In this inspiring episode, we sit down with Krista from Full Circle in Virginia to talk all things brick-and-mortar life, permanent jewelry, growth, and what really happens behind the scenes of building a successful Brand. Krista shares how she got started 3.5 years ago after discovering permanent jewelry on Instagram, beginning as a pop-up and eventually growing into a full storefront and a studio space. What started as curiosity quickly turned into passion, and that passion built a business.

At the heart of Krista’s brand is connection. She believes the relationship clients build with the artist is just as important as the jewelry itself. We talk about team building, training employees, and creating a culture where people actually want to stay, whether that’s through hourly pay, commission, or a hybrid structure. When you love what you’re doing, it doesn’t feel like a hustle, and that energy shows in every part of the business.

Krista also opens up about rebuilding her Instagram after losing her account due to trademarking, and how strategic social media ads, especially localized pop-up ads, helped her regrow her audience and visibility. Permanent jewelry has become the highest revenue driver in her brick-and-mortar space, and she’s constantly thinking about new ways to evolve her studio experience, including her popular “chain of the month” strategy that keeps customers coming back.

This episode is a powerful reminder that the ups, downs, setbacks, and reinventions are all part of the journey. Krista’s message is clear: if you love it, fight for it. Keep learning, keep listening to your customers and your team, and trust that every part of your journey matters.

Website: https://fullcirclepermanentjewelry.com/

Instagram: @fullcircle.rva

Ep 63_Krista Robbins_GLP_FINAL

===

So if you're building a business that shines as bright as your stacks, you're in the right place. Let's link up and make some magic.

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

If you wanna level up your business with handmade supplies, not made by a machine, but made by hand with love, then check it out@goldielinksupplies.com. Now onto the show. Today's episode is such a good one. I'm sitting down with Krista from Full Circle in Virginia, and we're talking all things brick and mortar life and the real transitions of business growth.

Krista takes us through her journey from mobile to studio to studio again, and now her dream, brick and mortar location. And let me tell you, this conversation gets deep. We're talking numbers, mindset shifts, building and managing employees and social media, how one account was shut down and she was able to rebuild her current account in the last less than two years.

Krista Robbins: Perfect. Um, my name is Krista Robbins. I live in Midlothian, Virginia. I have three children that my house is wild all the time. I have an almost 9-year-old, he'll be nine this month. Um, a six and a half year old and a four and a half year old. I'm married, I have a dog. I live in Midlothian, but my, my main business is in Richmond, Midlothian is like right outside of Richmond.

Okay. Um, I've been doing permanent jewelry for three and a half years. Awesome. I feel like more on the, because permanent jewelry is really not that, like the industry is not that old. So I feel like I, I'm one of the earlier ones, not the early basically, but one of the earlier ones I started as popup. It has grown and now I have, I have a studio in Midlothian and then about 25 minutes away in Richmond, that is where I just opened my storefront in October.

Jen Thyrion: That's amazing. Congrats. Take us back. So how did you even get started in Perma Jore? That's always like the question, right? People, people ask

She did and she shared it. She thought it was so cool and I was like, oh my gosh, that's really cool. And then her sister-in-law literally started a business doing it. This is in Texas. I don't know, it just like sparked something in me and I was like, oh, I could do that. Like why couldn't I do that? And I remember telling my husband about it, like my best friends, and they were like, what are you even talking about?

You're insane. Like first of all, you don't even wear jewelry. Second. Like what? You're gonna weld something together? Are you insane? Like that doesn't make any sense. I don't know, I just could took a deep dive into it. I tried to find out all the information that I could, you know, I did so much research on it and then I finally like convinced my husband, like, I, let me just buy this welder.

Just trying to figure out how to do it. Yeah. I, I put so many bracelets on my husband, so many bracelets.

Jen Thyrion: So you had no prior business experience or experience with jewelry?

Krista Robbins: Sure. I was a teacher for eight years. Oh wow.

Jen Thyrion: What'd you teach?

Krista Robbins: Elementary school. I taught third grade for eight years and then after having my second, I stayed home.

Jen Thyrion: It's so funny. I actually, that's what I talk about. 'cause I talk about the years prior to starting permanent jewelry and how they were really tough years for me after having my second daughter and I was trying to figure out what I wanna do with my life.

Krista Robbins: and honestly like, just feel like some sort of connection to other people.

Post COVID. I feel like that is one of the biggest pieces of permanent jewelry in general. And that's still like when I am like training my employees. Like that is the one of the most important things like people and what is gonna set us apart is the connection that they feel with us, the type of experience that we make for them and the connection that they have with if they're getting jewelry with someone, which is usually the case.

But that part is so important and I think it goes back to the whole COVID era of like feeling so disconnected from everyone.

Jen Thyrion: Well, it's crazy because I think COVID too, but I also think. That we're in this like world where we feel connected because we have social media. Like I can watch your, you know, and feel like I know you, right?

But also I feel like. We almost feel we don't have to, 'cause we see your kids on social media. We know like we're keeping up to date as we, we feel we are, but in the end we're kind of losing connection, which is funny. We feel more connected, but we're really not connected. That's like, you know, social media as we know it's a highlight reel.

It's, yes, it's a way to connect and I wouldn't not obviously be seeing what you're doing with your business if I, if you didn't have it right. There is a connection portion, but it's really not that true in-person connection. I feel like we're missing that right now. Yeah,

Krista Robbins: absolutely. And I think permanent jewelry is like a perfect piece of that interpersonal, like personal connection that people really just love that, that part of it.

Jen Thyrion: I, I've said this before probably a million times, but I, I, I still, and my employees too, they're even very surprised. You get into it, and of course you love the look of permanent jewelry and the things you can do. Of course it's beautiful and it's, you know, but really it goes so much deeper than that. And I think I was so surprised by that when I started this, and my employees are too.

Krista Robbins: Like, I'm not kidding. Connection is the best part. It's so cool to me because like you, the whole grownup friendship bracelet aspect of it, of like, I love that part of it of, of just people feeling connected in that way, whether it's like siblings, mother, daughter, or like relationships or best friends or whatever.

It's the best part. And then hearing people, people's stories or like, it might not even be a connection with someone that's with them. It could be someone that they've lost.

Jen Thyrion: I was just gonna say that, I mean, I feel like so many memorial pieces are people coming in and just getting something dedicated to someone that just passed, or I shared my miscarriage story on my social media, which was really big.

And so I, I get a lot of that actually. It's like they're telling me probably deepest things that they're probably not telling someone super close to them because they might not relate. Sharing something like that is hard. Yeah, it's wild. It's wild. Um, so, okay, let's take you back. So you started doing popups and you were doing like, just like popups and parties obviously, but most people how we start, right.

Krista Robbins: So I started practiced, trained myself for three-ish months, and then I started doing popups by myself. And I did popups by myself for a few months, and then I realized that I wanted to hire someone to do it with me. Nice. Or, or I, you know, I was working every weekend and as a, as a mom of three kids, that that is a little challenging.

