We’re excited to introduce you to the always interesting and insightful Ashley & R. Carnie Littlefield. We hope you’ll enjoy our conversation with Ashley & R. Carnie below.

Ashley & R. Carnie, thanks for joining us, excited to have you contributing your stories and insights. Looking back, do you think you started your business at the right time? Do you wish you had started sooner or later?

Honestly, R. Carnie and I both believe in the timing of everything so to put it simply, we believe we started Maker’s Market Tennessee (previously Maker’s Market Texas) at just the right time. What we currently have as a business model actually started back in our hometown of Austin. They had just recently done a rather expensive building renovation, so we wanted to be able to help out financially any way we could so we figured an art and craft market would be a fun way of doing just that.

Our first event was held outside in the church parking lot with 12 vendors, the youngest being about 11 years old and the oldest being in their 60s. We knew of so many talented people in our very own community that it just made sense to showcase their craft. Our Pastor loved it so much that we continued on with the markets and our largest one we ended up having about 40 vendors.

Ashley & R. Carnie, love having you share your insights with us. Before we ask you more questions, maybe you can take a moment to introduce yourself to our readers who might have missed our earlier conversations?

As of today, Maker’s Market Tennessee has expanded into doing small and local business features through our podcast aside from hosting art and craft markets. We’re working on some other fun projects that we can’t quite mention yet until we’re able to launch them, but we think it’ll be a great opportunity for those who sell handmade items.

We believe that what sets us apart from other art and craft markets is the podcast feature we provide. It’s gone beyond just featuring our vendors though as we’ve interviewed a local book store owner, a mobile detailing owner, and a salon owner with more to come of course. Small and local businesses are our love and passion so we want to do anything we can to give them as much promotion as possible for little to no cost. Getting to hear how a business owner got their start is something that we love so when we’re able to share that with others, it’s something we’re definitely proud of!

Any insights you can share with us about how you built up your social media presence?

After moving here to Tennessee from Texas back in 2021, we had to pivot and create a whole new social media presence on both Facebook and Instagram. Thankfully, Maker’s Market Tennessee was not taken yet so we leaped at the opportunity to snag the handle before someone else did. While we definitely don’t have the largest following out there, we’re fortunate to have the connections with local businesses that we do.

For those just starting to build their social media presence, I would say that consistency is key. Posting as frequently as possible is important, but doing it every day I don’t believe is necessary. People don’t want to follow an account though that hasn’t posted in several weeks or months. There are free tools out there to use in order to schedule your posts ahead of time so take advantage of those as a business owner. Marketing is key, but we recognize that business owners don’t always have time to sit down and create social media content.

Also, with AI becoming increasingly popular, we’re starting to see more and more business owners using this as a way to put out AI generated graphics for their marketing which we strongly urge not to do. It’s getting to the point where these graphics are all starting to look the same so it’s important to not only stick with your branding, but to stand out amongst your competitors. If you don’t have time yourself to create graphics with tools like Canva, we recommend supporting small and local. Reach out to college students who are pursuing a graphic design degree or even hire an intern that could instead create those graphics for you. We have so many people right in our own backyard that we could support instead of using AI.

What do you find most rewarding about being a creative?

The most rewarding aspect of being creatives is putting our talent to use in helping others be successful. With R. Carnie and I both having our degrees in graphic design, it’s helped us out a lot when it comes to our marketing, branding, and web design. While I focus on our social media marketing, R. Carnie has been the talent and brains behind our website design and functionality. With all of that combined, I believe it’s helped give us some leverage in not only looking professional, but eye appealing for those who want to work with us.

With R. Carnie also being an artist and writer, he’s been a vendor at some of our own markets. After having learned what works and doesn’t work with great table displays, he’s been able to impart his wisdom onto others that are just getting started. It’s also one of those things that seems to evolve over time. What works at one market may not work at another, so playing with the design of your booth is key in order to get the most foot traffic possible.

Contact Info:

• Website: https://www.makersmarkettn.com
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/makersmarkettn/
• Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/MakersMarketTN/
• Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/company/makers-market-tennessee/
• Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/@MakersMarketTennessee

Image Credits

All photos taken by Maker’s Market Tennessee