The Maker's Playbook

Send us Fan Mail When I hear people talk about boundaries and cutting back on work hours and all of that beautiful sounding work/life balance stuff, I assume the person preaching this has already reached a certain point of success. I think to myself, “Well, of course you can cut back on your work hours now . You already have -insert whatever- going for you, so it's safe to slow down." Bu...

Send us Fan Mail A lot of the time, we think about the benefits of in-person markets solely related to the sales we do on the specific day(s) of the market. But what if you thought a little bit more strategically? This week’s guest shares how she’s approaching selling at markets as a means of direct market research for who her ideal customer just might be… or not be. Guest Resources: Yvonne's...

Send us Fan Mail In this 3rd installment of "The Launch" series, I'm comparing the dynamics between small markets and multi-day art fairs, shedding light on the energy and small bit of acting skills needed for face-to-face sales. As made clear by so many past interviews here on the podcast, there is a huge value to the direct conversations we can have at markets for understanding ou...

Send us Fan Mail Most of the time, when I talk with other makers about taking the leap to go full time, we talk about the logistical things - having a bit of savings put away in case of emergency, understanding your numbers to make sure the pricing can support your necessities, getting an email list going in order to have ownership over your audience, etc. etc. etc. And while these things are inde...

Send us Fan Mail A 4 day work week… it’s the thing of dreams. And, according to many many studies I’ve read about in many books, actually highly linked to better productivity and all sorts of other very business-savvy things that only a fool would say no to. But in all of those books I’ve read, the examples have been from companies that had teams . So it was very easy to tell myself excuse after e...

Send us Fan Mail Episode 2 of the special The Launch series! This week I reflect on our first in-person market experience - just 6 short days after it happened. So yes, I'm still tired. :) We also have some insightful questions from our Community members as our framework for this review on the highs and lows of our first market. If you want to see the visuals from the market (including the bo...

Send us Fan Mail Have you ever wanted to be a fly on the wall while someone else starts a ceramics business? From the very beginning? Well, you’re in luck! In this new series - The Launch - I’m sharing (in as real-time as I can) the reality of what it’s like for Francesco and I to start our pottery business, Carra Terra. First up, what the last 2 years of twists and turns, starts and pauses, has b...

Send us Fan Mail Commissions… I feel like it’s a four letter word when I talk to some potters. You see them physically tense up and take a deep breath ready to do battle with a fire breathing dragon. And I’ve always been a little bit confused by this because I kind of like them. Just add it to the list of the ways that it makes me a bit of a black sheep in the art world. You can slot it right next...

Send us Fan Mail Do you feel like the time you spent in a previous career (or a current one) is just pulling you away from moving forward in clay? But have you ever considered that the “background knowledge” you have gained from other life experiences is actually part of creating your unique voice and style as an artist? In this week’s episode, Larissa Warren of Rat Bag Studios and I discuss how h...

Send us Fan Mail My chat this week with Gloria Han opens up so many bit and important conversations (spoiler: this means, there’s going to be a part two!). From getting into education because of a passion for teaching (rather than it being the automatic route after graduate school as it is for so many), to balancing contemporary work with traditional making practices, and encouraging new artists t...

Send us Fan Mail When I sat down with Paul Blais of the Potter's Cast and a packed room of fellow makers at NCECA, we hit upon a lot of business subjects. Frankly, just one of the questions he threw my way could have been its own entire episode. So today I’m expanding on a few of those subjects in this solo episode. If there are still questions you had from that chat, send me over an email at...

Send us Fan Mail When I say “making a living” what do you think I mean? Do you immediately think of income and how much money you make? Or do you think of how you spend your time? Do you think of the balance between working hours and leisure hours? I don’t think there is one particularly correct answer, but on this episode of The Maker’s Playbook, our guest, Danny Meisinger does put this phrase in...

