“The fine line between speaking and being heard is storytelling.” – Greg Power

Editor’s note: In this guest post, CEO and co-founder Cassandra Glessner of San Francisco based nonprift SF Commonality gives some marketing advice that we at Ponoko truly believe in: sell your story and the orders will follow.

Forget marketing. That’s right, I said it; forget branding, synergy, and any other buzzword that make people’s eyes glaze over and brains recoil in horror. The most important thing that any small business start-up should recognize instead is that what you are really selling when you sell anything is a good story.

If people buy your delicious tomatoes or your jewelry or your solar panels, your whats-its, or your widgets; they are buying it because they are sold on the story of it. They compare, in an instant firing of emotional synapses, the story of that product with other stories of the other products out there, and purchase yours because they found yours more personally compelling. Your photographs, your presentation, you yourself — everything you put out there about your product is part of that story.

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Posted in Interviews, Thoughts + Opinions, Selling + Business Tips by Kristen Turner | Comments are off for this post

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You make stuff. Stitch makes selling your stuff easier.

People don’t just make cool lookin’ stuff with Ponoko — they start their own maker businesses! (You can check out their stories in our new blog series “Retail Ready“.)

So when we came across Stitch, a new subscription-based software for managing your small business, we thought “We should share this with our customers! And see if we can get it to them for FREE!”

Anyone can try Stitch free for 30 days, but thanks to Jake over at Stitch Labs, we’ve got a promo code that gives you a free 45 day trial. Plenty of time to give Stitch a try and see if it’s right for your maker business.

We’re putting the Stitch code in our next newsletter so keep an eye out! And if you aren’t subscribed to the Ponoko newsletter, just go to our homepage, scroll all the way down, and put your email in our newsletter subscription box.

Now let’s talk a little bit more about why you should check out Stitch.

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Posted in Maker Movement, Selling + Business Tips by Kristen Turner | Comments are off for this post

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California craft fairs this summer

Ponoko is proud to support lots of independent designers in their maker businesses. And if you’ve ever used Ponoko to make stuff, there’s a good chance someone out there would want to buy what you made.

A great place to find people who would love to purchase things you make is a craft fair. And the Renegade Craft Fair is one of the best.

They just opened vendor applications for 2 west coast fairs this summer:
• Renegade San Francisco July 21 & 22
• Renegade Los Angeles July 28 & 29

If you don’t live in the golden state, don’t despair. Renegade has craft fairs in Austin, Chicago, Brooklyn, and London!

Posted in Events, Kristen Turner, Selling + Business Tips by Kristen Turner | Comments are off for this post

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Retail Ready with Made On Jupiter

If you’re a small business owner, exhibiting at a trade show is something that can really boost your business. Not only will you meet lots of prospective clients and buyers, but those places are always packed with members of the press. I’ve been to a handful of ICFFs, Stationery Shows, NeoCons, and lots of art fairs — and let me tell you, your booth design makes all the difference.

When it comes to trade shows, your booth matters more than your product. So what does it take to create a booth everyone wants to visit? Well it isn’t easy, but it’s certainly attainable.

Just ask Made on Jupiter, the digital fabrication specialist branch of New Zealand based design collective Jupiter Jazz.

Their latest project was the Puffer, a cumulus-cloud looking trade show booth developed for Siggraph Asia. The time lapse video above shows the assembly of over 1000 uniquely shaped cones to create the booth.

Tom Kluyskens published a detailed account of how his team went from design idea to booth build in less than 5 weeks.

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Posted in Architecture, CNC Routing, Kristen Turner, Laser Cutting, Selling + Business Tips, Small Business Stories by Kristen Turner | Comments are off for this post

Make your own stuff using: Laser Cutting, CNC Routing

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Take the guesswork out of choosing colors.

Choosing the right colors for your newest project is tricky, especially if you are trying to appeal to potential customers. Some people seem to have a natural ability to combine colors effectively, but most people (including myself) struggle with this. Kuler to the rescue.

Kuler lets people create and vote on color themes, so you know which combinations are popular and which you should avoid. You can even download the themes directly to pretty much any Adobe program.

Posted in Selling + Business Tips, Taylor Gilbert, Tools + Apps by Taylor Gilbert | Comments are off for this post

Make your own stuff using: App Gateway

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Retail Ready with Melanie Gray Augustin

To some people, creativity is as natural as breathing or the love of freshly baked bread. Being a creative mind or a pathologically hands-on designer is one [wonderful] thing.  However, creativity doesn’t always translate successfully to business savvy. Creativity often covets freedom and experimentation, but business demands discipline and focus.  Fortunately, there are still plenty of creative entrepreneurs to inspire those with a design vision to start their own business.

