Obsessed And Lovin’ It: Meet Krista Young, Busy Mom and Jewelry-Maker Extraordinaire

Krista Young was destined for a creative profession, but it wasn’t until she quit her full-time job to spend more time with her newborn twins that she found her true calling. 

Using basic skills in welding that she learned from her Dad, Krista started to make jewelry whenever her girls were napping. Now that her Etsy shop has taken off and she's hired her first employee, she's looking for ideas on how to grow her business even further by outsourcing more of her production.

Let's hear her story!

Name: Krista Young

Business: Gem & Blue Jewelry on Etsy

Started: Spring 2012

How did you get started as a jewelry designer?

I was working as an interior designer before I had my twin girls. Becoming a mom changed everything. 

I quit my job to spend more time at home and started making jewelry in my very limited spare time. I had no real experience, but I'd learned a little bit of welding from my Dad. He showed me how to work with big, industrial pieces of metal, and I found a way to scale it down while adding my artistic touch.

I picked it up quickly and became obsessed! Every minute I had spare, I devoted to learning and practicing. I took classes in casting, gemology and metal work. It quickly became the only thing I wanted to do with my life and I was determined to make a go of it. 

I opened  a shop on Etsy three and a half years ago. When orders started to pick up, I spent more and more time at work on my shop. Eventually, I hired a nanny to look after the girls two days a week, which allowed me to focus on delivering orders and creating new lines.

When did you know your business was going to work?

I knew it was going to work when I decided it had to. I fell in love with jewelry making and I was determined to make it my sole source of income. When I set my mind to something, I'm highly driven and I think the only way I made it work was by devoting any spare moment I had to building my business.

A year and a half after launching my store on Etsy, I started getting wholesale requests from boutiques. At that moment, I realized I could no longer do it alone so I hired two people, one for metalworking and one for marketing, and that really helped me streamline the business and grow.

What has been the most unexpected result of starting your own business?

Seeing how well people responded to my product and vision has been the biggest surprise. 

Starting out with something new in a field I knew very little about was intimidating. I was convinced that because there are already so many similar things on the market, my product wouldn’t stand out. I still can’t believe that I’m able to make jewelry for a living!

Another surprise has been how many requests for custom pieces I’ve had from men. I often get asked to create alternative commitment jewelry that can be worn by couples, so I’m in the process of creating a unisex line right now. 

I'm always open to suggestions for new pieces, but whatever I create has to stay in line with our aesthetic. We get lots of requests for weird cheesy stuff, but if I can see how a request would fit in with our vibe, I’ll give it a go.

How do you price your jewelry?

When I started out, my pricing was simple. I priced individual items to be bought directly by the customer. 

When we started to expand to wholesale, I had to reduce my pricing and take into account the cost of packaging, branding and additional labor, so it became more complicated.

Some of my wholesale items can be cast, which brings the price down, but others are too delicate and need to be made by hand. I still make all of the custom orders and my metalsmith takes the big bulk orders. We send out batches of 200-300 wholesale items at a time to boutique stores across the US and have a $1,000 minimum order value. I still design and package everything in my small home studio.

What does a typical day look like for you?

I get up early and drop my girls off at preschool, then hit the computer. I respond to email enquiries about custom and wholesale orders and make sure everything has been sent out in time. This usually takes about two hours. 

Then, I’ll spend another hour going over the inventory and order in any materials we're low on. The next hour is generally spent on finances, making sure our invoices are in order and that we’re up-to-date on payments.

When the admin stuff is done, I’ll spend a few hours playing around with gems and metals and carving molds out of wax. Since I started employing another metalsmith, I have more time to be creative. For example, right now I’m currently working on our spring 2016 line. 

Finally, before I go to pick my kids up from school, I make sure all my items that have been sold are packaged and sent out.

I don’t spend much time on marketing. Thankfully, we’ve had such an organic following and natural growth that I’ve never had push for business. I may have to devote more time to this in future depending on how big we get, but a combination of using Etsy, keeping up with my Facebook and Instagram feeds regularly and reaching out to bloggers for features has worked out petty well so far.

I try to get all my work done in the daytime hours so I can spend my evenings with my family. Taking on an extra employee has made such a difference to my work/life balance and has helped my business grow without having to deal with too much stress.

If you could go back in time, what’s the one thing you would do differently when you were starting out?

I’d be more confident with my pricing. I got stuck selling good pieces cheaply because I thought that’s what I had to do. When my business grew, I looked at my profits and took note of everything that goes into producing these pieces so that I could price my products and make a profit. I should have done that sooner.

I'd also be more confident with developing my own style and voice. I spent too long looking at the market and trying to make things I thought people would like. If I started again, I’d just trust my own style, which is what I do now.

What would you like to learn today from a network of other small business owners and self-employed professionals?

I want to know how to grow my business ethically. We have growth potential, but I haven’t found a way to do it that I'm comfortable with. 

I also want to find somewhere in the US where I can get my pieces made wholesale at a low price point. It's important to me that the company I work with is happy to work with me closely. 

How should I go about finding a company like that, and testing out how well we might work together?

Let's Help Krista Out!

Do you have tips for Krista on how to find a company in the US where she can get her pieces made wholesale at a low price point? 

Share your ideas with us below!