This is Jewelry as your side hustle with Sugar Gay Isbury and I'm Sugar Gay Isbury and this is my podcast where we talk about all things jewelry related.
There's a lot of people that have side hustles and not just jewelry, but I really think that today I brought on a guest I want.
I met when I did the TV show, The Blocks.
We got to spend a week together and I hold her with very high esteem because she is not in the jewelry world, but she is the person that you would go to if you were in the jewelry world and you wanted to chat with somebody about what we'll see what she has chat about.
Okay, so welcome to the show.
I am so glad you're here, Jasmine Lopez.
Let's talk about you now.
Yeah, Sugar, thank you so much. I'm excited to be here. And as you mentioned, I am not a maker or a jeweler myself, but my craft is in helping other creatives build their businesses.
So I serve as a fractional partner to creative entrepreneurs. I mostly focus on female and minority owned businesses to kind of get in there, be their partner, learn about their business and help them utilize enterprise strategy to unlock their full growth potential.
Ah, she's a word, Smith. Can you tell? I love you because of your words. Like, you and I, we talk the same language.
Like, those words are really so obviously you have a good literature background or good ability to read a lot done.
My degree is in professional writing, actually. So I am, I am a very talented communicator.
It does matter, doesn't it? It's kind of amazing. I sent you an article earlier today. I don't know if you saw it because it was so on topic.
And the topic being as entrepreneurs, we're not just entrepreneurs or created or whatever. We're hucksters. We got to sell it.
We got to be able to photograph and write about and put on social media and do our branding and do all of these things to try to sell our product to try to get the algorithm to show people our products so they came by them.
It's not enough to be an artist. You have to be, well, inherently in this day and age by being an artist, you become an entrepreneur when you become an entrepreneur.
You become a jack of all trades, maybe master of none. That's what I call myself. But you learn enough to be dangerous and kind of unlock the codes of your business because the reality is like no one is going to understand your craft the way you do.
So it's very hard to hire someone to come in and do things on your behalf. You really do have to learn your way. And then initially when you're getting started in terms of selling, who's going to sell it better than you?
It is hard. I remember, Owen, I had my store here in Austin, the sugar factory on Canig, and that was still like the official title.
That's so good. Yeah, it was pretty good. The sugar factory on Canig or something like that. I don't know. It was pretty good. It still has me listed as living there, even though it's been like forever.
But it was really hard to own a store and then think, well, what I really need is wholesale accounts and what I really need is to close my doors, go out into the world and go do these things.
But when you have a store, brick and mortar store, it's very hard to close shop and or have someone there to, you know, it is hard. It's very hard to open your baby.
I've seen stores closed that say like no employees, stuff like that, because it's, you know, it's so hard to do it on your own and then to hire someone. A lot of the times we don't even have the money.
Speaking of money, I was telling my friend today who I was thinking about because we had had a conversation about her. And she's kind of like my daughter. It's like, you know, I would be rich if I hadn't started jewelry.
All that money that I had put into jewelry. Like, if I would have just shoved it into like a account somewhere. Oh my God, I would have the money.
So at the end game for me is to make some of this money back. Is that what do you think about them?
No, I don't think it's too much to ask, especially when, well, I've seen what you do, right? So I know there's a lot of value in your craft and in your product offering.
So I think one thing I really help my clients to do is empower them to charge appropriately for the value of their business or their product. I cannot tell you how important of a conversation it is to have, especially between women.
Because we have a tendency to undersell ourselves a lot and just take what we can get when the reality is we're providing a unique experience, whether it's with a product or consulting with me.
I know there's a lot of inherent value and passion behind what you and my clients and other makers are doing. So it really, it really hurts me when I see people who are taking less than what they deserve.
Because a great way to unlock scalability growth and revenue streams in your existing business just the way it is, is by raising your prices to accurately reflect what you're selling.
It is so hard because I'm selling earrings, the same earrings that I sold 20 years ago, 25 years ago when I first started, and they were between like $40 and $60 back then, a gazillion years ago.
And still today, I have a customer that you and I know that I sent a bunch of jewelry on consignment for her new brick and mortar location that she's opening in Baton Rouge.
And on consignment, and I knew that she wanted just like $20 earrings, which means it's very hard to make something, package something, document something, put it on a spreadsheet, you know, split it with somebody.
And then at the end of the day, what are you getting like 50 cents from it? Because, you know, it's hard. So when those retail stores say, oh, well, you know, I just need a little something at the cash register that they can, once they get the hair done, they can get like a little something, something,
and then split it 50-50 with somebody and you just go, okay, the whole time I was doing it, I was like, okay, this is going to be worth it because she's going to love these.
She's going to sell them all and then we can slowly raise our prices and then people would get it.
But are you going to like smack me down for that?
