Natalie’s story began when she dropped out of college. Feeling lost and searching for a purpose, she ordered a jewelry-making kit on Amazon and stamped words of encouragement on each piece as a reminder to herself to keep going.
Never believing she could pursue a creative career full time, Natalie eventually went back to college while also running an Etsy shop on the side. Although she loved her side hustle, leaving her day job as a school counselor to pursue jewelry-making felt like a major risk. Until the pandemic hit – and she realized her stable career wasn’t so stable after all.
When is the right time to take your side hustle full time?! Natalie’s story will give you the extra courage you may be needing!
WILDFLOWER SHOWNOTES : shannaskidmore.com/natalie-browning
📌 RESOURCES MENTIONED:
Teak & Twine Gift Boxes Podcast Episode
New Approach School for Jewelers
Jim Carrey Commencement Speech - Highlights only (a must watch!)
Natalie’s story began when she dropped out of college. Feeling lost and searching for a purpose, she ordered a jewelry-making kit on Amazon and stamped words of encouragement on each piece as a reminder to herself to keep going.
Never believing she could pursue a creative career full time, Natalie eventually went back to college while also running an Etsy shop on the side. Although she loved her side hustle, leaving her day job as a school counselor to pursue jewelry-making felt like a major risk. Until the pandemic hit – and she realized her stable career wasn’t so stable after all.
When is the right time to take your side hustle full time?! Natalie’s story will give you the extra courage you may be needing!
WILDFLOWER SHOWNOTES : shannaskidmore.com/natalie-browning
📌 RESOURCES MENTIONED:
Teak & Twine Gift Boxes Podcast Episode
New Approach School for Jewelers
Jim Carrey Commencement Speech - Highlights only (a must watch!)
Natalie (00:00):
I had a friend who was working those farmer's markets for me because at the time I wasn't doing permanent jewelry outdoors. I had to figure that whole situation out. She would work the farmer's market and I would go do permanent jewelry at a local boutique or something. I would pick up all of my things from her the day after. She cleaned everything up because I would still be working while she was there. And she called me, she was there on a Saturday. She called me on a Sunday morning and she said, Hey, I just realized I left everything at the park and she had left 90% of my inventory, things that I had made in the park. She packed up my tables, my tent and everything else was gone, and I basically had to start from scratch. And so I think that in that moment there were a lot of things that I definitely felt like rock bottom. At that point I was like, I don't even know what to do. I don't know where to start. And one of my best friends was there with me when all of this was going down and she can attest to the fact that I was mad for about an hour and then I just started working. So I was like, I don't want this to be over. This is not going to be what ends me.
Shanna (01:17):
You are listening to Consider the Wildflowers the podcast episode 78. Natalie's story began when she dropped out of college, feeling lost and searching for a purpose. She ordered a jewelry making kit on Amazon and stamped words of encouragement on each piece as a reminder to herself to keep going, never believing she could pursue a creative career full-time. Natalie eventually went back to college while also running an Etsy shop on the side. Although she loved her side hustle, leaving her day job as a school counselor to pursue jewelry making felt like a major risk until the pandemic hit. And she realized that her stable career wasn't so stable. After all, when is the right time to take your side hustle. Natalie's story will give you the extra courage you may be needing if you dig professional bios. Here goes. In 2017, Natalie Browning started making metal jewelry on the floor of her parents' garage.
(02:06):
What started as a creative outlet bloomed into a full-time business she never thought she'd have inspired by her beach town on the east coast, every piece of handcrafted jewelry of great value is intentionally created to remind people of their own one of a kind worth. Okay, formal introduction's over. Let's dive in. Hey, it's Shanna and this is Consider the Wildflowers, the podcast. For the past 15 plus years, I've had the honor to hear thousands of stories from entrepreneurs around the world. As a former Fortune 100 financial advisor turned business consultant, I have a unique opportunity to see the reel. Behind the highlight reel. I'm talking profit and loss statements, unpaid taxes, moments of burnout, and those of utter victory. Or as my husband says, the content everyone is wondering but not many are talking about. And now I'm bringing these private conversations to you. Hear the untold stories of how industry leaders, founders, and up and coming entrepreneurs got their start, the experiences that shaped them and the journey to building the brands they have today. Stories that will inspire and reignite encourage to redefine success and build a life and business on your own terms. Welcome Wildflower. I'm so glad you're here. Hi, Natalie. Welcome to the show.
Natalie (03:13):
Hi. Thank you for having me.
Shanna (03:15):
I'm so excited you're here. Okay. Do you go by Natalie? Nat? Tell me.
