Sheryl Sandberg of Facebook

Sandberg feels that women need to “lean in” to career opportunities. She notes that women often underestimate themselves or even feel like frauds. She thinks it is wiser for women to grab opportunities to advance as high as they can before they have children, rather than holding back and settling for less demanding positions. Whether or not you agree with her, she makes a powerful argument. While she does acknowledge that there is often a tradeoff between likeability and success for women her overall message is clear: Have Confidence!

You can read more about Sheryl Sandberg in The New Yorker
or watch her talk on TED.

Despite the similarities, the element of design is a key difference between our company and theirs. Zappos sells the same shoes everyone else sells while Nina Designs creates new designs that are unique to our company. Our silver pendants and jewelry parts also become part of larger creations, facilitating our customer’s own creative vision. That lead us to a key insight. While the goal at Zappos is to Deliver Happiness, at Nina Designs we strive to Deliver Inspiration.

What do you deliver?

Peep toes from Zappos

Peep toes from Nina Designs

Get the right people on the bus in the right seats.
- If you’re in doubt, don’t hire, keep looking.
- The moment you feel you have to tightly manage someone, you have made a hiring mistake.
- Whether someone is the right person has more to do with character traits and innate capabilities than with specific knowledge, background or skills.

I recently heard a presentation by Kerrie Halmi, who is often consulted by large companies to improve their hiring processes.   I think her advice is golden:

1. Cultural Fit – Anyone who is a poor fit won’t last. Reference your company values, does the candidate share them? This does NOT mean, “Are they just like me?” You want variety, different types of people. (At Zappos they have a whole department dedicated to making sure that new hires are a good cultural fit).

2. References – Spend more time on this. There are ways to persuade people to talk even when they say they can’t comment. “Kristin gave you as a reference, can I talk to you for a few minutes about her?” Take the time to draw out the conversation and ask probing questions. “What would be the best way to manage Kristin?” Listen VERY carefully. “Oh, that’s interesting, tell me more.” Ask open ended questions. “Our culture is very focused on initiative, how do you think Kristin will fit in?”

3. Continuously Recruit – Never get to the point where you are desperate to hire. Always be on the look out for new talent. Stay in touch with anyone who might be a good fit.

Halmi pointed out that a bad hire will usually cost you 1-3  years in gross salary if you tally the time, energy and money spent to correct the situation. She strongly recommends taking your time and waiting until you find just the right person. This is the same advice I heard from Lulu Lemon CEO, Chip Wilson, who counsels, ” Interview someone at least three times to see who they REALLY are.” Most people put up a good front on the first interview but by the third character flaws start to show. Wilson made another good point, “If you hire one good person, they will bring three good people with them. If you hire one bad person, they will bring ten people with them.”

In our experience here at Nina Designs, we have learned to trust our instincts. Even a small twinge of uncertainty is usually a sign that a candidate is not a good cultural fit. It is tempting to compromise when you are stressed for time but don’t give in. You WILL find the right person for the job and with the right people on the bus, you can go anywhere!

The Proud Members of the Nina Designs Team

We encourage you to blog as well. Reach out to your customers. It’s a wonderful way to promote your designs and gain interest in your company. And, it’s free. I know that whenever I purchase jewelry made of wonderful silver charms and hand-crafted chain, I like to be informed about the story behind the piece. Who made it? What was the inspiration behind the design? What is the company’s business motto? What’s their take on the silver market? I like to know who and what I’m supporting. I like to know where my jewelry comes from.

A blog can be very personal, but it can also build stronger business relationships. Whatever your approach may be, a well-rounded and insightful blog is bound to make your designs that much more special.

Give a new perspective on your silver charms through blogging. We live in a digital world. Embrace it.

Peggy Li is a jewelry designer who graduated from UC Berkeley with a science degree. When you see her jewelry it’s pretty clear she was destined for a creative career. She is a Bay Area local and can be found selling her creations at the Burlingame Farmer’s Market most Sundays. Although she never imagined one day owning a jewelry business, she’s been running Peggy Li Creations for ten years now. Peggy started designing jewelry for herself and her friends. When people started asking where they bought their jewelry, she figured she was on to something. Her jewelry is light and whimsical, feminine and timeless, and, above all, easy to wear. Peggy Li’s jewelry has been featured in magazines like Lucky and Oprah, as well as on TV shows like “Buffy, the Vampire Slayer” and “Private Practice.”

She also blogs at Peggy Li: Musings of a Handmade Jewelry Designer, where she offers valuable posts on starting a jewelry business and lessons she has learned along the way. You can also find Peggy Li Creations on Facebook and Twitter as well. We tracked her down for a short interview. Here’s what she had to say:

What’s your favorite Nina Designs jewelry component?
My favorite is the simple hoop earring finding with a hammer finish. It is simple, elegant, but obviously handcrafted. It is the perfect beginning to beautiful designs. I believe this was the first Nina Designs item I purchased and I’ve been hooked ever since.

