EP 351 Live Coaching: How Do I Get Over The Fear of Raising My Prices with Manda Wylde

2:36PM Apr 27, 2022

Speakers:

Tracy Matthews

Manda Wylde

Keywords:

people

manda

prices

piece

jewelry

porcelain

artist

wylde

pricing

brand positioning

business

brand

market

collection

tracy matthews

selling

thrive

hand

communicate

talk

Make sure that when people are coming into your booth, I think that there's or when you're selling online and stuff like that, and when you're talking about your work, I think what can be really powerful is like, just talking about how many steps actually go in to each piece of the work.

Welcome to Thrive by Design, the podcast for ambitious, independent jewelry brands, looking to profit from their products, get ready to make more and sell more doing what you love, without spending every single waking minute doing it. Hey, and if you're a creative fashion or product-based business, I want to welcome you to the show. I'll be dropping big tips on launching, growing, and scaling your business. So you can spend more of your precious time using your creativity to make money. You ready? All right, let's do this.

Welcome to the Thrive by Design Podcast, episode 351. Hey there, it's Tracy Matthews. I'm the Chief Visionary Officer of Flourish & Thrive, and the host of the show today. I'm also the author of a brand new book, or it's about six months in right now called The Desired Brand Effect, Standout in a Saturated Market with a Timeless Jewelry Brand. If you haven't picked it up yet, definitely do that. And I'm excited to be here today to coach a live coaching student. Actually, Manda Wylde was brave enough to come on the show and asked me a very vulnerable question about pricing. And in this episode, she talks about her journey, raising her prices, and kind of what was going on with her experience right after she raised the prices in her first show. And then also some health challenges that she's experiencing and how that's affected her ability to make the jewelry quickly enough. So I think you'll really be inspired. I love a great story. And Manda has an amazing story that she has the potential to leverage if she wants to. And also there's a lot of great nuggets for anyone in there who has been, you know, I don't know, maybe a little stressed or concerned about how to price the right way or what to do when you find out that you actually need to raise your prices like how do you handle that. So we dig deep into this.

And this is all on the heels of Manda taking our Laying the Foundation program, which has helped thousands of jewelry designers, makers, and other types of product artists create financial security doing what they love. And so if you haven't taken the program yet, and you're trying to scale or grow your business to six figures, you're struggling with pricing and brand positioning and how to communicate what you do, I would love to invite you to join the program. We are open for enrollment right now we're starting our next cohort really soon. And this is an opportunity for you to learn the concepts that we teach that are based around the Desired Brand Effect in-depth to help you stand out in a saturated market with your timeless brand. And to learn and discover how to position your products in a way that you become the only choice in the eyes of your perfect customers. And when you do this, right, what ends up happening is you end up getting a cycle of repeat sales. And so if you're interested in learning more about that, head on over to flourishthriveacademy.com/ltf that's flourishthriveacademy.com/ltf. And we'll also have a link in the show notes. And of course, if you have any questions about if this is right for you, or anything like that, please shoot us an email we'd love to talk to you over at support@flourishthriveacademy.com.

So Manda Wylde is an incredible jewelry artist, she has a really unique take on making jewelry, her jewelry is made out of porcelain and gemstones, and other metals, I guess is the best way to put it. And you know, she popped into the world as an artist and is making something that's different than a lot of people have on the market. But how do you charge when something is so labor-intensive, and the time and the process that it takes to actually make a piece of jewelry, sometimes it's days, it's not active work that she's doing. But there is because there's downtime when you're firing your porcelain and stuff like that. However, she was really baffled on what to do. So let's dive into this episode. Take a look and listen in if you're listening in your ears, and I'd love to know what you think. One of the biggest struggles that makers, designers, and artists have is being able to communicate the value that they deliver. And what ends up happening is if they don't really lean into how to communicate value in the right way. It ends up affecting their pricing strategy, their confidence and their ability to actually thrive as an artist.

