CV Hustle

Ep#22-Handcrafted Success: Building a Jewelry Empire from Passion

• Robert & Fina Meraz • Season 2 • Episode 22

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Adrienne Wiley shares the inspiring journey of how she transformed her creative side hustle into a thriving jewelry business with Covet Palm Springs. Originally from Chattanooga, Tennessee, Adrienne built an empire that went from selling handmade jewelry to coworkers during lunch breaks to supplying nearly 900 wholesale accounts and opening multiple retail locations.

• Starting as a creative outlet from her corporate insurance job where she coded enrollments
• Selling jewelry to coworkers from her cubicle before expanding to 150 stores through door-to-door sales
• Quitting her corporate job after saving money for six months while keeping a resignation letter on her desktop
• Growing to supply major retailers like JCrew, Anthropologie, and Madewell
• Becoming an "accidental retailer" when a New York Times feature led to customers lining up outside her studio
• Moving from San Francisco to Palm Springs during the pandemic after dealing with multiple break-ins
• Opening in the Flannery Exchange and expanding her business three times
• Offering interactive experiences like permanent jewelry, charm bars, and custom hat decorating
• Diversifying revenue streams as her number one piece of advice for entrepreneurs

Find Adrienne and Covet Palm Springs at 750 North Palm Canyon Drive inside the Flannery Exchange, across from Cafe La Jefa, or online at covetps.com and on social media @covetps.


Meet Adrienne Wiley of Covet Palm Springs

Speaker 1

What is going on? Everyone? I'm Robert Mraz and I'm Fina Mraz, and this is CV Hustle, the podcast dedicated to inspiring and informing entrepreneurship here in the Coachella Valley. And today we got a real special guest for all of you out there that love design and love jewelry, where this is the episode for you, because today we have the owner operator, the genius behind Covet Palm Springs, miss Adrienne Wiley. Thank you for joining us today.

Speaker 3

Thanks for having me.

Speaker 2

You're welcome.

Speaker 3

I'm excited to have you here.

Speaker 2

Absolutely so. As we do with everybody, I want to know how did it all become? Well, maybe we shouldn't get to that so quickly, right? Where did where did? Have you lived in Palm Springs your whole life? Are you native to our valley or what? No?

Speaker 3

I'm not native to the valley. I'm actually from Chattanooga, Tennessee.

Speaker 3

A lot of people haven't even heard of Chattanooga, but I think it got ranked as one of the best places to live, like during pandemic. It kind of like moved up on the list because of all the outdoor things to do. So anyway, yeah, so that's where I'm from and I met my husband in Atlanta and then he's from San Francisco. So a job offer moved us to San Francisco and so we were in San Francisco from 2006 until 2020. And then, august of 2020, we moved here to Palm Springs.

Speaker 2

Did you move here because of the pandemic?

Speaker 3

Yeah, well, sort of, because it gave us the freedom to be able to move.

Speaker 2

Yeah.

Speaker 3

And so, basically, we had a vacation home here and we couldn't rent. In the beginning of pandemic, you know, like they were like no rentals unless it was like essential workers or anything like that and so our place was just sitting empty. And then my husband was working remote and all the shops were forcibly closed that weren't essential in San Francisco, and so I was only operating online. So we were like, might as well go use our place in Palm Springs, why not go back again? So we came back for another month and we had always planned on retiring in Palm Springs, but it sort of became a reality way sooner. It was somewhere we always wanted to be, but we were like, wow, if we can pull this off, and like you're going to be remote, and yeah. So we went for it. Yeah, and so we moved to Palm Springs August of 2020. And then I ran my store in SF remotely for an additional year and then, in May of 2021, I opened the location in Palm Springs.

Speaker 1

So was it online before? Was it just an online store before? Was this your first physical location, or did you have one in the Bay Area as well?

Speaker 3

So actually I had three stores in the Bay Area across eight years, yeah. And then I previously had a couple of outposts here in Palm Springs through. It was called Raymond Lawrence I don't know if you guys remember, but it was like sort of like Mojave Flea concept before Mojave Flea came along. So it was a lot of like store in store, like little shops, and so I was in there for three or four years so I kind of had proof of concept that you know my products would do well in Palm Springs. So that sort of helped me when I decided to open the store.

Speaker 3

I was like. Well, I kind of dabbled in the area a little bit and when I was with Raymond Lawrence they were in Uptown and then they also had an outpost inside the Ritz Carlton in Rancho Mirage.

Speaker 2

Oh really, I didn't know that. I only go like drive the Ritz every so often and think, what does it look like inside? So, okay, I have a question for you. So how did you get started in jewelry, like, were you always very creative? Does it run? You know, I always think the creativity comes from. It's passed down from somebody.

Speaker 3

Yeah, right.

Speaker 2

And so because I love jewelry and I'm you know.

Speaker 3

I'm looking at a couple of things you've got going on.

Speaker 2

So how did that all come about?

Speaker 3

Yeah, so I guess it really no one in my family is like an artist or anything like that. My dad was very, very handy and I used to always go with him, you know, to the hardware store and he would do our cabinets and do the floors and, like, always watched him. So I always learned how to use my hands and enjoyed working with my hands. But I'm not good with that kind of stuff, like I'm a little clumsy, so I don't need to be around like jigsaws or you know, like.

Speaker 1

Like lose a thumb.

Speaker 3

Yeah, right, like nail guns? None of that, right? So I'm like how can I use my hands in a safe way, right? So I started being crafty at a young age and I always wanted to be in art classes and things like that, and my parents fostered that, which was really cool. So I hadn't really been in touch with my creative side in a while when I took a corporate job at a Fortune 500 insurance company. So I was sitting in the cubicle and I was coding this black and white screen. I still remember it was called Merlin, it was like the insurance screen, and so I was like I was like yeah, I was like coding enrollments, yeah, and it was so funny my coworkers gave me like a red swingline stapler for Christmas one year because it was like do you know the movie?

Speaker 3

Office Space. Yeah, so it was literally like that, my boss in his hawaiian shirts and like lean on the cubicle top like girl, michael, yeah it was definitely that, and so I was like I need some sort of creative outlet from this right.

Speaker 3

So there was a bead store down the street from my house and I became friends with the owner and I took all his classes and started making a ton of different jewelry. And then at a certain point I had so much jewelry I was like I'd given it to my friends, to the point that they were like, okay, thanks, we're good. And I still had all this jewelry, so I started selling it to my coworkers on my lunch break. So the upper part of the cubicle, like where it flips up, where you keep files, I had necklace busts in there. And then I had a co-worker who had a friend who was in graphic design. So she helped me with a website and, like, helped me do a little logo. So I had my little boxes and stuff in the bottom drawer and so I would kind of open up for business at lunch, at work, right?

