Welcome to Part One of our three-part series designed to help you step into the new year with intention and power! In this episode, we’re kicking things off with reflection, taking a deep dive into 2024 to uncover lessons learned, celebrate the wins, and set the stage for an incredible 2025!

Grab your workbook (available in the Goldie Links Society Membership!) and join one of our upcoming Zoom calls. These calls are all about connection, sharing your journey, vocalizing your thoughts, and gaining the clarity you need to move forward with purpose. Take your time with the workbook. Seriously, don’t skip a single question! There’s so much magic in pausing to reflect on what worked, what didn’t, and how you can grow.

A lot can happen in a year, and 2024 was no exception! Some highlights? Launching this very podcast, redesigning my website to support permanent jewelers in my permanent jewelry supplies, speaking at PJX (such a dream!), and growing a team of amazing mama makers who create a handmade chain, beaded stretchy bracelets & so much more! Oh, and let’s not forget the incredible relationships and loyalty I’ve built with my customers. Trusting my gut has been my guiding force, even when it meant making tough decisions, like letting go of a franchise after training three new Goldie Girls last year.

Reflection isn’t just about patting yourself on the back (though, hey, you deserve it! 🙌). It’s also about spotting opportunities for growth. One of my biggest lessons? Start before you’re ready. It’s scary, but wow, does it pay off. And this year, I learned the importance of under-promising and over-delivering, it’s a game-changer for building trust and loyalty.

Looking ahead, I’ve got my eyes on some key areas to level up. First, knowing my numbers. Back in 2020, I stopped using credit cards for my business, but I didn’t set clear financial goals. That’s changing! If you don’t know your profits or expenses, you’re flying blind. I’m also planning to show up more consistently on Instagram and in the Goldie Links Society Facebook group while diving deeper into email marketing to keep my community in the loop.

Another focus? Saying “yes” only to opportunities that truly align with my goals. It’s time to vet events, ask the right questions, and get intentional about how I spend my time and energy.

This episode is your nudge to pause, reflect, and reset. Let’s take a moment to honor where we’ve been, learn from it, and set our intentions for where we’re headed. As we move into 2025, let’s grow, trust our gut, and take intentional action.

Stay tuned for Part Two, where we’ll dive into setting goals and choosing your Word of the Year. Don’t forget to join the Zoom calls and grab your workbook, it’s time to make 2025 your best year yet! ✨

Jen Thyrion: Hey there, I'm Jen Thyrion and I'm so glad you're here. I'm a former nine to fiver that dove into entrepreneurship eight years ago with zero business experience. I'm a wife, mama of two young girls, boutique owner, jewelry designer, and now the proud owner and coach leading GoldieLinks permanent jewelry.

I have a passion to empower fellow business faiths. This podcast is made to equip you with everything you need to succeed from actionable marketing to digging deep on your mindset. I know firsthand the heart, hard work, and let's be real at times of struggle that makes up this amazing journey. You want to know what has enabled me to shine the brightest?

Coaching plus community. Here at Goldie Links, we share openly, educate, and lift each other up. Expect to get linked with fellow PJ owners that will do just that sprinkled with plenty of fun along the way. Competition is an old school thought and connection is the way. Get ready to feel inspired. Welcome to the Goldie links podcast.

Hey there. Did you know that we offer handmade permanent jewelry supplies? Go to Goldie link supplies. com to view our beautiful chains, connectors, bangles, and more, including our non permanent stretchy bracelets that are available to you for wholesale. Everything is created by our tribe of mama makers.

What is a mama maker? Stay at home moms that create on their own time between raising their children, serving as a self care creative outlet and supporting their families. Your items come with signage on how these supplies are made along with gemstone property info as each gemstone has a special meaning.

If you want to level up your business with handmade. Supplies not made by a machine, but made by hand with love. Then check it out at GoldieLinksSupplies. com. Now on to the show. Hey, guys, Merry Christmas and Happy New Year. I hope you had an amazing Christmas with your friends, family, food, a little bit of relaxation.

Um, I'm sitting here the day before New Year's Eve, excuse me. I do have a little bit of a head cold. So if I sound a little nasally, that's why, but my girls are at a play date today. So this is the opportunity for me to record this. And, um, I'm just super excited to talk about all this. This is actually episode one.

So this is going to be sent out to the email list. If you're currently part of the email list, you should have already received this. And if not, and check your spam by the way, just in case if not, and you're not part of the email list, you can go to Goldie links, Facebook group, and I'll be posting it there as well.

If you're stuck on any questions and not really sure, like, How to approach them or you're kind of stuck and knowing like what you want your next step to be or getting clarity around something. It's really helpful to jump on the call and kind of brainstorm together because again, community is everything and really just also having some accountability and saying it out loud is super powerful.

So, um, if you want someone to do that with. We will, I'll be announcing the dates and times of the zoom calls. I'll have at least two that you can choose from and they will be recorded. I'll be sending that an email, putting it on the Facebook group again, and also announcing it in the third episode of this three part series.

to actually like maybe talk through your answers. And that's why I love this, the zoom call, which you're going to totally have the opportunity to do that if you'd like, because I can't tell you how many times I'm talking to one of my business buddies, right? And let's just talk about business specifically, but it could be any area of your life, right?

Where it's like, you literally are kind of talking through it's in your head, but by talking about it out loud, you come to your own conclusions, you know? And so this is what this, these, I truly believe that We know the answers, you know, it's helpful to have someone to bounce it off of. It's helpful to have someone who's had that experience that can maybe help and guide you.

But in the end, you know yourself, you know how you feel. And I think that like really getting to know yourself and your business is so powerful. And without that, your business cannot go and be more successful or evolve in the way that I feel like you would want it to without knowing first a yourself in your business, like where your business has gone, what has been successful.

It's like, it's just throwing, you know, spaghetti, whatever they call it, say right there and pasta at the wall, like see what sticks, like it just doesn't, it's not being intentional and you're going to end up wasting a lot of time and money if you're not really aware of again, where you've been and analyzing what has worked, what hasn't.

So that way you can improve going forward. Right. And so even for myself creating these questions, obviously, and through the years of me doing this, because. You find that like, you're just going through the motions of life. We're all so busy, right? And it's like, we always think about how far we want to go, like what we want to accomplish, what we haven't accomplished yet.