Because I've never going to smack you down for learning and doing what you got to do. What you just explained, you're testing a model, right? You're testing a market.
So there's certainly value in making your product or service more attainable for the purpose of testing a proof of concept. People like this. The quality is good.
Let's get some brand ambassadors. Let's get a little bit of a following, right? So maybe from those people that are getting a lower price point initially, we can incentivize them to create content, right?
Take a picture in it. Send it to us. Follow us. Share. Refer.
There are a lot of ways to get value out of a client that you're kind of giving a deal to or a merchant that you're kind of giving a deal to, but you really want to think through all the options.
So yes, maybe right now you're selling to her at a lower price point and doing a profit share, but because it's not really reflecting the value in the time that you're putting into your work,
I would ask, hey, is there potential for us to co-sponsor each other on social media? Let's share back and forth. Let's create more authentic and organic engagement. That's the value in and of itself.
So I would say if you have to cheapen the brand initially to get a foot in the door, I did it too.
But make sure that you're getting, like, I got testimonials and I got proof of concept, right? And then I was able to raise my prices.
So once you get that proof of concept, once you get some social proof, some engagement, some value, use that to substantiate the value of your product and raise those prices to reflect it.
So ultimately, you want the person who's going to pay for the real value of your product and they're going to appreciate it to that level.
You are. You are. Yeah, that's exactly right. And I'm going to go back to the person that we both know that was on the show with us that was opening up in a brick and mortar this week and say, yeah, I mean, yeah, let's support each other.
Like, yeah.
And her little review cards, business cards, follow things and say like every product that goes like give this or even if they don't buy something, every client that leaves your studio, can you give them my card too?
So they have it and they're taking something away. Something that's, it's effort, but it's low effort and low investment, but it could go a long way.
Talking about business cards. You had, you had some business cards actually shipped to the hotel we were saying at, but did you find a lot of people didn't have, I know they were fabulous. I love them.
Did you find a lot of people, it was kind of surprising, didn't have any form of handing out something or have some kind of, we were just with a group of 100 basic business.
Yeah, 113 people. So I was actually that person. I was the person who felt like, oh my God, I'm unprepared and I didn't come with any business cards and I just didn't think to do that because I don't typically like, that's not how I operate day to day.
Now they're, it's a useful tool and I'm glad I have it. Like I'm going to an expo this weekend and I'm like, okay, well this is easier to hand out.
Just a QR code on my phone, like you have your QR code ring. I'm a big, big fan of QR codes.
But from my experience at the blocks, I saw that everybody had them. And it was interesting for me to see how other people put their cards together to demonstrate their business and also how they position themselves in their business because it's like, is this a business card for me or is it a business card for my
company. And I think that was really fun to see how people interpreted that for themselves.
I think that's great. I really do. And your card was very readable. I guess I didn't really see anybody who had bad cards. And I certainly am making something right now for our friend, Joanne right now.
And I have it back on my table right now to make her QR code ring because she liked those and I'm making it a little bit smaller, a little bit not so.
Because it'll be like version two, but I certainly could have taken your QR code and made it into a ring for you, but that's not really your style. But you know,
No, I'll take a ring.
I'm just waiting for someone to put it.
I'm in drink. Gotcha. Well, I don't know if it'll be maybe like a black diamond. We'll talk about it. But I think I should definitely let somebody know my preferences for joy.
Diamond.
You know, they make us like seriously.
So we could sell like do something for you. I don't know. I wear a lot of black too. So I'm, I'm good for the I'm good for anything of black. These are actually black areas and they have colored rice colors.
I love them. I can see yeah I love I'm like a black and gold girl so like I'll like, I'll do jewelry. I just right now don't need it but I'll take it if you want.
A little something for when you're on. I have some raccoon penis earrings up there that are really that will attract exactly the kind of me.
You know, if anybody's searching for raccoon.
Like, I have them. I make them. People love them. It's definitely a niche market. You know, that kind of goes back to who was the pretty blonde that was married to make Jerry Hall Jerry Hall was in a
Batman movie a thousand years ago this is like more than like I don't know more than 30 years ago could it be something like that. And I went into the theater to go watch the Batman movie and she sat down right next to me.
I was like, oh my God.
Hey, yeah, yeah. And she was quoted in the paper that the lady that was sitting next to her kept telling her how great she did that's how she knew that she did great. I'm like that.
Now, the reason I'm bringing up Jerry Hall is in that same article she talked about how boys she's from Texas would give her little raccoon penis bones as they were called love bones.
And that was kind of like going steady is that she got a lot of my raccoon penis bones like I gotta find those. And that's how the whole earring thing started with you could
just Jerry Hall told me. Another brick and mortar that would love the raccoon penis bones is another block sir from the show, our friend in Milwaukee, don't forget that.
Well, I will need to circle back and find their interests. I can give it to you.
