We were lucky to catch up with Lewis Nedland recently and have shared our conversation below.

Hi Lewis, thanks for joining 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 accounts, and on that I definitely need practice. I was born in 1990, so in this field I feel like a dinosaur. I look at other accounts and how effortless it seems that they are able to promote themselves and their products/businesses, and it’s hard NOT to compare yourself to them and look down on you and yours, you know?

Lewis, 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?

So I got into creating my own jewelry due in no small part from my wife pushing me to dream. As a young boy, I was obsessed with gemstones and jewelry, watching QVC with my mother when she had it on, reading books and magazines about gems, but in the late 90’s and early 2000’s there was still a lot of toxic masculinity (especially in a small farm town in rural Wisconsin). I felt like this sort of thing wasn’t something that a boy was really supposed to be interested in, so I pushed it aside only to have my wife Alicia make me resurrect it again in 2018 when my day-job wasn’t really fulfilling me. We found a local Gem & Mineral club in the Chippewa Valley and they hold monthly workshops where I’m able to get my hands dirty cutting stones and I was INSTANTLY hooked. I then started finding wire wrapping techniques, buying material and tools, signing up for local markets, and eventually applying for a business license.

How’d you build such a strong reputation within your market?

I think the biggest thing that helped me build my reputation around Eau Claire is the fact that when I started attending my local artist market every week, I would start to schmooze with some of the other vendors and make friends. With my customers, I offered a product that was unique amongst the other artists in attendance from week to week. Sure, others offered some form of “jewelry,” but none of them had hand cut, semiprecious gemstones, wire wrapping that I do, or a slew of tumbled stones that I also sell. These things combined have garnered me the nickname “The Rock Guy.” I wear that as a delightful badge of honor.

Do you have any stories of times when you almost missed payroll or any other near death experiences for your business?

Honestly, a near death moment was just a long stint of a depressive episode I had. I’m the only employee so I don’t really have a payroll, and it’s a very small business at the moment, but I’ve been really low before, to the point of not producing any products for a long time, not posting on any social media, not looking for any opportunities to further myself or the business. My wife sat me down after noticing everything and asked me, “Is this something you really want to do? Take some time and really think about it.” After truly searching, it really is. So I kicked myself into gear and started back up. Now, that’s not to say there aren’t the occasional slumps or missed days.

Contact Info:

• Website: lewisnedlandgemdesign.com
• Instagram: @lewis_nedland_gem_design
• Facebook: facebook.com/LewisNedlandGemDesign

Image Credits
KBphotoready JRPstudios