2 year review (managing my small business and life with family)

Hello there. This is a belated post to share, since I was going to write this last month but better than never, right? (part of my learning about priority, if I might add?)

Two years (and a month) ago, I quit my day job as a pottery workshop instructor for people with learning difficulties and different support needs, followed by my long career in social care. It was definitely a big step for me, to leave a financial security and to enter unknown of sorely self employed business. Was I confident? Absolutely not. This was probably the biggest leap I took in my life. 

There were two main reasons for the big leap. Practicality and pursuit of my once-hidden dream to be a potter.

Most of my salary went straight into our daughter’s nursery fee. Prior to her school, my husband and I discussed the practicality, such as school holidays and other needs that came up as our concern. My employment was throughout the year including Easter and summer holiday so it was almost impossible for us to manage within just annual leave, without family support (which we do not have) or child care. Since nursery fee will be no longer required, we decided it’s a time. To change my direction to be sorely self employed and to look after our daughter, rather than continuing my day job and paying someone else for a child care. It felt like the most reasonable timing to take that leap toward my dream to become a potter. (Just note that I totally understand this does not work for everyone, so I have no offence for people who choose a child care for their option.) My target was set to allow the first few years to establish financially. It has not been easy but I have never looked back my day job ever since. 

Anyway, I have decided to write my reflection of learning from past two years of my small business. This review is primarily about my business, however, it involves working around with family significantly so you will see I mentioned that here and there. Writing does help me reinforce my learning. By sharing it, I hope some of you may find this helpful. Obviously this is entirely my own reflection being a potter and a mum to an early age schooler, and it may not be useful for everybody. However, I believe ‘checking in’ like this yearly (or whatever the length of time you choose) would help, be it your own business, family life or anything that important to you, so I’d totally recommend to take time to do so.

Some of my points might be duplicated in some ways or other, but here it goes. 8 tips I learnt on my two year small business and working around with family.

1. Drop a super woman badge

No, I am not a super woman. I cannot do everything.

This may sound silly but honestly was the most crucial mindset changer for me. I needed to unpack my ingrained habit A LOT. If you are a perfectionist, you may resonate with this. 

I grew up watching my mum, who was a house wife who looked after three children whilst my dad was earning sorely, although this was quite common in Japan. My mum rarely had a voice or stood up to my dad. When I behaved badly, my mum got told off by my dad and she contained the blame. My mum always said, “you need to ask your dad, first.” “He is in charge.” From a young age, I learnt some kind of discomfort of not earning your own money. I aimed not to be a house wife. I did not have much desire to have my own children to be honest. I have always worked. Even when I was studying (both student time and mature student time during my degree study) I was always working. Working gave me flexibility, independency and financial stability, especially since I divorced with my abusive ex-husband. Luckily I enjoyed most of the work I did, or at least found an incentive to keep going. But at the same time it has created self criticism. When I wasn’t working, I felt guilty or being lazy. When I wasn't working enough, I felt insecure or even somehow incomplete.

So when I returned to work after maternity leave, with my daughter who was born with severe medical condition, I had to face a huge difficulty. It was difficult to balance my life with work, house chores, parenting and everything else. I’ve cut down hours to part-time, which made me feel less independent. Inability to do ‘all well enough’ frustrated me and often criticised myself. 

Becoming self employed was supposed to be a helpful plan to adjust such stressful thinking I had, but in fact I was feeling terrible more often than not. Because I was looking at what I did not manage to do, most of the time! I was carrying a badge of a super woman of “wanting to do all well.”  After many emotional and physical overwhelms and breakdowns, I had to gradually but ‘consciously’ let that slide, by focusing on the priority one at a time, and accept the fact that I cannot deal with all and that it is ok. Acknowledging my habit was hard but necessary. Acceptance without feeling bad about myself was hard, but necessary. A super woman badge definitely had to go and it was well overdue.

2. Lower your expectation / Be realistic 

Dropping your super badge also means lowering your expectation. Because if you are a perfectionist, or even simply you love working hard, your own expectation is usually up high, and quite frankly, unrealistic!