Speaker 3

And so then one of my co-workers was like, well, why don't you sell this to stores? And I'm like I don't know, do you need a license for that? Like I had no clue how to get started.

Speaker 3

I started going out to stores on my lunch break and so, because there are a lot of shops in Atlanta like kind of near our building, so I just would go in and show them the jewelry and then they would purchase it, and I was like, okay, so this works. So I actually fast forward, got to 150 shops that I was carried in just going around on my own Door to door, like just walking in.

Speaker 1

That's impressive, so I would go all the way to.

Speaker 3

Athens. I had friends in North Carolina, I had friends in Nashville, so I would go stay for the weekend with them and then, like, while they were at work, I would just like go and, you know, sell to stores. Yeah, so I did that for as sort of like a part time thing, you know on the side for my main job, for about a year or so. And then someone finally was like, you know, there are trade shows, right, and I was like, oh, so that's how people do it. I was like because this, you know, going to sort of start like takes a really long time, this kind of sucks Right.

Speaker 3

I was like this is taking forever.

Speaker 3

So I did my first trade show and it was not great because I didn't know I was in the wrong area, because if you know trade shows, you know there's so many different sections. There's like handmade, there's kind of you know fast, you know mass produced products. So I was in the wrong area, surrounded by the wrong products. So I did it a second time and it went really well. So then I started being just like a wholesale company. I didn't have the store until like way down the road. So I was just doing all the trade shows and I got up to doing 17 a year. So I was doing five Atlanta, five New York, vegas and a couple of Dallas and so, yeah, so I had about 900 accounts that I was constantly like selling to, in addition to like JCrew, Anthropologie, madewell, some bigger accounts like that.

Speaker 2

So how does like, how do you?

Speaker 3

okay, so obviously you quit the insurance, yeah, so I did so I quit my job about after a year of kind of you know, doing it on the side when I felt confident, and so I saved all my money. And I remember, like going to the mall and I was like, do I want that shirt, do I want to wear it to my awful job? Is it really put it back?

Speaker 2

You know what I mean.

Speaker 3

It's like, if you don't, I'm like I can't buy anything, so I just like saved money for six months and then I remember I hated that job so much. So I remember like I had my resignation letter on my desktop and like update the date every day to make myself feel better, and like save it again and I had an empty box under my cubicle and people would be like, what's that box for?

Creative Beginnings in a Cubicle

Speaker 3

I'd be like, don't worry about it, and then one day you're like that's your, like, that's your go bag right, you're like turn that letter and I was so excited and I remember I was like either you guys will see me on the pages of in style or I'll be folding khakis at the gap. Either way, I'm out of here. Here's my hotmail account. And then I pulled out my little box and packed up my stuff and that was it wow, that is awesome.

Speaker 1

That's like a skit in like a saturday night live.

Speaker 2

Yeah they should have done that skit in the office.

Speaker 1

That's pretty, that's pretty good, that's pretty good. Yeah, you took. You're ready to go take your emergency kit. You know you're supposed to have. You just had it for work you know, exactly get out of there. That's awesome. I can have one of those okay, so what?

Speaker 2

okay, I'm like figuring out. So you said you had 150 stores. What does that mean? Does that mean like you sold once to a store?

Speaker 3

or like some were once, but most of them would become customers. You know repeat customers, so I would sell to them. I'm pretty much like maybe every couple months people place reorders.

Speaker 2

So are you the only one producing it, though?

Speaker 1

So you're a wholesaler at this price right. Yeah, you're just a wholesaler going into the big box stores and selling Exactly yeah.

Speaker 2

So I did that for a number of years before opening 150 stores. You got to start slanging some jewelry.

Speaker 3

For 150, it was just me that whole time. And then I opened the store and then got help. I actually didn't have help until gosh. Now I look back and that's like really insane, right. But I didn't have like full-time help until I opened the store and then opened an office and then had people in the office. But for a little bit before I opened the store, I actually was finding people that enjoyed making jewelry as a hobby but couldn't really make it into a business. So they would make the jewelry for me.

Speaker 2

So I would sort of have the components ready for them, they would pick up for me, they would bring it back, I would quality check everything and then it would go out wow yeah, so I kind of operated like that for a while, see, and I think, like jewelry making, you have to have patience, which I don't have, and then you have to, you know, because it's so tedious, right? It's just like, oh, my god, it's like I have so many ideas. Can I give you my ideas?

Speaker 2

and you make them for me and I've got some really great ideas about jewelry and what I'd love to see and stuff. But man, to sit there, I'd be like forget it, I can't do it. My ADHD doesn't let me sit there for, like you know, hours or just to do it.

Speaker 3

Yeah, I'm like, okay, I'm bored. I find it really relaxing, but but it's like I mean, of course I'm sure you know the bigger your business gets like, the less time you actually have to spend. So it's kind of a treat now if I get to spend a day, just like you know experimenting with all new stuff you know and like yeah.

Speaker 2

Yeah home, sweet home, yeah right.

Speaker 1

Takes you back right to the good old days Exactly Just you and 150 accounts, doing them by hand right.

Speaker 2

So like did you start with earrings?

Speaker 3

or anything in particular that was like your staple. I started out with earrings and necklaces and I used to be super vintage inspired in the beginning, like using dead stock, vintage stampings and stuff like that. Um, and then over time I kind of evolved into daintier stuff and now I feel like we're dainty but it still has like a nod to vintage, a little bit like some of the shapes and stuff, but it's more contemporary.

Speaker 2

So when you work with vintage because every time I think of vintage I have a girlfriend who she buys vintage and it's pricey, yeah Right. So I'm assuming that if you're doing like vintage jewelry, it's probably is it pricey, Like what's it?

Speaker 3

Yeah, Well, I was using vintage either just the components and to create vintage inspired pieces, so I wasn't actually using vintage components that much If we did. It was like vintage glass beads or different things like that. They were kind of more affordable. Individual pieces, Sure yeah.

Speaker 2

And then are you the one coming up with all the designs, or yeah?

Speaker 3

I come up with all the designs. So I'm basically inspired like mostly by my travels, yeah, and so I see like cool designs, like you know, maybe in like a mosque in dubai, or like you know when some fun r&d or something.

Speaker 1

Yeah, you have to travel and that's like your r&d just going. Do you go to like local markets and just see what?

Speaker 3

yeah, the locals are wearing and be inspired that way yeah, a lot of times, like it's, architecture inspires me a lot because I love all the shapes you know, um, but also, yeah, the fashion as well. And then I also bring in brands into the store from when I'm traveling, so I'll find cool brands like in japan or london or mexico city and like bring those independent makers like into the store.

Speaker 2

Nice. That's a good excuse to travel. That's a nice like yeah little.

Speaker 1

That's a great little write-off for the business. Let's talk about write-offs.

Speaker 2

R&D.

