Transcript
Speaker: the power of getting outside feedback for your own pottery. What is up, shaping nation? This is Nick Torres here, and for those that don't know me, it is my mission to help potters like yourselves to discover your own unique voice with your pottery. And sometimes the best way to discover your own unique voice is to get outside feedback for your pottery. You see, every week, me and my friend Sarah Connor, we like to have a chat about our pottery and our goals that we would like to achieve
Speaker: And Sarah came across a pretty big problem. She has a Patreon where she makes every few months, she'll make some pottery and she'll send it out to her Patreon subscribers. But the problem was, this was her first time doing it, and the first time she did it, she royally failed. She absolutely failed, and she didn't know what was the cause for it.
Speaker: And because we chat every week, she was having a hard time wrapping her brain around what happened. Like, you know, she failed royally, the thing she made, it completely messed up. And she didn't know what went wrong. But because we have these chats every week, I was able to come up with a hypothesis of what I thought went wrong with her pottery.
Speaker: And because I was able to come up with a hypothesis and tell her that hypothesis, she was able to start coming up with new ideas on like, if she wanted to go down that route again of making that pottery again, or if she wanted to do something else, or if she ever did make that thing again, then she knew what she had to do next time. And because she told me that she failed, I was able to see what she had to do.
Speaker: And sometimes getting that outside feedback is the best thing for our pottery and for our business and for our ability to grow. Getting that outside feedback will really, really help you because now you see what you did wrong and now you can see where you can go to improve.
Speaker: But how exactly can you get this outside feedback in your own life? Because some of you aren't able to talk to potters all the time, or maybe you have a job, or you have family to take care of, and you're not able to talk to these potters like I am on a weekly daily basis. So what can you do? So number one,
Speaker: is this is something I have done, and I know a bunch of other people have done it as well, is to post polls onto your Instagram stories. I know a lot of people, potters out there, and people will use Instagram to promote your potter and just show it off a little bit. A very easy way to get outside feedback is to use Instagram. And you could ask a question, and maybe you have been struggling with something, or you don't know what to make.
Speaker: a very simple thing that you can do is to post a poll on Instagram say, I'm having trouble what to decide what to make. Should I make a frog or should I make a mug? You know what I mean? So you and then whatever they go with, then you can go and make that thing. And that's outside feedback right there. Or you can even ask the question, what color looks better, the blue or the green. And if they say green, then you go with that one and boom, now you have outside feedback.
Speaker: And this is a very simple way that you can get outside feedback. Another good way is still using Instagram, is to ask questions. Comment on people's questions.
Speaker: because they might, they may not be giving you feedback directly, but the way you ask the question will help you out. So let's say, for example, you're scrolling through Instagram and you see somebody's party that you think looks absolutely amazing, but you have no idea how they make, how they do it. Ask them the question, how do you make, like, let's say if they're making this graffiti or a certain graffiti design, how do you make the characters that you make? And more than likely, they're probably going to answer.
Speaker: And just simply by asking that question, you're getting outside feedback to actually help you as well. Even though they're not doing it directly, you're still getting outside feedback. You're starting lessons simply by asking and commenting on their problems. Another good way is that you could get outside feedback from family members, from your friends, from your boyfriend, girlfriend.
Speaker: Do you get outside feedback that way? And just say, what do you think about this mug? What do you think about this pot that I made? Then give me your honest opinion. And this outside feedback is gonna really help you a lot because giving that a different perspective sometimes can really help you focus in on what you need to do. I hope you guys enjoyed this episode and I'll see you guys in the next one.
Speaker: Thanks for listening to this episode of Shaping Your Pottery with Nick Torres. If you want to start discovering your own unique voice, you must first start with the right questions. That's why I put together a free 15 question booklet for you to start discovering your own unique pottery voice. All you have to do is go to shapingyourpottery .com forward slash questions to get this free booklet.
