We recently connected with Connie Beckers and have shared our conversation below.

Connie, thanks for joining us, excited to have you contributing your stories and insights. Risk taking is something we’re really interested in and we’d love to hear the story of a risk you’ve taken.

My work life consisted of steady, decent paying but unrewarding jobs. I worked around several departments at Hennepin County until I burned my bridges as a whistle blower. I was selling Mary Kay cosmetics at the time and figured I could work part-time as a church secretary while selling skin care and working my way up to a pink Cadillac..

Well, that never happened and I decided to reward my hard work as a youth director at the church with a stained glass class for my 40th birthday. I worked at learning more about the craft and selling my wares and when my life took a dramatic turn around age 42, I found myself in a position to totally immerse myself in the business of art. I refinanced my house to purchase the tools and supplies I needed to ramp up my business with art shows, teaching classes and making custom stained glass windows and could only take that risk because I was newly single and my child was an adult. I was able to rent out rooms in my house to supplement my income and eventually, open a brick and mortar retail gift shoppe.

Awesome – so before we get into the rest of our questions, can you briefly introduce yourself to our readers.

I had been a secretary-type person for most of my working life but always had a side hustle like direct-sales or a transcript typing business. I left the public service world in 1992 as a whistle blower and went to work at my church first as secretary then as youth director. It was then for my 40th birthday that I splurged on myself with a stained glass class.

It was while working at the neighborhood coffeeshop that I started selling my creations. I took additional training at local glass studios and learned to make custom windows. I was at a place in life where I could take a risk so left all my part-time jobs and dove into full-time glass artist. That lifestyle included weekend art fairs and consignment shops as I built up my custom clientele.

Teaching stained glass classes came next and for my 50th birthday, I added a kiln to my home glass studio and taught some classes out of my basement. I opened a gift shoppe in my Northside neighborhood in June of 2009 offering consignment to local artisans along with picture framing. Groupon was just coming on the scene then and I formed a fruitful relationship with them. In 2011, I was offered a larger retail space which would also accommodate classes. I utilized the marketing skills I learned in direct selling to lasso those Groupon buyers into return customers who brought their friends back. This opened an opportunity to hire additional artisan teachers to offer a wide variety of art classes for these loyal customers and we soon earned the honor of being the favorite place to take an art class through readers of the MN Women’s Press.

In August of 2019, my space was sold and the new owner had plans that didn’t include me. I wanted to stay in North Minneapolis and was unable to find another space to rent so closed up the retail shoppe while holding classes in some temporary spots. But in March of 2020, COVID shut down in-person classes and I was forced to make a big decision.

My daughter in Elk River was having trouble finding suitable tenants to share her house so I decided to sell my home of 36 years and move in with her. We made some renovations to the house and had planned to add a beautiful glass studio but construction costs had tripled with the pandemic so I chiseled out a corner of the two-car garage and spend my days making stained and fused glass.

Something I’m particularly proud of is a public art award for a window I completed for the Loring Park Community Arts Building. I’ve trained several glass artists who are still creating with the skills I taught them. I’m proud to say I’ve persevered and re-established myself as a glass artist since relocating to Elk River. I’ve completed a couple of commission windows, consigned with a couple local gift shops and am just now getting back into teaching glass fusing with The Artery Studio and Glass Arts in Anoka, MN. I’m also a vendor at the local antique mall and handle their social media.

How about pivoting – can you share the story of a time you’ve had to pivot?

When the pandemic in 2020 made it impossible to hold classes face to face, I developed kits that people could pick up and return when done so I could fire them in my kiln. I did this for several months while my house was on the market. When I sold my house and moved 45 minutes away from my hometown of 55 years, I took some time to re-think how I was going to do business now. I didn’t have enough money to build myself a fabulous studio so I carved out a portion of our garage for my studio. I was able to squeeze in some tables and host a few classes but it wasn’t all that comfortable between the winter chill and summer bugs.

The local antique store had some space so I set up a booth with a mix of my glass and antiques. Besides big windows, I make a line of gifty things like picture frames and trinket boxes. A couple of new boutiques had opened in town so I arranged consignment with them.

By selling some glass tools on social media, I met a woman with a glass studio in Ramsey offering a variety of classes. She bought a lot of my tools and glass and we took each other’s classes. She’d been on a search for a new space and just opened up that spot in Anoka on the 1st of July. She invited me to share her studio and teach glass fusing classes so I’m back at that once a week! It feels good to be back in the saddle!

Any fun sales or marketing stories?

Glass fusing was just starting to become a thing in the early 2000’s. I bought my kiln in 2005 and invited friends over to try it out with me! We were doing this in my basement. I wanted to mix fused glass in my stained glass projects and make things to sell at my shows and later, in my gift shop.

These workshops were popular because it’s such an easy craft to do! I did all the kiln firing so folks just had to design and assemble their projects. It was quick and easy for me, as the instructor, too! Also kind of new to the market was Groupon and other two-fer deal companies. I tried quite a few but settled with Groupon for the long term.

I cleared out the first floor of my house, aka The Funky Bungalow, and was able to accommodate 12 students at a time a few times a week for the next four years. Then I was offered a bigger space for the retail shop that also had classroom space so I got my living room back! I utilized all my marketing skills from direct selling and created a loyal bunch of folks who brought their friends for more classes, bridal showers and family reunions. I was able to include a dozen other artists to offer a wide variety of classes from silk scarf painting to Singing for Non-Singers!

Back in the day when I was first starting out doing shows and consignment, I used to create a flyer that I distributed all over town. I called myself the Queen of Shameless Self-Promotion. Social media makes it so much easier now! I even help the antique store with social media.

Contact Info:

• Website: https://www.goddessofglass.com
• Instagram: www.instagram/thegoddessofglass
• Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/thegoddessofglass