We recently connected with Joslyn Kump and have shared our conversation below.
Joslyn, thanks for joining us, excited to have you contributing your stories and insights. We’d love to have you retell us the story behind how you came up with the idea for your business, I think our audience would really enjoy hearing the backstory.
Growing up I always had a passion for art, it was my favorite way to connect with myself. I was working a corporate job when I stumbled upon the process of inlay ring making. The form of art instantly resonated with me and I finally built up the courage to get some of the basic materials and take my best shot at it. I instantly fell in love with the ring making process, I started doing it as a hobby at first but as friends and family watched my growth, they would commission me to make them custom rings. Throughout the first year of starting my business it has been a rollercoaster full of emotions. It’s difficult teaching yourself how to do all of the things that no one ever talks about. Although challenging, I’ve loved every minute of it. It has lead me to grow so much as a person. The most rewarding part of this is connecting with my customers and being able to bring their visions to life. Something that I am extremely excited about is starting to explore adding more sentimental materials into my inlays. Just one example is I have inlayed cremated ashes, into a ring creating such a beautiful memento that will last them a life time. As I continue to perfect my craft and learn more and more entrepreneurial skills I can’t wait to see what my business flourishes into.
Awesome – so before we get into the rest of our questions, can you briefly introduce yourself to our readers.
I think that as time has evolved there is a larger amount of people stepping into the creative industry. I grew up having a limited belief that I wouldn’t be able to pursue art as a career. I thought I would be a “starving artist”, but the world shifted and I noticed more and more people creating steady income doing what they love which inspired me to take a risk. I think what makes my business the most unique is the fact that inlay ring making is not a well known art yet. You always see extremely talented silver smiths but inlay ring making is a completely different approach. I think that as a women, I am able to make not only mens wedding bands, but also have the feminine touch to market my rings to women as well. When this style is typically marketed towards mens wedding rings.
Let’s talk about resilience next – do you have a story you can share with us?
My hardest challenge that I’ve had to face so far is this last July I had set up a case of about 36 rings in a consignment shop in down town Salt Lake City and not even after a full week of being in the shop there had been someone who came in during operating hours and had taken the whole case of rings and ran out of the front doors. Which in all was $3,000 worth of my time, money, and energy gone. I felt so taken back when I had heard the news of the situation. That was something that took me a long time to bounce back from, because I didn’t know how to push forward and trust that nothing like that would ever happen again. I definitely had to pivot after that, I looked for different ways to sell my rings until I felt safe enough to put my inventory in other stores. Although I felt so taken advantage of I learned a lot, I learned that things happen all the time that are out of your control, and although it may sound harsh, you really have to assume the worst case scenario when it comes to taking the precautions to protect yourself and your business, and to always follow your instincts.
Any insights you can share with us about how you built up your social media presence?
I am so grateful for the little family I have built on social media, I don’t have a huge following but the fact that I have people all around the world watching the behind the scenes of how my jewelry is made is incredible. I mostly post on instagram, I give thanks to instagram reels for most of my growth so far. It can be hard to stay consistent with posting, you have to be extremely intentional about staying in front of your audience and providing them with value in every single post. For those starting to build on social media, I suggest finding your style. Find what it is you like to post, and turn social media into your creative outlet. Also, remain emotionally unattached to an outcome, stop posting to gain followers, have fun with creating content that you love and you’ll find the most rewarding response in the end.
Contact Info:
Image Credits
Tate Fishburn, Captured by Nathalie, Myself.