Have you always wanted to learn how welding works? Me too! So, last weekend, 5 of us (including Twitters Courtney Johnston (@c_johnston), Jason Vonnieda (@vonnieda), and Jeff Smith (@JeffreySmith), plus my wife and I) took a Seattle Welding Intensive class to learn about welding, and to get get hands-on experience and practice with several different types of welding equipment. In three words, “it was awesome!”.
Class was held at the Hazard Factory, in South Park (a neighborhood south of Seattle, near the Georgetown neighborhood), and it was amazing how fast the 5 hours flew by — we learned about the different types of welding (MIG, TIG and Stick) and got to practice with different machines — we were actually welding things together in the first 1-2 hours, and I’m actually feeling competent enough to do some work around the house — really, I highly recommend it.
The teacher, Rusty Oliver, has been welding for the last 13 years, and is also a sculptural artist — he was a fantastic instructor (he said that his mom was a teacher, so he learned the skills from her), and made it a fun day that I’m pretty sure I’ll never forget.
This video was from early in the day, as he explained the differences between MIG and TIG welding:
And, here are a few photos of us decked out in our gear:
We’re sure that with Payments enabled you are dying to know how to actually get paid, right? Take a peek at this Slide Share for help with the payment process.
You want to know what Alicia did to win a $25 Amazon Gift Certificate, this weeks Summer of Learning Contest prize? She contributed her fabulous article and tutorial “Printing Mailing Labels & Envelopes in Apple’s Address Book” on TeachStreet! Her step-by-step guide is extremely helpful! Thanks, Alicia, and congratulations.
Everybody – we have one week left – ONE WEEK left of our contest and we’re making it a BIGGIE next week! We have a **Secret Grand Prize** over $500 value for one of this summer’s contest participants! To be eligible:
Create a post on a TeachStreet forum! You can write a question you have or you can show-off your expertise by posting to an existing thread.
Publish an article! Include a video or picture introducing yourself or explaining how to do that thing you do.
Learn more on our Contest Page. See you out there…
I have the benefit (or curse) of having been a CPA in a prior working life, having started out my career with Arthur Andersen after I graduated from college. I quickly (it only took me 7 short years) figured out that the life of debits and credits wasn’t for me, but now that I’m working as an entrepreneur, I’m thrilled that I have that background under my belt.
For many other entrepreneurs with backgrounds in engineering or marketing, it isn’t so easy to quickly digest financial statements and projections — for those who live in Seattle, help is here — I met Diane Renihan last year, and she has awesome financial experience working with Avelle (formerly known as Bag Borrow or Steal), and many Seattle startups, and she’s now offering Financial and Accounting Boot Camp classes to Seattle entrepreneurs.
If you weren’t able to make it yesterday for our “Introduction to TeachStreet Team” event, we had a great talk with Sara Selepouchin and Marlo Miyashiro about their experiences starting and leading Teams of their own. First, I wanted to thanks them both for taking the time and sharing their knowledge with us and I know it’ll be a benefit to the whole community. The real takeaways I got out of it were the following:
Teams is a great way to connect with more teachers in your area and subject
Learn from and help your team members
Having local teams with a diversity of teachers may be a good start
Competition in Teams is always good
The success of your team is what you make of it
Start simple
If you missed the event, check out the video and transcript below:
Webcast: Introduction to TeachStreet Teams (Video):
Webcast: Introduction to TeachStreet Teams (Chat Transcript):
http://rec1.dimdim.com/chat/dimdim/f2ee29c2-dd7d-102c-8e71-003048642bd7
We’ll be doing regular webcasts highlighting different topics our community is seeking to learn. If you have a topic of interest or questions about TeachStreet Teams, please send me an e-mail to joseph@teachstreet.com.
Wow — if my Mom knew what NPR Morning Edition was, she’d be really impressed — I told her that we’re going to be on the show tomorrow morning, and she asked what NPR was (sigh). But, for the rest of the world beyond lovely Leesport, PA, we couldn’t be more excited — I mean, NPR Morning Edition is the pinnacle, right?!? Or, at least, it’s a pretty darn good basecamp!
NPR’s Yuki Noguchi and Wendy Kaufman reached out in the last few weeks to ask for TeachStreet’s response to Chris Anderson’s new book, ‘Free: The Future of a Radical Price’ — they noticed that we very recently moved from an all-free model to one where we charge performance-based fees for teachers. In short, we’re big believers in the power of free — that is, we always expect that there will be a free experience for teachers and schools, to add their teaching profile to TeachStreet, and a few classes. But, we also think that having performance-based fees helps to make the TeachStreet student class/learning/discovery experience better for everyone — students will get faster response from teachers who have skin in the game, and everyone will know that reviews and ratings have more credibility, because we’ll be able to verify that a paid transaction happened between that buyer and seller.
There are many benefits to having a vibrant economic system, where a few dollars are being exchanged, and value is being created, for everyone — we hope you enjoy the TeachStreet NPR Free radio segment — you can hear it here!
NPR Morning Edition - TeachStreet Free (Chris Anderson Book)
For her article, Devon will receive a $25 iTunes Gift Certificate!
Ahead of us, we have 2 more weeks of giveaways – Big Giveaways – and winning is easy! Share your 2 cents with the TeachStreet community. A new winner is selected every Tuesday, just get your voice out there:
Create a post on a TeachStreet forum! You can write a question you have or you can show-off your expertise by posting to an existing thread.
