We did it AGAIN!

The uncertainty and nerves around a virtual market have been shaken off and the floodgates of ideas and opportunities are now open. CirculateMKE Creative Entrepreneurial Market has always been about serving the needs of the community and responding in real time with innovative approaches to get new results to old problems. Traditionally, in the market those who attend are equally as important as the creative vendors who, beyond an economic opportunity, seek to help and offer healing to our communities. Each market we end with hugs and thank you’s for the positive energy, togetherness and love. Maybe some dancing and toasts….Even after a 9 hour day exhausted vendors, organizers, lingering attendees and volunteers are still running  on vibrations high enough to make us take another moment to appreciate one another. 

The process of coordinating the virtual experience has allowed a different kind of bond between us and the vendors who also get to connect on a deeper level. We use our insight and awareness of each business through the relationships we have developed with them over the last six years to curate each experience offering an intimate opportunity for them to develop a deeper level of appreciation for one another. 

CirculateMKE Virtual Market round 2 was all about healing. We titled it “Community, Immunity and Economics”. Each vendor chosen has a business dedicated to the well being of others with a personal story of their own journey of research, practice and healing. Each one of them had products that could be personalized and tailored to an individual’s needs and could draw a consumer in to consider and share their own personal story.

Like the first time, it started with one on one conversations, messages and clarity on our intentions. This is a scary time of uncertainty for many in our communities and with a plentiful variety of mixed messaging layered with fear about an uncertain future. COVID-19, the social distancing, health concerns and lost loved ones makes it hard for one to balance hopefulness on their own. Circulate Creative with the help of these healers would offer a virtual market experience that would offer some inspiration and insight on being healthy and home and offer options for emotional, physical and spiritual well being. Once again, we started with 5 vendors. One became unresponsive, one backed out before the practice round and another pulled out two days before the scheduled market. YIKES!!!! Oh well, this is how it goes. The universe was gonna make this work in our favor, and it did!

Each vendor, humble and eager to be helpful, took the practice round very seriously. Well, the two that showed up. We exchanged encouragement and offered advice for improvement on their presentations. Based on the content and the wealth of knowledge each vendor had to share we extended the presentation time from 6 to 8 minutes to 10 with no strict concern for time. We wanted to eliminate any pressure or barriers that would keep the flow from being authentic and whole. The synergy was good and there was a lot of wisdom to be shared. 

We sent the practice round with notes to the vendors for them to review and practice. We wrapped our heads around where the conversation could go and just as we suspected everything fell into place. A third vendor agreed last minute to participate and offered a service that brought the conversation of health full circle. All three vendors have deep roots in the community through family, friends and service and well respected and loved. We knew that each of them would draw in an extended audience just because of who they are!

We doubled our virtual attendance and took our time to engage with attendees. The feedback during and following the market was positive and consistent. We received texts, calls and messages thanking us for the market and shared testimony of how or why the Virtual Market conversations were very needed . 

For us, it has always been the testimony of the people that has been the greatest measurement of our CirculateMke success!

In the great words of Tupac Shakur – “Let’s change the way we eat, let’s change the way we live and let’s change the way we treat each other”

 

Meet Your Makers!!

We are looking forward to opening up this new digital door even wider. Time to let the people in!!! Think about all the new possibilities for connectivity that will spring up from this level of accessibility…. CirculateMKE Virtual Market is off to a magnificent jump!

Many people who have limited mobility or vision impairments for example have told us that they have had different challenges making it out to CirculateMKE Markets in the past. We flow into many physical spaces with so many considerations. Bathrooms, kitchen, storage, load-in, children’s area, wheelchair accessibility , wifi, parking….the list is significant. The attention to detail for every ingredient is critical.

This now changes with our segway into a new collective virtual experience. We are getting up close and personal to learn the stories, process and solutions of very bright creative entrepreneurs. ‘Meet Your Makers’ 

Help share and please spread the link/word about our upcoming #CirculateMke Virtual Markets so people in other cities , countries can experience our family of cooperative economics and resource support. Thursday May 14th JOIN US! 

