Help yourself to tea and take a seat anywhere.

請自取茶水，然後找個地方坐下。

It feels amazing to be able to make a living doing my dream job.

能夠靠做我夢想的工作謀生真是太棒了。

I think there are so few people who get to say that.

我想能這麼說的人太少了。

I love that you all just, like, jumped in and were like, I'm gonna learn something new tonight, even though I have no idea what it is.

我喜歡你們大家就開始投入，感謝像是在說「今晚我要學一些新東西，儘管我不知道它是什麼。」

The mission of this project is really just to build creative community.

這個項目的使命實際上只是建立創意社區。

I'm Liz Chick, I'm 27 years old.

我叫 Liz Chick，今年 27 歲。

I turned my side hustle into my dream job, and last month was able to bring in $25,000.

我把副業變成了夢想中的工作，並且上個月已賺到到 25000 美元。

Hi, everybody.

大家好。

Thank you so much for your attention.

非常感謝你們的關注。

My name is Liz. I'm the founder of RecCreate Collective, which is the studio that you're in tonight.

我叫 Liz。 我是 RecCreate Collective 的創辦人，也就是你們今晚所在的工作室。

RecCreate Collective is a creative event space in Brooklyn, New York.

RecCreate Collective 是一個創意位於紐約布魯克林的活動空間。

I help 20-somethings who are looking for creative outlets and community come together over all different kinds of creative arts and craft-focused events.

我幫助 20 多歲正在尋找創意管道和社群的人聚集在一起，參加各種不同類型的創意藝術和手工藝活動。

[RecCreate Collective hosts events and workshops about 15 times a month]

[RecCreate Collective 每月舉辦約 15 場活動和手作坊]

[Participants can learn how to knit, decorate cakes, draw still lifes and more]

[參與者可以學習如何編織、裝飾蛋糕、畫靜物等等]

So this is knit club with Ella Emhoff, she does a lot of these knitting events.

這是 Ella Emhoff 的編織俱樂部，她舉辦了許多這樣的編織活動。

I just call it knit painting because I used to be a painter, and I treat all of the knits as paintings.

我把它叫做編織畫，因為我曾經作為一名畫家，我把所有的編織品都當作繪畫。

I have brought in close to $150,000 since starting this business last March.

自從去年三月開始這門生意以來，我已經賺了近 15 萬美元。

[In January, it brought in about $25,000]

[1月份，收入約25,000美元]

A lot of that goes to paying the artists.

其中很大一部分都用於支付藝術家的費用。

A lot of it goes to materials and supplies for the workshops, as well as just like coffee and drinks and all of these things that kind of create these experiences.

其中許多都用於手作坊的材料和用品，以及咖啡和飲料以及所有這些創造這些體驗的東西。

The biggest expense is partnerships and artists.

最大的開支是合作夥伴和藝術家。

Any partners that I have generally make 50% of the profit of those events, which gives them a take home of generally around $1,000.

我的合作夥伴通常會從這些活動中獲得 50% 的利潤，這通常能讓他們賺到 1,000 美元左右。

So when you add up, if I'm doing like five of those a month, that's about $5,000.

所以當你加起來時，如果我每個月做五次這樣的事情，那就大約是 5,000 美元。

So my first job out of school was working for a New York City park and I was working in just like a windowless office. There was like, nothing to do.

我畢業後的第一份工作是在紐約市的一個公園工作，我的工作環境就像一個沒有窗戶的辦公室。 好像沒什麼好做的。

It's like staring at a computer. When I worked for a park, which was devastating.

就像盯著電腦一樣。 當我在公園工作時，很讓人崩潰。

It didn't seem like there were a lot of jobs out there that like, were a good fit for me.

似乎沒有多少工作機會很適合我。

I've always wanted to be an entrepreneur.

我一直想成為一名企業家。

So I was just kind of waiting for my idea.

