410 – Start Your Handmade Business from Scratch with Robin Lee Adams

Gift is unwrapped guest,

episode number 410.

She's like,

oh, I love your necklace.

And I was like,

really? I made it like you do.

Cause I wasn't sure.

She's like,

you did.

I want one Attention.

Gifters Bakers,

crafters and Makers pursuing your dream can be fun.

Whether you have an established business or looking to start one

now you are in the right place.

This is Gift Biz Unwrapped,

helping you turn your skill into a flourishing business.

Join us for an episode packed full of invaluable guidance,

resources and the support you need to grow your gift biz.

Here is your host Gift Biz gal,

Sue Mohe.

Hi there,

it's Sue.

And I'm so happy that you're joining me here today.

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I love today's show for so many reasons.

I ran into Robin's booth at the Chicago one-of-a-kind show last

December. This is a huge twice a year event at the

Merchandise Mart with a specific focus on handmade product businesses.

Besides the fact that I run into really interesting new twists

unknown products,

I love seeing so much talent and quality there.

It continues to reinforce the value of handmade and why it's

worth your efforts to provide us with your amazing pieces because

this show is so big.

Another thing I always observe is the variety of approaches used

when vendors interact with booth guests.

Of course,

I'm looking at it from that angle,

right? Robin caught my attention for a couple of reasons.

First, her display drew me in.

I was curious about her product,

and when I asked,

we got into a friendly and enlightening conversation.

I got just enough information to know that I wanted her

as a guest on the show.

That's the way I like to do this when I'm considering

somebody I don't already know that way.

Our conversation here in the podcast is genuine.

I'm asking questions I don't already have the answers to.

So we're hearing it together.

You and me.

I just need enough information to ensure that they're a good

example for you and it goes from there.

And gosh am I so glad I met Robin because she

has a fabulous business development story to share.

If you're just starting out,

you'll pick up excellent tips and ideas to incorporate into your

plans. And for established business owners,

there's a lot here for you too to reinforce what you're

already doing or to serve as a reminder of best practices.

Plus Robin's product is just so fun,

a twist on two other products you already know combined into

one. Here's Robin to explain it all.

Today I'm looking forward to introducing you to Robin Lee Adams.

Robin Lee Essentials was born out of Robin's desire to create

her own line of handcrafted ceramic jewelry when she struggled to

find pieces that were both functional and elegant.

As an extension to that,

Robin believes that people should be able to elevate their everyday

outfits while incorporating the benefits of essential oils into their lives.

To fill both of these goals,

Robin Lee Essentials offers pieces that are timeless,

intentional, and with an artfully polished aesthetic on diffuser jewelry style.

Do you even know what infuser jewelry style is?

You'll know after our conversation here.

Robin, welcome to the Gift Biz Unrepped podcast.

Hi Sue.

Thank you so much for having me.

I'm glad to be here.

I am so glad that you agreed to come on the

show too,

and I can't wait to hear the whole story.

But before we get into that,

I'd like to get a little bit of a different idea

about you through a description of a motivational candle.

So if you were to close your eyes and think of

what your most perfect motivational candle would look like that represents

you, what would it be?

By color and a quote.

So for me,

I would say the quote is,

I got this,

the phrase,

I got this.

And rather than being a color,

I really think about the scent,

which would be a blend of lavender and citrus essential oils,

which is a blend that I call happy.

And it's just the perfect combination of calming and also uplifting.

And then for the color,

it would be my style is very,

I really like timeless and elegant with my jewelry as well

as everyday style.

So the color would be more of a neutral color,

but that symbolizes for me a not only timeless look,

but also sort of a blank canvas,

metaphorically speaking.

Just knowing that I can wake up every day with a

fresh start on life and my business and kind of like

a blank canvas ready to create the best way I can.

That's one of the great things about having your own business

is you're not tied into parameters that someone else is putting

on you.

You can do anything that you want and every day's a

fresh day.

You're right.

New start.

Yeah. So I'll be honest with you,

until I saw you at the one of a kind show

in Chicago,

I didn't even know there was such a thing as diffuser

jewelry. And I love essential oils.

I have candles going all the time.

