We recently connected with Natalie Milligan and have shared our conversation below.

Alright, Natalie thanks for taking the time to share your stories and insights with us today. Can you talk to us about a risk you’ve taken – walk us through the story?

One of the biggest risks that I have taken as a business owner was when I decided to take an internship in Paris for two months during my busiest season. In addition to owning a Simply Millie Studio, a small jewelry business, I am pursuing a Marketing degree at The Ohio State University. To stand out in my program, it’s important to gain internship experience. I knew that taking the digital marketing internship in Paris would mean stepping back from my small business and possibly losing customers and followers in the process. Deciding to take this risk was one of the hardest decisions I have made.

In the month leading up to my internship. I prepared nonstop. I was spending a few hours every day making jewelry, doing inventory checks, and letting my follower base know the changes that were about to occur. To handle all orders placed during my busiest months I hired on one of my friends to package and ship everything for me. It was difficult placing my business in the hands of someone else, but I knew it was worth it to spend the entire summer living out my dream of working and living in Paris.

While taking time away from my business, I found myself rediscovering the passion I felt for it when I had originally started. I began posting just for fun again and genuinely connecting with my audience (aside from just selling to them). I also networked with some incredible individuals and mentors during my time in Paris which led me to my first international order (wedding jewelry for my global program mentor). I even found wholesale jewelry shops in the city and brought back tons of unique pieces to create a new “Paris Collection” from.

While spending the summer away from Simply Millie Studio did mean I received less orders than usual, the connections I made and the experiences I had while living in there were absolutely worth it.

Deciding to take this risk taught me that taking time away from your passion can be healthy and necessary. Not only did I come back from my travels refreshed, but I had a brand new vision for the direction in which I wanted to take Simply Millie Studio. Now that it’s been a full year since my travels, I’m proud to say that my business is currently the most successful it ever has been!

Natalie, before we move on to more of these sorts of questions, can you take some time to bring our readers up to speed on you and what you do?

I started my jewelry business, Simply Millie Studio, about three years ago to make quality jewelry for the young and modern professional. My jewelry combines a trendy minimalist style with pops of color using semi precious and precious stones, as well as 14k gold plated, silver plated, gold filled, stainless steel, and sterling silver metals. I offer a wide range of products including necklaces, earrings, bracelets, rings, anklets, waist chains, and hair clips. All of my pieces are either carefully curated or handmade.

How’d you build such a strong reputation within your market?

I started my small jewelry business as an e-commerce only store. Owning an e-commerce store has a lot of benefits, however the one downside is not being able to connect with my customers in person. About 6 months into starting Simply Millie Studio, I found that establishing personal connections with my customer base was going to be the best way for me to build my brand’s reputation. The best way for me to make this happen was by doing pop up shops and markets in my city. There is truly nothing like getting to meet the people that my precious pieces are going home with. When people purchase from me in person I also get to explain the backstories of the items they are looking at, such as which pieces I brought back with me from Paris, which charms were thrifted etc. I’m also able to give my personal opinion if the shopper is looking for something specific! From the customer’s point of view, shopping in person at pop ups and markets is also important for the reputation of a brand because you get to finally match a face and a personality to the business you’re supporting.

Any insights you can share with us about how you built up your social media presence?

I built my audience on social media by creating high quality content that showed off my products and encouraged my viewers to shop with Simply Millie Studio instead of my competitors. The most important key to growing an audience on social media is posting quality content consistently. Start by identifying the audience your products cater to and then design content that that specific audience will want to engage with. For example, my target audience is 18-25 year old women who enjoy trendy accessories, but also care about the quality and sourcing of the items they purchase. To engage with my target audience I stay on top of social media trends and am transparent about my products. I use trending audios and popular aesthetics to design my content. I also do most of my marketing through Instagram and Tiktok because I know that is where my target audience is most active. While I spend a lot of time thinking about what my audience wants to see, I also believe it’s extremely important to let my personality show on my social media. At the end of the day, I started Simply Millie Studio because I wanted to make art that I love. Because of that I believe it’s important to balance my efforts to increase engagement and establish a social media presence with my personal values and love of the craft!      

Contact Info:

• Website: simplymilliestudio.com
• Instagram: simplymilliestudio
• Facebook: Simply Millie Studio