This week Zibbet is pleased to introduce you to Duane and Susan Reynolds who reside in Patrick Springs, Virginia. Duane’s Workshop is a family affair. This homeschool family works together at home to make fine wood products for you.Here in the Zibbet family, we love to hear about husbands and wives, parents with children or siblings working together while sharing and passing on the creative genes. The Reynolds are a great example!Please enjoy the interview, leave Duane and Susan a comment, and then use the Share Tools so others can read it, too. Please spread the Zibbet Love!
Duane and I are high school sweethearts and have been married for 19 years this Summer. We have 3 boys and have always enjoyed crafting together as a family. There are constant craft projects going on at our house. We have attended crafts shows and sold goods at different venues early on in our marriage. We dreamed one day of being able to craft and make handmade goods full time. Zibbet is one such site that can make that happen. With zibbet we are able to reach the world. We are a homeschool family and so we are highly involved in our childrens’ activities and education. But to be honest crafting and art is our family’s activities, so really basically we are always creating either for our shops or for ourselves.
Even on my girls night out I spend my time scrapbooking and creating paper projects with friends.Our love for working with our hands and creating one of a kind items. We began creating with wood around 15 years ago and love creating and dreaming up new projects. There is just something special about seeing your handmade pieces in use. Duane and I have worked together along with our older son to create many pieces of furniture in our home. We prefer handmade over store bought so anytime we have a need we try to figure out how to make the item versus going to a retail store and purchasing.
We look up to other entrepreneurs and crafters that have followed their dreams and created themselves a lifestyle and career through their craft. We recently visited a local business that was created just from one person following their dreams and ambitions. They were able to grow a business while still maintaining a tight close knit family. Their business is over 35 years old and is still run by the family. The children and spouses all work together to make the business successful. We dream of one day being as they are, creating a successful business and working alongside our children.We also enjoy many other crafts. It may be silly to say, but we are always crafting something with the kids or for our own personal use. Currently we spend lots of time creating personalized hand stamped jewelry which may soon be available on Zibbet.
With zibbet we are able to become visible to millions of web viewers around the world. The craft shows of the past while still a great craft tool cannot compare to the audience online. Zibbet still puts the emphasis on the craft and handmade versus other mega sites which seem to be more about retail. Zibbet also is more personable and are easy to reach those in charge. With Zibbet you feel as though you are part of a family rather than just being a number in the masses.I would like to be able to print shipping labels directly from the zibbet site versus paypal. I would also like for the customer to be able to select the options offered from a menu. This would make sure that the options desired would delivered.
We use several social media sites to promote our goods, Facebook, Twitter, and Pinterest being the most common. All of these sites allow a direct link back to our shop.Keep fresh items for sale never stop coming up with new ideas. Keep your ear on the voice of the customer, they will let you how you are doing and where you need to improve. Always send the best quality items. People are buying handcrafted goods and expect a high quality product.In the future I want to be supported by our craft. I would love nothing more than to be able to work every day with our products, materials, and customers. I want to be filling orders, creating new goods, and developing relationships. I want to be teaching our craft to our children, developing their inner crafter to express the artist in them.Tags: Duanes Workshop, Featured Zibbeters
