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EP398: From Shopaholic to Personal Shopping + Custom Jewelry Design with Ulka Wilson | Otter.ai

EP398: From Shopaholic to Personal Shopping + Custom Jewelry Design with Ulka Wilson

Tracy Matthews39min

Tracy Matthews

00:00

The more that you say no to the wrong people, the more that you start to attract the right people. It's weird how that starts to happen. This goes the same for anything when it comes to manifesting or creating what you want and desire in your business.

Tracy Matthews

00:44

Welcome to the thrive by design Podcast, episode 398. Hey there, it's Tracy Matthews, chief visionary officer of Flourish & Thrive Academy and the host of the thrive by design podcast. And I'm excited to be here today to talk a little bit more about a different kind of business model. And today I interview Olga Wilson of oak rocks. She's one of our graduates of our T YC program. She's also in our momentum program right now. And she came to us when she was trying to grow her online sales. And it was right on the heels of her quitting her corporate job. She knew that she wanted to develop this jewelry company, basically in her retirement to help grow. And she had a very unique vision of what she wanted to create, which was designing jewelry specifically for a customer and doing like basically shopping trips for them, where she would find the materials and then custom design pieces that were unique for the clients, which was so fun. When I met local I loved her right away because of her go getter attitude. And you're gonna really love this episode to hear some of the things that she has to say. Before I dive in today, though, I want to talk a little bit more about online selling. So we are hosting a brand new masterclass. It's called the five mistakes that even smart jewelry business owners make that are killing their online sales. And I'm very excited to present this masterclass because there are some pretty big mistakes that a lot of people make when it comes to selling on their website or reaching more customers online. And they end up feeling frustrated because they try to sell online and they think they're doing all the things and they're like, no one's coming to my website, my social media isn't working. And so what ends up happening is they throw in the towel and think that business model won't work, like selling online doesn't work for jewelry. The fact of the matter is that it does, but there are a lot of things that jewelry business owners make a lot of things that they do, that aren't necessarily supporting what they're trying to create. And it's not as simple as just trying something once or a few times and expecting it to work. It's about understanding an entire strategy and how to look at the numbers in a way that you can actually measure success. And so we're gonna dive deep into that. It's going to be an awesome class. So head on over to flourish, thrive academy.com forward slash five mistakes, the number five and mistakes and join me there for this amazing masterclass. I'll also have a link in the show notes. So I want to dive in to today's episode I interview Olga Wilson of Olga rocks, and let me pull up her bio real quick. She has been designing jewelry for over 20 years, she founded oak rocks in 2017. And in 2022, she retired from her corporate job to focus full time on Oak rocks. She specializes in shopping for and creating unique designs made with high quality, natural gemstones and she always strives for an enjoyable and exciting customer experience. The amazing thing about Olga is that she kind of bears it all in a way where she shares her fears like her hesitations kind of doing this in retirement, and, and some motivation for all of you who are thinking about starting a second career or you're wanting to leave your corporate job and what to really expect. I mean, it's pretty cool because she really believes that you can start a business at any age, you can move a side hustle into a full time company. And you can have amazing results if you're willing to reflect on yourself and lean into what your passion is and play to your own strengths which I think everyone could use some guidance on. So let's dive in to this episode with Olga. I'm so excited to have one of my students on the show Oka Wilson oppa here Well, I wanted to interview you today because you're in our momentum program but you started out with your flourish and thrive journey, taking one of our programs called the T yc. And And we were on a call a couple of weeks ago, and you were sharing with me some of the great successes you were having with a very specific business model that you have. And so I wanted to share with our community kind of how you're reaching more customers online by doing personal shopping, and designing jewelry for private customers. So thanks so much for sharing your journey with us. Tell me a little bit more about how you got into the jewelry industry.

