Tutorial-time! Growing an audience based on my freelance jewelry design

[Gepi]

Hey ladies and gents,
I have just a short announcement and update:
Soon my next class, a deeper dive into Blender, will see the light of day.
This one takes so much work, dubbing, filming, editing...everything. It definitely is a struggle sometimes.
The class will be for anyone who wants to really get started in the world of 3D (and designing for 3D printing),
with an open source tool that gets massively developed by people from all over the world,
runs super stable and quickly, and costs you nothing to get started except the time to download and learn it.

The class will be open on Skillshare again, but I also plan on selling it directly for a cheaper price than signing up on Skillshare after the initial 2-weeks-trial.
Also, a few parts of it (like sculpting a diamond from scratch) will be going for free on Youtube.

So glad to continue. Hard work, but it will pay of.
See you later!

If you want to check out the first class, 3D designing for 3D printing for absolute beginners, please do it here.

 

[MadlenZiege]

>>> Feedback needed <<<

Good day Fastlaners,
hope you all are doing well.

Do you like tutorials, educational videos, how-to's?
Then maybe you want to take a look at my first tutorial!
Even if the topic may or may not be interesting for you (it is
about creating 3D-printable jewelry in Blender, an open-source program for all things 3D)
I would be very thankful if some of you would kindly give me feedback on the overall impression, and how to improve!
"How to Create your own Calligraphy ring, fully 3D-printable"

Why am I doing this?
Because of the Corona-craziness, my freelance business plummeted in the past weeks. Mainly, because I have many small stores
and jewelers as customers and they, in turn, did not have many customers, as well.
Well, so I thought, how to grow my design hustle, anyway? And maybe reach a wider (and slightly different) audience in the process?
Since I always liked to give back and share my knowledge with others, and people often tell me that I can explain stuff reasonably well, I decided to go
a new route and made the video above.

The resulting ring is also already printed, cast in Sterling Silver and is being finished with a golden coating right now. It will be shown on my Instagram, as well.
You can see the raw version there right now, too, in the second post.

What do you think about this approach? It will not directly make money - but it provides value,
gives people education (if they want to learn this program), and shows my skills to potential customers, as well.

Edit: my plan for the future for this: more work-in-progress/time-lapse videos, and maybe even more beginner friendly projects to follow along. I started with zero subs, now I have 4 after a months ^^ so my first goal is to get to 40 subs in around two to three months. The next video is in the works (a time-lapse of modeling this ring )
View attachment 33013


I look forward to hearing your thoughts! Please be merciless - I need to improve if I really want to get this anywhere
Best regards
Gesa

Hi Gesa,

I am from Germany as well and it is nice to meet other creative people from Germany who want to hit the Fastlane. I love your idea with the jewellery and also that you provide videos on skillshare. How are you doing now?

Greetings, Madlen

www.madlenziege.com

 

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[Gepi]

Hi Gesa,

I am from Germany as well and it is nice to meet other creative people from Germany who want to hit the Fastlane. I love your idea with the jewellery and also that you provide videos on skillshare. How are you doing now?

Greetings, Madlen

www.madlenziege.com

Good day to you, Madlen!
Just the other day I checked out your website. Very impressive ^^ I felt very good to see someone so talented in my threat
I am doing fine, thank you! A lot of work on the new class. Ideally I would like to have it published until the 15th, but I am not sure if I can make it. It is kind of tight right now. So it is right back to work now for me

If you want, we can stay in contact and share our experiences as ladypreneurs in Germany (I don't think there is a German word that fits this description!)

Wünsche dir einen schönen Tag,
Gesa

 

[Gepi]

GIVE AWAY TIME! 1 Free YEAR OF SKILLSHARE
If you are interested in learning 3D design, and maybe you also want to be able to design your own 3D-printable objects - now's the time.

1. Sign up at Skillshare, online learning portal for all kinds of high value skills, Social Media, Entrepreneurship, Design, Art etc. You can participate in the German or English version of the class.
2. Take the class, create a project and upload it there.
3. End of October - I will give away 1 full year of Skillshare to two projects, one from the English and one from the German version!

 

[Gepi]

Update update!
I have created a compilation of all the cool stuff my students created over roughly the last 2.5 years through my courses.
Watch it here: Gesa Pickbrenner (@phialo_design) • Instagram photos and videos

And: I have now started selling my courses as a standalone without any membership!
I started with my fastest-growing course so far, "Learn Blender - 3D Design for Absolute Beginners".

I am running a
HAPPY NEW YEAR SPECIAL
where the first 23 people buying the course will get a massive discount, you can get the course for 23 USD. Also, there will be a slightly less discounted version until the end of January.
Feel free to check it out!

Btw, my Shapeways Promo code for 15% off your first 3D print: UG96S4


Here is the intro lesson:

Here is my most popular Youtube video so far (22k views at time of writing):

 

[Gepi]

Hi Gepi

Time Flies' and all that.

If you look at my post where I suggest you make 'follow me' videos of you making jewellery as opposed to how to use Blender in itself, and look at your Youtube channel, you will see that the videos with the highest views by some magnitude are the 3 that have you making a Wire Signet Ring, a Simple Signet Ring and a Calligraphy Ring.

They also have the most comments too.

The other 8 are all sub 1000 views.

8 videos with approx 6000 views Versus 3 videos of you making things with approx 40000 views.

The ring in your profile picture? It looks like medieval. Something King John would have on his fingers when signing Magna Carta.

Did you make this or is it just a picture? I am pretty sure that if you videoed yourself making it you would get views up in the thousands again and you should keep going and building an audience. 'What's Gepi made next?' is what you want them looking forward to.

Dan

Hi Stargazer. Yep, time flies. And I absolutely agree with you, it would be much better if I'd be shown myself creating stuff directly, as well. I have this tip in mind and I am in it for the long run, so let's see what is possible now and will become possible in the future.
Thanks so much for your valuable advice!