We were lucky to catch up with Katie Cahn recently and have shared our conversation below.
Alright, Katie thanks for taking the time to share your stories and insights with us today. Almost all entrepreneurs have had to decide whether to start now or later? There are always pros and cons for waiting and so we’d love to hear what you think about your decision in retrospect. If you could go back in time, would you have started your business sooner, later or at the exact time you started?
I started my career as a metalsmith the end of 2017 – I was 37 years old. I always knew I wanted to create and be my own boss but I never found the right medium. I was a terrible student and skimmed by grade school with C’s and D’s. I worked restaurant jobs and was a raft guide for 14 years until I finally decided to get a degree. I earned a special education degree and graduated with a 3.9. It took everything I had to earn that degree and would ya believe I only lasted as a teacher for one year! Paper work and legality and meetings and bosses – I was in way over my head. I quit and figured that at least going to college taught me that i can do anything if I really want it. Then life threw a curve ball and I was diagnosed with cancer at the age of 36. Luckily, Treatment was having the tumor removed but I was left feeling hollow inside. I needed more to my life – I needed to create. The inspiration to make jewelry came from my love of rocks. I could only hope that i would be good enough of an artist to make a career out of making jewelry and it turns out hope can get your pretty far. Making the leap is the hardest part. I searched for metalsmiths in my area and pretty much begged a woman to take me under her wing. She took me in for two private classes and then I bought everything I needed to start my own business: Dirt Road Wares. In the beginning I was melting pieces left and right, but I felt the labor of love then as much as I do now. If I could go back, I would have majored in art instead of special education, but I feel like everything worked out as it should have – even the cancer scare..
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 make jewelry by hand. I specialize in sterling silver and make one of kind pieces that are built to last. I most proud of working with reclaimed metals and strive to make each piece with at least 30% reclaimed sterling silver and gold. Some pieces are made with 100% reclaimed metal. Reclaimed meaning taking sterling silver and gold that isn’t being used anymore, like old jewelry and sterling silverware, melting it down, rolling it out and creating new, one of kind pieces. The stones I buy are mostly mined in the united states and I work directly with miners.
How did you build your audience on social media?
I had a pretty decent following before I started DRW. Being a flyfishing guide, I had many followers from my primary account. I decided to start posting my jewelry to my primary account and the response was great. Then I started my DRW account and my sweet, faithful followers met me over on that account. I’m a storyteller. I used my story with my cancer diagnosis as a way to connect with other survivors. Being an artist, my first love and medium was photography. I actually went to school to study photography but dropped out midway to travel the world. I always had a camera in my hand and when I started my Instagram account photos were king back then. People liked my photos and my story. My advice to building an audience is to be yourself. Post what you love and don’t worry about what others think. Caption those photos or reels with true words and engage, engage, engage! Leave comments on other posts, post stories follow real accounts that you enjoy! Post consistently, not frequently. Post creative content that people can relate to.
Can you tell us about what’s worked well for you in terms of growing your clientele?
Newsletters! Creating a “subscriber family” is key. Instagram isn’t promising. Your account can be shut down for no reason at all, but if you have a strong subscriber list, you can rebuild your marketing platform. Most of of my customers are repeat buyers and I work extra hard to maintain working and friendly relationships with them. If they want a custom piece, I’m going to make them one. You want your customers to know you and want to be friends with you
Contact Info:
- Website: https://dirtroadwares.com/
- Instagram: @dirtroadwares @katiecahn