We would love to see you!

Watch our kick off #Circulatemke Virtual Market

What had happened was….Pt.1

There is a lot of work that goes into organizing each CirculateMKE market. We are committed to very specific considerations that minimizes barriers for our vendors to participate including low cost vendor fees, certain amenities and children friendly atmospheres.

We do not pretend that we aren’t a culturally diverse group of bad ass creatives who love music, fun, food and art. We develop relationships with vacant property owners and various local businesses across our city to guarantee a rich experience in mostly untapped venues that they would otherwise not likely attract our audience of entrepreneurs or shoppers or be simply closed in general.

We go through many negotiations, site visits, marketing meetings, securing necessities for business productivity and more on a long list of variables that help us to determine if a venue or collaboration fits our needs and can be welcoming to our community.

In response to the COVID-19 pandemic that quickly shut down the world in slow motion, small business owners and entrepreneurs were impacted differently than corporate companies who had a rush of business overwhelm them while the rest of goods and resources became inaccessible. Circulate typically has April and May markets and we know our vendors depend on our seasonal schedule to maintain consistent visibility and an opportunity to jump back in and out of marketing due to “REAL LIFE” shit!

Much like the first market, the idea came and we immediately, in a quick quick hurry, began to flush out the details. We as organizers, knew that we had to map it out for our own understanding so we could be sure to be great communicators to our vendors. Our ‘typical’ list of considerations just didn’t apply. Charting a brand new pilgrimage into the digital world for the collective good of the CirculateMKE Creative Community would take a different kind of innovation and the list started with personal phone calls, initially 5.

We are known for a well detailed layout of instructions, what to expect and marketing materials. We didn’t fail for this either. Part of the difference now is that we are asking a bit more from our vendors to participate in this virtual process. We needed a strong headshot, a quote, a confirmation for a practice round and for them to prepare for a 6-8 minute product presentation. We provided a draft script and a list of considerations as homework.

Once we got our confirmations, we sent our detailed market emails out….And there was no initial response…Crickets…. We can’t help but to think that once that email went out the whole conversation got really real for everyone.

No getting little or letting CirculateMKE work its magic and with the click of two heels a market would appear. We couldn’t do this without them being ALL IN! I get it though, it’s a big ongoing responsibility. Then… We had one of the vendors drop out. She wasn’t ready- NO WORRIES! Then I called a few more who were NOT READY! Cool, understood.

Our practice round had 2 vendors in attendance but damn was it necessary for us all and it lent a lot of insight that we were able to record and share with other 2 vendors who couldn’t make it that day. I won’t even get into how hard it was to schedule the practice round to begin with. Once this was over it was on everyone to practice and get themselves confident for our big performance day!

Thursday, April 30^th  comes and we lost yet ANOTHER vendor……So I’m thinking , we have three for sure strong presentations and if we as hosts stepped into the conversations a bit more than we initially planned we could probably manage any issues around flow and time.

This was only round one of an ongoing series.
We spent the morning troubleshooting technical issues learning the zoom details and refining our intentions. Followed by an exchange of texts of encouragement with the vendors; 2:50pm was here and it was show time!

My response……… complete gratitude and love. The vendors crushed it! They were awesome storytellers, educators and great product pitchers. We had an engaged audience and although there is nothing like the vibrations and synergy in a physical gathering of a CircualteMKE Market, I think we gave and received a dose of a currency that is more valuable than money.

Thank you @runameh_nourish @canelitabrown and @blossomcandlesco

Please go to their pages and support them!

Order your products, they will come with love and free of shipping if you do it in the next week!

See you all on May 14^th for the next CirculateMKE Virtual Market!

