Shownotes
The Journey From Rabbi to Jewelry Maker
In this episode, you'll hear a perfect case study of starting and growing a handmade business:- Identifying the products you will sell
- Validating an audience for your products
- The importance of blogging for sales and search visibility
- How your blog and email list can work together
- Selling online and at shows
- A super clever way to get email list signups at shows
- Plus lots more!
Tune in now to hear how to start and grow your unique handmade product business!
Resources Mentioned
- Save 20% on one of Doug's spoon rings with code UNWRAPPED (expires July 31, 2022)
- See Doug's unique mobile craft booth for shows
- Gift Biz Unwrapped Topics Directory
- Gift Biz Unwrapped Merch Shop
Doug's Contact Links
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Gift biz unwrapped episode 380.
Speaker:These independent things that I was doing were really the way
Speaker:I wanted to spend my time At Tinton gifters bakers,
Speaker:crafters, and makers pursuing your dream can be fun.
Speaker:Whether you have an established business or looking to start one.
Speaker:Now you are in the right place.
Speaker:This is gift to biz unwrapped,
Speaker:helping you turn your skill into a flourishing business.
Speaker:Join us for an episode,
Speaker:packed full of invaluable guidance,
Speaker:resources, and the support you need to grow.
Speaker:Your gift biz.
Speaker:Here is your host gift biz gal Sue moon Heights.
Speaker:Hi there.
Speaker:It's Sue.
Speaker:Thanks for joining me today.
Speaker:And if you're new here,
Speaker:welcome to the show.
Speaker:Even though the episode number is 380 by my calculation,
Speaker:there are really over 475 episodes.
Speaker:Given the tips and talk segments,
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Speaker:and some of the bonus shows that I've included in make
Speaker:sense since the podcast is now in its eighth year.
Speaker:I can't even believe that.
Speaker:And during this time we've covered a lot of ground how
Speaker:to start and grow your business stories from many of you
Speaker:who have done just that,
Speaker:how to choose and use social media sites,
Speaker:build your website.
Speaker:Oh my gosh.
Speaker:There is so much information here for you,
Speaker:but not necessarily easily at your fingertips.
Speaker:So I made a tool for you that categorizes by topic,
Speaker:the episodes of the show,
Speaker:but only the ones that stay relevant over time.
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Speaker:there are some from past years that just don't work today.
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Speaker:right? You can use this tool to zero in on whatever
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Speaker:How about details on Pinterest or setting up an email strategy?
Speaker:You can now easily find the right episodes and create your
Speaker:priority. Listening roster,
Speaker:consider this your gift biz reference center at a glance to
Speaker:check it out,
Speaker:go to gift biz on rapt.com
Speaker:forward slash topics.
Speaker:It's a Google sheet best viewable from your computer versus your
Speaker:phone. Make sure to look at the bottom where I have
Speaker:five separate sections laid out for easy topic,
Speaker:reference kind of like chapters of a book.
Speaker:I've never seen another podcast to do this.
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Speaker:So much easier again,
Speaker:to see the gift biz reference center,
Speaker:go to gift biz,
Speaker:unwrapped.com forward slash topics.
Speaker:Today, I have a really strong show lined up for you.
Speaker:You're going to hear how Doug reflected on his life and
Speaker:thought about where he was spending his time.
Speaker:Then he did some rearranging.
Speaker:Let's be honest too often.
Speaker:We live to work instead of working to live,
Speaker:putting yourself at the top and doing things that inspire and
Speaker:fuel you makes for happy and rich days.
Speaker:Now, not at some point in the future.
Speaker:If the lesson Doug demonstrates with life overall,
Speaker:isn't enough.
Speaker:He also gives us detail on how he identified his new
Speaker:path. This is the perfect case study.
Speaker:If you will,
Speaker:on how to start and grow your handmade business,
Speaker:allowing your interests and passions to be included in your life
Speaker:every single day.
Speaker:Our guest today is Doug Heifetz of lost and forged.
Speaker:Doug creates his artwork to celebrate surprising transformations and to make
Speaker:upcycling irresistible through his small studio,
Speaker:operation lost and forged.
Speaker:He offers a wide range of original jewelry,
Speaker:accessories, Judaica items and decor pieces all made by hand from
Speaker:antique silverware and other reclaimed metal objects.
Speaker:He began his artistic work in 2015.
Speaker:And since then Doug has shipped his pieces to buyers in
Speaker:dozens of countries overseas and all 50 us states.
Speaker:Doug lives in silver spring,
Speaker:Maryland with his two children.
Speaker:He was a full-time rabbi of a local synagogue for 11
Speaker:years, but shifted his main focus to his artwork in 2017.
Speaker:Doug, welcome to the gift biz on wrapped podcast.
Speaker:I'm so happy to be here.
Speaker:I am really excited to dive into your story.
Speaker:You got a lot of interesting things going on that I
Speaker:am planning to uncover here,
Speaker:But First,
Speaker:before we do that,
Speaker:I'd love for you to describe yourself in a little bit
Speaker:of a different way,
Speaker:kind of a creative angle,
Speaker:which I know you're all about creative that is through motivational
Speaker:candle. So if you were to make a candle that just
Speaker:really resonates with you,
Speaker:what would it look like by coloring quote My candle?
Speaker:It's such a great question.
Speaker:First of all,
Speaker:but now it makes me actually want to go make candles.
Speaker:I am not a candle maker,
Speaker:but it's piqued my interest,
Speaker:but the candle that I would make for my motivational candle
Speaker:would be on the bright side of a coppery orange.
Speaker:And it would be metallic.
Speaker:Orange is playful and energizing.
Speaker:And my work really draws on playful,
Speaker:whimsical energy.
Speaker:It would be metallic because metal is always connected to the
Speaker:earth. First of all,
Speaker:and metal can always be reshaped to me.
Speaker:Metal stands for the opportunity to transform,
Speaker:to transform ourselves,
Speaker:to transform our world,
Speaker:certainly to transform a piece of metal.
Speaker:For starters,
Speaker:the quote on my candle would come from Al Hirschfeld,
Speaker:who was a cartoonist caricaturists.
Speaker:And he said,
Speaker:artists are just children who refuse to put down their Crans.
Speaker:And to me to really get into the spirit of my
Speaker:work, especially when I'm creating something new,
Speaker:I need that playful spirit and that confidence.
Speaker:That's not about being judged.
Speaker:It's not about thinking about how it will be critically received,
Speaker:but about drawing on a playful spirit and doing something whimsical,
Speaker:doing something new,
Speaker:doing something that intrigues me and then gradually making it better.
Speaker:I love that visual too,
Speaker:of artists,
Speaker:all being children who don't put down their crayons,
Speaker:because you know how they talk about the act of creating
Speaker:and making does something to you inside.
Speaker:Like it affects your soul and your spirit.
Speaker:And it's kind of one in the same.
Speaker:We used to be so lighthearted and carefree as children.
Speaker:And to be able to bring that back to ourselves as
Speaker:an adult is I think a lot of reasons why people
Speaker:start hobbies and then go on and want to share what
Speaker:they're making to the world.
Speaker:Absolutely. And the first thing that I caught when you were
Speaker:talking was that idea of transformation.
Speaker:We never get too old to be able to transform ourselves
Speaker:in what we do either,
Speaker:which I know is going to be part of your story.