Speaker 1

05:26

Okay, so I've always liked just crafts and you know, projects like that. And I've always been fascinated jewelry. So long ago, I took beading classes and learn how to beat and make things and so I was doing that a lot just on my own for myself. And the stacks of jewelry. Were stacking up in my, in my jewelry cabinet. And what I was noticing was a lot of people would comment on my jewelry when I wore it. And then I've heard this from a few other jewelers. I think it's kind of a typical way maybe to get started. But people would just comment on it and ask me where I bought it. And I tell him, I made it and then I asked to buy it. So enough people were kind of buying it right off my body that I thought okay, well, let me see about this. And then my family super supportive, and my friends, and they're like, You should start a business. And I was still working full time. So I just did kind of a part time business on the side. And I started on Etsy, which was a really easy place to start. And you don't have to have the glamorous website and all that. So it was easy way to do it kind of a part time business. And then that really grew quickly. So I thought, well, let me try a website. And I got one together. But it's, it was hard to get, you know, all the pictures, right? And all the descriptions and, you know, SEO and all that. So, so I had it. But you know, it's kind of a side thing I really kind of just kept with Etsy. And then I retired from my corporate job after 31 years long time, because I wanted to actually focus more on the jewelry. I had been doing that for so long that I thought well, let me just make a switch. And it was slowly growing over the last five years before I stopped working. So I thought well, let me just take a go with this. So then I went full time. So that's how I'm kind of here.

Tracy Matthews

07:16

Okay, awesome. Well, what were you doing in the corporate world before,

Speaker 1

07:19

it's a long period of time. So I did a lot of things and was very lucky to work for such a big corporation. And I got to work in IT and technology. I ran global organizations, I got lots of exposure to global processes. I worked in vendor management design, like end user design, finance, accounting, relationship management supply chain, it's really kind of everything that you'll notice except for marketing. So when I stopped working, and I stepped back a little bit, I really looked at my my business model that I had for Oka rocks, and I was not using any of my business skills. Because it was kind of a break for me. You know, when I was working, and I I like to make things and buy things. I was not selling very many things. So anyways, when I put on my business skills to work and analyze it a bit, I was really losing money on it, and it was not going to be a viable business. So I know I needed some, some help to get it. Well. Yeah, well,

Tracy Matthews

08:26

that's good. The one thing that I love that you said about there is that you had all these skills, except for maybe the marketing, that's not something that you did, but you weren't applying it to your business. And then when you finally did, you're like, oh, wait, this isn't really a business. I got to figure this out. So what was that transition, like going from corporate, to doing your kind of passion project full time,

Speaker 1

08:48

to me was really exciting. It really wasn't very hard. I decided I was going to retire and be when I did that I was at a really good place in my career. I've done a lot. So I was really, you know, happy with where I was. But I was really excited about doing something new. So that made the transition a little bit easier. And I really didn't skip a beat. I went my retirement day of May 31st. And June 1, I was making more jewelry and working on my website and doing all this stuff. So I think just having it already going gave me confidence that I can just jump right into this thing. And have that be my second career. So it didn't take much thinking and it's doing stuff I love so that wasn't hardier.

Tracy Matthews

09:33

How long ago was that.

Speaker 1

09:35

That was let's see. That's me so about. Oh, wow. Nine months? Yeah,

Tracy Matthews

09:40

that really you really made this transition quickly? Yes. I hadn't realized I thought it was maybe two years or three years.

Speaker 1

09:47

Nine months. In fact, it made me feel good. One of my girlfriends the other day told me she said your retirement is the most seamless I've seen because you just went from one thing to the next and you know, was told really happy with it and didn't have a day of being bored or anything so worked out. But I think it was key having it going a little bit. Or if I had just kind of stopped that day and said, Okay, now I want to start a business than it would have been harder, I think. Well, I

Tracy Matthews

10:15

think the one thing that I've really observed about you that I think is remarkable is that you are you have this go getter kind of career focused mentality already this like, I can tell that inbred like, you want to make your business successful, like this is your like one of those, the the people who like your more like business person, not just artists, not just art, yes, right. And so this is great, because it's awesome, when you kind of have both sides. And you found out pretty early on, you're like, well, this business isn't making money, I need to figure out how I can get in the red, and I remember are in the green, excuse me. And I remember when we had you join our TYT program, and we had a, you got a bonus get to chat with me. And we were talking about all of this stuff that you had been collecting over the years. And I'm like, You got to get rid of that some way, shape, or form. And you did really quickly, which was awesome. I'm kind of skipping ahead to some of the questions. But that kind of thinking I think is really great, because you're applying those business skills to your actual business, which is awesome. I want to kind of dive into your business model, because you kind of approach this a little bit differently. You cater to women who want unique things, which a lot of people like to design beautiful, unique things. But you've really kind of tapped this market on personal shopping. So tell me a little bit more about this business model and why you decided to go into it.