My favorite thing in the world is candles,

which is why we do the motivational candle.

But I had never even run into this as a concept

before, ever.

How popular is it and how many people do this type

of thing integrating sense into jewelry?

I would say it's becoming more popular for sure.

And when the way that my jewelry line got started,

however, was I could not find any essential oil diffuser jewelry

that met my style needs.

So I saw a huge gap in the market and I

wanted to close that gap.

And I have a background in ceramic art and I know

that with ceramics,

if you can dream it,

you literally can sculpt it,

which is what,

I just love that medium.

And so I started that when I was still a classroom

teacher. I was a kindergarten teacher and I gifted them to

my teacher friends.

They convinced me to do an Etsy shop and then the

rest is history.

Oh gosh.

Okay. So there's a lot there and I'm excited to dive

into all of that.

Yeah. So you saw the need in the market.

So then you went back and you had the skills already,

right to do ceramics.

And then what did you do?

Just play around with different ideas to start creating jewelry that

you would like and wear personally or talk about way back

then and what was happening then?

Yes. I have a very distinct minimalist teacher style.

One reason because it's just so easy to have kind of

a capsule wardrobe,

more minimal everyday style so that I can look professional and

chic, but also be on the ground teaching young four and

five year olds how to read and do life basically in

the kindergarten classroom.

And I also was introduced to essential oils and was learning

the benefits of lavender and other calming oils for myself.

And I thought it would be so neat if I could

diffuse these oils with some jewelry.

And I started Searchie for that and I could not find

any jewelry that didn't feel a little big and bulky so

to speak.

And so I knew that ceramics,

the first base level of it after it's been kiln fired

is very porous.

And I know that because I've made ceramic coasters and they

do a great job with absorbing the moisture from your drink.

And I thought that perhaps that there could be a way

to create something a little bit more elegant and chic with

the jewelry aspect.

And so it just was a lot of trial and error

and working my way to figure out what would match with

a lot of my outfits.

And it really resonated with a lot of my colleagues.

And then when I put it out into the world,

it resonated with a lot of other people that have the

similar interests and style likes that I have.

So you knew ceramics,

but you didn't necessarily know jewelry in terms of creation,

so you had to work with that too,

you know,

and sous and all?

Yes, definitely.

I only knew ceramics,

not jewelry.

You were making your ceramic pieces and they're so beautiful and

I agree with you,

you call it a more of a minimalistic style.

I mean mean they're simple and light and delicate and smaller,

which is totally my style as well,

which is one of the reasons I like them so much.

So you had those,

but what were you doing going to like Michael's or somewhere

just to get beads initially to put your initial pieces together?

I think that I first looked on Etsy for a little

delicate chain and connected with some other small shops because I

love the human side of small businesses.

And Etsy was,

I had an Etsy account and it was just nice to

be able to communicate with other small shops.

I just started out with necklaces and I got a dainty

little chain and learned about how to properly add the jump

rings and the attachments.

But the shining star really was the ceramic piece.

And so luckily I had that in my back pocket,

so to speak.

So are you saying that you were connecting up with other

Etsy shop owners to then use them as a source for

the chains and the beads and all that you were using?

Or just to connect up with them for business partner type

purposes? Just for learning and networking I guess I would say.

Yeah, I was mostly on Etsy,

connecting up with them to learn about their product and how

to best use their product for my jewelry.

So sourcing the chains from those small shops just to learn

about what would work best and all of that.

But I do think that networking is such an important piece,

especially when you're getting started.

And so I did a lot of networking on social media

with other folks that seemed to be entrepreneurial either in my

realm of aromatherapy and wellness and style.

I found things that we had in common and then it

was nice to be able to network and not feel so

alone in the entrepreneurial journey.

Right, for sure.

So Facebook groups,

things like that.

On social?

For me it was mostly Instagram.

Okay. Yeah,

I started,

was just the app that I was most comfortable with.

And so that's where I really made a lot of connections.

Got it.

And so do you still source from some of those same

people today?

That's a great question.

And I don't at this time just because I've found products

that are a little bit higher quality as I,

from the very first years,

So there are now though,

So the product has evolved.

