Nori’s place is in the lush Daintree near Port Douglas. It’s secluded and the kind of place where the air is heavy and damp but clean and sweet. On her property, you would find peacocks, horse, geese, dogs, lizards, and a myriad of other native animals. Nori spends much of her time in her studio where she makes beautiful and practical ceramics which she sells through a high end boutique as well as taking them to the local market once per week.
One day, a friend asked if they could come around and use her studio. Thrilled to be a helpful friend, Nori immediately said yes. This was the first of many many requests that came through from friends. Even when it reduced her ability to make the pieces she would sell, Nori was having trouble saying no. Months later, after realising the impact on her time, spirit, and bottom line, Nori needed another alternative.
She didn’t want to say no to her friends (who probably had no idea how much it cost Nori) but she also wanted to make sure that she was valuing her studio and her time. She came up with the idea of doing a workshop: this way she could let anyone use the studio, and if friends came calling the answer would be “I’d love to! I run workshops on Thursdays – I’ll send you the link!” After doing a whole bunch of planning, she did a test run with Kate, one of her friends who works at the boutique. She put the workshop up on Wiserr: Go off the beaten track in the Daintree and create a handmade souvenir of your time at the instruction of a local expert.
It took time. Creating a profile was a journey in itself. Then there was promoting it: the boutique put flyers into bags, the Cairns Post did an article. Before she knew it, the first booking came in. Nori was overwhelmed. She approached the workshop with a bundle of nerves (and even considered cancelling!) but she went through with it and was over joyed. She came away buzzing with new ideas for changes and ways to improve for the next workshop.
As a market stall or a specialty product in a boutique, it was sometimes hard to convince tourists to justify transporting a ceramic piece. But as a day trip–immersed in the rainforest while learning a new skill– it was a completely different customer experience. She was further able to accommodate her visitors by providing a way of having the item dried, fired, and shipped to the their home.
Starting the workshop created a much needed additional income stream for Nori and furthermore allowed her to manage her studio and capitalise on her time.
Here’s the kicker: she created this income stream from skills she already had.
(We know you can too.)
View Nori’s Wiserr Business page here.
Register and list your skills at Wiserr.co