What are the biggest challenges you have faced as a jewelry designer?
I think the greatest challenge I’ve faced as a jewelry designer is to embrace the side of me that is entrepreneurial and creative and express it. When you run your own business, you have to live it 24/7 and I believe in trying to continue to grow, learn and understand my business. For a long time, I didn’t like talking about my jewelry design and my jewelry business — it wasn’t a “real” career to me, and yet my creative side kept me trying, pushing, and exploring where it could take me. My business has constantly rewarded me in return! It’s been a great ride and experience.

What is one piece of trusted advice you would give to someone just starting their jewelry business?
Have a thick skin and be persistent. Learn about business basics. Take a good look at your own style — what are you trying to make/sell? Who is the person who would buy your designs? I think that’s three pieces of advice… but take it all in and you will begin to unlock the answers to the more typical questions someone starting out will have (like “how do I find customers?” and “how do I price my items?”). There are so many guides, books and websites out there for folks who want to start their own business (way more than when I got started) — do a little digging and you’ll find a treasure trove of information.

Have you ever experienced designer’s block? How do you get yourself out?
Of course, we all go through designers block. To get myself out, I like to get out and about and people watch and just get some other new stimuli into my brain to jostle it. I’ll go back to my sketchbook and look for designs I never got to prototype and see how I feel about them now that some time has passed. I’ll also look to my customers for inspiration, looking at what has been selling and thinking about how to make some new exciting pieces they’ll respond to. Or maybe there’s a color missing from my collections I’d like to insert. With your own business, there is rarely any real downtime!

If we were to visit your studio would we see a neatly organized workspace or messy mountainous piles of beads?
A bit of both! Of course in my eyes the studio has an organization, but there are thousands of beads, big stacks of boxes and clutter. It’s not just jewelry, I am cluttered in my life. I always tell my mom that the clutter is a “sign of genius”. Ha! But if you ask me to find a particular component, I bet I could find it in 30 seconds or less.

Do you have other hobbies or interests you would like to tell us about?
Lately I’ve been playing a lot of golf. It’s a great sport that gets you outdoors and requires a calm and collected mind. It reminds me to relax while at the same time requiring a ton of discipline to execute your shots.

Peggy Li's Studio

Geometric Rings by Peggy Li Creations

Whimsical Necklace by Peggy Li Creations

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Would you like to participate in our Customer Success Stories blog series? Share your story of exploration and successes in jewelry design. It’s easy. We send you about 25 questions, you choose 5 to answer, and we share them with our readers. It’s inspiring, fun, and motivating. To participate, email me at juanita@ninadesigns.com.

This month we’d like you to meet Alison Kelley, a jewelry designer who grew up in a family of artists, woodworkers, and seamstresses. Her family roots are in Malta, a tiny island in the Mediterranean Sea that inspires her jewelry design. Alison started designing jewelry 17 years ago, but in the last few years, with the encouragement of her husband and three sons, she has turned her passion into a successful small business.

What is your favorite Nina Designs charm?
I love the sterling silver pineapple charm. It’s the first charm I ever bought from Nina Designs and still my favorite. It reminds me of my second honeymoon in Maui. I love pairing it with a white fresh water pearl and a champagne cubic zirconia.

Where do you find your inspiration?
Color is my biggest inspiration. I love to study how nature combines colors. This makes it easier for me to come up with inspiring color combinations for my upcoming jewelry designs. I used to watch a TV show on BBC America called “What Not to Wear,” hosted by Trinny and Suzanne, who offered advice on how to wear color and that’s always stayed with me whether I’m designing jewelry, decorating my home, or getting dressed.

If we were to visit your studio would we see a neatly organized workspace or messy mountainous piles of beads?
I’m a bit of an organization freak and I don’t work well in a mess, so I’d have to say most of the time you’ll find my studio well organized and tidy. If it’s not, then I’m not designing jewelry.

What is one piece of trusted advice you would give to someone just starting their jewelry business?
I’m a completely self taught jewelry designer. I’ve been making jewelry since I was a teenager. When I started selling my jewelry I did loads of research, mined the internet for how-to’s, and bought books on jewelry making. But, in the end, I learned most by trial and error, and it’s still that way. Don’t be afraid to go for it. If you never try, you’ll never succeed. I would also say create what you love and others will love it too! The jewelry I make are things I would wear, colors I would wear, and styles I would wear. Go with your gut and trust yourself to make what you love, and you will find that your love and confidence in doing so will inspire and attract others to your work.

Who is your ideal customer? Who do you make jewelry for?
My ideal customer is a woman who’s not afraid to wear color or add a little glitz to a casual outfit. She’s a woman who loves to wear jewelry because it brings a smile to their face. This tells me my designs are heading in the right direction.

