We caught up with the brilliant and insightful Julia Allen a few weeks ago and have shared our conversation below.
Julia, thanks for taking the time to share your stories with us today Do you think folks should manage their own social media or hire a professional? What do you do?
I manage my own social media. It is certainly a challenge sometimes, but I have never had the budget to allocate to outsourcing my content creation. As a small “solopreneur”, my income is equal to the profits of the business. The amount can change quite a lot depending on many different factors. And my standing expenses add up fast: small business insurance, website fees, materials budget, graphic design equipment, and so on. So I am my own social media manager because I don’t have to pay myself extra to get it done. I made an Instagram account in 2018 to post my art on, and at the time it was mostly friends, family, and peers who followed. I posted my first few rings on there, and it was my top-performing post at the time — I got loads of comments and DM’s from interested friends! This showed me the niche I had discovered: no one else in my life was making simple, accessible, high-quality metalwork. Once I had established my own voice on social media, I felt that I was the only one who could manage the Instagram as I grew. There is a difficult balance between posting content that my audience will enjoy and engage with and posting content that establishes me as a thought leader and showcases my knowledge and training. I feel that my face, lifestyle, and personality are as much a part of the brand as my product is. So far, the result has been largely positive. I got my first hate comment a few months ago but only found out because my followers were responding to the hater for me! I think a big thing for me was learning to enjoy running my own social media by creating content that I personally love to make. After a process video did well, I invested more time into setting up camera angles and lighting to support that kind of content. A carousel post of my customers’ hands performed well, so I put more effort into being friendly and asking to take photos when people bought rings. I think that my success and growth on Instagram have stemmed largely from my genuine passion for my niche, which is something that can be difficult to inspire in someone else. I also like to keep many doors open, including applying for social media internships and taking on side projects to create content for others — though I lack the same passion for their niches, it teaches me to be flexible and research thoroughly. My top lesson to share with other business owners is that whether you do your content creation in-house or outsource it, consistency is key. I began by posting a couple of times a month, and now I’m up to nearly every day. I also post within a few content pillars or categories so my followers get the content they expect. Taking a (free, online) course in content marketing really improved my understanding of how ideas flow and how to make use of them as well as the difference between planning content strategies and growth strategies. There is so much information out there to help you understand the process. I also always stress the importance of networking and connections in the business world because you almost certainly know-someone-who-knows-someone who creates content and fits your budget. The vast majority of fellow business owners that I’ve met are kind, supportive people who understand how difficult it is to balance business operations. I am lucky to have the same passion for business as I have for my craft, and this specialized attention to both has given me a unique position in the business world.
As always, we appreciate you sharing your insights and we’ve got a few more questions for you, but before we get to all of that can you take a minute to introduce yourself and give our readers some of your back background and context?
I took art classes all through middle school and high school but struggled to find the one thing that I really loved. I know many artists who love to create but share this same struggle — what’s my niche? I was lucky enough to have a personal connection with an experienced jeweler during my first year of college. She took me under her wing and was very generous with her time and expertise. The technique she taught me is known as fabrication, meaning that I create with metal sheet and wire, and I solder to join pieces together. I studied with her for eight months before I moved to Southern California, where I almost immediately set up a studio in the corner of my bedroom. The initial financial investment was high — I remember a number around $600 or $700 for tools and equipment. Since I could not afford bulk metal, I narrowed my focus to creating in wire to keep my costs low. I launched my website in January 2022 and sold a few dainty rings. It was not the instant success I had imagined, and I think many business owners have had a moment of disillusionment when they realize that having a product and a website does not make a profitable business on its own. A huge turning point for me was my first crafters’ market in June 2022. Within a month of trying out different markets, I had learned so much about business and success. Handmade rings is such a niche here! I started out with some random earrings and necklaces and one small tray of rings. Through trial and error, I quickly identified my handmade sterling silver rings as my most popular product. By the end of my second month, I had moved all the random stuff to one end of my table and filled the rest with ring trays. By the end of the year, I was expanding my range of styles and sizes. Today, a big selling point for me is the vast size range that I’m able to provide. People feel seen when they have very small or very large hands and finally find rings that fit. I also love to talk about how sterling silver is a great material for rings because of its waterproof nature and the fact that it doesn’t turn your finger green like low-end metals do. It’s easy to hand a customer my business card and just say “I post videos of the process if you’re interested in how it’s made”.
Can you talk to us about how your side-hustle turned into something more.
This is great timing for me to answer this question because my side hustle jewelry business is my full-time job as of yesterday! When I started my business, I was working at a juice bar in Long Beach. The job was easy and fun, and I need to be social and have friends to see regularly. The pay was very good and the hours were flexible. However, as time went on, I began to feel like I was wasting my time working there. My business made me way happier and was almost as profitable. One time, my dad came down to visit me, and I was working a market so he came. We added up my sales at the end of the day — one day of sales amounted to about the same money as a full paycheck from the juice bar. He looked at me and said, “you are losing money by skipping markets to make smoothies”. As soon as I was confident that the money would be good enough, I put in my notice. I did a lot of math, which was tedious for sure. But I found that I could have more product and better product if I spent time in the studio rather than at the juice bar, which would then increase sales. I would also have more time to work on my (already successful) marketing tactics. And aside from all of this, it genuinely makes me a happier person to make my own hours and be my own boss. Key milestones include the day I made almost $400 at a market and called my mom crying, and the day I changed my juice bar availability to exclude weekends, that was huge for me!
Can you talk to us about manufacturing? How’d you figure it all out? We’d love to hear the story.
As a crafter, I started my business with a lot of knowledge of my product. I have always manufactured every piece of jewelry by hand. It is very labor-intensive, and will be difficult to scale down the line. Unless you have an equal passion for business and for crafting, this is not a sustainable practice. If I choose to scale in the future, I will likely open a brick-and-mortar studio and storefront and hire jewelers and salespeople. This is an ambitious goal! I started with a little studio in the corner of my bedroom. As circumstances changed, I was lucky enough to have a spare room, which is now my full studio. I manufacture high volumes of rings as quickly as possible by batching them. This means that instead of making each ring start-to-finish, I’ll choose a style, and do one step at a time. Cut 20 pieces, file 20 shapes, solder 20 seams, and so on. Then at the end, I have 20 rings. It’s like I am my own assembly line. This way, I am not wasting time by constantly switching tasks. The big lesson here is that unless you are a crafter by definition, this is not a technique I recommend. It works for me, but I have worked with many businesses who outsource their manufacturing because the time cost of making each piece is much too high.
Contact Info:
- Website: www.juliaallenstudio.com
- Instagram: @juliaallenart