I usually train my girls for like a month.

Jen Thyrion: Okay.

Krista Robbins: Mostly 'cause I, I want things done like a very specific way and I, you know, this is, this is my fourth baby, so like, it's really hard for me to let go of the, of, of control until I really feel confident. So I probably train her for like a month. And then she picked it up really quickly though.

Jen Thyrion: So were you sending those employees out to do events by themselves and the, okay. It was to that point where you're just like, who can do what and they would

Krista Robbins: Yes, exactly. Yeah. Okay.

Exactly. They, they were basically me when I couldn't be there at that point. Were you paying

Jen Thyrion: them hourly or commission? I think people are interested 'cause if I never actually hired someone when I was mobile and it's something I can look back and be like, man, that would've been nice 'cause opening up brick and mortar, then I would at least had someone to turn to.

Granted I knew other permanent jewelry and like welders in the area that I had trained, but not specifically working for me. So how did you do that

Krista Robbins: back then? I did either hourly or a commission.

Jen Thyrion: Mm-hmm.

Krista Robbins: Based on to like based on gross sales, depending on which one was higher for me. It's really when I find girls, as I said, I take forever to train them.

We did not back then. Oh, you did not. Okay. We do now. We did, we did very soon after hiring the second girl. But we didn't just, I feel like it wasn't really a thing at, at first, I dunno. Okay.

Jen Thyrion: Yeah, no, just curious because like that's the way I do it too. It's like, but I, we we're hourly plus tips or I do comm for only mobile events now.

Yeah. You book something mobile is like commission or hourly plus tips. Whichever is greater.

Krista Robbins: Yeah, yeah, exactly. Yeah. Because as we know, pop-ups. They can be amazing or they can be,

Jen Thyrion: it's, yeah, it's a risk, right?

Krista Robbins: The doornail. So like I know, of course I'm, if I'm not gonna do just commission, 'cause I'm not gonna be like, oh, you did enough.

No one came, you get $0. Like

Jen Thyrion: Exactly. So true. So

Krista Robbins: that's why the hourly kind of had that portion.

Jen Thyrion: That's amazing. So what led you to open your first, so you said one's more of a studio and one's a brick and mortar, correct? Like currently?

Krista Robbins: Yes. Okay. So basically I was mobile for the first year and a half.

Jen Thyrion: Okay.

Jen Thyrion: Yes, yes, totally. Yeah. In my

Krista Robbins: house I was doing appointments during the week because I was honestly slammed with like popups on the weekends, which was amazing. I was very lucky to have as many that I did, but I did appointments out of here, and then I just felt like I was growing out of it and I didn't really want people in my house anymore all the time.

And

Jen Thyrion: I think this is like the normal evolution that happens.

Krista Robbins: Yeah. So I, I was like, okay, so I'm gonna start looking for, I just want like a little, I just, I just need like a room, like just a room where I can like put someone in. Yeah, put else in there during the week just 'cause I can't, honestly, one of my friends was actually opening a her brick and mortar, which is a spray tan business, and she had an extra room in there.

And if I didn't have any of those pieces, I wouldn't, I don't feel like where we are today would be as successful. Do you know what I mean?

Jen Thyrion: I know, and I love that you said that because I feel like a lot of times we look at to see where someone is, it's at the whole thing of like, don't compare. They're year five to your year one kind of situation.

Because yeah, there's steps. It's all steps, right? So it's like step by step, I mean, you can kind of see where you wanna go, but just know that you, you know, it takes, it takes like brick by brick to get there to build it, right? Yeah.

Krista Robbins: And it takes. I have been hustling, like, hustling, hustling more than I've ever hustled in my life, but I also love it so it doesn't feel as much of a hustle.

Jen Thyrion: like, are you even an entrepreneur if you're not thinking about it all the time?

Krista Robbins: Right, exactly.

Jen Thyrion: Am I, am I dreaming about putting bracelets on? Yes. Am I

Krista Robbins: Yeah. No, a hundred percent yes. Oh, the other thing I wanted, I wanted to tell you about, which most people don't know this unless they're like OGs following my Instagram. So the first year I was actually under a different business name. Okay. So right now my business is called Full Circle Permanent Dory.

It was saying like, it like couldn't load. So I was like, that's weird. Maybe I don't have service where I am 'cause mm-hmm. Anyway, so then I'm like drive away. I drive home and then I open Instagram again and it's like your Instagram has been deleted. And I'm like, what? Everyone's

Jen Thyrion: worst nightmare.

Krista Robbins: I had built that Instagram up probably to like, I think it was like 6,000 followers, which is no easy.

Jen Thyrion: Wow. It's not no easy, it's not these

Krista Robbins: days. I mean we had really built a following like majorly, so of course I'm like freaking out because also it's a small business that is. Mobile that is your store. Like small business in general, that's your storefront. But like especially when you don't have a storefront that is your storefront.

Dead silence. So then I go on my personal Instagram and I make myself verified. 'cause I realize if I'm verified, I can chat with someone on Instagram.

Jen Thyrion: Oh, good to know.

Krista Robbins: Yes. So just. For future from, hopefully you never have to use that, but that's what I did. So I made myself verify and then I was able to chat.

They called me and they were like, oh. At first they said, oh, it was a mistake, like it'll be back up within a few hours. I'm like, thank you, Lord. So it wasn't, then they sent me an email saying that basically, long story short, what happened was the other company that I didn't even know about, do you know who I'm talking about?

Jen Thyrion: That's a franchise.

Krista Robbins: Yes, it is a franchise. I genuinely did not know about them whatsoever.

Jen Thyrion: Yeah.

Krista Robbins: Well, they took me down. Hard,

Jen Thyrion: and it's crazy though that you didn't get any notification

I would've, I would've obviously done it because I

Jen Thyrion: have, and that's what's hard is like, you know, it's like 99% of the people that are doing like that. What you did is just really just not knowing. Yeah. It's, it's not outta malicious or anything. I've never had a business before. I had no idea what

Krista Robbins: I was doing, and I mean, that's on, that's on me.

That's 100% on me. I'm not saying that I should have done that, but I'm also like. Did you really have to go that far? Like you, if you had just emailed me, I'd be like, oh my gosh, I will definitely change it because I did

Jen Thyrion: well because also, yes, it's like, gimme some warning so I can at least like take these customers somewhere else before you shut me down.

Fast forward. How did you let people know, they obviously didn't let you have it back up. Correct? Like how did you acquire all those customers again?

Krista Robbins: So my point of that whole thing is like, stuff like that is gonna happen and you can either let it take you down, take you down, or you can get back up again.

You, you can cry in the closet for a little bit 'cause I definitely did that.

Jen Thyrion: Oh, of course it's expected.

