We recently connected with Elena Labra and have shared our conversation below.

Elena, thanks for joining us, excited to have you contributing your stories and insights. Can you talk to us about a risk you’ve taken – walk us through the story?

In 2019 I graduated from Youngstown State University with a Bachelors in Psychology along with a minor in interdisciplinary art. I had been gearing up to graduate, get a full-time job in my field, and be on my way advancing in the field of Psychology for the next 40+ years. About a year and a half into my first adult job out of college, I had started to notice a drastic change in my mental health. Things weren’t quite working out the way I had hoped they would and I sought professional help. This was the best decision I made for myself! I found things that worked for me that also helped me stay in the job that I was working at the time. While I had been working this job, I had started creating pottery out of my home back in 2020. I took a few classes in college and absolutely loved it. Having it as a hobby on the side was such a nice creative outlet and a way to escape the stress of my job. As the months passed and the stress continued to pile up, I started to consider what it would look like if I left that job and tried to make the pottery a full-time business. This thought was terrifying AND risky. The idea of leaving a job I had worked so hard at and moving towards a much less reliable income source and something that was not guaranteed to work out was scary. After multiple conversations with my husband, we came up with a plan. I finally left my job at the end of 2021 and took the plunge into starting my full-time pottery business. This was the scariest yet most rewarding decision I have made for myself yet! Since then, I have successfully run a full-time business for just over a year now. In the past year I have, exceeded my gross income goal for the year, sold my work at 30 markets throughout different cities in Pennsylvania and Ohio, learned tons of new skills in the pottery world, and have sold over 800 pieces of my work. I have the utmost gratitude for my husband who has supported me without question every step of the way and for the individuals who have shared their words of encouragement and have supported my business thus far! I am looking forward to expanding in 2023 with some new studio equipment which is something that wouldn’t have been possible without the support from my small business community.

As always, we appreciate you sharing your insights and we’ve got a few more questions for you, but before we get to all of that can you take a minute to introduce yourself and give our readers some of your back background and context?

I started my business after I started making pottery as a hobby. I do have a minor in interdisciplinary art and I focused on pottery when I was in college, but I did get a job in the psychology field post-graduation. This left little room for working as an artist on the side.

Once I ended up quitting my
Job and became a full time ceramic artist, that is when my style really started to come to life and evolve.

I create small batch, wheel-thrown, functional pottery. All of my work is food safe and is meant to be used daily! I work with exposing the clay body that I use so that I can incorporate the earthy tones into my art. I have recently moved in the direction of surfacing my pieces by carving detailed designs onto the mug body. I mainly work with floral patterns, but occasionally incorporate a holiday/seasonal specific design as well.

I primarily create mugs, vases, and planters, but I plan to incorporate a much more elaborate inventory that will include dinner sets and decorative pieces for the home.

I think my work is set apart from others due to the detail that I incorporate. I strive to make my work look as refined as possible. I put my efforts towards smoothing out rough surfaces on my pieces and incorporating lots of detail into the surface design.

I am most proud of the way that my style has evolved. I feel that when you look at a piece of mine, you can quickly identify that it is in fact my work. I pride myself on being a small business owner and I love the idea that people could recognize my work anywhere.

Any insights you can share with us about how you built up your social media presence?

My audience initially started as a handful of friends and family. When I was first starting out on social media, my goal was to just get my work out there. I posted any time I could and shared different parts of the process as I was learning about them. This seemed to engage my audience and I started to gain new followers that weren’t in my close circle.

As my following began to grow, I started to look into different accounts online that were similar to the end goal that I wanted to achieve. I would look at how they were creating their content, how they interacted with their followers, and how often they were active on social media. From there, I was able to have a starting point of where I wanted to begin with my social media presence.

One of the biggest pieces of advice that I have seen across the board from different accounts on social media is to show up. Show up and show your face! Be yourself. That has been my goal since day one. I want people to know that there is a real person behind the business. I want them to have an inside scoop on what goes on in my life and my daily process as a small business owner. I want them to know that when they support my business, they are truly supporting me and my family. My followers and supporters are the reason why I can do what I do, so I often show my appreciation for them in many ways.

I continue to show up on social media in different ways. Sometimes it is easy to overthink what you are posting, but if you simply show up as yourself and share what you are working on, people will come to you and will share your work with others.

Learning and unlearning are both critical parts of growth – can you share a story of a time when you had to unlearn a lesson?

I wouldn’t necessarily consider this a lesson that I had to unlearn, but more so it is a mindset shift that I experienced.

All through my experience in college, I had been gearing up to work in the field of Psychology for the rest of my professional career. There weren’t other options on the table. I had this idea that I would work, advance in the field, and eventually retire. This looked like the typical 9-5 day job, which wasn’t all that appealing to me.

As I transitioned into being a full-time small business owner and started to sell my art work for a living, I had to really re-wire my brain and shift my mindset on what it means to have a job in this field. Being an artist does not look like your typical 9-5. There is flexibility in your schedule. More often than not, YOU are your own boss. You set the rules. If you want to work 9-9 one day, you can. If you don’t want to work at all that day, you have the flexibility to do so. The ball is in your court. How successful you are depends on your discipline and dedication to your craft.

I have struggled with the fact that I have such an ease in flexibility in my daily schedule. There are times that I have felt guilty for being able to relax when my body tells me I need to relax in the middle of the day, instead of just pushing through the work day until I can get home to relax. I have learned to accept that success is not measured by the type of job you have or the type of work that you do. Success, to me, is measured by the quality of life that you can attain while creating a work-life that is ideal for you. I want to work to live, not live to work.

Contact Info:

• Website: https://www.staircaseceramics.com/
• Instagram: @staircaseceramics
• Other: Email contact: [email protected]

Image Credits
Little Blackbird Photo – Mollie Crowe