You know, correct me if I'm wrong, at least I'll give you a deep dive into my brain. Right. Um, but I think most of us feel this way, right? Where it's like, Oh, I want to be here. I wanted this. And it's just, it's like, nothing is never good enough, but you're always wanting to go get better, which is great. But if you're not.

Be able to reflect and really be proud of and appreciate how far you've come. It's really like that quote that I love. And I actually put in the workbook by Maya Angelou and she says, you can't know where you're going until you know where you've been. And I love that. So the first question I think is asking, starting with the things you're proud of, right?

Even when I talk to my girls at the end of the day, when they're in bed and I'm like, what was your favorite part about today? And it's so funny. My oldest daughter, Harper, she's six years old. So she'll tell me my favorite part, my medium favorite. That's how she says it. So that's like her second favorite thing.

And then the thing she did not like she'll, she'll mention, right. So starting off with the good things, right. And for me, and when we talk about the day, literally sometimes we're like, gosh, I always remind her, I'm like, do you realize how many things you did in one day? Like it's amazing, right? How much it can be done in a day and in a month and a year, really.

But we forget because we're just going through the motions. And to actually sit, I had to actually scroll through my photos. To remind me of where I've been and what I did because, and every month was just so jam packed, right. And amazing things, you know, of course, like, as you know, life, we, you know, not all amazing things, you know, when it comes to some things personally, but in the end, like, In the end, it was a great year and it's like really playing up on those amazing things and you know, being grateful for things.

Should I do that? Honestly, the only thing I can tell you is if your heart's leading you there to go with your gut and try it because really I have to say I tried so many things and I just dove in. Like one thing I learned from having a business previous to this is like confidence, obviously knowledge, experience, wisdom all comes from action.

Okay. Me reading a book, Yeah, sure. It can play into inspiring me and gaining some knowledge. But if I'm not putting that knowledge into action, I'm not truly learning it because what's the point of reading something if I'm not going to put into action? Did I really learn it? Like, what's the point? Right? I think action, of course, is everything.

I mean, I really grew our mama makers team by gosh, like I started off with two girls at the beginning of the year and I'm up to 23 girls I think at this point making jewelry and that's been such a blessing and I'm just so grateful for I can't say enough about that. I think that's honestly, if I look back at my year, the podcast I'm really proud of because I just think that has been so great and so.

I don't know. It's just, it's really, I've gotten some great feedback from people and I think it's been helpful, which I'm so happy about, but I have to say the mama makers, man, it's been awesome. Like I, I love what it's bringing to them too. And the effects it's having on their family and their lives. And I honestly see the joy it's bringing them.

And that is just has been so rewarding for me and for hopefully again, because for them, you know, like it's just been amazing. So anyway, so yeah, I just feel like a lot of, a lot of things. I am, of course, really proud of like, you know, starting the glow ups. I started those beginning of the year, making them for myself and my customers and introducing and making bangles.

And that started, I guess, I guess that was at some point late last year. And, and then just offering them as supplies, a supply portion has been really great. And it's been so awesome to see people love these chains that we're creating and the glow ups and what it's adding to their business. So that's been really, really rewarding.

I feel like the things I'm proud of, I am proud of the fact I've stayed somewhat consistent on social media and my stories and just kind of connecting with my customer that way. I think I learned early on in my business that I used to be so caught up in how maybe I looked or how I sounded on my social media and I would really struggle with showing up on my social and I don't.

I think just through me like doing it so many times and realizing that everyone's human and people are going to judge me and that's okay. I've really come to a place in myself that I feel like I always. I've gotten to a good place with myself where I am always thinking about my intentions of things.

Okay. And I want to talk a lot about that obviously in the next episode when it comes to talking about where the year and setting your intention, but it's like I'm always thinking anything I do or things that come up, you know, it's like, what's my intention? What's my intention? If my intention is good.

Right. And honestly, you know, when I talk and that's what I always want to try and take the fear away from people who are scared to show up in social media. or scared to get out there with their business or, you know, feeling like maybe salesy or, you know, trying to, trying to go connect with your community.

It's like, but what is it? What is your intention? Right. Is it all about if it's your intentions are just, you know, kind of more than skin deep, right. It's going to feel awkward and you're not going to feel like it's not going to feel like heartfelt. Right. And it might, that's, what's maybe the reason, but for me, If I just switch it around of like me showing up on social, it's not about me because it isn't about me.

Okay. Like don't get me wrong. People are still going to judge me. I understand that every day. It's fine. And that's just human nature, but I am not going on social for my own good. I'm not going on social to make myself like to look good. You know what I mean? I'm going on social because I love this business and I love sharing aspects of like also to like aspects of my life in a way about my girls or like things I'm weirdly passionate about, like organizing and like, That I feel sometimes you're surprised by the DMs you get people being like, Oh my God, that was so helpful that you shared that recipe or that you were showed your, your kids playroom before and after, like, I need to do that to my, you know, space because these are things I truly feel like make my life easier and ease my mental, you know, load.

And so like, If I, that my intention behind sharing that is not to show off my house by any means like, Oh, look at my playroom. Like, no, it's actually like, I want to help someone who might, this might help because if you have two little kids like I do or more, and you know how crazy your life can get, and I don't have a huge house by any means.

This could definitely be seriously so helpful in organizing your space. So, you know, I think about that when I'm about to talk, you know, and I'm about to like do anything in my business, what my intention is behind it. And so anyway, that's what I am proud of myself is for showing up and just thinking about, and having said that playing into that, one of the things I'm proud of is the relationships I've made with my customers.

I can't tell you if you guys have a lot of repeat customers, you're doing an amazing job. Because I have to say so much of my business has come from me connecting with the community and just treating people well. Okay. I treat people how I want to be treated and I don't assume things. Okay. Like I think that sometimes people can come across rude.

We've all had somebody who has or whatever. And I never, I do my best. to be like, you know what? That person could have lost someone close to them that day. That person could have been just really a bad day and got like, they're in a fight with their spouse or, um, they had a rough night and their children didn't sleep.