So you were using certain supplies as you were creating your

prototypes per se,

and then having people try them and getting the response and

seeing how people liked the jewelry that you were making and

then you advanced from there.

You perfect your systems and your sources from there,

it sounds like.

Yeah, totally.

Okay. So I'm going through all of this.

For anyone who's listening,

who is thinking,

well, how would I do that?

Like I have this idea,

I have some skills,

I'm making something.

But what mostly people see is what they do.

And then they jump in,

they see somebody who's online who has a really popular performing

website, they don't necessarily see all the in between.

So that's what you're helping me pull out so that people

understand how you can get from point A to a 0.1

a 0.2,

you know,

like the little steps along the way.

Right? Totally.

Yeah. So you showed it to your colleagues.

So I'm thinking your fellow teachers at school and getting feedback

from them,

is that how that worked?

Yes. I actually started,

so I had the idea and then I was pretty determined.

Once I have an idea,

I have to just try it to get it out of

my head.

And so I remember having the idea,

I have my ceramic background because my mom is an artist,

she let me borrow some of her clay and I rolled

it out on the kitchen table and I started to try

and make my own pieces.

I live in a really great arts community in Asheville,

North Carolina.

And there was a place in the river arts district that

will allow you to rent time to fire your pieces in

a kiln.

So I didn't have my own kiln,

I didn't have any of that.

I just had to claim my mom let me borrow.

I did that,

threw it in the kiln.

The first pieces had a lot of things wrong with them.

They did not look good.

I say I'm experienced,

but I mean even making smaller beads and ceramics,

it's a lot to learn.

And there was a really friendly artist in residence at that

rental service and I paid her for a little private tutorial

and she just showed me the basics.

And that was one of the most valuable hours of my

business because I learned the basics.

And then from there it was a lot of trial and

error and I would just rent the kiln space.

And then I finally created one that I really liked.

It was a necklace and I wore it to work.

And then one of my colleagues walked in my classroom at

seven 30 in the morning and immediately she's like,

oh, I love your necklace.

And I was like,

really? I made it like you do.

Cause I wasn't sure.

She's like,

you did,

I want one.

And that's just kind of,

I feel like it was a little nudge from the universe

because I was kind of testing it out and just,

I still had a lot of self-doubt,

I guess you could say.

And yeah,

that was the first thing she said to me at seven

30 in the morning as her and the kids were walking

in, getting ready to start the day.

I love that story when I'm talking with people about starting

their business,

one of the things that I always say is,

you need validation that people,

people want your product.

So it's just like what you described,

you weren't even promoting it.

It's not like you were out saying,

Hey, I make these necklaces.

Does anyone want them?

One of your fellow teachers saw it and is like,

oh my gosh,

that's beautiful.

I love it.

I want one.

These are ways of validating because people are interested in your

product and that is kind of a message to you that,

okay, you should take the next step.

Cuz let's face it,

as a maker,

we all love what we make.

It's whether other people love it too.

And you've got to validate that product before you throw too

much time or energy into it,

because that's one way to know that you'll be successful with

your business is you move forward.

The other thing that I really like that you talked about,

Robin, is that the first pieces that came out of the

kilned weren't something that you were necessarily going to be able

to move forward with and that you had to work to

obtain the skill and any tips or tricks or ways that

you make your beads and your necklaces,

you didn't know that right in the beginning.

And I think that's really important.

I don't know how you feel about this and you can

comment after I'm done saying what I was gonna say right

here, that I think we undervalue the talent and the skills

that we have as makers because we're thinking,

well, we're just making them,

everyone knows how to do these things.

But it's not true to your demonstration of having to learn,

hire somebody,

probably trial and error over the course of time to get

it exactly to where it is today.

And all that needs to be reflected in the pricing and

allowing yourself to accept the fact that you have skills and

your products are superior than just someone who's trying to make

one on the side,

you know,

one off type thing.

Exactly. And I do have trial and errors to this day.

So yeah,

when I open up the kiln in the morning,

I always have my fingers crossed hoping that they all turned

out right.

And honestly,

usually I fire a lot of jewelry pendants at one time,

and usually there's some that don't work still to this day,

it just happens in ceramics,

it's a little bit because you have to wait,

there's so many firings and it's so hot you have to

wait like basically 24 hours.