To me, transition from the nursery to school was particularly difficult. Firstly, school hours are not even comparison to the nursery hours. (She was at nursery 8-5. School is 9-3. Nursery opens throughout the year apart from bank holidays and Christmas. School holidays are nightmare, just to remind you!) So yes, my working hours have significantly reduced. I compensate this by working in evenings and weekends, but not always possible nor practical. So I have to admit that and work around the reality.

Secondly, my daughter’s needs have actually increased in a ‘different’ way. She can get sick. She requires more emotional support. She brings homework. In addition to that my girl goes to a Japanese school on Saturday morning and I help out there. If you think babies and toddlers are more difficult, wait for it! I guess, when she grew a bit older, the things might change of course. But for now, I did not want to miss any sign of her worries if any, so spending time with her has become my priority, especially when she was struggling to settle in school.

Tune into your ‘current’ life needs. Be realistic with planning. Lower your expectation so that you have a space to be able to handle any unexpected need. (i.g. child’s sickness / unexpected urgent tasks etc) These tips all helped me, although I am still learning all the time. 

3. Plan ahead 

Are you a list person? I am! I have always written to do list in my diary, along with all schedule of work and family. But the list can easily get too overwhelmed and uncontrollable! So I have started to separate the work plan from my diary, and made my own monthly and annual planner templates that I can type in print / also pencil in. Planning ahead definitely helps me work as productively and smoothly as possible. Finding the most suitable way to plan ahead may require a bit of trial and error. This is how I did and so far I find it working for me. 

For a monthly planner, each date has three sections; morning, afternoon and evening. Firstly I fill everything that I have already fixed, including school holidays. (colour coded with school stuff, family stuff, private stuff such as E-courses or attending events. I love colour code!) By doing this, I can clearly visualise how much space (how less more like!) I have for my studio time. Then, start to plan my studio work with a target date (or deadline) for making for orders, shows and online shop.

For an annual planner, I slot events and so on, and rough numbers of items to be made for. Once I know how much making time I have (I consider from throwing to glaze firing, admin and packing) then I can estimate how many orders I can have in a year. Slotting the estimate in the planning sheet will enable me to know when I can complete my work for each clients. Bulk of my income is from trade at the moment. Most of trade customers require a lead time when taking orders. In my first year, I completely failed on this, without knowing ‘exactly’ how long I needed. As a result, I worked non-stop to meet thier expectation / lead time. This was completely wrong way round. YOU DECIDE YOUR LEAD-TIME. And in order to do that, you will need to know what your time / capacity is prior to that. Well, you will need to experience first to know exact numbers, so in a way a bit of catch 22 to start with!

How far ahead you are going to plan is depending on your business style I guess. My work plan is now roughly done up to the end of 2020. This may sound a bit far for some people, but application of large ceramic shows will start quite early in general. It still has rooms to adjust and add, and obviously things can be changed. However, knowing it in advance makes easier for me to see a bigger picture both financially and practically, also enable me to plan something different or time consuming (new idea, new practice etc). 

4. Boundaries, boundaries, boundaries!

Setting boundaries is a MUST HAVE skill. Oh, I’ve learnt hard way! (ha ha ha) Here are some examples with comparison to what I used to do without boundaries. 

• You don’t have to reply to all Email. You are not obliged to do so. (and I used to do so)
• You don’t have to do the task right now just because it came urgent. YOU decide which one is urgent. (and I used to panic and do it all once.) 
• You don’t have to stick your head up in every single places that you feel you’d better do. Just because you feel, you don’t have to. (and yes, I used to stretch too much!) 
• You don’t have to follow advice for what works for others. Even from someone who you admire. Their time management, frequency to send newsletter etc are theirs. You need to define yours to suit your capacity. 

I think boundaries come with understanding your priority. Your priority is yours, not theirs. Boundaries can be set for pretty much everything. Email enquiries, communication with your client, social media platform, phone calls, friendship, extended family circle, school activity volunteer, I mean everything. Of course, you want to be flexible and sometimes required to be so, but making the boundary blur often leads to unwanted stress or even a danger in my experience. 

5. Learn to say NO without feeling guilty

Alongside with setting boundaries, it is also crucial to learn how to say no. AND not to feel guilty about it! I used to find this one so hard, and guess many of you might be the same. Because in general, we want to be nice to people, right? But in fact, the more you learn to say no, the smoother and easier your business can be run. And remember, saying no doesn’t make you a bad person!