Speaker:So I'm just going to go with that.
Speaker:That's a great segue actually,
Speaker:because you did a little transforming yourself to get to Loston
Speaker:forge didn't you?
Speaker:Absolutely. I mean,
Speaker:I think I've always been somebody who likes something new who
Speaker:likes a sense of newness.
Speaker:And so,
Speaker:yes, I mean,
Speaker:I was the full-time rabbi of a local synagogue and in
Speaker:most ways it was a job that I loved and that
Speaker:I felt good about,
Speaker:but I not only create something new,
Speaker:I crave doing something more independent,
Speaker:more entrepreneurial,
Speaker:more of my own imagination,
Speaker:something that I could build from the ground up,
Speaker:which I never really felt like I had the opportunity to
Speaker:do as a rabbi with a long established synagogue.
Speaker:When you first started as a rabbi,
Speaker:did you think that that was what you were going to
Speaker:do for your whole life?
Speaker:I thought probably so.
Speaker:Yeah. Okay.
Speaker:And then at what point was it that you started thinking,
Speaker:wait, this isn't completely fulfilling me.
Speaker:I need to add in or do something else.
Speaker:Cause you were probably thinking just else not instead of at
Speaker:that point.
Speaker:And I think probably around that seven year mark,
Speaker:or maybe eight years in,
Speaker:I was craving something that I could build that was entrepreneurial,
Speaker:that was of my own imagination.
Speaker:And that people wanted that people would be drawn from many,
Speaker:many different walks of life and from many different parts of
Speaker:the world to be part of,
Speaker:or to buy,
Speaker:you know,
Speaker:the value and want to buy it directly.
Speaker:That appealed to me.
Speaker:So you already knew you wanted it to be something tangible,
Speaker:something that you would make?
Speaker:Yes. I created having something that I created that was tangible.
Speaker:I didn't immediately that it had to be like a product
Speaker:or an artistic creation.
Speaker:And so I was playing with various software ideas,
Speaker:but I was drawn to do something that was more independent
Speaker:and more of my own building of my own imagination.
Speaker:Okay. All right.
Speaker:And so how did you land on what you're doing?
Speaker:Okay. So you said you were thinking software,
Speaker:take us through a little bit of that discovery time.
Speaker:Okay. So there were a few things that I was putting
Speaker:some energy into and some of them intersected with the congregation.
Speaker:Although I ended up feeling like these weren't what the congregation
Speaker:was wanting and needing.
Speaker:So I made a few mobile games for iPhones and Android
Speaker:through the synagogue was a religious school class with another student
Speaker:who was interested.
Speaker:And these were games that belong to the synagogue that had
Speaker:a certain degree of success,
Speaker:but I didn't have technical coding skills as a game developer.
Speaker:And also eventually it came back to the fact that I
Speaker:wasn't really a gamer and these were things that I was
Speaker:passionate about.
Speaker:Although it was a fun idea.
Speaker:I had a business partner,
Speaker:we had a very ambitious software project to build a multi-faith
Speaker:web service for the study and discussion of the sacred writings
Speaker:of the world's different religious traditions.
Speaker:And that was very exciting.
Speaker:I had one other software project at some point at the
Speaker:same time I had started to make things.
Speaker:I was late at night watching my shows,
Speaker:the rest of the family was asleep and I wanted something
Speaker:to do with my hands that would be productive,
Speaker:but that wouldn't feel like that wasn't taking out my laptop
Speaker:to reply to messages from the congregation.
Speaker:I want it to be in a more relaxed or more
Speaker:imaginative mode than that.
Speaker:And I started bending silverware.
Speaker:I remembered that once upon a time in college,
Speaker:I had a roommate who bent some stainless steel forks from
Speaker:the cafeteria into very rough bracelets.
Speaker:And I thought,
Speaker:maybe I'll try that.
Speaker:And I started bending some forks into crazy shapes and I
Speaker:looked online also to see what other people thought,
Speaker:well, maybe other people are doing this.
Speaker:Let me see what I can find.
Speaker:And I was blown away by what I saw and every
Speaker:single thing that I saw I wanted to try to make.
Speaker:And pretty soon I started having a lot more ideas about
Speaker:what I wanted to make things that I hadn't seen.
Speaker:I had a vision about it that was motivated,
Speaker:that was playful and had to work to start catching my
Speaker:skills up to my vision.
Speaker:Cause I had all these things I wanted to make and
Speaker:started learning,
Speaker:started playing with.
Speaker:It started also spending money on tools on materials and started
Speaker:posting on Facebook.
Speaker:Just these crazy things I was making.
Speaker:And some people I knew were starting to ask where they
Speaker:could buy them.
Speaker:And I wasn't sure,
Speaker:but I thought about it and I was already spending money
Speaker:on tools and on materials.
Speaker:And I thought,
Speaker:well, you know,
Speaker:maybe I can sell things.
Speaker:And that will be a way to recoup some of the
Speaker:money that I'm spending or maybe make a little bit.
Speaker:And that's essentially how lost and forged was born.
Speaker:And in the meantime had a software project I was working
Speaker:on that was only remotely connected to the congregation.
Speaker:I have started to make things with my hands and sell
Speaker:these things.
Speaker:And soon these independent things that I was doing were really
Speaker:the way I wanted to spend my time.
Speaker:And eventually I thought,
Speaker:yeah, I want to be free to pursue these things.
Speaker:And I want to serve the congregation or I don't want
Speaker:to do them a disservice.
Speaker:And it became clear to me that there was a different
Speaker:direction I had to go in.
Speaker:But when that paycheck stopped,
Speaker:it's great getting a paycheck.
Speaker:And that paycheck stopped.
Speaker:I gave the congregation a year notice it's a big deal,
Speaker:hiring a new rabbi for them.
Speaker:And when that paycheck stopped,
Speaker:there was really just one of these entrepreneurial ideas that I
Speaker:was working on that was making money.
Speaker:And that was lost in forge.
Speaker:And I quickly realized this is what I put my energy
Speaker:into. And it has continued to be exciting and a source
Speaker:of growth and of fun and of inspiration and of making
Speaker:it a living Well,
Speaker:Doug, it's such a good story and I appreciate you going
Speaker:through all of the background to this because I think it
Speaker:will serve and help a lot of people who are listening
Speaker:because we've got a lot of listeners,
Speaker:you guys out there who know who you are,
Speaker:who are doing other jobs,
Speaker:but have that passion kind of like you did in the
Speaker:beginning, there was more you wanted to do in your life,
Speaker:but it wasn't like you automatically knew right away what it
Speaker:was going to be.
Speaker:You tested out a couple of very different options,
Speaker:right? Like the online gaming software and apps versus something that
Speaker:was more with your hands.
Speaker:So it's not like you automatically land on that thing right
Speaker:in the beginning.
Speaker:And your story is a great demonstration of that.
Speaker:So thank you for sharing all of that.
Speaker:Two other points about the story that I want to highlight
Speaker:is when you saw that you wanted to do the four
Speaker:gene, I guess I'll call it by the way I was
Speaker:chuckling when you said,
Speaker:so I just started bending silverware.
Speaker:Oh. I just like went to the drawer and pulled out
Speaker:a fork and started bending or something.
Speaker:It was so funny when you said that,
Speaker:but you made the point that you needed to go online
Speaker:and learn more about how you could actually do what you
Speaker:were envisioning.
