Best Becca Otis Podcasts (2024)

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#248 - Is your price right? with Isaac Shue and Heidi Fahrenbacher 2:23:45

1h ago2:23:45

2:23:45

Ryan & Becca have the whole crew here today, joined by Heidi Fahrenbacher from Bella Joy Pottery and Isaac Shue from Gallery Mostaza. They talk a lot more about our hot topic as of late: pricing. Heidi continues where we left off last time to ask Ryan about his approach to pricing and digging into Isaac's pricing philosophy. -----Find more about Is…

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#247 - "Resources for your business" at NCECA 2024 1:07:17

8d ago1:07:17

1:07:17

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 pod…

1
#246 - Let's talk preorders 1:31:05

15d ago1:31:05

1:31:05

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 Bookkee…

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#245 - Pricing your work pt 2 & presenting at NCECA with Heidi Fahrenbacher from Bella Joy Pottery 2:18:42

22d ago2:18:42

2:18:42

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 …

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#244 - Road trip home from NCECA! 2:29:00

29d ago2:29:00

2:29:00

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 E…

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#243 - Getting better at in-person shows 1:38:54

1M ago1:38:54

1:38:54

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 yo…

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#242 - How we started & where we're going 1:31:13

1M ago1:31:13

1:31:13

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…

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#241 - Setting boundaries on social media with Melanie Westheiden from Swell Ceramics 1:52:37

2M ago1:52:37

1:52:37

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 Mela…

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#240 - Mobile studios 1:24:11

2M ago1:24:11

1:24:11

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 thi…

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#239 - Custom wholesale & clay buttons with Sara Davis from Golden Earth Designs 2:07:45

2M ago2:07:45

2:07:45

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…

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#238 - A path to full time ceramic artist with Em (Paz) Stevens (Pt 2) 1:48:51

2M ago1:48:51

1:48:51

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 sha…

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#237 - A path to full time ceramic artist with Em (Paz) Stevens (Pt 1) 1:50:19

3M ago1:50:19

1:50:19

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 …

1
#236 - Clay Con West recap! 1:19:11

3M ago1:19:11

1:19:11

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 ne…

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#235 - A peek inside the Maker's Playbook with Rebecca Ickes Carra 2:40:37

3M ago2:40:37

2:40:37

Ryan and Becca are joined by Rebecca Ickes Carra, host of The Maker's Playbook podcast and co-owner of Carra Terra, a small pottery business in Milwaukee, WI. Drawing from her 14-years as a self-employed photographer, Rebecca sheds light on the dynamics of building their pottery business alongside her husband Francesco. We cover the art of juggling…

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#234 - Body care for long term success with Joshua Reed from Wellness with Joshua 3:23:40

3M ago3:23:40

3:23:40

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 ho…

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#233 - Is paid advertisement worth it? with Will Donovan from Donovan Pottery 2:23:30

4M ago2:23:30

2:23:30

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.…

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#232 - What do you look for in a workshop? 1:38:58

4M ago1:38:58

1:38:58

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 …

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#231 - Analyzing your best & worst Instagram Reels 2:24:34

4M ago2:24:34

2:24:34

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 y…

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#230 - Starting a community studio from scratch with Noah Smith from NWS Ceramics 2:12:32

4M ago2:12:32

2:12:32

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 te…

1
#229 - 2023 wrap up 2:01:51

4M ago2:01:51

2:01:51

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 Sen…

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#228 - How do you handle negative feedback? 1:56:57

5M ago1:56:57

1:56:57

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 bes…

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#227 - Tiki Technical Talk with Henrik van Ryzin from VanTiki 2:34:43

5M ago2:34:43

2:34:43

Ryan & Becca welcome Henrik Van Ryzin today from VanTiki Studios. He shares a wealth of knowledge about his evolution from a special effects artist to a full time ceramic artist focused in mold making & slip casting. Henrik and his wife Denise focus on producing ceramic tiki mugs and other goods that share their love of tiki with customers all over…

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#226 - Kiln size matters 1:58:32

5M ago1:58:32

1:58:32

Ryan & Becca get deep into kilns on today's episode to give some insight into how you may choose your next kiln based on your studio production. They cover a range of kiln body sizes from the L&L & Skutt lines, as well as a few others along the way. Good luck if you're in the market for a kiln and let us know if you have any questions to help you m…

1
#225 - What influences a buyer to purchase? 1:40:15

5M ago1:40:15

1:40:15

Ryan & Becca are back together this week to recap some of the points discussed last week on Becca's solo episode about her shows. To relate back to a more broad topic, Ryan get's into what he feels influences buyers to purchase from you at shows. Hopefully you were able to reflect on your booth set-up and interactions at shows to see where you're d…

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#224 - Becca’s on the road 37:15

6M ago37:15

37:15

Becca shares some thoughts on her drive back to Indianapolis after a show weekend in Louisville, KY. She covers some thoughts around what a positive show looks like for her, how she's feeling about shows this year, and how she plans to move forward. We hope you enjoy this raw solo episode with Becca and stick around next week when Ryan shares some …