Speaker 1

So you said you were a wholesaler for 150, like basically around where you were right, Big box stores. When did the store kind of become on your radar or something that? You kind of figured hey, we can expand this a little bit yeah it's funny.

Speaker 3

Like for years I didn't want a store because I knew so many store owners and they all felt like trapped in their stores. Do you know what I mean? So they would be so excited when I came to drop off stuff, especially if it's been like a quiet day or something. They'd be like oh God, like I've been here all day, like hey, it's so good to see another person you know. And I remember leaving those stores and being like gosh, that seems like crappy, like I get to walk out of there and like have my day, and like they're just stuck in the store, and so I'm like it's really funny that I'm like ended up doing that. So I jokingly say I was an accidental retailer. So because I honestly just that wasn't what I wanted, so I opened a studio in San Francisco. So we left Atlanta in 2006 and then moved to San Francisco and so I just worked from home for a couple of years, but then I wanted a studio space, right. So I ended up finding a studio in the Mission District of San Francisco.

Speaker 1

We know that yeah.

Speaker 2

It's kind of like an artsy area, right.

From Side Hustle to Quitting Day Job

Speaker 3

And so I found a studio there and it was a new converted studio space and they kind of sold me on like oh, we have open studios, you know, once a week and people can come shop and look around your space and I'm like great, that's perfect, because at least if I can sell enough jewelry to kind of break even for the rent payment, then I'm not paying for having a studio, right, it's just so. That was a big sort of selling point for me for renting that space. And then I moved in and the open studios like never happened, or if they did, they weren't well promoted or whatever. So I started looking for a different space with sort of street visibility, right yeah, because this one was like inside of a building. So I found a space and it was like a little space. Probably. I think it was like 400 square feet or something.

Speaker 2

That's all you really need, right, yeah so it was.

Speaker 3

Half of that was downstairs. You walked up six stairs and then the rest of it was up top, and so my thing was I could have my desk and everything up top and then sell stuff down at the bottom so it's perfect yeah, exactly. And then you know you could look right over the little rail and see who comes in and be like hi and help people and I could work upstairs and have a mess and not have to worry about keeping that tidy.

Speaker 2

Oh, that's so great.

Speaker 3

So it was perfect, right. So I worked like that for probably about I opened it in 2009. And for the first three months it was just me and my stuff and making stuff and and people would come in and it was working. Right, it was good, it was working and I was like this is a great idea. So then I got contacted by the Chronicle and I got ended up being they wanted to highlight me and so I thought it would be like a little blurb somewhere in there. I was like, okay, this is great.

Speaker 2

This is fine so.

Speaker 3

I ended up being, and so honored, but maybe like a week later or something, I came to the store and I remember I parked and you know San Francisco parking is horrible, so I was like walking from really far away.

Speaker 2

Three miles down the road.

Speaker 3

So it was like a block and a half around the corner and I was like what are all these people waiting for? Like huh, I was like, did the bakery like drop a new flavor? Because I had a bakery next door. And then that was the time when Pokemon was really huge.

Speaker 1

Oh. You were like are they trying to find a Pokemon? I was like are they trying to?

Speaker 3

find Pokemon, because that was the thing.

Speaker 2

You know, people would be clustered up. We know, we've spent a lot of money on that, and so I was like what is going on?

Speaker 3

So I ran around the corner and they were waiting for my store and we're like yeah, it was so exciting yeah To this day.

Speaker 1

I was like wow that's exciting and terrifying at the same time.

Speaker 3

Yeah, and so it was. And so that kind of set me on the retailer trajectory, because after that people knew about the location, so they were coming every day and I was like, oh, so I need hours now because I was just there when I was there. Do you know what I mean?

Speaker 3

Like it was just I had no hours on the door I was like if I'm there, I'm going to open this door, if I'm not, I'm going to close it. It was a studio, right, so it wasn't a retail store, so I could be there when I wanted to be. So then people were like, oh, what are? Guess I'll be here tomorrow opening this door up. So yeah, so I ended up having to hire an employee, right, because I couldn't make all, make the jewelry and run the other part of the wholesale business and be in the store.

Speaker 3

So for a while she would sit downstairs and it was so funny because it was a 200 square feet and she'd be like at a little teeny desk down there and then I'd be upstairs. And so I was like this is just weird. And then people kept coming up the stairs trying to see what I was doing, which I'm excited that they were excited. But it's like I'm trying to get stuff done and people are picking things up like can I buy this? Can I put this on necklace? I'm like, no, that's my wholesale order, leave it alone.

Speaker 2

You should be like this is limited edition up here.

Speaker 3

Exactly right. So I ended up getting an office space down the street and so I moved my operations into there, and that's when I could hire a production manager and like all that stuff, and then I just made that into a store.

Speaker 2

Perfect, so she was. So she had 400 square feet.

Speaker 3

Exactly, she could go up and down.

Speaker 1

Wow, so, but that article really changed the trajectory of your business, right? I mean it speaks to the power of media right. I don't know if it was before social media time, but probably like on the cusp.

Speaker 2

I'm not dating myself, but yeah, it was kind of on the cusp. It's not date, no, it's not. Let's not talk about date. But let me ask you this so do you think it was somebody that came in and bought a piece of jewelry and was like, oh my God, like how did that? How?

Speaker 3

You never asked no, she said that. Well, the woman who interviewed me said that someone else had shopped and told her about it.

Speaker 1

But I don't know who that person was oh, okay. That's freaking awesome. Secret shopper, huh. So it was really really cool. So it was very organic. Then it wasn't like you paid for them to come feature your business. That's pretty awesome. Yeah, that speaks to your talent, though, right? Oh, speaks to your to your talent, though, right. I mean, that's crazy. I'd be terrified if somebody's lined up down my office. I'd be like I'd be turning around going home.

Speaker 1

I'm like I ain't going in there that looks like trouble right there, you know exactly, but that's awesome, so it was a hundred percent.

Speaker 3

I was an accidental retailer, so yeah. So then I had a store and to me, honey, sometimes. Sometimes you just get pushed in that certain direction and you're like all right fine, and so then a couple years pass, and then I opened another store in um the union street area oh, union square not union square, like union street, like the marina district oh, yeah, yeah, okay, okay and then I opened one in the inner, inner sunset area, like on seventh and irving.

Speaker 1

It's sort of like are you running three stores at the same time at this point?

Speaker 3

yeah, oh my gosh, a logistical nightmare, huh yeah, and then I opened the two outposts here like. So I didn't have to run the day-to-day operations of those but, like you know, still had to make sure the inventory was up to date and linking all that stuff. So yeah, I was kind of running five things at once and then three stores, two outposts and still doing 17 trade shows.

Speaker 1

Wow, wow.

Speaker 3

So that's a lot, yeah, and then no one in SF has cars. Like a lot of people don't drive, so none of my employees drove.

