Growth & Grace

Wesley Knight 0:00
This is a Kun V studios original program. The following program is underwritten by Crawford management group and Chris glow and does not reflect the views or opinions of 91.5 jazz and Moore the University of Nevada, Las Vegas, or the Board of Regents of the Nevada System of Higher Education even

Music 0:18
better than I was

the last time, baby, we back and

we back and we back and we back and we back and we back, we back, and I was the last you eat? That was

the last time.

Leaha Crawford 0:44
Hey, hey, hey. Happy Saturday, Vegas. Happy Saturday. Hey, Julian, doing well, how are you? How are you doing you? I am absolutely amazing. Tax season ended. Well, the first part of it, I can't say it ended, because it's still going on for me. The big deadline date is over with. I got some rest. I'm rejuvenated, and I am ready to rock and roll. How you doing? Doing?

Julian Rosado 1:07
Pretty good. Question, do clients still try to come in even though it's there? Never mind.

Leaha Crawford 1:13
You see my face, right? So how it works for me is we file a lot of extensions, so with the IRS, April 15 is a crucial date, because if you file an extension, if you believe you owe a liability, you have to pay by that date, right? Yeah. So there are two penalties, a failure to file, failure to pay. If you get a refund, they really, don't really say a lot to you about filing the extension, because you're getting a refund. But with refunds, you have three years to claim the refund. So say somebody was getting a refund this year and they don't file a return this year, it's okay. They don't file a return next year. It's okay. They don't file a return the third year. It's okay, but if they followed the fourth year, you don't get the refund, right? So best practices, just do it every year. That way you don't have to worry about what the statute of limitations are in doing different things. On the other hand, if you owe to not get the failure to pay penalty, you have to pay by the 15, right? You can file the form and, you know, file an extension, but you still have to pay so you want to. We spend a lot of times, a lot of time educating our clients. And a lot of our clients know, but a lot of newer, newer people, newer clients to us, or if you're just starting to file tax returns, right, you don't notice. So we spend a lot of time educating our clients and understanding that we don't like to rush to do tax returns. Even a simple return, you have one w2 we want to make sure we didn't transpose numbers. We want to make sure that we accurately put the information and put the information into the system. So we go through several checks just, you know, just we do our due diligence on the front end, ask all the hard questions to make sure that we are accurately putting the information on a tax return before we submit to the IRS, because we'd rather do the work first than to wait and then have to go back and correct some stuff because we were moving fast and overlooking so rushing, no,

Julian Rosado 3:15
not in our office to what, uh, Jonathan does, yeah. Well, yeah, yeah, no rush.

Leaha Crawford 3:21
Well, for me, no rushing in anything. And do people get for oh, it takes a long time. Yep, it does. And I don't. I used to try to, you know how you try to please people? I'm gonna move. I can't. I'd rather be accurate and efficient than fast. Yeah, so we're accurate, we're efficient. And have we made errors in the past? Absolutely, that's what taught us, accuracy, efficiency. Ask the questions on the front end, get the IDs, get the signatures, make sure we're doing our due diligence and make sure that we're putting out a good product. Put good products. That's good, you know? So we take our time. So, you know, we filed a bunch of extensions. We did have clients that came in on the last day, new client last day, and again, the first the initial interview, the initial conversation, I'll call it interview, because it's not an interview. The initial conversation is either minimum hour and a half, wow, right? Because we're talking and we're conversing. We're looking at your old tax returns. We are going through to see if there was anything that could have been done differently prior