So it's definitely a humbling art medium and also a great

teacher and patience.

Interesting. Yeah.

So you anticipate and expect that a certain percentage of what

you fire in a day won't be something that you can

proceed with.

It just has to whatever you do with it afterwards,

I don't know if you toss it or use it as

scrap for something else or You know what,

Yeah, occasionally I'll put together a little collection that I call

oopsies and they'll be discounted.

Some people really like to see a little bit of an

imperfect item and it just depends on what stage it was

in the firing process.

I see.

That makes sense.

Okay, so you have people who are interested in your jewelry,

but they're all people at this point who you know,

what did you do after that?

There are a lot of things that I definitely need to

work on as a small business owner,

but one thing that I really feel super confident in is

being very confident and secure in my niche,

my niche customer and ideal client.

And I think that I pictured that customer avatar and then

I marketed and targeted that one and only,

I truly believe that if you market for one,

you will get many sales versus marketing for many,

you will maybe get one sale.

And I would say that reminds me,

I wanted to mention the fact of I had people when

I was wearing my necklace the first day and then someone

commented and complimented me.

And yes,

that was validation and that felt great.

And also she was my ideal customer.

Her and I have very similar style,

and so I had something that was missing in my life.

So I was able to kind of utilize myself at first

as my niche customer and then go from there.

So for anyone who may be thinking of making products and

perhaps they wear something and don't get a compliment,

that does not mean that it's not good.

That just perhaps means that they have not marketed toward their

niche customer.

That makes sense.

Yeah. And so I definitely don't want that little story of

my luck to be discouraging to anyone because I happen to

my niche customer walked into my classroom on that day,

right? And sometimes I think who we believe is our ideal

customer, you know,

is when you start off and you envision,

okay, this is my product,

this is who I'm gonna sell to.

Sometimes it ends up being someone totally different.

So you have to be open-minded and be observing who's actually

gravitate and looking at your pieces and buying your pieces.

You know,

craft shows are great with that.

Seeing who comes to the table,

who stops,

who picks things up,

who asks questions might be different than who you initially thought

was your customer.

You landed it right off the bat,

so that was perfect.

Yeah, I would say that that's who I wanted it to

be as well.

And so I think that a way to prevent burnout is

to first put those intentions of who your niche customer is

and they will come.

And then when you're at a craft show,

of course it's way more open because you really can't control

what type of people are coming in and coming out.

However, I think that it's really beneficial and helpful for your

business and to prevent burnout if you are remembering your target

customer and your target audience and then being very specific when

you market to that one person and not keeping in the

back of your mind that,

oh, there was somebody that definitely didn't really fall into that

realm at the craft show I went to.

Should I also make them my target audience?

It really will start to confuse you and could prevent burnout

because you're just trying to create for so many different types

of niche customers.

That's really good advice,

Robin. Yeah,

you get so scattered then.

Yeah, and then you start to subconsciously maybe have some doubt

about your product,

but it's because it's not the product,

it's the scattered mindset.

Yeah, really good.

I'm so glad you brought that up.

So how did you get your first customers who weren't your

friends or family?

Where did you go from here?

You validated your product,

then what happened?

I did a little craft show in,

it was the beginning of summer end of May in downtown

Asheville. And I remember this moment because it's a really great

teaching moment.

I was there with my tent and my friend let me

borrow her tent and it was not waterproof and so it

started raining.

It was so such an eyesore because you've seen my products

in my setup.

It's very elegant and clean.

That's how I wanted my booth to be,

but it didn't work out that way.

So my friend brought a blue old blue tarp that we

threw over the nice pretty white tint that was like breaking

as we Oh no,

I mean it was fine because it's comical.

The storm passed and there was,

it was a great turnout and everything.

It's just funny.

It wasn't aesthetically at all Robin Lee essentials,

but that's fine.

But I remember I had a customer come to my booth

and I was really excited that someone came up there to

see my booth and I started explaining how I make the

jewelry and then the customer smiled and walked away and my

partner, he's amazing.

He said,

Robin, three sentences or less,

I'm like,

what? What?

Just you gotta make it.