Speaker 1

So if something, happened.

Speaker 3

Right, it's like, oh, we're out of toilet paper. I would be like, okay, I had three vans in the back of my car and so everything there was like a u for union, s for sensei, I for um, for a for arguello, and so I had like everything binned out. For what need to go to what store?

Speaker 3

like they're out of tags they're out of toilet paper, we need shopping bags, they need printing paper. You know what I mean. So it was, I was just riding around like dropping stuff off and I was like, okay, so I'm a courier.

Speaker 1

Yeah, you became a delivery driver during that time, huh.

Speaker 2

Okay. So then this comes Okay. First of all, I have a question. I want to jump back to Do you dream about your designs? Because, like, I can be, like, okay, somebody wants to do something, and I'm like, and before you know it, I wake up and I'm like, oh, that's what I'm going to do.

Speaker 3

sometimes, so anyway, I just thought, maybe that happens to you, how you come up with designs. No, not really.

Speaker 2

I would say, honestly, I don't dream that much. I'm like. I don't know if I'm like, you're like, I'm dead asleep.

Speaker 3

Yeah, I was like I don't know if I'm like I'm dead asleep. Yeah, I was like I don't know if I'm too tired to dream. Good ideas don't come to me in my dreams, I'm too tired to dream. Yeah, some people say they keep their notebook and it's like, oh, I had this great idea For me. That happens when I'm traveling, because I think it's like I'm on a break and I have enough mental space to sort sort of, let the new ideas come in. Yeah, it's true.

Becoming an "Accidental Retailer"

Speaker 2

No, and it is travel. You go somewhere and you're just like you know. Yeah, everything to me I can make into a tile. You know what I mean. It's like so prints, you name it, yeah Right.

Speaker 3

Like I'm looking at things like and taking more time and discovering new stuff. So that's when I have my best ideas and also also problem solve a lot on vacation. Because it's like you're so in the trenches, like trying to do your day-to-day stuff, and then you like right, and then when you don't have all that stuff on you for a minute, it's like, oh wait, that's a perfect solution for that, you know.

Speaker 1

So yeah, so you take your travel time very seriously yeah, right, you get a lot done.

Speaker 1

I mean you do. It sounds like you're creating new lines and all that and then problem solving. But so back to san francisco. When did so? You were kind of already explained how you kind of ended up down here. Um, how, how, what was the inflection point where you're like, okay, maybe, maybe all these stores are not really what I want to do, and with with the business, and because you, those businesses, those other stores still around the three no.

Speaker 3

So basically the union street store I ended up closing because it all sort of like organically, they organically opened, they organically closed, um, but union street became sort of a workout street, so soul cycle opened over there and it with it. It brought all of the other workout related things. So the street just totally became like it took over all the independent retailers. It over all the independent retailers it was all the different.

Speaker 3

You know, like then lemon came and then the other, you know, atlita, like all the different brands showed up, yeah, and so that sort of became the focus of the street. So you're like yeah, and so people didn't find it as much of like. The tourists aren't coming because they can see those things at home, you know. And then the locals.

Speaker 3

Unless you're working out, then you're working out and you're getting all sweaty, and you at home, you know, and then the locals unless you're working out, then you're working out and you're getting all sweaty and then you're going home.

Speaker 2

You know, what I mean.

Speaker 3

So it's just you're just kind of running an errand over there. So it became less of like a meandering, kind of like fun shopping street, and that was a valuable lesson in learning when it's time to go. I was the last person, like for probably about a year people would walk into my store and be like, oh my God, this is so cute, where are there more stores like this? And it got harder and harder, to the point where I was sending them to another neighborhood, which was Fillmore, which was up the way, and I didn't have any other place to send them on Union. Really, like all my friends and neighbors that had independent cool shops were gone.

Speaker 3

And so definitely no one to go. No one to fold them. Yeah, no one to fold them. So I was probably about I was a year too late. I could have. I could have let that go a year sooner in hindsight, yeah yeah, you always want to be a year early than right exactly, yeah yeah, and you know what?

Speaker 2

I don't think there's anything wrong with saying all right, this one, you know outlive. It lived its life and and now it's time to move on. I don't think there's anything wrong with saying all right, this one, you know, it lived its life and now it's time to move on. I don't think there's anything wrong with that at all.

Speaker 3

Yeah, I mean, sometimes it's like that's it's being a smart business person, Right.

Speaker 3

It's like you're taking time and energy and revenue, like it was taking revenue from the stores that were working and I could have been using it to grow those stores and do better things for them, and I was using it to keep this one afloat. You know what I mean. So that was a valuable lesson, yeah. And then the sunset store. Um, the owner. She was like I think she was like 90 when I moved in and then her son took over and it happened a lot in San Francisco, Like when kids it's always.

Speaker 1

they always ruin the business.

Speaker 3

Yeah, they're like no we're going to quadruple this rent, you know what I mean Cause like they're, like I'm going to live off this rent. Yeah, yeah, so yeah.

Speaker 1

So that was another sign. That's what happened with that one, yeah.

Speaker 3

When your.

Speaker 2

Your rent keeps going up. It's time to go. And I that's how they pushed his dad out of his His dentist office.

Speaker 1

His dad had a dentistry business for like forever 30 years, 30 years, and they came in and tripled the rent one day. That's what happens, yeah.

Speaker 3

They actually started putting a tax on vacancies in San Francisco because of that, Because people were jacking up the rents to crazy amounts and then just letting them sit vacant. Like across the street from me and up a little bit there was a vacant space. It was a woman had been in business with a dress shop for 30 years. They 6X'd her rent, kicked her out. It sat vacant for three years, until a major fragrance brand moved in like a chain and paid that rent. Oh my God.

Speaker 1

That's crazy, but it's like.

Speaker 3

Meanwhile, it's like you're sort of stifling small business, because no one can afford anything.

Speaker 2

You know to move in.

Speaker 3

So that's why they put those taxes on it.

Speaker 1

If people let it sit too long now, yeah, yeah Well, San Francisco is pretty known for their rent control initiatives and stuff like that yeah, exactly, yeah, that's crazy. That was your other sign, like okay, Exactly. Time to go to where the profit is right.

Speaker 3

So when pandemic hit I just had the store on Arguello and that was the original store and so again everything was forcibly closed, right. So we moved here and then I reopened that store and was running it remotely. But there was just so much crime Because a lot of San Francisco took a while to kind of reopen, you know longer than other places, and so like the buildings were still boarded up because break-ins were happening. So it was like my whole street kind of had particle board over the windows and stuff.

Speaker 3

The restaurants didn't want to expose their glass because they were doing smashing grabs people were leaving their like um windows down in their teslas and like other cars, like saying, like you know, please don't rob me, it's like nothing's in here, leaving their glove boxes open, wow what yeah? City put signs up saying like don't leave anything exposed in your car, because the tourists were the ones mainly getting hit. Right you leave a jacket in the back. Someone will break in for that in two seconds oh wow, that's and so.

