Wheel Talk
Ryan Durbin (@rdceramics) & Becca Otis (@5linespottery) share their experiences as potters, makers, small business owners, and creatives. Becca is a full time studio potter, while Ryan is a full time website developer and part time potter. We'd love to share our ups and downs along the way as we build our skills as makers and small business owners in an honest, informal manner. We hope to bring you helpful tips we've learned over the years, learn from each other, and share expertise from a number of guests with you also. Please join us for some Wheel Talk!
Episodes
Ryan & Becca are proud to share the topic of "Resources for your business" live at the NCECA 2024 clay conference hosted in Richmond, VA. We hope you enjoy the discussion as we share how our friends and peers become some of the best resources for our businesses. Thanks to Ben Carter (Tales of the Red Clay Rambler) and NCECA for co-producing the podcast and graciously invited us back for the NCECA podcast room. Also, t...
Ryan & Becca chat about preorders today! We cover a few pros and cons of doing a preorder, what we've preordered before, what we'd like to preorder in the future, and customer considerations when receiving an online preorder. Enjoy and good luck if you're planning to preorder anything this year.
Resources
Join the waitlist for Ryan's future Bookkeeping Workshops
Listener Questions
On this ep...
Ryan & Becca welcome back Heidi Fahrenbacher from Bella Joy Pottery for third time to chat all things NCECA and catch up on Becca's pricing. They recap how NCECA went for them as demonstrators & presenters, what makes the conference so overwhelming, dig into Becca's pricing and sales since we last met with Heidi, and hunting apparently. Stay tuned for the next appearance when we dig more into Ryan's pricing a...
Ryan & Becca are heading home to Cincinnati with Erica & Jessica from Richmond, Virginia after attending NCECA 2024. Enjoy the events that made this week special and some of our key takeaways as we get home, rest up, and get back into our studios soon. We hope to see everyone in Salt Lake City, Utah for 2025 and Detroit, Michigan for 2026!
Follow Erica at @erica_irene_k and Jessica at @overbrookclay on Instagram to see what ...
Ryan & Becca are getting excited about NCECA, which just concluded at the time of this release, before answering a listener's question about gauging the shows they're selling at. Sandrine's in her second year of selling and wants to make sure the shows she's looking into are good fit for the potential customers out there for her. We get into how you should think about the shows you choose, improving little b...
Ryan & Becca share some stories today about how the podcast started and how it's changed over the years. We also get into how we see it progressing into the future and some dream scenarios we may see come to fruition at some point. Thanks for continuing to listen!
Listener Questions
On this episode:
- How did the podcast start? How did we manage it early on & plan for discussions? Where are we now with it and ho...
Ryan & Becca are joined today by Melanie Westheiden from Swell Ceramics. Melanie shares about her business’ evolution from a home studio to brick and mortar, preparing for the holiday season, setting boundaries on Instagram, & shifting her body of work. Thanks so much to Melanie for taking the time to share with all of us.
-----Find more about Melanie’s business below-----
Instagram - @swellceramics
Website - https:/...
Ryan & Becca are back together once again and this week we're talking mobile studios! We received a question about the viability of using a mobile studio in a trailer, van, etc to assist in teaching small kid classes and selling at shows from it. Becca's insights may surprise you on this one. Thanks for the question Lilly!
Listener Questions
On this episode:
- I have been trying to get a little more consistency...
Ryan & Becca are joined today by Sara Davis from Golden Earth Designs. Sara shares about her process of making custom wholesale mugs, selling full time the past year, getting back to production after the holidays, and clay buttons! Thanks so much to Sara for sharing some time to chat about her work and business.
-----Find more about Sara's business below-----
Instagram - @goldenearthdesigns
Etsy - https://goldeneart...
Ryan & Becca welcome Em (Paz) Stevens to the show to discuss balancing a full time job in the service industry and part time pottery. We get into how her business did in 2023, how she's building out her home studio, funding the build through Kickstarter, setting realistic business goals, and digging into Etsy shop advice. Thanks again to Em for sharing her time with us.
-----Find more about Em's business belo...
Ryan & Becca Welcome Em (Paz) Stevens to the show to discuss balancing a full time job in the service industry and part time pottery. Em has a number of questions for us, especially related to how Ryan was able to sell $95k worth of work in a year that averages $35 while selling "part time." We cover a number of topics on this first installment of this chat with Em and we're grateful for her sharing some time wit...
Ryan & Becca are back to chatting just the two of them on today's episode. Most of the discussion involves updating everyone about their busy lives the past few weeks before getting into their time at Clay Con West this January. It was another great year spent with new and old friends and we hope to see you at NCECA 2024 in Richmond, Virginia or next year for Clay Con West 2025 in Saint George, Utah.
Join Ryan&apo...
Ryan and Becca are joined by Joshua Reed from Wellness with Joshua to talk how we can ensure our bodies can hold up long-term as potters and small business owners. Joshua has a varied background in physical therapy, biomechanics, physical training, nutrition coaching, and more to share his expertise with us for long term body care as potters. We hope you get value from our discussion and please let us know what you'd like to h...
Ryan and Becca welcome back Will Donovan of Donovan Pottery to discuss a range of topics, including: sharing end of year recaps, growing your business with help, using paid ads to sell your work, and geeking out on Lord of the Rings. We learn a ton from Will's second time on the podcast and we hope you take some good nuggets into your own practice.
Previous episode with Will
Wheel Talk #181 - Meeting customer dema...
Ryan & Becca share insights about what they look for when seeking out workshop opportunities to expand their skills. We also share what valuable takeaways we typically come away with once we’re leaving a workshop.
Join Becca or Ryan at a future workshop they are teaching soon:
Throwing Efficiency with Becca - Jan 10
Selling at In-Person Shows with Ryan - Jan 25
Bookkeeping Workshop with Ryan - Jan 29 & ...
Ryan & Becca try a different approach on today's episode to discuss some of their top performing (and worst) Instagram Reels over the past 6 months. We chat about what we think made them so successful, some takeaways to think about as we produce content for future reels, and why some just completely flopped. We hope this is a useful discussion as you think ahead to content creation and finding interesting snippets of the w...
Ryan & Becca welcome Noah Smith to the show today to chat about getting a community studio up and running very recently in Portland, Oregon. Noah's been making pottery for a few years, but has recently embarked on opening Heirloom Ceramic Studio in the Sellwood neighborhood outside Portland. We chat about the growth so far, how he's enjoying the teaching & managing side of the business, his offerings, and how he&a...
Ryan & Becca discuss leaving early for in-person shows from a recent experience Ryan had at a show before wrapping up their key takeaways from their year, even though there’s still a few weeks left in it. They get into goals, money, & possible plans for next year. Thanks for listening and have a great holiday season everyone!
Listener Questions
Send us questions so we can answer anything you've been thinki...
Ryan & Becca have some thoughts today about how to handle negative feedback, whether it's a customer, fellow business owner, business you partner with, or otherwise. Handling these situations can be pretty tricky and we hope you get some good insight from today's discussion. Thanks for listening!
Listener Questions
On this episode:
- What's the best way to ship out 60 or more packages? Do you nee...
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