Thrive By Design: Business, Marketing And Lifestyle Strategies For Your Jewelry Brand To Flourish And Thrive

We’re in the middle of some rocky, uncharted waters, m’dear. But that doesn’t mean we’re doomed!   It’s time to pull together as a community to support one another as we navigate this brand new territory.   I’m tuning in with my friend and co-founder Robin Kramer to answer your most pressing questions about what you can do now to protect your jewelry biz and preserve your creative energy.  

Are you freaking out a little bit? Don’t worry, the voice of reason is here!   I’m talking about Jason R. Ayers, of course.   In Part 1 we talked about what you can do to protect your mindset and creative energy.    I highly recommend listening to that first. You need to take care of yourself before you can take care of your business.   Now, we’re diving into tactical strategies to protect your business and income during these uncertain times. 

It’s a scary time to be a business owner right now. I’m sure COVID-19 wasn’t a part of your 2020 business plan, but here we are.   Things will go back to business as usual, but in the meantime you have a choice...    You can freak out, make a bunch of fear-based decisions, and possibly tank your business, or you can be mindful, devise a strategy, and look at this as an opportunity for growth.   Yes, there’s always a silver lining, m’dear!   Take if from Jason Ayers. He’s a strategic business growth consultant and certified Neuro Linguistic Programming (NLP) practitioner.   He recorded this two-part episode with me to offer some advice on what you can do NOW that will protect your business and put you a step ahead of this situation.

Do you ever stalk other jewelry designers on Instagram?   Yeah… I confess!   It was no wonder that after stalking this designer’s IG that I wanted to interview her. She’s a private jeweler and designer of all things sparkly, blingy and over the top gorgeous, Stephanie Gottlieb.   Lots of people say it’s hard to sell jewelry online, especially fine jewelry. Yet, Stephanie is legit CRUSHING IT!    She’s built a completely loyal fan base of online (and offline customers) and has learned to leverage online sales channels to grow her audience and keep the sales rolling in.   I mean she’s doing so well that she’s built an Instagram following of over 330K followers! Wanna know how she did it?

Some people think selling fine jewelry online is impossible. Oren Katz from Carbon & Hyde is here to prove them wrong.   Oren founded the high-end fine jewelry brand with her sister Yarden. their collections have decorated several high-end boutiques and retailers, and their pieces are loved by fashionistas and celebrities alike.   In the beginning, the sisters only planned to sell direct-to-consumer online. It was going okay, but getting new customers to buy jewelry online at such a high price point was a challenge.   They decided to expand into an omnichannel brand to allow in-person customers to feel the quality of the pieces and build trust and credibility for online customers.   Now that their brand is more successful than ever, Oren agreed to come on the podcast to share her secrets to developing a prominent omnichannel brand...

Jewelry designers are a kooky lot. We know how to embrace the weird that makes us unique in a world that would often rather stifle it. My friend Re Perez is someone who knows a thing or two about embracing his weird. Re is is the CEO and founder of Branding for the People, and is about to publish his first book, Your Brand Should Be Gay (Even If You’re Not). With expertise like that, I knew I had to have him on the podcast to talk about how jewelry designers and makers can create a magnetizing brand around their work. And boy did he deliver!

When was the last time you got something fun in the mail from a brand you like? The truth is, not a lot of companies are sending out snail mail anymore… which makes it the perfect opportunity for you to stand out! Meet Miriam Schulman, founder of Schulman Art and host of The Inspiration Place podcast. She sat down with me this week to talk about her creative snail mail strat that keeps her customers coming back time and time again.

What kind of questions are successful, in-demand jewelry designers asking about their business? Today, we’re going to find out - and answer them! I had some of our SOS students send in their most pressing questions about running successful jewelry biz. SOS is designed to offer guidance for jewelry designers with goals of scaling to multiple 6 figures and beyond. So, these questions were asked by some pretty smart cookies - just sayin! Listen to episode #238 of Thrive by Design to get your all-access pass to Ask Me Anything: Questions From Our SOS Students

Every time I get an influx of new students, this question comes up in one way or another: “Tracy, why do you care whether my jewelry business fails or succeeds? Why should I listen to you?” Ouch, but fair! To answer that question, let me share a little bit about my life-long journey to becoming a jeweler, mentor, and coach...

Building a business takes courage. I’ve seen designers try to do the same thing over and over again expecting things to be different because they’re afraid of what might happen if they try something new. The monotony is familiar and safe, but ultimately flatlines your business. To be a successful jewelry designer, you must find the courage to put yourself out there, try new things, and most importantly, ask for help. The Flourish & Thrive community is filled with brave designers who have done just that, and their businesses are taking off. Today, I want to celebrate them.

I wish I could say the jewelry market isn’t saturated, but let’s be honest… it is. But I’m not telling you this to discourage you. On the contrary, you need to know that it takes consistent strategy and effort to make your brand stand out! Truth bomb: It is possible to distinguish yourself among the crowd! With the right strategy. Let’s talk about what designers just like YOU are doing to make their brand stand out in this saturated market.