He's like,

just like in your classroom,

it's not about you,

it's about the students,

it's about your customers.

And that was a huge light bulb.

And so then I naturally just on the spot had my

elevator pitch when someone approached,

I had engagement with them,

I was showing interest with them.

I told them how it works,

but that's it.

Allow them to answer questions if they are still interested and

so on.

Then we had just an amazing turnout to where it gave

me the confidence to think,

okay, maybe I can really do this.

I'll start an Etsy shop and we'll see where it goes.

Okay, perfect.

And you then switched on the fly at the show,

right? Like you stopped talking about everything and how could you,

if you think of a show,

all these people coming up,

you know to repeat something longer time after time after time.

Shows are exhausting anyway,

less saying all of that.

So that's really good advice too,

is just trimming it down to just a couple of things.

They don't need to know everything right away.

Right. And so then you started doing that and saw that

that was working better,

right? Yes.

I learned how to sell my product in person that day

Right away.

Yes. And it's okay that you make mistakes as you're getting

started. You probably will,

right? That's what you learn too.

Like you do what naturally comes to you and then you

revise it based on feedback you're getting from people,

that kind of thing.

Yes. And so I am not sure if your customer audience

is a big base that does in-person shows,

but I would,

the advice I would give for in-person shows is to wear

comfortable clothes and shoes and layers,

snacks, water,

bring stuff so that you are comfortable and ready to be

engaging with your audience.

Standing up,

talking to them,

making conversation with them and making the experience about your customer

who took the time to walk over to your booth and

chatting with them,

make it about them.

It's nothing personal that they're not really interested in learning your

whole process honestly,

because it could confuse them and confused people do not buy

at all.

So I would say that remember to make it about the

customer. Love that.

Perfect. Yes,

yes, yes.

Okay, so now you're gonna start an Etsy shop.

Talk to us about that experience.

Hear how Robin entered the world of e-commerce right after this

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Yeah, I was on a public school teacher salary and budget.

And so Etsy I think is 20 cents or something to

start a listing.

And so I think that I probably did a lot of

Googling and read some blogs about how to have a successful

Etsy shop.

And I created my listings and did that.

And then I immediately made a social media Instagram for my

business and I did a lot of organic marketing on Instagram.

I treated that marketing the same way that I would treat

an in-person marketing.

So that means truly striking up conversations with people and engaging

and commenting back and remembering that these are all people behind

the telephone sc or cellphone screen.

And I think that building those relationships was really the foundation

to a successful online shop.

And that also trickles down to,

again, what I was saying about engaging with your customers in

person, building that relationship is the foundation to your successful in-person

event. Agreed.

So you did not take the approach.

And there are a lot of people who are gonna cringe

when I say this because this is what happens.

They put an Etsy shop up and then they wait and

they expect someone to be coming.

They've put the descriptions of their product so that there's keywords

in there,

you know,

in the title and in the description.

And then they sit and they wait and this is not

what you did,

right? So you had the Etsy shop up so that there's

somewhere online where they can go and conduct the transaction if

you will.

But then you used Instagram to communicate one-on-one with people.

Was this through direct messaging or how were you doing that

on Instagram?

It Was through,

if I didn't do a direct message,

I was,

it would've been a person,

a friend that I had been following along and knew them

and was commenting.

I definitely don't ever recommend this is,

I think so just not a good tactic to try and

send cold dms to people on social media and you're not

even following them and you don't even really pay attention to

their life or what they're doing yet.

You just kinda want something from them that's just No,

no, no.

That's like the opposite of what I'm saying.

And I say that because that people do that to me

and I know they do that to a lot of people.

So it's just probably not good practice.

I hate that so much.

Yeah. Or if someone,

you know,

the automatic replies people can do,

like when you follow somebody then all of a sudden you

get an automatic message and it's all about selling.

So you're saying no,

don't do that.

You would reply to comments that came into you and then

you'd reach out to people through a direct message.

If there was some type of relationship that had already been

established, you wouldn't just cold direct message Somebody?

No, because I am a very genuine person,

so any of my messages are genuine and my customers are

like my friends.

I mean I have so many repeat buyers and they message

me and tell me why they bought this.