所以我只是在等待我的想法實現的那天。

I started off experimenting with natural dye when I was just going crazy in me desk job.

當我在辦公室工作中變得瘋狂時，我開始嘗試天然染料。

I made this jacket, it's one of me favorite things I ever made.

這件夾克是我做的，是我最喜歡的東西之一。

So this is avocado pits and skins, they make pink which is pretty sick.

這是酪梨和果皮，它們呈現粉紅色，非常厲害。

And so I was like, "Can't keep doing this for fun, got to figure out how to monetize it."

所以我想：「不能為了好玩而繼續這樣做，必須弄清楚如何將其帶來利潤。」

I made this botanical dye club kit.

我製作了這個植物染色俱樂部套裝。

[Liz started planning workshops so others could learn this technique] Let's see. There's like the fun dried florals. Um, there's this instructional guide.

[Liz開始計劃手作坊，以便其他人可以學習這種技術] 讓我們看看。 這裡面有有趣的乾燥花。 嗯，有這個教學指南。

And I started to really love that work and even see how it, like, might end up being a business, even if it was like still really in the early stages.

我開始愛上這項工作，甚至看到它最終可能會成為一門生意，即使它仍處於早期階段。

[Liz eventually took a part-time job so she could grow her business on the side]

[Liz最後找到了一份兼職工作，這樣她就可以兼職發展自己的生意]

So in September of 2022, while I was actually on a call resigning from my last full time job that I've ever had, I got an email.

在 2022 年 9 月，當我實際上正在打電話辭職時，我收到了一封電子郵件。

It's kind of crazy.

這有點瘋狂。

I won $50,000 on accident, which ended up being like all of the seed money that started this project.

我偶然贏得了 50,000 美元，成為了啟動這個生意的種子資金。

After tax, it was about $30,000 but was still like life-changing amount of money.

稅後，大約是 3 萬美元，但仍然是改變人生的一筆錢。

I had never had jobs that had allowed me to have any savings at all, let alone like a hefty fund to invest in something.

我從來沒有從事過能讓我有任何積蓄的工作，更不用說有巨額資金投資。

So I kept exploring options for spaces and things just kept falling through.

所以我一直在探索空間的選擇，但卻不斷失敗。

And then I like I had a friend who texted me about a space and I was like, "Ugh, I've kind of given up on this but whatever I guess I'll go see it."

然後我喜歡有一個朋友給我發短信詢問一個空間，我當時想：「呃，我已經放棄了這個，但無論我想什麼，我都會去看它。」

Which as soon as I walked in, my jaw was on the floor.

當我走進去的時候，我的下巴都掉到了地板上。

I was like this beautiful, magical land, I don't know what it is, but like, I want it, like, this is amazing.

我彷彿置身於這片美麗而神奇的土地，我不知道它是什麼，但我想要它，很美妙。

And I was like, I'll just take the risk and I'll apply for it on my own.

我當時想，我會冒險自己申請。

[Liz accepted, and signed the lease in March 2023 for $2000/month]

[Liz 接受了，並於 2023 年 3 月簽署了租約，租金為 2000 美元/月]

I have like $100,000 of student debt.

我有大約 10 萬美元的學生債務。

I was like, who let me sign this lease alone, I don't know.

我當時想，是誰讓我一個人簽這份租約的，我不知道。

[Student loan debt is a common barrier to entrepreneurship, but the cash infusion gave Liz a jumpstart]

[學生貸款債務是創業的常見障礙，但現金注入給了 Liz 一個起步的機會]

I think as helpful as the money was in being what allowed me to get this space.

我認為資金幫助很大，讓我能夠獲得這個空間。

The most important thing was that if everything didn't work out exactly how I planned that, I would have like some kind of a safety net.

最重要的是，如果一切沒有完全按照我的計畫進行，至少我還有一些後路。

[She had subletters for about six months before taking over the entire space]

[在接管整個空間之前，她轉租了大約六個月]

My side hustle really started focused on my art, and then when I moved into this space, was really able to focus on the production, the collaboration, not just around my own artistic practice, but around others.

