skillshare!

Have you heard of Skillshare? This is a VERY cool concept based on the principles of DIY (do-it-yourself) and community building. The basic premise is that those with skills (cooking, building, gardening, knitting, etc.) get together with others to barter for lessons or work.

Last week I was lucky enough to attend my first Skillshare event here in Honolulu; I had cooking lessons and vegetarian meals as my currency, in hopes of trading for some audio-visual assistance and/or some graphic design assistance for my new business. I was lucky enough to find both- but the big trade of the evening was a two-night stay at a beach house on the North Shore of Oahu in exchange for a cooking demonstration at a farmer’s market. The owner of the house is a mushroom farmer (the only one here on Oahu!) and asked me to cook and sample at an upcoming market. Score!

After our event here I started poking around online and found two other awesome sites that might be of interest to you too! Skillshare.com is a great resource for anyone looking to expand their skill set. Online classes range from food photography, HTML coding, DIY gifts, building an iPhone ap, networking, and meatball making. Check them out on Facebook for the most recent classes and updates. There is also a Skillshare Network in Boulder, CO, but their classes don’t seem to be available online. Elsewhere, check out the skillshare groups on Meetup.com for like-minded, skillful folks in your area.