My example can be, saying no to S.O.R. (sale or return) clients. I mean, unless you have plenty of time to make work, you spent your ‘limited’ time making for practically ‘renting’ your work and waiting to be paid later. This does not sustain my business. So I have declined most of SOR now, apart from some existing clients who have sold quickly or exhibition (because it’s temporary). On my first year, I took too many SOR, because I was hesitant to say no. Now I have set target with clear numbers for existing SOR, so come September I will be reviewing and withdrawing those who didn’t meet my target by then.

Also for trades and any other collaboration enquiries, I have set another measurement on who I would like to work with, such as diversity and inclusion. If my value does not meet with their approach, why should I work with them to meet their need? The requirement need to be met in as equal measurement as possible. Weighing too much on one side is not workable for me.

6. Listen to your body

Call for action for all hardworking people. Listen to your body. Full stop.

7. Ask for help

If you can outsource help in your business and that is your wish, that could be a solution. In my case, I like working myself in my studio, and checking what I do, at least for now. So outsourcing within my business is not what I am currently looking for. But instead, I look for where I can off load my tasks outside of my business. 

I am fortunate that my husband is a calm, grounded and more relaxed person. (basically nothing like me!) He holds a space for me to express overwhelms and stress. Nevertheless asking for help wasn’t always easy for me, especially when you are not a breadwinner. But to maintain a healthy relationship, being honest to each other is most important, whether you earn less or not. So I tell him what I find difficult or struggling with and what might be helpful for him to do instead of me doing, be it house chores or parenting chores etc. For instance, he is good at ironing and mending, so that is now his tasks. I cook weekdays, he cooks weekend. Some nights he does bed time routine so that I can work evening. This year he started to work at home once a week, so that day I get a little extension of my studio time, whilst he does school run. All these sharing daily tasks is an enormous help to keep me going. 

We also involves our daughter to help out our daily routine, such as bringing dishes to/from table, hanging and folding washing etc. She gets to learn life skills, so it’s a win win! 

By the way, I’d strongly recommend “The Book You Wish Your Parents Had Read (and Your Children Will Be Glad That You Did)” by Philippa Perry. The book is about parenting, but lots of useful information about relationship in there. Her approach of focusing on repair than rapture on communication is simply wonderful and wise. If you would like to be able to ask for help, the communication is a key. 

8. Recognise small achievement / Mistakes are learning curve, not a failure

So I’ve talked about accepting what you cannot deal with, lowering your expectation, setting boundaries and saying no, all without feeling guilty. Someone like me will still think, “well, that all sounds like just doing less!” “Have I simply become lazier?”

To tackle that negative thinking habit like I always had, instead I needed to recognise small achievement on each step, if possible daily. Achievement might not be visible or a concrete result. It can be less visible or even still in progress. But recognising that progress and telling myself what I have managed so far gives me a huge positive impact. This positive impact challenges my negative thinking habit and helps me move forward. 

This is easier said than done, I know. I am still a learner. But I believe this will strengthen me in a long run. 

Since April, I have started to take a note of my small achievement. Just in a quick bullet point. In this notebook, I ONLY write positive outcomes. No matter how small they are. By physically writing it by hand, I am taking time for it, reinforcing it and hopefully making this into a habit of self acceptance. 

Here are some examples I wrote:

• I set boundaries to the clients at BCTF and said no to SOR enquires. 
• I unsubscribed newsletters that I no longer read.
• I was much more patient with my daughter today. We planted tomato seeds together, which she enjoyed.
• I wrote something personal but important on IG story today, for which I received many massages from other women. Knowing this was helpful for others really makes my heart full.
• I completed a large order to Japan and packed (10 boxes!). Invoice done. Phew! Satisfied!
• My session with a therapist went well today. Feeling progress and I am happy about.

In addition to that, I always believe making mistakes is an essential part of learning and not entirely a failure. Just to remind you that I have learnt by doing my first year of business ‘quite badly’, so that now I can put these 8 learning tips out here. That itself is a huge achievement for me. 

So that was that. Hope any of these I mentioned was helpful for you. If you have any suggestions that you would like to share, please feel free to do so. 

Thank you for reading. m x 

POTFEST in the Pens

Hi everyone. 