Speaker:Absolutely. So share a little bit about where you educated yourself
Speaker:and how you educated yourself.
Speaker:Cause people need to understand that if you have a dream
Speaker:and a vision,
Speaker:you don't necessarily have all the skills yet.
Speaker:You need to do some research and educating to get to
Speaker:where you want to be going.
Speaker:Right? Absolutely.
Speaker:We're fortunate that you can learn how to do almost anything
Speaker:online. I mean,
Speaker:YouTube videos were hugely helpful.
Speaker:Now. Some of them people were using some crazy methods that
Speaker:didn't work for me,
Speaker:but there was a huge amount of YouTube videos or in
Speaker:just looking at photographs of what people had done quickly.
Speaker:I started realizing though that what I was doing with these
Speaker:things, I was creating with my hands,
Speaker:really, I was going into a craft of being a metal
Speaker:Smith, and I could learn from other people who were using
Speaker:specifically silverware,
Speaker:but I quickly also wanted to learn from serious jewelers.
Speaker:At some point I'd been making things for,
Speaker:I don't know,
Speaker:five or six months,
Speaker:and it ended up taking an eight session intro.
Speaker:So silver smithing class that was mostly focused on jewelry on
Speaker:what craft jewelry,
Speaker:but also moving toward the fine jewelry.
Speaker:And that was hugely helpful because I started learning much more
Speaker:refined techniques and tools instead of sort of home Depot tools,
Speaker:which some of which I still use for my metal work
Speaker:and for making jewelry,
Speaker:but also started learning a much,
Speaker:much more refined set of tools and techniques that were just
Speaker:so much more fine and attentive to small detail than I
Speaker:had ever imagined.
Speaker:It challenged me in new ways,
Speaker:taught me to set gemstones or started to learn,
Speaker:to set gemstones and just really brought my technique and moved
Speaker:my technique and vision in a whole new direction.
Speaker:Well, and probably also helped you define your style,
Speaker:the technique and the quality of your items.
Speaker:And when you talk about,
Speaker:you know,
Speaker:there were a lot of things that you were seeing that
Speaker:weren't necessarily what you wanted to do.
Speaker:Some of those things might have inspired your vision too.
Speaker:So you're taking a looking at other things and then making
Speaker:it your own after that.
Speaker:Oh, absolutely.
Speaker:All right.
Speaker:And I've already had a chance to look at your website
Speaker:and see your products.
Speaker:I also want to add to that,
Speaker:that there is a group called flat wearable.
Speaker:It's a small company that makes tools specifically for silverware jewelry
Speaker:and they have an awesome online Facebook group.
Speaker:And that's always been a great source of learning and of
Speaker:sharing for me.
Speaker:So it's something that much more specific than just jewelry,
Speaker:very specific to the tools and techniques that are really about
Speaker:working with flatware.
Speaker:Oh, I love that you shared that With that and then
Speaker:delving more into fine jewelry techniques and a combination of those
Speaker:things have both been hugely helpful.
Speaker:Yeah. Okay.
Speaker:All right.
Speaker:Wonderful. So continuing on with your journey.
Speaker:So at some point you decided then maybe I'm enjoying doing
Speaker:this more or would like to flip the weight of what
Speaker:I'm doing versus being a rabbi.
Speaker:So talk us through how that transition happened.
Speaker:I am a rabbi,
Speaker:both in my training,
Speaker:my identity,
Speaker:and I still work as a rabbi,
Speaker:but in a much lower key way,
Speaker:much less amount of my time.
Speaker:Would it be right to say that you flipped,
Speaker:like it used to be that being a rabbi and all
Speaker:that you did with that was your major thing and now
Speaker:lost and forged is your major focus?
Speaker:Absolutely. So at some point I felt like a rabbi who
Speaker:moonlit as an entrepreneur and as a metal Smith.
Speaker:And now I'm a metal Smith who moonlights as a rabbi
Speaker:in terms of my professional time.
Speaker:Well, it sounds like you enjoy both.
Speaker:And so this was just readjusting to fit what your desires
Speaker:were. Absolutely.
Speaker:Okay. And so you said you gave them notice A year,
Speaker:A year notice.
Speaker:Well, you know,
Speaker:and I was working,
Speaker:I think I had a three-year contract with the synagogue at
Speaker:that point.
Speaker:So one year it felt like an appropriate amount of time.
Speaker:Okay. So just a side note has nothing to do with
Speaker:further conversations,
Speaker:but I'm just curious.
Speaker:So are you still working with that same synagogue now?
Speaker:No different synagogue.
Speaker:I mean,
Speaker:I have a fund connection with that synagogue.
Speaker:I keep in touch with people from there,
Speaker:but it's a different synagogue that I'm working.
Speaker:Got it.
Speaker:Okay. So what did you do then during that year to
Speaker:prepare yourself?
Speaker:So you already made the plan and I was a long
Speaker:time planner too.
Speaker:When I started my first business,
Speaker:I really looked at it planned,
Speaker:got everything together,
Speaker:et cetera.
Speaker:What types of things were you doing during that year as
Speaker:you were equipping yourself?
Speaker:Quote, unquote for more full-time lost and forged Many things.
Speaker:I remember taking some online classes through creative life,
Speaker:just self-paced Where they business type classes,
Speaker:Business classes for makers,
Speaker:Got It for makers and designers.
Speaker:So that was very helpful.
Speaker:And that was really helping me to think more about part
Speaker:of that was preparation to sell wholesale.
Speaker:And that was the way that I first wanted to build.
Speaker:At least as far as lost and forge went.
Speaker:That was the way that I really wanted to make it
Speaker:bigger, to grow through wholesale.
Speaker:And that wasn't as successful as I wanted,
Speaker:but I think it helped me straighten out my pricing.
Speaker:It helped me think through my pricing much more clearly.
Speaker:I think there were a lot of things that were helpful
Speaker:about that,
Speaker:even though the wholesale direction that I was planning to go
Speaker:was not sufficient in the end.
Speaker:Okay. And were you doing that during this year period?
Speaker:This transition period.
Speaker:I was certainly taking some of those classes and thinking about
Speaker:how to build my business in a wholesale direction.
Speaker:Okay. So you had the vision of wholesale and then down
Speaker:the road because you would test everything right.
Speaker:And see what works and it's different for different products,
Speaker:different areas of the country.
Speaker:What works for one person doesn't necessarily always work for somebody
Speaker:else, but these are all options for everybody.
Speaker:Of course.
Speaker:So to help our listeners who are just starting out,
Speaker:you're talking about training and learning both on technique in making
Speaker:your product,
Speaker:and then also getting some guidance,
Speaker:thoughts about business development.
Speaker:What specifically did you do as you were starting lost and
Speaker:forged? What were the very first steps you took?
Speaker:I mean,
Speaker:I thought of a name And where did this come from?
Speaker:I mean,
Speaker:the first thing that I did before I thought about it
Speaker:as a business,
Speaker:I just created things and I shared them with the world.
Speaker:I was excited about them.
Speaker:I think for a lot of people,
Speaker:there is a hesitancy to share.
Speaker:And for me it's the opposite.
Speaker:I'm always very excited to share.
Speaker:Like I can't wait to share what I've done.