And it's such an honor to have them choosing one of

my pieces to re represent such a special part of their

life or a loved one's life.

And I think that that's because of the relationship.

So for example,

on social media,

I'm interested in aroma therapy and so I follow a lot

of women who we have the same style and interest and

I have a lot of customers that are really good at

creating essential oil d i y recipes for having a clean

low talks environment in their home.

And I'm really interested in that,

in those tips.

And so I follow along and learn from them and communicate

with them and engage with them in their post and their

account. And then if I see that,

oh, maybe this jewelry would be a good fit,

I wonder if they would like to do a,

some sort of collaboration like co-creating a design or something like

that, I might reach out and ask about that.

Or just building friendships.

And after the relationship and the friendship is there,

there usually is a sale at some point later on down

the road whether somebody is gifting something or if they're on

my subscriber list and then they see that there happens to

be a surprise flash sale for the subscribers.

It doesn't necessarily happen overnight,

but it's just building that good foundation.

Yeah. So it does take work.

And yeah,

the Etsy shop,

I wouldn't have been successful on Etsy if it weren't for

the marketing piece as well and I knew that I soon

wanted to migrate to my own website where I could have

my own SEO and have more freedom.

But that just took time and saving from my profits and

just whenever I was ready to hire a website designer and

an SEO specialist,

I did.

And then that's what my website is today.

Well your website's beautiful.

Oh thank you.

I'll let them know I was telling you earlier,

I was looking at it and I love your website and

I wanna get to that in a second.

Let me just stay with Etsy for just a minute cuz

whenever I'm talking with someone,

I'm trying to get in the mind of the people who

are listening so that I can ask you the questions they

would want to be asking you.

Okay. So you've done a great job describing how social media

integrated and how you led people over and yes,

it takes time,

you establish a relationship and then as any relationship would do,

it builds from there.

Right. Did you do any paid ATS for Etsy at all?

I did not.

I don't think I hesitate because I'm trying to remember.

It was so,

so much has happened since I might have done a very,

very small little paid ad and I don't think that it

really got anywhere because I honestly don't remember it.

Okay. So it was definitely organic marketing,

primarily online.

And then getting started,

I definitely did go to a lot of in-person shows in

the beginning because I was marketing myself and I always had

a flyer and a business card with a link to be

able to stay connected with me online.

Whenever I go to an in-person show,

I treat a new subscriber and a new follower as a

sale that's just as good as a sale because now I've

got them and we can continue to build that relationship no

matter where we both are in the world.

So at your shows you have a way to capture email

addresses from people even who are just looking who come up

to your table or your booth and are just looking.

Yes. Currently the easiest way is a QR code so they

can do a QR code and then be there on their

phone. And I have the same for following on social media.

Yeah, Something you just said I really liked and I'd like

to go deeper in and that is that you said when

you were initially starting,

you were really marketing yourself,

not your product,

but yourself.

Talk a little bit more about that.

That's a great question and I didn't really even notice that

I said myself and not my product.

And I would say that I,

in marketing myself,

just being networking and really caring about the other people that

I am marketing to and with,

and that's a big part of Robin Lee Essentials is the

brand is relationships.

And so when I was marketing myself,

I would be at the craft shows,

but I guess just getting to know the customers.

So I guess I was woven together of marketing myself and

the product,

but I wouldn't say I was selling as much straightforward because

it's really about building that relationship probably sound like a broken

record now with the relationship piece,

it's very important.

I think it's really important because why are people gonna buy

from you versus going to another table that sells jewelry.

Now it might not be ceramic and diffused in jewelry,

but if they're talking with you,

they're enjoying the conversation,

one thing leads to another.

Like you do your first little couple sentences in the beginning,

they look,

they ask other questions,

you start talking,

which is what builds a relationship that brings up the desire

that people would want to buy from you versus walking onto

another table.

So you're selling yourself but you're not selling,

you're just being personable.

And I can hear it comes across in our conversation right

now how genuine you are and just by talking,

I know people really start to love you cuz of the

person you are.

You're very genuine and authentic.

So I'm quite sure in person chose do really well for

you for that reason.

And also social media as you're developing relationships.