We have just arrived in the middle of summer heat in Japan and I am already super excited for coming weeks to catch up with my family, friends and visit a few artist who I longed to meet. I am sure I will be writing about our travel later on, but for now here is a brief catch up from the show last weekend at POTFEST in the Pens. 

Firstly, thank you so so much for those who visited the show, popped by my stand to say hi and purchased my work. I have received so many positive feedback and many of my work have found new homes. Your support make it possible for me to do what I love doing and for that I am truly thankful.

POTFEST was 25th anniversary this year, after all the wonderful history of this show run by Geoff and Chris Cox. My late mentor David’s favourite show it was (you can see the post here) and I have visited for many many years. 

This was my second time to attend this show as an exhibitor and my last one was before Sabrina was born, so it was a big come back after some years! (You can view it here)

It was great to be back at the show and see some familiar faces. 

We were camping with my family and also visited to see our friends in Kendal one night, which was such a treat, too. (This beautiful image is when we were coming down to the valley to Kendal) 

Just to note that a white tarpaulin behind my stand is provided by Pens, which could not be taken down. However, I had a lovely spot beaming natural light, so overall it was a lucky space to display my work. 

Hope you enjoyed some images here from my stand. Thank you for visiting my blog as always. 

maki xx

Earth and Fire

Long time no blog (again!) 

It’s been super busy over here and continue to be. But before moving on to the next show prep, I would like to share some images from Earth and Fire, an international ceramic fair held at the Harley Gallery, Welbeck, last weekend. 

Original Earth and Fire used to be held at Rufford for many years, to which I always enjoyed visiting. This was their second year to be held at this new venue and this time I was at the other side of the show, an exhibitor! 

Having been a big fan of this show, you can imagine how delighted I was when I was selected among over 100 established potters in UK and beyond.

Thank you so much for those who popped by my stand and purchased work. Your support means the world to me and helps me do what I love, so really appreciate. I had a lovely couple who have purchased a whole dinner set! I was totally blown away! 

flowers from my garden and some foraged in the field

popular 'rakugaki' mugs flown to many happy homes

it was a scorcher! 

As always, I have learnt a lot by observing other’s stand and listening to their experience and advice. Always learning something, from display idea and setting price to variation of work and wrapping mechanism. Even camping tips! Event like this is a great opportunity to speak to fellow potters for that reasons. But most of all, meeting them and talking endlessly about life is the best bit of the show. Potter’s community is such a wonderful thing. I am so happy that I am now part of it.  

m x 

ONE YEAR

Should I do it or not?

I asked this question to myself so many times over the past years. And I am sure many of you might have come across a situation like this from time to time. 

Stepping outside of your comfort zone. 

Leaping into the unknown. 

Some people might find it exciting but most of us would feel it difficult to do, I guess. I was the same. I was scared.

I worked for social care industry for 17 years, specialising with working for people with leaning difficulty and autism. I enjoyed my role, however, working within organisation, there were times when my stress level was so high, when raised issue's been ignored, feeling going nowhere and made me think of leaving the job. Yet, regular income was a comfort and security in my head. I’ve never experienced being self employed, so considering leaving a day job for it was a totally unknown path and a simply challenge to me. Even though I dreamed my pottery business THIS MUCH. I doubted my skills. I doubted my confidence. I could list so many things to stop me. Because it was easier than believing in myself.

But, I did it. My heart said it’s time, do it now or never. I truly think this was the final push. Listen to your heart. Don’t start calculate the future. Because until you take that action, you can’t really start that future. Only took me 18 years since I first touched clay. But, better than never!

May 30th 2017, I started my new studio routine as a full time potter. (Ok, saying that I work within my girl’s school hours now, and some nights and weekend of course.) Being my own boss is brilliant. That kind of stress I mentioned has gone and I noticed that I became much happier. Of course, there are lots of hard work being self employed and have ups and downs. I still have different type of stress but that can be adjusted and dealt with in my own way. Sometimes positive stress is good and drives you forward.  

My first year of full time pottery business has been so far so good. I have achieved some goals, built my website and online shop, met new like minded people and returned to trade show recently, which went brilliant. I am currently working really hard to catch up with orders and forthcoming shows. I am rather overwhelmed with the amount of tasks that I am doing right now to be honest, but must not grumble to be able to do what I love. I am lucky to be in this position. 