Julian Rosado 4:28
confessing. Of course, of course, that's

Leaha Crawford 4:31
why we got tissues on the desk. But we do, and it took me a long time to be okay with our process and to understand that our process is our process for a reason. It works. It works and fast. I'd rather, you know, just take a good pace, a night, a walking pace, to make sure that we're putting out good returns. And then a lot of our clients have complicated returns. So it's not just. Simple w2 it is, they have a small business. They have the LLC, they have the S Corp. They have rental properties. They are investing in the market. So they have different statements that they need to receive. They have HSAs, just a whole bunch of different situations. And we want to make sure they own homes, right? They charitable contributions. Every once in a while you might have medical expenses. The best way I say it is when you look at a tax return, it basically tells a story of your financial picture for that year. So how do we accurately reflect that picture? Because if you lay your returns out over several years, you can see the different changes in your life. Did you have a baby? Did you buy a house? Did you start a business? What happened in your life is reflected on these returns. And they tell a story. They tell a story. You know, some of them, I mean, my clients like to like, Leah, this one's gonna be a comedy. Okay, let's see how funny it was, right? You know, sometimes things weren't as well, okay, Leah, this was a horror story. Okay, well, let's, let's watch the movie, and let's figure out what we can do differently, right to get you to whatever that desired goal is. So that's how we approach it. And I had these conversations on a regular basis. Well, Leah, you look at it differently. Well, I have to, have to, and I want you to feel comfortable and not uptight when you come into the office, because I need you to relax and whatever it is, let's figure out a plan to work it out. And if the plan that we figured out is not the right plan, we can change it. It's not etching stone. We can change it, you know. And if you have a lot, I have clients now, large liabilities, let's figure it out. How do we get it paid? How do we come up with a plan and get it paid so we're doing because we also do offering compromises, where we negotiate with the IRS and for that bill to go away? Wow. But based off certain situations, do you eligible? Are you eligible to do? Oh, I see you know. What is it? But what I love is, is that we try to take these complicated laws, right, and try to make them simple. The name of the company is keep it seriously simple and sometimes simply, just having a conversation. But that's me. But it's not about me today. It's about Jonathan. Hi, Jonathan. Hello. Jonathan Angus, back with

Jonathan Ng 7:13
us. How you been? I've been pretty good, pretty

Leaha Crawford 7:16
good. We just found out today. Jonathan is 20 years old. Happy belated

Jonathan Ng 7:19
birthday. Thank you. I'm feeling old. The back pain setting in

Leaha Crawford 7:24
20. Y'all back pain, 2020, So Jonathan, tell us about, I mean, tell us about your business. Well, first, what's the name of your

Jonathan Ng 7:35
business? So my business is pretty much just my name. I sell handmade ceramics. So Jonathan ang pottery is what I have it written underneath. And I currently have an online shop that I just set up about a month ago to now sell through online and then over the past a little bit over a year. Because when I first started the business, it started with local markets around Las Vegas, with a company called market in the alley, and then a couple other markets here and there and just on that, like little pop up weekly, like weekend craft shows, that sort of thing. And that was January 28 of last year.

Julian Rosado 8:17
Yeah. What I asked really? What was the clicking point like, what was the point where you said, Ah, this, this could work. I feel like everybody has that

Jonathan Ng 8:28
there. There's been multiple, I think the first clicking point that said, Okay, I need to actually start to do this and give it a real shot. Um, was, I was making ceramic pieces, cups, mugs, bowls, as really just a hobby to relax, go to work, stressed out from work. I'm gonna go to the studio for a couple hours just play around with clay, because I thought it was pretty fun. And then after a while, I was making things quickly. I was learning from other people. It was getting better. And then I would get people asking, just other studio members, like, Hey, do you sell your things? Can I have some of your stuff? You're getting really good. You need to sell this? Yeah. And then eventually, my dad just looked at me one day because I had just different pieces stacking up on a dresser in my room. And it was, it was getting to, like, a three foot tall stack. He was like, that's about to fall over, son, I think you need to actually start getting rid of this stuff. Now. He probably meant throw it away. But I was hearing other people it's like, no, I would really like to buy that. Okay, let's figure out how to sell now. And so that's really what it was.