Send us Fan Mail It’s our final replay week! Season 4 starts out next week, with someone who has been on my personal bucket list to interview for quite a long time. Before that though! Our final replay of one of the most popular conversations from last year - with someone who I have absolutely loved watch grow over the last two years. Jackie Wright was one of the inaugural members of my very first...

Send us Fan Mail While I take a long overdue break from the screens, we're replaying some of our most popular episodes! At the end of this original episode I reference The Community - our online home for makers. One of the coolest things about The Community (aside from being an amazingly supportive group of makers from all over the world rooting each other on and joining together to creativel...

Send us Fan Mail While I take a long overdue break from the screens, we're replaying some of our most popular episodes! And it’s no wonder these 4 episodes are some of our most listened to over the last year, because as I compiled them, I realized they are all on topics that really never end… Just as I mentioned in our Live taping at NCECA (episode 335 in case you were curious), one of the mo...

Send us Fan Mail While I take a long overdue break from the screens, we're replaying some of our most popular episodes! In the original episode, I referenced our 6-week photography course specifically for potters: The Maker's Photography Styling System. I'll be hosting this course again this year, but I don't quite know the exact dates just yet. If you are curious about it and...

Send us Fan Mail LIVE from NCECA! Our recording of the joint (but mostly Paul interviewing me ) episode with the Potter’s Cast is here! We touched the surface on a lot of business topics in this one hour. Anything from the importance of finding your own work before market research, how business is mostly just the scientific process on repeat, and a lot lot more, including direct questions from the...

Send us Fan Mail How often do you remember the name of someone’s Instagram account before you actually learn their real name? It’s a little weird. But it can also be freeing for some people, because it means you can choose how much of yourself you want to share. You can create an alter-ego of sorts. Not a dishonest representation of yourself - I’m not suggesting we start “catfishing” - but instead...

Send us Fan Mail If there was a store that was only open for 10 minutes out of the year, would you go to it? Do you think it would even stay in business? What would the business model even look like for such a store? This sounds crazy to describe doesn’t it... Every business advisor out there would tell you that a store needs to be available to people when the people are ready to purchase. Random...

Send us Fan Mail Building a business as an independent maker can be hard. And when you add on top of that the financial realities of doing it in an urban center… well, it takes a special level of drive, determination, work ethic and grit to make that happen. All of which, I can safely say Sarah Hussaini undoubtedly has. Sarah (owner of Not Work Related) and I connect on a lot business topics. So m...

Send us Fan Mail One of the most surprising things for many makers pursuing self-employment is that the brainstorming, troubleshooting, and all-around scientific method of experimenting, testing, observing, and pivoting never really ends (unfortunately or fortunately, depending on the day). The strategy you had for selling your pots 10 years ago might not work today, and it can feel like you are b...

Send us Fan Mail What if there was a way to grow your audience or broaden your reach without hustling on social media? What if you could focus on fostering a handful of really close relationships with people who understood and appreciated your work, and then in turn, spent their own time working to promote that work and get it out to a curated audience of people interested in possibly purchasing t...

Send us Fan Mail My chat this week with Virgil Ortiz is packed with insights. From pragmatic business advice, like protecting your intellectual property, to the less tangible topics of manifestation and trusting that things have a way of working out. The history of clay for the Cochiti people and how Virgil’s work, truly almost accidentally and yet oh so beautifully connects generations of storyte...

Send us Fan Mail “There’s only so much people can show you until you actually go and do it and fail and practice and practice until you get it….” This week on the podcast, I virtually sit down with Yairs Abraham who started his self-taught pottery journey in Buenos Aires, then moved to New Zealand, and now is potting away in his home studio in what spare time a baby and full-time job allows. But h...

Send us Fan Mail This week, my conversation with Page Kelly of Zephyr Valley Ceramics twists and turns, much like her career paths. A self-proclaimed “late bloomer,” there is this stunning moment in this conversation at about the 46-ish minute marker when Page discusses the narrative body of work she is currently producing, where I hear literally every experience she has had in the last 2 decades...