Natalie (03:19):
Great question. I usually go by Nat. People only call me Natalie if they're mad at me, so
Shanna (03:25):
Okay, we're going to go with Nat. Great. This is fun. I'm so excited to get to know you and be honestly introduced to your company. So will you just tell everybody who you are, what your company is, and then we'll just take it back to kind of life before starting the business you have now?
Natalie (03:43):
Yeah, absolutely. So my name is Nat Browning. I own a jewelry company, it's called of Great Value. I hand make everything. So every piece that you see on my website on my Instagram is all designed and made by me, so I get to play with fire a lot, I get to stamp metal. It's really fun. And the goal of the whole business is just to remind people that they are of great value. So it's jewelry with a purpose.
Shanna (04:11):
I love it. I love it so much. Okay, I have so many questions already about how you figured out how to do this, but tell us what were you doing before and what year you started your business.
Natalie (04:24):
Yeah, so I actually started my business while I was in college. I was a sophomore in college and I had actually just dropped out and had come home and I've always been a pretty artistic person. And so I really loved just anything I got to do with my hands. I kind of started off painting a lot more when I was younger. And then I had gotten a piece that was metal stamped from someone and I was like, that looks really fun. I think that I would like to try and just see what that looks like. Ended up getting a stamping kit off of Amazon and started on the floor of my parents' garage, just hammering coins. During this time I was in a pretty low place, I would say. I had finished my first semester of college and then had left school and then was kind of in just a lost place. I felt very depressed and anxious and I had never been a depressed and anxious person. And so I didn't really know what was going on and I needed purpose. And I started going to college online after that and had done that for about a year. And then finally was like, okay, what can I do? What's a hobby? What's something? And so had started making jewelry with words to encourage people stamped on them and realized as I went in hindsight's 2020, I really needed that for myself. I needed words to encourage myself.
Shanna (05:55):
Yeah, I love that. So I don't know if you want to share more about it, but with your college experience, was it just you didn't know what direction you wanted to go in? Was that what was causing that anxiousness or did you finally just once you started making the joy, no, this is what I'm meant to do, was it ever scary to go all in, leave school and be like, this is what I'm doing?
Natalie (06:23):
So actually I didn't leave school because of jewelry. I really just left because I didn't feel right, something was wrong and I couldn't quite put a finger on it. And looking back, I think it was just a lot of social anxiety. And also I think that I really do think it was the Lord and the plan that he had for me was to go away and to realize that I didn't have to go away to be successful. Yeah.
Shanna (06:51):
Oh, so you left home to go to school. Got it.
Natalie (06:53):
Yes. And then came back.
Shanna (06:56):
Okay. So tell me what year you started doing the jewelry just as a hobby, and then at what point were you, I think this could be a business.
Natalie (07:07):
Yeah, so it's pretty funny. There's a long time in between. So I started making jewelry in 2017 and just for fun. And then friends wanted pieces and so I would do things for friends. And then I had a little Etsy shop that I got set up, and for the next, I guess it's probably next four years, I just really had this Etsy going where I was doing little side orders. And when I was in school, I was working for multiple other places. I worked part-Time for Young Life, and I worked for which a Christian denominational ministry that works with high school kids. And then I also sewed wallets for a leather company. So I was doing a million different things all at once and upgrade value was totally just a side hustle. And then finally I really felt like I was being called to take it and I was not making full-time income yet. So that was the scary jump I would say in 2021.
Shanna (08:09):
Okay. So this is when we're recording this, that's been about three years. You went full time. Did you leave all of the other jobs that you were working and then just go all in?
Natalie (08:21):
Yeah, so at that point in 2021, I had slowly kind of left everything and I was working full-time at a high school working with kids who were in online classes and kind of just a glorified babysitter for them. Honestly. They just came to my room for study hall and I kind of helped them with time management and stuff like that. And I was actually in grad school as well. I decided the year before that I wanted to pursue a degree in school counseling so that I could work with students. And I got halfway through my degree a year into things and again, had that feeling of I'm not supposed to be here, this is not what I'm supposed to be doing. And truly was a flip from, I was so anxious about pursuing this creative career that I just never imagined that I could ever pursue a creative career full time. So I chose the school system. I chose something that I thought was stable, and as luck would have it, I was there through covid and everything. And so we realized how unstable everything is, and it was a total flip of all of a sudden, oh, this stable career that I thought was going to bring me peace is not bringing me peace and the thing, it's bringing me anxiety and the thing that's bringing me peace is the thought of going full-time with a creative career.
