We recently connected with Autumn Capurso and have shared our conversation below.

Autumn, thanks for joining us, excited to have you contributing your stories and insights. Can you tell us about a time where you or your team really helped a customer get an amazing result?

“Thank you so much, you’ve allowed the memory of my father to live on and be carried with me forever.”
One of the most beautiful things about my business is the connections I’ve made. Since I sell in person at farmer’s markets, a lot of my jewelry is custom made on the spot. I had a woman visit my booth one sunny Saturday morning. After watching me wire wrap a couple rings for a little girl, she approached me and pulled a lustrous turquoise crystal from her pocket. Holding it gently, she asked if I could turn it into a necklace. The crystal belonged to her father who had died of cancer a few months ago, she found it in his things after he had passed away. She carried it with her everywhere. She wanted it to hang right above her heart.
After wrapping it, I fastened it around her neck and gave her a mirror to see what it looked like. Watching her reaction is something I’ll never ever forget, the light in her eyes and the glow of her smile. She embraced me in a welcome hug, and departed with a spring in her step I hadn’t noticed prior. I’ve always been a big believer in leaving things better than you found them, including people. I imagine I was able to do that for her, and I am thankful everyday for the moments like this my business has allowed me to experience.

Great, appreciate you sharing that with us. Before we ask you to share more of your insights, can you take a moment to introduce yourself and how you got to where you are today to our readers.

Hello everyone, my name is Autumn Willow and I am 23 years old. I own Willow Jewelry, and I am also a student at Arizona State University where I am pursuing a double degree in business entrepreneurship and psychology. What I want people to know about my business is how much effort, care, and work I put into everything I do. I run my Willow Jewelry entirely myself. That means staying up late and waking up at 5am to prepare for markets, having to learn financial accounting and business tax laws, online website marketing and SEO, developing and innovating new products, and ensuring high levels of customer service and interaction, to name a few. On paper, I think I am underestimated as a female in business who sells “pretty” jewelry. In reality, I have 72% profit margins, a loyal customer base, rave reviews of quality and service, and name recognition throughout Arizona.

Can you talk to us about manufacturing? How’d you figure it all out? We’d love to hear the story.

Everything I sell is handmade by myself, so I think my biggest struggle when I am creating is that my hands get tired. I remember when I first started wire wrapping rings I wore hand and wrist braces for a few weeks because I was creating so many it hurt to even bend my fingers. Obviously this improved with time as my hands became more equipped to the labor and my technique more efficient, but this was an uncomfortable reality of crafting all my products by hand.

Can you open up about how you funded your business?

I started my business with less than $200 in my bank account. I had just been let go from a retail job where I was overworked, underpaid, and unsatisfied with my professional goals. As a college student living hundreds of miles away from any family, I had no savings. I am a big believer in opportunity and resilience, and being in such a precarious financial situation, I knew I had to throw myself wholeheartedly into a path forward or I would sink. I took an idea from the back of my mind I dreamed about when closing shop: selling handmade jewelry. With the remainder of my money, I ordered some jewelry supplies online, invested in a business license, a folding tent and table off facebook marketplace, and applied to local farmers markets in the Phoenix area. I can talk about the grueling process of making a profit, fighting to market my products and stay afloat on such a small budget, and having absolutely zero room for error. Or rather, I can validate and acknowledge how difficult the entire process was, and note that despite having all the odds stacked against me, today my business is flourishing and more successful than I ever could have dreamed.

Contact Info:

• Website: https://autumnwillowjewelry.etsy.com/
• Instagram: https://www.Instagram.com/willowjewelry_/
• Other: https://linktr.ee/willowjewelry

Image Credits

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