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#223 - Health & safety in the studio 2:03:46

6M ago2:03:46

2:03:46

Ryan & Becca answer a frequent listener questions about how to keep your studio clean, from handling water usage, clay dust, reclaim, equipment, managing a packing & shipping station, and how we can make the space sustainable for the long term. Enjoy and happy cleaning! Resources For Flux Sake Podcast Safety in the Ceramics Studio by Jeff Zamek Lis…

1
#222 - Building partnerships with companies 2:14:17

6M ago2:14:17

2:14:17

Ryan & Becca share some updates about their lively week together before getting to some listener questions and finally the topic for today: building partnerships with companies. There's no copy and paste message you can send out to the companies you'd like to partner with, but you can certainly be yourself and share how you'd make a great person to…

1
#221 - Fostering community as a family with Milissa & Eric Beale from Beale Pottery 2:05:37

6M ago2:05:37

2:05:37

Ryan & Becca are together in-person today at Ryan's while they chat virtually with Milissa and Eric Beale from Beale Pottery in northwest Indiana. They chat about their recent grand opening celebration, managing the business as a husband & wife team, balancing multiple styles of work, class/workshop offerings, financial risk of relying only on pott…

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#220 - Are you feeling burned-out? 2:21:19

7M ago2:21:19

2:21:19

Ryan and Becca discuss a heavy topic today: burnout. What’s led to burnout for both Becca & Ryan, how are they feeling in the midst of it, & how do they cope with it? It’s a tough time of year for so many small business owners as the holidays approach, but we can get through this to feel good about the end of our year. Thanks for listening and best…

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#219 - Pricing your work effectively with Heidi Fahrenbacher from Bella Joy Pottery 2:59:29

7M ago2:59:29

2:59:29

Ryan & Becca welcome back Heidi Fahrenbacher from Bella Joy Pottery while Becca is visiting her up in Michigan for the week. They cover a number of topics but mainly focus on how Heidi manages many wholesale accounts, the collections most suitable for wholesale, and pricing your work to properly account for your materials, labor, and profit. We hop…

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#218 - Pot Swap 2023 is almost here! 1:18:11

7M ago1:18:11

1:18:11

Ryan & Becca bring you a special episode discussing all things #potswap2023, our 6th year hosting this global event. There are a few important changes this year to be aware of and we cover it all today. Follow along with all Pot Swap happenings on Instagram @potswapofficial. Registration is free and open to the first 1,000 entries this year startin…

1
#217 - Teaching in-person & virtually 1:58:25

7M ago1:58:25

1:58:25

Ryan and Becca compare various ways of teaching: in-person and virtually. They have both taught in community studios settings in-person and virtually on various topics. Enjoy the discussion and let us know how you prefer to teach. Upcoming Workshops from Ryan/Becca Throwing Efficiency with Becca - Sept 25th Jewelry Making with Becca - Sept 27th Cin…

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#216 - Maintaining a love for clay with Juliann Roush 1:45:12

7M ago1:45:12

1:45:12

Ryan & Becca are joined today by Juliann Roush while Becca is visiting her in the upper peninsula of Michigan. We discuss how she makes her very time-intensive functional work using various hand-building techniques. Her business and work has shifted a lot over the 30+ years she’s been playing with clay, but she still finds love in what she’s making…

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#215 - Scaling your business with Curt Hammerly from Hammerly Ceramics 1:30:06

8M ago1:30:06

1:30:06

Ryan welcomes back Curt Hammerly from Hammerly Ceramics near Denver, CO. They discuss how he’s managed a team through a quickly growing business, taking on big projects with staff, & introducing pre-orders and older designs into his workflow. Thanks to Curt for joining us again! -----Find more about Curt’s business below----- Instagram - @hammerlyc…

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#214 - We're not in Kansas anymore with Meghan Yarnell & Tony Young 2:12:02

8M ago2:12:02

2:12:02

Ryan is joined by Meghan Yarnell & Tony Young as they make the 14 hour drive back from Kansas where they participated in a soda kiln building workshop taught by Kevin Kowalski. Thanks to Isaac & Karina Shue for graciously hosting us at their home/studio in Harper, Kansas for 4 days. It was a great experience and we talk all about what we expected g…

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#213 - 4 year anniversary of Wheel Talk! 2:13:47

8M ago2:13:47

2:13:47

Ryan and Becca just celebrated their 4 year anniversary of hosting Wheel Talk on August 22nd. Each of their lives & businesses have shifted so much in the past 4 years! Thanks so much for listening whether you've been here since the beginning or recently found us, sending us questions, leaving reviews, & sharing with friends over the years. Cheers …

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#212 - Live Q&A with Ashley from Bowled Over Ceramics 1:34:33

8M ago1:34:33

1:34:33

Ryan & Becca are joined by Ashley Ball to discuss an interesting proposal related to trying out a new show to her with potential versus sticking with a tried and true show she's done multiple times. We cover the situation from many different angles to give the best recommendation: financial potential, distance, length of show, interest level to be …

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#211 - Building community virtually with Tzipporah Schvarcz from Sipor Ceramics 2:15:11