I literally pulled it out of my, and honestly. I feel like we've had a glow up from it. Like I, I like the name so much better. I, I think it fits our aesthetic so much better. We've just totally had a glow up. So I will say one of the things, we name all of our chains very specifically, and so when people still come up to us at popups even today, or they come in the store, they're like, they'll look at my chain names and then they'll be like, did you used to be bonded?

And I'm like, yeah, that's us. How funny. And they're like, oh my gosh, I thought that you just like stopped, like stopped doing it or like whatever. And I'm like, no, that's us. Like we just had to, we had to change our name and start a new Instagram. Like, you know,

Jen Thyrion: I'm looking at your Instagram right now.

I feel like it's just, that's a little like kind of got us a bump, but we're probably almost at 5K. But it's like, how did you grow it to be 10 K over just less than two years when you were wiped out? Like that's inspirational. 'cause some people are out there being like, I can't get any traction. Like honestly, you could do a little mini like Instagram, uh, it's lesson right now.

Because how did you get that back up?

Krista Robbins: So going back to, I feel like every part of my life has led me to where it is now. Like that's not even about permanent jewelry. It's like before I was doing this, before I was doing this, this is kind of a super long story. Before I was doing this, basically I grew my personal Instagram.

Jen Thyrion: Did you? Maybe that's how I, do you still have that right? I do.

Jen Thyrion: Okay, so that is where, okay, I have to say, I'm gonna interject real quick. So people that purchase from me, sometimes if I see regular names, I'll then stalk them and be like, oh my gosh, I wanna know about their business. Yes. So I'm like, oh my gosh, who is Crystal Robbins? She's purchasing from me and she's purchasing some great things.

And so that, I came across this before I came across your business. One, because I just searched by your name and that's what I think. I remember it telling you. I was like, didn't you get my message? 'cause I, I was long time ago, once I saw. Your actual personal one. I'm like, oh my God, I love this girl. Like she needs to be on the podcast.

Like, you know, and then when I saw your business, I was like, oh, you know, because obviously everything with your kids and all the things like mom running on Diet Coke and Big dreams, I totally get it. Like, you know, I'm like, yes,

Krista Robbins: genuinely. I feel like everything in my life has really prepared me for where we are now, not just in the last three years, but before that because I, I really studied, I don't have any like, I don't know if there's like social media training.

And going back to feeling connected, I, I felt very isolated in my first, also my first pregnancy ever. So, uh, going back in that I was very isolated and Instagram is the only thing that made me feel. Connected to anyone else that was, that was going through or had gone through the same things as me and that I was currently dealing with.

It saved me in so many ways, and I know that sounds so cliche, but I was able to literally search families with children with Down syndrome or like whatever, and I felt I, I made so many connections and I was able to see like their lives. Of course, as you said, social media is a highlight reel, but so many of them do share some of the good, bad and ugly.

So that's kind of how the growth on social media happened for me. I really just started studying it, sharing, being vulnerable on there. So I really learned kind of a little bit how to grow it. And that is. I think how I've grown over here. I will also say that I put, I do a lot of ads on Instagram.

Jen Thyrion: Oh, do you?

Krista Robbins: Okay. I think a lot of it is like what we share too. Like people want want honesty.

Jen Thyrion: Mm-hmm.

Krista Robbins: Want transparency. Yes.

Jen Thyrion: Yeah.

Krista Robbins: But they also like wanna know who you are. If, if you say you're a small business, they wanna know who they're buying from. Mm-hmm.

Jen Thyrion: I say that all the time and I can even, I can even be better about it by myself.

But really it's the mundane stuff that we were talking about this just yesterday in our membership call that I have. It's like, is just sharing that B-roll stuff I think is so, so important, you know, to people to really get to know, because like we said, we're going back to the beginning of us talking about connection.

I'm like, if you're scared to show your face or share these little things, they're gonna see your face when they come get permanent jewelry from you, you're gonna, you know, not to say you have to be this open person, like not saying, but it has to fit into you, but you can do it your way.

Krista Robbins: I always think to myself like, what is the content that I like to consume?

And then that's the content that I wanna produce usually. Does that make sense? Because that's the, that's a person that I am, and I feel like that's also the type of people I'm gonna attract. Yes. I love watching people's behind the scenes or like a day in the life, you know what I mean? I, I love watching that type of stuff.

Like, maybe I should do it. And I'm like, but

Jen Thyrion: I'm like, you just have to laugh. Like, yes, it's so easy. I'm like, yeah,

Krista Robbins: thanks. It's so easy. I just did like, you know, working 24 7 for the last three and a half years.

Jen Thyrion: So if you were to sum it up, well, first of all, I have to ask you, how much on average are you spending a month? Maybe on ads? Probably like 400.

Do you notice, like do you, because obviously I'm assuming you do this yourself, right? Because I noticed there are certain ad, you know. Yes, I definitely

Krista Robbins: do it myself.

Jen Thyrion: Okay. Do you test out different ones? Like what do your ads look like? Are they kind of like a run through of your shop to kinda let people know in the area you're there?

What do they look like?

Jen Thyrion: Sure.

Krista Robbins: Literally for the last three or so years, every time we have a popup, I put an ad on it.

It could be something, a very small ad like, I don't know, five days. Like I, I'll post, I'll post about a popup on Sunday and that we have that coming weekend. Yep. All I've done it. And I always post on the popups that for the coming week or weekend I post on a sun, like the week before. They're on my website, like a month before, but a week before.

And then I'll put a, I'll put an ad on it for those days leading up to it. For my area. That's very, you have to be very specific and make sure you put for your area, I can't tell you how many times, like I'm scrolling Instagram and so, and permanent jewelry things pop up for me and they're like, in Utah, across

Jen Thyrion: the country.

Yeah.

Jen Thyrion: Right. And that's why I always talk about Instagram as being also, I'm not an expert, okay, this is just the things I've learned about over time.

But it's like, you know, I feel like Instagram is like your catalog, you know what I mean? Like that's why it's like your stories. You can say organic. I share funny things that my daughter was just using a new plastic knife last night and I posted that like of her using an cucumber. Like it's like, you know what I mean?

I'm not gonna post it on my feed. 'cause why the hell would you care about finding out about a permanent story place and see my daughter cut a vegetable? So, you know, you're kind of like, what is your intention behind it? Which just all goes back to everything aspect of business is really knowing your intention behind anything.

But it's like with your intending on posting on your feed, it's like, okay, is this feed worthy or is this story worthy? Because do I want just my customers who know are like that? No and love me. They're already looking at my stories to know this. Or do I want new customers to know this? Like where, you know, or just have it be a staple on my, you know, on my feed that you're gonna see and you might.

It's, it's got good views.

Krista Robbins: I know. It went, it, it did great on TikTok too. Oh my gosh. That's, yeah. My, so my, my focus right now is growing TikTok because we, Hey, I'm going into that this year too. I've not, you've actually gotten a lot of customers from TikTok research. Okay.

Jen Thyrion: I need to have someone on here about TikTok that like, is really someone who can really talk about it, because I don't

Krista Robbins: really know very much about it.