And I am making samples for several other people to their, they've been pressed and now they're being gold plated and then they'll come to me and then I'll make them into jewelry and then I'll ship them off as little samples because I think a sample where they don't have to look at a picture
doesn't really cost me much to make a couple earrings and go.
Here are some samples.
Do you like that idea is that a good idea for somebody that's trying to get in.
To a brick and mortar to send samples. Yeah, but I would sell it like I would.
I would arrange or if you're set if you're sending them send with intention right so I would.
Yes, I would have like an email or some level of communication coming like hey these are coming your way this is the intention I would love to explore a consignment or a revenue or whatever it is.
I would have an order sheet there with an order sheet or QR code for an online order sheet because that's the way of the world right so we want to make it as easy as possible for them to say, okay yeah actually I need 20 of these.
And so a lot of the time I can do that how can I make a QR code help me do that.
How do you make a QR code for a document is that possible sure.
As long as it's a website so as long as it's a form or a document that you can host online, which you can do with anything, because you already have your own domain so you would be able to make like a hidden page within your domain it would be your website slash order form and that would be the link and then
you create a QR code that goes to that link.
And you just have to make sure the end to end systems like it ties back into your data but it shouldn't be that difficult. Yeah, so let's talk about for other jewelry makers I know you have a lot of experience with just like helping people like maybe find a way all kind of, you know, like, what should
people be aspiring to now it's not just Etsy, you know, Shopify, fair, these, you know these online things are really great I kind of forgot that it was two years ago.
This week that Etsy had a big.
Everybody had a big falling out with Etsy and there was like a everybody closed their shops for a couple days I don't know if you remember that but it was a really big deal.
And I mentioned because Etsy was taking so much the front end of you know people's sales at eBay for the same reason I was invited by eBay to become one of their people.
And I was but well they charge a lot of money every month.
So it's hard like us, you know, making up that we're some other things that you say for people that are jewelry makers or makers in general to explore you have any ideas on that.
And I was always like well when you those websites the Etsy's the eBay's those kind of collective creator platforms are good to an extent, but they also have a very limited viewership market so that's only going to really reach people who are looking for you.
And so I think that Etsy's like, it's going to help with Google search and stuff like that, but at the end of the day creating your own, owned asset where you sell and put and fulfill your product is going to be the place for you to make the most money right because Etsy could disappear
and companies are falling over all the time. So you can't put all of your eggs in one basket and you do need to maintain a level of control over your own product. So what I would recommend is that any maker always start with a clean social media whatever it is whatever
you pick. I'm not a person who says you have to add every platform, but pick anywhere from two to four that makes sense for your product and your niche market, paying attention to those things you want to then make sure you have a very clean, clear e commerce
which you can achieve with simple website builders. So a lot of the time we're paying Etsy percentages or money or paying companies like for a profile or a membership or something like that.
If you actually totaled up all that money. It's a lot more than the upfront investment that it might take for you to build your own place and learn and save. And that was you know one of the takeaways we had from the show to like there's value in getting in the dirt on your own.
So my recommendation would be pick one or two horses in terms of the shoppable sites, but always have them linking back to your own, because having done the work on your own of having the photos, the pricing the descriptions and all of that for yourself is actually going to make it an easy copy paste to the next one.
Yes, yes, is trying to go back in reverse engineer.
I totally agree with that. And kind of in that I think one of the skills that really should be taught on the well for jewelry people for sure is you know just how powerful your cell phone should be.
And why you should keep up to a really good standard of at least not not over the years so that you can take your own photos. You know it doesn't really matter there's a lot of people up there that was love things. They would love to be a big camera.
You don't have a big production team if you keep the one tool that you keep in your pocket every day up to date. You're going to have a system that goes with the times all the time I think that's a really good point.
Yeah, it is hard. It's you know it's hard that people don't know to like look for apps or, you know, they get behind if you get behind in just a couple generations on software you can be lost again.
I've been on Photoshop I've had Photoshop since 2002 was version five really old, and I still can only do the things that I do.
I like sit down and try to crack the code on Photoshop because it is so big. And I'm just not doing that so I just get better at taking the pictures from like that.
You know, it is so true. I haven't used Photoshop now.
In quite a while it might be something that I let go because it's like 30 something dollars a month, like all of those things do add up like you were talking about it.
So if you look at your little so that would be called like that's part of your tech stack right so you've got your Etsy your website your social media profiles anything. I mean you don't pay for social media.
You're paying for like ads right so when you think about your tech stack. Think about those little subscriptions those little programs that maybe we're useful in the beginning for one time but you don't need them forever, or there's like new solutions
to that. You know, you've got Canva and can that has a photo editor built into it so why am I going to have Adobe when it's much easier to use and things like that so really think about what are the tools and programs that you have.