Today I have a very special interview actually, it's an Ask Me Anything Q&A with a designer named Manda Wylde, and she is going to talk through her struggles of how she's been struggling with a neurological disorder, how that's impacted her business and what she did to actually raise her prices. So stay tuned, we're gonna lean into that really quickly. Hi, I'm Tracy Matthews. I'm the Chief Visionary Officer of Flourish & Thrive Academy and the author of The Desire Brand Effect. I'm also the host of this podcast Thrive by Design. And I help jewelry makers, designers and other types of artists launch grow and scale successful businesses using my methodology called The Desire Brand Effect. So I'm here today to talk to you about pricing strategy. So before we dive in, I just want to mention if you want more jewelry business tips, make sure that you subscribe to our channel. Click that little notification bell so that you get notified when we release new videos. And make sure that you share in the comments what you've enjoyed about this episode at the end. So let's dive in to Manda's story right here. I am so excited to have one of our students on the show today, Manda Wylde, welcome!

Thank you. Happy to be here.

Yeah, it's so fun. We're doing our first episode in a long time, of an Ask-Me-Anything. So I'm bringing on students of ours, and members of our community to come ask me a question and get coached by me. So if this is something that you're interested in, shoot us a message and we can chat about getting coached. So Manda, you are one of the first people and you're tagged in our Diamond Insiders community because you've been working with one of our DI Plus coaches around pricing strategy. So before we dive in to some of the coaching, why don't you tell the listeners a little bit about you and your business?

Sure, thank you. So my name is Manda Wylde. And I have Manda Wylde Designs. I am based in Kansas City. And I work in porcelain. So I create artwork that is wearable out of porcelain. And I really aim for things that make a statement. But at the same time have versatility. So you can put on a piece of jewelry and feel confident that it's going to carry you through the entire day. And you're going to feel and look fabulous. I also have a section of the work that I do that is geared towards Animal Rescue charities. So I have a whole line that I call WyldeCats and Kittens, because my last name is Wylde, and I love the word play. So what I do with those is a portion of the sales actually go to support local area shelters and fosters so that cats and other animals are able to adopt humans to love and guide.

Okay, I totally feel you there because we just got a dog and I don't even know what my life was like before Roxy, righht? And I was never a dog or a cat person, I was not really an animal person. I'm like, I'm too busy. I can't deal with this. And Jason's daughters were have been begging us or begging Jason for a very long time. And now that since I came into the picture, begging us for the last two and a half years. And we finally decided because one of his daughters was going through some emotional stuff as a teenager that we wanted to get a dog because, you know, dogs are kind of like emotional support animals. And I'm like, "Why didn't we have a dog sooner?" This is like the best dog ever. She's the best. So I totally get it.

Well, and they have this ability to help you remember that as a person, you're lovable. Yep. But also that you're capable of sharing that love. So it opens up this channel for you as a human. And I feel like that's really important. And it's something that sometimes gets overlooked.

I love her so much. I just want to like squeeze her all the time. I wish she was here with me right now, but she's not. Anyway, okay, now enough about dogs, animals. I really like how, number one how you position your brand. That's awesome. And I like that you feel very comfortable speaking about like, who you are and who you serve, which is great. So great work, like implementing, you're Laying the Foundation exercises and doing your brand positioning. So I know you had a question about pricing, and you're struggling with that. So why don't we dive into that?

Absolutely. So I found out that my pricing was actually below wholesale? Yeah. So I, which was really an eye-opener, I had spoken with Dawn and I had spoken with Robin and both of them were like, "We need to talk." So I went through and use the metric that Flourish & Thrive has and felt sick because I'm looking at the pricing going. Yeah, but apparently like I had to step away from it from the fear perspective and just go no, this is really, this is where the price has to be. But there's still that little piece inside of me that's niggling at me and saying, Who are you to charge this much? Like, why do you think you know what we're for what value do you have? And then there's the really mean little part of me I have a mean girl and all that sits on a shelf for some days. And she says it's just porcelain. Okay, why would you charge that?

So I have a question I've been on your website mandawylde.com? Have you raised your prices yet?

I have.

