^ I had 2 responses to this: LOL (out loud) and secondly agree. This question is ALWAYS on the board. I'm agreeing with GEP that you have to be assured the "advisor" has actually reached financial viability in a pottery business.
My experience (going into my 13th year) is that there seems to be very little middle ground. Either people are successful commercially or they are not. I've seen quite a few get started and even talked to some people in my area. Most people don't stay in this for the long haul. I use a format that I see less often. I do 2 shows a year and have a free standing location. I have had up to 8 employees, and am now down to only 1 plus myself. Actually I make about the same profit. One thing I did three years ago was adding slip casted wares to my hand building pottery line. I buy these slip cast wares from an outside source and it decreased my clay production needs. It's a nice supplement. Also, I have a full jewelry line that I have 1 full time employee that stays in sales area and makes jewelry and waits on customers for pottery and jewelry sales (and a small hand crafted fragrance line that I make as my "hobby").
I like this business 200x more with no employees in the production process except myself. just got in a 4K pound drop of clay from Laguna and will use all of it this year. In previous years have used more than 10K pounds. Not sure how much I will use this year ... probably will get one more 4k drop.
In answer to your question, I don't do any online. But I've had other businesses before this and was pretty comfortable in the mechanics of establishing a destination retail business. I am a firm believer in capturing 4th quarter gift sales. Half my yearly sales are in Nov/Dec. I'm not sure I'm the best example for recommending channels. I do some consulting but could easily have enough clients to do retail consulting full time. I am always going to say "retail". But I'm not 100% sure this is a good strategy for most potters and I turn down any consulting offers for any arts and crafts businesses. Social media, at the current time, makes it easier to drive customers to a retail location than it used to be. (however, FB and Instagram have implemented changes and may well introduce more that limit the cost effectiveness of this promotion). I've written an extensive analysis of channels somewhere in these forums. I am very pleased with the financial viability and profitability of my business. I will say the ROI (return on investment i.e. equipment, materials, location set up), is exceptionally high. The biggest draw back is the ease and consistency of duplication. I see duplication more successful in slip casting than in hand building. I've had less experience with wheel work, as I dropped it years ago to keep up with the demand for my hand built wares. Avoid hiring employees until you have your process and sales channels worked out. I am also going to suggest that you approach wholesaling very cautiously. I've always thought one should choose between wholesaling and retailing. I have done wholesale in my jewelry line but have stopped because it was pulling me in 2 directions.
Cheers. Hope I get to see the survy.
Sharon Grimes/Dirt Roads Pottery
