The Maker's Playbook

Send us Fan Mail How often do you look at what other makers are sharing on social media and think to yourself - “How do they have time to make all this CONTENT? Daily reels, stories, thoughtfully designed themes, not to mention the actual pots!” It’s easy to feel overwhelmed. This week on the podcast, we’re going behind-the-scenes with Hope Limyansky-Smith of Limyansky Studios who consistently pos...

Send us Fan Mail What were you doing 15 years ago? Were you already making? Had you not even found clay yet? It’s amazing the twists and turns our lives can take, and yet, without them, we wouldn’t be doing what we’re doing today. On today’s episode, I sit down with Victoria Brook, who first introduced me to wheel throwing 15 years ago, when I lived in Newcastle-upon-Tyne, England for a year. A li...

Send us Fan Mail We’re kicking off Season 5 with a big announcement right at the start of my chat with Rebecca Harvey, the executive director of the Archie Bray. Rebecca and I also chat about the history of the Bray and her vision for the future, along with the pros & cons of traditional academic education and partnering (or not!) with galleries. Never miss an important announcement (or sneak...

Send us Fan Mail Our 4th most popular episode of 2023 was 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...

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 Our second most listened to episode of 2023 was Part One of my chat with Sarah Hussaini of Not Work Related (and Part Two wasn't fair behind, coming in at the 6th most popular!). There's a different reality in making a living from the things you make in an urban center like New York City than just about anywhere else in the world, and on this chat, we talk very candidly...

Send us Fan Mail We're taking a brief season break amidst the craziness of holiday fulfillment season for our own ceramics business (and then hopefully, with a little luck and a lot of planning, a bit of an actual break). New episodes will return at the start of February 2024, but in the meantime enjoy the top episodes of 2023 to finish out the year. You just might catch something you didn&ap...

Send us Fan Mail A year end recap of our first full year focusing more intentionally on launching our ceramics business, Carra Terra. If you are looking for support in trying to figure out how to make a living from the things you make, come take a look at our online home for makers from all over the world by visiting makersplaybook.com/community --- Looking for support in building your own creativ...

Send us Fan Mail Have your friends ever marveled at how much you manage to get done? How you somehow work full-time and then also produce artwork on the side that you sell on the nights and weekends in your side-hustle? How often are we praised for seemingly “doing it all?” In our productivity focused culture, these accolades can feel amazing. But is it healthy? I am most definitely not the only o...

Send us Fan Mail Goals… Are they something that’s fixed? Or something that’s flexible? I used to think of goals as rather fixed. You choose your goal, then put your head down and work towards that one, singular, (often random?) goal. Right? Hmmmm… Goals do give us guidelines. Without goals, we are constantly chasing the next shiniest thing. Before we ever got any traction on the last, now slightly...

Send us Fan Mail A lot of business advice talks about needing to find your ideal customer. That hypothetical person that you need to understand inside and out - from what stores they shop at to what value system they use to view the world. And while this is important, what most of that business advice does not tell you is that it is nearly impossible to figure out who your ideal customer is withou...

Send us Fan Mail As much as I talk about analytics, strategic decisions, data, systems and all the very pragmatic things about building a small business… Honestly, a lot of this whole making a living from the things you make thing is still ultimately, emotional decisions. But how can those pesky emotions help guide us in our decisions rather than derail us? We can't possibly trust every fleet...

Send us Fan Mail In this chat, you are going to hear my unfiltered shock at how little I actually know about Maya’s personal life - proof that you do not have to overshare on the internet in order to use social media for strategic business growth, how Maya has pivoted her audience over the years through drastically different styles of making, and (equally exciting for me), how she changes her busi...

Send us Fan Mail When you dream about going full-time with your craft, what is the real job? Is it really going to be your hands in clay all day, every day? Getting to hit that coveted “flow state” in the studio because you finally have no other interruptions and can simply focus? I mean, that sounds like a dream, but more often than not, the big surprise for any of us starting a small business ca...

Send us Fan Mail I think it’s a safe assumption to make that most of us enjoy sharing a story about how we made a piece we are particularly proud of. Or heck! We enjoy sharing a funny fail story about a flop on the wheel (once enough time has passed that we can laugh about it, of course). Now what if I told you that storytelling is actually all you need to do in order to sell your ceramics.  My ch...

Send us Fan Mail Sometimes, making art can feel less important as we scroll through the news and battle with all that’s happening in the world. How can the things we make battle racism? How can a pot positively influence the needs of climate change? It sounds a little silly. Until we realize that culture is what changes the world. And art is uniquely linked to affecting culture and thus, change. T...

Send us Fan Mail Doors to the Maker's Photography Styling System are once again open! But only for the next week. If taking better photos faster sounds like a dream, come learn how together we can make it a reality by clicking here: makersplaybook.com/mpss --- Looking for support in building your own creative life? Come join over 100 other makers from around the world, having these very discu...

Send us Fan Mail There are few things in life I find more encouraging than finding colleagues who understand your life. With all do respect to our supportive loved ones, there’s just something different about the depth of conversation you can have with another person who understands how heartbreaking it can be when you bump that perfectly trimmed bowl you’ve been working on for days off the shelf...

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...