And I think it's just something kind of to emphasize to

everybody listening that it's not just about your product when you're

a maker of the product,

it's also about you.

Yeah, I appreciate those words.

And another little thing I wanna mention is that sometimes I've

been to shows when I was just getting started and learning

which shows work and which don't,

there have definitely been shows where they were not as successful

for me and that is just nothing I ever take personal

because that just means that my ideal clients aren't really that

customer base that that craft show brings in.

Isn't my customer base,

they're just not my customer and there's someone else out there,

my true niche customer that is waiting for me and remembering

that to not take it personal when you're building that relationship

talking to someone,

but then they walk away and they just honestly weren't that

interested because that's definitely gonna happen.

Like your product is not for everyone and that's okay because

I mean,

if you think honestly with yourself,

I mean you don't really like every single thing that's out

there either,

right? So there's always something special for everyone and it's important

to remember that to not take it personal when you are

out there in person marketing and it's really just everything is

just a learning experience and a data point.

You're collecting that information and learning,

oh okay,

that's working or that's not working.

This is just information that I can take and move forward

to succeed forward.

Such good advice because so many people do take it to

heart and they feel it's personal.

So that message is really,

really important.

And the people who are might be interested,

some people might be interested when they come to your booth,

but they're just not in the market for what you're offering

right away.

So that's where the scanning is.

Great. Cuz then they might forget,

they think in the moment they're gonna remember everything you know

about you,

the name of your company,

they take a card or whatever literature you have,

but then over time they might forget,

but this way you're not leaving it in their hands.

You have control over it cuz you can send them emails.

Yeah. Works perfectly.

Okay. So at what point did you decide you were ready

for your own website?

Besides cost?

What were the factors that said,

okay, now's the time for me to make the jump.

I want to have my own site.

And I think that I had really started to develop a

really loyal customer base and following.

And I wanted to be able to expand some of the

types of my products and offer a more friendly customer experience

on my own website.

And then I definitely had the funds saved and ready to

make that investment.

And so I did it.

I reached out to my friend who I really respect as

an SEO specialist and website designer and I knew I wanted

to work with her since the beginning of Robin Lee Essentials.

I just wasn't ready for it yet.

And then as soon as I was,

I reached out to her.

So you were super lucky that you had a contact who

was already a friend who could help you out.

That's amazing.

Yes. Many people don't have that,

but if you don't,

there's ways to find people to help you if necessary.

And a lot of people will try and work on their

own website as well.

And you saw the advantages of having your own website be

what you mentioned seo?

Yes. She's also my friend,

but that is her business.

She's an SEO website designer.

And so a lot of,

if you are looking or curious for a website designer,

if you google it in your area,

if they're good because they know how to do seo,

then they will pop up because that's their job.

So I hired her because I was at a place where

I had all of my time really maxed out with creating

the product and marketing the product and I didn't wanna learn

something new,

which would've been creating a nice website and good s e

o. And I think that something I continue to learn,

and it was hard for me as someone who is a

maker and I love do-it-yourself projects,

but to learn that really my time is so priceless.

And I am trying to remember that even to this day,

there are tasks that I think to myself,

oh, I can just do it myself.

But really,

yeah, you could,

but also you could hire someone and just have a better,

a less stressful day because my time is something that I

can never gain back.

Money ebbs and flows and comes back,

but the time is gone and trying to remember that.

Right. And they can probably do it in a fifth of

the time that you would get the result you're really looking

for versus you ending up with kind of a haphazard website

that might perform,

might not cause it's just not your area of expertise,

right? Yes.

Versus taking the time,

making more product,

attending another show and making the money to be able to

pay her.

Yeah. A funny story,

my website designer is on maternity leave and so I thought

that I could just quickly fix one little photo on the

bottom of my website and I literally just messed that up.

And so I had to find another reference and she was

really great and really quick because it was a quick fix

and it was funny.

She was like,

I'm not sure how this happened or what happened.

And I said,

oh, that was definitely me.

I just thought I could do it myself.

Obviously I can't,

so I gotta pay you to fix it and do it

better. And yeah,

so it was just a funny little that literally happened this

past week.

Oh my gosh,

that is funny.

Yes. So I'm still learning too.

