From maker to manager

Sarah James: "I've had quite a varied career. I started out as a maker, and I got a degree in ceramics at Glasgow School of Art in 1993. I used to love doing the craft fairs and big shows, but when I got back to the workshop I used to find it all a bit lonely, it wasn't quite for me at the time. And I got the opportunity to go over to the management side of things in 2000, and I became a craft development officer in Yorkshire. And that really was quite a specific decision that I made, to move away from being a maker to promoting makers. And I felt that I make a much more valuable contribution to making by not making. I still had a huge passion for craft, but I didn't really enjoy the process of making and selling my own work, whereas I absolutely love setting up things like this, or exhibitions, and seeing people flourish. It's really changed my life.

"The skills that makers need to develop are a lot to do with the professional development of their marketing. Obviously as makers they know what they're doing, they make beautiful things, but things like photography are usually quite poor sometimes, even with people who are quite experienced. And really about how to present themselves, be quite thorough, telling their customers where they're going to be -- it's notoriously difficult to get them to engage with their customers beyond the face-to-face. It's very difficult, though. I can understand people are so concentrating on making that they don't have time to think about that, but it's so important, little simple things could really really help. With e-mail and digital technology, it can be made so much more simple.

"Makers need to have a variety of skills to enter the market these days. You've got to be a lot more clued-up than you used to be. If you're flexible and you have the ability to turn your hand to different projects, whether it's public art or working with children or working with adults, there's ways that can help to support your practice and ultimately keep you doing what you want to do. If you want to go over to management like I did, do that! There's scope for that. If that doesn't sit well with you, then keep with what you're doing and build a portfolio around it -- writing, I've done all sorts of things over the years to keep doing what you want to do. There's lots of opportunities, you have to be very tenacious and determined and quite organised.

"If I was going to give anybody any advice, it would be get good photography. Because at the end of the day, that's all you are. You are your objects. If you can't afford a photographer, group together and use a day or two of time in a studio to get some good pictures, but definitely don't think that you can do it yourself unless you definitely can. That would be my best advice, because that comes up time and time again."