You never know what someone's going through. And not to say you should be like, someone can walk all over you and that's okay. But I always try to basically any, I feel like I'm, and then what I'm proud of is I'm not reactionary. To things like that. And I feel it's only grown my customer base. And it's only made people, I've literally have had a customer be angry at me.

And at the end of the conversation, she's, she's telling me that she's going to tell all her neighbors and friends about me. It's like, I had to let her know that I'm not here to like, you know, I had to let her know my intentions, right? And where I was coming from and not just take her reaction and just, and me bounce it right back at her.

And so I am proud of that. I feel like I've grown a great loyalty around Rolly Links and have a core group of really great customers that would, you know, I again have gained other customers from because they tell people about me and they'll tell me that they're like, Oh my God, tell everybody about you.

And I'm like, So I'm really happy about that. I, I really feel like that's one of the things I'm most proud of too. And when it comes down to it, I realized what I'm most proud of is relationships. You know, I'm proud of, you know, again, even the mama makers, what's that done for them and the relationships that it's, it's like cultivated to and just a connection.

I guess I shouldn't even say that it's relationship slash connection. I'm really, really proud of, and I think this is what this business in my mind is based on. And so for me, that's a big source of pride for me. I am proud of that. And I can say that. Gosh, what else? So PJX, I am proud of, okay, one of the things I want to stick out to me in a theme of what I'm proud of is connection and going with my gut.

Over the years I've gotten really good about going with my gut and I think that also takes practice. I've talked about it before. I think it's a lost art and I think that we're always questioning ourselves and in the end it's like going with your gut is the answer. I think a lot of times because of whatever be our outside, you know, society or people in your family or thinking the what ifs or the fear, like there's a lot of things that play into us denying our gut feelings.

But I think that for me, and especially in business, I should say, I'm really good about going with my gut early on in the year, very early on in the year. I was actually, you know, how I have a boutique location. If you don't know now, you know, it's inside of a merchant market. It's not my own brick and mortar.

And that's where I do a lot of my pop ups too. So I'm consistent there. That's one of my homes. I'm there two to three times a month doing pop ups. Okay. But having said that, so I was also had another location where it was just my charm bar. So I've had a charm bar for like nine years at this point. And I had another one in a mall location in a store in a mall.

And I knew that my business was going to a place where I could not handle it. Like I did not want to deal with it. I did not want to, even though it seems so simple, Oh my gosh, all I'm doing is replenishing some charms. Maybe once every three weeks or something. This mall isn't close to me. It takes 20, 25 minutes to get there.

Yes, I do pop ups there, but I am when I pop up there, I'm only doing the pop up. I don't have time to go attend to my shop. I would need a couple trips to my car. I would, you know, it just doesn't make sense to me. And honestly, for profit and for honestly, It's not even the money. It was more or less like, do I really want to do this?

Do I want to spend that time doing this? No, like my gut just kept saying no, even though I talked to a few friends, one of them being a business friend who actually ended up taking it over, she took over the charm bar because she already had a small space in the same merchant market, like shop in the mall.

And she kept saying like, Jen, it's so easy. Like, just go in there. Big deal. Like bring charms and replenish every three weeks. Like it'll be like an hour and a half out of your, like a whole month. And I'm like, okay. I don't have that time. And she was like, what? I'm like, no, I really don't. I really don't like in my lifestyle right now.

I just don't. And it worked out perfect for her because her daughters are a little older and she would drop them off at like a practice of some sort around that area and she would have nothing to do during the practice. So that's when she would tend to the shop. And I'm like, see, like literally. Yeah.

They're seasons for everything and maybe in the future that would have been doable for me to do, but right now it doesn't make sense. It doesn't make sense to my goals. I don't enjoy it. It doesn't make sense. Like it's not like this huge moneymaker that I want to keep going and focus on. So I gave that up very early in the year and sold it to her and she took over the charm bar, which has been amazing for her.

And I'm so happy. Like that's amazing. So going with my gut, you know, even when it seems like, Oh wow. Like that would be easy. Just keep it. You know, like Big deal. It's two, two months or two years, two years felt like it two hours out of the month. It's like, no, in the end, it's more than that. It's more than that.

You have to consider in buying the terms of the inventory. There's so much more. Sometimes things seem so simple and, but it's not, it's taking away. This is what I want to say. About this, because I have this conversation a lot with a fellow business friend who has gone into business and zeroing in on a niche of business.

And I find her like, she's taking on these little things or considers them, I should say, of doing these other little side jobs. Right. And I'm like, okay, you might think that sounds like nothing. Okay. Sure. You said you can do that. Like after the kids go to bed and you sit in bed and make these, you know, whatever these little like Canva templates or whatever, you know, blah, blah for an hour, you know, but it's like in the end, is that really going towards where you want to bring your business?

Like what's your intention behind it? It's not that it just takes an hour. It's more or less also your focus, like your brain power. If you're putting way too many things on your plate and some of them seem like these easy little things like, oh yeah, no big deal. I'll just do this and this will be, you know, getting some money here and I'm getting some money here.

I was about to launch the website, you know, with my bracelets and a podcast and, you know, I was looking forward to PJX and being a fender for the first time with my supplies and knowing I was speaking at PJX that was brand new and being brought to me like, um, yeah, no, like that's not, that's not on my wheelhouse.

And it was crazy because I went to PJX, it was early June, came home to work on these things. And then I actually left the last week of June to go train a new Goldie girl in Michigan. Talked about this in a previous episode, but, and then I came back to a few days later, my brother coming to visit me, um, for July 4th.

So it was very boom, boom, boom. So many things. It was. And in the midst of that, I'm like getting all these orders for supplies. Keep in mind, I only had two makers making supplies at PJ at the time of PGX when I put everything because I didn't know how things were going to go. I didn't have a huge team at that point.

So anyway, the point is I came back to feeling very much like, ah, so I knew again. Again, something had to give and knowing that I was launching the membership, I was like, I don't, again, what are my intentions? Why do I want the membership? What am I feeling passionate about? What am I feeling drawn to? What feels more me?

