Ryan and Becca welcome back Andrew from That's So Andrew to talk in depth about his stationary business, which is very focused on wholesale. We get into building a catalog, setting your terms, selling at big trade shows, benefits of selling on Faire, efficiencies in packing large orders, and tons more. Thanks to Andrew for joining us once again since his last chat with us back in 2020. Episode #59 - Hustling Online with Andrew Fegler from That's So Andrew ----- Find more about Andrew's business ...
Apr 01, 2023•2 hr 33 min•Ep. 192
Ryan & Becca answer a couple listener questions today about specific business situations you may find yourself in at some point. One involves pricing your work based on your local market vs pricing higher based on what your time is worth now. The other involves a sticky situation where you may have doubts about a potential partnership with a local business who wants to carry your products. Listener Questions On this episode: - My sister and I started a ceramic business about a year and a hal...
Mar 25, 2023•1 hr 28 min•Ep. 191
Ryan and Becca are joined by Brooke Thivierge from BAT’s Ceramics & fellow podcast host of the Batty Bitches Podcast. They discuss how she started dabbling in Instagram Subscriptions recently, how she decided on which platform to host this exclusive content, and more about her work and business, plus lots of laughs along the way. Check out her amazing painting skills using underglazes and support her podcast Batty Bitches if you’d like to hear fun & casual conversations between friends. ...
Mar 18, 2023•2 hr 21 min•Ep. 190
Ryan is joined by Ben Clark today inside of Queen City Clay, one of the largest community studios in the United States. Ben is the President and co-owner of Queen City Clay and covers a range of topics to help you get a glimpse into managing staff, programs to offer, retail needs, the importance of education, NCECA 2023 in Cincinnati, and much more. If you're looking for a place to build and grow your ceramics business or wanting to start or push your community studio to the next level, you shou...
Mar 11, 2023•2 hr 8 min•Ep. 189
Ryan & Becca are joined today by Jamie Boyack, a Chartered Professional Accountant (CPA) from Aloha Friday CPA. She answers so many of our tax questions ranging from the differences between sole proprietor/single person LLC/S corp, how to effectively keep track of expenses/income, collecting & remitting sales taxes, how to handle cash, common reasons small businesses struggle, what are costs of goods sold, & many more to list. Ryan & Becca learned quite a few things from this cha...
Mar 04, 2023•2 hr 13 min•Ep. 188
Ryan & Becca have a great chat today with Jodie Rozycki from Mudslinging Pottery. We chat about teaching in a community studio, her making process, how she handles online restocks, commission orders, balancing family time with teenagers, and answer some random "listener" questions. Thanks to Jodie for joining us today to chat. Where you can find us for NCECA 2023 ----- Find more about Jodie’s business below----- Instagram - @mudslinging_pottery Website - https://mudslingingpottery.com/ Faceb...
Feb 25, 2023•2 hr 13 min•Ep. 187
Ryan & Becca talk about kilns today after getting a listener question recently. They go into how and where they learned to fire their kilns initially, from manual kiln sitter kilns to ones with electronic controllers. There are lots of places to find resources today with the depth of knowledge on YouTube, Facebook forums, online publications, and plenty of other places. We hope you enjoy the convo and learn something, even if you're a seasoned veteran to firing kilns. Resources Firing in an ...
Feb 18, 2023•1 hr 40 min•Ep. 186
Becca runs this episode solo to chat about adjusting to van life since the beginning of the year. She covers how she got the van, process to make it livable, adjusting the business to the new set-up, and future plans. It’s a little different one today, but we hope you enjoy it. Listener Questions Send us questions so we can answer anything you've been thinking about on a future episode. Send those through Instagram @wheeltalkpodcast or email us at wheeltalkpodcast@gmail.com . Sponsors - L&L ...
Feb 11, 2023•1 hr 6 min•Ep. 185
Ryan and Becca recap their experience at Clay Con West before getting into the topic of the day. The focus of today's episode is figuring out how we can expand outside of our comfort zone to grow our work and business. Selling at Clay Con West recently sparked this conversation and thought experiment that we hope you enjoy. We also touch on how these different lines of work can appeal to different customers. We have a BIG announcement on today's episode as well! We have a new sponsor for Wheel T...
Feb 04, 2023•2 hr 1 min•Ep. 184
Becca and Ryan recently presented at Clay Con West, an annual clay conference hosted in St. George, Utah, to share some tips and tricks about selling at art shows. They share what has worked & not worked as well for them over the years and answer lots of questions from the audience in here as well. We'd love to see you at NCECA coming up this March in Cincinnati, OH or a future Clay Con West. Resources: https://clayconwest.com/ See the presentation slides: https://www.wheeltalkpotcast.com/s/...