Okay, because I'm looking at it. And that seems like what the market rate should be, I would say, if you're gonna double that it might be a little bit high because it is porcelain. But that's not to say that porcelain isn't worth something. And I would I have to tell you is that you've done a really good job, communicating your value. So what I want to ask, are communicating who you serve, and the brand positioning and everything. I did in the pre-show say that we probably want to get to you, but on a Shopify site and a little bit better website design, because I think that will help your sales and conversions. And I know you're on a Wix site right now. And all these things, all these things that we're going to talk about today are part of a bigger brand positioning strategy. Because you know, the look and the feel and the communication of what you do is a big part and what you can command. So I want to ask you a question. The first question I asked like, since you've raised your prices, how long has it been?

I got everything finalized yesterday.

Okay, so right before this episode is being aired, so you haven't really put it on the market yet.

Part of it was on the market this past weekend at a Fashion Week events here in Kansas City. And it got mixed reviews.

Okay, and what were the mixed reviews?

I had some people who it was for the people who are in line with what I do, and who I serve, it was great. They saw the value they were ecstatic, was very it was attainable, that it ticked all the boxes, and they were thrown. I had one gentleman who looked at the pricing, and he says, Wow, that's really affordable. Like I was expecting the pricing to be much higher. May I have your card for my daughter? And I was like, Sure. I had another handful of people who looked at the work and said I would never paid $270 for that. And worked off. Okay, they are obviously not my person.

Okay, and so what was going on with you, when you got the feedback about saying I would never pay that much for this?

What was going on with like, how did I react internally or externally? Because they were very different. So internally, I felt like somebody kicked a puppy. And I was the puppy. Yeah. And externally, I was just like, hey, you know, it's not for everyone. I appreciate your feedback.

Yeah. So there's a couple of things that I always tell people to think about. If you're continually getting feedback like that, it's not that you don't necessarily want to, like adjust your prices out of fear or whatever. But there is a thing that, you know, we teach in Laying the Foundation and stuff. And Robin and I have talked about this since we started Flourish & Thrive Academy, way back in the day. And that is, there are certain things that can get priced out of the market, based on what they are, maybe they're really labor-intensive, maybe the material costs are high. There's a lot of reasons why something why when you use our pricing formula, or whatever, and you're following the plan, that it might get priced out of the market. So there is always that thing to consider. I'm not saying that that's always the thing. And I'll give you an example from my own career.

When I was wholesaling, I had these really amazing necklaces. So towards the end of let's see, like 2007... 8, like there was a shift in the market towards fast fashion. So there was a lot of these really big, chunky things coming in on the market I designed always have designed kind of more dainty jewelry. And so because I was concerned about being on trend, you know, I worked in the fashion world, my jewelry was sold in contemporary stores. I tried to adopt this look, when I made the pieces, they were awesome. They look super cool on the body when they're worn. And they displayed really beautifully in the case. They got a lot of attention, people would always pull them down. But when I told people the price, they were I think probably about 370 to 400 wholesale, which means at retail, they were going to be almost $900 There was a lot of price resistance, like I didn't sell very many of them. But the cool thing about having those is that they made a statement, and they did get people on the booth. So it's kind of twofold. So I didn't sell very many of those pieces, they were a little bit too high for the market because people could find the same look in something that was not sterling silver and gold vermeil a lot of the things that were happening on the market were done in more like base metal type of material like brass base metal type of materials that were less expensive. So they could get that bolder kind of layered chain look that I was creating at a cheaper price and for certain things like that, buyers wouldn't invest in that kind of thing because it's not a timeless piece. It was more of a trend-driven piece. So that's one thing to consider. The other thing to consider is that, you know that might just not be your customer, right or the customer for your products. So it's finding that balance. I think that's one thing. This is why I always say like pricing is never like a one-size fits all strategy is something that is a dance, you have to get over the mindset of raising your prices, because every artist needs to make enough money to survive, right? And thrive, like, you know, I hate to use the word survive, because it's really more about thriving and building a sustainable business. At the same time, there is a price that the market will bear. So only you can identify that. And that just comes with experience and exploration. So the other part of it is like, if you are being honest with yourself, is this something that or if you're really taking a look at it, maybe there's a better way? Is there something that you could design in a way that maybe could get the cost of the piece down, but offered the same look. So if you are getting that feedback on certain pieces over and over again, that's another way to kind of approach. And so when we talk about merchandising, and programs like Laying the Foundation, and we work like at a high level with merchandising, with our Momentum students, like we're helping them with that. That's part of like, you know, when you go to like fashion school, for instance, or you get like a degree in merchandising, most of us don't have that here. And the most people in the jewelry industry, they if they're getting a degree, they're getting a degree in Jewelry Arts, which is very different than a Fashion degree. But from a merchandising standpoint, what they would teach you is how to like reverse engineer like, How can I create this look or trend or get something to fit into the market at a price point that is actually going to sell? Because it is dance, it's not just about raising your prices to meet, like the needs of your business. It's about designing in a way that you're going to actually make the sales. And so I just want to commend you for coming on and talking about this. Because I know it's probably uncomfortable and weird. And so I do want you to take a look at those pieces that you were getting that feedback on and think to yourself, like, is this something that I could make more efficiently or in a way that I could get the price down a little bit? Or should I keep testing it and see if it's gonna sell? Because those are two things.