What feels more authentic? And this is why even going into permanent jewelry, right? No, no matter where you are in the game, if you've been in the game long enough of permanent jewelry, um, you know that you probably have evolved, right? You probably have gone to. Liking something more, whether you know, whether it's you have a huge selection of stainless steel and that's kind of what your customers love or say you love birthstones and you that that's kind of your thing or you love like more of a luxe brand, right?

Or you have more solid gold and things like that. So we all know as we get going, and that's why the only thing you can tell us to do it, right? Because guaranteed before you even started permanent jewelry, you didn't really know what you wanted to offer until you were further in and then realize what you're really loving or what your customer is loving.

You don't know until you know, right? So going with the supplies and, um, knowing and realizing how much I love that and realizing how much I loved the mama makers and training them and that whole process and kind of what it was bringing in, the joy it was bringing them and just that, that more connection aspect that even like adds onto this permanent jewelry.

Like it's already about connection, but this is even so much deeper to me. And so that is where I felt, and I still felt passionate about helping business owners and. But I realized with the franchise that something had to give. And even though I could have continued on because I was getting so many inquiries about people wanting more information about Goldie being a Goldie girl, but I was like, Nope, I don't, I don't feel right.

Like, I'm just going to go with my gut on this. I can sit here and talk about all the what ifs and, you know, the possibilities. And, but in the end of the day, I still want to help women. I still want there to be a community surrounded around business, which I believe is truly, truly necessary. Honestly, and having some kind of accountability and all those things, which I think the membership brings, but also it's a more affordable and it can reach, you know, a wider range of permanent jewelers.

And I just feel like I still get that aspect with the membership and the franchise was just something that I feel like just wasn't feeling right anymore. And who knows, maybe it'll feel right in a couple of years. I have no idea, but right now I felt really confident with just saying, okay, I'm still always here to help you.

franchise owners, but now we're going to split, you're going to create your own name. And, and this was literally a week after I had trained someone with permanent jewelry to be a Goldie girl. Like I trained two new Goldie girls in June and I decided early July that it just didn't feel right. And so, you know, even though, and also to don't get me wrong, approaching those Goldie girls, I just trained in June.

Do you think I was kind of embarrassed by it? Yeah, like I just trained you and I'm talking to you two weeks later and I'm like, Hey, so actually I'm dissolving the franchise. So of course I'm there to assist them and if anything, nothing really changed, but it was more or less like, you know, but I was willing to do that because I knew it was the right decision.

And so having said that, what I'm saying is I'm proud of the fact that I always went with my gut and in the end I always feel like it has served me. So yeah, PJX supplies, the membership launched and learned so much. And again, these aren't all like rainbows and sunshine too. There was so many periods of like launching the supplies where I felt like I didn't have a system set up.

I talked about this in other episodes, but at the sake of repeating myself, like I just felt like. You know, that's why I'm always a fan of like, start before you're ready. But having said that, you know, of course you want to like, you don't want to disappoint either. You know, you don't want to offer bad customer service because of that.

But anyway, in the end connection, so proud of the supplies we've launched. I'm so proud of going with my gut and I hope this like helps you in some way to just kind of think about. This is why it is helpful to have someone bounce ideas off of because once you create your own list and then you're able to hear someone else's view, it's kind of helpful to kind of Kind of apply that to your own, right?

Because we might think some people like think of wins and successes as purely monetary or purely like these tangible, like super tangible things, like how many items I sold like, no, it's actually look at it like, you know, is there a part of your mindset that grew? Is there's part of, You know, again, going with your gut, showing up more on social, like it could be more of a feeling to have like something that you just feel better.

Like you feel, you know, more fulfilled or you feel like you aligned with what you want in your life. It doesn't have to be something tangible, like again, a money or a, you know, a dollar amount. Hey, busy entrepreneur, as you know, being a business owner, you have to wear all the hats. You're a social media manager.

account photographer, videographer, web designer, business coach, scheduler, and the list goes on. I know how overwhelming it can be, and this is why I created the Golden Link Society. It's our monthly permanent jewelry membership. We have a weekly call to talk about all the things, but not only that.

Including monthly photography and video to use for your social media and marketing, Canva templates, monthly business expert, monthly training, support group, discount and first dibs on GoldieLink supplies and more. My intention is to create a beautiful community of permanent jewelers that want to level up their businesses together by creating lasting friendships and having fun.

163, 115. That's just permanent jewelry by the way. I'm not including any supplies or anything because as you know you won't be interested in that because that does probably apply to you. So this is just permanent jewelry. My most successful month was August and um, this is why and this is something I will go into.

I'm proud of these numbers by the way. This is why I want to talk about it. I am proud. But having said that, I didn't have a goal at the end of the, at the beginning of the year. I wasn't concise, like, you know, with, okay, I want to make this much money or my goal is to do this per month, or I have to say, and I will say this, you know, we all are not strong with every aspect of business.

Okay. And this is why it's helpful, obviously to outsource and to have people like accountants and things on your side of like when it comes to outsourcing it for your business. Because again, we also, I believe cannot do it all and do it all well. Having said that, I have never been great with my numbers in my business.

I learned a lot over the years. And like I said, I, you know, joined Masterminds and things that helped me along the way because I do feel like I was like ready to fold the business, the boutique business after a few years of doing it because I was just like so fluid. I was like spending money and then making money and spending money.

Because also seeing so many people in the same situation I like with the merchant market I was in where I'm like, they look so successful from the outside. They are the breadwinners of this, of the place, you know, so to speak. And, but I do know that they're in heavy, heavy debt. They feel like they're on this constant roller coaster and hamster wheel, however you want to put it, of like feeling like that routine of like, they would be on top of the world, the fourth quarter and then January, February would hit for us.

It's like super like, I don't know, February is the worst month here. It's super cold and super snowy. I feel like. Just business is terrible. And then you're kind of like feeling blah, you know, you get to this, you know, you start thinking, Oh my God, is this really going to pick up ever again? I'm sure you feel the same way with permanent jewelry.

Sometimes when you have a bad month, you're like, Oh my gosh, is this trend over? Are we done? Like, Oh, should I pack it all up? Like, you know, so again, you just, you go, well, all these things play into your mind. Right. And, but I knew I had already gone, done so many years of doing the same routine. So here I am, I pay off my credit cards.

