We were lucky to catch up with Shyle Lyons recently and have shared our conversation below.

Shyle , thanks for taking the time to share your stories with us today Before we get into specifics, let’s talk about success more generally. What do you think it takes to be successful?

I think the measure of success is very different and personal for each individual. It may mean fame, fortune, positive feedback, recognition, notoriety or something totally different. For me, with Merchants and Makers, success is creating a community of support, fun and encouragement for local makers and shoppers. Supporting other small businesses by providing them a place to sell their product – whether that is a product they crafted/created, a shop they curated, or a truck they have poured their dreams into to serve delicious food and drinks out of – and finding shoppers to come and enjoy shopping as part of an event. These events are a FUN place where individuals, families, or friends can shop with local individual shops, get superb food, listen to live music and spend their day with activities and entertainment. We also want to be more than just market day – by holding Maker Gatherings for small business owners to connect, providing excellent communication and online support for all aspects of owning a small business, and connecting new makers with experienced makers to help them learn from each other. We also aim to connect shoppers to local makers all year long with our online directory. We also measure success by giving back – we give to a local non-profit at every market we hold to help support their work in the community.

As always, we appreciate you sharing your insights and we’ve got a few more questions for you, but before we get to all of that can you take a minute to introduce yourself and give our readers some of your back background and context?

I am a former social worker and small-business owner. I started Merchants and Makers after attending many poorly attended and BORING markets as a vendor. Merchants and Makers is a collective of Michigan creatives + shops coming together to feature their products in a fun, relaxed event space. It’s Etsy in person – a curated party of handmade goodness. It’s a new generation of craft fair and it’s a growing movement that has more than quadrupled in size and number since it started just six years ago. We have events popping up in venues across West Michigan 10+ times per year, it’s not just an art show, craft fair, or vendor event…. it’s a true party. We encourage you to come support your local movers, shakers, merchants and makers. We had our first market in 2017. The event was a success and I had so much fun planning it. Why not do it again? I recruited my former Hope College roommate + friend, Meghan French, to do branding and marketing for the next event. We learned over time what shoppers wanted and what makers craved: fun, ease, quality, local products… and community over competition! Merchants and Makers continued to gain momentum and the team grew!

The Merchants and Makers Team:

Emily Klingensmith, Staff Coordinator
Christina Hutton, Assistant Market Director
Chandi Pape, Event Production Manager
Shyle Lyons, Founder and Market Director

Meghan French, Creative Director

We’d love to hear the story of how you turned a side-hustle into a something much bigger.

I got into the ‘market world’ as a vendor. I sold direct sales products, and went to craft shows, markets, pop-ups….pretty much anywhere that someone would have me! I was going to 3-4 markets/pop-ups a week, and pretty quickly saw what was working and what wasn’t. Many events I would attend would be poorly attended or boring. I knew that I could do better. I took my experience in marketing and put that to work with great graphic design from my dear friend Meghan, and added food, drinks and music (because at least if no one came, the vendors would have fun!) to start Merchants and Makers. We started out allowing direct sales vendors (and I was still selling my products at the markets while running them) until they grew too large to manage doing both. I quit my ‘side hustle’ of direct sales and focused on Merchants and Makers fully. It evolved to a MAKERS market and with a focus on high quality handmade goods. It continued to grow, until we were able to hold 11 markets last year, and have 12 planned this year! It is now my main career (although I also am a social media manager!)

What do you think helped you build your reputation within your market?

I think that our continual commitment to Collaboration over Competition has allowed makers to feel connected to the market as a whole, and each other. This supportive and encouraging environment, coupled with the FUN of great food, drinks and music helps to draw makers and shoppers!

Contact Info:

• Website: https://www.merchantsandmakers.com/
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/merchants.and.makers/
• Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/merchantsandmakers
• Yelp: https://www.yelp.com/biz/merchants-and-makers-grand-haven

Image Credits
Sydney Marie Photo