Jan 28, 2023•1 hr 39 min•Ep. 183
Ryan and Becca are looking ahead to Clay Con West before answering a variety of listener questions. The primary topic of the day related to working through having self doubt as a beginner potter. We all go through this at some point over the years, and still to this day even after we have a "successful" business. We touch on art shows a bit as well and what makes for a good sales day at them. Resources - Interested in Ryan's Bookkeeping Workshop? Message him on Instagram @rdceramics or email him...
Jan 21, 2023•1 hr 27 min•Ep. 182
Ryan is joined by Will Donovan from Donovan Pottery to talk about adjusting to a large increase in customer demand for his work in a short period of time. We also cover how he manages a small production team, working within a niche customer base, and how his full time role at Clay King influences his approach to running his business. We hope you get some great insights from today's episode. ----- Find more about Will’s business below----- Instagram - @donovanpottery Website - https://www.donovan...
Jan 14, 2023•1 hr 4 min•Ep. 181
Ryan and Becca recap their holidays and a workshop idea Ryan is working on before getting to the topic of the day. Today includes a recap of business goals for 2022, which ones were accomplished, which ones weren't, and what they are looking forward to in 2023. Thanks for your support this year and 2023 should be a very exciting year. Resources - Interested in Ryan's Bookkeeping Workshop? Message him on Instagram @rdceramics or email him ryandurbinceramics@gmail.com. - Join us at NCECA 2023 in C...
Jan 07, 2023•1 hr 29 min•Ep. 180
Ryan and Becca get into how you can prepare to bounce back from a long hiatus away from your business. This listener question was specific to relocating and having a child recently, but this could apply to other scenarios that has you returning to making after being away from it. Thanks for the question and good luck getting back to it! Resources Clay Con West Northern Clay Center (MN) Anderson Ranch Arts Center (CO) Penland School of Craft (NC) Pocosin Arts (NC) Arrowmont School of Arts & C...
Dec 31, 2022•1 hr 41 min•Ep. 179
Ryan and Becca have some funny stories to start out today before getting to some listener questions. We discuss how to work with shops who want to carry your work, approaching new shops for partnerships, and handling rejection from a show. Enjoy today's chat. Listener Questions On this episode: - Since you're both cat people… If you could raise a baby tiger for a pet, would you? Tigers are so cool @thistlemoorpottery - A local store wants to sell my stuff but also wants me to make a soap dish th...
Dec 24, 2022•1 hr 45 min•Ep. 178
Ryan and Becca are joined by Rachel, Ryan's spouse, to discuss balancing time in the studio with family time and other priorities. This differs by your personalities, jobs, child commitments, etc, but there are sure to be some takeaways that can relate to you. We also dig into some top places to see while you're in Cincinnati for the upcoming NCECA conference in March 2023 & answer some fun questions to wrap up. NCECA recommendations: https://goo.gl/maps/u9udXkvYbyDZPixbA Listener Questions ...
Dec 17, 2022•1 hr 26 min•Ep. 177
Ryan and Becca recap a couple recent shows they did together before getting into some questions related to community studios. You all asked some good questions to assess your local community studios and what makes them more enjoyable to work in & the amenities that are must or nice to have. Thanks for always asking good questions to spark conversation between us. Listener Questions On this episode: - Go to take out, pizza or Thai? @glazedconfusedcreations - Would you rather be in a community...
Dec 10, 2022•2 hr 6 min•Ep. 176
Ryan and Becca talk post-holidays on today's episode. They cover how they recharge, experiment, or prioritize their year ahead once the busy holiday season has concluded. We hope you all have a good end to your year and spend some time to reflect on your year, while looking ahead to 2023. Thanks for listening! Listener Questions On this episode: - What's your favorite Christmas cookie? @arlenespottery - After the endless hours of making and selling your work for the holiday sale season, what do ...
Dec 03, 2022•1 hr 42 min•Ep. 175
Ryan and Becca get into how they have each planned and hosted their own home studio sale. A lot of makers host a small (or large) sale from their home or studio to give the public access to an intimate setting to shop for the holidays or otherwise. It can be a big or small undertaking depending on what you'd like out of it and could be worth a try for you. Enjoy! Listener Questions On this episode: - Just curious if you have an episode taking about how you named each of your businesses? @jessie....
Nov 26, 2022•1 hr 34 min•Ep. 174
Ryan and Becca are covering what to look out for when buying used equipment, specifically kilns and wheels. We mainly cover some consideration the think about when you're shopping for kilns: electrical, kiln quality, pricing, where to look, etc. We also go through some sample listings on Facebook Marketplace to share what we are thinking as we consider buying them. We hope you enjoy today's episode. Resources Cincinnati Coffee Festival @trevorclayworks #67 - Buying & selling pottery wheels #...
