Just Art Pottery turns 10 years old in July. Seem like just yesterday that Lana and I started out by listing a couple of art pots on eBay (without photos). And even though I often can’t remember where I put my keys, I can still remember the first two pots we sold on the internet. One was a classically shaped Fulper pottery vase and the other a 1907-12 period Van Briggle vase shape 645.
Even though eBay was a lot of fun back then, early on we recognized the need to expand beyond online pottery auctions. By 1999, in addition to selling art pottery through the various online auction sites, we established an ecommerce site in an internet antique mall. In a little over two years, we had out grown the space in the internet antique mall site and officially started the JustArtPottery.com website in August 2001. Some of you may still remember the hideous purple and yellow colors (similar to the Blimpie sandwich chain) that I selected for the initial site design. Since then we have been through several rounds of site upgrades and have another currently underway.
One of the greatest benefits of the growth of our business was it gave Lana the freedom (she might use another word) to stay at home with our three young children while running the business. It also gave me the added flexibility to be able to coach my girl’s travel basketball team.
I am also pleased to say that we made an incredible number of friendships in the art pottery world and have established a lot of long-term relationships with our customers. Many of those that started with us in 1997 are still with us today. We have seen a lot of changes in the world of ecommerce over the last ten years and can’t wait to see what the next ten years have in store.
As part of our 10 year business anniversary, I thought it would be fun to create a top 10 list every week between now and the end of July. I am hoping this will get me back in the swing of blogging regularly. Lana doesn’t think I can do it but I have confidence! So look for my first top 10 list in the next day or so.
Greg Myroth – JustArtPottery.com
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