Speaker 1

11:43

Okay, well, maybe I'll start with the why part first. Yeah. So you're right, I love I've always loved for myself unique jewelry. And it always, you know, makes you feel good when somebody complements your jewelry. And there's really nothing like it out there. So I really like that for myself. So that's kind of the business model. And what I wanted to create was like, so I know, some businesses like to create, you know, one thing and sell 100 of them, but I like to sell, you know, 100 of, I like to get getting all this. I like to sell one of 100 different things. So that's a harder business model. Because it takes a lot of time and effort, I think it's, you know, much more efficient to make one thing and sell a lot of it, versus the way I do it. So to so I did know, I wanted to do something unique. And just creating that by myself was kind of hard. So that'll lead into the shopping a little bit. And then the other thing is the shopping is I think I told you this in our first meeting together, but I'm definitely shopaholic. Yeah, my husband would say it's a curse, probably. But I wanted to view it as a superpower. And use that skill. So when I had the website, and Etsy, you know, that was kind of my online presence. And I don't want to, it's a lot of work, you know, you've got to photograph things perfectly and write all these descriptions and, and that's, I can do that. But I don't, I don't love doing it. Since I love the shopping side, I thought well, let me try that out and see if I use the shopping part to actually showcase things to people and have them shop that way. So I started that about a year ago, almost kind of by mistake, my trip got expanded in Tucson, when I was there because of flight delays. And then I just thought, well, let me just try to videotape some of these things and see what happens so and I really enjoyed it because I got more time to you know, shop. And but it still was good from a business side because I wasn't putting in, you know, all just backing into inventory. And people are getting their stuff faster. So and getting some unique things. So it kind of just evolved over the last year. So that's become a bigger part of my business. But I do still have my website, you know, too, but it's the shopping trips that I love and I think the customers really like it too. They get to see a lot of things really quickly. And I can show a variety and I can change direction, you know depending on what they want. And we can you know I can almost do things for them faster because if we find a pendant that somebody likes we can easily you know go to the next table and find some beautiful beads that can go with it or another necklace to coordinate or earrings or so we can kind of put together a whole ensemble for them pretty quickly and and they get some things again that nobody else has and you know kind of a neat experience for them. But I think they have a lot of fun too. I've noticed as I've been doing the trips people you know, I can see the excitement on Instagram as I'm starting to, to do the trips. So

Tracy Matthews

14:57

I loved all your promotional graphics and everything I was like, doing there's not her head and like she's in a computer holding.

Speaker 1

15:05

That's my tech side, I still love technology. And like all that fun stuff and design work and super fun.

Tracy Matthews

15:12

How do you keep it all organized? I mean, that's like a lot. If you're working with like, let's say, how many customers, you usually have it at a specific time, when you're doing a shop, like a personal shopping trip,

Speaker 1

15:21

well, I can have this, as this gets more popular, you know, I can have 20 different texts going at one time. So it's, it's a lot to manage. And each person is important to me. So I want to make sure I spend enough time with them. And so it's getting kind of hard, I do it all myself. In fact, I was at one show in Houston, and a customer of mine saw me there. And I had my old tripod set up with my phone and I was you know, showing some different pendants, making a video, and she came by and she goes, You do this by yourself. She's like how you do that? But it is it's a lot of work. I got to look for the things, talk to the vendors, negotiate the prices, put design things together, kind of figure out okay, what do I need for my inventory? Because I'm still, you know, making and designing things? Who of my customers might like this? And I send it to them? Should I just show it to a broader group? You know, is there more than one? I mean, you kind of gotta keep track. And Tucsonans especially challenging, because I'm sure you have been in many designers have been, but it's it's multiple venues all over Tucson. Yeah. Have you, you know, three days after your past Sunday. And if somebody comes back and says, I like that thing you saw over there, and I gotta like, go over. But it's, it's a lot that eventually I'm gonna need help, because it is a lot to handle. But it's exhausting, huge amount of work, but it's fun.

Tracy Matthews

16:55

Do you ever just find some things that you like, and then bring those things home? And like, do kind of the arrangements later and then present them? Like reach out to customers that might be interested in some of those pieces?

