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.

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 our potential customers' interests, but the thing that might come as a massive surprise to everyone is in this episode, I'm challenging the concept of the "ideal customer" and what that really means for building a small business.

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 indeed important, the unsung workhorse of being able to make a living from the things you make - the thing that often is the difference between keeping a business afloat or not, the thing that carries most of us through the uncertainty isn’t a spreadsheet or new planning journal. It’s our mindset. Battling the ups and downs of all that’s happening in our heads, particularly when it comes to feelings of scarcity - that - spoiler alert - social media is essentially built to enhance - is actually what Tzipporah and I wind up talking about amidst sharing the realities of her life as a mom of 4 with a self-employed husband as well!

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 excuse of why it could clearly work for a team, but not work so well for us solo-preneurs, or itty bitty businesses trying to do the work of 10 people while only being one person . That is, until I saw a post by Julie Cloutier on Instagram, where she was celebrating her one year anniversary of a 4 day work week...

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.

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 been like and how that’s brought us to this summer of going all in on in-person markets. Spoiler: This episode airs one week before our very first in-person market. I’m guessing you’ll be able to hear the nerves through your headphones.If you are going through all of this yourself and want to dig deeper on these conversations, come join me and over 60 other makers from all over the world inside of The Community. You can learn more about what this amazing space on the internet is by visiting makersplaybook.com/community. Becoming a member not only welcomes you into an amazing group of makers and colleagues celebrating the great successes with each other as well as supporting each other on the not so great days, your membership also helps with the creation of this very podcast.

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 to my love of systems and routine and willingness to talk about marketing and sales. But I digress… When I sat down with Micah Schedler I thought we’d mostly chat about how he’s balancing working as a health professional in nursing as well as having 2 little kids and launching a brand new website - I didn’t know we’d share a joy of the efficiency of commissions and that’s actually where he hopes to focus most of his business. But hang with us here. If you are already rolling your eyes, thinking “No way, Rebecca. I tried it once and it was a mess. I’ll never do a commission again.” Before you click the next button, just give us maybe 10 minutes to see if Micah’s controlled approach to how he makes commissions work best for him - amidst the sleep deprivation of toddlers and working another job - might help you re-think this often annoying request…

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 her previous career as a teacher directly influences her current work, how the connections and background knowledge she gained while in that career directly support her recent jump into being a full-time studio potter and how the literal background knowledge of the medium you are working in is crucial to actually making the work. While so many of us scour the internet for quick and easy answers to what another artist uses for clay or glaze, what material do they make those stencils out of and how do you (insert whatever unique style skill here)... Larissa points out that maybe the key to figuring out all of those questions is actually found within the trial & error that comes with gaining the background knowledge of the process in the first place.

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 to consider the wisdom of generations of knowledge before defaulting to the overused excuse of there being “no wrong way to make something.” Gloria’s teaching practice and her making practice are intrinsically linked - one informing the other and also each allowing the space for the other passion to be nurtured without the push of capitalism to make work that’s easy to sell.

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 podcast@makers-playbook.com and I’ll queue up another follow up episode as well! Because if there was one way to sum it alllllll up, it’s that just about every decision when it comes to your own business - whether a side-hustle on the nights and weekends or a full-time gig - nearly every decision you are going to have to make is interconnected to every other decision.

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 into some very helpful perspective for those of us trying to figure out the financial side alongside the dream life of being a full-time potter in the 21st century. If you are dreaming that same dream, or even just curious about what it’s actually like to make a living from what you make, this episode is for you.

