Today we’d like to introduce you to Vanessa Baker
Vanessa, we appreciate you taking the time to share your story with us today. Where does your story begin?
Having children at an early age didn’t provide a lot of time or finances for my husband or I to have any hobbies that we enjoyed. We focused all of our time on them and their wants and needs. Spending all of our extra time at their extra curricular activities. Fast forward to 2020. Our children were older. One out of school, one in high school and one in elementary. Then COVID hit and our world came to a crashing hault and everything that we did was put on hold (as was everyone else’s in the world). While my husband and children were at home, I was battling the pandemic as I am a full time respiratory therapist. The days were extremely long, taxing and depressing. In my down time, I would aimlessly scroll on social media to just drown out everything in my head. People doing pottery videos kept popping up in my feed and I would just watch the videos non stop. It looked so incredibly relaxing. In 2021, I took a very beginner class at our local pottery studio. I was hooked. I went home and told my husband that I wanted to set up to be able to do pottery at home. I got a few things to get started and got to work. But, everything I made was extremely terrible. I gave up very quickly. Unfortunately, I am the type of person that if I don’t produce perfection right away, I give up. I got rid of all of my equipment. Around the same time, the pandemic picked up and my hours at the hospital were even longer and more depressing than ever. I would come home from work, go straight to the bath where I would lay in there for an hour or more at a time. All the while, still watching those pottery videos. About 2 years later, I told my husband that I wanted to try again and do it right this time. He was (he always has been) very supportive and told me to do it but to not give up this time. I took beginner and advanced classes at that same pottery studio for several months. I got to a point where I decided I was ready to build a home “studio”. I bought the basic things I needed and set up in the garage. I would spend sometime hours out there. Pottery is extremely cathartic for me (and all other potters I know). It mutes all the static in my head and lets me forget about everything for a while. And going through the pandemic, it provided me a great relief. After a few months of making things at home, I was starting to build quite the collection at home. My husband told me that I should try to sell some of it. I didn’t think that my work was near that level, but I reluctantly posted some and to my astonishment, people bought all of it. Quickly. I couldn’t believe the amount of people that loved the things I was making. That encouraged me to make more. And more and more. I started to make so much and was feeling more confident, that I signed up to do markets to sell my items. The first couple were ok, but I started doing better and better. Having my husband there to sell for me makes me more successful…he is quite the salesman! His personality is much more fun than my quiet, reserved self. Which gets me to where I am now. I am still doing markets, already outgrowing my 3rd studio space and was recently approached by an individual who is opening her own store front and has asked to have my items in her store to sell. I am completely humbled and grateful for this journey (so far) and cannot wait to see where it takes me.
Oh yeah-and around the same time that I started, my husband and I also started our own DJ/Entertainment business. He has always dreamed of working for himself and when the opportunity presented itself, I told him to take it. The amount of support that that business has received is also mind blowing and after just one year in business, we are pretty busy and often have to decline people due to being booked out. Our 13 year old son is very hands on with both businesses. Whether it be helping me with my markets or working the photo booth at an event, we all work as a family.
I could go on and on about all the other things we are involved in (homeschooling, drums, boxing, bands, concerts, etc), but staying active and busy is what is good for our souls and being able to spend so much time together is what we strive for. And I can’t wait to see where all of our “side hustles” take us as we are already on a steep trajectory to the moon!
Can you talk to us a bit about the challenges and lessons you’ve learned along the way. Looking back would you say it’s been easy or smooth in retrospect?
Definitely not perfect, but I am very surprised at how smooth everything has gone for us for both of our businesses. A couple learning curves. For example, I have realized that I not every makers market is the target audience for me. Doing a market back to back in the same town brings the same audience that you saw the previous day, so I have learned to spread them out. And to have plenty of heavy weights for your tents in the event of wind!
Can you tell our readers more about what you do and what you think sets you apart from others?
In my day job, I am a respiratory therapist. I absolutely love what I do. I love helping people. Playing a part in making them feel better and educate them on how to keep themselves healthy and out of the hospital is what drives me to keep going. And I love getting to know my patients on a personal level. It makes them feel like a human and not just a room number.
However, pottery has provided me the outlet that I need from a sometimes taxing job and a very busy life outside of work. I am very proud that within the span of a year, I have grown from just a little hobby to expanding to an actual business. I love making pieces that come from my heart and as cheesy as it may sound, the pieces where the clay tells me what to do…the pieces that I sit down with no plan in mind. Sure, I make pieces that we all make (mugs, bowls, planters, etc), but it’s the random pieces that come to life that have a story. The ones that get people talking and asking what it is and I get to tell them. The first piece that I made like that was a vase and it sat for sale for several months. When someone finally bought it, I almost jumped out of my skin with excitement. I told her how the case became to be and it sparked conversation. That’s my favorite and why I do this.
Is there a quality that you most attribute to your success?
Being real and honest. I strive to produce high quality items. I never want to turn a customer away, but if I receive a custom order and I don’t feel confident that I can make it for them and deliver a satisfactory piece for them, I will not take the order. Except from my friends (who are still waiting for pieces that I’m very intimidated by what they want) but they are extremely supportive and understanding.
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