Alright – so today we’ve got the honor of introducing you to Jessica Griffin. We think you’ll enjoy our conversation, we’ve shared it below.

Alright, Jessica thanks for taking the time to share your stories and insights with us today. Are you happier as a business owner? Do you sometimes think about what it would be like to just have a regular job?

Currently, I am a happy business owner however, there have been plenty of times when I’m not always my best (owning a small business can really take a toll on your mental health). We are currently seeing a lot of small businesses around us close down their shops and it’s been truly heartbreaking. With this being said, it’s so easy for my mind to wonder if I’ll be next and if I’d have to get a “regular” job again. If I was forced to go down that path, I’d no longer be as happy. Owning my own business is a dream for me. I love being my own boss, getting to be creative, sharing my space with others, and bringing awareness to other women-owned businesses, and I would LOVE to be able to pass this on to my children. I always want my kids to be taken care of, and being able to hand them a successful business would be a huge blessing for us.

Jessica, 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?

Of course!

My name is Jessica, but I go by Jess bc Jessica is just so- eww (sorry Mom!) I own Moonfire in Bishop Arts which is a boutique, but we mainly focus on gold-plated and gold-filled jewelry.

I started with jewelry around the time COVID came around and just like a lot of us, I was super bored at home.
I had the idea of Moonfire in my head beforehand but jewelry wasn’t a part of it until later on.
When I first had the concept and idea of my business, I wanted to offer a one-stop shop for low-waste/eco-friendly and vegan-friendly products. So much has changed since then, like me no longer being on a vegan diet, and though a majority of our products are vegan, we might have one or two items in here with non-vegan-approved products like beeswax and leather. We are still mostly waste-free, but I have found this to be EXTREMELY hard as a business owner. You’ll find our retail bags are made with recycled paper, we use wax and paper packaging and hardly use plastic unless we have to, or our wholesalers use plastic. We also use a lot of recycled materials for online orders. To be fair, I don’t know anyone who is completely waste-free, so I try not to beat myself up about the change.
Jewelry came into play when I was at home one day BEGGING my toddler to take a bath. I found these really cute bath bombs on Amazon that included surprise toys and bought a whole bunch of them. To my surprise, this worked so well for my son and he grew to love bath time and see what small surprise toy he’d get next in his bath bomb. As you can probably imagine, those bath bombs got so expensive SO quickly. Being the creative I am, I decided I was going to make them myself and save myself some money- again this was during COVID so saving a few dollars was a must. I ended up buying these mini glow-in-the-dark dinosaurs in bulk to put into his bath bombs and he loved them! Now when I say I bought these in bulk, I mean COSTCO-SIZED BULK because I was truly that desperate to get Luka to bathe daily (boy mom probs). Eventually, he outgrew the phase and there I was, left with about 200 glow-in-the-dark dinosaurs and my first thought was “WTF am I supposed to do with all of these now?”. So curiosity led me to turn them into earrings for fun and to pass the time stuck in quarantine. I remember posting them to my personal IG account and I had so many people ask me about them (like 4 people) and they asked if I could make them some. I had nothing better to do at the time, so I made a few and then slowly started selling them from there. Let me tell you, I sold so many of these damn dinosaur earrings, and I immediately knew I was on to something. I later played with other miniatures, played with clay, and I am now working with silver and gold pieces. Who knew this would all stem from my son’s hygiene?

I think what sets me apart is I handmake a lot of the jewelry we sell here, I wish I could handmake it all but I would truly have no time for a social life and give my friends and family the attention they deserve. We are also a Latina-owned boutique and only feature woman-owned brands in our shop. I have worked with a lot of our current brands since I first ordered with them and have grown a friendship with these women. I love having a space where I can showcase other women-owned businesses. Lastly, we give back to our community by hosting outdoor markets. I started my business by doing outdoor markets and grew from there, it has led me to where I am now and I’d love to give that opportunity to others. Fun fact, when I was searching for spaces to rent, my deal breaker was a location that wouldn’t allow me to host my own markets.

I would say I am most proud of how much I’ve grown as a person and within my business. I have photos and videos I like to look back at when times get hard and I can’t help but get emotional at our growth. I’m talking about photos of me with my first 4 purchases and photos of me setting up at flea markets to try and get my brand out there. Those days included zero sales and I would always come out negative because I’d spent all my money on elotes and supporting my markets neighbors.
I would also like to mention how extremely proud I am of my team. I LOVE my girls so much, they work so hard for my small business and I wouldn’t be where I am without them- I truly care for them so much and I feel so blessed they’re here on this journey with me.

I think the main thing I would want everyone to know is our store values which I mentioned. I would love for people to associate my brand with someone who cares for her community and supports other small businesses, all while selling the cutest items (;
You can visit our shop at 714 W Davis St. Dallas, TX, and follow along on our journey on all socials @shopmoonfire

What do you think helped you build your reputation within your market?

I think, actually I know social media helped build our reputation. When I first opened up shop I knew I wanted to invest in hiring a social media manager. I know I personally spend a lot of time on social media and always love coming across reels or tiktoks with “New Places to Visit” or “Things to do in Dallas” so thus, I knew this is where I needed to market.
Hiring Lainey has been one of the best decisions I have made for my business and I always tell other small business owners that if they’re able to budget out a social media manager, they should invest in one. We all know running our social media as small business owners is a full-time job on top our our full-time jobs, so hiring someone to do this for you and is good at it, will really lift the weight off your shoulders.

How do you keep in touch with clients and foster brand loyalty?

As my business has gotten a bit bigger, it has become a lot harder for me to remember all of my customers which has been unfortunate since I love building that connection. But to be fair, my memory is HORRIBLE. It’s so bad some of my friends call me Dory. I try my best to keep in touch with my customers by starting small talk with them and building that connection back up that I love. I will also go on my social media and just chat my life away on stories. I value the engagement I have with my “customers” on there. I love when a customer of mine comes in and says they feel like they already know me just off my social media posts.
I think it’s important to show your personality within your brand, no matter how big or small that may be. It’s something that sets you apart and it’s genuine which truly shows through.
With all of this said, I think my customers appreciate this from me and my team and they love supporting us in return.

Contact Info:

• Website: www.shopmoonfire.com
• Instagram: @shopmoonfire
• Facebook: Moonfire
• Other: TikTok: @shopmoonfire