Emerging Pottery Business Awards

A NOTE FROM JOEL CHERRICO:

I decided to discontinue the Emerging Pottery Business Awards (EPBA), for now. The 2018 Awards were successful objectively:

The reason The American Craft Council and I created the awards in early 2017 was to help a more diverse group of potters achieve success in their own art and business. We wanted people to be inspired, push themselves to set goals, and to dream of what they were capable of doing.

After achieving remarkable sales of over $193,000 worth of our handmade Cherrico Pottery in 2017 alone, we also created the EPBA as a way to give back. In December, 2018 as I write this, we just passed the $230k mark for this year, successfully building our business thanks to more generosity from our thousands of pottery customers. We also continue to donate, giving 6% of December sales to 6 charities/non-profits in December (about $1,600 total so far)

These donation projects have wonderfully positive effects on our global communities, and we plan to continue donating in the future (you can view our public donation record and the non-profit organizations we are passionate about here) but I believe there are more effective ways to help people than the EPBA.

It is my choice alone to discontinue this program at this time. I thought deeply about my decision, and I’d like to share some of the reasons why we’re ending it.

But mainly, I believe there are better ways to help people achieve their own successes.

Setting Audacious, Long-Term Goals

We did not achieve our successes by applying for awards. We achieved it through entrepreneurship, craftsmanship, customer service, high standards and working towards mastery of our own art and business.

Setting audacious, massive goals has been a cornerstone of Cherrico Pottery (like when we set the Guinness World Records™ title for pottery or were invited for a guest authorship for Neil deGrasse Tyson’s StarTalk website, after spending time with him in New York City.

“How can you achieve your 10 year plan in the next 6 months?” 

– Peter Thiel

Leading By Example

I believe that pushing myself and setting examples of how to push yourself, in both art and business, is a more effective way to move forward.

Leading by example lets all of us find and set our individual goals. And Cherrico Pottery’s upcoming dreams and goals are massive (solar fired pottery, a TV Show, a solo-exhibition at the Guggenheim in NYC and more…).

I believe setting your own goals is a more durable path to finding and sustaining your own success, than what the EPBA provided.

Sharing Secrets to Success with Honest, Consistent Transparency

Another way we have worked to inspire and help people striving for their own success is with the creation of our new “Educational Brochure Pack.” Our team spent 6 months crafting this informational tool, but it is really the culmination of 13 years spent making pottery and 8 years spent building a business.

The “Educational Brochure Pack” is a way for anyone to learn secrets about the Cherrico Pottery business, art, strategies and tools to how we build success. You even get scripts you can use to start your own pottery journey. You can get the pack on Amazon here or by becoming a Patron.

Let Pottery Guide Your Journey

Through it all, I’m a potter. I do my best to teach and reach a diverse group of potters and non-potters, because I believe that humans have a duty to help other humans. If we have discovered a path to success, yet fail to help others succeed, then that is a travesty.

But it’s the pots. Lots of pots- 20,000+ and counting, that brought us here. Pottery is what I always go back to, on good days and bad. The pots have defined our success.

I make pots, and then communicate why this art is worth making. Fortunately, our fans have responded by buying pots and finding their own enjoyment from experiencing the art in their own lives. I believe this is the best way to make a powerful impact in the word. We need to be honest about the fact that this is enough.

Thanks so much to everyone who helped make this project successful.

For all future inquiries, you can email us here anytime: contact@cherricopottery.com

Sincerely,

Joel Cherrico

CLOSED: Applications for 2018 are closed. You can watch the video below to see Joel Cherrico’s Elevator Pitch example, followed by the 3 Winning Elevator Pitch Submissions from Cheryl Farrens, Jon Schmidt and Marianne Robilotta.

You can view the previous application below. For questions, you can email contact@cherricopottery.com