They are two things. So the piece, the piece that got that feedback, which was interesting, because it was the same piece that got the feedback about it being extremely affordable, right. And also, I would never pay that for that. So that was interesting to me. Like I looked at my partner who had gone with me and I was like, that's interesting. Like, I want to I just want to keep watching people, because it's a brand new design for me.

But one of the earrings you're wearing, I want to hear about the earrings you're wearing after you finish your statement. Sorry.

Oh, sure. Yeah. Um, so this, the earrings that I'm wearing actually kind of helped inspire, because they're from a collection that kind of inspired the collection that it was brought out. Thank you very much. So as I mentioned, in the pre show, I was diagnosed with a brain illness at the beginning of 2020. And one of the things that I am known for is I'm very, I'm very detail-conscious, I'm very meticulous in my work. So I hand dye porcelain. I do a lot like their hours of polishing, they go through multiple firings, I do hand cutting for inlays. And I use precious metal luster like, there's a lot of care and attention and love really, that goes into each piece. But one of the things that I have found out because of the way my brain and my body interact now, I don't always have the fine motor control with my dominant arm. So I've actually had to switch my practice, in what used to be my dominant arm for working is now more of a passive arm. Okay, so I there was that that happened. So I've had I've had that...

I'm really sorry about that. I did mention that in the pre show, I just want to make sure that I'm not just letting that slide by.

