Finding The Rules of Business | Molly Bishop | Episode 443

Molly Bishop | Episode 443

Born and raised in Virginia, Molly Anne Bishop graduated from the Virginia Commonwealth University craft/material studies program in 2012. Working mostly in clay, Molly draws inspiration from lizards, popular sports, and travel. Molly has been a resident artist at Red Lodge Clay Center in Montana, Lillstreet Art Center in Chicago, the Skopelos Foundation for the Arts in Greece, c.r.e.t.a. in Rome, and the International Studio in Jingdezhen, China. Molly has work in the permanent collections of her mom and ex-boyfriend.

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How do you define success?

I think being happy and feeling like you are doing what you want and that you are not having to make a lot of compromises, but still being able to financially support yourself.

How do you push through your doubts?

Journaling definitely helps. Talking to friends and getting reassurance from friends. I think taking risks and having the world sort of see you and meet you there. I don’t want to be too scared to do anything so I try to push myself. One thing I struggle with but I’m trying to be better about is to celebrate the accomplishments instead of just moving on to the next thing.

You mentioned taking risks. What keeps you awake at night?

That I will never have enough money to be a capital A adult. I don’t know, so much stuff. That my market will dry up and nobody will want to buy a pot. That I will sleep through a big important deadline. If I do a craft fair I will stay up all night because I am afraid I will sleep through it.

What are some of the habits you have in place that keep you focused and successful?

I think that with ceramics there is a big drinking culture and I try to separate anything party related with the studio. My studio is for work. It is fun but it’s work and I think that is important for being focused. I also do these things called Pomodoros, they are kind of amazing. It is an efficiency technique and you work for 25 minutes then you get a five minute break then after you do four or five Pomodoros you get a twenty five minute break. So sometimes if I have a big deadline I will do that and if I want to check my phone or talk to my studio mate I will just wait until my 5 minute break and I know that that is coming so that really helps.

How much of your time is dedicated to marketing and administration and business stuff?

Probably 10 to 20 percent. It is hard for me to have an answer about that because I feel like the marketing and admin stuff kind of trickles into every minute of every day. I wish I was better about this but I don’t set aside time to answer emails every day, I kind of check my email as the day goes on. I will just reply to stuff as I get it and Instagram happens the same way.

How do you go about cultivating that special feeling of your brand for your customers?

I try not to think about it too hard. The things that I draw and the things that I make, I am not thinking, Oh this is going to sell well, and people are going to respond well to this. I really just try to follow what feels right to me and so I think that is important. I noticed that people who are in the game can kind of get too caught up in trying to reach a certain audience and I just try to let it be natural.

I think selling directly helps with that and writing personal notes to people helps also.