The Indianapolis Coffee Guide has always been and will always be a side passion project of mine. It’s my love letter to the local coffee community! Doing something at this scale also comes at a significant cost, so I’ve had to lean on my entrepreneurial spirit over the years to keep the Coffee Guide going and growing.

One of the best resources that has (surprisingly!) helped me on the business side of things is actually the Indianapolis Public Library. Yes, THE LIBRARY.

I attended a free class at the library that I was able to then use to help me grow the Indianapolis Coffee Guide. That’s right, free. Because all programming at The Indianapolis Public Library is free and open to the public. We’ll talk more about this later, but to see all upcoming events, go ahead and visit (and bookmark) indypl.org/calendar.

This is not even an ad or a paid partnership or sponsored content—I just…love the library and you couldn’t pay me to shut up about it.

The free printmaking class that changed everything

Back in 2023, I met my friends who work from the Indianapolis Public Library for coffee at Quills, right after they moved to their beautiful new location on Meridian.

The fall schedule for their free classes was about to come out, and they encouraged me to sign up for a printmaking class with their amazing teacher Jager Palad because it is one that always fills up right away. I wasted no time.

I attended the two-hour class one Saturday afternoon in August at Central Library, and it was…amazing.

For starters, I was in a room with over 20 new friends of all ages, skill levels, and backgrounds. All of the materials and supplies were provided to us. And Jager was (and is!) an amazing teacher. Jager’s patience, understanding, and knowledge of the craft kept everyone engaged and inspired. We all left with so much knowledge, hands-on experience, and even prints of our own that we made in class.

I’ve taken classes like this at different places that cost hundreds of dollars (and don’t even get me started on how much money I spent on art classes and supplies in college…). Being able to take a class like this for free at the library was such a gift.

So, how did it actually help my business? This was the surprising part.

How the class helped me grow my business

In order to pull off the amazing creative projects we have over the years—and to be able to pay so many of you to help contribute!—the Indianapolis Coffee Guide is also technically a business on paper.

I’ve flexed my creative muscles with fun projects to help generate revenue for the Indianapolis Coffee Guide that I could then turn around and invest right back into it. I have never and will never take money from coffee shops directly, and I’ve always felt icky about paid partnerships that aren’t directly related to coffee. So what I typically do is turn to merch!

In true ScottFashion™️, I used my new found printmaking obsession skills to make a cool crewneck sweater for myself. Also in true ScottFashion™️, I took a selfie and boasted my pride on Instagram. The DMs started rolling in immediately.

“Where do I get one of those?”

“How much??”

“Who did that??”

“What sizes?”

“New merch WHEN?”

I naively thought to myself: “FINE. I’ll print a few extra crewnecks and do a little flash sale.”

My husband took me to The Eiteljorg Museum for my birthday, which just so happened to be the day I lowkey launched the flash sale preorders. I figured I’d probably sell a handful and then turn off the preorders after a few hours.

Within a few minutes, I received 4-5 orders. Another few minutes and another 4-5 more. All of a sudden, 10 more.

Then, a single order came in for 30.

I turned my phone off because of all of the notifications (and also because museum).

When I turned it back on a few hours later, I had crossed the 125 mark. “HERE WE GO,” I assured myself.

By the next morning, I had orders for nearly 300 crewnecks.

I love making merch, and I typically only do it when I have an idea that I’m really excited about. I was daunted, but excited and ready for the challenge, especially because this was my first time making the merch by hand and at my house (sorry, Patrick!).

The most exciting part about this for me, though, was how it all started—with that free printmaking class at the Indianapolis Public Library.

I took this new skill I learned on a whim and used it to literally help my business.

All the free programming (and more!) at The Indianapolis Public Library

Again, I just took one fun printmaking class at the library, but they have soooo many other programs throughout the year that are ALL FREE and cover so many amazing categories.

For starters, they have coffee classes like the Coffee Brewing 101 classes I taught this summer (and maybe again next year if you’re reading this, Jill!).

They have so many arts classes, like printmaking, painting, yarn crafting, crochet, paper bead making, and regular craft and chat sessions for anyone to hang out and craft.

If you’re a child of the internet like me and like to use your phone and computer to make things, they have programming for learning Canva, building websites with Wix, using a Cricut, and even 3D PRINTING. They have so many classes they even have a page dedicated to it on their website: Digital Creativity at The Library.

You can use your fancy library card to do all sorts of things. You can learn from great on-demand video courses on Kanopy. You can LEARN A NEW LANGUAGE using the Mango app. Your library also gives you free access to LinkedIn Learning courses, which is huge.

Aside from these free programs, the Indianapolis Public Library provides so many other amazing free resources for the community.

All programming at The Indianapolis Public Library is free and open to the public. To see all upcoming events, please visit indypl.org/calendar.

Growing my business

As the Indianapolis Coffee Guide has grown and evolved over the years, the expenses it takes to manage and maintain it have also grown. Do you know how expensive it is to host a website this size? Or to have a Mailchimp account? To hire amazing writers and photographers? Or to PRINT A MAGAZINE (which is available at the Library!)? 😅 It’s a price I’m willing to pay for something I love so much, especially if it benefits so many amazing local businesses.

I love the Indianapolis Public Library with my whole heart. I love my friends at the library with my whole heart. I love telling you about them because the library is such an important institution to all communities, not just Indianapolis. They are part of what makes every community so special in the way they show up and provide for us in so many ways. They’ve been such great partners for the Indianapolis Coffee Guide over the years and for me, personally.

To learn more about The Indianapolis Public Library, and to sign up for a library card, please visit indypl.org.