Yeah I know, and I appreciate that. It's definitely it has shifted my entire world. Some things were easier to shift than others. Some things I'm still striving to shift, which is one of the reasons I'm here, you know, because sometimes we need help with that shifting process. Because I do think there was a little bit of when you're diagnosed with something that changes your life, sometimes you can have the feeling of, wow, my worth just went away. Like, it's been a real challenge. At certain junctures to be able to go, nope, I have to do things differently now. I'm not always super quick. Some days I have garbled speech, but I'm doing the best I can. But I have to stop comparing the best I can today, versus what the best I could do was three years ago, you know, because it's really not fair to overlay those two because they're quite different. And so it's been a slow journey of finding that acceptable. Because I was when I first got the diagnosis, I was just like, Nope, I'm gonna power through this. I'm gonna find a way to fix this. We're going to do all the things I'm going to do it right I'm because I'm a good girl and everything's gonna be great. Well, you know that doesn't always work. Yeah, but so the handball coming back to the hand polishing, I found that something that I'm not, I'm not able to do as much of so I can have sections that are polished. And so immediately I started looking for what are ways that I can achieve a similar look that are going to be less impactful on my person, like, what can I do. And so I found a couple of glazes that have a similar texture when they're fired. So the appearance is similar. So that has cut out some steps that's cut out some time, and it's cut out somewhere for me personally. So that has helped, and this new collection has that different surface finishing on it. So that was that was something fun to explore. And again, I think it was just the fact this was the first time those pieces had been on the market. It was the very first time they'd been in front of people. It was a vast array of differently, you know, I had never participated in fashion week before. And this was it was a vast array of people who had come through both for the public open portion and also for the closed private events. And so I, you can have an idea of who you're going to encounter and who you're going to be in front of, but you never have 100%, unless you have scheduled all the people you would never have 100% of I know who's going to be there. So for me, it was like, Okay, I'm meeting new people. And I'm seeing some people prefer XYZ. And it's like some people prefer banana splits. And some people really prefer brownies, like, they're not going to swap, I learned. Yeah. Oh, and then these years Sorry, I had to figure out where I was. As far as these earrings go. These are they are hand polished, they have cut in inlays. So I cut a specific area, I start with a 25-pound block of clay. First of all, I think that's important to understand. So I get this great big chunk of stuff. And then I cut it down, I roll it out, I cut all of my forms, anything that is inserted into the clay for an attachment point, I'd bend those wires myself, I use sharp tools to do all of the cut work. So anyplace where I've got glaze or luster, I like a really clean line. So I make sure to designate specifically you're gonna live here, I go back through my fire that I do a little bit of reshaping, because sometimes you just have to, and then I go through and I do all of my glaze work, I fire that. If it didn't have thermal shock, or do anything really bizarre in the kiln, I go ahead and I do my precious metal lusters. So I have to wear a respirator or a ventilator, because you don't want to breathe that in. And then you apply that with a very, very fine brush. And then you go ahead and you fire that another time. And then I go ahead and protect that luster with a sealant. And then I spend time with hand polishing, and then I'm able to go through and assemble everything. So it's a lot of steps, like a friend of mine is a friend of mine's a metalsmith. And she was asking me like, how do you do this? And I walked her through it. And she was like, I got tired halfway through. I'm not gonna lie.

That's a lot. Yeah. So we had a designer that we like, a couple years ago, maybe like three, four years ago, we had a designer named Peggy Houchin. And she won one of our collection reviews during Elaine Foundation launch. And we were doing a collection review for her. And she was explaining, like all the work that went in to it right. And we looked at a couple of things. And we're like, why aren't you casting this piece of it? Or why aren't you like batching? The production of it? Are you doing things in an efficient manner where you can continue along the same process with certain pieces of the, Okay, cool. Just want to make sure that you're doing that. So, I mean, it seems like you have a really good handle on it. You know, I think originally when you asked this question, you were in the process of raising your prices, and that was really fearful for you. I want to commend you on that. I think one thing that might be really powerful for you is if you get to a place when someone's saying, you know, I would never pay that for this. And you kind of did this is to be like Well, that's that's fine. You know, it's not for everyone. But also make sure that when people are coming into your booth, I think that there's or when you're selling online and stuff like that, and when you're talking about your work, I think what can be really powerful is like just talking about how many steps actually go in to each piece of the work and you can say like, look, I'm an artist, you know, people spend 10,000 $20,000 for large format painting, you know, this is like similar to that it's just a different medium. And so it's not for everyone. But you know, I designed for collectors. And I would also talk more about like, and even have a video if you're doing things in person and on your website about the steps of how long it takes to actually make a piece of jewelry. Because it's not that you it's not all active time right firing in a kiln. That's like, you know, I don't know how long you have to fire porcelain, but it's an hour or a day or a day.

Okay, yeah, it's a day, it's like eight, it's the way my kiln will do it, it ends up being about 18 to 19 hours, and then depending on humidity, relative temperature, it can take half that long, at least to cool back down.

