What It's About
A love of ceramics leads to a modern ceramics storefront.
Business Model
Skills Required
Complexity
Profit Potential
Words of Wisdom
While Nicole has a variety of advice, from researching your competitors and knowing your market to staying on schedule and learning about social media, her most important piece is to celebrate your achievements.
“It’ll help when you hit a rough patch,” she said, “Maybe even celebrate your screw ups because you learned something because that happened.”
Fun Fact
Nicole aims to provide more than just artful home goods, she wants to share an experience.
“I’ve always been fascinated with creating shared experiences. There is something energizing about seeing a person or group light up as they receive a very thoughtful gift or enter into a personalized event. It isn’t just about creating a piece, but also the entire experience around it.”
Notes from Chris
Episode 157
When Nicole Helen Brunner moved from New Jersey to Brooklyn and found herself with limited space and ventilation, she had to give up her passion for oil painting, but she didn’t let that stop her. In fact, it was just the encouragement she needed to find a new medium. That’s when she discovered ceramics, which was both affordable and something she could do at home. With an investment of less than $3,000 to cover supplies and equipment, Nicole got herself set up. Through her website, MostRecklessly, a name inspired by a trip to Mexico City, Nicole creates eclectic gifts and home decor, from cereal bowls to hand-dyed linens, which currently brings in between $500 and $700 a month. Plus she’s landed a few wholesale accounts, is working on getting her goods into stores outside of Brooklyn and has been taking custom orders for wedding favors and special centerpieces. She’s now focused on building her social following through Instagram and Facebook and streamlining production. She is exploring the use of molds, rather than hand building all her pieces, which would help her leverage her products for a wholesale market. Her work will still have handcrafted quality, but a greater efficiency and presumably more profit.
MENTIONED IN THIS EPISODE:
- MostRecklessly:See more of Nicole's ceramic pieces on her website
- Britannica | Rainer Maria Rilke: Learn more about the poet who inspired the name for Nicole's ceramics side hustle
- GE Engineer Sells Hand-Crafted Slate Artwork to All 50 States: A GE engineer uses his skills to make and sell hand-crafted slate artwork to all 50 states. In addition to bringing in a great side income, it’s also given him more courage and security to make decisions at his day job
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Resources
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To infinity and beyond,