Shanna (09:47):
Yeah, isn't that amazing? There is a Jim Carey quote, I'm going to share it at the end of this episode because I love it so much just about his dad and how he could have been this great comedian, but he chose a safe career and then ended up later in life losing that job. And it's just such a powerful now. I love that you shared that because I think so many people listening probably feel the same way. I don't know what it is if it's cultural or we feel like art and creativity is somehow not, it's not stable, it's not what we're supposed to do. We're supposed to follow this path and go to school and get a job. And so I think you just shared probably something a lot of people have felt. Okay. I am curious though, how did you learn, and then I want to talk about pricing kind of the early days and all that stuff, but how did you learn your craft? I mean, you cut beautiful stones and set them enjoy. I mean, how did you learn? I looked at your website, I'm obsessed. I can't wait to order something, how to do all this.
Natalie (10:54):
Yeah, that's a great question. I think that, I don't even know how to answer that. It has been just trial and error again and again for the past, what, five years now? More than that, almost seven. But yeah, I started small. I started with stamping and taught myself that skill. And then from there, just if there was ever something that I wanted to learn how to make or know, I would just watch videos, I would read about it. I'm a pretty stubborn person, and so I just want to know how to do things, and so I will not stop until I do. And so it just was a matter of like, oh, I kind of want a ring that looks like this. Let's figure out how to make it. And as I made those pieces for myself, I would put them on my website and people would also love them and enjoy them. So
Shanna (11:43):
Okay, I love it. Okay, so in 2021 you are like, I'm going to go full time. Talk to me about how did you figure out your pricing and you have to order supplies, so you have these costs. How are you funding your materials? Just kind of talk me through, did you get a website, did you stay on Etsy? Just walk me through kind of that first year or so of going fulltime.
Natalie (12:15):
Yeah, so actually I had already started out with a website, which was great because I, in March of 2021 for, no, I think actually in March of 2020 for who knows what reason, I just felt like, oh, I want to be a little more official. I was still very part-time with it at that time, but had flipped into a normal website, which was great. By the time I went, I already had a website up and running, which felt more professional for me personally. I think Etsy's great too and could still be of benefit to my business, but at that point I wanted my brand to be more cohesive and be able to control everything. And so I had already had that. And it was actually funny, my husband and I got married in June of 2021, and I came to him approximately a month and a half later and said, Hey, are you okay if I quit everything and just do jewelry?
(13:08):
And he's in full-time ministry. So it was definitely a conversation, but the majority of what he said was, yes, finally you are miserable in the school system. So he was such a gift and such an encouragement to me in that. And thankfully I feel like with pricing at that point, because I had been doing it for such a long time, it had been a slow build. And so I had gradually increased my profit margins up into that point. But still, when I had started doing it, I was nowhere near what they needed to be to be sustainable as a full-time business. And I think that that's one of the hardest things is I wanted my pieces to be accessible to every kind of person, but I also wanted there to be opportunities for me to grow my business, to have some money that I could put back into it.
(14:00):
And so I battled with that feeling for a while until I finally kind of settled into, okay, we're just going to gradually increase this slow build to be able to make that work. And I think a big part of that for me was also when I started doing wholesale, because I really realized that a profit margin that is too low is not going to benefit me in wholesale and is also not going to benefit other people around me who are trying to do the same thing. When other jewelers see too low of prices on my things, that's going to make things way harder for them. I mean, in the same way that I feel about which the qualities are different, but Amazon, I mean, I battle Amazon prices all the time and I'm like, well, the quality's so that's a difference. But for me, I'm like, I'm doing the same quality. I want other people. I don't want to lower people's expectations for other people who are doing this as well.
Shanna (15:02):
Everything you just said, Nat is so powerful because I do see, I think we all have this desire to impact and to share our gifts, and so we've price it low, we want to make it accessible. And then over time you figure out you have to also make it sustainable. And sustainable means profitability. And so there's this always this battle of what is the sweet spot? And then I absolutely love what you said. I always make a joke, nobody but Walmart wants to be the low cost leader. I mean, that's not a good business model for most businesses, but realizing that when we price too low, that's setting an expectation for the market. So powerful. Did you see things start to take off really quickly? How are you doing your marketing and getting your customers? And then I know I just asked you a bunch of questions, but I also want to know, did you set a salary goal for yourself when you left? Were you like, I have to make this in the business, or I have to go back and get a job?