Jen Thyrion: have like five, so,

Krista Robbins: but that, but that specific reel, I don't know what about it because it is weird because I, there's one similar to that that did really well on TikTok also.

Jen Thyrion: Okay. I

Krista Robbins: don't know what it is. Maybe people just like the walkthrough

Jen Thyrion: style.

They're like, oh my God, you're on TikTok. And it's blowing up. So all these people still come in and they're like, I saw you on TikTok. That's why I'm here. So I'm like, there's some, there's some strength and power here, so we have to get, but it's all of these one. That one in particular, it wasn't someone who even has a ton of followers, it just hit and went off and it was like her coming in and making a charm bracelet with her girlfriend, getting a hair chain and talk and just kind of spanning this shop.

And then it was like, boom. You know, I think, yeah, people like walking inside, being the shopper and experiencing it. People wanna see like

Krista Robbins: what they're gonna get before they come in type of thing. So yes. Yeah, those are really big. But yeah, I did not put an ad on that one. So ever since starting the storefront, I pulling back from popups a little bit.

Jen Thyrion: Okay. Yeah. Only '

Krista Robbins: cause I'm tired.

Jen Thyrion: I hear you. No, it's hard to do popups when you have a brick and mortar. I'm telling you,

Anyways, I have since October been putting some ads on, on some reels. Very specific ones. Like we started since I opened the store, we started doing a ring workshop where you can come in and make your own rings. So that one specifically, since it's brand new thing for us. Yeah, I've been putting ads on that and that's the only way that it has like,

Jen Thyrion: so can you say on average how many followers you're getting?

'cause you know you'll get that notification like someone started following you because of your reel or whatever, you know. Do you know those statistics at all? Like how many people you're getting kind of just from ads versus organic?

Krista Robbins: So in the last 30 days, according to Instagram. Sure. I'm looking on the ad insights in the last 30 days.

It says from my ads, which it looks like I've only done three 'cause we didn't have any popups. So it's really just been on some random rails. I've done, we've gotten 47,000 views.

Jen Thyrion: Mm.

The storefront has helped, obviously people coming in and sh people come in and, and share us all the time. And that makes a huge difference. Huge. And I'm not saying, I don't think you, you need to have a storefront in order to grow on Instagram. Not at

Jen Thyrion: all. Not at all. Um,

Krista Robbins: I, I definitely was growing before.

Jen Thyrion: Well, I'm saying, I mean, yeah, the 10,000, I mean, you just opened a storefront. Granted you had the studio, but that was like a storefront was just, I mean, you've only, you're shy of the

Krista Robbins: studio. We had no signage. There's no foot traffic, nothing like that. It's like people are coming from the studio. And from both of those, before October, we had no, there was no, there's no foot traffic, no signage.

That was all from social media, like people making appointments type of thing.

Krista Robbins: So maybe just thinking about the content that you, yourself consume. Using content similar.

Being vulnerable and showing more things than just like pop-ups. So for example, when I go, sometimes I'll look at, uh, other people will pop up for me, like I said, and I'll look at their, their page really quick and it's just like popup. Pop up. There's nothing else.

Jen Thyrion: I know. It's just all graphics. You're like, ah.

Yeah,

Krista Robbins: it's just all graphics. I'm like, I wanna know more about you. I wanna know more about what you offer. I wanna know more about your aesthetic. I wanna know more about your brand. Thing that drives that like is kind of mind boggling to me, is I cannot figure out where you are.

Jen Thyrion: Yes. Or who you are. So even like, you know, if I'm also looking just or see your face, I'm like, okay, what do you look like?

You know,

Jen Thyrion: Yes. No joke. We're actually gonna have what my coach on who, she's already been in the membership and did this with just my members, but she's gonna talk about just your bio and how powerful that is and what you should have on each line.

'cause that is. But like I can say just from looking at, 'cause also too, it's like, uh, just like you said, to look at other people's feet and see what you vibe towards because it's so easy. I always say this, when you're inside the jar, you can't see the label. So when it's your own stuff, it's so hard to see.

But when I look at yours, I can see, you know, your brand, you know your people. That's number one. I think that's, you have to know your brand and who you are and who you're serving before you were to ever be intentional on Instagram. 'cause if you don't know who you are, what you're trying, you know, what your, what your look is and what are you gonna do, right?

It's very, it's, it's too overwhelming. I feel like you have great pictures. Do you take 'em on your own? A lot of, I've had some photographers take great pictures for me. Okay. Because yeah, you have great photography. You're very on brand. I can tell like who you are by looking at it like, you know what I mean?

It's like your brand is on point. Your pictures are beautiful. Your consistent. That's one thing I wanna say. You're consistent. I feel like so many times, just like when we were like, we go to the gym for a week and we wanna see a major improvement. And it's like it takes time. You know what I mean? It takes time and consistency like anything else in life.

So I think you've just been so consistent. I mean, wouldn't you say that from starting this and restarting it truly, I mean that's ins inspirational. Like you restarted after having 6,000 followers. Like that is not an easy feat. I'm sorry, it's

Krista Robbins: not. It really wasn't, you know, like I said, after crying about it, then yeah, we gotta get up and dust ourselves off.

Jen Thyrion: I mean, yeah. And it, it's just all, yeah. These, these are just, I mean, that's, that, it's a hard lesson to learn, but so many lessons, like failures, you learn more from failures and suc successes, that's

Krista Robbins: for sure. Oh, a thousand percent.

Krista Robbins: Right. And, and who you don't wanna be also. Yes. Exactly.

Jen Thyrion: So true. Okay, real talk for a second. Running a business can feel overwhelming. The content marketing, social media decisions, it's a lot. That's exactly why I created GoldLink Society. It's a space where permanent jewelers can get real support, education and tools like quarterly photos and video done for you.

Templates, trainings, weekly calls, support group, and access to expert trainings who understand this industry. If you are craving clarity, confidence, and community, Goldie Link Society is built for you. You can join us anytime. Go to goldie link society.com. I can't wait to get to know you and your business.

See you soon. Well, take me to studio brick and mortar. How did that transition go and why did you decide to open a brick and mortar and what does that look like? How big is it? Like give us a kind of, what do you offer, like give us a little bit of rundown of your brick and mortar.

Krista Robbins: Okay. So up until October I've had, I had that little spot in the spray tanning place in Richmond.

And then we just, we want, I wanted more space. I want, I was getting a lot of, like brides wanted to bring their bridal parties in or birthday parties or like, we just, when I tell you that the room in the spray tanning place was so small, it was so small, but maybe three people in there. Like there was no space.

So I took that away and until I had a bigger space is separated more. So basically I took the Richmond space and the Spree Tan Salon and I moved it into a bigger storefront and we are now in Carytown, which is Richmond doesn't really have like a touristy area, but if it did, it would be Kerrytown.

Jen Thyrion: Okay.