Speaker 1

17:07

Yes. So thanks to you, there's a lot less of that. And I'm much more focused on it. So I used to be all over the place, if I saw anything pretty, I would just say, Oh, someone will buy that. I'll just buy it. And it wouldn't be quite in my wheelhouse of stuff. But now I'm a little more focused on what my look is and what my designs are. And so I really talk to have a lot of self talk because I'm there and say, Okay, that's not that's pretty, and someone might like it. But it's not my general customer group. And it's not what I should be focusing on.

Tracy Matthews

17:42

And so you're really focused on the core customer that you've curated. Yes.

Speaker 1

17:47

And it's interesting, because as I put more out there, you talk about the dream client, the dream client, for me has kind of evolved. And now I kind of know what that is a little bit. And so I, you know, I buy more that that dream client likes. And if I try to go outside of that I don't do as well, even, you know, just slightly outside. So there really is something to that and figuring out really what that core customer is and what they like.

Tracy Matthews

18:13

That's probably why you had all that inventory when we first met. Yes,

Speaker 1

18:16

it is because everything was pretty and everything's awesome. But you know, it's just all over the place. And it's hard to sell it to because then it's like a weird thing. Like, how did this person come into the picture?

Tracy Matthews

18:31

I remember you talking about that you're like, yeah, how like for handbags in my closet. Right now that I just bought thinking someone would buy them, like, get bags, like how are you getting handbags.

Speaker 1

18:42

And the other problem I had was like because I was not thinking about that dream client. I was trying to please everyone. Yeah, customers said, went back. This is a good example from this morning some bi reached out on my website and said, Oh, you have really pretty gemstones and you know, stones. Can you get me some rocks? That are at least a pound for my business because I make the cabachon. So can you look for those rocks for me? Now, the prior? Or, you know, Olga would have said, Oh, I need to please this customer. This is something they want. You know, I'm capable of looking for rocks. So I'll go do that. And it took my focus off of what I really liked to do. But this morning, I had no problem writing a note saying no, I don't shop for rock. Sorry, you have to find somebody else to do that. Might look on Etsy or something.

Tracy Matthews

19:36

You know what's really powerful about that? This is a great thank you for bringing this up. Because the more that you say no to the wrong people, the more that you start to attract the right people. It's weird how that starts to happen. And this is this goes the same for anything when it comes to manifesting or creating what you want and desire in your business. Like if you can move through like your own story about why you're doing the things like like you're a people pleaser, it sounds like you just want to make you want to make people happy. Yeah, I'm pulling that out to you. But you know, or what other people do. Some people are operating out of trauma or stories or whatever, because they might take actions in their life and in their business based on that. But the more you start, reach, and what ends up happening is you end up maybe not doing what's right for the business or right for you, and you feel compromised. And undefeated, your business isn't as profitable. We all know the story how it can spiral down. When you start saying, No, I feel like the thing, the most amazing things starts to happen is that more opens up for you, where the right right kind of people start coming to you.

Speaker 1

20:39

Right, and then you can spend more time on those Yeah, to get what they want. And I really enjoy people. Anyway, not just the pleasing part. Yeah, just getting getting to know people. So I don't have a huge customer group. But I, I like to keep it that way. So I can really get to know the customers know things about their lives, I've built some really unexpected friendships through the business, where we text each other a lot, you know, on a daily basis, not about jewelry, but about other things. So it's really fun, even just to get the friendships built. And you have time for that which is enjoyable, you know, not just doing business stuff. So Well, what

Tracy Matthews

21:23

I have to say Elka is like kind of playing down her success, because she is doing very well. Just gonna say that we're not going to talk about she asked not to talk about specific numbers, but we're going to talk about growth. And I was really impressed from the get go of how well her business was going when she came to us for help originally, so don't downplay how successful you are. Small is like, here's what I've learned. I used to sell 1000s of units a month to wholesale stores, and my business has never been more profitable than scaling it down and working with a smaller group of customers who pay more money. And it's not necessarily about like overcharging or anything like that. It's about delivering a great service, which is what I see you doing, whether or not like you're really taking care of these people, and giving them value, which I think is important. So my next question for you is because I got to watch your last journey I didn't know I didn't know you until you joined our team is T yc. program, because that's the first time you encountered I think that you encountered Flourish & Thrive Academy, I'm not totally sure. But how have you used some of the online methods that you learned from that program to to grow, like, basically grow these shopping trips, and how you're reaching customers, etc. In your business.