Natalie (16:13):
Yeah, that's a good question. I jumped in head first and didn't ever expect to have to go back, which I think was simultaneously maybe naive, but also I just was so confident that this is where the Lord wanted me. I finally felt right that I felt bold enough to jump into that. And I would say the only goal that I maybe set as a salary finger quotes included, was just to make more than I had made in my job at the school system, which was not necessarily a hard goal to beat, but it felt like, okay, this will be worth it. Or if I can make more than what I would have been making had I finished my degree and was being an active school counselor. And in my first year, I ended up doubling that. That's awesome. And it was again, a confirmation of, oh, this is exactly where I'm supposed to be and I'm listening to what the Lord has for me and I'm seeing my path align with what he wanted for me.
(17:19):
And I would say also a big part of that and a big part of the timing when I look back, I'm like, I could have gone full-time so many times, but didn't, why didn't I take this jump earlier? Where would I be if I had taken this jump earlier? But the timing of it was so perfect and so intentional because a year into my business I started was when permanent jewelry started really popping up. So it's where you have a micro welder and you have chains, and essentially people come and they pick out a chain and you do a little weld, and so it's just a classless bracelet that's on you forever. And so that started becoming really popular, and I added it into my business and it took my business way further and way bigger than I would've ever imagined. And I look at that now and I'm like, if I had gone back, if I had started way earlier, I would've struggled for years and maybe would've quit, maybe would've said, this is not enough. I can't live on this. This is not sustainable. But because of the timeline of when I started within that first year was when I started that permanent jewelry as well, and that's really what took my business to an even more profitable place.
Shanna (18:31):
Yeah. Do you feel like you just kind of got in early enough?
Natalie (18:36):
Yeah, definitely. Specifically in my area, I was the first one to bring it to Virginia Beach. And so I think because of that and because of just the tourists that come through our city, it just ended up working out really well for me.
Shanna (18:50):
Yeah. Okay. How are people finding you? Is it mostly online? I mean, do you have a permanent place people can come? Like you said, there's a lot of visitors to your town. Yeah. Are they seeking you out to do this permanent jewelry?
Natalie (19:03):
Yeah, so I try to do one to two popups a week with permanent. I'm slowing down a little bit right now. I'll talk about that a little bit later. But yeah, I'm, I try to make it very accessible, especially on the weekends for people, but I don't have a permanent spot. That's something that I have been pretty intentional about. I've been offered spaces, but I feel very strongly that permanent jewelry is just a facet of my business. And the true part of my business that I want to hone in on and continue to grow is my handmade jewelry collection. And so I've never really wanted to be like, oh yeah, I'm a permanent jeweler, but really I put it on my website, I share on Instagram, and I kind of go from there. And that's the only marketing, and somehow people find me, and I don't know if it was because I was first or what a lot of everything I do in business is just, Hey, let's see if this works.
Shanna (20:03):
Yeah. Yeah. Okay. I love it. Let me rewind a little bit and just kind of talk through just even the first three years, I mean just this full-time season, I would love to hear from you what you feel like has gone really well. And I know you talked a lot about the permanent jewelry, but is there anything else that sticks out that's like, this went really well in business, and then what were some maybe learning curves, some things that didn't go as well as you've grown your business?
Natalie (20:37):
So I think that when I think through what has gone really well, I guess two things that have been really important for me, one has been good photography, which sounds silly and sounds small, but I have a friend who is an amazing brand photographer. Her business is back shore co, if anybody is local and needs things photographed, but she is the most artistic photographer I've ever met and has created a brand, helped create my brand vision and bring it to life. And I feel like having these lifestyle photos, not just pictures of a piece of jewelry on a rock or something, she has created these lifestyle photos that make people understand the bitchiness of my brand. And you can wear this in the water. I have a friend who's surfing in photos with my jewelry on. That has been a huge plus. And I feel like people have realized, oh, I can live in this jewelry. I don't have to just wear it.
Shanna (21:40):
Yeah. Oh, I think that's so helpful. Being able to picture, I feel that way. I think about that a lot with interior design. I have to see it before I'm like, oh, okay. That makes sense. Okay. I love it. That sounds okay. Something went well. Is there anything that sticks out that you're like, man, I learned the hard way?
Natalie (21:59):
Oh yeah, for sure. So in 20, actually it was in 2023, we just came up on a year of it. I was growing really fast and had just a lot of, I was at a point where I couldn't keep up with the demand for popups. I had businesses asking me to come in and do permanent all the time, which was exciting, but was also just a lot. And so I had had a friend who started kind of working for me pretty unofficially, and she was running, I did a local farmers market a lot, which this is backtracking a little bit, but I think that that is my other biggest thing that I did well. I was consistent at this farmer's market that had both locals and tourists every week. And I got to build a name and a brand for myself locally while also simultaneously accidentally doing it kind of nationally with all of the tourists that were coming in and stuff.