Amor y paz,

Shoo Shoo

This is a new time, and on time

Intervention and innovation has always been at the root of our Circulatemke movement. Stepping out into a new curve of our reality by trying to present a solution.  Finding ways to come together, keep together in progress and work together in success. This is the time for us to make sure that we take care of each other and take care of our families.

We have been missing our CirculateMKE family!!!

Before we all got an understandable ‘Stay at Home’ order, we had Markets planned!!! Just like everyone else, we had sh!t to do!!! Then here comes this uncertain, unpredictable, version of a virus????  Thinking back, our team talked about hosting online meetups and other expansions to our off market engagement, through our website and social platforms…Now we are here….We just wanted to build on the digital connectivity of our an interactive platform and continue our goals building community and  growing local economic viability through our very mobile CirculateMKE Markets. Here we are…Now.

So now we introduce  our centralized Circulate CreativeMKE Virtual Market Series. This is where we will personally introduce some familiar faces and some new voices! We all will share our perspectives in this new reality. We will also continue to lift up our collective and cooperative power, our beautiful products, our heritage skills, exchange our stories and we will now make all of this available to an even wider audience.

Work with us. As we figure it out , send your suggestions!

Everything that you love and know about CirculateMKE Market’s to offer, we will strive to represent via our new Virtual CirculateMKE Market in a very positive experience. We dearly miss each and everyone of you, and everyone knows our markets are healing spaces and nothing but family love. So we are just going online for this time and we hope that you can join us! You can call in or use video! We hope that you can spread the word and help to populate our Virtual CirculateMKE Market just as you have supported for 5 years, we hope to see you sooner than later! Our Zoom ID to Join will be shared closer to the day of.

Vendors interested in participating can pre register on circulatemke.com – This series will be ongoing and your spots will be pre-scheduled.  Get on it!

If you would like to learn more about the zoom app that you can use to tune in on your phone or computer check this out! Zoom setup and tutorial video

Stay vigilant! Vote daily with your habits!

Signs of the times….People are passionate about politics….Sometimes. There are always signs of anxiety and even panic around election time…This presidential election season is even more insanely active with widespread stress. Everyone has their side. Then of course there’s your local elections and battles. What’s a creative entrepreneur to do during these uneasy times…You already know!!

1. Get BUSY! Create! – Imagine the possibilities and the problems you can solve with your products or service

People are scrambling looking for methods for buying and selling products and services in new ways due to new issues in our society.

2. Link up! – Get your ‘tribe’ together, we are always stirring (circulate) the concrete for relationships and connections that are naturally going to become solid partnerships that will only inspire more builders!

There are other makers and business owners that want to connect with YOU! Great minds think alike and as our networks expand they also shrink when we are precise!

3. Use your resources! – It’s the difference between spending your money , and using your money. The power of your dollars and being wise about where your precious treasure ( time/attention ) and energy ( relationships/resources ) are spent is priceless. Stay Vigilant!

Visionaries, 2020 moving fast!

Greetings Circulators! Peace and blessings to you ALL!!! We are looking forward to pushing harder in 2020 and learning more about each and every one of you! Learning and sharing more , period!

The more we communicate in our expertise the better for us all! We can grow together!

That’s what 2020 and beyond is about – Our collective excellence and coming together to  celebrate it!

Here is a video that breaks a whole lot of very critical info down – at a pace where you can take notes and actually digest some important “need to know” entrepreneurial resources. We always get lots of questions , so hopefully this can be helpful! The research does not stop!

If it’s not your ‘speed’ –  find this same sort of smart break down and share it with us! Please!

Vacant Spaces all around!

There is always a need to fill vacancy , especially in a major center for shopping and retail actio. Downtown Milwaukee ( with many other larger cities) are experiencing so much vacancy. The quest for ideas and scramble for sustainable development options are happening at a rapid rate. People seem to be tired of the same old same old scenarios. Some things are just outdated, especially with so much buying happening from phones or from computers these days…..