Speaker 1

22:36

I think the biggest thing for me has been Instagram, before I was just posting, you know, a couple things a month, and you know, maybe something pretty, but I really don't have like an overall strategy. I think you all encouraged us in the class to be brave and do some videos, by the practice, like 100 times to do one,

Tracy Matthews

22:59

or you're doing great.

Speaker 1

23:01

And then so I finally did some videos, which I think people want to see you and you can explain something about a piece of jewelry, so much better in a video than just the picture, that the videos, I think we're big and just and then posting a lot more. So getting more exposure that way. And of course, the reels, you know, hits some different people versus just your posts, and I try to use stories more. So I'm trying to use all the different different things. And then the other online thing I'd say is I had a mailing list that I had built from Etsy, but I was totally laughing when somebody in one of your classes said, you know, you can't just send one email at Christmas and say I'm having a sale and hope for the best. That's exactly what I was doing. How would you start talking about email list I did already have one and I for sure need to build it more. But I wasn't ever connecting with the customers outside of you know that one sale click Christmas sale. So you know, I started doing more of that just just to tell them what I was doing. So you know telling I'm going on a shopping trip or you know, a little more advanced notice on a sale or something. So I think the email list is helping grow the customer base as well. Yeah,

Tracy Matthews

24:19

and also will eventually help you grow ready ready to wear or the one of a kind pieces or whatever it is that you're designing on your website. I mean, I already I know just because you've told me this but your business is growing. I feel like you're kind of at capacity, you're getting to be at a place at capacity where you're you're producing almost as much as you can with the volume you have, which is amazing. I don't know that a lot of people can state that and this is just a testament to you being committed to making the sales, which is awesome. Okay, so I have a couple more questions for you about this. One of my favorite things to do, or ways to think about online In digital marketing, and all that stuff is like how does it contributes to the overall growth of a company? And so one of the things that I just want to kind of highlight here is that, I think when a lot of people come in saying that they want more online sales or just hoping for people to point and click out of their website, but what how is it growing your business? Overall, I think is a better question to ask. Because at that point, like if you're, if you're doing all these things, and maybe because your clientele I know is a little bit older, they might not be as savvy to just like clicking a button on a website, but they are reaching out to you and buying, like, does it matter to you that it's not necessarily through your website platform? Or is it just what what are you looking at?

Speaker 1

25:41

Yes, well, it's interesting, I've been kind of thinking about that, because I still do spend a lot of time on the website, and trying to make it, you know, look good. And when I add things, but I don't get a lot of sales there. So every once in awhile, there'll be just some random person that that buys something. And it's super excited when that happens. But I'm starting to, you know, work on my strategy for my business, it's, it's really all about these customer connection, and the, which I think I'm trying to accept, that's not really going to be from the website, there might be a few things I put there, that that's really not where the core of my business is going to be. So it's going to be probably from the social interactions. So I'm putting more of my time in those because that seems to be where my success has been.

Tracy Matthews

26:31

That's great. And what I'll always also say is that I feel like, I do feel like there's an opportunity, this, I don't want to turn this into a coaching session. But I do want to mention this because there is an opportunity for you to actually create more products that people could buy online that are one of a kind or special pieces, where you can point people to buy those things and eventually charge more premium for these personal shopping experiences. So you can, you can anchor it that way as something to drive more sales to the website. But I think it's a really important distinction. Because if you have a customer that's a little bit older, that has a lot of money to spend, they aren't the kinds of people always that are going to just go and shop online. And so this is where I think getting clear on your customer buying behavior can be really powerful. And using online strategies to help you grow. You know, I know that you're taking our traffic on FIRE program right now, but I feel like there's a huge opportunity for you, even with Google ads and some of the advertising that maybe potentially you'll do, to be able to like, position yourself as like personal shopper, jewelry shopper, Houston. Right? Do you know what I mean? And like, use those keywords to get those wealthy Houston ladies?

Speaker 1

27:57

Well, it's funny, I don't have very many Houston customers, really, I have friends you know, or a friend of a friend or something, but not a lot. Now, most of my huge base in California, wow, New York, Pennsylvania, Kansas, Florida, they're all over the place. So and as I actually am doing these shopping trips, I'm trying to connect with some of the customers as I go to these different places. So it's given me that opportunity.

Tracy Matthews

28:25

That's amazing. So how has I know your business has grown over the last year, how is like incorporating all of this, the email marketing, the Instagram, you know, the outreach, and all that stuff helped you grow your business over the past nine months or so.

