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Many of us assume that when demand for our work finally arrives, we're supposed to rise to meet all of it — that suddenly the rules of supply and demand apply to us the same way they apply to everyone else. What if deliberately not scaling up isn't leaving opportunity on the table, but is actually the thing that makes the work worth wanting in the first place? In her conversation with Debi Stoliar of Curiosibee Ceramics,, we explore what it looks like to hold two seemingly contradictory truths at once: taking your craft seriously as a future business while protecting the joy that makes it worth making at all. The most powerful business decision you might ever make could simply be deciding not to grow beyond what you genuinely love doing.

Check out Debi's work at: https://www.curiosibee.com/

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We spend so much energy measuring success by how visible or "full time" our craft looks from the outside, but the version of making that actually sustains you might look completely different from what you think it should. Over the last 5 years, since we first interviewed Camille Beckles (of Camille at the Wheel), on our debut episode here at the Maker’s Playbook, Camille has had the opportunity to say yes to the most exciting, challenging, and community-driven ceramics opportunities of her career. And it's her full-time job that gave her the freedom to do it. When survival isn't on the line, your art gets to be whatever you want it to be. Could releasing the pressure to monetize everything (and leaning into what genuinely sustains you) actually be the most serious thing you can do for your creative practice?

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For fifteen years, the first piece of advice out of my mouth to anyone asking about self-employment has been the same: keep the outside income as long as you possibly can. And for fifteen years, I wasn't doing it.

Until now.

In this solo episode, I'm sharing a significant personal update — what led me to take an outside job after fifteen years of running my own businesses, what burnout actually feels like versus just being really tired, and the surprising freedom that comes from detaching your creativity from your ability to pay the bills.

Plus the one question every maker should ask themselves before they spend another minute stressing about Instagram.

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Most of us have been told — implicitly or explicitly — that success as a maker means growth: more followers, more orders, more revenue. But what if the real question isn't how big can this get, but what do I actually want from this? Taylor Friese of Maker Bakery built a waitlist that stretches years into the future not by chasing a bigger audience, but by getting radically clear about who she makes work for and why — and letting that clarity do the marketing for her. And when you get clear on what you actually want — not what success is supposed to look like, but what you want — the right people tend to show up, ready to wait in line for it.

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If you've ever Googled "how to price my art" or "how to grow a creative business" hoping someone would just hand you the right answer — this episode is for you. Rebecca digs into why making confident business decisions as an artist or maker isn't about finding the perfect formula. It's about treating your art business like a science experiment: forming a hypothesis, testing it, analyzing what actually happens, and adjusting from there. Whether you're a full-time maker relying on your craft sales to pay the bills, or a side-hustle artist still holding onto that day job, this episode will help you stop waiting for permission and start making decisions that actually move your creative business forward.

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Most of us assume that building a creative business takes years of groundwork before the work can speak for itself — but what happens when the work takes off before you've had time to figure out the business? Aaron Raymond of Redacted Ceramics went from renting a wheel for a week to running a full-time pottery business in under two years, and his story raises a quiet but important question: does the conventional wisdom about "paying your dues" actually hold up? As Aaron shares, a clear creative vision — one rooted in the Portuguese tile work he encountered while living abroad — combined with a willingness to use technology as a tool rather than a shortcut, allowed him to develop a style so distinctive that it found its audience almost before he was ready for it. The real lesson here may be that sustainability isn't about how long you've been at it, but about knowing your limits, protecting your hands, and resisting the pressure to scale past what the work can actually bear.

Check out Aaron's work here: https://redactedceramics.com/

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As makers with hobbies turned side-hustles, many of us get wrapped up in the ultimate goal and dream of quitting our day jobs to pursue pottery full time—but what if that pressure to monetize everything is actually stealing the joy from the very thing we fell in love with? Matt Robinson's experience first burning out on wedding photography taught him that the freedom to experiment, fail, and follow creative whims only exists when your livelihood isn't riding on what you make. Through six years of pottery alongside a flexible full-time job, Matt has learned that constantly trying new forms and glazes, worrying less about having only one “voice,” and posting to Instagram only when the spirit moves isn't a failure to build a "real" business—it's the luxury of keeping pottery as the side hobby, not the thing that pays the bills. Perhaps the real privilege isn't escaping the nine-to-five, but rather finding work that gives you enough time, energy, and financial security to make whatever you want, whenever you want, and releasing the financial pressure of needing every piece to sell.

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When you see someone juggling multiple jobs in their creative field, it's easy to assume it's because none of them could fully support them on their own—but what if having options is actually the most strategic business decision you could make? What happens when you intentionally build each avenue to be viable as a standalone career, then choose to keep them all anyway? In Part Two of this “Where are they now?” interview, Hope shares why she brought each of her four ceramic-related jobs to the cusp of full-time viability before deciding that she actually wanted all of them, for different reasons. We discover that sometimes building multiple income streams isn't about hedging your bets—it's about creating the security to make choices based on what you want rather than what you need. Could the freedom to say no to work that doesn't serve you—whether that's declining partnerships, stepping away from draining platforms, or choosing projects that energize rather than deplete you—be the real prize of building a multi-faceted creative career?

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So many of us carry the weight of what we thought our creative careers were supposed to look like—especially when formal education told us exactly what success should be. What happens when you realize that the dream you've been chasing (full-time solo artist, full-time influencer, the one perfect job) isn't actually what you want anymore? As Hope Limyanksy shares her journey from trying to fit into expected molds to embracing four different ceramic-related jobs, we discover that sometimes the path to sustainable creative work means giving different parts of yourself to different places rather than pouring everything into one all-consuming career. Could the freedom to choose multiple paths—instead of forcing yourself into just one—be what finally lets you build a creative life that actually serves you?

Looking for support in figuring out these big questions for your own unique life? Come join other makers from around the world who are having these very same nuanced conversations, with pragmatic support alongside inside of The Community.

Hope Limyansky is on Instagram @limyanskystudios

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We're bombarded with messages telling us we're missing some secret key to business success—especially at the start of a new year—but here's the truth: 

There's nothing fundamentally new about running a successful business, no matter what year it is. What if the real problem isn't that you're lacking some proprietary system or special knowledge, but that you've been convinced you need to keep searching for answers instead of trusting what you already know? The basics of business haven't changed in decades: tell people your work exists, get better at reaching the right people, and keep showing up consistently—and while educational resources can help, the courses promising to 3x your sales or unlock secret formulas are preying on your imposter syndrome rather than addressing the real work of building genuine connections with your customers. 

Instead of chasing the next shiny solution that promises to make everything easier, what if you gave yourself permission to trust that the sustainable, incremental progress you're already making—even when it feels slow or uncomfortable—is exactly what building a real creative business actually looks like?

I'm putting together a new free resource to help you trust yourself. To be the first to receive it, sign up for our email newsletter here: https://www.makersplaybook.com/newsletter

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