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

Stephen, thanks for taking the time to share your stories with us today Has Covid resulted in any major changes to your business model?

Covid drastically changed our business. It was change that was inevitable I think, but the pandemic made change a necessity.

Red Bison Studio relied heavily upon classes prior to Covid. That was not a scaleable practice though, and the idea of switching to a more production mindset had began to be considered. Not that everything has to be able to scale, but if you want to grow and create more opportunities, jobs, and excitement in your business that has to be a priority. So as things began to lock down we had to shift out of a class mentality and into a production one.

Those first few months I put my head down and began producing more objects. Mugs, plates, bowls, platters, etc. I also reached out to our wholesale customers that had a large social platform, or a good digital footprint. As their online orders began to grow, we supplied them with product. That allowed us to also focus on producing more for our own online retail, and design for the shop. We did more one off’s that we shared in shorter format style’s (24 hour stories and quick buying opportunities) for customer and it did really well. Our online retail had it’s biggest growth during the first months of 2020, and it has stayed consistent since then.

Since then we have continued to focus less on classes and more on production. This is a bit of a bummer though. Classes for me are a really important part of being a resource to the community. I want to be able to provide a resource like ceramic education to the general population so I am striving to problem solve how to create that opportunity again. We have had to shift our operations to provide more space for production, which will give us the resources to eventually acquire a larger space to be able to do production and classes, but it might be a few years down the road.

Until then though, I started another business that fundraised and partnered with a local non-profit to build a large ceramic wood kiln that will be used as an educational resource for local educational organizations around the state (schools, community colleges, art centers, and individual artists) Artists will bring their ceramic pieces to Sheridan to fire the kiln for 3 to 4 days and learn the process of wood firing twice a year with artists we bring in both nationally and internationally. We were able to build the kiln this spring, and hopefully have our first firing in the fall. This was an exciting project and will fulfill that goal/objective of being a ceramic educational resource for our 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 went to the University of Wyoming for art and art education. I received a bachelors of fine arts, and a bachelors of art in education. I taught high school after school for about 5 years. During that time I was highly focused on creating and building a business, and worked long hours in the evenings in my garage.

I was fortunate that Sheridan, WY has a 3rd Thursday festival where vendors were able to display and sell their items. Every 3rd Thursday during the summer Sheridan closes off it’s main street and people set up their shops. My pottery was well received, and so I continued to find other festivals. I didn’t know much about this scene until I really got into it, but it was a good way to cut my teeth and learn about interacting with people, and it also gave me the confidence that what I was doing was being well received. I did craft fairs for the next couple of years and continued to grow a local audience.

I resigned from teaching, and went to work for a local screen printing business that was doing really well and growing. I learned a lot about how their production studio was set up, and how they worked with clients. Then during 2017 they moved out of a smaller space into a bigger one, and I was able to take over the small space. I opened Red Bison Studio officially late spring of 2018.

We have been able to provide finely hand crafted ceramics on main street Sheridan since then. We focus on craft, quality, and design, and I believe we are able to bring a high quality product to people that changes their everyday experiences. Using a handmade mug first thing in the morning with your coffee, or a whole dinnerware set made by an artisan creates a whole different environment around those daily routines. A thoughtfully made mug, where you can feel the individual marks of the artist, is an intimate encounter unlike any other art form. It’s those daily moments of eating and drinking where our products fit and enhance those overall moments.

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 don’t. know if it was an unlearning, but more of an understanding that you have to be prepared for people to try to take advantage of situations, and this has been a constant since I started.

One of my very first wholesale sales was unbelievably exciting. I had someone reach out and want several mug for a their shop, and I was ecstatic. I figured out my wholesale pricing, made the product and delivered it. Two day later a received a call that one of them had broken with normal use and I would need to replace it. I had not thought about this scenario at all. I knew I wanted to have a good relationship with this client, and so I wanted to make it right. The circumstances for the breakage was a bit hazy though so I wanted to go in and see if it was something I could make sure wouldn’t happen again the future.

When I went in to see about the break, I explained who I was. At the time it was a younger person working (high school) and they immediately apologized. They explained they were cleaning and accidentally dropped the mug and broke it. They felt bad but it was completely an accident. I was at once furious. I felt I was being taken advantage of and could not believe someone, or another business would do that.

This was highly beneficial for me though. After this I was more prepared to work with people and businesses. I put terms in place for purchasing my product, created policies, developed confidence in my own work, and approached situations with an understanding of trying to see the whole picture.

How’d you think through whether to sell directly on your own site or through a platform like Amazon, Etsy, Cratejoy, etc.

I have my own Ecommerce site. Early on I was told do not give up your autonomy and don’t rely on another businesses platform to be the main driver of your goods. The trade off of using a site like Etsy is that you are training people that to find you, you have to go to a 3rd party site that has thousands of other items like yours. You are then at the whims of Etsy on how your product is found, viewed, etc. They are a known site, and have a huge audience, but building your own audience is much more valuable.

I started wholesale in a big way when I first got going. I decided I would put certain items in stores that matched that style. For example utensil holders in a kitchen store, mugs with outdoor designs in an outdoor adventure shop, and more detailed items in boutiques. In my mind though this was to help grow my own audience. All of these different clienteles were seeing my items and getting used to them. Once I had a large enough following, or when I began to be easily recognize-able I started to pull back from those shops and focus on my own direct to consumer sales. I think this strategy could be used in a digital way also, but it is hard to know when to pull back, and sometimes it has been a difficult separation, especially if you have good sales in a particular store. But it is important to remember you are building your own brand, not someone else’s.

Contact Info:

• Website: www.redbisonstudio.com
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