Where are there like duplicates in service and where can you whittle down because saving anywhere from 30 to $300 a month is going to enable you to either save it or reinvest it in the business in a more effective way.
I love that about that and and I think that you're saying that in a very true way I really need to kind of look back on some of those things you know because we can get our list it's very simple just everything I sign up for I just keep a list and I look at everyone's
on like does this still make sense and sometimes it does sometimes it doesn't.
I could I could probably save $60 a month just by the two things that I'm thinking of that I could like seriously drop we don't have fear we can always read it right it's always going to be there they're always going to be selling those products and I bet you when you go back you can actually
really snag a discount because you left and came back but that's the other thing don't impulse by products or tech for your business date them a little bit use a free trial see how it's going I swear seven times out of 10 you get some kind of discount on it to start or you can talk to a sales person and and
I didn't even know what I was out here looking for payroll software and I didn't need it and I was like oh quick books does it so you just you really got to look at what you have and all the features they offer and also check back because they update features all the time you could be getting a better value out of something and then you even knew
that's so true and now you hit upon a big topic ads yes what do you have to say about ads let's talk about is they are our they're our frenemy right like they're so important.
Yeah, especially when you're talking about jewelry and creative products and things like that you want to be really smart about how are you putting money behind behind the ads and where are the ads going.
So, in terms of traditional marketing, there's we learned different terms but basically there's traditional marketing there's digital marketing in my mind. Traditional marketing is not what makers and independent people should be looking at those are typically high ticket items that big companies are spending money on so TV commercials train bus stops billboards that kind of thing.
You don't really need those to because we're not competing with those people right like you're not competing with Walmart jewelry. You're competing with yourself. You're offering a bespoke customized product and people just need to know where to find it so when you utilize digital media, you're able to get much more targeted about your spend and who you're reaching.
So when we talk about niching and looking at well what are the kind of people who do I believe sees the value in this product and is going to buy and convert and come back and be a repeat customer.
You make some of those guesses right because they're all just estimated educated guesses and then you put some money behind it to see how it performs and you can tweak it.
Facebook ads and all those things have so many different tools to whittle down or expand a demographic so I would always say pick a couple things that kind of keep it to maybe women and a certain age range but maybe don't limit it geographically.
Don't limit it from interests right like let's see what comes up naturally. So it's going to be a lot of testing and you don't need to spend even $500 a month. You can give yourself a $100 budget for a month and use.
Okay, two days a week I'm going to push this and push that and just see what happens or for one week straight and I'm going to see how it trickles.
Because you have so much control over how the money actually gets spent. And when you're talking about Google, there are ways to educate yourself on the best terms to put your dollar behind.
Right.
Now people that are listening to this, you have to realize that Jasmine is really like I know what you're saying is the truth like this is really where we are and I love your idea of just budgeting and trickling it in seeing, you know, testing, like seeing how this ad goes.
See, seeing how this ad goes. See, and like, and kind of watch and learn. I, I've done a lot of ads, I've done a lot of boosting, I've done a lot of all of that Zuckerberg's gotten a little piece of my pie.
And I totally believe in them because I do have a friend who is connected to the people that they had one outfit, it was a yoga outfit. Just think of a yoga outfit.
It came in one size, but it did come in multiple colors. And they advertise the heck out of that to anybody that might be interested in yoga. And now they have their own warehouse and they do all this stuff out in California.
It's like, it's like, crazy.
The targeting. And what I what I what can't be forgotten that I honestly don't don't know if we were taught enough in our experience. The quality of the ad matters, the messaging of of your your ad matters.
So you can't, I'm not going to say you can't because you knew what everyone, but I would not put money behind an ad or a post that was all about me, because nobody's going to care.
Right, right.
Right. Right. We're not selling. I have to put my money behind something that my audience is going to care about and I have to make sure it's positioned to meet and reach them. So what is their need? What value am I providing? What part of my funnel am I bringing them into with this with this ad with this attention that I'm
asking for? Right. Where are we placing that? So you could run ads, for example, at a very, very, very low price point with very broad targets because the broader you get, the cheaper it is because it's less targeted.
Right. It's not like you're trying to reach a specific person. So you could do very broad ads at a very low price point simply to get followers and say, follow along, watch me make this or, or to collect lead information for a new ad.
And then you get more information for a newsletter and things like that and see what bites and then you get smaller and smaller and make those ads more and more targeted.
But if you're just getting started and you want people to watch your videos to see what you do, that's a very different paid media strategy than one where you're trying to get people to convert and sell and buy in time for Mother's Day.
Mother's Day is the next big thing. You really, we have Christmas, Valentine's and Mother's Day are like the three big humps, you know, like it's not, it's not Halloween. It's not Easter.
You know, that's not really where people are buying and selling jewelry for. Like, sure they are because I do make this. But all the time.