Speaker 3

So that was. It was a problem before, but it got way worse with pandemic. So we had six break-in attempts and three break-ins over a two-year period six break-in attempts in two years. Yep, same location, yep wow it was the argoello location, the one that I still had, and it's like sometimes we would come in and the we would see little metal coils on the ground where they had tried to drill the lock oh my gosh or like they had tried to etch into the glass enough to like be able to pop it, yeah.

Speaker 3

And then one guy broke in with a motorcycle helmet on and a briefcase and like crawled in and then like took jewelry and it's like my jewelry's 14 karat gold filled, so it's what they call demi-precious, but it's not.

Speaker 2

It doesn't have like a street value, like yeah, it's not like you can go cash it in for gold right and these criminals didn't didn't know the difference, apparently those numb, oh my God.

Speaker 3

So crime and crime and they were taking vegan leather purses. I'm like that has no street value.

Speaker 2

It was the insurance payment was the biggest thing.

Speaker 3

It's like for the door and the glass is expensive and yeah, oh my gosh.

Speaker 2

So when you were saying you were wholesaling, so okay. So that, aguilo, am I saying that right? I don't know.

Speaker 3

Yeah, it's called our guillo, Our guillo. But yeah, so that was sort of a lot of my decision to finally close that down because it wasn't, it didn't rebound, People weren't out and about like they were in that neighborhood before. And then also the break-ins and stuff. I started being worried about the safety of my girls too, because some of my neighbors had had people come in, you know, and, like you know, yell at the employees and just grab stuff while they were open and run.

Speaker 1

Oh my gosh.

Speaker 3

It's a wild west man.

Speaker 2

Yeah it wasn't worth it anymore. Yeah, it just didn't feel good A wild west.

Speaker 3

Meanwhile I'd opened the store here in Palm Springs and it was like every day was amazing.

Speaker 2

I was like you know.

Speaker 3

Sun was shining, the birds were singing yeah, because sometimes you know like the whole, like really bad weather and the girls would be like the door keeps blowing open and whatever, and I'm all like it's so sunny.

Speaker 1

No rain down here, no rain in the desert.

Speaker 3

And then everyone in SF like we come into the store and you know people already fought for the parking and you know like the bakery line next door is long and so they always had a reason to kind of be like upset, right, yeah. So we'd be like hi, welcome. They'd be like I'm just looking, okay, and meanwhile here everyone either they're here because they want to be right, or you feel lucky that you live here, you're on vacation here and you feel lucky about that. So people have like the best attitude, so everyone's like happy.

Speaker 2

Palm Springs has a great vibe. I mean, no matter which way you slice it, I mean it really does. Just walking downtown, and the other day we went out for my brother's birthday and I was like I'm going to go over there and buy him a present at a small business. You know what I mean and I just I love that. And then, of course, I picked myself up a couple of things. You know we were heading to Belize so I needed some. You know I needed some clothes. But I mean, that's what I love about Palm Springs are all the tiny little shops, you know. Yeah, so okay. So how did you end up? So you ended up here. Well, first of all, I can't even believe you came in August and then you said you liked it. So number one I'm-. No, it was rough.

Speaker 1

Yeah, especially in the Bay Area it was really rough.

San Francisco to Palm Springs Transition

Speaker 2

I was going to say I hate when people go. I love the heat. That's what I'm like. What's wrong with you? I'm like let's switch places. You know I'll come to your place when it's hot as hell down here, but anyway. So you came and you were here. And then how did you meet up with Flannery? You were inside of.

Speaker 1

Flannery Exchange correct.

Speaker 2

Okay, how did that all so?

Speaker 3

I didn't have any interest in opening another store. I had the San Francisco one. I wasn't sure what I was going to do with it at that point. I didn't know you know how it was going to be post-pandemic. But a friend of mine had told me that the Flannery was turning. It was going to be a co-working space at first. Right yeah. And then they pivoted and put retail in there and she was like, oh my gosh, you have to see this space. And I was like, well, I don't know, I don't think I really want to do a store anymore. I had signed up to get my real estate license. Oh, I was like I guess.

Speaker 3

I'm just going to do something different, yeah, and so then I went to see, I remember Mike, the owner was walking me through and telling me about it, and it was at the very beginning. So it had no walls, no, nothing. The coffee shop wasn't open, I think like, if you know it, the pink X in the front, I think that was there, but everything else had been delivered, but was just kind of all sitting around, you know. And so he was explaining it to me, like this is going to be like this and this wall is going to be here and this can be your space. And I don't know, I guess it was maybe just because the timing of it all, because it was still pandemic, you know, we were coming out of it, but not yet. And I was like I don't know, like I just couldn't see the vision yet, right, so he offered me the space and I was like no, I think I'm going to pass, you know, but thank you so much, you know. And so then I want to say that was November of 2020. Yeah, that was November.

Speaker 3

And then February came and they opened right, february 2021. And they opened. And I remember I was driving down the street and I was like what I was like, oh my God, that's that space. So I pulled in, I went in and I was instantly my heart sank. I was like damn, this is so cute. I was like I missed out. And then I was looking at the coffee shop. I was like this is 1,000% my vibe for the store, you know what I mean it was like it would have been a really good thing.

Speaker 3

And so I was about to walk out and then I saw Erica, the wife of Mike Bauer, and so I said, hey, you know, I met Mike and I think I'd met her really briefly, like she was at the building too, and I was like I met you a few, you know, a few months ago. I said, if anything changes? I know that Mike has booked every, you know, everything is rented out. But I was like, if anything changes, let me know. And she was like, okay, cool, I was like because I made a mistake. This is super cute.

Speaker 2

And he called me. Something had changed and a spot had opened up.

Speaker 3

Oh my gosh, talk about I'm glad you went in there, right, yeah, right yeah, because there was originally going to be a salon taking up two of the spaces and so they, something had happened like it couldn't I think the water or something, it just couldn't be done, you know. And so, um, anyway, the spots were open and he asked me did I want one or both of them? And I started small, you know, I was like, oh, I want to start small, so I took one.

Speaker 3

And then a really good friend of mine that owns a stationery shop she at the time she was only online moved to town around the same time I did, and so we met for coffee and I was like, hey, I'm going to move into the space, Like it's really cool.

Speaker 2

And she was like I don't want to do retail again.

Speaker 3

I don't want to, and I was like, I know, but let me just show it to you. And then she saw it and she's like, yep, all right, so I'm gonna have a store. So we both got sucked in. So, yeah, that's one of my really good friends, so she's my neighbor now and yeah, and now since then one of her really good friends has moved in with a dog store. And then, um, yeah, there's a cute plant store. So it's just been like growing and growing and growing.

