About Lisa

I started my creative business, selling handmade jewelry, back in 2006. Since 2007, I've used this site to chronicle everything I learn along the way.

It's been a tremendous adventure full of both thrills and disappointments. I've learned more, worked harder, and experienced more life and business changes than I could have ever imagined back when I set up my first jewelry display.

All of that growth has informed everything I write about here.

Over the years, my life and business goals have changed, and I don't sell handmade jewelry anymore. My work has evolved along with the amazing opportunities for building a creative business that have come into existence over the past 10 years. It's an exciting time to be a creative business owner, full of new and intriguing possibilities.  

Through that change, though, my fundamental goal for this site - to share everything I'm learning with other creative business owners - has stayed the same.

Along the way I've shared my experience:

• Selling crafts in a variety of venues including: craft shows, home parties, online, and through consignment arrangements
• Teaching crafts
• Building an online business
• Learning how to manage time and accomplish goals while balancing the demands of raising a young family

I've also immersed myself in lessons from other creative business owners to share ideas about:

• Creating an effective craft show booth
• Participating in studio tours
• Attracting customers through local tourism

When I first launched CraftProfessional.com, I had been working as a career advisor for several years. At the time, working on developing this site felt like a big departure from my previous career.

In hindsight, building Craft Professional was a perfectly natural next step that fit with my past experience.

My career has involved teaching, advocating for the arts, and helping clients choose and build upon their career goals, which, ultimately, is everything I aim to do here at Craft Professional. 

My previous work and educational background is in arts education and career advising. I have a Music Degree, and a Bachelor of Education Degree from Queen's University. I studied career advising in the Career and Work Counselor program at Sir Sandford Fleming College.

I taught both arts education and adult education at privately owned schools early in my career, and then I worked as a career advisor, helping clients reach their own career and business goals. I remain active in career advising with my other site, CareerChoiceGuide.com.

With a background in arts education and career advising, it was quite natural that, while I was learning to build my own creative business, I would also share what I learned to help other enterprising creative business owners find their own paths to success.

I had no idea where this journey would take me when I first stepped inside a craft booth. It was a leap of faith I took out of a need to get more creativity in my life. I'm happy to be on this path, and I'm immensely grateful for all of my smart, big-hearted, creative readers who share in the adventure.