The pic above is inside ‘The Avenue’ – an ever changing, beautiful ‘mall’ space we recently activated for our 5th Annual CirculateMKE market. Everyone loved the vibes inside this once ‘Linen and things’ location. As most people know, we are a mobile operation that looks to pop out in different neighborhoods, work with diverse creative entrepreneurs and makers but also patrons! We are always on the lookout for vacancy or underutilized facilities that could fit our visions for growing the CirculateMKE experience fully. There are SO MANY vacancies and storefronts that need some innovative economic magnetism. That’s where we come in.  When you see a vacancy , think of us. Think Circulate MKE. We ain’t goin nowhere.

 

We had over 200 people attended our 5th Annual Black Friday Market! We even had FOX6 come down to do a special highlight on the fact that there was actually life and movement happening in this once bubbling, now seemingly dead area of downtown.

The power of our dollars is NEVER to be underestimated. WATCH what happens next!

 

The more you know!

The key to making IT happen is relationships! CirculateMKE believes in people power and creatively connecting our resources for a collective economic impact! Thanks to everyone who helps to refer new vendors and creatives to our Marketplace. It means alot when new vendors already have heard great things about the CirculateMKE experience! (Shout out to all you makers building up inventory, gettin’ ready!)

We have many makers and vendors who express that at our CirculateMKE Creative Entrepreneur Marketplace platform was the very first time they ever stepped out and tried to ‘make it happen’ –  and how much of a warm welcome they immediately received from our colorful community of shoppers and other circulators.

All feedback is so important to help us fine tune the details of each and every touch we make. Keep it coming! The more we share the better. Special thanks to all of our dedicated returning vendors / storytellers most who keep the products , services and magic flowing year round! This is that giving time of the year so give the gift of information and tell a friend about our Black Friday Market on 11/29! 

Share this upcoming opportunity with a friend or family member today! There is a selection process for vendors. Our anniversary  event is free and open to the public!

5th annual Black Friday has been announced!!

VENDOR REGISTRATION IS NOW OPEN! 

After more than 30 markets hosted all across the city and working with over 100 local Milwaukee creative entrepreneurs of all ages, CirculateMKE is excited to return back to what is now ‘The Avenue’(Formally Shops of The Grand Ave), where they held their 1st market some 5 years ago! Located at 161 W. Wisconsin Ave. in downtown Milwaukee, where some incredible transformations and renovations are underway. CirculateMKE guests will get a sneak peak at the plans and new developments!

This year’s Black Friday market will be held from 11am until 5pm in the former ‘Linen and Things’ location with entrance on Wisconsin Ave. The annual CirculateMKE Black Friday shopping experience is open to the public, free and family friendly.

What started as a unique way to gather and support community makers and local vendors outside of traditional retail shopping during the holidays has grown and inspired new economic mobility options for many local vendors and businesses in Milwaukee.

On Black Friday, CirculateMKE will acknowledge and commemorate the many achievements made by their CirculateMKE family of vendors, makers and supporters.

 

Entrepreneur 4 Life – Podcast

Check out this dope Entrepreneur for Life Podcast episode featuring vendor interviews from the most recent Circulate Creative Entrepreneur Market hosted at the beautiful Milwaukee Art Museum (MAM After Dark special event.) Press play & you will hear some great suggestions and honest reflections from experienced Milwaukee market merchants. Some very helpful tips of the trade from different perspectives and maybe some voices/brands you may recognize. They discuss the ways they have learned and grown as entrepreneurs. The whole vibe of this podcast is captivating and you almost feel like you’re at the party, in the conversation with them!

Consider this your invite to get in on it! Come Circulate with us! Press play!

We would appreciate your feedback and comments, we are all here to network and support each other! Who else do you think we need to have featured? What are some other topics, of points of interest you would like to hear? Are YOU an Entrepreneur 4 Life?If you would like to connect with others in the Entrepreneur 4 Life Network join the facebook group with over 1600+ members!