Last week I picked up an application from Michael's. I had also applied online but since they had a Now Hiring sign in their window I figured I'd give it a try. This morning Lindsay helped me print out some stuff that I could include as a mini portfolio. This afternoon I took it to Michael's. I saw one of the sales gals talking to a woman about classes. After she was finished I asked her if I could leave my application with her. She looked it over and was very impressed with the photos. She took me into the back room for an interview! Turns out she's the coordinator for the workshops. She wants to fast track my application through and hire me as an instructor! Ka-boinnnggg!!!
She had me take this weird-ass management test with questions like "I used to steal from my former employers but I don't anymore. Agree? Disagree?" I also had to sign a form giving them permission to dig into my sordid past. That stuff will take a week to process. Also, she's going on vacation next week so she'll call me when she gets back.
So, here's the deal as I understand it. I have to develop my own workshops. I get to keep 90% of what I charge. I have to promote my workshops and pull the students in myself. That means sometimes I have to sit in the store and demo what I'm going to teach. I'd also be a Michael's associate and work the floor helping customers and stocking shelves. When I'm doing that I get paid $8 an hour.
So... I guess I have a job! I need to get to work putting some workshops together!!! EEK!!! I had already been working on developing some workshops for Rancho Curioso so I'm kinda already halfway there. I just need to streamline and refine and figure out how to present this stuff in a two-hour class. This week I'm going to dig into the Halloween stuff and get out some of my old projects. I'm going to go through ALL of my stuff and see what can easily be turned into a workshop. I'm also going to attend some of the Michael's workshops to see how other instructors present their classes. I've got to pull this together FAST!
I'm kind of stunned.
11 comments:
Donita!!! This sounds great! Hope it all works out well for you :)
Looks like Kyle & animals will be moving out soon- thank you so much for having them.
Hopefully, soon Lindsay & Kyle will be raking in the big $$$'s and you (and us) won't have to worry about $ any more!
OMIGOD! The first place you walk into they hire you as an INSTRUCTOR?? That's FABulous!
Well, it sounds fabulous at first. I think you might find you're really renting a room from them for workshops you entirely put together, but it's a start! Your resume is no longer empty. And what an ego boost!
Where did you store all those styrofoam heads??
putnaehp--you put them in a heap?
--dean
Anne- I'm going to miss having Kyle here. He's our special dude. I've felt for a long time that he's just at the edge of making it big. It looks like that might just happen. And that will be AWESOME!!!!!
Dean- I don't have to rent the room. All they care about is getting people in there to buy supplies. I'll bet if I don't deliver they'll can me. So, ok. And yeah, it's a huge ego boost!
I still have the styrofoam heads. They're down in the sales shed. I'm going to get them out tomorrow. I'm also going to go through the Halloween stuff in the trailer.
Tonight after my Rube walk I went to Killarney's for dinner. I sat there and made page after page of notes. I came up with a LOT of ideas for workshops. My first one is going to be a paper twist skeleton. This is something I did with Paige's 3rd grade class. It's super easy and can be done in one hour.
I crunched the numbers a little. This gig isn't going to earn me much money. I'm going to some some workshops just to get comfortable with it and then see what I can do to maximize it. I want to get it to the point where I'm teaching other instructors. I want to develop workshops on the use of different materials. If I can do that then maybe I can get corporate interested in what I do. I've already indicated on my application that I'm willing to travel.
Here are some of my ideas;
Workshops on different materials- What is the best kind of glue to use for different applications?
Working with Foam Core
Resin
Pre-cut wooden shapes
Rigid Wrap
Origami paper
Red Hat Society
Lamp kits and lampshades
Pinatas
Clocks
A series of workshops called What Can Be Done With...
Old CD's
Old LP's
A string of fairy lights
(more to come on that one)
Holiday stuff, of course.
Making gifts for teachers (not the same old crap)
Mother's/Father's Day
Mosaics (new and unusual ideas)
Home made gift wrap
Children's crafts (something new)
Modifying thrift store finds
Wind chimes (glass, keys, silverware, etc.)