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 live audience that was sitting in front of us the whole time. The room was absolutely packed and frankly, I was a bit stunned. Any one of the questions Paul asked me could be their entire own episode by themselves, so if there is a subject you were wishing we had time to dive deeper on, send me and email and let me know! I’m working on trying to compile more of my post-NCECA thoughts for future episodes and I’d love to know what you are most interested in. Send over your ideas to: podcast@makers-playbook.com If all the NCECA talk the last few months has you feeling all the FOMO (fear of missing out), please know that I am here for you. FOMO sucks, and it’s not a feeling I want to encourage in this world. In fact, my own history with FOMO is a huge reason I wanted to build The Community. I’ve realized that one of the massive benefits of a digital space is the way we can show up for each other on a regular basis. Rather than having 4 intense days of hyper-energetic interaction, only to drop back down to zero, like a little kid after a sugar high (aka what NCECA can feel like)… Online, we can embrace a consistency within our usual daily or weekly routines. We can be more present to each other than I was ever able to be with anyone at NCECA. Long story short, if watching what seemed like every maker you follow online show up to NCECA caused you to feel a great deal of FOMO. Or if you attended NCECA and felt that massive shock of returning back to everyday life, where there wasn’t a group of ready and willing makers to nerd out with you - Consider having a peek at The Community. There’s a 2 week free trial when you visit makersplaybook.com/community and you are more than welcome to take advantage of it to have a peek around and see if this just might be the place for you. If not, no worries. Either way, you can learn more at makersplaybook.com/community

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, the ability to create a comfort zone for what you share publicly and what you choose to keep private. Not to mention, how building a brand name can help you create space between the public and the private. This, of course, also means what we all experience as users online is not always the full story of what is happening in real life for any maker we might follow, which is the big question I’ve had for Kim Ferguson of Khaos Creates for a long time. Between seeing snippets of a wholesale jewelry line and hearing about her acceptance into a local residency -I had no idea, until we chatted that she was balancing all of that while still working a full-time job! Understanding what life actually looks like is exactly why I started this very podcast, so, of course, I’m excited for you to hear Kim’s story this week where we shed a bit of light on the difference between the instagrammable Khaos Creates and the lovely human that is Kim.

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 last minute birthday gifts, mother’s day, of course the lead up to the crazy end of year shopping season. Especially in the US, we are used to stores being available nearly any time we want. And we aren’t even talking about online shopping yet… But here’s the spoiler: I’m not talking hypothetically. Because, when you do the math, 10 minutes, is about how long there is work available to purchase from Not Work Related’s website over the course of 1 year. Sarah’s incredible design heavy work sells out in less than 2 minutes. And the time intensive nature of her designs mean she and the Not Work Related’s team only do 5 stock drops on her website per year. 5 times 2 equals 10. 10 minutes. If this intro hasn’t hooked you in just yet to sticking with us for part two of my conversation with Sarah Hussaini of Not Work Related, let me just say this: The point of sharing this, and so many other stories here on the Maker’s Playbook podcast is to show you - There is no single right or wrong way to make this crazy dream work. Yes, that means you might have to try and possibly fail at some options before you figure out what works for you. But I hope, most of all, that it means as you listen to Sarah’s story, you will be encouraged to find the solution that works for your life circumstances specifically.HEADS UP: There is adult language in this episode, so please be aware before deciding to listen without headphones in public spaces or around little ones.

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 many, that I couldn’t contain all of the nuggets of hard earned knowledge in one episode. That’s right my friends, settle in because this is only part ONE of my chat with Sarah. Next week, we’ll be coming back for part 2.

A heads up: This episode does contain a bit of adult language.

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 back at the drawing board, practically starting from scratch all over again. What you decide today, well in 3 years or maybe even 1 year, you might have to change again… But before you feel too hopeless, know that it is possible to grow and shift with the times. Because Katherine Mahoney has been doing just that, across 3 different countries, for the past 40 years.

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 that work? Does it sound too good to be true? Well, this week on the podcast, we talk about a possible business model that can do just these things. But it also gets talked down upon a lot in the industry because of what you might have to give up in order to enjoy it…

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 storytellers is nothing less than astonishing.

“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 here’s the catch… he prefers it that way. And if his fantastically designed website is any indication, he’s definitely found the right solution for himself!

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 - inside and outside of working in clay - come together. It’s an encouraging moment, especially for those of us that feel like we are getting started in this beautiful journey a bit… well, later than others. Note: There is a tiny bit of adult language in the latter half of this episode, so if you are listening around kiddos are in a community setting, you might want to choose to pop on some headphones.