Speaker 2

It's really cool okay, so I think I told you. So I went to go see the exchange but they were like major construction, like there was nothing, and so I remember mike had taken us upstairs because they had that big, huge room right that goes on the rooftop, and so he was telling me what it was going to be and all of this. And at the time we had our, we had our showroom in Palm Springs, on Palm Canyon, and we weren't sure what we're going to do with it, because I rented that store in March when the weather was beautiful, and then summertime came and we didn't realize we didn't have AC, so we were like it's not really feasible.

Speaker 1

You can't really do that, no, so we were like it's not really feasible.

Speaker 2

You can't really do that in the desert. No, no, no retail, okay, anyway. So we were like, okay, we're gonna get out of our lease because it we're, at least it's over anyway. And so we were looking for a space. However, these spaces were too small. Yeah, they were like three or four hundred square feet, and I was like I, I just can't, that's too small like I I wasn't even sure how to really really manage a place that's kind of tiny.

Speaker 2

I could see a jewelry shop, perfect. Yeah, we can put a lot of stuff in there, yeah, yeah, exactly. So I ended up not taking a space and we ended up getting something on TalkWits. So I'm on TalkWits in Indian and so it's like 1,000 square feet, but anyway, so that's how that all came about.

Speaker 3

Yeah, that's so funny.

Speaker 2

Yeah, but it's such a cute, cute place and I love she named it La Jefa. Yeah, she don't play.

Speaker 1

Right up your alley.

Speaker 3

It's a perfect space and I love it. I actually jokingly call it like my retail retirement, because, like San Francisco is so much different having a business Like I would go early to like San Francisco is so much different having a business Like I would go early to like you know, clean graffiti off the window or like pick crap out of my planter or you know whatever, and now it's like it's just nice and easy and like everything stays organized and yeah.

Speaker 2

There you go and I have great neighbors.

Speaker 3

Oh, that's the best, and like it's like a fun little community?

Speaker 2

and yeah, so how many stores are in there, would you say?

Speaker 3

Let's see Like 10 or so Five, five yeah so it's the dog people and the stationery, yeah, so there's Bean Goods, there's Bobo, there's Los Angeles, there's Savage Art Gallery and there's me.

Speaker 2

Yeah, very cool, and I know they were making that cute little patio area right.

Speaker 3

Yeah, and that's only gotten cuter and cuter. Like it's funny. I look back on it and I remember always thinking that it was a great, like really cute space. And now I'm like, oh, they've made it even cuter. Like yes, and now there's like tiki torches and all the greenery outside and like the cute little pickup window and the airstreams out there.

Speaker 2

Yeah, that's what I thought there was in Airstream, right, and they're making drinks out of it, right, yeah, something.

Speaker 3

Yeah, they did have a bar in there. I think they're going to do something else with it soon. But yeah, and then it sort of went through a few changes inside. So we started out. I was really teeny, like maybe 150 square feet. It was super small, like when you saw it. And then we expanded like by 50%, and then we expand by 50% again because there used to be desks behind the stores because they were still sort of figuring out if the co-working would work right but then they decided to just expand all the way and make it for retail.

Speaker 3

So, yeah, so over the three years, what would be four years in May, but I've done two expansions wow, that means that means the space is doing what it's supposed to do, right, driving traffic right.

Speaker 1

Yeah, um, you kind of mentioned you have your online presence. You're kind of like your business was kind of built for online, wasn't it? I mean, you're the jewelry and people can kind of follow you via social media. Is. Is that something in the future? Do you see that that kind of being a big part of your business? Is it a big part of your business right now?

Speaker 3

I don't know. I will be 100% honest. I suck at online.

Speaker 2

But you were doing it right for a while, so it didn't just become no, I had the website, but it was never. Well, I was going to tell you to help me set up mine.

Speaker 3

No, no no, I mean full you to help me, no, no, no, I mean full disclosure. I can make a good looking website like you'll go to it and it looks good, it looks like it might be successful visually, because I love visuals. So I love like merchandising a great space, like creating sort of an environment for people to you know, like love.

Speaker 3

That's my favorite thing right that's what I love about the trade shows, like setting up the boots and like I love that stuff. So the part I love about online is making it look good, right. So I love having great photos and making engaging content and all that stuff. But I know nothing about seo, like you know.

Speaker 3

Funnels like driving traffic and for jewelry, it is so, so, so competitive I would bet like, even though you know, even if you kind of dial down into your niche of the type of jewelry, it's just insanely competitive, like the keywords, like purchasing ads, like all this stuff for jewelry is just astronomical and really competitive and I do not know what I'm doing oh okay, but don't you like, don't you like go?

Speaker 3

okay, I'm gonna hire somebody out because I need that, but I'm I've tried and I actually had a local brand that did IHANA space Shout out to them. They did a good job. So they actually used to do the marketing and stuff for the flannery and so I saw that they did a really good job with that. So it was great. I didn't have to like vet them, I already kind of knew them and so they helped me with the SEOo and so now we rank like number one, I think, for if you google like permanent jewelry, palm springs and so like. So we're ranking wise. We do good for visibility, but it's still just like something's up with, like the whole cart flow or something you know.

Speaker 3

I mean like I know it needs to be tweaked right yeah, but it's so hard, like it's just taking finding the time because that's an entire other job that's a totally different entity.

Speaker 2

I have friends that have very successful online businesses, and it's been.

Finding Home at Flannery Exchange

Speaker 3

It's just very interesting and eye-opening to see just how much time they spend on it. It's probably more time than they spend on their retail oh, they're spending on that for sure. Yeah, and I mean just constantly cranking out the content and I mean it's yeah, it's so.

Speaker 3

I kind of am like I don't know if I kind of okay you know, I mean like I don't know if I want to devote that much time to it, because I really do love like focusing on the in-store experience. And then we also have a hat bar now in the store where you can pick your patches and we heat press your hat and then you can also adorn like a felt hat, you know, with like accents. We have the permanent jewelry and then, um, I'm currently learning a laser machine, like a laser etching machine, so we can do like engraving and stuff like that. And then we have a charm bar with like 150 charms and you can make purse, you know, like the little purse chains that are popular now. So so you can make those necklaces, bracelets, yeah, so we have a lot of fun interactive experiences that people love doing when they come to Palm Springs. It's great for the groups and stuff like that. And then, yeah, I'm doing a pop up for an influencer hospitality suite for Coachella.

Speaker 3

And so I'd really like to take it more in that direction. I think the time and energy versus devoting that to the website, I would think I would rather focus more on like doing more events and stuff like that with our interactive things and very bubbly and stuff.

Speaker 2

So I'm sure you need that social interaction right, I would think so.

Speaker 3

So I love that stuff. So, yeah, I think that's where the focus is going to be, like trying to grow that more so.

