Creative workshops are such a hit right now. It seems like everyone is looking for a way to spend their Saturday afternoon getting creative with friends, and I don't blame em! Since 2013, I've been teaching both my beginner modern calligraphy class and intro to floral watercolor class. These in-person workshops have taken me all over the country and world, from Singapore to Seattle, New York to Paris.

While these in-person workshops have made it a great way to travel and see the world, there are a few other reasons why you should teach in-person workshops:

Great source of additional income

When I first started my business, I was barely making any money. I was primarily working with custom wedding clients, when a local shop reached out and asked if I would teach some workshops at their space. I think my first ever workshop we charged $75 per person! That's laughable to me now, because it's incredibly time-consuming and the cost of my materials was barely made up for. But it was exciting!

Because the shop I partnered with had a great following, the class sold out! I had under 1,000 followers at the time, and they had somewhere around 20K. Over the last few years, I've taught thousands of students, raised my prices a few times, and have been able to make good revenue off of in-person workshops. In fact, in the first year of teaching, I would walk away most weekends with an additional $3,000! This was before my bigger following, before the book deals, and before I knew what I was doing. Were my workshops filled with great info, yes! Did my students walk away with high-quality supplies, absolutely! Did I have everything figured out before I ever taught a workshop…NO! But guess what? This additional source of income is what helped me sustain self-employment and grow my reputation and business as an artist!

Will help grow your audience

Like I mentioned above, when I started teaching in-person workshops, I didn't have anywhere close to the audience I have now! But what I did recognize was that in order to book sold-out workshops and grow my audience, I had to partner up with the right venues! The chances of me selling out a class where the venue wouldn't promote sign-ups, or only had 1,000 followers were much slimmer than if I had help in this area! Makes sense, right? It's so crucial that you think about this when partnering up with someone…what do they bring to the table? Do you need help filling the class? Etc.

Along with the venue, think about adding a hashtag for your workshops, and telling students to post to it! This also a great way to generate exposure from teaching classes! (Pssst, my workshop hashtag is #jennaraineyworkshop 🙂

Positions you as an expert in your industry

The first couple of years of teaching, I went HARD. I was teaching almost every weekend, two workshops a day. Which means 9 full hours the day of, but also promoting the class before, ordering supplies, packing kits, etc. I learned a lot in a very short amount of time about the medium I was teaching, and what questions people have about it. This helped me become a better teacher and listener, but also became a very reputable part of my reputation as an artist and was eventually what drew my publisher to me for my first book deal!

Teaching in-person workshops has really opened a lot of doors and opportunities for me and my business and could do the same for you! Are you a weaver? A designer? A health coach? LITERALLY anything! Education isn't going anywhere, it's only growing in popularity, and it could do some amazing things for you, your business and your family!

If you want to learn more about teaching workshops, check out my course Workshop Teacher Academy!