I love them. I love me some Halloween. I love me some, some little Easter things that they make me very happy and I think it's very cute.
So no dissing on that just thinking like really in terms. And I love our friend that has the lasagna business that she sends lasagna to people and I love her idea.
And now she's, you know, paired up with somebody that is doing flowers so you can get flowers and lasagna sent to your mother so she has a pretty bouquet of flowers.
Now, who I'm trying to have been I've been trying to write my brain is who can I reach out to of course flower people and jewelry kind of goes straight together. That's easy.
But they probably don't want to dick around with not a big florist isn't going to want to dick around with, you know, trying to upsell jewelry on their Mother's Day because they're so busy on that day.
Anything else you can think of from I had a really good idea actually that just came to me. So, and I want you to do it to so kind of like what you offered to do with the brides, I think that's a package that you can offer I think for the different
times of year for anniversaries birthday special occasions, even you know the regular ones Mother's Day Christmas Valentine's those kinds of things.
I think that you and other makers, depending on your niche and what you like to specialize in, you could offer bespoke packages where you say hey for X amount of money, I'll do a jewelry consultation and create a custom piece within this range with this level of
material and you could even tear it out right so you can say well at this tier we use this kind of product and love that many pieces and at this tier we use this level of product and you get this many pieces and so on, but it's something that I could say, oh my God,
it's my mom's birthday, I want to get her something really special because people are tired of buying gifts that people don't like people are like subscription boxes and now like people are running out of ideas for gifts and I know I'm a person who like, for the most
for the most part don't buy me anything because I am very blessed to buy myself whatever I actually want and I don't want my house full of stuff right right but if you can sell like yourself as a maker and as an artist in a package and say I'm going to come in and give them an
experience they couldn't have had, first of all it's a much higher ticket, you're not making you're not wasting any upfront money or inventory creating anything until you have it in your pocket, and then you're creating a new customer base that a higher ticket item.
I, you know, I've always thought of that as a, as a, you know, I always say, whatever your budget is, I can create because I'll just use different, you know, if you're low budget I'm just going to use like acrylic pearls and if you have a bigger budget I'm going to use the best the cotton pearls
and that is a tiered system and why I haven't just written that out like that. That's, that's why we hire you there's levels, there's levels, yeah, it really does make sense when you say it like that it's like, well why haven't I just written it out because then I don't have to explain to people
like whatever, like, totally and even like, think about what you, you're not doing this for fun this is your business, you are trying to make money you are trying to live in your art right, so it's a little bit different for me because I'm more service based but you still need to come up with like a rate in your head
what do I need to make a day, do I need to make a month, what do I need to make in an hour, I think that's really important to everybody listen to say that one more time you need to figure out how much you need to make an hour to survive to thrive, let's say thrive
and thrive, that is so much time, is it gonna take or am I willing to take to make that money let's say you need to make $5,000 a month to live and you only have reasonably because we're entrepreneurs but it doesn't mean that I want to not have a life it doesn't
mean I want to spend 100 hours a week to make $5,000 on my own right so I would say I want to make $5,000 a month and I want to work 30 hours a week I want that to be reasonable and start my business and whatever it is, figure out how can I use that time to make that money and that kind of will give you what your rate structure
is. There are so many ways to go about it, you could look at it by hour by day by week by month, whatever it is, but you have to know for yourself, kind of what your bottom line is. So, if I were in your position I'd say well my minimum to work on any custom piece of jewelry based on an intake, an interview and check ins for the amount of time it's going to take
plus actually making it truthfully can't be less than 300 bucks and you kind of then you build your packages and then you say okay so at a higher tier with better products it's five, at a completely custom tier maybe it's 750 and I know those prices sound high but when you're talking about like
anniversary gifts and birthday gifts and bespoke custom experiences people are willing to pay for those things to get a better product and that's how you substantiate the value of what your product is.
That is so true and really very doable that way you know I for example I have a big project for somebody that we both know that's making a movie and he's a gang style or something and asked me to create something for him.
Well, you know, it's not just like one time for them. It's like it's running through my head day and I was like, what are you going to do like like I'm running through all the scenarios in my head all day.
How much time are you creatively putting into it.
I used to talk to I had a mentor who I would be like, I feel like I'm not working enough. And she's like, are you thinking about work all the time or like she's like are you just worried because you're like not sitting down and I was like yeah.
And she's like, well, a lot of your job just happens in your head you are working. That's time you should be paid for right so think about that creative time to like it's not just the making the jewelry and delivering it.
It's all the steps it takes to make it possible. I personally think you should charge that man at least $2,000.
Yeah.
Yeah, because I'm messing with a little bit.
I have designed for him is spectacular like it took me kind of like kind of a bit.
Because he first said, oh I want gold and then I like kind of like rain down his brain like, but I kind of think a gangsta should be kind of like dark and not something flashy not like a kind of gangsta.