Speaker:Oh my gosh,
Speaker:Doug, I am so glad you brought that up because you
Speaker:are absolutely right.
Speaker:I think people want to like stay in a private box
Speaker:where people that they know don't see them until they're successful,
Speaker:but the people who you know and who already care about
Speaker:you, family and friends are the best people to try things
Speaker:out with because you already have a relationship with them.
Speaker:The worst thing that's going to happen is it's not going
Speaker:to work.
Speaker:Right. And that's fine.
Speaker:They still love you.
Speaker:Everything is fine.
Speaker:But you were talking about in the very beginning before we
Speaker:are at the question,
Speaker:I'm asking you now,
Speaker:when you start your name,
Speaker:when you figure out what the name of the business is
Speaker:going to be,
Speaker:you already told me that you had people who were interested
Speaker:in buying your product Early on.
Speaker:People were buying From early on.
Speaker:And that validation that what you're making people have an interest
Speaker:in. If it's the right audience they're willing to buy.
Speaker:So validating is absolutely the best thing that you can do.
Speaker:And I've been trying to drive this into everybody and you're
Speaker:a demonstration of doing it perfectly.
Speaker:So before you even start your business,
Speaker:before you even name it,
Speaker:your seeing that there's a market for your product.
Speaker:So that's amazing.
Speaker:Okay. Take it away.
Speaker:I just had to interject there.
Speaker:You're reinforcing something I talk about regularly.
Speaker:So I had to say that.
Speaker:Yes. So that's always been super important.
Speaker:I mean,
Speaker:the sharing with people has always fueled what I do and
Speaker:has been part of the most important inspiration.
Speaker:So I was making things I was sharing.
Speaker:I was learning to make broadening the types of things I
Speaker:made learning to make them better.
Speaker:And eventually started because I was selling things started to envision
Speaker:it because I was selling things.
Speaker:And because I was interested in entrepreneurship and in my own
Speaker:path, as an entrepreneur started thinking about it as a business,
Speaker:I picked a name,
Speaker:I thought at some point in that next year,
Speaker:I mean,
Speaker:this is still a couple of years before I quit.
Speaker:My day job.
Speaker:That's incorporated as a registered,
Speaker:as an LLC,
Speaker:started an Etsy shop,
Speaker:eventually started a website and was also doing more craft shows
Speaker:and art shows.
Speaker:Okay. That's a lot,
Speaker:that's a lot right there.
Speaker:Okay. So you registered as an LLC,
Speaker:which was fabulous.
Speaker:How did you decide on your name Last and forged?
Speaker:To me,
Speaker:it was the simplest phrase that described what I do both.
Speaker:I mean,
Speaker:you know,
Speaker:it's a little bit of a pun.
Speaker:It sounds like lost and found,
Speaker:but I'm dealing with old objects that I'm transforming with metal
Speaker:work techniques.
Speaker:And so did you check to make sure that no one
Speaker:else had the name that you could get the URL,
Speaker:like all that kind of thing,
Speaker:All of that.
Speaker:And you were lucky,
Speaker:which means it was meant to be Doug.
Speaker:Well, and I think I wouldn't have gone very far with
Speaker:the name if I wouldn't have,
Speaker:I was busy checking those things as I thought of the
Speaker:name. Right.
Speaker:And I lived in a space where I was excited about
Speaker:doing those kinds of things.
Speaker:What was that craving at that stage of my life?
Speaker:Building something new,
Speaker:building something from the ground up sort of choosing,
Speaker:helping to choose or formulate its identity.
Speaker:I had almost the compulsive tendency to look up domain names,
Speaker:things like that.
Speaker:Got it.
Speaker:For any business idea that I had.
Speaker:And here was a business idea that was,
Speaker:you know,
Speaker:where I was already busy making things.
Speaker:So of course I was going to think about its identity
Speaker:and its name and not go very far with that name.
Speaker:If it weren't sort of available,
Speaker:if it were heavily associated with another brand or business or,
Speaker:you know,
Speaker:Very smart,
Speaker:because then there's the confusion.
Speaker:And if you have a name that someone else has,
Speaker:or you have to add the,
Speaker:you know,
Speaker:how people will add numbers or put underline marks in between
Speaker:words and all of that,
Speaker:that just causes confusion.
Speaker:So that was really,
Speaker:really smart to do.
Speaker:I think it would be possible to put too much energy
Speaker:into that too early.
Speaker:You don't want to create,
Speaker:like you said,
Speaker:validating is more important than sort of brand identity at first.
Speaker:Yeah. I mean,
Speaker:I say that and I really wanted to emphasize it because
Speaker:I'll find a number of people who the very first thing
Speaker:they do is decide the name.
Speaker:Cause that's a fun project to do,
Speaker:you know,
Speaker:it's very visionary and all that,
Speaker:Right? Yeah.
Speaker:But then sometimes they land on a name and go through
Speaker:LLC registration or whatever.
Speaker:And then two years later,
Speaker:their name is completely disconnected from what they're actually selling.
Speaker:So then they have to go back and do that.
Speaker:So that's the reason it's so important to wait.
Speaker:You can still be searching and thinking,
Speaker:but hold off on doing anything first.
Speaker:Right. I guess I sort of stumbled into those steps in
Speaker:the right order,
Speaker:I guess.
Speaker:No, you're amazing.
Speaker:You are amazing.
Speaker:So I would love to chat both about your online presence
Speaker:and the craft shows,
Speaker:but I want to take them separately.
Speaker:So let's start with the online presence.
Speaker:So the first thing you did there was Etsy I'm thinking
Speaker:versus your own website.
Speaker:Well, some of them are around the same time.
Speaker:I both started my Etsy shop and started an early version
Speaker:of my website.
Speaker:It was a WordPress website I believe.
Speaker:And it was very short lived,
Speaker:I mean,
Speaker:ever since.
Speaker:So that was maybe the fall of 2015 or so,
Speaker:and then started making things in the summer of 2015,
Speaker:like in June and then in the fall,
Speaker:I think I both started my Etsy shop at around the
Speaker:same time,
Speaker:built a WordPress website,
Speaker:which I kind of knew how to do.
Speaker:Why did you do both at the same time?
Speaker:I don't even remember.
Speaker:I mean,
Speaker:I built my own website.
Speaker:Yeah, I guess so,
Speaker:you know,
Speaker:I was excited about creating and launching a business.
Speaker:I think I kinda knew how to build a WordPress website
Speaker:and it seemed doable.
Speaker:And then Etsy does a great job of making it really
Speaker:easy to start your shop or your store or whatever they
Speaker:call it.
Speaker:The tech skills that you need to get up and running
Speaker:on Etsy are negligible.
Speaker:They make it very approachable and they're amazing at that.
Speaker:And they also bring you at that time,
Speaker:maybe still,
Speaker:but at certainly at that time 2015,
Speaker:you could get traffic on Etsy.
Speaker:Are you on both still today?
Speaker:I still am on both.
Speaker:I put a lot more effort into my own website,
Speaker:but I still am on Etsy and appreciate Betsy for a
Speaker:lot of reasons.
Speaker:Well, and I would say that there's different audiences that see
Speaker:you on different places too.
Speaker:There are people that will run into you on Etsy who
Speaker:may never discover your website first,
Speaker:you know,
Speaker:because they're on Etsy searching.
Speaker:So two different places online,
Speaker:two different audiences,
Speaker:two sets of opportunity.
