Business & Tech

Q&A: Making a Business Out of a Passion

Photo Gallery: University Park resident Laurie Baty has been making beaded jewelry as a hobby, now she hopes to turn it into a business.

Earlier this month, Laurie Baty and several other artists, sold their work at the .

Baty, 57, only recently began selling her work — beaded jewelry — at art shows and out of her home in University Park, which she's lived in since 2002.

Now beyond , she is trying to take her hobby to a new level and start her own business.

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Patch spoke with her about her business venture.

Riverdale Park-University Park Patch: What made you get into the business?

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Laurie Baty: I needed a hands-on creative outlet that went beyond just thinking about something. My mom has always been am expert crafter and she had started beading about three years earlier. I watched what she was doing and then started making jewelry for me and realized that people liked what I was doing.

 

Patch: How long was it a hobby?

LB: It really is still a hobby, but I realized I wanted to actively make to sell about six months into it.

 

Patch: Why do you like making jewelry?

LB: It gives me an intellectual creative outlet. I have to think a lot in my work, which is creative in a different way. I love working with shapes, textures, and colors.

 

Patch: So far, how successful has your business been?

LB: It's not yet a business, but I have had critical success. 

 

Patch: Where will you sell your products?

LB: Arts and crafts fairs; possibly upscale boutiques wanting unique items.


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