Like lots of times if you think you can do it

yourself, you might accidentally mess it up and then have to

pay somebody and then it even takes up more time.

Right. Well I have one coaching client actually,

who doesn't market at all.

She's been in business for,

gosh, 25,

28 years,

something like that.

But her seo,

her domain name and her SEO is so on point.

Yeah. She does nothing else other than rely on her seo

and she gets orders all the time.

Yeah, that's amazing.

So it just shows how important SEO can be if you

do it right.

And so what percentage of your business today comes in online

versus shows?

I would say that is 85 to 90% online.

And that's intentional with you?

Yes, it is.

I love that.

And everyone,

you know,

that's the nice thing about us owning our own businesses.

We can decide what we like.

You know,

there are a lot of people who just get energized with

going out to shows and you know,

there are those makers who go every weekend show after show

after show and travel the world and set up the booth

and take it down and that's what they love.

And you are looking at the other side of it,

which is yes,

you like that human interaction face-to-face,

but you also like the stability and less travel being able

to still get orders online.

So and you've set your up,

your business up accordingly.

Yes, that's always been the intention.

It's just more sustainable for my lifestyle.

What advice do you have for someone who is thinking about

starting and they've just listened to our conversation and they're like,

yeah, that was so great,

but it worked for Robin,

but could it work for me?

What would you say to someone who's thinking those thoughts?

I would say that yes,

it definitely can work for you.

And to just start and remember that I have had so

many ups and downs and I put in quotes,

failures, and it's really about just to continue to learn from

those failures and mistakes and keep going.

But you're never gonna know unless you just start and try

it and you will evolve along the way.

So start and let go of that fear of failure because

every successful person fails,

they just try again.

They just learn from that and then they try again and

keep going.

And we don't see all those failures,

you know,

unless you're on a podcast where you talk about things that

happened, right?

Yeah. Like that's not what you see.

You only see what's been successful and what's working for them.

You don't see all the background parts.

So very motivating,

Robin, like you've had some great,

great just overall concepts that we need to remember.

You know,

in terms of not taking it personally,

what to do at the booth,

comments about looking at your customer one-on-one,

not as this big group of people.

You know,

all of those are super value as well as a lot

of the other comments that you've given us along the way.

So if people wanna go and see your gorgeous jewelry,

where would you lead them to?

They can check out my shop,

that's robin lee essentials.com.

And I would love to connect on Instagram.

That's at Robin Lee Essentials.

And I'm also on TikTok at Robin Lee Essentials and I

have a little gift for you and your followers.

You can enter the code podcast and you'll get a 10%

off coupon off the entire shop.

And given that the podcast will be available for people for

years to come,

do you wanna put a deadline on the 10% or just

leave it open?

I currently am leaving it open.

And if there comes a time where you try it and

there's something going on,

there's a contact information spot on the website,

you can email me and ask me and we'll get that

sorted out.

All right,

wonderful. Robin,

thank you so much.

I am,

like I said in the beginning,

so happy that you agreed to come on the show today,

tell your story.

I had no idea about all of the great tips and

words of advice that you'd bring.

But on behalf of all the listeners and myself,

thank you so much for sharing your story today.

Thank you so much for having me.

It's an honor to be here.

Yes, one very special granddaughter got one of Robin's necklaces for

Valentine's Day this year.

I love her simple designs that although she calls them minimalist,

provide bright sparks of emotion and meaning,

as did her story.

A wonderful example of going from an idea to experimentation to

business. And don't forget about her discount offer.

Type in the word podcast at checkout for that extra gift

from Robin.

I wanna make sure you're familiar with my free Facebook group

called Gift Biz Breeze.

It's a place where we all gather and are a community

to support each other.

I got a really fun post in there that's my favorite

of the week,

I have to say,

where I invite all of you to share what you're doing

to show pictures of your product,

to show what you're working on for the week,

to get reaction from other people.

And just for fun,

because we all get to see the wonderful products that everybody

in the community is making.

My favorite post every single week.

Without doubt.

Wait, what?

Aren't you part of the group already?

If not,

make sure to jump over to Facebook and search for the

group Gift Biz breeze.

Don't delay.