How do you choose where to sell your jewelry?
Over the years I have become more particular with where I sell, because I have a better sense of who would buy my jewelry. I’m currently selling on 3 online venues, Etsy, ArtFire, and TrunkT. I’m also in a couple of local shops, including a day spa in Los Gatos and most recently the Hudson News Gift Shops in the San Jose Airport.

Meet Dawn of S.IN. Industries

I consider myself lucky to work in a creative environment where women sketch silver charms, talented silversmiths bring them to life, and jewelry designers use them to make beautiful jewelry. Sometimes I even get an insider’s glimpse into the lives of jewelry designers when I meet them at tradeshows and talk to them over the phone. These little glimpses often fill me with inspiration and get me all pumped up to start a little side business of my own. Today I thought I’d share this inspiration with you by introducing Dawn Floen of S.IN. Jewelry.

Dawn is a successful jewelry designer living in Alberta, Canada. She is also a retired visual art teacher and a hobby photographer who enjoys finding and repurposing antiques from flea markets & yard sales. Her favorite holiday is scuba diving in Australia. And, her favorite bead buddy is her pomeranian, JJ, who loves to lounge on his pillow right next to her workbench. What’s really neat is how Dawn has integrated all her favorite activities into her daily life. Way to go Dawn! Thanks for sharing your story.

If you can remember, describe the first piece of jewelry you made. Do you still have it?
I started creating jewelry in 2006. It’s my friend’s fault. She was wearing a new beaded watch that I adored. I asked where she’d gotten it, and promptly went to the website. After seeing the prices, I decided I could make my own. After all, I was an art teacher. I can do this! So, I started where so many of us do. I went to Michael’s. I bought a few beads and supplies and made my first watch. It had teal ocean-coloured lampwork beads and pewter accent beads. And, yes, I still have it.

Before I knew it, I had a desk covered with hundreds of dollars of supplies. Then I started finding beads on ebay. Soon my husband pointed out that I had more than enough jewelry for one person and since I wasn’t going to stop creating any time soon, he suggested I start selling my creations. Soon after, Sunshine INdustries was born. I discovered Nina Designs a bit later when I graduated to precious metals and I’ve never looked back. I now have a large studio, an etsy shop, a website, a blog and enough supplies and tools to keep me going for years!

What has been your greatest success?
While my initial success was beaded watches, I have since developed a love for silver clay. I used to sculpt in clay, so this was a natural transition for me. I can make almost any shape a person would want. I’ve made a t-bird for a car club enthusiast, dog bones & cats for SPCA auctions, and purses, high-heels, and family trees for moms. Recently, I decided to make personalized jewelry with silver stamping charms for friends and family. At first, I feared the personalized mommy pendant market might be saturated, but it’s really taken off and has become my most successful line. So these days I do more special order work than anything else. I get orders from all over Canada and the US. When I ask customers how they found me, they usually say they googled “mom jewelry” and say my jewelry designs stood out from the rest. I think the Nina Designs sterling silver chain I use in this line is a big part of why they stand out. I also texture the back and put a lot of time into filing, hammering and polishing each pendant. I have a tumbler, but I like polishing by hand. It puts more heart into each piece.

Where do you find inspiration?
Antiques are a big influence on my work. I find beauty in abandoned buildings, particularly doorways and windows. I am drawn to abandoned worn-out vehicles with wiring popping out where headlights should be. I can’t resist the chipped paint and rough textures. I believe things touched by human hands take on a life of their own, and tell their own stories. My studio is full of antique furniture and décor. In fact, my workbench is an antique table, my beads hang from an old wooden spool holder, and I store my antique tools in vintage jars. An old gallon jar with a fish, named Leonardo da Fishy (my students named him), sits on my workbench, combining my two biggest influences – antiques and the ocean. I can’t imagine my workspace without an aquarium. The ocean became my muse when I first tried scuba diving in Cairns, Australia. It was an amazing, life-changing experience. The corals and sea life speak to my soul in a way nothing else can. If you look at my designs, you will see ocean influences everywhere.

How did you name your business?
Well, my first boss in high school gave me the nickname Sunshine, and it’s stuck with me over the years. In the beginning my business was Sunshine Industries. SINjewelry came from me constantly shortening “Sunshine INdustries” to S.IN on my “to do” lists. Since many PR studies say you should have what you do in your name, I decided to add “jewelry” and renamed my line. It’s shorter to write. It’s also an inside joke – ordering supplies for my company is my current “sin” . . . it used to be shoes.