Yeah. So you can you can talk about that. I think this is really powerful part of the marketing for people to understand, like, you know, you're an artisan, it's not just about like, what the earrings are. And if that's what someone wants, then maybe this is like not the stuff for them. It's the difference between someone buying like a designer brand, let me see, like, I think Jason Wu one year did a release at Target, right? For seven, nine, I'm not a Jason Wu fan, but like, his couture gowns, you know, are 1000s of dollars, right. And then he's doing a collection for Target where you can buy something for 50 bucks, it's a totally different, like, there's always going to be something for everyone. But if someone wants artists pieces, then they're going to buy it from an artist. But that artists isn't going to be for everyone. It's sort of like, so I really admire. And I know her personally, Ashley Longshore she's an amazing pop artist. Not all of her arts for me. But she's done. She was one of the first people painting gemstones. And she did it in a really cool way. And in like her pop artists like heavy enameled way she has these beautiful paintings of Audrey Hepburn that she does is like part of her signature style. And she's been knocked off a lot. She's done a ton of collaborations, and she's done things in a reproducible way that people can get things for a less expensive price point. But what's the difference between someone buying like an original Ashley Longshore piece to have another gemstone painter who's selling a print? Right? It's like meeting people on the price point. And then also, you know, when we just had this pricing and positioning class, we're recording this, but I had the class a couple days ago. And I shared an example of you know, when maybe like 10 years ago, eight to 10 years ago, I had some friends of mine who are yoga teachers, they don't didn't make a lot of money, or acquaintance I should say knew that from San Francisco, they reached out to me about designing their wedding bands. Then I asked them for some inspiration images, either from my website or from other things that they found on the internet. And they sent me a bunch of inspiration pieces from Etsy. And all the pieces were like between 300 and $600 for these simple wedding bands. And I knew that the design I was going to create was going to be slightly elevated and a little bit more, but it was also going to be more than double. Because the people on Etsy were not pricing, right. Yeah. So I had to communicate to them. Like, hey, here is the reason why it's this. And I understand if you're looking for something for this price point, but it can't be custom then. So you just buy that. And they were like, oh, no, we want something from you. They were happy to spend, I think his ring was 1400. And hers was about 2000 because there were just bands, but when a diamonds and stuff like that, and they were happy to pay it because of the ability to communicate value. And so I think the more clear that you can get on that and overcome the internal hurdles that you might experience about expressing your value. I think that's important. And I also want to talk about this, which is a very sensitive topic, you have this brain condition, right, your motor functions aren't what they used to be, and I'm really sorry about that must be terrible. And I'm sure you're doing everything to try and do what you can to heal it. That's a conversation for another day. But also, it's like, I hate to use your hardship. But if you ever feel comfortable in telling people you know, like, I like a brand story, like you know, whenever it was 2020 I was diagnosed with this brain condition that significantly reduced my motor skills, and I'm still an artist and here's why. These are the things that people love hearing stuff like that and they love supporting and I hate to use this term but supporting the underdog because in a way like they want to support you. They want to help you they want to you know be supporting an artist who you know has been doing this for a while and is now like continuing to do it even in the face of adversity. And so I found that there's a go ahead.

No, I just say and that doesn't come across as needy or like please buy from me because I have a problem or any like it.

I don't think so you position it in the right way.

I've been I've talked about it a few times. I'm always very conscious, sometimes self-conscious about how I talk about it because I don't want it to come across as please help me or as an applicant never want it to be an excuse, or like the reason people are buying, I want people to buy because they love the work.

