We were lucky to catch up with Hayley Serna recently and have shared our conversation below.
Alright, Hayley thanks for taking the time to share your stories and insights with us today. How did you come up with the idea for your business?
When I was younger, I always enjoyed making jewelry. I would make gifts for my friends and family and always thought about turning this passion into a business. In the summer of 2023, I rekindled my interest in jewelry making after volunteering at a summer camp at my local church. I decided to move forward with creating products that were designed to be sold. I have always loved buying handmade items for myself and recognize how much more special it is to purchase that way than it is to buy from a large company.
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.
I create 14k gold filled jewelry for babies, kids, and adults. I focus mostly on bracelets right now. I wanted to create a product that was both beautiful and would last. I have always loved the classic look of gold jewelry and because I use 14k gold filled materials, they are long lasting, won’t tarnish, and can even be worn in the water.
Can you talk to us about manufacturing? How’d you figure it all out? We’d love to hear the story.
I had an initial goal in mind of using high quality, 14k gold filled materials, but I was unable to afford these when I first started my business. I started out with lesser quality and used the money from my first few sales to help me afford the materials that I wanted to use long term.
Have you ever had to pivot?
I had initially started my store on Etsy, but soon found that I wanted to personalize my brand a bit more than Etsy would allow. Thus I created my own website using Shopify. I really enjoyed the platform, but I found that my online profits were not enough to outweigh the cost of my subscription and I ended up switching back to Etsy.
Contact Info:
- Website: https://haymamajewelry.etsy.com/
- Instagram: @haymamajewelry