In the New Year we are starting a new feature that will focus on all things small business. Don’t worry; there will be none of that tedious business school textbook material.  As part of the small biz feature, we will bring you regular interviews with Ponoko Makers who rely on Personal Factory to create their line of products, be it household objects, jewelry, electronics enclosures or other made on demand goods.

As an extra dose of pre-holiday inspiration, we’re giving you a sneak peak at the interview series!

Meet Australian jewelry designer Melanie Gray Augustin.   Her label Kimono Reincarnate perfectly expresses her design style: modern handmade jewelry that features upcycled materials – inspired by traditional Japanese textiles and design.Read the full interview after the jump:

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Posted in Fashion + Textiles, Jewellery, Laser Cutting, Selling + Business Tips, Small Business Stories, Yana Skaler by yana | Comments are off for this post

Make your own stuff using: Laser Cutting

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Let’s get together and talk shop

If you’ve been hanging around at Ponoko for long, then there is a fairly good chance you’ve already come across Jon Cantin.

Not only is he the man behind the most prolific personal collection in the Ponoko showroom (280 products and counting), Jon also heads up WoodMarvels, 3dMarvels and has just launched his next venture: ShopMarvels.

The idea behind ShopMarvels is to form a hub where creative people from various related fields can get together to discuss ideas, businesses, services and more.

There are forums for traditional woodworkers, forums for gadget
makers etc… but not one bringing them all together under one roof.

Opening up the conversation in this way will hopefully bypass some of the hurdles and pitfalls of localised forums, and also gives rise to the potential for people to be exposed to ideas, resources, products and techniques that they may not have previously considered or even been aware of.

ShopMarvels is a directory.
ShopMarvels is a knowledge base.
ShopMarvels is access to designers, engineers, machinists and manufacturers.

The experts become accessible in this open environment – and who knows, maybe there is someone out there who could benefit from your expertise!
Add your business as a resource, if it fills a particular niche. Join the forum, introduce yourself and start engaging in the sharing of knowledge with others.

Read the story behind ShopMarvels.com

Posted in Digital Fabrication, Guy Blashki, Maker Movement, Mass Customization, Selling + Business Tips, Technology by Guy Blashki | Comments are off for this post

Make your own stuff using: 3D Printing, Laser Cutting, CNC Routing

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trade show structures

Science-fashion jewelry + houseware designers Nervous System recently exhibited their work at the New York International Gift Fair.

The NYIGF is a biannual trade show for housewares, home decor, and personal accessories, and is *the* trade show for picking up buyers ranging from boutiques to national chains.

Success at NYIGF isn’t just about having great product; it’s also about having an awesome booth.

In a recent blog post, Nervous System talks about how they created a booth space that both functioned as a showcase for all of their work and carried their distinct cellular aesthetic.

And guess what… They fabricated everything out of “hardboard, cable ties, velcro and paint.”

Jump over to the Nervous blog and pick up a tip or two on putting together your own awesome trade show booth.

Posted in Kristen Turner, Selling + Business Tips by Kristen Turner | Comments are off for this post

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The world is full of great ideas, and never before has it been easier to turn those ideas into real, physical products. The thrill of holding something in your hands which you created is something quite special.

Here at Ponoko we love helping everyday people make extraordinary things and we relish our part in the renewed ‘maker movement’ which has taken off over the past few years.

To help you become a part of it too, we have drawn up ten steps to creating a successful custom product. We hope they’ll help to inspire you to start making – and hope to hear about your experiences of doing so!

1. Create a clear design brief for your product

The best thing you can start with is a very clear design brief, or outline. The key questions here are “Why?”, “Who?” and “What?”.

Firstly, identify the problem your product will solve, and the constraints you want to work within. For instance, instead of deciding you want to make a set of shelves – start with the fact you need to organize your books, and the constraint is that it needs to fit between your desk and your bed. This will widen the scope of what you may create, and ensure that it’s meeting a clear need.

Clarifying who you’re making the product for will help you in a multitude of ways – from how you will make it in the beginning through to how you will promote it to others.
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Posted in Selling + Business Tips, Tutorials + Making Help, Various How-To by Ponoko Team | Comments are off for this post

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How color and other influences affect purchasing decisions.

Many people think of color as merely personal preference, so color becomes an afterthought when designing a product. Unfortunately, this approach ignores a powerful tool and can hurt the success of an otherwise great product. Different colors have been shown to influence people in surprisingly specific ways.

Check out the infographic below from KISSmetrics for guidance on using color effectively to reach your intended audience. It also has some useful information about other factors that can hurt sales.

For more great business advice, read the series of posts on  10 Rules for Maker Businesses.

Click on the image for a larger version.

Via Huffington Post

Posted in Maker Movement, Selling + Business Tips, Taylor Gilbert by Taylor Gilbert | Comments are off for this post

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