157
7 min 17 sec

NYC Office Manager Moonlights As Creative, Cash-Collecting Ceramist

Unique, renewable production techniques help a ceramics enthusiast land her products in a Michelin starred restaurant in the heart of the Big Apple.
Arts & Crafts Creative Design Product

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What It's About

A love of ceramics leads to a modern ceramics storefront.

Business Model
Arts & Crafts
Skills Required
Ceramics & Marketing
Complexity
Medium
Profit Potential
Medium

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.
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Inspiration is good; inspiration combined with action is better. Now get back to work!

Yours in the revolution,

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Quote of the Day
"My whole life I've reached out to all the people who were doing what I wanted to do to ask questions. I explored so many mediums and took a ton of classes. It's nice to know how others do things, so we aren't all reinventing the wheel, but rather just making that wheel better or bigger."
—Nicole Helen Brunner #SideHustleSchool

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To infinity and beyond,

Chris Guillebeau