Julian Rosado 9:41
Do you remember your first piece that you sold? I do actually,

Jonathan Ng 9:47
it was a little, not little jar. It was kind of a larger jar, maybe around 10 inches tall. Looked like an urn shape, and it. Had like, these black scorch marks on the outside, because it was Raku fired with horsehair. So that process looks like you heat the pot up until things will just burn on the surface of it, and then you take long strands of hair, typically horse hair, and kind of drape it on the sides, and it has these cool, like scorch marks lines on it. And then I sold it to, like, one of my really good friends in ceramics. Her name was Hannah, and she she saw it come out, and I just had it around. I mentioned I was starting to sell things. So I took, like, a couple of photos of maybe, like seven things that I had, and I think I put them on an Etsy page. And she saw to me, it was like, I'm I'm taking that, bring it to the studio. Next time I'll be there. This time, I'll pay you for it. Okay, it's great.

Leaha Crawford 10:45
Just that simple, yep, just that simple. Do you have

Jonathan Ng 10:51
gathering your materials? Yeah, so my process looks like and I expected to change over the course of this year, talking about gathering materials. My process from start to finish now is I will buy commercial clay. At this point, I expect to get into harvesting natural clay, which is a ton more work, but because I'm just harboring harvesting it for nature, I don't have to, you know, pay 3040 bucks for 25 pounds of clay. I just have to do the grunt work to dig up the clay myself. But currently, I'm still doing commercial clay because it's just a lot easier to get. But I actually found this was a great way to reduce costs, kind of like difference between cooking at home and making yourself food versus going to the grocery store or going out to eat all the time and just having them make it for you. So I used to buy commercial glazes, where you just buy glaze and like a little pint, and some, some of them are like 20 bucks a pint. And then I transitioned over to making my own glazes. So I buy now, like 25 pounds, 50 pound sacks of the raw materials. I'll have to make my own recipes, and then also I use local materials when I can. So currently, this, this was really fun, was I started using wood ash in my glazes, which has been a very traditional material for 1000s of years when pottery first started to make glaze, and when I was first looking for it, I was inspired to make wood ash glazes because I just like the look of them online, researching it, but I needed to find a supplier. Now, if you live in the Midwest with a bunch of trees, it's easy. You just burn trees. You're good. We live in a desert, not not too many trees around. I think I got smart on this one. I thought barbecue places use wood in their smokers, right? They can't use that. And so I think I was 17 at the time, I walked into this like hole in the wall barbecue place five minutes from my house, and I had a little book on Ash glazes, and I go up to the cashier. I was like, I know this sounds crazy. You guys burn wood in your smoker, right? Yes. Could I bring a bucket and take the ashes? And she's She immediately put her face in her hands, like, What are you talking about? And I was so nervous, I flipped the book around. I'm like, I make ceramics. I promise I'm not crazy, but like, if you, if you would appreciate recycling and helping my business, I'll come in whenever you need me to, and I'll just pick up the ashes from the smoker and use them. And that was a funny interaction, but it started a really good relationship with them. And that I now have, like, a primary glaze ingredient that I use it all of my glazes. And sometimes it can be like, 50% of my glazes, and I can just get it for free. That's

Julian Rosado 13:47
awesome. Wow,

Leaha Crawford 13:48
man, that's awesome. Wow.

Julian Rosado 13:52
So how do you get the when you get the ashes, do you go to, like, different restaurants or, I mean,

Jonathan Ng 14:00
so I get enough wood ash from this one barbecue place that I don't need to go around. Am I allowed to name drop this barbecue place to support them? Okay, it's bad to the bone barbecue. It's on like South 215 and Gibson. I love that place. They're friends of mine, so I just want to shout them out. But also, when I was first looking to use ashes, I actually went to a couple different barbecue places around town. Some of them were chains. Some of them wasn't this place worked out because it was just this one place, and they were all local. And so they were more than happy to help out. I found some of the chains, and I also asked them to, like, what kind of would you use? Because it can affect the colors of the glaze and the effects like that. But then I found on some some of the more larger chains, they said, No, I don't think we can do that, just because the liability of, say, the ashes weren't completely cool you burn yourself, or just that sort of thing. So. Was nice finding this local business to help me out, and then me to help them out. I got a question, just because they were really helpful. Go ahead,