(22:58):
And that grew not only my in-person sales, but my online sales because then I had customers that I locked in because they got to come and see my things in person. So just being consistent locally was just a huge plus. So I had a friend who was working those farmer's markets for me because at the time I wasn't doing permanent jewelry outdoors. I had to figure that whole situation out. So she would work the farmer's market and I would go do permanent jewelry at a local boutique or something, and I would pick up all of my things from her the day after she cleaned everything up because I would still be working while she was there. And she called me, she was there on a Saturday. She called me on a Sunday morning and she said, Hey, I just realized I left everything at the park.
Shanna (23:49):
Oh no.
Natalie (23:50):
And she had left 90% of my inventory, things that I had made in the park. She packed up my tables, my tent and everything else was gone. And I basically had to start from scratch. And so I think that in that moment there were a lot of things that I definitely felt like rock bottom at that point. I was like, I don't even know what to do. I don't know where to start. And one of my best friends was there with me when all of this was going down and she can attest to the fact that I was mad for about an hour and then I just started working. So I was like, I don't want this to be over. This is not going to be what ends me. And I would say I think that the biggest things that I learned from that were obviously when somebody is working for you, even if you love them and they're a friend, which I'm not in a place where I'm really willing to hire friends. I feel like there's a separation that needs to happen now, but no matter who is working for you, there needs to be a contract. There needs to be more official capacity of hiring, which I definitely learned the hard way.
Shanna (25:01):
That is heart wrenching. And I think hiring is one of those I think we all have to learn. I don't know, some things you have to learn the hard way. For
Natalie (25:11):
Sure, for sure. And I have an amazing employee now who works for me and she helps with production and she's amazing. I would say additionally to that lesson though, I think I just learned that I like to be in person with my customers, and I kind of started deciding I don't want to spread myself so thin that I can't be there. I loved being able to be there and talk to them. So I think that in a lot of ways it was a hard lesson learned, but at the same time, I got to realize what truly matters in my business is that I get to be there face-to-face with people telling them that they're of great value.
Shanna (25:51):
I love it. Okay, let's talk about the numbers a little bit. You ready?
Natalie (25:55):
Yeah. Maybe
Shanna (25:58):
You know me. I love to talk about business and I love hearing all the details. So my background though is in finance. I would love to hear just on the money side, the business side, what do you feel like has come naturally or easily for you? Is it the marketing? Is it like you said, relationship with your customer? And then what are the bigger struggles, things that you're like, this has not as a business owner, has not felt natural and has really pushed me outside of my comfort zone?
Natalie (26:32):
I would say that you hit the nail on the head with what I feel comfortable with. I love talking to customers. I love meeting people and getting to know them. I've loved seeking new opportunities and what kind of planning for, okay, well this is how many popups I need to do to make what I want to make, and kind of stuff like that. I would say that the hardest part for me has been, this is going to be silly, but just taxes. I feel like everything. I'm sure everybody feels that way. Everything is so confusing, and at any given moment of my life, I feel like I'm afraid that I'm committing tax fraud and I just don't know. It has always, I wish that, I wish there was just a packet that was like, this is what you do. If this happens and had every single scenario, I'm like, somebody out there needs to make something because they would make a million dollars because I constantly on my mind, I love the marketing side of things. I love branding. I've always loved the artistic parts, but the parts that get more heady and more numbers focus are always just hard for me.
Shanna (27:40):
Yeah. Okay. Now I literally am writing this down. I have so many tax resources. Please, I'm going to put 'em all back. Please. You know what, it's so interesting that you said that I have a really good friend who, she actually was a student of mine, and then she worked on the team for a little bit and she sent me a voice message just the other day and she was like, I was sitting around the table with some girlfriends, they have an entrepreneurial kind of group where they get together and she was like, everybody's just confused about taxes. I was like, well, tell me what specifically you are confused about. It was a really interesting, she was like, it's more so just people say to do this, send 10 90 nines or pay your estimated taxes, but we don't know why and we just want to know why. And so I'm literally writing this down tax resources because that is my biggest hope in my business other than just allowing people to have entrepreneurship is such a gift and it allows you to have a lifestyle. As a mom pregnant right now with my second, I'm just so grateful and just for the freedom and flexibility it gives. So that's clearly my mission, but to empower people and to make them feel less confused about money. So I'm so glad I'm literally writing this down, Shanna, make a resource.
Natalie (29:00):
It's so true. And I think too, on top of the why, just different avenues of why you should do this and not this too. Oh,
Shanna (29:11):
That's so good.
