The Maker's Playbook
A podcast where we talk all about what it's really like to make a living from the things you make. Featuring candid interviews with other ceramicists and makers, as well as helpful business tips to make your side-hustle into a life-giving, viable business.
Episodes
141 episodes
{Replay} Ep 123: Alex Matisse of Eastfork Pottery on the Importance of Vision
How do you go from a farm with a woodfire kiln and two potters to an industrial warehouse that already feels too small? Vision. And a bit of luck. At least, that's what worked for Alex Matisse, founder of the one and only Eastfork Pottery. On t...
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53:40
{Replay} Ep 125: Mental Health & Finding Your Community with Katie Meili
We’re taking a quick season break but in the meantime, enjoy this chat from way back in Season 1 that I had with Katie Meili. We chat about the difficulties of mental health and how it feels when life takes unexpected turns that throw you off a...
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1:17:46
Ep 525: When Plans Change with Xioma Ortiz
Leap and you’ll learn to fly… The key to success is action… The best way to predict the future is to create it… How many of these tropes have you heard? They are usually associated with that scary first step of making a change in your life to g...
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Season 5
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Episode 138
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1:16:56
Ep 524: Adjusting to Full Time with Rhianon Vichta
Thinking about becoming a full time artist is a dream that lingers in the back of many people’s minds. And my assumption is, whenever any of us are dreaming about a change, we mostly think that if we took this leap, if we didn’t have to be both...
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Season 5
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Episode 137
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1:10:36
Ep 523: Immaterial with The Met
So what does it mean if the work we’re making isn’t as impermanent as we think? Does it have to be in order to have value? Is there still value when it breaks? Today, I’m thrilled to partner with the one and only Metropolit...
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Season 5
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Episode 136
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49:38
Ep 522: The Case for Curiosity {The Launch}
As I reflected on what we're doing differently for this market season compared to last year's, I realized a trend that I've also seen after teaching over 200 makers inside our MPSS photography course and journeying along side nearly 100 makers ...
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Season 5
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Episode 135
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45:40
Ep 521: Becoming an Artist with Isaac Scott
What does it even mean to “be an artist?” Does it mean you are making work you like to make? Is that art? Does it mean someone else considers you to be whatever their definition of “artist” is? Does it mean not having another job? Or c...
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Season 5
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Episode 134
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1:18:47
Ep 520: Embracing the Side-Hustle with Nicole Bernard of NB Makes
If you’re side-hustling your ceramics, are you anxiously awaiting the day you can quit the day job? But what if the day job was actually providing you with the chance to learn to be better at your craft? And no, I’m not talking about a job ...
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Season 5
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Episode 133
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1:44:40
Ep 519: The Reset Button with Henrik Van Ryzin
Do you ever think about completely changing your life? Like literally, everything - Your job, where you live, what your day to day looks like, maybe even your identity in a way… Or maybe you have done that already, and you are living the dream ...
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Season 5
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Episode 132
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1:35:59
Ep 518: The Economics of Clay with John R Hamilton
I thought John & I were going to talk mostly about burnout. How it “happened” to him, how he got through it, and perhaps, what he’s doing differently now. But (perhaps rather obviously) it can’t really be broken down that simply. Instead, J...
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Season 5
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Episode 131
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1:21:23
Ep 517: Being a Pottery Educator with Ian Childers
In an internet world where there are seemingly endless “educators” available to learn from, what actually qualifies someone to teach a skill? Is it a traditional piece of paper, or diploma, saying that some institution has decided you can? Is i...
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Season 5
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Episode 130
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1:48:06
Ep 516: The Cara App - The App for Artists?
There’s a new social media app in the virtual neighborhood. Will it solve all the frustrations we artists have? Maybe. Maybe not… In this week’s solo episode, I dive into all things social media marketing, why a new app probably won’t solve you...