Kinda like a downtown Feel like you have little shops and Yeah. Yes. Okay. It's, yeah,

Krista Robbins: it's like very walkable. There's shops every, all up and down, so I'm like, if I'm gonna open a storefront, like I really want to be in Kerrytown. And it literally worked out perfectly that this spot opened up for me. It's honestly probably more space than we need.

Jen Thyrion: Oh wow. Yeah. That's big. Yeah, it's huge.

So we have space for that. It's just, it, it's been so fun, honestly.

Jen Thyrion: That's amazing.

Krista Robbins: Filling it with different and new and fun, exciting activities and experiences for people. So you have merchandise, right? We, we have like little gifts and like things like that. Parental is definitely still our like bread and butter and main, main event.

Charm bar does pretty well and the ring classes are definitely starting to,

Jen Thyrion: yeah. Tell us about ring classes. So what do you mean making rings? In which way?

Krista Robbins: You can come in, like you sign up for a ring class and you come in, you, we literally guide you through the step by step of making a stacking ring.

Jen Thyrion: Cool. So soldering.

It's kind of like permanent dory in that aspect. And then they're like, oh, like we all have matching rings that we made together. It all goes back to that experience and that connection piece then. So that has, again, I think it's made it way more successful.

Jen Thyrion: So are you obviously have operating hours now is the studio was by appointment only and now you have open, like how does it, the transition there?

Oh,

Krista Robbins: the, the studio, we had open walk-in hours, but it, it was a little, it, it obviously wasn't anywhere here as good as. We have it right now where people are actually walking by and they can walk in versus like, I don't know where they're, unless they're specifically coming for us. So in both the store and in our Midlothian studio, we are, we're open Wednesday through Sunday, different hours.

'cause Midlothian is obviously not as busy as the Richmond one is. So different hours. But yeah, we, we are open for walk-ins or people can make appointments too.

Krista Robbins: The foot traffic.

People just walking in, right. At first we were like, oh, are people even gonna just like walk in yet permanent dory, I don't know. But. They do like, you know, the, just having a sign that says Atory, people will stop. And they're like, oh my gosh. You know, we have, so we have people from outta town that are, you know, they're visiting their friends and they're like, oh, we're gonna get matching bracelets while she's here, or whatever.

People just stumbling in. That's been the biggest difference for sure. Yeah. And then of course adding the, the extra income of the extra things that we're doing, obviously. Yeah. Like glasses and charm bar and all that good stuff.

Jen Thyrion: So do you know right now kind of like what your percentage is going to, which right now with what you have that you added percentage of sales kind of like.

Krista Robbins: Oh, I

Jen Thyrion: have no idea. Okay.

Krista Robbins: Her majority is still, still the winner. Yeah. Far and above normal. Same with us. Yeah.

Jen Thyrion: Yeah,

Jen Thyrion: Do you see yourself evolving with it? Like now that you have a brick and mortar, do you have any thoughts in, or like, or do you wanna just expand and go deeper with what you have going? Or do you think about adding more?

Krista Robbins: I think about it all the time.

Jen Thyrion: Yeah. Yes, of course you do.

Krista Robbins: I think about it all the time.

I'm like, what can I do now? What can I do now? What could I do next?

Jen Thyrion: What would be the next thing you'd wanna add? Like, or that you think about a lot?

Krista Robbins: That's gonna sound so dumb. It's, but look, I, I'm like, okay, I'm gonna try this out if it doesn't work. Oh, well, whatever. But, so I'm like, the next thing I'm doing is like making sweatshirts that say that are like local, but I want them to be brighter and match my vibe, if that makes Yes.

I don't, I love that. Great. Um, we shall see, I thought about getting an engraver. I don't know. I mean, I can't, I don't know that I want like to have a, I don't know that I want it to transition into like a boutique. I wanna close. I just really love like all the things we're doing right now. And so I'd rather just like, I don't know, I'd rather just like be really good at that.

Yes. The, the customer experience aspect for us. I've noticed a shift recently in my area. This I'm, this is, I'm only speaking for my area. I've no idea about other areas. I've noticed a shift for us, like when I first started doing permanent jewelry, people would see me across, literally across the, the way and they would come running my direction.

Jen Thyrion: You know what I mean? Love it. And see that in slow motion, like Yeah,

People are being more thoughtful and intentional about it, which I actually love way more. Yes. So I think the storefront was needed for me because. People want to plan thoughtfully, plan out, like it's my, it's my daughter's birthday, I wanna bring her in. Like we're gonna get matching bracelets. Like they wanna come in for that experience, they want the experience.

Yeah. If you can create some sort of experience for your customers, and I'm not saying you can't do this at popups, 'cause you definitely can, you can, but the store just makes it that much more like special I guess. And so that has been another big change for us, which has been nice because I think in my area it is definitely shifting to that.

I'm sorry, but if you like, you know, if you have this brand that maybe looks just like, I don't wanna say half-ass, but not like, not intentional on what you're putting together. You slap a random tablecloth on a table and you just slap chains on a, you know, and it's like maybe, you know, not thoughtfully.

Curated, then that's gonna attract that customer. It's like what you put out is what you get back. So I think there's something that you're putting out that's attracting that customer as well. Like people walk in and they're like, oh yeah, this isn't like fast fashion place. Like this is an intentional place.

Like I'm gonna spend experience, I'm gonna spend some money because it's gonna be worth it. 'cause I have these specialized, whether it be just like nicer, like the way they're curated or handmade chains, the things that you offer is gonna attract that customer. And some people might walk in, that's not their jam.

They are maybe gonna be the cheap and fast, you know, kind of customer and that's fine. They're not our customer. Yeah. They're just not yours.

I'm like, yes, it's gonna come, I promise. But they're like, oh, I'm gonna come back for that.

Jen Thyrion: Well, it's funny, I can see, like I actually wrote, I just sent your order out for Amethyst for February. And I wrote in there, I'm like, I love how you're doing this birthstone. 'cause I caught on. I'm like, yeah, of course you're ordering every birthstone for the month that's coming.

And it's like, because I can see 'em with someone collecting 'em in a way to be like, okay, my son is March, so I know I have to come back and get March. And then when June rolls out I'm gonna get my daughters like, you know what I mean? Like I can see that happening.

Krista Robbins: And also making it limited.

Jen Thyrion: Yeah.

Krista Robbins: All of our gemstone chains, I say that, I'm like, these are handmade.

They're limited. What we have is what we have. What do you charge for them for a bracelet? They're one 10.

Jen Thyrion: Okay, perfect. We don't do them as hand chains. Okay. I know I don't do 'em either. Really. Like I, I warn people about them for hand chains, but we don't typically do it either.

Krista Robbins: For us it's more like, and especially like if, if I only buy a certain amount, I'm like, these are bracelet.

Jen Thyrion: Do you know what I mean? Like Yeah, I know what you mean. Okay. Okay. I see that. So

Krista Robbins: I'm like, this is bracelet only. Like I'll put, put limits on it. And I think stuff like that, people are.

