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

Kelsey, appreciate you joining us today. 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.

I’ve always considered myself to be creative and I have dabbled in just about every hobby under the sun. I tried every medium from photography to painting canvases. It wasn’t until I discovered polymer clay that something clicked. I fell in love with the endless possibilities of creativity with polymer clay and started making earrings. I find that working with my hands helps me get out of my head and ground myself and has especially helped me work through times of extreme anxiety. In the last year I branched out into the acrylic jewelry space and that has been an enjoyable new medium to use in my creations.

Regarding the business side of things, I was teaching at the time I started my business and knew that it was time for that chapter of my life to close. When I started making jewelry on the side, I never imagined that I would be doing it as my full time business, but two years into it I left my teaching job and haven’t looked back! I was determined to make this business work. This journey has been built with hard work, lessons learned and blessing from God.

Kelsey, before we move on to more of these sorts of questions, can you take some time to bring our readers up to speed on you and what you do?

I create handmade jewelry and accessories in my home studio. I discovered polymer clay initially after dabbling in many other mediums of creativity. Something about the seemingly unlimited possibilities of the medium drew me to it and I started creating lightweight jewelry. I loved wearing bold earrings that were on the larger side, but they were always so heavy and would cause my ears to ache. After discovering how lightweight the polymer clay was after curing I knew that I could create the bold lightweight earrings of my dreams. It wasn’t until I decided to start sharing my creations with my Instagram followers that the idea of a business concept came up. I started selling here and there to friends and family and then slowly but surely more people that I did not know started finding my page and purchasing from me.

This drove me to keep innovating and upping my skills in the craft of polymer clay. I want to always be learning and growing to make sure I give my customers the highest quality of earrings I can. I think what sets me apart from others is that I do not settle for “good enough”. I tend to be a perfectionist and that is reflected in the attention to detail I bring to my work.

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

I love to spoil my customers! I’m so grateful for their support so I knew from the start I wanted to give them a way to earn points to redeem for money off their orders or free shipping, etc. I used a program on my Shopify site called Smile.io to allow my customers to set up a free loyalty points account. I also have grown my email list over the years of my business and use that to communicate with my customers about new launches, special deals, etc. I want my customers to feel that shopping with me, whether online or in person at local markets, is an experience. I made sure to create consistent branding across my packaging and displays to foster brand recognition. I also made sure to meld my personal style and brand so that they are synonymous. People connect with my business because they know me and vice versa. It has been a very cool thing to experience!

Have any books or other resources had a big impact on you?

Investing in a business coach is hands down the best thing I have done for my business. She has guided me from a place of burnout and overwhelm to now a place of systemizing the processes in my business and creating margin in my life. I cannot speak highly enough of Chloe Minyon and her coaching services. The Profit First book and method has also played a role in my coaching journey. I highly recommend this book for business owners everywhere. It helped me become a boss of my money.

Contact Info:

• Website: thecraftedmakerie.com
• Instagram: @thecraftedmakerie
• Facebook: @thecraftedmakerie
• Linkedin: www.linkedin.com/in/kelsey-wiseman-tcm

Image Credits
Braeden Hopkins Trysha Scott Kelsey Wiseman