We caught up with the brilliant and insightful Liz Lagarde a few weeks ago and have shared our conversation below.

Alright, Liz thanks for taking the time to share your stories and insights with us today. Can you talk to us about a risk you’ve taken – walk us through the story?

When I started doing pottery, I thought it would be 10 years before I would change from a side hustle to a full-time job. After about six months, doing orders for family and friends in one show, I had to quit my job due to some health issues. It was then I had to decide on whether or not I would find a different job that suit. My needs are going all in on my business. My husband was super supportive and really encouraged me to give it a shot. We had some big financial goals as a family at the time like paying off our debt, saving for a house, putting my husband through his masters, without any student loans, and we had just bought another cat. It seemed like the perfect time to have extra time focusing on these big goals, but definitely a scary time to start a business venture. Within a few months, I had saved up to buy a whole new figure killed. My husband had just completed his first Masters class and we were starting to gain some traction. The risk was definitely a big financial one but time showed us that taking time to prioritize our goals and our house and this busier and somewhat chaotic season was the right goal. Now he’s halfway through his masters are two cats are doing pretty well together and business is booming to where I have pivoted scaled and really enjoyed the pace of work as an entrepreneur.

Liz, before we move on to more of these sorts of questions, can you take some time to bring our readers up to speed on you and what you do?

I got my bachelors degree in interior design in May 2019 and during my time there, I took a few pottery classes because I needed some random electives to round out my degree. I chose pottery because I wanted some hands-on art since most of my class work was done behind the computer when I graduated from college move back home, I started renting out space at the local studio about 20 minutes from my house and realized I wanted to get my own wheel in Killen eventually so I started buying little bits and pieces of my own stuff for my home studio. When the 2020 pandemic hit the studio had to shut down for a little while and all that I needed next was a kiln so I found one on Facebook marketplace and got to work originally Pottery was just gonna be some thing I did to make bags for friends and family and maybe Sunday and like 10 years I’d be able to do it as a full-time passion career while staying at home. So having a pottery business was never the plan I had wanted to go into interior design, sales, or design, but couldn’t quite find a job that was balanced. The more I started making a Mugs the more my joy in the creative process grew and being able to make them for friends and family really excited me.

I quickly realized how important mugs were to peoples day in life and memories from growing up. I wanted to make mugs that people connected with emotionally, but also really enjoyed using, began taking on orders in collaboration with local women and businesses to put their logo on mugs so their clients could also share the love of pottery and the message of their brand daily. Throughout my recovery from Covid I realized how important it was to have small habits, and a good mindset in the morning which is where I came up with the idea for the grateful mug. It can be so easy in this fast paced world to move onto the next thing, and the next thing, instead of taking time to develop small habits that can produce more joy and change your life.

I am so grateful that I get to practice are in my life every day this opportunity has allowed me to provide for my family and Waze. I never thought possible while also taking care of my physical and mental health. I’d like to say it’s more than just a Mug – It’s the way you start your day and I think that’s really hits home for a lot of people.

If you’ve ever had one of my mugs in my process or been able to use one of my pieces in your every day, you’ll know how important it is to have handmade items that have a lot of meaning and Karen put into them. I hope that with my business I can inspire people to have more joyful and creative days.

We often hear about learning lessons – but just as important is unlearning lessons. Have you ever had to unlearn a lesson?

If somethings worth doing is worth doing well.

Well, I agree with the main idea of this message. It’s some thing that helped feed my perfectionism. Perfectionism and Art just don’t go hand-in-hand. I can really stall your creativity and suck the life out of you. I think if something is worth doing is worth starting. Even if it’s done poorly if it’s done messy if it’s done wrong, you have to start somewhere in pOTTERY has really taught me that because my first kiln firing I did completely wrong. I’ve had many mishaps along the way. I’ve had a lot of stock moments with different orders, but I just had to keep pushing through because if somethings were doing, it’s definitely worth starting and starting can sometimes be the hardest part with perfectionists.

How did you build your audience on social media?

I grew up really shy, and was terrified to talk to people in public whether it be speech class or giving a presentation for the science fair.

But social media has been surprisingly different from that nervousness for me. When I first started, I didn’t realize the reach social media had or what it meant to be seen by thousands of people, so I just started out by being myself and anytime I found a video pretending like I was just talking to a friend and showing them the steps and stuff like that. Practicing my social media like that and viewing. Everybody has a friend really made it a lot less intimidating. I think so often it’s easy to get caught up in all the how to use in the Instagram strategies but I think the best thing for me has been treating everybody that I see on my feet are in my DM’s as a friend, a close friend, and someone I wanna share my love of pottery with.

Even now it’s all a matter of practice for me I practice different ways of formatting. My content I practice talking about the how to be behind my pieces and I practiced being my goofy self even if it’s a little weird.

Contact Info:

• Website: mapleleafpottery.com
• Instagram: MapleLeafPotteryNH

Image Credits
@alyssajoyandco