More apt to come in and be like, oh, I have to have that like now. So limited, limited availability really helps with that too. But people love the monthly, I love that. Like they're

Jen Thyrion: literally waiting for months to come. That's so cool. That's such a great idea. Yeah. Whether you like, because I even see, I can see whether it be birthstones, but I can even see seasonal, like maybe spring you come out with like you have some like pretty light colored opal ones or you know what I mean?

Kind of going around the vibe like fall we have these beautiful like multicolored sapphire that's kind of warm colors. I could see that being a vibe for fall, you know?

Krista Robbins: Or a special mother's day one. Yeah, I did that last year. I don't remember what I did. Don't even ask. I know I did like, oh, this is our special Mother's day chain.

Jen Thyrion: have a little bit left, are you cutting off the connectors and selling the connectors? Of course. Okay, thank you. I just wanna say that out loud because you know, it's hard. I know they're higher price chains because they're handmade, you know?

And Yeah, but I'm like, okay, well you're not gonna have waste, I swear. Like use those last two connectors that you, you know, don't throw 'em away.

Krista Robbins: If someone really wants that piece, I'll connect it to another chain that's very similar to it, and then they'll just have half and half and I'll try, I'll take like $10 off the price or whatever.

Jen Thyrion: Yep. That's one of my customers did too. I actually, it's actually really cool. We had only a little bit of this herkimer chain that she loved, and so we did a necklace actually, and it's half herkimer. Half, just one of our chains. It looks so cool.

Krista Robbins: Yeah,

Jen Thyrion: love

Krista Robbins: that. Definitely no waste whatsoever. No, not at all.

That's amazing.

Jen Thyrion: So let's talk employees really quick. 'cause being that you have two locations, what's your best advice to finding really solid employees?

Krista Robbins: Ugh, employees are so they can be so hard,

Jen Thyrion: isn't it? The hardest part?

Yeah. Until I started hiring more. And then I was like, whoa, you guys are amazing. You know what I mean? Yeah. I think the fact that I train people for as long as I do before setting them free really lets me know what type of people they are. I can kind of gauge on like where I wanna put them, if I wanna keep moving forward with them, just like their strengths and weaknesses basically.

And so I think that aspect and working closely with them for as long as we do really helps. So a lot of training, a lot of getting to know them. I'm not saying you have to be there like. Don't be their best friend or anything, but like getting to know them on a little bit deeper of a level. 'cause this is a personal business and so I, I wanna know like what type of person they are.

Your time is valuable. I care about you. I care about your life outside of here. Like, I want you to be happy, healthy, and all the, all the things. And I hope that they would agree with me in saying that. Like we are kind of like a tight-knit family. Um, like a family.

Jen Thyrion: Yeah.

Krista Robbins: I have three of my girls I have had since, for two years now.

So they've been me from for a long time. They're my main ones. One of them is, is full-time. She's my manager of Richmond. The other two worked a lot. They just have other businesses so they. I'm kind of like their second. And so we've had added a few new faces since the store opening. Definitely some kinks that we had to work out.

Jen Thyrion: like being so specific about it. But it, no, I think, I think that's one of the lessons I learned is like, really it's, it's expectations.

And I think that we all think, um, you know, we're just in this for a while, that we forget what it's like to be a beginner. So it's like really being so clear. I even find that with customers, it's like, you know, you have to be, you have to dumb things down so much when maybe to you it's dumbing it down, but really you're just simplifying it and so that there's no, there's no room for miscommunication or un you know, the expectations.

You know, it's like if you are being so clear when you're welding and maybe for you, it's so simple, you know, but to them they don't know, you know? Yeah.

Krista Robbins: What I had learned is. Don't assume that people know things.

Jen Thyrion: Yes. Don't assume common sense is common.

Krista Robbins: Don't assume that with everyone. Not not just employees, but like with customers, as you said, like everyone don't assume that they know things or that they, that they should know things or whatever.

I want agreed to be fit the same way. I want the same vibe when they walk in the room. I want customer service, all of that. Like, I, I want it to be cohesive.

Jen Thyrion: Yeah. And that's why systems are so important. And having like, I don't dunno if you have like a manual, it's a funny 'cause we're actually officially working on ours.

'cause I never really had one for my employees. I kind of have one. Yeah. Okay. I was gonna say, even opening closing procedures, like, you know, over time, you know, 'cause we're, we've been open about 10 mo months roughly. So I feel like, you know, I've really learned so much. I feel like I've been open for five years.

It's how much I've learned I feel in this period of time. But it's like, okay. And then again, just Dr. Like, that's what's drove it in for me is that expectations and really just making things so clear. Like, this is what you do, here's a list. You know what I mean? And then, yeah. And then if something's not done or if you have a system and you're, you're training and you're getting so nitty gritty.

Krista Robbins: and, and having staff meetings to kind of like, yes, reel it back in.

We're, we're about to have one on Sunday, and I have like a whole list of things that I just wanna like go over refine. I, I went to like a couple of my, I went to one of my, I went to my brand new employee and I said like, what questions do you still have? Like, where are you still unsure about, like, it's okay to be unsure.

I wanna know like what shortcomings I, 'cause that's, that's on me, not you, you know what I mean? What shortcomings I have done kind of a disservice to you so that I can fix it. But also if you're having questions, other people might have either forgotten or maybe they never knew. You know what I mean? So, like I wrote down all of her questions, so we're gonna go over and honestly, some of her questions have made me rethink some of my policies.

Krista Robbins: time. I feel like sometimes I'm like, I'm done. Or I could do that better because I genuinely want our customers to have like the best experience possible.

They're coming in our store to spend their hard earned money. Like I want them to have, like, I want them to be thinking about the experience. That part, like I just want, I'm always trying to think of like, what can we do better? What can we do differently? Like, so for example, one of the things is a lot of the, this also goes back to the common sense thing.

I'm not saying my girls don't have common sense 'cause they definitely do. I know. I

Jen Thyrion: don't wanna put down, I mean, I, I honestly can also think weird things that I didn't even, you know what I mean? Yeah. So it's like total minute. But to me,

Krista Robbins: like they might use a specific, a very thin dainty chain. Okay. Like this one that we have mirror ball, it's the, you everyone has seen it.

It's gonna be easier to break. I always tell the customer that, I always say like, I wouldn't use that, like for this reason, I want you to have like the best chance at this not breaking, you know what I mean? But I don't have those listed out. Specifically. So even though I've told them like sometimes it happens and then I'm like, oh no.

Like I wouldn't, I, you know, I wouldn't have done that. So anyways, we came up with the idea of, I've started working on hand chain menus, anklet menus, like these are the chains. That you can use for an anklet or that we think are the best office or hand chains or, you know, things like that just to take the entire guessing part out of, for, for the customers.

I'm rethinking policies on those types of things.