I feel good with money. It's the end of 19, right? We, you know, it's holiday season. And I'm like, I just don't want to do this again. Like I don't want to use my credit cards again. I don't want to rely on them. I want to see if my business will survive without putting money on my credit cards. You know, cause I feel like I shouldn't have to at this point, right?

Like I don't want to be that person who's been in this situation of this boutique world and been there 10 years in the same situation.

I'm like, literally I had 700 square feet. I literally, I'm not kidding. My space is like 60 square feet. Like it is a little corner. Okay. Enough for me to house a charm bar, some clothing, a lot of handmade goods and stuff like that. So I was like, again, another gut decision because I'm like also looking at like, I shouldn't be feeling so broke.

You know what I mean? I shouldn't feel like I have money and then I don't have money and then I don't. And realizing not using my credit cards, that became more of a reality because credit cards is this false sense of like, you have money, right? Because on this credit card and you still have this cashflow and really you don't because you have all this debt.

Okay. And having said that for me, it might be a little different just because again, I have the supply portion, right? So, and just having that inventory when a maker's out of something, I have the backstock and it was just a lot of like, right, right. A lot of that. So a lot of putting money into develop things, a lot of putting money into, you know, the products, the supplies, all the things.

So having said that, am I regretful that I didn't like set a monetary goal? Maybe. I mean, like, I feel like it's smart and that's why if you're just starting your business or you're thinking about it. And you don't think this applies to you yet. Yes, it does. This is one thing I wish I would have done from the very beginning is knowing my numbers of keeping track of my numbers, knowing what profit and what that means, paying myself.

These are all things that should be implemented from the very beginning because in the end, that is what is keeping a business afloat. There are so many businesses that fail, small businesses, and literally what it comes down to is they run out of money. And they're not successful. It doesn't matter if you are creative or if you have good intentions or you have great customer relationships, but if you don't have your number straight and you don't know what your profit is and you know how much you're actually like paying yourself or what your numbers are, it doesn't mean anything.

Things can seem like really beautiful from the outside. There's so many big businesses out there that are literally one, like one month, one bad month away from closing their doors. Okay. So never assume anything, even no matter how multimillion dollar business is. Is what I have to say is that like, there are plenty of people that, you know, even if you see business on Instagram and you're like, Oh my God, they must be super, super successful.

And what kind of like, I wish, or like, I want to say fails, right? When I talk about the things I wish I would have done, let's get into that. So for, and then I'll get more into my numbers, actually, speaking of that, let's end with that. But like, I want to get into my, what I wish I would have done when it comes to posting on social media.

I am proud of the fact that I showed up in my stories, but I have to say I wish I was more active with. Posting on my feed and showing more behind the scenes and showing more of me on my feed. I do wish that a little bit more. I wish, I mean, I went through periods of being consistent and not, which I have implemented Kristen's help, which she has shown up.

She's actually here on the podcast, Kristen Hollis, and she's the photographer and the social media girl behind our Goal Link Society membership that we do the photos every other month and she's amazing and she helps me with my social, but I'm sorry, no matter what. And this is actually a good lesson, you know, even if you have an accountant or you have a coach or you have a social media girl, but if you're not doing your part, it doesn't mean like, even if you have an employee, okay, you bring on an employee, but you're not training them or properly, or there's still work on your end to manage all those things.

Right. So for me, Kristen and I went through definitely a lot of like just figuring things out and getting clarity around social media and being intentional to, that's been like a really big journey for me is like, You know, what do I want to share and how do I schedule that and like trying to be more consistent with scheduling and we've done a lot better job towards the end of the year.

But I have to say there were big chunks of the year where I wish we were a little bit more consistent and intentional with our social media. And that comes along with the Goldilocks Society social media learning that also it is hard to be in two places at once and having two social medias. But I do want to show up more there on talking to you business owners on that Instagram and the Facebook group, because I think there was just a time where.

You know, and again, this is a lesson in outsourcing. Like, you know, I feel like there were certain times I should have been reaching out more and being like, I can't do it all. I can't answer the email and fulfill orders and, and manage mama makers and do my own events and social media. And also just being a parent and I like having a life and, you know, I mean like.

It's like, okay, where did something has to give, right? Like there are things that only I can do and there are things I can outsource. And so that's one thing I look back at. And I wish I would have reached out earlier on to get more help so that I wasn't letting another side of my business like, suffer.

Right. Because in the end, sure. It's like, we can do it all, but for what cost, right. And also too, if you can outsource things in your business that you can focus on things actually move the needle in your business, it's only obviously a smart business decision, um, rather than thinking you can do it all, right?

And I have, maybe I can count on one hand how many emails I sent out to my customers. So I do want to also create like, email flows for my customers and for permanent jewelers. And just so in keeping up to date with like these podcast episodes, for example, putting that in an email, letting you know one's live and things like that, because even though you think it's on social media, everyone's going to see it algorithms, um, and they can, you can struggle.

So I feel like it's something that is a way to connect with your customer in a different way. I feel that it's actually like, to me, it depends on how you see it. I know that you might think things Like for you, like everyone's different. That's the thing. It's like, gee, are you a person that checks your email?

You know? And for me I do, but I'm like, and don't be wrong. I have a ton of shit. I'm like, excuse my language, um, deleting all the time. But if I see one that I want to look at, of course I'm like, okay. And it just feels a little bit more. I feel like almost I can get a little bit, I don't know if this sounds weird, but I feel like I can get more personal in email than I can just on a social media post.

Like there's more information in email that you can pack in and just another way to connect with your customer. When I do send out emails, I'm actually really surprised of how many people tell me they receive the email or respond to it, or I get appointments out of it. So that is something I'm going to test out in this coming year is more email and text and how that is growing my business.

My, and then again, going back to numbers. Okay. So that's like, I think these are my biggest, the only thing I have to say that I kind of, you know, there were a couple of pop ups I did. This past year that were just total, total flops. And what I have to say, and I had this conversation with a couple people in the society, the permanent jewelry membership, it's like, there's a, there's a season for everything.