Speaker 2

So when you say permanent jewelry, what does that mean?

Speaker 3

So it's basically like it's we have a bunch of different chains. We have I think we have 18 different options now and a bunch of little charms, and so we fit it to you, so it's custom fitted for you, and then we spark it. It's basically a cold solder.

Speaker 3

So you know how, if you solder something normally it's like a bunch of metal, like dripping you're putting on your mask yeah, so because we use tiny jump rings to attach the bracelets, you can actually sort of create that same reaction, but with electricity. So it's like such a like hot electrical flash that it sort of melts those ends of the jump ring together and creates a sort of a cold solder, they call it. So it's a safe way to do it, like on your wrist. So we just put a little piece of leather between you and our little pin for sparking.

Speaker 2

Well, what if you want to take it off?

Speaker 3

You can actually cut them off with scissors. You to take it off. You can actually cut them off with scissors. You would cut it off.

Speaker 1

You can cut it off the scissors hence the word permanent yeah, I mean that's it permanent it's permanent until you take it off. Air quotes right and so it's.

Speaker 3

But I mean like, for example, these that I have on. I've had them on for two years, like since we started doing this and I mean shower, and you're not supposed to go and like put it in like sulfur like you know sulfur hot springs or whatever. I've been in all that stuff and it's totally fine yeah.

Speaker 2

Wow.

Speaker 1

Yeah, and it's nice.

Speaker 3

Like you don't have to worry about it. They're just there all the time and we use dainty chains so you really don't even feel that they're there. And we also use that for safety reasons, because if you ever get caught on something, it'll snap, it won't hurt you, and then you can always just like come back and we'll spark it back on for you if need be wow, yeah, I need to come down and get some jewelry I love jewelry whenever we go, like when we travel, it's like we went.

Speaker 2

We went to barcelona, oh, that was my favorite, because they've got those big buildings and they're all down. You know, on the first story, or is little businesses.

Speaker 3

You were probably all about the architecture, all the tiles. Oh yeah, Like the Gaudi architecture.

Speaker 2

We went to Lisbon on purpose, because there's all these all those buildings are just colored tiles, so pretty, it's like what the hell yeah so pretty.

Speaker 3

I mean that was a lot of money to do something like that.

Speaker 2

That was really really cool.

Speaker 1

Beautiful, it was beautiful. Take me back.

Speaker 3

Yeah, that's not my favorite place. We want to go to Porto next. Yeah, we went there for the day.

Speaker 2

Yeah, it was really nice Did you go to Lisbon?

Speaker 3

Yeah, so we spent a week in Lisbon, went to Porto Actually, we spent the night in Porto and then went to Sintra, which is a little bit further.

Speaker 2

Yeah, I've heard of that one too, and I haven't. We didn't go to that, but we stayed for a while in lesbos. We had them. I loved my hotel. It was awesome how you walk in and it just smelled so beautiful. I was like these people know what they're doing those europeans know luxury, don't they?

Speaker 3

it was good, it was so charming we love portugal.

Speaker 1

But in my research of your company I saw that you also had some media. The New York Times kind of featured you guys. Yeah, that was recent. Yeah, I saw. Yeah, that's pretty cool, I didn't know that was happening. Yeah, like I wanted to kind of ask you about that experience. I mean, is that another one of these things where it kind of just caught you flat footed and you were like Did not know that was happening. Really.

Speaker 3

So I into the store and, um, I was dropping something off for steph like, who works at the store on weekends, and I was, was I even? I'm like I don't think I was had any makeup on or anything, I was literally just running errands into the store.

Speaker 2

Don't talk to me. Don't talk to me.

Speaker 3

Yeah, so I like ran in and she was like she's super sweet and very bubbly and she's always happy to see me, which I so appreciate. But like she was extra happy to see me, which I so appreciate. But like she was extra happy to see me and I was like, okay, steph, because I usually don't like I kind of beeline for the desk, so I just like weave for the people and like give her whatever I need to give her. So I didn't really even notice that some of the few people were in the store, and so she's like, oh, my God, you're here. And I'm like, okay, yay, like I'm here.

Speaker 3

And so she's like, no, no, there's this guy here. And I was like, okay, it's like hi. And I introduced myself and she was like he's from the new york times. I was like, oh, yes, okay, so I see why you're excited that I'm here. And so he was very, very nice, the photographer and he like we didn't end up getting a photo because it was like 36 hours in palm springs and they only used a couple of photos to represent like the entire article.

Speaker 1

Right.

Speaker 3

But he was taking photos of, you know, like all the shops, and also my shop neighbor, angie for Bobo, was featured too. So he was taking pictures like between our stores. But yeah, I had no idea. I was like, so you're a photographer for the New York Times? And he was like yeah, and he was like, did you know I was coming, I? And he was like, yeah, and he was like did you know?

Speaker 2

I was coming.

Speaker 3

I was like nope. And he was like, oh, I'm sorry, no, a lot of people haven't known I was coming. And so I guess like, yeah, I guess she reached out to some people. They didn't reach out to others, but I don't think they gave anyone like an exact date for when the photos were happening or anything like that. And so, yeah, I was like I'm sorry we have not tidied up Quick, quick. Yeah, I was like let me know if you need any photos, I can go fix this. But yeah, so it was such a really it was an awesome honor and such a great surprise. And then when it came out, I posted about it and then tagged the writer and she wrote me the sweetest like three paragraph message in DMs about how much she loved my store and like how, you know, she had hoped that the article really helped out and like, yeah, it was just the sweetest, like it literally almost made me start crying.

Speaker 2

It was like the sweetest, no, ever nice, you're like I must be doing something right.

Speaker 1

I know I was like oh yeah, but once again, that was not solicited by you or your company. It's just you do good work and people notice it and the media comes calling. Right, I mean that's pretty impressive because I mean people pay for that kind of stuff. Right, I mean we're always throwing money at advertising and stuff like that to kind of get our names out there. You're getting free big advertisement, but I think it just speaks to the quality of your shop, you know.

Speaker 2

So that's, that's awesome, that's awesome.

Speaker 3

So do you advertise? No, I don't. I mean, I boost some post on instagram no, it's I.

Speaker 2

I totally get that because we were um we've like, we've discussed a couple things like um palm springs, life and those kinds of things.

Speaker 3

Oh, I was in that guide, the Palm Springs Life guide. That's awesome. Yeah, I paid to do that last year. The little one that goes into all the hotel rooms and everything. I mean I think it's really cool and I love how it's handheld. You know, like a little people can take it with them.

Speaker 2

I wonder if that's a September issue. Oh no, no issue. Oh no, no. The september issue is like the hard hard cover. Yeah, I think it comes out with that okay, like so.