What is one piece of trusted advice you would give to someone just starting their jewelry business?
Ask lots of questions! I have taken some metal smith and metal clay classes, but when I first started, I asked a lot of questions online to others who design jewelry. They have never failed to help and I’ve never forgotten that. Helping each other only makes each of us stronger. My first helpers were mostly beaders and jewelers on Twitter. I’ve since joined blogs such as www.ganoksin.com and I blog myself. There is a wealth of information out there and a ton of very helpful people who have been where you are. Don’t be afraid to google and to ask! There are also many good quality and free videos out there on youtube.

Dawn's Studio

Mommy Bling by S.IN. Industries

Rising Silver Prices

As many of you are aware, the cost of silver in the market has continued to soar. It is currently 35% higher than it was when we last increased our prices in January. We have postponed our price increase in the hope that the market would calm but at this point we have to accept the new, higher prices. Our new prices will go into effect on Thursday, April 7th at 5pm. There is no flat across the board percent increase for this price adjustment. In anticipation of our new catalog, which will ship in a few weeks, we evaluated each style one by one to determine the lowest possible price we could set and still remain viable.

All orders placed before April 7th will be processed at the lower prices. However, effective immediately, all backorders and special orders will be at the new prices. Existing backorders will remain at lower prices.

Please note that orders will be processed and pulled as we normally do: orders with expedited shipping (UPS Overnight, 2-Day, and 3-Day) are pulled before UPS Ground and Priority Mail orders. UPS Ground and Priority Mail orders are processed in the order received. This is important to keep in mind because we may run out of stock on some items and backorders will be at the higher price.

We know what a toll these constant price increases are having on everyone’s ability to market affordable jewelry. I think we need to focus on marketing silver as a precious metal that is still much less expensive than gold. It will take the public time to adjust to this new positioning. In the meantime, we are developing bronze versions of our designs that will be priced significantly below silver. We expect to begin offering bronze styles by July.

Thank you for your patience and understanding. We appreciate your business!

Here’s the funny thing though. While I was shopping on Cargoh, I randomly selected a few jewelry shops to see how they’re doing. Each of the 12 shops I sampled had no more than a few sales. Most had been opened just about 6 months to a year. Weird, I wonder what’s going on? Why aren’t they selling more? Does Cargoh not drive traffic to their site as well as Etsy? Not sure. Do the shop owners have other shops? Indeed, every one had Etsy shops that had a lot more sales. Whether that’s because these shop owners spend more time marketing their Etsy shop and keeping their Etsy shops current compared to their Cargoh shop, I’m not sure. But that’s what it looks like. Of their two shops, the Etsy shops are filled with lots more items, and their Facebook pages direct traffic to Etsy more often than to their Cargoh shops.

Where do you sell your jewelry?

Cost of selling on Etsy: You pay 3.5% of your sale price when your item sells, plus $0.20 for each item listed.

Where do you sell your jewelry?

1. I highly recommend you check out my earlier blog post titled Bead Show Survival Guide. Make sure you pay special attention to tips # 1, 3, and 5. Having your documents in order, your feet cozy and your energy levels stable will definitely make your shopping days more pleasant.
2. Plan for all kinds of weather in Tucson. It is usually chilly, but there often are days with full sun and days that are blustery and rainy. Pack an umbrella, a waterproof tote, and a raincoat.
3. You will need good shoes. I cannot emphasize this enough. I have ruined at least 3 pairs over the years walking through muddy gravel to get from the parking lots to the main entrance of the shows. If your weatherproof shoes aren’t very comfy, bring an extra pair to change into once you get inside.

We Love Dansko Shoes

4.  Do an inventory of your beads and supplies at home before leaving for Tucson. With the economic climate the way it is, you will want to maximize your purchasing power by making sure you don’t buy things you already have and so that you can buy things that will coordinate with your current inventory.

5.  Do a little pre-trip planning and make some dinner reservations at restaurants near your hotel. Most of the shows end at the same time and you don’t want to have to compete with hundreds of other hungry shoppers at the end of the day. Some of my favorites include Cup Cafe at the Hotel Congress, Wildflower (a little off the beaten path but delicious), or any of the delicious Mexican restaurants in town.

6.  Take a look at Tucson’s Online Show Guide and plan your shopping days and shuttles between hotels. There is a lot to see and you will have to plan your time – you can easily get lost in one show all day if you aren’t careful. When I get a day off I like to go to the Whole Bead Show, The Grant Inn and The Gem Mall.

7.  Make sure you pack a set of tools, some wire and a small selection of findings in case you find yourself so inspired by your treasures that you have to whip up a pair of earrings or necklace immediately.

8.  Take advantage of some of the other things Tucson has to offer and take a break. Visiting The Wildlife Museum, or even just a drive out in Saguaro National Park are great ways to get out of the hustle of the shows and wind down. Every year I tell myself that I am going to go to one of the great spas in the area and get a facial and a massage, but I always end up spending my spa money on beads. Maybe this will be the year I reward myself.