Leaha Crawford 15:09
do you have you given them any of your art? I have you have, okay,

Julian Rosado 15:14
I have, I was thinking like, I know you did. Yeah,

Jonathan Ng 15:17
it's like, every, every so often they'll get, like, a new cook in, or something like that. And actually, they just changed over management, I think a month and a half ago, for some other reasons. But I always offer them, when I explain that I use their ashes because new employee, they hear is like, Oh, you're here to pick up. You are weird, and I have to have that same interaction again, but offer, it's like I show pictures of what I make. Hey, would you like a mug? Just for free? I'll just give it to you because, like, you guys are a vital part of my business, so I figure I might as well just give back. I hope

Julian Rosado 15:53
so. The show is called growth and grace, so you clearly have grace for putting together pottery. I know that that takes a lot of time. So where do you see the company going?

Leaha Crawford 16:05
Where do you want it to go? Okay,

Jonathan Ng 16:07
where do I want it to go? We'll do a couple different timelines. So within the next year, because I like to stay pretty grounded with my goals, I don't want to think 10 years ahead, because who knows what will happen there, right? Within the next year, talking about the process I would love to get into using natural or wild clay rather than commercial stuff, because I think it'll be more unique. And I also like reflecting kind of the materials that I'm using. So like using local materials from, say, New York or Japan, it'll be a different kind of look to the pieces compared to using local Clay from Vegas. And I just like showing the beautiful characters of like, we have beautiful wild clay around Vegas to use, but we just haven't done pottery long enough that it hasn't been like a tradition in the same way some other places are on the business side of things. Last year, it was primarily just working local craft shows, markets on the weekends, a lot of in person sales. This year, what I'm really hoping to develop as a skill is more online sales and then marketing, because I noticed a lot doing in person sales. People love the product, and it was awesome. And I think it also helped with me being able to talk about the product and being confident in it, hearing other people's feedbacks, like, I like this color, but I don't like the shape. I like the shape, but maybe it's a little heavier, it's a little weird, right? And so that helped refine the product.

Julian Rosado 17:47
People could sense your passion, yeah. Now, like

Jonathan Ng 17:50
towards the tail end of last year, getting into, like, October and November, it seemed like the biggest say downside to my business, that the hole that wasn't being filled in me making it more profitable or a healthier business was online sales and then the demographic that I was selling to, because I noticed I had this thought multiple times I'd go to different shows and different shows, like some were better than others, But going to say, like a craft show on a Saturday, and I'm next to a bunch of food vendors, like bread or cookies or whatever. I get a bunch of people, and they were all very interested. They were curious. Got to talk to a lot of people. And then I noticed everybody walking around, and they had, like, a bag of bread or cookies, right? And it seemed like the demographic for those kind of shows was I want to walk around. I want to enjoy this beautiful weather, maybe grab a snack and just kind of enjoy the scenery. It wasn't so much. I'm looking for a gift for somebody, or to furnish my like house with mugs or that sort of thing. So it seemed like it was a little bit of the wrong demographic, and so I think transitioning over to online sales and promoting on social media, and doing a bunch of that, yeah, I'll be able to gather people who are more interested in buying my product, and hopefully that will drive more sales, but it'll be a skill that I'll have to work on if, if if I've never made, like, social media posts talking about my work or showing how I'm doing, I'm expecting the first month or so videos. One pretty bad

Julian Rosado 19:31
making social media posts ever since, like, what you were 11 or something.