Jen Thyrion: That stuff comes up more, I think brick and mortar when you're, you're beginning to do more volume. I'm starting to see too, like, you know, policies on those things. And that's the thing. That's why I feel at least this is my opinion on, I see you as someone who's a strong leader in business owner because of the fact that you are willing to continue to learn and hear feedback and take that, not personally, but also be like, how can I make, 'cause that's what I always do.

It's so funny. I say this all the time, I'm better at, I'm business. I'm like, tell me what I'm doing wrong. I wanna keep getting better. Like, I don't care if it's a customer complaint, please give it to me because I wanna know I'm not somebody. But if it's personal, like my husband telling me, oh, for sure.

I grew it. I talk about my values from the very beginning because that's the most important thing for me. Like you said, you walk away. I have an employee at my shop right now. I have to rely that she's going to yes, give the same service that I would give, give the same vibe. So that's important to me. So I always start off with that where I'm like, these are the values, this is the mission behind Goldie Links, and I want you to know that I'm always growing and I want you to grow with this company.

You are not just an employee. You are part of this family. So you tell me if something doesn't seem right or you don't feel always, I'm an open book, please come talk to me because I wanna continue to get better. And if you keep that from me, then we can't get better as a, as a family. So it's like, I want them to feel valued because, I mean, I don't know what your jobs were in the past, but I'm like, I've had many jobs where you're just a number.

They're like, it's so fun. Like people just wanna hang out. That's what I want to be like. Also for my employees. It's like you're here and it's like a little oasis away from the wild world we live in. Like come in here and you can have fun and make some memories and feel good. So I love that. I just feel like you're wanting to learn and you're not like, oh, my way or the highway, or like, you know, no.

Like, you know,

Krista Robbins: I would be the first to tell you that I don't really know what I'm doing.

Jen Thyrion: No, we all don't know. I'm doing

Krista Robbins: my best.

Jen Thyrion: It's so funny. I'm getting like, I've seen those shirts where I'm like, this is such an entrepreneur shirt where it's like, or a sticker. It's like, I have no idea what I'm doing.

I'm like, that's totally an entrepreneur. Like, are you kidding? Like that needs to be like.

Krista Robbins: I'm just trying and seeing what works.

Jen Thyrion: Yeah, exactly.

Krista Robbins: It doesn't work out. Something else. I don't know.

Jen Thyrion: But there's a way to go about it too. It's like, yes, you have no idea what you're doing, but the fact that you are being mindful of that though, like you go through these things, you're learning and then you're implementing.

So it's one thing to be like, you know what I mean? Not being mindful of it, but you're so mindful of that, which is like that's how you're getting better over, obviously, over the three years you've been doing this, I mean, you've grown so much. The thing.

If I'm interviewing a girl or I'm training a girl, and I wouldn't trust her to watch my kids.

Jen Thyrion: Yeah.

Krista Robbins: I'm not gonna trust her. I'm not gonna leave her with my business. I can tell you right now, um, if I wouldn't feel comfortable to Yeah. To like walk out the, the door with her, with my kids, I'm not, she's not gonna watch my business either.

Jen Thyrion: Yeah, I hear you.

Krista Robbins: I, I definitely learned that the hard way a couple times. I, I think that's a good indicator too.

Jen Thyrion: Yeah. There you go. I think it's a, it's a like a lesson in your gut. I remember there was an employee I had and, and it was before I had a brick and mortar, and she was just here to help me pack and ship.

It was kinda when I started doing supplies and, and there's just something about it, like, you know, we just, and I kept wanting to justify my decision to let her go. And I was like, and I remember talking to someone, they're like, you don't have to keep explaining it. Like, if it doesn't feel right, it doesn't even have to, you don't have to put it, the vibe is off.

Krista Robbins: It just wasn't a good bit.

Wasn't a good fit. The vibe wasn't right. Yeah. Like, uh, my oldest, he's had a lot of therapies over his life, and I can tell you I've had to do the same thing with. Therapist. I'm like, if you're not vibing with him, he's not gonna learn anything from you. Do you know what I mean? So like, the vibes just have to have to go together for everyone to gel the way you want it to and for things to be successful.

So I don't think there's anything wrong with being like, oh, this just isn't a great fit. I don't,

Jen Thyrion: no, I think we, I think we underestimate like our guts and instincts to be honest. You know, because we, we put our mind so much into it, and I, I've been a little bit better about leading with my gut. I think that's really how I got to my cut to where I'm at.

I mean, I'll move states just on a gut feeling like I'm, I'm that girl, you know? But at the same time, sometimes I do, especially with people, I always wanna give people another chance or, you know, whatever. I see the best in people. So it's like I have to work through that. And that's been one of the things, the lessons I've learned in employees have had to let go or didn't work out in the past 10 months.

You know what I mean? And just have to go with that initial, like, is this the right fit? Let's talk numbers real quick because we talked about this before we started chatting and one of the things I did notice one time you posted in one of the groups and you shared your numbers. And I loved that because not a lot of people do that.

I think there's, money is weird. Like, you know, money is a weird thing to talk about for a lot of people. And also too like. I say this because I'm an, I'm gonna make an episode myself just talking about, I have been meaning do this forever, but like what it took to even open my brick and mortar, like getting down the nitty gritty of all my numbers because you know, everything looks glamorous.

It's like, I dunno if you ever watched that show making it happen really fast. I'm addicted to it, but it's like, yeah, well, like we're still in majorly debt, but we brought in 5 million. It's like, so I love that you shared your numbers. Do you care to share like maybe your best month or like, you know, your best month in brick and mortar so far, or any of that good stuff?

Krista Robbins: Every year we have increased by a, a great amount. Uh, but I will say every year has looked a little different. So kind of like apples and oranges in that way of like, versus popups versus having a space, versus having two spaces versus having a store. So it's like we have grown, but we've also evolved.

Jen Thyrion: Yeah, you've evolved nonstop. Yeah. So it's hard to Yeah. I agree with you. Like hard to compare, you know, 25 to 20, 24 when you just were getting a studio for the first time. You know,

Krista Robbins: our best month so far was definitely May of last year.

Jen Thyrion: Ooh. Mother's Day.

Krista Robbins: Um, actually, so my goal, I always have, I always have goals for the month, you know?

Jen Thyrion: Amazing. It wasn't.

Krista Robbins: Insane. How amazing. My husband and I are like, what do you think we're gonna do this year? Like, are we ever gonna beat that? Like, you know what I mean? Like, how'd that even happen?

Jen Thyrion: This was before your brick and mortar, your studio? Was it just mainly the events.

Krista Robbins: I had two studios and then we always have so many events and pop-ups around that time. So we're, I mean, we are everywhere. And I say everywhere. I mean like we have, I have three full. Setups. Wow. So, okay. My set up in Midlothian, my setup in, in Richmond, and then we have a full popup set up so I can be in three places at once.

