To celebrate National Small Business week our May New York City meetup was focused around a panel discussion on how tools like 3D Printing, e-commerce and a robust website and social media presence can empower maker entrepreneurs. 

The panel featured Shapeways shopowners and designers, including digital artist and sculptor Ryan Kittleson; artist and designer Sophie Kahn; and entrepreneur and 3D printing artist Melissa Ng. I had the honor of facilitating the talk and asking these three about how they have built their creative businesses.

We are excited to share this conversation with our community as a whole and are happy to share the discussion in full with you. 

For me, the key take aways from this discussion were:
  • Because you will be spending a lot of time with your business, spend time finding your voice as a designer and making work you are truly interested in 
  • Using Shapeways for 3D printing has enabled these designers to incoporate it into their work because they can access different printing processes for “Tens, not hundreds” of dollars
  • Use social media tools like Twitter, Facebook, and blogs to tell your story about who are as a designer
  • Make sure potential customers can find you online. Have a website, as well as a robust social media presence
  • Selling products on Shapeways is an great venue for selling multiples of a work and can help build a designer’s reputation and portfolio when they also offer one-of-a-kind and commission work
We look forward to hearing your thoughts about this discussion! If you are a Shapeways shopowner, maker, or entrepreneur we’d love to know about the tools and strategies you use for building your business. Thanks again to our panelists and to Wix.com for hosting us at the Wix Lounge!