We recently connected with Elley Ringo and have shared our conversation below.

Elley, thanks for taking the time to share your stories with us today Have you ever had an amazing boss? What did you learn from them? Maybe you can share a story that illustrates the kind of boss they were or maybe you can share your thoughts on what you think made them an awesome person to work for?

I haven’t just had one great boss I’ve had the privilege of having two. The first one was Wynnis. She actually found me while I was working at a Dairy Queen. She basically told me that I was too good to be working there and needed to come work for her as a manager in training to her banquet hall. She also gave me the occasional odd job because at the time that I met her I had just gotten really sick and my medical bills were insane. So she let me come do things like clean her antiques in her house, do yardwork, and other things to help out. When I left that job, she cried and so did I. She even helped me write my résumé so that I was sure to get my next job. I’ve never forgotten about her, and we still send each other Christmas cards every year.
My second great boss was the first professional Geologist I ever worked for, Angie. She was amazing from the start. She actually sat down and reviewed my résumé and everything I’ve done out of college and before college. She wanted to know where exactly I would fit in. She then quickly put me in charge of a lot more than I started out with. And continued to support everything I wanted to challenge myself to do. Including throwing her self under the bus for any of her employees when anything went wrong. The sacrifices that she made to make sure that her employees were well taken care of was beyond what I’ve ever seen from a boss in the geology world.

Although there are countless other things that both of these women did for me and to help me. I do hope that one day people will think of me with the same fondness and appreciation as I have thought of these two women.

Awesome – so before we get into the rest of our questions, can you briefly introduce yourself to our readers.

When I first started my business of ElleyKnowsRocks. I thought there is no way I’m going to be able to make this work. I was passionate about what I was doing but I had no idea how to do it. And I was so nervous that everybody that saw me put myself out there on social media for it with judge me immediately. And there was a lot of judgment, but I got over it. Even though they still hurt, I’ve learned to ignore the rude and cruel comments. But my brand took off on TikTok and YouTube as a Geology Contant creator. I had no idea that I would be able to influence so many people with my enthusiasm about minerals as I have. I became an actress through musical theater. I loved plays and being in the choir at church. I put it all together and started getting small roles. Leading me to having movies that people can watch on their TV at home.

I’ve balanced out my geology with my acting career. It’s been difficult to overcome the naysayers that tell me, I can’t be an actress and a geologist. You can’t mix pretty with rocks. At that point, I just smile and wave lol…
I believe in myself, and I know there are so many other people that appreciate what I do and believe in me that it gives me the drive to keep going.
I truly believe if you put your mind to some thing and each day you take a step forward you’ll make your dreams come true.

Okay – so how did you figure out the manufacturing part? Did you have prior experience?

When I first started my Etsy, I just wanted to sell some rocks and my personalized merch. But then I started thinking I should sell my 3-D printed rock stands. I wanted some thing that was affordable but some thing that was aesthetic. So I designed three different sizes of mineral geode rock stands. And they started selling quite rapidly. It was even difficult for me to keep up with orders they were selling so fast. I also sell mineral test kits.
I’ve always found it hard to find a good mineral testing kit. They always come with cheap crappy parts cheap plastic lenses, and things that break. So I wanted to create one that was worthy of a Geologist test kit. So my test kits have been tested by a real Geologist, me :) They come with real hand lenses and top quality parts. I found a great manufacture for the hand lenses, and I even cut the glass for the scratch plate, all on my own in my garage lol.

We’d appreciate any insights you can share with us about selling a business.

I originally created the business with my boyfriend. We bought a house (not a business) to turn into an Airbnb. And through a lot of marketing, late night hours, and gathering enough information through being a new home renters that I could write a book about it. But I have written a script about it…. Coming soon! We owned the business for a little over three years. And both of us made a joint decision to sell the home as a business.

Working for my parents at a young age when I was a teenager allowed me to have good bookkeeping skills and business organization skills. So, First thing that I did was do very good bookkeeping from the start. kept track of all our expenses with receipts to back it up. Including all of the financials for renting the house for three years. Getting the proper permits and approvals with and LLC. Beyond that it’s a lot of red tape and a lot of learning curves. But as long as you do your research before jumping into anything you’ll be OKAY.

Contact Info:

• Website: Elleyknowsrocks.com
• Instagram: @elleyknowsrock and @elleyringo
• Facebook: @elleyknowsrock and @elleyringo
• Linkedin: Elleyringo
• Twitter: @elleyknowsrock and @elleyringo
• Youtube: @elleyknowsrock
• TikTok: @elleyknowsrock and @elleyringo

Image Credits
Elley Ringo Dave Kelley Dan Chain Danni Molisee