Publish an article! Include a video or picture introducing yourself or explaining how to do that thing you do.
Walking into TeachStreet World Headquarters on Day One of my summer internship, I had no idea what to expect. Having only worked within large corporations prior to business school, I felt energized by the opportunity to experience a workplace where a mere handful of people run, sustain, and comprise an entire company. While looking at different startups during my first year of business school, I had initially been drawn to TeachStreet’s focus on making lifelong education opportunities marketable and accessible to students of every age. TeachStreet seemed the perfect example of a company utilizing deep experience in development and online marketing strategy best practices (e.g. SEO) to achieve a strong social end. By Day Two, it was clear to me that not only does TeachStreet bring this clear and meaningful mission effectively to communities around the country; it also presents to teachers and students nationwide a helpful and (wouldn’t you know it?) a downright practical online product, powered by a team of brilliant, passionate (and really fun) people.
As I return to school, I’ll no doubt continue to reflect on the ways that each member of this small but impressive team brings something distinct and absolutely essential to TeachStreet:
Jenn’s incredible way of instantly understanding customer concerns and communicating the most effective, clear approach to solving them. Phil’s lightning-fast reflexes with changes to the code base and calming / encouraging presence through every launch. Joseph’s awesome laugh, and passion for developing a vibrant community with truly rich class offerings and dedicated teachers. Daryn’s athletic “skills” and steadfast dedication to getting every detail ready for each launch (even if it means working in the office every night of the week into the wee hours of the morning, away from his adorable baby girl). Scott’s keen ability to keep new ideas for development in check, ensuring they align as closely as possible with TeachStreet’s overall mission. Steve’s awesome ideas, and razor-sharp wit and pingpong serve-angles. Dave’s ability to generate energy and collective buy-in across the entire team through transparency and open decision-making sessions, while managing his team with that essential and all-too-rare combination of inspiring direction and humor. Sanford’s brilliant way of articulating new and exciting project-ideas during early-morning brainstorming sessions, getting us all to share in his excitement for the TeachStreet student experience. Greg’s perpetual creativity in designing the site, and in his wookie impressions. Harold’s warmth and level-headed take on even the most complex problems. Natala’s uncanny knack for balancing the goals of product management, marketing, and product strategy all simultaneously, all while never losing her contagious smile and unwavering passion for the user experience.
Most of all, it’s a pretty amazing experience to be a part of a team where the “big picture” is so thoroughly embraced in each action taken by every employee – every phone call, meeting, conversation, and keystroke at TeachStreet World Headquarters is fueled by genuine passion for what we’re doing. As I head back east to my second and final year of business school, TeachStreet headquarters will undoubtedly be the image that comes to mind when I visualize what awesome intention, vision, and execution looks like in an organization. But perhaps even more importantly, TeachStreet will be the image I will carry of what a truly great team of people looks like, where each individual’s specific set of talents complements and even enhances those of his/her colleagues (Quick, someone please, what rhymes with “synergy”?!).
Thanks for an awesome summer, Team TeachStreet. I love you guys.
What’s black, white and read all over…A Newspaper!
Alright, maybe we’re not regular comedians here at TeachStreet, but Gerry Katzman of Los Angeles, CA is! And for his great article and student’s hilarious video: Beginning Standup Comedy we are awarding him a $100 Visa Gift Card as part of our The Summer of Learning Contest!
The contest continues for 3 more weeks and winning is easy! Share your 2 cents with the TeachStreet community. A new winner is selected every Tuesday, just get your voice out there:
Create a post on a TeachStreet forum! You can write a question you have or you can show-off your expertise by posting to an existing thread.
Create an article! Include a video or picture introducing yourself or explaining how to do that thing you do.
Our pilot program, TeachStreet Teams, is finally here and I wanted to let the community know. We have a total of 30 teams ranging from local teams in Seattle, San Francisco, and Denver to subject-based teams like Holistic Healers and the Marketing and Design Team. We’re eager to get everyone’s feedback. Check out TeachStreet Teams below:
Forums for each Team to stay connected with other members
Unique URLs for each Team to help spread the word
We’re having an event next week, “Introduction to TeachStreet Teams“, that will provide you a good time to chat with us and with two special guests who have a wealth of experience creating, maintaining, and supporting teams.
Sara Selepouchin Former Etsy Teams Coordinator and Philly Etsy Street Team Leader
Sara has run here own crafts teams in the Philadelphia area, and actually worked with Etsy.com to help get their Teams program successfully off the ground to over 20,000+ members worldwide while she was there. I’m happy to say she’ll be helping us get started here at TeachStreet.
Marlo Miyashiro EtsyRain Team Leader and Local Crafts Teacher
Marlo, is both a crafts teacher on TeachStreet and active participant in the crafts community here in Seattle. She currently runs EtsyRain (Seattle-based crafts team) which she has helped grow to over 600 members. They also organized the EtsyRain Spring Crafts Show which showcased their members.
I encourage all of you to sign up for this event, August 18th – 1:00-2:00pm PST. If you’re interested in how Teams can help your business grow, this will be the event to find out.
Introduction to TeachStreet Teams
August 18, 2009 – 1:00-2:00pm PST
