Today on the podcast, I’m discussing one of my favorite, most insightful, yet most difficult to stick to topics… growing slowly. If I could do it all over again, and go back 12 years in time, the one thing I would do differently would be to actually hold onto the work outside of starting my own business longer. I was in such a rush to feel the false legitimacy of being “full-time” that I missed out on the benefits (and support) that was possible when you weren’t only relying on your craft to pay the bills. This week’s podcast guest has strategic patience about growing his ceramics studio which is deeply refreshing.

There are two very exciting things happening on the podcast this week! #1 - I’m excited to announce that for the first time since starting this podcast, we have a bit more support to help me get new episodes out into your headphones! For the next couple of months, the one and only Amaco is sponsoring the Maker’s Photography Styling System! And I couldn’t be more grateful & excited. #2 - This week’s interview with Ben Carter is actually Part 2! Part 1 can be found over on Ben’s show, Tales of a Red Clay Rambler. But you can really listen to them in whatever order you want, so don’t stress :)

Why do you want to have 10,000 followers on Instagram? What will that do for you? Or rather… what do you think that will do? Today’s world is full of encouragement to grow - have more followers, make more content, do more, diversify income streams - do more and grow, grow, GROW! But have you ever stopped to ask yourself, “Why?” On this week’s episode, host Rebecca Ickes Carra sheds a bit of light on the Myth of Growth and how it might not solve the problems we think it will (it could in fact create more problems. Or at least create a deep feeling of burnout…). Encouraging us all to think critically, she also discusses the ways we can approach growth strategically in order to build the lives of our dreams.

On today’s episode, Tom Kemp manages to hold space for both a deeply philosophical conversation while at the same time providing pragmatic advice for all of us working to figure out how the heck to make a living from the things we make. I personally, have never connected much with the philosophy and the “what is art?” conversations that often spring up, but when married side-by-side with the realistic, and the pragmatic - the benefits of things like social media for artists to test out ideas in the marketplace alongside the difficult slog that is practicing a craft and teaching your body how to physically do something new in order to express that “what is art” idea? Now that is a conversation I could have had last twice as long as this interview.You’ve heard us talk a lot about Instagram here on the podcast in the last few weeks and it seems on continuous best-practice, how to succeed & grow on social media that every maker - whether side-hustler or full-timer - has said is rooted in consistency. Consistently showing up. But I know a lot of times consistency is hard if you don’t have a way to create photos and videos that you are actually proud of.

Is the thing you are dreaming of doing actually going to provide you with the life you are dreaming of having? On today’s episode, I sit down with Becca Otis (yes, from Wheeltalk Podcast!) to dispel some of the myths behind a lot of goals we self-employed artists often set. Dream of owning your own studio & hosting classes, she’s done it. Dream of selling your work to make a living, she’s done it. Want big-name brands to contract you for elusive wholesale work? That’s how Becca actually started her business! And now… she’s intentionally working in someone else’s pottery business instead.

If you are anything like me, that ever-growing to-do list is impossible. There isn’t enough time in the day or resources available to accomplish all the world yells at me to do. So what if you had a guiding light on how to decide what things on that ever-growing list, you actually really and truly needed to focus on? What if raising your prices wasn’t actually the solution, but lowering them was? It sounds crazy, right? But thanks to Sam Lopez’s vision for not only how he wants his work to be used in everyday life, but also what he wants his life to look like in the future as an independent maker and educator, he’s been able to make some decisions that, on the surface, could appear completely nonsensical if you are only listening to what the internet is shouting at you.

Do you think it’s too late to organically grow a large Instagram following? Did you only just start your Instagram and it feels like you’ve missed the opportunity? Maybe you tell yourself “there’s no possible way to grow on Instagram these days compared to before…” Or assume the advice someone gave you - maybe someone who already has a much bigger following - won’t work for you because they grew their following years ago - before reels, before there were so many potters online, etc. etc. etc…Well, my friends, it’s time to break down all of those excuses. Because today’s guest has grown her Instagram from a few hundred to over 32 thousand (at the time I’m writing this) in about a year and a half. That’s right. Jackie Wright started intentionally using Instagram for her ceramics at the start of 2021. No paid ads, no clever tricks or outsourced marketing assistance. Oh, and she’s not a full-time potter either. She’s side-hustling. So if she can do it… well, I think you and I can do it too, can’t we?In this episode, Jackie kindly references our Maker’s Photography Styling System - a 6-week photography course designed specifically for ceramicists and makers. If you need support in learning how to take better photos of your work, then you aren’t going to want to miss out when the doors open again on September 8th! We only do this twice a year and the Maker's Photography Styling System is made specifically to help you build your own, quick & easy, repeatable system (just like Jackie now has) to take better photos of your work faster.