Natalie (29:12):
Because I think for me, my business structure for the first two years was an LLC, and then I am restructuring as the S corp this year, but I don't even know why my financial advisor told me to do that. And he definitely told me why, and I just don't remember. But things like that where I'm like, should I have started that at the beginning? What would that look like for me? And he's like, that would've saved you a lot of money, but it's okay. We're going to do it from here on out. And I'm just like, I even, there was nobody or no resources to tell me why or how. I think that is something that our world is really lacking.
Shanna (29:48):
Well now we're friends and we have so many great resources on the blog, but also I'm just so glad we connected because I love your work and my background's in finance, and I just feel like that's truly my hope is to make people feel like I know why I am doing this. It's great to be given, to have a trusted advisor that you can say, okay, I'll do that because you said to, but I want to know why. And I think that's so great. Okay. I love to ask this in every episode. What would you say is the best thing you have learned about money?
Natalie (30:23):
That's a really good question. I think mean when I consider my business money, I really consider more of our just family income between me and my husband. And I feel like within my business, the Lord has been so generous to us and has provided so much more than we need and that we could have asked or imagined. And so I think the most important thing that I have learned is just that it's just to be generous and to be able to gift and to give is way more fulfilling than a successful popup to me. And there's an excitement that comes towards the end of the year or monthly when I see monthly totals of like, okay, this is what I can give. And I think that that's been a gift I've had to learn, not to expect anything also of, I have no idea how much I'm going to make any given month, and that's hard and scary, but it's a new facet for me of trusting God and trusting literal provision and then honoring him using that provision to give generously. One of my favorite Bible verses, I have it that pops up on my phone every morning. It says two Corinthians nine 11. You will be enriched in every way to be generous in every way, which through us will produce thanksgiving to God. And that's just my prayer is that because God has enriched me in every way, that I would be generous in every way. And I feel like money is the most obvious way that I've gotten to do that.
Shanna (32:06):
And I feel like I always talk about this with my students. Time and money have such a correlation, and I feel like in business all we ever hear is time is money. But really, I say this all the time, my gifting is in finance. I mean, that's what I do, but I know that money is not a motivator. It's what money provides, the freedom of your time, the freedom to go help a friend if they need you. You can be generous in so many ways, including financially. And I love hearing that so much. Nat, I would love to have you share if you have seen your business shift in these last few years, any shifts when, I know you started your business officially after you got married, but any shifts that you've seen just as your life has changed? How have you been able to shift your business in order to accommodate life change?
Natalie (33:01):
Yeah, so I honestly think that the biggest shift for me has been more of a shift of just relaxation, which sounds really weird, but I think that before I've started my business, I was doing so many different things and I wasn't focused in on one thing. And now that I am, it has felt, I know this is not the story of a lot of entrepreneurs, but it has just felt so relieving for me. I felt so refreshed and renewed of being able, and I'm at a place right now and I feel like this is my gift of I can set my own schedule and be able to be there for my people to be there for those who need me. And my husband even said the other day, he was like, you know what? I think it's really neat because what you wanted to do is be a school counselor, but now you can sit and work and make jewelry and have someone come and I have a chair in my office and he jokes. It's like the counseling chair because very regularly on any given day, there's someone in there just sitting and I'm talking to them while I'm working. But we're getting to have deep, intentional conversation at the same time, and it's way more than I could have ever asked or imagined because I wanted to just do that in a school system setting. And now I get to do it from my home and get to make things with my hands, which is life giving to me too. So
Shanna (34:27):
I love it. Okay, last question before we go into a quick fire round. In a world that asks us to do everything really well, I would love for you to talk about harmony. How do you find harmony in your work and your life? And it sounds like you get to do life while you work, which I love. But I also kind of want to take a different twist on this, not because I would be interested how you find harmony with all your roles in the business because you're doing the marketing. It sounds like you're doing the sales, you maybe have somebody helping with packaging and shipping, but you're playing a lot of different roles in your business. So how do you find harmony between just your schedule and what you're doing every single day?
Natalie (35:13):
I think that I allow myself to fail. And I don't know if that completely answers the question, but that's the easiest way that I find harmony. I'm not, or maybe fail in the eyes of the world. I don't feel like I'm failing in everyday stuff, but sometimes I'm going to accidentally forget to post on Instagram and it's okay. It's not going to throw off my entire marketing strategy. And I feel like it's just been a learning process the entire time, and it still is, and I think it will be for the rest of my life. As we were saying earlier, whenever we decide to have kids and that shift happens, that's going to be another big shift where I'm going to have to pursue that harmony again, I think. But right now, I would say it's taken me the past two and a half years to get to a place where even my husband's like, okay, I don't feel like you're working all the time anymore, especially working from home.