Speaker 3

There's the hard cover, but then there's like the guide edition, like of the soft magazine, and then it's tucked in there but then also it's at all the different stores like sort of on the cash wrap like, because it's pretty small. The only thing that's hard about it is there's no way to really track who's coming from it or who's seeing it, or you know so it's one of those things. You just have to do it and kind of hope that it's getting good reach right yeah well, ask you.

Speaker 2

Don't ask people how they heard about you. I mean that when people walk in our doors I always ask like, how did you hear about us? Especially if I don't know them. And all the time it's like, oh google, it's almost always google for us a lot.

Permanent Jewelry and Interactive Experiences

Speaker 3

It's well for, because the coffee shop people just kind of like come in and they're like oh surprise shops are in here, you know so, honestly, we get a lot of that.

Speaker 2

People are like yay it worked out really well.

Speaker 3

You know their vision yeah, so that's really cool. But when people do we always ask when people get permanent jewelry, because we're chit-chatting with them more. We're like how'd, how'd you find us? And what's funny is a lot of it. I would say probably the number one way is TikTok and Instagram.

Speaker 1

Yeah, Social media.

Speaker 2

I love me some TikTok. I am not even on TikTok.

Speaker 1

Even though it's banned.

Speaker 3

So my other team member.

Speaker 1

Jordan.

Speaker 3

So Jordan is a film student and is really great with making TikToks and she makes our reels and all that stuff. So, yeah, I used to do it and post on tiktok like every blue moon, but she does it for us now and like post on a regular basis oh, that's so great yeah, social media is where everything's going.

Speaker 3

Yeah, no, I love instagram and I'm really good with that. But like tiktok, I don't like I end up down the rabbit hole like doing other stuff on t. I'm like what happened here? I came out here to post and now I'm looking at recipes and great tips on cleaning.

Speaker 2

Well, I want to do the Kendrick Lamar dance.

Speaker 1

Oh my gosh, I do. Yeah, you should. We get some views man.

Speaker 2

This is how I walk when I walk into my new slab studio.

Speaker 3

Right, exactly you should do that yeah.

Speaker 1

So I studios, right exactly you should do that. Yeah, so I look at the dance videos and then do it.

Speaker 2

Let's do it, let's do it. I'll drive some. That'll drive some. Eyeballs probably fall and slip even better, even better, yeah it's all about.

Speaker 1

It's all about attention these days right, all about attention, but we're getting kind of towards the end.

Speaker 1

We always want to ask our entrepreneurs, you know, if there's some advice you'd maybe give to somebody that's maybe thinking about going down the same route you did. You know, wanted to go get into the creative jewelry space. Or even if you like you seem like you're an OG with the retail, you know a lot about retail, how to do that, you know what. What advice would you give somebody that's young, trying to come in and thinking maybe that's something that the business that they want to kind of start with? Would you have some advice for them?

Speaker 3

I guess my number one thing would be what saved me along the way as I was growing is diversifying your income streams. Do you know what I mean? Because you can't just all in. I mean, some people can, but if you're bootstrapping your business, you usually can't just all in on a store because there are going to be a lot of upfront costs before you start recouping your money and so like. For me, I had the wholesale business right, so I was able to take money from that and float the store as things grew.

Speaker 3

And then in the very, very beginning, even when I started the wholesale business, when I left my job, like, I found a little studio space, which was so funny. It was in this building that I loved so much and I couldn't afford an office space in there. Right, it was a mixed use building and they had a utility closet.

Speaker 3

Yeah, they were not using those a hundred square feet and I was like the guy showed me a space and told me the price and I was like, well, those aren't really my budget, I'm new. And we were walking out of the building and I was like what's that? He was like that's a utility closet. I was like would you guys rent it because it's empty? And so I rented it. Oh, my god, and my dad and my husband have painted it sky blue, like a soft blue, so it felt like you know, had outdoors. I went to ikea and I got these cloud paintings that like made it look like it had like little windows or whatever, and and I started teaching jewelry classes in there. And so that's how I sort of made ends meet in the beginning while I was trying to grow the wholesale business on a full-time basis.

Speaker 3

Yeah, so I feel like I've just always kind of had a few things going on to keep the revenue streams, you know, flowing. So that's what I would say for people, because it makes the growth not so stressful and it sort of frees you up to be able to, because you know you have to take calculated risks to grow.

Speaker 3

You know all about that, and so it's like if you're so tight and so stressed, then you can't afford to take those risks and you might miss some opportunities that can help level up your business right. So it's like having those additional revenue streams can really help free you up so that you can take advantage of opportunities when they come your way.

Speaker 2

And you just like never know also who you're going to meet when you have those certain things, and this might lead to that, and you just Right, exactly, it just kind of all works.

Speaker 3

Yeah, it totally all works out.

Speaker 2

So do you still do jewelry classes and how do I sign up?

Speaker 3

Oh my gosh. No, no, no, I do not. I get asked that all the time Come on, let's do it. And I have thought about bringing them back, but I don't know. I think that in this part of my life my patience isn't there anymore.

Speaker 1

You're like been there, done that right. No, thank you. No it's funny.

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Speaker 3

I actually, as a crafty person, I love nothing more than taking a class. I took, like, a class on precious metal clay jewelry making last week at Las Palmas arts. She has awesome classes If you want to take them, on all different things. But yeah, it's like I so appreciate a good teacher because all the different personalities right.

Speaker 3

There's always a person that like is like oh my God, I'm over this, can you just do it for me? There's the person that's light years ahead and you're all like, slow it down, let's keep up. The person that's behind, and you have to balance all those personalities.

Speaker 2

And I just don't know if I have that anymore. Oh, that sounds like sales, because you know what you deal with all kinds of different personalities. I use it for that, so I don't know if I have it left for the classes anymore.

Speaker 3

But I might I get asked a lot? I might, for old time's sake, just bring one back. There you go, breaking news. Breaking news.

Speaker 2

YouTube it right yeah. Breaking news.

Speaker 1

Hey, so we'll be the first to know Exactly. We're going to let you guys know out there, but that's awesome. So we're really happy that you came in. You're a wealth of knowledge, you're obviously very talented and you're an inspiration for the community down here. So where can our followers and people that are watching this find you and your company? Where can they kind of check out your work? Where's a good place to find you.

Speaker 3

So the store is at 750 North Palm Canyon Drive inside the Flannery Exchange. There's Cafe La Jefa in the front, the coffee shop that's pink. I'm right across the way from that, across the hall. Or you can go to covetpscom, to the website and find us, and there's all the information about booking permanent jewelry and things like that on there. Or you can find us on Instagram or TikTok at covetps as well awesome.

Speaker 1

Everybody go. I went there a lot of cool stuff. I think you're going to see some really interesting and unique stuff on that Instagram page. So if you guys found some value, you guys know the routine like, subscribe and follow and we'll see you guys next time on TV Hustle.