What if you stopped making the kind of work you don’t actually like to make and decided to only make the random thing that really interests you? And what if… what if doing that actually brought you more sales and more people interested in your work and excited about the same thing you are excited about than you could have ever imagined?

That very thing is happening for Kate Schroeder and her Shelfies and on this episode, we get to hear all about the long road that led her to today's successes.

For most everyone I’ve spoken with in the last year and a half of the podcast, one thing has been true - As soon as they touched clay, they were hooked. It was like a siren call, an addiction, where their whole life they began to rearrange in order to figure out how to carve out more time to have their hands in the mud. That mesmerizing experience that is true for so many of us, often has us jump straight from our first class at the local community studio to “how do I sell this so that I can quit my job?” in the span of just a few months. But what does it actually take to quit your job and go full-time in pottery? What SKILLS do you need in order to actually be able to make a living from the things you make? Are there certain goals you need to hit to make this thing viable? Today’s guest sheds a bit of light on his experience with these very questions.

When you see a super well know potter's name somewhere - on the cover of a book, on a list of speakers at a conference, or anywhere else - do you ever wonder how they got there? Did they always know they wanted to do this? Or was their path a bit more windy (perhaps like yours and mine)? Have they reached this particular level of success because of a clearly laid out plan, or was it really most luck and timing? Well my friends, one of those names that pop up in my head as more of a name on a book rather than the person themselves is John Britt and on today's episode, you just might be surprised how he came to have his name on the cover of that book that’s probably on your shelf right now…

12 years ago, I had no idea what I was doing. I didn’t go to business school. And I definitely had never dreamed of starting my own business. But, I managed to keep putting one foot in front of the other and climb up the hill that is self-employment, learning when to adjust course or totally change plans when necessary thanks to the support of an incredible Community of peers.On today’s solo episode, I’m sharing why I’ve spent the last 4 months building a virtual home for makers - The Community by the Maker’s Playbook - and a few of the things that make this online space particularly special to me. I know without a doubt that I would not have the business I have today without the support of a community of colleagues. The depth of this support is what I dream about bringing to the maker community. Not only tactical how-to’s from the makers that have come before you, but side-by-side emotional support when the going gets tough. Because if there’s one other thing I know it’s this: Making a living from the things you make is a marathon, not a sprint. And while it might always be hard, it’s a heck of a lot more enjoyable with friends by your side.Find out more about The Community by the Maker’s Playbook by clicking here: www.makersplaybook.com/community

Kenny Sing of Turn Studio & I chat this week about how his Instagram originally started out simply as a place to share the processes he was testing out, without the intention of reaching 83,000++ followers. We also dig into his passion for teaching and why he's building his community studio space (plus how building a studio actually works and all the hard cost realities of doing that).Kenny's heart for building a community clearly hits home for me. If you don't have a local resource for in-person community building like Kenny's space, or if you are craving connecting with other makers year round rather than a few days at a workshop, I'd be honored to see you join us over at The Community. We already have makers from all over the world chatting together, and we'll be kicking things off with a full month of digging into how we can use Instagram in a sustainable, healthy way next week.

On this week’s episode, I virtually sit down with Lucy Fagella to discuss how she’s shifted her business over the course of the last 20+ years as a full-time studio potter. We chat about the realities of parenting and being a full-time maker as well as how to make sure you are taking care of your body amidst the physical demands of ceramics. Lucy has navigated the big shift from predominantly cash-based in-person market sales to credit card processing and online shops (and as may come as a shock to some, would rather spend a day packing up boxes & shipping labels than loading a car and driving to a show). Lucy has discovered a way in which to provide a stable income removed from the stress of the shop-update cycle on one half of her business while keeping things flexible and creatively interesting on the other side.

Have you ever talked yourself out of going after a goal because the logistics just felt impossible? Like pursuing a master’s degree when you can’t attend a school in person? Or setting up a home studio space when you work in a job that forces you to move locations every couple of years? Pretty difficult right? But not impossible. Or at least, you can’t use that excuse any more, because today’s guest on the podcast, Del of D Goode Art has managed to work with all of those logistical limitations while also creating some incredibly iconic work.

We are back! Season 3 of the Maker’s Playbook podcast kicks off with Adam Field! In this episode, Adam and I dig into how he managed to say yes to a multi-year residency program at the Archie Bray with 2 kiddos in tow, how he integrates social media into his studio practice, and the vulnerability it takes to change the style of our work when also making a living from that work. This is a conversation I know I personally will be returning to frequently.