditching grains, is what finally tripped the trigger.


In 2011 I ended up losing 30 pounds! I feel fantastic. I will admit it was a bit of a shock to realize I was 75 pounds lighter than I was at my wedding. And that I am still 35 pounds overweight. But it's much easier to start fresh at this point. This year, twenty twelve, I'm increasing my 5 days a week exercise to 72 minutes per day. I'm determined to lose the last 35 pounds, however long it takes. Because I am in this for the long run. And this time, I'm paying attention.

Me and my husband in December of 2011: