Today we’d like to introduce you to Dakota Myers.
Hi Dakota, thanks for sharing your story with us. To start, maybe you can tell our readers some of your backstories.
Back in college, I was learning about laser engravers from a friend and decided to make a few coasters for myself using the school’s machines.
I posted them on Reddit and some people were interested in having some, so I made more. After a few months of this, my girlfriend convinced me to get my own machine and try it out selling at a local convention.
Despite a few flaws, our first event was a big success and I knew it would become my full-time career. Since then, we’ve traveled across the southeast selling at conventions and local markets.
I’m sure you wouldn’t say it’s been obstacle-free, but so far would you say the journey has been a fairly smooth road?
For the most part, things have gone well.
A lot of my friends and family at the time thought it was a fun hobby and never really believed that I would be able to sustain myself making art. But with the support of Leili, we kept pushing and now even at the ‘worst’ of shows we still have a good time meeting other artists and making a living.
A big struggle aside from selling is being able to manage my schedule. A laser can only make so much product a day and stretching myself too thin was a problem in the past when I wasn’t able to offer as many things.
Nowadays understanding what my limits are has been a big improvement to my overall quality of work and lets me keep sharing amazing things with so many people.
Alright, so let’s switch gears a bit and talk business. What should we know about your work?
My business is called Arcanic Artistry, and I make all sorts of laser engraved wooden coasters, wall art, and other functional accessories for all forms of entertainment.
A big part of my business is built off doing custom commissions whether it be niche designs or unique twists on regular ideas. My goal has always been to share cool things with people.
A few of my more popular designs have been the Welcome Sign. I made for dungeons and dragons, display stands so people can display their favorite figure collections and of course the limitless possibilities of engravings on coasters.
How do you define success?
There are a lot of different ways to measure success at any given time.
Am I proud of what I make? Will someone remember me years down the line? Is what I’m doing still making me happy? As long as something I’ve made has a positive impact on the world I think I’ve found some success.
Contact Info:
- Website: https://arcanicartistry.com/
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/arcanicartistry/
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/arcanicartistry/
- Twitter: https://twitter.com/ArcanicArtistry
- Other: https://www.tiktok.com/@arcanicartistry?