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Season 5
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Episode 129
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44:28
Ep 515: Stepping Outside Our Comfort Zone with Dave Conrey
A rare non-potter conversation today on the podcast with Dave Conrey, graphic designer turned email newsletter educator. We talk about the realities of making art and trying to sell that art, approaches to marketing our work without needing to ...
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Season 5
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Episode 128
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1:01:52
Ep 514 - Defining Your Own Success with Joy Hanford
We’re back for part two! In this continued conversation with Joy Hanford - a Midwest gal, much like myself, who now lives in Portugal - we get into the topics of the complexities of learning about and navigating bureaucracies in other countries...
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Season 5
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Episode 127
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1:28:16
Ep 513: Moving Abroad as a Ceramicist with Joy Hanford
Living abroad. Sometimes, it sounds like the solution to all of my problems. All I need to do is choose a country with national healthcare and town with relatively low cost of living, and TA DA! Making a living from the things we make is solved...
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Season 5
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Episode 126
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1:24:20
Ep 512: Working with Retailers with Steve Tubbs
Wholesale… The assumption is there’s no way to reasonably make a living, as a maker, by doing wholesale. But is that true? Since I’m generally pretty skeptical of any sweeping statement that says an entire concept doesn’t work for anyone, at al...
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Season 5
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Episode 125
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1:23:41
Ep 511: Starting a Community Studio with Lindsay Langsdale
You’ve taken a few classes at your local community studio and you know you want to make ceramics a larger part of your life. In fact, you want to build your own studio, but what does that even look like? And what might be all the tasks...
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Season 5
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Episode 124
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58:29
Ep 510: Live at NCECA - Building Relationships with Collectors with Louise Rosenfield & Peter Beseacker
Having a collector buy our work... It sounds… amazing! Awe-inspiring? Relieving? Luxurious. All of the above really. But how does it even happen? During the 2024 NCECA conference, Coalescence, held in Richmond, VA I sat down with Peter...
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Season 5
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Episode 123
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1:13:45
Ep 509: Etsy vs. Your Own Website {The Launch}
“Etsy vs. Your own website. Which is better?” It’s a question I see asked online endlessly. I see the responses fought over just as endlessly. But is it really an either/or? We dig into that on this next installment of our “The Launch” series -...
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Season 5
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Episode 122
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39:20
Ep 508: Instagram Real Talk with Allie Mason
I know I'm not the only one who finds social media to be exhausting. The idea of keeping up with trends sounds equivalent to nails on a chalkboard to me. But at the same time, I know there is a huge opportunity on social media. After all, Insta...
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Season 5
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Episode 121
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1:25:04
Ep 507: The Assault on Creativity with Connie Cole
On this week’s episode I talk with founding Community member, Connie Cole, about her winding path to becoming a full-time potter. We discuss her battle with imposter syndrome, what finding a “gateway drug” has done for her business and the assa...
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Season 5
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Episode 120
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1:23:05
Ep 506: Business FOMO (and NCECA)
Feeling the FOMO because you aren't going to NCECA? Come hang out inside of The Community - Learn more & join for 1 month by clicking here.One of my favorite books: Deep ...
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Season 5
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Episode 119
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27:09
Ep 505: Creating Environmentally Friendly Pottery with Yuliya Makliuk of Here & Now Pottery
Do you get overwhelmed at the idea of making your studio practice environmentally friendly? It can seem impossible to figure out where to start and what actually makes an impact. The science of climate change is complicated at best, an...
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Season 5
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Episode 118
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1:06:50
Ep: 504 - Setting Boundaries & Vetting Educators Online with Hope Limyansky-Smith
The internet can be amazing for connecting us all to resources we wouldn’t otherwise have access to. But it can also be absolutely overwhelming. With so many people teaching online, how can we tell who actually knows what they are doing? How do...
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Season 5
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Episode 117
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58:58
Ep 503: Instagram: The Good, The Bad & The Weird with Hope Limyansky-Smith
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 fe...
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Season 5
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Episode 116
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50:08