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.

It’s taken me longer than expected to finish writing this episode. But I suppose that should come as no surprise given the constant influx of world news being thrown at us. At times like this, just like in 2020 and so many other moments of social awakening in the last few years, our work as artists can feel disconnected with the immediate needs of the world. On this week’s solo episode, I’m peeling back the curtain on how I process that for myself. Alongside my originally planned episode of discussing a few of the various business models you can choose in order to create a business that serves your life and not the other way around.

Do you think of the word “business” as a dirty word? Does the idea of starting a business seem like the last thing that might bring about the change we so desperately need in the world? Could a business possibly do as much good for our communities as a non-profit organization? Well, this week’s podcast guest is building a business on their terms. And it’s one creating quite an impact. Phi Le has built their community pottery studio, Illuminated Clay, specifically focused on not only providing a safe space for people often not included in traditional structures but also a space that can provide resources to historically marginalized groups regardless of their ability to pay. And Phi is only just getting started…

Burnout - If it wasn’t a word in your vocabulary before 2020, it probably is now. It’s a topic talked about a lot in the land of the self-employed and generally, the tactics for avoiding it are always given by someone who’s just recently, slowly, crawling out of it. But don’t worry - Nicole Dacey and I aren’t going to give you any of those tactics you’ve heard a million times. No, instead, we settled in for a simple, candid, straightforward conversation about the twists and turns your career can take and the many ways burnout can show up even when you are doing things you love.

What if you set up your life around one non-negotiable? How would that inform the decisions you make every day? How would that change your day-to-day schedule - where you live, what you choose to do for work (if it’s outside of the non-negotiable), how you commute… all of it. Maybe it’s a radical idea, but when I heard today’s podcast guest, Mike Tavares, describe this decision it was a big lightbulb moment.

What’s the through-line for everyone thinking about going full-time with their art? Or even for those who are already full-time and self-employed? No matter what, aside from a slightly obsessive passion for our craft the big elephant in the room for us all is Risk. And today’s podcast guest stared risk in the face and said yes anyway. She said yes to moving cross country and yes to taking on the overhead of a storefront studio in the hopes of propelling her business farther forward than she ever has before. Listen in to hear how Leila Srouji of Tierra Madera is managing all of these big changes as a full-time, self-employed maker.

Our first ever panel is on the podcast this week! I’m chatting with not one, but two of the founding members of the Village Potters Clay Center in Asheville, North Carolina - a brilliant community studio that clearly has cracked the code on not only helping potters and artists push themselves creatively but also in creating sustainable partnerships and viable businesses.So basically, they are all living the dream…

Today, my photography tips come directly from a recent email conversation I was having with another maker about how things “should” look on Instagram. As in, do all of your photos have to have the same colors so the feed looks cohesive? Do you need to have a pattern to your posts? At the heart of all of these questions about the look of photos and the flow of a feed on Instagram to me was one thing: Your Style. Because the specifics of whether or not you have a pattern or whether or not it’s all one color, are less important than making sure everything feels cohesive together.

Photography can be overwhelming if you don’t have an efficient system for it. But it is possible to have an efficient system for it! And if you don’t believe on that - because you’ve been totally exhausted and frustrated by the google search results so far... Well, I’ve asked a few past students to share their experiences on the podcast.

Have you ever thought, "If I only had a larger Instagram following then..." But have you thought about what it would really take to do that? How many hours it would take to create the content to grow that audience? There's no one that knows that reality much better than the one and only Curt Hammerly of Hammerly Ceramics.

Our final new interview episode before a little holiday and end-of-year break is an insightful one. So often all of us can feel like we're behind... As if we could be so much farther along with our making practices or small business had we only known 10 years ago that this is what we were going to want to do. But what if all those disparate life experiences are actually creating the precise set of skills you might need in the future to in fact launch your business? In big and small ways, that's precisely what's been true for Kisha Reed of Peaks Candles. On this episode, she and I chat about the unintended benefits of having worked and studied on a variety of topics, as well as the perks of quietly launching a business.