Closing the doors at CAMP Coworking

Posted on 25. May, 2012 by Princess Lasertron.

When I started CAMP Coworking in June 2010, I wanted to build something with the support of my friends and community that would serve the rich culture of starters here in Omaha. For two solid years we supported the endeavors of over a dozen businesses that called CAMP home, and worked to offer opportunities for learning and inspiration to our community. Book tours, startup weekends, workshop classes, launch parties, speakers, poetry slams, and more happened within the walls of CAMP and I’m proud of facilitating a space where so many connections and ideas were created.

Today I am closing the doors at CAMP for good. A combination of reasons has contributed to my decision, mainly the financial burden of maintaining CAMP and new opportunities I am pursuing with my other companies.

After CAMP, I will mainly focus on building Hello Holiday, a social shopping site launching in July that I co-founded with Sarah Lorsung Tvrdik. Our goal with Hello Holiday is to introduce a charming and exuberant approach to style and the online shopping experience, and we are working to build our inventory right now–finding the right clothes to make every woman feel ready to take on the world. Our mission is to bring emerging designers into the mainstream fashion market and offer a carefully curated selection of apparel and accessories to modern women. The new Hello Holiday office will open in Benson soon.

Princess Lasertron, my bridal bouquet and project design company, will operate out of my house–like I did from the beginning–where I will be finishing my first book set for release in Spring 2014. By working at home, I’m looking forward to spending more time with my two-year-old daughter. We moved into CAMP nearly a week after she was born and she has been along for the entire ride.

CAMP was never a moneymaker–that’s the truth–and unfortunately I can no longer afford to sustain it. It’s hard to admit that things didn’t go as I wanted. Knowing when to stop is as important as knowing when to start, and it’s the right time for me to bow out.

This was a very difficult decision that I’ve been mulling over for months. I feel so lucky and honored to live in this community on the Silicon Prairie. We have an ecosystem here that is so supportive of entrepreneurship and creative culture, and coworking is a small piece of that puzzle. Although CAMP is closing, there are other spaces and venues that will fill that need and I encourage you to participate in building communities there. Coworking isn’t about space–it’s a philosophy and movement that empowers people to make their work better through collaboration, creativity, and openness. Coworking is about serving a need that people have, and that example is something that I’m glad CAMP brought to Omaha, and I’ll be glad to see it continue to spread. Thank you to everyone who has been a supporter, client, and friend of CAMP over the years. I’m excited for what’s to come.

xo
meg

Crossposted:
campcoworking.com
meganhunt.me

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around the office

Posted on 18. Mar, 2012 by Princess Lasertron.

Mess means progress.

If you’d like to see this next Fall/Winter collection on the catwalk, buy tickets to my Spring runway show for Omaha Fashion Week this Friday, March 23. It’ll be my final collection and it includes separates in wool and silk.

xo
meg

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today’s outfit: that amazing lauren moffatt coat + thoughts about etsy

Posted on 22. Nov, 2011 by Princess Lasertron.

I love this coat.

Everyone I run into who has seen it at Anthropologie says “I almost bought that!”

Definitely the best piece of the season. Way to go, Lauren Moffatt.

Working in the studio today on Cyber Monday stuff.
I’ll have lots of pins and headbands.
I’m launching three new kits.
I’m introducing an experimental idea–a subscription club that I will mention again later.
And I actually want your opinion about this–I’m thinking about putting it all on Etsy as well as my own shop.

As a seller, I’m not a big fan of Etsy. It is better for SEO and it’s easier for people to stumble upon your work–when I moved to hosting my own shop on Big Cartel I saw a huge drop in traffic and sales. But I liked Big Cartel better because there was no “community” cattiness, no rules about profiles and linking, I didn’t have anxiety about seeing copies of my work two days after I listed it, and I could customize the look of the shop to my brand.

Being able to customize the look of my shop and the page’s URL was my biggest motivation for the move away from Etsy. My Big Cartel shop could be “My Own Shop.” I could feel ownership of the design, the layout, and the success or failure of the product I shared.

But now, I don’t really care as much about “brand look.” I care more about meaningful interaction with readers and customers, creating content that people like to engage with, and having fun.

More on that later too.