Nov 19, 2022•2 hr 8 min•Ep. 173
Ryan and Becca are way off topic for today's episode talking about some new happenings for them both before getting to business. A couple listener questions are answered about handbuilding & asking fellow artists their sales at a show before getting to the topic of the day where we think about how we are going to share a booth space at the upcoming Cincinnati Coffee Festival. Resources @ashenwrenceramics Cincinnati Coffee Festival Listener Questions On this episode: - So I have a question or...
Nov 12, 2022•2 hr 2 min•Ep. 172
Ryan and Becca sit down with Sarah Anderson to talk all about social media, inspiration behind her graphical work, selling at various art shows, accepting commissions, applying for gallery shows, van life, & a bit more. It was a good time covering such a range of topics with an up and coming ceramic artist who is local to us. ----- Find more about Sarah’s business below----- Instagram - @sarahandersonceramics Website - https://www.sarahandersonceramics.com/ Facebook - https://www.facebook.co...
Nov 05, 2022•2 hr 13 min•Ep. 171
Ryan and Becca cover a topic raised from a listener question today about storing and managing inventory in the studio. We cover a range of ways to keep track of work for shows, tips for packing, and using what you have to keep your work tidy without having to buy all new storage containers. We hope you enjoy after hearing about our recent life happenings to start the episode. What would you do if... you woke up at 8:30am for a 10am show that’s 30 mins away? Listener Questions On this episode: - ...
Oct 29, 2022•1 hr 33 min•Ep. 170
Ryan and Becca are fresh off their interview with Tim See to talk about what they got out of the discussion that could be incorporated into their businesses. Hopefully this is a good exercise for you to reflect internally or with a friend after hearing discussions that could make your studio practice or business better. Resources #131 - "We're LIVE!" at Clay Con West Clay Con West - Jan 13-15, 2023 The Maker's Playbook Tales of the Red Clay Rambler Brickyard Network Listener Questions Send us qu...
Oct 22, 2022•1 hr 15 min•Ep. 169
Ryan and Becca have a great time chatting today with Tim See from Tim See Ceramics. He is known for his robotic illustrative work, Facebook commentary in the Clay Buddies group, & hilarious personality. We cover such a wide range of topics across our 3 hours of discussion and it was such a fun ride. We hope you enjoy! ----- Find more about Tim's business below----- Instagram - @timseeclay Website - http://www.timseeceramics.com/ YouTube - https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCTkXls_DXtwl9f2lt5qm...
Oct 15, 2022•3 hr 12 min•Ep. 168
Ryan and Becca answer a number of listener questions related to studio practice. Topics include attaching handles, rehydrating clay, studio waste, kiln sitter kilns, and an in-depth breakdown of someone who is struggling with pulling up their walls. Some answers are quick, some longer, and plenty of fun discussion as always. Listener Questions On this episode: - Have you tried attaching handles with vinegar, or that magic water shit?? I often develop a little hairline crack or it separates where...
Oct 08, 2022•1 hr 45 min•Ep. 167
Ryan & Becca bring you a special episode discussing all things #potswap2022 , our 5th year hosting this global event. Follow along with all Pot Swap happenings on Instagram @potswapofficial . Registration is free and open to the first 1,000 entries this year starting on Sunday, October 16th at 12pm EDT. First come, first serve on sign-ups so set a reminder (we have a reminder shared in our Instagram stories)! Spots WILL fill up very fast so don't wait! We're joined by a great group of clay f...
Oct 01, 2022•1 hr 24 min•Ep. 166
Ryan and Becca talk about a hypothetical life running a small business without social media in existence. Where would you focus your efforts? Are there areas that you could be focusing on now outside of social media that fits your business? We hope you enjoy today’s thought experiment. What would you do if... your car breaks down the week of a show? Listener Questions On this episode: - I have an older Skutt with a kiln sitter. The first couple years using it, it would fire perfect, on time, eve...
Sep 24, 2022•1 hr 58 min•Ep. 165
Ryan and Becca share some stories about what’s changed since starting Wheel Talk over 3 years ago. Their businesses are in way different places over the years since this all started & their relationship has evolved a lot along the way. Thanks so much for listening, sending questions, leaving reviews, & sharing with friends over the years. Resources #106 - 2 years of Wheel Talk!! #37 - Kiln venting…Becca explains what not to do… #43 - Talking glazes with Joshua Heim #86 - Art show Q&A...
Sep 17, 2022•2 hr 9 min•Ep. 164
Ryan and Becca answer a listener question today about offering the right products & pricing your work for wholesale. Cindy sent us a great question with a detailed list of her wholesale and retail pricing to get a better understanding how she can balance making work for wholesale clients, if she's pricing them appropriately, and how she can have enough left for the markets she's selling at. Having a wholesale game plan is important for a number of reasons, whether you're new to it or you've ...
Sep 10, 2022•2 hr 18 min•Ep. 163
