Come ready to share, giggle and brainstorm and you'll leave with 5 tangible small steps you can take to move forward toward your complete picture of success.

This workshop will be most beneficial to handmade production artisans. That is crafty-preneurs focused on making and selling many similar items (opposed to one-of-a-kind artists or those selling originals). This includes artists and photographers who make and sell prints or multiples.

Rachel Dominguez-Benner splits her days between keeping the mechanics and books in-line at her worker-owned bicycle repair shop, A Better Cycle, and growing her one-woman empire of handmade bicycling accessories under the banner Bike Cozy.

Originally hailing from Michigan with a fine arts degree in Graphic Design – she considers herself in her second education thanks to the great local resources available to entrepreneurs here in Portland.

With 4 years experience of running and growing two small businesses, she has first-hand experience with 20/20 hindsight, dreaming big, avoidable mistakes, and lucky breaks. Rachel aims to break down 5 key stumbling block questions into tangible steps that new or blocked crafty-preneurs can take to be proactive and positive in their own business development.

What You Get

Each workshop lasts two and a half hours, with a 30 minute break in the middle for eating and mingling. Coffee and a light lunch will be provided.

Our decision to charge a small fee for workshops was not taken lightly. Faced with a disappointing reservation to attendance ratio last year and increased budget demands, we feel that charging $10 is a nominal fee that encourages a higher level of commitment to learning and to the workshop instructors and will help ease the strain on our modest budget. We still feel very strongly that our programs should be accessible to everyone and are working hard to ensure that barriers to entry are minimal.

About our Professional Development Workshops

Some of the hardest things for creative people to develop are the business skills needed to market and sell their creations successfully. Our Saturday morning workshops cover a wide range of topics to benefit creative minds, with local experts as instructors and virtually no barrier to entry. Learn how to photograph your work, find out the best uses for social media, adopt basic financial practices and much more. With intimate learning environments, heavy Q&A sessions and handouts, you can apply topics to your personal needs.