The Coronavirus situation has majorly disrupted people’s livelihoods all over the world, and small businesses have been hit the hardest.

 

It’s a scary and stressful time, but the good news is we’re all in this together - and Flourish & Thrive Academy is here to help!

 

There are plenty of resources available for entrepreneurs, jewelry designers, artists, and creative business owners that may be able to help you protect your business during the COVID-19 pandemic.

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...