We recently connected with Dylann Hogan and have shared our conversation below.

Dylann, looking forward to hearing all of your stories today. Can you recount a story of an unexpected problem you’ve faced along the way?

Owning a business can involve some unexpected problems, but how to deal with these issues and react to them is what makes you stronger as a business owner. There are a lot of ups and downs, positives, and negatives. After the first year of owning a business, I realized you can run into a lot of problems. One particular problem I won’t forget about that I still remember to this day. I started my business in January of 2021- I launch new arrivals to stay up to date and keep customers engaged. This one particular drop I spent endless hours on. From photos, to updating inventory, to social media, to running ads you name it. All of this goes into one singular drop.

After I posted my new arrivals, I send an email campaign, post on social media, and let people know new arrivals have come out. After a few minutes, I realized that all of my items were priced at $0.00. My heart sank, I received a few orders with the price at $0. I’m sure people realized it was a mistake, and to this day I still do not know what happened with my inventory or website. This issue was immediately resolved as I went into my website and updated all of these prices, but for those first few minutes as I was trying to edit everything with 100+ people on my website, I felt stressed and overwhelmed. Again, owning a small business has its issues and unexpected errors, but how you deal with these problems and respond to them is what shapes you as an entrepreneur. Those customers that ordered these items that were priced at $0 were contacted and fully understood- I try my best to make my customer support the best it can possibly be, and building a relationship with these customers is how I have grown my business the most. I have run into obstacles while owning a small business, but have learned from these obstacles and moved on.

As always, we appreciate you sharing your insights and we’ve got a few more questions for you, but before we get to all of that can you take a minute to introduce yourself and give our readers some of your back background and context?

Hello everyone, my name is Dylann Hogan and I own DEH Jewels, an online jewelry store based out of New York. I started DEH Jewels in January 2021. At this time, I was on my 5th year playing lacrosse at Nazareth College and wanted to pick up a hobby. When I was younger, my mom took on a jewelry business and started creating custom jewelry for her customers. My mom has always been a big role model of mine, and her and I both love to stay busy. Although I was a full-time student, lacrosse player, and nannied on the side – of course I had to add one more thing to my plate, but I do not regret one thing about starting my business. I have always been into fashion, trends, and social media- I thought to myself what’s better than starting my own business? I can choose and sell my own products, be creative, make customers happy, allow people to express fashion through jewelry, and learn more about myself than I ever have.

I have always wanted to start a business and be creative in my own way. As a 25-year-old who grew up in Upstate, New York, I feel like I have always had an eye for fashion. My products stay on trend and up to date with everything that changes. For the most part, I sell on trend, chunky, fun gold and silver jewelry. I also create custom items for customers if they wish to have something made-to-order. My favorite thing about owning a business is the relationships that I have created since starting. One of my best friends now also owns a business, and she reached out to me to sell some products in her store and now we are best friends. Owning a business has brought me relationships and I am forever grateful for that.

A few things that set me apart from others is my customer support. I do all of this alone- from marketing, to campaigns, to ads, to social media, to inventory control, to photography, you name it. I don’t think people realize the amount of time that truly goes into owning a small business, and I stay true to the fact my customer service is one of the best. I care so much about every single customer who has ever ordered from me and will forever remember your name. When you support a small business, you are supporting someone’s dream, and when I shop small, I always remember that.

We’d love to hear the story of how you built up your social media audience?

Building an audience on social media seems like it takes a lifetime, and it might… but some advice I would love to give those of you who are just starting a business is to never give up. In 2021, I started my business along with a business Instagram. I have been growing my Instagram since and read all about trends as well as engagement and how they change every day. The toughest question is: how often do you/should you post on social media? Well, in simple terms, you don’t want to annoy your followers by posting 24/7, but you have to keep your engagement up. I take pride in my social media and how hard I work to grow it- consistently staying on track with my content, reaching out to influencers and more. To build a social media presence is hard, but sticking to the same theme and type of content is what will set you apart from other small businesses.

Can you tell us about what’s worked well for you in terms of growing your clientele?

The most effective strategy for growing clientele is to be personable and creating relationships. One of my favorite personality traits is how personable I am. Although I own an online business, I do partake in a lot of events that are in person. One thing I stay true to is always being excited when someone walks up to my booth. I ask them how they are, what they are shopping for, how I can help them…. without being too much. I always stay true to being personable and kind, and the business will come naturally. As someone who owns a small business, I want customers to remember who I am and who they are purchasing from. I will forever be sure my clients receive the best customer service and will always leave happy.

Contact Info:

• Website: www.dehjewels.com
• Instagram: @dehjewels
• Facebook: DEH Jewels
• Other: tik tok: @deh.jewels

Image Credits
Photo Credits: Adam Zarowny