9M ago2:15:11

2:15:11

Ryan & Becca welcome Tzipporah from Sipor Ceramics to discuss juggling life as a full time mother of four while making & teaching pottery on the side. She's currently pursuing a new journey into hosting virtual classes to help build community for potters feeling isolated in their studios and also those hoping to learn more about throwing specific f…

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#210 - Live Q&A with Caroline from Revisionist Studio 59:41

9M ago59:41

59:41

Ryan & Becca are joined by Caroline Clark to discuss finding your market when your local community may not respond to your work as well as you hoped. We experiment with a few ideas to see what may work for Caroline and hope you enjoy. Thanks to Caroline for joining us! Listener Questions On this episode: - Do you have any recommendations for findin…

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#209 - Q&A Part VIII 1:24:51

9M ago1:24:51

1:24:51

Ryan & Becca are back after a long time since their last Q&A all the way back in episode 155. They answer many of your questions related to business, studio practice, and a few random ones. Thanks to everyone who continues to send us questions on Instagram and by email! Listener Questions Send us questions so we can answer anything you've been thin…

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#208 - Optimizing your show applications with Deanna Poelsma from Glazed & Confused Creations 1:36:31

9M ago1:36:31

1:36:31

Ryan was lucky enough to chat with Deanna Poelsma of Glazed & Confused Creations while they are out of town at the Berea Craft Festival. She shares a range of insights from working in arts council administration, show application processes, jury process, application photos for her ceramic jewelry, art show plans for the future, and more. Thanks to …

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#207 - Comparing clay conferences 1:50:20

10M ago1:50:20

1:50:20

Ryan & Becca answer a listener question they've gotten a couple times recently related to clay conferences. They share their experiences at NCECA and other regional clay conferences, especially Clay Con West. Consider researching other clay conferences in your area to get to know more of your local clay people, learn a few things, get outside of yo…

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#206 - Subscription & mug clubs 2:21:22

10M ago2:21:22

2:21:22

Ryan & Becca dig into a listener question related to subscription clubs where you offer a new pot each quarter at one price, plus a tangent into mug clubs for breweries. We go into some incentives you may want to consider to get customers to purchase, how to make each quarter’s offering unique, and how to structure payment. Enjoy this new discussio…

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#205 - Live Q&A with Cindy from Green Cabin Pottery 1:51:17

10M ago1:51:17

1:51:17

Ryan & Becca are joined by Cindy Chiupka-Jozin from Green Cabin Pottery in Northern Ontario, Canada for another live Q&A segment. Today, we answer a question related to how much work you should take to a show, whether it's a local one day show or you're traveling for a multi-day show. We hope you enjoy and thanks to Cindy for joining us! Listener Q…

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#204 - Live Q&A with Lynne from Grit & Grace Pottery 1:33:30

10M ago1:33:30

1:33:30

Ryan & Becca try out their new live Q&A segment with Lynne Brander from Grit & Grace Pottery to talk about a new teaching opportunity in collaboration with a local small business. We think this discussion will give you some brainstorm ideas for teaching workshops on your own. Thanks to Lynne for joining us! Listener Questions On this episode: - I h…

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#203 - Chat GPT 2:18:31

11M ago2:18:31

2:18:31

Ryan & Becca dive into a very new topic for the time: Chat GPT. We explain what it is, examples of how we could consider using it as small business owners who sell pottery, and what moral & ethical questions should be considered as it gets more mainstream. Let us know your thoughts about this new technology as it becomes more relevant these days. R…

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#202 - "Am I robbing students of a teachable moment?" 1:22:22

11M ago1:22:22

1:22:22

Ryan & Becca answer a listener questions related to all you studio techs out there. Aletha, one of our long time listeners and interview guests (episode #147), has a question related to deciding when to make teachable moments when confronting glazing issues from students when you're in charge of loading & unloading the kilns as the studio tech. We …

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#201 - Garbage Talk with Tim Kowalczyk 2:56:46

11M ago2:56:46

2:56:46

Ryan and Becca are excited to have Tim Kowalczyk from Tims Ceramics on to cover a range of topics and answer a couple listener questions. We chat about selling through galleries, testing new processes, being "academic" with how you talk about your work, taking yourself a little less seriously, artist statements, & applying to shows. We hope you enj…

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#200 - Tradesies & artist collabs 1:56:26

11M ago1:56:26

1:56:26

Ryan shares a scary situation that happened to him recently before Ryan & Becca answer a few listener questions. On today's episode, the questions relate to trading with other artists, a sticky situation for a pottery teacher, and working with other artists on collaborations. Thanks for listening and enjoy! Listener Questions On this episode: - How…

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#199 - Beyond the tool reviews with Hope Limyansky-Smith 3:28:43

11M ago3:28:43

3:28:43

Ryan and Becca are happy to have Hope Limyansky-Smith on the podcast to talk about a range of topics including: teaching in a high school setting, managing social media as an educator, production of her own work, analyzing Meta Verified, and plenty of laughs along the way. We thank Hope for her time and we anticipate you will enjoy the conversation…

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Becca Otis Podcasts

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