We recently connected with Danielle Nowak and have shared our conversation below.
Hi Danielle, thanks for joining us today. Alright, so you had your idea and then what happened? Can you walk us through the story of how you went from just an idea to executing on the idea
It was 2020 and I had became very depressed. I needed something tht would bring me joy! So I decided to combine my two passions- business and art. I had seen a lot of people make polymer clay earrings online and I thought I should try that! So I started testing making it and I got better and better. At first I thought I was just going to sell to friends and family but I just kept having more and more ideas of what to make the earrings look like. So I decided to get a trade name ( I already had an LLC) and a vendors license to sell at shows.
Danielle, 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?
I am currently a student at Ohio State where I am majoring in marketing and a minor in entrepreneurship and innovation. I currently make polymer clay earrings and home goods. When starting I didn’t want my brand to just be another brand. I rebranded it to be a funky and creative brand that can bring joy to your life. I still felt like it needed more of a mission of why I do this. Then, I got a dm from a lady who bought a pair of my earrings and she said she cried when she opened my earrings because she never does anything for herself. That’s when I realized that’s why I do it. I want each pair to feel like self care. Then with that mission I expanded into home goods like candles, room sprays, etc to help peoples homes be a place of self care.
Are there any books, videos or other content that you feel have meaningfully impacted your thinking?
I am a big fan of the book “Shoe Dog” by Phil Knight. It is an awesome book about resilience and how Nike became to be after a lot of hard work. Along with this I listen to “How I Built This” with Guy Raz. This has been my longtime favorite podcast. It talks about many founders entrepreneurship journey and is always a huge inspiration to me!
Where do you think you get most of your clients from?
For me, the best source of new clients and customers is through vendor shows. I get sales on Etsy but people at vendor shows LOVE to shop handmade products and I have ended up making most of my Money there. I am also a student so it is difficult to balance school and vendor shows.
Contact Info:
- Website: https://natural-sands-jewelry.square.site/
- Instagram: https://instagram.com/naturalsandsjewelry?igshid=YmMyMTA2M2Y=
- Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/danielle-nowak