(36:07):
I feel like there's a shift that you have to realize, okay, I'm not like, yes, my studio is upstairs and I can literally walk up there and make a necklace because I just got an order, but I'm not going to do that because right now is the time that I get to spend with my family. And so trying to be, I guess, yeah, the biggest things are allowing myself to maybe fail at a role in the eyes of the world, but still know that things are going to be okay and trust that things are going to be okay. And also allowing myself to compartmentalize those things and kind of scheduling time for each one of them and knowing that that's not going to look the same every week. It doesn't work for me when I'm doing every role to have the same exact thing happening every week and allow myself to live life to be with people. Like I said, sometimes somebody's going to come over and need to talk, and it's going to be during the hour I scheduled for social media, and so I'm not going to be able to do that, and that's okay because that person is more important to me than that
Shanna (37:13):
Post. Yeah. Do you feel like it's been easy or hard for you to find that harmony? Because I know so often early in our businesses we can kind of eat, sleep, breathe our business, especially like you said, when it's just upstairs, I could work all the time. Have you had to intentionally create those boundaries and lay your work down?
Natalie (37:39):
Oh yeah. So hard. I mean, I can't tell you the amount of discussions that my husband and I had as I was starting off of, Hey, you have to stop working. And I used to tell him too, I'm like, if we weren't married, I don't think I would ever stop. And so again, another place where I feel like the timing was just so intentional of it was two months after we got married, if I had started going and didn't have any responsibilities or people to really be with, I don't know if I ever would stop ever. And so I think I've also just realized I need rest. And so that has been a big thing that has made me recognize I create better when I'm not burnt out. And if I'm working constantly, I'm burnt out and I want to create quality beautiful things that people love, and in order to do that I have to rest.
Shanna (38:35):
I think it's so interesting because what a blessing to love your work so much that you would do it all the time. I think people listening can resonate with that. I love what, but isn't it just, it's so ironic though that we need hobbies outside of our work. We need family time outside of our work. That's what then gives us fuels creativity and makes us better at our job. So it's kind of this just funny catch of, I could have done this all the time, but yet, oh wait, that wasn't good for me to do all the time. Yeah, totally. Yeah. Thanks for sharing that. One last kind of off script question, your business is called of great value. You started it. It sounds like in a season where you needed to speak truth over yourself, do you find still the mission and the impact of what you're doing still speaks so much to your own heart?
Natalie (39:26):
Yeah, I think it does, but I think it's in a very different way. I think that before it was my own pieces that were speaking to my heart, and now I think it's my customers. It's every time somebody comes up and says, I wear this necklace every day and it reminds me of who I am. And I had someone do that to me at a Pop-up in November, and I'm like, I have just held onto it for the past two months. And those are the benchmarks now that get me from place to place of like, okay, I'm making a difference in people's hearts, even if it's just one person. Yeah.
Shanna (39:58):
Yeah. That's so beautiful, Nat, and I love that it's something that fulfills you while fulfilling others, and I think that's so beautiful. I read an article, this is years and years and years ago, when people don't have to work or financially they don't have to make money, oftentimes that can feel very, I feel like I lack purpose and we all need purpose and impact. And so it's so cool to see how something you started so long ago that you needed to speak to your own heart now impacts your customers, and that's what fuels you. I love it so much. This is so wonderful. And your jewelry is beautiful. I'm seriously picking out a piece to tell Kyle to get me after I have this baby. Let's do a quick fire round.
Natalie (40:42):
Yeah.
Shanna (40:43):
What is one thing you would be embarrassed if people knew?
Natalie (40:48):
That's a really good question. It's also a hard question to answer. I feel like, I don't know if I'm necessarily embarrassed about this, but I don't like when people come over when I'm doing it. So I feel like it's an embarrassing thing. The majority of the time I work in my pajamas, I very rarely get actual dressed.
Shanna (41:05):
What a perk of being an entrepreneur
Natalie (41:08):
For
Shanna (41:08):
Real. No, I love that. Okay. Second, any regrets or wish you could do over moments?
Natalie (41:15):
No, I think there are a lot of things that I probably should regret and should do over. I described one earlier in this podcast, but every single thing has served to just grow my business and to show my character.
Shanna (41:31):
So yeah, I love it. Okay. Big win or pinch me moments.