Speaker:Absolutely. It was a long time before a stranger would discover
Speaker:my website,
Speaker:right. Or strangers would find me on Etsy from early on.
Speaker:I mean,
Speaker:I think it took me a couple of months to make
Speaker:the first sale on Etsy,
Speaker:but that was a long before I made a first sale
Speaker:to a stranger on my own website.
Speaker:And it just couldn't have happened on my own.
Speaker:You build a website,
Speaker:even if it's an amazing website,
Speaker:nobody will find it at first.
Speaker:You have to send people there.
Speaker:You have to get people over there.
Speaker:You have to send people there and then eventually can build
Speaker:up ways that it can bring in more than just the
Speaker:people you send Right Then.
Speaker:So that WordPress website was very short-lived.
Speaker:I think it was by spring of 2016 or so that
Speaker:I built on Shopify instead.
Speaker:And that's still what I'm using.
Speaker:Amen. That Shopify is my go-to and suggestion for everyone.
Speaker:So I'm glad you said that I actually have one website.
Speaker:My gift is unwrapped website is a WordPress website.
Speaker:You know,
Speaker:the one connected with the podcast and my other business is
Speaker:a Shopify site.
Speaker:So I have experience with both,
Speaker:but love Shopify.
Speaker:And I'm thrilled that you are reinforcing that.
Speaker:I think if somebody wants to do e-commerce,
Speaker:you know,
Speaker:I'm not just a website where you show things and can,
Speaker:you know,
Speaker:if you just want a website,
Speaker:that's a gallery,
Speaker:I'm sure there's a lot of good ways to do that.
Speaker:But if you want an e-commerce website,
Speaker:unless Shopify is just hugely helpful.
Speaker:Yes, absolutely.
Speaker:For sure.
Speaker:And in having looked at your website,
Speaker:I also love,
Speaker:and I think it's a great practice that you also show
Speaker:the shows that you're going to be at.
Speaker:That's all listed on the website and we'll start talking about
Speaker:the shows in a minute.
Speaker:You also have a blog there,
Speaker:which I find very interesting.
Speaker:And I took a peek at a couple of the articles.
Speaker:You take a broad range to what a blog could be
Speaker:like. I've seen that you put the press,
Speaker:the articles that have been in the press as part of
Speaker:your blog.
Speaker:I also saw a couple of videos there,
Speaker:right? Yes,
Speaker:absolutely. What is your thinking in terms of what the blog
Speaker:does to reinforce the business?
Speaker:Isn't this a fascinating conversation.
Speaker:We're going to take a short break here and then come
Speaker:right back.
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Speaker:Blog is usually helpful.
Speaker:A huge part of the online orders that I get are
Speaker:connected to the blog.
Speaker:It has taken years and it's still a work in progress,
Speaker:but the blog is one of the best ways to build
Speaker:SEO, to build search engine optimization.
Speaker:So you can get found when people search for things online.
Speaker:When people go to Google or the other search engines,
Speaker:probably the single biggest source of website traffic to my website
Speaker:now comes from search from people,
Speaker:searching on Google,
Speaker:mostly looking for spoon ranks,
Speaker:but searching for other things too.
Speaker:And starting to blog about those is the way that you
Speaker:tell Google and the world that you have something to say
Speaker:about whatever the topic is,
Speaker:Right. And a blog is new content all the time.
Speaker:Yeah, that's amazing.
Speaker:So what is your thinking?
Speaker:Do you have like a strategy of how often you put
Speaker:up a blog or like,
Speaker:how are you deciding what you'll turn into a blog or
Speaker:whether you'll create a blog,
Speaker:a new article or a video?
Speaker:Is that part of a master plan?
Speaker:Be honest.
Speaker:I Don't know if I heard that hesitation there Masterplan sun's
Speaker:bigger and more organized than I actually am.
Speaker:So I mean,
Speaker:at some combination of when I need to and when I
Speaker:can. Okay.
Speaker:All right.
Speaker:But you definitely see the importance because I see some consistency
Speaker:there. Absolutely.
Speaker:So the other big way that I send people to my
Speaker:website is through my email list.
Speaker:And when I have something that I want to email out,
Speaker:if it's not like a product or a collection,
Speaker:when I send an email to my customer list or to
Speaker:my list,
Speaker:and there's about 3000 people on the list or so,
Speaker:and I try to email them about once a week,
Speaker:I need to have somewhere to send them every time I
Speaker:send an email,
Speaker:I want to have a place to send them.
Speaker:And basically I want it to be somewhere on my website.
Speaker:And so often it's when I think about where to send
Speaker:them on my website,
Speaker:I realized I need a new blog entry.
Speaker:I needed a new place to send them because if it's
Speaker:not a product page or a collection page,
Speaker:and then I need a place to send them.
Speaker:And likely that is going to be a blog article.
Speaker:When I create a new blog entry,
Speaker:a new blog post that's often my answer to where to
Speaker:send my list on my website.
Speaker:Okay. So your email is kind of the trigger reminder Very
Speaker:often. Like,
Speaker:oh, I can't just send this email out without someplace to
Speaker:send them on my website.
Speaker:So the blog entry.
Speaker:So that's why,
Speaker:you know,
Speaker:for example,
Speaker:when there's press,
Speaker:I'll at least put some of that press on the blog
Speaker:post as a place to send them,
Speaker:you know,
Speaker:oh, here's this new article.
Speaker:I could just send them to that media outlet.
Speaker:But I really,
Speaker:it takes a lot of work to drive traffic,
Speaker:to send my list,
Speaker:to check something out online that takes a lot of work.
Speaker:And at the end,
Speaker:I don't just want to send them to somewhere else on
Speaker:the internet.
Speaker:I want to send them to my website then maybe from
Speaker:there to the magazine or newspaper or whoever was kind enough
Speaker:to publish something about me.
Speaker:Right. First I went on them to my website to check
Speaker:it out.
Speaker:Yeah, no,
Speaker:that's an excellent,
Speaker:excellent point.
Speaker:And I think you're the first person I've ever seen really
Speaker:doing it that way,
Speaker:because what you've done is you've taken pictures of the article
Speaker:and then have it as an image in a blog.
Speaker:Great. Maybe a little bit of the taxed separately,
Speaker:but yeah.
Speaker:So people can check out some of it and then if
Speaker:they want the full article,
Speaker:usually they can click over to the publication.
Speaker:Yeah. That's perfect.
Speaker:Do you ever talk about like,
Speaker:oh, I was so excited to be featured.
Speaker:I was a little nervous.
Speaker:It's the first time I've ever done a television interview or
Speaker:something like,
Speaker:do you ever give any like personal background to the article?
Speaker:Hm, interesting.
Speaker:I don't know if I have,
Speaker:that would be a great thing to do.
Speaker:Yeah. Just a little behind the scenes of how you felt.
Speaker:And then look at resulted in this article,
Speaker:how exciting and fun read more wherever.
Speaker:That's a great idea.
Speaker:I like it.
Speaker:It's just so interesting.
Speaker:Always for other people to hear how these things develop and
Speaker:how they happen,
Speaker:or even that they called you up of the blue and
Speaker:you were so shocked or whatever,
Speaker:I don't know.
Speaker:And you were actually working on this ring,
Speaker:go see the ring I was working on and here's the
Speaker:link. Yes.