He's a badass gangsta, like a mob gangster like drug drug gangsta.
You know, this is pretend because he's doing a movie. But and so I thought well, a pimp would like something gold and shiny and stuff.
But I kind of like tried to point him in that other direction, which kind of rained on his parade and then the producer got involved.
So I was texting back and forth with the producer showing them some examples and I did some mock up.
And I was like, I'm going to go back to the original. I'm going to do the gold on top really cool, very interesting, very.
And then I'll put I use a black tooth and so it'll kind of like calm it down and make it won't be so like in your face. I hope it works because I really only have one shot because I don't have time to go back and forth and buy more sharks.
Did you do like a I will I just I just kind of came up with the thoughts today and I sent him some other things that I've done that like shark see on top of shark see and some other things that were very cool.
But her having her back a way that you could kind of move that along in a cleaner way as the maker and this is where you have to be a huckster.
Okay, so going back to where we started. You've got to think through your whole sales process before it even starts.
So as soon as you hear from somebody, I want a custom piece. It's like, okay, well, what's the process of getting that done.
And what's the budget.
So while that comes in the process of getting that done I would almost say like without talking about absolutely that's something I offer. Here's a form. And within that form, you collect the details of what they're already thinking what their budget is when they need it their duration you get ahead of all of that stuff.
So that when you're thinking about it and when you get that like I don't even think about client work until I've gotten information from them.
I will I can't do anything for you without your perspective right so instead of you going because we're creative. So you're going off on tangents thinking all different kinds of ways, not realizing that maybe him and his producer had a clear vision.
You could have just, you can just get that in a form, and then use that information to ideate within parameters and then have a pre scheduled call to talk about hey this is what you submitted this is how I interpret it and this is what it could be.
And then you go and source and prototype and stuff like that that way you save yourself time.
I certainly like that and I hope that other people are hearing that because that is a super duper idea.
Usually with brides I try to like get them on the phones because I quickly, I can quickly ask those questions, you know, yeah I don't have like a deep form like my version is a link to schedule a call with me and I know my line of questioning, but I'm
never going to talk to somebody or do work for them without putting them in that situation where I can do my line of questioning.
I think that is a very solid way to deal with making custom things for people so so let's just go over that again so if you're making a custom piece for somebody.
The first thing is you need information so that you can create something. So it would be to send them a form or get a more or a link to call to get a link to call, and then get their information from there find out what their budget is I think that is just such an important
but tricky thing for people to say but it's like the most important part it's like there's no conversation if all I can do is like I'll give you 20 bucks it's like why are we even on this call.
Yeah, the reality is like hey my my minimums and a way to handle that conversation say I would love to help you I'm so excited my minimum to work on a customized project is $300 based on the made up math I did earlier.
And so I'd love to chat further and don't don't give a butt or an if yet they didn't say no.
Right so wait for them to say no. And then if they say oh that doesn't work like that's okay I have a complete gallery let's look and see if there's something within there that I can adjust or customize from an existing piece for you that could be more doable within your budget.
So you have to just stand your ground with your boundary, see how they respond because there could be something is like oh my God that's so great we're not. Whatever can I upgrade that what else can I get, or maybe like oh that's a little bit of my price range what can I do, I have an option for you to right like because you have a stock.
And we never should think that somebody can't afford whatever we say is people have and my story on that is I remember when my first son, I think I was pregnant with someone so you know, we're trying a long time ago near going on 40 years.
There I was working as a daycare I was teaching a little, you know little infants singing like I was like making no money but I was pregnant and I had a little kid and it was at least I could be with my little kids so I was working in a daycare thing.
Doesn't matter.
And I saw a pair of earrings. I was like out on my lunch break walking around saw a store I'm like what are those earrings oh my God, it was a week's wages to get those earrings. I still have those earrings today.
I saved up and they meant the world to me and that's why I still have them today I love them then and I love them now and it didn't matter that I had coupons and I had to like cut like.
I wanted it because I wanted it affordability is a mindset. Yes, affordability is very subjective right and especially you have to think about the situations people are in for example with your custom client who's doing a movie they blatantly are going to have more flexibility and there's a bigger value to what you're
doing here. Somebody who's just doing something for you know just for themselves, it may be less so, but you have to consider their mindset so when I'm like on vacation right if you put your jewelry in a boutique that's a vacation destination and it's a higher ticket item.
It's probably going to go because I know when I'm on vacation money is not real. So catch me on vacation before you catch me at home and you're going to get me to buy a lot more.
I tried really hard to get my jewelry on cruises because I remember at the end just, you know, seeing the bill and what it is about vacation.
It's like I think I already spent so much money.
My, my son is in New Zealand he just got back yesterday they've been on a big trip to Australia and New Zealand. And he was like, Oh, my God, we spent so much money. It's like, I understand. It's a vacation.