Those who read this blog post, come and comment in my social network, turn up my shows and purchase my work, thank you so much from the bottom of my heart. Without you, my business would not happen. I am truly grateful with your support in so many ways. I will continue to share my journey and hope you can enjoy it too.

If you ever question yourself in the similar situation, have a listen to your heart not your head. It may help you make that big leap and believe in yourself, much quicker than I took! 

British Craft Trade Fair

So long no blog! I’ve been meaning to write at least one post a month then March just went! April is already half way through, which means my first event of this year, British Craft Trade Fair (BCTF) has been and gone. Today I’d like to share a little about the show, especially since this was a trade show and wasn’t open to the general public.

If you have been reading my blog for a long time, you might remember that I attended this show in 2013 with a huge bump, expecting my daughter Sabrina. I was in a new comer stand and very nervous. (You can see more in this post)

But I must tell you, this time was worse. I was more nervous than the last time. Probably because I knew how tense this show can be, but more so because this was my first trade show for many years as I had a studio break in between, and also I am now full time self employed. I have not worked with galleries for years and worried how my new tableware would be perceived today.

PREPARATION

The major part of preparation is the stand display. Unlike other ceramic events, we are not there to sell individual items to the general public, but to present your sample work to professional buyers. Your work needs to be shown in the best possible way to stand out among more than 500 exhibitors.

Display is not my forte. I always admire other people’s stands for their professionalism and uniqueness. Still, you can learn and experience over time. So I have written some tips that I have learnt and hopefully you might find them useful, especially if you are a new maker.

MY 5 TIPS FOR PREPARATION

1. collect ideas

2. think about materials that flows with your work

3. think about wall space

4. think how you transport and store them after the show

5. plan time scale

COLLECT IDEAS

Display plan doesn’t come just over night, so you will need to develop over time. To help your ideas grow to exactly how you want, it is useful to collect ideas and visual examples. I did this using Pinterest and Instagram. Not necessarily from show display, but images of someone’s kitchen shelve, shop display and wall decoration can also be useful. The more you collect, you can narrow down your own idea. 

MATERIALS

For the main display materials, you may consider using your own furniture or buy a new product or even make your own plinths etc. Whatever you use, think about the materials that flow with your own work. They can be wood, glass, metals and steels… almost anything, but make sure the materials are harmonise with your work. 

In my case, I used wood. Tableware is based at home environment and I wanted to make it ‘warm’ ‘home-like’ setting, so I used an old table that I already have and built wooden shelves to go above it. 

WALL SPACE

Last time, I didn’t use the wall space effectively, so I have decided to provide panels myself this time. Panels are hung with metal brackets, which is much securer than using S hook. BCTF actually offers panels and shelves if you would like to pay, but this would be one off, so if you would like to keep your display kits for future, make your own.

handmade panels that used for a corner of my stand

TRANSPORT & STORAGE

Unless you have a big car and house with plenty of space, you will need to consider how you transport your display kits and where/how to store them after the show. Ideally you can utilise the display materials for another shows so double the usage, but this can need a little planning as each show has different stand size and scheme.

The table I used was actually the same one I used in 2013. It is my usual photo shooting table and my wrapping station. Already exists mean that there is a space for it. (I must admit that I was lucky to live close to the venue so that we did not need a long journey with the table on the car roof!)

The wooden shelves are made to be dismantled so can be transported flat. Also they can be adapted to other ceramic events I will be attending in the future. So no waste.

After all, I must say a huge thank you to my dear husband who always listens to my design ideas and implements it with his DIY skills. (and coping with my nagging!)

PLAN TIME SCALE

Whether you need building and painting your display materials, make sure you put that time into a work schedule to avoid last minute chaos. As makers, you may stretch time to make maximum stock as close as possible to the show, but preparation of display itself can also take time. I have set at least a week worth of time slot dedicated to this. 

If you have children at home, you will need to put that into the consideration too. You know what’s going to be like with running around child next to your precious materials!

SHOW DISPLAY

My apology for rather poor quality of photography, as I struggled with those artificial lightings. Nevertheless, I hope you can get an idea.