Speaker:And my,
Speaker:and my blog posts at the end,
Speaker:there's always linked to different products and things that people can
Speaker:check out.
Speaker:Right. But sometimes there might be a better way to sometimes
Speaker:those products are closely related to the article and sometimes there's
Speaker:not. And there's pure for me to share more of that.
Speaker:Yeah, no,
Speaker:I love that you're doing a blog overall.
Speaker:Cause I don't think a lot of people are considering a
Speaker:blog and what it really can do and how it can
Speaker:benefit a product based business.
Speaker:So I absolutely love that.
Speaker:Yeah. So one of the other directions that blog posts get
Speaker:formulated is answering questions that I see people have often or
Speaker:something that is people often,
Speaker:you know,
Speaker:I get so many questions about spoon ring sizes.
Speaker:What happens if it doesn't fit?
Speaker:How do I know what size to order?
Speaker:And so one of my best read blog posts is about
Speaker:spoon, ring sizes and sizing and my resizing process and things
Speaker:like that.
Speaker:Oh, that's amazing.
Speaker:Yeah. Or One of my most,
Speaker:well trafficked blog posts is about the story of spoon rings.
Speaker:So the history of spoon ring,
Speaker:so the meaning of spoon rings,
Speaker:something like that.
Speaker:And I don't remember how I thought to create that blog
Speaker:post. I don't remember if it was doing research,
Speaker:figuring out what are questions people are asking.
Speaker:But anyway,
Speaker:I wrote a blog post about the history of spoon rings
Speaker:and that's a great way that people come into my website
Speaker:from search,
Speaker:from search engines.
Speaker:It's clearly serving you well.
Speaker:And it's evergreen content.
Speaker:That article is relevant forever.
Speaker:Absolutely. Okay.
Speaker:Let's flip over now and talk a little bit about the
Speaker:art shows that you're doing.
Speaker:So you do,
Speaker:it looks like fine.
Speaker:Art shows mostly,
Speaker:Mostly a variety.
Speaker:So some are sort of artisan maker or craft or shows,
Speaker:but more of them are well,
Speaker:there's both more of them are art shows,
Speaker:more of them are juried art shows.
Speaker:Okay. All right.
Speaker:Let's not even talk about the fact that there was a
Speaker:time here in our very recent past that we couldn't do
Speaker:shows very well.
Speaker:Let's just talk about shows full-blown shows.
Speaker:Okay. Sure.
Speaker:Share with us a little bit about what your booth looks
Speaker:like just as a scription of your booth.
Speaker:I basically have two booth setups,
Speaker:but let's talk about my favorite.
Speaker:The one I think of as my main one,
Speaker:I sometimes call it my mobile boutique.
Speaker:I don't know if you've seen pictures or videos.
Speaker:It's unusual.
Speaker:I did see that now that you brought it up,
Speaker:I did see that.
Speaker:Okay. Share it with everybody.
Speaker:Yes. And it lives on a trailer and I tell it
Speaker:with my minivan and it fits.
Speaker:And then,
Speaker:but when I use it,
Speaker:I take the trailer out from under it and set it
Speaker:directly on the ground.
Speaker:It's almost like a small cabin.
Speaker:And the front of it is two doors,
Speaker:two big doors,
Speaker:like big barn doors that I can remove.
Speaker:So when I open up for business,
Speaker:I take the doors off.
Speaker:The thing is setting on the ground.
Speaker:It has like a six inch step up from the pavement.
Speaker:Now, when it's up on the trailer,
Speaker:it's like two and a half feet up from the pavement.
Speaker:And I figured out a way so that I can boost
Speaker:it up off the trailer,
Speaker:roll the trailer out from underneath it,
Speaker:park the trailer somewhere else,
Speaker:or take it home for the weekend and set the boots
Speaker:down on the ground.
Speaker:I develop the concept on my own.
Speaker:And then a friend who's a master carpenter initially did a
Speaker:lot of the construction.
Speaker:And eventually I worked with him and alongside him and started
Speaker:doing the modifications and things on my own eventually.
Speaker:So virtually there's less set up then,
Speaker:apart from positioning,
Speaker:the mobile boutique,
Speaker:there's less setup.
Speaker:Cause all of that can just stay there.
Speaker:Right? You still have to set up all the displays with
Speaker:the product,
Speaker:but all of those,
Speaker:No, no,
Speaker:no. Most of the displays are a fixed to the shelves.
Speaker:So I've shelves and like say necklace,
Speaker:busts bring stands.
Speaker:Those are permanently attached.
Speaker:I'm in,
Speaker:I can move them,
Speaker:but they're attached with screws and things to the shelves.
Speaker:And then I can leave a lot of my products on
Speaker:them Really.
Speaker:And they don't rattle around.
Speaker:They just need small adjustment.
Speaker:Oh they rattle around.
Speaker:But they don't.
Speaker:Yeah. I mean,
Speaker:correct. Okay.
Speaker:So like the necklaces I'll pin them onto the bust so
Speaker:they don't fly off in transit.
Speaker:Oh my gosh.
Speaker:And then I take out the pins that would show so
Speaker:that they're just jarring.
Speaker:And so they can come off easily when people want to
Speaker:try them on or by them.
Speaker:That sounds like a dream because set up can be so
Speaker:tedious. Especially when you have smaller pieces,
Speaker:lots of smaller pieces.
Speaker:Right. And I want to show like 250 pieces.
Speaker:Whoa I'm in a lot of them are rings.
Speaker:A lot of them are small and they have to show,
Speaker:it's not like they're in a bin.
Speaker:I mean,
Speaker:everybody has their different pinpoints during setup.
Speaker:So I don't want to dismiss the work that other people
Speaker:do, but a painter or a 2d artists can have a
Speaker:bin of prints that people leave through and that's fine,
Speaker:but I don't display anything that way.
Speaker:Each piece shows or it's just in storage or it's just
Speaker:in reserve and then to set up each piece so that
Speaker:it showed it was killing me and it was driving me
Speaker:crazy. And then the wind would come and knock everything over
Speaker:and I just couldn't eat this.
Speaker:And it was also hard to think about ways to show
Speaker:that were like true to me and true to my brand
Speaker:to do that.
Speaker:I was creating sort of big ambitious displays that were really
Speaker:difficult to carry around and really difficult set up.
Speaker:And still the wind would sometimes knock things over and it
Speaker:was grueling and it was hard and it was driving me
Speaker:crazy. And I just thought I can't do this.
Speaker:There has to be a better way.
Speaker:Yeah, for sure.
Speaker:Okay. So if anyone wants to see your mobile boutique,
Speaker:where would an image be that they could say You can
Speaker:go to my website,
Speaker:lost and forge.com
Speaker:and then I need to make it easier to find.
Speaker:But if you dig through my blog,
Speaker:you'll find a couple of articles about it.
Speaker:And then also on my email list at the bottom of
Speaker:EV there's sort of a collage,
Speaker:like a four photo collage at the bottom and one of
Speaker:them is always of the boom.
Speaker:I think that's probably where I saw it actually.
Speaker:Oh, maybe.
Speaker:So The belief at the bottom of the email anyway.
