What interested you in Jewelry: Humanities major in college, and wanted to take fine arts classes. Took a jewelry making class, and realized she was good at it.   How to learn to make jewelry: trained as a metalsmith in college. First class was in beaded jewelry. She moved from L.A. to San Francisco, and the only thing she had room to do in her apartment was beading jewelry. Evolved into a full collection called fashion bridge jewelry in sterling silver and semi-precious. Launched a fine jewelry line.  How to start a jewelry brand: Kept getting compliments, and thought there was something to her brand. Started having jewelry parties where she would sell the jewelry. Started wholesaling to retailers. Got her wholesale & resale license.  DBA means “doing business as.”   How to find factory/manufactures? To scale, will need to outsource. They can be hard to find. Referrals can be a great option. Go to sourcing trade shows. Make friends in the jewelry industry. Makers Row have lists of manufacturers. If in New York (Diamond district) or LA (Hill Street or Culver City).    Flourish & Thrive: People were asking her to mentor them, which she turned into consulting. They teach - How to attract dream clients, how to design jewelry that’ll sell, how to price jewelry, how to sell and market their work.    Like working with designers best or reps? Designers: with the reps - it is a middleman, like a game of telephone. Creatives aren’t necessarily business people. They have to focus on the numbers in order to  have their business. If you don’t have the sales, you won’t have a brand. Build the business with your buyer, come to them with reorder and transfer suggestions. The buyers will know about the trends, and can come to the brands that make sense and see how to incorporate the trend in their aesthetic. If you get a no: ask why. Ask for feedback. Practice gives you confidence.    Flourish & Thrive Academy: is jewelry business platform, thinking of opening up into other verticals. Number one jewelry business academy for marketing and sales in online education space. Started a podcast because she had a YouTube channel where she had vlogs each week. Have to film, prepare topics/subjects. Have to keep it concise. Podcast gave her longer format to talk. People listen while driving, working out, commuting, working, etc. Numbers started skyrocketing with people listening. Have started talking about other topics as well. She helps creative visionaries protect themselves. What putting out into the world means a lot. Need to get a village around them to support themselves. Creative types try to do it all themselves so they stay small. Aren’t able to grow & scale a business because their zone of genius isn’t accounting, filing papers, admin work, etc. If they aren’t good managers or leaders, etc can all hinder businesses from growing. Teach people how to build systems in your business, train employees, and get people bought into the idea and your vision.    Highs and lows of jewelry business, how used experience in career: The highs were the lows. Getting into Metier SF & TwistOnline changed the scope of her business. Got into the Sundance catalog & Anthropologie. ABC Home called and said Halle Berry & Orlando Bloom bought your jewelry. High & low was getting on QVC - low because she didn’t know how to sell on tv. She was good at increasing her revenue. Every year she had growth years until 2008. Year before expanded into trade shows 10-15 instead of 4-5 she was doing. Was trying to expand too quickly. Wasn’t getting money back she was investing. Mindset for trade shows - Walk a show first, do one at a time, don’t expect to get your money back right away. Stores stop paying you because we’re going out of business. The stock market crashed, had just placed an order with a store for $35k, had been shipping to other stores. Bankruptcy notices kept coming in, so won’t get paid. 2007 had best October ever, shipped $150k, almost crossed $1M revenue. 2008 October was $10k, which would be the lowest month you’d ever have. Didn’t have online shopping back then, so that would be like December because would just get fill ins that month. Decided to close the business in 2009. It opened her up for this bigger opportunity. When people start a business or get on a career path, there is a certain point you realize you built something that is no longer your dream anymore. What do you do when this is no longer your dream, but this is what my identity is built around. Now she had freedom to create the business she wanted to now. Designers have a brand with one aesthetic, and later they change and want something else, but it is hard to change because that’s not what the customer wants. You alienate your customer, like you are starting over. Always sad when your go-to brand is no longer around.    How can someone protect themselves financially while saving money to start a business: Need a proof of concept to get a business loan. People are starting their business as a side hustle first, and evolving. Your business shouldn’t make you not have a life. Start slow and evolve. Focus on getting sales. Invest in yourself and your business, find a mentor. Try to pay yourself.   How to invest in yourself vs. brand: lots of books on this. Profits First by Mike Michalowicz. Take 10% off top line revenue to pay yourself. There is a different in profits and sales. Commit to a certain amount to pay yourself. Figure out how much money you need to make in your business to get to your break even point. There are math equations online. Can adjust the number each month, and can become the marker for your sales goals. Every business will be different. Direct to consumer margins & volume is different than wholesale. Invest rest back into your business.   Work life balance: She didn’t have one when she had her other business. She works out. Need to have a routine. More structure in her day, the more creative she can be and the more she can get done and have time for herself. She makes plans on weeknights. She gets up at 5am. Ever since she moved to NYC, the energy at night keeps her up. It can be lonely as an entrepreneur. She had a business coach tell her to get ready, dressed, put makeup on like going to an office to take your business seriously. She spends 1-2 hours writing before she works out.    Social media: need to have consistency to get exposure. If think waste of time, not using it properly. Create a conversation around your brand, more long term goals. Won’t necessarily get you immediate sales. Audience building opportunity. Use planning tools to batch content all at once, maybe once a month.    What’s next: just launched a new company. Writing a book. Use your creativity to grow your business, step into your role as visionary, work on the ideas and inspire the people around you to buy into the ideas to help you grow your company. Manage your energy - easy to give, and deplete yourself because passionate about what you do. Come up against burnout and want to close your business. Stay inspired by taking care of yourself.    Creatives rule the world: Fashion, jewelry, accessory brands - product based businesses with a founder trying to grow and scale your business. Great place for support. Going to launch a masterminds group called visionary circle.    How do brands set themselves apart: Communicate a compelling story to connect & hook people who will be your raving fans. Keeps them coming back to you. Make tweaks and get people to buy in to what you stand for. A Thousand True Fans book - If 1,000 fans bought $100 from you, that is $100K. Start collecting people who follow you, and they stay with you for a long time. Nurture relationships and keep them coming back.    Metier SF: https://www.metiersf.com Flourish & Thrive: http://flourishthriveacademy.com Twist: http://twistonline.com Profits First by Mike Michalowicz: https://profitfirstbook.com A Thousand True Fans: https://www.amazon.com/1000-True-Fans-Kellys-Simple-ebook/dp/B01N9P9O4G   https://tracymatthews.com/ https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/thrive-by-design-business-marketing-strategy-for-fashion/id1050430716