Jonathan Ng 19:36
I wish I did, but no. Okay,

Leaha Crawford 19:39
so you listen to growth and grace. I am Leah Crawford. This is Julia Rosato, and we are here with Jonathan Ng and we're talking about his passion. He is a budding young entrepreneur, and just some of the growth points noticing what his demographic was, and that's huge, because a lot of businesses know you got to find your demographic. Have to know your demographic. And going to the art shows and seeing which ones were profitable and which ones you were just doing exposure. Because maybe just exposure to your product, you never know what future buyer you've come in contact with.

Jonathan Ng 20:12
There's something think about. There was plenty of examples of that, of going to a show and maybe the sales weren't profitable, but feedback from some of the customers that came by, and feedback from other people is great. And then, oh, there was one example. I remember, I did a show, the sales were okay. I'm I made a healthy amount of profit on the show, um, but if, if I sold nothing, and I just had this one interaction with the customer, it would have been worth it, because this, this gentleman came up, older, retired guy. He came up and was like, Oh, I really like your work. Would you like some glaze materials? Huh? Sure, I don't know what you have, but free materials is free materials. I'll take it. And it ended up working out that his wife, she did pottery for many, many years and stockpiled a bunch of things. And just with old age, she had to stop. And so they had, like, a garage full in a backyard full of stuff, and they didn't just want to, like, sell it on Facebook marketplace, and it's just been sitting around. But he he made an effort to go to a craft show, and he told me about this when I eventually came to pick up his things, he was like, I was looking for somebody who was passionate about making things. And like, I liked their work. You could tell that they enjoyed making what they wanted to do. And they were kind enough to talk to me, and that, I guess, in his instance, was me at the show. And so we had a wonderful interaction. And I never, like, took notes on everything that I got, but it had to have been a couple $1,000 worth of glaze, materials, equipment, that sort of thing. And I asked him, like, do you want me to pay for all of this? Like, I, I don't know an exact number, but what you are giving me here is worth a lot. Like, I would feel bad. And he's like, no, no, the interaction that we had, the passion that you have, I, I just love you. What your goals are and how you carry yourself. Just take it you're good. Oh, wow,

Leaha Crawford 22:23
that's huge. That is huge. And just showing up at the show and being authentically you, yep, just being authentic.

Julian Rosado 22:30
Do you ever have the idea of, like, let's say like, I started a small restaurant and I want you to make all the cups for them, or all the dinner plates.

Jonathan Ng 22:42
Yeah, so I have had that idea. I actually had that idea pretty much when I started the business of I would love to do wholesale orders and making large batches of work, because personally myself, I would class my classify myself as a production Potter, meaning I will make, you know, hundreds of the same amount of piece and just do them really, really quickly, right? Wow. Some potters are more studio potters. Well, they'll make, like, five things in a day, but they'll all be really nice. They'll be really unique and more artsy kind of thing. Production potters are, like, doing the functional stuff and doing it very well. So I had that idea when I started, and slowly I've been building towards it in the sense of when I first started, my way of production just wasn't fast enough or efficient enough. So even if I got, say a small order of not a whole range of bulls cups and that sort of thing. If they just wanted say 100 little like side dishes for say, guacamole or something, right? It'd probably take me like five months to get that done, wow, just because my production just wasn't quick enough, right? Wow. And I recognized that because I had the goal in mind, I just had to figure out the pathway to get it done. And so I made, I made some improvements to my business. One of them was when I started, I was working at a local studio, having a membership and that sort of thing. I took time, particularly in the summer, like two months, and changed over a shed at my grandparents house, like, cleaned out a bunch of tools, put insulation in, but made it into a home studio that I can use now. So one I don't have to pay a membership fee at a studio. I can just make it up. My grandparents shed. Thank they're kind enough to let me use it. Yeah, your margins, yeah, yep. I can make stuff all the time, if I wanted to at my grandparents shed, don't have to be disturbed by anybody. The other big improvement that I did was I purchased my own kiln so I can be able to fire my own things on my own time. I don't have to share the kiln space with other studio members. Because that, that would have been, I wouldn't say, a problem, because it's. Shared space like it's not a problem for others, yeah. But with having a communal kiln, it would be I make say 15 things only three of them can get in the next firing, because you have to have space for others. Having my own kiln, I have a bunch of space to work with, and I can just produce things that's much faster. Other points was being able to make my own glazes, so that way I don't have to worry about like, buying commercial glazes, and that adding to the cost. Because I also thought of it in the way of, if I'm a restaurant owner and I want to purchase a range of wears from me, I can't purchase, like, say, 50 bulls for $50 a bull. It's just way too much. Yeah, right, yeah. Well, I don't know their margins, but I would think that's a little bit unreasonable. I would need the price point to be a lot less. And so I found ways of cutting or cutting the cost of that, by making my own glazes, firing the kiln myself, and kind of really taking control of every part of production, if that makes sense, rather than relying on other people

