The VVP Diaries: Small Batch Pottery Problems

I’m going to be honest. Having a small pottery business is hard and sometimes not profitable. Most times it’s not profitable. It can be very disheartening especially in terms of sales. I have my part time job to fall back on and a supportive partner who encourages me to keep going and doesn’t mind picking up my slack in the income department.

I’m not in the hole but that’s because I’m good with my finances in terms of not purchasing supplies or spending money etc when things are slow. And it is in fact slow. Having Adsense on my websites, and I do have more than one, helps bring in extra income and keeps my websites running without me having to reach into my pocket. I’m also an Amazon Affiliate and get very small commissions from sales on my websites and YouTube channels.

I suppose in terms of finances at least knowing when not to spend money is a good quality to have. I should give myself credit for that. It can be challenging to stand out in a saturated market. Imposter Syndrome is always lurking around each bend.

Where I think I’m inspired by another potter’s creation can sometimes feel like copycat stuff when I try to put my own spin on it, and I don’t want to venture down that road. I want my own work to stand out. It’s like throwing spaghetti at the wall until something sticks. Is that really a good plan?

Other social media influencers especially in your niche can make it seems like you’re indaequate and lacking business savvy. Filtering out all the noise and influence can be difficult and lead to feeling like you’re failing at your business. And I do feel like this at times.

What am I doing wrong? How do I get out of this slump? How can I increase sales and scale my business? How can I pay myself?

I tend to put a lot of focus on posting on social media to promote my work. Spending countless hours trying to make the perfect video only to post it and get maybe 20 likes with zero engagement or requests for the item. Those efforts are in vain because as far as I can ascertain from analytics and such, I haven’t sold one piece of my work through social media avenues like TikTok or Instagram.

Damn, that was really hard for me admit, but it’s 100% true. It begs the question. Should I focus less on that? If it’s broke, fix it.

I know it’s not good to puts all your eggs in one basket, but on the other hand, I might have too many balls in the air. Juggling all my social media accounts for my recipe blog website and pottery webiste, (where you’re reading this now) and Etsy can be a full time job alone. And I am ALL alone. I have a YouTube channel for each and now I’ve been adding crochet items to sell on this site.

There isn’t enough time in the day to get all I want accomplished. I’m all over the map. I consider all these project my babies, and I want to give all my children equal attention. I think my pottery business has very special needs at this point and may need to take precedence over my other babies.

My recipe site is pretty much self sufficient and a small passive income but I haven’t been able to scale it in 14 years. I may have to be honest with myself and put my recipe site and respective YouTube channel on the back burner for now.

Giving up isn’t an option. I’m focused on my shop here more than my Etsy site. Etsy is like leasing an apartment where having your own website is like owning your own home. A lot more maintenance but the equity you’re building in it is the pay off. Or so they say.

It’s hard to put my feeling in words right now and I feel like I’m at a critical turning point in my small business. I started selling my pieces on this website a couple of years ago and I’ve only sold a handful of items. Maybe more than a handful but definitely not where I want to be with sales. It’s hard to admit that. But that’s the reality.

Again, I’m not giving up or throwing in the towel. I don’t think I will ever give up pottery until and unless my hands stop working. I have to put together a strategic plan to increase my sales and scale my business. I’m not sure how to do that or where to start to fix things.

When I started my small batch pottery business a few years ago, I literally winged it! No joke. I learned along the way and was so excited when my first sales started coming in. I was so proud of myself.

But then reality slapped me in the face and I had to learn about collecting and remitting sales tax on e-commerce. Reporting sales and taxes quarterly to my state Department of Revenue is a must. But easy because I don’t have enough sales to actually pay back the tax. I had to Open up a business account to separate my personal finances from my business and learn basic bookkeeping. Plus all the requirements of a business license and yearly fees. All the boring red tape stuff.

I hope I can come back a year from now and see the measurable progress I have made. Admittedly, I have neglected this website and writing articles for the blog. Maybe it’s time I get back to do that. I could do more Live and tutorial blogs on YouTube to finally get monetized. I have the subscribers, I’m missing the watch hours…by A LOT!

I hope there are others in my niche that can identify with this article. I’m sure there are and it seems very lonely when you’re doing it all. I know, woe is me! I’m in my feelings right now and I need to get past this season and give myself grace for all the skills I’ve learned up to this point. If anyone has any advice please feel free to share your thoughts and feelings.

I realize I’m at an impasse and need to change some things. Stay tuned…let’s see where this goes. Oh, and thanks for reading.