And I advise that I truly advise that. Okay. Like get out there, do all the things. Some things might be flops and learn the lessons from them though. Be, be like aware of what worked and what didn't and why. So I have one amazing person in my membership who has talked about like, you know, she just started this past year.

Okay. So she's not having a year into business and she does a ton of markets and the markets is a great way to get your name out. Right. I think for me, And everyone's situations different. I always say that because it's true. And so what might work for someone doesn't work for someone else. And that's okay.

It depends on so many things for me. I was so burnt out for markets doing it with my boutique in the past. And I knew I already had this boutique space of this merchant market that I could pop up regularly. Like I, if anything, if I had nothing going on, say it was a slow month and I had no parties or anything like, I know, Hey, I can just, you know, Asked to be at the space, like even more than I normally am.

And they would probably say, yes. So it is one of those things that like I had my regular places, right? So for me, I'm not big on markets. I probably, I honestly, I maybe did one this year. Like for the most part, I'm just doing pop ups in places of business or parties or some kind of like specific event.

Right. So anyway, she was doing more. Markets and getting very burnt out very fast and realizing how much she she did a party and she's like, Oh my gosh, I really want to zero in on parties. I'm like, yes. Okay, cool. Like you, you know, it didn't don't be discouraged. Cause she was saying how there are certain markets that are total flops and you probably have been there, done that.

Right. But it's like, She's like, I do know the markets. I did really well this year. So I want to sign up for those next year. I'm like, perfect. Okay. That's the point you are. That's part of this. You can't expect every situation to be winners. Right. But the point is you don't know until you know, so getting out there and that's just part of growing your business.

And, but the important part is learning the lessons though, from it. Cause if you continue to do like, it's like. What is the whole quote? Like doing the same thing over and over again and get and expecting to get a different result. That is what is going to create, you know, failure. It's not actually trying it right.

Right. And if you went to markets and there's too many permanent jewelers and you're like, I'm never doing that again. Like, again, these are things and lessons you learn and just strengthens you as you go. If you look at it that way, because it's true. So for me, I did a pop up and I remember it was like, it was just the way it was reached out to me to how it was the past customer.

And she's like, Oh, I work at this. It's like this. Barbershop where they, they also have a bar in there. Right. So they serve, you know, and it's more about just a barbershop. Right. There's like a lounge area, whatever. So I thought, okay, that's something different too that I normally do. So sometimes I get excited about some new opportunities, but she's like, Oh yeah, I've gotten permanent jewelry from you.

And there's a couple of girls that want more and we're doing this event. And, um, I'm like, okay, sure. didn't even ask me any questions. I go set up, there's nobody there. There's no even like the girl that reached out to me originally to book it. She was, she was not there to be found. None of the girls that was working there wanted permanent jewelry.

I noticed through me talking about it and posting and like giving them graphics and everyone shared on their social media. I tagged them many times and stories they never shared. So the lesson I learned in that account. is that like, if I do book somewhere new, which I don't know what to expect to go over some things like, Hey, are you going to market this?

Do you already have, do you have other vendors? Do you know how many people you're expecting? Is this something you've done before? Is this, you know what I mean? These are questions to ask because if you get to a certain point and you don't want to like just throw stuff at the wall and see what sticks, because there definitely is a part of business time of business where I feel like that's honestly okay.

You know, like, and not to knock it because it's like, you know, you're just, you're trying it all and that's okay. You know? But then there comes a point where, you know, you want to be a little bit more intentional, right? Like want to make sure and not saying you shouldn't do that early on in your business too.

I'm just saying like when you're trying to get your name out there and you just want to try things to try things like the experience is an experience and take that for what it is, you know? And. So that's one of the things I learned in pop ups is to ask more questions. So that's one of the things I would say looking back at the year of any unsuccessful quote unquote events.

And also I've never had really an unsuccessful party. I have to say early on in the year there was one girl who again, a lot of people just didn't end up showing up. It was one of those things that can happen, you know, cause I require 10 people and that's why I require 10 people for a party. Some people have told me five and I'm like, Ooh, no, because again, There's gonna be people that don't show.

You know how people are. I can be the same way. My, my kid gets sick or something happens. So sorry, I'm not gonna make it, you know, and if you only have five people and two people duck out, that's kind of a crappy party, you know what I mean? So, so I just advise and my, my suggestion again is always been, 10 has always served me.

There's only been one situation where it wasn't a good party just because a lot of people did not show up. So, um, things happen, obviously. It doesn't, you know, nothing can be guaranteed, but, um, which is why I'm such a fan of parties. I do think that it is more guaranteed. I love how it is more, um, personalized, too, and just feels a little bit more fun to me.

But again, so that's the thing. It's like trying all these things out. Looking back at your year and like saying, like, what did I really enjoy about permanent jewelry? What did I like? Did I like the parties? I like, you know, again, with even if you have a brick and mortar, what did I enjoy about it? Should I have more like specialized events?

But going back to numbers is that. You know, what did well, like, are you holding on to something in your business that really isn't doing well and not serving you? Are you keeping track of that? Do you have a good inventory system? Do you know what's selling? Do you know what's doing well? You know what I mean?

Like, these are things, especially if you have employees, you're not always there, but also to you just sometimes I'm even, even though I'm the only one in my business and I can see what's ringing up, I can see what, you know, but still looking back at numbers and actually analyzing brings a whole new perspective to it.

This is why. You know, using a system, I use square and I have everything. I don't have specific chains because it got way too crazy for my inventory and everyone's going to do it a different way. But in the beginning I had all my chains list, I named them right. And it was just a process to find the chain.

And I would be literally like, you know, in a line, you know, at a pop up and it'd be crazy for me just to ring someone up cause I'm trying to find specifics. So I have three tiers of pricing, actually four now with handmade. And And solid golds, it's a little bit different, but it's, you know, I only have about 10 options, basically in my, you know, I have my three main tiers, my handmade solid golds, some other options.

Right? Like I can tell you every month of what I did. This is why when people talk about Venmo, I don't know too much about Venmo business, but are you able to do that? Yeah. Are you able to set up this category system when people ask me to pay Venmo, I'm very hardcore. No. Like I've only accepted Venmo. I want to say five times this whole year I use Square and I'm like, Oh, and when people are like, do you take Venmo?

