Ep 420 : Starting with Relationships with Makeda Smith of Sio Ceramics

Season 4

Nov 12

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 without first actually putting yourself out there and trying to sell your work. But of course, there’s a huge gap between initially trying to sell your work and learning who your ideal people are. Most of us wish we could skip through the awkward pre-teen-like business years of uncomfortable situations and conversations with non-ideal customers. I get it. I’ve been there.

And while there’s no way to truly avoid those growing pains, a great way to be able to protect your own energy through the process is to know with absolute certainty that what you are doing is taking care of people. Not recommending the most expensive item in your booth because you want to make the big sale, but instead, recommending the item you genuinely think will solve the problem the person has described to you. While I could tell you all about how to define an ideal customer, at the end of the day, what I was reminded of during my chat with Makeda Smith is that all of this making a living from the things we make craziness starts with building relationships. Not only between fellow makers to help us through the unknown (as I talk about so frequently), but also in building relationships with the people we are meeting that may - or may not - buy our work.