So I get it.
You're exactly right.
It changes. But it's all think about your customers mindset whether they're on vacation or not you don't you can't make assumptions on what something means to someone psychologically people might guess that this piece of jewelry is just some chachki that everybody has like the name plates now.
This is from like 1980. This is a family heirloom, but they don't know that right because you didn't ask so I'm what what something means to someone is very different and your art means a lot to you.
I assume that your audience that's going to mean a lot to them too.
I did a really cute thing for my friend and she's like my daughter and she's got three little kids so I made little painting she kind of like told me what the each likes I made a painting and each painting represented either the piece of jewelry that I gave them which was very significant to you know it was
like I painted the jewelry after I made the jewelry or there was some connection like there was something like in the jewelry that was also in the like tied together.
So it was so cute and I thought this is something right here like look at this I'm using my real skills and I love which is painting and then creating the jewelry out of the painting so if you're even a any kind of an artist all
like for think about how cool that is for a store if I'm a if I'm a hair salon owner and you're giving me art for my salon that matches the racks on my counter that's cool that's something I'll pay for that's something that will continue to sell like you can you can be selling multiple pieces
like never forget about ancillary items like who would like the way that you just put like a painting and jewelry together makes so much sense but I wouldn't have thought of that 10 minutes ago.
Yeah, you know where I lick my chops I think I've in our area they have 3000 new homes that are being built and like really more than that there's like so much new stuff everywhere and like, oh I just want to be that person that I'll paint a painting that matches your
couch that you can just we can use up all the extra leftover paint but we'll match it for your couch and you'll have something big and bold to look for I mean I can do those paintings pretty quickly and I love painting.
It's like that's 3000 houses I could do those for like how can I get that market whole different part of it or a chunk of it and that's all you need like a lot of times we get in this idea of oh my God, what is 100,000 people this that and whatever.
Now thinking in those numbers will ultimately hurt you because then you think okay I can charge less for more people and whatever.
You want to think what's an attainable market what's what's my truly reachable market right now, but I love the idea of capitalizing on all of your talents right like it doesn't have to just be jewelry maybe jewelry is the way you meet someone.
Oh my God I love this is this hand painted but yeah well actually I'm a painter, I do homes oh you just moved here. You know like really like, I think that the key is knowing who you are and the value and everything you have to offer and that enables you to talk about it with people as the opportunities come up.
Oh, the rep for bear paint knows me. He's like, oh that crazy lady, because I was like, I am a bear artist like I love wall paint to paint with. They know me like oh my God I've been tagging bear paint for so long and I tell everybody if my house is kitchen on fire,
I'm going to evacuate the city I have so much pain but that's not really true anymore but because we kind of split it into two applications but I do love this and thank girl. I love it and I think it's good that we're also talking about not just jewelry because artists are not just necessarily one.
I'm a painter's maker right like that's not the I'm sure it's not the only art that we touch and have right so really thinking through in terms of your business. Am I limiting myself based on what I think can sell or what I think my right are like, if you're multi talented or even multi interested
like some of us are very quick learners there could be just a little ancillary thing maybe you take a pottery class and it unlocks your ability to do ceramics in a crazy way and it right.
Don't limit yourself, but definitely build the right systems to support like that that huckster that you have to be the cell right so that's what I'm going to say is as a creative.
Give yourself the room and the runway to build a logical foundation so that when you're doing your creative thing that you can just love what you're doing.
Right now, as we kind of wrap up the conversation. I know there's like a waiting list to get people to get time with you because I'm very well sought after, and that people, you know, you do speak with big authority and you have a lot of success behind you so that's, you know, that's why I appreciate the hour of your time I feel like I've got a counseling
out of it but I, I hope that other people that are listening also understand what we're talking about how it's important to be your brand and then learn all these skills in social media if you have to take a class or learn it on YouTube that's how we've all had to, you know, just like tough it through.
But is there like, is there anything that you want to talk to people about about being like a client of yours and how what you can do for them because I know you have a lot of skills. Seriously.
Well, for my clients, I mean, the, I like to people work with people who are mission driven, they know what they want they know what they're doing. I prioritize female and minority business owners, and the way to like I always do an intro call just to see what you're about I'm happy to talk to
you that's why my time is a little bit limited. But I love to learn about people and if I, if I might not be a good fit, I will be able to refer them out but typically, I can work with people on like a one time basis you say like hey, I just need like the foundation
I have packages for that to help people kind of figure those things out. And then I also have recurring partnerships, or what I call them a secured partnership where I have a small group of people that have access to me all the time and we talk on a recurring weekly or monthly
basis where I'm always helping their business grow because they're in just that phase where like there's all this stuff going on and I kind of come in and I just serve as the guide rail, make sure staying and going in the right direction we're looking as far ahead as we can.