I joined Etsy in 2006 and left in 2010 because I was frustrated with the heavily moderated community and rules about listings and terms of use contrasted with the completely unmoderated landscape of sellers ripping each other off. I wanted more control over my business and Etsy was not a channel I saw as part of my future growth. But with my changing feelings about brand and the results I’ve seen from my move to Big Cartel, I am re-evaluating my strategy. I’ve had a tough quarter and I need those sales. Owning both Princess Lasertron and CAMP Coworking has my resources spread thin right now. I’m an entrepreneur and I take risks. That’s just real talk.

My biggest priority right now after a few years of experimentation is just ease of use for customers. I want it to be easy for customers to learn about me and engage with my products. I don’t want them to have to search. I want them to find it. And then I want to see them share what they like on Pinterest, Twitter, and Facebook. People know who I am. I’ve done well for myself. I can leave the brand schtick behind for a while because I have a personality, and maybe going to back to Etsy help me lower some of the barriers that staunch branding has created for me.

More on that later, too.

I like that Etsy does a lot to promote their sellers, and that it’s the most easily searchable database of handmade goods for consumers to find during their gift shopping this season.

So what do you think?

Coat: Lauren Moffatt Sugar Cane Coat
Top: Robin
Skirt: Made for my birthday by Emma Erickson
Socks: Target
Shoes: MIA Girl
Necklace: Erickson Beamon for Target

xo
meg

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Coffee at CAMP and a giveaway from Starbucks!

Posted on 01. Nov, 2011 by Princess Lasertron.

Last month when Team Lasertron went to the Creative Connection Event in Minnesota, we made friends with the cool people working at the Starbucks booth–they were there working 12 hours each day, on their feet, brewing coffee, explaining their different blends, and schmoozing with the likes of us. After we came home, I got an e-mail from Starbucks asking if we’d like to receive some bags of coffee for our coworking space and also host a giveaway on my blog to hook one of you up with a Starbucks coffee kit of your own! Of course I said yes. Who would say no?

We keep an electric kettle next to our little collection of french presses here at CAMP so every coworker can have their own little pot of their favorite brew. As a non-dedicated coffee drinker, I like to add some hot chocolate powder to my French Roast as it’s brewing in the french press, with some cream (or better, Bailey’s!) added. My assistant Emma likes hers black, and the guys at Secret Penguin down the hall (they come over to hang out sometimes) like their Breakfast Blend straight-up as well. We have plenty of mixers here though–there’s the hot chocolate I mentioned, and also Bailey’s, Maker’s Mark, plenty of cream and sugar, marshmallows, and even cinnamon and peppermint sticks.

Starbucks has generously given me another coffee kit to give away to one of you! It includes four bags of their signature blends: Starbucks House Blend, Italian Roast, Breakfast Blend, and French Roast, as well as a super cool tumbler to take your coffee to go. You can unscrew the bottom of the tumblr to etch a design on the black wax-relief paper included–you can see some of the photos of ours, with the leaf design, above. It will be a great little package to receive in the mail just as the weather is starting to get cold!

To win, leave a comment below. I will choose a winner on Saturday night using a random number generator. As always, our giveaways are open to international readers as well, so spread the word!

xo
meg

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Our CAMP Pumpkin Carving Party

Posted on 31. Oct, 2011 by Princess Lasertron.

Last Friday afternoon we hosted a festive little party at CAMP to start the Halloween weekend off with some cider, popcorn, and pumpkin carving! Several people brought snacks and drinks, and I provided the pumpkins (with a little Intern Anna help) and all the carving tools. Mr. Lasertron provided prizes and they will freak you out.

Mr. Lasertron went to a thrift store and picked up some tacky little art pieces–two paintings and a little ceramic bride statuette. He added to them some of his weird humor and a few brush strokes to create three highly prestigious awards.

We had three winners–first, second, and third place. Mr. Lasertron was the judge:

First place: Bryan from Secret Penguin who made an “OMA GOOD NESS” pumpkin–a Omaha phrase coined by Rdqlus Creative.

Second place: Shannon, my assistant, who made a cute mummy!

Third place: Dave, owner of Secret Penguin. He made a pumpkin inspired by Olive, his fifteen-month-old daughter (and friend to Alice!)

This was our first-annual pumpkin carving party at CAMP and we look forward to hosting many more in the future. We will have fun trying to top these prizes.

xo
meg

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