我的副業真正開始專注於我的藝術，然後當我搬到這個空間時，我真的能夠專注於製作和合作，不僅圍繞我自己的藝術實踐，而且圍繞著其他人。

[Liz hosted the first event, a collage club, in March 2023]

[Liz 於 2023 年 3 月舉辦了第一場活動，拼貼俱樂部]

And then from there I just started like hosting more and more events and collaborating more and more.

從那時起，我開始喜歡舉辦越來越多的活動並進行越來越多的合作。

It's like still shocking to me that you can just put something out on the internet and like, 30 strangers will just come like, that's amazing.

令我震驚的是，你只要把一些東西發佈到網路上，就會有 30 個陌生人過來，這真是太神奇了。

I think a huge challenge has just been like getting people in the door, like to some extent, to be able to have this be a financially sustainable business,

我認為一個巨大的挑戰是讓人們進來，就像在某種程度上，能夠讓這成為一個財務上可持續的生意，

there just have to be enough events and enough people and working with a really small audience, that can be really challenging.

要有足夠的活動和足夠的人員，並且與非常少的觀眾一起工作，這確實具有挑戰性。

This is what a real beginner looks like.

這才是真正的初學者。

And then every little thing just adds up.

然後，每一件小事都會累積起來。

Like all the art supplies up front.

比如所有放在前面的美術用品。

Even the scissors and then folding chairs are shockingly expensive.

連剪刀和摺疊椅都是非常驚人的昂貴。

These vintage ones are like about $75 each, so you can kind of do the math on that.

這些古董每件大約 75 美元，所以你可以算一算。

It was terrifying and I didn't even want to do it.

這太可怕了，我甚至都不想這麼做。

It was my bosses who encouraged me.

是我的上司鼓勵了我。

They were like, maybe you just need to jump and do it.

他們說，也許你只是需要跳進去，開始做成對了。

I think I was paying myself about $2,000 a month and subsidizing a little bit with my savings over the summer.

一開始我賺到大約 2,000 美元，並在夏天用我的積蓄補貼一點。

I only started turning a profit in December, I believe, of 2023.

我相信是 2023 年 12 月我才開始獲利。

[Liz says she now pays herself $5,500 a month]

[Liz 說她現在每月賺 5,500 美元]

It's been cool to just like, be able to, like, validate all of the time and the energy and the love that, like I put into this thing, and to be able to, like, pay myself a livable wage, which I quite frankly have like, not maybe ever made before.

能夠驗證所有的時間、精力和愛，就像我投入到這件事上，並且能夠給自己支付一份足以維持生計的工資，這真是太酷了，說實話，這可能是我以前從未有過的。

[Liz hired her first employees in February 2024]

[Liz 於 2024 年 2 月僱用了第一批員工]

No, I would never go back to an office job.

不，我永遠不會回到辦公室工作。

I guess you have to do what you have to do.

我想你必須做你必須做的事。

But I hope to never have to.

但我希望永遠不必這樣做。

It feels amazing to be able to make a living doing my dream job.

能夠靠我夢寐以求的工作謀生的感覺太棒了。

I think there are so few people who get to say that.

我覺得很少有人能這樣說。

And oh, am I getting emotional?

哦，我是不是有點激動了？

And yeah, I just feel like beyond grateful every day to like, wake up and do work that I love and to like be able to create a business that can sustain spaces like this and can like create room for people to be creative and to connect to here, like almost every single day.

是的，我每天都感到無比感激，喜歡、醒來並做我喜歡的工作，喜歡能夠創造一個可以維持這樣的空間的企業，並且可以人們創造創造力和聯繫的空間來到這裡，幾乎是每一天。

Like how impactful this work is to people.

這個工作對人們的影響有多大。

And that's just like, so special.

這簡直太特別了。