Jen Thyrion: So yeah, when you say that number, it's funny because again, if someone were to be just beginning and comparing, it's like there're this one person that has one setup for mobile. You know what I mean? So comparing a $75,000 month when you have, you've invested and grown over time and invested in those three setups.

Right. And then we put, I

Jen Thyrion: gonna say.

That I'm like, that's actually not that bad.

Krista Robbins: We, we can do, we, it was mostly like aesthetic things that we needed to do. Since opening the store, we've done consistently at least 55 every month. That's amazing. That's amazing. October is usually like the worst month for us. In the past two years. It has been like the worst, like really low.

But we did, I think 55 in November. I don't know what we did. Probably a little bit over that. And then December, I think we did like 65,

Jen Thyrion: you know how much you are spending each month on payroll. So my biggest hit

Krista Robbins: is payroll. I know.

Jen Thyrion: So I probably about

Krista Robbins: 18 to 20.

Jen Thyrion: Yeah, that's huge.

Krista Robbins: That, that's definitely my biggest expense for sure.

Jen Thyrion: So you're saying 55 for your, just your brick and mortar, or is it altogether with your studio too?

Krista Robbins: The studio really doesn't do that much.

I'm not gonna, honestly, that it's mostly, it's mostly Kerrytown. The studio is maybe bringing in like eight to 10.

Jen Thyrion: Do you think you would still have that? Do you, do you consider like, I don't

Krista Robbins: know. I'm kind of still feeling it out, honestly. Okay. Yeah. Yeah. But I, it, it's still, I'm not on the negative for it or anything, so it's not like bothering me.

We're just gonna kind of feel it out the store. Yeah. It's been about the, the store definitely does the most.

So same as you, like maybe you were in the summer of that year, but obviously I'm assuming it's changed where you have more permanent jewelers in your area. Yes. Oh yeah. Since you started, how do you feel like that's affected your business? I

I will see them pop up and then I see, I've seen quite a few fade, but I also, I don't wanna like s. Sound like I'm like tooting my own horn. I just don't think that they care about it as much as I do. Or hustle as hard as at it is as we do. Just to be honest, like this is, this is my family's main source of income.

Like my husband, he quit his job and he, he started his own business. But our main focus is like, is my business. You know what I mean? So I think, I think for a lot of people it's like side money, which again is totally fine. 'cause that's how it starts. When works. If you can help your family, that's great, but I, I don't feel like it has really anything.

I kind of, I try to stay in my own lane.

Jen Thyrion: I hear you. And I can feel that. So yeah,

Krista Robbins: I try to stay in my own lane. I try not, because if I look too much at other, what other people are doing, I start. Doubting what I'm doing and I don't like that feeling. So as an entrepreneur, I feel like we doubt ourselves already.

Jen Thyrion: I know, and I feel like, I mean, I talk about this a lot, like obviously community over competition and just competition in general and how actually I think it's actually served us, to be honest, I mean.

I think it's all about perspective with anything. I just feel like same. I am so busy in my own lane of thinking how we can improve and how I can evolve. I don't have time to think about it. No, I don't have time. And I, and I, even my customers, like I'm listening to my customer. That's, I am in competition with myself, of myself yesterday.

And, and also I am like, I'm zeroing in on my customer. I'm so focused on if they come in and they ask for something or if they say something, like I'm always, I'm like a sponge. I'm like, okay, what do people like, what do people not like? And you know, I'm like, 'cause I think in the past it was one thing that I lacked.

And that's one thing I learned in my, in my boutique business. 'cause I would like buy products and try to push and push and keep rebuying, but no one was really buying it. And I'm like trying to push something that wasn't working. Now it's like I'm always listening, like, what's working? What's not working?

Now it's like clothing isn't hidden in my shop. It's just not. So I'm like, okay, I'm just gonna have a small selection of specialty clothing and I'm gonna, I'm gonna bring something in that's been working. Like, so, you know, it's just listening and really serving your customer and that's, if you focus on that, that's what's gonna make you be successful.

In my eyes, you know, like that's what served me. I don't know. Thousand percent. Do you pay yourself? I do. Good for you. I'm starting to do that this year.

Krista Robbins: I pay, I pay myself and my husband. Do you, so

Jen Thyrion: do you like, are you like actually on payroll or how do you do it?

Krista Robbins: Oh, that payroll that I just said I is my, is myself and my husband.

Jen Thyrion: That makes sense. Okay.

Krista Robbins: Keep that in mind. I mean, half of that, a little, not half, maybe a third. Third vote to

Jen Thyrion: you guys. Third is,

Jen Thyrion: Yeah, no, I love that. I mean like, honestly I'm getting so nitty gritty with my, my numbers this year and man, like that's amazing.

'cause yeah, that's one thing I don't do. So I was curious if you pay yourself anything you want to say, like last minute things, like any advice you give to somebody, like maybe somebody who also is like looking into opening a brick and mortar or like someone getting started or just anything you wanna share.

Krista Robbins: It's not easy, but it is worth it. It's worth it. It's if you genuinely enjoy it. It's fun for you and it doesn't feel like work, like you want to go to work, then you should fight for that. Even if it's not easy. Even if someone tries to burn down your entire business overnight, get back up and just keep going.

Your employees are what they have to say. And what they're feeling is so valuable too. So just listening to them. But I would just say, go for it. I never in a million years imagined that I would have a storefront in Kerrytown. And I know people, like, if you're listening to this and you, you are not from Richmond, you would be like, oh, I don't even know what that is.

But Kerrytown is like an iconic part of Richmond. Like never would've imagined having a store there. Okay. Like it's crazy. It's just really cool. You just have to like

Jen Thyrion: one step in front of the other, you know? Yeah.

Krista Robbins: Keep going. And every single part of your journey is important. I

Jen Thyrion: love it. Important. If

Krista Robbins: someone were to hand me this store three years ago, I would've probably burnt it down myself.

You know what I mean? Yeah. Because I didn't know what I was doing. All those steps are so important.

Jen Thyrion: Trusting the journey. For sure. I love that. Thank you so much. Okay. It's so good to chat with you. Okay, so where can we find you if someone wants to stalk you and find out more about you? Oh yeah.

If you wanna look at my pro, uh, personal Instagram, feel free. As I said, I do not everything that I'm is, I'm on social media for is for business now, but if you wanna go look at it and feel more than, more than welcome to, it's

Jen Thyrion: called Raising the Robins. Yeah. Love it. Well, thank you so much for your time today.

This has been amazing. Yeah, thanks for chatting. Alright, thank you so much. Bye. Thank you. Bye. Well, how do you feel? I hope you found value in today's episode and you walkaway healing inspired. I would love to hear from you. Let's link up. You can find me on Instagram at Goldie Link Society. You can find out more about our permanent jewelry membership@goldielinksociety.com, our handmade permanent jewelry, supplies of connectors, chain, and more@goldielinksupplies.com.

Okay, I will see you next time. Have a golden day.