Tuesday July 8 , 2014
Amy Solovay: Boat Woman/Entrepreneur ~ Part 1, The Business
Amy Solovay: Boat Woman/Entrepreneur ~ Part 1, The Business
I met Amy when she joined my fan
group, Cro-Kween Designs on
Ravelry. She was humble, enthusiastic and a delight to have as a group Courtesan.
Being familiar with the amount of crochet content she was responsible for
providing on Crochet.About.com, I was amazed to find that she lives on a boat!
As the Crochet Guide/Expert, her primary responsibilities included writing content and maintaining the
site, integrating the content into the site's structure, maintaining the
crochet blog, and maintaining a forum. Amy recalls, “There was also a period of
time when I was overseeing the work of other writers for the crochet site in
addition to my primary responsibilities.”Readers can still see much of the work
Amy published by going to the site.
Very impressed by her crochet
knowledge and all she has to offer to crocheters, I wanted to get to know Amy
better and learn about the secrets to her success during this time of
transition and renewal for her and her husband, Mike. I hope you will enjoy
getting to know her too!
Amy Solovay |
Amy grew up on the east
coast of the U.S. and during her childhood neither she nor her family were into
sailing. In fact, her first boating experience friend’s family boat was a
disaster because it overturned in the Potomac River! Amy was terrified until
she realized they were in shallow water! Amy believes everything happens for a
reason.
How did you learn to be a boat person?
“I learned to be a sailor by buying a
sailboat with my husband, moving aboard it and taking off,” she explains! “He
already had some sailing experience, but not I. This method is not for the
feint-of-heart and I wouldn’t recommend it to anyone else; but it has worked
out well for us!
Later, sailing down the Potomac as we
began a trip across the Atlantic Ocean, the memory of that shallow water years
ago haunted me. I was compelled to keep a vigilant eye on our charts as we
navigated.”
Amy is a full-time, live-aboard cruising sailor and has been at it since
the Spring of 2010.
How do you manage to run a business like yours on
the water?
“In some ways it isn't as challenging
as you might think.” She explains. “I make a habit of scheduling work up to a
month ahead of time with plenty of newsletters, patterns, tutorials and blog
posts ready to post at any given time. This way, I don't have to panic when the
local Internet tower goes down for a few days, or a storm pops up and we have
to drop everything and move to a safer location. We use the
sun and wind to make energy for powering our computers, but truthfully, most of
our plugging-in is done from marinas, where we usually have power accessible. So far, I haven't yet visited a
marina that has 100% reliable Internet access; some don't have any. My ability
to schedule work ahead of time is key and has really been important to me.
There are exceptions, but in my
experience I’ve found crochet to be mostly a seasonal pastime that is done by
the majority of ‘casual crocheters’ in fall and winter. I define casual as people who enjoy the pastime
as only one thing they do in otherwise busy and fulfilling lives. Diehard crocheters, like me, aren't going to
let little things like heat and humidity keep us from our crochet, but we're
not the majority.
With so many crocheters being
interested in projects like scarves, fingerless gloves, hats, blankets and it's natural that
people would gravitate towards this as a fall and winter pastime. Of course,
these seasons being what they are offer plenty of motivation for getting out
their hooks and yarn.
Sailing is also a seasonal pastime with typically best
results in the summer. We sail the most in the summer and winter is a great
time for us to be tucked in a marina. There I can plug into the Internet and
post crochet patterns while the captain (hubby) is planning our next adventure
with his charts spread out on the chart table.”
How much time do you dedicate per day to your business?
“While working with About.com for 5
years, I learned to balance the huge amount of time that goes into maintaining
an online crochet community with my sailing lifestyle. “At first, I worked
10-15 hours daily for 6 days a week. Mike helped also with photography and
editing photos along with an occasional modeling job. In those days we were
cruising central and southern California, and we would take a ‘sail-break’
about every two weeks. I can’t say I relaxed completely all the time,
especially if I needed to meet deadlines and maintain my work schedule.
When we decided to launch an Atlantic
crossing in 2012 so we could sail the Mediterranean Sea, I focused on preparation.
I spent every waking minute preparing In order to create several months’ worth
of newsletters, patterns and blog entries scheduled for posting during the
planned offline times.
I wouldn't want to sustain that kind
of pace forever, but I am grateful that working hard for a few months, then
uplugging and taking the next few months off is an option for me. I don't take
it for granted. Since arriving in the Mediterranean, I've relaxed my work
schedule, although on average I still work more than full time. In this time of
transition for us, it is hard to say what the new normal will look like going
forward.”