No, I'm so sorry. I take Apple pay or card. And you know, if they kind of give me a little like not saying crap about it, but if someone seems a little, you know, taken aback by that, I'm like, I just like to keep it all in one place. You know, I'm a business. It's all, you know, bookkeeping reasons for my accountant, dah, dah, dah.

You know, they're like, Oh, okay. Totally understand. Because it's a thing. I talked about this in my membership because this has been brought up a few times, but I think when there's pushback when it comes to Venmo, it's like, I want to be put out there. Like, I'm a legit business. Do you go to, do you go to even Walmart and ask if you can use Venmo?

It's different. Do you have a Venmo card you can use? Sure. Cause Venmo has cards. But. Yeah. Okay. This is the point because here I am talking about numbers. Are you going to have to go into Venmo and kind of see and put together and piece together what they, what they purchased? Part of being a legit business owner is knowing your numbers.

And if you want to be in this long game and you want to evolve your business, it's smart to know where numbers are coming from and not to, and also it's a pain in the a, I'm sorry, but if you go to your accountant and you have to put all this stuff together, I've learned my lesson with that. I'm still perfecting the way I do it because again, I'm not a numbers girl.

I want it to grow. I want it to serve the community. I want to add employees. I, if that's your intention and this is just a side hustle for you and you're good with it, cool. But if depending on what's your intention with your business, right, where do you want to take it? You're it's like kind of like, uh, fake it till you make it.

I don't really want to say it that way, but really, if you were like, I guess if that's the right term, because if you're saying you want to be a legit business owner, if you're saying you want this to maybe replace your current income, if you have a job or you want to make X amount. A week, but you're accepting Venmo and not keeping track of your numbers and not knowing where your profit margins are.

How can you, it's like me wanting to be a really like be in a fitness competition and sit here and eat brownies like all day, every day. Okay. Not going to happen. You know? So like I, what do I need to do in order to be in a fitness competition, which I don't think that's ever going to be in my future, but let's just say, right?

I'm not taking care of myself in that way. Like I really let that go the second half of the year and it's like that is playing into my business. Everything is connected, right? Like everything is, I swear to God, like the better I feel, the better my business is going to be. So if there's other aspects in your life where a you're proud of, right?

Like that's amazing, but you know, just meaning not business wise, but also things that you want to work on. Just know that those things are playing into your, everything is getting combined. Even my business is like plays into my personal life. Like these are all things that are all, you know, just to be aware of.

But as I say that fitness competition and Bronies. You know, but again, so yeah, like, are you literally living like you want to be like this business? If you are currently not keeping track of your numbers, for example, but you want this to be a legit business and you want to make a hundred K this coming year, then there's might be some changes you have to make.

Things, things are happening so fast. But now that I'm at a point where I'm like, no, I have to stop and I have to put into play all the things I know, because again, I've read some amazing business books about profit and numbers ensure. But am I putting that to play like practice right now? No. So it means nothing.

Okay. So anyway, are you keeping track? So one thing I have to say, I am grateful for square again for that, even though I want to get more, even concise. And I actually do want to go into a different way of bookkeeping or sorry, keeping track of like what is selling. And I'll talk about that again in my third episode.

But for the time being, I am at least proud of where it was, but keep in mind. The merchant market I'm at where I pop up, I have to ring through their computer. So unfortunately that's, this is what's, this is what shows like what a pain, right? But I had to go through my whole sales for the year of the shop and, and kind of decipher which one was, obviously they have a barcode system.

So I was able to make the price tags, you know, so basically when someone would check out, I would have like this cute little gold piece of paper and I would put their tags on that piece of paper and then they would bring it to the register, how they would check out. There, right? Keep in mind, that's probably again and end up showing that was actually a little bit less than half of what I brought in was literally just from, so I did on my square.

So that's parties pop ups other than my merchant market where I'm currently at. Like I said, with my shop, I did 110, 000 and then at the merchant market where I'm at with my boutique, I did 52, almost 53, 000. So that was. Such a pain, you know, to have to go through and decipher and figure out and use this crazy, if you can hear on this, I have pieces of paper in front of me with categories I just tallied and counting up the whole year, which took me like two hours after printing out the paperwork for the whole year of sales anyway.

And it gives you an idea. So basically having said this, you know, that I have a super tiny space. But in my brick and mortar, but I did half of my sales from permanent jewelry and I have clothing and like, again, I do have a charm bar. It's not the charm bar as extensive as when I bring it to events. It's actually like, it's a little different.

And, but I, again, I didn't focus on the products as much this year because I was so busy and focused on permanent jewelry and the supplies and the membership and the franchise and all the things that other side of the business. So for me, it was hard to keep up with the boutique portion. So having said that I did do.

Sure. But you know, also live and learn and also know there's a season for everything, but don't use as an excuse not to do it. Two, don't be like, Oh, well that's not my season. Okay. You know, because honestly it's only helpful and I was at least smart enough to know like, Hey, no, and not let people pay me Venmo because I got, I get asked that all the time.

And I'm just, I don't know. I just, I'm a fan of like keeping your, so you can keep track of those numbers. Like Shopify. That's why I don't have these numbers. Like keep in mind my supply numbers and things. It's in a separate platform. And that's intentional. That's intentional enough for me where it's like, So I was wise enough to know that, right?

Like, I am not going to mix those two things. I want to know separately how much money I'm bringing in. Even, even if I did have the same platform, I obviously would have different product categories and things like that. The more concise you are with it and these, these platforms will do the math for you.

You know what I mean? They'll tell you what your percentage of what sold of a chain, for example, if you like, you know, sold a specific chain, they'll, you don't have to do this, but you at least have to set it up. to so the system can determine what was your bestseller or how much you made in bracelets versus necklaces.

And you know what I mean? So in the end, just from that system, knowing on square, I did 2, 466 welds. Okay. I don't know about bracelets versus necklaces. I didn't go that far. Um, and that's approximate because, okay, give or take, I feel like that's pretty, pretty accurate. I'm like, I said, I didn't accept a ton of Venmo.