Leaha Crawford 26:12
and you are signing your pieces, I hope I am okay. I just want to make sure. Yep, okay,

Julian Rosado 26:16
so when's one, puts an order for 100 you sign every single one, yep. Wow.

Jonathan Ng 26:21
Everyone, wow. And he should, everyone's special. Everyone got a touch of

Leaha Crawford 26:25
time, wow. And every piece is different. So even though you might order the 100 and it could be the same because of the process, yeah, everything comes out differently.

Julian Rosado 26:34
A lot of No, a lot of restaurants that would be really, really excited to have that product, yeah,

Leaha Crawford 26:40
okay, all right. Well, you're listening to growth and grace. I am Leah Crawford. This is Julian Rosado, and we are here with Jonathan ng Jonathan, you have, do you have your website up yet? Is your website or are you okay? So how are we shopping online, and give us, how are we shopping online? How are we shopping online? It

Jonathan Ng 26:55
is Jonathan ang pottery.com, so

Leaha Crawford 26:59
Jonathan NES, J, o n a t h a n, n g pottery, p o t, t, e r y.com. Yep. Jonathan ing, pottery.com. I'm gonna say it again, Jonathan, J o n a t h, a n ing, is N G pottery, P O T, T, E, R, y.com, Jonathan ing pottery.com. I'm looking forward to today, because I see it, Jonathan ing pottery, and all these exclusive people. I have Jonathan in pottery, yeah, I have Jonathan ing pottery. I have Jonathan ing pottery, my dishes, my dinner party, they're Jonathan ng pottery, you can't see. And then somebody I have Jonathan ing here just discuss with us, is pottery. I see

Julian Rosado 27:42
it finished eating the left of the bottom of the plate. You're like, oh, man, man. It's Jonathan,

Jonathan Ng 27:49
increase. It's funny. I have a friend who, she's in the process of doing that exact thing because, like, I've made, or I became friends with her through ceramics. And so she made she's been saying it for a couple months and slowly accumulating more and more pieces. But she was like, I'm going to get rid of all of my mugs and replace them with yours. And so slowly, it's like, every month it's like, Oh, I like that. Let me get that one. Let me get these two. I like that. And so slowly, every time I go over to her house to just have dinner or hang out, you see your mugs? I do, right? Feels good, doesn't it? And I look, I look in the cabinet, I was like, Okay, which one do I want now? And it started with, there was just one of mine, and now there's two of mine. And slowly, it's like, half of it is mine, right?

Leaha Crawford 28:37
It feels good, doesn't it? It does, it does. It does, all right. So that's a wrap for growth and grace. Thank you, Jonathan, for sharing time with us. I truly appreciate it. You know, remember, growth is a journey, and grace makes it worthwhile. Keep pushing forward, keep showing up, and most importantly, keep giving yourself grace to grow until next week. I'm Leah Crawford,

Julian Rosado 29:00
and this is Julie Rosado. Be well, be great,

Leaha Crawford 29:03
and we will talk to you next week. Bye, bye.