Mirror frames
Fish tank diorama
New ideas for Dollar Store items
I'll provide instruction sheets for every project. I'll give people my Hotmail address so I can be available to answer questions after the workshop is over. I want to be THE person people want to take classes from. I'll ask about going to different stores in the area.
I'm going to go through all my old photos for more ideas. Yep, I'm kind of on fire right now. Feels good.
That's what I mean. Their cut is 10%--room rental. Or 10% for the use of their brand name and access to their customers. Or 5% of one and 5% of the other. Or 6/4. Or 3.33333/6.777777. You're going to be doing a ton of work. Do they pay for any supplies?
I mean, it's absolutely a foot in the door and if the class organizer is impressed with you, then you have a friend in management. PLUS, you didn't pound any pavement. That's worth loads.
Yes, that's worth LOADS.
The customers will buy their own supplies. When I'm doing the demos they'll pay for supplies. I think it is a pretty good deal. And yes, I will be doing a ton of work. There will be a lot of prep involved.
Whatever happens with this I'll learn a lot and it'll be part of my new employment history. I don't think I'll fail. From what I can see the biggest downside is how much I'll be able to make. I don't see this as a job that will really support me. I'll have to supplement with some of the retirement money. I'll try to keep that to a minimum. I'll either turn this into something that will support me or I'll find a different job. Once Paige is on her own I can relocate if that's the best thing to do.
It's nice to be able to focus on creating what this will be instead of constantly worrying about my future. That's been a HUGE load on my mind.
Yay, congratulations! I think the easier the project the less you can charge so get progressively more expensive as the degree of difficulty goes up.
How exciting, how fun, getting paid to craft! I'll take a class!
Dang, look at this error msg I got when I tried to post late last night: Your request could not be processed. Please try again. Sheesh, so I am trying again.
I think that's the way I'm going to do it. Start with something cheap and easy (remind you of anyone?) and work up from there. That's why I'm starting with the paper twist skeleton.
I went out for Thai food tonight. While I was waiting for my dinner I did some more brainstorming and took more notes. This is cool. Ideas are flowing! I need to find a way to adapt some of this stuff so people will buy more of the supplies from Michael's. Afterall, that's the whole point of having classes there.
I want to do a Haunt Your House workshop. That might involve an entire afternoon, like 4 hours. I think I could make it work. I could do a whole hour on animating things with fishing line.
Years ago I posted a shitload of info on the Arts and Crafts message board on Classmates. I need to go back there and print that stuff out.
Ok, I just copied the Classmates stuff and sent it to myself. Now I have all my Halloween instructions. That was a good thing to do because it refreshed my memory on this stuff.
I think I'll start a new blog just for the Michael's classes. That way it'll be a public forum that anyone can go to. People can write me there and get their questions answered. Much better than having them write to me at Hotmail.
By the way, when I opened my fortune cookie after dinner it was the same fortune I found in Jim's wallet when I cleaned it out after he died.
YOU NEED NOT WORRY ABOUT YOUR FUTURE
I laughed out loud.
Hi Doni,
Congratulations!I'm really happy for you! Naturally, you should be sharing your creative skills - what else could be more perfect?? As long as Michael's treats you right; and they'd better. I'm really happy to see you jazzed about this and bubbling with ideas. I'd take one of your classes! You're gonna do great!
Nancy
Well, Nancy, if things go the way I hope they do I'll be able to teach at the Michael's in Santa Rosa. I'm going to ask about that. I mean, why not? It seems like the whole thing is pretty loosely structured. I can contact them and send them a sample of what I'm planning to teach and get the class put on the schedule.
Yesterday I spent a lot of time in the store going up and down all the aisles. I took notes and made sure all the supplies I need for the first project are things that they carry. No problem there. I also got ideas for other workshops. And I bought some stuff.
When I was at the checkout I was kind of appalled at the lousy customer service. I'm kind of a stickler for that. The people ahead of me didn't speak much english and the transaction didn't go completle smoothly. So, ok, no big deal. After they left the cashier rolled her eyes and started muttering under her breath. She started on my transaction without greeting me and she even tried to suck me into her disgruntlement. I didn't respond.
I've had bad service there before. Once I've been there for a while I'm going to talk to the store manager about doing some employee training.
Post a Comment