We’re excited to introduce you to the always interesting and insightful Brandon Lind. We hope you’ll enjoy our conversation with Brandon below.

Hi Brandon, thanks for joining us today. So, let’s start with a hypothetical – what would you change about the educational system?

If I could change anything about the educational system, it would be to promote the availability of alternative paths at a young age, whether that’s entrepreneurship or trade skills. The idea that a college education is the end-all-be-all for every kid is a fallacy. For example, I started my business after my first year of college, and by the time I graduated, it kept me busy enough to the point where college was the distraction. After graduation, society told me the corporate path was the safe and smart way to go – but I thankfully decided to buck that trend and give my business a year of full-time work to see what I could accomplish. And I’ve never looked back. But the world didn’t make that option immediately apparent, and even entrepreneurship classes in my business school were so rooted in theory that they didn’t have any practical use for me as an someone who was already an entrepreneur. I would love to see skills and practical knowledge promoted the same way that theory and principle are.

Brandon, love having you share your insights with us. Before we ask you more questions, maybe you can take a moment to introduce yourself to our readers who might have missed our earlier conversations?

The Sparkles family of brands was born when I began selling high quality loose rhinestones in 2011 out of my college dorm room. I continued to follow my passion and expanded the rhinestones business to include unique home decor items, sharing my love of glam accessories and bringing cheerful sparkle into everyday life. Sparkles Home officially launched in 2014 with a complete product line designed to bring style and sparkle to any home.

Sparkles Home offers a wide selection of bling home decor and accessories with a full range of coordinating pieces. Inspiration for our collections comes from classic luxe styles reinterpreted for a modern feel. Patterns such as Gatsby and Lattice recall decadent old Hollywood glamor, adding luxury and timelessness to any home. Symmetrical and geometric patterns nod to classic Art Deco and Neoclassical motifs with eye-catching style. With a broad range of colors from blush to black and a variety of rhinestone options, Sparkles Home elevates any decor.

After celebrating the company’s ten-year anniversary, Sparkles launched Studio in 2022 with a line of rhinestone apparel and footwear showcasing a fabulous modern flair. Sparkles Studio offers bomber jackets, high heels and sneakers that take bling to a new level. Our rhinestone apparel adds the quintessential finishing touch for fashion that turns heads in any crowd.

Do you sell on your site, or do you use a platform like Amazon, Etsy, Cratejoy, etc?

Selling on Amazon is such a difficult business decision these days. It feels necessary, but also comes with a ton of challenges. It is such a juggernaut that consumes so many time and resources that it makes it hard to focus on your existing customers. There is also so much downward pricing pressure that companies face due to copycats, that it can become a race to the bottom. We decided to take a different approach, and keep our pricing consistent across all platforms and for our resale boutiques. We may lose sales by doing this, but long term relationships are more important to us than short term sales.

Learning and unlearning are both critical parts of growth – can you share a story of a time when you had to unlearn a lesson?

Sparkles will have been in business twelve years this July. For the first seven of those years, we did not have any full-time employees. Now, less than five years later, we have twelve employees. As a small, growing company, I always feared hiring additional help because of the expense and risk that came with it – it never felt like the right time. I also felt attached to every aspect of running the company and didn’t want to give that up. Once I learned to let go, and hired full time help, we hit an exponential growth trajectory that continued through COVID and sales are up almost 400%. The moral of the story: there are people that can do almost any task better than you. When you hire that out and spend your time on what YOU do best, you allow the company to reach its fullest potential.

Contact Info:

• Website: www.sparkleshome.com
• Instagram: @sparkleshome
• Facebook: www.facebook.com/sparkleshomedecor

Image Credits
Shemika Schatte Araceli Rubio (these are both in-house Sparkles photographers / creative team)