Are you skilled at turning the potter's wheels and have more than enough pottery products to fill a basement? Than maybe you should sell your beautiful creations and turn your passion of home made pottery into cold hard cash.
Here's a few tips to get you going in the right business direction so your art can be appreciated in the right hands:
- Prep Your Pottery For Re-Sale
Glazing your creations increases the resale value of your collection, and attracts more buyers. Before selling, you want to really stand out putting an extra spin and twist with signature colors and textures.
Plus, the more unique your homemade pottery, the more saleable. I can stress enough the importance of putting your unique touches and signature to your pottery collection because most don't want the stuff you can buy bulk at your flea market. People want conversational pieces that are going to impress their family and friends and make their living rooms stand out with guests.
After you have a saleable collection. set-up inventory for each piece. Keep records accurate records using a modern computers to track what's been sold and what's still available.
Scan your competition and learn what their doing regularly to stay in business so you can focus on giving people the home-made pottery they want to buy. It does you know good if you created Aztec themed pottery, when people want more of middle eastern vibe. So know what your potential clients want, and ask your competition what works for them – and you'd be surprised what answers you get free of charge and without a hint of resentment.
- Create Your Business & Set Up Legally
Acquire a tax ID number from the government. This gives you legal right to set up booth's at art and craft shows. In fact, most successful home-made pottery entrepreneurs make the bulk of their businesses at these large crowd affairs because of the massive foot traffic.
I should know, I would attend these gatherings and these creative geniuses made a killing – often selling out in just hours – before they closed shop to re-stock their booth.
- Promote & Market Your Home-Made Collections
On eBay, you'll find artists around the world sell their art at high mark-up, and keep consistent, loyal buyers. You can command higher prices when you establish a bigger name for yourself and as your confidence in your skills becomes apparent to your customers – the value of your work increases 10x.
If you did nothing else with your homemade pottery, you could make a very nice living selling it online with no problems.
Also, take a few hours and drive to your local home décor/furniture stores and ask to display your products. Some places scout for talented artists like you and want to feature your homemade pottery collection with their own products. This way, it increases the value and sell-through of their products while selling through yours. It's win-win.
At the end of the day, you want your items to sell commercially and in volume. If you build your business, you can mass produce your most popular pieces and turn it into a far more profitable business venture.