I think guard rails are nice but I think it's also nice for people just to have a safe space to go and talk to somebody about what do you think about this or I'm going to do this you have any ideas like
an educated partner who actually is invested in their success like I really know what I'm talking about and I really, really care about what my clients are doing and I think they can tell so I just become a trusted advocate and partner for you really if if I'm a business
coach one day or a creative marketer or social media maven the other day. I can really just be whatever you need and if I can't be I will find you what you need and that's the commitment that I made.
I think I think that you are just so talented and I've met so many people but you, you have the gift so the gift is so nice that we can purchase some of your time and and be with us.
Yeah, no it's true. I'm like, I'm, you know that's true.
I'm like, oh, who's this girl that's different. Like, oh, she's smart. She knows what she's talking about. Oh, wow. Wait a second, hold on. Like, seriously, and and I actually push people in your direction you don't know that but some of that you're working with I know.
I was like, no, no, don't use that person. Go with her like that girl's got it like the thing right like, you know when we talk about you know just having someone to hold our hand when we're talking to a whale client you know client that's like really big.
It's also nice to have you in on that those conversations to.
Yeah, I sit in my clients manage negotiations manage this or I'm just happy to sit on the sideline and be like, Oh, did we ask the right question did we think of this did we do that. I'm always protecting my partners I had a console today with a client she's like hey, I actually don't want to talk to you about
what you have planned for me. I have a right now problem. I said I can help you right now. And that's what I did. So, really, it's, it's my pleasure and honor to be able to take my skills my communication and my time and give them back to people and help other businesses
to grow because I think it's, it's good for the world like it really is good for the country and the planet and the economy and all these things the more that we can grow independently and support ourselves and employ people small businesses that care about them I just there's endless value and potential
in that and I'm excited to be a part of it. I'm excited to be a part of it too. How do people get a hold of you let's talk about like, and tell me like your Instagram handle and all those things.
I'll give you, I'll give you the deets. So, if you want to email me directly it's pretty easy it's hello at meet and fellow dot com so and fellow is the name of my company will get into that on my own content later, but the website is meet and fellow dot com
E E T A N T H E L O dot com the email is hello at me and fellow. And then if you want to follow us on Instagram, we're launching our content strategy on March 1 so keep an eye out but that's easy to it's just at me and fellow on Instagram.
I love that I think that's great meet and fellow so we will put a banner and we will make sure that it's also linked in our description so that people can easily find you again and your name will be there listed.
So I hope that I can do everything on the back and so much.
So the recording comes out okay Omar has been like, Omar is my guy and he's just been like was not available for me today. Now to go, let's check the settings because he's like, so the problem is that it records that when you get this recording from zoom when I get it.
It comes in six different files so it's like different audio files and different everything files, and somehow they all have to be merged back together again to have us both on the same screen and I guess it was driving him crazy.
So I don't know. I don't know.
We'll see.
We have to redo it.
No, it's all good. We'll get it all good.
Anyway, you are a blessing and a joy and I'm so glad that you're my friend and that I know you, and this hour's gone by really fast but it's always good to have a little bit of like a whole different conversation where it's not like, you know, we're not riffing on our personal things
we're providing real value to these people like it's really going to help their business I think just even just thinking about it differently like oh yeah.
There's no podcast like this. So this is what we this is what I think that we need I hope that that we help help somebody. That's what I want just so that you know I do have 25 years of experience of doing this but every day is a new day.
You can't ever stop learning. I think that's the one thing that makes me that's like my secret sauce. I, you can tell me I'm smart all you want I'm like I still don't know everything and I think that's what keeps me in the right path.
Yeah, you're a polyglot polyglot.
There's somebody that knows a lot about everything. That's what you are.
Okay, I don't know that word.
Well, I am because my son had it on his thing I'm like, I had to look it up.
It was a polyglot like what is he into now. Oh, he's just saying he's smart. What's he into now.
He's such a smarty pants. I'm making something for him right now I've got some things I'm like, oh, look at that I just make this up.
You're so lucky. Anyway, you are wonderful. This has been Jasmine Lopez. She is the owner and the most wonderful person to discuss your business.
I'm like, I'm like, I'm not going to move forward. I wouldn't, I wouldn't even say like your business woes. I'm like, how to move forward in your business and make that side hustle really work for you and make you money so that you can really bloom.
And I really look forward to seeing where both of us are a year from now. I think that's a good test to say, okay, how far are we on six months.
And that I know between now and Christmas there's a lot of, you know, just to trickery movement up like let's do that. And then we'll see how it all plays out but I appreciate your time so much.
And, and we'll talk again, but I want to have you thank you for joining my podcast today, and for being my friend. It's all good. And thank you for having me this is so fun.
It was fun. We will get together again soon and thank you.