Speaker 1

28:43

It's been huge. And I couldn't have done it without it because it really gave me a lot of focus, which I didn't have before. And it helped me really analyze my business. So I saw where the real gaps were. And then I got practical advice on how to address those things. And I one thing I really liked about all the courses is there was always like a, you know, a practical solution to something you know, asking us to practice it to make sure we knew how to do it and so that that just really helped me because then I can kind of test it each week and see you know what worked what didn't work what did I like doing? What did I not do? So I I implemented all kinds of little things along the way. Even like the other social media I haven't been proactive on it because I focus so much on Instagram but you know we had a really good coach and on the Pinterest

Tracy Matthews

29:37

fashioned in the in the train your customers to buy from you online program. Yes.

Speaker 1

29:42

And all I did was hook my shop up to Pinterest that was part of the exercise. And for some reason one of my listings on my website just went viral for some odd reason. I didn't even It's nothing I posted on Pinterest. It just connects to your car. catalog. And then your things are there for people to see. And I must have gotten 20 sales on this one thing, it happened to be something that I did have a different whole variety of them. And it's still people. Like is that sold out? Like what is that? This odd like piece of turquoise thing that people like so, but that was that was from the class just tried to implement that one little thing. And again, I didn't do a lot there. I haven't spent as much time as I would like. But

Tracy Matthews

30:28

imagine what would happen if you actually put some time and energy?

Unknown Speaker

30:33

That's right there, I need people somehow help.

Tracy Matthews

30:37

So I'm gonna backtrack a little bit. What is what was the impetus for you joining the TYT program? Why was it interesting to you,

Speaker 1

30:45

you know, how we say that the internet is listening to us or something. So when I analyzed my business after I had retired, I was seeing, I wasn't making, you know, a profit. And I was kind of trying to look for things and I kind of started seeing, like, you know, I'm just not good at selling things. I, you know, I'm great at finding things and making things and creating and whatever. But I'm not just not good at selling things. So I was like, Well, let me see what kind of can help me sell things. And then I swear, it was like that day in my Instagram feed a flourish and thrive thing came up. And I watched it a few times. And I think it's right before winning or master classes. Just try that it's free. So yeah, we see. And I got a lot of value out of it. And I was like, well, heck, if I can get that much just from like a couple day session. Let me just try this. So that's kind of why I decided to do it, because I did the, you know, free thing. And it made a lot of value. So I was like, well, then the paid thing must be really good. So

Tracy Matthews

31:49

awesome. I love that. I think that was one of our like supercharger sales, or ramp up your holiday sales, which is so awesome. So you talked a little bit about your like, how the, you know, you sold out at 20 pieces just from the program and stuff like that. One of the things that I remember, because my goal always is like when we start a workshop or accelerator, you said something to me when we were having like, You got to you were one of the first people to sign up. So you got a little bonus session with me. And you're like, I think I've already made the investment back in the program, Tom and one of my goals is to help people make their investment back, like really soon. So how to what happened there?

Speaker 1

32:27

That was from I think it was from that masterclass where you put some kind of challenge out Yeah, saying, you know, here send some emails, students and texts, you know, just put some stuff out there. And, you know, different ways to put things out there. So I think I just put some stuff on our neighborhood blog. I just was doing, you know, I put stuff out, I put, I did things that I just wasn't I knew I needed to do, but I just was not doing them. So just that little challenge kind of forced me to go well let me try to do this and reach out to some some Houston customers that I hadn't seen in a while and, and a lot of them needed things. And I happened to have them in my big Indian inventory stash. Great. And the neighborhood blog, you know, I put some, again, some purses and some things out there that I hadn't. In other words, they were just sitting so so yeah, so I, I made enough money to pay for the class. And so I thought, Okay, well, that came from that part. And so I might as well just invest it towards this. Yeah. So that's how it happened.

Tracy Matthews

33:33

That is amazing. I love that. So what were some of your specific results after taking the T yc.

Speaker 1

33:40

So just from that class, implementing everything that I did, and fixing a lot of my problems that I was having in the business last time I last year, my revenues were five times in the prior year. And my expenses were less than half because I was not continuing to build all that. With that it was the first time in five years that I made any profits. So I was super excited about that. So I want to continue that path forward.

