Those of you who teach jewelry making and beading know that you have to get the word out and advertise your services.

Sometimes people can find a teacher through bead shop listings in phone books or if they are lucky enough to have an art school in town, they could perhaps enroll in a jewelry making course. But there are many other teachers who don't belong to either a bead shop or an art school. Like me.

The chances are, in an increasingly wired world, many people turn to the internet for all kinds of resources. So instead of letting people's hands do the walking, the trick is to get people clicking to you! I already advertise in my local Kijiji - (USA Kijiji/ Canada Kijiji) - which is a free local online classifieds site. Debbie (Widgets Beads), my co-instructor and I also advertise through various Cole Harbour Heritage Farm activities where our workshops are based. But it also pays to explore other ways to get the word out.

That is why my ears pricked up when a brand new (September 2008) online startup called School of Everything contacted me. The organisation is based in the UK but they aim to help connect people who teach with people who want to learn, no matter where they live. They've been described as 'MySpace for teachers' and 'eBay for knowledge'.

Joining is free and so is listing your services. I am now one of 10 of a growing list of jewelry and beading teachers. As you can see below, we are located in the US, Canada, UK and Israel at the moment. The site is still growing with more features being planned such as book recommendations, videos and pdf tutorials. So if the site continues to grow and become well known, then anyone can search for a teacher for tons of subjects such as singing, languages, photography besides beading.



Mary Harrington, one of the co-founders was fascinated with how our beading community spend their time on the internet so she interviewed me for their blog - Beading Gem : How the Web is Transforming Crafts ! As you can see from the interview, I do believe the internet has an enormous effect on our craft, how we buy and sell, and especially on how we learn. If you're interested in listing but have some questions to ask, you can contact Mary at mary@schoolofeverything.com
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The Beading Gem's Journal
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