Again, I'm sure there's like some, you know, a little bit of, but having said that, looking into these numbers and. The things that you feel like you're not good at though, once you dive in, and now that I see these numbers, and I really love knowing that I can analyze and see where things are coming from, it is so powerful.

It plays into your intention more, it gives you more clarity, just like these questions in the workbook that I'm talking about to ask yourself, like reflecting on what your biggest win success is, what challenges, what are you most proud of, and these are things you don't normally just ask yourself, and these clarity, like you answering what you're most proud of.

Is going to lead into knowing how to approach your next year, because why wouldn't you want to capitalize and, and, and, you know, really expand on what made you feel proud. Right. And it's like, so for me, like I, again, I felt the most proud about going with my gut, creating connections, my customer loyalty, creating relationships with my customers, and just that feel good.

This I feel I have around my, my business right now. I feel fulfilled with it. I feel good about it. I feel good about my intentions and that is more important to me. But also of course, am I proud of the money I brought in this year? Yes. Yes, of course. Oh my God. Am I proud of this podcast? Yes. But that plays into connection.

Am I proud of the membership and the women like through the membership and you know, and the things I've done, the leaps I've taken. And again, that's more or less, that's all going back to connection and following my gut. These are things that, you know, I would advise you to just take a leap, take a risk.

If there's something on your mind, it's been on your mind, try it. Okay. And who knows? You might not like it. It might be, you might fall flat on your face, so to speak, but it's really not because it's like, okay, cool. It's not rejection. It's redirection. You know, just think of all these things. It's a mindset shift.

It really is. So even with the things I'm not proud of and when I'm not strong in my business, that's okay. I'm willing to say I'm not because I know that I, and at least I'm saying it and I'm aware of it because of going through these practices and these questions. It's like, if I wasn't even looking at my numbers and I was just like, which happened so many times in my last year, my past years of business, like I'd be scrambling like a couple of weeks before tax time and really finally kind of getting my numbers together.

But I didn't know going into the next year, what my numbers were. I would more or less think about my goals. And before I did like, before I was really intentional and kind of really intentional before the year two, but it's like, I would just kind of, you know, think overall. You know, I wouldn't be writing things down or whatnot.

I just think overall, okay, like, yeah, sure. I just want to grow my business. What does that mean? I just want to make more money. How much more money? I want to lose some weight. How much? What do you want to feel like? That's also too part of these questions and like a big thing to think about because I think we kind of have these.

Program things. We kind of feel like we should want. Do you want to grow your business? Why do you want to have a location? Why? Like, you know, think about these why's behind everything. Like, what is that going to do for you? How are you going to feel, you know? And so again, it all goes back to intention. And that's why sending a word of the year is so important because that basically is your intention, you know, going forward.

So it's not like, not like the grass is always greener. Like, do you want to make more money? Okay, cool. Cool. But like, why? You know what I mean? Like, why do you, you know, what is that going to bring? What is your life going to look like when you make more though? And you expand and say you add, you know, an employee or you're adding a location.

Think about what your lifestyle looks like when you do that and what that's going to, you know, how that's going to affect your life. And is that, how does that feel? You know, it's more about the feeling that we think it's going to bring, right? Is what we think about with these things like, Oh, I want to be like, I want to lose 50 pounds.

Like, okay, why though? Like, you know, it's like, it's not, is it because you, you know, more or less it's because of how you think it's going to make you feel. So it's like focusing more. And I guess it goes into your gut, right. Of like checking in and being like, okay, how does this feel? And I have to say, I think it goes along with the gut feeling what I am.

One of the things I'm really proud of too is like checking in with my feelings about things like, and I guess it goes along with going with her gut. I think maybe it goes without saying, but like, it's very, yeah. I mean, obviously it goes without saying, I guess, because it going with her gut is basically, you know, kind of checking with how you feel.

So I guess I shouldn't say that, but I think that, you know, even when it comes to why I said that is because part of me is even with like personal relationships and feeling like it's okay to feel the way I do. And I don't have to give an explanation to it. I just feel the way I feel. You know, I think so many times it's like, you know, I had a person I brought on earlier this year as a employee essentially, and there was some little things that happened and ensure that could be quote unquote reasons.

But honestly, it was a more or less overall feeling that I knew it wasn't the right fit this position for her. And I kept it. Like talking to my friends through it and being like, oh, and this and oh, and that kind of trying to justify like how I was feeling. And finally, my friend was like, you don't have to explain to me.

Like it can just be what it is. Like you feel how you feel and that's okay. You know what I mean? You don't have to keep like proving because in the end, sometimes that's really hard to put into words. You know, it's almost like when we just how we feel around certain people. And it's like, that's hard to put into words, the feeling you have.

But legit, it's real and I feel this way and without having to explain it and just be like, okay, like I'm going with my gut I'm going with my feelings and that's always I feel the right, you know, that's the right decision or it has been for me So anyway, I hope this helps you I think the big three which is in the in the workbook that I'm talking about for Reflecting is what's the biggest wins and successes you've experienced what challenges or struggles you did you face?

I And also too, how'd you overcome them? I mean, that's, you know, I didn't really talk about overcoming because I feel like the things I'm talking about that were kind of like, Oh, lessons I learned that were like, eh, this wasn't that good or whatever. But it's like, again, it's just more or less lessons for myself, how to, how to overcome it was more or less like, you know, going back to just coming out with everything before I was ready, but also learning lessons along the way of consistency and saying things I can live up to and outsourcing and all those things.

So these are things like, I guess, like how I'm overcoming it is really just being really just being, having some clarity around it, you know, like thinking about it. And what are you the most proud of? This year, and that's going to give you a lot of clarity into how you want to approach next year. Anyway, this is longer than I thought it was going to be always, but I hope you gained something from that.

And I'm excited. Let's talk about your word. Now that we spoke about reflecting, let's talk about our word of the year. That's coming up next. See you soon. Well, how do you feel? I hope you found value in today's episode and you walk away feeling inspired. I would love to hear from you. Let's link up. You can find me on Instagram at GoldieLinkSociety.

You can find out more about our permanent jewelry membership at GoldieLinkSociety. com, our handmade permanent jewelry supplies of connectors, chain, and more at GoldieLinkSupplies. com. Okay, I will see you next time. Have a golden day.