Tracy Matthews

34:13

Awesome. How did your January shopping trip go?

Speaker 1

34:16

It was good. I I ended up getting sick. I planned. I think it was seven days there on that trip, the big Tucson trip and I got sick during the day. And I missed three days. So I extended a couple more days part of the shows or even over by the time you know I got there so but I made the most of it and I still found a lot of great things and I made sure you know that I was trying to post as much as I could for people. And I got a lot of new customers I think just from some of the Instagram feeds and things so it actually turned out great. I even been sick and missing several days like I still made my goal So

Tracy Matthews

35:01

what was it, I know that you don't want to share the dollar amount of the goal, but what was your goal from the growth of the

Speaker 1

35:06

goal was I was since I kind of started to do this a bit more, I was more efficient at it, I thought, Okay, I want to do at least twice the volume that I did the prior year. And I did that, and then some, so I was really excited.

Tracy Matthews

35:22

That's awesome. And it was a big goal. Like, it's what most people do, and an entire year, I'm just gonna put that out there. Like, it was a really big goal. So we're just gonna go with that. And I understand, you know, people don't want their customers listening to their, their financials and stuff like that. So I appreciate you sharing, like how your business has grown and stuff like that. Did you have any hesitations in joining the program?

Speaker 1

35:46

Yeah, so I think my main hesitation was, I've been trained in the corporate world, to, you know, hold competitive secrets, you know, close to the vest. And so I kind of thought about like this, okay, how's this going to work when all these, you know, jewelers are together and sharing this information? And I wasn't quite sure. You know, how that would work from like, a competitive standpoint. I think I talked to you about that. And maybe Natasha in the beginning. And you all tried to, you know, comment on the community aspect. So I said, Okay, well, let me try to get over that. That fear. And then I'm glad I did, because the community part is huge. And there's really no competition. Yeah, because we're sharing our things we're learning how to, you know, what, what's a good email? What does that look like? And what is, you know, an SMS and how does that, you know, what's a good idea to do that. And so it just more sharing ideas that can help everybody. And I think it was really good. Nobody was sharing any, you know, whether deep, dark secrets, but the stuff you everybody shared was super helpful, right? It's much more of a community, coaches force, you know, gave all that help, as well and help how it helped everybody. So awesome. So that fear was alleviated? Awesome.

Tracy Matthews

37:07

Would you recommend the program to someone who's listening?

Speaker 1

37:10

Definitely, I think it's probably better if you've already started a business a little bit. So you can kind of have an idea of where you might need help or understand a lot of the concepts. I can see that if you were brand new, like just thinking about starting a business, it might be not the right thing quite yet. But you know, early on in a business, I think it's I wish I'd had it earlier than right. But yeah, it really wherever you are, in the, in your journey of a business. I think it's helpful, because I did a lot last year with it. And I'm still, you know, this year doing a lot more with it. So Exactly.

Tracy Matthews

37:50

Awesome. Do you have any final advice to our listeners today?

Speaker 1

37:56

I guess a couple of things. One would be that it's never too late to start. You know, I started a little later in life on my business. And it's working great and given me some super exciting things to do in as a second career. And then also, as you're starting a business, I would just say, you know, always self reflect, you know, kind of know what you want and what you like and keep pursuing that and know where your gaps are. And don't be afraid to get help, you know, whether it's education or outsourcing for things that you're not good at. And then just a lot of focus, I didn't have a lot of focus, and that's something that I've improved on. And it's done wonders for me. So really, yeah, I think that's really what I would say. Awesome.

Tracy Matthews

38:47

Where can everyone find you?

Speaker 1

38:49

I'm on Instagram under Oka ULK rocks. And of course, you can always go to my website, Oak rocks.com. And there's a contact form there if you want to contact me and reach out. But Instagram is really fun, because the shopping trips are there. And that's where all the kind of excitement is

Tracy Matthews

39:07

awesome, Olga, thank you so much for being here today.

Unknown Speaker

39:10

All right. Thanks, Tracy. It's been fun.

Tracy Matthews

39:13

Thank you so much for listening to the show today. This is Tracy Matthews signing off. Until next time, I wanted to one more time invite you to the five mistakes that even smart jewelry business owners make that are killing their online sales. please head on over to flourish thrive academy.com forward slash five mistakes and sign up right there. And I'll see you next week or on the masterclass looking forward to it. Ciao for now.

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