MY 5 TIPS FOR DISPLAY

1. think about theme and style of your work
2. think how your work want to be seen / plan for eye levels & other eye views
3. think about effective background
4. props or no props?
5. use advice if available

THEME & STYLE

Like I mentioned earlier, I wanted my display to look like someone’s home. Be it dining cabinet, table setting or wall decorations, that you can enjoy looking at. This idea applies in every part of my display, otherwise it won’t harmonise each other.

EYE LEVEL & OTHER EYE VIEWS

This is about deciding how your work wants to be seen.

Eye level is the first thing you have to consider in order to draw the viewer’s attention without them walking pass. In my case, the top and second shelves of my dining cabinet is the eye level point, and there I have displayed my ‘rakugaki’ series. Unique and individual blue and white decorations are good to catch viewer’s eyes but also makes you feel at ease with symmetry display, rather than tiring with over-loaded display.

Once you draw your visitors into your stand space, you can create another view point and close up. Like tabletop display, which is a bird eye view as they look down and physically handle your work. I displayed my ‘mazekoze’ series as if I was styling the table for friends gathering to create inviting feel. 

Wall space can create maximum impact if you use it well. I used two panels in the corner to display two series of work, with carefully chosen items that explains each character. 

‘mazekoze’ series is aimed for everyday use to mix up colours. So I scattered plates randomly on the surface and added a little shelf to display my new cups to maximise the use of colour palette.

‘rakugaki’ series is about spontaneous doodling. Here I have selected oval platter that shows large surface decoration and spoons for irregular shapes, which I hoped to be eye catching.

I must admit, the most exciting part was to display the paintings by Debbie Georgie. Debbie is one of my most admiring painters today. She paints flowers and ceramics in such a beautiful and somehow nostalgic manner. Prior to this show, I asked her commission for painting with my pottery. Aren’t they just wonderful? Thank you so so much Debbie. 

BACKGROUND

In the past, I used to settle with all white display. Although nothing wrong with all white, I went for bold colour to make my work to stand out. But be careful with the choice of colour, because you don’t want it to crash with your work or overtake the impact. My choice was dark grey, which is bolder than white but still understated colour and works with almost any colour. I had some beautiful paint left (called ’downpipe’ from Farrow & Ball) from our recent living room renewal. (See this post.) This was used on the background of shelves as well as two wall panels.

PROPS OR NO PROPS?

Using small props can be effective for your display as they can provide mood or seasonal touch. However, if you over do it or use wrong materials and/or theme, it can ruin the whole picture. 

I used natural linens, green herbs, wooden spoons and pears (yes pears!) for the table styling, carefully selected to match the theme. Hope you like the look.

For a little space left on the side, I used our bedside drawers. Stand doesn’t have storage space and you are not allowed to leave any storage boxes there, but you will need some space to store paper works, stocks and so on. So having drawers is very useful without looking cluttered. On the top of them, I displayed some bud vases and cherry blossom from our garden to give a sense of spring.

USE ADVICE

One of the great things about BCTF is that you can get advice from the organiser, be it display or price setting. I found it very useful, otherwise you may stuck with your unsolved problem. If you have advice available, of course do use it!

REFLECTION

Over all, it was a good show despite my nervousness.

I had so many positive feedback about both my work and my display. I took a small notebook to record visitor’s information and it came back almost full. Many of co-exhibitors came and left me positive comments too, which is really encouraging and supportive.

Except, I had one lady stopped by and left me a negative comment. “Your work is too simple, too domestic.” to my face then she walked off! I was stunned and did not what to say, so I just said “sorry”.

I ranted a little bit over Instagram post but after reading some comments, I had a second thought. Maybe I should take this as a compliment. Because I know that pottery is never simple. It takes practice, skills, knowledge and effort. It also takes time to get “simple” right. You can easily overdo things in pottery, almost to “hide” the lack of skills or weakness. So if my work appears to be “simple and domestic”, it means that my aim of everyday tableware has been achieved. Maybe this lady actually helped me refocus what I am aiming for! 

Anyway, I must say I am very happy with the show result, as I have received Christmas exhibitions offers and a good numbers of orders from galleries that keeps me busy for the rest of year. Some galleries that had my work back in 2013 have come back and ordered many, which is truly grateful knowing that they are happy to have my work again.

Hope you enjoyed behind the scene of BCTF and some photos. Thank you for reading. m x