The jewelry industry can be notoriously secretive. In a true demonstration of #CommunityOverCompetition, Metalsmith Society is trying to change that. Just as Flourish & Thrive Academy has created a supportive space for jewelers to learn about business, Corkie Bolton has established a vibrant community where jewelers can share techniques, ask questions, and exchange ideas. Corkie came on the show today to discuss some of the questions she hears most from jewelers in the Metalsmith Society. Such as, “How do I price my jewelry?” and “Should I sell on Etsy?” With our powers combined, we were able to come up with some answers.

Let’s start the new decade off with a challenge! I love January (even though it’s a slow month for us designers) because it’s an opportunity for a fresh start. Time to refresh your mindset, fast-track your sales, and create a repeatable sales system that you can use all year long.  Are you in?

What’s your money story? When it comes to money, everyone has different stories they tell themselves, including you - though you may not even realize it. Most people start out with negative money stories that take serious work to clear. They can be inherited from family, picked up in the media, established from experience, etc. No matter where it started, fear around money always stems from some form of scarcity mindset and will only ever get in the way of your success. Successful entrepreneurs put in the work to transform their money story into one that’s compatible with a growth mindset. And that’s what we’re going to do today.

Let Go of Stories that Hold You Back Sometimes you hold on to stories about the world and your place in it that hold you back from our true potential. Those stories will keep limiting you until you acknowledge them and do the work to clear them. Negative mantras that drag you down, like, “There isn’t enough money to go around.” can be reframed in the positive: “There is enough money to go around.” The first step is to identify YOUR limiting beliefs and stories. What it will take to clear them? Take Full Responsibility for Your Success Have you ever caught yourself playing the “Blame Game?” I know I have. Tsk tsk tsk. It’s easy to blame others for your problems and avoid taking responsibility, but it’s neither realistic nor productive. As a jewelry-preneur and creative visionary, you are responsible for your own success. Own it. And when those sweet moments of success do come, they’ll be even better! Always Operate from a Growth Mindset At times, it can be a challenge to stay positive and operate from a growth

Have you ever thought about the impact your brand has on the environment and in communities around the globe? There’s a shift happening in the jewelry industry right now. People all the way down the chain, from consumers to designers to miners, are becoming aware of the environmental and social impact of jewelry. The Chicago Responsible Jewelry Conference is an annual event dedicated to changing the jewelry industry for the better. It’s only in its third year, but its already making an impact. Director of Education Jessica Gebauer sat down to talk through the major takeaways from this year’s conference with Niki Grandics, founder of Enji Studio and the co-chair of marketing and communications for Ethical Metalsmiths. They talked about a few things YOU can do to start making a difference.

1) You Feel Overly Defensive of Your Biz Someone asks a critical question about your business or offers constructive feedback, and you immediately snap into defense mode. That’s a red flag. As the creative visionary, you may be too close to your biz to see some of the big-picture problems.  I get it, you’re passionate about what you do. That passion is what fuels your success, but it can also get in the way of growth if you let it. If you find yourself feeling overly defensive of your business decisions, that’s usually the first sign it’s time to get some outside perspective on things. 2) You’re Operating from a Scarcity Mindset You feel stressed because there’s not enough money to go around, not enough room in the marketplace for your work, etc. It’s not true. Repeat after me, and believe it: money is limitless, sales are limitless, your opportunities for growth are limitless. It’s only a matter of getting your head in the right space and putting in the work. The best cure for a scarcity mindset is to reach

Do you ever feel like you’re trying to do everything at once? This is a problem. When you’re trying to run a business and handle everything by yourself, it quickly becomes overwhelming and you end up focusing on menial tasks that aren’t actually moving your business forward. That’s why “Delegate to Elevate” is an intrinsic part of the Desired Brand Effect methodology. In this episode, I chatted with Krista DeJoseph, someone who really took “Delegate to Elevate” to heart.  As the creative behind Queens Metal, Krista has been at the helm of her company for over a decade. Designing and fabricating jewelry is her passion, and nothing makes her happier than smashing the hell out of a piece of metal. When Krista decided she wanted to take winters off to travel, she knew she needed someone to keep an eye on things while she was gone. This led her to “stumble into” (her words) hiring a virtual assistant. But she never expected what happened next.

In the six months since Peggy Houchin, the designer behind Peggy Houchin Jewelry started Laying the Foundation, she’s increased her online following by 75% and doubled her sales from last year! I brought her on to talk about the changes she made in her biz that brought her such raving success. You won’t believe what she’s accomplished with a few simple tweaks! Listen to episode #227 of Thrive by Design to get your all-access pass to How One Skeptical Designer Doubled Her Sales This Year By Taking Our Advice

Authentic Connection I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again - faceless brands are dying. As sales move to the online sphere, social media is shaping buying decisions more than ever. People buy from people. At the end of the day, sales is about building relationships with your customers. Gone are the days of target demographics. In an oversaturated online market, it’s all about dialing into the specifics of your Dream Client and standing out in a sea of faceless brands. The connections you make - through messaging, branding, pricing, customer service, web copy - are what set you apart from the crowd. Connected Conversion As a jewelry designer, you may feel afraid to sell.  It’s okay to admit it; I was too, in the beginning. It took years of flexing my confidence muscle to feel comfortable converting a prospect into a buyer. Even if you’ve built an authentic connection with your Dream Clients, the sales won’t be rolling in if you’re sitting behind your bench all day. It takes consistent outreach and excellen