Speaker:Okay. So our time is starting to wind down here,
Speaker:but I'd like for you to talk a little bit about
Speaker:the way you work,
Speaker:your trade shows,
Speaker:like how,
Speaker:when people come into the boutique,
Speaker:how you interact with people,
Speaker:just any advice,
Speaker:suggestions, what you found to be great for you in terms
Speaker:of success,
Speaker:with connecting with potential customers and people who actually purchased during
Speaker:the show.
Speaker:Okay. So first of all shows are,
Speaker:I mean,
Speaker:as much as I can talk about the difficult to shows
Speaker:or just grades is my chance to share and to show
Speaker:off. And it's tons of fun.
Speaker:And I learned early on that started to really inspire me
Speaker:and help me to take my work much more seriously,
Speaker:seeing how people responded to my pieces in person.
Speaker:And so I want to be ready.
Speaker:I want to be,
Speaker:I say hello to everybody.
Speaker:I mean,
Speaker:occasionally if it's so crowded or something,
Speaker:maybe somebody comes in and I don't get to.
Speaker:But my goal is always to say hello to everybody,
Speaker:talk to everybody and try to engage with every person who
Speaker:comes in.
Speaker:I want to show them,
Speaker:I want to do as much as I can early on
Speaker:to help them understand what my work is about.
Speaker:Ideally from before they even get into the booth.
Speaker:So signage is really important.
Speaker:Both signage that people can see from far away and signage,
Speaker:people see close up that explain different aspects of it that
Speaker:might not be immediately clear.
Speaker:I try to immediately show people something that I think will
Speaker:surprise them.
Speaker:I expect people to have often seen spoon ring,
Speaker:something made from the handle of the spoon,
Speaker:but I try to show them something that they haven't seen
Speaker:before. So a ring that's made from an entire spoon,
Speaker:for example,
Speaker:an attire,
Speaker:usually very small spoon.
Speaker:And usually people haven't seen that before or a ring that
Speaker:is not only a spoon room,
Speaker:but that has gemstones real gemstones that have set as a
Speaker:Juul or wood and people very often,
Speaker:haven't seen that before or something else.
Speaker:Like, you know,
Speaker:one of my candle sticks where I show them this twisty
Speaker:looking candle stick that looks like a tree.
Speaker:It has tree roots at the bottom.
Speaker:And I say,
Speaker:this candle stick used to be a whole dinner fork until
Speaker:I transformed it.
Speaker:And partly because that's the fun for me.
Speaker:I mean,
Speaker:I get to see how they respond.
Speaker:And people often respond with this surprise and delight or a
Speaker:double-take that is just tons of fun.
Speaker:You know,
Speaker:that fuels me.
Speaker:And anyway,
Speaker:these are ways that I immediately try to show them something
Speaker:they haven't,
Speaker:that both educates them about my work is,
Speaker:and hopefully gives them a sense of surprise and delight or
Speaker:a fun,
Speaker:and it's serving them and it's serving me and it's educating
Speaker:them about my work.
Speaker:And in some sense,
Speaker:like I'm there to sell and the sales are extremely important
Speaker:to me,
Speaker:but in the moment it's not super important that the person
Speaker:buys something I just want to share.
Speaker:And I want them to have fun at my booth and
Speaker:to see something that they enjoy and find interesting.
Speaker:If people eventually almost everybody who spends time there,
Speaker:I do ask them to sign up for my email list
Speaker:usually. And if people ask me for a business card,
Speaker:I do not have them there.
Speaker:I don't have business cards there.
Speaker:Is there a reason?
Speaker:Yes. Because,
Speaker:well, the first time was because I forgot my business cards,
Speaker:but I had for any number of weeks or months that
Speaker:shows and I was doing more small,
Speaker:like farmer's markets and little craft shows back then.
Speaker:So I was doing more of them and I had been
Speaker:trying to get people to sign up for my email list.
Speaker:And basically they wouldn't visibly were like,
Speaker:I have your card.
Speaker:Oh, it's a nice excuse for them not to share their
Speaker:email. Right.
Speaker:Right. So one day I actually went to the trouble.
Speaker:If I had an iPad that was just there.
Speaker:So people would sign up and nobody would do it.
Speaker:Or if they did,
Speaker:it felt like they were doing the big favor,
Speaker:Which then kind of decreases all of the Goodwill from your
Speaker:initial interactions with them A little bit.
Speaker:Right. It wasn't working.
Speaker:People would take business cards and maybe they would get in
Speaker:touch with me.
Speaker:Probably not.
Speaker:I mean,
Speaker:you know,
Speaker:when I take a business card off and I lose it
Speaker:and what this one day I forgot my business cards or
Speaker:they were in the car and I didn't have time to
Speaker:get them because the show was starting or something.
Speaker:And that day,
Speaker:way more people signed up for my email list.
Speaker:There you go.
Speaker:I made it a practice of never having business cards in
Speaker:the booth.
Speaker:Now it's like,
Speaker:I'm responding to their requests.
Speaker:People say,
Speaker:do you have a card?
Speaker:Or how can I get in touch with you?
Speaker:I asked them to sign up and I'm being responsive to
Speaker:their need.
Speaker:Oh yeah.
Speaker:You're flipping the script there.
Speaker:And I also eventually started also saying,
Speaker:well, you get a 15% discount.
Speaker:You know,
Speaker:you'd get a little discount if you sign up for my
Speaker:list. Yeah.
Speaker:That's also motivating,
Speaker:but right.
Speaker:So yes.
Speaker:Do you ever do like a drawing for a free piece
Speaker:or something if they sign up?
Speaker:Not as part of the signup,
Speaker:but I have done that as I've had social media contest
Speaker:where I have a giveaway.
Speaker:I see.
Speaker:Okay. Once I had something where once I had a fun
Speaker:social media contest where people could suggest the engraving for a
Speaker:ring and I would pick my favorite of them and that
Speaker:person would get the spoon ring with the free engraving on
Speaker:the inside or outside as they wanted.
Speaker:I gotcha.
Speaker:But, but that was not for email list development.
Speaker:Not for signing up.
Speaker:Correct. All right.
Speaker:Let's just talk for one more minute.
Speaker:Any other tips or thoughts for your booth interaction with customers?
Speaker:What else is working for you?
Speaker:The no business cards is a great tip because that's so
Speaker:easy. Right?
Speaker:And I think for a lot of,
Speaker:most people aren't willing to do that.
Speaker:Every, I don't know,
Speaker:everybody's somewhat different needs,
Speaker:right? For me,
Speaker:it works better if I just don't have them there.
Speaker:What else we'll be ready to engage,
Speaker:have displays that eventually.
Speaker:And this can be hard.
Speaker:I think,
Speaker:create displays that reflect your brand.
Speaker:So for me,
Speaker:it's about metalwork.
Speaker:It's about reuse.
Speaker:It's about,
Speaker:there is sort of a handmade look to it.
Speaker:Those things are important,
Speaker:but also it has to be doable.
Speaker:It can't be onerous.
Speaker:It can't just be so burdensome.
Speaker:Ideally, you know,
Speaker:make it a place that's fun for you to be Right.
Speaker:Welcoming and fun where people want to come in.
Speaker:Right. I mean,
Speaker:I could spend days talking about my booth and what's worked
Speaker:and what hasn't.
Speaker:I mean,
Speaker:I have security cameras because I want people to be able
Speaker:to try.
Speaker:I don't find jewelers often or hi,
Speaker:Angela is often can be behind glass.