this is a great opportunity for you to get publicity about it to just say, and you can even say that, like, you know, I wanted to even in the face of this human condition that I have this physical condition that I have. I'm continuing to choose my passion as my path for my career. This is stuff that you can pitch to a local TV station. And you know, this is not selling out. This is not like feel sorry for me, it's a feel good story of someone who's overcoming adversity. People have adversity in their lives, like they it comes up every day in different forms. Some people are abused when their children you know, and they've overcome like trauma then that they've used as fuel to move forward in their lives as adults. Some people lose their parents or a young like I did some people have another story of like losing a partner or spouse. You know, one of the examples I used on the masterclass yesterday was the story of Wendy Hively of Charlie Madison originals, who, when she first came to us years ago, was just selling Mala bracelets. And it wasn't until she got really clear on who she served the mission for her brand, that her pricing strategy and structure that our business as a side part-time business really took off. And she's selling low cost Mala bracelets, and she's making $100,000 a year with a side business, because she's positioned herself for a cause that matters to her because she's a has a military family, her family has been affected by, you know, the sacrifice that military members of the military make for our country, right. So this is something that can be used in the right way from a brand positioning perspective, to help you spread the word about what you do. And it would also inspire other people who may be feeling sorry for themselves because they have a condition who are sitting there to go do something with their lives. I mean, I hate to put it that way, this just goes to show you your story is actually very inspiring to me, because it goes to show you that you've been faced with something that's been debilitating for you in a lot of ways, you had to use a different hand your right-handed, and you have to use your left hand to actually make your products now, which is the other way, you know, whatever, you need to use your right hand now. So whatever. And that's I can't use my left hand to write or do anything. That's hard, you know what I'm saying so, and vice versa, it's probably was hard for you to learn it. But it's something that you're overcoming. And using that to continue on. So I think that this is really powerful. And I honestly think that if you created some short videos that were edited the right way, and were able to talk about the story in a good way, this could be great marketing material, on your website, to be playing on a show to be featuring as promotional materials or on social media and other places where people are following you. And I say that because like years and years ago, I went to this art opening. And it's from this guy Jamali. And I'm not sure if he didn't have arms, or if he just chose to paint with his feet. But he had this really cool process where he painted these masterpieces with his feet. For whatever reason, I can't remember, I feel like there was something maybe he couldn't, didn't have the use of his arms. But I might be wrong there. But it just goes to show me that there are people you know, have you ever seen like a double arm amputee, who's like doing everything with their feet, or have someone who has no arms and legs who is like writing a novel with their mouth using like something that they punch on the computer? You know what I mean? It's like, this is an beautiful story that can be shared. Like if and when you feel comfortable sharing it. And I also think it is a way to command more for what you do. Okay, not necessarily raising your prices more than you have now. But I'm just saying like communicating why things aren't as expensive as they are? Or the amount that they are. They're not expensive. I'm not saying that, but just that you are charging what you're charging.

Yeah, well, again, I'm finally at a point where I'm charging, I had to take the emotional because I got real emotional about it. Like there was a whole bunch of fear when I was looking at everything. And I was like, oh, and I finally just kind of had to, I had to do that thing where you just step back. And you just have to look only at the data. And so I was looking just the numbers. And I'm like, "This is literally what the numbers show". Like this is what it has to be. And I just had to go. Okay, so if that's what the numbers say it has to be. And that's what I would do if somebody had hired me to do pricing for them. And that was what the numbers showed, and it was realistic, then that's what I would give them as a price guide. So if somebody else has that value, it kind of started to click up. Oh, yeah, well, maybe I could maybe I should do that for myself too.

Yeah, I'm looking at your prices. On your website, I don't see anything that was $275. But like, if these are that hasn't been added yet. Yeah, if these are the raised prices, I think your products are 60 to the ones that are featured here $236 online, like it's not overly priced at all. There are some that are collected. And I think it's just reflection I'm looking at maybe.

Okay, yeah, because there are some that are on there for 288. But they have less reflection in the Lustre Collection. There's a three-piece necklace.

I don't think that this is like overpriced at all.

Well, thank you.

And the modern earrings are super cool. Like, you have a product, I don't think that there's any reason that yeah, okay, your price did. And so I just want you to get the confidence in that and being able to communicate like why. So the more that you can say it, and I would not tell people that you've changed your process to like, reduce the amount of time for the polishing, what I would say is that you've had to adapt how you're making the jewelry to fit, you know, this new normal for you, or whatever it is, you know what I'm saying? So, and then I just think like, as you continue to produce is like, where can you get more efficient to even if you don't lower the prices or anything like that just to get more efficient to increase your profit margins over time. Because if this when this starts to work, I mean, if you look at other ceramicist, there's tons of ceramics on the market, like a ceramic bowl or something like that, that is like three $400 Just ceramics, there's no like silver or metals in it, you know, because they're artists and pieces. And so I feel like this is where you can really lean into the benefits of what it is that you do. I'm assuming that porcelain can be lighter on the ears. Am I right? Yes, that's so you can talk about like, you know, for people who don't dislike heavy earrings are really lightweight, you know, especially in one of the benefits is like, especially people with like stretched holes and stuff like that. Or like you can talk about why wearing jewelry like this is better for you. And stuff like that.

