Pottery Groupon deals are putting studios and the entire experience of learning how to throw in jeopardy. Groupon dominates online advertising space and with an email list as long as the population of London, they are a tempting choice for a potter who doesn't have much online reach. However, there is a darker side to running advertisements with Groupon that have a negative effect on the small businesses that do so. To teach pottery classes you have to be extremely talented, and you would expect your teacher to have undergone some sort of training that probably, at one stage, cost them an arm and a leg. To expect them to then teach you at 75% off or with a BOGOF offer is setting them on a backfoot that they definitely don't deserve as a new business teaching other people their skills. As consumers, we would question a heavily discounted university course for fear of it not being up to scratch, so it makes no sense we should expect skills to be taught to us at a much more than affordable price. Here are 3 reasons, why you shouldn't buy a pottery Groupon deal.
1. GROUPON DAMAGES BUSINESSES
For pottery teachers to list on Groupon they have to agree to extremely 'good' deals or low prices. These offers are attractive to customers, and sometimes more coupons are sold than can be accounted for. If this happens, it means pottery studios can be filled with one time customers for months and months and it can do serious damage to their incomes if all their customers are paying 75% less than normal.
2. YOU'LL GET A SECOND-RATE EXPERIENCE
If your pottery class is being advertised at a discounted rate, it probably means the experience won't be as good as if you paid full price. Groupon doesn't only encourage huge discounts, but they take a large cut of coupons sold, meaning the merchants have to cut down on materials used, in quality and quantity to make sure they don't lose too much money. If you really want to learn pottery, you want to do it properly and you want your experience to be pleasant. Groupon pottery classes can also be super full, with studios accommodating 20 or 30 people at a time. This means you get less time with your teacher, less time on the equipment and there is less clay to go around per person.
3. YOU ARE UNDERMINING YOUR POTTERY TEACHERS TALENT
It has taken years of training, patience, and skill for a potter to reach teacher status. For them to be good enough to teach you a thing or two on the wheel, they have to be pretty awesome themselves. Just because a pottery deal is available on Groupon, doesn't mean the teacher is any worse than a teacher found on Obby. It just means that teacher is struggling to find business and therefore, has had to lower their rates to try to benefit from Groupon's huge reach. If you care about learning something new, make sure you give your teacher the respect they deserve by booking with a trusted website that doesn't drive their prices down.
We've mentioned Obby and you're on our website, so it's only right that we introduce ourselves. Who is Obby, and what do we do to make a pottery teachers life easier? Obby has always been proud to select the best teachers from every sector, whether that be drawing, dance or pottery. Our pottery teachers have not only been approved by our team of Insiders, who attend classes to make sure they are fantastic, but they are independent, incredible people who work extremely hard teaching beginners pottery. They often do this alongside creating their own ceramics lines to display in museums, galleries or sell in stores or at markets. Our pottery teachers seem to work 24/7, not only promoting themselves, but also promoting the pottery industry. So with no further ado, here are 3 reasons you should take a pottery class with Obby and our amazing independent teachers, and stay away from those tempting Groupon deals.
1. OBBY HELPS POTTERY BUSINESSES AND TEACHERS THRIVE
A lot of our teachers didn't start off that way. They are all at the top of their game, but they hadn't thought about teaching until we encouraged them to. Obby is on a mission to give the confidence to incredibly talented people to teach workshops to supplement their income. This is also brilliant, because often the teachers hold classes in their own working studios, meaning you get to experience their life as a potter as well, submerging yourself into their reality to learn from them!
2. WE DON'T CHARGE THROUGH THE ROOF
We are cheaper than any other website to list classes on. This is because we think our teachers are wonderful for offering what they do. If we keep our prices low, then so do they, meaning students get a good deal and our classes are accessible to everyone.
3. WE MAKE IT OUR MISSION TO CONNECT TEACHERS WITH THE RIGHT STUDENTS
We make sure everything you read on our website is there to help you find the right class. Whether you read one of our guides or a blog post first, everything on Obby is there to make finding the right class for you, easier. There's a reason why you learned more in school from your favourite teacher! If we get you to right teachers the first time around, we've done exactly what we intended to, and if you didn't learn something, we'll give you your money back!