Speaker:Most of my pieces can't because I want people to feel
Speaker:it should be trying them on.
Speaker:I mean,
Speaker:people come in and try on dozens of spoon rings.
Speaker:And then also part of the fun of my business is
Speaker:that I resized the spoon rings right.
Speaker:For them right there on the spot.
Speaker:And for a lot of people,
Speaker:it's the closest they ever get to working metal Smith,
Speaker:creating something for them.
Speaker:Cause I'm resizing it for them on the spot using these
Speaker:goofy old tools and saying funny things about it.
Speaker:Oh, that's cool.
Speaker:Cause that's kind of a little demo too.
Speaker:Absolutely. So first of all,
Speaker:I mean I'm resizing spoon rings and that's its own little
Speaker:demonstration. And then people feel like it's custom made for them
Speaker:because every size for them on the spot using funky old
Speaker:looking metal Smith tools.
Speaker:But then I do also have a demonstration bench where I'm
Speaker:often especially things where I have it set up showing forks
Speaker:that I've been transforming where I've been sculpting the fork tines
Speaker:sort of.
Speaker:So sometimes I'm actually working,
Speaker:making things on that little demonstration bench.
Speaker:Other times it's just set up to serve display the materials,
Speaker:show forks in the mid process of being transformed.
Speaker:I love that idea too,
Speaker:because if you're at a show and let's say traffic is
Speaker:really slow,
Speaker:then you can actually be working.
Speaker:You can be putting in production time and Showtime in the
Speaker:same way.
Speaker:Oh absolutely.
Speaker:Yeah. Wonderful.
Speaker:Oh my gosh,
Speaker:Doug, this is so amazing.
Speaker:You're right.
Speaker:We could go on talking for days.
Speaker:Cause I could think of a list of questions that I'd
Speaker:want to ask,
Speaker:but for now I think the best thing would be for
Speaker:us to direct our listeners to where they can see more,
Speaker:have some demonstration of what you're doing,
Speaker:like the blog and all of that.
Speaker:So where's the best place online where we,
Speaker:you would like to send people Best place to find me
Speaker:online and to learn about me and about my work is
Speaker:my website lost and forged.com.
Speaker:You spell out the word and lost sort of like lost
Speaker:and found,
Speaker:but lost and forged forged metal work.
Speaker:And my blog is part of the website,
Speaker:all my products,
Speaker:the online store,
Speaker:it's all part of the same website.
Speaker:That's the best way to go.
Speaker:Okay. And I think you had something to offer us today
Speaker:too. I do.
Speaker:So I always offer,
Speaker:if you sign up for my email list,
Speaker:you always get a 15% discount for your first order within
Speaker:two weeks.
Speaker:But for listeners of the show,
Speaker:I'm offering a 20% discount on the spoon ring of your
Speaker:choice and there's all kinds of fun spoon rings.
Speaker:And so the gift code or discount code is unwrapped for
Speaker:your podcast listeners too.
Speaker:And that's for first two weeks after this podcast airs.
Speaker:So it's the last two weeks of July.
Speaker:You can get a 20% discount off of any spoon ring
Speaker:from my website using the gift code unwrapped.
Speaker:Perfect. So then you have until July 31st,
Speaker:2022 to take advantage of the 20% off gift that Doug's
Speaker:given us.
Speaker:So that's amazing,
Speaker:Doug, thank you so much.
Speaker:You better like have a lot of rings there for us
Speaker:to choose from.
Speaker:Oh, I do.
Speaker:Okay. Wonderful.
Speaker:Well, thank you so much for your time today,
Speaker:Doug. I mean,
Speaker:it's been such first off just going from rabbi to artisan
Speaker:and making that flip.
Speaker:I know you're still doing both,
Speaker:but making that flip is such an interesting concept first off.
Speaker:And then the whole development of Loston forged in terms of
Speaker:validation, all that you've put together,
Speaker:I'm still a little blown away that you put up an
Speaker:Etsy shop and a website at the same time.
Speaker:I will put you in the category of overachiever.
Speaker:You'll accept it right with pride.
Speaker:I Don't recommend it.
Speaker:Hey, we all do it our own way.
Speaker:And I think that that is amazing.
Speaker:So Doug,
Speaker:thank you so so much for giving us an inside peek
Speaker:into the development of Loston forged and everything that you've shared
Speaker:with us today.
Speaker:I so appreciate it.
Speaker:Thank you Sue for taking the time to talk to me
Speaker:and thanks for all you do to walk entrepreneurs and artists
Speaker:and makers through important steps of building and growing our businesses.
Speaker:Thank you so much for that.
Speaker:Take care,
Speaker:have a great rest of your day.
Speaker:Bye. So Wow.
Speaker:Let's summarize what Doug did to get his business to where
Speaker:it is today.
Speaker:He had an open mind and tried out a number of
Speaker:business ideas.
Speaker:He validated his product early on.
Speaker:He now sells in person on Etsy and his own website
Speaker:all while collecting email addresses and interacting with his customers regularly.
Speaker:And he has a fabulous creation story and makes gorgeous unique
Speaker:products. If you're just starting out relisten to this one,
Speaker:with pen and paper at the ready,
Speaker:it truly is a model to follow.
Speaker:Before you move on to your next activity today,
Speaker:make sure to get your name on the list for at
Speaker:least one gift biz bash.
Speaker:You can see the dates and times for upcoming sessions and
Speaker:get signed up over at gift biz,
Speaker:unwrapped.com forward slash bash.
Speaker:And if you're enjoying the podcast and would like to show
Speaker:support a rating and review would be wonderful.
Speaker:It helps spread the word about the show too.
Speaker:So it's a great way to pay it forward.
Speaker:There's also another way to get something tangible in exchange for
Speaker:your support.
Speaker:Visit my merch shop for a wide variety of inspirational items
Speaker:like mugs,
Speaker:journals, water bottles,
Speaker:and more featuring logos images and quotes to inspire you throughout
Speaker:your day makes a great gift to,
Speaker:and we've just added some new products for the season,
Speaker:which is my favorite design right now.
Speaker:It's a toss up with that gorgeous lemonade image and a
Speaker:quote about refreshing and the beautiful butterfly design what's yours.
Speaker:Turnaround is quick and the quality is top notch,
Speaker:nothing but the best for you.
Speaker:Take a look@alltheoptionsatgiftbizon.com
Speaker:forward slash shop.
Speaker:All proceeds from these purchases helps me offset the costs of
Speaker:producing this podcast and now be safe and well.
Speaker:And I'll see you again.
Speaker:Next time on the gift biz unwrapped podcast.
Speaker:I want to make sure you're familiar with my free Facebook
Speaker:group called gift is free.
Speaker:It's a place where we all gather and our community to
Speaker:support each other.
Speaker:Got a really fun post in there.
Speaker:That's my favorite of the week.
Speaker:Have to say where I invite all of you to share
Speaker:what you're doing to show pictures of your product,
Speaker:to show what you're working on for the week to get
Speaker:reaction from other people and just for fun,
Speaker:because we all get to see the wonderful products that everybody
Speaker:in the community is making my favorite post every single week,
Speaker:without doubt.
Speaker:Wait, what aren't you part of the group already,
Speaker:if not make sure to jump over to Facebook and search
Speaker:for the group gift biz breeze don't delay.