My mom actually is one of the people. She was one of the first people to go oh my gosh, to her so light. So she had been one of the people who used to wear the large, like, wooden or metal, or just the really large earrings. Yeah, it was the 80s. So she had she had a lot of those. And when she put on a piece from the porcelain and pearls collection, and it didn't pull on her years, and she was like, I love these. Are you going to make more of this? Yeah, exactly. So that made me really happy.

Well, Manda, thank you so much for being on today. What was the most helpful thing that you got out of this?

Being willing to share my story? And working on building the confidence of going ahead and saying, you know, yeah, this is what I do, and this is what it entails. And I do I actually wrote down at one point where you're like I designed for collectors, which I do.

I mean, this is art. It's it's different than just like fast fashion.

And it is definitely not fast.

Maybe that's that could be a cool thing for social media. This is definitely not fast fashion, but it is fashionable or something like that.

I will play with that.

Yeah, so awesome. Manda thank you so much for being on the show today. Where can everyone find you?

Thank you for having me. And you can find me on Instagram. It is @mandawyldedesigns all one word. And then if they are looking for my website, it is mandowylde.com.

Awesome. Thank you so much.

Thank you.

Thank you so much for listening to this episode with Manda I hope that you got amazing value out of it. And I would love to know from you. What are you struggling with when it comes to pricing and communicating value for your jewelry? Make sure that you share in the comments below. We'd love to hear and if you'd like some support growing your jewelry business, make sure that you pick up my book, The Desire Brand Effect: Stand Out in a Saturated Market with a Timeless Jewelry Brand you can head on over to desirebrandeffect.com and pick up your copy today.

Thank you so much for listening to the show today. I would love for you to just reach out to Manda and thank her for sharing her story and being on the episode she gave you some information on how to find her on Instagram, or you can message her through our website mandawylde.com. And if you're someone who you know really is struggling with your pricing structure, or how to position your brand, checkout Laying the Foundation, we have a link in the show notes. It's an amazing program. We've helped 1000s of people as I mentioned earlier, and it will change your life especially if you're in that stage where you're trying to get consistent, predictable sales. You want to have either a lifestyle business that brings in consistent cash flow into your family or your existence or you're someone who really wants to grow to six figures and beyond. This is the foundational aspect that every jewelry company needs to put into place. And I've been told by so many people out there that thank you, Tracy, so much for what you do. And it's always my pleasure to come on here. I've been getting a lot of messages from you on my personal Instagram. So happy to chat with you over there if you want to find me over @tracymatthewsny. But the reason why I do this is because when I was starting out, it was so hard for me to figure out like what made me different, you know, I was just in the beginning making jewelry that I liked to wear. But as I started to grow as a business owner, I needed to know what made me different. How am I clarifying my message? How am I attracting the perfect customers for me? How am I speaking in a way that commands the price point that I need to make in order to make a living as an artist? So if you've been struggling with any of those things, this program will help you solve that problem. We are here to support you in so many ways. So we have a ton of case studies and success stories. So if you want to read some more of those head on over to flourishthriveacademy.com/ltf and check them out. This is Tracy Matthews, signing off. Until next time. Thank you so much for listening to today's episode. It's my mission to help 1000s of creative businesses inside and outside the jewelry space use their creativity to make money. Make sure that you're subscribed to Thrive by Design on iTunes, Spotify, Stitcher, and wherever podcasts are played. And we'd love to hear what you think. Please rate and review the show and if you're inspired, please share this with your friends. Cheers to seeing you flourish and thrive!