How it began

Artwork by Marya Nguyen

Since I started making things to sell, I have been dreaming of a website of my own.  What stood in my way was the technology.  I didn’t know squat about laptops, and not very much about the internet.  Then Etsy came along and I felt I had been saved.  I signed up but the next thing was to teach myself how to work my new Dell laptop.  Dancers and actors had no part in computers in my day and I had not spent time behind a desk in years.  So I spent a very aggravating and often hair-pulling year teaching myself the computer.  Basically, I learned a foreign language.

I got my Etsy sight up and running, I joined a team (do you Etsy guys still have teams?) and had a shop and the support of my fellow crafters.  I stayed on the site for several years until I was no longer making the same products and had moved into jewelry.  I closed up shop but I still have a storefront there.  I started to have some success as I learned metal smithing, selling my work.  One of my teachers suggested I put a very unique piece in an art school show and my work was the first piece sold to a jewelry collector from Chicago. That certainly helped my self confidence.  I did some small craft shows but I didn’t feel I was up to the big art and craft shows with esteemed reputations.  A big surprise to me was that I was getting word of mouth business by referrals from people that were spotted wearing my jewelry.  That in fact continues to this day and I am fortunate to have a small following.  I also generated some business on Instagram but it is inevitable you’ll get lost in the sea of the algorithm and my business there fell off.  BUT I still wanted my own shop, my own website.

Friends and family encouraged me to build it myself.  “Yeah, go on. You can do it.  You know they all have templets and it’s pretty simple”.  Really?  Have you done it?  But I tried and then I realized I didn’t want to spend a year learning another thing and coming up with a half-assed product that I was sorta happy with.  I wanted something I was proud of, that represented my work in the best light.  I set out to find someone to work with and after a bit of research found the amazing Marya Nguyen at Yanguweb.studio.  What a gem, what a jewel of a person!  Soooo talented!  She “got me” right away and we have collaborated and built a site I am so proud of and feels like who I am. I see hearts whenever I think of her.

So, for those of you that aspire to this dream I say, if you have the chops to code and navigate the services offered on your own, go for it.  If you don’t though, look around for someone in your price range who you’d like to have a cup of coffee with.  Have a chat and see if you are comfortable or if you feel like you would be working with someone who just wants to the job done. That’s the one.  You will both rise to the occasion because you will both want the best for the work.  So go for a dream.  This is the second dream I have jumped into the abyss for (theatre dreams anyone?) and Marya has made me feel like I can fly..

*The illustration above is Marya’s and hangs behind her desk with other art pieces of hers. From first meeting I felt like her art was informing our rapport and I never got tired of seeing them when we had our meetings.

(BTW we will be having breakfast together soon when she comes to NYC for a conference.  I can’t wait to meet her in person!)