Opportunity Wework Creator Awards is Giving Grants for Big Ideas

Don't miss this Opportunity! The WeWork Creator Awards is giving over $20+ million in grants both locally and Nationally! The deadline is this Monday June 12th 11:59 ET. Here are the top reasons you must enter.  Makers, artists, small businesses and non-profits are eligible.  The application is super easy and takes less than 10 minutes. There are multiple grants being awarded. It's idea based. The bigger and better the idea the more likely you are to win.  The awards are selected in Austin June 27th - just a few weeks away and so close to home! APPLY HERE

Pop Shop Houston June 10th & 11th 2017

June 10th 10am – 8pm
June 11th 11am – 5pm
at Silver Street Studios
2000 Edwards Houston 77007

$8 Admission All Weekend! Kids 12+Under Free.
Sunday Free After 3pm.

With generous support from: The Washington Avenue Arts District, Double Trouble Caffeine & Elixirs, Copydotcom, and Kickin Kombucha.

First 25 each day get a Free Pop Shop America canvas tote with handmade goodies! Second 25 each day get a regular goodie bag!

Artfully curated shopping of Modern Handmade Goods. Visual Art Exhibitions. Small Bite Tastings, Loads of Vintage, Handmade, One of a Kind, Antiques & Unique Shopping. Live Music and Cool Cocktails.

Featuring Cocktails by Double Trouble Caffeine & Elixirs with live musical performances and more.

Small Bite Tasting Lounge Features coming soon!

We think that everything in life should be meaningful and made with care. At Pop Shop you’ll find an artfully curated festival of handmade and vintage shopping, art exhibitions, craft workshops, and fun times that showcase handmade & vintage fashion, art, and indie products. Our goal is to create a super fun setting in which artists can earn a living and shoppers can find products that they’ll love for a lifetime. 

How to Start a Subscription Box Business with Cratejoy

Subscription Boxes are hot right now!  There are so many cool boxes like Birchbox, Barkbox, A Beautiful Mess’ Happy Mail or Dollar Shave Club. It’s so fun to get mail every month. The surprise of Subscription Box unveilings is exciting! And with many boxes you can get goods for significantly less than normal price.

It’s also the perfect way to try new things. Like tea? Get a Tea subscription and try puerh teas, white teas, and holy basil teas. Like beauty products? Well you have all the choices in the world. There’s so many more than Birchbox or Ipsy. There are dozens to choose from that cater to men, all natural chem free consumers, and boxes that specialize in African-American hair care products. It’s amazing.

We were inspired to start our first subscription box, The Earring of the Month Club, because we love the magic of subscription boxes so much. And as a business, the subscription box model is really interesting. If we always surprise and delight our shoppers, we have the potential to have a customer for life!

We’ve had such a great experience and want the encourage all the handmade makers we work with to consider how they could make their creations into a subscription box. Do you make prints? How about a Pretty Print Box full of cool cards, small prints and special items just for fun? Do you make candles? How about a Candle Collectors Crate with new scents and cool vessels in each order. So cool! The possibilities are endless and they can change and grow over time.

If you are ready to get started with a subscription box now, check out Cratejoy which is like the Etsy of Subscription Boxes. Cratejoy is a platform where you can set up a website for your subscription box with a super easy drag and drop software. It’s simple to use and makes really beautiful and professional designs. You do not have to be an expert web designer or have experience with coding to set up a Cratejoy.

Read the Rest of this blog at PopShopAmerica.com

Free Event Tuesday Jan. 12th 2016 - SEO for Etsy Sellers

****** A free event exclusively for Etsy sellers ******

Tuesday Jan. 12th 7-8:30 pm
at The Art Space at TX/RX Labs Hackerspace
205 Roberts St. Houston 77003

Link to Google Maps!

Let’s meet & discuss how to grow your Etsy shop in 2016. We’ll talk about:
- 6 SEO pointers that get you sales
- the step-by-step process of buying from buyer’s perspective
- how to implement 1 & 2 together to increase relevant organic traffic (hands-on workshop) 

Natwar the founder of https://around.io/ is coming to Houston as part of his Etsy Seller Meetup Road Trip (across 14 cities in US, ~4500 miles).

At this (free) event, he will be meeting a lot of Etsy sellers to discussing how you can grow your shop in 2016.

With all the recent changes in search algorithms, there are a handful of SEO pointers that are super-relevant to your shop. We will talk about 6 of those that can increase organic traffic to your shop.
For example, long tail keywords are still super-important, and we will discuss how to find the most relevant long tail keywords for your listings.

We will dig deep into the step-by-step process of buying and then connect each step to an action to optimize your shop.

Think of this event as a launchpad to optimize your shop for maximum sales.

About Natwar:
Founder of Around.io, a social media marketing tool for Etsy sellers.

Cities visiting:
Washington DC
Huntington WV
Atlanta GA
New Orleans LA
Houston TX
Austin TX
Dallas TX
Albuquerque NM
Las Vegas NV
Los Angeles CA
San Francisco CA
Sacramento CA
Portland OR
Seattle WA

The Etsy Team and Around.io hope to see you in one of these meetups :)

Join Etsy Houston at the Annual Holiday Bash December 11th

Join Etsy Houston at our new annual holiday bash!

December 11th 7pm - 9pm at
TX/RX Labs Hackerspace
in the Art Building
203 Roberts Houston, 77003

Bring your handmade goods to trade & swap with other makers for other handmade goods. It the friendliest way to finish your holiday shopping without spending a dime.

Each maker determines the value of their items. Makers can say yes or no to deals that are presented to them! You can also bring giveaway and goodie items that you want to give away for free!

Bring a drink, dish, or just bring yourself and mix and mingle with other makers, hear about their handmade goods and how they're created. You can also tour TX/RX Labs Hackerspace - which is full of cool equipment to help you realize your creative destiny.

You do not have to bring handmade goods to swap if you just want to come, mix, and mingle!

Got questions? Please reach out to our Sponsor/Host Pop Shop AmericaOr RSVP on Facebook Here.