Natalie (41:38):
I did just recently do a big garage sale, so it was all of my samples, seconds, and it went so well. There were people who were lined up 20 minutes before the doors even opened, and it was just really fun. I got to see, I felt like it was like every customer I've ever had, which is an exaggeration, but everybody lined up and showed up to shop pieces that I deemed not worthy of selling that were still high quality, but just pieces that I was like, I just made this for fun. And people just loved them and loved the opportunity to shop at a discounted rate. And something that's really neat about that was it was like my best day of pop-up sales and my best day, I did it online as well, my best day of online sales. So it was like things that I thought would never sell helped me to get to this record set, record setting days two, record setting days. So it was really fun and cool.
Shanna (42:38):
I love that. I'm sad I missed this.
Natalie (42:43):
There's still a couple pieces up.
Shanna (42:46):
Best advice or just really good advice that you have received?
Natalie (42:53):
I have a really good friend who owns a pottery business locally, and she is just such a gift to me. She'll sit down with me anytime. I'm like, help, please. And she has just given me countless pieces of advice, I feel like, but specifically for the season that I'm in right now, of creating a team, she's been really helpful in just showing me like, Hey, just love your business and the people who are working with and around you will love your business too, and desire to see it thrive because of your passion to desire to see it thrive and bring people on who you can see that in. And I think that as an entrepreneur that's in, I like to call it my awkward middle phase where I'm like, I'm still really small, but I'm growing pretty fast and I am needing help. And I'm seeing that my current employee embodies that perfectly if she is so excited about my business, and it makes me even more excited too. So we kind of feed off of each other. But yeah,
Shanna (43:57):
I love it. There is a podcast episode. I'm going to have to send it to you with a past student of mine who started gift boxes, and it's such a good episode, and she talks so much about how she's built her team. She has over 130 I think employees now, and it's just such a good episode. I'll link it in the show notes and I'll send it to you now. But because the same building a team has always been super intimidating to me and seeing how other people have done that well, it can be such a blessing to you and to the people who work with you. So I
Natalie (44:31):
Love
Shanna (44:31):
It. Definitely. Good luck.
Natalie (44:34):
Thank you.
Shanna (44:34):
Okay, last quick fire question and then we'll send it off. What are you working on now or one resource that you would like to share?
Natalie (44:42):
I'm really excited about what's next. I am allowing myself, I usually do, I release different collections a couple of times a year with different stones, and I haven't decided what my next stone is yet, but that's because I'm about to go to school this Saturday. I'm actually going to a jewelry school called New Approach School for jewelers outside of Nashville. And I'm going to learn some bench techniques, which I do a lot of already, but hopefully learn more efficient ways to do them and a bunch of different stone setting techniques that I don't already know how to do. And so I am thrilled about what is next for of great value, and I can't wait to see where professional schooling takes me because up until this point, I've just taught myself everything.
Shanna (45:27):
Oh, I'm so excited. And I got on your website because some of my birthday's October, so my mom always got me opal, opal. I love Opal. And I saw that you had some, so I'm really excited to see what you come up with at this school. And I love that you're going to be in Tennessee. That's where I'm from and live. Oh, fun. Yeah, go to Nashville. Okay, let's send it off, Nat. Looking back, what would you tell yourself, and I think when you were leaving school doing jewelry, just as a hobby, what would you tell yourself, looking back now at that season of your life, what would you want to tell yourself?
Natalie (46:10):
I think that I would just say trust the timing, because I think that even looking back now, I could think, oh, my timing was off. What if I had started earlier? Where would I be? Kind of like I mentioned earlier, but every single piece of what has happened over the past two and a half years of full-time has been intentional. And I think also that every single piece of building and what happened in those years before I went full-time was intentional too. And so just to trust that there is a plan for the timing and the growth and everything under the sun and to just lean into it,
Shanna (46:51):
That is so beautiful and something that has also very hard for me. Trust. I'm such a control freak and trust has always been so hard for me, but to know that the timing, whatever it looks like is perfect. We can look back and be like, oh, if I had done this at this time, you know what I'm saying? And so I think that's really helpful. Nat, thank you so much for your time today and sharing your story. It's been such a joy to get to know you, and I'm excited to see what you have up your sleeve next after going to school and learning some more techniques. But thank you for sharing your story.
Natalie (47:30):
Thank you. Thank you so much for having me. This has been a blast.
Shanna (47:33):
Hey, wildflower, you just finished another episode of Consider The Wildflowers the podcast. Head over to consider the wildflowers podcast.com for show notes, resource links, and to learn how you can connect with Natalie. One final thought for today from Bob Goff, the more we fill our lives with purpose, the less time we'll spend looking for approval. As always, thank you for listening. I'll see you next time.