For Amy, the challenge is getting the
design from her brain to an acceptable format that other people can follow and duplicate
for themselves. “The hard part lies in the pattern writing, editing and
testing,” she explains. “Those are the spots where my work enters the ‘bottleneck.’
I must take care to not get
sidetracked and end up with 3 or 4 partial projects and nothing finished for my
newsletter. On average, I estimate that I spend from 4-24 hours of work after
conceiving a design to bring it to completion: test, photograph, edit photos, integrating
the project into one of my websites, blogging and spreading the word via my
newsletter and social media. It is hard to break down the exact amount of time
required, though, because there isn’t an ‘off button’ that I can use to quiet
the designer part of my brain. While I’m working on one project, my imagination
is often wandering off to the next project. This business requires a lot of
discipline!”
You have a lot of experience writing about crochet. Where else can we find you?
Prior to working for About.com, Amy had been writing about crochet at antique-crochet.com a
site that is currently offline undergoing renovation, but should be available
again shortly. She says, “The antique crochet site
reaches a small but dedicated audience of experienced crocheters (many who are
even more experienced than I am.) Getting involved with About.com seemed like a
great way to write for a wider audience, and to share my knowledge with an
enormous group of crochet enthusiasts -- many of them new crocheters or
returning to the craft after a long period of inactivity. I also write for freecrafts.info and others.
Currently Amy is very excited to be focusing her efforts with her husband
on making knittingandcrochet.net a comprehensive resource that covers both the topics of crochet and knitting, as well as other topics
of interest to crocheters and knitters.
What is your vision for this site?
“Our plan is to work with other
writers and designers who will share their expertise, talents and insights,
giving our readers exposure to a variety of different perspectives, ideas and
inspiration. We're scrambling to launch everything more quickly than we had
originally planned and we’ll have its official grand opening on September 1,
2014.
It is shaping up well; the blog is active and we have posted some patterns. Be sure to stay current and receive our updates, please sign up for our newsletter.
What do we have to look forward to as far as your expanded website goes?
Our site will be filled with a mix of
free resources plus some premium resources that will be worth paying for. We
will offer a better experience, specifically targeted to our audience of
needlework enthusiasts.
Mike and I also formerly worked in
the Hollywood film industry, and with our combined experience I am confident
that we can deliver outstanding videos to our visitors. I do envision that
advertising will be part of the mix on our website as we create an environment
that will be win-win for us, the designers, our visitors, and the advertisers.
I look forward to getting to know our
visitors so well that I have a clear understanding of what sort of ads they
find useful and valuable. In turn, I will seek out and work with the
advertisers who provide the products our readers want to know about. I would
also love to work with designers who are at the cutting edge of using these
products and implementing them into their own design work, thus giving readers
the inspiration they crave.
In the early stages, I want to
implement a barter system, where, for example, we might trade blog posts or ad
space with carefully-vetted needlework pattern designers, book authors,
spinners, dyers, and/or other craft sites -- in hopes of mutual
cross-promotion. I invite any like-minded professionals to contact me.
What is your involvement with the Crochet Guild of America
(CGOA) and has it influenced your work?
“Being outside the USA, I am not
well-situated for taking best advantage of the benefits that group membership
offers. However, as a non-member, I can say with certainty that the CGOA is an
amazing group. I have boundless admiration for the group as a whole, and for
everything the organization has accomplished. CGOA has definitely furthered
goals that I currently hold nearest and dearest and that I share with the guild:
educating people about crochet and its many benefits.
The CGOA has also provided me with
inspiration and some interesting blog post material, particularly during the
design competitions. I've also enjoyed reading, reviewing and sharing books
written by CGOA group members, who are a talented and inspiring bunch. I've
often linked to CGOA resources and recommended the group to my readers. The
group has indirectly contributed to my writing career -- by being newsworthy,
being worth writing about, and by providing helpful materials that I think
crocheters should know about!
I like to think that I've also given
some value back to the group as well, by raising to my readers had never heard
of the CGOA before I pointed them in the direction of the group.
I'd say the Guild has furthered my
design career largely because members are often at the forefront of providing innovative
crochet and needlework that inspires me through a variety of noteworthy materials
such as blogs, videos and books. I look forward to continuing to promote these
valuable resources.”
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