Making Contact – What I Learnt Professional Practice LAUIL602 Alex Patrick
What Did I Learn From Contacting and Interviewing Fellow Makers? Despite being nervous to contact fellow makers and illustrators, I actually really enjoyed doing so. Everyone I spoke to was more than willing to help and gave me some wonderful answers and advice. I think my favourite part of advice was that you have to love your work to make it work and sell. Two of the makers I spoke to more or less said this same thing and I think it’s going to be very important to me. I struggle to see the good in my work most of the time and nearly always end up hating the tings I make, so I am going to keep this advice in mind and try my hardest to love my work and share that fact with others. Another thing I learnt was that it is good to participate in Instagram hashtags and challenges to help your work reach a wider audience. I had never really thought about doing this before but I think it is true that this will gain you more exposure as I gained almost 200 followers by taking part in a small giveaway loop. I also liked what @worksbeautifully said when she told me she works full time so it’s not a necessity that her shop takes off immediately, and she enjoys working hard on both a full time job and her Etsy shop. I found this very encouraging as this is what I want to do post university and it makes me feel better that I know someone out there who is doing the same thing, and I know I could always ask her for help and support. Overall it has been a very rewarding experience talking to people as I feel like I have made a few new friends as well as a little support network. Even though only 5 of the people I contacted replied, I feel I got enough advice and feedback to help me at this stage.